Filetype
This paper designs distributed dynamic traffic signal control policies for urban traffic networks. Vehicles at the end of an approach to an intersection queue up in separate lanes corresponding to different possible turn maneuvers at the upcoming intersection, according to fixed turn ratios. The departure rate of vehicles from the queue is governed by traffic signal control at the intersections. W
We propose a dynamical model for cascading failures in single-commodity network flows. In the proposed model, the network state consists of flows and activation status of the links. Network dynamics is determined by a, possibly state-dependent and adversarial, disturbance process that reduces flow capacity on the links, and routing policies at the nodes that have access to the network state, but a
Governments increasingly rely on the use of market instruments to tackle climate change and help decarbonize a deeply fossil fuel-dependent economy. This dissertation examines this trend as one instance of the ‘commodification of carbon’, or the process through which emission reductions are made into commodities and then traded on the market. It engages the commodification framework and related th
Many Arctic regions are currently experiencing substantial summer and winter climate changes. Litter decomposition is a fundamental component of ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycles, with fungi being among the primary decomposers. To assess the impacts of seasonal climatic changes on litter fungal communities and their functioning, Betula glandulosa leaf litter was surface-incubated in two adjacen
It is widely believed that deciduous tundra-shrub dominance is increasing in the pan-Arctic region, mainly due to rising temperature. We sampled dwarf birch (Betula nana L.) at a northeastern Siberian tundra site and used dendrochronological methods to explore the relationship between climatic variables and local shrub dominance. We found that establishment of shrub ramets was positively related t
We present experimental data on the time and radius-dependent length distributions of Au-catalyzed InAs nanowires grown by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. We show that these distributions are not as sharp as commonly believed. Rather, they appear to be much broader than Poissonian from the very beginning and spread quickly as the nanowires grow. We develop a model that attributes the observed b
Locally induced, magnetic order on the surface of a topological insulator nanowire could enable room-temperature topological quantum devices. Here we report on the realization of selective magnetic control over topological surface states on a single facet of a rectangular Bi2Te3 nanowire via a magnetic insulating Fe3O4 substrate. Low-temperature magnetotransport studies provide evidence for local
This study investigated if mental reinstatement of an encoding context during retrieval increases memory accessibility. Participants performed a cued-recall memory task where the overlap between encoding and retrieval context and the nature of context reinstatement (mental versus physical) were manipulated. Memory performance improved when the encoding-retrieval context overlapped in a comparable
The Arctic climate is projected to change during the coming century, with expected higher air temperatures and increased winter snowfall. These climatic changes might alter litter decomposition rates, which in turn could affect carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling rates in tundra ecosystems. However, little is known of seasonal climate change effects on plant litter decomposition rates and N dynami
It remains unclear whether the event-related potential (ERP) correlates of episodic memory are modulated by the type of information retrieved. In two experiments, we recorded electrophysiological brain activity while participants discriminated between old and new items from three different stimulus categories (faces, objects, and words). In the first experiment, we used a randomized event-related
Using ultralow-power wake-up receivers (WRxs) can reduce idle listening energy cost in wireless sensor networks with low traffic intensity. This has led to many WRx analog front-end (AFE) designs presented in literature, with a large variety of trade-offs between the sensitivity, the data rate, and the power consumption. Energy consumed during wake-up in a network depends on many parameters and wi
Abstract This study relates soil organic matter (SOM) characteristics to initial soil incubation carbon release from upper permafrost samples in Yedoma region soils of northeastern Siberia, Russia. Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content, carbon to nitrogen ratios (C:N), δ13C and δ15N values show clear trends that correspond with SOM age and degree of decomposition. Incubation results indicate that ol
Recent research using repeat photography, long-term ecological monitoring and dendrochronology has documented shrub expansion in arctic, high-latitude and alpine tundra ecosystems. Here, we (1) synthesize these findings, (2) present a conceptual framework that identifies mechanisms and constraints on shrub increase, (3) explore causes, feedbacks and implications of the increased shrub cover in tun
Recently observed Arctic greening trends from normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data suggest that shrub growth is increasing in response to increasing summer temperature. An increase in shrub cover is expected to decrease summer albedo and thus positively feed back to climate warming. However, it is unknown how albedo and NDVI are affected by shrub cover and inter-annual variations in
The control of risks in engineering design is, for most conventional construction projects, achieved through the use of design codes. However, relying on design based on code-compliance can lead to situations where risks are overlooked or inadequately treated; a complementary approach is needed. In this paper, a holistic risk-informed approach for the treatment of accidental hazards during the con
