Urban and regional land use analysis: CARETS and census cities experiment package

The author has identified the following significant results. Successful tentative calibration permits computer programs to be written to convert Skylab thermal tapes into line-printed graymaps showing actual surface radiation temperature distributions at the time of imaging. The calibrations will be further checked when atmospheric soundings are available. Success of Skylab calibration suggests that satellite are feasible platforms for thermal scanning and provide a much broader geographical field of view than is possible with airborne platforms

Elastodynamics of radially inhomogeneous spherically anisotropic elastic materials in the Stroh formalism

A method is presented for solving elastodynamic problems in radially inhomogeneous elastic materials with spherical anisotropy, i.e.\ materials such that $c_{ijkl}= c_{ijkl}(r)$ in a spherical coordinate system ${r,\theta,\phi}$. The time harmonic displacement field $\mathbf{u}(r,\theta ,\phi)$ is expanded in a separation of variables form with dependence on $\theta,\phi$ described by vector spherical harmonics with $r$-dependent amplitudes. It is proved that such separation of variables solution is generally possible only if the spherical anisotropy is restricted to transverse isotropy with the principal axis in the radial direction, in which case the amplitudes are determined by a first-order ordinary differential system. Restricted forms of the displacement field, such as $\mathbf{u}(r,\theta)$, admit this type of separation of variables solutions for certain lower material symmetries. These results extend the Stroh formalism of elastodynamics in rectangular and cylindrical systems to spherical coordinates.Comment: 15 page

Lifeline and Geotechnical Aspects of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake

This paper provides an overview of areas in San Francisco which were affected by soil liquefaction and significant ground deformation as a result of the Loma Prieta earthquake. The distribution of pipeline system damage is examined, and comparisons are made between 1989 and 1906 patterns of water supply damage. Special attention is given to the Marina to illustrate how the natural site conditions and artificial fills contributed to soil liquefaction and buried pipeline damage of both the water and gas distribution networks. Finally, the liquefaction potentials of natural beach and sand bar deposits, land-tipped fill, and hydraulic fill are evaluated and compared

Association of socio-economic position and suicide/attempted suicide in low and middle income countries in South and South-East Asia - a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Forty percent of the world’s suicide deaths occur in low and middle income countries (LAMIC) in Asia. There is a recognition that social factors, such as socioeconomic position (SEP), play an important role in determining suicidal risk in high income countries, but less is known about the association in LAMIC. METHODS: The objective of this systematic review was to synthesise existing evidence of the association between SEP and attempted suicide/suicide risk in LAMIC countries in South and South East Asia. Web of Science, MEDLINE, MEDLINE in Process, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and article reference lists/forward citations were searched for eligible studies. Epidemiological studies reporting on the association of individual SEP with suicide and attempted suicide were included. Study quality was assessed using an adapted rating tool and a narrative synthesis was conducted. RESULTS: Thirty-one studies from nine countries were identified; 31 different measures of SEP were reported, with education being the most frequently recorded. Most studies suggest that lower levels of SEP are associated with an increased risk of suicide/attempted suicide, though findings are not always consistent between and within countries. Over half of the studies included in this review were of moderate/low quality. The SEP risk factors with the most consistent association across studies were asset based measures (e.g. composite measures); education; measures of financial difficulty and subjective measures of financial circumstance. Several studies show a greater than threefold increased risk in lower SEP groups with the largest and most consistent association with subjective measures of financial circumstance. CONCLUSION: The current evidence suggests that lower SEP increases the likelihood of suicide/attempted suicide in LAMIC in South and South East Asia. However, the findings are severely limited by study quality; larger better quality studies are therefore needed. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO 2014:CRD42014006521 ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-2301-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Post-Turing Methodology: Breaking the Wall on the Way to Artificial General Intelligence

This article offers comprehensive criticism of the Turing test and develops quality criteria for new artificial general intelligence (AGI) assessment tests. It is shown that the prerequisites A. Turing drew upon when reducing personality and human consciousness to “suitable branches of thought” re-flected the engineering level of his time. In fact, the Turing “imitation game” employed only symbolic communication and ignored the physical world. This paper suggests that by restricting thinking ability to symbolic systems alone Turing unknowingly constructed “the wall” that excludes any possi-bility of transition from a complex observable phenomenon to an abstract image or concept. It is, therefore, sensible to factor in new requirements for AI (artificial intelligence) maturity assessment when approaching the Tu-ring test. Such AI must support all forms of communication with a human being, and it should be able to comprehend abstract images and specify con-cepts as well as participate in social practices

Ordering in voter models on networks: Exact reduction to a single-coordinate diffusion

We study the voter model and related random-copying processes on arbitrarily complex network structures. Through a representation of the dynamics as a particle reaction process, we show that a quantity measuring the degree of order in a finite system is, under certain conditions, exactly governed by a universal diffusion equation. Whenever this reduction occurs, the details of the network structure and random-copying process affect only a single parameter in the diffusion equation. The validity of the reduction can be established with considerably less information than one might expect: it suffices to know just two characteristic timescales within the dynamics of a single pair of reacting particles. We develop methods to identify these timescales, and apply them to deterministic and random network structures. We focus in particular on how the ordering time is affected by degree correlations, since such effects are hard to access by existing theoretical approaches.Comment: 37 pages, 10 figures. Revised version with additional discussion and simulation results to appear in J Phys

Energy spectrum of a 2D Dirac electron in the presence of a constant magnetic field

In this paper we obtain exact solutions of a 2D relativistic Dirac oscillator in the presence of a constant magnetic field. We compute the energy spectrum and discuss its dependence on the spin and magnetic field strength.Comment: 7 page

First Light Measurements of Capella with the Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer aboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory

We present the first X-ray spectrum obtained by the Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (LETGS) aboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The spectrum is of Capella and covers a wavelength range of 5-175 A (2.5-0.07 keV). The measured wavelength resolution, which is in good agreement with ground calibration, is $\Delta \lambda \simeq$ 0.06 A (FWHM). Although in-flight calibration of the LETGS is in progress, the high spectral resolution and unique wavelength coverage of the LETGS are well demonstrated by the results from Capella, a coronal source rich in spectral emission lines. While the primary purpose of this letter is to demonstrate the spectroscopic potential of the LETGS, we also briefly present some preliminary astrophysical results. We discuss plasma parameters derived from line ratios in narrow spectral bands, such as the electron density diagnostics of the He-like triplets of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, as well as resonance scattering of the strong Fe XVII line at 15.014 A.Comment: 4 pages (ApJ letter LaTeX), 2 PostScript figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters, 200

The effect of pose variability and repeated reliability of segmental centres of mass acquisition when using 3D photonic scanning

Three-dimensional (3D) photonic scanning is an emerging technique to acquire accurate body segment parameter data. This study established the repeated reliability of segmental centres of mass when using 3D photonic scanning (3DPS). Seventeen male participants were scanned twice by a 3D whole-body laser scanner. The same operators conducted the reconstruction and segmentation processes to obtain segmental meshes for calculating the segmental centres of mass. The segmental centres of mass obtained from repeated 3DPS were compared by relative technical error of measurement (TEM). Hypothesis tests were conducted to determine the size of change required for each segment to be determined a true variation. The relative TEMs for all segments were less than 5%. The relative changes in centres of mass at ±1.5% for most segments can be detected (p < 0.05). The arm segments which are difficult to keep in the same scanning pose generated more error than other segments