Atmospheric structure determined from satellite data

The capabilities of the Nimbus 6 satellite sounding data for use in synoptic analysis were considered and interpreted. An evaluation of the ability of the satellite sounding data to detect and depict structural features of the atmosphere was made on the basis of vertical profiles of average difference and standard deviation of differences between satellite and rawinsonde data at nine pressure levels from 850 to 100 mb; and constant pressure charts and cross sections of satellite, rawinsonde and difference values. Results indicate that satellite measurements of temperature as well as the vertical lapse rate and horizontal gradient of temperature are accurate enough to show large scale patterns but not to precisely define fronts or tropopauses; satellite measurements of dew point temperature are smoothed enough to severely reduce contrasts between air masses across fronts; the magnitude of the standard deviation of differences between rawinsonde and satellite data for most variables increases with the synoptic activity in the region; and the most reliable variables to examine from satellite data for depiction of synoptic features are the temperature equivalent potential temperature and mixing ratio

Anisotropy, phonon modes, and lattice anharmonicity from dielectric function tensor analysis of monoclinic cadmium tungstate

We determine the frequency dependence of four independent CdWO$_4$ Cartesian dielectric function tensor elements by generalized spectroscopic ellipsometry within mid-infrared and far-infrared spectral regions. Single crystal surfaces cut under different angles from a bulk crystal, (010) and (001), are investigated. From the spectral dependencies of the dielectric function tensor and its inverse we determine all long wavelength active transverse and longitudinal optic phonon modes with $A_u$ and $B_u$ symmetry as well as their eigenvectors within the monoclinic lattice. We thereby demonstrate that such information can be obtained completely without physical model line shape analysis in materials with monoclinic symmetry. We then augment the effect of lattice anharmonicity onto our recently described dielectric function tensor model approach for materials with monoclinic and triclinic crystal symmetries [Phys. Rev. B, 125209 (2016)], and we obtain excellent match between all measured and modeled dielectric function tensor elements. All phonon mode frequency and broadening parameters are determined in our model approach. We also perform density functional theory phonon mode calculations, and we compare our results obtained from theory, from direct dielectric function tensor analysis, and from model lineshape analysis, and we find excellent agreement between all approaches. We also discuss and present static and above reststrahlen spectral range dielectric constants. Our data for CdWO$_4$ are in excellent agreement with a recently proposed generalization of the Lyddane-Sachs-Teller relation for materials with low crystal symmetry [Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 215502 (2016)].Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1512.0859

Anisotropy and phonon modes from analysis of the dielectric function tensor and inverse dielectric function tensor of monoclinic yttrium orthosilicate

We determine the frequency dependence of the four independent Cartesian tensor elements of the dielectric function for monoclinic symmetry Y$_2$SiO$_5$ using generalized spectroscopic ellipsometry from 40-1200 cm$^{-1}$. Three different crystal cuts, each perpendicular to a principle axis, are investigated. We apply our recently described augmentation of lattice anharmonicity onto the eigendielectric displacement vector summation approach [A. Mock et al., Phys. Rev. B 95, 165202 (2017)], and we present and demonstrate the application of an eigendielectric displacement loss vector summation approach with anharmonic broadening. We obtain excellent match between all measured and model calculated dielectric function tensor elements and all dielectric loss function tensor elements. We obtain 23 A$_{\mathrm{u}}$ and 22 B$_{\mathrm{u}}$ symmetry long wavelength active transverse and longitudinal optical mode parameters including their eigenvector orientation within the monoclinic lattice. We perform density functional theory calculations and obtain 23 A$_{\mathrm{u}}$ symmetry and 22 B$_{\mathrm{u}}$ transverse and longitudinal optical mode parameters and their orientation within the monoclincic lattice. We compare our results from ellipsometry and density functional theory and find excellent agreement. We also determine the static and above reststrahlen spectral range dielectric tensor values and find a recently derived generalization of the Lyddane-Sachs-Teller relation for polar phonons in monoclinic symmetry materials satisfied [M. Schubert, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 215502 (2016)]

Early detection of disease program: Evaluation of the cellular immune response

Surfaces of normal, cultured, and mitogen-stimulated mouse lymphoid cells were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Lymphocytes with smooth, highly villous and intermediate surfaces were observed in cell suspensions from both spleens and thymuses of normal mice and from spleens of congenitally athymic (nude) mice. Several strain-specific surface features were noted, including the spine-like appearance of microvilli on C57B1/6 lymphocytes. Although thymus cell suspensions contained somewhat more smooth cells than did spleen cell preparations, lymphocyte derivation could not be inferred from SEM examination. Studies of cells stimulated with mitogenic agents for thymus-derived lymphocytes (concanavalin A) or for bone marrow-derived lymphocytes (lipopolysaccharide) suggested that, in the mouse, development of a complex villous surface is a general concomitant of lymphocyte activation and transformation

