WorldWideScience

Sample records for hail

  1. Global Hail Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werner, A.; Sanderson, M.; Hand, W.; Blyth, A.; Groenemeijer, P.; Kunz, M.; Puskeiler, M.; Saville, G.; Michel, G.

    2012-04-01

    Hail risk models are rare for the insurance industry. This is opposed to the fact that average annual hail losses can be large and hail dominates losses for many motor portfolios worldwide. Insufficient observational data, high spatio-temporal variability and data inhomogenity have hindered creation of credible models so far. In January 2012, a selected group of hail experts met at Willis in London in order to discuss ways to model hail risk at various scales. Discussions aimed at improving our understanding of hail occurrence and severity, and covered recent progress in the understanding of microphysical processes and climatological behaviour and hail vulnerability. The final outcome of the meeting was the formation of a global hail risk model initiative and the launch of a realistic global hail model in order to assess hail loss occurrence and severities for the globe. The following projects will be tackled: Microphysics of Hail and hail severity measures: Understand the physical drivers of hail and hailstone size development in different regions on the globe. Proposed factors include updraft and supercooled liquid water content in the troposphere. What are the thresholds drivers of hail formation around the globe? Hail Climatology: Consider ways to build a realistic global climatological set of hail events based on physical parameters including spatial variations in total availability of moisture, aerosols, among others, and using neural networks. Vulnerability, Exposure, and financial model: Use historical losses and event footprints available in the insurance market to approximate fragility distributions and damage potential for various hail sizes for property, motor, and agricultural business. Propagate uncertainty distributions and consider effects of policy conditions along with aggregating and disaggregating exposure and losses. This presentation provides an overview of ideas and tasks that lead towards a comprehensive global understanding of hail risk for

  2. A hail climatology in Mongolia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lkhamjav, Jambajamts; Jin, Han-Gyul; Lee, Hyunho; Baik, Jong-Jin

    2017-11-01

    The temporal and spatial characteristics of hail frequency in Mongolia are examined using the hail observation data from 61 meteorological observatories for 1984-2013. The annual number of hail days averaged over all observatories and the entire period is 0.74. It exhibits a decreasing trend, particularly since 1993 with a rate of decrease of 0.214 per decade. Hail occurrence is concentrated in summer, with 72% of the total hail days occurring in June, July, and August. Moreover, hail occurrence is concentrated in the afternoon and early evening, with 89% of the total hail events occurring between 1200 and 2100 local standard time (LST). Spatially, observatories where relatively frequent hail events are observed are concentrated in the north central region where almost all of the land is mountainous or covered by grassland, whereas relatively less frequent hail events are observed in the southern desert region. The relationship between hail frequency and thermodynamic factors including the convective available potential energy (CAPE), the temperature lapse rate between 700 and 500 hPa, the water vapor mixing ratio averaged over the lowest 100 hPa layer, and the freezing-level height is examined using the ERA-Interim reanalysis data. It is found that in summer, CAPE and the low-level water vapor mixing ratio are larger on hail days than on all days, but there is no clear relationship between hail frequency and the 700-500 hPa temperature lapse rate. It is also found that annually, CAPE and the low-level water vapor mixing ratio decrease, while the freezing-level height increases, which seems to be responsible for the annually decreasing trend of hail frequency in Mongolia.

  3. Application of crowdsourced hail data and damage information for hail risk assessment in the province of Styria, Austria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tani, Satyanarayana; Rechberger, Andreas; Süsser Rechberger, Barbara; Teschl, Reinhard; Paulitsch, Helmut

    2017-04-01

    Hail storm damage is a major concern to the farmers in the province of Styria, Austria. Each year severe hail storms are causing damages to crops, resulting in losses of millions of euros. High spatial and timely ground truth information of the hail event and crop damage measurements are essential for better hail risk assessment. Usually, hail pad networks and visual damage surveys are used to collect the hail data and corresponding damage information. However, these hail pad networks are expensive and need laborious maintenance. The traditional crop damage assessment approaches are very labour-intensive and time-consuming. The advancements in information and communication technology (ICT) and the power of citizen based crowdsourcing data, will help to overcome these problems and ultimately provide a platform for data collection. A user-friendly and bilingual web interface was developed to collect hail data and crop damage information in the province of Styria, Austria. The dynamic web interface was developed using HTML5, JavaScript, and PHP7 combined with a MySQL database back-end. OpenStreetMap was integrated into the web interface and tile server optimised for an easy identification of geolocation information. The user needs an internet connection to transfer the data through smartphone or computer. Crowdsourced data will be quality tested and evaluated with 3D single polarisation C-band weather radar data to remove potential false reports. Further, the relationship between the reported hail events and radar-based hail detection algorithms (Waldvogel and Auer) and derived hail signature information intended for crop hail risk assessment will be investigated. The details about the web interface tool, application and verification methods to collect, analyse, and integrate different data sets are given. Further, the high spatial risk assessment information is communicated to support risk management policy.

  4. Hail Disrometer Array for Launch Systems Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lane, John E.; Sharp, David W.; Kasparis, Takis C.; Doesken, Nolan J.

    2008-01-01

    Prior to launch, the space shuttle might be described as a very large thermos bottle containing substantial quantities of cryogenic fuels. Because thermal insulation is a critical design requirement, the external wall of the launch vehicle fuel tank is covered with an insulating foam layer. This foam is fragile and can be damaged by very minor impacts, such as that from small- to medium-size hail, which may go unnoticed. In May 1999, hail damage to the top of the External Tank (ET) of STS-96 required a rollback from the launch pad to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for repair of the insulating foam. Because of the potential for hail damage to the ET while exposed to the weather, a vigilant hail sentry system using impact transducers was developed as a hail damage warning system and to record and quantify hail events. The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Hail Monitor System, a joint effort of the NASA and University Affiliated Spaceport Technology Development Contract (USTDC) Physics Labs, was first deployed for operational testing in the fall of 2006. Volunteers from the Community Collaborative Rain. Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) in conjunction with Colorado State University were and continue to be active in testing duplicate hail monitor systems at sites in the hail prone high plains of Colorado. The KSC Hail Monitor System (HMS), consisting of three stations positioned approximately 500 ft from the launch pad and forming an approximate equilateral triangle (see Figure 1), was deployed to Pad 39B for support of STS-115. Two months later, the HMS was deployed to Pad 39A for support of STS-116. During support of STS-117 in late February 2007, an unusual hail event occurred in the immediate vicinity of the exposed space shuttle and launch pad. Hail data of this event was collected by the HMS and analyzed. Support of STS-118 revealed another important application of the hail monitor system. Ground Instrumentation personnel check the hail monitors daily when a

  5. Climatology of hail in Argentina

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mezher, Romina N.; Doyle, Moira; Barros, Vicente

    2012-10-01

    The annual cycle, annual and seasonal frequency and geographical distribution of hail in Argentina during the 1960-2008 period are examined. Eight regions covering the whole territory were defined based on the correlation of the mean annual hail frequency between all weather stations. Regions lying between 30° and 40°S as well as those dominated by mountains present the highest hail frequencies in Argentina. The eastern and coastal areas of the country experience hail events mainly during springtime but they may start in late winter and continue through the beginning of summer. Events in western and central Argentina also predominate in spring but the maximum frequencies are observed during summer months. Trends in the annual number of hail events calculated for each region indicate that events in northwestern and northeastern Argentina have been increasing as well as in southern Patagonia. On the other hand, in central Argentina, southern Buenos Aires-La Pampa, northern Buenos Aires-Litoral and northern Patagonia trends are negative and statistically significant in the first two regions, basically by the decrease of events during spring and summer.

  6. Radar-based hail detection

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Skripniková, Kateřina; Řezáčová, Daniela

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 144, č. 1 (2014), s. 175-185 ISSN 0169-8095 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP209/11/2045; GA MŠk LD11044 Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : hail detection * weather radar * hail damage risk Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 2.844, year: 2014 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169809513001804

  7. A Prototype Hail Detection Algorithm and Hail Climatology Developed with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferraro, Ralph; Beauchamp, James; Cecil, Dan; Heymsfeld, Gerald

    2015-01-01

    In previous studies published in the open literature, a strong relationship between the occurrence of hail and the microwave brightness temperatures (primarily at 37 and 85 GHz) was documented. These studies were performed with the Nimbus-7 SMMR, the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) and most recently, the Aqua AMSR-E sensor. This lead to climatologies of hail frequency from TMI and AMSR-E, however, limitations include geographical domain of the TMI sensor (35 S to 35 N) and the overpass time of the Aqua satellite (130 am/pm local time), both of which reduce an accurate mapping of hail events over the global domain and the full diurnal cycle. Nonetheless, these studies presented exciting, new applications for passive microwave sensors. Since 1998, NOAA and EUMETSAT have been operating the AMSU-A/B and the MHS on several operational satellites: NOAA-15 through NOAA-19; MetOp-A and -B. With multiple satellites in operation since 2000, the AMSU/MHS sensors provide near global coverage every 4 hours, thus, offering a much larger time and temporal sampling than TRMM or AMSR-E. With similar observation frequencies near 30 and 85 GHz and additionally three at the 183 GHz water vapor band, the potential to detect strong convection associated with severe storms on a more comprehensive time and space scale exists. In this study, we develop a prototype AMSU-based hail detection algorithm through the use of collocated satellite and surface hail reports over the continental U.S. for a 12-year period (2000-2011). Compared with the surface observations, the algorithm detects approximately 40 percent of hail occurrences. The simple threshold algorithm is then used to generate a hail climatology that is based on all available AMSU observations during 2000-11 that is stratified in several ways, including total hail occurrence by month (March through September), total annual, and over the diurnal cycle. Independent comparisons are made compared to similar data sets derived from other

  8. An Overview of Crop Hail Damage and Evaluation of Hail Suppression Efficiency in Bulgaria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simeonov, Petio

    1996-09-01

    The space time distribution of the crop hail loss-to-risk ratio over the whole. Bulgarian territory has been ascertained using the rank approach. The relationships between hailfall characteristics (sizes and kinetic energy) and the percentage of the crop damage for wheat, corn, and vines were obtained using field observations and hailpad data. A physical statistical method for evaluating the changes in damaged crop areas was tested over a 5000-km2 target area (numbers for three hail suppression ranges). Using a regression equation (worked out for 120 nonseeded days) for evaluation of the damaged area changes, reductions in damaged area of 34% 48% were obtained for 7 and 9 years of heavy hail. The magnitude of the reduction is comparable with the one obtained using double-mass ratio and bivariate test of loss-to-risk data in the control and target areas. Similar results were obtained in other hail suppression projects in France, North Dakota, and Greece. A short overview of the physical effects of cloud seeding is presented. The physical-statistical approach for severe hailstorms, based on the regression between thermodynamical indices of instability and damaged areas, shows promise as a perspective to evaluate the efficiency of the seeding operations in problematic cases.

  9. Detection of Hail Storms in Radar Imagery Using Deep Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pullman, Melinda; Gurung, Iksha; Ramachandran, Rahul; Maskey, Manil

    2017-01-01

    In 2016, hail was responsible for 3.5 billion and 23 million dollars in damage to property and crops, respectively, making it the second costliest weather phenomenon in the United States. In an effort to improve hail-prediction techniques and reduce the societal impacts associated with hail storms, we propose a deep learning technique that leverages radar imagery for automatic detection of hail storms. The technique is applied to radar imagery from 2011 to 2016 for the contiguous United States and achieved a precision of 0.848. Hail storms are primarily detected through the visual interpretation of radar imagery (Mrozet al., 2017). With radars providing data every two minutes, the detection of hail storms has become a big data task. As a result, scientists have turned to neural networks that employ computer vision to identify hail-bearing storms (Marzbanet al., 2001). In this study, we propose a deep Convolutional Neural Network (ConvNet) to understand the spatial features and patterns of radar echoes for detecting hailstorms.

  10. E-hail (Rideshare) Knowledge, Use, Reliance, and Future Expectations among Older Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vivoda, Jonathon M; Harmon, Annie C; Babulal, Ganesh M; Zikmund-Fisher, Brian J

    2018-05-01

    The goals of this study were to explore e-hail (e.g., Uber/Lyft) knowledge, use, reliance, and future expectations among older adults. Specifically, we aimed to identify factors that were related to e-hail, and how older adults view this mode as a potential future transportation option. Data were collected from a sample of older adults using a pencil-and-paper mailed survey. Univariate, bivariate, and regression techniques were used to assess the relationships among e-hail and several demographic and other factors. Almost three-quarters of the sample (74%) reported no e-hail knowledge. Only 1.7% had used e-hail to arrange a ride,andonly 3.3% reported that they relied on e-hail for any of their transportation needs. Younger age, male gender, more education, higher transportation satisfaction, and discussing transportation options with others were all independently associated with greater e-hail knowledge. Male gender also predicted e-hail use. E-hail was the mode least relied upon by older adults. Current e-hail knowledge was the biggest predictor of anticipated future use. E-hail may be a viable future option for older adults who have limited or stopped driving. More exposure to e-hail and continued evolution of these services is required to overcome older adults' lower internet/smartphone use. Policies could be implemented at departments of motor vehicles to pair information or training on transportation alternatives (like e-hail) with elimination of driving privileges, or at doctors' offices, senior centers, or hospitals. Potential underlying reasons for the findings are also discussed.

  11. Detection and Prediction of Hail Storms in Satellite Imagery using Deep Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pullman, M.; Gurung, I.; Ramachandran, R.; Maskey, M.

    2017-12-01

    Natural hazards, such as damaging hail storms, dramatically disrupt both industry and agriculture, having significant socio-economic impacts in the United States. In 2016, hail was responsible for 3.5 billion and 23 million dollars in damage to property and crops, respectively, making it the second costliest 2016 weather phenomenon in the United States. The destructive nature and high cost of hail storms has driven research into the development of more accurate hail-prediction algorithms in an effort to mitigate societal impacts. Recently, weather forecasting efforts have turned to deep learning neural networks because neural networks can more effectively model complex, nonlinear, dynamical phenomenon that exist in large datasets through multiple stages of transformation and representation. In an effort to improve hail-prediction techniques, we propose a deep learning technique that leverages satellite imagery to detect and predict the occurrence of hail storms. The technique is applied to satellite imagery from 2006 to 2016 for the contiguous United States and incorporates hail reports obtained from the National Center for Environmental Information Storm Events Database for training and validation purposes. In this presentation, we describe a novel approach to predicting hail via a neural network model that creates a large labeled dataset of hail storms, the accuracy and results of the model, and its applications for improving hail forecasting.

  12. U.S. Hail Frequency and the Global Wind Oscillation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gensini, Vittorio A.; Allen, John T.

    2018-02-01

    Changes in Earth relative atmospheric angular momentum can be described by an index known as the Global Wind Oscillation. This global index accounts for changes in Earth's atmospheric budget of relative angular momentum through interactions of tropical convection anomalies, extratropical dynamics, and engagement of surface torques (e.g., friction and mountain). It is shown herein that U.S. hail events are more (less) likely to occur in low (high) atmospheric angular momentum base states when excluding weak Global Wind Oscillation days, with the strongest relationships found in the boreal spring and fall. Severe, significant severe, and giant hail events are more likely to occur during Global Wind Oscillation phases 8, 1, 2, and 3 during the peak of U.S. severe weather season. Lower frequencies of hail events are generally found in Global Wind Oscillation phases 4-7 but vary based on Global Wind Oscillation amplitude and month. In addition, probabilistic anomalies of atmospheric ingredients supportive of hail producing supercell thunderstorms closely mimic locations of reported hail frequency, helping to corroborate report results.

  13. Influence of Ice Nuclei Parameterization Schemes on the Hail Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoli Liu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Ice nuclei are very important factors as they significantly affect the development and evolvement of convective clouds such as hail clouds. In this study, numerical simulations of hail processes in the Zhejiang Province were conducted using a mesoscale numerical model (WRF v3.4. The effects of six ice nuclei parameterization schemes on the macroscopic and microscopic structures of hail clouds were compared. The effect of the ice nuclei concentration on ground hailfall is stronger than that on ground rainfall. There were significant spatiotemporal, intensity, and distribution differences in hailfall. Changes in the ice nuclei concentration caused different changes in hydrometeors and directly affected the ice crystals, and, hence, the spatiotemporal distribution of other hydrometeors and the thermodynamic structure of clouds. An increased ice nuclei concentration raises the initial concentration of ice crystals with higher mixing ratio. In the developing and early maturation stages of hail cloud, a larger number of ice crystals competed for water vapor with increasing ice nuclei concentration. This effect prevents ice crystals from maturing into snow particles and inhibits the formation and growth of hail embryos. During later maturation stages, updraft in the cloud intensified and more supercooled water was transported above the 0°C level, benefitting the production and growth of hail particles. An increased ice nuclei concentration therefore favors the formation of hail.

  14. Crop Damage: The Hail Size Factor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sánchez, J. L.; Fraile, R.; de La Madrid, J. L.; de La Fuente, M. T.; Rodríguez, P.; Castro, A.

    1996-09-01

    Between 1986 and 1992 a research project was developed and carried out on hail climatology and the economic repercussions of hail on agriculture in León (northwestern Spain). A target area with an extent of 6825 km2 was defined, within which a network of meteorological observers was established at an average density of 1 per 17 km2. A network of 250 hailpads installed in a grid formation was also laid out over an area of 1000 km2 inside the target area. The frequent occurrence of hailfalls—122 hail days over seven consecutive summers—provided a detailed database and allowed several climatological studies to be made. Crop damage was also closely monitored and quantified. Barley and wheat were selected as crops on which to base an analysis of the relationship between hailfall characteristics and crop damage. As the resistance of plants to hailstones is held to vary according to their physiological state, four different stages of plant growth were defined, beginning with the formation of grain heads.An important conclusion was drawn: the dispersion of percentages of damage always covers the possible variations in resistance caused by the physiological state of the plants. As a result, using only minimal information about hailfall characteristics—namely, the initial reports of observers regarding hailstone size—a working statistical model has successfully been constructed to predict losses to barley and wheat, using data provided by the León hail project.

  15. Evolution and Intensity of Hail in Wheat and Barley

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernaldo de Quirós, I.; Saa Requejo, A.; Tarquis, A. M.; Burgaz, F.

    2009-04-01

    The cereals have represented a very important place in the agriculture along the history. The current expansion and growth of the energetic markets are changing the role of the agriculture. The cereals, with other crops, are becoming more significant as suppliers of raw material for the production of biofuels. The purpose of the present project is to carry out a study about the hail in cereals. The survey is focus in wheat and barley as they both represent the highest cereal production of Spain. Four provinces have been chosen (those with the values of production are higher): Burgos and Zaragoza for the wheat and Cuenca and Valladolid for the barley. The materials and methods that we had available for the study of the evolution and intensity of the damages for hail include an analysis of the correlation between the ratios of agricultural insurances provided by ENESA and the number of days of annual hail (from 1981 to 2007). At the same time, one weather station per province was selected by the longest more complete data recorded (from 1963 to 2007) to perform an analysis of monthly time series of the number of hail days (HD). The results of the study show us that there is no relation between the ratio of the agricultural insurances and the number of hail days. This can be due to the large area of which the ratio refers to and the low density of meteorological stations to cover the hail that is registered in every of the four provinces. On the other hand, it is observed that monthly HD time series don't show a change in pattern except in one of the stations studied. Therefore with the information available we cannot state that there are clear changes in the evolution of the hail registered for each province.

  16. Simulated hail impact testing of photovoltaic solar panels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, D.; Wilson, A.; Ross, R.

    1978-01-01

    Techniques used to simulate and study the effect of hail on photovoltaic solar panels are described. Simulated hail stones (frozen ice spheres projected at terminal velocity) or steel balls were applied by air guns, gravity drop, or static loading. Tests with simulated hail and steel balls yielded different results. The impact strength of 10 commercially available flat-plate photovoltaic modules was tested. It was found that none of the six panel designs incorporating clear potting silicone material as the outermost layer remained undamaged by 1-in. simulated hailstones, while a photovoltaic module equipped with a 0.188-in.-thick acrylic cover sheet would be able to withstand the impact of a 2-in.-diameter hailstone.

  17. Detection of hail signatures from single-polarization C-band radar reflectivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunz, Michael; Kugel, Petra I. S.

    2015-02-01

    Five different criteria that estimate hail signatures from single-polarization radar data are statistically evaluated over a 15-year period by categorical verification against loss data provided by a building insurance company. The criteria consider different levels or thresholds of radar reflectivity, some of them complemented by estimates of the 0 °C level or cloud top temperature. Applied to reflectivity data from a single C-band radar in southwest Germany, it is found that all criteria are able to reproduce most of the past damage-causing hail events. However, the criteria substantially overestimate hail occurrence by up to 80%, mainly due to the verification process using damage data. Best results in terms of highest Heidke Skill Score HSS or Critical Success Index CSI are obtained for the Hail Detection Algorithm (HDA) and the Probability of Severe Hail (POSH). Radar-derived hail probability shows a high spatial variability with a maximum on the lee side of the Black Forest mountains and a minimum in the broad Rhine valley.

  18. Prevalence of Obesity in Hail Region, KSA: In a Comprehensive Survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hussain Gadelkarim Ahmed

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Obesity contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. We, therefore, aimed to provide epidemiological data on the prevalence of obesity in Hail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA. Methodology. Data were collected during cross-sectional survey which included 5000 Saudi selected from 30 primary health care centers (PHCs in Hail Region. Results. The overall prevalence of obesity in Hail was 63.6%. Moreover, the prevalence of males was 56.2% and the prevalence of females was 71%. Conclusion. Obesity is prevalent in the Hail Region which necessitates urgent interventions including health education.

  19. Hail creek

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chadwick, J.

    2005-09-01

    The paper examines the development of one of the largest coking coal deposits in the world. Hail Creek is 100 km west of Mackay and 35 km northeast of Nebo, Queensland and has proven opencut reserves of 195.6 as at December 2003. Coal processing stated in July 2003. The award winning project included construction of a coal handling and preparation plant, a railway, a village and offsite infrastructure and mine buildings and site services. Coal is mined by conventional dragline and truck/shovel techniques. 1 photo.

  20. Analysis of the March 30, 2011 Hail Event at Shuttle Launch Pad 39A

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lane, John E.; Doesken, Nolan J.; Kasparis, Takis C.; Sharp, David W.

    2012-01-01

    The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Hail Monitor System, a joint effort of the NASA KSC Physics Lab and the KSC Engineering Services Contract (ESC) Applied Technology Lab, was first deployed for operational testing in the fall of 2006. Volunteers from the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) in conjunction with Colorado State University have been instrumental in validation testing using duplicate hail monitor systems at sites in the hail prone high plains of Colorado. The KSC Hail Monitor System (HMS), consisting of three stations positioned approximately 500 ft from the launch pad and forming an approximate equilateral triangle, as shown in Figure 1, was first deployed to Pad 39B for support of STS-115. Two months later, the HMS was deployed to Pad 39A for support of STS-116. During support of STS-117 in late February 2007, an unusually intense (for Florida standards) hail event occurred in the immediate vicinity of the exposed space shuttle and launch pad. Hail data of this event was collected by the HMS and analyzed. Support of STS-118 revealed another important application of the hail monitor system. Ground Instrumentation personnel check the hail monitors daily when a vehicle is on the launch pad, with special attention after any storm suspected of containing hail. If no hail is recorded by the HMS, the vehicle and pad inspection team has no need to conduct a thorough inspection of the vehicle immediately following a storm. On the afternoon of July 13, 2007, hail on the ground was reported by observers at the Vertical Assembly Building (VAB) and Launch Control Center (LCC), about three miles west of Pad 39A, as well as at several other locations at KSC. The HMS showed no impact detections, indicating that the shuttle had not been damaged by any of the numerous hail events which occurred on that day.

