Surface energy fluxes in complex terrain

The emphasis of the 1985 NASA project activity was on field measurements of wind data and heat balance data. Initiatives included a 19 station mountaintop monitoring program, testing and refining the surface flux monitoring systems and packing and shipping equipment to the People's Republic of China in preparation for the 1986 Tibet Experiment. Other work included more extensive analyses of the 1984 Gobi Desert and Rocky Mountain observations plus some preliminary analyses of the 1985 mountaintop network data. Details of our field efforts are summarized and results of our data analyses are presented

Cold molecular welding study in ultra-high vacuum Final report, 8 Oct. 1964 - 17 Dec. 1965

Cold molecular welding in ultrahigh vacuum of metals for use in Apollo projec

Examining decentralization and managerial decision making for child immunization program performance in India

Despite widespread adoption of decentralization reforms, the impact of decentralization on health system attributes, such as access to health services, responsiveness to population health needs, and effectiveness in affecting health outcomes, remains unclear. This study examines how decision space, institutional capacities, and accountability mechanisms of the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) in India relate to measurable performance of the immunization program. Data on decision space and its related dimensions of institutional capacity and accountability were collected by conducting structured interviews with managers based in 24 districts, 61 blocks, and 279 subcenters. Two measures by which to assess performance were selected: (1) proportion reduction in the DTP3 coverage gap (i.e., effectiveness), and (2) total IMI doses delivered per incremental USD spent on program implementation (i.e., efficiency). Descriptive statistics on decision space, institutional capacity, and accountability for IMI managers were generated. Structural equation models (SEM) were specified to detect any potential associations between decision space dimensions and performance measures. The majority of districts and blocks indicated low levels of decision space. Institutional capacity and accountability were similar across areas. Increases in decision space were associated with less progress towards closing the immunization coverage gap in the IMI context. Initiatives to support health workers and managers based on their specific contextual challenges could further improve outcomes of the program. Similar to previous studies, results revealed strong associations between each of the three decentralization dimensions. Health systems should consider the impact that management structures have on the efficiency and effectiveness of health services delivery. Future research could provide greater evidence for directionality of direct and indirect effects, interaction effects, and/or mediators of relationships

Water resources simulation in the Rio Grande basin using coupled models

Regional assessments of water resources under global climate change require models that can resolve management, land use, and climate effects. Los Alamos National Laboratory is developing a coupled model of water resources that places a river basin in its global context. The upper Rio Grande basin above El Paso, Texas is the testbed for this model. The model structure and computational approach are emphasize and issues such as nonlinear feedback between components and spatial and temporal scaling of processes are discussed. Using simulations of regional meteorology, the effects of high spatial resolution simulations on the distribution of precipitation are demonstrated

Midtropospheric influences on boundary layer evolution in the Mexico City basin

Mexico City lies in a horseshoe-shaped basin at 2250 m AGL. These authors have simulated the effects of thermally-forced local to regional-scale circulation patterns on the ozone distribution within the basin. On most of the case days studied a relationship could be found between the spatial and temporal evolution of wind patterns and ozone concentration, particularly in the southwestern part of the basin. In this paper, the authors focus upon defining the relationship between the vertical structure of the atmosphere, by examining stability and wind shear, and the near surface pollution. This work was prompted by the need to better understand the role of midtropospheric flow in contributing to, or alleviating, the pollution problem in the basin. The role of vertical exchange processes in this locale has so far been only peripherally explored. From this investigation the authors hope to assess the importance of upper level winds in contributing to ventilation of pollutants out of the basin above the mountaintop level, in flushing the polluted airmass out of the basin, and in the development of basin-wide recirculation patterns. The results of preliminary data analyses are described

Mexico City and the biogeochemistry of global urbanization

Mexico City is far advanced in its urban evolution, and cities in currently developing nations may soon follow a similar course. This paper investigates the strengths and weaknesses of infrastructures for the emerging megacities. The major driving force for infrastructure change in Mexico City is concern over air quality. Air chemistry data from recent field campaigns have been used to calculate fluxes in the atmosphere of the Valley of Mexico, for compounds that are important to biogeochemistry including methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), ammonia (NH3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx and NOy), soot, and dust. Leakage of liquified petroleum gas approached 10% during sampling periods, and automotive pollutant sources in Mexico City were found to match those in developed cities, despite a lower vehicle-to-person ratio of 0.1. Ammonia is released primarily from residential areas, at levels sufficient to titrate pollutant acids into particles across the entire basin. Enhancements of reduced nitrogen and hydrocarbons in the vapor phase skew the distribution of NOy species towards lower average deposition velocities. Partly as a result, downwind nutrient deposition occurs on a similar scale as nitrogen fixation across Central America, and augments marine nitrate upwelling. Dust suspension from unpaved roads and from the bed of Lake Texcoco was found to be comparable to that occurring on the periphery of the Sahara, Arabian, and Gobi deserts. In addition, sodium chloride (NaCl) in the dust may support heterogeneous chlorine oxide (ClOx) chemistry. The insights from our Mexico City analysis have been tentatively applied to the upcoming urbanization of Asia

