The pitch-heave dynamics of transportation vehicles

The analysis and design of suspensions for vehicles of finite length using pitch-heave models is presented. Dynamic models for the finite length vehicle include the spatial distribution of the guideway input disturbance over the vehicle length, as well as both pitch and heave degrees-of-freedom. Analytical results relate the vehicle front and rear accelerations to the pitch and heave natural frequencies, which are functions of vehicle suspension geometry and mass distribution. The effects of vehicle asymmetry and suspension contact area are evaluated. Design guidelines are presented for the modification of vehicle and suspension parameters to meet alternative ride quality criteria

Estimating total standing herbaceous biomass production with LANDSAT MSS digital data

Rangeland biomass data were correlated with spectral vegetation indices, derived from LANDSAT MSS data. LANDSAT data from five range and three other land use sites in Willacv and Cameron Counties were collected on October 17 and December 10, 1975, and on July 31 and September 23, 1976. The overall linear correlation of total standing herbaceous biomass with the LANDSAT derived perpendicular vegetation index was highly significant (r = 0.90**) for these four dates. The standard error of estimate was 722 kg/ha. Biomass data were recorded for two of these range sites for 8 months (March through October) during the 1976 growing season. Standing green biomass accounted for most of the increase in herbage, starting in June and ending about September and October. These results indicate that satellite data may be useful for the estimation of total standing herbaceous biomass production that could aid range managers in assessing range condition and animal carrying capacities of large and inaccessible range holdings

Mentoring trainee psychologists: learning from lived experience

Purpose – To examine service-users’ experiences of mentoring trainee clinical psychologists as part of an involvement initiative on a doctoral training course. Methodology – Seven service-users were paired with trainee clinical psychologists. Pairs met for one hour monthly over 6 months. Meetings were unstructured, lacked a formal agenda and were not evaluated academically. All seven mentors were interviewed. They were asked about positive and negative experiences, as well as about the support provided. Transcripts were subject to thematic analysis and themes were reviewed by mentors in a follow-up meeting. Findings - Overall, results demonstrate that service-users can be involved in training in a way that they find meaningful and contributes to their recovery. Seven themes were identified: Giving hope and optimism; making a difference; personal and professional development; the process; practicalities/ logistics; support (positives); support (areas for improvement). Practical implications – The importance of designing involvement initiatives in a way which implicitly supports service-user values was highlighted. Recommendations for designing effective support structures are given. Authors were also involved in the scheme which could have introduced bias. Originality/value – Research exploring service-users’ experiences of involvement in training health professionals is limited. This was the first study to explore in depth service users’ perspectives of involvement in a scheme such as the Mentoring Scheme. If initiatives are to seriously embrace the values of the service-user movement then seeking service-users’ perspectives is vital. Paper type: Research Pape

Dispersion of tracer particles in a compressible flow

The turbulent diffusion of Lagrangian tracer particles has been studied in a flow on the surface of a large tank of water and in computer simulations. The effect of flow compressibility is captured in images of particle fields. The velocity field of floating particles has a divergence, whose probability density function shows exponential tails. Also studied is the motion of pairs and triplets of particles. The mean square separation is fitted to the scaling form ~ t^alpha, and in contrast with the Richardson-Kolmogorov prediction, an extended range with a reduced scaling exponent of alpha=1.65 pm 0.1 is found. Clustering is also manifest in strongly deformed triangles spanned within triplets of tracers.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

A Side of Mercury Not Seen By Mariner 10

More than 60,000 images of Mercury were taken at ~29 deg elevation during two sunrises, at 820 nm, and through a 1.35 m diameter off-axis aperture on the SOAR telescope. The sharpest resolve 0.2" (140 km) and cover 190-300 deg longitude -- a swath unseen by the Mariner 10 spacecraft -- at complementary phase angles to previous ground-based optical imagery. Our view is comparable to that of the Moon through weak binoculars. Evident are the large crater Mozart shadowed on the terminator, fresh rayed craters, and other albedo features keyed to topography and radar reflectivity, including the putative huge ``Basin S'' on the limb. Classical bright feature Liguria resolves across the northwest boundary of the Caloris basin into a bright splotch centered on a sharp, 20 km diameter radar crater, and is the brightest feature within a prominent darker ``cap'' (Hermean feature Solitudo Phoenicis) that covers the northern hemisphere between longitudes 140-250 deg. The cap may result from space weathering that darkens via a magnetically enhanced flux of the solar wind, or that reddens low latitudes via high solar insolation.Comment: 7 pages, 4 PDF figures, pdfLaTeX, typos corrected, Fig. 2 modified slightly to add crater diameters not given in published versio

