Statistics-based outlier detection for wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor network (WSN) applications require efficient, accurate and timely data analysis in order to facilitate (near) real-time critical decision-making and situation awareness. Accurate analysis and decision-making relies on the quality of WSN data as well as on the additional information and context. Raw observations collected from sensor nodes, however, may have low data quality and reliability due to limited WSN resources and harsh deployment environments. This article addresses the quality of WSN data focusing on outlier detection. These are defined as observations that do not conform to the expected behaviour of the data. The developed methodology is based on time-series analysis and geostatistics. Experiments with a real data set from the Swiss Alps showed that the developed methodology accurately detected outliers in WSN data taking advantage of their spatial and temporal correlations. It is concluded that the incorporation of tools for outlier detection in WSNs can be based on current statistical methodology. This provides a usable and important tool in a novel scientific field.     

Adaptive balance of global development processes

We study the processes of global self-regulation of Earth’s biota (GAIA-theory) by applying the method of adaptive balance of causes proposed by the authors. By using, as an example, the Daisy World model constructed by this method, we reveal the phenomenon of preservation of the mean temperature of Earth’s surface due to the presence of the vegetation cover. We develop an integral model of global natural, social, and economic processes in which the World Ocean is one of the factors regulating the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The decrease in the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere caused by the GAIA-effects increases the number of hurricanes and floods on the Earth. As a result, the levels of ecological and social hazards for the mankind become much higher. To eliminate these threats, it is necessary to intensify the processes of self-organization of the society realized via the improvement of education, development of science, and global regulation of the competition for natural resources. We present the results of numerical experiments performed by using the model demonstrating possible scenarios of global development with regard for the processes of self-organization of the society. __________ Translated From Morskoi Gidrofizicheskii Zhurnal, No. 3, Pp. 62–80, May–June, 2007.     

The STRATAGEM project: Stratigraphic development of the glaciated European margin

The EC-funded STRATAGEM project ran from 2000 to 2003 and was a study of the Neogene evolution of the glaciated northeast Atlantic margin from Lofoten to Porcupine, an area extending over nearly 20 degrees of latitude. An extensive seismic, borehole and sample database has been used, much of it supplied by the oil industry. The main products of STRATAGEM have been an integrated, unified stratigraphic framework in the form of an atlas documenting and illustrating the detailed stratigraphy of the entire margin, and a detailed evolution model for this margin. A brief summary of the background to, and organisation of, the project is presented, together with an outline of the main objectives, the physiographic setting of the area and the database.     

Dynamic evolution of the 1997–1999 El Niño–La Niña cycle in the southern California Current System

The development of the strongest El Niño event on record in the equatorial Pacific in 1997–1998 and the rapid transition to strong La Niña conditions in 1998–1999 had a large impact on the physical and biological environment of the West Coast. We investigate the evolution of the physical structure and circulation dynamics of the southern California Current System (CCS) during this period based on hydrographic data collected on 25 cruises over a 45-month period (February 1996–October 1999). The El Niño period was characterized by a significant increase in dynamic height, extreme water mass characteristics, a strengthening and broadening of the poleward nearshore flow, and a temporary reversal of net alongshore transport. By early 1999, conditions in the CCS had reversed. The data suggest that remotely driven forcing (propagating oceanic waves) contributed to the anomalies observed during the El Niño period, while the cool-water conditions of 1999 were most likely a result of anomalous local atmospheric forcing.     

Solubility of Pt and Pd sulfides and Au metal in aqueous bisulfide solutions

An experimental study of the solubility of Pt and Pd sulfides and Au metal in aqueous bisulfide solutions was conducted at temperatures from 200° to 350 °C and at saturated vapor pressure. A 500-mL Bridgemantype pressure vessel constructed of titanium, and equipped with a motor-driven magnetic stirrer was employed. The pH and the oxidation state were buffered by the coexistence of H₂S/HS^–/SO _inf4 ^sup2– . The pH at temperature was calculated to be in the range 5.91–9.43, and S was 0.3–2.2 m. Under the experimental conditions, the measured solubility of gold is about two to three orders of magnitude greater than that of either platinum and palladium, and the measured solubility of platinum is, in general, approximately equal to that of palladium, in molal units. The solubilities are found to be in the range: platinum 4–800 ppb, palladium 1–400 ppb, and gold 2–300 ppm. The solubility data can be modeled adequately using the following reactions: Au+H₂S+HH^–=Au(HS) ₂ ^– +1/2H₂ (K₁₄); PtS+HS^–+H⁺=Pt (HS) ₂ ⁰ (K₁₅); PdS+HS^–+H⁺=Pd (HS) ₂ ⁰ (K₁₆); PtS₂+H₂=Pt (HS) ₂ ⁰ (K₂₁).With equilibrium constants determined as follows (errors represent two standard deviations): Preliminary measurements of the solubilities of metallic Pt, Pd and Au as hydroxide complexes were also conducted using a second titanium pressure vessel, at temperatures of 200° to 350 °C and vapor saturation pressure, with pH and the oxidation state controlled or buffered by adding known amounts of NaOH and H₂ gas. The concentration of NaOH was in the range 0.01–1.3 m, and the partial pressure of H₂ at 200 °C was 62–275 bars, initially. Under the temperature and pressure conditions of these experiments, the solubility of platinum in 1 m NaOH solution is less than 100 ppb, that of palladium is less than 10 ppb and that of gold is less than 0.2 ppm; and in 0.01 m NaOH solutions, both Pt and Pd solubilities are less than 1 ppb. These data indicate that the contributions of hydroxide complexes to the total solubilities in the bisulfide runs, where the pH was in the range of 5.9–9.4, are negligible. The concentrations of both Pt and Pd as bisulfide complexes in the Salton Sea geothermal system predicted using the stability constants determined in this work agree very well with those values measured by McKibben et al. (1990). This calculation strongly suggests that the PGE are transported in moderately reducing, near neutral hydrothermal fluids as bisulfide complexes, as is gold. However, the much lower maximum solubility of the PGE relative to gold severely constrains models of re genesis, and may explain the relative rarity of hydrothermal PGE deposits compared to the relative abundance of hydrothermal Au deposits.     

