Star Wreck

Electroweak models with low-energy supersymmetry breaking predict the existence of stable non-topological solitons, Q-balls, that can be produced in the early universe. The relic Q-balls can accumulate inside a neutron star and gradually absorb the baryons into the scalar condensate. This causes a slow reduction in the mass of the star. When the mass reaches a critical value, the neutron star becomes unstable and explodes. The cataclysmic destruction of the distant neutron stars may be the origin of the gamma-ray bursts.Comment: 9 pages; references adde

Using Multibeam Echosounders for Hydrographic Surveying in the Water Column: Estimating Wreck Least Depths

Wreck superstructure can extend into the water column and pose a danger to navigation if the least depth is not accurately portrayed to mariners. NOAA has several methods available to acquire a wreck least depth: lead line, wire drag, diver investigation, side scan shadow length, single beam bathymetry, and multibeam bathymetry. Previous studies have demonstrated that the bottom detection algorithm can fail to locate a wreck mast that is evident in the water column data. Modern multibeam sonars can record water column data in addition to bottom detections. NOAA’s current Hydrographic Specifications do not require water column collection; the best practice is to collect additional bathymetry data during wreck developments. Several multibeam bathymetry and multibeam water column datasets collected by NOAA vessels are evaluated and the wreck least depth results are compared to previous international field trials. A workflow to extract filtered and sidelobe suppressed water column point clouds is presented using currently available software packages. This paper explores the challenges encountered with water column data collection and processing and finds that analysis of water column data provides an improvement to finding wreck least depths, in some cases

Radar imaging mechanism of the Birkenfels wreck in the southern North Sea

Varying tidal currents close to the sea bed cause sediment motion around wrecks leading to formation of scour holes and sand ribbons. Consequently, scouring destabilizes the position and shape of wrecks. Changing water depths above the shallowest parts of wrecks due to such sediment displacements can be crucial for the safety of ship navigation. For that reason, many wreck positions must be routinely re-surveyed. In 2008 changes occurred at 12 % of 259 investigated wrecks in German sea areas compared with the last survey. Especially lower water depths above wrecks have been measured. Therefore, basic research is still necessary to achieve new insights of wave- and current-induced sand transport in the boundary layer of the sea bed covered by wrecks and sand ribbons. Here, it will be focused on the role of active microwave remote sensing potentials for studying radar signatures at the water surface caused by submerged wrecks. The Ka band radar imaging mechanism of the submerged wreck/sand ribbon of the motor vessel (M/V) Birkenfels in the southern North Sea is investigated by applying the quasi-specular scattering theory and considering the capillary as well as the gravity wave ranges of the wave energy density spectrum. Multi-beam echo sounder images of the Birkenfels wreck and associated sand ribbons as well as other available environmental in situ data have been analyzed. The formation of sand ribbons at the sea bed and the manifestation of its radar signatures at the water surface are caused by an elliptical vortex or helical flow cell triggered by unidirectional tidal current flow interacting with the wreck. The difference of simulated and measured normalized radar cross section (NRCS) modulation as a function of the space variable is less than 31.6%. Results are presented for NRCS simulations dependent on position for different effective incidence angles, unidirectional current speeds, wind speeds, and relaxation rates

Bringing Wreck

This paper critically examines non-adversarial feminist argumentation model specifically within the scope of politeness norms and cultural communicative practices. Asserting women typically have a particular mode of arguing which is often seen as ‘weak’ or docile within male dominated fields, the model argues that the feminine mode of arguing is actually more affiliative and community orientated, which should become the standard within argumentation as opposed to the Adversary Method. I argue that the nonadversarial feminist argumentation model primarily focuses on one demographic of women’s communicative styles – white women. Taking an intersectional approach, I examine practices within African American women’s speech communities to illustrate the ways in which the virtues and vices purported by the NAFAM fails to capture other ways of productive argumentation

Platforms, \u3ci\u3eAmerican Express\u3c/i\u3e, and the Problem of Complexity in Antitrust

I. Introduction II. The Great Generalization III. Antitrust Without Platform Theory ... A. Are Credit Cards Really a Boon to Society and Would Non-Platform Antitrust Wreck It? ... 1. Do Credit Cards Do Anything Special? ... 2. How a Platform Player Causes Harm on One Side ... B. Will the Cat Really Stay in the Credit Card Bag? IV. Conclusion: How Antitrust Complexity Devolves to Conservative Simplicit

The WTO: A Train Wreck in Progress?

This article argues that the WTO entrenches an asymmetrical, non-reciprocal trading system that benefits multi-national corporations especially, at the expense of industrial workers, farmers, and a wide range of business enterprises. It argues that the WTO doesn\u27t deserve to survive in its present, unbalanced, and unsustainable form, and that it is doubtful that its voting regime, accumulated asymmetries, and overall rigidity can be overhauled. The author posits that bilateral and regional trade bargaining will become increasingly important and that world market forces are likely to bypass, and perhaps overwhelm, the WTO

Evolution of secondary cellular circulation flow above submarine bedforms imaged by remote sensing techniques

Normalized radar cross section (NRCS) modulation and acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) measurements above submarine sand ribbons and sand waves are presented. The two study areas are located in the Southern Bight of the North Sea at the Birkenfels wreck and in the sand wave field of the Lister Tief in the German Bight of the North Sea. These measurements reveal the developments of secondary cellular circulations in tidally induced coastal sea areas. Secondary circulation cells can develop perpendicular as well as parallel to the direction of the dominant tidal current flow. Circulation cells developed perpendicular to the direction of the dominant tidal current flow are associated with marine sand ribbons manifested near an underwater wreck. Secondary circulation cells within the water column observed parallel to the direction of the dominant tidal current flow have been initiated during flood and ebb tidal current phases associated with submarine sand waves. These two types of cellular circulations must obey the Hamiltonian principle of classical mechanics. The current–short surface wave interaction is described by the action balance or radiation balance-equation based on weak hydrodynamic interaction theory. The calculated current gradient or strain rate of the applied imaging theory has the same order of magnitude for both bedforms such as marine sand ribbons and sand waves, respectively

The Invincible (1758) site: an integrated geophysical assessment

Chirp sub-bottom profiler and repeat sidescan sonar imaging of the Invincible wreck site (1758) in the Solent (U.K.), interpretation, and implications for management of the site

Seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile as a marine biomarker: A metabolomic and toxicological analysis

A human-made environmental disaster due to the shipwrecked of Costa Concordia cruise vessel on the Tuscan Island of Giglio (Italy) coast and the possible pollutants release has been feared, so requiring the activation of removal operations and the monitoring of the marine environment. In the present study, the seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile was used as a bioindicator for the impact of the Costa Concordia accident on the marine and coastal habitat. Different P. oceanica samples were collected in the shipwrecked site under different light conditions. Using high-performance thin-layer chromatography, metabolic analysis of the samples was carried out in order to highlight possible changes in the secondary metabolism due to the permanent shading and the presence of pollutant traces. Moreover, sample mutagenicity, as a consequence of the possible absorption of environmental toxicants leaked by the wreck, was assessed by the Ames test. The results highlighted the permanence of the Concordia-induced alteration in the plant secondary metabolites. However, absorption of chemical pollutants and carcinogens was not reported; this point was confirmed by the lack of mutagenic effects found for the samples tested. Our results clearly evidence that the environmental impact of Costa Concordia wreck and removal operations on P. oceanica was mainly due to the lack of light in the marine habitat. Present methodological approach, which combines metabolomic and genetic ecotoxicological analysis, could represent a suitable strategy to evaluate the impact of human disasters on the ecosystem and to monitor the environmental changes