5,470 research outputs found
Low cost satellite data for monthly irrigation performance monitoring: benchmarks from Nilo Coelho, Brazil.
Irrigation performance indicators can help water managers to understand how an irrigation scheme operates under actual circumstances. The new contribution of remote sensing data, is the opportunity to study the crop growing conditions at scales ranging from individual fields to scheme level. Public domain internet satellite data have been used to calculate actual and potential crop evapotranspiration, soil moisture and biomass growth on a monthly basis in the Nilo Coelho irrigation scheme, Pernambuco (Brazil). Satellite interpreted raster maps were merged with vector maps of the irrigation water delivery system. Monthly values of a minimum list of irrigation performance indicators for the various service units in the pressurized Nilo Coelho scheme were determined. Nilo Coelho is a good performing scheme. The performance can be improved further if 25% irrigation water is saved from February to July. The benchmark figures from this modern irrigation system are presented for comparitive analysis with other systems. The acceptable ranges in space and time are presented. On average, 65% of the lateral pumping units on a monthly basis fall within the acceptable limits of irrigation performance. Low cost irrigation performance data based on low resolution satellite images (US$ 1/ha) will help the management team to focus on specific pumping units, and discuss alternative irrigation and farm management strategies with the stakeholders
An Axi-Symmetric Segmented Composite SKA Dish Design: Performance and Production Analysis
A concept of an axi-symmetric dish as antenna reflector for the next
generation radio telescope - the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) - is presented.
The reflector is based on the use of novel thermoplastic composite material
(reinforced with carbon fibre) in the context of the telescope design with wide
band single pixel feeds. The baseline of this design represents an array of
100's to 1000's reflector antennas of 15-m diameter and covers frequencies from
<1 to 10 GHz. The purpose of our study is the analysis of the production cost
of the dish and its performance in combination with a realistic wideband feed
(such as the 'Eleven Antenna' feed) over a wide frequency band and a range of
elevation angles. The presented initial simulation results inidicate the
potential of the proposed dish concept for low-cost and mass production and
demonstrate sensitivity comparable to that of the presently considered off-set
Gregorian reflector antenna with the same projected aperture area. We expect
this observation to be independent of the choice of the feed, as several other
single-pixel wideband feeds (that have been reported in the literature) have
similar beamwidth and phase center location, both being rather constant with
frequency.Comment: Invited paper for the Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference 2011 (APMC
2011), Melbourne, 5-8 Dec., Australia, 201
The Effect of Lattice Vibrations on Substitutional Alloy Thermodynamics
A longstanding limitation of first-principles calculations of substitutional
alloy phase diagrams is the difficulty to account for lattice vibrations. A
survey of the theoretical and experimental literature seeking to quantify the
impact of lattice vibrations on phase stability indicates that this effect can
be substantial. Typical vibrational entropy differences between phases are of
the order of 0.1 to 0.2 k_B/atom, which is comparable to the typical values of
configurational entropy differences in binary alloys (at most 0.693 k_B/atom).
This paper describes the basic formalism underlying ab initio phase diagram
calculations, along with the generalization required to account for lattice
vibrations. We overview the various techniques allowing the theoretical
calculation and the experimental determination of phonon dispersion curves and
related thermodynamic quantities, such as vibrational entropy or free energy. A
clear picture of the origin of vibrational entropy differences between phases
in an alloy system is presented that goes beyond the traditional bond counting
and volume change arguments. Vibrational entropy change can be attributed to
the changes in chemical bond stiffness associated with the changes in bond
length that take place during a phase transformation. This so-called ``bond
stiffness vs. bond length'' interpretation both summarizes the key phenomenon
driving vibrational entropy changes and provides a practical tool to model
them.Comment: Submitted to Reviews of Modern Physics 44 pages, 6 figure
Spectroscopic Study of IRAS 19285+0517(PDS 100): A Rapidly Rotating Li-Rich K Giant
We report on photometry and high-resolution spectroscopy for IRAS 19285+0517.
The spectral energy distribution based on visible and near-IR photometry and
far-IR fluxes shows that the star is surrounded by dust at a temperature of
250 K. Spectral line analysis shows that the star is a K
giant with a projected rotational velocity = 9 2 km s.
We determined the atmospheric parameters: = 4500 K, log =
2.5, = 1.5 km s, and [Fe/H] = 0.14 dex. The LTE abundance
analysis shows that the star is Li-rich (log (Li) = 2.50.15),
but with essentially normal C, N, and O, and metal abundances. Spectral
synthesis of molecular CN lines yields the carbon isotopic ratio
C/C = 9 3, a signature of post-main sequence evolution and
dredge-up on the RGB. Analysis of the Li resonance line at 6707 \AA for
different ratios Li/Li shows that the Li profile can be fitted best
with a predicted profile for pure Li. Far-IR excess, large Li abundance,
and rapid rotation suggest that a planet has been swallowed or, perhaps, that
an instability in the RGB outer layers triggered a sudden enrichment of Li and
caused mass-loss.Comment: To appear in AJ; 40 pages, 9 figure
The Hyperfine Splittings in Heavy-Light Mesons and Quarkonia
Hyperfine splittings (HFS) are calculated within the Field Correlator Method,
taking into account relativistic corrections. The HFS in bottomonium and the
(q=n,s) mesons are shown to be in full agreement with experiment if a
universal coupling is taken in perturbative spin-spin
potential. It gives MeV, MeV
(), while in bottomonium MeV for and 71.1 MeV for
are obtained; just latter agrees with recent BaBar data. For unobserved
excited states we predict MeV,
MeV, and also MeV,
MeV, MeV. The mass splittings
between , are predicted to be
MeV, which are significantly smaller than in several other studies.Comment: 13 page
Frame Dependence of Spin-One Angular Conditions in Light Front Dynamics
We elaborate the frame dependence of the angular conditions for spin-1 form
factors. An extra angular condition is found in addition to the usual angular
condition relating the four helicity amplitudes. Investigating the
frame-dependence of the angular conditions, we find that the extra angular
condition is in general as complicated as the usual one, although it becomes
very simple in the frame involving only two helicity amplitudes. It
is confirmed that the angular conditions are identical in frames that are
connected by kinematical transformations. The high behaviors of the
physical form factors and the limiting behaviors in special reference frames
are also discussed.Comment: 29 pages RevTeX. submitted to Phys. Rev.
