Development of GIS-Based Model to Estimate Relative Reductions in Crop Yield due to Salinity and Waterlogging

A model is introduced that utilizes geographic information systems (GIS) to predict relative reductions in crop yield due to salinity and waterlogging at a field-scale by incorporating spatially and temporally variable crop, climatic, and irrigation data to simulate crop yields. This model utilizes soil and water data commonly collected in field-scale studies. The model’s algorithms are integrated into a GIS (ARCVIEW 3.2) as an extension. The result is a model that does not require extraordinary data collection but will provide practical insight into the spatial effects of salinity and waterlogging on crop yields.     

HPCVIEW: A Tool for Top-down Analysis of Node Performance

It is increasingly difficult for complex scientific programs to attain a significant fraction of peak performance on systems that are based on microprocessors with substantial instruction-level parallelism and deep memory hierarchies. Despite this trend, performance analysis and tuning tools are still not used regularly by algorithm and application designers. To a large extent, existing performance tools fail to meet many user needs and are cumbersome to use. To address these issues, we developed HPCVIEW—a toolkit for combining multiple sets of program profile data, correlating the data with source code, and generating a database that can be analyzed anywhere with a commodity Web browser. We argue that HPCVIEW addresses many of the issues that have limited the usability and the utility of most existing tools. We originally built HPCVIEW to facilitate our own work on data layout and optimizing compilers. Now, in addition to daily use within our group, HPCVIEW is being used by several code development teams in DoD and DoE laboratories as well as at NCSA.     

The influence of P2O5 on clinker reactions

Synthetic clinkers, similar to high-silica Portland Cement clinkers, were prepared from raw material containing at times more than 50% oil shale from Har-Tuv area (central Israel) to which phosphate rock and laboratory grade CaCO₃ and SiO₂ were added. Although some clinkers contained more than 3% P₂O₅, their mineralogical composition was satisfactory (50 to 60% C₃S). This result was obtained by taking into account in the SM formula the P₂O₅ concentrations. The resultant relatively high silica concentrations raise the melting point of the raw meal, causing a non-equilibrium state which allows the formation of C₃S and its preservation.     

Salaries and satisfactions of medical school psychologists.

Used data from a 1977 survey to investigate the relationship of salary to professional activities and to vocational satisfactions of 642 medical school psychologists. Results show the following: (1) current and potential salaries correlated with items involving seniority and rank, and with beliefs of appropriate skill utilization and advantages accruing in the setting. (2) Salaries are negatively related to time spent in diagnostic and therapeutic work. (3) Only salary expectations are significantly related to personal satisfactions and comparative occupational freedoms. (4) Vocational interests and career commitments are not closely tied to salaries. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The power of inequality semijoins

Semijoin is a relational operator used in many relational query processing algorithms. Semijoins can be used to “reduce” the database by delimitting portions of the database that contain data relevant to a given query. For some queries, there exist sequences of semijoins that delimit the exact portions of the database needed to answer the query. Such sequences are called full reducers.

This paper considers a class of queries called natural inequality queries (NI queries), and characterizes a subclass for which full reducers exist. We also present an efficient algorithm that decides whether an NI query lies within this subclass, and constructs a full reducer for the query. The NI queries are a subset of the aggregate-free, conjunctive queries of QUEL, and permit join clauses to include <, , =, , >.     

Operant responding for visual stimuli during sensory deprivation: Effect of meaningfulness.

Employed slide series differing in amount of meaningfulness as reinforcers for conjugately programed operant responding during 2-hr sessions of sensory deprivation and control conditions. Ss were 36 student nurses, 17-22 yr. old. Every S had the opportunity to respond to the slide series under both sets of conditions. Rates of responding under both conditions were higher for the more meaningful slide series, but rates of responding for the least meaningful reinforcers were higher under sensory deprivation conditions than under control conditions. Results are interpreted as indicating a need for nonmeaningful stimulation and for meaningful stimulation during sensory deprivation. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why clinical psychology does not need alternative training models.

Current evidence suggests that the Boulder (scientist-professional) model of training in clinical psychology is eminently successful and widely accepted. The author argues that (a) alternative models of training that deemphasize research or general psychology and those programs not based in a university are unnecessary and undesirable, and (b) regardless of the type of model used, the highest level of quality is essential for the profession and the discipline of psychology. It is contended that ultimate control of the quality of education and training rests with psychology. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential mass spectrometry: a label-free LC-MS method for finding significant differences in complex peptide and protein mixtures

Efficiently identifying and quantifying disease- or treatment-related changes in the abundance of proteins is an important area of research for the pharmaceutical industry. Here we describe an automated, label-free method for finding differences in complex mixtures using complete LC-MS data sets, rather than subsets of extracted peaks or features. The method selectively finds statistically significant differences in the intensity of both high-abundance and low-abundance ions, accounting for the variability of measured intensities and the fact that true differences will persist in time. The method was used to compare two complex peptide mixtures with known peptide differences. This controlled experiment allowed us to assess the validity of each difference found and so to analyze the method's sensitivity and specificity. The method detects both presence versus absence and a 2-fold change in peptide concentration near the limit of detection of the instrument used, where chromatographic peaks may not be sufficiently well defined to be detected in individual samples. The method is more sensitive and gives fewer false positives than subtractive methods that ignore signal variability. Differential mass spectrometry combined with targeted MS/MS analysis of only identified differences may save both computation time and human effort compared to shotgun proteomics approaches.     

Development and optimization of a mid-infrared hollow waveguide gas sensor combined with a supported capillary membrane sampler

A gas sensor for application in water analysis was developed by combination of a mid-infrared (MIR) hollow waveguide with a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer and coupling of the hollow waveguide gas sensor module to a supported capillary membrane sampler (SCMS) for continuous liquid-gas extraction. Different hollow waveguides have been characterized in this study for developing an optimized optical configuration. Analysis of industrially relevant compounds has been performed, investigating chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs), such as dichloromethane and chloroform, representing highly volatile analytes, and 1,4-dioxane as an example of target compounds with low volatility. The suitability of this spectroscopic IR sensing system for industrial applications is demonstrated under simulated real-world conditions with limits of detection in the ppb (v/v) and ppm (v/v) concentration range for CHCs and 1,4-dioxane, respectively.