Reaction Diffusion and Ballistic Annihilation Near an Impenetrable Boundary

The behavior of the single-species reaction process $A+A\to O$ is examined near an impenetrable boundary, representing the flask containing the reactants. Two types of dynamics are considered for the reactants: diffusive and ballistic propagation. It is shown that the effect of the boundary is quite different in both cases: diffusion-reaction leads to a density excess, whereas ballistic annihilation exhibits a density deficit, and in both cases the effect is not localized at the boundary but penetrates into the system. The field-theoretic renormalization group is used to obtain the universal properties of the density excess in two dimensions and below for the reaction-diffusion system. In one dimension the excess decays with the same exponent as the bulk and is found by an exact solution. In two dimensions the excess is marginally less relevant than the bulk decay and the density profile is again found exactly for late times from the RG-improved field theory. The results obtained for the diffusive case are relevant for Mg$^{2+}$ or Cd$^{2+}$ doping in the TMMC crystal's exciton coalescence process and also imply a surprising result for the dynamic magnetization in the critical one-dimensional Ising model with a fixed spin. For the case of ballistic reactants, a model is introduced and solved exactly in one dimension. The density-deficit profile is obtained, as is the density of left and right moving reactants near the impenetrable boundary.Comment: to appear in J. Phys.

Highly sensitive alkane odour sensors based on functionalised gold nanoparticles

We deposit dense, ordered, thin films of Au-dodecanethiol core/shell nanoparticles by the Langmuir-Schafer (LS) printing method, and find that their resistance at ambient temperature responds selectively and sensitively to alkane odours. Response is a rapid resistance increase due to swelling, and is strongest for alkane odours where the alkane chain is similar in length to the dodecane shell. For decane odours, we find a response to concentrations as low as 15 ppm, about 600 times below the lower explosive limit. Response is weaker, but still significant, to aromatic odours (e.g. Toluene, Xylene), while potential interferants such as polar and/or hydrogen-bonding odours (e.g. alcohols, ketones, water vapour) are somewhat rejected. Resistance is weakly dependent on temperature, and recovers rapidly and completely to its original value within the error margin of measurement. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Tissue-specific regulation of cyclin E transcription during Drosophila melanogaster embryogenesis

Cyclin E is an essential regulator of S phase entry. We have previously shown that transcriptional regulation of the gene that encodes Drosophila cyclin E, DmcycE, plays an important role in the control of the G(1) to S phase transition during development. We report here the first comprehensive analysis of the transcriptional regulation of a G(1 )phase cell cycle regulatory gene during embryogenesis. Analysis of deficiencies, a genomic transformant and reporter gene constructs revealed that DmcycE transcription is controlled by a large and complex cis-regulatory region containing tissue- and stage-specific components. Separate regulatory elements for transcription in epidermal cells during cell cycles 14-16, central nervous system cells and peripheral nervous system cells were found. An additional cis-regulatory element drives transcription in thoracic epidermal cells that undergo a 17th cell cycle when other epidermal cells have arrested in G(1 )phase prior to terminal differentiation. The complexity of DmcycE transcriptional regulation argues against a model in which DmcycE transcription is regulated simply and solely by G(1) to S phase transcription regulators such as RB, E2F and DP. Rather, our study demonstrates that tissue-specific transcriptional regulatory mechanisms are important components of the control of cyclin E transcription and thus of cell proliferation in metazoans.Lynn Jones, Helena Richardson and Robert Sain

Vegetation density as deduced from ERTS-1 MSS response

Reflectance from vegetation increases with increasing vegetation density in the 0.75- to 1.35 micron wavelength interval. Therefore, ERTS-1 bands 6 (0.7 to 0.8 micron) and 7 (0.8 to 1.1 micron) contain information that should relate to the probable yield of crops and the animal carrying capacity of rangeland. The results of an experiment designed specifically to test the relations among leaf area index (LAI), plant population, plant cover and plant height, and the ERTS-1 MSS responses for 3 corn, 10 sorghum, and 10 cotton fields are given. Plant population was as useful as LAI for characterizing the sorghum and corn fields, and plant height was as good as LAI for characterizing cotton fields. These findings generally support the utility of ERTS-1 data for explaining variability in green biomass, harvestable forage and other indicators of productivity

6. Ian T. Ramsey

In view of the requirement of verifiability that is demanded by certain philosophical schools, there seems little justification for what are conventionally recognized as theological statements. Certainly no one man has yet succeeded, except perhaps to his own satisfaction, in expressing religious notions in such language and in verifying by such a method that universal consent is gained for the validity of his system. If the charm of empirical verification is not invoked, then for some minds there is little reason to say anything. Obviously, given such rigid requirements for securing a sympathetic audience, theological discussion may find itself standing tongue-tied in the wings while logic and empiricism dominate the stage. But faced with the possibility of the eventual demise of theology, an effort is made to translate religious experience into intellectual terms which are acceptable to these critics. [excerpt