New Measurements of Venus Winds with Ground-Based Doppler Velocimetry at CFHT

operations with observations from the ground using various techniques and spectral domains (Lellouch and Witasse, 2008). We present an analysis of Venus Doppler winds at cloud tops based on observations made at the Canada France Hawaii 3.6-m telescope (CFHT) with the ESPaDOnS visible spectrograph. These observations consisted of high-resolution spectra of Fraunhofer lines in the visible range (0.37-1.05 μm) to measure the winds at cloud tops using the Doppler shift of solar radiation scattered by cloud top particles in the observer's direction (Widemann et al., 2007, 2008). The observations were made during 19-20 February 2011 and were coordinated with Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) observations by Venus Express. The complete optical spectrum was collected over 40 spectral orders at each point with 2-5 seconds exposures, at a resolution of about 80000. The observations included various points of the dayside hemisphere at a phase angle of 67°, between +10° and -60° latitude, in steps of 10° , and from +70° to -12° longitude relative to sub-Earth meridian in steps of 12°. The Doppler shift measured in scattered solar light on Venus dayside results from two instantaneous motions: (1) a motion between the Sun and Venus upper cloud particles; (2) a motion between the observer and Venus clouds. The measured Doppler shift, which results from these two terms combined, varies with the planetocentric longitude and latitude and is minimum at meridian ΦN = ΦSun - ΦEarth where the two components subtract to each other for a pure zonal regime. Due to the need for maintaining a stable velocity reference during the course of acquisition using high resolution spectroscopy, we measure relative Doppler shifts to ΦN. The main purpose of our work is to provide variable wind measurements with respect to the background atmosphere, complementary to simultaneous measurements made with the VMC camera onboard the Venus Express. We will present first results from this work, comparing with previous results by the CFHT/ESPaDOnS and VLT-UVES spectrographs (Machado et al., 2012), with Galileo fly-by measurements and with VEx nominal mission observations (Peralta et al., 2007, Luz et al., 2011). Acknowledgements: The authors acknowledge support from FCT through projects PTDC/CTE-AST/110702/2009 and PEst-OE/FIS/UI2751/2011. PM and TW also acknowledge support from the Observatoire de Paris. Lellouch, E., and Witasse, O., A coordinated campaign of Venus ground-based observations and Venus Express measurements, Planetary and Space Science 56 (2008) 1317-1319. Luz, D., et al., Venus's polar vortex reveals precessing circulation, Science 332 (2011) 577-580. Machado, P., Luz, D. Widemann, T., Lellouch, E., Witasse, O, Characterizing the atmospheric dynamics of Venus from ground-based Doppler velocimetry, Icarus, submitted. Peralta J., R. Hueso, A. Sánchez-Lavega, A reanalysis of Venus winds at two cloud levels from Galileo SSI images, Icarus 190 (2007) 469-477. Widemann, T., Lellouch, E., Donati, J.-F., 2008, Venus Doppler winds at Cloud Tops Observed with ESPaDOnS at CFHT, Planetary and Space Science, 56, 1320-1334

Delaunay Hodge Star

We define signed dual volumes at all dimensions for circumcentric dual meshes. We show that for pairwise Delaunay triangulations with mild boundary assumptions these signed dual volumes are positive. This allows the use of such Delaunay meshes for Discrete Exterior Calculus (DEC) because the discrete Hodge star operator can now be correctly defined for such meshes. This operator is crucial for DEC and is a diagonal matrix with the ratio of primal and dual volumes along the diagonal. A correct definition requires that all entries be positive. DEC is a framework for numerically solving differential equations on meshes and for geometry processing tasks and has had considerable impact in computer graphics and scientific computing. Our result allows the use of DEC with a much larger class of meshes than was previously considered possible.Comment: Corrected error in Figure 1 (columns 3 and 4) and Figure 6 and a formula error in Section 2. All mathematical statements (theorems and lemmas) are unchanged. The previous arXiv version v3 (minus the Appendix) appeared in the journal Computer-Aided Desig

Blended delivery of imagery rescripting for childhood ptsd:A case study during the covid 19 pandemic

