Search

Flash flooding occurs when low-lying geographic areas are rapidly flooded and is mainly caused by heavy rains. Urban road networks are the primary structures affected by flood inundation, which causes disruption to transportation and reduces the efficiency of rescue services. This paper proposes a physically based spatiotemporal method of analyzing flood impacts on urban road networks that considers both the physical parameters of flooding and the susceptibility of the transportation network. The results indicate that the proposed method provides reasonable spatiotemporal and synthetic estimates of impacts to the road network of Austin, Texas, USA, under flash flooding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on the special issue of the papers presented at the Japan US Symposium on Flow Simulation and Modelling held at the International Center, Kyushu University on May 1 -3, 2002. This symposium was sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences and organized mainly by Professor Tayfun E. Tezduyar of Rice University, Professor Thomas J.R. Hughes of the University of Texas at Austin, Texas, Professor Mutsuto Kawahara of Chuo University and Professor Hiroshi Kanayama of Kyushu University.

• Coupling of ANN waste forecasts with GIS collection route optimization. • GIS routes with minimum travel distances are sensitive to waste composition. • Results of 36 scenarios yield changes in travel distance of up to 19.9% • Dual compartment trucks reduce travel distance but increase waste collection time. Combining an artificial neural network (ANN) waste prediction model with a geographic information system (GIS) waste collection route optimization, the paper shows how the compositional features of waste materials affect the optimized truck route time, distance, and air emissions. Using data from Austin, Texas, USA, a nonlinear autoregressive ANN model is used to predict the waste generation rate of the recycling and garbage streams for the year 2023 in four sub-areas of the city. This ANN model resulted in mean absolute percentage errors ranging from 10.92% to 16.51%. Modified compositions of the recycling and garbage streams are then used as inputs, along with the year 2023 generation rates, to create 6 modified and 3 non-modified scenarios that reflect possible future changes in waste composition. These waste stream scenarios are then used as input parameters to determine optimal waste collection routes with minimal travel distance in each of the four sub-areas using the GIS vehicle routing problem network analysis tool. Results of these 36 scenarios yield changes in travel distance of up to 19.9%, when compared to the non-modified composition. Further, dual compartment trucks were compared to single compartment trucks and found to save between 10.3 and 16.0% in travel distance and slightly reduce emissions but had a 15.7–19.8% increase in collection time. Results suggest temporal changes in waste composition and characteristics are important in GIS route optimization studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities around the US are promoting redevelopment efforts in central city neighborhoods in order to foster more-sustainable development patterns. In this paper, we argue that such plans must be grounded in an assessment of the current conditions and existing populations in these neighborhoods. We propose a new way to frame plans for existing communities, using the concept of vulnerability to help us connect current conditions and future goals. Through a case study of the planning process for a transit-oriented redevelopment plan for a central neighborhood in Austin, Texas, we illustrate the difference between current approaches and an alternative approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents information related to the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). It reports that the 2004 Classic Paper Award was given to the author of the most influential paper from the Fourth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, held in 1984 in Austin, Texas. The Awards Committee selected Hector J. Levesque of the University of Toronto, to receive the award for his paper, "A Logic of Implicit and Explicit Belief." The article also presents the financial statement of the AAAI as of December 31, 2003 and related statements of activities, changes in net assets and cash flow for the year that ended. The financial statements are presented on the actual basis of accounting. As required by Financial Accounting Standards No. 124 investments are stated at fair market value and realized and unrealized gains and losses are combined on the statement of activities. AAAI is exempt from income taxes on its earning from investments and its exempt function operations under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and Section 23 701(d) of the California Revenue and Taxation Code. Federal and California taxes were paid during 2003 on earnings from sales of mailing lists and advertising.

Analyzes publications produced by scientists during their employment at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics in Austin. Assessment of research performance using bibliometric indicators; Classification of publications; Different methods for determining the cited half-life; Evaluation of the reliability of citation count data.

Discusses the problems experienced in estimating the actual current distribution among various silicon controlled rectifier switches in a converter at the University of Texas at Austin Center for Electromechanics. Importance of multiple switching devices in power converters; Results of the electromagnetic finite-element analysis of one leg of the converter; Role of differential reactance in determining the magnitude of the overload.

Pays tribute to Bernth Lindfors, head of African literature studies at the University of Texas in Austin. Role in bringing together the university's African and Afro-American Research Institute, the Humanities Research Center and the periodical 'Research in African Literatures'; Role as founder and editor of the periodical; Authorship of a biography of Ira Aldridge.

Recent curriculum development projects have introduced geographers to the theory and practice of online instruction. One of these projects, the Virtual Geography Department (VGD) at the University of Texas at Austin, seeks to promote the development of high-quality instructional materials on the Web. Twenty-nine participants in the VGD project were interviewed for the purpose of learning what effects the VGD had on their educational practice. The results show that the VGD is diffusing innovative practice in geography by training faculty members in Web pedagogy and online curriculum development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an abstract of a paper entitled `The Free Enterprise Teacher Practicum,' by Jo Ann Cutler Sweeney and Alan W. Garrett.

