Tropospheric water vapour observations by ground-based lidar

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The Theory and Practice of Rhetorical Gaming for Composition Instruction

In recent years videogames scholarship has grown from a small interest group within rhetoric and composition to a burgeoning interdisciplinary subfield. This growth has not been without problems or controversies, however, and on the whole there seems to be little consistency in either theory or practice when it comes to integrating games into composition curriculum. The purpose of this thesis is to examine a number of theories, concepts, procedures, and issues in the history of games and composition in order to suggest a possible direction for the future. To be clear, this is not an attempt to standardize a rule-governed system for gaming-based composition pedagogy, but rather a call for direct action and discussion about how exactly composition instructors should effectively and ethically introduce games into their classroom. With this in mind I present gamecraft, a value-based philosophy of composition for rhetorical gaming, one that I hope will lead to a more structured and unified discussion within the field. By connecting this concept to scholarship on learning, literacy, new media, rhetorical theory, and practical design, I hope to offer a unified foundation from which to establish gamecraft as a natural progression of rhetoric and composition scholarship rather than a new direction. By connecting the values of gamecraft to my own experiences teaching an assignment using Portal 2 and the Portal 2 Puzzle Maker, my goal is to suggest practical, theoretical, and pedagogical approaches that will hopefully make gamecraft useful for a broad range of instructors, courses, approaches, and institutions

Market-based Recommendation: Agents that Compete for Consumer Attention

The amount of attention space available for recommending suppliers to consumers on e-commerce sites is typically limited. We present a competitive distributed recommendation mechanism based on adaptive software agents for efficiently allocating the 'consumer attention space', or banners. In the example of an electronic shopping mall, the task is delegated to the individual shops, each of which evaluates the information that is available about the consumer and his or her interests (e.g. keywords, product queries, and available parts of a profile). Shops make a monetary bid in an auction where a limited amount of 'consumer attention space' for the arriving consumer is sold. Each shop is represented by a software agent that bids for each consumer. This allows shops to rapidly adapt their bidding strategy to focus on consumers interested in their offerings. For various basic and simple models for on-line consumers, shops, and profiles, we demonstrate the feasibility of our system by evolutionary simulations as in the field of agent-based computational economics (ACE). We also develop adaptive software agents that learn bidding strategies, based on neural networks and strategy exploration heuristics. Furthermore, we address the commercial and technological advantages of this distributed market-based approach. The mechanism we describe is not limited to the example of the electronic shopping mall, but can easily be extended to other domains

Realization of Broadband Matched Filter Structures Based on Dual Networks

This paper deals with the basic electrical properties of dual networks and with their application in broadband matched filter structures. <br> Starting with the main characteristics and different realization methods of dual networks, a filter structure is presented, which is based on a combination of dual networks and which provides a broadband matched input and two decoupled output ports. This filter synthesis focuses on the design of high pass filters, which are suitable to be used as differentiating stages in electrical pulse generators as a part of the so-called pulse shaping network. In order to achieve a proper pulse shape and for the prevention of multiple reflections between the switching circuit and the differentiating network, a broadband matched filter is a basic requirement

Seasonal changes in gravity wave activity measured by lidars at mid-latitudes

More than 230 nights of temperature measurements between 1 and 105 km have been performed at the Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Kühlungsborn with a combination of two different lidars, i.e. a Rayleigh-Mie-Raman lidar and a potassium lidar. About 1700 h of measurements have been collected between 2002 and 2006. Apart from some gaps due to the adverse weather conditions the measurements are well distributed throughout the year. Comprehensive information about the activity of medium- and low-frequency gravity waves was extracted from this data set. The dominating vertical wavelengths found are between 10 and 20 km and do not show any seasonal variation. In contrast the temperature fluctuations due to gravity waves experience a clear annual cycle with a maximum in winter. The most significant differences exist around 60 km where the fluctuations in winter are more than two times larger than they are in summer. Only small seasonal differences are observed above 90 km and below 35 km. Generally, the fluctuations grow from about 0.5 K up to 8 K between 20 and 100 km. Damping of waves is observed at nearly all altitudes and in all seasons. The planetary wave activity shows a similar structure in altitude and season as the gravity wave activity which indicates that similar mechanisms influencing different scales. Combining the monthly mean temperatures and the fluctuations we show that the transition between winter and summer season and vice versa seems to start in the mesopause region and to penetrate downward

A Vector Network Analyzer Based on Pulse Generators

A fast four channel network analyzer is introduced to measure <i>S</i>-parameters in a frequency range from 10MHz to 3GHz. The signal generation for this kind of analyzer is based on pulse generators, which are realized with bipolar transistors. The output signal of the transistor is differentiated and two short pulses, a slow and a fast one, with opposite polarities are generated. The slow pulse is suppressed with a clipping network. Thus the generation of very short electrical pulses with a duration of about 100ps is possible. The structure of the following network analyzer is similar to the structure of a conventional four channel network analyzer. </p><p style=&quot;line-height: 20px;&quot;> All four pulses, which contain the high frequency information of the device under test, are evaluated after the digitalization of intermediate frequencies. These intermediate frequencies are generated with sampling mixers. The recorded data is evaluated with a special analysis technique, which is based on a Fourier transformation. </p><p style=&quot;line-height: 20px;&quot;> The calibration techniques used are the same as for conventional four channel network analyzers, no new calibration techniques need to be developed