  1. Synoptic, thermodynamic and agroeconomic aspects of severe hail events in Cyprus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. C. Michaelides

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available Hail is a hazardous weather element often accompanying a thunderstorm, as a result of either thermal instability or instability associated with baroclinic synoptic-scale systems (i.e. frontal depressions. Nevertheless, instability of any kind and thunderstorm activity does not always lead to the formation of hail of adequate size to reach the ground. The broader the knowledge concerning hail events the better the understanding of the underlying thermodynamic and dynamic mechanisms, as well as the physical processes associated with its formation.

    In the present study, the severe hail events that were recorded in Cyprus during the ten-year period from 1996 until 2005 were examined, first by grouping them into two clusters, namely, the "thermal instability cluster" and the "frontal depression cluster". Subsequently, the spatial and temporal evolution of the synoptic, dynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of these hail events was studied in depth. Also, the impact of hailstorms on the local economy of the island is presented in terms of the compensations paid by the Agricultural Insurance Organization of the country.

  2. Summary of Available Hail Literature and the Effect of Hail on Aircraft in Flight

    Science.gov (United States)

    1952-09-01

    pp. 427-428. Illustrated description of refrigerating chamber and of the method by which a thin section of a hailstone can be obtained for micro ... Servicio Meteorologica Nacional (Madrid), 19^+8, PP. 104-1LU. (Available U. S. Weather Bur. Lib.) 3 figures. *F-70. Roth, Richard J.: Crop-Hail

  3. Weather radar data correlate to hail-induced mortality in grassland birds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Large hail can kill animals, but its contribution to annual mortality is under-studied and difficult to quantify. Hail events are challenging to predict, and they often occur in locations where populations are not being studied. Small-bodied terrestrial animals such as songbirds (Order Passeriformes...

  4. Practical Secure Transaction for Privacy-Preserving Ride-Hailing Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chenglong Cao

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Ride-hailing service solves the issue of taking a taxi difficultly in rush hours. It is changing the way people travel and has had a rapid development in recent years. Since the service is offered over the Internet, there is a great deal of uncertainty about security and privacy. Focusing on the issue, we changed payment pattern of existing systems and designed a privacy protection ride-hailing scheme. E-cash was generated by a new partially blind signature protocol that achieves e-cash unforgeability and passenger privacy. Particularly, in the face of a service platform and a payment platform, a passenger is still anonymous. Additionally, a lightweight hash chain was constructed to keep e-cash divisible and reusable, which increases practicability of transaction systems. The analysis shows that the scheme has small communication and computation costs, and it can be effectively applied in the ride-hailing service with privacy protection.

  5. Long-term variability of the thunderstorm and hail potential in Europe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohr, Susanna; Kunz, Michael; Speidel, Johannes; Piper, David

    2016-04-01

    Severe thunderstorms and associated hazardous weather events such as hail frequently cause considerable damage to buildings, crops, and automobiles, resulting in large monetary costs in many parts of Europe and the world. To relate single extreme hail events to the historic context and to estimate their return periods and possible trends related to climate change, long-term statistics of hail events are required. Due to the local-scale nature of hail and a lack of suitable observation systems, however, hailstorms are not captured reliably and comprehensively for a long period of time. In view of this fact, different proxies (indirect climate data) obtained from sounding stations and regional climate models can be used to infer the probability and intensity of thunderstorms or hailstorms. In contrast to direct observational data, such proxies are available homogeneously over a long time period. The aim of the study is to investigate the potential for severe thunderstorms and their changes over past decades. Statistical analyses of sounding data show that the convective potential over the past 20 - 30 years has significantly increased over large parts of Central Europe, making severe thunderstorms more likely. A similar picture results from analyses of weather types that are most likely associated with damaging hailstorms. These weather patterns have increased, even if only slightly but nevertheless statistically significantly, in the time period from 1971 to 2000. To improve the diagnostics of hail events in regional climate models, a logistic hail model has been developed by means of a multivariate analysis method. The model is based on a combination of appropriate hail-relevant meteorological parameters. The output of the model is a new index that estimates the potential of the atmosphere for hailstorm development, referred to as potential hail index (PHI). Applied to a high-resolved reanalysis run for Europe driven by NCEP/NCAR1, long-term changes of the PHI for

  6. Hail statistic in Western Europe based on a hyrid cell-tracking algorithm combining radar signals with hailstone observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fluck, Elody

    2015-04-01

    Hail statistic in Western Europe based on a hybrid cell-tracking algorithm combining radar signals with hailstone observations Elody Fluck¹, Michael Kunz¹ , Peter Geissbühler², Stefan P. Ritz² With hail damage estimated over Billions of Euros for a single event (e.g., hailstorm Andreas on 27/28 July 2013), hail constitute one of the major atmospheric risks in various parts of Europe. The project HAMLET (Hail Model for Europe) in cooperation with the insurance company Tokio Millennium Re aims at estimating hail probability, hail hazard and, combined with vulnerability, hail risk for several European countries (Germany, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg). Hail signals are obtained from radar reflectivity since this proxy is available with a high temporal and spatial resolution using several hail proxies, especially radar data. The focus in the first step is on Germany and France for the periods 2005- 2013 and 1999 - 2013, respectively. In the next step, the methods will be transferred and extended to other regions. A cell-tracking algorithm TRACE2D was adjusted and applied to two dimensional radar reflectivity data from different radars operated by European weather services such as German weather service (DWD) and French weather service (Météo-France). Strong convective cells are detected by considering 3 connected pixels over 45 dBZ (Reflectivity Cores RCs) in a radar scan. Afterwards, the algorithm tries to find the same RCs in the next 5 minute radar scan and, thus, track the RCs centers over time and space. Additional information about hailstone diameters provided by ESWD (European Severe Weather Database) is used to determine hail intensity of the detected hail swaths. Maximum hailstone diameters are interpolated along and close to the individual hail tracks giving an estimation of mean diameters for the detected hail swaths. Furthermore, a stochastic event set is created by randomizing the parameters obtained from the

  7. The Effects of Ride Hailing Services on Travel and Associated Greenhouse Gas Emissions

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-04-01

    Towards the close of the first decade of the 21st Century, ride-hailing services began to enter the transportation market through smart phone applications that allowed consumers to hail and pay for a ride from drivers using their own vehicle. The inf...

  8. Responses of Hail and Storm Days to Climate Change in the Tibetan Plateau

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Tian; Zhang, Qinghong; Li, Wenhong; Li, Jihong

    2018-05-01

    There is increasing concern that local severe storm occurrence may be changing as a result of climate change. The Tibetan Plateau (TP), one of the world's most sensitive areas to climate change, became significantly warmer during recent decades. Since 1960 (1980), storm (hail) days have been decreasing by 6.2%/decade (18.3%/decade) in the region. However, what caused the frequency changes of storm and hail in the TP is largely unknown. Based on 53-year continuous weather records at 48 TP stations and reanalysis data, we show here for the first time that the consistent decline of storm days is strongly related to a drier midtroposphere since 1960. Further analysis demonstrated that fewer hail days are driven by an elevation of the melting level (thermodynamically) and a weaker wind shear (dynamically) in a warming climate. These results imply that less storm and hail may occur over TP when climate warms.

  9. Hail frequency estimation across Europe based on a combination of overshooting top detections and the ERA-INTERIM reanalysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Punge, H. J.; Bedka, K. M.; Kunz, M.; Reinbold, A.

    2017-12-01

    This article presents a hail frequency estimation based on the detection of cold overshooting cloud tops (OTs) from the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) operational weather satellites, in combination with a hail-specific filter derived from the ERA-INTERIM reanalysis. This filter has been designed based on the atmospheric properties in the vicinity of hail reports registered in the European Severe Weather Database (ESWD). These include Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE), 0-6-km bulk wind shear and freezing level height, evaluated at the nearest time step and interpolated from the reanalysis grid to the location of the hail report. Regions highly exposed to hail events include Northern Italy, followed by South-Eastern Austria and Eastern Spain. Pronounced hail frequency is also found in large parts of Eastern Europe, around the Alps, the Czech Republic, Southern Germany, Southern and Eastern France, and in the Iberic and Apennine mountain ranges.

  10. THE STATUS OF ATMOSPHERIC INSTABILITY INDICES ASSOCIATED WITH HAIL EVENTS THROUGHOUT MOLDOVA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ISTRATE V.

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The lower pressure of water vapor of the outer eastern and south-eastern Carpathians, as well as in Dobrogea, determines within these areas an average annual number of days of under 2 days. In sheltered areas from Bârlad Plateau the average multi-annual value decreases even below 0,5 days. Hail events that affect the territory of Moldova are, in most cases, caused by thunderstorms during May and June (frequency of over 60 %. We had analysed in the present paper a representative number of statistical severe convective events causing hailstorms and material damage between 1990-2013 period. Values of atmospheric instability indices have been analyzed for these episodes as CAPE (Convective available potential energy, SWEAT (severe weather threat, Li (lifted index, KI (K index, TT (total totals to evaluate their medium range forecast under the hail production conditions. These indicators measure the degree of atmospheric instability providing information about possible occurrence of clouds with large vertical extent. The most powerful correlations have been recorded in the case of parameter LI, for which the daily mean value was used. The status of these indices is assessed for both the days with hail, but also on previous intervals with hail to assess their capacity to forecast this extreme weather phenomenon.

  11. Are meteorological conditions favoring hail precipitation change in Southern Europe? Analysis of the period 1948-2015

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanchez, J. L.; Merino, A.; Melcón, P.; García-Ortega, E.; Fernández-González, S.; Berthet, C.; Dessens, J.

    2017-12-01

    In the context of a warming climate, one of the variables currently under investigation is related to the detection of possible changes in hail precipitation. In this work, we analyze hail frequencies in one of the most affected areas by this phenomenon in Europe, southern France. Here, an extensive hail detection network has been in operation since 1988. In general, the detection of hailfall is very uncertain. To overcome the constraints of scarcity and poor standardization of hail detection and monitoring systems, some relationships between hailstorm occurrence and synoptic, mesoscale or thermodynamic atmospheric characteristics have been proposed in different areas. Therefore, we analyzed meteorological fields at synoptic scale that are related to the formation of hailstorms in the study area, i.e., geopotential height at 500 hPa, sea level pressure, and lapse-rate between 850 and 500 hPa. These fields describe the state of the atmosphere at low and mid levels, and facilitate the evaluation of thermal and dynamic instability. Using the Mann-Kendall test and Sen estimator, we examined trends in the three fields during the period 1948-2015 and their spatial patterns, revealing an evolution toward synoptic environments that favor hail precipitation in the Mediterranean region.

  12. Exploring radar and lightning variables associated with the Lightning Jump. Can we predict the size of the hail?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farnell, C.; Rigo, T.; Pineda, N.

    2018-04-01

    Severe weather regularly hits the Lleida Plain (western part of Catalonia, NE of Iberian Peninsula), causing important damage to the local agriculture. In order to help severe weather surveillance tasks, the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC) implemented in 2016 the Lightning Jump (LJ) algorithm as operative warning tool after an exhaustive validation phase of several months. The present study delves into the analysis of the relationship between Lightning Jump alerts and hail occurrence, through the analysis of lightning and radar variables in the moment when the warning is issued. Overall, the study has consisted of the analysis of 149 cases, grouping them into two categories according to hail size: small and large hail, with a threshold of 2 cm of diameter. The thunderstorms related to big sized hail presented remarkable differences in some of the variables analysed that could help forecast the size of hail when the LJ alert is triggered. Moreover, other variables have been allowed to observe and to corroborate how the LJ algorithm works during the 13 min before the warning is triggered.

  13. 14 CFR Appendix B to Part 33 - Certification Standard Atmospheric Concentrations of Rain and Hail

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... fabricated from ice to simulate hail conditions, the use of water droplets and hail having shapes, sizes and distributions of sizes other than those defined in this appendix B, or the use of a single size or shape for... Concentrations Altitude (feet) Rain water content (RWC) (grams water/meter 3 air) 0 20.0 20,000 20.0 26,300 15.2...

  14. Design and Control of the Electric Drive of the Anti- Hail Launching System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gheorghe Manolea

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available In the present, the Romanian anti-hail launchers are manually operated. This means that the positioning of the launcher on the two directions (azimuth and elevation are adjusted based on the commands, by the human operator. The paper describes the design, implementation and experimental results of the electric drives of the two axes by using permanent magnets synchronous motors (PMSM supplied by smart drives. The solution offers the possibility of automation and integration of the anti-hail launchers within intelligent systems.

  15. Evaluation of Hail Simulated Damage on Marketable Tuber Yield of Potato Agria Cultivar in Ardabil Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Hassanpanah

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available This study was conducted at Ardabil Agriculture and Natural Resources Research Station during the year of 2010. A factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with four replications and two factors were used to evaluate the effect of simulated hail damage to foliage at different growth stages of potato Agria cultivar on marketable tuber yield. The first factor consisted of six levels of foliar damage (0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 percent and the second factor of five levels of plant growth stages (2, 5, 8, 11 and 15 weeks after the growing. Analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences among plants for levels and times of hail damage and their interactions in terms of marketable tuber yield. Percentage of marketable yield reduction at early stages of vegetative growth (2 weeks after growing was minimal. Occurrence of hail damage at the tuberization and bulking stages (5, 8 and 11 weeks after growing severely reduced marketable tuber yield. While, its damage at late growing stages of (14 weeks after growing on tuber yield was not appreciable. Times of hail damage on marketable tuber yield reduction was calculated through the regression. Relative reduction of marketable tuber yield at the early stages of vegetative growth, due to hail damage, against non-marketable tuber yield was higher than of bulking stage.

  16. A Poisson regression approach to model monthly hail occurrence in Northern Switzerland using large-scale environmental variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madonna, Erica; Ginsbourger, David; Martius, Olivia

    2018-05-01

    In Switzerland, hail regularly causes substantial damage to agriculture, cars and infrastructure, however, little is known about its long-term variability. To study the variability, the monthly number of days with hail in northern Switzerland is modeled in a regression framework using large-scale predictors derived from ERA-Interim reanalysis. The model is developed and verified using radar-based hail observations for the extended summer season (April-September) in the period 2002-2014. The seasonality of hail is explicitly modeled with a categorical predictor (month) and monthly anomalies of several large-scale predictors are used to capture the year-to-year variability. Several regression models are applied and their performance tested with respect to standard scores and cross-validation. The chosen model includes four predictors: the monthly anomaly of the two meter temperature, the monthly anomaly of the logarithm of the convective available potential energy (CAPE), the monthly anomaly of the wind shear and the month. This model well captures the intra-annual variability and slightly underestimates its inter-annual variability. The regression model is applied to the reanalysis data back in time to 1980. The resulting hail day time series shows an increase of the number of hail days per month, which is (in the model) related to an increase in temperature and CAPE. The trend corresponds to approximately 0.5 days per month per decade. The results of the regression model have been compared to two independent data sets. All data sets agree on the sign of the trend, but the trend is weaker in the other data sets.

  17. Hail formation triggers rapid ash aggregation in volcanic plumes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Eaton, Alexa R; Mastin, Larry G; Herzog, Michael; Schwaiger, Hans F; Schneider, David J; Wallace, Kristi L; Clarke, Amanda B

    2015-08-03

    During explosive eruptions, airborne particles collide and stick together, accelerating the fallout of volcanic ash and climate-forcing aerosols. This aggregation process remains a major source of uncertainty both in ash dispersal forecasting and interpretation of eruptions from the geological record. Here we illuminate the mechanisms and timescales of particle aggregation from a well-characterized 'wet' eruption. The 2009 eruption of Redoubt Volcano, Alaska, incorporated water from the surface (in this case, a glacier), which is a common occurrence during explosive volcanism worldwide. Observations from C-band weather radar, fall deposits and numerical modelling demonstrate that hail-forming processes in the eruption plume triggered aggregation of ∼95% of the fine ash and stripped much of the erupted mass out of the atmosphere within 30 min. Based on these findings, we propose a mechanism of hail-like ash aggregation that contributes to the anomalously rapid fallout of fine ash and occurrence of concentrically layered aggregates in volcanic deposits.

  18. A new method for estimating the probable maximum hail loss of a building portfolio based on hailfall intensity determined by radar measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aller, D.; Hohl, R.; Mair, F.; Schiesser, H.-H.

    2003-04-01

    Extreme hailfall can cause massive damage to building structures. For the insurance and reinsurance industry it is essential to estimate the probable maximum hail loss of their portfolio. The probable maximum loss (PML) is usually defined with a return period of 1 in 250 years. Statistical extrapolation has a number of critical points, as historical hail loss data are usually only available from some events while insurance portfolios change over the years. At the moment, footprints are derived from historical hail damage data. These footprints (mean damage patterns) are then moved over a portfolio of interest to create scenario losses. However, damage patterns of past events are based on the specific portfolio that was damaged during that event and can be considerably different from the current spread of risks. A new method for estimating the probable maximum hail loss to a building portfolio is presented. It is shown that footprints derived from historical damages are different to footprints of hail kinetic energy calculated from radar reflectivity measurements. Based on the relationship between radar-derived hail kinetic energy and hail damage to buildings, scenario losses can be calculated. A systematic motion of the hail kinetic energy footprints over the underlying portfolio creates a loss set. It is difficult to estimate the return period of losses calculated with footprints derived from historical damages being moved around. To determine the return periods of the hail kinetic energy footprints over Switzerland, 15 years of radar measurements and 53 years of agricultural hail losses are available. Based on these data, return periods of several types of hailstorms were derived for different regions in Switzerland. The loss set is combined with the return periods of the event set to obtain an exceeding frequency curve, which can be used to derive the PML.

  19. Analysis and modeling of a hail event consequences on a building portfolio

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicolet, Pierrick; Voumard, Jérémie; Choffet, Marc; Demierre, Jonathan; Imhof, Markus; Jaboyedoff, Michel

    2014-05-01

    North-West Switzerland has been affected by a severe Hail Storm in July 2011, which was especially intense in the Canton of Aargau. The damage cost of this event is around EUR 105 Million only for the Canton of Aargau, which corresponds to half of the mean annual consolidated damage cost of the last 20 years for the 19 Cantons (over 26) with a public insurance. The aim of this project is to benefit from the collected insurance data to better understand and estimate the risk of such event. In a first step, a simple hail event simulator, which has been developed for a previous hail episode, is modified. The geometric properties of the storm is derived from the maximum intensity radar image by means of a set of 2D Gaussians instead of using 1D Gaussians on profiles, as it was the case in the previous version. The tool is then tested on this new event in order to establish its ability to give a fast damage estimation based on the radar image and buildings value and location. The geometrical properties are used in a further step to generate random outcomes with similar characteristics, which are combined with a vulnerability curve and an event frequency to estimate the risk. The vulnerability curve comes from a 2009 event and is improved with data from this event, whereas the frequency for the Canton is estimated from insurance records. In addition to this regional risk analysis, this contribution aims at studying the relation of the buildings orientation with the damage rate. Indeed, it is expected that the orientation of the roof influences the aging of the material by controlling the frequency and amplitude of thaw-freeze cycles, changing then the vulnerability over time. This part is established by calculating the hours of sunshine, which are used to derive the material temperatures. This information is then compared with insurance claims. A last part proposes a model to study the hail impact on a building, by modeling the different equipment on each facade of the

  20. Space Transportation System (STS)-117 External Tank (ET)-124 Hail Damage Repair Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Timmy R.; Gentz, Steven J.; Barth, Timothy S.; Minute, Stephen A.; Flowers, Cody P.; Hamilton, David A.; Null, Cynthia H.; Schafer, Charles F.

    2009-01-01

    Severe thunderstorms with associated hail and high winds struck the STS-117 stack on February 26, 2007. Peak winds were recorded at 62 knots with hail sizes ranging from 0.3 inch to 0.8 inch in diameter. As a result of the storm, the North Carolina Foam Institute (NCFI) type 24-124 Thermal Protection System (TPS) foam on the liquid oxygen (LO2) ogive acreage incurred significant impact damage. The NCFI on the ET intertank and the liquid hydrogen (LH2) acreage sustained hail damage. The Polymer Development Laboratory (PDL)-1034 foam of the LO2 ice frost ramps (IFRs) and the Super-Lightweight Ablator (SLA) of the LO2 cable tray also suffered minor damage. NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) was asked to assess the technical feasibility of repairing the ET TPS, the reasonableness of conducting those repairs with the vehicle in a vertical, integrated configuration at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Vehicle Assemble Building (VAB), and to address attendant human factors considerations including worker fatigue and the potential for error. The outcome of the assessment is recorded in this document.

  1. PrivateRide: A Privacy-Enhanced Ride-Hailing Service

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pham Anh

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available In the past few years, we have witnessed a rise in the popularity of ride-hailing services (RHSs, an online marketplace that enables accredited drivers to use their own cars to drive ride-hailing users. Unlike other transportation services, RHSs raise significant privacy concerns, as providers are able to track the precise mobility patterns of millions of riders worldwide. We present the first survey and analysis of the privacy threats in RHSs. Our analysis exposes high-risk privacy threats that do not occur in conventional taxi services. Therefore, we propose PrivateRide, a privacy-enhancing and practical solution that offers anonymity and location privacy for riders, and protects drivers’ information from harvesting attacks. PrivateRide lowers the high-risk privacy threats in RHSs to a level that is at least as low as that of many taxi services. Using real data-sets from Uber and taxi rides, we show that PrivateRide significantly enhances riders’ privacy, while preserving tangible accuracy in ride matching and fare calculation, with only negligible effects on convenience. Moreover, by using our Android implementation for experimental evaluations, we show that PrivateRide’s overhead during ride setup is negligible. In short, we enable privacy-conscious riders to achieve levels of privacy that are not possible in current RHSs and even in some conventional taxi services, thereby offering a potential business differentiator.

  2. Mycoflora Of Maize Zea Maize At Different Locations In Hail Area-Saudi Arabia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elham S. Dawood

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Zea maize is one of the main cereals produced in Hail area Saudi Arabia. The risk of mycotoxin contamination is related to mycoflora associated with corn kernel. This paper reports on isolation and identification of external and internal mycoflora of maize harvested in Hail area in 2006 2008. A mycological survey was carried out on 200 samples from two agricultural companies . Comparison between frequency and relative density of the prevalent genera and species was carried out. Genus Fusarium was the most prevalent component of the internal seed - borne mycoflora in the two companies Aspergillus spp. was the most prevalent genus as external seed borne mycoflora. The predominant species of the different genera were Fusarium moniliforrme Aspergillus flavus A. niger and Alternaria alternate.

  3. Nonlinear response of hail precipitation rate to environmental moisture content: A real case modeling study of an episodic midlatitude severe convective event

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Mingxin; Zhang, Fuqing; Zhang, Qinghong; Harrington, Jerry Y.; Kumjian, Matthew R.

    2017-07-01

    The dependence of hail production on initial moisture content in a simulated midlatitude episodic convective event occurred in northeast China on 10-11 June 2005 was investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with a double-moment microphysics scheme where both graupel and hail are considered. Three sensitivity experiments were performed by modifying the initial water vapor mixing ratio profile to 90% ("Q-10%"), 105% ("Q+5%"), and 110% ("Q+10%") of the initial conditions used for the control simulation. It was found that increasing the initial water vapor content caused the hail and total precipitation rates to increase during the first 5 h. The precipitation response to increasing water vapor content was monotonic for this first episode; however, for the event's second episode, the hail precipitation rate responds to the initial water vapor profile nonlinearly, while the total precipitation rate responds mostly monotonically. In particular, simulation Q+5% achieves the largest hail production rate while simulation Q+10% has the largest total precipitation rate. In contrast, during the second episode simulation Q-10% has the strongest vertical motion, produces the most cloud ice and snow, but has the lowest hail production. Analysis shows that increasing the initial moisture content directly increases the precipitation during the first episode, which subsequently induces a stronger, longer-lasting cold pool that limits the development of deep convection during the second episode.