Offers a brief description of the holdings in British theatre in the Theatre Arts Collection and the Manuscripts and Archives division of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, in Austin, Texas. Information on the acquisition efforts to build the British theatre holdings at the center; Background information on the center; Goals of the center.

The principal question to be examined herein is, "What attitudes do people have toward questionnaires and the interviewing process"? A secondary problem is, "Do people have any stereotyped impressions of the role of the interviewer?" Finally, "Do divergent social groups within a community respond differently with regard to these matters?" For the purpose of seeking out suggestive answers to the foregoing questions two census tracts in the city of Austin, Texas, were surveyed by members of the writer's class on research methods. The tracts were chosen with a view to certain socio-economic differences. One had the highest median income and, aside from the university residential area, ranked first in median years of school completed. The other was one of the lowest in terms of education and had a relatively low income according to the 1950 Census. It was selected over still lower socio-economic tracts because its composition was predominantly "Anglo-American" rather than "Latin-American" or Negro; the ethnic variable was therefore minimized.

Sixty-five undergraduates participated in a small-group activity designed to help them apply the findings from classic studies of conformity, obedience, and social roles. Students designed and demonstrated a study to illustrate the influence of obedience, conformity, or social roles in a real-life context. Each group generated 3 variables and described how each variable might moderate the power of social influence in their situation. Evaluation indicated that most students found the activity enjoyable and helpful for understanding the role of social influence in their daily lives. Students preferred the activity to a lecture and recommended using the activity again in future introductory psychology classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the involvement of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science graduating students in the formation of the If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything program in Austin, Texas. Design of the program; Concept of the service-learning program; Development of a representative workforce.

In the 1970s, urban planners in Austin, Texas, developed Austin Tomorrow, a public planning initiative that sought to undermine the hegemony of the city’s growth coalition in urban planning by using a neighborhood-based model. The aim was to mitigate development to minimize environmental degradation. The initiative failed largely because it did not take the historical racial inequities and spatial discrimination inherent in Austin’s geography into account. Racial minorities were skeptical of Austin Tomorrow and had far different political aims and perceptions of what constituted the environment than Anglo Austinites. While urban planning usually looks to create a better city in the future, I argue that planners must also be very cognizant of the past to effectively include vulnerable populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay documents labor market and residential segregation in Austin, Texas, in the three decades after World War Two, arguing that despite the city’s relatively progressive culture it was as racially segregated as most Northern and Southern cities during the period. In Austin, being progressive usually meant supporting New Deal policies, encouraging strong ties to the federal government, and promoting responsible, nonindustrial growth much more than fighting racial inequality or rejecting the sanctity of private property rights. Segregation, ironically bolstered by federally supported urban renewal, which undermined black property rights, helped maintain a nonindustrial image that city leaders used to market Austin as a pleasant place to live and do business for knowledge workers. The resounding defeat of open housing in 1968 maintained de facto segregation and demonstrated the fallacy of race-neutral housing policies in the South. Today, the deleterious effects of segregation and dispossession are still felt among the city’s African American and Latino residents; current economic trends mirror those from the 1960s. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The modulation of brain activity as a function of auditory location was investigated using electro-encephalography in combination with standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography. Auditory stimuli were presented at various positions under anechoic conditions in free-field space, thus providing the complete set of natural spatial cues. Variation of electrical activity in cortical areas depending on sound location was analyzed by contrasts between sound locations at the time of the N1 and P2 responses of the auditory evoked potential. A clear-cut double dissociation with respect to the cortical locations and the points in time was found, indicating spatial processing (1) in the primary auditory cortex and posterodorsal auditory cortical pathway at the time of the N1, and (2) in the anteroventral pathway regions about 100 ms later at the time of the P2. Thus, it seems as if both auditory pathways are involved in spatial analysis but at different points in time. It is possible that the late processing in the anteroventral auditory network reflected the sharing of this region by analysis of object-feature information and spectral localization cues or even the integration of spatial and non-spatial sound features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the construction of the Texas Capital building in Austin, Texas in 1884 and the builders' use of prisoners from the state's Mexican convict lease to cut costs. The author explains that members of the National Granite Cutters Union were angry over this choice and refused to train the prisoners. The granite cutters brought legal suite against the builders. The use of Scottish immigrants as builders is also talked about. The article examines how the organization of white workers, Mexican convicts, and Scottish immigrants challenged images of American citizenship.

In this article, the effect of recent immigration on homicide rates across city of Austin, Texas census tracts is examined. Since 1980, Austin's recent immigrant population increased by more than 580% across the metropolitan area and it is now considered a "pre-emerging" immigrant gateway city to the United States. Therefore the changing population dynamics in Austin provide an excellent opportunity to study the effect of recent immigration on homicide. After controlling for structural predictors of homicide and correcting for spatial autocorrelation, our findings indicate that recent immigration is not associated with homicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the concentration and distribution of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners in milk from mothers in Austin, Texas. Utilization of PBDE as flame retardants; Increase PBDE concentration in the U.S. compared to Europe; Potential toxicity to nursing infants; Role of PBDE in causing neurodevelopmental toxicities; Need to determine if animal fat in food is the major route of exposure.