Local effects of partly-cloudy skies on solar and emitted radiation

A computer automated data acquisition system for atmospheric emittance, and global solar, downwelled diffuse solar, and direct solar irradiances is discussed. Hourly-integrated global solar and atmospheric emitted radiances were measured continuously from February 1981 and hourly-integrated diffuse solar and direct solar irradiances were measured continuously from October 1981. One-minute integrated data are available for each of these components from February 1982. The results of the correlation of global insolation with fractional cloud cover for the first year's data set. A February data set, composed of one-minute integrated global insolation and direct solar irradiance, cloud cover fractions, meteorological data from nearby weather stations, and GOES East satellite radiometric data, was collected to test the theoretical model of satellite radiometric data correlation and develop the cloud dependence for the local measurement site

Local effects of partly cloudy skies on solar and emitted radiations

Solar radiation measurements are made on a routine basis. Global solar, atmospheric emitted, downwelled diffuse solar, and direct solar radiation measurement systems are fully operational with the first two in continuous operation. Fractional cloud cover measurements are made from GOES imagery or from ground based whole sky photographs. Normalized global solar irradiance values for partly cloudy skies were correlated to fractional cloud cover

Measurement of Three Transport Coefficients and the Thermodynamic Factor in Block Copolymer Electrolytes with Different Morphologies.

The design and engineering of composite materials is one strategy to satisfy the materials needs of systems with multiple orthogonal property requirements. In the case of rechargeable batteries with lithium metal anodes, the system requires a separator with fast lithium ion transport and good mechanical strength. In this work, we focus on the system polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (SEO) with bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide lithium salt (LiTFSI). Ion transport occurs in the salt-containing poly(ethylene oxide)-rich domains. Mechanical rigidity arises due to the glassy nature of polystyrene (PS). If we assume that the salt does not interact with the PS-rich domains, we can describe ion transport in the electrolyte by three transport parameters (ionic conductivity, κ, salt diffusion coefficient, D, and cation transference number, t+0) and a thermodynamic factor, Tf. By systematically varying the volume fraction of the conducting phase, ϕc between 0.29 and 1.0, and chain length, N between 80 and 8000, we elucidate the role of morphology on ion transport. We find that κ is the strongest function of morphology, varying by three full orders of magnitude, while D is a weaker function of morphology. To calculate t+0 and Tf, we measure the current fraction, ρ+, and the open circuit potential, U, of concentration cells. We find that ρ+ and U follow universal trends as a function of salt concentration, regardless of chain length, morphology, or ϕc, allowing us to calculate t+0 for any SEO/LiTFSI or PEO/LiTFSI mixture when κ and D are known. The framework developed in this paper enables predicting the performance of any block copolymer electrolyte in a rechargeable battery

Academic Perspectives on Agribusiness: An International Survey

The IFAMR is published by (IFAMA) the International Food and Agribusiness Management Review. www.ifama.orgpromotion and tenure, agribusiness, teaching, grantsmanship, research, Agribusiness, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Productivity Analysis, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, Q130,

Collaborating for Improved Delivery of Health Care Services in the Horse Racing Industry: A University Interdisciplinary Program

This research describes the collaboration between the University of Louisville School of Nursing, the Latin and Latino Studies Program, and the Kentucky Racing Health and Welfare Fund to provide low to no cost comprehensive health care services to the backside workers (behind the scenes) in the thoroughbred horse racing industry. An integral part of this program is the Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS) internship, which provides students the opportunity to fulfill their requirement while providing a much- needed service to the racing industry’s primarily Hispanic population. Students complete a semester-long internship that enables them to refine their translation/interpretation skills in Spanish while developing a broader understanding of the impact of cultural determinants of health. Students have reported the experience to be professionally and personally rewarding and have identified it as “life-changing.

Rapid evolution in introduced species, ‘invasive traits’ and recipient communities: challenges for predicting invasive potential

The damaging effects of invasive organisms have triggered the development of Invasive Species Predictive Schemes (ISPS). These schemes evaluate biological and historical characteristics of species and prioritize those that should be the focus of exclusion, quarantine, and/or control. However, it is not clear how commonly these schemes take microevolutionary considerations into account. We review the recent literature and find that rapid evolutionary changes are common during invasions. These evolutionary changes include rapid adaptation of invaders to new environments, effects of hybridization, and evolution in recipient communities. Strikingly, we document 38 species in which the specific traits commonly associated with invasive potential (e.g. growth rate, dispersal ability, generation time) have themselves undergone evolutionary change following introduction, in some cases over very short (≤ 10 year) timescales. In contrast, our review of 29 ISPS spanning plant, animal, and microbial taxa shows that the majority (76%) envision invading species and recipient communities as static entities. Those that incorporate evolutionary considerations do so in a limited way. Evolutionary change not only affects the predictive power of these schemes, but also complicates their evaluation. We argue that including the evolutionary potential of species and communities in ISPS is overdue, present several metrics related to evolutionary potential that could be incorporated in ISPS, and provide suggestions for further research on these metrics and their performance. Finally, we argue that the fact of evolutionary change during invasions begs for added caution during risk assessment

Assessment of the effectiveness of head only and back-of-the-head electrical stunning of chickens

The study assesses the effectiveness of reversible head-only and back-of-the-head electrical stunning of chickens using 130–950 mA per bird at 50 Hz AC

The bisymplectomorphism group of a bounded symmetric domain

An Hermitian bounded symmetric domain in a complex vector space, given in its circled realization, is endowed with two natural symplectic forms: the flat form and the hyperbolic form. In a similar way, the ambient vector space is also endowed with two natural symplectic forms: the Fubini-Study form and the flat form. It has been shown in arXiv:math.DG/0603141 that there exists a diffeomorphism from the domain to the ambient vector space which puts in correspondence the above pair of forms. This phenomenon is called symplectic duality for Hermitian non compact symmetric spaces. In this article, we first give a different and simpler proof of this fact. Then, in order to measure the non uniqueness of this symplectic duality map, we determine the group of bisymplectomorphisms of a bounded symmetric domain, that is, the group of diffeomorphisms which preserve simultaneously the hyperbolic and the flat symplectic form. This group is the direct product of the compact Lie group of linear automorphisms with an infinite-dimensional Abelian group. This result appears as a kind of Schwarz lemma.Comment: 19 pages. Version 2: minor correction

Comparative study of design: application to Engineering Design

A recent exploratory study examines design processes across domains and compares them. This is achieved through a series of interdisciplinary, participative workshops. A systematic framework is used to collect data from expert witnesses who are practising designers across domains from engineering through architecture to product design and fashion, including film production, pharmaceutical drugs, food, packaging, graphics and multimedia and software. Similarities and differences across domains are described which indicate the types of comparative analysis we have been able to do from our data. The paper goes further and speculates on possible lessons for selected areas of engineering design which can be drawn from comparison with processes in other domains. As such this comparative design study offers the potential for improving engineering design processes. More generally it is a first step in creating a discipline of comparative design which aims to provide a new rich picture of design processes