An experimental and computational analysis of buoyancy driven flows by laser sheet tomography, particle image velocimetry and computational fluid dynamics

This paper contains details of a three pronged investigation into the development of a buoyant jet impinging on a wall in a closed vessel. The development of the flow was measured experimentally by particle image velocimetry (PIV) and laser sheet tomography. The experimental results are compared with a computational model of the flow calculated by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package PHOENICS

Potential Demand for Programs on Nuisance Wildlife Among Wildlife-Related Program Offerings to Urban/Suburban Organizations

Program planners of 114 organizations in the Roanoke Valley area of Virginia responded to the likelihood of their scheduling programs on wildlife-related topics. Among the topics offered was “Controlling Wildlife Pests and/or Their Damage.” Responses were organized by type of organization (civic club, neighborhood organization, educational/PTA organization, environmental/hobby organization, garden/plant club) and whether they were “highly likely” (HL), “somewhat likely” (SL), “not likely” (NL), or “not sure” (NS) they would schedule such a program. Results on likelihood of scheduling were as follows: 31 civic clubs (1 HL, 4 SL, 33NL, 4 NS); 26 neighborhood organizations (5 HL, 7 SL, 5 NL, 9 NS); 26 educational/PTA organizations (3HL, 7 SL, 14 NL, 2 NS); 10 environmental organizations (1 HL, 2 SL, 7 NL, 0 NS); and 21 garden clubs (2 HL, 6 SL, 11 NL, 2 NS). Overall, 114 respondents provided 12 HL, 26 SL, 59 NL, and 17 NS responses. Among the 114 respondents, only 8 rated the topic among their “top 3” most desired topics. In the overall survey, wildlife-related topics were not more acceptable than environmental program topics and, within the wildlife program topics, a program on “Controlling Wildlife Pests and/or Their Damage” was not likely to be scheduled by more than half the programs chairs. As only one-third of respondents indicated any likelihood of scheduling a program on “Controlling Wildlife Pests and/or Their Damage,” a challenge in developing proactive programs on wildlife pest management for urban/suburban club audiences seems very clear

What Do Driver’s Education Manuals Contain Relative to Wildlife and Animal Dangers on Roads?

Most states in the U.S. provide driver’s education manuals (DEMs) as instructional material for instruction of novice drivers. U.S. territories and other countries also provide DEMs. DEMs were requested from U.S. states and territories and acquired from a number of foreign sources. Content was examined relative to animals and safe driving. Of the 42 U.S. DEMs reviewed, 20 had specific advice about coping with animals on the road, 25 used signs involving animals as illustrations, 6 dealt specifically with deer, and 14 referred to farm animals (i.e., horseback riders, animal drawn vehicles, range animals). The Ontario, Canada, and Victoria, Australia, manuals provided a sizeable range of advice relative to animals and the road, whereas the United Kingdom and Ireland materials provided advice relative to livestock on the roads. The consideration given in DEMs to animal-related risks seems very limited, particularly in giving specific advice to anticipate and deal with potential or existing animal hazards

Book Reviews

Book reviews by Julius Cohen, Edward F. Barrett, Roger P. Peters, Thomas M. Scanlon, and Clarence Manion

Investigation of lunar surface chemical contamination by LEM descent engine and associated equipment Final report

Lunar surface contamination from LEM rocket exhaust - methods of minimizing sample contaminatio

Unified Scaling Law for Earthquakes

We show that the distribution of waiting times between earthquakes occurring in California obeys a simple unified scaling law valid from tens of seconds to tens of years, see Eq. (1) and Fig. 4. The short time clustering, commonly referred to as aftershocks, is nothing but the short time limit of the general hierarchical properties of earthquakes. There is no unique operational way of distinguishing between main shocks and aftershocks. In the unified law, the Gutenberg-Richter b-value, the exponent -1 of the Omori law for aftershocks, and the fractal dimension d_f of earthquakes appear as critical indices.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Adsorption of formate species on Cu(h,k,l) low index surfaces

We report a density functional theory study on the relative stability of formate species on Cu(h,k,l) low index surfaces using a range of exchange-correlation functionals. We find that these functionals predict similar geometries for the formate molecule adsorbed on the Cu surface. A comparison of the calculated vibrational transition energies of a perpendicular configuration of formate on Cu surface shows an excellent agreement with the experimental spectrum obtained from inelastic neutron spectroscopy. From the calculations on adsorption energy we find that formate is most stable on the Cu(110) surface as compared to Cu(111) and Cu(100) surfaces. Bader analysis shows that this feature could be related to the higher charge transfer from the Cu(110) surface and optimum charge density at the interfacial region due to bidirectional electron transfer between the formate and the Cu surface. Analysis of the partial density of states finds that in the –5.5 eV to –4.0 eV region, hybridization between O p and the non-axial Cu dyz and dxz orbitals takes place on the Cu(110) surface, which is energetically more favourable than on the other surfaces

Realism, Objectivity, and Evaluation

I discuss Benacerraf's epistemological challenge for realism about areas like mathematics, metalogic, and modality, and describe the pluralist response to it. I explain why normative pluralism is peculiarly unsatisfactory, and use this explanation to formulate a radicalization of Moore's Open Question Argument. According to the argument, the facts -- even the normative facts -- fail to settle the practical questions at the center of our normative lives. One lesson is that the concepts of realism and objectivity, which are widely identified, are actually in tension

TRH: Pathophysiologic and clinical implications

Thyrotropin releasing hormone is thought to be a tonic stimulator of the pituitary TSH secretion regulating the setpoint of the thyrotrophs to the suppressive effect of thyroid hormones. The peptide stimulates the release of normal and elevated prolactin. ACTH and GH may increase in response to exogenous TRH in pituitary ACTH and GH hypersecretion syndromes and in some extrapituitary diseases. The pathophysiological implications of extrahypothalamic TRH in humans are essentially unknown. The TSH response to TRH is nowadays widely used as a diganostic amplifier in thyroid diseases being suppressed in borderline and overt hyperthyroid states and increased in primary thyroid failure. In hypothyroid states of hypothalamic origin, TSH increases in response to exogenous TRH often with a delayed and/or exaggerated time course. But in patients with pituitary tumors and suprasellar extension TSH may also respond to TRH despite secondary hypothyroidism. This TSH increase may indicate a suprasellar cause for the secondary hypothyroidism, probably due to portal vessel occlusion. The TSH released in these cases is shown to be biologically inactive