Lightning induced currents in aircraft wiring using low level injection techniques

Various techniques were studied to predict the transient current induced into aircraft wiring bundles as a result of an aircraft lightning strike. A series of aircraft measurements were carried out together with a theoretical analysis using computer modeling. These tests were applied to various aircraft and also to specially constructed cylinders installed within coaxial return conductor systems. Low level swept frequency CW (carrier waves), low level transient and high level transient injection tests were applied to the aircraft and cylinders. Measurements were made to determine the transfer function between the aircraft drive current and the resulting skin currents and currents induced on the internal wiring. The full threat lightning induced transient currents were extrapolated from the low level data using Fourier transform techniques. The aircraft and cylinders used were constructed from both metallic and CFC (carbon fiber composite) materials. The results show the pulse stretching phenomenon which occurs for CFC materials due to the diffusion of the lightning current through carbon fiber materials. Transmission Line Matrix modeling techniques were used to compare theoretical and measured currents

The effect of pre-exposure on family resemblance categorization for stimuli of varying levels of perceptual difficulty

This study investigated the effect that pre-exposure to a set of stimuli has on the prevalence of family resemblance categorization. 64 participants were tested to examine the effect that pre-exposure type (same-stimuli vs unrelated-stimuli) and the perceptual difficulty of the stimuli (perceptually similar vs perceptually different) has on categorization strategy. There was a significant effect of perceptual difficulty, indicating that perceptually different stimuli evoked a higher level of family resemblance sorting than perceptually similar stimuli. There was no significant main effect of pre-exposure type; however, there was a significant interaction between pre-exposure type and level of perceptual difficulty. Post-hoc tests revealed that this interaction was the result of an increase in family resemblance sorting for the perceptually different stimuli under relevant preexposure but no such effect for perceptually similar stimuli. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed

Differences in both prevalence and titre of specific immunoglobulin E among children with asthma in affluent and poor communities within a large town in Ghana.

Background Reports from several African countries have noted an increasing prevalence of asthma in areas of extensive urbanization. Objective To investigate the relevance of allergen-specific sensitization and body mass index (BMI) to asthma/wheezing and exercise-induced bronchospasm (EIB) among children from affluent and poorer communities within a large town in Ghana. Methods Children with physician-diagnosed asthma and/or current wheezing aged 9-16 years (n=99; cases) from three schools with differing socio-economic backgrounds [urban affluent (UA), urban poor (UP) or suburban/rural (SR)] were recruited from a cross-sectional study (n=1848) in Kumasi, Ghana, and matched according to age, sex and area of residence with non-asthmatic/non-wheezy controls. We assayed sera for IgE antibodies to mite, cat, dog, cockroach, Ascaris and galactose-α-1,3-galactose. Results Children from the UA school had the lowest total serum IgE. However, cases from the UA school had a higher prevalence and mean titre of sIgE to mite (71.4%, 21.2IU/mL) when compared with controls (14.3%, 0.8IU/mL) or cases from UP (30%, 0.8IU/mL) and SR community (47.8%, 1.6IU/mL). While similar findings were observed with EIB in the whole population, among cases there was no difference in IgE antibody prevalence or titre between children with or without EIB. BMI was higher among UA children with and without asthma; in UP and SR communities, children with EIB (n=14) had a significantly higher BMI compared with children with asthma/wheezing without EIB (n=38) (18.2 vs. 16.4, respectively, P<0.01). Conclusions and Clinical Relevance In the relatively affluent school, asthma/wheezing and EIB were associated with high titre IgE antibodies to mite, decreased total IgE, and increased BMI. This contrasted with children in the urban poor school and suggests that changes relevant to a Western model of childhood asthma can occur within a short geographical distance within a large city in Africa. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Non-abelian dynamics in first-order cosmological phase transitions

Bubble collisions in cosmological phase transitions are explored, taking the non-abelian character of the gauge fields into account. Both the QCD and electroweak phase transitions are considered. Numerical solutions of the field equations in several limits are presented.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. Contribution to the CosPA 2003 Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics Symposium. Typos correcte

Dynamic Classification of Moisture Stress Using Canopy and Leaf Temperature Responses to a Step Changes of Incident Radiation

Environmental conditions affect plant productivity and understanding how plants respond to drought stress can be measured in different ways. This study focused on measuring leaf response time to induced water stress. Leaf response time to a step increase and step decrease in radiation was computed for four species of well-watered and water-stressed plants in a controlled environment. The canopy temperature was measured with an infrared thermometer and a thermal imaging camera. Thermal images were analyzed to determine the average temperature of a selected single, unobstructed leaf at the top of the canopy. Both the canopy response time and the single leaf response time were computed for this study. The response times to a step change of radiation for well-watered plants were generally longer than the response times of water stressed plants. These results show that response time may be used as an indicator of plant water stress

