12,471 research outputs found
Infrared-temperature variability in a large agricultural field
The combined effect of water carved gullies, varying soil color, moisture state of the soil and crop, nonuniform phenology, and bare spots was measured for commercially grown barley planted on varying terrain. For all but the most rugged terrain, over 80% of the area within 4, 16, 65, and 259 ha cells was at temperatures within 3 C of the mean cell temperature. The result of using relatively small, 4 ha instantaneous field of views for remote sensing applications is that either the worst or the best of conditions is often observed. There appears to be no great advantage in utilizing a small instantaneous field of view instead of a large one for remote sensing of crop canopy temperatures. The two alternatives for design purposes are then either a very high spatial resolution, of the order of a meter or so, where the field is very accurately temperature mapped, or a low resolution, where the actual size seems to make little difference
Tightly Correlated HI and FUV Emission in the Outskirts of M83
We compare sensitive HI data from The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS) and
deep far UV (FUV) data from GALEX in the outer disk of M83. The FUV and HI maps
show a stunning spatial correlation out to almost 4 optical radii (r25),
roughly the extent of our maps. This underscores that HI traces the gas
reservoir for outer disk star formation and it implies that massive (at least
low level) star formation proceeds almost everywhere HI is observed. Whereas
the average FUV intensity decreases steadily with increasing radius before
leveling off at ~1.7 r25, the decline in HI surface density is more subtle. Low
HI columns (<2 M_solar/pc^2) contribute most of the mass in the outer disk,
which is not the case within r25. The time for star formation to consume the
available HI, inferred from the ratio of HI to FUV intensity, rises with
increasing radius before leveling off at ~100 Gyr, i.e., many Hubble times,
near ~1.7 r25. Assuming the relatively short H2 depletion times observed in the
inner parts of galaxies hold in outer disks, the conversion of HI into bound,
molecular clouds seems to limit star formation in outer galaxy disks. The long
consumption times suggest that most of the extended HI observed in M83 will not
be consumed by in situ star formation. However, even these low star formation
rates are enough to expect moderate chemical enrichment in a closed outer disk.Comment: Accepted for Publication in ApJ
Influence of positional correlations on the propagation of waves in a complex medium with polydisperse resonant scatterers
We present experimental results on a model system for studying wave
propagation in a complex medium exhibiting low frequency resonances. These
experiments enable us to investigate a fundamental question that is relevant
for many materials, such as metamaterials, where low-frequency scattering
resonances strongly influence the effective medium properties. This question
concerns the effect of correlations in the positions of the scatterers on the
coupling between their resonances, and hence on wave transport through the
medium. To examine this question experimentally, we measure the effective
medium wave number of acoustic waves in a sample made of bubbles embedded in an
elastic matrix over a frequency range that includes the resonance frequency of
the bubbles. The effective medium is highly dispersive, showing peaks in the
attenuation and the phase velocity as functions of the frequency, which cannot
be accurately described using the Independent Scattering Approximation (ISA).
This discrepancy may be explained by the effects of the positional correlations
of the scatterers, which we show to be dependent on the size of the scatterers.
We propose a self-consistent approach for taking this "polydisperse
correlation" into account and show that our model better describes the
experimental results than the ISA
Solar rotation rate and its gradients during cycle 23
Available helioseismic data now span almost the entire solar activity cycle
23 making it possible to study solar-cycle related changes of the solar
rotation rate in detail. In this paper we study how the solar rotation rate, in
particular, the zonal flows change with time. In addition to the zonal flows
that show a well known pattern in the solar convection zone, we also study
changes in the radial and latitudinal gradients of the rotation rate,
particularly in the shear layer that is present in the immediate sub-surface
layers of the Sun. In the case of the zonal-flow pattern, we find that the band
indicating fast rotating region close to the equator seems to have bifurcated
around 2005. Our investigation of the rotation-rate gradients show that the
relative variation in the rotation-rate gradients is about 20% or more of their
average values, which is much larger than the relative variation in the
rotation rate itself. These results can be used to test predictions of various
solar dynamo models.Comment: To appear in ApJ. Fig 5 has been corrected in this versio
Fractal Markets Hypothesis and the Global Financial Crisis: Scaling, Investment Horizons and Liquidity
We investigate whether fractal markets hypothesis and its focus on liquidity
and invest- ment horizons give reasonable predictions about dynamics of the
