1,057 research outputs found
Evaluation of Gateway and Low-Cost Traffic-Calming Treatments for Major Routes in Small Rural Communities
Many rural communities have developed around highways or major county roads; as a result, the main street through small rural communities is often part of a high-speed rural highway. Highways and county roads are characterized by high speeds outside the city limits; they then transition into a reduced speed section through the rural community. Consequently, drivers passing through the community often enter at high speeds and maintain those speeds as they travel through the community. Traffic calming in small rural communities along major roadways is common in Europe, but the U.S. does not have experience with applying traffic-calming measures outside of major urban areas.
The purpose of the project was to evaluate traffic-calming treatments on the major road through small Iowa communities using either single-measure low-cost or gateway treatments. The project was partially funded by the Iowa Highway Research Board (IHRB). The focus of the IHRB portion was to evaluate single-measure, low-cost, traffic-calming measures that are appropriate to major roads through small rural communities. Seven different low-cost traffic treatments were implemented and evaluated in five rural Iowa communities. The research evaluated the use of two gateway treatments in Union and Roland; five single-measure treatments (speed table, on-pavement “SLOW” markings, a driver speed feedback sign, tubular markers, and on-pavement entrance treatments) were evaluated in Gilbert, Slater, and Dexter
SuperWASP: Wide Angle Search for Planets
SuperWASP is a fully robotic, ultra-wide angle survey for planetary transits.
Currently under construction, it will consist of 5 cameras, each monitoring a
9.5 x 9.5 deg field of view. The Torus mount and enclosure will be fully
automated and linked to a built-in weather station. We aim to begin
observations at the beginning of 2003.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to be published in proceedings of "Scientific
Frontiers in Research on Extrasolar Planets
Induced magnetization in LaSrMnO/BiFeO superlattices
Using polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR), we observe an induced
magnetization of 75 25 kA/m at 10 K in a LaSrMnO
(LSMO)/BiFeO superlattice extending from the interface through several
atomic layers of the BiFeO (BFO). The induced magnetization in BFO is
explained by density functional theory, where the size of bandgap of BFO plays
an important role. Considering a classical exchange field between the LSMO and
BFO layers, we further show that magnetization is expected to extend throughout
the BFO, which provides a theoretical explanation for the results of the
neutron scattering experiment.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, with Supplemental Materials. To appear in
Physical Review Letter
Brightness variation distributions among main belt asteroids from sparse light curve sampling with Pan-STARRS 1
The rotational state of asteroids is controlled by various physical
mechanisms including collisions, internal damping and the
Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect. We have analysed the
changes in magnitude between consecutive detections of approximately 60,000
asteroids measured by the PanSTARRS 1 survey during its first 18 months of
operations. We have attempted to explain the derived brightness changes
physically and through the application of a simple model. We have found a
tendency toward smaller magnitude variations with decreasing diameter for
objects of 1 < D < 8 km. Assuming the shape distribution of objects in this
size range to be independent of size and composition our model suggests a
population with average axial ratios 1 : 0.85 \pm 0.13 : 0.71 \pm 0.13, with
larger objects more likely to have spin axes perpendicular to the orbital
plane.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted by MNRA
Current Status of the SuperWASP Project
We present the current status of the SuperWASP project, a Wide Angle Search
for Planets. SuperWASP consists of up to 8 individual cameras using ultra-wide
field lenses backed by high-quality passively cooled CCDs. Each camera covers
7.8 x 7.8 sq degrees of sky, for nearly 500 sq degrees of sky coverage.
SuperWASP I, located in LaPalma, is currently operational with 5 cameras and is
conducting a photometric survey of a large numbers of stars in the magnitude
range ~7 to 15. The collaboration has developed a custom-built reduction
pipeline and aims to achieve better than 1 percent photometric precision. The
pipeline will also produce well sampled light curves for all the stars in each
field which will be used to detect: planetary transits, optical transients, and
track Near-Earth Objects. Status of current observations, and expected rates of
extrasolar planetary detections will be presented. The consortium members,
institutions, and further details can be found on the web site at:
http://www.superwasp.org.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, submitted to the Proceedings of the 13th Cool
Stars Workshop, Ed. F. Favata, ESA-S
Models of the SL9 Impacts II. Radiative-hydrodynamic Modeling of the Plume Splashback
We model the plume "splashback" phase of the SL9 collisions with Jupiter
using the ZEUS-3D hydrodynamic code. We modified the Zeus code to include gray
radiative transport, and we present validation tests. We couple the infalling
mass and momentum fluxes of SL9 plume material (from paper I) to a jovian
atmospheric model. A strong and complex shock structure results. The modeled
shock temperatures agree well with observations, and the structure and
evolution of the modeled shocks account for the appearance of high excitation
molecular line emission after the peak of the continuum light curve. The
splashback region cools by radial expansion as well as by radiation. The
morphology of our synthetic continuum light curves agree with observations over
a broad wavelength range (0.9 to 12 microns). A feature of our ballistic plume
is a shell of mass at the highest velocities, which we term the "vanguard".