  4. Sounding-derived parameters associated with large hail and tornadoes in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Groenemeijer, P.H.; van Delden, A.J.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/072670703

    2007-01-01

    A study is presented focusing on the potential value of parameters derived from radiosonde data or data from numerical atmospheric models for the forecasting of severe weather associated with convective storms. Parameters have been derived from soundings in the proximity of large hail, tornadoes

  5. Floristic composition and vegetation analysis in Hail region north of central Saudi Arabia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Ghanim, Wafaa M; Hassan, Loutfy M; Galal, Tarek M; Badr, Abdelfattah

    2010-04-01

    In this study, 19 sites representing different habitats in Hail region were regularly visited for two years, in each site 2-5 stands were selected for investigating floristic composition and vegetation types in the area. A total of 124 species representing 34 families were recorded. The family Asteraceae is represented by the highest number of species (21 species) followed by the Poaceae (17 species) and the Brassicaceae (10 species) whereas, 15 families including Acanthaceae, Convolvulaceae, Moraceae, Nyctaginaceae and Primulaceae, are represented by a single species each. Chronological analysis of the vegetation in the area revealed the domination of Saharo-Sindian elements in the wild vegetations and of weedy species in the cultivated plots. Therophytes and chamaephytes are the dominating life forms of the vegetation spectra; therophytes represent 49.20% and chamaephytes represent 29.00% of the total species in the study area. Application of TWINISPAN and DECORANA classification and ordination techniques to the data produced seven vegetation groups. Ruderal habitats comprised two small groups A and F dominated by Phragmites australis and Imperata cylindrical (A), Euphorbia peplus and Sisymbrium irio (F), respectively. Two vegetation groups (B and G) have been recognized in the mountains and slopes dominated by Launaea mucronata, Trigonella stellata (B) and Ficus palmate and Fagonia bruguieri (G). Other two groups (C and E) inhabit the desert and mountainous wadies; these are represented by Gymnocarpos decandrus and Ochradenus baccatus (C) and Senecio glaucus subsp. coronopifolius and Rumex equisetiforme (E). On the other hand, one group (D) inhabits the cultivated plots and is represented by Plantago albicans and Rumex vesicarius, the last group also includes species restricted to the sand dune habitat of the Al-Nafud desert north of Hail city and represented by Calligonum polygonoides and Halyxolon salicornicum. The vegetation analysis indicated the invasion of

  6. Floristic composition and vegetation analysis in Hail region north of central Saudi Arabia

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Ghanim, Wafaa M.; Hassan, Loutfy M.; Galal, Tarek M.; Badr, Abdelfattah

    2010-01-01

    In this study, 19 sites representing different habitats in Hail region were regularly visited for two years, in each site 2–5 stands were selected for investigating floristic composition and vegetation types in the area. A total of 124 species representing 34 families were recorded. The family Asteraceae is represented by the highest number of species (21 species) followed by the Poaceae (17 species) and the Brassicaceae (10 species) whereas, 15 families including Acanthaceae, Convolvulaceae, Moraceae, Nyctaginaceae and Primulaceae, are represented by a single species each. Chronological analysis of the vegetation in the area revealed the domination of Saharo-Sindian elements in the wild vegetations and of weedy species in the cultivated plots. Therophytes and chamaephytes are the dominating life forms of the vegetation spectra; therophytes represent 49.20% and chamaephytes represent 29.00% of the total species in the study area. Application of TWINISPAN and DECORANA classification and ordination techniques to the data produced seven vegetation groups. Ruderal habitats comprised two small groups A and F dominated by Phragmites australis and Imperata cylindrical (A), Euphorbia peplus and Sisymbrium irio (F), respectively. Two vegetation groups (B and G) have been recognized in the mountains and slopes dominated by Launaea mucronata, Trigonella stellata (B) and Ficus palmate and Fagonia bruguieri (G). Other two groups (C and E) inhabit the desert and mountainous wadies; these are represented by Gymnocarpos decandrus and Ochradenus baccatus (C) and Senecio glaucus subsp. coronopifolius and Rumex equisetiforme (E). On the other hand, one group (D) inhabits the cultivated plots and is represented by Plantago albicans and Rumex vesicarius, the last group also includes species restricted to the sand dune habitat of the Al-Nafud desert north of Hail city and represented by Calligonum polygonoides and Halyxolon salicornicum. The vegetation analysis indicated the invasion

  7. The Analysis of Competitive Strategy and Suggestions for Didi under the Background of the New Car-hailing Regulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Tingting; Zhao, Lei

    2017-10-01

    The emergence of car-hailing service satisfies the need of public travel in Internet era. Didi—the representative of car-hailing service, provides users with cost-effective service and great travel experience and quickly became the leader in the field of mobile travel depending on its price advantage, market segmentation, fast respond and some other competitive strategies. However, the promulgation of the new car-hailing regulation brings many challenges to Didi. After the new regulation, it is hard for Didi to gap away significantly from its competitors in scale and price. Thus the differentiated service is the competitive focus for all platforms. So there is an urgent need for Didi to do something to make difference, such as improving the interface design of the platform and the process of order allocation, establishing exclusive ‘station’, increasing the interaction between drivers and passengers. By doing so, Didi can reduce the information asymmetry and increase the user engagement and loyalty with high quality service.

  8. ENSO-based probabilistic forecasts of March-May U.S. tornado and hail activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lepore, Chiara; Tippett, Michael K.; Allen, John T.

    2017-09-01

    Extended logistic regression is used to predict March-May severe convective storm (SCS) activity based on the preceding December-February (DJF) El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) state. The spatially resolved probabilistic forecasts are verified against U.S. tornado counts, hail events, and two environmental indices for severe convection. The cross-validated skill is positive for roughly a quarter of the U.S. Overall, indices are predicted with more skill than are storm reports, and hail events are predicted with more skill than tornado counts. Skill is higher in the cool phase of ENSO (La Niña like) when overall SCS activity is higher. SCS forecasts based on the predicted DJF ENSO state from coupled dynamical models initialized in October of the previous year extend the lead time with only a modest reduction in skill compared to forecasts based on the observed DJF ENSO state.

  9. CSU-CHILL Polarimetric Radar Measurements from a Severe Hail Storm in Eastern Colorado.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hubbert, J.; Bringi, V. N.; Carey, L. D.; Bolen, S.

    1998-08-01

    Polarimetric radar measurements made by the recently upgraded CSU-CHILL radar system in a severe hailstorm are analyzed permitting for the first time the combined use of Zh, ZDR, linear depolarization ratio (LDR), KDP, and h to infer hydrometeor types. A chase van equipped for manual collection of hail, and instrumented with a rain gauge, intercepted the storm core for 50 min. The period of golfball-sized hail is easily distinguished by high LDR (greater than or equal to 18 dB), negative ZDR (less than or equal to 0.5 dB), and low h (less than or equal to 0.93) values near the surface. Rainfall accumulation over the entire event (about 40 mm) estimated using KDP is in excellent agreement with the rain gauge measurement. Limited dual-Doppler synthesis using the CSU-CHILL and Denver WSR-88D radars permit estimates of the horizontal convergence at altitudes less than 3 km above ground level (AGL) at 1747 and 1812 mountain daylight time (MDT). Locations of peak horizontal convergence at these times are centered on well-defined positive ZDR columns. Vertical sections of multiparameter radar data at 1812 MDT are interpreted in terms of hydrometeor type. In particular, an enhanced LDR `cap' area on top of the the positive ZDR column is interpreted as a region of mixed phase with large drops mixed with partially frozen and frozen hydrometeors. A positive KDP column on the the western fringe of the main updraft is inferred to be the result of drops (1-2 mm) shed by wet hailstones. Swaths of large hail at the surface (inferred from LDR signatures) and positive ZDR at 3.5 km AGL suggest that potential frozen drop embryos are favorably located for growth into large hailstones. Thin section analysis of a sample of the large hailstones shows that 30%-40% have frozen drop embryos.

  10. Seropositivity of TTIs among blood donors in Hail, Saudi Arabia, from 2014 to 2015

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yousef Abd El Galil Ahmed Sarah

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To detect the seropositivity of transfusion transmitted infections among healthy blood donors in Hail Region, Saudi Arabia. Methods: In the study, about 361 blood donors from different nationalities and ages were tested. Serum samples were collected and tested by ELISA for detection of HIV, HTLV-I/II, hepatitis B virus, syphilis and hepatitis C virus (HCV. Results: Out of 361 donors, 26 were found to be positive for HCV in a percentage of 7.2% while 17 (4.7% of them were infected with HIV. There were eight donors infected with HTLV-I/II, and three donors infected with syphilis. Hepatitis B surface antigen was detected in 10% of donors while hepatitis B surface antibody and hepatitis B core antibody were positive in thirty-one blood donors. Conclusions: The obtained data revealed that the seropositivity of hepatitis B virus, HCV, syphilis, HTLV-I/II, and HIV in Hail Region during the period under study were 8.6%, 7.2%, 4.7%, 2.2% and 0.8%, respectively. It is recommended to continue screening blood donors with highly specific and sensitive tests, to counsel donors who are positive to transfusion transmitted infections.

  11. Investigation of the Factors Influencing Volatile Chemical Fate During Steady-state Accretion on Wet-growing Hail

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael, R. A.; Stuart, A. L.

    2007-12-01

    Phase partitioning during freezing affects the transport and distribution of volatile chemical species in convective clouds. This consequently can have impacts on tropospheric chemistry, air quality, pollutant deposition, and climate change. Here, we discuss the development, evaluation, and application of a mechanistic model for the study and prediction of volatile chemical partitioning during steady-state hailstone growth. The model estimates the fraction of a chemical species retained in a two-phase freezing hailstone. It is based upon mass rate balances over water and solute for accretion under wet-growth conditions. Expressions for the calculation of model components, including the rates of super-cooled drop collection, shedding, evaporation, and hail growth were developed and implemented based on available cloud microphysics literature. Solute fate calculations assume equilibrium partitioning at air-liquid and liquid-ice interfaces. Currently, we are testing the model by performing mass balance calculations, sensitivity analyses, and comparison to available experimental data. Application of the model will improve understanding of the effects of cloud conditions and chemical properties on the fate of dissolved chemical species during hail growth.

  12. Assessment of neck pain and cervical mobility among female computer workers at Hail University.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohammad, Walaa S; Hamza, Hayat H; ElSais, Walaa M

    2015-01-01

    The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of neck pain among computer workers at Hail University, Saudi Arabia and to compare the cervical range of motion (ROM) of female computer workers suffering from neck pain to the cervical ROM of healthy female computer workers. One hundred and seventy-six female volunteers between 20 and 46 years of age were investigated. Fifty-six of these volunteers were staff members, 22 were administrators and 98 were students. The Cervical Range of Motion (CROM) instrument was used to measure the ROM of the cervical spine. A questionnaire was used to assess participants for the presence of neck pain. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, and the level of significant was set at p pain (75%) among computer workers at Hail University, particularly among students. There were significant differences in cervical lateral flexion, rotation to the right side and protraction range between the pain and pain-free groups. Our results demonstrated that cervical ROM measurements, particularly cervical lateral flexion, rotation and protraction, could be useful for predicting changes in head and neck posture after long-term computer work.

  13. Level of Self-confidence among Female Students of Hail University in Saudi Arabia in Relationship with some Variables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wedad Mohammad Saleh Alkferi

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to detect the level of self-confidence among female students of Hail University, and whether there were significant differences at the level of the students' self-confidence attributed to the variables of age and specialization. The study sample, which was randomly selected, consisted of 802 students from various disciplines at the university (medicine, engineering, psychology, and Islamic culture enrolled for the second semester of the academic year (2015/2016. To achieve the objectives of the study a confidence Scale developed by Kawasmeh and Farah (1996. The scale was checked for its validity and reliability. The statistical package SPSS was used to extract the results. Results of the study revealed a low level of self-confidence for the students of the university, whereas there were no statistically significant differences due to the variables of age and specialization. Keywords: Self-confidence, Students of Hail University, Saudi Arabia, Some variables.

  14. Viabilidade econômica do uso da tela antigranizo em pomares de pêra-japonesa Economic evaluation of the use of hail protection net in japonese pear orchard

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CARLOS LEOMAR KREUZ

    2002-08-01

    Full Text Available O presente trabalho estudou o uso da tela de proteção ao granizo sob a perspectiva de um investimento na cultura da pêra-japonesa nas condições do Sul do Brasil. Os resultados evidenciam que, dado um risco médio de ocorrência de granizo de 10% ao ano, o seu uso se justifica para produtores que possuem disponibilidade de capital, bem como para aqueles que buscam uma constância no atendimento ao mercado.This study was carried out to analyse the economic viability of the use of a hail protection net in Japanese pear orchards in Southern Brazil. The hail has a chance of 10% to occur yearly. The use of the hail net protection did not improve the economic return. It is suggested the use when capital is not a limiting production factor, and in order to constantly supply the market.

  15. Occurrence of ectoparasitic arthropods associated with rodents in Hail region northern Saudi Arabia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asiry, Khalid A; Fetoh, Badr El-Sabah A

    2014-09-01

    Ectoparasitic arthropods are a diverse element of the Saudi fauna. Due to this, a survey of ectoparasites associated with rodents was conducted as a preliminary study in five districts of Hail region of northern Saudi Arabia for the first time. Ectoparasites extracted from 750 rodents were sampled and identified by recording their frequency of appearance. Results revealed that 1,287 ectoparasites infested 316 of the captured rodent hosts. These ectoparasites parasitized on four species of rodents including three species of rats Rattus rattus rattus, Rattus rattus frugivorus, and Rattus rattus alexandrinus and one species of mouse Acomys dimidiatus (Rodentia: Muridae). The ectoparasites belong to four different groups: ticks, fleas, lice, and mites. Ticks were the highest in the number, while fleas were the lowest among all the extracted ectoparasite groups. The collected ectoparasitic arthropods consisted of seven species. Ticks were of two species: Rhipicephalus turanicus and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Acari: Ixodidae), fleas were of two species: Xenopsylla cheopis and Xenopsyllus conformis mycerini (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae), lice was a single species: Polyplax serrata (Anoplura: Hoplopleuridae), and mites were of two species: Laelaps nuttali and Laelaps echidninus (Mesostigmata: Laelapidae). The findings of the study showed that the intensity of infestation was varied between rodent host sexes, wherein females had the highest rate of parasitic infestation, and the parasitic index of appearance was very high for one group of parasites (i.e., ticks). The parasitic prevalence was 42.13 % on rodents, and mites were the most prevalent parasite species. Overall, this study was carried out to establish baseline data for ectoparasite-infested rodents in Hail region, Saudi Arabia, and may help for appropriate planning to control zoonotic diseases in this area.

  16. The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Urban Radar Network: Enhancing Resilience in the Presence of Floods, Tornadoes, Hail and High Winds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chandra*, Chandrasekar V.; the full DFW Team

    2015-04-01

    Currently, the National Weather Service (NWS) Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) provides observations updated every five-six minutes across the United States. However, at the maximum NEXRAD operating range of 230 km, the 0.5 degree radar beam (lowest tilt) height is about 5.4 km above ground level (AGL) because of the effect of Earth curvature. Consequently, much of the lower atmosphere (1-3 km AGL) cannot be observed by the NEXRAD. To overcome the fundamental coverage limitations of today's weather surveillance radars, and improve the spatial and temporal resolution issues, at urban scale, the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center (NSF-ERC) for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) has embarked the development of Dallas-Fort worth (DFW) urban remote sensing network to conduct high-resolution sensing in the lower atmosphere for a metropolitan environment, communicate high resolution observations and nowcasting of severe weather including flash floods, hail storms and high wind events. Being one of the largest inland metropolitan areas in the U.S., the DFW Metroplex is home to over 6.5 million people by 2012 according to the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG). It experiences a wide range of natural weather hazards, including urban flash flood, high wind, tornado, and hail, etc. Successful monitoring of the rapid changing meteorological conditions in such a region is necessary for emergency management and decision making. Therefore, it is an ideal location to investigate the impacts of hazardous weather phenomena, to enhance resilience in an urban setting and demonstrate the CASA concept in a densely populated urban environment. The DFW radar network consists of 8 dual-polarization X-band weather radars and standard NEXRAD S-band radar, covering the greater DFW metropolitan region. This paper will present high resolution observation of tornado, urban flood, hail storm and damaging wind event all within the

  17. Looking for periodicities in the hail intensity in the Andes region

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Prieto, R; Herrera, R; Doussel, P [Inaiglia, Mendoza (Argentina); Gimeno, L; Ribera, P [Univerisdad de Vigo, Orense (Spain); Garcia, R; Hernandez, E [Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid (Spain)

    2001-04-01

    Documental sources and categorization techniques were used to construct a series of the annual hail intensity in Mendoza area (Argentina). When the temporal series by means of Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) and the Maximum Entropy Method (MEM) was analyzed, we found interdecadal oscillations of periods of about 20 years and interannual oscillations of about 4 and 9 years. In addition when detrented-data were used a low frequency oscillation of about 72 years also appears. [Spanish] Para construir una serie de intensidades de granizo en el area de Mendoza (Argentina), se emplearon fuentes documentales y tecnicas de caracterizacion. Cuando se analizaron las series temporales, mediante el Analisis Singular del Expectro (SSA), y el Metodo de Maxima Entropia, encontramos oscilaciones decadales con periodos de aproximadamente 20 anos y oscilaciones interanuales de alrededor de 4 a 9 anos. Ademas cuando la variacion por tendencia de los datos se elimino, se puso de manifiesto una oscilacion de frecuencia de cerca de 72 anos.

  18. Experimental Evaluation of a Flat Plate Solar Collector Under Hail City Climate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Ben Khedher

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Flat plate solar water heaters are widely used for water heating in low-temperature residential applications. In this paper the thermal performance of a solar flat plate water heater under Hail weather conditions (latitude 27°52΄N longitude ‎41°69΄E was experimentally investigated. Fluid was circulated through the imbedded copper tubes in the flat plate collector and inlet and outlet temperatures of the fluid were noted at five minute intervals. The experimental-time was between 9:00AM-15:00PM. A study was carried out experimentally to present the efficiency curves of a flat plate solar collector at different flow rates. ASHRAE standard 93-2003 was followed for calculation of instantaneous efficiency of solar collector. Result shows that the flow rate of the circulating fluid highly influence the thermal efficiency of the solar collector. Optimum flow rate of 2.5L/min leads to maximum collector efficiency.

  19. Statistical model for assessing the risk of hail damage to any ground installation. Technical report, June 1978-March 1979

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cox, M; Armstrong, P R

    1979-09-01

    This report describes a statistical model which has been developed to determine the risk of damage by large hail to any ground installation (such as a solar flat plate collector). The model is based on data for the number of haildays per year, hailstone size distribution, and storm severity (expressed in number of hailstones per square meter per storm). Other than parameters derived from the raw meteorological data available, the parameters of the model are the number of years of surface exposure and the exposure area size. The end result is the probability of a hailstone of a given size striking a given surface area in a given number of years. The maximum probable hailstone size is used as a convenient index of hail risk. The data upon which to base a prediction model are sparse at this time, covering few geographic locations; much of the information available is deficient in sampling consistency and/or sample size. For this reason, this report fully documents the derivation and use of the model for future applications, when more and better data are collected. The FORTRAN source code to calculate the risk model digitally is included in APPENDIX D. This model improves on previous work in: (1) the use of more thorough statistical procedures and a more rigorous accounting of storm severity; (2) a more thorough investigation into the two probability density distributions commonly used (Poisson and negative binomial) to describe hailday frequencies, and (3) an attempt to define more rigorously the distribution of hailstone sizes. A sensitivity analysis was performed and conclusions are drawn from the results.

  20. Some Socioeconomic Factors and Lifestyle Habits Influencing the Prevalence of Obesity among Adolescent Male Students in the Hail Region of Saudi Arabia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Awfa Y. Alazzeh

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the effect of some socioeconomic factors and lifestyle habits on the prevalence of obesity among adolescent male students in the Hail region, Saudi Arabia. A questionnaire was filled by 1495 male adolescents distributed among 12 schools in the Hail region. Body weight and height were taken, and the Z-score of students was measured using Anthroplus software with a cutoff 1–2 and +2 standard deviations to determine overweight and obesity, respectively. The study revealed that 21.3% of students were overweight and 27% were obese, respectively. There was a negative association between family size of >8 and obesity (OR: 0.68, CI: 0.48–0.92, p = 0.05. Family income of <5000 SR was negatively associated with obesity (OR: 0.59, CI: 0.36–0.97, p = 0.03. Whether a subject’s mother worked (odds ratio (OR: 1.43, confidence interval CI: 1.03–1.99, p = 0.03 as well as the subject’s mother’s education—whether she can read and write, has a middle school degree, or has done postsecondary studies—were positively associated with obesity. Exercise, regardless of the duration, was negatively associated with obesity. In addition, sleeping <6 h/day had a positive association with obesity. Conclusion: a >8 family size and a low family income were negatively associated with obesity, while having an educated and working mother was positively associated with obesity.

  1. Antibiotics in the coastal environment of the Hailing Bay region, South China Sea: Spatial distribution, source analysis and ecological risks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Hui; Liu, Shan; Xu, Xiang-Rong; Zhou, Guang-Jie; Liu, Shuang-Shuang; Yue, Wei-Zhong; Sun, Kai-Feng; Ying, Guang-Guo

    2015-06-15

    In this study, the occurrence and spatial distribution of 38 antibiotics in surface water and sediment samples of the Hailing Bay region, South China Sea, were investigated. Twenty-one, 16 and 15 of 38 antibiotics were detected with the concentrations ranging from antibiotics in the water phase were correlated positively with chemical oxygen demand and nitrate. The source analysis indicated that untreated domestic sewage was the primary source of antibiotics in the study region. Fluoroquinolones showed strong sorption capacity onto sediments due to their high pseudo-partitioning coefficients. Risk assessment indicated that oxytetracycline, norfloxacin and erythromycin-H2O posed high risks to aquatic organisms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Mycoflora Of Barley Hordeum Vulgare L. At Different Locations In Hail Area- Saudi Arabia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elham S. Dawood

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract 400 grain samples collected from barley fields in Hail area at the northern part of Saudi Arabia was used for this study. Isolation and identification of seed-borne fungi were conducted according to standard tests described by the International Seed Testing Association ISTA using YGCA medium. A total of 265 of external mycoflora and 517 of internal mycoflora were grouped into five fungal genera namely Aspergillus Alternaria Penillium Fusarium and Ulocladium spp. were isolated. Comparsion between frequencies and relative densities of external and internal mycoflora was carried out among the species of the predominant genera. Aspergillus flavus and A. niger reaveled high Fr. and RD of external mycoflora A. flavus Fr.60.9 - 40.5 RD 48.3 - 40.9and A. niger Fr. 52.7- 48.6- and RD 38.7- 41.9 as external internal mycoflora mycoflora respectively. All the species of Ulocladium and Alternaria were predominant as internal mycoflora .The most predominant species of Ulocladium and Alternaria were U. atrium Fr 89 -75.5and RD -79- 62.5 as internal external mycoflora respectively and Alternaria alternate Fr. 60 - 46.6 and RD. 55-32.3as externalinternal mycoflora respectively.

  3. Standard Test Method for Determining Resistance of Photovoltaic Modules to Hail by Impact with Propelled Ice Balls

    CERN Document Server

    American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia

    2010-01-01

    1.1 This test method provides a procedure for determining the ability of photovoltaic modules to withstand impact forces of falling hail. Propelled ice balls are used to simulate falling hailstones. 1.2 This test method defines test specimens and methods for mounting specimens, specifies impact locations on each test specimen, provides an equation for determining the velocity of any size ice ball, provides a method for impacting the test specimens with ice balls, provides a method for determining changes in electrical performance, and specifies parameters that must be recorded and reported. 1.3 This test method does not establish pass or fail levels. The determination of acceptable or unacceptable levels of ice ball impact resistance is beyond the scope of this test method. 1.4 The size of the ice ball to be used in conducting this test is not specified. This test method can be used with various sizes of ice balls. 1.5 This test method may be applied to concentrator and nonconcentrator modules. 1.6 The v...