The "O3E" program: raising awareness on natural hazards

Earthquakes may be traumatic events and as many other environmental emergencies, like storm or floods, may cause more damages than expected when who experiences the phenomena does not know how to behave in the fall. Provided that it is always not feasible to rely on prediction when dealing with earthquakes or extreme meteorological events, preparedness proves to be an efficient (and certainly the most recommendable and cheap) way to face emergencies. Education and training are thus two ingredients to help citizens to perceive the scientific information formerly confined in the laboratories, in particular in the domain of the environmental risk. The “O3E” innovative program (European Observatory for Education and Environment) is established after 10 years (1997-2007) of regional and national original programs (“Sismos of the Schools”), and from Italian and Swiss experiences concerning environment tools for education. The project, that is a cooperation between France, Italy and Switzerland, is born to promote a responsible behaviour of citizens in front of the evolution of a society where scientific information is promptly available. ARGAL (Agency for Geological Risk in the Latin Arc) operates the administrative and technical coordination. The objective of this program is to create a school network in the Alpine and Mediterranean areas equipped with environmental sensors of an educational vocation. The data on the movement of the ground (seismometers), the temperatures and precipitations (weather stations), the flows of rivers (hydrogeology) recorded in the schools and processed by the students are collected on dedicated servers and then made available through internet to the entire educational community. This network “O3E”, once installed, is the starting point of activities. Indeed, various general objectives are pursued: - To promote the applied sciences and new technologies. - To put in network the actors of Education and formation. - To develop the sense of the autonomy and the responsibility in the young people. - To reinforce and develop relationships with regional partners of the educational and university fields. - To support a rational awakening for the prevention of the natural risks that can make the difference during the event in terms of safety. With these premises, the “O3E” experience sets up a permanent educational network of citizens in the Alpine and Mediterranean areas, building an exchange of knowledge on natural risks prevention.PublishedAix en Provence5.9. Formazione e informazioneope

Second-Generation Coil Design of the Nb3Sn low-β Quadrupole for the High Luminosity LHC

As part of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Luminosity upgrade program, the U.S.-LHC Accelerator Research Program collaboration and CERN are working together to design and build a 150-mm aperture Nb3Sn quadrupole for the LHC interaction regions. A first series of 1.5-m-long coils was fabricated and assembled in a first short model. A detailed visual inspection of the coils was carried out to investigate cable dimensional changes during heat treatment and the position of the windings in the coil straight section and in the end region. The analyses allow identifying a set of design changes which, combined with a fine tune of the cable geometry and a field quality optimization, were implemented in a new second-generation coil design. In this paper, we review the main characteristics of the first generation coils, describe the modification in coil layout and discuss their impact on parts design and magnet analysis

Behavioral implications of shortlisting procedures

We consider two-stage “shortlisting procedures” in which the menu of alternatives is first pruned by some process or criterion and then a binary relation is maximized. Given a particular first-stage process, our main result supplies a necessary and sufficient condition for choice data to be consistent with a procedure in the designated class. This result applies to any class of procedures with a certain lattice structure, including the cases of “consideration filters,” “satisficing with salience effects,” and “rational shortlist methods.” The theory avoids background assumptions made for mathematical convenience; in this and other respects following Richter’s classical analysis of preference-maximizing choice in the absence of shortlisting

Insertion Magnets

Chapter 3 in High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) : Preliminary Design Report. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is one of the largest scientific instruments ever built. Since opening up a new energy frontier for exploration in 2010, it has gathered a global user community of about 7,000 scientists working in fundamental particle physics and the physics of hadronic matter at extreme temperature and density. To sustain and extend its discovery potential, the LHC will need a major upgrade in the 2020s. This will increase its luminosity (rate of collisions) by a factor of five beyond the original design value and the integrated luminosity (total collisions created) by a factor ten. The LHC is already a highly complex and exquisitely optimised machine so this upgrade must be carefully conceived and will require about ten years to implement. The new configuration, known as High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), will rely on a number of key innovations that push accelerator technology beyond its present limits. Among these are cutting-edge 11-12 tesla superconducting magnets, compact superconducting cavities for beam rotation with ultra-precise phase control, new technology and physical processes for beam collimation and 300 metre-long high-power superconducting links with negligible energy dissipation. The present document describes the technologies and components that will be used to realise the project and is intended to serve as the basis for the detailed engineering design of HL-LHC.Comment: 19 pages, Chapter 3 in High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) : Preliminary Design Repor