Man-machine communication - A transparent switchboard for computers

Device uses pattern of transparent contact touch points that are put on cathode ray tube screen. Touch point system compels more precise and unambiguous communication between man and machine than is possible with any other means, and speeds up operation responses

Transparent switchboard

A tin oxide coating is formed on a plate of glass and the coating is then etched away from the glass in thin lines to form separate electrical conductors which extend to one end of the plate and connect to either a vertical (column) or horizontal (row) position sensing SCR circuit. A thin transparent insulating coating is formed over the oxide layer except at selected touch points which are positioned in a matrix pattern of vertical columns and horizontal rows. Touching one of these points with a finger bridges the thin line between adjacent conductors to activate trigger circuits in the particular row and column sensing circuits associated with the point touched. The row and column sensing circuits are similar and are powered with a low frequency, ac voltage source. The source for the row circuits is 180 out of phase with the source for the column circuits so that one circuit acts as ground for the other during half of the supply voltage cycle. The signals from the sensing circuits are input to a logic circuit which determines the presence of a valid touch, stores a binary matrix number associated with the touched point, signals a computer of the presence of a stored number and prevents storage of a new number before receiving an enable signal from the computer

15Nitrogen uptake from shallow- versus deep-rooted plants in multi-species mixtures and monoculture grassland

Only few studies have explored the importance of functional diversity in temperate agricultural grasslands in relation to nitrogen (N) uptake. This study investigates the consequence of growing deep-rooted plants together with grass-clover mixtures in terms of N uptake efficiency from deep soil layers. The objective was to compare the N uptake of the shallow-rooted grassland species Lolium perenne and Trifolium repens; and the deep-rooted species Cichorium intybus and Medicago sativa in monocultures and mixtures. We hypothesized that growing deep-rooted plant species in mixture with shallow-rooted species increases the N uptake from deep soil layers partly through competition. A 15N tracer study was carried out with 15N enriched ammonium-sulphate placed at three different soil depths (40, 80 and 120 cm). To recover 15N, above-ground plant biomass was harvested after 10 days. We described the decline of 15N uptake with depth by using an exponential decay function. The studied plant communities showed the same relative decline in 15N uptake by increasing soil depths, but different capacities in total 15N uptake. Monoculture L. perenne foraged less 15N in all depths compared to the other four plant communities. The relative 15N uptake of individual plant species grown in mixture decreased stronger with depth than in monoculture. Thus, both findings rejected our hypothesis

15Nitrogen transfer from legumes to neighbouring plants in multi-species grassland

This study investigates the N transfer from legumes to neighbouring plants, grasses, legumes and herbs in a temperate grassland. In a field experiment white clover (Trifolium repens), red clover (Trifolium pratense) and lucerne (Medicago sativa) were leaf-labelled with 15N enriched urea. The 15N tracer was measured in above-ground plant tissue of eight neighbouring plants in two subsequent harvests in 2008. The three legumes donated 15N to all neighbouring plants, of which grasses, white and red clover were strong receivers. Results show that N transfer increases with N application and from the 1st to the 2nd cut

Bursts in discontinuous Aeolian saltation

Close to the onset of Aeolian particle transport through saltation we find in wind tunnel experiments a regime of discontinuous flux characterized by bursts of activity. Scaling laws are observed in the time delay between each burst and in the measurements of the wind fluctuations at the fluid threshold Shields number $\theta_c$. The time delay between each burst decreases on average with the increase of the Shields number until sand flux becomes continuous. A numerical model for saltation including the wind-entrainment from the turbulent fluctuations can reproduce these observations and gives insight about their origin. We present here also for the first time measurements showing that with feeding it becomes possible to sustain discontinuous flux even below the fluid threshold

A wind tunnel investigation of the shape of uncharged raindrops in the presence of an external, electric field

Results of a wind tunnel experiment in which electrically uncharged water drops of 500 to 3000 microns equivalent radius are freely suspended in the vertical air stream of the UCLA cloud tunnel are presented. During this suspension the drops were exposed to external vertical electric fields of 500 to 8,000 volts/cm. The change in drop shape with drop size and electric field strength was noted and is discussed in the light of theoretical work cited in the literature which unfortunately does not take into account the effects of air flow past the drop. The wind tunnel study is documented by stills from a 16 mm film record that demonstrates the shape of water drops in response to both hydrodynamic and electric forces

In field N transfer, build-up, and leaching in ryegrass-clover mixtures

Two field experiments investigating dynamics in grass-clover mixtures were conducted, using 15N- and 14C-labelling to trace carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) from grass (Lolium perenne L.) and clover (Trifolium repens L. and Trifolium pratense L.). The leaching of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), as measured in pore water sampled by suction cups, increased during the autumn and winter, whereas the leaching of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) was fairly constant during this period. Leaching of 15N from the sward indicated that ryegrass was the direct source of less than 1-2 percent of the total N leaching measured, whereas N dynamics pointed to clover as an important contributor to N leaching. Sampling of roots indicates that the dynamics in smaller roots were responsible for N and C build-up in the sward, and that N became available for transfer among species and leaching from the root zone. The bi-directional transfer of N between ryegrass and clover could however not be explained only by root turnover. Other processes like direct uptake of organic N compounds, may have contributed

Transfer of BECs through discrete breathers in an optical lattice

We study the stability of a stationary discrete breather (DB) on a nonlinear trimer in the framework of the discrete nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation (DNLS). In previous theoretical investigations of the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates in leaking optical lattices, collisions between a DB and a lattice excitation, e.g. a moving breather (MB) or phonon, were studied. These collisions lead to the transmission of a fraction of the incident (atomic) norm of the MB through the DB, while the DB can be shifted in the direction of the incident lattice excitation. Here we show that there exists a total energy threshold of the trimer, above which the lattice excitation can trigger the destabilization of the DB and that this is the mechanism leading to the movement of the DB. Furthermore, we give an analytic estimate of upper bound to the norm that is transmitted through the DB. Our analysis explains the results of the earlier numerical studies and may help to clarify functional operations with BECs in optical lattices such as blocking and filtering coherent (atomic) beams.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Numerical Simulations of Intermittent Transport in Scrape-Off Layer Plasmas

Two-dimensional fluid simulations of interchange turbulence for geometry and parameters relevant for the scrape-off layer of confined plasmas are presented. We observe bursty ejection of particles and heat from the bulk plasma in the form of blobs. These structures propagate far into the scrape-off layer where they are lost due to transport along open magnetic field lines. From single-point recordings it is shown that the blobs have asymmetric conditional wave forms and lead to positively skewed and flat probability distribution functions. The radial propagation velocity may reach one tenth of the sound speed. These results are in excellent agreement with recent experimental measurements.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure