5,094 research outputs found
The role of atmospheric boundary layer-surface interactions on the development of coastal fronts
Frictional convergence and thermal difference between land and sea surface are the two surface conditions that govern the intensity and evolution of a coastal front. By means of the mesoscale model MM5, we investigate the influence of these two processes on wind patterns, temperature and precipitation amounts, associated with a coastal front, observed on the west coast of The Netherlands in the night between 12 and 13 August 2004. The mesoscale model MM5 is further compared with available observations and the results of two operational models (ECMWF and HIRLAM). HIRLAM is not capable to reproduce the coastal front, whereas ECMWF and MM5 both calculate precipitation for the coastal region. The precipitation pattern, calculated by MM5, agrees satisfactorily with the accumulated radar image. The failure of HIRLAM is mainly due to a different stream pattern at the surface and consequently, a different behaviour of the frictional convergence at the coastline. <br><br> The sensitivity analysis of frictional convergence is carried out with the MM5 model, by varying land surface roughness length (<I>z</I><sub>0</sub>). For the sensitivity analysis of thermal difference between sea and land surface, we changed the sea surface temperature (SST). Increasing surface roughness implies stronger convergence near the surface and consequently stronger upward motions and intensification of the development of the coastal front. Setting land surface roughness equal to the sea surface roughness means an elimination of frictional convergence and results in a diminishing coastal front structure of the precipitation pattern. The simulation with a high SST produces much precipitation above the sea, but less precipitation in the coastal area above land. A small increment of the SST results in larger precipitation amounts above the sea; above land increments are calculated for areas near the coast. A decrease of the SST shifts the precipitation maxima inland, although the precipitation amounts diminish. In the situation under study, frictional convergence is the key process that enhances the coastal front intensity. A thermal difference between land and sea equal to zero still yields the development of the coastal front. A lower SST than land surface temperature generates a reversed coastal front. <br><br> This study emphasizes the importance of accurate prescription of surface conditions as input of the numerical weather prediction model to improve coastal front predictability
Bodemindicatoren in BASIS : Identificatie van de belangrijkste biologische en chemische bodemparameters (âbodemindicatorenâ) in het project BASIS over de periode 2009-2016
In deze studie is nagegaan welke gemeten chemische en biologische bodemparameters het beste onderscheid maken tussen de verschillende grondbewerkingssystemen en teeltsystemen in de systeemproef BASIS in Lelystad. Met variantieanalyse en multivariate statistische technieken zijn bodemparameters in BASIS geanalyseerd. Samenvattend blijkt potentieel mineraliseerbare stikstof (PMN) en de N-totaal de beste bodemindicatoren te zijn om verschillen tussen systemen van hoofdgrondbewerking (ploegen versus niet-kerende bewerkingen) en verschillen tussen teeltsystemen (biologisch versus gangbaar) weer te geven. Daarnaast zijn HWC, biomassa schimmels, biomassa bacterieÌn en borium- en magnesiumgehalte goede bodemindicatoren om deze verschillen te duiden. De correlatie tussen PMN en organische stof en de correlatie tussen HWC en organische stof blijkt goed te zijn. Vanwege de hoge correlatie tussen HWC en PMN en de hoge prijs van de PMN meting heeft HWC de voorkeur. Aanbevolen wordt de analyse te gebruiken in de ontwikkeling van de BLN en vergelijkbare analyses te doen voor andere maatregelen en andere systeemproeven
Ramified rectilinear polygons: coordinatization by dendrons
Simple rectilinear polygons (i.e. rectilinear polygons without holes or
cutpoints) can be regarded as finite rectangular cell complexes coordinatized
by two finite dendrons. The intrinsic -metric is thus inherited from the
product of the two finite dendrons via an isometric embedding. The rectangular
cell complexes that share this same embedding property are called ramified
rectilinear polygons. The links of vertices in these cell complexes may be
arbitrary bipartite graphs, in contrast to simple rectilinear polygons where
the links of points are either 4-cycles or paths of length at most 3. Ramified
rectilinear polygons are particular instances of rectangular complexes obtained
from cube-free median graphs, or equivalently simply connected rectangular
complexes with triangle-free links. The underlying graphs of finite ramified
rectilinear polygons can be recognized among graphs in linear time by a
Lexicographic Breadth-First-Search. Whereas the symmetry of a simple
rectilinear polygon is very restricted (with automorphism group being a
subgroup of the dihedral group ), ramified rectilinear polygons are
universal: every finite group is the automorphism group of some ramified
rectilinear polygon.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figure
Physics of IED Blast Shock Tube Simulations for mTBI Research
Shock tube experiments and simulations are conducted with a spherical gelatin filled skullâbrain surrogate, in order to study the mechanisms leading to blast induced mild traumatic brain injury. A shock tube including sensor system is optimized to simulate realistic improvised explosive device blast profiles obtained from full scale field tests. The response of the skullâbrain surrogate is monitored using pressure and strain measurements. Fluidâstructure interaction is modeled using a combination of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for the air blast, and a finite element model for the structural response. The results help to understand the physics of wave propagation, from air blast into the skullâbrain. The presence of openings on the skull and its orientation does have a strong effect on the internal pressure. A parameter study reveals that when there is an opening in the skull, the skull gives little protection and the internal pressure is fairly independent on the skull stiffness; the gelatin shear stiffness has little effect on the internal pressure. Simulations show that the presence of pressure sensors in the gelatin hardly disturbs the pressure field
Ferromagnetic Liquid Thin Films Under Applied Field
