¿Son seres humanos los puentes de fábrica?

In spite of the common belief that the language used by engineers and architects to create, describe and spread their works, exclusively consists of technical terms from the realms of engineering and architecture disregarding other disciplines, in this article counterexamples will be shown which prove that at least in the field of masonry bridges the opposite occurs. Metaphor from the medical and psychological field seems to be the major tool used by these professionals to create and explain their knowledge. Thus, whenever the engineer or architect identify themselves with their work and see it as an extension of their own selves they use metaphorical terminology to express, that to them, masonry bridges are human beings. Therefore, they assign and expect human qualities along the whole life cycle of these bridges and, at the same time, play the role of creator, parent, defender, doctor or psychologist according to the situations or problems their bridge-child may be involved in. Moreover, it will become evident that the abundant use of this metaphor and its terminological correspondences are, by no means, a strange phenomenon but the logical result of the natural interdisciplinarity between building techniques, medicine (including psychology), terminology and language.A pesar de la creencia generalizada de que el lenguaje utilizado por ingenieros y arquitectos para crear, describir y divulgar sus obras es privativo de esta especialidad y completamente ajena a la de otras disciplinas, en este artículo se presentan ejemplos que, al menos en el campo de los puentes de fábrica, muestran todo lo contrario. La metáfora es la herramienta clave que el experto técnico utiliza para crear y explicitar sus conocimientos. Así, cuando el ingeniero o arquitecto se identifica con su obra y la ve como una prolongación de sí mismo, metaforiza verbal y terminológicamente que el puente de fábrica es un ser humano para él, atribuyéndole y exigiéndole cualidades humanas a lo largo de su ciclo vital, a la vez que desempeña el papel de creador, padre, defensor, médico o psicólogo según las situaciones en que se encuentre o los problemas a que se enfrente su puente-hijo. Además, se quiere poner de manifiesto que la abundante utilización de esta metáfora y las correspondencias terminológicas derivadas de ella no son un fenómeno extraño, sino el resultado lógico de la interdisciplinaridad natural entre la técnica constructiva, la medicina (psicología incluida), la terminología y el lenguaje

A Spectral Line Survey from 138.3 to 150.7 GHZ toward Orion-KL

We present the results of a spectral line survey from 138.3 to 150.7 GHz toward Orion-KL. The observations were made using the 14 m radio telescope of Taeduk Radio Astronomy Observatory. Typical system temperatures were between 500 and 700 K, with the sensitivity between $0.02 - 0.06$ K in units of $\rm T_A^*$. A total of 149 line spectra are detected in this survey. Fifty lines have been previously reported, however we find 99 new detections. Among these new lines, 32 are `unidentified', while 67 are from molecular transitions with known identifications. There is no detection of H or He recombination lines. The identified spectra are from a total of 16 molecular species and their isotopic variants. In the range from 138.3 to 150.7 GHz, the strongest spectral line is the J=3-2 transition of CS molecule, followed by transitions of the $\rm H_2CO$, $\rm CH_3OH$, $\rm CH_3CN$, and $\rm SO_2$. Spectral lines from the large organic molecules such as $\rm CH_3OH$, $\rm CH_3OCH_3$, $\rm HCOOCH_3$, $\rm C_2H_5CN$ and $\rm CH_3CN$ are prominent; with 80 % of the identified lines arising from transitions of these molecules. The rotational temperatures and column densities are derived using the standard rotation diagram analysis for $\rm CH_3OH$ ($\rm ^{13}CH_3OH$), $\rm HCOOCH_3$, $\rm CH_3CN$ and $\rm SO_2$ with $\rm 10\sim 270 K$ and $\rm 0.2\sim 20\times 10^{15} cm^{-2}$. These estimates are fairly comparable to the values for the same molecule in other frequency regions by other studies.Comment: 10 figures, 2 tex files for a manuscript and tables, accepted to Ap

Tillage Its Role in Controlling Soil Erosion by Water

This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu

Rescue and homogenization of 140 years of glacier mass balance data in Switzerland

Glacier monitoring in Switzerland has resulted in some of the longest and most complete data series globally. Mass balance observations at individual locations, starting in the 19th century, are the backbone of the monitoring as they represent the raw and original glaciological data demonstrating the response of snow accumulation and snow/ice melt to changes in climate forcing. So far, however, the variety of sources of historic measurements has not been systematically processed and documented. Here, we present a new complete and extensive point glacier mass balance dataset for the Swiss Alps that provides attributes for data quality and corresponding uncertainties. Original sources were digitized or re-assessed to validate or to correct existing entries and to identify metadata. The sources of data are highly diverse and stem from almost 140 years of records, originating from handwritten field notes, unpublished project documents, various digital sources, published reports, and meta-knowledge of the observers. The project resulted in data series with metadata for 63 individual Swiss glaciers, including more than 60 000 point observations of mass balance. Data were systematically analysed and homogenized, e.g. by supplementing partly missing information based on correlations inferred from direct measurements. A system to estimate uncertainty in all individual observations was developed indicating that annual point balance is measured with a typical error of 0.07 m water equivalent (w.e.), while the average error in winter snow measurements is 0.20 m w.e. Our dataset permits further investigating the climate change impacts on Swiss glaciers. Results show an absence of long-term trends in snow accumulation over glaciers while melt rates have substantially increased over the last 3 decades. The complete dataset is available at DOI https://doi.org/10.18750/massbalance.point.2021.r2021 (GLAMOS, 2021).</p

