Using habitat suitability models for multiscale forensic geolocation analysis

Pollen is one of the most durable environmental materials that law enforcement agencies recover as trace evidence from people and objects. Although links between objects and geographic locations are essential during legal investigations, the approach of using pollen and other microbial fingerprints to build these links in an analytical framework is still underutilized. This study uses bees as objects that are mobile and collects environmental traces as a test case to determine the efficacy of predictive geolocation efforts with recovered pollen and species distribution models at both subcontinental and global scales. Results demonstrate promising performance in both the predictive capability of species distribution models and identification of possible location history of bees at both study extents. When coupling pollen with other categories of evidentiary items, this geographic attribution framework can aid law enforcement personnel in refining investigation priorities and optimizing search strategies.     

A Hybrid Geocoding Methodology for Spatio‐Temporal Data

As tools for collecting data continue to evolve and improve, the information available for research is expanding rapidly. Increasingly, this information is of a spatio‐temporal nature, which enables tracking of phenomena through both space and time. Despite the increasing availability of spatio‐temporal data, however, the methods for processing and analyzing these data are lacking. Existing geocoding techniques are no exception. Geocoding enables the geographic location of people and events to be known and tracked. However, geocoded information is highly generalized and subject to various interpolation errors. In addition, geocoding for spatio‐temporal data is especially challenging because of the inherent dynamism of associated data. This article presents a methodology for geocoding spatio‐temporal data in ArcGIS that utilizes several additional supporting procedures to enhance spatial accuracy, including the use of supplementary land use information, aerial photographs and local knowledge. This hybrid methodology allows for the tracking of phenomenon through space and over time. It is also able to account for reporting inconsistencies, which is a common feature of spatio‐temporal data. The utility of this methodology is demonstrated using an application to spatio‐temporal address records for a highly mobile group of convicted felons in Hamilton County, Ohio.     

GESE: a small UV space telescope to conduct a large spectroscopic survey of z∼1 Galaxies

One of the key goals of NASA’s astrophysics program is to answer the question: How did galaxies evolve into the spirals and elliptical galaxies that we see today? We describe a space mission concept called Galaxy Evolution Spectroscopic Explorer (GESE) to address this question by making a large spectroscopic survey of galaxies at a redshift, z～1 (look-back time of ～8 billion years). GESE is a 1.5-m space telescope with an ultraviolet (UV) multi-object slit spectrograph that can obtain spectra of hundreds of galaxies per exposure. The spectrograph covers the spectral range, 0.2–0.4 μm at a spectral resolving power, R～500. This observed spectral range corresponds to 0.1–0.2 μm as emitted by a galaxy at a redshift, z=1. The mission concept takes advantage of two new technological advances: (1) light-weighted, wide-field telescope mirrors, and (2) the Next-Generation MicroShutter Array (NG-MSA) to be used as a slit generator in the multi-object slit spectrograph.     

The rayed crater Zunil and interpretations of small impact craters on Mars

A 10-km diameter crater named Zunil in the Cerberus Plains of Mars created ∼¹⁰⁷ secondary craters 10 to 200 m in diameter. Many of these secondary craters are concentrated in radial streaks that extend up to 1600 km from the primary crater, identical to lunar rays. Most of the larger Zunil secondaries are distinctive in both visible and thermal infrared imaging. MOC images of the secondary craters show sharp rims and bright ejecta and rays, but the craters are shallow and often noncircular, as expected for relatively low-velocity impacts. About 80% of the impact craters superimposed over the youngest surfaces in the Cerberus Plains, such as Athabasca Valles, have the distinctive characteristics of Zunil secondaries. We have not identified any other large (?10 km diameter) impact crater on Mars with such distinctive rays of young secondary craters, so the age of the crater may be less than a few Ma. Zunil formed in the apparently youngest (least cratered) large-scale lava plains on Mars, and may be an excellent example of how spallation of a competent surface layer can produce high-velocity ejecta (Melosh, 1984, Impact ejection, spallation, and the origin of meteorites, Icarus 59, 234-260). It could be the source crater for some of the basaltic shergottites, consistent with their crystallization and ejection ages, composition, and the fact that Zunil produced abundant high-velocity ejecta fragments. A 3D hydrodynamic simulation of the impact event produced 10¹⁰ rock fragments ?10 cm diameter, leading to up to 10⁹ secondary craters ?10 m diameter. Nearly all of the simulated secondary craters larger than 50 m are within 800 km of the impact site but the more abundant smaller (10-50 m) craters extend out to 3500 km. If Zunil is representative of large impact events on Mars, then secondaries should be more abundant than primaries at diameters a factor of ∼1000 smaller than that of the largest primary crater that contributed secondaries. As a result, most small craters on Mars could be secondaries. Depth/diameter ratios of 1300 small craters (10-500 m diameter) in Isidis Planitia and Gusev crater have a mean value of 0.08; the freshest of these craters give a ratio of 0.11, identical to that of fresh secondary craters on the Moon (Pike and Wilhelms, 1978, Secondary-impact craters on the Moon: topographic form and geologic process, Lunar Planet. Sci. IX, 907-909) and significantly less than the value of ∼0.2 or more expected for fresh primary craters of this size range. Several observations suggest that the production functions of Hartmann and Neukum (2001, Cratering chronology and the evolution of Mars, Space Sci. Rev. 96, 165-194) predict too many primary craters smaller than a few hundred meters in diameter. Fewer small, high-velocity impacts may explain why there appears to be little impact regolith over Amazonian terrains. Martian terrains dated by small craters could be older than reported in recent publications.     

Gas Flows and Star Formation in the Ringed Galaxy NGC 4736

We present high-resolution (∼5″) BIMA CO observations of the ringed galaxy NGC 4736, along with previously published VLA HI data (Braun, 1995). Strong CO emission is detected from the star-forming ring at r=45″ and in the central region, where a molecular bar is apparent. The azimuthally averaged gas surface density is still much less than the Toomre critical density within r=60″, despite the starburst conditions in the ring (gas depletion time ≲1Gyr). Both CO and HI velocity fields show strong departures from a circular rotating disc model. The velocity residuals are consistent with inflowing gas near the ends of the central bar, outflowing gas between the bar and the ring, and inflowing gas outside the ring. We propose that the high star formation efficiency in the ring results from gas being driven out towards the OLR of the bar and in towards the ILR of the larger oval distortion. However, the strong signature of inflow outside the ring is probably due in part to gas motion in elliptical orbits. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Using Points of Presence to Measure Accessibility to the Commercial Internet

As the Internet continues to grow, questions of accessibility and infrastructure equity persist. In the increasingly competitive telecommunications industry, profit-seeking firms continue to upgrade infrastructure in select market areas creating an uneven spatial distribution of access opportunities. This article utilizes a longitudinal database of Internet infrastructure development, highlighting fiber-optic backbone points of presence (POP) established by commercial Internet service providers to examine city accessibility to the commercial Internet. Results indicate that many larger metropolitan areas maintain dominant shares of telecom infrastructure, but several midsized metros are emerging as important centers for telecommunication interconnection.