388 research outputs found
Anticipating climate change: knowledge use in participatory flood management in the river Meuse
Given the latest knowledge on climate change, the Dutch government wants to anticipate the increased risk of flooding. For the river Meuse in The Netherlands, the design discharge is estimated to increase from 3800m3/s to 4600m3/s. With the existing policy of âRoom for the Riverâ, this increase is to be accommodated without raising the dikes. At the same time the floodplains are often claimed for other functions, e.g. new housing or industrial estates. In 2001 the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management started the study âIntegrated assessment of the river Meuse (IVM)â with the objectives of making an inventory of the probable physical effects of a design flood, assuming climate change, on the river Meuse in 2050, investigating possible spatial and technical measures to mitigate these effects, and finally combining various measures to create an integral strategy for flood protection, while at the same time increasing spatial quality. This paper presents the results of research into the decision making process that took place in order to achieve these objectives. Special attention was given to the role of scientific and technical knowledge in the decision making process, e.g. by investigating the effect of the quality of input data on acceptance by stakeholders, and the interactive use of a decision support system to visualise hydraulic effects. Conclusions on successes and pitfalls are drawn from observation and interviews with participants. It demonstrates how it is possible to integrate the necessary, technically complex knowledge in a political debate with stakeholders on how to deal with flood risk. Furthermore, the experience indicates in what area improvements could be made
Effects of electrode configuration and geometry on fiber preference in spinal cord stimulation
In contrast to the widespread assumption that dorsal column fibers are the primary targets of spinal cord stimulation by a dorsal epidural electrode, it appears that dorsal root fibers are recruited as well, and even preferentially under various conditions. This will, however, limit the coverage of the painful body areas with paresthesia, a prerequisite for the management of chronic pain. In order to favor the preferential stimulation of dorsal column fibers, advantage was taken of the different positions and orientations of fibers in the dorsal columns and dorsal roots. Using an SCS computer model, electrode configurations have been designed for the selective stimulation of the human dorsal column
Interface enhancement of Gilbert damping from first-principles
The enhancement of Gilbert damping observed for Ni80Fe20 (Py) films in
contact with the non-magnetic metals Cu, Pd, Ta and Pt, is quantitatively
reproduced using first-principles scattering theory. The "spin-pumping" theory
that qualitatively explains its dependence on the Py thickness is generalized
to include a number of factors known to be important for spin transport through
interfaces. Determining the parameters in this theory from first-principles
shows that interface spin-flipping makes an essential contribution to the
damping enhancement. Without it, a much shorter spin-flip diffusion length for
Pt would be needed than the value we calculate independently
Direct Method for Calculating Temperature-Dependent Transport Properties
We show how temperature-induced disorder can be combined in a direct way with
first-principles scattering theory to study diffusive transport in real
materials. Excellent (good) agreement with experiment is found for the
resistivity of Cu, Pd, Pt (and Fe) when lattice (and spin) disorder are
calculated from first principles. For Fe, the agreement with experiment is
limited by how well the magnetization (of itinerant ferromagnets) can be
calculated as a function of temperature. By introducing a simple Debye-like
model of spin disorder parameterized to reproduce the experimental
magnetization, the temperature dependence of the average resistivity, the
anisotropic magnetoresistance and the spin polarization of a NiFe
alloy are calculated and found to be in good agreement with existing data.
Extension of the method to complex, inhomogeneous materials as well as to the
calculation of other finite-temperature physical properties within the
adiabatic approximation is straightforward.Comment: Accepted as a Rapid Communication in Physical Review
SN 1993J VLBI (IV): A Geometric Determination of the Distance to M81 with the Expanding Shock Front Method
We compare the angular expansion velocities, determined with VLBI, with the
linear expansion velocities measured from optical spectra for supernova 1993J
in the galaxy M81, over the period from 7 d to ~9 yr after shock breakout. We
estimate the distance to SN 1993J using the Expanding Shock Front Method (ESM).
We find the best distance estimate is obtained by fitting the angular velocity
of a point halfway between the contact surface and outer shock front to the
maximum observed hydrogen gas velocity. We obtain a direct, geometric, distance
estimate for M81 of D=3.96+-0.05+-0.29 Mpc with statistical and systematic
error contributions, respectively, corresponding to a total standard error of
$+-0.29 Mpc. The upper limit of 4.25 Mpc corresponds to the hydrogen gas with
the highest observed velocity reaching no farther out than the contact surface
a few days after shock breakout. The lower limit of 3.67 Mpc corresponds to
this hydrogen gas reaching as far out as the forward shock for the whole
period, which would mean that Rayleigh-Taylor fingers have grown to the forward
shock already a few days after shock breakout. Our distance estimate is 9+-13 %
larger than that of 3.63+-0.34 Mpc from the HST Key Project, which is near our
lower limit but within the errors.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
An Error Analysis of the Geometric Baade-Wesselink Method
We derive an analytic solution for the minimization problem in the geometric
Baade-Wesselink method. This solution allows deriving the distance and mean
radius of a pulsating star by fitting its velocity curve and angular diameter
measured interferometrically. The method also provide analytic solutions for
the confidence levels of the best fit parameters, and accurate error estimates
for the Baade-Wesselink solution. Special care is taken in the analysis of the
various error sources in the final solution, among which the uncertainties due
to the projection factor, the limb darkening and the velocity curve. We also
discuss the importance of the phase shift between the stellar lightcurve and
the velocity curve as a potential error source in the geometric Baade-Wesselink
method. We finally discuss the case of the Classical Cepheid zeta Gem, applying
our method to the measurements derived with the Palomar Testbed Interferometer.