  4. Standard Practice for Determining Resistance of Solar Collector Covers to Hail by Impact With Propelled Ice Balls

    CERN Document Server

    American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia

    1992-01-01

    1.1 This practice covers a procedure for determining the ability of cover plates for flat-plate solar collectors to withstand impact forces of falling hail. Propelled ice balls are used to simulate falling hailstones. This practice is not intended to apply to photovoltaic cells or arrays. 1.2 This practice defines two types of test specimens, describes methods for mounting specimens, specifies impact locations on each test specimen, provides an equation for determining the velocity of any size ice ball, provides a method for impacting the test specimens with ice balls, and specifies parameters that must be recorded and reported. 1.3 This practice does not establish pass or fail levels. The determination of acceptable or unacceptable levels of ice-ball impact resistance is beyond the scope of this practice. 1.4 The size of ice ball to be used in conducting this test is not specified in this practice. This practice can be used with various sizes of ice balls. 1.5 The categories of solar collector cover plat...

  5. Effect of Water Pollution on Blood Elements in the Human Population of Hail, KSA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elsayed Shokr AM

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The relationship between contaminated drinking water with trace elements and thyroid diseases hypertension, liver functions disorder and kidney functions disorder was studied in this research. The thyroid diseases hypertension, liver functions disorder and kidney functions disorder are due to contaminant drinking water with trace elements. The present study concerned with water toxicity. The heavy metals belonging to the most important pollutants. A strong relationship between contaminated drinking water with heavy metals from some of the stations of water shopping in Hail, KSA and thyroid diseases hypertension, liver functions disorder and kidney functions disorder has been identified in this study. These diseases are apparently related to contaminant drinking water with heavy metals such as Pb, Cd, Cu, Mo, Zn, Ni, Mn, Co and Cr. kidney functions disorder is related to contaminate drinking water with lead and cadmium, liver functions disorder to copper and molybdenum, and thyroid functions disorder to iodide, copper, and cadmium. Long-term exposure to lead, cadmium, zinc, iron, and arsenic in drinking-water is mainly related to primarily in the form of thyroid, liver, and kidney functions disorder. Studies of these diseases suggest that abnormal incidence in specific areas is related to toxic materials in the groundwater and thereby led to the contamination of drinking water in these areas. The result of this study showed that increase in the thyroid hormones, and liver functions test as AST and ALT enzymes. Also, there were increase in the hypertension and kidney functions test as creatinine and uric acid. These increases due to the pollution of drinking water by heavy metals.

  6. Antibiotics in typical marine aquaculture farms surrounding Hailing Island, South China: Occurrence, bioaccumulation and human dietary exposure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Hui; Liu, Shan; Xu, Xiang-Rong; Liu, Shuang-Shuang; Zhou, Guang-Jie; Sun, Kai-Feng; Zhao, Jian-Liang; Ying, Guang-Guo

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Thirty-seven antibiotics were systematically investigated in typical marine aquaculture farms. • Enrofloxacin was widely detected in the feed samples (16.6–31.8 ng/g). • ETM-H 2 O in the adult shrimp samples may pose a potential risk to human safety. • TMP was bioaccumulative in fish muscles. • Antibiotics were weakly bioaccumulated in mollusks. - Abstract: The occurrence, bioaccumulation, and human dietary exposure via seafood consumption of 37 antibiotics in six typical marine aquaculture farms surrounding Hailing Island, South China were investigated in this study. Sulfamethoxazole, salinomycin and trimethoprim were widely detected in the water samples (0.4–36.9 ng/L), while oxytetracycline was the predominant antibiotic in the water samples of shrimp larvae pond. Enrofloxacin was widely detected in the feed samples (16.6–31.8 ng/g) and erythromycin–H 2 O was the most frequently detected antibiotic in the sediment samples (0.8–4.8 ng/g). Erythromycin–H 2 O was the dominant antibiotic in the adult Fenneropenaeus penicillatus with concentrations ranging from 2498 to 15,090 ng/g. In addition, trimethoprim was found to be bioaccumulative in young Lutjanus russelli with a median bioaccumulation factor of 6488 L/kg. Based on daily intake estimation, the erythromycin–H 2 O in adult F. penicillatus presented a potential risk to human safety

  7. Assessing hail risk for a building portfolio by generating stochastic events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicolet, Pierrick; Choffet, Marc; Demierre, Jonathan; Imhof, Markus; Jaboyedoff, Michel; Nguyen, Liliane; Voumard, Jérémie

    2015-04-01

    Among the natural hazards affecting buildings, hail is one of the most costly and is nowadays a major concern for building insurance companies. In Switzerland, several costly events were reported these last years, among which the July 2011 event, which cost around 125 million EUR to the Aargauer public insurance company (North-western Switzerland). This study presents the new developments in a stochastic model which aims at evaluating the risk for a building portfolio. Thanks to insurance and meteorological radar data of the 2011 Aargauer event, vulnerability curves are proposed by comparing the damage rate to the radar intensity (i.e. the maximum hailstone size reached during the event, deduced from the radar signal). From these data, vulnerability is defined by a two-step process. The first step defines the probability for a building to be affected (i.e. to claim damages), while the second, if the building is affected, attributes a damage rate to the building from a probability distribution specific to the intensity class. To assess the risk, stochastic events are then generated by summing a set of Gaussian functions with 6 random parameters (X and Y location, maximum hailstone size, standard deviation, eccentricity and orientation). The location of these functions is constrained by a general event shape and by the position of the previously defined functions of the same event. For each generated event, the total cost is calculated in order to obtain a distribution of event costs. The general events parameters (shape, size, …) as well as the distribution of the Gaussian parameters are inferred from two radar intensity maps, namely the one of the aforementioned event, and a second from an event which occurred in 2009. After a large number of simulations, the hailstone size distribution obtained in different regions is compared to the distribution inferred from pre-existing hazard maps, built from a larger set of radar data. The simulation parameters are then

  8. Mini Nutritional Assessment for Hospitalized Patients in King Khalid Hospital at Hail city in Saudi Arabia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafia Bano

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA has been developed to assess malnutrition in elderly  and to filter those who might get benefited from early diagnosis and treatment. The objective of the present study was to examine the nutritional profile of old age hospitalized individuals through the use of the MNA in King Khalid Hospital at Hail city of Saudi Arabia. Methods: Demographic data was gathered through a questionnaire and a modified version of MNA, which was translated into Arabic and applied to 100 elderly females aged ≥ 45 years to assess their nutritional status . The MNA version modified by  Nestle and translated into Arabic was used to evaluate the patients for this study. The descriptive analysis of variables is shown as the average ± one standard deviation. Results: Mean age of the participants was 61.12±12.4 years ranging from 45 to 92 years. The mean body mass index of total population was found to be 26.9±5.2 ranging from 18.3 to 46.5 kg/m2. The assessment scores and total malnutrition score was found to be decreasing with increasing age, showing a significant inverse correlation (P<0.01. Furthermore, the difference in the screening scores according to the age was found to be statistically insignificant. Conclusion: Because of the high prevalence of elderly patients that were malnourished or at risk of malnutrition, a more detailed evaluation of nutritional status, along with a regular follow up and dietary intervention to reverse the situation, of these patients is recommended.

  9. Antibiotics in the coastal environment of the Hailing Bay region, South China Sea: Spatial distribution, source analysis and ecological risks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Hui; Liu, Shan; Xu, Xiang-Rong; Zhou, Guang-Jie; Liu, Shuang-Shuang; Yue, Wei-Zhong; Sun, Kai-Feng; Ying, Guang-Guo

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Thirty-eight antibiotics were systematically investigated in marine environment. • The distribution of antibiotics was significantly correlated with COD and NO 3 –N. • Untreated domestic sewage was the primary source of antibiotics. • Fluoroquinolones showed a strong sorption capacity onto sediments. • Oxytetracycline, norfloxacin and erythromycin–H 2 O indicated high risks. - Abstract: In this study, the occurrence and spatial distribution of 38 antibiotics in surface water and sediment samples of the Hailing Bay region, South China Sea, were investigated. Twenty-one, 16 and 15 of 38 antibiotics were detected with the concentrations ranging from <0.08 (clarithromycin) to 15,163 ng/L (oxytetracycline), 2.12 (methacycline) to 1318 ng/L (erythromycin–H 2 O), <1.95 (ciprofloxacin) to 184 ng/g (chlortetracycline) in the seawater, discharged effluent and sediment samples, respectively. The concentrations of antibiotics in the water phase were correlated positively with chemical oxygen demand and nitrate. The source analysis indicated that untreated domestic sewage was the primary source of antibiotics in the study region. Fluoroquinolones showed strong sorption capacity onto sediments due to their high pseudo-partitioning coefficients. Risk assessment indicated that oxytetracycline, norfloxacin and erythromycin–H 2 O posed high risks to aquatic organisms

  10. Hail hydrogen

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hairston, D.

    1996-01-01

    After years of being scorned and maligned, hydrogen is finding favor in environmental and process applications. There is enormous demand for the industrial gas from petroleum refiners, who need in creasing amounts of hydrogen to remove sulfur and other contaminants from crude oil. In pulp and paper mills, hydrogen is turning up as hydrogen peroxide, displacing bleaching agents based on chlorine. Now, new technologies for making hydrogen have the industry abuzz. With better capabilities of being generated onsite at higher purity levels, recycled and reused, hydrogen is being prepped for a range of applications, from waste reduction to purification of Nylon 6 and hydrogenation of specialty chemicals. The paper discusses the strong market demand for hydrogen, easier routes being developed for hydrogen production, and the use of hydrogen in the future

  11. The Degree of Female Lecturers' Commitment to the Basic Rules of Developing Objective Tests in the Faculties of Education and Arts at Hail University – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kawthar S alameh Jbara

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The study aimed to examine the commitment of female lecturers' to the basic rules of developing objective tests in light of some of variables (years of experience and college or major in the Faculties of Education and Arts at the University of Hail. The sample of the study comprised (73 female lecturers in these two faculties, selected purposively. In order to avhieve the study objective, the researcher developed a research tool for which reliability and validity were calculated; and then it was administered to the sample of the study. The data obtained was analyzed using the analytical descriptive method. The results indicated that the percentage of using objective tests was 100%, and that the lecturers’ commitment of using rules of objective tests was medium level. The results also showed significant statistical differences between the lectures in favor of longer years of experience (7–10 years. However, there was no significant statistical difference between the lectures that could be attributed to major or college. Keywords: College of Arts, College of Education, Female lecturers, Objective tests, Rules of objective tests.

  12. Climatology of damage-causing hailstorms over Germany

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunz, M.; Puskeiler, M.; Schmidberger, M.

    2012-04-01

    In several regions of Central Europe, such as southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and northern Italy, hailstorms often cause substantial damage to buildings, crops, or automobiles on the order of several million EUR. In the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, for example, most of the insured damage to buildings is caused by large hailstones. Due to both their local-scale extent and insufficient direct monitoring systems, hail swaths are not captured accurately and uniquely by a single observation system. Remote-sensing systems such as radars are able to detect convection signals in a basic way, but they lack the ability to discern a clear relation between measured intensity and hail on the ground. These shortcomings hamper statistical analysis on the hail probability and intensity. Hail modelling thus is a big challenge for the insurance industry. Within the project HARIS-CC (Hail Risk and Climate Change), different meteorological observations are combined (3D / 2D radar, lightning, satellite and radiosounding data) to obtain a comprehensive picture of the hail climatology over Germany. The various approaches were tested and calibrated with loss data from different insurance companies between 2005 and 2011. Best results are obtained by considering the vertical distance between the 0°C level of the atmosphere and the echo top height estimated from 3D reflectivity data from the radar network of German Weather Service (DWD). Additionally, frequency, intensity, width, and length of hail swaths are determined by applying a cell tracking algorithm to the 3D radar data (TRACE3D; Handwerker, 2002). The hailstorm tracks identified are merged with loss data using a geographical information system (GIS) to verify damage-causing hail on the ground. Evaluating the hailstorm climatology revealed that hail probability exhibits high spatial variability even over short distances. An important issue is the spatial pattern of hail occurrence that is considered to be due to

  13. The hydrometeor partitioning and microphysical processes over the Pacific Warm Pool in numerical modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Yi-Chih; Wang, Pao K.

    2017-01-01

    Numerical modeling is conducted to study the hydrometeor partitioning and microphysical source and sink processes during a quasi-steady state of thunderstorms over the Pacific Warm Pool by utilizing the microphysical model WISCDYMM to simulate selected storm cases. The results show that liquid-phase hydrometeors dominate thunderstorm evolution over the Pacific Warm Pool. The ratio of ice-phase mass to liquid-phase mass is about 41%: 59%, indicating that ice-phase water is not as significant over the Pacific Warm Pool as the liquid water compared to the larger than 50% in the subtropics and 80% in the US High Plains in a previous study. Sensitivity tests support the dominance of liquid-phase hydrometeors over the Pacific Warm Pool. The major rain sources are the key hail sinks: melting of hail and shedding from hail; whereas the crucial rain sinks are evaporation and accretion by hail. The major snow sources are Bergeron-Findeisen process, transfer of cloud ice to snow and accretion of cloud water; whereas the foremost sink of snow is accretion by hail. The essential hail sources are accretions of rain, cloud water, and snow; whereas the critical hail sinks are melting of hail and shedding from hail. The contribution and ranking of sources and sinks of these precipitates are compared with the previous study. Hydrometeors have their own special microphysical processes in the development and depletion over the Pacific Warm Pool. Microphysical budgets depend on atmospheric dynamical and thermodynamical conditions which determine the partitioning of hydrometeors. This knowledge would benefit the microphysics parameterization in cloud models and cumulus parameterization in global circulation models.

  14. Hailstorms over Switzerland: Verification of Crowd-sourced Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noti, Pascal-Andreas; Martynov, Andrey; Hering, Alessandro; Martius, Olivia

    2016-04-01

    The reports of smartphone users, witnessing hailstorms, can be used as source of independent, ground-based observation data on ground-reaching hailstorms with high temporal and spatial resolution. The presented work focuses on the verification of crowd-sourced data collected over Switzerland with the help of a smartphone application recently developed by MeteoSwiss. The precise location, time of hail precipitation and the hailstone size are included in the crowd-sourced data, assessed on the basis of the weather radar data of MeteoSwiss. Two radar-based hail detection algorithms, POH (Probability of Hail) and MESHS (Maximum Expected Severe Hail Size), in use at MeteoSwiss are confronted with the crowd-sourced data. The available data and investigation time period last from June to August 2015. Filter criteria have been applied in order to remove false reports from the crowd-sourced data. Neighborhood methods have been introduced to reduce the uncertainties which result from spatial and temporal biases. The crowd-sourced and radar data are converted into binary sequences according to previously set thresholds, allowing for using a categorical verification. Verification scores (e.g. hit rate) are then calculated from a 2x2 contingency table. The hail reporting activity and patterns corresponding to "hail" and "no hail" reports, sent from smartphones, have been analyzed. The relationship between the reported hailstone sizes and both radar-based hail detection algorithms have been investigated.

  15. Radiação, fotossíntese, rendimento e qualidade de frutos em macieiras 'Royal Gala' cobertas com telas antigranizo Radiation, photosynthesis, yield, and fruit quality of 'Royal Gala' apples under hail protection nets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cassandro Vidal Talamini do Amarante

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a intensidade e a qualidade da radiação solar disponibilizada às plantas e os seus impactos sobre a fotossíntese, rendimento e qualidade dos frutos, em macieiras 'Royal Gala', cobertas ou não com telas antigranizo nas cores branca e preta. A tela preta provocou redução maior na densidade de fluxo de fótons fotossinteticamente ativos acima do dossel das plantas (24,8%, em comparação à tela branca (21,2%. O interior do dossel das plantas sob tela preta recebeu menores valores de radiação ultravioleta, azul, verde, vermelho e vermelho distante, bem como da relação vermelho:vermelho distante, em relação às plantas descobertas. Estas alterações na quantidade e qualidade da luz sob tela preta aumentaram o teor de clorofila total e a área específica nas folhas, e reduziram a taxa fotossintética potencial, o peso de frutos por cm² de seção transversal de tronco e a coloração vermelha dos frutos. As telas antigranizo branca e preta reduziram a incidência de queimadura de sol, porém não tiveram efeito sobre a severidade de "russeting" e sobre o número de sementes por fruto.The objective of this work was to assess the amount and quality of the light supplied to plants, and the resulting impacts on photosynthesis, yield, and fruit quality of 'Royal Gala' apple trees uncovered or covered with white and black hail protection nets. The black net caused a higher reduction (24.8% of photosynthetic photon flux density, accumulated over the plant canopy during the day, than the white net (21.2%. The canopy internal portion of plants covered by black net received lower levels of ultraviolet, blue, green, red, and far red radiation, and light with a lower red:far red ratio, in comparison to uncovered plants; these ligth changes increased chlorophyll content and specific area of the leaves, and reduced the potential photosynthesis, the weight of fruits per cm² of trunk cross section area, and the

  16. Characteristics of Hailstorm over Northern Thailand during Summer Season

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pakdee Chantraket

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This study focused on the potential parameters, as a result of the upper-air sounding with radiosonde and of the dual polarization radar for detecting hailstorms. The data were collected during the 2012 summer consisting of 12 hail and 1129 no-hail rainstorms of seven studied dates from April to May, 2012. They were analyzed to discern the character of hail and use them as data for detecting hail echoes and for severe weather forecast in upper Thailand. On the day of hail, the instability indices were high enough to contribute to its formation. The following indices include Lifted Index (LI, Showalter Index (SI and Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE. LI and SI displayed the marginally instability ranged -1 to -4. In the case of CAPE, it could reach the extreme instability (CAPE > 2500 J/kg and also came with the large updraft speed. TITAN software (Thunderstorm Identification, Tracking, Analysis and Nowcasting was also applied for comparing rainstorms with hailstorms. The significant seven echo characteristics included storm period, speed, mean-maximum reflectivity in the horizontal polarization (ZH, area, volume and mass. Based on the character and frequency distributions in summer, hailstorms had greater values of storm duration, area, volume, mass, speed and highest reflectivity than individual rainstorms. Besides, the mean reflectivity of the storms was a negligible factor to identify the type of storm.For the case study on hail by determining polarimetric radar measurement at S-band across Chiang Maun, Northern Thailand, radar signatures with EDGE software showed that the hail was detected 100% during its falling. It also presented as followings: Vertically integrated liquid (VIL exceeding 100 kg/m2, ZH over 60dBZ near the surface and ETOP greater than 17 km. Differential reflectivity (ZDR of rain-hail mixtures almost reached zero. In addition, the coincidental values of correlation coefficient (CC were ranged 0.988 and 0.996, and

  17. Hail to the Tweeps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stoner, Michael

    2012-01-01

    Engaging with stakeholders on social media channels can burnish a brand's reputation, according to an early 2012 survey conducted by BRANDfog, a social media branding firm that caters to CEOs. The study found that 82 percent of respondents "were more likely to trust a company whose CEO and leadership team engage in social media." In addition, 94…

  18. Krupobití v Česku podle radarových informací

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Skripniková, Kateřina; Řezáčová, Daniela; Novák, P.; Kyznarová, H.

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 70, č. 2 (2017), s. 33-38 ISSN 0026-1173 Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : hail * weather radar * radar based hail detection * Czechia Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology OBOR OECD: Meteorology and atmospheric sciences

  19. The impact of climate change on hailstorms in southeastern Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niall, Stephanie; Walsh, Kevin

    2005-11-01

    Data from a number of locations around southeastern Australia were analysed to determine the influence of climate change on the frequency and intensity of hail events in this region. The relationship between Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE), frequently used as a measure of atmospheric instability, and hailstorms was investigated using both NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data (a data set comprising a blend of observations and model simulations) and also direct sounding data obtained from the Australian National Climate Centre. Two locations were chosen in southeastern Australia, Mount Gambier and Melbourne, over the months August to October for the period 1980-2001. A statistically significant relationship between hail incidence and CAPE values was established for both NCEP/NCAR and sounding data at both study sites. A stronger relationship was found between hail incidence and the CAPE, which was calculated using NCEP/NCAR data, than that between hail and the CAPE from the actual sounding data. A similar analysis was also conducted at both sites using the totals-totals index (TT index), which is an alternative measure of atmospheric instability.The CSIRO Mk3 Climate System Model was used to simulate values of CAPE for Mount Gambier in an environment containing double the pre-industrial concentrations of equivalent CO2. The results showed a significant decrease in CAPE values in the future. From this, assuming the relationship between CAPE and hail remains unchanged under enhanced greenhouse conditions, it is possible that there will be a decrease in the frequency of hail in southeastern Australia if current rates of CO2 emission are sustained. The severity of future hail events was investigated using crop-loss data from insurance companies. Strongest correlations were found between the crop-loss ratio (value of crop lost to hail damage over the total insured value of crop) and the number of days in a crop season with a TT index greater than 55. Results from the

  20. Assessment of Electrical Safety Beliefs and Practices: A Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Boubaker

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the electrical safety beliefs and practices in Hail region, Saudi Arabia, have been assessed. Based on legislative recommendations and rules applied in Saudi Arabia, on official statistics regarding the electricity-caused accidents and on the analysis of more than 200 photos captured in Hail (related to electrical safety, a questionnaire composed of 36 questions (10 for the respondents information, 16 for the home safety culture and 10 for the electrical devices purchasing culture has been devised and distributed to residents. 228 responses have been collected and analyzed. Using a scale similar to the one adopted for a university student GPA calculation, the electrical safety level (ESL in Hail region has been found to be 0.76 (in a scale of 4 points which is a very low score and indicates a poor electrical safety culture. Several recommendations involving different competent authorities have been proposed. Future work will concern the assessment of safety in industrial companies in Hail region.

