This PhD thesis presents work on the atmospheres of both brown dwarfs and exoplanets from an observers viewpoint. The composition and weather of these worlds are explored starting with M-type brown dwarfs and continuing through the L, T and Y spectral sequence, before entering the planetary regime of hot-Jupiters and super-Earths. The similarities and differences between these objects such as their radii, surface gravities, pressures, temperatures and composition are discussed. This thesis presents new results from an extensive near-infrared monitoring survey of a uniform and unbiased sample of 69 L & T dwarfs spanning the L0 to T8 spectral range. Results show that amongst 14 identified variables, nine of them newly identified, variable brown dwarfs are not concentrated at the L - T transition, nor are they observed in a specific colour, or preferentially in binary systems. The thesis also presents narrow-band photometric measurements of the hot-Jupiter HAT-P-1b and the super-Earth GJ~1214b using the 10.4~m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the OSIRIS instrument. Results for HAT-P-1b show a strong presence of potassium in the atmosphere caused by a large scale height, possibly due to higher than anticipated temperatures in the upper atmosphere or the dissociation of molecular hydrogen caused by the UV flux from the host star. Results for GJ 1214b, which constitute the first tunable filter measurements of a super-Earth, find no evidence for the presence of methane showing a featureless transmission spectrum consistent with previous studies.

Simple models for bright, helium producing phases in the lives of massive galaxies are used to investigate the distance out to which they could be seen as individual objects. Roughly speaking, objects radiating at effective temperatures of ..;40,000 o could be detected out to redshifts as large as 8 -+12. Such redshifts correspond to densities at which we might reasonably have expected galaxy condensation to occur, except possibly for the lowest part of the probable range of go-values. Such Objects ought to be bluer than ordinary "nearby" galaxies, and for open cosmological models would be expected to be much more numerous than ordinary galaxies; for closed models the numbers of bright and ordinary galaxies should be comparable. The feasibility of detecting such objects by ground -based measures of their integrated skybrightness in the L and M windows is discussed, and it appears that such a technique would be feasible and superior to direct photographic detection only for relatively low effective temperatures in the 20,000 to 1+0,000 range. The possibility of explaining the lack of general Ljy -c4 absorption in distant WO as due to a high degree of ionization brought about by W radiation from these bright galaxies is investigated. The conclusion is that this mechanism will not usually be adequate -- and when it is adequate, the objects causing the ionization should be detectable -- unless the current mean density of uncondensed gas is very low, of the order of 10 -7 particles /cm3 or less.

The US put Taiwan into the list of drug trafficking country in 1990. The image of Taiwan has been seriously damaged so our government changed the ¡§Drug Purging Statute of Suppressing Rebellion Period¡¨ to ¡§Statute of Drug Purging¡¨ in July 1992. The purpose of the law especially to get rid of the drug abuse, prevent from drug harm, save guard the health of the people, sustain the social order and avoid the country falling into danger. But the effect of the anti-drug abuse policy is so limited, the drug abuse issues are still getting worse. The cases are increasing day by day. Due to the complicated causes of drug abuse criminals, the criminals couldn't be corrected by prison¡¦s education and management. Therefore it's necessary to review and discuss the drug abuse prevention policy. Government formally announced ¡§to Fight against Drugs Abuse¡¨, on 12 May 1993 and ¡§Central Meeting Report¡¨ organization was set up. Nationwide anti-drug abuse meeting was held in June 1994. The means of anti-drug abuse were proposed in the meeting, which were to cut the suppliers and reduce the needs. Three key important work of the strategy of anti-drug are to crack down, reject ant quit drug. Then Government promulgated ¡§Drug Risk Prevention Stipulate¡¨ and revoked the ¡§Drug Purging Statute¡¨. For the drug abusers, first to force them to quit drug, accept therapy, exonerate from criminal law but guilt and pay attention to medical therapy. This was a revolution change of drug abuse prevention policy. ¡§Narcotic & Drug Control Stipulate¡¨ was amended¡¨ to ¡§Drug Control & Management Statute¡¨ on 2 June 1999 and changed the ¡§Division of Drug Management¡¨ to ¡§Bureau of Drug Control &Management¡¨. Owing to Taiwan¡¦s hard work on anti-drug, the US International Narcotics Control Strategy Report expelled Taiwan from the list of the world main production and trafficking country. However after issue of the ¡§Drug Risk Prevention Stipulate¡¨, thousands drug abusers are in and out of the Observing & Quitting Asylum or Quitting & Therapy Asylum every year. The degree of flooding of drug abuse has affected to society, economy, polity and regulation policy, so ¡§Drug Risk Prevention Stipulate¡§ was modified again to meet the real need and guarantee the human right in Sept. 2004. Since the newly amended law, ¡§Drug Risk Prevention Stipulate¡§, went into effect on 9 Sept. 2004, the drug crimes and related ferocious criminal cases have been happened frequently. Prisons are filled with drug criminals. That drug abuse is harmful not only to the people¡¦s mental but to the health is still exist, so the legislation and realization of Drug Prevention Statute is still dubious to the people. Through this approach, suggestions are supplied for reference about the legislation and adaptability situation of the Drug Prevention and hopefully to make our drug abuse flooding situation improved and controlled.

