4,107 research outputs found
Improving the Tanzanian-Mombasa cross-border tomato product chain: a study of Mombasa tomato market : draft report
The study of Mombasa tomato market is part of the project “Development of Commercial Field Vegetable Production, Distribution and Marketing for the East African Market”. The project is implementing a pilot activity on improving crossborder tomato chains from Ngarenanyuki, Tanzania, to Mombasa, Kenya. The overall objective of the study was to assess the requirements, institutional setting and current supply issues of the Mombasa tomato market and to describe the supply chain logistics and characteristics
Flavor decomposition of the elastic nucleon electromagnetic form factors
The u- and d-quark contributions to the elastic nucleon electromagnetic form
factors have been determined using experimental data on GEn, GMn, GpE, and GpM.
Such a flavor separation of the form factors became possible up to 3.4 GeV2
with recent data on GEn from Hall A at JLab. At a negative four-momentum
transfer squared Q2 above 1 GeV2, for both the u- and d-quark components, the
ratio of the Pauli form factor to the Dirac form factor, F2/F1, was found to be
almost constant, and for each of F2 and F1 individually, the d-quark portions
of both form factors drop continuously with increasing Q2.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
The yellow hypergiants HR 8752 and rho Cassiopeiae near the evolutionary border of instability
High-resolution near-ultraviolet spectra of the yellow hypergiants HR 8752
and rho Cassiopeiae indicate high effective temperatures placing both stars
near the T_eff border of the ``yellow evolutionary void''. At present, the
temperature of HR 8752 is higher than ever. For this star we found
Teff=7900+-200 K, whereas rho Cassiopeiae has Teff=7300+-200 K. Both, HR 8752
and rho Cassiopeiae have developed strong stellar winds with Vinf ~ 120 km/s
and Vinf ~ 100 km/s, respectively. For HR 8752 we estimate an upper limit for
the spherically symmetric mass-loss of 6.7X10^{-6}M_solar/yr. Over the past
decades two yellow hypergiants appear to have approached an evolutionary phase,
which has never been observed before. We present the first spectroscopic
evidence of the blueward motion of a cool super/hypergiant on the HR diagram.Comment: 13 pages including 3 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Crossing the `Yellow Void' -- Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy of the Post- Red Supergiant IRC+10420 and Its Circumstellar Ejecta
IRC +10420 is one of the extreme hypergiant stars that define the empirical
upper luminosity boundary in the HR diagram. During their post--RSG evolution,
these massive stars enter a temperature range (6000-9000 K) of increased
dynamical instability, high mass loss, and increasing opacity, a
semi--forbidden region, that de Jager and his collaborators have called the
`yellow void'. We report HST/STIS spatially resolved spectroscopy of IRC +10420
and its reflection nebula with some surprising results. Long slit spectroscopy
of the reflected spectrum allows us to effectively view the star from different
directions. Measurements of the double--peaked Halpha emission profile show a
uniform outflow of gas in a nearly spherical distribution, contrary to previous
models with an equatorial disk or bipolar outflow. Based on the temperature and
mass loss rate estimates that are usually quoted for this object, the wind is
optically thick to the continuum at some and possibly all wavelengths.
Consequently the observed variations in apparent spectral type and inferred
temperature are changes in the wind and do not necessarily mean that the
underlying stellar radius and interior structure are evolving on such a short
timescale. To explain the evidence for simultaneous outflow and infall of
material near the star, we propose a `rain' model in which blobs of gas
condense in regions of lowered opacity outside the dense wind. With the
apparent warming of its wind, the recent appearance of strong emission, and a
decline in the mass loss rate, IRC +10420 may be about to shed its opaque wind,
cross the `yellow void', and emerge as a hotter star.Comment: To appear in the Astronomical Journal, August 200
Data-based design of high-performance motion controllers
This paper presents a data-based design of a linear feedback controller which realizes desired closed-loop sensitivity and complementary sensitivity transfer functions. These transfer functions are specified via a single model-based performance cost. The data-based equivalent of this cost is derived, and its utility for the feedback design is demonstrated. A designer can prescribe the controller structure and complexity. Experimental results obtained in a direct-drive robot motion control problem confirm the effectiveness of the design
Shadowing Effects on the Nuclear Suppression Factor, R_dAu, in d+Au Interactions
We explore how nuclear modifications to the nucleon parton distributions
affect production of high transverse momentum hadrons in deuteron-nucleus
collisions. We calculate the charged hadron spectra to leading order using
standard fragmentation functions and shadowing parameterizations. We obtain the
d+Au to pp ratio both in minimum bias collisions and as a function of
centrality. The minimum bias results agree reasonably well with the BRAHMS data
while the calculated centrality dependence underestimates the data and is a
stronger function of p_T than the data indicate.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, final version, Phys. Rev. C in pres
Elastic Form Factors of He up to Large
Elastic electron scattering off He and He has recently been studied
at forward and backward scattering angles in Hall A at JLab. The results will
provide accurate data on the elastic form factors, charge and magnetic for
He and charge only for He, up to squared momentum transfer -values
of 3.2 GeV.Comment: 3 pages, Proceedings of EFB2
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