financial markets during the turbulences such as the Global Financial Crisis of
late 2000s. Compared to the mainstream efficient markets hypothesis, fractal
markets hypothesis considers financial markets as com- plex systems consisting
of many heterogenous agents, which are distinguishable mainly with respect to
their investment horizon. In the paper, several novel measures of trading
activity at different investment horizons are introduced through scaling of
variance of the underlying processes. On the three most liquid US indices -
DJI, NASDAQ and S&P500 - we show that predictions of fractal markets hypothesis
actually fit the observed behavior quite well.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
Optical Linear Polarization of Late M- and L-Type Dwarfs
(Abridged). We report on the linear polarimetric observations in the Johnson
I filter of 44 M6-L7.5 ultracool dwarfs (2800-1400 K). Eleven (10 L and 1 M)
dwarfs appear to have significant linear polarization (P = 0.2-2.5%). We have
compared the M- and L-dwarf populations finding evidence for a larger frequency
of high I-band polarization in the coolest objects, supporting the presence of
significant amounts of dust in L-dwarfs. The probable polarizing mechanism is
related to the presence of heterogeneous dust clouds nonuniformly distributed
across the visible photospheres and the asymmetric shape of the objects. In
some young ultracool dwarfs, surrounding dusty disks may also yield
polarization. For polarimetric detections, a trend for slightly larger
polarization from L0 to L6.5 may be present in our data, suggesting changes in
the distribution of the grain properties, vertical height of the clouds,
metallicity, age, and rotation speed. One of our targets is the peculiar brown
dwarf (BD) 2MASS J2244+20 (L6.5), which shows the largest I-band polarization
degree. Its origin may lie in a surrounding dusty disk or rather large
photospheric dust grains. The M7 young BD CFHT-BD-Tau 4 and the L3.5 field
dwarf 2MASS J0036+18 were also observed in the Johnson R filter. Our data
support the presence of a circum(sub)stellar disk around the young accreting
BD. Our data also support a grain growth in the submicron regime in the visible
photosphere of J0036+18 (1900 K). The polarimetric data do not obviously
correlate with activity or projected rotational velocity. Three polarized
early- to mid-L dwarfs display I-band light curves with amplitudes below 10
mmag.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (March 2005), 35 pages, 5 figure
A late Pleistocene long pollen record from Lake Urmia, NW Iran
A palynological study based on two 100-m long cores from Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran provides a vegetation record spanning 200 ka, the longest pollen record for the continental interior of the Near East. During both penultimate and last glaciations, a steppe of Artemisia and Poaceae dominated the upland vegetation with a high proportion of Chenopodiaceae in both upland and lowland saline ecosystems. While Juniperus and deciduous Quercus trees were extremely rare and restricted to some refugia, Hippophaë rhamnoides constituted an important phanerophyte, particularly during the upper last glacial sediments. A pronounced expansion in Ephedra shrub-steppe occurred at the end of the penultimate late-glacial period but was followed by extreme aridity that favoured an Artemisia steppe. Very high lake levels, registered by both pollen and sedimentary markers, occurred during the middle of the last glaciation and upper part of the penultimate glaciation. The late-glacial to early Holocene transition is represented by a succession of Hippophaë, Ephedra, Betula, Pistacia and finally Juniperus and Quercus. The last interglacial period (Eemian), slightly warmer and moister than the Holocene, was followed by two interstadial phases similar in pattern to those recorded in the marine isotope record and southern European pollen sequences
Thermal Ground Testing of Concorde and Veras or Improvement in French Test Methods and Facilities
The more numerous the requirements are in aerospace vehicle operations, the more the ground test facility have to improve both the nature and the quality of the equipment as well as the volume and the size of the sites, for the importance of ground testing cannot be over emphasized.
As an example, two ground test programs are reviewed in this presentation, namely CONCORDE and VERAS. Special emphasis is given to the facility implementations due respectively to the static and fatigue test of CONCORDE in heat environment and to the dynamic test of VERAS in high level and transient temperature conditions
Examination of contacts between strands by electrical measurements and topographical analysis
The contact resistance (crossing and adjacent) between the strands of Rutherford type superconducting cables has been proven to be an essential parameter for the behaviour of the main magnets in accelerators like the LHC. A strong development program has been launched at CERN. Contact resistances were measured by means of a DC method at 4.2 K. The strand deformation and the chemical conditions at the contacts were analyzed in order to interpret the electrical resistances measured by a 3 contacts method on individual strands as well as the resistances measured independently on cables
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