  1. On Using Humor to Market Higher Education: At Whose Expense Is the Clowning?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Jason

    2010-01-01

    This essay examines the deliberately humorous approaches undertaken in two recent higher education marketing endeavors: The American Council on Education's "Solutions for Our Future" campaign and Stanford's "Hail, Stanford, Hail" initiative. Three television commercials from each project are described and discussed in light of a view of comedy…

  2. Hailstorm forecast from stability indexes in Southwestern France

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melcón, Pablo; Merino, Andrés; Sánchez, José Luis; Dessens, Jean; Gascón, Estíbaliz; Berthet, Claude; López, Laura; García-Ortega, Eduardo

    2016-04-01

    Forecasting hailstorms is a difficult task because of their small spatial and temporal scales. Over recent decades, stability indexes have been commonly used in operational forecasting to provide a simplified representation of different thermodynamic characteristics of the atmosphere, regarding the onset of convective events. However, they are estimated from vertical profiles obtained by radiosondes, which are usually available only twice a day and have limited spatial representativeness. Numerical models predictions can be used to overcome these drawbacks, providing vertical profiles with higher spatiotemporal resolution. The main objective of this study is to create a tool for hail prediction in the southwest of France, one of the European regions where hailstorms have a higher incidence. The Association Nationale d'Etude et de Lutte contre les Fleáux Atmosphériques (ANELFA) maintains there a dense hailpad network in continuous operation, which has created an extensive database of hail events, used in this study as ground truth. The new technique is aimed to classify the spatial distribution of different stability indexes on hail days. These indexes were calculated from vertical profiles at 1200 UTC provided by WRF numerical model, validated with radiosonde data from Bordeaux. Binary logistic regression is used to select those indexes that best represent thermodynamic conditions related to occurrence of hail in the zone. Then, they are combined in a single algorithm that surpassed the predictive power they have when used independently. Regression equation results in hail days are used in cluster analysis to identify different spatial patterns given by the probability algorithm. This new tool can be used in operational forecasting, in combination with synoptic and mesoscale techniques, to properly define hail probability and distribution. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the CEPA González Díez Foundation and the University of Leon for its

  3. The physics of a thunderstorm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mason, John; Mason, Nigel

    2003-01-01

    The salient facts concerning the dynamical, physical and electrical properties of a thunderstorm, and of the detailed structure and associated electric field-changes of lightning flashes, are marshalled to deduce the criteria for a satisfactory quantitative theory of charge generation and separation leading to the growth of electric fields strong enough to initiate and to sustain lightning activity. A quantitative theory is presented of how charges are generated and separated when supercooled cloud droplets make grazing contact with the undersides of hail pellets (graupel) polarized initially by the Earth's fine-weather electric field. The rebounding droplets acquire a positive charge and are carried by the convective updraught towards the top of the cloud, while the hail pellets carrying a net negative charge fall towards cloud base. This creates a vertical dipole field which increases the polarizing charges on the hail pellets and so accelerates the rates of charge generation and separation, and so reinforces the vertical electrical field, which grows exponentially until insulation of the air breaks down and triggers a lightning flash. It is demonstrated that a thunderstorm cell, 2 km in diameter, producing small hail falling at 30 mm h -1 can produce vertical electric fields of ∼5000 V cm -1 in about 10 min involving the separation of ∼50 C of charge, enough to initiate a lightning flash which, on average, neutralizes about 20 C. As long as the hail persists, it continues to generate and separate sufficient charge to produce a succession of lightning flashes at about 30 s intervals. More frequent discharges at say 10 s intervals would require high rates of hail production in larger cells but are more likely to be produced by large multi-cellular storms sustained by strong convective currents for perhaps several hours

  4. Journal of Earth System Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The purpose of this study was to extract the synoptic patterns of 500 mb geopotential height and the sea level pressure leading to form hail in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran. To this end, at first, we explored hail occurrence in different areas of the province under investigation. Then, using sea levelpressure and ...

  5. Hydrometeor Size Distribution Measurements by Imaging the Attenuation of a Laser Spot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lane, John

    2013-01-01

    The optical extinction of a laser due to scattering of particles is a well-known phenomenon. In a laboratory environment, this physical principle is known as the Beer-Lambert law, and is often used to measure the concentration of scattering particles in a fluid or gas. This method has been experimentally shown to be a usable means to measure the dust density from a rocket plume interaction with the lunar surface. Using the same principles and experimental arrangement, this technique can be applied to hydrometeor size distributions, and for launch-pad operations, specifically as a passive hail detection and measurement system. Calibration of a hail monitoring system is a difficult process. In the past, it has required comparison to another means of measuring hydrometeor size and density. Using a technique recently developed for estimating the density of surface dust dispersed during a rocket landing, measuring the extinction of a laser passing through hail (or dust in the rocket case) yields an estimate of the second moment of the particle cloud, and hydrometeor size distribution in the terrestrial meteorological case. With the exception of disdrometers, instruments that measure rain and hail fall make indirect measurements of the drop-size distribution. Instruments that scatter microwaves off of hydrometeors, such as the WSR-88D (Weather Surveillance Radar 88 Doppler), vertical wind profilers, and microwave disdrometers, measure the sixth moment of the drop size distribution (DSD). By projecting a laser onto a target, changes in brightness of the laser spot against the target background during rain and hail yield a measurement of the DSD's second moment by way of the Beer-Lambert law. In order to detect the laser attenuation within the 8-bit resolution of most camera image arrays, a minimum path length is required. Depending on the intensity of the hail fall rate for moderate to heavy rainfall, a laser path length of 100 m is sufficient to measure variations in

  6. Comment on 'Modeling of Convective-Stratiform Precipitation Processes: Sensitivity to Partitioning Methods' by Matthias Steiner

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lang, Steve; Tao, W.-K.; Simpson, J.; Ferrier, B.

    2003-01-01

    Despite the obvious notion that the presence of hail or graupel is a good indication of convection, the model results show this does not provide an objective benchmark partly due to the unrealistic presence of small amounts of hail or graupel throughout the anvil in the model but mainly because of the significant amounts of hail or graupel, especially in the tropical TOGA COARE simulation, in the transition zone. Without use of a "transition" category, it is open to debate as how this region should best be defined, as stratiform or as convective. So, the presence of significant hail or graupel contents in this zone significantly degrades its use an objective benchmark for convection. The separation algorithm comparison was done in the context of a cloud-resolving model. These models are widely used and serve a variety of purposes especially with regard to retrieving information that cannot be directly measured by providing synthetic data sets that are consistent and complete. Separation algorithms are regularly applied in these models. However, as with any modeling system, these types 'of models are constantly being improved to overcome any known deficiencies and make them more accurate representations of observed systems. The presence of hail and graupel in the anvil and the bias towards heavy rainfall rates are two such examples of areas that need improvement. Since, both of these can effect the perceived performance of the separation algorithms, the Lang et al. (2003) study did not want to overstate the relative performance of any specific algorithms.

  7. Case study: An isolated severe storm with giant hail hit Slovenian capital city Ljubljana on May 25th 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korosec, M.

    2009-09-01

    Introduction A quite unusual weather pattern for month of May with first and early season heat wave of year 2009 resulted in several days of active severe storms across central Europe and Alpine region. Synoptic situation On May 25th 2009, an omega block pattern with strong upper-level subtropical ridge extending over Mediterranean and Balkan Peninsula brought stable and warm conditions into Southern Europe. Elsewhere, two large-scale troughs were located over Western and Eastern Europe with very unstable environment. On the nose of the Mediterranean ridge a jet streak with moderate shear was placed while over the Southern Alpine region only weak shear was placed over Slovenia. Rich boundary layer moisture and steep lapse rates within an elevated mixed layer favored extreme amounts of CAPE. After strong diurnal heating and surface wind convergence along the local topography a few convective cells were triggered in the mountainous terrain while deep moist convection over the rest of Slovenia was trapped by the strong capping inversion. In late afternoon several cells from the mountainous terrain interfered with each other and explosive convective cell was initiated along their outflow boundaries. Increasing near surface southeasterly wind flow supported enhanced low-level shear and storm relative helicity which caused this cell to very rapidly grown into an organized supercell storm on the flat terrain in northern Slovenia. This supercell then started racing southeastwards towards Ljubljana, a capital city of Slovenia. It caused extensive hail damage with very large to giant hailstones up to 7cm in diameter falling over parts of Ljubljana and areas north and southeast of the city. Presentation of research This case study will go through a research of this very damaging hailstorm, throughout a detailed analysis of the synoptic situation including analysis of satellite, radar and surface observations. At first, forecasting models did not suggest organized convection

  8. Simulation of the storm on 15 August, 2010, using a high resolution COSMO NWP model

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Sokol, Zbyněk; Zacharov, Petr, jr.; Skripniková, Kateřina

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 137, FEB (2014), s. 100-111 ISSN 0169-8095 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-34856S; GA MŠk LD11044 Grant - others:COST Activity(XE) ES0905 Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : hail * NWP model * radar reflectivity * data assimilation * hail nowcasting Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 2.844, year: 2014 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169809513002676

  9. Numerical simulation of a winter hailstorm event over Delhi, India on 17 January 2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chevuturi, A.; Dimri, A. P.; Gunturu, U. B.

    2014-09-01

    This study analyzes the cause of rare occurrence of winter hailstorm over New Delhi/NCR (National Capital Region), India. The absence of increased surface temperature or low level of moisture incursion during winter cannot generate the deep convection required for sustaining a hailstorm. Consequently, NCR shows very few cases of hailstorms in the months of December-January-February, making the winter hail formation a question of interest. For this study, recent winter hailstorm event on 17 January 2013 (16:00-18:00 UTC) occurring over NCR is investigated. The storm is simulated using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) microphysics scheme with two different options, hail or graupel. The aim of the study is to understand and describe the cause of hailstorm event during over NCR with comparative analysis of the two options of GCE microphysics. On evaluating the model simulations, it is observed that hail option shows similar precipitation intensity with TRMM observation than the graupel option and is able to simulate hail precipitation. Using the model simulated output with hail option; detailed investigation on understanding the dynamics of hailstorm is performed. The analysis based on numerical simulation suggests that the deep instability in the atmospheric column led to the formation of hailstones as the cloud formation reached upto the glaciated zone promoting ice nucleation. In winters, such instability conditions rarely form due to low level available potential energy and moisture incursion along with upper level baroclinic instability due to the presence of WD. Such rare positioning is found to be lowering the tropopause with increased temperature gradient, leading to winter hailstorm formation.

  10. Disponibilidade de luz em macieiras 'Fuji' cobertas com telas antigranizo e seus efeitos sobre a fotossíntese, o rendimento e a qualidade dos frutos Light supply to 'Fuji' apple trees covered with hail protection nets and its effects on photosynthesys, yield and fruit quality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cassandro Vidal Talamini do Amarante

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Em pomares de macieira, o dano de granizo pode ser evitado através da cobertura das plantas com telas. Todavia, as telas alteram a intensidade e a qualidade da luz solar e, assim, podem comprometer o rendimento e a qualidade dos frutos. Este trabalho objetivou avaliar estes aspectos em macieiras 'Fuji', cobertas com telas nas cores branca e preta. A tela preta ocasionou maiores reduções na densidade de fluxo de fótons fotossinteticamente ativos (DFFFA disponíveis às plantas (24,8% em relação à tela branca (21,2%. O interior do dossel das plantas sob tela, especialmente quando cobertas com tela preta, recebeu radiação com menores valores da relação vermelho:vermelho distante (V:Vd em relação às plantas descobertas. Somente sob tela preta, a magnitude das reduções na DFFFA e na relação V:Vd da luz foi capaz de aumentar a área média e a área específica das folhas e reduzir a taxa fotossintética potencial, reduzindo assim o rendimento (número e peso de frutos por cm² de seção transversal de tronco e a coloração vermelha dos frutos. As telas antigranizo branca e preta reduziram a incidência de queimadura de sol, porém não afetaram a severidade de "russeting" e o número de sementes por fruto.In apple orchards, hail damage can be avoided by covering the plants with nets. However, the nets might change light intensity and quality supplied to the plants and, therefore, affect yield and quality of the fruit. This research was carried out to assess these aspects on 'Fuji' apples trees uncovered and covered with white and black nets. The black net caused more substantial reduction of photosynthetic photons flux density (PPFD available to the plants during the day (24.8% than the white one (21.2%. The inner part of plants canopy covered by nets, especially under black net, received light with a lower red:far red ratio (R:FR, in comparison to uncovered plants. Only under black net, the reductions of PPFD and R:FR of the

  11. Analysis of mesoscale factors at the onset of deep convection on hailstorm days in Southern France and their relation to the synoptic patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanchez, Jose Luis; Wu, Xueke; Gascón, Estibaliz; López, Laura; Melcón, Pablo; García-Ortega, Eduardo; Berthet, Claude; Dessens, Jean; Merino, Andrés

    2013-04-01

    Storms and the weather phenomena associated to intense precipitation, lightning, strong winds or hail, are among the most common and dangerous weather risks in many European countries. To get a reliable forecast of their occurrence is remaining an open problem. The question is: how is possible to improve the reliability of forecast? Southwestern France is frequently affected by hailstorms, producing severe damages on crops and properties. Considerable efforts were made to improve the forecast of hailfall in this area. First of all, if we want to improve this type of forecast, it is necessary to have a good "ground truth" of the hail days and zones affected by hailfall. Fortunately, ANELFA has deployed thousands of hailpad stations in Southern France. The ANELFA processed the point hailfall data recorded during each hail season at these stations. The focus of this paper presents a methodology to improve the forecast of the occurrence of hailfall according to the synoptic environment and mesoscale factors in the study area. One hundred of hail days were selected, following spatial and severity criteria, occurred in the period 2000-2010. The mesoscale model WRF was applied for all cases to study the synoptic environment of mean geopotential and temperature fields at 500 hPa. Three nested domains have been defined following a two-way nesting strategy, with a horizontal spatial resolution of 36, 12 and 4 km, and 30 vertical terrains— following σ-levels. Then, using the Principal Component Analysis in T-Mode, 4 mesoscale configurations were defined for the fields of convective instability (CI), water vapor flux divergence and wind flow and humidity at low layer (850hPa), and several clusters were classified followed by using the K-means Clustering. Finally, we calculated several characteristic values of four hail forecast parameters: Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE), Storm Relative Helicity between 0 and 3 km (SRH0-3), Energy-Helicity Index (EHI) and

  12. Numerical simulation of a rare winter hailstorm event over Delhi, India on 17 January 2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chevuturi, A.; Dimri, A. P.; Gunturu, U. B.

    2014-12-01

    This study analyzes the cause of the rare occurrence of a winter hailstorm over New Delhi/NCR (National Capital Region), India. The absence of increased surface temperature or low level of moisture incursion during winter cannot generate the deep convection required for sustaining a hailstorm. Consequently, NCR shows very few cases of hailstorms in the months of December-January-February, making the winter hail formation a question of interest. For this study, a recent winter hailstorm event on 17 January 2013 (16:00-18:00 UTC) occurring over NCR is investigated. The storm is simulated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) microphysics scheme with two different options: hail and graupel. The aim of the study is to understand and describe the cause of hailstorm event during over NCR with a comparative analysis of the two options of GCE microphysics. Upon evaluating the model simulations, it is observed that the hail option shows a more similar precipitation intensity with the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) observation than the graupel option does, and it is able to simulate hail precipitation. Using the model-simulated output with the hail option; detailed investigation on understanding the dynamics of hailstorm is performed. The analysis based on a numerical simulation suggests that the deep instability in the atmospheric column led to the formation of hailstones as the cloud formation reached up to the glaciated zone promoting ice nucleation. In winters, such instability conditions rarely form due to low level available potential energy and moisture incursion along with upper level baroclinic instability due to the presence of a western disturbance (WD). Such rare positioning is found to be lowering the tropopause with increased temperature gradient, leading to winter hailstorm formation.

  13. Numerical simulation of a rare winter hailstorm event over Delhi, India on 17 January 2013

    KAUST Repository

    Chevuturi, A.

    2014-12-19

    This study analyzes the cause of the rare occurrence of a winter hailstorm over New Delhi/NCR (National Capital Region), India. The absence of increased surface temperature or low level of moisture incursion during winter cannot generate the deep convection required for sustaining a hailstorm. Consequently, NCR shows very few cases of hailstorms in the months of December-January-February, making the winter hail formation a question of interest. For this study, a recent winter hailstorm event on 17 January 2013 (16:00–18:00 UTC) occurring over NCR is investigated. The storm is simulated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) microphysics scheme with two different options: hail and graupel. The aim of the study is to understand and describe the cause of hailstorm event during over NCR with a comparative analysis of the two options of GCE microphysics. Upon evaluating the model simulations, it is observed that the hail option shows a more similar precipitation intensity with the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) observation than the graupel option does, and it is able to simulate hail precipitation. Using the model-simulated output with the hail option; detailed investigation on understanding the dynamics of hailstorm is performed. The analysis based on a numerical simulation suggests that the deep instability in the atmospheric column led to the formation of hailstones as the cloud formation reached up to the glaciated zone promoting ice nucleation. In winters, such instability conditions rarely form due to low level available potential energy and moisture incursion along with upper level baroclinic instability due to the presence of a western disturbance (WD). Such rare positioning is found to be lowering the tropopause with increased temperature gradient, leading to winter hailstorm formation.

  14. Análise do Mix de Marketing de Serviços de Transporte de Passageiros Através de Dispositivos Móveis no Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natália Sheila Cardoso de Siqueira

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available O presente artigo procura avaliar a importância dos elementos do mix de marketing de serviços para aquisição de vantagem competitiva de empresas atuantes ou iniciantes no setor de e-hailing. O setor de e-hailing refere-se a todo serviço de transporte de passageiros prestados por intermédio de aplicativos. Visando atingir tal objetivo, o artigo foi elaborado através de pesquisa descritiva, o método utilizado foi estudo de casos múltiplos e os procedimentos de pesquisa empregados foram análise documental e bibliográfica. A coleta e análise de dados foram realizadas pelos pesquisadores através da técnica de observação estruturada dos sete elementos do marketing de serviços utilizados pelas três empresas mais difundidas no território brasileiro. Os autores evidenciaram que no setor de e-hailing, os elementos de marketing melhores desenvolvidos pelas empresas analisadas são: serviço, preço, promoção, processos e pessoas. O resultado da pesquisa orienta gestores e grupos empresariais do setor de e-hailing sobre como os elementos de marketing de serviços devem ser tratados a fim de alcançar vantagem competitiva.

  15. CoCoRaHS (The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network): Analysis of Participant Survey Data to Uncover Learning through Participation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holzer, M. A.; Zimmerman, T.; Doesken, N. J.; Reges, H. W.; Newman, N.; Turner, J.; Schwalbe, Z.

    2010-12-01

    CoCoRaHS (The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow network) is based out of Fort Collins Colorado and is an extremely successful citizen science project with over 15,000 volunteers collecting valuable precipitation data. Forecasters and scientists use data from this dense network to illuminate and illustrate the high small-scale variability of precipitation across the nation. This presentation will discuss the results of a survey of CoCoRaHS participants as related to 1) citizen scientists’ motivation and learning; 2) the challenges of identifying how people learn science in citizen science projects; and 3) a potential research-based framework for how people learn through engaging in the data collection within in a citizen science project. A comprehensive survey of 14,500 CoCoRaHS observers was recently conducted to uncover participant perceptions of numerous aspects of the CoCoRaHS program, including its goal of increasing climate literacy. The survey yielded a response rate of over 50%, and included measures of motivation, engagement and learning. In relationship to motivation and learning, the survey revealed that most (57.1%) observers would make precipitation observations regardless of being a CoCoRaHS volunteer, therefore their motivation is related to their inherent level of interest in weather. Others are motivated by their desire to learn more about weather and climate, they want to contribute to a scientific project, they think its fun, and/or it provides a sense of community. Because so many respondents already had knowledge and interest in weather and climate, identifying how and what people learn through participating was a challenge. However, the narrow project focus of collecting and reporting of local precipitation assisted in identifying aspects of learning. For instance, most (46.4%) observers said they increased their knowledge about the local variability in precipitation even though they had been collecting precipitation data for many

  16. Features of atmospheric phenomena’s dynamics in Kharkiv region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Світлана Решетченко

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the results of rainfall, hail, precipitation and fogs’ frequency study in Kharkiv region during the period 2001-2014 by means of statistical analysis. The calculations were carried out on the basis of monthly rainfall data at the meteorological stations of the region (Lozova, Kharkiv, Zolochiv, Kupyansk, Izyum, Krasnograd, Bogodukhiv, Velykyi Burluk, Slobozhanske, Kolomak for the period 1961-2014, the number and duration of fogs. The conditions of their formation, distribution and development on the territory of Kharkiv region characterizing the annual and seasonal changes have been determined. All types of atmospheric precipitation are observed on the investigated area, namely long-term deposits prevailing throughout the year (liquid (103% and solid (68%, amongst streams - liquid (121%. Long-term precipites are characteristic of the autumn period, when atmospheric phenomena are formed. Fogs, mist, storms, thunderstorms and lightnings are observed in the spring and summer (30% and 74% respectively. In the winter, it is possible to observe the same probability that liquid and snow, ice cover (24% and 20% respectively mix , frosts (46%. Most often, (35% of showers happen within one day, 30% of cases occur for 2 and 3-5 days. Sometimes they are observed for several days. There is a great variety of heavy rains on the territory of Kharkiv region, where you can expect 3-5 days with showers for a year. As a rule, the rains can be accompanied by hail and thunderstorms. The hail is a more rare phenomenon than a thunderstorm, it falls predominantly during the warmer years of the powerful cumulonimbus clouds with a strong upright movement. Hail is formed in the conditions of a large variety of synoptic processes. In 53% of cases, hail is associated with cold fronts, and 47% - correspond to the internal processes of the mass. Hailstones with a diameter of 20 mm and more cause significant damage to the economy, It has been established

  17. Characteristics and Impacts of the severe Hailstorm on 28 July 2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunz, Michael; Jürgen Punge, Heinz; Fluck, Elody; Schmidberger, Manuel; Blahak, Ulrich; Handwerker, Jan; Mohr, Susanna; Mühr, Bernhard

    2015-04-01

    On 27/28 July, two severe supercell thunderstorms in Germany caused unexpected extreme losses of 3.1 bn EUR(insured) and 4.0 bn EUR(economic), respectively. According to the recently published damage statistics of Munich Re for the year 2013, these hail events were the costliest natural catastrophe in worldwide for that year ranked by insured losses. This example exemplifies the large damage potential related to hail events, which is still underestimated both by the public and the insurance industry. On 27 July, the first supercell moved over the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. Large hail with diameters of up to 7.5 cm according to observations archived in the European Severe Weather Database (ESWD) caused severe damage especially over the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg. One day later, on 28 July, another supercell formed upstream of the Black Forest Mountains and moved almost parallel over the Swabian Jura and Bavaria. Hail with diameters of up to 8 cm fell over a heavily populated region between the cities of Reutlingen and Tübingen. In this area, exposed assets are extremely high, which partly explain the high total loss. Approximately 100,000 buildings and 50,000 automobiles (not considered are the damaged automobiles at the parking lot in Wolfsburg) were severely damaged by these two events. Considering the single event definition over a 72-hr period, which is usually applied in the insurance industry, these hailstorms were one of the most expensive loss events in Germany. In this paper, we investigate the severe hailstorm on 28 July from different views. By using and combining available observational data sets, the objective is to reconstruct the whole events at a very high resolution and to examine the conditions that are most relevant for convective initiation and the further development of the organized convective cell. Using a series of photos of damaged objects the aim is to relate different object classes and hail stone

  18. Comparison of aerosol effects on simulated spring and summer hailstorm clouds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Huiling; Xiao, Hui; Guo, Chunwei; Wen, Guang; Tang, Qi; Sun, Yue

    2017-07-01

    Numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the effect of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations on microphysical processes and precipitation characteristics of hailstorms. Two hailstorm cases are simulated, a spring case and a summer case, in a semiarid region of northern China, with the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System. The results are used to investigate the differences and similarities of the CCN effects between spring and summer hailstorms. The similarities are: (1) The total hydrometeor mixing ratio decreases, while the total ice-phase mixing ratio enhances, with increasing CCN concentration; (2) Enhancement of the CCN concentration results in the production of a greater amount of small-sized hydrometeor particles, but a lessening of large-sized hydrometeor particles; (3) As the CCN concentration increases, the supercooled cloud water and rainwater make a lesser contribution to hail, while the ice-phase hydrometeors take on active roles in the growth of hail; (4) When the CCN concentration increases, the amount of total precipitation lessens, while the role played by liquid-phase rainfall in the amount of total precipitation reduces, relatively, compared to that of ice-phase precipitation. The differences between the two storms include: (1) An increase in the CCN concentration tends to reduce pristine ice mixing ratios in the spring case but enhance them in the summer case; (2) Ice-phase hydrometeor particles contribute more to hail growth in the spring case, while liquid water contributes more in the summer case; (3) An increase in the CCN concentration has different effects on surface hail precipitation in different seasons.

