Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Interactions Across Spatial Scales Among Forest Dieback, Fire, And Erosion In Northern New Mexico Landscapes, Craig D. Allen

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Ecosystem patterns and disturbance processes at one spatial scale often interact with processes at another scale, and the result of such cross-scale interactions can be nonlinear dynamics with thresholds. Examples of cross-scale pattern-process relationships and interactions among forest dieback, fire, and erosion are illustrated from northern New Mexico (USA) landscapes, where long-term studies have recently documented all of these disturbance processes. For example, environmental stress, operating on individual trees, can cause tree death that is amplified by insect mortality agents to propagate to patch and then landscape or even regional-scale forest dieback. Severe drought and unusual warmth in the southwestern …

Optimal Design Of Integrally Gated Cnt Field-Emission Devices Using A Genetic Algorithm, P. Y. Chen, Chien Hsun Chen, J. S. Wu, H. C. Wen, W. P. Wang

Chien Hsun Chen

A method to optimize the focusing quality of integrally gated CNT field-emission (FE) devices by combining field-emission modeling and a computational intelligence technique, genetic algorithm (GA), is proposed and demonstrated. In this work, the e-beam shape, as a characteristic parameter of electron-optical properties, is calculated by field-emission simulation modeling. Using a design tool that combines GA and physical modeling, a set of structural and electrical parameters for four FE device groups, including double-gate, triple-gate, quadruple-gate and quintuple-gate type, were optimized. The resultant FE devices exhibit satisfactory e-beam focusabilities and the extracted parameters with the best performance for each type of …

Auroral Ion Outflow: Low Altitude Energization, Kristina A. Lynch, J. L. Semeter, M. Zettergren, P. Kintner, R. Arnoldy, E. Klatt, J. Labelle, R. G. Michell

Dartmouth Scholarship

The SIERRA nightside auroral sounding rocket made observations of the origins of ion upflow, at topside F-region altitudes (below 700 km), comparatively large topside plasma densities (above 20 000/cc), and low energies (10 eV). Upflowing ions with bulk velocities up to 2 km/s are seen in conjunction with the poleward edge of a nightside substorm arc. The upflow is limited within the poleward edge to a region (a) of northward convection, (b) where Alfvenic ´ and Pedersen conductivities are well-matched, leading to good ionospheric transmission of Alfvenic power, and (c) of ´ soft electron precipitation (below 100 eV). Models of …

Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Displays As Optical Sensors Of Barbiturate Binding, R. Carlisle Chambers, Elissa J. Bell, Tauni M. Records, Anna Cherian, Karen Ragan, Bonnie Swartout

Faculty Publications - Department of Biological & Molecular Science

The influence on the optical properties of cholesteric liquid crystal displays (LCDs) was examined for neutral molecule binding by mesogen/receptors in the mesomorphic phase. The motivation was to prepare neutral molecule sensors that use a colour change to signal analyte binding. A receptor that binds barbiturate analytes was modified with two or one cholesteryl groups to yield compounds 2 and 3, respectively. LCDs were prepared by incorporating one of the receptor/mesogen compounds into a cholesteric LC blend along with a potential Hbonding guest. The optical properties of the LCDs were then determined by measuring the absorbance of the displays. For …

Virginia Wetlands Report Vol. 22, No. 2, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science, Center For Coastal Resources Management

Virginia Wetlands Reports

The Big Picture: Managing Wetland from a Shoreline Perspective

Water Current, Volume 39, No. 4, Fall 2007

Water Current Newsletter

Spring Seminars Tap Range of State, National Issues In 13-Lecture UNL Public Series By Steve Ress
April Water Law, Policy and Science Conference To Focus on Great Plains Water Quality Challenges
China’s water quality issues resonate at home
Meet the Faculty
Map Shows Groundwater Decline Slowed By Kelly Helm Smith
USGS Study Identifies Major Source of Nitrate in Precipitation
New Ph.D. Specialization in Applied Ecology at UNL By Tala Awada, Ph.D.
Water Resources Advisory Panel Holds October Progress Meeting By Jessica Harder and Steve Ress
Nebraska’s Top-10 Water Challenges
2007 UNL Water Colloquium & Water Sciences Laboratory Open House(Friday, Oct. …