Recombinant human interleukin 6 in metastatic renal cell cancer: a phase II trial.
A phase II trial investigating the anti-tumour effects of recombinant human interleukin 6 (rhIL-6) in patients with metastatic renal cell cancer was carried out. RhIL-6 (150 microgram) was administered as a daily subcutaneous injection for 42 consecutive days on an outpatient basis. Forty-nine patients were studied, 12 with and 37 without previous immunotherapy. Forty patients were evaluable for response. A partial remission was noted in two patients, stable disease in 17 and progressive disease in 21. Toxicity was moderate and reversible and consisted mainly of fever, flu-like symptoms, nausea, weight loss and hepatotoxicity. Anaemia, leucocytosis and thrombocytosis and induction of acute phase protein synthesis were noted in most patients. In 15% of the patients anti-IL-6 antibodies developed, and were neutralising in only one patient. Baseline plasma IL-6 concentrations did not correlate with tumour behaviour before or after rhIL-6 treatment. In conclusion, rhIL-6 can be safely administered on an outpatient basis for prolonged period of time and has moderate, reversible toxicity. Its administration induces IL-6-antibody production in only a minority of patients. Antitmour effects of rhIL-6 in metastatic renal cancer are limited
Polymer tensiometers with ceramic cones: direct observations of matric pressures in drying soils
Measuring soil water potentials is crucial to characterize vadose zone processes. Conventional tensiometers only measure until approximately −0.09 MPa, and indirect methods may suffer from the non-uniqueness in the relationship between matric potential and measured properties. Recently developed polymer tensiometers (POTs) are able to directly measure soil matric potentials until the theoretical wilting point (−1.6 MPa). By minimizing the volume of polymer solution inside the POT while maximizing the ceramic area in contact with that polymer solution, response times drop to acceptable ranges for laboratory and field conditions. Contact with the soil is drastically improved with the use of cone-shaped solid ceramics instead of flat ceramics. The comparison between measured potentials by polymer tensiometers and indirectly obtained potentials with time domain reflectometry highlights the risk of using the latter method at low water contents. By combining POT and time domain reflectometry readings in situ moisture retention curves can be measured over the range permitted by the measurement range of both POT and time domain reflectometry
Genetic risk factors for ischaemic stroke and its subtypes (the METASTROKE Collaboration): a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies
<p>Background - Various genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been done in ischaemic stroke, identifying a few loci associated with the disease, but sample sizes have been 3500 cases or less. We established the METASTROKE collaboration with the aim of validating associations from previous GWAS and identifying novel genetic associations through meta-analysis of GWAS datasets for ischaemic stroke and its subtypes.</p>
<p>Methods - We meta-analysed data from 15 ischaemic stroke cohorts with a total of 12 389 individuals with ischaemic stroke and 62 004 controls, all of European ancestry. For the associations reaching genome-wide significance in METASTROKE, we did a further analysis, conditioning on the lead single nucleotide polymorphism in every associated region. Replication of novel suggestive signals was done in 13 347 cases and 29 083 controls.</p>
<p>Findings - We verified previous associations for cardioembolic stroke near PITX2 (p=2·8×10−16) and ZFHX3 (p=2·28×10−8), and for large-vessel stroke at a 9p21 locus (p=3·32×10−5) and HDAC9 (p=2·03×10−12). Additionally, we verified that all associations were subtype specific. Conditional analysis in the three regions for which the associations reached genome-wide significance (PITX2, ZFHX3, and HDAC9) indicated that all the signal in each region could be attributed to one risk haplotype. We also identified 12 potentially novel loci at p<5×10−6. However, we were unable to replicate any of these novel associations in the replication cohort.</p>
<p>Interpretation - Our results show that, although genetic variants can be detected in patients with ischaemic stroke when compared with controls, all associations we were able to confirm are specific to a stroke subtype. This finding has two implications. First, to maximise success of genetic studies in ischaemic stroke, detailed stroke subtyping is required. Second, different genetic pathophysiological mechanisms seem to be associated with different stroke subtypes.</p>
Carbon Nanotubes by a CVD Method. Part I: Synthesis and Characterization of the (Mg, Fe)O Catalysts
The controlled synthesis of carbon nanotubes by chemical vapor deposition requires tailored and wellcharacterized catalyst materials. We attempted to synthesize Mg1-xFexO oxide solid solutions by the combustion route, with the aim of performing a detailed investigation of the influence of the synthesis conditions (nitrate/urea ratio and the iron content) on the valency and distribution of the iron ions and phases. Notably, characterization of the catalyst materials is performed using 57Fe Mo¨ssbauer spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and electron microscopy. Several iron species are detected including Fe2+ ions substituting for Mg2+ in the MgO lattice, Fe3+ ions dispersed in the octahedral sites of MgO, different clusters of Fe3+ ions, and MgFe2O4-like nanoparticles. The dispersion of these species and the microstructure of the oxides are discussed. Powders markedly different from one another that may serve as model systems for further study are identified. The formation of carbon nanotubes upon reduction in a H2/CH4 gas atmosphere of the selected powders is reported in a companion paper
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