Processing EOS MLS Level-2 Data

A computer program performs level-2 processing of thermal-microwave-radiance data from observations of the limb of the Earth by the Earth Observing System (EOS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS). The purpose of the processing is to estimate the composition and temperature of the atmosphere versus altitude from .8 to .90 km. "Level-2" as used here is a specialists f term signifying both vertical profiles of geophysical parameters along the measurement track of the instrument and processing performed by this or other software to generate such profiles. Designed to be flexible, the program is controlled via a configuration file that defines all aspects of processing, including contents of state and measurement vectors, configurations of forward models, measurement and calibration data to be read, and the manner of inverting the models to obtain the desired estimates. The program can operate in a parallel form in which one instance of the program acts a master, coordinating the work of multiple slave instances on a cluster of computers, each slave operating on a portion of the data. Optionally, the configuration file can be made to instruct the software to produce files of simulated radiances based on state vectors formed from sets of geophysical data-product files taken as input

Industrie 4.0: Mitbestimmen - mitgestalten: Umsetzungsstand von Industrie 4.0 in nordrhein-westfälischen Industrieunternehmen

Der höchste Industrie-4.0-Umsetzungsstand ist im Hinblick auf die Nutzung mobiler Endgeräte sowie in den Branchen Elektronik/Elektrotechnik und Automotive festzustellen. Qualifizierungsmaßnahmen können ein wichtiger Baustein sein, wenn es darum geht, die Zunahme der psychischen Belastung bei den Beschäftigten zu vermeiden und Betriebsräte zu einer aktiven Rolle bei technologischen Veränderungen zu befähigen. Trotz einer hohen Bereitschaft zur Weiterbildung ist die Weiterbildungspraxis noch nicht umfangreich umgesetzt

Industrie 4.0: Mitbestimmen - mitgestalten: Umsetzungsstand von Industrie 4.0 in nordrhein-westfälischen Industrieunternehmen

In der vorliegenden Studie wird der Umsetzungsstand von Industrie 4.0 anhand einer quantitativen Befragung von drei relevanten Ebenen (Geschäftsführung, Betriebsrat, Beschäftigte) in produzierenden Betrieben in Nordrhein-Westfalen untersucht. In enger Verzahnung mit der technischen Umsetzung werden dabei die Bereiche der Mitbestimmung und der Qualifizierung untersucht. Der Umsetzungsstand von Industrie 4.0 erweist sich empirisch als variabel. Dabei differenziert sich diese empirische Vielfalt sowohl über die unterschiedlichen Industrie 4.0-Szenarien als auch über die Zugehörigkeit zu konkreten Branchen aus. Aufseiten der Beschäftigten des Shopfloors wird zudem eine stärker werdende Digitalisierung mit einer erhöhten Arbeitsbelastung in Verbindung gebracht. Während eine hohe Bereitschaft besteht, den Herausforderungen durch die Digitalisierung positiv zu begegnen, zeigt sich gleichzeitig eine in nicht umfangreichem Maße umgesetzte Fortbildungs- und Schulungspraxis zu diesem Thema.In the present research study, the status of implementation of Industry 4.0 is investigated by a quantitative survey of three relevant company levels (management, works council, shopfloor) in manufacturing enterprises in North Rhine-Westphalia. Closely enmeshed with the technical implementation, the fields of participation and qualification will be empirically considered. The status of implementation of Industry 4.0 turns out to be empirically diverse. This empirical diversity ranges from different Industry 4.0 scenarios to the affiliation to certain industries. On the shopfloor, the increasing digitization is associated with an increased workload for the employees. On the one hand, there is a high willingness to face positively the challenges of digitization, but still, on the other hand, present trainings and the further education within the scope of Industry 4.0 prove not to be implemented to an appropriate extent

Convective outflow of South Asian pollution: A global CTM simulation compared with EOS MLS observations

A global 3-D chemical transport model is used to analyze observations of carbon monoxide (CO) and upper tropospheric clouds from the EOS Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS). MLS observations during 25 August–6 September 2004 reveal elevated CO and dense high clouds in the upper troposphere over the Tibetan plateau and southwest China, collocating with the upper level Tibetan anticyclone. Model simulations indicate the transport of boundary layer pollution by Asian summer monsoon (ASM) convection and orographic lifting to the upper troposphere over South Asia, where simulated distributions of CO resemble MLS observations. Model results also show elevated aerosols in the anticyclone region. Analysis of model simulated CO and aerosols indicate that the Tibetan anticyclone could ‘trap’ anthropogenic emissions lifted from northeast India and southwest China. These aerosols may be responsible for the formation of some of the dense high clouds.Engineering and Applied Science

Unusual Tubular Fossils Associated with Microbial Crusts from The Middle Jurassic of Poland: Agglutinated Polychaete Worm Tubes?