  19. Avtor listovok "Hail Stalnuhhin" opravdan / Kirill Smirnov

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Smirnov, Kirill

    2007-01-01

    2005. aasta kohalike valimiste eel süüdistati Narva volikogu saadikut Gennadi Afanasjevit poliitilist vaenu õhutavate lendlehtede levitamises. Viru maakohtu otsusest ja Riigikogu liikme Mihhail Stalnuhhini arvamusest

  20. Modeling the fate of p,p'-DDT in water and sediment of two typical estuarine bays in South China: Importance of fishing vessels' inputs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Shu-Ming; Zhang, Xianming; Bao, Lian-Jun; Zeng, Eddy Y

    2016-05-01

    Antifouling paint applied to fishing vessels is the primary source of dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) to the coastal marine environments of China. With the aim to provide science-based support of potential regulations on DDT use in antifouling paint, we utilized a fugacity-based model to evaluate the fate and impact of p,p'-DDT, the dominant component of DDT mixture, in Daya Bay and Hailing Bay, two typical estuarine bays in South China. The emissions of p,p'-DDT from fishing vessels to the aquatic environments of Hailing Bay and Daya Bay were estimated as 9.3 and 7.7 kg yr(-1), respectively. Uncertainty analysis indicated that the temporal variability of p,p'-DDT was well described by the model if fishing vessels were considered as the only direct source, i.e., fishing vessels should be the dominant source of p,p'-DDT in coastal bay areas of China. Estimated hazard quotients indicated that sediment in Hailing Bay posed high risk to the aquatic system, and it would take at least 21 years to reduce the hazards to a safe level. Moreover, p,p'-DDT tends to migrate from water to sediment in the entire Hailing Bay and Daya Bay. On the other hand, our previous research indicated that p,p'-DDT was more likely to migrate from sediment to water in the maricultured zones located in shallow waters of these two bays, where fishing vessels frequently remain. These findings suggest that relocating mariculture zones to deeper waters would reduce the likelihood of farmed fish contamination by p,p'-DDT. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Numerical simulation of the effects of cooling tower complexes on clouds and severe storms. Final report, September 1976-June 1979

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Orville, H.D.; Eckhoff, P.A.; Peak, J.E.; Hirsch, J.H.; Kopp, F.J.

    1979-11-01

    A two-dimensional, time-dependent model was developed which gives realistic simulations of many severe storm processes - such as heavy rains, hail, and strong winds. The model is a set of partial differential equations describing time changes of momentum, energy, and mass (air and various water substances such as water vapor, cloud liquid, cloud ice, rainwater, and hail). In addition, appropriate boundary And initial conditions (taken from weather sounding data) are imposed on a domain approximately 20 km high by 20 km wide with 200 m grid intervals to complete the model. Modifications were made to the model which allow additional water vapor and heat to be added at several lower grid points, simulating effluents from a power park. Cases were run which depict realistic severe storm situations. One atmospheric sounding has a strong middle-level inversion which tends to inhibit the first convective clouds but gives rise later to a severe storm with hail and heavy rains. One other sounding is taken from a day in which a severe storm occurred in the Miami area. A third sounding depicts atmospheric conditions in which severe storms formed in the vicinity of Huron, South Dakota. The results indicate that a power park emitting 80% latent heat and 20% sensible heat has little effect on the simulated storm. A case with 100% sensible heat emission leads to a much different solution, with the simulated storm reduced in severity and the rain and hail redistributed. A case in which water vapor is accumulated in a region and released over a broad depth results in sightly more rain from a severe storm

  2. Awareness of holistic care practices by intensive care nurses in north-western Saudi Arabia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albaqawi, Hamdan M; Butcon, Vincent R; Molina, Roger R

    2017-08-01

    To examine awareness of holistic patient care by staff nurses in the intensive care units of hospitals in the city of Hail, Saudi Arabia.  Methods: A quantitative correlational study design was used to investigate relationships between intensive care nurse's awareness of holistic practices and nurses' latest performance review. Intensive care staff nurses (n=99) from 4 public sector hospitals in Hail were surveyed on their awareness of variables across 5 holistic domains: physiological, sociocultural, psychological, developmental, and spiritual. Data were collected between October and December 2015 using written survey, and performance evaluations obtained from the hospital administrations. Results were statistically analyzed and compared (numerical, percentage, Pearson's correlation, Chronbach's alpha). Results: The ICU staff nurses in Hail City were aware of the secular aspects of holistic care, and the majority had very good performance evaluations. There were no demographic trends regarding holistic awareness and nurse performance. Further, awareness of holistic care was not associated with nurse performance.  Conclusion: A caring-enhancement workshop and a mentoring program for non-Saudi nurses may increase holistic care awareness and enhance its practice in the ICUs.

  3. Idealized simulation of the Colorado hailstorm case: comparison of bulk and detailed microphysics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geresdi, I.

    One of the purposes of the Fourth Cloud Modeling Workshop was to compare different microphysical treatments. In this paper, the results of a widely used bulk treatment and five versions of a detailed microphysical model are presented. Sensitivity analysis was made to investigate the effect of bulk parametrization, ice initiation technique, CCN concentration and collision efficiency of rimed ice crystal-drop collision. The results show that: (i) The mixing ratios of different species of hydrometeors calculated by bulk and one of the detailed models show some similarity. However, the processes of hail/graupel formation are different in the bulk and the detailed models. (ii) Using different ice initiation in the detailed models' different processes became important in the hail and graupel formation. (iii) In the case of higher CCN concentration, the mixing ratio of liquid water, hail and graupel were more sensitive to the value of collision efficiency of rimed ice crystal-drop collision. (iv) The Bergeron-Findeisen process does not work in the updraft core of a convective cloud. The vapor content was always over water saturation; moreover, the supersaturation gradually increased after the appearance of precipitation ice particles.

  4. Airborne Radar Observations of Severe Hailstorms: Implications for Future Spaceborne Radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heymsfield, Gerald M.; Tian, Lin; Li, Lihua; McLinden, Matthew; Cervantes, Jaime I.

    2013-01-01

    A new dual-frequency (Ku and Ka band) nadir-pointing Doppler radar on the high-altitude NASA ER-2 aircraft, called the High-Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (HIWRAP), has collected data over severe thunderstorms in Oklahoma and Kansas during the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E). The overarching motivation for this study is to understand the behavior of the dualwavelength airborne radar measurements in a global variety of thunderstorms and how these may relate to future spaceborne-radar measurements. HIWRAP is operated at frequencies that are similar to those of the precipitation radar on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (Ku band) and the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement mission satellite's dual-frequency (Ku and Ka bands) precipitation radar. The aircraft measurements of strong hailstorms have been combined with ground-based polarimetric measurements to obtain a better understanding of the response of the Ku- and Ka-band radar to the vertical distribution of the hydrometeors, including hail. Data from two flight lines on 24 May 2011 are presented. Doppler velocities were approx. 39m/s2at 10.7-km altitude from the first flight line early on 24 May, and the lower value of approx. 25m/s on a second flight line later in the day. Vertical motions estimated using a fall speed estimate for large graupel and hail suggested that the first storm had an updraft that possibly exceeded 60m/s for the more intense part of the storm. This large updraft speed along with reports of 5-cm hail at the surface, reflectivities reaching 70 dBZ at S band in the storm cores, and hail signals from polarimetric data provide a highly challenging situation for spaceborne-radar measurements in intense convective systems. The Ku- and Ka-band reflectivities rarely exceed approx. 47 and approx. 37 dBZ, respectively, in these storms.

  5. In Our Hands: An Ethics of Gestural Response-ability. Rebecca Schneider in conversation with Lucia Ruprecht

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rebecca Schneider

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The following conversation aims to trace the role of gesture and gestural thinking in Rebecca Schneider’s work, and to tease out the specific gestural ethics which arises in her writings. In particular, Schneider thinks about the politics of citation and reiteration for an ethics of call and response that emerges in the gesture of the hail. Both predicated upon a fundamentally ethical relationality and susceptible to ideological investment, the hail epitomises the operations of the “both/and”—a logic of conjunction that structures and punctuates the history of thinking on gesture from the classic Brechtian tactic in which performance both replays and counters conditions of subjugation to Alexander Weheliye’s reclamation of this tactic for black and critical ethnic studies. The gesture of the hail will lead us, then, to the gesture of protest in the Black Lives Matter movement. The hands that are held up in the air both replay (and respond to the standard pose of surrender in the face of police authority and call for a future that might be different. Schneider’s ethics of response-ability thus rethinks relationality as something that always already anticipates and perpetually reinaugurates possibilities for response.

  6. Developing an Innovative and Creative Hands-on Lean Six Sigma Manufacturing Experiments for Engineering Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. Badawi

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The goal of this study was to develop an innovative and creative hands-on project based on Lean Six Sigma experiments for engineering education at the College of Engineering at the University of Hail. The exercises were designed using junction box assembly to meet the following learning outcomes: 1-to provide students with solid experience on waste elimination and variation reduction and 2-to engage students in exercises related to assembly line mass production and motion study. To achieve these objectives, students were introduced to the principles of Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma through various pedagogical activities such as classroom instruction, laboratory experiments, hands-on exercises, and interactive group work. In addition, Minitab 17 statistical package and Quality Companion 3 software were used to facilitate The Lean Six Sigma exercises. The software application and hands-on manufacturing assembly were found to be extremely valuable in giving students the chance to identify which variables to control in order to minimize variation and eliminate waste. This research was funded by a grant from the Deanship of Academic Research at University of Hail for project number E-26-IC, and under the umbrella of Ministry of Education within the framework of the National Initiative on Creativity and Innovation in Saudi Universities at University of Hail.

  7. Premier Wen hails sci-tech cooperation with CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    2004-01-01

    Premier Wen Jiabao met CERN's director general Dr Robert Aymar and physicist and Nobel laureate Dr Samuel Chao Chung Ting. Premier Wen emphasied the importance for China to collaborate on fundamental science (0.5 page)

  8. Storm Data Publication

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — 'Storm Data and Unusual Weather Phenomena' is a monthly publication containing a chronological listing, by state, of hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, hail,...

  9. Unpacking and Rearranging the Boxes: The Search for a New Institutional Matrix of Democratic Control of the Military in Botswana

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Thaga, Laki

    2004-01-01

    Botswana has been hailed as a "model of success", an "African Miracle" and a "rare bird in Africa" because of its economic prosperity record and democratic achievements in a region of sharp contrasts...

  10. 26 CFR 1.61-4 - Gross income of farmers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... exchange is to be included in gross income. Proceeds of insurance, such as hail or fire insurance on... include crop insurance proceeds in income for taxable year following taxable year of destruction. For...

  11. Plaadid / Virko Pirrus, Urmas Piht, Priit Kenkmann

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Pirrus, Virko

    2008-01-01

    Uutest heliplaatidest My Dying Bride "An Ode To Woe", Hollenton "Opus Magnum", Hail Of Bullets "...Of Frost And War", Obtest "Gyvybes Medis", Krisiun "Southern Storm", Belphegor "Bondage Goat Zombie", Esoteric "The Maniacal Vale"

  12. 77 FR 2907 - Religious Freedom Day, 2012

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-20

    ... centuries, men and women have immigrated to America's shores in pursuit of religious freedom. Hailing from... discrimination because of their beliefs. My Administration continues to stand with all who are denied the ability...

  13. Appropriate tools and methods for tropical microepidemiology: a ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Appropriate tools and methods for tropical microepidemiology: a case-study of malaria clustering in Ethiopia. Tedros A Ghebreyesus, Peter Byass, Karen H Witten, Asfaw Getachew, Mitiku Haile, Mekonnen Yohannes, Steven W Lindsay ...

  14. End o' the line revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    De Mey, Jo G R; Vanhoutte, Paul M

    2014-01-01

    When endothelin-1(ET-1) was discovered it was hailed as the prototypical endothelium-derived contracting factor (EDCF). However, over the years little evidence emerged convincingly demonstrating that the peptide actually contributes to moment-to-moment changes in vascular tone elicited by endothe......When endothelin-1(ET-1) was discovered it was hailed as the prototypical endothelium-derived contracting factor (EDCF). However, over the years little evidence emerged convincingly demonstrating that the peptide actually contributes to moment-to-moment changes in vascular tone elicited...... of endothelial dysfunction when the NO bioavailability is considerably reduced if not absent. The present essay discusses whether or not this concept should be revised, in particular in view of the potent inhibitory effect exerted by calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) released from sensorimotor nerves...

  15. Histopathologic Patterns of Breast Lesions in Northern Saudi Arabia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hussain Gadelkarim Ahmed

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence rates of common types of breast cancer in Northern Saudi Arabia. Methodology: A retrospective cohort study was carried out over a five-year period in two referral hospitals. In this study 257 files were retrieved from departments of Surgery from different hospitals in Hail region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA. Results: Of the 257 samples diagnosed using Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC, histopathological diagnosis was confirmed for 158 patients. Of the 158 diagnosed samples, 46/158 (23.2% were ductal carcinoma, 7/158 (4.4% were lobular carcinoma, 3/158 (1.9% were mixed tumours, and 102/158 (64.6 were fibroadenoma. Conclusion: Fibroadenoma and ductal carcinoma are the prevalent breast lesions in Hail Region of Saudi Arabia.

  16. Biochemistry graduate student selected to meet with Nobel Laureates

    OpenAIRE

    Trulove, Susan

    2006-01-01

    January Haile of Athens, Tenn., a Ph.D. student in biochemistry at Virginia Tech has been selected by Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) to attend a meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany, in June.

  17. Synoptic patterns leading to hailstorm in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    28

    most important pressure system leading to hail occurrence in Chaharmahal ..... Kirtsaeng S, Detyothin S, Nakburee A and Mongkala A 2015 Characteristics of ... Twardosz R 2010 Short Communication A synoptic analysis of the diurnal cycle of.

  18. علاقات النجف مع حواضر الجزيرة العربية في العهد العثماني الأخير حتى عام 1921... حائل أنموذجاً Najaf relations with the capitals of the Arabian Peninsula In the Last Ottoman period until 1921 ... Hail as model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moukidam Abdul Hassan Fayad مقدام عبد الحسن الفياض

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Najaf city Own a solid relationships and consistent with its surroundings geographical ( local and regional , as it is a city with have its centrality of scientific and its system of intellectual and maintain close contact with different parts of the Islamic world , it was also a commercial center and industrially important is the gate of Iraq on the western plateau and the population of the desert went to this city the most their needs. And is active around the movement of negative sentences convoys coming from the Arabian Peninsula and find Hail and Hijaz. The convoys are flocking to the desert of Najaf consistently as one of the centers markets necessary in Iraq . Its economy and adopted a semi-desert nature of the non-agricultural mainly on trade , and the resources they bring religious tourism . This is an activity the most important source for the movement financially.

  19. Al Qaeda and the Internet: The Danger of 'Cyberplanning'

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Thomas, Timothy L

    2003-01-01

    One can say with some certainty, al Qaeda loves the Internet. When the latter first appeared, it was hailed as an integrator of cultures and a medium for businesses, consumers, and governments to communicate with one another...

  20. Detection of DDT and its metabolites in two estuaries of South China using a SPME-based device: First report of p,p'-DDMU in water column

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xing Yuanna; Guo Ying; Xie Mei; Shen Rulang; Zeng, Eddy Y.

    2009-01-01

    A solid-phase microextration-based sampling method was employed to determine the concentrations of 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT) and its metabolites, 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDD), 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethene (DDE) and 1-chloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethene (DDMU), in two estuarine bays, Daya Bay and Hailing Bay, of South China. Six DDT components including p,p'-DDT, o,p'-DDD, p,p'-DDD, o,p'-DDE, p,p'-DDE, and p,p'-DDMU were detected in Hailing Bay, while only p,p'-DDD was found in Daya Bay. p,p'-DDD was the most abundant DDT component in both bays, sharply different from the previous finding in the water column of the Palos Verdes Shelf, California, USA that p,p'-DDE was prevalent. In addition, the occurrence of p,p'-DDMU (with a range of 0.047-0.21 ng/L in Hailing Bay) has not been reported around the globe, and its presence in our study region appeared to stem from dehydrochlorination of p,p'-DDD, favored under aerobic conditions, but further investigations are clearly needed to confirm the mechanism for generation of DDMU in estuarine environments. - DDT and its metabolites, particularly p,p'-DDMU, are detected in the water column of two estuarine bays in South China using a SPME-based sampler

  1. Adsorption desalination: An emerging low-cost thermal desalination method

    KAUST Repository

    Ng, K. C.; Thu, Kyaw; Kim, Youngdeuk; Chakraborty, Anutosh; Amy, Gary L.

    2013-01-01

    Desalination, other than the natural water cycle, is hailed as the panacea to alleviate the problems of fresh water shortage in many water stressed countries. However, the main drawback of conventional desalination methods is that they are energy

  2. A Bulk Microphysics Parameterization with Multiple Ice Precipitation Categories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Straka, Jerry M.; Mansell, Edward R.

    2005-04-01

    A single-moment bulk microphysics scheme with multiple ice precipitation categories is described. It has 2 liquid hydrometeor categories (cloud droplets and rain) and 10 ice categories that are characterized by habit, size, and density—two ice crystal habits (column and plate), rimed cloud ice, snow (ice crystal aggregates), three categories of graupel with different densities and intercepts, frozen drops, small hail, and large hail. The concept of riming history is implemented for conversions among the graupel and frozen drops categories. The multiple precipitation ice categories allow a range of particle densities and fall velocities for simulating a variety of convective storms with minimal parameter tuning. The scheme is applied to two cases—an idealized continental multicell storm that demonstrates the ice precipitation process, and a small Florida maritime storm in which the warm rain process is important.

  3. Aerospace medicine at Brooks AFB, TX: hail and farewell.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nunneley, Sarah A; Webb, James T

    2011-05-01

    With the impending termination of USAF operations at Brooks Air Force Base (AFB) in San Antonio, TX, it is time to consider its historic role in Aerospace Medicine. The base was established in 1917 as a flight training center for the U.S. Army Air Service and in 1926 became home to its School of Aviation Medicine. The school moved to San Antonio's Randolph Field in 1931, but in 1959 it returned to Brooks where it occupied new facilities to support its role as a national center for U.S. Air Force aerospace medicine, including teaching, clinical medicine, and research. The mission was then expanded to encompass support of U.S. military and civilian space programs. With the abrupt termination of the military space program in 1969, research at Brooks focused on clinical aviation medicine and support of advanced military aircraft while continuing close cooperation with NASA in support of orbital spaceflight and the journey to the Moon. Reorganization in the 1990s assigned all research functions at Brooks to the Human Systems Division and its successors, leaving to USAFSAM the missions related to clinical work and teaching. In 2002 the USAF and the city of San Antonio implemented shared operation of Brooks as a "City-Base" in the hope of deflecting threatened closure. Nevertheless, under continuing pressure to consolidate military facilities in the United States, the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Commission ordered Brooks closed by 2011, with its aerospace medicine functions relocated to new facilities at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH.

  4. Hail, Procrustes! Harmonized accounting standards as a Procrustean bed

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stecher, J.; Suijs, J.P.M.

    2012-01-01

    This article finds that the use of a harmonized accounting standard, such as the International Financial Reporting Standards, increases the information available to markets only if institutional differences across countries using the harmonized standard are insignificant. In all other cases,

  5. African Journal of Biotechnology - Vol 15, No 41 (2016)

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    DNA markers reveal genetic structure and localized diversity of Ethiopian sorghum landraces · EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT. Haile Desmae, David R. Jordan, Ian D. Godwin, 2301-2311 ...

  6. 7 CFR 51.2932 - Damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... apparent. (e) Scab spots when cracked or aggregating more than three-eighths inch (9.5 mm) in diameter. (f... scattered and aggregating more than one-fourth inch (6.3 mm) in diameter. (g) Hail when the skin has been...

  7. 7 CFR 51.2933 - Serious damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... seriously affects the appearance. (e) Scab spots when cracked or when well healed and aggregating more than... aggregating more than one-half inch (12.7 mm) in diameter. (g) Hail when the skin has been broken or when more...

  8. African Journal of Biotechnology - Vol 11, No 41 (2012)

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Lenaldo Muniz de Oliveira, Nayra da Silva Negreiros Cardoso, Luzimar Gonzaga .... Ju-Hong Zhang, Jian-Ying Guo, Jing-Yuan Xia, Fang-Hao Wan, 9873-9880 ... Zhu Xiao-yan, Chang Shu-juan, Zhang Ying-jun, Luo Hai-ling, 9894-9905.

  9. UNEMPLOYMENT IN URBAN ETHIOPIA: DETERMINANTS AND ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Eyerusalem

    Data from the 2004 wave of the Ethiopian Urban Socio Economic Survey on four major cities of .... public sector jobs and for those with their fathers are civil servants. Haile (2003), using ... not address rural unemployment. Two econometric ...

  10. Deuterium in atmospheric cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pontikis, M.C.

    Interest of the study concerning the deuterium content variation (HDO) in the atmospheric water. Standards and measurement methods. Molecule HDO cycle in the atmospheric water. Application to the study of hail-generating cumulus-nimbus and of the mantle of snow [fr

  11. Numerical simulation of a rare winter hailstorm event over Delhi, India on 17 January 2013

    KAUST Repository

    Chevuturi, A.; Dimri, A. P.; Gunturu, Udaya

    2014-01-01

    January 2013 (16:00–18:00 UTC) occurring over NCR is investigated. The storm is simulated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) microphysics scheme with two different options: hail and graupel

  12. The admission and enrolment of foreign legal practitioners in South ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Globalisation requires ever closer co-operation between legal professionals hailing from different national jurisdictions. This interactive global environment has fostered growing international training and mobility among legal practitioners and the internationalisation of legal education. Increasing numbers of law students get ...

  13. "Knowledge Universe" and Virtual Schools: Educational Breakthrough or Digital Raid on the Public Treasury? Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bracey, Gerald W.

    2004-01-01

    Correspondence schools, motion pictures, radio, educational television, and computer-assisted instruction have all been hailed as technological innovations that would revolutionize education, reducing, if not eliminating entirely, education's dependence on traditional schools and their teachers. The latest innovation is "virtual…

  14. Protecting apple trees from rain –better fruit quality and maintenance of yield

    OpenAIRE

    Kjaer, Katrine Heinsvig

    2016-01-01

    Plastic rain shields reduce the leaf and fruit wetness and protect apple trees against major leaf diseases and hail damage. Shielding the trees may reduce incoming radiation, especially in the ultraviolet (UV) region of the light spectrum, and affect the microclimate and photosynthesis.

  15. International criminal tribunals and human rights law: Adherence and contextualization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zeegers, K.J.

    2015-01-01

    Given their mandate to prosecute persons responsible for the most atrocious of human rights violations, International Criminal Tribunals (ICTs) are generally hailed as welcome enforcers of international human rights law: a new instrument in the toolkit of human rights protectors. However, ICTs

  16. Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of orthodontic mini-implants in clinical practice: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meursinge Reynders, Reint; Ronchi, Laura; Ladu, Luisa; Di Girolamo, Nicola; de Lange, Jan; Roberts, Nia; Mickan, Sharon

    2016-01-01

    Most orthodontic treatment plans need some form of anchorage to control the reciprocal forces of tooth movement. Orthodontic mini implants (OMIs) have been hailed for having revolutionized orthodontics, because they provide anchorage without depending on the collaboration of patients, they have a

  17. 7 CFR 51.3748 - Damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... pressure of the weight of other melons or from lidding of the crate; (2) Yellow spots; (3) Superficial hail spots; (4) Slight surface scratches caused by picking or packing; or, (5) Netting, either raised or occurring as very shallow cracks in the skin. ...

  18. Building Partner Capacity and Strengthening Security Through Medical Security Force Assistance

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-01

    initially .”..hailed by some as a creation as important to the theoretical development of the social sciences as the calculus had been to the...particularly medical and dental care, can have the unintended consequence of decreasing the population’s confidence in the

  19. Helping fans to get fit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trueland, Jennifer

    A health and weight loss programme supported by nurses and delivered by professional football clubs in Scotland has been hailed a success in helping men to lose weight sustainably. It uses participants love of football to motivate them to make healthy lifestyle changes.

