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Climate models miss most of the coarse dust in the atmosphere.
Coarse mineral dust (diameter, ≥5 μm) is an important component of the Earth system that affects clouds, ocean ecosystems, and climate. Despite their significance, climate models consistently underestimate the amount of coarse dust in the atmosphere when compared to measurements. Here, we estimate the global load of coarse dust using a framework that leverages dozens of measurements of atmospheric dust size distributions. We find that the atmosphere contains 17 Tg of coarse dust, which is four times more than current climate models simulate. Our findings indicate that models deposit coarse dust out of the atmosphere too quickly. Accounting for this missing coarse dust adds a warming effect of 0.15 W·m-2 and increases the likelihood that dust net warms the climate system. We conclude that to properly represent the impact of dust on the Earth system, climate models must include an accurate treatment of coarse dust in the atmosphere
A Quantum Rosetta Stone for Interferometry
Heisenberg-limited measurement protocols can be used to gain an increase in
measurement precision over classical protocols. Such measurements can be
implemented using, e.g., optical Mach-Zehnder interferometers and Ramsey
spectroscopes. We address the formal equivalence between the Mach-Zehnder
interferometer, the Ramsey spectroscope, and the discrete Fourier transform.
Based on this equivalence we introduce the ``quantum Rosetta stone'', and we
describe a projective-measurement scheme for generating the desired
correlations between the interferometric input states in order to achieve
Heisenberg-limited sensitivity. The Rosetta stone then tells us the same method
should work in atom spectroscopy.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Locoregional hyperthermia of deep-seated tumours applied with capacitive and radiative systems. A simulation study
Background: Locoregional hyperthermia is applied to deep-seated tumours in the pelvic region. Two very different heating techniques are often applied: capacitive and radiative heating. In this paper, numerical simulations are applied to compare the performance of both techniques in heating of deep-seated tumours. Methods: Phantom simulations were performed for small (30 × 20 × 50 cm 3 ) and large (45 × 30 × 50 cm 3 ), homogeneous fatless and inhomogeneous fat-muscle, tissue-equivalent phantoms with a central or eccentric target region. Radiative heating was simulated with the 70 MHz AMC-4 system and capacitive heating was simulated at 13.56 MHz. Simulations were performed for small fatless, small (i.e. fat layer typically 3 cm) patients with cervix, prostate, bladder and rectum cancer. Temperature distributions were simulated using constant hyperthermic-level perfusion values with tissue constraints of 44 °C and compared for both heating techniques. Results: For the small homogeneous phantom, similar target heating was predicted with radiative and capacitive heating. For the large homogeneous phantom, most effective target heating was predicted with capacitive heating. For inhomogeneous phantoms, hot spots in the fat layer limit adequate capacitive heating, and simulated target temperatures with radiative heating were 2–4 °C higher. Patient simulations predicted therapeutic target temperatures with capacitive heating for fatless patients, but radiative heating was more robust for all tumour sites and patient sizes, yielding target temperatures 1–3 °C higher than those predicted for capacitive heating. Conclusion: Generally, radiative locoregional heating yields more favourable simulated temperature distributions for deep-seated pelvic tumours, compared with capacitive heating. Therapeutic temperatures are predicted for capacitive heating in patients with (almost) no fat
Global and regional importance of the direct dust-climate feedback.
Feedbacks between the global dust cycle and the climate system might have amplified past climate changes. Yet, it remains unclear what role the dust-climate feedback will play in future anthropogenic climate change. Here, we estimate the direct dust-climate feedback, arising from changes in the dust direct radiative effect (DRE), using a simple theoretical framework that combines constraints on the dust DRE with a series of climate model results. We find that the direct dust-climate feedback is likely in the range of -0.04 to +0.02 Wm -2 K-1, such that it could account for a substantial fraction of the total aerosol feedbacks in the climate system. On a regional scale, the direct dust-climate feedback is enhanced by approximately an order of magnitude close to major source regions. This suggests that it could play an important role in shaping the future climates of Northern Africa, the Sahel, the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, and Central Asia
Criteria for two distinguishable fermions to behave like a boson
We study the necessary conditions for bosons composed of two distinguishable
fermions to exhibit bosonic-like behaviour. We base our analysis on tools of
quantum information theory such as entanglement and the majorization criterion
for probability distributions. In particular we scrutinize a recent interesting
hypothesis by C. K. Law in the Ref. Phys. Rev. A 71, 034306 (2005) that
suggests that the amount of entanglement between the constituent fermions is
related to the bosonic properties of the composite boson. We show that a large
amount of entanglement does not necessarily imply a good boson-like behaviour
by constructing an explicit counterexample. Moreover, we identify more
precisely the role entanglement may play in this situation.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure (in color
Analytical model for flux saturation in sediment transport
The transport of sediment by a fluid along the surface is responsible for
dune formation, dust entrainment and for a rich diversity of patterns on the
bottom of oceans, rivers, and planetary surfaces. Most previous models of
sediment transport have focused on the equilibrium (or saturated) particle
flux. However, the morphodynamics of sediment landscapes emerging due to
surface transport of sediment is controlled by situations out-of-equilibrium.
In particular, it is controlled by the saturation length characterizing the
distance it takes for the particle flux to reach a new equilibrium after a
change in flow conditions. The saturation of mass density of particles
entrained into transport and the relaxation of particle and fluid velocities
constitute the main relevant relaxation mechanisms leading to saturation of the
sediment flux. Here we present a theoretical model for sediment transport
which, for the first time, accounts for both these relaxation mechanisms and
for the different types of sediment entrainment prevailing under different
environmental conditions. Our analytical treatment allows us to derive a closed
expression for the saturation length of sediment flux, which is general and can
thus be applied under different physical conditions
Approximations for the delivery splitting model
Consumer Demand;Operational Research;Stocks
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