Current research has shown differences in eye gaze, or ocular observing responses amongst individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared with their typically developing counterparts, and with individuals with developmental disabilities other than autism. Eye gaze is currently studied as a predictor for ASD diagnoses and as a potential predictive level of social deficit for individuals already diagnosed with autism. Deficits in language and communication are also studied as predictive risk factors for ASD, and are identified as areas for treatment for individuals with autism. As a behavior analytic account of language, Relational Frame Theory (RFT) suggests that language development is attributed to the development of derived relational responding repertoires. A growing body of literature suggests that there is great benefit in behavior analytic treatment methods for autism that incorporate procedures rooted in RFT. Specifically, relational training procedures that promote derived relational responding (DRR) have been shown to improve language repertoires for children with autism. Previous research using typically developing adults has also suggested that accuracy in eye gaze on relational tasks improves as individuals demonstrate the emergence of novel derived relations. By combining the benefits of relational training procedures on outcomes of language development with technology used to understand eye gaze behaviors, behavior analysts may be able to better understand how to target specific behaviors in treatment that may indirectly improve eye gaze. In turn, improvements in eye gaze may assist in increasing socially significant and helpful behaviors such as attending to appropriate social stimuli within the environment. The current series of studies investigated the relationship between DRR repertoires and ocular observing responses in individuals with autism. Study 1 examined the relationship between DRR of equivalence relations with latency to respond to task items, as well as eye fixation duration and fixation rate toward correct stimuli in the assessment. The results from this study showed a strong, positive correlation between fixation rate and duration with assessment scores. These results suggest more advanced DRR repertoires lead to longer and more frequent eye gaze toward correct stimuli. Study 2 investigated changes in latency to respond as well as changes rate and duration of eye fixations as participants were taught novel relations and tested for the emergence of derived responding. All four participants in the study demonstrated an increase in fixation to correct stimuli from baseline to treatment. Study 3 sought to evaluate the impact that relational training techniques have on eye gaze following a 6-week intervention period compared to a more traditional treatment technique and a waitlist control. Eye gaze measures were assessed before and after the intervention using three different categories of videos of social situations: Person Telling a Story, Conversations, and Social Imaginative Play. Results suggested that the relational training procedure had the most significant impact on eye gaze for Conversation videos compared to a direct contingency group and a waitlist control group. Taken together, the results suggest the potential impact that RFT-based treatments have on ocular observing responses for children with ASD, and how improvements may benefit appropriate eye gaze toward a social environment.

We report contrast measurements of a sodium resonance guide star against the daylight sky when observed through a tuned magneto-optical filter (MOF). The guide star was created by projection of a laser beam at 589.16 nm into the mesospheric sodium layer and the observations were made with a collocated 1.5-m telescope. While MOFs are used with sodium light detecting and ranging systems during the day to improve the signalto- noise ratio of the measurements, they have not so far been employed with laser guide stars to drive adaptive optics (AO) systems to correct atmospherically induced image blur. We interpret our results in terms of the performance of AO systems for astronomy, with particular emphasis on thermal infrared observations at the next generation of extremely large telescopes now being built. (C) 2016 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