Hybrid Multiscale Landmark And Deformable Image Registration, Dana C. Paquin, Doron Levy, Lei Xing

Mathematics

An image registration technique is presented for the registration of medical images using a hybrid combination of coarse-scale landmark and B-splines deformable registration techniques. The technique is particularly effective for registration problems in which the images to be registered contain large localized deformations. A brief overview of landmark and deformable registration techniques is presented. The hierarchical multiscale image decomposition of E. Tadmor, S. Nezzar, and L. Vese, A multiscale image representation using hierarchical (BV,L²) decompositions, Multiscale Modeling and Simulations, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 554-579, 2004, is reviewed, and an image registration algorithm is developed based on …

Technique Integration For Requirements Assessment, Alex Dekhtyar, Jane Huffman Hayes, Senthil Sundaram, Ashlee Holbrook, Olga Dekhtyar

Computer Science and Software Engineering

In determining whether to permit a safety-critical software system to be certified and in performing independent verification and validation (IV&V) of safety- or mission-critical systems, the requirements traceability matrix (RTM) delivered by the developer must be assessed for accuracy. The current state of the practice is to perform this work manually, or with the help of general-purpose tools such as word processors and spreadsheets Such work is error-prone and person-power intensive. In this paper, we extend our prior work in application of Information Retrieval (IR) methods for candidate link generation to the problem of RTM accuracy assessment. We build voting …

Transway® (Integrated Computerized Deployment System) Technical And Operational Description, Joshua Nibecker, Harmony Larsen, Shawn Pan, Clay Warren, Robert Chambers, Dennis Taylor, Ben Weber, James Delos Reyes, Craig Maas, Mark Porczak, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

The TRANSWAY® software application is an adaptive, ontology-based toolset with collaborative agents, designed to assist the Deployment and Distribution Operations Center (DDOC) staff of the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) with the performance of movement planning tasks. The principal focus of the TRANSWAY® toolset is re-planning. The objective of TRANSWAY® is to provide DDOC operators with an intelligent planning engine that receives data from GTN and JOPES, and utilizes the existing Integrated Computerized Deployment System (ICODES) and Joint Forces Collaborative Toolkit (JFCT®; -formerly known as SEAWAY) agent-based applications as functional extensions.

With its initial and immediate focus on the …

Statistics And Analysis Tools For A Computer- Supported Collaborative Learning System, L. D. Miller, Adam Eck, Leen-Kiat Soh, Hong Jiang

CSE Conference and Workshop Papers

Traditional computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) systems focus primarily on facilitating group work amongst students, providing several different modes for different types of communication, from chatting applications to shared whiteboards. The power of a good CSCL system, in addition to the interactions it supports, lies with the data the system can gather from those interactions (both relational and content-based). Thus, we have developed the Intelligent Multiagent Infrastructure for Distributed System in Education (I-MINDS), a CSCL system built on the Microsoft ConferenceXP platform that tracks real-time data to support student learning and classroom management. I-MINDS facilitates (1) student-student interactions through message dialogs, …

Mapping Russian Forest Biomass With Data From Satellites And Forest Inventories, Richard A. Houghton, David Butman, Andrew Godard Bunn, Olga N. Krankina, Peter Schlesinger, Thomas A. Stone

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The forests of Russia cover a larger area and hold more carbon than the forests of any other nation and thus have the potential for a major role in global warming. Despite a systematic inventory of these forests, however, estimates of total carbon stocks vary, and spatial variations in the stocks within large aggregated units of land are unknown, thus hampering measurement of sources and sinks of carbon. We mapped the distribution of living forest biomass for the year 2000 by developing a relationship between ground measurements of wood volume at 12 sites throughout the Russian Federation and data from …

Responses Of The Circumpolar Boreal Forest To 20th Century Climate Variability, Andrea H. Lloyd, Andrew Godard Bunn

