A New \u3ci\u3eFlexamia\u3c/i\u3e (Homoptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) From Southern Michigan

A new species, Flexamia huroni, is described from a prairie fen in south- eastern Michigan. This leafhopper is closely related to the western F. serrata B & T, a specialist on mat muhly (Muhlenbergia richardsonis). Like its sister species, F. huroni was found only in close association with mat muhly, a grass listed as a threatened species in Michigan and Wisconsin. The regional rarity of mat muhly, its association with a globally imperiled plant commnity (prairie fen) and the absence of F. huroni from several fens known to contain this grass, make this new Flexamia a strong candidate for listing as endangered in Michigan

Reverse engineering in construction

Recently a great deal of research into construction IT has been completed, and this is ongoing to improve efficiency and quality in the construction sector. The new innovation of 3D laser scanning is aimed at being used to improve the efficiency and quality of construction projects, such as maintenance of buildings or group of buildings that are going to be renovated for new services. The 3D laser scanner will be integrated with other VR tools such as GIS solutions and workbench for visualisation, analysis and interaction with a building VR model. An integration strategy is proposed for an Ordnance Survey map of the area and 3D model created by means of the laser scanner. The integrated model will then be transferred to the VR workbench in order to visualise, interact and analyse the interested buildings on purpose

Old open clusters: UBGVRI photometry of NGC 2506

UBGVRI photometry for the open cluster NGC 2506 is presented. From comparison of the observed colour-magnitude diagrams with simulations based on stellar evolutionary models we derive in a self consistent way reddening, distance, and age of the cluster: E(B-V)=0-0.07, (m-M)o = 12.6, age = 1.5-2.2 Gyr. The cluster shows a well definite secondary sequence, suggesting that binary systems constitute about 20 % of the cluster members visible in the colour-magnitude diagram.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, MNRAS latex style, accepte

Field-guided proton acceleration at reconnecting X-points in flares

An explicitly energy-conserving full orbit code CUEBIT, developed originally to describe energetic particle effects in laboratory fusion experiments, has been applied to the problem of proton acceleration in solar flares. The model fields are obtained from solutions of the linearised MHD equations for reconnecting modes at an X-type neutral point, with the additional ingredient of a longitudinal magnetic field component. To accelerate protons to the highest observed energies on flare timescales, it is necessary to invoke anomalous resistivity in the MHD solution. It is shown that the addition of a longitudinal field component greatly increases the efficiency of ion acceleration, essentially because it greatly reduces the magnitude of drift motions away from the vicinity of the X-point, where the accelerating component of the electric field is largest. Using plasma parameters consistent with flare observations, we obtain proton distributions extending up to gamma-ray-emitting energies (>1MeV). In some cases the energy distributions exhibit a bump-on-tail in the MeV range. In general, the shape of the distribution is sensitive to the model parameters.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Solar Physic

A critical appraisal of WinEcon and its use in a first‐year undergraduate Economics programme

This is an extended review of WinEcon, a CAL package for introductory economics. Our comments are based on a survey of staff and students involved in the first large‐scale (n = 300+) attempt to integrate WinEcon into a teaching and assessment programme

Electric field induced charge noise in doped silicon: ionization of phosphorus donors

We report low frequency charge noise measurement on silicon substrates with different phosphorus doping densities. The measurements are performed with aluminum single electron transistors (SETs) at millikelvin temperatures where the substrates are in the insulating regime. By measuring the SET Coulomb oscillations, we find a gate voltage dependent charge noise on the more heavily doped substrate. This charge noise, which is seen to have a 1/f spectrum, is attributed to the electric field induced tunneling of electrons from their phosphorus donor potentials.Comment: 4 page, 3 figure

Orbiter Landing Loads Math Model Description and Correlation with ALT Flight Data

Results of the space shuttle approach and landing test are examined in order to assess landing gear characteristics and performance and verify landing dynamic analyses. The landing gears were instrumented with load-calibrated strain gages, a wheel-speed sensor, and strut stroke measurement devices. The mathematical procedure used in predicting the shuttle touchdown loads and dynamics is presented together with the comparisons between measured flight data and the analytical predictions. Conclusions from these data are also presented

Unlimited simultaneous discrimination intervals in regression Technical report no. 90

Unlimited simultaneous discrimination intervals in linear regression