Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Long-Term Effects Of Alternative Group Selection Harvesting Designs On Stand Production, C. Halpin, C. G. Lorimer, J. J. Hanson, B. Palik

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Interest in group selection harvesting has increased in recent years because of limitations associated with both clearcutting and single-tree selection. Field data have suggested that group selection openings can have higher production rates than single-tree gaps, but whether this translates into higher production rates at the stand level is not clear. We used CANOPY, a crown-based northern hardwoods model calibrated with data from uneven-aged and even-aged stands, to simulate sustainable harvest volumes of a number of different group selection approaches over 300 years, and also compared results with those from single-tree selection and clearcutting. When a combination of single-tree and …

Canopy Cover Prediction From Stand Density Attributes: Stocking, Crown Width, And Overlap Functions, Andrew Gray, Anne Mcintosh, Steve Garman

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

The goals for a wide range of forest management objectives are often stated in terms of the amount and layering of canopy cover. However, measuring canopy cover is labor intensive and different techniques provide widely different estimates. Several approaches have been developed to predict cover from common tree or stand-level density attributes, with varying results. This study used line-intercept measured tree cover from 1,424 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots across Oregon to build predictive models from estimates of tree stocking, crown width, and other stand attributes (mean diameter, stand height, SDI, etc.). A variety of adjustments were applied to …

Influence Of Coarse Woody Material (Cwm) On Soil Microarthropods In Black Spruce-Feather Moss Forests Of Western Quebec, Enrique Doblas-Miranda, Timothy T. Work

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Increasing demands for biofuels have opened the possibility for an overall decrease in the amount of residual coarse woody material (CWM) in forests. While CWM is known to be an important resource for saproxylic species that reside within downed logs, the relative importance of CWM for organisms residing beneath, in the soil is poorly understood. In this context, CWM likely modifies conditions as well as nutrient levels for soil communities that lie beneath. The relative importance of CWM for underlying soil communities may be accentuated in the black-spruce clay-belt region of Western Québec where soil nutrients are extremely limited by …

Effects Of Regeneration Practices On The Growth In Loblolly Pine Plantations From The Perspective Of Hierarchy Theory, Thomas Dean, D.Andrew Scott, Gorden Holley

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

The long-term effects of high-production harvesting and subsequent site-preparation practices are typically evaluated from a limiting resource perspective. Machines used in the harvesting compact the soil reducing aeration and uptake of water and nutrients. Moving the entire tree from the site removes organic matter and parts of the forest floor. Models translate these effects into direct consequences on tree growth and ultimately productivity. Trees response often conflicts with model predictions in many cases. Hierarchy theory does not require organisms to behave deterministically to account for behavior, but it does require a different approach. Our proposed talk will present an application …

Forest Ecosystem Dynamics In A Non-Linear World, Sybille Haeussler

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Forest ecosystems across North America are under increasing stress from the accelerating pace of global change which involves simultaneous changes in resource availability (temperature, moisture, nutrients), disturbance regimes (fire, insects, diseases, extreme weather, logging, urbanization) and (3) species distributions (invasive organisms, threatened species). Interactions among the agents of global change can generate emergent or unexpected ecosystem behaviour. Complex systems science provides a strong theoretical foundation for understanding these factor interactions and provides many new mathematical and simulation modeling tools that can generate complex, non-linear behaviour and provide improved understanding of ecosystem response to global change. I present an updated version …

Seven-Year Results Of Testing Paper Mill Residual Sludge As A Soil Ameliorant Of Iron Mine Tailings, M. Bridgen

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Paper mill residual solids, extracted from a settling pond in Newton Falls, NY, were tested for their efficacy as a site ameliorant. The test site was a twenty-five-year-old sand tailings, created by a former iron mining operation. Sludge was applied in trenches, as either 20% or 40% solids. Black locust, hybrid poplar, and willow seedlings were planted over the site to establish near forest-like vegetation. Seven years after establishment, overall survival is about 80%. The entrenched sludge provided increased soil moisture retention, deeper root development, increased nutrient availability and retention, and larger leaf sizes. Sludge applications resulted in greater above-ground …

Aspen Ecology In The United States: Recent Advances And Future Needs, Paul C. Rogers

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

This presentation (along with a similar Canadian perspective) will offer a context for subsequent papers in the Advances in North American Aspen Ecology session. Collectively, we hope to outline major areas of research in North America, especially as they relate to perceived management needs. There is a long and rich history of ecological research in aspen systems of the United States. Probably the most striking long-term change, from a managerial perspective, has been a shift toward biological benefits of aspen as opposed to past avoidance, or even active denudation, of these systems in favor of more commercial species. This talk …

