1,900 research outputs found
The Hanle and Zeeman Effects in Solar Spicules: A Novel Diagnostic Window on Chromospheric Magnetism
An attractive diagnostic tool for investigating the magnetism of the solar
chromosphere is the observation and theoretical modeling of the Hanle and
Zeeman effects in spicules, as shown in this letter for the first time. Here we
report on spectropolarimetric observations of solar chromospheric spicules in
the He I 10830 \AA multiplet and on their theoretical modeling accounting for
radiative transfer effects. We find that the magnetic field in the observed
(quiet Sun) spicular material at a height of about 2000 km above the visible
solar surface has a strength of the order of 10 G and is inclined by
approximately with respect to the local vertical direction. Our
empirical finding based on full Stokes-vector spectropolarimetry should be
taken into account in future magnetohydrodynamical simulations of spicules.Comment: 12 pages and 2 figure
Barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe
The Eurobarometer Survey of the <i>EAPC Task Force on the Development of Palliative Care in Europe</i> is part of a programme of work to produce comprehensive information on the provision of palliative care across Europe.
Aim: To identify barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe.
Method: A qualitative survey was undertaken amongst boards of national associations, eliciting opinions on opportunities for, and barriers to, palliative care development. By July 2006, 44/52 (85%) European countries had responded to the survey; we report here on the results from 22/25 (88%) countries in Western Europe.
Analysis: Data from the Eurobarometer survey were analysed thematically by geographical region and by the degree of development of palliative care in each country.
Results: From the data contained within the Eurobarometer, we identified six significant barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe: (i) Lack of palliative care education and training programmes (ii) Lack of awareness and recognition of palliative care (iii) Limited availability of/knowledge about opioid analgesics (iv) Limited funding (v) Lack of coordination amongst services (vi) Uneven palliative care coverage.
Conclusion: Findings from the EAPC Eurobarometer survey suggest that barriers to the development of palliative care in Western Europe may differ substantially from each other in both their scope and context and that some may be considered to be of greater significance than others. A number of common barriers to the development of the discipline do exist and much work still remains to be done in the identified areas. This paper provides a road map of which barriers need to be addressed
Wave Propagation and Jet Formation in the Chromosphere
We present the results of numerical simulations of wave propagation and jet
formation in solar atmosphere models with different magnetic field
configurations. The presence in the chromosphere of waves with periods longer
than the acoustic cutoff period has been ascribed to either strong inclined
magnetic fields, or changes in the radiative relaxation time. Our simulations
include a sophisticated treatment of radiative losses, as well as fields with
different strengths and inclinations. Using Fourier and wavelet analysis
techniques, we investigate the periodicity of the waves that travel through the
chromosphere. We find that the velocity signal is dominated by waves with
periods around 5 minutes in regions of strong, inclined field, including at the
edges of strong flux tubes where the field expands, whereas 3-minute waves
dominate in regions of weak or vertically oriented fields. Our results show
that the field inclination is very important for long-period wave propagation,
whereas variations in the radiative relaxation time have little effect.
Furthermore, we find that atmospheric conditions can vary significantly on
timescales of a few minutes, meaning that a Fourier analysis of wave
propagation can be misleading. Wavelet techniques take variations with time
into account and are more suitable analysis tools. Finally, we investigate the
properties of jets formed by the propagating waves once they reach the
transition region, and find systematic differences between the jets in inclined
field regions and those in vertical field regions, in agreement with
observations of dynamic fibrils.Comment: 27 pages, 29 figures; accepted for publication in Astrophysical
Journa
On the magnetic structure of the solar transition region
We examine the hypothesis that ``cool loops'' dominate emission from solar
transition region plasma below temperatures of K. We compare
published VAULT images of H L, a lower transition region line, with
near-contemporaneous magnetograms from Kitt Peak, obtained during the second
flight (VAULT-2) on 14 June 2002. The measured surface fields and potential
extrapolations suggest that there are too few short loops, and that L
emission is associated with the base regions of longer, coronal loops. VAULT-2
data of network boundaries have an asymmetry on scales larger than
supergranules, also indicating an association with long loops. We complement
the Kitt Peak data with very sensitive vector polarimetric data from the
Spectro-Polarimeter on board Hinode, to determine the influence of very small
magnetic concentrations on our analysis. From these data two classes of
behavior are found: within the cores of strong magnetic flux concentrations ( Mx) associated with active network and plage, small-scale mixed
fields are absent and any short loops can connect just the peripheries of the
flux to cell interiors. Core fields return to the surface via longer, most
likely coronal, loops. In weaker concentrations, short loops can connect
between concentrations and produce mixed fields within network boundaries as
suggested by Dowdy and colleagues. The VAULT-2 data which we examined are
associated with strong concentrations. We conclude that the cool loop model
applies only to a small fraction of the VAULT-2 emission, but we cannot
