Pressure Contact Sounding Data for NASA's Atmospheric Variability Experiment (AVE 3)

The basic rawinsonde data are described at each pressure contact from the surface to sounding termination for the 41 stations participating in the AVE III measurement program that began at 0000 GMT on February 6 and ended at 1200 GMT on February 7, 1975. Soundings were taken at 3-hour intervals during a large period of the experiment from most stations within the United States east of about 105 degrees west longitude. Methods of data processing, change in reduction scheme since the AVE II pilot experiment, and data accuracy are briefly discussed. An example of contact data is presented, and microfiche cards of all the contact data are included in the appendix. The AVE III project was conducted to better understand and establish the extent of applications for meteorological satellite sensor data through correlative ground truth experiments and to provide basic experimental data for use in studies of atmospheric scales of-motion interrelationships

Remote sensing of aquatic plants

Various sensors were tested in terms of their ability to detect and discriminate among noxious aquatic macrophytes. A survey of researchers currently studying the problem and a brief summary of their work is included. Results indicated that the sensor types best suited to assessment of the aquatic environment are color, color infrared, and black-and-white infrared film, which furnish consistently high contrasts between aquatic plants and their surroundings

Count Me In: The dimensions of social inclusion through culture and sport

This study was set up to examine claims made for the ability of cultural projects to promote social inclusion (cultural projects are here taken to include those incorporating sport, the arts, media, heritage and outdoor adventure). This was to be achieved primarily by collecting evidence from a sample of 14 projects selected from some 200 that had volunteered their services. The report to the government’s Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) from the Policy Action Team (PAT10) (1999)2 noted the potential. In his foreword, Chris Smith (then Secretary of State for the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS)) wrote: “… art and sport can not only make a valuable contribution to delivering key outcomes of lower long term unemployment, less crime, better health and better qualifications, but can also help to develop the individual pride, community spirit and capacity for responsibility that enable communities to run regeneration programmes themselves”. Similar statements have followed from other politicians, particularly in the recent Commons debate on sport and social exclusion (22/11/01), and again in the public health debate (13/12/01). However, the PAT 10 report also came to the same conclusion as previous commentators (e.g. Glyptis, 19893; Allison & Coalter, 19964; Long & Sanderson, 19985) that there is little ‘hard’ evidence of the social benefits that accrue

Count Me In: The Dimensions of social inclusion through Culture, Media & Sport (Executive Summary)

This study was set up to examine claims made for the ability of cultural projects to promote social inclusion (cultural projects are here taken to include those incorporating sport, the arts, media, heritage and outdoor adventure). This was to be achieved primarily by collecting evidence from a sample of 14 projects selected from some 200 that had volunteered their services. The report to the government’s Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) from the Policy Action Team (PAT10) (1999) noted the potential. In his foreword, Chris Smith (then Secretary of State for the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS)) wrote: “… art and sport can not only make a valuable contribution to delivering key outcomes of lower long term unemployment, less crime, better health and better qualifications, but can also help to develop the individual pride, community spirit and capacity for responsibility that enable communities to run regeneration programmes themselves”. Similar statements have followed from other politicians, particularly in the recent Commons debate on sport and social exclusion (22/11/01), and again in the public health debate (13/12/01). However, the PAT 10 report also came to the same conclusion as previous commentators (e.g. Glyptis, 19893; Allison & Coalter, 19964; Long & Sanderson, 1998) that there is little ‘hard’ evidence of the social benefits that accrue

Is U3Ni3Sn4 best described as near a quantum critical point?

