Hyperion, IKONOS, ALI, and ETM+ sensors in the study of African rainforests

The goal of this research was to compare narrowband hyperspectral Hyperion data with broadband hyperspatial IKONOS data and advanced multispectral Advanced Land Imager (ALI) and Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data through modeling and classifying complex rainforest vegetation. For this purpose, Hyperion, ALI, IKONOS, and ETM+ data were acquired for southern Cameroon, a region considered to be a representative area for tropical moist evergreen and semi-deciduous forests. Field data, collected in near-real time to coincide with satellite sensor overpass, were used to (1) quantify and model the biomass of tree, shrub, and weed species; and (2) characterize forest land use/land cover (LULC) classes.The study established that even the most advanced broadband sensors (i.e., ETM+, IKONOS, and ALI) had serious limitations in modeling biomass and in classifying forest LULC classes. The broadband models explained only 13-60% of the variability in biomass across primary forests, secondary forests, and fallows. The overall accuracies were between 42% and 51% for classifying nine complex rainforest LULC classes using the broadband data of these sensors. Within individual vegetation types (e.g., primary or secondary forest), the overall accuracies increased slightly, but followed a similar trend. Among the broadband sensors, ALI sensor performed better than the IKONOS and ETM+ sensors.When compared to the three broadband sensors, Hyperion narrowband data produced (1) models that explained 36-83% more of the variability in rainforest biomass, and (2) LULC classifications with 45-52% higher overall accuracies. Twenty-three Hyperion narrowbands that were most sensitive in modeling forest biomass and in classifying forest LULC classes were identified and discussed.     

Testing multi-characteristic product capability indices

Recently, studies associated with testing the quality and performance of each process for a product with multi-characteristics are proposed more often. However, most studies are limited to discussing one single type of quality characteristic. Practically, a multi-characteristic product is potentially composed of three types: smaller-the-better, larger-the-better, and nominal-the-best. In this paper, we propose an integrated product capability index which considers these three different types of quality characteristics. According to the theory of testing hypothesis, we develop a testing procedure for the product capability index to judge whether the process capabilities of total quality characteristics meet the customers’ demands. In addition, the relationship between the product capability index and the yield of the entire product will be introduced. Finally, an example is provided as a practical application.     

Effect-Size Indices for Dichotomized Outcomes in Meta-Analysis.

It is very common to find meta-analyses in which some of the studies compare 2 groups on continuous dependent variables and others compare groups on dichotomized variables. Integrating all of them in a meta-analysis requires an effect-size index in the same metric that can be applied to both types of outcomes. In this article, the performance in terms of bias and sampling variance of 7 different effect-size indices for estimating the population standardized mean difference from a 2 × 2 table is examined by Monte Carlo simulation, assuming normal and nonnormal distributions. The results show good performance for 2 indices, one based on the probit transformation and the other based on the logistic distribution. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

电控平行排列液晶光栅的光衍射特性研究

对电控平行液晶光栅的理论进行了分析,并配以结构原理图。通过对平行排列及90°扭曲排列液晶指向矢的计算,得出液晶盒中相应的折射率、相位差与电压之间的关系图,两者经比较证明平行排列更具适用性,并在实验中观测到了平行排列液晶光栅衍射特性与电压的关系。     

An investigation of carbon nanotube jet grinding

Since their observation in 1976 and 1991, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have generated much interest due to their properties and potential applications. CNTs are tubular carbon molecules with remarkable mechanical, electrical, chemical and thermal properties, which make them useful in various applications. Industries producing CNTs via the fluidized bed chemical vapor deposition technique face challenges related to the size of CNT bundles. The two main challenges are agglomeration and agglomerate size distribution control. A solution to these challenges involves the use of jet mills to grind the CNT agglomerates. The goal of this study was to determine whether the nanotubes could be ground with air jets using a commercial jet mill and apply a two-parameter model to describe the grinding process. The present study has indicated that air-jet grinding of CNTs is feasible with a typical commercial jet mill. This paper presents the effect of operational parameters on the arithmetic mean diameter of the ground product. Sonic velocity through the grinding nozzles was required to obtain reasonable grinding rates and relatively narrow particle size distributions. This occurs at high air to solids feedrate ratios. Additionally, a simple attrition model can describe the grinding process in the spiral jet mill.     

