A Sphere-Scanning Radiometer for Rapid Directional Measurements of Sky and Ground Radiance: the PARABOLA Field Instrument

A unique field instrument, called the PARABOLA, a collapsable support boom, which is self contained and easily transportable to remote sites to enable the acquisition of radiance data for almost the complete (4 pi) sky and ground-looking hemispheres in only 11 seconds was designed. The PARABOLA samples in 15 deg instantaneous field of view sectors in three narrow bandpass spectral channels simultaneously. Field measurement on a variety of earth surface cover types using a truck boom, a specially designed pickup truck mounting system, and a hot air balloon were studied. The PARABOLA instrument has potential for climatological and other studies which require characterization of the distribution of diffuse solar radiation within the sky hemisphere

The radio lighthouse CU Virginis: the spindown of a single main sequence star

The fast rotating star CU Virginis is a magnetic chemically peculiar star with an oblique dipolar magnetic field. The continuum radio emission has been interpreted as gyrosyncrotron emission arising from a thin magnetospheric layer. Previous radio observations at 1.4 GHz showed that a 100% circular polarized and highly directive emission component overlaps to the continuum emission two times per rotation, when the magnetic axis lies in the plane of the sky. This sort of radio lighthouse has been proposed to be due to cyclotron maser emission generated above the magnetic pole and propagating perpendicularly to the magnetic axis. Observations carried out with the Australia Telescope Compact Array at 1.4 and 2.5 GHz one year after this discovery show that this radio emission is still present, meaning that the phenomenon responsible for this process is steady on a timescale of years. The emitted radiation spans at least 1 GHz, being observed from 1.4 to 2.5 GHz. On the light of recent results on the physics of the magnetosphere of this star, the possibility of plasma radiation is ruled out. The characteristics of this radio lighthouse provides us a good marker of the rotation period, since the peaks are visible at particular rotational phases. After one year, they show a delay of about 15 minutes. This is interpreted as a new abrupt spinning down of the star. Among several possibilities, a quick emptying of the equatorial magnetic belt after reaching the maximum density can account for the magnitude of the breaking. The study of the coherent emission in stars like CU Vir, as well as in pre main sequence stars, can give important insight into the angular momentum evolution in young stars. This is a promising field of investigation that high sensitivity radio interferometers such as SKA can exploit.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS, 8 pages, 7 figures, updated versio

Postscript: Preserving (and Growing) Brand Value in a Downturn

We have taken the opportunity provided by the current worldwide recession to further explore the implications of the relationship between brand equity and brand value that we proposed previously,1,2 and our analysis reveals that companies have one of two strategic options for surviving. The “Just Good Enough” strategy maximizes current value, potentially hurting brand equity and appropriable value (or potential future value) in the process, while the “Altered Amortization” strategy offers an opportunity to chase current value while maintaining brand equity with current prospects and activating latent equity with potential prospects, which may increase appropriable value. Anything between these two is a non-viable long-term strategy and companies hoping to ride it out “in the middle” may not make it. We explain both of these strategies below and offer a framework for analyzing which one is right for your brand

Chasing Brand Value: Fully Leveraging Brand Equity to Maximize Brand Value

Both researchers and practitioners seek to understand how to leverage brand equity to create value. Adopting ‘the theoretical separation of brand equity and brand value’ framework originally proposed in the Journal of Brand Management by Raggio and Leone, this conceptual paper looks more closely at the brand value construct and the implications of the proposed theoretical separation. The authors argue that firms are continually attempting to ‘chase’ the appropriable value of their brands—defined as the theoretical maximum value that a brand could achieve if all brand equity were fully leveraged. Implications for developing measures of brand value are discussed

The Theoretical Separation of Brand Equity and Brand Value: Managerial Implications for Strategic Planning

