Resilient wheel Patent

Resilient wheel design with woven wire tire and abrasive treads for lunar surface vehicle

On Non-Squashing Partitions

A partition n = p_1 + p_2 + ... + p_k with 1 <= p_1 <= p_2 <= ... <= p_k is called non-squashing if p_1 + ... + p_j <= p_{j+1} for 1 <= j <= k-1. Hirschhorn and Sellers showed that the number of non-squashing partitions of n is equal to the number of binary partitions of n. Here we exhibit an explicit bijection between the two families, and determine the number of non-squashing partitions with distinct parts, with a specified number of parts, or with a specified maximal part. We use the results to solve a certain box-stacking problem.Comment: 15 pages, 2 fig

Quantum Confinement Induced Metal-Insulator Transition in Strongly Correlated Quantum Wells of SrVO3_3 Superlattice

Dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) has been employed in conjunction with density functional theory (DFT+DMFT) to investigate the metal-insulator transition (MIT) of strongly correlated $3d$ electrons due to quantum confinement. We shed new light on the microscopic mechanism of the MIT and previously reported anomalous subband mass enhancement, both of which arise as a direct consequence of the quantization of V $xz(yz)$ states in the SrVO$_3$ layers. We therefore show that quantum confinement can sensitively tune the strength of electron correlations, leading the way to applying such approaches in other correlated materials

Personal on-line payments

The swift growth of e-commerce and the Internet has led to the development of a new form of electronic funds transfer—the personal on-line payment—that uses web and e-mail technologies to initiate and confirm payments. This article describes this payment instrument and the trends that have given rise to it. The authors explain that personal on-line payment systems are already providing a convenient alternative to checks, money orders, and cash, and may replace credit cards for some small-scale retail e-commerce. However, issues such as the interoperability of diverse systems and the systems’ inherent risks will continue to be central. The authors also suggest that although personal on-line payment systems are not likely to have a great impact on monetary policy, they do raise regulatory issues associated with consumer rights and protection.Electronic funds transfers ; Electronic commerce ; Payment systems ; Finance, Personal

Remote sensing and GIS analysis for demarcation of coastal hazard line along the highly eroding Krishna-Godavari delta front

Coastal regions, especially river deltas are highly resourceful and hence densely populated; but these extremely low-lying lands are vulnerable to rising sea levels due to global warming threatening the life and property in these regions. Recent IPCC (2013) predictions of 26-82cm global sea level rise are now considered conservative as subsequent investigations such as by Met Office, UK indicated a vertical rise of about 190cm, which would displace 10% of the world’s population living within 10 meters above the sea level. Therefore, predictive models showing the hazard line are necessary for efficient coastal zone management. Remote sensing and GIS technologies form the mainstay of such predictive models on coastal retreat and inundation to future sea-level rise. This study is an attempt to estimate the varying trends along the Krishna–Godavari (K–G) delta region. Detailed maps showing various coastal landforms in the K-G delta region were prepared using the IRS-P6 LISS 3 images. The rate of shoreline shift during a 31-year period along different sectors of the 330km long K-G delta coast was estimated using Landsat-2 and IRS-P6 LISS 3 images between 1977 and 2008. With reference to a selected baseline from along an inland position, End Point Rate (EPR), Shoreline Change Envelope (SCE) and Net Shoreline Movement (NSM) were calculated, using a GIS–based Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS). The results showed that the shoreline migrated landward up to a maximum distance of 3.13km resulting in a net loss of about 42.10km2 area during this 31-year period. Further, considering the nature of landforms and EPR, the future hazard line is predicted for the area, which also indicated a net erosion of about 57.68km2 along the K-G delta coast by 2050 AD

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

Atmospheric fungal nanoparticle bursts.

Aerosol nanoparticles play an important role in the climate system by affecting cloud formation and properties, as well as in human health because of their deep reach into lungs and the circulatory system. Determining nanoparticle sources and composition is a major challenge in assessing their impacts in these areas. The sudden appearance of large numbers of atmospheric nanoparticles is commonly attributed to secondary formation from gas-phase precursors, but in many cases, the evidence for this is equivocal. We report the detection of a mode of fungal fragments with a mobility diameter of roughly 30 nm released in episodic bursts in ambient air over an agricultural area in northern Oklahoma. These events reached concentrations orders of magnitude higher than other reports of biological particles and show similarities to unclarified events reported previously in the Amazon. These particles potentially represent a large source of both cloud-forming ice nuclei and respirable allergens in a variety of ecosystems

Predictions of the emergence of vaccine-resistant hepatitis B in The Gambia using a mathematical model

Vaccine escape variants of hepatitis B virus (HBV) have been identified world-wide. A mathematical model of HBV transmission is used to investigate the potential pattern of emergence of such variants. Attention is focused on The Gambia as a country with high quality epidemiological data, universal infant immunization and in which escape mutants after childhood infections have been observed. We predict that a variant cannot become dominant for at least 20 years from the start of vaccination, even when using a vaccine which affords no cross protection. The dominant factor responsible for this long time scale is the low rate of infectious contacts between infected and susceptible individuals (we estimate the basic reproduction number of hepatitis B in The Gambia to be 1·7). A variant strain that achieves high prevalence will also take many years to control, and it is questionable whether emergence will be identifiable by sero-surveillance until of high prevalence. The sensitivity of the model predictions to epidemiological and demographic factors is explored