The Memory of Water by Allen Smutylo and Traveling the 38th Parallel: A Water Line Around the World by David Carle and Janet Carle

Review of The Memory of Water by Allen Smutylo and Traveling the 38th Parallel: A Water Line Around the World by David Carle and Janet Carle

Method and apparatus for cleaning rubber deposits from airport runways and roadways

A method and apparatus for cleaning rubber deposits from surfaces such as airport runways and roadways is disclosed. The apparatus includes a large vehicle that has the capacity to be loaded so as to effectively add weight to the rubber cleaning tires of the vehicle. In addition, the vehicle has a water tank and sprinkler system so that the surface may be wetted down in front of the tires as the vehicle proceeds across the surface. The cleaning tires of the apparatus are aligned so that they are at a yaw angle to the direction of travel, and the cleaning tire assembly is attached to the underside of the trailer of the vehicle and positioned between a forward and rear water tank. In addition, this tire assembly is equipped with a means of loading the tires onto the contaminated surface. The method comprises driving such a vehicle at low speeds down the surface as the road is being wet in front of the cleaning tires. The effect of the angled tires is to create a scrubbing action that not only heats the rubber deposits by friction but also causes it to be removed from the surface. The rubber that does not stick to the cleaning tires is then removed from the surface by sweeping

Measurements of Flow Rate and Trajectory of Aircraft Tire-Generated Water Spray

An experimental investigation was conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center to measure the flow rate and trajectory of water spray generated by an aircraft tire operating on a flooded runway. Tests were conducted in the Hydrodynamics Research Facility and made use of a partial airframe and a nose tire from a general aviation aircraft. Nose tires from a commercial transport aircraft were also used. The effects of forward speed, tire load, and water depth on water spray patterns were evaluated by measuring the amount and location of water captured by an array of tubes mounted behind the test tire. Water ejected from the side of the tire footprint had the most significant potential for ingestion into engine inlets. A lateral wake created on the water surface by the rolling tire can dominate the shape of the spray pattern as the distance aft of the tire is increased. Forward speed increased flow rates and moved the spray pattern inboard. Increased tire load caused the spray to become less dense. Near the tire, increased water depths caused flow rates to increase. Tests using a fuselage and partial wing along with the nose gear showed that for certain configurations, wing aerodynamics can cause a concentration of spray above the wing

Towards an Understanding of the Atmospheres of Cool White Dwarfs

Cool white dwarfs with Teff < 6000 K are the remnants of the oldest stars that existed in our Galaxy. Their atmospheres, when properly characterized, can provide valuable information on white dwarf evolution and ultimately star formation through the history of the Milky Way. Understanding the atmospheres of these stars requires joined observational effort and reliable atmosphere modeling. We discuss and analyze recent observations of the near-ultraviolet (UV) and near-infrared (IR) spectrum of several cool white dwarfs including DQ/DQp stars showing carbon in their spectra. We present fits to the entire spectral energy distribution (SED) of selected cool stars, showing that the current pure-hydrogen atmosphere models are quite reliable, especially in the near-UV spectral region. Recently, we also performed an analysis of the coolest known DQ/DQp stars investigating further the origin of the C2 Swan bands-like spectral features that characterize the DQp stars. We show that the carbon abundances derived for DQp stars fit the trend of carbon abundance with Teff seen in normal cool DQ stars. This further supports the recent conclusion of Kowalski A&A (2010) that DQp stars are DQ stars with pressure distorted Swan bands. However, we encounter some difficulties in reproducing the IR part of the SED of stars having a mixed He/H atmosphere. This indicates limitations in current models of the opacity in dense He/H fluids.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the "18th European White Dwarf Workshop" in Krakow, Poland (2012

Perancangan Destination Branding Kota Pontianak Sebagai Kota Kuliner

Kota Pontianak merupakan kota dengan percampuran mayoritas etnis Melayu dan Tionghoa, hal tersebutlah yang menyebabkan munculnya ragam makanan di Kota Pontianak. Di Kota Pontianak sendiri mudah ditemukan tempat makan disetiap jalannya, hal tersebut merupakan potensi yang sangat luar biasa bagi Kota Pontianak. Namun masih banyak masyarakat belum mengetahui bahwa di Kota Pontianak mempunyai potensi yang besar di bidang kulinernya. Oleh karena itu diangkatlah perancangan destination branding untuk menanamkan pemahaman bahwa Kota Pontianak adalah sebagai kota kuliner

Improving Surgical Training Phantoms by Hyperrealism: Deep Unpaired Image-to-Image Translation from Real Surgeries