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

We examined relationships between tree ring-width and climate at 232 sites around the circumpolar boreal forest to explore variability in two types of response to temperature: a browning response characterized by inverse correlations between growth and temperature, and a greening response characterized by positive correlations between growth and temperature. We used moving-window correlation analysis for eight 30-year time windows, lagged by 10 years, to characterize the climate response at each site from 1902 to 2002. Inverse growth responses to temperature were widespread, occurring in all species, all time periods, and in nearly all geographic areas. The frequency of the browning …

Building Social Capital In Forest Communities: Analysis Of New Mexico's Collaborative Forest Restorative Program, Tyler Prante, Jennifer A. Thacher, Daniel W. Mccollum, Robert P. Berrens

Economics Faculty Scholarship

In part because of its emphasis on building social capital, the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program (CFRP) in New Mexico represents a unique experiment in public lands management. This study uses logit probability modeling to investigate what factors determined CFRP funding, which totaled $26 million between 2001 and 2006. Results reveal program preferences for projects that encourage collaboration and improve forest health, especially in poor counties. Negative determinants of funding include measures of small-diameter material utilization and whether a project takes place across multiple land jurisdictions. There is no evidence of bias toward funding any particular applicant type or land jurisdiction.

An Assessment Of Factors Affecting Fleet Fuel Performance, Carlo D. Smith, John L. Kent, Cory J. Roberts

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Business

Improving fuel performance in all modes of transportation is becoming more important as fuel prices increase and concerns over environmental issues rise. This is particularly relevant in the class 8 motor carrier sector which accounts for the majority of fuel consumption among all classes of motor freight movement. The present study evaluated the extent that existing technologies, systems and policies designed to improve fuel efficiency have been and are expected to be adopted by current class 8 fleets. Results suggest that while many of the efforts of suppliers to the industry are focused on new technologies, there remains an opportunity …

A Simple Array Platform For Microrna Analysis And Its Application In Mouse Tissues, Xiaoqing Tang, Jozsef Gal, Xun Zhuang, Wang-Xia Wang, Haining Zhu, Guiliang Tang

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a novel class of small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level and play a critical role in many important biological processes. Most miRNAs are conserved between humans and mice, which makes it possible to analyze their expressions with a set of selected array probes. Here, we report a simple array platform that can detect 553 nonredundant miRNAs encompassing the entire set of miRNAs for humans and mice. The platform features carefully selected and designed probes with optimized hybridization parameters. Potential cross-reaction between mature miRNAs and their precursors was investigated. The array platform was …

Circulation, Vol. 14, No. 3, Center For Coastal Physical Oceanography, Old Dominion University, S. Sackett, J. L. Blanco

CCPO Circulation

Fall 2007 issue of CCPO Circulation featuring article "Analysis of Time Series Data from the Chesapeake Bay Mouth Cruises" by S. Sackett and J. L. Blanco

Microcantilever Surface Modification For Chem-/Bio-Sensing, Hongwei Du

Doctoral Dissertations

One focus of the microcantilever (MCL) sensing area is to develop a novel surface modification approach to increase the microcantilever bending amplitudes and thus further improve sensitivities. In this dissertation, enzyme incorporated using the Layer by-Layer (LbL) process, LbL deposition of micro-, nano-hydrogel particles and electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of micro-, nano-hydrogel particles were applied to prepare a multilayer or thin hydrogel films on the surface of microcantilevers. Prior to applying to the microcantilevers, LbL and electrophoretic deposition techniques were also applied to gold coated silicon wafer surfaces to investigate the feasibility and deposition behavior using these techniques. The multilayers prepared …

Reduce Response Time: Get "Hooked" On A Wiki, Rebecca Klein, Matthew Smith, David Sierkowski

Information Technology Faculty and Staff Publications

Managing the flow of information both within the IT department and to our customers is one of our greatest challenges in the Office of Technology Information at Valparaiso University. To be successful, IT staff first need to acquire the right information from colleagues to provide excellent service. Then, the staff must determine the most effective way to communicate that information to internal and external customers to encourage the flow of information. To advance the IT department’s goals, how best can we utilize “information” and “communication” vehicles to exchange information, improve workflow, and ultimately communicate essential information to our internal and …

Ceg 420/620: Computer Architecture, Jack Jean

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Ceg 210: Pc Networking I, Karen Meyer

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

Introduction to PC networking hardware, concepts, and technologies. Focus is on LAN administration, hardware and software configuration.