Children's Physiological Indices of Empathy and Their Socioemotional Adjustment: Does Caregivers' Expressivity Matter?

Relations of heart rate and skin conductance reactions to mildly evocative empathy-inducing slides with socioemotional functioning were examined for 154 children (mean age = 9 years, 5 months). In addition, maternal expressivity was tested as a moderator of these relations. Parents and teachers rated children's socioemotional functioning, and a behavioral measure of children's regulation was obtained. Boys who exhibited higher skin conductance and higher heart rate to slides depicting negative emotions were better regulated, less emotionally intense, and better adjusted than their peers. Furthermore, boys' regulation and adjustment were positively related to such physiological responding to negative slides if maternal negative expressivity was relatively low or moderate, but not high. Fewer findings were obtained for girls or for positive slides. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

煤粉着火难易模型的初步建立

利用沉降炉试验系统，针对不同煤质的煤种进行了着火燃烧试验，采用回归分析方法确定了煤粉着火难易模型，按照该模型计算得到的着火温度指数与实际试验中测量得到的结果相符合，证明了模型的精确性。     

A study of the static and dynamic properties of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers in low molar mass mesogens

The static and dynamic properties of solutions of a side chain polysiloxane liquid crystal polymer have been studied in a cyanobiphenyl nematic host as a function of concentration and temperature. Refractive index measurements were carried out on aligned samples and the data used to determine the macroscopic order parameter, S, using Haller's method. Photon correlation spectroscopy has been used to measure ($\text{k}{}_{22}\text{γ}{}_1$) for the pure nematic solvent and the solutions. From these measurements it appears that the static properties vary slowly and linearly with increasing polymer concentration whilst the dynamic or viscoelastic properties change markedly. This change has been attributed to γ₁, the twist viscosity, and the results have been discussed in terms of the function of the siloxane polymer backbone.     

Developing habitat associations for fishes in Lake Winnipeg by linking large scale bathymetric and substrate data with fish telemetry detections

Understanding relationships between freshwater fishes and habitat is critical for effective fisheries and habitat management. Habitat suitability indices (HSI) are commonly used to describe fish–habitat associations in rivers and other freshwater ecosystems. When applied to large lakes however, standard sampling procedures are inadequate because of larger sampling areas and an increased risk of fish collection bias through one-time observations. Here, we use lake bathymetry, substrate, and multiple fish telemetry detections collected from a systematically deployed receiver grid to develop HSI for four fish species (lake sturgeon, freshwater drum, common carp, and walleye) in Lake Winnipeg. Seasonal variations in habitat use based on water depth and substrate were observed in three of four species. Lake sturgeon remained in shallow locations with predominantly gravel substrate near the mouth of the Winnipeg River regardless of season. Freshwater drum persisted over fine substrate in both summer and winter but had a broader depth range in the summer compared to winter. Common carp shifted from mid-range depths and silt substrate in the summer to shallow depths and gravel substrate in the winter. Walleye showed an unchanging association to fine substrate but expanded from primarily mid-range depths in the summer to include shallower depths in the winter. These findings show how multiple telemetry detections per fish can be combined with hydroacoustic data to provide informative habitat associations for fishes in a large lacustrine ecosystem.     

Authority updating: An expert authority evaluation algorithm considering post‐evaluation and power indices in social networks

In group assessment, the focus is on finding high‐authority experts to improve the reliability of assessment results. In this study, we propose an authority updating algorithm while considering the power and judgement reliability of an expert on the basis of social networks and post‐evaluations. A network power index is established and used to reflect the power of an expert while considering social networks. The measurement of the judgement reliability of an expert considers the post‐evaluation of the objects selected by experts, thereby more scientifically reflecting the reliability of experts. The analysis shows the following: although the social‐network structure influences the authority of experts, the influence weakens when the assessment group is a highly or even fully connected group; the network effect may increase the authority of some experts and reduce that of others, and it will weaken as the network connectivity increases; moreover, the judgement reliability and authority of an expert while considering post‐evaluation can encourage him/her to make fair assessments and strive to reduce his/her motivation and cognitive biases.