1827 Hydrology: Glaciology (1863); 1863 Hydrology: Snow and ice (1827); 3309 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Climatology (1620)

[1] Over fifty years of cumulative annual mass balance data for several glaciers in the Alps shows similar fluctuations which seem to provide evidence of a common climatic signal. Separate winter and summer mass balance measurements from the Claridenfirn (glacier in Switzerland) since 1914 and the Sarennes glacier (France) since 1949 show that (1) the annual mass balance is primarily driven by the summer mass balance term and (2) melting rate variations with time are very similar for these two glaciers located 290 km apart. The increase in the ablation rate of 0.5 cm w.e. day À1 between the two periods 1954-1981 and 1982-2002 over these two glaciers corresponds to a 20 Wm À2 rise in the energy flux at the glacier surface. These results suggest that a common summer melting rate change may have affected the Alps as a whole. Detailed observations on the Sarennes glacier show that the origin of this strong increase in summer ablation since 1982 is not only a rise in the summer melting rate, but also an increase in the ablation period during the months of September and October

High-Sensitivity Measurement of 3He-4He Isotopic Ratios for Ultracold Neutron Experiments

Research efforts ranging from studies of solid helium to searches for a neutron electric dipole moment require isotopically purified helium with a ratio of 3He to 4He at levels below that which can be measured using traditional mass spectroscopy techniques. We demonstrate an approach to such a measurement using accelerator mass spectroscopy, reaching the 10e-14 level of sensitivity, several orders of magnitude more sensitive than other techniques. Measurements of 3He/4He in samples relevant to the measurement of the neutron lifetime indicate the need for substantial corrections. We also argue that there is a clear path forward to sensitivity increases of at least another order of magnitude.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

Common climatic signal from glaciers in the European Alps over the last 50 years

Conventional glacier-wide mass balances are commonly used to study the effect of climate forcing on glacier melt. Unfortunately, the glacier-wide mass balances are also influenced by the glacier's dynamic response. Investigations on the effects of climate forcing on glaciers can be largely improved by analyzing point mass balances. Using a statistical model, we have found that 52% of the year-to-year deviations in the point mass balances of six glaciers distributed across the entire European Alps can be attributed to a common variability. Point mass balance changes reveal remarkable regional consistencies reaching 80% for glaciers less than 10 km apart. Compared to the steady state conditions of the 1962–1982 period, the surface mass balance changes are −0.85 m water equivalent (w.e.) a⁻¹ for 1983–2002 and −1.63 m w.e. a⁻¹ for 2003–2013. This indicates a clear and regionally consistent acceleration of mass loss over recent decades over the entire European Alps

Aircraft Engine Particulate Matter Emissions from Sustainable Aviation Fuels: Results from Ground-Based Measurements during the NASA/DLR Campaign ECLIF2/ND-MAX

The use of alternative jet fuels by commercial aviation has increased substantially in recent years. Beside the reduction of carbon dioxide emission, the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) may have a positive impact on the reduction of particulate emissions. This study summarizes the results from a ground-based measurement activity conducted in January 2018 as part of the ECLIF2/ND-MAX campaign in Ramstein, Germany. Two fossil reference kerosenes and three different blends with the renewable fuel component HEFA-SPK (Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene) were burned in an A320 with V2527-A5 engines to investigate the effect of fuel naphthalene/aromatic content and the corresponding fuel hydrogen content on non-volatile particle number and mass emissions. Reductions up to 70% in non-volatile particle mass emission compared to the fossil reference fuel were observed at low power settings. The reduction trends to decrease with increasing power settings. The fuels showed a decrease in particle emission with increasing fuel hydrogen content. Consequently, a second fossil fuel with similar hydrogen content as one of the HEFA blends featured similar reduction factors in particle mass and number. Changes in the fuel naphthalene content had significant impact on the particle number emission. A comparison to in-flight emission data shows similar trends at cruise altitudes. The measurements highlight the importance of individual fuel components in regulating engine emissions, particularly at the low thrust settings typically employed during ground operations (e.g. during idle and taxi). Therefore, when selecting and mixing SAF blends to meet present fuel-certification standards, attention should be paid to minimizing complex aromatic content to achieve the greatest possible air quality and climate benefits