LANDSAT inventory of surface-mined areas using extendible digital techniques

Multispectral analysis of LANDSAT imagery provides a rapid and accurate means of identification, classification, and measurement of strip-mined surfaces in Western Maryland. Four band analysis allows distinction of a variety of strip-mine associated classes, but has limited extendibility. A method for surface area measurement of strip mines, which is both geographically and temporally extendible, was developed using band-ratioed LANDSAT reflectance data. The accuracy of area measurement by this method, averaged over three LANDSAT scenes taken between September 1972 and July 1974, is greater than 93%. Total affected acreage of large (50 hectare/120 acre) mines can be measured to within 1.0%

Satellite data for surface-mine inventory

To determine the feasibility of satellite data for surface-mine inventory, particularly as it applies to coal, a case study was conducted in Maryland. A band-ratio method was developed to measure disturbed surface areas, and it proved to be extendible both temporally and geographically. This method was used to measure area changes in the region over three time periods from September 1972 through July 1974 and to map the entire two-county area for 1973. For mines ranging between 31 and 244 acres (12 to 98 hectares) the measurement accuracy of total affected acreage was determined to be 92%. Mines of 120 acres (50 hectares) and larger were measured with greater accuracy, some within one percent of the actual area. The ability to identify, classify, and measure strip-mine surfaces in a two-county area (1,541 square kilometers - 595 square miles) of western Maryland was demonstrated through the use of computer processing. On the basis of these results the use of LANDSAT satellite data and multilevel sampling of aircraft and field verification inspections, multispectral analysis of digital data is shown to be an effective, rapid, and accurate means of monitoring the surface mining cycle

The history and evolution of clogging : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

Dancing is a wonderful way for people to express themselves. There are so many styles of dance in our world today. and each of these dance styles had to evolve from something before it. That is how a new dance is born. Old styles of dance are changed or combined to form something new and different. In order for everyone to appreciate dance, it is important for them to be exposed to many styles of dance and learn how it evolved. This helps people understand why each dance style is special and unique. Clogging is one style of dance that is not as well known in the United States by most people in the general public. This thesis project is made to showcase this wonderful style of dance as well as educate the public about what clogging is and where it came from. I will present the findings from my research about the evolution of clogging. show a video of traditional Irish dancing (which greatly influenced clogging). as well as perform a modern clogging routine I choreographed myself. I want everyone to hear about the history as well as see what clogging looks like today in order to gain a greater appreciation for this special dance style.Honors College"December 2009."Thesis (B.?.

Further records of mammal and reptile fauna from the Black Range, near Stawell and the Grampians National Park, Western Victoria

The Field Naturalists Club of Victoria conducted surveys of vertebrate fauna in the Black Range near Stawell and in the Grampians National Park in western Victoria, between 2000 and 2007. Further surveys were conducted at both locations by RMIT University between 2003 and 2010, resulting in additional records of mammals and reptiles including several rare and threatened species. These included Southern Brown Bandicoot Isoodon obesulus, Heath Mouse Pseudomys shortridgei, Swamp Skink Lissolepis coventryi, Mountain Dragon Rankinia diemensis and Fat-tailed Dunnart Sminthopsis crassicaudata. Significant numbers of Southern Brown Bandicoot were captured at one study site in the Grampians that had been subjected to fox-baiting. Several new locality records were obtained for reptiles including Ragged Snake-eyed Skink Cryptoblepharus pannosus, Southern Grass Skink Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii, Eastern Three-lined Skink Bassiana duperreyi, Coventry's Skink Niveoscincus coventryi and the plain-back colour morph of White's Skink Liopholis whitii

Neuronal Distortions of Reward Probability without Choice

Reward probability crucially determines the value of outcomes. A basic phenomenon, defying explanation by traditional decision theories, is that people often overweigh small and underweigh large probabilities in choices under uncertainty. However, the neuronal basis of such reward probability distortions and their position in the decision process are largely unknown. We assessed individual probability distortions with behavioral pleasantness ratings and brain imaging in the absence of choice. Dorsolateral frontal cortex regions showed experience dependent overweighting of small, and underweighting of large, probabilities whereas ventral frontal regions showed the opposite pattern. These results demonstrate distorted neuronal coding of reward probabilities in the absence of choice, stress the importance of experience with probabilistic outcomes and contrast with linear probability coding in the striatum. Input of the distorted probability estimations to decision-making mechanisms are likely to contribute to well known inconsistencies in preferences formalized in theories of behavioral economics

Preliminary investigations on the population dynamics of Otolithes ruber (Sciaenidae) on Sofala Bank, Mozambique

Catch length-frequency data of Otolithes ruber (Schneider, 1801) obtained from the "Projecto de Pesca Experimental da RDA" on Sofala Bank, Mozambique, in 1987 were used to estimate growth parameters, mortalities and exploitation rates. The yield-and biomass-per-recruit analyses based thereon suggest that the stock is overfished

The High-zz Universe Confronts Warm Dark Matter: Galaxy Counts, Reionization and the Nature of Dark Matter

We use $N$-body simulations to show that high-redshift galaxy counts provide an interesting constraint on the nature of dark matter, specifically Warm Dark Matter (WDM), owing to the lack of early structure formation these models. Our simulations include three WDM models with thermal-production masses of 0.8 keV, 1.3 keV, and 2.6 keV, as well as CDM. Assuming a relationship between dark halo mass and galaxy luminosity that is set by the observed luminosity function at bright magnitudes, we find that 0.8 keV WDM is disfavored by direct galaxy counts in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field at $>\!\!10\sigma$. Similarly, 1.3 keV WDM is statistically inconsistent at $2.2\sigma$. Future observations with JWST (and possibly HST via the Frontier Fields) could rule out $1.3$ keV WDM at high significance, and may be sensitive to WDM masses greater than 2.6 keV. We also examine the ability of galaxies in these WDM models to reionize the universe, and find that 0.8 keV and 1.3 keV WDM produce optical depths to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) that are inconsistent at 68% C.L. with current Planck results, even with extremely high ionizing radiation escape fractions, and 2.6 keV WDM requires an optimistic escape fraction to yield an optical depth consistent with Planck data. Although CMB optical depth calculations are model dependent, we find a strong challenge for stellar processes alone to reionize the universe in a 0.8 keV and 1.3 keV WDM cosmology

State education as high-yield investment: human capital theory in European policy discourse

Human Capital Theory has been an increasingly important phenomenon in economic thought over the last 50 years. The central role it affords to education has become even more marked in recent years as the concept of the ‘knowledge economy’ has become a global concern. In this paper, the prevalence of Human Capital Theory within European educational policy discourse is explored. The paper examines a selection of policy documents from a number of disparate European national contexts and considers the extent to which the ideas of Human Capital Theory can be seen to be influential. In the second part of the paper, the implications of Human Capital Theory for education are considered, with a particular focus on the possible ramifications at a time of economic austerity. The paper argues that Human Capital Theory risks offering a diminished view of the person, a diminished view of education, but that with its sole focus on economic goals leaves room for educationists and others to argue for the educational, social, and moral values it ignores, and for the conception of the good life and good society it fails to mention