29,909 research outputs found
Flame sprayed dielectric coatings improve heat dissipation in electronic packaging
Heat sinks in electronic packaging can be flame sprayed with dielectric coatings of alumina or beryllia and finished off with an organic sealer to provide high heat and electrical resistivity
Reducing Global Warming and Adapting to Climate Change: The Potential of Organic Agriculture
Climate change mitigation is urgent and adaptation to climate change is crucial, particularly in agriculture, where food security is at stake. Agriculture, currently responsible for 20-30% of global greenhouse gas emissions counting direct and indirect agricultural emissions), can however contribute to both climate change mitigation and adaptation. The main mitigation potential lies in the capacity of agricultural soils to sequester CO2 through building organic matter. This potential can be realized by employing sustainable agricultural practices, such as those commonly found within organic farming systems. Examples of these practices are the use of organic fertilizers and crop rotations including legumes leys and cover crops. Mitigation is also achieved in organic agriculture through the avoidance of open biomass burning and the avoidance of synthetic fertilizers and the related production emissions from fossil fuels. Common organic practices also contribute to adaptation. Building soil organic matter increases water retention capacity, and creates more stabile, fertile soils, thus reducing vulnerability to drought, extreme precipitation events, floods and water logging. Adaptation is further supported by increased agro-ecosystem diversity of organic farms, due to reduced nitrogen inputs and the absence of chemical pesticides. The high diversity together with the lower input costs of organic agriculture is key in reducing production risks associated with extreme weather events. All these advantageous practices are not exclusive to organic agriculture. However, they are core parts of the organic production system, in contrast to most non-organic agriculture, where they play a minor role only.
Mitigation in agriculture cannot be restricted to the agricultural sector alone, though. Consumer behaviour strongly influences agricultural production systems, and thus their mitigation potential. Significant factors are meat consumption and food wastage. Any discussion on mitigation climate change in agriculture needs to address the entire food chain and needs to be linked to general sustainable development strategies.
The main challenges to climate change mitigation and adaptation in organic agriculture and agriculture in general concern
a)the understanding of some of the basic processes, such as the interaction of N2O emissions and soil carbon sequestration, contributions of roots to soil carbon sequestration and the life-cycle emissions of organic fertilizers such as compost;
b) approaches for emissions accounting that adequately represent agricultural production systems with multiple and diverse outputs and that also encompass ecosystem services;
c) the identification and implementation of most adequate policy frameworks for supporting mitigation and adaptation in agriculture, i.e: not putting systemic approaches at a disadvantage due to difficulties in the quantification of emissions, and in their allocation to single products;
d) how to assure that the current focus on mitigation does not lead to neglect of the other sustainability aspects of agriculture, such as pesticide loads, eutrophication, acidification or soil erosion and
e) the question how to address consumer behaviour and how to utilize the mitigation potential of changes in consumption patterns
Reply to ``Comment on `Insulating Behavior of -DNA on the Micron Scale' "
In our experiment, we found that the resistance of vacuum-dried -DNA
exceeds at 295 K. Bechhoefer and Sen have raised a number of
objections to our conclusion. We provide counter arguments to support our
original conclusion.Comment: 1 page reply to comment, 1 figur
Magneto-elastic oscillations of neutron stars: exploring different magnetic field configurations
We study magneto-elastic oscillations of highly magnetized neutron stars
(magnetars) which have been proposed as an explanation for the quasi-periodic
oscillations (QPOs) appearing in the decaying tail of the giant flares of soft
gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs). We extend previous studies by investigating various
magnetic field configurations, computing the Alfv\'en spectrum in each case and
performing magneto-elastic simulations for a selected number of models. By
identifying the observed frequencies of 28 Hz (SGR 1900+14) and 30 Hz (SGR
1806-20) with the fundamental Alfv\'en QPOs, we estimate the required surface