Generation of short electrical pulses based on bipolar transistorsny

A system for the generation of short electrical pulses based on the minority carrier charge storage and the step recovery effect of bipolar transistors is presented.</p><p style=&quot;line-height: 20px;&quot;> Electrical pulses of about 90 ps up to 800 ps duration are generated with a maximum amplitude of approximately 7V at 50Ω. The bipolar transistor is driven into saturation and the base-collector and base-emitter junctions become forward biased. The resulting fast switch-off edge of the transistor’s output signal is the basis for the pulse generation. The fast switching of the transistor occurs as a result of the minority carriers that have been injected and stored across the base-collector junction under forward bias conditions. If the saturated transistor is suddenly reverse biased the pn-junction will appear as a low impedance until the stored charge is depleted. Then the impedance will suddenly increase to its normal high value and the flow of current through the junction will turn to zero, abruptly.<p style=&quot;line-height: 20px;&quot;> A differentiation of the output signal of the transistor results in two short pulses with opposite polarities. The differentiating circuit is implemented by a transmission line network, which mainly acts as a high pass filter.<p style=&quot;line-height: 20px;&quot;> Both the transistor technology (pnp or npn) and the phase of the transfer function of the differentating circuit influence the polarity of the output pulses. The pulse duration depends on the transistor parameters as well as on the transfer function of the pulse shaping network.<p style=&quot;line-height: 20px;&quot;> This way of generating short electrical pulses is a new alternative for conventional comb generators based on steprecovery diodes (SRD). Due to the three-terminal structure of the transistor the isolation problem between the input and the output signal of the transistor network is drastically simplified. Furthermore the transistor is an active element in contrast to a SRD, so that its current gain can be used to minimize the power of the driving signal

LITOS - A new balloon-borne instrument for fine-scale turbulence soundings in the stratosphere

We have developed a new compact balloon payload called LITOS (Leibniz-Institute Turbulence Observations in the Stratosphere) for high resolution wind turbulence soundings in the stratosphere up to 35 km altitude. The wind measurements are performed using a constant temperature anemometer (CTA) with a vertical resolution of ∼2.5 mm, i.e. 2 kHz sampling rate at 5 m/s ascent speed. Thereby, for the first time, it is possible to study the entire turbulence spectrum down to the viscous subrange in the stratosphere. Including telemetry, housekeeping, batteries and recovery unit, the payload weighs less than 5 kg and can be launched from any radiosonde station. Since autumn 2007, LITOS has been successfully launched several times from the Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) in Kühlungsborn, Germany (54° N, 12° E). Two additional soundings were carried out in 2008 and 2009 in Kiruna, Sweden (67° N, 21° E) as part of the BEXUS program (Balloon-borne EXperiments for University Students). We describe here the basic principle of CTA measurements and prove the validity of this method in the stratosphere. A first case study allows a clear distinction between non-turbulent regions and a turbulent layer with a thickness of some tens of meters. Since our measurements cover the transition between the inertial and viscous subrange, energy dissipation rates can be calculated with high reliability

Time domain reflectrometry measurements using a movable obstacle for the determination of dielectric profiles

Microwave techniques for the measurement of the permittivity of soils including the water content of soils and other materials, especially TDR (time domain reflectometry), have become accepted as routine measurement techniques. This summary deals with an advanced use of the TDR principle for the determination of the water content of soil along a probe. The basis of the advanced TDR technique is a waveguide, which is inserted into the soil for obtaining measurements of the effective soil permittivity, from which the water content is estimated, and an obstacle, which can mechanically be moved along the probe and which acts as a reference reflection for the TDR system with an exactly known position. Based on the known mechanical position of the reference reflection, the measured electrical position can be used as a measure for the effective dielectric constant of the environment. Thus, it is possible to determine the effective dielectric constant with a spatial resolution given by the step size of the obstacle displacement. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; A conventional industrial TDR-system, operating in the baseband, is used for the signal generation and for the evaluation of the pulse delay time of the obstacle reflection. Thus, a cost effective method for the acquisition of the dielectric measurement data is available

Seasonal variation of nocturnal temperatures between 1 and 105 km altitude at 54&deg; N observed by lidar

Temperature soundings are performed by lidar at the mid-latitude station of Kühlungsborn (Germany, 54&deg; N, 12&deg; E). The profiles cover the complete range from the lower troposphere (~1 km) to the lower thermosphere (~105 km) by simultaneous and co-located operation of a Rayleigh-Mie-Raman lidar and a potassium resonance lidar. Observations have been done during 266 nights between June 2002 and July 2007, each of 3–15 h length. This large and unique data set provides comprehensive information on the altitudinal and seasonal variation of temperatures from the troposphere to the lower thermosphere. The remaining day-to-day-variability is strongly reduced by harmonic fits at constant altitude levels and a representative data set is achieved. This data set reveals a two-level mesopause structure with an altitude of about 86–87 km (~144 K) in summer and ~102 km (~170 K) during the rest of the year. The average stratopause altitude is ~48 km throughout the whole year, with temperatures varying between 258 and 276 K. From the fit parameters amplitudes and phases of annual, semi-annual, and quarter-annual variations are derived. The amplitude of the annual component is largest with amplitudes of up to 30 K in 85 km, while the quarter-annual variation is smallest and less than 3 K at all altitudes. The lidar data set is compared with ECMWF temperatures below about 70 km altitude and reference data from the NRLMSISE-00 model above. Apart from the temperature soundings the aerosol backscatter ratio is measured between 20 and 35 km. The seasonal variation of these values is presented here for the first time