Ceg 220: Introduction To C Programming For Engineers I, Robert Helt

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

This course provides a general introduction to computers as a problem-solving tool using the C programming language. Emphasis is on algorithms and techniques useful to engineers. Topics include data representation, debugging, and program verification. 4 credit hours. Prerequisite: MTH 229 (Calculus I) or EGR 101 (Engineering Mathematics).f

Ceg 233: Linux And Windows, Prabhaker Mateti

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

Introduction to Linux and Windows systems. GUI and Windowing Systems. Files and Directories. Ownership and Sharing. Programs and Processes. System calls, Libraries. Loading. Dynamic linking. Command Line Shells. Scripting languages. Regular expressions. Clients and Servers. Web browser clients and servers. Secure shell, sftp. SSL/TSL. HTTPS. System Administration.

Ceg 220: Introduction To C Programming For Engineers I, Jay Dejongh

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

This course provides a general introduction to computers as a problem-solving tool using the C programming language. Emphasis is on algorithms and techniques useful to engineers. Topics include data representation, debugging, and program verification. 4 credit hours. Prerequisite: MTH 229 (Calculus I) or EGR 101 (Engineering Mathematics).

Ceg 360/560 Ee 451/651: Digital System Design, Meilin Liu

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

Design of digital systems. Topics include flip-flops, registers, counters, programmable logic devices, memory devices, register-level design, and microcomputer system organization. Students must show competency in the design of digital systems.

Ceg 402/602: Introduction To Computer Communication, Bin Wang

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

This course provides an introduction to basic concepts of communication networks, different types of networks, protocols over different layers, and network applications through lectures, labs, homework, and reading on relevant materials.

You will

• Understand networking principles, protocols, and technologies.

• Understand some design and performance issues involved in providing a network service.

• Acquire background for supporting e-commerce, e-government, and e-education.

• Gain hands-on experience with programming techniques for network protocols.

• Obtain background for original research in computer networks.

Ceg 498: Design Experience, Thomas C. Hartrum

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

CEG 498 (Design Experience) is a summative computer engineering design project course that builds upon previous engineering, science, mathematics and communications course work. CEG 498 projects are a minimum of two quarters in length and must be completed in groups of at least three students. Projects are selected under the guidance of the course instructor and are tailored to both student interest and formal classroom preparation. Students are evaluated both on their individual contributions as recorded in a graded engineering journal and on the quality of their collective efforts as reflected in group generated products.

Student groups meet with the …

Ceg 720: Computer Architecture I, Soon M. Chung

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

Review of sequential computer architecture and study of parallel computers. Topics include memory hierarchy, reduced instruction set computer, pipeline processing, multiprocessing, various parallel computers, interconnection networks, and fault-tolerant computing.

Ceg 724: Computer Vision I, Arthur A. Goshtasby

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

This course covers basic techniques for low-level and some mid-level vision. The techniques include: camera geometry, image filtering and edge detection, color and texture analysis, image segmentation, and stereo depth perception.

Ceg 760: Advanced Software Computer Engineering, Thomas C. Hartrum

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

This course covers advanced topics in software engineering. Aspects of problem specification, design, verification, and evaluation are discussed. We will focus on design methods, including software patterns and software architecture, plus some advanced topics involving formal methods of software specification or evaluation using software metrics. Students will participate in team projects to apply the methods discussed.

Ceg 730: Distributed Computing Principles, Prabhaker Mateti

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

Communicating sequential processes, clients and servers, remote procedure calls, stub generation, weak and strong semaphores, split-binary-semaphores, and distributed termination. Example languages: SR, Linda.