Dynamic Classification of Moisture Stress Using Canopy and Leaf Temperature Responses to a Step Changes of Incident Radiation

Environmental conditions affect plant productivity and understanding how plants respond to drought stress can be measured in different ways. This study focused on measuring leaf response time to induced water stress. Leaf response time to a step increase and step decrease in radiation was computed for four species of well-watered and water-stressed plants in a controlled environment. The canopy temperature was measured with an infrared thermometer and a thermal imaging camera. Thermal images were analyzed to determine the average temperature of a selected single, unobstructed leaf at the top of the canopy. Both the canopy response time and the single leaf response time were computed for this study. The response times to a step change of radiation for well-watered plants were generally longer than the response times of water stressed plants. These results show that response time may be used as an indicator of plant water stress

Designing metal hemispheres on silicon ultrathin film solar cells for plasmonic light trapping

We systematically investigate the design of two-dimensional silver (Ag) hemisphere arrays on crystalline silicon (c-Si) ultrathin film solar cells for plasmonic light trapping. The absorption in ultrathin films is governed by the excitation of Fabry-Perot TEMm modes.We demonstrate that metal hemispheres can enhance absorption in the films by (1) coupling light to c-Si film waveguide modes and (2) exciting localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs). We show that hemisphere arrays allow light to couple to fundamental TEm and TMm waveguide modes in c-Si film as well as higher-order versions of these modes. The near-field light concentration of LSPRs also may increase absorption in the c-Si film, though these resonances are associated with significant parasitic absorption in the metal. We illustrate how Ag plasmonic hemispheres may be utilized for light trapping with 22% enhancement in short-circuit current density compared with that of a bare 100 nm thick c-Si ultrathin film solar cell. © 2014 Optical Society of America

Spin-transfer mechanism of ferromagnetism in polymerized fullerenes: AbinitioAb initio calculations

A mechanism of the high temperature ferromagnetism in polymerized fullerenes is suggested. It is assumed that some of the C$_{60}$ molecules in the crystal become magnetically active due to spin and charge transfer from the paramagnetic impurities (atoms or groups), such as hydrogen, fluorine, hydroxyl group OH, amino group NH$_2$, or methyl group CH$_3$, dispersed in the fullerene matrix. The exchange interaction between the spins localized on the magnetically active fullerenes is evaluated using \textit{ab initio} calculations. The nearest neighbour and next nearest neighbour exchange interaction is found to be in the range $0.1\div 0.3$ eV, that is, high enough to account for the room temperature ferromagnetism.Comment: typos corrected, 8 pages, 3 figures, LaTe

Analysing indicators of performance, satisfaction, or safety using empirical logit transformation

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Performance, satisfaction, and safety indicators are commonly measured on a percentage scale. Such indicators are often subject to ceiling or floor effects and performance may be inherently non-linear. For example, improving from 85% to 95% might be more difficult and need more effort than improving from 55% to 65%. As such, analysis of these indicators is not always straightforward and standard linear analysis could be problematic. We present the most common approach to dealing with this problem: a logit transformation of the score, following which standard linear analysis can be conducted on the transformed score. We also demonstrate how estimates can be back-transformed to percentages for easier communication of findings. In this paper, we discuss the benefits of this method, use algebra to describe the relevant steps in the transformation process, provide guidance on interpretation, and provide a tool for analysis.UK Medical Research Council Health eResearch Centre grant MR/K006665/1 supported the time and facilities of EK

Gallium Vacancies in β-Ga\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3eO\u3csub\u3e3\u3c/sub\u3e Crystals

The gallium vacancy, an intrinsic acceptor, is identified in β-Ga2O3 using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Spectra from doubly ionized (V2−Ga) and singly ionized (V−Ga) gallium vacancies are observed at room temperature, without photoexcitation, after an irradiation with high-energy neutrons. The V2−Ga centers (with S = 1/2) have a slight angular variation due to a small anisotropy in the g matrix (principal values are 2.0034, 2.0097, and 2.0322). The V2−Ga centers also exhibit a resolved hyperfine structure due to equal and nearly isotropic interactions with the 69,71Ga nuclei at two Ga sites (the hyperfine parameters are 1.28 and 1.63 mT for the 69Ga and 71Ga nuclei, respectively, when the field is along the a direction). Based on these g-matrix and hyperfine results, the model for the ground state of the doubly ionized vacancy (V2−Ga) has a hole localized on one threefold-coordinated oxygen ion. The vacancy is located at one of the three neighboring gallium sites, and the remaining two gallium neighbors are responsible for the equal hyperfine interactions. The singly ionized (V−Ga) gallium vacancies are also paramagnetic. In this latter acceptor, the two holes are localized on separate oxygen ions adjacent to one gallium vacancy. Their spins align parallel to give a triplet S = 1 EPR spectrum with resolved hyperfine structure from interactions with gallium neighbors