Primary electric power generation systems for advanced-technology engines

The advantages of the all electric airplane are discussed. In the all electric airplane the generator is the sole source of electric power; it powers the primary and secondary flight controls, the environmentals, and the landing gear. Five candidates for all electric power systems are discussed and compared. Cost benefits of the all electric airplane are discussed

Analysis of organic compounds in returned comet nucleus samples

Techniques for analysis of organic compounds in returned comet nucleus samples are described. Interstellar, chondritic and transitional organic components are discussed. Appropriate sampling procedures will be essential to the success of these analyses. It will be necessary to return samples that represent all the various regimes found in the nucleus, e.g., a complete core, volatile components (deep interior), and crustal components (surface minerals, rocks, processed organics such as macromolecular carbon and polymers). Furthermore, sampling, storage, return, and distribution of samples must be done under conditions that preclude contamination of the samples by terrestrial matter

Phreatomagmatic volcanic hazards where rift-systems meet the sea, a study from Ambae Island, Vanuatu

Uncorrected proofAmbae Island is a mafic stratovolcano located in the northern Vanuatu volcanic arc and has a NE–SW rift-controlled elongated shape. Several hundred scoria cones and fissure-fed lava fields occur along its long axis. After many decades of quiescence, Ambae Island erupted on the 28th of November 2005, disrupting the lives of its 10,000 inhabitants. Its activity remained focused at the central (crater-lake filled) vent and this is where hazard-assessments were focused. These assessments initially neglected that maars, tephra cones and rings occur at each tip of the island where the eruptive activity occurred b500 and b300 yr B.P. The products of this explosive phreatomagmatic activity are located where the rift axis meets the sea. At the NE edge of the island five tephra rings occur, each comparable in size to those on the summit of Ambae. Along the NE coastline, a near-continuous cliff section exposes an up to 25 m thick succession of near-vent phreatomagmatic tephra units derived from closely spaced vents. This can be subdivided into two major lithofacies associations. The first association represents when the locus of explosions was below sea level and comprises matrix-supported, massive to weakly stratified beds of coarse ash and lapilli. These are dominant in the lowermost part of the sequence and commonly contain coral fragments, indicating that the loci of explosion were located within a reef or coral sediment near the syn-eruptive shoreline. The second type indicate more stable vent conditions and rapidly repeating explosions of high intensity, producing fine-grained tephra with undulatory bedding and cross-lamination as well as megaripple bedforms. These surge and fall beds are more common in the uppermost part of the succession and form a few-m-thick pile. An older tephra succession of similar character occurs below, and buried trees in growth position, as well as those flattened within base surge beds. This implies that the centre of this eruption was very near the coastline. The processes implied by these deposits are amongst the most violent forms of volcanism on this island. In addition, the lowland and coastal areas affected by these events are the most heavily populated. This circumstance is mirrored on many similar volcanic islands, including the nearby SW Pacific examples of Taveuni (Fiji), Upolu and Savai'i (Samoa), and Ambrym (Vanuatu). These locations are paradoxically often considered safe areas during summit/central-vent eruptions, simply because they are farthest from the 34 central sources of ash-fall and lahar hazard. The observations presented here necessitate a revision of this view

Syn- and post-eruptive erosion, gully formation, and morphological evolution of a tephra ring in tropical climate erupted in 1913 in West Ambrym, Vanuatu

Syn- and post-eruptive erosion of volcanic cones plays an important role in mass redistribution of tephra over short periods. Descriptions of the early stages of erosion of tephra from monogenetic volcanic cones are rare, particularly those with a well-constrained timing of events. In spite of this lack of data, cone morphologies and erosion features are commonly used for long-term erosion rate calculations and relative age determinations in volcanic fields. Here we provide new constraints on the timing and nature of erosion from a tephra ring erupted in 1913 in West Ambrym, Vanuatu and exposed along a continuous 2.5 km long coastal section. The ring surrounds an oval shaped depression filled by water. It is composed of a succession of a phreatomagmatic fall and base surge beds, interbedded with thin scoriaceous lapilli units. Toward the outer edges of the ring, base-surge beds are gradually replaced in the succession by fine-ash dominated debris-flows and hyperconcentrated-flow deposits. The inter-fingering of phreatomagmatic deposits with syn-volcanic reworked volcaniclastic sediments indicates an ongoing remobilisation of freshly deposited tephra already during the eruption. Gullies cut into the un-weathered tephra are up to 4 m deep and commonly have c. 1 m of debris-flow deposit fill in their bases. There is no indication of weathering, vegetation fragments or soil development between the gully bases and the basal debris flow fills. Gully walls are steep and superficial fans of collapsed sediment are common. Most gullies are heavily vegetated although some active (ephemeral) channels occur. Hence, we conclude that the majority of the erosion of such tephra rings in tropical climates takes place directly during eruption and possibly for only a period of days to weeks afterward. After establishment of the gully network, tephra remobilisation is concentrated only within them. Therefore the shape of the erosion-modified volcanic landform is predominantly developed shortly after the eruption ceases. This observation indicates that gully erosion morphology may not necessarily relate to age of such a landform. Different intensities of erosion during eruption (related to water supply or rainfall) are probably the major influence on gully spacing, modal depth and form. Longer-term post-eruption processes that could be indicators of relative age may include internal gully deepening (below basal debris-flow fill sediments) and possibly widening and side-slope lowering due to undercutting and side-collapse

Surtseyan style eruption in the Ambae (Vanuatu,New Hebrides) caldera lake in 2005 December and its implication to volcanic hazards and emergency management on an ocean island.