How Best Should We Manage Hybrid Poplar Plantations? Interactions Of Site Preparation, Vegetation Control And Fertilization, Simon Bilodeau-Gauthier, David Pare, Christian Messier

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

The silviculture of hybrid poplars is a promising solution to reduce the pressure on natural forests while maintaining the wood supply to industries. However, hybrid poplars are sensitive to competing vegetation and to inadequate soil conditions and fertility. Possible management tools include mechanical site preparation (MSP), vegetation control, and fertilization. We present here the results after five years of growth for eight formerly forested sites (40 hectares total) on Podzols in the province of Quebec, Canada. The experimental design combines four MSP treatments (harrowing, scarifying, mounding, and no preparation) with four frequencies of plant competition control by brushing (from never …

Spatial Patterns In Forest Understories: Relationships To Overstory Thinning Intensity And Understory Plant Diversity, Paul Satterthwaite, Lisa M. Ganio, Klaus J. Puettmann

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Amount, spatial distribution, and species composition of understory plant communities have been shown to respond to changes in overstory structure. While response of the amount and composition of understory vegetation to thinning has been investigated in several ecosystems, spatial distributions have received less attention. We investigated spatial statistical techniques to examine associations of patch size of clonal shrubs and annual ruderals as they relate to overstory conditions after thinnings. We assessed the interpretation of empirical semivariograms in describing spatial pattern and whether semivariogram parameters can be useful when comparing impacts of different thinning regimes. We simulated vegetation patterns to test …

Landscape Assessment And Monitoring Of Mountain Pine Beetle Mortality In Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Whitebark Pine, W.Wallace Macfarlane, B. Gordon, Jesse A. Logan, Louisa Willcox

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Since 2000, USDA Forest Service Aerial Detection Surveys (ADS) and ground-based surveys indicate mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreaks have caused catastrophic loss of whitebark pine (WBP) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). However, the full extent of the damage is unknown because of limitations to the traditional survey methods. We describe a new method aimed at quickly and cost-effectively documenting landscape conditions. The method utilizes low-flying airplane overflights, Global Positioning System (GPS), and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies along with digital photography to categorize MPB outbreaks based on a new landscape classification scheme. We conducted a pilot study consisting of …

Competitive Effects And Equivalence Of Woody And Herbaceous Vegetation In A Young Boreal Mixedwood Stand, Hongan Yan, Phil G. Comeau, D. G. Pitt

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Mixedwood stands of white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) are the major forest type in the boreal forests of western Canada. They contribute significantly to Canada’s wood supply and play important ecological services. Bluejoint grass (Calamagrostis canadensis (Michx.) Beauv.) is also a prominent component of boreal mixedwood ecosystems and can impede natural regeneration of white spruce and negatively affect the development of white spruce and aspen mixedwood stands. Several studies have shown that spruce growth declines with increasing aspen abundance. Hence, competition control is often required to achieve acceptable survival and growth of spruce. …

Overstory And Understory Vegetation Dynamics In Response To Thinning In Coniferous Stands In Western Oregon, Adrian Ares, Andrew R. Neill, Klaus J. Puttmann

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Thinning even-aged coniferous stands in the Pacific Northwest is aimed at accelerating development of late-successional features, while maintaining long-term forest productivity. We examined effects of thinning on overstory and understory vegetation 11 years after harvest in 40- to 60-year old forests dominated by Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) on three sites in western Oregon. Each site contained an unthinned control (238-1446 tpha) and three thinning treatments selected to enhance overstory structural diversity by decreasing densities, and enhance spatial variability within stands (high density = 120 tpha; moderate density = 80 tpha; variable thin with 120, 80 and 40 tpha with …

Whitebark Pine As A Foundation And Keystone Species: Functional Roles And Community Interactions, Diana Tomback

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), a non-commercial five-needle white pine (Family Pinaceae, Subgenus Strobus), and the only North American stone pine (Subsection Cembrae), inhabits upper subalpine and treeline zones throughout the western United States and Canada. The most northerly in distribution of western North American white pines, it occurs across 18∞ of latitude and 21∞ of longitude, and comprises diverse community types--successional, climax, and treeline, mesic to xeric, and pure to mixed associations. Studies within the last three decades have elucidated a unique ecology for whitebark pine, derived in part from obligate seed dispersal by Clarkís nutcrackers, but also from its …