During the past 15 years, brand equity has been a priority topic for both practitioners and academics. In this paper, the authors propose a new framework for conceptualizing brand equity that distinguishes between brand equity, conceived of as an intrapersonal construct that moderates the impact of marketing activities, and brand value, which is the sale or replacement value of a brand. Such a distinction is important because, from a managerial perspective, the ultimate goal of brand management and brand equity research should be to understand how to leverage equity to create value

Drivers of Brand Value, Estimation of Brand Value in Practice, and Use of Brand Valuation: Introduction to the Special Issue

Brands constitute the largest asset for many firms, and brand valuations are increasingly being seen as an important performance metric both for companies and managers.1 In addition, components of brand valuation models have been found to positively impact financial market performance, so it is critical that managers understand clearly what brand value is, and how they can create and appropriate (capture) as much of that value as possible.2 Due to resource constraints, firms are forced at any given time to emphasize either value creation or value appropriation based on strategic priorities. Research shows that the stock market rewards increased emphasis on value appropriation over value creation,3 but it is obvious that value must be created before it can be appropriated. This special issue on Brand Value and Valuation presents the latest research and ideas related to the diverse drivers of long-term brand value, strategies for appropriating brand value, valuation methodologies, and uses of brand valuation in practice

Extreme Kuiper Belt Object 2001 QG298 and the Fraction of Contact Binaries

Extensive time-resolved observations of Kuiper Belt object 2001 QG298 show a lightcurve with a peak-to-peak variation of 1.14 +-0.04 magnitudes and single-peaked period of 6.8872 +- 0.0002 hr. The mean absolute magnitude is 6.85 magnitudes which corresponds to a mean effective radius of 122 (77) km if an albedo of 0.04 (0.10) is assumed. This is the first known Kuiper Belt object and only the third minor planet with a radius > 25 km to display a lightcurve with a range in excess of 1 magnitude. We find the colors to be typical for a Kuiper Belt object (B-V = 1.00 +- 0.04, V-R = 0.60 +- 0.02) with no variation in color between minimum and maximum light. The large light variation, relatively long double-peaked period and absence of rotational color change argue against explanations due to albedo markings or elongation due to high angular momentum. Instead, we suggest that 2001 QG298 may be a very close or contact binary similar in structure to what has been independently proposed for the Trojan asteroid 624 Hektor. If so, its rotational period would be twice the lightcurve period or 13.7744 +- 0.0004 hr. By correcting for the effects of projection, we estimate that the fraction of similar objects in the Kuiper Belt is at least 10% to 20% with the true fraction probably much higher. A high abundance of close and contact binaries is expected in some scenarios for the evolution of binary Kuiper Belt objects.Comment: 15 text pages,6 figures(Color),5 Tables, Accepted to AJ for May 200

Implementation of a Matrix Crack Spacing Parameter in a Continuum Damage Mechanics Finite Element Model

Continuum Damage Mechanics (CDM) based progressive damage and failure analysis (PDFA) methods have demonstrated success in a variety of finite element analysis (FEA) implementations. However, the technical maturity of CDM codes has not yet been proven for the full design space of composite materials in aerospace applications. CDM-based approaches represent the presence of damage by changing the local material stiffness definitions and without updating the original mesh or element integration schemes. Without discretely representing cracks and their paths through the mesh, damage in models with CDM-based materials is often distributed in a region of partially damaged elements ahead of stress concentrations. Having a series of discrete matrix cracks represented by a softened region may affect predictions of damage propagation and, thus, structural failure. This issue can be mitigated by restricting matrix damage development to discrete, fiber-aligned rows of elements; hence CDM-based matrix cracks can be implemented to be more representative of discrete matrix cracks. This paper evaluates the effect of restricting CDM matrix crack development to discrete, fiber-aligned rows where the spacing of these rows is controlled by a user-defined crack spacing parameter. Initially, the effect of incrementally increasing matrix crack spacing in a unidirectional center notch coupon is evaluated. Then, the lessons learned from the center notch specimen are applied to open-hole compression finite element models. Results are compared to test data, and the limitations, successes, and potential of the matrix crack spacing approach are discussed