Current `dry lab' surgical phantom simulators are a valuable tool for surgeons which allows them to improve their dexterity and skill with surgical instruments. These phantoms mimic the haptic and shape of organs of interest, but lack a realistic visual appearance. In this work, we present an innovative application in which representations learned from real intraoperative endoscopic sequences are transferred to a surgical phantom scenario. The term hyperrealism is introduced in this field, which we regard as a novel subform of surgical augmented reality for approaches that involve real-time object transfigurations. For related tasks in the computer vision community, unpaired cycle-consistent Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have shown excellent results on still RGB images. Though, application of this approach to continuous video frames can result in flickering, which turned out to be especially prominent for this application. Therefore, we propose an extension of cycle-consistent GANs, named tempCycleGAN, to improve temporal consistency.The novel method is evaluated on captures of a silicone phantom for training endoscopic reconstructive mitral valve procedures. Synthesized videos show highly realistic results with regard to 1) replacement of the silicone appearance of the phantom valve by intraoperative tissue texture, while 2) explicitly keeping crucial features in the scene, such as instruments, sutures and prostheses. Compared to the original CycleGAN approach, tempCycleGAN efficiently removes flickering between frames. The overall approach is expected to change the future design of surgical training simulators since the generated sequences clearly demonstrate the feasibility to enable a considerably more realistic training experience for minimally-invasive procedures.Comment: 8 pages, accepted at MICCAI 2018, supplemental material at https://youtu.be/qugAYpK-Z4

The Relationship Between Childhood Adversity and Adult Relationship Health for Economically Marginalized, Racially and Ethnically Diverse Individuals

Childhood adversity is prevalent and significantly influences an individual’s life. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are linked to chronic physical and mental health issues, as well as maladaptive and abusive patterns of behavior in adult relationships such as unhealthy problem-solving strategies, poor ability at conflict resolution, and intimate partner violence (IPV). The current study explored the relationship between ACEs and adult relationship health outcomes. Controlling for the effect of average individual yearly income on adult relationship health, the extent to which demographic factors (i.e., gender, race and ethnicity, and children status) moderate the relationship between ACEs and adult relationship health and the extent to which behavioral self-regulation mediates the relationship between ACEs and adult relationship health are examined. The study utilized a subset of archival pre-data from a large, federally funded research grant which offered individual and couple relationship education (RE) to economically marginalized, racially and ethnically diverse populations. Descriptive statistics, correlational analyses, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), and path analysis answered the research questions and tested the path models. Results indicated the increased prevalence rate of ACEs among racially and ethnically diverse populations. Further, higher ACEs scores were associated with lower adult relationship health scores. There were no significant interaction effects with gender, race and ethnicity, and children status, and no significant indirect effects with behavioral self-regulation scores. Additionally, income was not a significant covariate. Study implications as well as effective and accessible preventive interventions for at risk populations are discussed

Microhabitat preferences of Peromyscus maniculatus (Rodentia, Cricetidae) in young pine plantations in the Canadian boreal forest

Se utilizó polvo fluorescente para identificar las preferencias de Peromyscus maniculatus (Rodentia, Cricetidae) por distintos rasgos del microhabitat y para examinar el significado ecológico de tales preferencias. Se realizó análisis de datos por sexo. Los resultados muestran que P. maniculatus utilizaró áreas sin cobertura vegetal del estrato más alto, o áreas con cobertura de arbustos bajos o plantas herbáceas en el estrato bajo, y hojarazca y broza leñosa como sustrato. Los ratones prefirieron la cobertura de árboles desciduos en el estrato de vegetación más alto, tronco caídos de 5 a 10 cm de diámetro como cobertura del estrato bajo, y hojarazca como sustrato. La cobertura de pastos y el suelo desnudo fueron evitados. Los machos fueron indiferentes a la cobertura de arbustos bajos y evitaron la cobertura de dicotiledóneas herbáceas, mientras que las hembras prefirieron arena como sustrato y fueron indiferentes en el uso de rocas.The fluorescent pigment tracking technique was used to identify features of microhabitats preferred by Peromyscus maniculatus (Deer mouse) and to examine the ecological significance of such preferences in the Canadian boreal forest. Data were also analyzed by sex. Mice spent most of their travel time in areas lacking plant cover, or in areas associated with low shrubs, herbaceous dicots, leaf litter, and woody debris. They preferred deciduous trees as canopy cover, logs 5-10 cm in diameter as understory cover, and leaf litter as a substrate. Grass and bare soil were avoided as understory cover and substrate, respectively. Males showed no preference for low shrubs and avoided herbaceous dicots, whereas females showed no preference for herbaceous dicots and avoided low shrubs. Males showed no preference for sand and avoided rocks, whereas females preferred sand and showed no preference for rocks