7,249 research outputs found
Active and passive microwave measurements in Hurricane Allen
The NASA Langley Research Center analysis of the airborne microwave remote sensing measurements of Hurricane Allen obtained on August 5 and 8, 1980 is summarized. The instruments were the C-band stepped frequency microwave radiometer and the Ku-band airborne microwave scatterometer. They were carried aboard a NOAA aircraft making storm penetrations at an altitude of 3000 m and are sensitive to rain rate, surface wind speed, and surface wind vector. The wind speed is calculated from the increase in antenna brightness temperature above the estimated calm sea value. The rain rate is obtained from the difference between antenna temperature increases measured at two frequencies, and wind vector is determined from the sea surface normalized radar cross section measured at several azimuths. Comparison wind data were provided from the inertial navigation systems aboard both the C-130 aircraft at 3000 m and a second NOAA aircraft (a P-3) operating between 500 and 1500 m. Comparison rain rate data were obtained with a rain radar aboard the P-3. Evaluation of the surface winds obtained with the two microwave instruments was limited to comparisons with each other and with the flight level winds. Two important conclusions are drawn from these comparisons: (1) the radiometer is accurate when predicting flight level wind speeds and rain; and (2) the scatterometer produces well behaved and consistent wind vectors for the rain free periods
Towards a systematic design of isotropic bulk magnetic metamaterials using the cubic point groups of symmetry
In this paper a systematic approach to the design of bulk isotropic magnetic
metamaterials is presented. The role of the symmetries of both the constitutive
element and the lattice are analyzed. For this purpose it is assumed that the
metamaterial is composed by cubic SRR resonators, arranged in a cubic lattice.
The minimum symmetries needed to ensure an isotropic behavior are analyzed, and
some particular configurations are proposed. Besides, an equivalent circuit
model is proposed for the considered cubic SRR resonators. Experiments are
carried out in order to validate the proposed theory. We hope that this
analysis will pave the way to the design of bulk metamaterials with strong
isotropic magnetic response, including negative permeability and left-handed
metamaterials.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review B, 23 page
Enhanced transmission versus localization of a light pulse by a subwavelength metal slit: Can the pulse have both characteristics?
The existence of resonant enhanced transmission and collimation of light
waves by subwavelength slits in metal films [for example, see T.W. Ebbesen et
al., Nature (London) 391, 667 (1998) and H.J. Lezec et al., Science, 297, 820
(2002)] leads to the basic question: Can a light be enhanced and simultaneously
localized in space and time by a subwavelength slit? To address this question,
the spatial distribution of the energy flux of an ultrashort (femtosecond)
wave-packet diffracted by a subwavelength (nanometer-size) slit was analyzed by
using the conventional approach based on the Neerhoff and Mur solution of
Maxwell's equations. The results show that a light can be enhanced by orders of
magnitude and simultaneously localized in the near-field diffraction zone at
the nm- and fs-scales. Possible applications in nanophotonics are discussed.Comment: 5 figure
The Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves from Two-Dimensional Randomly Rough Penetrable Surfaces
An accurate and efficient numerical simulation approach to electromagnetic
wave scattering from two-dimensional, randomly rough, penetrable surfaces is
presented. The use of the M\"uller equations and an impedance boundary
condition for a two-dimensional rough surface yields a pair of coupled
two-dimensional integral equations for the sources on the surface in terms of
which the scattered field is expressed through the Franz formulas. By this
approach, we calculate the full angular intensity distribution of the scattered
field that is due to a finite incident beam of -polarized light. We
specifically check the energy conservation (unitarity) of our simulations (for
the non-absorbing case). Only after a detailed numerical treatment of {\em
both} diagonal and close-to-diagonal matrix elements is the unitarity condition
found to be well-satisfied for the non-absorbing case (), a
result that testifies to the accuracy of our approach.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages, 2 figure
Embedding the concept of ecosystems services:The utilisation of ecological knowledge in different policy venues
The concept of ecosystem services is increasingly being promoted by academics and policy makers as a means to protect ecological systems through more informed decision making. A basic premise of this approach is that strengthening the ecological knowledge base will significantly enhance ecosystem health through more sensitive decision making. However, the existing literature on knowledge utilisation, and many previous attempts to improve decision making through better knowledge integration, suggest that producing ‘more knowledge’ is only ever a necessary but insufficient condition for greater policy success. We begin this paper by reviewing what is already known about the relationship between ecological knowledge development and utilisation, before introducing a set of theme issue papers that examine—for the very first time—how this politically and scientifically salient relationship plays out across a number of vital policy venues such as land-use planning, policy-level impact assessment, and cost–benefit analysis. Following a detailed synthesis of the key findings of all the papers, this paper identifies and explores new research and policy challenges in this important and dynamic area of environmental governance
Ileus and Small Bowel Obstruction in an Emergency Department Observation Unit: Are There Outcome Predictors?
DOI: 10.5811/westjem.2011.3.2175 Introduction: The purpose of our study was to describe the evaluation and outcome of patients with ileus and bowel obstruction admitted to an emergency department (ED) observation unit (OU) and to identify predictors of successful management for such patients. Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of 129 patients admitted to a university-affiliated, urban, tertiary hospital ED OU from January 1999 through November 2004. Inclusion criteria were al
Thermodynamic and structural aspects of the potential energy surface of simulated water
Relations between the thermodynamics and dynamics of supercooled liquids
approaching a glass transition have been proposed over many years. The
potential energy surface of model liquids has been increasingly studied since
it provides a connection between the configurational component of the partition
function on one hand, and the system dynamics on the other. This connection is
most obvious at low temperatures, where the motion of the system can be
partitioned into vibrations within a basin of attraction and infrequent
inter-basin transitions. In this work, we present a description of the
potential energy surface properties of supercooled liquid water. The dynamics
of this model has been studied in great details in the last years.
Specifically, we locate the minima sampled by the liquid by ``quenches'' from
equilibrium configurations generated via molecular dynamics simulations. We
calculate the temperature and density dependence of the basin energy,
degeneracy, and shape. The temperature dependence of the energy of the minima
is qualitatively similar to simple liquids, but has anomalous density
dependence. The unusual density dependence is also reflected in the
configurational entropy, the thermodynamic measure of degeneracy. Finally, we
study the structure of simulated water at the minima, which provides insight on
the progressive tetrahedral ordering of the liquid on cooling
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