magnetic field strength. For the magnetic field configurations investigated
(dipole-like poloidal, mixed toroidal-poloidal with a dipole-like poloidal
component and a toroidal field confined to the region of field lines closing
inside the star, and for poloidal fields with an additional quadrupole-like
component) the estimated dipole spin-down magnetic fields are between 8x10^14 G
and 4x10^15 G, in broad agreement with spin-down estimates for the SGR sources
producing giant flares. A number of these models exhibit a rich Alfv\'en
continuum revealing new turning points which can produce QPOs. This allows one
to explain most of the observed QPO frequencies as associated with
magneto-elastic QPOs. In particular, we construct a possible configuration with
two turning points in the spectrum which can explain all observed QPOs of SGR
1900+14. Finally, we find that magnetic field configurations which are entirely
confined in the crust (if the core is assumed to be a type I superconductor)
are not favoured, due to difficulties in explaining the lowest observed QPO
frequencies (f<30 Hz).Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures, 6 tables, matched to version accepted by MNRAS
with extended comparison/discussion to previous wor
Cellular automata on regular rooted trees
We study cellular automata on regular rooted trees. This includes the
characterization of sofic tree shifts in terms of unrestricted Rabin automata
and the decidability of the surjectivity problem for cellular automata between
sofic tree shifts
Observations of lunar tides in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere at Arctic and middle latitudes
International audienceMeteor radars have been used to measure the horizontal winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere over Castle Eaton (52° N) in the UK and over Esrange (68° N) in Arctic Sweden. We consider a 16-year data set covering the interval 1988?2004 for the UK and a 6-year data set covering the interval 1999?2005 for the Arctic. The signature of the 12.42-h (M2) lunar tide has been identified at both locations. The lunar tide is observed to reach amplitudes as large as 11 ms?1. The Arctic radar has an interferometer and so allows investigation of the vertical structure of the lunar tide. At both locations the tide has maximum amplitudes in winter with a second autumnal maximum. The amplitude is found to increase with height over the 80?100 km height range observed. Vertical wavelengths are very variable, ranging from about 15 km in summer to more than 60 km in winter. Comparisons with the Vial and Forbes, 1994 model reveals generally good agreement, except in the case of the summer vertical wavelengths which are observed to be significantly shorter than predicted
Metallicity and Physical Conditions in the Magellanic Bridge
We present a new analysis of the diffuse gas in the Magellanic Bridge (RA>3h)
based on HST/STIS E140M and FUSE spectra of 2 early-type stars lying within the
Bridge and a QSO behind it. We derive the column densities of HI (from
Ly\alpha), NI, OI, ArI, SiII, SII, and FeII of the gas in the Bridge. Using the
atomic species, we determine the first gas-phase metallicity of the Magellanic
Bridge, [Z/H]=-1.02+/-0.07 toward one sightline, and -1.7<[Z/H]<-0.9 toward the
other one, a factor 2 or more smaller than the present-day SMC metallicity.
Using the metallicity and N(HI), we show that the Bridge gas along our three
lines of sight is ~70-90% ionized, despite high HI columns, logN(HI)=19.6-20.1.
Possible sources for the ongoing ionization are certainly the hot stars within
the Bridge, hot gas (revealed by OVI absorption), and leaking photons from the
SMC and LMC. From the analysis of CII*, we deduce that the overall density of
the Bridge must be low (<0.03-0.1 cm^-3). We argue that our findings combined
with other recent observational results should motivate new models of the
evolution of the SMC-LMC-Galaxy system.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Ap
Jet quenching with running coupling including radiative and collisional energy losses
We calculate the nuclear modification factor for RHIC and LHC conditions
accounting for the radiative and collisional parton energy loss with the
running coupling constant.We find that the RHIC data can be explained both in
the scenario with the chemically equilibrium quark-gluon plasma and purely
gluonic plasma with slightly different thermal suppression of the coupling
constant. The role of the parton energy gain due to gluon absorption is also
investigated. Our results show that the energy gain gives negligible effect.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
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