I will present a particle theorist's viewpoint on various aspects of modern cosmology. Necessarily, it will cover a limited selection of topics according to taste and competence.

A computer-based prototype decision support system (PDSS) to assist the risk manager in selecting an appropriate trench cap design for waste disposal sites is evaluated. The selection of the "best" design among feasible alternatives requires consideration of multiple and often conflicting objectives. The methodology used in the selection process consists of: selecting and parameterizing decisio...

With the widespread popularity of user-generated short videos, it becomes increasingly challenging for content creators to promote their potential viewers. Automatically generating appealing titles and covers videos can help grab viewers’ attention. Existing studies on video captioning mostly focus factual descriptions actions, which do not conform intended catching viewer Furthermore, research...

We investigated habitat selection using singleand mixed-scale modeling at 2 spatial scales, stand and home range, by the only known population of American martens (Martes americana) remaining in the historical range of the Humboldt subspecies (M. a. humboldtensis) in California, USA. During 2000 and 2001, we sampled a 12 3 14 grid with 2-km spacing, using 2 sooted track plates at each grid poin...

Vineyards are likely to be regionally important for wildlife, but we lack biodiversity studies in this agroecosystem which is undergoing a rapid management revolution. As vine cultivation is restricted to arid and warm climatic regions, biodiversity-friendly management would promote species typical of southern biomes. Vineyards are often intensively cultivated, mostly surrounded by few natural ...

Recent expansions by Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) into nonforested habitats across the Intermountain West have required managers to reconsider the traditional paradigms of forage and cover as they relate to managing elk and their habitats. We examined seasonal habitat selection patterns of a hunted elk population in a nonforested high-desert region of southwestern Wyoming, USA. We used 3...

Draft Date: March 18, 2002 _______________________________________________________________________ Abstract. In this research we describe a ring selection problem for ring based telecommunication networks. This Minimum Coverage Connected Rings (MCCR) Problem is formulated as an integer program. Further, we evaluate the complexity of this problem and prove that MCCR is NP-Hard. Since the solutio...

This lecture serves as a brief introduction to two rather large topics: multivariate selection response (response when selection is acting on a vector of traits) and fitness surface estimation (what is the nature of selection acting on a vector of traits). These lecture notes are much more detailed that what I will actually cover in my 90 minutes, but are designed to be self-contained for futur...