Automatic assembly design project 1968/69: report of the control and motivation committee

Methods of control for automatic assembly machines are surveyed. The control requirements of the versatile automatic assembly machine are analysed, and the most practical system is specified and designed in detail

Nonstationary Teleconnection Between the Pacific Ocean and Arctic Sea Ice

Over the last 40 years observations show a teleconnection between summertime Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures and September Arctic sea ice extent. However, the short satellite observation record has made it difficult to further examine this relationship. Here, we use 30 fully coupled general circulation models (GCMs) participating in Phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project to assess the ability of GCMs to simulate this teleconnection and analyze its stationarity over longer timescales. GCMs can temporarily simulate the teleconnection in continuous 40‐year segments but not over longer, centennial timescales. Each GCM exhibits considerable teleconnection variability on multidecadal timescales. Further analysis shows that the teleconnection depends on an equally nonstationary atmospheric bridge from the subequatorial Pacific Ocean to the upper Arctic troposphere. These findings indicate that the modulation of Arctic sea ice loss by subequatorial Pacific Ocean variability is not fixed in time, undermining the assumption of teleconnection stationarity as defined by the satellite record

Nonstationary Teleconnection Between the Pacific Ocean and Arctic Sea Ice

Over the last 40 years observations show a teleconnection between summertime Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures and September Arctic sea ice extent. However, the short satellite observation record has made it difficult to further examine this relationship. Here, we use 30 fully coupled general circulation models (GCMs) participating in Phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project to assess the ability of GCMs to simulate this teleconnection and analyze its stationarity over longer timescales. GCMs can temporarily simulate the teleconnection in continuous 40‐year segments but not over longer, centennial timescales. Each GCM exhibits considerable teleconnection variability on multidecadal timescales. Further analysis shows that the teleconnection depends on an equally nonstationary atmospheric bridge from the subequatorial Pacific Ocean to the upper Arctic troposphere. These findings indicate that the modulation of Arctic sea ice loss by subequatorial Pacific Ocean variability is not fixed in time, undermining the assumption of teleconnection stationarity as defined by the satellite record

An examination of business occupier relocation decision making : distinguishing small and large firm behaviour

This paper explores how business occupiers decide whether and where to relocate. It captures the experience and behaviour of a range of sizes and types of business occupier and subjects their decision-making processes to detailed scrutiny. A linear three-stage decision model is used to sequence and structure interviews with individuals who have intimate involvement with the relocation of 28 firms and organizations in Tyne and Wear, in the north-east of England. The 'constant comparative' method is used to analyse the interview data, from which emerges 18 key concepts, comprising 51 characteristic components. Using an axial approach, these are organized into 10 cross-cutting themes that represent the main areas of consideration or influence on the thinking of the people involved in determining whether a firm or organization should relocate and, if so, where to. The resulting analysis finds that organizations adopt varying degrees of sophistication when making relocation decisions; small firms are more inclined to make decisions based on constrained information; larger organizations adopt a more complex approach. Regardless of firm size, key individuals exert considerable influence over the decision-making process and its outcome

Towards seasonal Arctic shipping route predictions

The continuing decline in Arctic sea-ice will likely lead to increased human activity and opportunities for shipping in the region, suggesting that seasonal predictions of route openings will become ever more important. Here we present results from a set of 'perfect model' experiments to assess the predictability characteristics of the opening of Arctic sea routes. We find skilful predictions of the upcoming summer shipping season can be made from as early as January, although typically forecasts show lower skill before a May 'predictability barrier'. We demonstrate that in forecasts started from January, predictions of route opening date are twice as uncertain as predicting the closing date and that the Arctic shipping season is becoming longer due to climate change, with later closing dates mostly responsible. We find that predictive skill is state dependent with predictions for high or low ice years exhibiting greater skill than medium ice years. Forecasting the fastest open water route through the Arctic is accurate to within 200 km when predicted from July, a six-fold increase in accuracy compared to forecasts initialised from the previous November, which are typically no better than climatology. Finally we find that initialisation of accurate summer sea-ice thickness information is crucial to obtain skilful forecasts, further motivating investment into sea-ice thickness observations, climate models, and assimilation systems

Seasonal to interannual Arctic sea-ice predictability in current GCMs

We establish the first inter-model comparison of seasonal to interannual predictability of present-day Arctic climate by performing coordinated sets of idealized ensemble predictions with four state-of-the-art global climate models. For Arctic sea-ice extent and volume, there is potential predictive skill for lead times of up to three years, and potential prediction errors have similar growth rates and magnitudes across the models. Spatial patterns of potential prediction errors differ substantially between the models, but some features are robust. Sea-ice concentration errors are largest in the marginal ice zone, and in winter they are almost zero away from the ice edge. Sea-ice thickness errors are amplified along the coasts of the Arctic Ocean, an effect that is dominated by sea-ice advection. These results give an upper bound on the ability of current global climate models to predict important aspects of Arctic climate

Fourier-Transform Infra-Red Studies of Cytochrome c Oxidase

Kinetic studies using isolated cytochrome oxidase have shown that two distinct functional forms of the enzyme exist (1). The fully oxidised (resting) enzyme, as isolated, oxidises cytochrome c relatively slowly and binds cyanide with low affinity. However, if the enzyme is fully reduced prior to reaction with oxygen for at least one catalytic cycle, then a “pulsed” form is produced in which both cytochrome c oxidation and cyanide binding is markedly increased (1, 2). The “pulsed” form of the enzyme is unstable and, depending on the conditions of incubation, decays back to the resting form within minutes. If the transition between resting and pulsed enzyme were to involve any changes in the conformation of the protein then it might be expected that these changes would also be seen between the oxidised (resting) enzyme and the fully reduced enzyme, since full reduction followed by re-oxidation is one method for producing the pulsed enzyme