Forest Histories & Forest Futures, Cathy Whitlock

North American Forest Ecology Workshop

The climate changes projected for the future will have significant consequences for forest ecosystems and our ability to manage them. It is reasonable to ask: Are there historical precedents that help us understand what might happen in the future or are historical perspectives becoming irrelevant? What synergisms and feedbacks might be expected between rapidly changing climate and land–use in different settings, especially at the wildland–urban interface? What lessons from the past might help us plan for a changing world? Information on forest history comes from a variety of sources, including pollen and charcoal preserved in lake sediments spanning millennia, variations …

The Challenges Of Global Warming And China-Us Response, Xiaoyan Jiang

Conference on “Improving the Human Destiny"

As the home to 1/3 of the world’s population and 1/4 of the global GDP, China and the United States might most likely become the origin of 60% of the global carbon emissions in next 30 years. For the most part, they are central to preserving the Earth for this and future generations. The United States is the biggest polluter with 5.8 billion tonnes, followed by China with 5.1 billion tonnes. Global maps, produced by risk specialists Maplecroft, show the United States and China to bear about 90% of this burden and be the countries most susceptible to economic losses. …

Cybercrime And The 2012 London Olympics, Denis Edgar-Nevill

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The London 2012 Olympics is just three years away and the clock is ticking to put in place plans get it right. The potential for cybercrime to cause harm during this event is very great; harm to national reputation, harm to the reputation to the Olympic movement, and harm to individuals competing, watching or officiating. This paper considers the need to address these risks by taking a look at what has happened in the past at sporting events and the rising wave of electronic security threats and fraud facilitated by computers at recent Olympics. The problems for law enforcement are …

Methodology For Investigating Individuals Online Social Networking Persona, Jonathan T. Rajewski

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

When investigators from either the private or public sector review digital data surrounding a case for evidentiary value, they typically conduct a systematic categorization process to identify the relevant digital devices. Armed with the proper methodology to accomplish this task, investigators can quickly recognize the appropriate digital devices for forensic processing and review. This paper purposes a methodology for investigating an individual’s online social networking persona.

Keywords: Social Networking, Web 2.0, Internet Investigations, Online Social Networking Community

Bluetooth Hacking: A Case Study, Dennis Browning, Gary C. Kessler

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper describes a student project examining mechanisms with which to attack Bluetooth-enabled devices. The paper briefly describes the protocol architecture of Bluetooth and the Java interface that programmers can use to connect to Bluetooth communication services. Several types of attacks are described, along with a detailed example of two attack tools, Bloover II and BT Info.

Keywords: Bluetooth hacking, mobile phone hacking, wireless hacking

Concerning File Slack, Stephen P. Larson

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

In this paper we discuss the phenomena known as file slack. File slack is created each time a file is created on a hard disk, and can contain private or confidential data. Unfortunately, the methods used by Microsoft Windows operating systems to organize and save files require file slack, and users have no control over what data is saved in file slack. This document will help create awareness about the security issue of file slack and discuss research results concerning file slack.

Keywords : Computer Forensics, File Slack, Ram Slack, Disk Slack

The Computer Fraud And Abuse Act And The Law Of Unintended Consequences, Milton Luoma, Vicki Luoma

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

One of the most unanticipated results of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act arose from the law of unintended consequences. The CFAA was originally enacted in 1984 to protect federal government computers from intrusions and damage caused by hackers, identity thieves, and other cyber criminals. The law was later amended to extend the scope of its application to financial institutions’, business’s and consumers’ computers. To aid in the pursuit of cyber criminals, one of the subsequent revisions to the law included provision “G” that gave the right to private parties to seek compensation for damages in a civil action for …

Don’T Touch That! And Other E-Discovery Issues, Linda Volonino

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The ability to preserve and access electronically stored information (ESI) took on greater urgency when amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect in December 2006. These amendments, referred to as the electronic discovery (e-discovery) amendments, focus on the discovery phase of civil litigation, audits, or investigations. Discovery is the investigative phase of a legal case when opponents learn what evidence is available and how accessible it is. When ESI is the subject of discovery, it is called e-discovery. Recognizing that most business and personal records and communications are electronic, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin stated, "We used …

Why Are We Not Getting Better At Data Disposal?, Andy Jones

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper describes two sets of research, the first of which has been carried out over a period of four years into the levels and types of information that can be found on computer hard disks that are offered for sale on the second hand market. The second research project examined a number of second-hand hand held devices including PDAs, mobile (cell) phones and RIM Blackberry devices. The primary purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of the reasons for the failure to effectively remove potentially sensitive information from the disks and handheld devices. Other objectives included determining …

Analysis Of The ‘Db’ Windows Registry Data Structure, Damir Kahvedžić, Tahar Kechadi