Seismic bearing capacity of shallow strip footings

Seismic bearing capacity of shallow strip footings in soil has been obtained in the form of pseudo-static seismic bearing capacity factors N_cd, N_qd and N_d, denoting the cohesion, surcharge and unit weight components, respectively, by an extensive numerical iteration technique. Limit equilibrium method of analysis with composite failure surface is assumed. The validity of the principle of superposition is examined. Effects of both the horizontal and vertical seismic acceleration coefficients have been found to always reduce the ultimate bearing capacity significantly. Results obtained by the present method of analysis are compared with the available results and are found to be the least in the seismic case.     

Variations in the near-ground electric field at high latitudes and the potential drop across the polar cap during morning polar substorms

This paper studies time variations in the near-ground atmospheric electric field (Ez) at the geomagnetic latitude of 74° (Hornsund observatory) during polar substorms. Ez variations are compared with those in the potential drop across the polar cap (Up), according to SuperDARN radar observations. It is found that in the morning sector, time variations in Ez are strongly driven by time variations in the electrojet and almost do not depend on time variations in Up, which is presumably due to the penetration of the electric field of the electrojet into tropospheric altitudes.     

Regional Variations in the Mineralogy of Metasomatic Assemblages in Mantle Xenoliths from the West Eifel Volcanic Field, Germany

Xenoliths record two distinct events in the mantle below theQuarternary West Eifel Volcanic Field, Germany. The first, duringthe Hercynian Orogeny, led to widespread formation of secondary,Ti-poor amphibole, clinopyroxene and phlogopite. The signatureof the second event, related to Quaternary volcanism, variesacross the field. At Dreiser Weiher and Meerfelder Maar, thisevent is characterized by amphibole–phlogopite–clinopyroxeneveins, hosted in lherzolite and harzburgite xenoliths broughtto the surface by sodic olivine nephelinite–basanite suitelavas. These veins formed from crystallization of sodic magmathat flowed along fractures in the mantle. At Rockeskyller Kopf,Gees and Baarley, the Quaternary event is characterized by wehrlitexenoliths, many of which have phlogopite–clinopyroxeneveins, that were transported by potassic foid suite lavas. Wehrliteformed by reaction of lherzolite–harzburgite, with a largevolume of potassic magma that flowed along grain boundariesrather than in fractures. During reaction, orthopyroxene wasconsumed and secondary clinopyroxene, olivine and phlogopiteprecipitated. Veins formed in wehrlites only during periodicover-pressure events. The composition of the magmas parentalto the veins is similar to the lavas that carried the xenolithsto surface, indicating that the source of foid and olivine nephelinite–basanitesuite magma is domainal, as was the flow regime and magma flux. KEY WORDS: Eifel; mantle xenoliths; metasomatism; trace elements     

Constraints on spatial variability in soft-sediment communities affected by contamination from an Antarctic waste disposal site

A small-scale (<500 m length) transect-based survey was conducted in December 1998 to examine the spatial distribution of soft-sediment communities and of concentrations of heavy metals and hydrocarbons in sediments in Brown Bay, adjacent to an abandoned waste dump, at Casey Station, Antarctica. Samples were taken along three transects at increasing distances (nine stations) from the shore-line waste dump. A gradient of contamination was detected, but concentrations of contaminants were very variable with "hotspots" or high levels of contaminants at some stations. Multivariate analysis revealed that the distribution of soft-sediment communities was distinctly different between the inner, middle and outer stations. Abundances of most taxa were very variable with few patterns apparent, but some fauna displayed an abundance gradient from the inner to the outer part of the bay. Many taxa had maximum abundances at outer stations and minimum at inner stations. Multivariate correlations between environmental variables and soft-sediment communities indicated that combinations of some metals (Cd, Cu, Sn, Pb) and grain size (mainly finer fractions, fine sands and coarse silts) were the variables that best "matched" the community patterns within Brown Bay. This study indicated that there were significant correlations between the presence of contaminants and the distribution and composition of soft-sediment communities over very small spatial scales.     

Solar flare injection and propagation of low-energy protons and electrons in the event of 7–9 July, 1966

Simultaneous observations of the 7–9 July 1966 solar particle event by energetic particle detectors on three satellites, IMP-III, OGO-III and Explorer 33 are utilized to show that large spatial gradients are present in the fluxes of 0.5–20 meV protons and 45 keV electrons. The event is divided into three parts: the ordinary diffusive component, the halo, and the core. The core corotates with the interplanetary field, and therefore it and the surrounding halo are interpreted as spatial features which are connected by the interplanetary magnetic field lines to the vicinity of the flare region. Upper limits to the interplanetary transverse diffusion coefficient for 4–20 meV protons at 1 AU are derived from the width of the halo. These are at least two orders of magnitude less than the parallel diffusion coefficient for the same energy particles.It is argued that the observed flux variations cannot be explained by an impulsive point source injection for any physically reasonable diffusion model. Instead, since the interplanetary transverse-diffusion coefficient is small for these low-energy particles, the observed spatial features are interpreted as the projection to 1 AU by the interplanetary field lines of an extensive injection profile at the sun. The geometry of the injection mechanism is discussed and it is suggested that some temporary storage of the flare particles occurs near the sun.Now at NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., U.S.A.