Theoretical calculations, computer simulations and experiments indicate the
possible existence of a ferromagnetic liquid state, although definitive
experimental evidence is lacking. Should such a state exist, demagnetization
effects would force a nontrivial magnetization texture. Since liquid droplets
are deformable, the droplet shape is coupled with the magnetization texture. In
a thin-film geometry in zero applied field, the droplet has a circular shape
and a rotating magnetization texture with a point vortex at the center. We
calculate the elongation and magnetization texture of such ferromagnetic thin
film liquid droplet confined between two parallel plates under a weak applied
magnetic field. The vortex stretches into a domain wall and exchange forces
break the reflection symmetry. This behavior contrasts qualitatively and
quantitatively with the elongation of paramagnetic thin films.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Study of the Fully Frustrated Clock Model using the Wang-Landau Algorithm
Monte Carlo simulations using the newly proposed Wang-Landau algorithm
together with the broad histogram relation are performed to study the
antiferromagnetic six-state clock model on the triangular lattice, which is
fully frustrated. We confirm the existence of the magnetic ordering belonging
to the Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) type phase transition followed by the chiral
ordering which occurs at slightly higher temperature. We also observe the lower
temperature phase transition of KT type due to the discrete symmetry of the
clock model. By using finite-size scaling analysis, the higher KT temperature
and the chiral critical temperature are respectively estimated as
and . The results are in favor of the double
transition scenario. The lower KT temperature is estimated as .
Two decay exponents of KT transitions corresponding to higher and lower
temperatures are respectively estimated as and
, which suggests that the exponents associated with the KT
transitions are universal even for the frustrated model.Comment: 7 pages including 9 eps figures, RevTeX, to appear in J. Phys.
Normohomocysteinaemia and vitamin-treated hyperhomocysteinaemia are associated with similiar risks of cardiovascular events in patients with premature peripheral arterial occlusive disease. A prospective cohort study
Objectives. Mild hyperhomocysteinaemia (HHC), fasting or after methionine loading, is associated with an increased risk and severity of atherosclerotic vascular disease. Post-methionine and fasting HHC are responsive to treatment with vitamin
Knot localization in adsorbing polymer rings
We study by Monte Carlo simulations a model of knotted polymer ring adsorbing
onto an impenetrable, attractive wall. The polymer is described by a
self-avoiding polygon (SAP) on the cubic lattice. We find that the adsorption
transition temperature, the crossover exponent and the metric exponent
, are the same as in the model where the topology of the ring is
unrestricted. By measuring the average length of the knotted portion of the
ring we are able to show that adsorbed knots are localized. This knot
localization transition is triggered by the adsorption transition but is
accompanied by a less sharp variation of the exponent related to the degree of
localization. Indeed, for a whole interval below the adsorption transition, one
can not exclude a contiuous variation with temperature of this exponent. Deep
into the adsorbed phase we are able to verify that knot localization is strong
and well described in terms of the flat knot model.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures. Submitter to Phys. Rev.
Children's daily travel to school in Johannesburg-Soweto, South Africa: geography and school choice in the Birth to Twenty cohort study
This paper has two aims: to explore approaches to the measurement of childrenâs daily travel to school in a context of limited geospatial data availability, and to provide data regarding school choice and distance travelled to school in Soweto-Johannesburg, South Africa. The paper makes use of data from the Birth to Twenty cohort study (n=1428) to explore three different approaches to estimating school choice and travel to school. Firstly, straight-line distance between home and school is calculated. Secondly, census geography is used to determine whether a child's home and school fall in the same area. Thirdly, distance data are used to determine whether a child attends the nearest school. Each of these approaches highlights a different aspect of mobility, and all provide valuable data. Overall, primary school aged children in Soweto-Johannesburg are shown to be travelling substantial distances to school on a daily basis. Over a third travel more than 3km, one-way, to school, 60% attend schools outside of the suburb in which they live, and only 18% attend their nearest school. These data provide evidence for high levels of school choice in Johannesburg-Soweto, and that families and children are making substantial investments in pursuit of high quality educational opportunities. Additionally, these data suggest that two patterns of school choice are evident: one pattern involving travel of substantial distances and requiring a higher level of financial investment, and a second pattern, involving choice between more local schools, requiring less travel and a more limited financial investment
Invariant Correlations in Simplicial Gravity
Some first results are presented regarding the behavior of invariant
correlations in simplicial gravity, with an action containing both a bare
cosmological term and a lattice higher derivative term. The determination of
invariant correlations as a function of geodesic distance by numerical methods
is a difficult task, since the geodesic distance between any two points is a
function of the fluctuating background geometry, and correlation effects become
rather small for large distances. Still, a strikingly different behavior is
found for the volume and curvature correlation functions. While the first one
is found to be negative definite at large geodesic distances, the second one is
always positive for large distances. For both correlations the results are
consistent in the smooth phase with an exponential decay, turning into a power
law close to the critical point at . Such a behavior is not completely
unexpected, if the model is to reproduce the classical Einstein theory at
distances much larger than the ultraviolet cutoff scale.Comment: 27 pages, conforms to published versio
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