  20. 2007 Expeditionary Warfare Conference (12th)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-10-25

    performers 7 International Engagement AFRICOM Cameroon Cape Verde Islands Ghana Nigeria South Africa Tunisia SOUTHCOM Argentina Brazil Chile Colombia ...Sting Ball Grenade • TASERs • Caltrops/Stinger Spike Strips • Acoustic Hailing Device • Laser Dazzler • Shoulder Launch Running Gear Entanglement

  1. One Analogy Can Hide Another: Physics and Biology in Alchian’s “Economic Natural Selection”

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    C. Levallois (Clément)

    2008-01-01

    textabstractToday, Alchian's "Uncertainty, evolution and economic theory" (1950) is hailed by evolutionary economists as a most important piece, which resumed an evolutionary brand of theorizing in economics after the eclipse of the interwar period. On the other hand, Alchian's article is also

  2. Synoptic patterns leading to hailstorm in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Bromand Salahi

    2018-03-06

    Mar 6, 2018 ... Europe and Iran lying in downstream of the trough and injection of humidity of the Mediterranean Sea; ... Sioutas and Flocas (2003) analyzed days with hail in a period of 26 years ... Also, workers such as Brooks et al. (2003) ...

  3. Support technologies to cater for rockbursts and falls of ground in the immediate face area, volume 1.

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Daehnk, A

    2000-03-01

    Full Text Available Final Project Report Support technologies to cater for rockbursts and falls of ground in the immediate face area Volume I A. Daehnke, E. Acheampong, N. Reddy, K.B. Le Bron and A.T. Haile Research agency: CSIR Mining Technology Project number: GAP...

  4. The geopolitics of renewables : A mere shift or landslide in energy dependencies?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Scholten, D.J.; Bosman, R.

    2013-01-01

    Renewable energy sources are often hailed as the panacea for a plethora of challenges associated with the use of fossil fuels. Partly for good reasons; while the utilization of renewables diminishes energy scarcity and lowers various kinds of pollution, their potential to address energy related

  5. Moments of Negotiation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pieters, Jurgen

    2001-01-01

    'Moments of Negotiation' offers the first book-length and indepth analysis of the New Historicist reading method, which the American Shakespeare-scolar Stephen Greenblatt introduced at the beginning of the 1980s. Ever since, Greenblatt has been hailed as the prime representative of this movement,

  6. J'ai le gout du Quebec (I Am in the Mood for Quebec)!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tetu de Labsade, Francoise

    1981-01-01

    Hails the vitality of the French language in the Quebec region as it manifests itself through advertisements, from political slogans to storefront signs. Discusses the relationship between the language of the Quebecois and their culture, and offers an effective visual commentary through numerous illustrations. (MES)

  7. Industrial Agglomeration and Use of the Internet

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    C-L. Chang (Chia-Lin); M.J. McAleer (Michael); Y-C. Wu (Yu-Chieh)

    2015-01-01

    textabstractTaiwan has been hailed as a world leader in the development of global innovation and industrial clusters for the past decade. This paper investigates the effects of industrial agglomeration on the use of the internet and internet intensity for Taiwan manufacturing firms, and analyses

  8. Alexandrea in Aegypto. The role of the Egyptian tradition in the Hellenistic and Roman periods : ideology, culture, identity, and public life

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Savvopoulos, Kyriakos

    2011-01-01

    Alexandria, the capital of Egypt during the Hellenistic and Roman periods is often hailed as the ancient cosmopolitan center of Mediterranean par excellence. Since the foundation of the city by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, several traditions- along with their representatives, mainly Greek and

  9. Financial Reporting Enforcement

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsen, Carsten

    the auditors’ auditing efforts, which are made in conjunction with the impact of the enforcement of auditors and limitations on the auditors’ liability. However, research indicates that strict enforcement is a prerequisite for ensuring compliance with accounting regulations (Hail and Leuz 2006, Daske et al...

  10. International critical perspectives

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sambrook, S.A.; Poell, R.F.

    2014-01-01

    The Problem Critical perspectives on human resource development (HRD) have emerged, across Europe and America, hailed as the future of the field. However, we note the paucity of critical perspectives globally, the problematic dominance of critical HRD activities in Western sites of theory and

  11. The apotheosis of holding company accounting: Unilever's financial reporting innovations from the 1920s tot the 1940s

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Camfferman, C.; Zeff, S.A.

    2003-01-01

    The annual reports of Unilever were widely hailed in the 1940s as outstanding examples of holding company accounting. The accounts did indeed contain many new and innovative features, including segment reporting of sales turnover. This contrasts with the frequently negative assessments of the

  12. Proceedings of the Eindhoven FASTAR Days 2004 : Eindhoven, The Netherlands, September 3-4, 2004

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cleophas, L.G.W.A.; Watson, B.W.

    2004-01-01

    The Eindhoven FASTAR Days (EFD) 2004 were organized by the Software Construction group of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. On September 3rd and 4th 2004, over thirty participants|hailing from the Czech Republic, Finland, France, The

  13. THE MICROBIOLOGY OF SOUTH AFRICAN DRIED SAUSAGE

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    THE MICROBIOLOGY OF SOUTH AFRICAN DRIED SAUSAGE. W.H. Holzapfel and A.N. Hail. Receipt of MS s.3.76. Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of hetoria and. Animol and Dairv Science Reseorch Institute, Irene. OPSOMMING: DIE MIKROBIOLOGIE VAN SUID.AFRIKAANSE DROiWORS.

  14. Self-interest versus group-interest in antiviral control

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boven, M. van; Klinkenberg, D.; Pen, I.; Weissing, F.J.; Heesterbeek, J.A.P.

    2008-01-01

    Antiviral agents have been hailed to hold considerable promise for the treatment and prevention of emerging viral diseases like H5N1 avian influenza and SARS. However, antiviral drugs are not completely harmless, and the conditions under which individuals are willing to participate in a

  15. Where do I report my land dispute? The impact of institutional proliferation on land governance in post-conflict Northern Uganda

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kobusingye, D.N.; Leeuwen, M. van; Dijk, J.W.M. van

    2016-01-01

    In Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda has been hailed for embarking on an intensive decentralization programme. Whereas a lot of literature assumes that decentralization leads to improved service delivery, it is unclear to what extent this is the case in practice, especially when it comes down to

  16. Negotiating Competing Goals in the Development of an Urban Ecology Practitioner Inquiry Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piazza, Peter; McNeill, Katherine L.

    2013-01-01

    Teacher learning communities are hailed by many as vehicles for reforming and elevating the professional status of teaching. While much research explores teacher community as a venue for measurable gains, our research examines the orientation of practitioner inquiry toward critical debate about effective instruction. Specifically, our study…

  17. What are the Ethical Problems Raised by the Increase of Cognitive Capabilities in the Defence Structure: The French Legal Structure, the Ethical Position of the French Military Health Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-10-01

    modelled in our occidental civilisation . Within this logic, ethics are defined according to laws laid down in our occidental society. The collection...includes the body and cognitive functions. Etymologically the word hailing from the Latin term “persona” reflects the actor’s voice from behind a

  18. 7 CFR 51.2335 - Grades.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ...) Discoloration; (iv) Hail; (v) Growth cracks; (vi) Scab; (vii) Scars; (viii) Heat, sprayburn, or sunburn; (ix... cracks; (vi) Scab; (vii) Scars; (viii) Heat, sprayburn, or sunburn; (ix) Scale; (x) Insects; (xi) Other...; (vii) Scars; (viii) Heat, sprayburn, or sunburn; (ix) Scale; (x) Insects; (xi) Other diseases; and...

  19. Is Bt Cotton a Pro-Poor Technology? A Review and Critique of the Empirical Record

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Glover, D.

    2010-01-01

    Policy makers, journalists and other commentators have hailed genetically modified (GM) crops as a ‘pro-poor’ success in the developing world. Their confidence appears to be justified by the encouraging conclusions reached by academic studies on the performance and impacts of GM crops, which seem to

  20. The Pitfalls of a "Democracy Promotion" Project for Women of Iraq

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Kassem, Nadeen

    2008-01-01

    "Democracy promotion" as part of a larger project of 'reconstruction' is hailed in mainstream academia and in policy circles as an essential component of rebuilding the state and civil society in post-conflict situations. Here "democracy promotion" refers exclusively to the promotion of political representation and…

  1. Defining greed

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Seuntjens, Terri G.; Zeelenberg, Marcel; Breugelmans, Seger M.; van de Ven, Niels

    2015-01-01

    Although greed is both hailed as the motor of economic growth and blamed as the cause of economic crises, very little is known about its psychological underpinnings. Five studies explored lay conceptualizations of greed among US and Dutch participants using a prototype analysis. Study 1 identified

  2. Share Price Reactions to CEO Resignations and Large Shareholder Monitoring in Listed French Companies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dherment-Ferere, I.; Renneboog, L.D.R.

    2000-01-01

    This study has analysed the share price reactions to changes in top management.A distinction was made among different types of CEO turnover: forced resignation, voluntary departures and age-related retirements.The announcement of a forced CEO resignation is hailed favourably by the market with a

  3. Kuifjes katholieke jeugd. De katholieke achtergrond van Hergé. Deel 1 van 2

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Groot, C.N.

    2013-01-01

    Following the launch of Steven Spielberg’s ‘Tintin and the Secret of the Unicorn’, l’Osservore Romano hailed Tintin as a ‘catholic hero’. This article demonstrates that the comic originates, more specifically, in conservative and reactionary milieus in Belgian Catholicism. Hergé (ps. for Georges

  4. Assessing nutrition and physical health disparisties for a college population

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rural regions are often underserved, and although the Delta region of the United States has a rich history, health disparities abound. A university located in the region has an obligation to address issues of importance to its constituents. Healthy lifestyle obstacles faced by students who hail from...

  5. Journal of Earth System Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Impact of LULC change on the runoff, base flow and evapotranspiration ... granite magmatism from Southern Granulite Terrain, India: Implications for ... At sea level, the following patterns have caused hail formation in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari ... Analysis of rainfall and temperature time series to detect long-term climatic ...

  6. Ethiopian Journal of Health Development - Vol 17, No 1 (2003)

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Appropriate tools and methods for tropical microepidemiology: a case-study of malaria clustering in Ethiopia · EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT. Tedros A Ghebreyesus, Peter Byass, Karen H Witten, Asfaw Getachew, Mitiku Haile, Mekonnen Yohannes, ...

  7. Learning by Doing: The PLA Trains at Home and Abroad

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-11-01

    Hails Results of SCO Counter- terror Exercises,” Interfax- AVN , September 27, 2010, available from www.militarynews.ru; “SCO Counter-terror Exercises...Show High Level of Armed Forces’ Training—Kazakh Defense Minis- ter,” Interfax- AVN , September 27, 2010, available from business. highbeam.com/407705

  8. Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery for a Large Endometriotic Cyst

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In the last decade, laparoscopy has become the standard treatment for many gynecological conditions.[1,2] Today, laparoscopy is hailed as the standard approach in the surgical treatment of benign adnexal pathology.[1,2] Attempts to minimize access-related injuries and complications resulted in development of single port ...

  9. Investigating Cultural Collision: Educators' Perceptions of Hip-Hop Culture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beachum, Floyd D.

    2013-01-01

    Hip-hop music has been embraced worldwide by youth, pummeled in the media for supposedly increasing social misery and hailed as a significant musical breakthrough. Hip-hop culture has transcended musical boundaries and now impacts speech, clothing, mannerisms, movies, websites, television programming, magazines, and energy drinks (Dyson, 2007;…

  10. Our Favorite Film Shocks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Willerslev, Rane; Suhr, Christian

    2014-01-01

    The modern medium of film has long been hailed for its capacity for producing shocks of an entertaining, thought-provoking, or even politically emancipative nature. But what is a shock, how and when does it occur, how long does it last, and are there particular techniques for producing cinematic...

  11. Plaadid / Aleks Lange

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Lange, Aleks

    2003-01-01

    Uutest plaatidest Ricky Martin "Almas del Silencio", Paul McCartney "Back In Th e World", The Ultimate "Diva Collection", Girls Aloud "Sound Of The Underground", Blacky "Kui me päikeseloojangut ootama peaks", Christoph Poppen, Münchner Kammerorchester, The Hilliard Ensemble, Cerys Matthews "Cockahoop", Radiohead "Hail to the Thief"

  12. The 13th World Health Congress has been conducted between April ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    admin

    1 School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. EDITORIAL. Fostering public health leadership in Africa. Damen Haile Mariam1. The 13th. World Health Congress has been conducted between April 23-27, 2012 in Addis. Ababa and the Ethiopian Public Health. Association (EPHA) has ...

  13. Émergence et déclin de la gouvernance démocratique en droit international

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    d' Aspremont, J.

    2009-01-01

    This article argues that the years 1989-2010 can be hailed as an unprecedented epoch of international law during which domestic governance - understood here in a traditional way as the use of public authority at the domestic level through a central governmental authority - came to be regulated to an

  14. A Critical Perspective On Microarray Breast Cancer Gene Expression Profiling

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sontrop, H.M.J.

    2015-01-01

    Microarrays offer biologists an exciting tool that allows the simultaneous assessment of gene expression levels for thousands of genes at once. At the time of their inception, microarrays were hailed as the new dawn in cancer biology and oncology practice with the hope that within a decade diseases

  15. 76 FR 28438 - Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-17

    ... below concerns RFA CE10-004, the National Academic Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention... Violence Prevention (U01). Contact Person for More Information: Gwendolyn Haile Cattledge, PhD, M.S.E.H., F... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Board of...

  16. Decarbonization of maritime transport: to be or not to be?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Psaraftis, Harilaos N.

    2018-01-01

    International shipping is at a crossroads as regards decarbonization. The Paris climate change agreement in 2015 (COP21) was hailed by many as a most significant achievement. Others were less enthusiastic, and more recently American President Trump decided to take the U.S. out of the agreement. F...

  17. The Nature Of Self-Employment In Urban Ethiopia | Haile | Ethiopian ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Ethiopian Journal of Economics. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search · Current Issue · Archives · Journal Home > Vol 17, No 1 (2008) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. Username, Password, Remember me, or Register · Download this PDF file. The PDF file you selected should ...

  18. Tech Transfer Award Hails FNL's Role in Ebola Response | FNLCR

    Science.gov (United States)

    For speeding the delivery of an effective candidate vaccine during the largest Ebola outbreak in history, the Frederick National Lab (as Leidos Biomed) was cited along with National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and GlaxoSmithKline in

  19. Le tyrannicide en droit international

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    d' Aspremont, J.; Tomuschat, C.; Lagrange, E.; Oeter, S.

    2010-01-01

    Drawing on practice pertaining to the killing of Saddam Hussein, Hailé Sélassié, Nicolae Ceausescu etc., the paper explores various legal aspects of a tyrannicide in International Law. It expounds more particularly on the legal problems caused by the murder of a head of State from the standpoint of

  20. Celebrating Love in All Shades: YA Books with LGBTQ Themes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Letcher, Mark, Ed.

    2009-01-01

    In this article, the author highlights outstanding literature written for young adults that contains LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning) themes, or contains LGBTQ characters. One of the most critically hailed books with LGBTQ characters from 2007 was Perry Moore's debut novel, "Hero" (Hyperion). This book won the Lambda…

  1. Analyses of the temporal and spatial structures of heavy rainfall from a catalog of high-resolution radar rainfall fields

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thorndahl, Søren; Smith, James A.; Baeck, Mary Lynn

    2014-01-01

    that relate to size, structure and evolution of heavy rainfall. Extreme rainfall is also linked with severe weather (tornados, large hail and damaging wind). The diurnal cycle of rainfall for heavy rain days is characterized by an early peak in the largest rainfall rates, an afternoon-evening peak in rain...

  2. 7 CFR 51.1817 - U.S. No. 2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ...) Unhealed skin breaks; and, (3) Wormy fruit. (c) Free from serious damage caused by: (1) Ammoniation; (2...; (8) Dryness or mushy condition; (9) Green spots; (10) Hail; (11) Insects; (12) Oil spots; (13) Scab; (14) Scale; (15) Scars; (16) Skin breakdown; (17) Sprayburn; (18) Sunburn; and (19) Other means. (d...

  3. 7 CFR 51.1812 - U.S. No. 1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... well colored; (3) Firm; (4) Mature; and, (5) Well formed. (b) Free from: (1) Decay; (2) Unhealed skin... mushy condition; (9) Green spots; (10) Hail; (11) Insects; (12) Oil spots; (13) Scab; (14) Scale; (15) Scars; (16) Skin breakdown; (17) Sprayburn; (18) Sunburn; and (19) Other means. (d) For tolerances see...

  4. Spotter's Guide for Identifying and Reporting Severe Local Storms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (DOC), Rockville, MD.

    This guide is designed to assist personnel working in the National Weather Service's Severe Local Storm Spotter Networks in identifying and reporting severe local storms. Provided are pictures of cloud types for severe storms including tornadoes, hail, thunder, lightning, heavy rains, and waterspouts. Instructions for key indications to watch for…

  5. Architecture and the Ethics of Authenticity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spector, Tom

    2011-01-01

    Across most of Oklahoma's gently rolling prairie countryside these artistically uninformed structures often provide the only vertical punctuation to a landscape otherwise made of mostly horizontal lines. One of the pleasures of teaching architecture is to participate in the intellectual progress of students--many of whom hail from rural areas and…

  6. EDITORIAL Road traffic accident: A major public health problem in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    admin

    Damen Haile Mariam1. One of the articles in this issue demonstrates how road traffic accident is a serious, but neglected, health problem in Ethiopia using secondary data collected by the Amhara National Regional State. Police Commission from 2007-2011 (1). Fatalities due to traffic accidents are reported to be among.

  7. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THINKING BEFORE THE COGNITIVE REVOLUTION : Otto Selz on Problems, Schemas, and Creativity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    ter Hark, Michel

    Otto Selz has been hailed as one of the most important precursors of the cognitive revolution, yet surprisingly few studies of his work exist. He is often mentioned in the context of the Wurzburg School of the psychology of thinking and sometimes in the context of Gestalt psychology. In this paper,

  8. Use of improved inputs and its effect on maize yield and profit in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Maize is an important crop, produced by nearly all households in Uganda. Yet, the yield of the crop is low, mainly blamed on low use of improved technologies. In a bid to understand why farmers are reluctant to adopt modern agricultural technologies, which are hailed for enhancing productivity, this study assessed the ...

  9. The Case against B. F. Skinner 45 Years Later: An Encounter with N. Chomsky

    Science.gov (United States)

    Virues-Ortega, J.

    2006-01-01

    Chomsky's (1959) review of "Verbal Behavior" (Skinner, 1957) has been hailed as the most influential document in the history of psychology. Although many rejoinders to Chomsky's review have been published, their impact has been minimal. Moreover, Chomsky has not answered them in detail. To invite Chomsky to revisit a number of matters concerning…

  10. Making a Move: Next Steps for Women. A Follow-up Study of Women Onto Work Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howieson, Cathy

    A 4-year longitudinal study assessed the longer-term outcomes for students of Women Onto Work (WOW) courses aimed at unemployed Scottish women from Wester Hailes, Craigmillar, and Pilton/Muirhouse and unemployed women with disabilities from minority ethnic groups from Edinburgh (Scotland). The research covered 4-year groups of students who were in…

  11. 7 CFR 51.317 - Damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... of more than one-half inch in diameter. (4) Red skin spots which are thinly scattered over more than... diameter. (b) Sunburn or sprayburn which has caused blistering or cracking of the skin, or when the.... (d) Hail marks, drought spots, other similar depressions, or scars: (1) When any unhealed mark is...

  12. 7 CFR 51.1810 - U.S. Fancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ...) Unhealed skin breaks; and, (4) Wormy fruit. (c) Free from damage caused by: (1) Ammoniation; (2) Bruises...) Disease; (8) Green spots; (9) Hail; (10) Insects; (11) Oil spots; (12) Scab; (13) Scale; (14) Scars; (15) Skin breakdown; (16) Sprayburn; (17) Sunburn; and, (18) Other means. (d) For tolerances see § 51.1820. ...

  13. Alcohol, tobacco and obesity: morality, mortality and the new public health

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Bell, Kirsten; McNaughton, Darlene; Salmon, Amy

    2011-01-01

    ...) have become accept­ able responses to the 'risks' that alcohol, tobacco and obesity are perceived to pose. Hailing from Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the USA, and drawing on examples from all four countries, contributors interrogate the ways in which alcohol, tobacco and 'fat' have come to be constructed as 'problems'...

  14. Science 101: What Causes Severe Thunderstorms and Tornadoes?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robertson, Bill

    2016-01-01

    What causes severe thunderstorms and tornadoes? Tornadoes, often accompanied by severe thunderstorms and hail, form in pretty much the same way as severe thunderstorms. In the continental United States, tornadoes usually form in spring and summer, when warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico moves across the continent from southeast to northwest…

  15. With "Restorative Justice," Colleges Strive to Educate Student Offenders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lipka, Sara

    2009-01-01

    Student-conduct administrators around the country are hailing restorative justice as the next big thing. A blend of mediation and restitution, it seeks to resolve a conflict by identifying the harms caused and devising, with suggestions from both victims and offenders, an agreement to repair them. Restorative justice not only offers an alternative…

  16. The Pedagogy of Flipped Instruction in Oman

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lane-Kelso, Mary

    2015-01-01

    "Flipping the classroom", or reverse instruction has been hailed the new pedagogical approach for preparing students for the 21st century. The idea behind this method is relatively simple. Instead of structuring class work to deliver direct instruction from the teacher in class and giving homework to students to practice outside of…

  17. Terrorism, Violence, and the Collision of Masculinities in "Four Lions"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Labidi, Imed

    2011-01-01

    Many critics hailed the new film, "Four Lions," by director Chris Morris as "provocative, incendiary, audacious, and shocking" and "one of the funniest and boldest comedies of the year." As a satirist, Morris already established his wit signature with the production of the mockumentary series, "Brass Eye." Using the same absurdist approach, he…

  18. Maadlusfilm tõi Kuldlõvi / Tiit Tuumalu

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Tuumalu, Tiit, 1971-

    2008-01-01

    65. Veneetsia filmifestivali auhinnasaajad. Peauhinna sai Darren Aronofsky "Maadleja" ("The Wrestler"), lavastaja Hõbelõvi sai Aleksei German filmiga "Pabersõdur" ("Bumazhnõi soldat"). Žürii eriauhinna sai Etioopia lavastaja Haile Gerima "Teza", programmi "Horisondid" võitis filipiinlase Lav Diazi "Melanhoolia", lühifilmide osas võitis mehhikase Carlos Armella "Maa ja leib"

  19. Dynamic Evaluation of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Subjected to High-Strain-Rate Compressive Loads

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-12-01

    Riddick, J. C.; Hall, A. J.; Haile, M. A.; Von Wahlde, R.; Cole, D. P.; Biggs S. J. Effect of Manufacturing Parameters on Failure in Acrylonitrile...for Tensile Properties of Plastics Annu. Book ASTM Stand. 2004, 1–15. 17. Zukas, J. High Velocity Impact Dynamics; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: New York

  20. 7 CFR 457.107 - Florida citrus fruit crop insurance provisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... hurricane, tornado or other excess wind storms that results in the fruit not meeting the standards for... designated as Citrus I through IX. Excess wind. A natural movement of air that has sustained speeds exceeding... grove; (2) Freeze; (3) Hail; (4) Hurricane; (5) Tornado; (6) Excess wind, but only if it causes the...

  1. The Future of Virtual Reality in the Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vance, Amelia

    2016-01-01

    As state boards of education and other state policymakers consider the future of schools, sorting fad technology from technology that accelerates learning is key. Virtual reality (VR) is one such technology with promise that seems unlikely to fizzle. Hailed as potentially transformative for education and still in the early stages of application,…

  2. Chapter Twenty Three

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    User

    as symbols of purity, spirituality and impeccability whose performative presence in the arena is on account of the involvement of the eldest queen who hails from Iloro quarters of Owo. This participation is a mark of condescension and favour towards the other sex. In the same male isolation of feminist caste, Egungun ...