No abstract availabl

Unbiased estimation of multi-fractal dimensions of finite data sets

We present a novel method for determining multi-fractal properties from experimental data. It is based on maximising the likelihood that the given finite data set comes from a particular set of parameters in a multi-parameter family of well known multi-fractals. By comparing characteristic correlations obtained from the original data with those that occur in artificially generated multi-fractals with the {\em same} number of data points, we expect that predicted multi-fractal properties are unbiased by the finiteness of the experimental data.Comment: LaTeX, 17 pages, figures encapsulated as picture environment

Lava lakes and shallow level magmatic feeding systems of mafic volcanoes of an ocean island: Ambrym, Vanuatu (New Hebrides), South Pacific

Ambrym is an active volcanic island with 2 major vent complexes; Marum and Benbow. These vent complexes are continuously active over at least the past two thousands of years. These active vents either produce constant degassing during quite periods or sub-Plinian to Vulcanian explosive eruptions commonly influenced by magma-water interaction triggered phreatomagmatic explosive phases. The active vents of Ambrym perfectly expos inner walls of the crater/conduit transition zone, allowing to study in cross sectional view of the interbedded coherent magmatic bodies with pyroclastic successions. In the inner crater/conduit wall of the Marum volcano, that consists of at least 3 major vents, as well as a vent that is located on its flank (Niri Taten) exposes solidified complex lava lake cross-sections, lava spatter cone feeding lava pods, shallow intrusions as well as large sills that connected through a complex network of pathways to the surface and/or into the pyroclastic edifice of the volcano. This suggests that shallow level infiltration of melt into a mafic volcano plays an important role in the edifice growth

Simple Muscle Architecture Analysis (SMA): an ImageJ macro tool to automate measurements in B-mode ultrasound scans

In vivo measurements of muscle architecture (i.e. the spatial arrangement of muscle fascicles) are routinely included in research and clinical settings to monitor muscle structure, function and plasticity. However, in most cases such measurements are performed manually, and more reliable and time-efficient automated methods are either lacking completely, or are inaccessible to those without expertise in image analysis. In this work, we propose an ImageJ script to automate the entire analysis process of muscle architecture in ultrasound images: Simple Muscle Architecture Analysis (SMA). Images are filtered in the spatial and frequency domains with built-in commands and external plugins to highlight aponeuroses and fascicles. Fascicle dominant orientation is then computed in regions of interest using the OrientationJ plugin. Bland-Altman plots of analyses performed manually or with SMA indicates that the automated analysis does not induce any systematic bias and that both methods agree equally through the range of measurements. Our test results illustrate the suitability of SMA to analyse images from superficial muscles acquired with a broad range of ultrasound settings.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, 1 appendi

The digital code driven autonomous synthesis of ibuprofen automated in a 3D-printer-based robot

An automated synthesis robot was constructed by modifying an open source 3D printing platform. The resulting automated system was used to 3D print reaction vessels (reactionware) of differing internal volumes using polypropylene feedstock via a fused deposition modeling 3D printing approach and subsequently make use of these fabricated vessels to synthesize the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen via a consecutive one-pot three-step approach. The synthesis of ibuprofen could be achieved on different scales simply by adjusting the parameters in the robot control software. The software for controlling the synthesis robot was written in the python programming language and hard-coded for the synthesis of ibuprofen by the method described, opening possibilities for the sharing of validated synthetic ‘programs’ which can run on similar low cost, user-constructed robotic platforms towards an ‘open-source’ regime in the area of chemical synthesis

An instinct for detection: psychological perspectives on CCTV surveillance

The aim of this article is to inform and stimulate a proactive, multidisciplinary approach to research and development in surveillance-based detective work. In this article we review some of the key psychological issues and phenomena that practitioners should be aware of. We look at how human performance can be explained with reference to our biological and evolutionary legacy. We show how critical viewing conditions can be in determining whether observers detect or overlook criminal activity in video material. We examine situations where performance can be surprisingly poor, and cover situations where, even once confronted with evidence of these detection deficits, observers still underestimate their susceptibility to them. Finally we explain why the emergence of these relatively recent research themes presents an opportunity for police and law enforcement agencies to set a new, multidisciplinary research agenda focused on relevant and pressing issues of national and international importance