Superfluidity in a Doped Helium Droplet

Path Integral Monte Carlo calculations of the superfluid density throughout ^4He droplets doped with linear impurities (HCN)_n are presented. After deriving a local estimator for the superfluid density distribution, we find a decreased superfluid response in the first solvation layer. This effective normal fluid exhibits temperature dependence similar to that of a two-dimensional helium system.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Abort Region Determinator (ARD) module feasibility report. Mission planning, mission analysis and software formulation

A detailed performance evaluation of the Abort Region Determinator (ARD) module design was provided in support of OFT-1 ascent and OFT-1 intact launch aborts. The evaluation method used compared ARD results against results obtained using the full-up Space Vehicle Dynamic Simulations program under the same conditions. Results were presented for each of the three major ARD math models: (1) the ascent numerical integrator; (2) the mass model, and (3) the second stage predictor as well as the total ARD module. These results demonstrate that the baselined ARD module meets all design objectives for mission control center orbital flight test launch/abort support

An integrated study of earth resources in the State of California using remote sensing techniques

The author has identified the following significant results. The supply, demand, and impact relationships of California's water resources as exemplified by the Feather River project and other aspects of the California Water Plan are discussed

Regional agriculture surveys using ERTS-1 data

The Center for Remote Sensing Research has conducted studies designed to evaluate the potential application of ERTS data in performing agricultural inventories, and to develop efficient methods of data handling and analysis useful in the operational context for performing large area surveys. This work has resulted in the development of an integrated system utilizing both human and computer analysis of ground, aerial, and space imagery, which has been shown to be very efficient for regional crop acreage inventories. The technique involves: (1) the delineation of ERTS images into relatively homogeneous strata by human interpreters, (2) the point-by-point classification of the area within each strata on the basis of crop type using a human/machine interactive digital image processing system; and (3) a multistage sampling procedure for the collection of supporting aerial and ground data used in the adjustment and verification of the classification results

Exploring Metacognition as a Support for Learning Transfer

The ability to transfer learning to new situations lies at the heart of lifelong learning and the employability of university graduates. Because students are often unaware of the importance of learning transfer and staff do not always explicitly articulate this expectation, this article explores the idea that metacognition (intentional awareness and the use of that awareness) might enhance the development of learning transfer. Our exploratory study includes results from a survey of 74 staff and 118 students from five institutions in Australia, Belgium, UK, and USA. Our data indicate that many staff and a majority of students do not have a clear understanding of what learning transfer entails, and that there are many mismatches between staff and student perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors regarding learning transfer. This helps explain why learning transfer does not occur as often as it could. We found significant positive correlations between thinking about transfer and thinking about learning processes and the likelihood to use awareness to guide practice. These support the idea that metacognition might enhance learning transfer. We offer suggestions for future scholarship of teaching and learning

Using Participatory Scenarios to Stimulate Social Learning for Collaborative Sustainable Development

Interdependent human and biophysical systems are highly complex and behave in unpredictable and uncontrollable ways. Social and ecological challenges that emerge from this complexity often defy straightforward solutions, and efforts to address these problems will require not only scientific and technological capabilities but also learning and adaptation. Scenarios are a useful tool for grappling with the uncertainty and complexity of social-ecological challenges because they enable participants to build adaptive capacity through the contemplation of multiple future possibilities. Furthermore, scenarios provide a platform for social learning, which is critical to acting in the face of uncertain, complex, and conflict-laden problems. We studied the Minnesota 2050 project, a collaborative project through which citizens collectively imagined future scenarios and contemplated the implications of these possibilities for the adaptability of their social and environmental communities. Survey and interview data indicate that these participatory scenario workshops built and strengthened relationships, enhanced participants’ understanding of other perspectives, and triggered systemic thinking, all of which is relevant to collective efforts to respond to social-ecological challenges through sustainable development activities. Our analysis shows that participatory scenarios can stimulate social learning by enabling participants to engage and to discuss options for coping with uncertainty through collaborative actions. Such learning can be of value to participants and to the organizations and decisions in which they are engaged, and scenario processes can be effective tools for supporting collaborative sustainable development efforts

Halving Food Loss and Waste in the EU by 2030: the major steps needed to accelerate progress

Unsustainable production and consumption of food constitutes one of the biggest environmental threats to our planet. Eliminating food loss and waste to the largest extent possible – at all stages from producer to final consumer – stands out as an urgent and indispensable step towards more sustainable food systems. The EU’s recent adoption of the Circular Economy Package, including the revision of its Waste Framework Directive in 2018 and a new Delegated Act on the measurement of food waste in 2019, opens a limited time period where Member States will have to integrate these policies into their national law. In 2020, the first EU-wide national measurement of food waste will be undertaken. This will be reported back to the EU mid2022 and will provide comparative baseline measures for all Member States. The publication of this baseline data in 2023 will provide the opportunity to consider the feasibility of establishing Union-wide food waste reduction targets to be met by 2025 and 2030. For this reason, 2020–2023 will provide crucial moments of opportunity for EU Member States’ food waste policy and EU-wide food waste reduction. Indeed, changes in the regulatory framework were necessary but need to be accompanied by further action to effectively accelerate food waste reductions. Through a rapid review of food waste literature and interviews with Member State representatives, this report identifies and provides case studies of the food waste reduction actions that have the largest evidence bases and largest potential for accelerating progress towards SDG target 12.3 (halving food waste by 2030 and reducing food losses), but which have been insufficiently applied in the EU until now: Food waste measurement; Valorisation; and Voluntary Agreements. Some of these actions are already partly developed in the EU (valorisation), while others have only recently been piloted across several Member States (voluntary agreements) or still need to be deployed coherently (food waste measurement). This report also highlights other interventions that show less evidence of their potential to date, but which are expected to hold high potential for effective food waste reduction: Changes to the Common Agricultural Policy; Stronger Regulation; and National Food Waste Strategies. Due to the interconnected nature of food waste, and of the EU and Member State policies, all food waste reduction areas proposed are interlinked and related. Together they offer a suite of actions that can be deployed over a range of time scales, from 12 months through to 5 years; and at a range of sizes, from individual companies or specific industry sectors, through to government-led deployment on a national scale. These actions will all benefit from close collaboration between the stakeholders, who can jointly deliver the urgently needed acceleration in food waste reduction

The expression levels of three raft-associated molecules in cultivated vascular cells are dependent on culture conditions

Relaying a signal across the plasma membrane requires functional connections between the partner molecules. Membrane microdomains or lipid rafts provide an environment in which such specific interactions can take place. The integrity of these sites is often taken for granted when signalling pathways are investigated in cell culture. However, it is well known that smooth muscle and endothelial cells undergo cytoskeletal rearrangements during monolayer culturing. Likewise affected - and with potentially important consequences for signalling events - is the organization of the plasma membrane. The expression levels of three raft markers were massively upregulated, and raft-associated 5′-nucleotidase activity increased in conventional monolayer cultures as compared with a spheroidal coculture model, shown to promote the differentiation of endothelial cells. Our data point to a shift of raft components in monolayer cultures and demonstrate potential advantages of the spheroid coculture system for investigation of raft-mediated signalling events in endothelial cell