Este estudo teve o objetivo de aprofundar a descrição das variáveis responsáveis pela manutenção de respostas de observação (RO), em uma condição de reforçamento independente de resposta, que excluía \"economia-de-trabalho\" como variável determinante. O procedimento empregado foi o mesmo utilizado nos estudos de Blanchard (1975), com pombos, e de Schrier, Thompson e Spector (1980), com macacos, que revelaram resultados divergentes. Com o objetivo de entender esta divergência, refinaram-se o registro e a análise dos dados. Foram utilizados seis pombos privados de comida e uma caixa de condicionamento operante com um disco de resposta controlada por equipamento eletromecânico. O procedimento básico consistiu em sessões compostas por tentativas discretas separadas por intervalos entre tentativas (IET). Em igual probabilidade de apresentação, metade das tentativas terminava com apresentação livre de comida (TS+) e metade sem comida (TS-). Durante ambos os tipos de tentativas, a chave de resposta permanecia iluminada por luz branca, a não ser que ocorressem RO. Neste caso, a cor do disco era alterada de acordo com o tipo de tentativa em vigor. O esquema de ROera Vl15s para a produção de ambos S+ e S- nas condições de linha de base. Em duas condições experimentais diferentes, DRL6s foi superposto ao VI para a produção dos estímulos, S+ (condição VIDRLS+) ou S- (condição VIDRLS-), enquanto o estímulo alternativo continuava sendo produzido em VI. Todos os sujeitos foram submetidos às duas condições, tendo a ordem de exposição invertida. Uma condição experimental foi sempre inserida entre duas condições de linha de base. Os resultados mostraram que RO foram mantidas em igual frequência, em ambos os tipos de tentativas, nas condições de linha de base. A contingência de DRL resultou em uma diminuição marcante na produção de S- mas não na de S+, para todos os sujeitos. Resultou, também, em aumento na taxa de respostas nas TS- se comparada com TS+. Este aumento reforça a conclusão de Blanchard de que S- seria aversivo. Mas, por outro lado, enfatiza a possibilidade de reforçamento pela redução da incerteza, que seria obtida pelas taxas diferenciais de resposta. / The goal of this study was to assess the variables responsible for the maintenance of observing responses (OR), in a response independent condition, excluding work-economy as a relevant variable. Six food deprived pigeons were run on a one-key discrete trials observing procedure, designed after Blanchard (1975) and Schrier et a/. (1980), in order to obtain a more detailed description of observing perfonnance in this procedure. Randomly scheduled trials were signaled by white lighted disk. 50% of the trials were finished with food presentation and the other 50% without. Pecks changed disk light color according to the outcome of the trial in CRF and VI15 seconds in successive phases. A DRL6 seconds contingency was superimposed on VI15 for s+ or s- trial peclcs, in separated test phases, while pecks during altemative trials went on VI15. Responses were maintained in virtually ali the trials for CRF and VI schedules. The DRL contingency resulted in a marked decrease in the s- production but not in the s+ for ali birds, replicating Blanchard. Nevertheless, the response rate in s- increased throughout DRL operation. On one hand, these results confinn Blanchard\'s conclusion which states that S- would be aversive. On the other hand, they emphasize the possibility of reinforcement by the uncertainty reduction that would be obtained by the differential consequences in response rate.

Este estudo teve o objetivo de aprofundar a descrição das variáveis responsáveis pela manutenção de respostas de observação (RO), em uma condição de reforçamento independente de resposta, que excluía \"economia-de-trabalho\" como variável determinante. O procedimento empregado foi o mesmo utilizado nos estudos de Blanchard (1975), com pombos, e de Schrier, Thompson e Spector (1980), com macacos, que revelaram resultados divergentes. Com o objetivo de entender esta divergência, refinaram-se o registro e a análise dos dados. Foram utilizados seis pombos privados de comida e uma caixa de condicionamento operante com um disco de resposta controlada por equipamento eletromecânico. O procedimento básico consistiu em sessões compostas por tentativas discretas separadas por intervalos entre tentativas (IET). Em igual probabilidade de apresentação, metade das tentativas terminava com apresentação livre de comida (TS+) e metade sem comida (TS-). Durante ambos os tipos de tentativas, a chave de resposta permanecia iluminada por luz branca, a não ser que ocorressem RO. Neste caso, a cor do disco era alterada de acordo com o tipo de tentativa em vigor. O esquema de ROera Vl15s para a produção de ambos S+ e S- nas condições de linha de base. Em duas condições experimentais diferentes, DRL6s foi superposto ao VI para a produção dos estímulos, S+ (condição VIDRLS+) ou S- (condição VIDRLS-), enquanto o estímulo alternativo continuava sendo produzido em VI. Todos os sujeitos foram submetidos às duas condições, tendo a ordem de exposição invertida. Uma condição experimental foi sempre inserida entre duas condições de linha de base. Os resultados mostraram que RO foram mantidas em igual frequência, em ambos os tipos de tentativas, nas condições de linha de base. A contingência de DRL resultou em uma diminuição marcante na produção de S- mas não na de S+, para todos os sujeitos. Resultou, também, em aumento na taxa de respostas nas TS- se comparada com TS+. Este aumento reforça a conclusão de Blanchard de que S- seria aversivo. Mas, por outro lado, enfatiza a possibilidade de reforçamento pela redução da incerteza, que seria obtida pelas taxas diferenciais de resposta. / The goal of this study was to assess the variables responsible for the maintenance of observing responses (OR), in a response independent condition, excluding work-economy as a relevant variable. Six food deprived pigeons were run on a one-key discrete trials observing procedure, designed after Blanchard (1975) and Schrier et a/. (1980), in order to obtain a more detailed description of observing perfonnance in this procedure. Randomly scheduled trials were signaled by white lighted disk. 50% of the trials were finished with food presentation and the other 50% without. Pecks changed disk light color according to the outcome of the trial in CRF and VI15 seconds in successive phases. A DRL6 seconds contingency was superimposed on VI15 for s+ or s- trial peclcs, in separated test phases, while pecks during altemative trials went on VI15. Responses were maintained in virtually ali the trials for CRF and VI schedules. The DRL contingency resulted in a marked decrease in the s- production but not in the s+ for ali birds, replicating Blanchard. Nevertheless, the response rate in s- increased throughout DRL operation. On one hand, these results confinn Blanchard\'s conclusion which states that S- would be aversive. On the other hand, they emphasize the possibility of reinforcement by the uncertainty reduction that would be obtained by the differential consequences in response rate.