[Background] Despite the growing evidence that trauma-focused treatments can be applied as first-line approaches for individuals with childhood trauma-related PTSD (Ch-PTSD), many therapists are still reluctant to provide trauma-focused treatments as a first-choice intervention for individuals with Ch-PTSD, especially by telehealth. The current manuscript will therefore give an overview of the evidence for the effectiveness of trauma-focused therapies for individuals with Ch-PTSD, the delivery of trauma-focused treatments via telehealth, and a case example on how a specific form of trauma focused therapy: Imagery Rescripting (ImRs) can be applied by telehealth. [Method] This article presents a clinical illustration of a blended telehealth trajectory of imagery rescripting (ImRs) Ch-PTSD delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic. [Results] The presented case shows that ImRs can be safely and effectively performed by telehealth for ch-PTSD, no stabilization phase was needed and only seven sessions were needed to drastically reduce Ch-PTSD and depressive symptoms, and to increase quality of life. [Conclusion] This case report shows the effectiveness of ImRs by telehealth for Ch-PTSD, which gives hope and additional possibilities to reach out to patients with ch-PTDS. Telehealth treatment might have some of advantages for specific patients, especially, but certainly not only, during the pandemic

Using a spatio-temporal dynamic state-space model with the EM algorithm to patch gaps in daily riverflow series, with examples from the Volta Basin, West Africa

International audienceA spatio-temporal linear dynamic model has been developed for patching short gaps in daily river runoff series. The model was cast in a state-space form in which the state variable was estimated using the Kalman smoother (RTS smoother). The EM algorithm was used to concurrently estimate both parameter and missing runoff values. Application of the model to daily runoff series in the Volta Basin of West Africa showed that the model was capable of providing good estimates of missing runoff values at a gauging station from the remaining series at the station and at spatially correlated stations in the same sub-basin

Effect of seasonal dynamics of vegetation cover on land surface models: a case study of NOAH LSM over a savanna farm land in eastern Burkina Faso, West Africa

International audienceThe sensitivity of the land surface model of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), the Oregon State University, the Air Force and the Hydrologic Research Lab (NOAH LSM) was evaluated with respect to the seasonal dynamics of the vegetation cover in the savanna area under intensive agriculture in the eastern part of Burkina Faso, West Africa. The data collected during the first long-term measurement of the surface fluxes in this mentioned region was used for this purpose. The choice of NOAH LSM was motivated by the fact that it has already been tested in different environments in West Africa, especially in Ghana. The sensitivity was tested by comparing the simulated surfaces fluxes using a fixed values of the roughness length for momentum as a standard in the model and the true seasonal value of this variable. The results show that NOAH LSM was not sensitive to the change of the roughness length for momentum neither on a seasonal basis nor on a daily basis, which was found to be abnormal. The formulation of the coefficient (Bc) coupling the dry canopy transpiration to the atmosphere was found to be the main reason for this. An improved formulation for this coefficient was given to solve this insensitivity and to improve the performance of the model. Recommendations are also given to enhance the performance of the model in the West African savanna environment

Tube Width Fluctuations in F-Actin Solutions

We determine the statistics of the local tube width in F-actin solutions, beyond the usually reported mean value. Our experimental observations are explained by a segment fluid theory based on the binary collision approximation (BCA). In this systematic generalization of the standard mean-field approach effective polymer segments interact via a potential representing the topological constraints. The analytically predicted universal tube width distribution with a stretched tail is in good agreement with the data.Comment: Final version, 5 pages, 4 figure

Using the Wigner-Ibach Surmise to Analyze Terrace-Width Distributions: History, User's Guide, and Advances

A history is given of the applications of the simple expression generalized from the surmise by Wigner and also by Ibach to extract the strength of the interaction between steps on a vicinal surface, via the terrace width distribution (TWD). A concise guide for use with experiments and a summary of some recent extensions are provided.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, reformatted (with revtex) version of refereed paper for special issue of Applied Physics A entitled "From Surface Science to Device Physics", in honor of the retirements of Prof. H. Ibach and Prof. H. L\"ut

Critical scales to explain urban hydrological response: An application in Cranbrook, London

Rainfall variability in space and time, in relation to catchment characteristics and model complexity, plays an important role in explaining the sensitivity of hydrological response in urban areas. In this work we present a new approach to classify rainfall variability in space and time and we use this classification to investigate rainfall aggregation effects on urban hydrological response. Nine rainfall events, measured with a dual polarimetric X-Band radar instrument at the CAESAR site (Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research, NL), were aggregated in time and space in order to obtain different resolution combinations. The aim of this work was to investigate the influence that rainfall and catchment scales have on hydrological response in urban areas. Three dimensionless scaling factors were introduced to investigate the interactions between rainfall and catchment scale and rainfall input resolution in relation to the performance of the model. Results showed that (1) rainfall classification based on cluster identification well represents the storm core, (2) aggregation effects are stronger for rainfall than flow, (3) model complexity does not have a strong influence compared to catchment and rainfall scales for this case study, and (4) scaling factors allow the adequate rainfall resolution to be selected to obtain a given level of accuracy in the calculation of hydrological response