Overview of lunar-based astronomy

The opportunities along with the advantages and disadvantages of the Moon for astronomical observatories are carefully and methodically considered. Taking a relatively unbiased approach, it was concluded that lunar observatories will clearly be a major factor in the future of astronomy in the next century. He concludes that ground based work will continue because of its accessibility and that Earth orbital work will remain useful, primarily for convenience of access in constructing and operating very large space systems. Deep space studies will feature not only probes but extensive systems for extremely long baseline studies at wavelengths from gamma rays through visible and IR out to radio is also a conclusion drawn, along with the consideration that lunar astronomy will have found important permanent applications along lines such as are discussed at the present symposium and others quite unsuspected today

Advanced microwave soil moisture studies

Comparisons of low level L-band brightness temperature (TB) and thermal infrared (TIR) data as well as the following data sets: soil map and land cover data; direct soil moisture measurement; and a computer generated contour map were statistically evaluated using regression analysis and linear discriminant analysis. Regression analysis of footprint data shows that statistical groupings of ground variables (soil features and land cover) hold promise for qualitative assessment of soil moisture and for reducing variance within the sampling space. Dry conditions appear to be more conductive to producing meaningful statistics than wet conditions. Regression analysis using field averaged TB and TIR data did not approach the higher sq R values obtained using within-field variations. The linear discriminant analysis indicates some capacity to distinguish categories with the results being somewhat better on a field basis than a footprint basis

LANDSAT Range Resource Information System

A series of test products were developed from LANDSAT data sets for North Central Texas that paralleled the needs of ranchers, technical personnel, and the media. The products and evaluation questionnaires were mailed to approximately 150 ranchers who had reported an interest in evaluating the information systems. In addition to the rancher group, fourteen media people and a thirty-three member group in the agri business/technical community was also chosen to receive test products. The group responses are analyzed. Examples of the test products and associated questionnaires are included

A very low frequency radio astronomy observatory on the Moon

Because of terrestrial ionospheric absorption, very little is known of the radio sky beyond 10 m wavelength. An extremely simple, low cost very low frequency radio telescope is proposed, consisting of a large array of short wires laid on the lunar surface, each wire equipped with an amplifier and a digitizer, and connected to a common computer. The telescope could do simultaneous multifrequency observations of much of the visible sky with high resolution in the 10 to 100 m wavelength range, and with lower resolution in the 100 to 1000 m range. It would explore structure and spectra of galactic and extragalactic point sources, objects, and clouds, and would produce detailed quasi-three-dimensional mapping of interstellar matter within several thousand parsecs of the Sun

ULF waves in the solar wind as direct drivers of magnetospheric pulsations

[1] Global magnetospheric ULF pulsations with frequencies in the Pc 5 range (f = 1.7–6.7 mHz) and below have been observed for decades in space and on the Earth. Recent work has shown that in some cases these pulsations appear at discrete frequencies. Global cavity and waveguide modes have been offered as possible sources of such waves. In these models the magnetosphere is presumed to resonate globally at frequencies determined solely by its internal properties such as size, shape, field topology, mass density distribution, etc. We show in this work that upstream solar wind number density and dynamic pressure variations precede and drive compressional magnetic field variations at geosynchronous orbit. Furthermore, spectral analysis shows that wave power spectra in both the solar wind and magnetosphere contain peaks at the same discrete frequencies. Therefore, in contrast to the cavity mode hypothesis, we suggest that discrete ULF pulsations observed within the magnetosphere are at least sometimes directly driven by density oscillations present in the ambient solar wind. Finally, we comment on possible sources for such pulsations observed in the solar wind

Are periodic solar wind number density structures formed in the solar corona?

[1] We present an analysis of the alpha to proton solar wind abundance ratio (AHe) during a period characterized by significant large size scale density fluctuations, focusing on an event in which the proton and alpha enhancements are anti-correlated. In a recent study using 11 years (1995–2005) of solar wind observations from the Wind spacecraft, N. M. Viall et al. [2008] showed that periodic proton density structures occurred at particular radial length-scales more often than others. The source of these periodic density structures is a significant and outstanding question. Are they generated in the interplanetary medium, or are they a relic of coronal activity as the solar wind was formed? We use AHe to answer this question, as solar wind elemental abundance ratios are not expected to change during transit. For this event, the anti-phase nature of the AHe variations strongly suggests that periodic solar wind density structures originate in the solar corona

Holography in Superspace

The AdS/CFT correspondence identifies the coordinates of the conformal boundary of anti-de Sitter space with the coordinates of the conformal field theory. We generalize this identification to theories formulated in superspace. As an application of our results, we study a class of Wilson loops in N=4 SYM theory. A gauge theory computation shows that the expectation values of these loops are invariant under a local kappa-symmetry, except at intersections. We identify this with the kappa-invariance of the associated string worldsheets in the corresponding bulk superspace.Comment: 36 pages, LaTeX, references adde

Circumferential pressure probe

A probe for measuring circumferential pressure inside a body cavity is disclosed. In the preferred embodiment, a urodynamic pressure measurement probe for evaluating human urinary sphincter function is disclosed. Along the length of the probe are disposed a multiplicity of deformable wall sensors which typically comprise support tube sections with flexible side wall areas. These are arranged along the length of the probe in two areas, one just proximal to the tip for the sensing of fluid pressure inside the bladder, and five in the sensing section which is positioned within the urethra at the point at which the urinary sphincter constricts to control the flow of urine. The remainder of the length of the probe comprises multiple rigid support tube sections interspersed with flexible support tube sections in the form of bellows to provide flexibility

Achieving the Potential of Health Care Performance Measures: Timely Analysis of Immediate Health Policy issues

The United States is on the cusp of a new era, with greater demand for performance information, greater data availability, and a greater willingness to integrate performance information into public policy. This era has immense promise to deliver a learning health care system that encourages collaborative improvements in systems-based care, improves accountability, helps consumers make important choices, and improves quality at an acceptable cost. However, to curtail the possibility of unintended adverse consequences, it is important that we invest in developing sound measures, understand quality measures' strengths and limitations, study the science of quality measurement, and reduce inaccurate inferences about provider performance