discount a significant role for cool loops in quieter regions. We suggest a
physical picture for how network L emission may occur through the
cross-field diffusion of neutral atoms from chromospheric into coronal plasma.Comment: Accepted by ApJ, 9 May 200
EFFECTS OF TURBULENCE-RADIATION INTERACTIONS IN A NON-PREMIXED TURBULENT METHANE-AIR FLAME
This work studied a turbulent flame and analyzed the interaction between turbulence and radiation (TRI). The problem consists of a non-premixed turbulent methane flame surrounded by a low-velocity air coflow identified as Flame DLR-A. The steady laminar diffusion flamelet (SLDF) model is used to solve the chemical kinetics. To generate the flamelet library, turbulence-chemistry interaction is taken into account through previously assumed probability density functions (PDF) of mean scalars. Radiative heat flux is calculated with the discrete ordinates method, considering the Gray Gas model (GG). Turbulence is solved with k-ε Standard model and TRI methodology is based on temperature self-correlation. The solution is obtained using ANSYS/Fluent code coupled with user-defined functions (UDFs). Results indicated that the temperature and chemical species predictions are little affected by TRI, while the radiative quantities (radiative heat flux on the domain wall) are importantly affect by TRI effects
Features of spatial distribution of oscillations in faculae regions
We found that oscillations of LOS velocity in H-alpha are different for
various parts of faculae regions. Power spectra show that the contribution of
low-frequency modes (1.2 - 2 mHz) increase at the network boundaries. Three and
five- minute periods dominate inside cells. The spectra of photosphere and
chromosphere LOS velocity oscillations differ for most faculae. On the other
hand, we detected several cases where propagating oscillations in faculae were
manifest with a five-minute period. Their initiation point on spatial-temporal
diagrams coincided with the local maximum of the longitudinal magnetic field.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Low temperature CO oxidation
Catalytic low-temperature abatement of carbon monoxide becomes essential in environmental pollution control. CO Oxidation, CO Preferential Oxidation (PROX) and Water Gas Shift (WGS) reaction are the conventional technologies used to remove carbon monoxide at low temperature. Perovskite-type oxides have been extensively studied in the last years as catalysts for these reactions due to their high activity and catalytic stability. This chapter describes the state-of-the-art of using perovskite-based catalysts of general formula ABO3 in these reactions. Key factors such as the type and nature of A and B ions or the formation of oxygen vacancies or interstitials by doping are discussed in the light of the reaction mechanism in each casePeer reviewe
Population distribution models: species distributions are better modeled using biologically relevant data partitions
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Predicting the geographic distribution of widespread species through modeling is problematic for several reasons including high rates of omission errors. One potential source of error for modeling widespread species is that subspecies and/or races of species are frequently pooled for analyses, which may mask biologically relevant spatial variation within the distribution of a single widespread species. We contrast a presence-only maximum entropy model for the widely distributed oldfield mouse (<it>Peromyscus polionotus</it>) that includes all available presence locations for this species, with two composite maximum entropy models. The composite models either subdivided the total species distribution into four geographic quadrants or by fifteen subspecies to capture spatially relevant variation in <it>P. polionotus </it>distributions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Despite high Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC) values for all models, the composite species distribution model of <it>P. polionotus </it>generated from individual subspecies models represented the known distribution of the species much better than did the models produced by partitioning data into geographic quadrants or modeling the whole species as a single unit.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Because the AUC values failed to describe the differences in the predictability of the three modeling strategies, we suggest using omission curves in addition to AUC values to assess model performance. Dividing the data of a widespread species into biologically relevant partitions greatly increased the performance of our distribution model; therefore, this approach may prove to be quite practical and informative for a wide range of modeling applications.</p
Redução de impactos socioambientais decorrentes da geração de lixo através do processo de vermicompostagem implantado na embrapa estação experimental cascata.
All-Dielectric Rod-Type Metamaterials at Optical Frequencies
Light propagation in all-dielectric rod-type metamaterials is studied
theoretically. The electric and magnetic dipole moments of the rods are derived
analytically in the long-wavelength limit. The effective permittivity and
permeability of a square lattice of rods are calculated by homogenizing the
corresponding array of dipoles. The role of dipole resonances in the optical
properties of the rod array is interpreted. This structure is found to exhibit
a true left-handed behavior, confirming previous experiments [L. Peng
\textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{98}, 157403 (2007)]. A scaling
analysis shows that this effect holds at optical frequencies and can be
obtained by using rods made, for example, of silicon.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures. The title has been shortened; Figs. 1, 2 and 3
have been modified; Eq. 4 has been corrected (sign error); A few sentences
have been added/rewritte
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