Remote Sensing of Coniferous Forest Leaf Area

Many important ecological questions concern ecosystem processes occurring over large areas. However, our understanding o f ecosystem functions is derived primarily from research executed on small, intensively studied sites, and extrapolation to large areas is difficult

Narratives as a Fundamental Component of Consciousness

In this paper, we propose a conceptual architecture that models human (spatially-temporally-modally) cohesive narrative development using a computer representation of quale properties. Qualia are proposed to be the fundamental "cognitive" components humans use to generate cohesive narratives. The engineering approach is based on cognitively inspired technologies and incorporates the novel concept of quale representation for computation of primitive cognitive components of narrative. The ultimate objective of this research is to develop an architecture that emulates the human ability to generate cohesive narratives with incomplete or perturbated information

Malware Type Recognition and Cyber Situational Awareness

Current technologies for computer network and host defense do not provide suitable information to support strategic and tactical decision making processes. Although pattern-based malware detection is an active research area, the additional context of the type of malware can improve cyber situational awareness. This additional context is an indicator of threat capability thus allowing organizations to assess information losses and focus response actions appropriately. Malware Type Recognition (MaTR) is a research initiative extending detection technologies to provide the additional context of malware types using only static heuristics. Test results with MaTR demonstrate over a 99% accurate detection rate and 59% test accuracy in malware typing

Malware Target Recognition via Static Heuristics

Organizations increasingly rely on the confidentiality, integrity and availability of their information and communications technologies to conduct effective business operations while maintaining their competitive edge. Exploitation of these networks via the introduction of undetected malware ultimately degrades their competitive edge, while taking advantage of limited network visibility and the high cost of analyzing massive numbers of programs. This article introduces the novel Malware Target Recognition (MaTR) system which combines the decision tree machine learning algorithm with static heuristic features for malware detection. By focusing on contextually important static heuristic features, this research demonstrates superior detection results. Experimental results on large sample datasets demonstrate near ideal malware detection performance (99.9+% accuracy) with low false positive (8.73e-4) and false negative rates (8.03e-4) at the same point on the performance curve. Test results against a set of publicly unknown malware, including potential advanced competitor tools, show MaTR’s superior detection rate (99%) versus the union of detections from three commercial antivirus products (60%). The resulting model is a fine granularity sensor with potential to dramatically augment cyberspace situation awareness

Extrasolar Planet Transits Observed at Kitt Peak National Observatory

We obtained J-, H- and JH-band photometry of known extrasolar planet transiting systems at the 2.1-m Kitt Peak National Observatory Telescope using the FLAMINGOS infrared camera between October 2008 and October 2011. From the derived lightcurves we have extracted the mid-transit times, transit depths and transit durations for these events. The precise mid-transit times obtained help improve the orbital periods and also constrain transit-time variations of the systems. For most cases the published system parameters successfully accounted for our observed lightcurves, but in some instances we derive improved planetary radii and orbital periods. We complemented our 2.1-m infrared observations using CCD z'-band and B-band photometry (plus two Hydrogen Alpha filter observations) obtained with the Kitt Peak Visitor's Center telescope, and with four H-band transits observed in October 2007 with the NSO's 1.6-m McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope. The principal highlights of our results are: 1) our ensemble of J-band planetary radii agree with optical radii, with the best-fit relation being: (Rp/R*)J = 0.0017 + 0.979 (Rp/R*)optical, 2) We observe star spot crossings during the transit of WASP-11/HAT-P-10, 3) we detect star spot crossings by HAT-P-11b (Kepler-3b), thus confirming that the magnetic evolution of the stellar active regions can be monitored even after the Kepler mission has ended, and 4) we confirm a grazing transit for HAT-P-27/WASP-40. In total we present 57 individual transits of 32 known exoplanet systems.Comment: 33 pages, 6 figures, accepted in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacifi

Factors affecting ammonium uptake in streams - an inter-biome perspective

The Lotic Intersite Nitrogen experiment (LINX) was a coordinated study of the relationships between North American biomes and factors governing ammonium uptake in streams. Our objective was to relate inter-biome variability of ammonium uptake to physical, chemical and biological processes. 2. Data were collected from 11 streams ranging from arctic to tropical and from desert to rainforest. Measurements at each site included physical, hydraulic and chemical characteristics, biological parameters, whole-stream metabolism and ammonium uptake. Ammonium uptake was measured by injection of \u275~-ammonium and downstream measurements of 15N-ammonium concentration. 3. We found no general, statistically significant relationships that explained the variability in ammonium uptake among sites. However, this approach does not account for the multiple mechanisms of ammonium uptake in streams. When we estimated biological demand for inorganic nitrogen based on our measurements of in-stream metabolism, we found good correspondence between calculated nitrogen demand and measured assimilative nitrogen uptake. 4. Nitrogen uptake varied little among sites, reflecting metabolic compensation in streams in a variety of distinctly different biomes (autotrophic production is high where allochthonous inputs are relatively low and vice versa). 5. Both autotrophic and heterotrophic metabolism require nitrogen and these biotic processes dominate inorganic nitrogen retention in streams. Factors that affect the relative balance of autotrophic and heterotrophic metabolism indirectly control inorganic nitrogen uptake

Molecule Microscopy

Contains research objectives, summary of research on five research projects and reports on four research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAB07-74-C-0630)National Institutes of Health (Grant 1 PO1 HL14322-03)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 SO5 RR07047-08)Environmental Measurements Project Laboratory grant from the Dean of Science, M.I.T.Boehringer Mannheim Gmb