Although most known non-Fermi liquid (NFL) materials are structurally or chemically disordered, the role of this disorder remains unclear. In particular, very few systems have been discovered that may be stoichiometric and well ordered. To test whether U3Ni3Sn4 belongs in this latter class, we present measurements of the x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) of polycrystalline and single-crystal U3Ni3Sn4 samples that are consistent with no measurable local structural disorder. We also present temperature-dependent specific heat data in applied magnetic fields as high as 8 T that show features that are inconsistent with the antiferromagnetic Griffiths' phase model, but do support the conclusion that a Fermi liquid/NFL crossover temperature increases with applied field. These results are inconsistent with theoretical explanations that require strong disorder effects, but do support the view that U3Ni3Sn4 is a stoichiometric, ordered material that exhibits NFL behavior, and is best described as being near an antiferromagnetic quantum critical point.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, in press with PR

Towards the development of the psychosocial impact of assistive devices scale for continence (C-PIADS)

BACKGROUND: Current outcome measures for continence management devices do not adequately address psychosocial impact. The PIADS is an assessment tool that has been shown to reliably predict the adoption and use of assistive technology devices, but it is not widely used for continence devices. OBJECTIVE: To explore whether the PIADS requires modification to address the particular needs of continence device users and to inform any subsequent item development. METHODS: The study used interpretive methods in which qualitative information from semi-structured interviews was combined with the findings from cognitive interviews for questionnaire pre-testing. A total of 40 participants in UK and Canada were interviewed. RESULTS: Few participants had difficulty in understanding or relating to the majority of PIADS items. Several items were not considered relevant to continence and some areas for potential new items were uncovered. Embarrassment and concealment of urinary incontinence from others were common topics. CONCLUSIONS: The PIADS appears to fundamentally address many, but not all, of the important psychosocial concerns of adults who have continence difficulties. A version for continence, the C-PIADS, will require modification of the PIADS and is likely to contain some new items

Ground states with cluster structures in a frustrated Heisenberg chain

We examine the ground state of a Heisenberg model with arbitrary spin S on a one-dimensional lattice composed of diamond-shaped units. A unit includes two types of antiferromagnetic exchange interactions which frustrate each other. The system undergoes phase changes when the ratio $\lambda$ between the exchange parameters varies. In some phases, strong frustration leads to larger local structures or clusters of spins than a dimer. We prove for arbitrary S that there exists a phase with four-spin cluster states, which was previously found numerically for a special value of $\lambda$ in the S=1/2 case. For S=1/2 we show that there are three ground state phases and determine their boundaries.Comment: 4 pages, uses revtex.sty, 2 figures available on request from [email protected], to be published in J. Phys.: Cond. Mat

Laboratory measurements and theoretical calculations of O_2 A band electric quadrupole transitions

Frequency-stabilized cavity ring-down spectroscopy was utilized to measure electric quadrupole transitions within the ^(16)O_2 A band, b^1Σ^+_g ← X^3Σ^-_g(0,0). We report quantitative measurements (relative uncertainties in intensity measurements from 4.4% to 11%) of nine ultraweak transitions in the ^NO, ^PO, ^RS, and ^TS branches with line intensities ranging from 3×10^(−30) to 2×10^(−29) cm molec.^(−1). A thorough discussion of relevant noise sources and uncertainties in this experiment and other cw-cavity ring-down spectrometers is given. For short-term averaging (t<100 s), we estimate a noise-equivalent absorption of 2.5×10^(−10) cm^(−1) Hz^(−1/2). The detection limit was reduced further by co-adding up to 100 spectra to yield a minimum detectable absorption coefficient equal to 1.8×10^(−11) cm^(−1), corresponding to a line intensity of ~2.5×10^(−31) cm molec.^(−1). We discuss calculations of electric quadrupole line positions based on a simultaneous fit of the ground and upper electronic state energies which have uncertainties <3 MHz, and we present calculations of electric quadrupole matrix elements and line intensities. The electric quadrupole line intensity calculations and measurements agreed on average to 5%, which is comparable to our average experimental uncertainty. The calculated electric quadrupole band intensity was 1.8(1)×10^(−27) cm molec.−1 which is equal to only ~8×10^(−6) of the magnetic dipole band intensity