Portions of the vanguard ejected on shallow trajectories produce a lateral
shock front, whose initial expansion accounts for the "third precursors" seen
in the 2-micron light curves of the larger impacts, and for hot methane
emission at early times. Continued propagation of this lateral shock
approximately reproduces the radii, propagation speed, and centroid positions
of the large rings observed at 3-4 microns by McGregor et al. The portion of
the vanguard ejected closer to the vertical falls back with high z-component
velocities just after maximum light, producing CO emission and the "flare" seen
at 0.9 microns. The model also produces secondary maxima ("bounces") whose
amplitudes and periods are in agreement with observations.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures (figs 3 and 4 in color), accepted for Ap.J.
latex, version including full figures at:
http://oobleck.tn.cornell.edu/jh/ast/papers/slplume2-20.ps.g
Incommensurate magnetic order in the alpha-Fe(Te,Se) superconductor systems
Magnetic spin fluctuations is one candidate to produce the bosonic modes that
mediate the superconductivity in the ferrous superconductors. Up until now, all
of the LaOFeAs and BaFe2As2 structure types have simple commensurate magnetic
ground states, as result of nesting Fermi surfaces. This type of
spin-density-wave (SDW) magnetic order is known to be vulnerable to shifts in
the Fermi surface when electronic densities are altered at the superconducting
compositions. Superconductivity has more recently been discovered in
alpha-Fe(Te,Se), whose electronically active antifluorite planes are
isostructural to the FeAs layers found in the previous ferrous superconductors
and share with them the same quasi-two-dimensional electronic structure. Here
we report neutron scattering studies that reveal a unique complex
incommensurate antiferromagnetic order in the parent compound alpha-FeTe. When
the long-range magnetic order is suppressed by the isovalent substitution of Te
with Se, short-range correlations survive in the superconducting phase.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl
Neutral sodium from comet Hale-Bopp: a third type of tail
We report on the discovery and analysis of a striking neutral sodium gas tail associated with comet C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp. Sodium D-line emission has been observed at heliocentric distance r<1.4 AU in some long-period comets and the presence of neutral sodium in the tailward direction of a few bright comets has been noted, but the extent, and in particular the source, has never been clear. Here we describe the first observations and analysis of a neutral sodium gas tail in comet Hale-Bopp, entirely different from the previously known ion and dust tails. We show that the observed characteristics of this third type of tail are consistent with itbeing produced by radiation pressure due to resonance fluorescence of sodium atoms and that the lifetime for photoionization is consistent with recent theoretical calculation
Abundance Gradients and the Formation of the Milky Way
In this paper we adopt a chemical evolution model, which is an improved
version of the Chiappini, Matteucci and Gratton (1997) model, assuming two main
accretion episodes for the formation of the Galaxy. The present model takes
into account in more detail than previously the halo density distribution and
explores the effects of a threshold density in the star formation process,
during both the halo and disk phases. In the comparison between model
predictions and available data, we have focused our attention on abundance
gradients as well as gas, stellar and star formation rate distributions along
the disk. We suggest that the mechanism for the formation of the halo leaves
detectable imprints on the chemical properties of the outer regions of the
disk, whereas the evolution of the halo and the inner disk are almost
completely disentangled. This is due to the fact that the halo and disk
densities are comparable at large Galactocentric distances and therefore the
gas lost from the halo can substantially contribute to building up the outer
disk. We also show that the existence of a threshold density for the star
formation rate, both in the halo and disk phase, is necessary to reproduce the
majority of observational data in the solar vicinity and in the whole disk.
Moreover, we predict that the abundance gradients along the Galactic disk must
have increased with time and that the average [alpha/Fe] ratio in stars (halo
plus disk) slightly decrease going from 4 to 10 Kpcs from the Galactic center.
We also show that the same ratios increase substantially towards the outermost
disk regions and the expected scatter in the stellar ages decreases, because
the outermost regions are dominated by halo stars.Comment: 41 pages (including the figures), To be published in Ap
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