Solar Dynamics, Rotation, Convection and Overshoot

We discuss recent observational, theoretical and modeling progress made in understanding the Sun's internal dynamics, including its rotation, meridional flow, convection and overshoot. Over the past few decades, substantial theoretical and observational effort has gone into appreciating these aspects of solar dynamics. A review of these observations, related helioseismic methodology and inference and computational results in relation to these problems is undertaken here.Comment: 31 pages, 10 figures, Space Science Review

LAND AND AGRARIAN REFORM IN THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

This report presents LTC's findings and recommendations on the land tenure transition. The information contained in this report has been used to prepare a second document, Land and Agrarian Reform in the Kyrgyz Republic: Consolidation Plan, that proposes a set of actions to ensure that the reforms are completed and produce a viable, market-oriented, agricultural sector. Chapter 1 offers baseline geographic information on the KR, an account of the macroeconomic environment in which reforms are taking place, a brief project history, and a description of the research methods. Chapter 2 chronicles the legal and regulatory changes that have driven land and agrarian reform in the KR since 1991 and evaluates this legislation for its legal consistency, underlying economic assumptions, and broad policy implications. Chapter 3 employs national land statistics to describe changes in the agrarian structure that have resulted from the legal and regulatory evolution during 1991-1995, including the number and size of farms, land use, and related indicators of land tenure change and agrarian reform. Chapter 4 reviews the structure, function, and efficacy of administrative bodies that set and enforce land and land reform policy, recommends administrative adjustments, and identifies land administration tasks the state can eliminate-and others it will need to bolster-as the KR completes its transition from command structures to market principles in agriculture. Finally, Chapter 5 uses data obtained in structured surveys and case studies conducted by LTC on a 10 percent sample of former state and collective farms to describe at the farm level the successes and shortcomings of reform measures to date; the chapter also makes recommendations for new or altered land reform policies and procedures.Agrarian structure--Kyrgyzstan, Land administration--Kyrgyzstan, Land reform--Kyrgyzstan, Land tenure--Government policy--Kyrgyzstan, Land tenure--Kyrgyzstan, Land titles--Registration and transfer--Kyrgyzstan, International Development, Land Economics/Use,

Abrasion of flat rotating shapes

We report on the erosion of flat linoleum "pebbles" under steady rotation in a slurry of abrasive grit. To quantify shape as a function of time, we develop a general method in which the pebble is photographed from multiple angles with respect to the grid of pixels in a digital camera. This reduces digitization noise, and allows the local curvature of the contour to be computed with a controllable degree of uncertainty. Several shape descriptors are then employed to follow the evolution of different initial shapes toward a circle, where abrasion halts. The results are in good quantitative agreement with a simple model, where we propose that points along the contour move radially inward in proportion to the product of the radius and the derivative of radius with respect to angle