Pigeons worked in a titrating delay match-to-sample (TDMTS) procedure in which selecting the correct comparison stimulus increased the delay between sample offset and comparison-array onset and incorrect comparison selections decreased that delay. Prior research in our lab has shown that the stable adjusted value of the retention interval is a curvilinear function of the observing response requirement. The current study examined the effect of the distribution and predictability of observing response requirements on adjusted retention interval values. The data show that unpredictable observing response requirements were more effective in attenuating the deleterious effects of delay on matching accuracy. The data have implications for our understanding of attending and encoding in performances involving remembering over short temporal durations.

Thesis advisor: Hilary I. Palevsky / The biological carbon pump in the North Atlantic Ocean is powered by the annual spring phytoplankton bloom. These primary producers use inorganic carbon in the surface oceans and convert it into organic carbon, a fraction of which is exported out of the surface mixed layer and sequestered at depth. Determining the rate of carbon flux below the maximum winter mixed layer depth, driving sequestration on annual or longer timescales, is critical to understanding the North Atlantic carbon cycle.To constrain daily-to-annual scale changes in carbon export in the subpolar North Atlantic, I analyzed seven years of daily optical backscatter depth profiles (200-2600 m) collected from the subsurface profiler mooring at the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)’s Global Irminger Sea Array from September 2014 to May 2021. This is the longest-running time series of daily, year-round optical backscatter profiles that has been collected in this region, providing novel opportunities to assess seasonal and interannual variations in particulate organic carbon (POC) flux to depth. This analysis, focused on large particles and aggregates identified from optical backscatter spikes, shows annual pulses of sinking particles initiating in May to June during each year of our seven-year time series, consistent with these export pulses being driven by organic matter production during the spring phytoplankton bloom. These pulses of particles sink through the water column at rates ranging from 10 and 30 meters per day, and though particle concentration attenuates through the water column due to remineralization, coherent large particle pulses generally extend deeper than 1500 m, the deepest maximum annual mixed layer depth over this period. Although deep winter mixing in this region requires sinking particles to penetrate much deeper than in other parts of the ocean to be sequestered long-term, pulses of large particles consistently penetrate to below even the deepest annual mixed layer depths in the region, highlighting the importance of these large particle pulses to carbon sequestration at depth in the subpolar North Atlantic. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Earth and Environmental Sciences.

The relative efficacy of training procedures emphasizing accuracy versus those which add a rate criterion is a topic of debate. The desired learning outcome is fluent responding, assessed by measures of retention, endurance, stability, and application. The current study examined the effects of these two procedures on fluency outcomes using a matching-to-sample paradigm to train participants to match English to Japanese characters. An explicit FR-3 observing response was added to an accuracy-only condition to assess the extent to which it may facilitate learning. Total time spent responding in practice drills in accuracy-only conditions was yoked to total time spent in drills achieving rate aims in accuracy+rate (AR) conditions. One participant clearly demonstrated superior fluency outcomes after AR training while another displayed superior endurance and stability outcomes after such training. The remaining two participants did not demonstrate significantly different fluency outcomes across conditions.