Water-management models in Florida from ERTS-1 data

The author has identified the following significant results. The usefullness of ERTS 1 to improving the overall effectiveness of collecting and disseminating data was evaluated. ERTS MSS imagery and in situ monitoring by DCS were used to evaluate their separate and combined capabilities. Twenty data collection platforms were established in southern Florida. Water level and rainfall measurements were collected and disseminated to users in less than 2 hours, a significant improvement over conventional techniques requiring 2 months. ERTS imagery was found to significantly enhance the utility of ground measurements. Water stage was correlated with water surface areas from imagery in order to obtain water stage-volume relations. Imagery provided an economical basis for extrapolating water parameters from the point samples to unsampled data and provided a synoptic view of water mass boundaries that no amount of ground sampling or monitoring could provide

Polarized mm And sub-mm Emission From Sgr A* At The Galactic Center

The recent detection of significant linear polarization at mm and sub-mm wavelengths in the spectrum of Sgr A* (if confirmed) will be a useful probe of the conditions within several Schwarzschild radii ($r_S$) of the event horizon at the Galactic Center. Hydrodynamic simulations of gas flowing in the vicinity of this object suggest that the infalling gas circularizes when it approaches within $5-25 r_S$ of the black hole. We suggest that the sub-mm ``excess'' of emission seen in the spectrum of Sgr A* may be associated with radiation produced within the inner Keplerian region and that the observed polarization characteristics provide direct evidence for this phenomenon. The overall spectrum from this region, including the high-energy component due to bremsstrahlung and inverse Compton scattering processes, is at or below the recent {\it Chandra} measurement, and may account for the X-ray source if it turns out to be the actual counterpart to Sgr A*.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures. published in APJ Letter

Suborbital Payload Testing Aboard Level 3 Rocket Research Platform

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) has launched several suborbital scientific payloads aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard in 2017 and 2019. Students continue gaining hands-on experience in rocket design and construction, and payload integration and testing of future and more mature payloads to be launched into space. A Level 3 Rocket is being designed and developed at ERAU to serve as a scaled-down model research platform for launching and testing of payloads that will be later flown in commercial suborbital platforms such as Blue Origin’s New Shepard and PLD space Miura 1 rockets. Computer simulations were conducted to calculate the key parameters such as flight trajectory profiles, stability and flight velocities for different rocket motors configurations. A preliminary design of the rocket was developed using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software. The rocket will accommodate multiple payloads (Cubesats, NanoLabs, TubeSats) designed and developed in the Payload Applied, Technology and Operations (PATO) laboratory. The rocket will be primarily constructed of carbon fiber composite as it has a high strength to weight ratio. These simulations are used to select a suitable motor for the rocket according to the flight requirements and landing restrictions. This prospective Level 3 Rocket is referred to as Suborbital Technology Experimental Vehicle for Exploration (STEVE). Rocket procedures and results from the design, simulation, construction and assembly will be presented

Implementing Good Practices Programs to Encourage Production of High-Quality, Safer Produce in Mississippi

Fifty-four growers/producers attended four 1-day good agricultural practices (GAP) and good handling practices (GHP) workshops at four locations in Mississippi. Pre- and postworkshop survey data indicated that the participants\u27 food safety knowledge increased by 15%. Furthermore, the workshops helped producers develop their own food safety plans. The workshops also trained the producers to be prepared for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) GAP and GHP audits. To assist producers in preparing for these audits, two mock audits were conducted after the workshops. As a result of the program, several producers became ready to be audited, and at least one producer became USDA GAP certified

The Role of Magnetic Field Dissipation in the Black Hole Candidate Sgr A*

The compact, nonthermal radio source Sgr A* at the Galactic Center appears to be coincident with a 2.6 million solar mass point-like object. Its energy source may be the release of gravitational energy as gas from the interstellar medium descends into its potential well. Simple attempts at calculating the spectrum and flux based on this picture have come close to the observations, yet have had difficulty in accounting for the low efficiency in this source. There now appear to be two reasons for this low conversion rate: (1) the plasma separates into two temperatures, with the protons attaining a significantly higher temperature than that of the radiating electrons, and (2) the magnetic field, B, is sub-equipartition, which reduces the magnetic bremsstrahlung emissivity, and therefore the overall power of Sgr A*. We investigate the latter with improvement over what has been attempted before: rather than calculating B based on a presumed model, we instead infer its distribution with radius empirically with the requirement that the resulting spectrum matches the observations. Our ansatz for B(r) is motivated in part by earlier calculations of the expected magnetic dissipation rate due to reconnection in a compressed flow. We find reasonable agreement with the observed spectrum of Sgr A* as long as its distribution consists of 3 primary components: an outer equipartition field, a roughly constant field at intermediate radii (~1000 Schwarzschild radii), and an inner dynamo (more or less within the last stable orbit for a non-rotating black hole) which increases B to about 100 Gauss. The latter component accounts for the observed sub-millimiter hump in this source.Comment: 33 pages including 2 figures; submitted to Ap

Intimate Partner Violence Among Men and Women in South Carolina, 1998

Few studies provide population-based estimates of intimate partner violence (IPV) for men and women, especially at the state level. IPV may result in adverse health effects for victims and perpetrators (1-3). To estimate the lifetime incidence of IPV by type of violence (e.g., physical, sexual, and perceived emotional abuse) and to explore demographic correlates of reporting IPV among men and women, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and the University of South Carolina conducted a population-based random-digit-dialed telephone survey of adults in the state. This report summarizes the results of the survey, which indicated that approximately 25% of women and 13% of men have experienced some type of IPV during their lifetime. Although women were significantly more likely to report physical and sexual IPV, men were as likely as women to report emotional abuse without concurrent physical or sexual IPV

Urea-Mediated Anomalous Diffusion in Supported Lipid Bilayers

Diffusion in biological membranes is seldom simply Brownian motion; instead, the rate of diffusion is dependent on the timescale of observation and so is often described as anomalous. In order to help better understand this phenomenon, model systems are needed where the anomalous subdiffusion of the lipid bilayer can be tuned and quantified. We recently demonstrated one such model by controlling the excluded area fraction in supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) through the incorporation of lipids derivatised with polyethylene glycol. Here we extend this work, using urea to induce anomalous subdiffusion in SLBs. By tuning incubation time and urea concentration, we produce DCPC bilayers that exhibit anomalous behaviour on the same scale observed in biological membranes