Decadal hydroclimatic variability in the western coastal United States: temporal and spatial variations in precipitation, streamflow, and lake level

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): We have analyzed streamflow variations recorded at 15 USGS gauging stations in California during the past 90 years or so. The anomalies (departures from the 1960-1990 mean discharge) of streamflow on annual-to-decadal time scales are strongly correlated with precipitation anomalies in each drainage basin. ... Although causes of the decadal climate (precipitation) variability are not known with certainty, the use of streamflow records may help us understand the relative strengths of moisture sources and shift of the jet stream in atmospheric circulation.

Effect of dietary protein level on the growth of Deccan mahseer fry Tor khudree Sykes

Four feeds having different protein levels were separately tested on Tor khudree fry having an average length of 23.5 mm and weight 55 mg. The best average growth of 15.66 mg and 0.456 mm/day was obtained with Feed IV which comprised rice bran, ground nut oil cake, Acetes, wheat flour and mineral mix at the ratio of 1:1:1:0.7143:0.01428. These constitute 35.29% of proteins. The Feed II which comprised R.B + G.O.C. + prawn shell + wheat flour and mineral mix at a ratio of 1:1:1:0.7143:0.01428 contained 32.61% crude proteins. It provided a growth rate of 14.83 mg and 0.440 mm per day. The conversion rates were 38.258 and 37.776 for feeds IV and II respectively. Since Feed II is cheaper than Feed IV and provides almost equal growth rate, it can be used in the nurseries for intensive rearing of T. khudree fry.

Tidal and sea level changes at Jeddah, Red Sea

Tidal and sea level changes during 1991 at a coastal station (Jeddah) in the central part of the Red Sea are investigated. Analysis shows higher sea levels in winter and lower in summer. The amplitude of change at Jeddah is above 50cm. Analysis of wind stress at Jeddah indicates an insignificant contribution of the cross-shore component, while a major part of the changes in the sea level can be accounted for by the long-shore component.

Effect of salt on the level of histamine in preserved fish (Herring, Clupea harengus)

Histamine levels in batches of heavily salted (fish:salt ratio 4:1) herring (Clupea harengus) were monitored during ripening at 4°C and 25°C. The batches studied were prepared from both pre-spawning and post-spawning (spent) fish using new and used salt. Salt levels in the flesh, which reached 11 to 14% (wet weight basis) during the ripening period, were found to retard histamine formation. During normal spoilage of ice chilled fish, histamine levels had been reported to exceed 50mg/100g flesh as it approached the limit of edibility whilst, in the heavily salted fish, levels remained below 20mg/100g flesh throughout the ripening periods of 18 months for the 4°C batches and 3 months for the 25°C batches. This was the case when the samples were set up and the salt allowed penetrating the flesh at 4°C. When, however, the samples were set up and initially stored at ambient (10-15°C) temperature the histamine levels in the flesh rose above 20mg/100g before enough salt had penetrated to inhibit its generation. The gradual rise in levels which, nevertheless, occurred over the ripening periods followed significantly (5% level of significance) different trends, being greater in the batches prepared from pre-spawning than those from spent fish.

Correlation between density of states distributions and the fermi level position in interfacial regions of amorphous silicon thin film transistors

This paper investigates the variation of the integrated density of states with conduction activation energy in hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin film transistors. Results are given for two different gate insulator layers, PECVD silicon oxide and thermally grown silicon dioxide. The different gate insulators produce transistors with very different initial transfer characteristics, but the variation of integrated density of states with conduction activation energy is shown to be similar.

Phone-level pronunciation scoring and assessment for interactive language learning

This paper investigates a method of automatic pronunciation scoring for use in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) systems. The method utilizes a likelihood-based `Goodness of Pronunciation' (GOP) measure which is extended to include individual thresholds for each phone based on both averaged native confidence scores and on rejection statistics provided by human judges. Further improvements are obtained by incorporating models of the subject's native language and by augmenting the recognition networks to include expected pronunciation errors. The various GOP measures are assessed using a specially recorded database of non-native speakers which has been annotated to mark phone-level pronunciation errors. Since pronunciation assessment is highly subjective, a set of four performance measures has been designed, each of them measuring different aspects of how well computer-derived phone-level scores agree with human scores. These performance measures are used to cross-validate the reference annotations and to assess the basic GOP algorithm and its refinements. The experimental results suggest that a likelihood-based pronunciation scoring metric can achieve usable performance, especially after applying the various enhancements.

A new Lagrangian-Eulerian shell-fluid coupling algorithm based on level sets

We propose a computational method for the coupled simulation of a compressible flow interacting with a thin-shell structure undergoing large deformations. An Eulerian finite volume formulation is adopted for the fluid and a Lagrangian formulation based on subdivision finite elements is adopted for the shell response. The coupling between the fluid and the solid response is achieved via a novel approach based on level sets. The basic approach furnishes a general algorithm for coupling Lagrangian shell solvers with Cartesian grid based Eulerian fluid solvers. The efficiency and robustness of the proposed approach is demonstrated with a airbag deployment simulation. It bears emphasis that in the proposed approach the solid and the fluid components as well as their coupled interaction are considered in full detail and modeled with an equivalent level of fidelity without any oversimplifying assumptions or bias towards a particular physical aspect of the problem.