Intriguing fossils encrusting oncoids and exhumed carbonate concretions are described from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) of Poland. The fossils, up to a few millimeters in diameter and preserved in a form of calcium carbonate, are characterized by a tubular, elongate shape with the external surface covered with distinctive semicircular to oval concavities. These tubes do not match any known fossils and do not represent trace fossils sensu stricto. They are similar to serpulid and/or sabellid polychaetes with which they are associated. The latter, however, have calcitic tubes and none are known to possess the concave structures that characterize the tubular fossils. The shape of the concavities and the presence of a carbonate lining within them suggest that the tubular fossils were originally covered with ooids, a few of which are still preserved in the concavities. These Middle Jurassic fossils may represent the fossilized remnants of agglutinated tubes formed by polychaete worms. Their greatest abundances are noted on media bearing thick microbial crusts (oncoidal in nature) on which they often form dense aggregations. This may indicate that the tube-building worms selected such media not only because they provided a suitable hard surface for settlement, but also because they were a rich source of food in the form of both microbes (Cyanophyta) and other organic matter present in the microbial mats. The selectivity of only ooids for tube building makes them dissimilar to any known recent tube-building polychaetes and, thus, the Middle Jurassic representatives are nonactualistic with respect to particle selection for the tube formation. © 2012 SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology)

Production and Photodissociation of the Methyl Perthiyl Radical

The photodissociation dynamics of the methyl perthiyl (CH₃SS) radical are investigated via molecular beam photofragment translational spectroscopy, using “soft” electron ionization to detect the radicals and their photofragments. With this new capability, we have shown that CH₃SS can be generated from flash pyrolysis of dimethyl trisulfide. Utilizing this source of radicals and the advantages afforded by soft electron ionization, we have reinvestigated the photodissociation dynamics of CH₃SS at 248 nm, finding CH₃S + S to be the dominant dissociation channel with CH₃ + SS as a minor process. These results differ from previous work reported in our laboratory in which we found CH₃ + SS and CH₂S + SH as the main dissociation channels. The difference in results is discussed in light of our new capabilities for characterization of radical production

Microconchid-dominated cobbles from the Upper Devonian of Russia: Opportunism and dominance in a restricted environment following the Frasnian–Famennian biotic crisis

Carbonate cobbles from the lower Famennian (crepida conodont Zone) brachiopod shell beds of the Russkiy Brod Quarry (Central Devonian Field, Russia) have been investigated with respect to paleoecology and paleoenvironment. The cobbles, composed of similar shell bioclasts as the host deposits, were eroded from lithified shell beds during intervals of non-deposition. The smooth surfaces and the presence of borings and encrustations on all sides suggest that the cobbles were periodically transported and overturned. The fact that all the bioerosion traces are encrusted and none of the encrusters were bioeroded indicates that the first colonizers of the cobbles were worm-like suspension feeders, leaving long, cylindrical borings (Trypanites). The encrusting organisms are dominated by spirally-coiled microconchid tubeworms, followed by cornulitids, productid brachiopods, hederelloids, foraminifera, enigmatic Ascodictyon and trepostome bryozoans. The high abundance but low-diversity brachiopod fauna and general rarity of such stenohaline taxa as echinoderms in the shell beds or bryozoans on the cobbles suggest that the salinity fluctuated. The presence of dolomite crystals in both the host deposit and cobbles suggests that salinity increased from normal-marine to a higher salinity level during colonization of the cobbles. In fact, as shown by the facies and palynofacies data, the cobble-bearing deposits represent near-shore, restricted environments created during the first phases of transgression of the early Famennian that followed the regional regression at the Frasnian–Famennian transition. In such shallow, restricted settings a higher salinity could have appeared seasonally during a hot and dry climate. As with the microconchids from the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction, those from the post-crisis early Famennian interval of Russia were also dominant due to unstable environmental conditions. Here, at least in the case of the Russkiy Brod, the periodic higher salinity episodes may have discouraged other encrusters and thus promoted the settlement of the opportunistic microconchids