12,970 research outputs found
Mobilizing Public Will For Social Change
Examines the theory and strategies of "public will" campaigns and offers tangible criteria for their evaluation. It provides a rich inventory of strategies for use in mobilizing the public will through an integration of models of agenda building, social problem construction, issues management, social movements, media advocacy, and social capital. In addition, the paper provides cases and examples of public will campaigns directed at various social problems, along with criteria for evaluating these campaigns at various stages of a social problem's life cycle
Tires: Unstable Materials For Artificial Reef Construction
Artificial reefs of varied materials have been deployed worldwide to acquire large and diverse fish assemblages for both commercial and sport fishers, and SCUBA divers. Beginning in 1967, environmental resource managers and local fishers initiated a project to build an artificial reef using banded, but unballasted, waste automobile and truck tires offshore Broward County, Florida, USA. Estimates of the number of tires placed offshore range between 1,000,000– 2,000,000. Since deployment, storm events and ocean currents have caused the bands to give way and the break-up of the reef. Over the years, many tires have washed ashore onto recreational beach areas. Tires that remain in the water continue to move with wave action and currents. Many of these remaining tires have already been forced up against the offshore edge of natural reef with numbers at individual sites estimated in the 100,000\u27s. The objectives of this project were to examine the feasibility of removing the tires as well as gain subjective insight into the impact of the tires on natural habitat. Sixteen hundred tires were removed from the reef edge and recycled. The potential problems arising from the use of tires in artificial reef construction were apparent. Natural reef fauna was broken and buried providing a seascape resembling a junkyard. The shortsighted use of unstable material to construct artificial reefs is an issue facing many coastal areas. Disturbance of this unstable material has futher added to other natural and anthropogenic stresses suffered by the coral reef systems and the wildlife they support. Clearly, unstable materials, such as tires, are not suitable for artificial reef construction. If already deployed, tires should be removed to prevent physical damage to the natural habitat and reduce the related negative biological impacts, in turn, limiting economic loss to local communities benefiting from use of the natural reef. Keywords: southeast Florida, recycling, habitat restoration
Reconfigurable environmentally adaptive computing
Described are methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for reconfigurable environmentally adaptive computing technology. An environmental signal representative of an external environmental condition is received. A processing configuration is automatically selected, based on the environmental signal, from a plurality of processing configurations. A reconfigurable processing element is reconfigured to operate according to the selected processing configuration. In some examples, the environmental condition is detected and the environmental signal is generated based on the detected condition
Spatially heterogeneous dynamics in granular compaction
We prove the emergence of spatially correlated dynamics in slowly compacting
dense granular media by analyzing analytically and numerically multi-point
correlation functions in a simple particle model characterized by slow
non-equilibrium dynamics. We show that the logarithmically slow dynamics at
large times is accompanied by spatially extended dynamic structures that
resemble the ones observed in glass-forming liquids and dense colloidal
suspensions. This suggests that dynamic heterogeneity is another key common
feature present in very different jamming materials.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Structure in the Disk of epsilon Aurigae: Analysis of the ARCES and TripleSpec data obtained during the 2010 eclipse
Context: Worldwide interest in the recent eclipse of epsilon Aurigae resulted
in the generation of several extensive data sets, including those related to
high resolution spectroscopic monitoring. This lead to the discovery, among
other things, of the existence of a mass transfer stream, seen notably during
third contact. Aims: We explored spectroscopic facets of the mass transfer
stream during third contact, using high resolution spectra obtained with the
ARCES and TripleSpec instruments at Apache Point Observatory. Methods: One
hundred and sixteen epochs of data between 2009 and 2012 were obtained, and
equivalent widths and line velocities measured, selected according to reports
of these being high versus low eccentricity disk lines. These datasets also
enable greater detail to be measured of the mid-eclipse enhancement of the He I
10830A line, and the discovery of the P Cygni shape of the Pa beta line at
third contact. Analysis: We found evidence of higher speed material, associated
with the mass transfer stream, persisting between third and fourth eclipse
contacts. We visualize the disk and stream interaction using SHAPE software,
and use CLOUDY software to estimate that the source of the enhanced He I 10830A
absorption arises from a region with log n = 10 (/cm3) and temperature of
20,000 K consistent with a mid B type central star. Results and Next Steps: Van
Rensbergen binary star evolutionary models are somewhat consistent with the
current binary parameters for the case of a 9 plus 8 solar mass initial binary,
evolving into a 2.3 and 14.11 solar mass end product after 35 Myr. Prior to the
next eclipse, it is possible to make predictions which suggest that continued
monitoring will help resolve standing questions about this binary
Maximal violation of Bell inequalities by position measurements
We show that it is possible to find maximal violations of the CHSH-Bell
inequality using only position measurements on a pair of entangled
non-relativistic free particles. The device settings required in the CHSH
inequality are done by choosing one of two times at which position is measured.
For different assignments of the "+" outcome to positions, namely to an
interval, to a half line, or to a periodic set, we determine violations of the
inequalities, and states where they are attained. These results have
consequences for the hidden variable theories of Bohm and Nelson, in which the
two-time correlations between distant particle trajectories have a joint
distribution, and hence cannot violate any Bell inequality.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
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