The life project

This conference paper is available to download from the publisher’s website at the link below.The Life Project explores issues of psychological projection into technology by diving into the convoluted relationship between practical purpose and emotional attachment, through both the creative act of designing and making robot entities with artificial emotions, and the social act of engaging with them. This process explores the concept of body representation through a multiidentity in virtual and physical blended space. In a lesser sense, it also suggests a future world of collaboration between physical and virtual forms, enabled by new forms of representation in blended worlds

Short communications: Recommendation to remove the Somali Bee-eater Merops revoilii from the Tanzania list

No abstrac

The Rock Pratincole Glareola nuchalis in Tanzania: the first breeding record, a summary of past records and new distributional data

No abstrac

Confinement: Understanding the Relation Between the Wilson Loop and Dual Theories of Long Distance Yang Mills Theory

In this paper we express the velocity dependent, spin dependent heavy quark potential $V_{q\bar q}$ in QCD in terms of a Wilson Loop $W(\Gamma)$ determined by pure Yang Mills theory. We use an effective dual theory of long-distance Yang Mills theory to calculate $W(\Gamma)$ for large loops; i.e. for loops of size $R > R_{FT}$. ($R_{FT}$ is the flux tube radius, fixed by the value of the Higgs (monopole) mass of the dual theory, which is a concrete realization of the Mandelstam 't Hooft dual superconductor mechanism of confinement). We replace $W(\Gamma)$ by $W_{eff}(\Gamma)$, given by a functional integral over the dual variables, which for $R > R_{FT}$ can be evaluated by a semiclassical expansion, since the dual theory is weakly coupled at these distances. The classical approximation gives the leading contribution to $W_{eff}(\Gamma)$ and yields a velocity dependent heavy quark potential which for large $R$ becomes linear in $R$, and which for small $R$ approaches lowest order perturbative QCD. This latter fact means that these results should remain applicable down to distances where radiative corrections giving rise to a running coupling constant become important. The spin dependence of the potential reflects the vector coupling of the quarks at long range as well as at short range. The methods developed here should be applicable to any realization of the dual superconductor mechanism. They give an expression determining $W_{eff}(\Gamma)$ independent of the classical approximation, but semi classical corrections due to fluctuations of the flux tube are not worked out in this paper. Taking these into account should lead to an effective string theory free from the conformal anomaly.Comment: 39 pages, latex2e, 1 figure(fig.eps

Observations of Energetic Electrons (E ≳ 200 keV) in the Earth's Magnetotail: Plasma Sheet and Fireball Observations

With the California Institute of Technology electron/isotope spectrometer (EIS) aboard the earth-orbiting spacecraft Imp 8, intense energetic electron events (E ≳ 200 keV) have been observed at ∼30 R_E in the magnetotail on 13 of 28 magnetotail passes. In one class of events, peak absolute intensities j(E ≳ 200 keV) = 10^³–10^4 el (cm^² s sr)^(−1) are detected; the differential energy spectra for these events are very steep, with power law indices of ∼7. For this class of observations, symmetric electron pitch angle distributions are detected with the presence of little or no unidirectional streaming, a finding consistent with quasi-trapped motion of the particles. Concurrent observations with other instrumentation on the same spacecraft indicate that the local magnetic fields possess northward components while simultaneous plasma (50 eV ≤ E ≤ 45 keV) data show bulk flow speeds of a few hundred kilometers per second or less, with intense plasma heating ordinarily occurring. A second distinct class of events corresponds to lower average absolute electron intensities (E ≳ 200 keV), typically harder electron energy spectra, and strong intermittent field-aligned (and tailward) unidirectional streaming of the energetic electrons. During periods when this class of events is observed in the plasma sheet, strong southward components are found in the local magnetic fields, and large tailward bulk plasma flow has been reported (with tailward jetting in excess of 1000 km s^(−1) in certain cases). The second class of events is consistent with energetic electron motion on essentially open field lines. These streaming events are found to be associated with apparent localized acceleration regions in the magnetotail

The magnetopause electron layer along the distant magnetotail

An energetic electron layer is found immediately adjacent to, and outside of, the magnetopause surface along the distant magnetotail (−40 ≲ X_(SM) ≲ −15 R_E). The layer has been detected using Caltech instrumentation aboard the earth-orbiting spacecraft IMP-8 and is observed for electrons with energies E ≳ 200 keV. The present study shows that such electrons form a layer ∼ 3 R_E thick and are strongly streaming in a well-ordered pattern, especially along the dusk magnetopause. The energy dissipation implied by the persistent flow may be a direct indication of nearly continuous magnetic merging at or near the magnetopause

Energetic electron anisotropies in the magnetotail: Identification of open and closed field lines

Unidirectional anisotropies in the energetic electron fluxes (E ≳ 200 keV) have been observed in the earth's magnetotail with the Caltech Electron/Isotope Spectrometer on IMP-8. The anisotropies occur during periods of enhanced fluxes and provide essential information on the topology (open or closed) of the magnetotail field lines which are associated with recently identified acceleration regions

The relationship of energy flow at the magnetopause to geomagnetic activity

Properties of the energetic electron (E ≳ 200 keV) magnetopause layer along the distant magnetotail have been studied with Caltech instrumentation aboard IMP-8 for approximately 60 spacecraft orbits. The cross-sectional area of the layer appears to increase by a factor of ∼ 5 with increasing geomagnetic activity, and the average unidirectional electron flux within the layer increases by a factor of ∼ 4. The energy carried by electrons ≳ 200 keV ranges from ∼ 10^(14) ergs sec^(−1) to ∼ 10^(15) ergs sec^(−1). Extrapolation to include all electrons > 1 keV suggests total energy flow ranging from ∼ 3×10^(15) ergs sec^(−1) at quiet times to ∼ 5×10^(18) ergs sec^(−1) at magnetically disturbed times

Coronal mass ejections, magnetic clouds, and relativistic magnetospheric electron events: ISTP

The role of high-speed solar wind streams in driving relativistic electron acceleration within the Earth\u27s magnetosphere during solar activity minimum conditions has been well documented. The rising phase of the new solar activity cycle (cycle 23) commenced in 1996, and there have recently been a number of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and related “magnetic clouds” at 1 AU. As these CME/cloud systems interact with the Earth\u27s magnetosphere, some events produce substantial enhancements in the magnetospheric energetic particle population while others do not. This paper compares and contrasts relativistic electron signatures observed by the POLAR, SAMPEX, Highly Elliptical Orbit, and geostationary orbit spacecraft during two magnetic cloud events: May 27–29, 1996, and January 10–11, 1997. Sequences were observed in each case in which the interplanetary magnetic field was first strongly southward and then rotated northward. In both cases, there were large solar wind density enhancements toward the end of the cloud passage at 1 AU. Strong energetic electron acceleration was observed in the January event, but not in the May event. The relative geoeffectiveness for these two cases is assessed, and it is concluded that large induced electric fields (∂B/∂t) caused in situ acceleration of electrons throughout the outer radiation zone during the January 1997 event