We show how a careful treatment of the measurement errors can be potentially
used to discriminate between different models of limb darkening using
interferometric techniques.Comment: 24 pages, to be published on the Astrophysical Journal, vol. 603
March 200
The Opacity of Nearby Galaxies from Counts of Background Galaxies: II. Limits of the Synthetic Field Method
Recently, we have developed and calibrated the Synthetic Field Method (SFM)
to derive the total extinction through disk galaxies. The method is based on
the number counts and colors of distant background field galaxies that can be
seen through the foreground object, and has been successfully applied to NGC
4536 and NGC 3664, two late-type galaxies located, respectively, at 16 and 11
Mpc. Here, we study the applicability of the SFM to HST images of galaxies in
the Local Group, and show that background galaxies cannot be easily identified
through these nearby objects, even with the best resolution available today. In
the case of M 31, each pixel in the HST images contains 50 to 100 stars, and
the background galaxies cannot be seen because of the intrinsic granularity due
to strong surface brightness fluctuations. In the LMC, on the other hand, there
is only about one star every six linear pixels, and the lack of detectable
background galaxies results from a ``secondary'' granularity, introduced by
structure in the wings of the point spread function. The success of the SFM in
NGC 4536 and NGC 3664 is a natural consequence of the reduction of the
intensity of surface brightness fluctuations with distance. When the dominant
confusion factor is structure in the PSF wings, as is the case of HST images of
the LMC, and would happen in M 31 images obtained with a 10-m diffraction-
limited optical telescope, it becomes in principle possible to improve the
detectability of background galaxies by subtracting the stars in the foreground
object. However, a much better characterization of optical PSFs than is
currently available would be required for an adequate subtraction of the wings.
Given the importance of determining the dust content of Local Group galaxies,
efforts should be made in that direction.Comment: 45 pages, 10 Postscript figure
Cepheid variables in the LMC cluster NGC 1866. I. New BVRI CCD photometry
We report BV(RI)c CCD photometric data for a group of seven Cepheid variables
in the young, rich cluster NGC 1866 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The
photometry was obtained as part of a program to determine accurate distances to
these Cepheids by means of the infrared surface brightness technique, and to
improve the LMC Cepheid database for constructing Cepheid PL and PLC relations.
Using the new data together with data from the literature, we have determined
improved periods for all variables. For five fundamental mode pulsators, the
light curves are now of excellent quality and will lead to accurate distance
and radius determinations once complete infrared light curves and radial
velocity curves for these variables become available.Comment: To appear in ApJ Supp., AASTeX, 24 pages, 8 tables, 8 figure
The Opacity of Spiral Galaxy Disks VIII: Structure of the Cold ISM
The quantity of dust in a spiral disk can be estimated using the dust's
typical emission or the extinction of a known source. In this paper, we compare
two techniques, one based on emission and one on absorption, applied on
sections of fourteen disk galaxies. The two measurements reflect, respectively
the average and apparent optical depth of a disk section. Hence, they depend
differently on the average number and optical depth of ISM structures in the
disk. The small scale geometry of the cold ISM is critical for accurate models
of the overall energy budget of spiral disks. ISM geometry, relative
contributions of different stellar populations and dust emissivity are all free
parameters in galaxy Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) models; they are also
sometimes degenerate, depending on wavelength coverage. Our aim is to constrain
typical ISM geometry. The apparent optical depth measurement comes from the
number of distant galaxies seen in HST images through the foreground disk. We
measure the IR flux in images from the {\it Spitzer} Infrared Nearby Galaxy
Survey in the same section of the disk that was covered by HST. A physical
model of the dust is fit to the SED to estimate the dust surface density, mean
temperature, and brightness in these disk sections. The surface density is
subsequently converted into the average optical depth estimate. The two
measurements generally agree. The ratios between the measured average and
apparent optical depths of the disk sections imply optically thin clouds in
these disks. Optically thick disks, are likely to have more than a single cloud
along the line-of-sight.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A
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