NASA crop calendars: Wheat, barley, oats, rye, sorghum, soybeans, corn

Crop calenders used to determine when Earth Resources Technology Satellite ERTS data would provide the most accurate wheat acreage information and to minimize the amount of ground verified information needed are presented. Since barley, oats, and rye are considered 'confusion crops, i.e., hard to differentiate from wheat in ERTS imagery, specific dates are estimated for these crops in the following stages of development: (1) seed-bed operation, (2) planting or seeding, (3) intermediate growth, (4) dormancy, (5) development of crop to full ground cover, (6) heading or tasseling, and flowering, (7) harvesting, and (8) posting-harvest operations. Dormancy dates are included for fall-snow crops. A synopsis is given of each states' growing conditions, special cropping practices, and other characteristics which are helpful in identifying crops from ERTS imagery

Spontaneous superconductivity and optical properties of high-Tc cuprates

We suggest that the high temperature superconductivity in cuprate compounds may emerge due to interaction between copper-oxygen layers mediated by in-plane plasmons. The strength of the interaction is determined by the c-axis geometry and by the ab-plane optical properties. Without making reference to any particular in-plane mechanism of superconductivity, we show that the interlayer interaction favors spontaneous appearance of the superconductivity in the layers. At a qualitative level the model describes correctly the dependence of the transition temperature on the interlayer distance, and on the number of adjacent layers in multilayered homologous compounds. Moreover, the model has a potential to explain (i) a mismatch between the optimal doping levels for critical temperature and superconducting density and (ii) a universal scaling relation between the dc-conductivity, the superfluid density, and the superconducting transition temperature.Comment: 4.4 pages, 2 figures; v2 matches the published version (clarifying remarks and references are added

Aspect ratio analysis for ground states of bosons in anisotropic traps

Characteristics of the initial condensate in the recent experiment on Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of ${}^{87}$Rb atoms in an anisotropic magnetic trap is discussed. Given the aspect ratio $R$, the quality of BEC is estimated. A simple analytical Ansatz for the initial condensate wave function is proposed as a function of the aspect ratio which, in contrast to the Baym-Pethick trial wave function, reproduces both the weak and the strong intaraction limits and which is in better agreement with numerical results than the latter.Comment: 12 pages, latex, 3 figures added, minor corrections; to appear in J. Res. Nat. Inst. of Standards and Technolog

Interference between a large number of independent Bose-Einstein condensates

We study theoretically the interference patterns produced by the overlap of an array of Bose-Einstein condensates that have no phase coherence among them. We show that density-density correlations at different quasimomenta, which play an important role in two-condensate interference, become negligible for large $N$, where $N$ is the number of overlapping condensates. In order to understand the physics of this phenomenon, it is sufficient to consider the periodicity of the lattice and the statistical probability distribution of a random-walk problem. The average visibility of such interference patterns decreases as $N^{-1/2}$ for large $N$.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Minimum-mass design of filamentary composite panels under combined loads: Design procedure based on a rigorous buckling analysis

A procedure is presented for designing uniaxially stiffened panels made of composite material and subjected to combined inplane loads. The procedure uses a rigorous buckling analysis and nonlinear mathematical programing techniques. Design studies carried out with the procedure consider hat-stiffened and corrugated panels made of graphite-epoxy material. Combined longitudinal compression and shear and combined longitudinal and transverse compression are the loadings used in the studies. The capability to tailor the buckling response of a panel is also explored. Finally, the adequacy of another, simpler, analysis-design procedure is examined

The Raman Spectrum of Boron Trifluoride Gas

The Raman spectrum of BF3 was photographed using a purified preparation obtained from the thermal decomposition of C6H5N2BF4. Of the lines observed, that with the frequency 888 cm^—1 is certainly, and the band at 439–513 cm^—1 is probably due to BF3. The Raman frequencies and the infra-red results of Bailey et al. are assigned to the fundamental modes of vibrations