5,391 research outputs found
Strengthening America's Best Idea: An Independent Review of the National Park Service's Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate
NRSS requested that an independent panel of the National Academy conduct a review of its effectiveness in five core functions, its relationships with key internal stakeholders, and its performance measurement system. Among other things, the National Park Service's Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate (NRSS) is responsible for providing usable natural and social science information throughout the National Park Service (NPS). NRSS leadership requested this review of the directorate's performance on five core functions, its relationships with key internal NPS stakeholders, and its performance measurement system.Main FindingsThe panel determined that NRSS is a highly regarded organization that provides independent, credible scientific expertise and technical information. The panel also found that NRSS and NPS have additional opportunities to advance natural resource stewardship throughout the Service. If implemented, the panel's eight major recommendations will: (1) help the Service respond to the parks' environmental challenges while raising public awareness about the condition of these special places; (2) strengthen NRSS as an organization; (3) promote scientifically based decision-making at the national, regional, and park levels; and (4) improve the existing performance measurement system
Mode engineering with a one-dimensional superconducting metamaterial
We propose a way to control the Josephson energy of a single Josephson
junction embedded in one- dimensional superconducting metamaterial: an
inhomogeneous superconducting loop, made out of a superconducting nanowire or a
chain of Josephson junctions. The Josephson energy is renormalized by the
electromagnetic modes propagating along the loop. We study the behaviour of the
modes as well as of their frequency spectrum when the capacitance and the
inductance along the loop are spatially modulated. We show that, depending on
the amplitude of the modulation, the renormalized Josephson energy is either
larger or smaller than the one found for a homogeneous loop. Using typical
experimental parameters for Josepshon junction chains and superconducting
nanowires, we conclude that this mode-engineering can be achieved with
currently available metamaterials
Spin-orbit coupling in methyl functionalized graphene
We present first-principles calculations of the electronic band structure and
spin-orbit effects in graphene functionalized with methyl molecules in dense
and dilute limits. The dense limit is represented by a 22 graphene
supercell functionalized with one methyl admolecule. The calculated spin-orbit
splittings are up to meV. The dilute limit is deduced by investigating a
large, 77, supercell with one methyl admolecule. The electronic band
structure of this supercell is fitted to a symmetry-derived effective
Hamiltonian, allowing us to extract specific hopping parameters including
intrinsic, Rashba, and PIA (pseudospin inversion asymmetry) spin-orbit terms.
These proximity-induced spin-orbit parameters have magnitudes of about 1 meV,
giant compared to pristine graphene whose intrinsic spin-orbit coupling is
about 10 eV. We find that the origin of this giant local enhancement is
the corrugation and the breaking of local pseudospin inversion symmetry,
as in the case of hydrogen adatoms. Also similar to hydrogen, methyl acts as a
resonant scatterer, with a narrow resonance peak near the charge neutrality
point. We also calculate STM-like images showing the local charge densities at
different energies around methyl on graphene.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure
Theory of coherent quantum phase-slips in Josephson junction chains with periodic spatial modulations
We study coherent quantum phase-slips which lift the ground state degeneracy
in a Josephson junction ring, pierced by a magnetic flux of the magnitude equal
to half of a flux quantum. The quantum phase-slip amplitude is sensitive to the
normal mode structure of superconducting phase oscillations in the ring
(Mooij-Sch\"on modes). These, in turn, are affected by spatial inhomogeneities
in the ring. We analyze the case of weak periodic modulations of the system
parameters and calculate the corresponding modification of the quantum
phase-slip amplitude
Efficient preliminary floating offshore wind turbine design and testing methodologies and application to a concrete spar design
The current key challenge in the floating offshore wind turbine industry and research is on designing economic floating systems that can compete with fixed-bottom offshore turbines in terms of levelized cost of energy. The preliminary platform design, as well as early experimental design assessments, are critical elements in the overall design process. In this contribution, a brief review of current floating offshore wind turbine platform pre-design and scaled testing methodologies is provided, with a focus on their ability to accommodate the coupled dynamic behaviour of floating offshore wind systems. The exemplary design and testing methodology for a monolithic concrete spar platform as performed within the European KIC AFOSP project is presented. Results from the experimental tests compared to numerical simulations are presented and analysed and show very good agreement for relevant basic dynamic platform properties. Extreme and fatigue loads and cost analysis of the AFOSP system confirm the viability of the presented design process. In summary, the exemplary application of the reduced design and testing methodology for AFOSP confirms that it represents a viable procedure during pre-design of floating offshore wind turbine platforms.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft
- …