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The Windows Registry stores a wide variety of data representing a host of different user properties, settings and program information. The data structures used by the registry are designed to be adaptable to store these differences in a simple format. In this paper we will highlight the existence of a rare data structure that is used to store a large amount of data within the registry hives. We analyse the manner in which this data structure stores its data and the implications that it may have on evidence retrieval and digital investigation. In particular, we reveal that the three of …

Correlating Orphaned Windows Registry Data Structures, Damir Kahvedžić, Tahar Kechadi

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Recently, it has been shown that deleted entries of the Microsoft Windows registry (keys) may still reside in the system files once the entries have been deleted from the active database. Investigating the complete keys in context may be extremely important from both a Forensic Investigation point of view and a legal point of view where a lack of context can bring doubt to an argument. In this paper we formalise the registry behaviour and show how a retrieved value may not maintain a relation to the part of the registry it belonged to and hence lose that context. We …

Graduate Accounting Students' Perception Of It Forensics: A Multi-Dimensional Analysis, Grover S. Kearns

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Forensics and information technology (IT) have become increasingly important to accountants and auditors. Undergraduate accounting students are introduced to general IT topics but discussion of forensic knowledge is limited. A few schools have introduced an undergraduate major in forensic accounting. Some graduate schools offer accounting students an emphasis in forensic or fraud accounting that includes instruction in forensics and information technology. When students do not view the IT topics as being equally important to their careers as traditional accounting topics, these attitudes may reduce the quality of the course. In an effort to assess student attitudes, a survey of 46 …

Visualization Of Honeypot Data Using Graphviz And Afterglow, Craig Valli

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This research in progress paper explores the use of Graphviz and Afterglow for the analysis of data emanating from a honeypot system. Honeypot systems gather a wide range of data that is often difficult to readily search for patterns and trends using conventional log file analysis techniques. The data from the honeypots has been statically extracted and processed through Afterglow scripts to produce inputs suitable for use by the DOT graph based tools contained within Graphviz. This paper explores some of the benefits and drawbacks of currently using this type of approach.

Keywords: honeypot, network forensics, visualization, Graphviz, Afterglow

Proc Report In Style, Wendy Boberg

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

I would like to demonstrate how you can create colorful PDF files using ODS (Output Delivery System) with different predefined style templates for the layout and color scheme of both tables and graphs. There are a few different ways you can customize your reports in the Report Procedure. Traffic lighting is a very popular technique and can be achieved by changing the font and/or the background colors. I prefer to customize my reports by adding background color to highlight a row, column, and/or cell in a table.

I will share my favorite styles and show you how to look at …

Using Time Series To Study Effect Of Air Temperature On Body Temperature Of Cows In Puerto Rico, Y. Zeng, A. M. Parkhurst, J. Pantoja

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Body temperature is an important measure for monitoring the health status of cows. The objective of this study is to (1) determine if a cow’s body temperature is related to ambient temperature, relative humidity, and/or temperature humidity index (THI); (2) look for signs of heat stress. The data are collected at five minute intervals during the summer months (December through February) in Puerto Rico. Regression analysis and a succession of time series analyses are conducted in time domains. Nonparametric spectral estimation and cross-spectra analysis are also performed in the frequency domain. A search for indications of heat stress is performed …

Comparing Experimental Designs For A Bi-Logistical Model Used To Estimate Heat Stress When Moving Feedlot Cattle, X. Li, A. M. Parkhurst, T. L. Mader

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Processing and handling cattle requires expenditure of energy causing an elevation of body temperature, depending on the ambient conditions. Therefore, caution should be exercised in moving cattle, especially during summer. More knowledge of the dynamics of body temperature, (Tb), could lead to specific recommendations on how far and under what conditions cattle can be moved before becoming thermally challenged. Data comes from feedlot trials conducted over four days. A bi-logistic mixed model of Tb is used to describe the effects of moving and handling on Tb. This model provides estimates for several important biological parameters describing the thermal challenge and …

Using Time Series To Study Dynamics Of Sweat Rates Of Holstein Cows Exposed To Initial And Prolonged Solar Heat Stress, B. Liang, A. M. Parkhurst, K. G. Gebremedhin, C. N. Lee, R. J. Collier, P. E. Hillman

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Sweating is a very important way for cows to cope with heat stress. We are interested in the ability of Holstein cows to sustain high sweat or evaporation rates when exposed to solar radiation. There were two solar heat stress treatments: onset and prolonged. The onset data provided an opportunity to examine the impact of sudden exposure to a solar thermal load. The prolonged data allowed us to examine the impact of exposure to solar heat stress for an expended period (5 hr). Two questions of interest were: Do cows sweat at a constant or cyclic rate? Is there a …