A Study of Giant Pulses from PSR J1824-2452A

We have searched for microsecond bursts of emission from millisecond pulsars in the globular cluster M28 using the Parkes radio telescope. We detected a total of 27 giant pulses from the known emitter PSR J1824-2452A. At wavelengths around 20 cm the giant pulses are scatter-broadened to widths of around 2 microseconds and follow power-law statistics. The pulses occur in two narrow phase-windows which correlate in phase with X-ray emission and trail the peaks of the integrated radio pulse-components. Notably, the integrated radio emission at these phase windows has a steeper spectral index than other emission. The giant pulses exhibit a high degree of polarization, with many being 100% elliptically polarized. Their position angles appear random. Although the integrated emission of PSR J1824-2452A is relatively stable for the frequencies and bandwidths observed, the intensities of individual giant pulses vary considerably across our bands. Two pulses were detected at both 2700 and 3500 MHz. The narrower of the two pulses is 20 ns wide at 3500 MHz. At 2700 MHz this pulse has an inferred brightness temperature at maximum of 5 x 10^37 K. Our observations suggest the giant pulses of PSR J1824-2452A are generated in the same part of the magnetosphere as X-ray emission through a different emission process to that of ordinary pulses.Comment: Accepted by Ap

Towards Analytics for Wholistic School Improvement: Hierarchical Process Modelling and Evidence Visualization

Central to the mission of most educational institutions is the task of preparing the next generation of citizens to contribute to society. Schools, colleges, and universities value a range of outcomes — e.g., problem solving, creativity, collaboration, citizenship, service to community — as well as academic outcomes in traditional subjects. Often referred to as “wider outcomes,” these are hard to quantify. While new kinds of monitoring technologies and public datasets expand the possibilities for quantifying these indices, we need ways to bring that data together to support sense-making and decision-making. Taking a systems perspective, the hierarchical process modelling (HPM) approach and the “Perimeta” visual analytic provides a dashboard that informs leadership decision-making with heterogeneous, often incomplete evidence. We report a prototype of Perimeta modelling from education, aggregating wider outcomes data across a network of schools, and calculating their cumulative contribution to key performance indicators, using the visual analytic of the Italian flag to make explicit not only the supporting evidence, but also the challenging evidence, as well as areas of uncertainty. We discuss the nature of the modelling decisions and implicit values involved in quantifying these kinds of educational outcomes

Egalitarian justice and expected value

According to all-luck egalitarianism, the differential distributive effects of both brute luck, which defines the outcome of risks which are not deliberately taken, and option luck, which defines the outcome of deliberate gambles, are unjust. Exactly how to correct the effects of option luck is, however, a complex issue. This article argues that (a) option luck should be neutralized not just by correcting luck among gamblers, but among the community as a whole, because it would be unfair for gamblers as a group to be disadvantaged relative to non-gamblers by bad option luck; (b) individuals should receive the warranted expected results of their gambles, except insofar as individuals blamelessly lacked the ability to ascertain which expectations were warranted; and (c) where societal resources are insufficient to deliver expected results to gamblers, gamblers should receive a lesser distributive share which is in proportion to the expected results. Where all-luck egalitarianism is understood in this way, it allows risk-takers to impose externalities on non-risk-takers, which seems counterintuitive. This may, however, be an advantage as it provides a luck egalitarian rationale for assisting ‘negligent victims’

An Economic analysis of the potential for precision farming in UK cereal production

The results from alternative spatial nitrogen application studies are analysed in economic terms and compared to the costs of precision farming hardware, software and other services for cereal crops in the UK. At current prices, the benefits of variable rate application of nitrogen exceed the returns from a uniform application by an average of £22 ha−1 The cost of the precision farming systems range from £5 to £18 ha−1 depending upon the system chosen for an area of 250 ha. The benefits outweigh the associated costs for cereal farms in excess of 80 ha for the lowest price system to 200–300 ha for the more sophisticated systems. The scale of benefits obtained depends upon the magnitude of the response to the treatment and the proportion of the field that will respond. To be cost effective, a farmed area of 250 ha of cereals, where 30% of the area will respond to variable treatment, requires an increase in crop yield in the responsive areas of between 0·25 and 1.00 t ha−1 (at £65 t−1) for the basic and most expensive precision farming systems, respectively

Long time deviation from exponential decay: non-integral power laws

Quantal systems are predicted to show a change-over from exponential decay to power law decay at very long times. Although most theoretical studies predict integer power-law exponents, recent measurements by Rothe et al. of decay luminescence of organic molecules in solution {Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 (2006) 163601} found non-integer exponents in most cases. We propose a physical mechanism, within the realm of scattering from potentials with long tails, which produces a continuous range of power law exponents. In the tractable case of the repulsive inverse square potential, we demonstrate a simple relation between the strength of the long range tail and the power law exponent. This system is amenable to experimental scrutiny