  3. Characteristics of radar-derived hailstreaks across Central Europe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunz, Michael; Fluck, Elody; Schmidberger, Manuel; Jürgen Punge, Heinz; Baumstark, Sven

    2017-04-01

    Hailstorms are among the most damaging natural disasters in various parts of Europe. For example, two supercells in Germany, on 27 and 28 July 2013, bearing hailstones with a diameter of up to 10 cm, caused economic losses of around 4.0 billion EUR. Despite the large damage potential of severe hailstorms, knowledge about the probability and severity of hail events and hailstorm-favoring conditions in Europe still is limited. A large event set of past severe thunderstorms that occurred between 2004 and 2014 was identified for Germany, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg from radar data considering a lower threshold of 55 dBZ of the maximum Constant Altitude Plan Position Indicator (maxCAPPI). Additional filtering with lightning data and applying a cell tracking algorithm improves the reliability of the detected severe thunderstorm tracks. The obtained statistics show a gradual increase of the track density with increasing distance to the Atlantic and several local-scale maxima, mostly around the mountains. Both the seasonal and daily cycle of severe thunderstorms show large differences across the investigation area. For example, while in Southern France most events occur in June, the peak month in Northern Germany is August, which can be plausibly explained by differences in convective energy due to the large-scale circulation. Furthermore, ambient conditions in terms of convection-related quantities (e.g., CAPE, wind shear, lapse rate) and prevailing synoptic scale fronts were studied both for the entire event set and a subset, where radar-derived storm tracks were combined with hail observations provided by the European Severe Weather Database ESWD. Over Northern Germany, for example, up to 40% of all radar-derived thunderstorm tracks were associated with cold fronts, while in Southern Germany the ratio is only around 20%. Overall, around 25% of all hail streaks were associated with cold fronts.

  4. Evaluation of Deep Learning Representations of Spatial Storm Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gagne, D. J., II; Haupt, S. E.; Nychka, D. W.

    2017-12-01

    The spatial structure of a severe thunderstorm and its surrounding environment provide useful information about the potential for severe weather hazards, including tornadoes, hail, and high winds. Statistics computed over the area of a storm or from the pre-storm environment can provide descriptive information but fail to capture structural information. Because the storm environment is a complex, high-dimensional space, identifying methods to encode important spatial storm information in a low-dimensional form should aid analysis and prediction of storms by statistical and machine learning models. Principal component analysis (PCA), a more traditional approach, transforms high-dimensional data into a set of linearly uncorrelated, orthogonal components ordered by the amount of variance explained by each component. The burgeoning field of deep learning offers two potential approaches to this problem. Convolutional Neural Networks are a supervised learning method for transforming spatial data into a hierarchical set of feature maps that correspond with relevant combinations of spatial structures in the data. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are an unsupervised deep learning model that uses two neural networks trained against each other to produce encoded representations of spatial data. These different spatial encoding methods were evaluated on the prediction of severe hail for a large set of storm patches extracted from the NCAR convection-allowing ensemble. Each storm patch contains information about storm structure and the near-storm environment. Logistic regression and random forest models were trained using the PCA and GAN encodings of the storm data and were compared against the predictions from a convolutional neural network. All methods showed skill over climatology at predicting the probability of severe hail. However, the verification scores among the methods were very similar and the predictions were highly correlated. Further evaluations are being

  5. The Effects of YouTube Listening/Viewing Activities on Taiwanese EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuo, Li-Li

    2009-01-01

    Declared the year of YouTube, 2007 was hailed as bringing a technological revolution in relation to pedagogy, one that may provide more convenient access to materials for language input, such as auditory, visual, and other types of authentic resources in order to promote advancement in all four language learning skills--listening, speaking,…

  6. Preparing Teachers to Integrate Web 2.0 in School Practice: Toward a Framework for Pedagogy 2.0

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jimoyiannis, Athanassios; Tsiotakis, Panagiotis; Roussinos, Dimitrios; Siorenta, Anastasia

    2013-01-01

    Web 2.0 has captured the interest and the imagination of both educators and researchers while it is expected to exert a significant impact on instruction and learning, in the context of the 21st century education. Hailed as an open collaborative learning space, many questions remain unanswered regarding the appropriate teacher preparation and the…

  7. United State Collaboration working in the Atlas hall experiment (B180).

    CERN Multimedia

    Maximilien Brice

    2006-01-01

    It's a small world; at least you might think so after a visit to Building 180. Inside, about 30 engineers and physicists weld, measure and hammer away. They hail from Pakistan, Israel, Japan, China, Russia and the United States and they work toward one common goal: the completion of the ATLAS muon chamber endcaps

  8. Saudi EFL Preparatory Year Students' Perception about Corrective Feedback in Oral Communication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alhaysony, Maha

    2016-01-01

    This study sought to investigate the attitudes of Saudi EFL students towards corrective feedback (henceforth CF) on classroom oral errors. The subjects were 3200 (1223 male and 1977 female) students enrolled in an intensive English language programme in the preparatory year at the University of Ha'il. A questionnaire was the main instrument. This…

  9. United State Collaboration working in the ATLAS hall experiment (B180).

    CERN Multimedia

    Maximilien Brice

    2006-01-01

    It's a small world; at least you might think so after a visit to Building 180. Inside, about 30 engineers and physicists weld, measure and hammer away. They hail from Pakistan, Israel, Japan, China, Russia and the United States and they work toward one common goal: the completion of the ATLAS muon chamber endcaps.

  10. The team Israel and Pakistan working for the Atlas collaboration together for a family picture.

    CERN Multimedia

    Maximilien Brice

    2006-01-01

    It's a small world; at least you might think so after a visit to Building 180. Inside, about 30 engineers and physicists weld, measure and hammer away. They hail from Pakistan, Israel, Japan, China, Russia and the United States and they work toward one common goal: the completion of the ATLAS muon chamber endcaps

  11. Pedagogy, Accountability, and Perceptions of Quality by Type of Higher Education in Egypt and Jordan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Assaad, Ragui; Badawy, Eslam; Krafft, Caroline

    2016-01-01

    A number of reasons have been proposed for the poor quality of higher education in the Arab world, including the poor incentive structures of public higher education institutions. The expansion of private higher education has been hailed as an important part of enhancing incentives and thus improving education quality. However, it is not clear…

  12. :;ILl c. ~. ~EVER

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    1973-10-06

    Oct 6, 1973 ... Israeli counterattack, using massed armour, had come to grief in a withering hail of anti-tank rockets and anti-tank guided missiles. The Israelis, however, controlled the Giddi, Mitla and Khatmia passes, gateways to Sinai - but with skeleton forces. It is unresolved why the Egyptians did not attempt to seize ...

  13. Kayayei: the women head porters of southern Ghana | Opare ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    It was found that most of the woman porters hail from the savanna zones of northern Ghana and adjoining areas of Burkina Faso and Togo. They move down south to work and save money for various forms of investment. The paper attributes the push factor, poverty, to the interplay of natural phenomena and human agency.

  14. 77 FR 68718 - Safety Zone for Fireworks Display, Upper Potomac River, Alexandria Channel; Washington, DC

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-11-16

    ... the annual fireworks display is being moved from land to a discharge barge located on the Upper... comments, as well as documents mentioned in this preamble as being available in the docket, go to http...). Upon being hailed by a U.S. Coast Guard vessel, or other Federal, State, or local agency vessel, by...

  15. Domestic Resistance: Gardening, Mothering, and Storytelling in Leslie Marmon Silko's "Gardens in the Dunes"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Stephanie

    2009-01-01

    Leslie Marmon Silko began her most recent work, "Gardens in the Dunes" (1999), intending to write a novel that would not be political. Following the publication of "Almanac of the Dead" (1992), which was simultaneously hailed as one of the most important books of the twentieth century and condemned for its angry self-righteousness, Silko…

  16. Gaudeamus. Het leven van Julius Röntgen (1855-1932). Componist en musicus

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vis, G.N.M.

    2007-01-01

    Gaudeamus Het leven van Julius Röntgen (1855-1932) Componist en musicus Jurjen Vis shows in his thesis Gaudeamus. The life of Julius Röntgen (1855-1932) that already as a young child Julius Röntgen was a remarkable pianist and composer. He was hailed at that time as a second Mendelssohn. In 1874

  17. Language Use, and Language Policy and Planning in Hong Kong

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poon, Anita Y. K.

    2010-01-01

    This monograph provides an overview of the language situation in Hong Kong from a historical perspective. Hong Kong has evolved in the past 167 years from a small fishing port to an international financial centre which forms part of a financial network hailed by "Time Magazine" as Ny.Lon.Kong (i.e. New York-London-Hong Kong). Hong Kong…

  18. Sensing Applied Load and Damage Effects in Composites with Nondestructive Techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-05-01

    where S(n) is the signal, F is the sampling frequency, and m is the discrete size of the window w. For each actuation frequency ω a STFT was...Philos Trans R Soc A. Math Phys Eng Sci. 2007;365(1851):303–315. 23. Haile MA, Hall AJ, Yoo JH, Coatney MD, Myers OJ. Detection of damage precursors

  19. 7 CFR 51.318 - Serious damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... the surface. (4) Red skin spots which affect more than one-third of the surface. (5) Bitter pit or... which affect more than one-tenth of the surface in the aggregate. (d) Hail marks, drought spots, or... the skin has been broken. (e) Stem or calyx cracks which are not well healed, or well healed stem or...

  20. Establishing a children's orthopaedic hospital for Malawi: A review ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    other providers in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi located in the central region. BCIH is situated in Blantyre in the southern region of Malawi. Therefore it is not unexpected that there is likely to be a natural bias towards treatment of southern patients. This bias was noted at 5-years with 48% of operatively treated case hailing ...

  1. Compulsory Licensing of Journalists: Protection or Restraint? A Discussion on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' Advisory Opinion on the Costa Rica Case.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miranda, Patricia

    In 1985 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that a Costa Rican statute requiring journalists to be licensed violates the American Convention on Human Rights and, by extension, all human rights conventions. Though press freedom advocates hailed it as a major triumph for freedom of expression, the court's ruling was only advisory and has…

  2. From Aqaba to Sharm : Fake Peace Festivals

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reinhart, T.

    2005-01-01

    The Sharm El-Sheikh summit of Sharon and Abbas is hailed in the Western media as the opening of a new era. This is the climax of a wave of optimism that has been generated since the death of Arafat. In the last four years, the Israeli leadership singled Arafat out as the main obstacle for peace.

  3. On Benzene and Aromaticity

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    M V Bhatt hails from. Sringeri, Karnataka. Like many others of his generation, he was drawn to a career of science after hearing a talk by C V Raman. M V Bhatt was in the. Department of Organic. Chemistry, IISc for over three decades, where he carried out research in synthetic and physical organic chemistry with distinction.

  4. MUSIC OF ANTIQUITY

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    JENNIFER; LIM

    1998-01-01

    BEAUTIFUL music is flowing out from the fingertips of a dozen old men. They hail from the remote snowcapped Yulong mountain of Lijiang, located in southwestern China’s Yunnan Province. The music that they play has a history of more than one thousand years. Performed in traditional costume with antique-looking musical instruments, the thoroughly original concert of ancient

  5. CERN concludes year of strong progress towards the LHC

    CERN Multimedia

    2006-01-01

    Speaking at the 135th session of the CERN Council, the Director General, Robert Aymar, hailed a year of impressive progress towards the LHC project. 'In one year, we have made great progress,' he said. 'The challenge is not over, of course, but we have great confidence of maintaining the schedule for start-up in 2007.'

  6. Paying for College: LinkedIn Honorees Offer New Ideas for a New Age

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stegmeir, Mary

    2017-01-01

    The 120 movers and shakers included on LinkedIn's 2016 list of Next Wave honorees hail from a variety of industries but share a common goal. Their objective? To tackle some of the globe's most critical issues by rethinking business-as-usual. Professionals selected for the list are dedicated to transforming the way people live, learn, and even…

  7. Galactic hail: the origin of the high-velocity cloud complex C

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fraternali, F.; Marasco, A.; Armillotta, L.; Marinacci, F.

    High-velocity clouds consist of cold gas that appears to be raining down from the halo to the disc of the Milky Way. Over the past 50 years, two competing scenarios have attributed their origin either to gas accretion from outside the Galaxy or to circulation of gas from the Galactic disc powered by

  8. Analysis of Fast Charging Station Network for Electrified Ride-Hailing Services

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wood, Eric W [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Rames, Clement L [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Kontou, Eleftheria [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Motoaki, Yutaka [Idaho National Laboratory; Smart, John [Idaho National Laboratory; Zhou, Zhi [Argonne National Laboratory

    2018-04-03

    Today's electric vehicle (EV) owners charge their vehicles mostly at home and seldom use public direct current fast charger (DCFCs), reducing the need for a large deployment of DCFCs for private EV owners. However, due to the emerging interest among transportation network companies to operate EVs in their fleet, there is great potential for DCFCs to be highly utilized and become economically feasible in the future. This paper describes a heuristic algorithm to emulate operation of EVs within a hypothetical transportation network company fleet using a large global positioning system data set from Columbus, Ohio. DCFC requirements supporting operation of EVs are estimated using the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Projection tool. Operation and installation costs were estimated using real-world data to assess the economic feasibility of the recommended fast charging stations. Results suggest that the hypothetical transportation network company fleet increases daily vehicle miles traveled per EV with less overall down time, resulting in increased demand for DCFC. Sites with overhead service lines are recommended for hosting DCFC stations to minimize the need for trenching underground service lines. A negative relationship was found between cost per unit of energy and fast charging utilization, underscoring the importance of prioritizing utilization over installation costs when siting DCFC stations. Although this preliminary analysis of the impacts of new mobility paradigms on alternative fueling infrastructure requirements has produced several key results, the complexity of the problem warrants further investigation.

  9. Tapping income from the Nefza Forest | IDRC - International ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    2016-04-21

    Apr 21, 2016 ... Latifa hails from an impoverished family in the Nefza region in ... Yet outside her home is a resource that can help lift her family out of poverty. ... Mobile Nav Footer Links ... to find ways of improving the quality of oils and other by-products. This work resulted in new techniques to get more value from stone ...

  10. The Affordable Care Act: A Prescription for Homeland Security Preparedness?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-09-01

    Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico , New York, Oregon, and Tennessee 22 identify outbreaks, it communicates and...rubella  Meningococcal  Pneumococcal  Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis  Varicella Expanding insurance to a larger percentage of the population...either did not exist or were newly implemented. Foreign-born victims (88) had no history of inoculation, and hailed from Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico

  11. English-Chinese Cross-Language IR Using Bilingual Dictionaries

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-01-01

    specialized dictionaries together contain about two million entries [6]. 4 Monolingual Experiment The Chinese documents and the Chinese translations of... monolingual performance. The main performance-limiting factor is the limited coverage of the dictionary used in query translation. Some of the key con...English-Chinese Cross-Language IR using Bilingual Dictionaries Aitao Chen , Hailing Jiang , and Fredric Gey School of Information Management

  12. Trade Finance during the 2008–9 Trade Collapse : Key Takeaways

    OpenAIRE

    Chauffour, Jean-Pierre; Malouche, Mariem

    2011-01-01

    Trade finance matters for trade, and when financial markets and world trade collapsed three years ago, a shortage in trade finance was hailed as a possible culprit. Because of the potential for global repercussions, world leaders called on the international community to act swiftly to avoid a depression. Governments and international institutions intervened to mitigate the impacts of the c...

  13. Nowcasting of hailstorms simulated by the NWP model COSMO for the area of the Czech Republic

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Sokol, Zbyněk; Bližňák, Vojtěch; Zacharov, Petr, jr.; Skripniková, Kateřina

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 171, 1 May (2016), s. 66-76 ISSN 0169-8095 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-34856S; GA ČR(CZ) GPP209/12/P701 Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : hail * numerical weather prediction * COSMO * nowcasting Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 3.778, year: 2016 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169809515003968

  14. Edwards AFB, California. Limited Surface Observations Climatic Summary (LISOCS). Parts A, C-F.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1984-12-01

    ORp AND OR HAIL OBS WITH FOG AND OR SLOWING N RWTHOS OO STOR.S SNO W ADO IHOS OOPDRIZZLE DRIZZLE SLEET FRECIF HAZE SAND TO VISION Gas . S_...S--I- ___ IF L1 A--- - - - - -- TOTAL NUMIEI OP OSSEIVATIONSS T USAFETAC 0-8-5,0L-A, pivoos rO),O.$ Or tRIS porno ARE oSsoLE’S

  15. UAV-borne coherent doppler lidar for marine atmospheric boundary layer observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Songhua; Wang, Qichao; Liu, Bingyi; Liu, Jintao; Zhang, Kailin; Song, Xiaoquan

    2018-04-01

    A compact UAV-borne Coherent Doppler Lidar (UCDL) has been developed at the Ocean University of China for the observation of wind profile and boundary layer structure in Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer (MABL). The design, specifications and motion-correction methodology of the UCDL are presented. Preliminary results of the first flight campaign in Hailing Island in December 2016 is discussed.

  16. Essays on the Economic Impacts of Mobile Phones in Sub-Saharan Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blumenstock, Joshua Evan

    2012-01-01

    As mobile phones reach the remote corners of the world, they bring with them a sense of great optimism. Hailed as a technology that "can transform the lives of the people who are able to access them," mobile phones have the potential to play a positive role in the lives of many of the world's poor. Such claims are often reported…

  17. Precipitation Sensitivity to the Mean Radius of Drop Spectra: Comparison of Single- and Double-Moment Bulk Microphysical Schemes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nemanja Kovačević

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available In this study, two bulk microphysical schemes were compared across mean radius values of the entire drop spectra. A cloud-resolving mesoscale model was used to analyze surface precipitation characteristics. The model included the following microphysical categories: water vapour, cloud droplets, raindrops, ice crystals, snow, graupel, frozen raindrops and hail. Two bulk schemes were used: a single-moment scheme in which the mean radius was specified as a parameter and a double-moment scheme in which the mean radius of drops was calculated diagnostically with a fixed value for the cloud droplet number concentration. Experiments were conducted out for three values of the mean radius (in the single-moment scheme and two cloud droplet number concentrations (in the double-moment scheme. There were large differences in the surface precipitation for the two schemes, the simulated precipitation generated by the double-moment scheme had a higher sensitivity. The single-moment scheme generated an unrealistic collection rate of cloud droplets by raindrops and hail as well as unrealistic evaporation of rain and melting of solid hydrometeors; these processes led to inaccurate timing and amounts of surface precipitation.

  18. Awareness and Knowledge Towards Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Risk Factors in Northern Saudi Arabia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ibrahim Bin Ahmed

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Background/Purpose: Diabetes mellitus (DM is a major public health problem in Saudi Arabia and it is a risk factor for many comorbid diseases. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the awareness and knowledge towards type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM risk factors in Northern Saudi Arabia. Methodology: This is a crosssectional survey conducted in the city of Hail, Northern Saudi Arabia. Data of T2DM awareness was obtained from 1530 Saudi volunteers living in the city of Hail. Results: Out of the 1530 participants, around 59% were males and 41% were females. Out of 1530 participants 60.8% know nothing about DM and about 48% were not sure whether they know something about symptoms of DM. The lack of knowledge about the relationship between obesity and DM was statistically significant among this study group, p<0.001. Conclusion: There is low awareness and knowledge levels toward baseline DM related information among Northern Saudi Arabian population, which necessitates the need for comprehensive awareness program. Women are more in need to be targeted by DM prevention and control programs

  19. Regarding Descartes' meditations as meditational

    OpenAIRE

    Hettche, Matthew

    1995-01-01

    Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy is often hailed as one of the great classics of western philosophy. First-time readers of the Meditations are often struck by Descartes' clear and accessible writing style. Within recent scholarship (e.g., most notably, Amelie Osksenberg Rorty's collection of Essays on Descartes' Meditations [1986]), much attention has been focused toward examining the philosophical import of Descartes' literary techniques. In particular, discussion...

  20. The shareholder wealth effects of insurance securitization: preliminary evidence from the catastrophe bond market

    OpenAIRE

    Hagendorff, Bjoern; Hagendorff, Jens; Keasey, Kevin

    2013-01-01

    Insurance securitization has long been hailed as an important tool to increase theunderwriting capacity for companies exposed to catastrophe-related risks. However, globalvolumes of insurance securitization have remained surprisingly low to date which raisesquestions over its benefits. In this paper, we examine changes in the market value ofinsurance and reinsurance firms which announce their engagement in insurance securitizationby issuing catastrophe (Cat) bonds. Consistent with the hithert...

  1. Perspectives for genetic engineering for the phytoremediation of arsenic-contaminated environments: from imagination to reality?

    OpenAIRE

    Zhu, Yong-Guan; Rosen, Barry P

    2009-01-01

    Phytoremediation to clean up arsenic-contaminated environments has been widely hailed as environmentally friendly and cost effective, and genetic engineering is believed to improve the efficiency and versatility of phytoremediation. Successful genetic engineering requires the thorough understanding of the mechanisms involved in arsenic tolerance and accumulation by natural plant species. Key mechanisms include arsenate reduction, arsenic sequestration in vacuoles of root or shoot, arsenic loa...

  2. Explosibility of Energetic Material Dusts

    Science.gov (United States)

    1981-01-01

    Leri st ics of hail powder and M-I 78 20 S,11,II11 in1l at 16adford Army Ammmnition Plant 79 2 ;’/ Salp Ii n.g it Ini ana Army Am;wiunition Plant I 2... travel only a short distance. Another mode of dispersion is diffusion, which is relatively slow. The third and primary mode of dispersion is transport by

  3. FOCUS THE CONSUMER MARKET A dream or reality for multinational companies

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    MICHAELO'NEILL

    2004-01-01

    As the Chinese economy maintains its near double digit growth, opportunities for foreign investors continue to emerge. But away from the staggering statistics, how realistic is the China dream for multinational companies (MNCs)? The messages are mixed. On the one hand are those who continue to hail the Chinese consumer revolution, pointing to market size as reason enough for entering the fray. O'n the other

  4. Confusion and Chaos at the Top: The Impact of Shirley Porter and the Transgression of the Political and Managerial Boundaries within the London Borough of Westminster

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andy ASQUITH

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available During the 1980s Westminster City Council and its then Leader, Shirley Porter were hailed as being model examples of local government in action. The picture portrayed in this article is one of chaos and confusion within the strategic leadership of the authority as the managerial/ political interface was constantly ignored by Porter as she sought to implement her own agenda.

  5. Our Changing Planet: The U.S. Climate Change Science Program for Fiscal Year 2008

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-10-01

    droughts, ice and hail, snow cover and depth), or tropical and extratropical storm frequency. Identifying recent changes and trends in such...North America and Europe are experiencing an earlier transition from winter to summer. The warmer spring temperatures produce earlier spring green-up of...sea-level rise, increased sedimentation and runoff, increased storm frequency or intensity, saltwater intrusion, and oceanic warming; and (2) warming

  6. 'RCHX-1-STORM' first Slovenian meteorological rocket program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kerstein, Aleksander; Matko, Drago; Trauner, Amalija; Britovšek, Zvone

    2004-08-01

    Astronautic and Rocket Society Celje (ARSC) formed a special working team for research and development of a small meteorological hail suppression rocket in the 70th. The hail suppression system was established in former Yugoslavia in the late 60th as an attempt to protect important agricultural regions from one of the summer's most vicious storm. In this time Slovenia was a part of Yugoslavia as one of the federal republic with relative high developed agricultural region production. The Rocket program 'RCHX-STORM' was a second attempt, for Slovenia indigenously developed in the production of meteorological hail suppression rocket. ARSC has designed a family of small sounding rocket that were based on highly promising hybrid propellant propulsion. Hybrid propulsion was selected for this family because it was offering low cost, save production and operation and simple logistics. Conventional sounding rockets use solid propellant motor for their propulsion. The introduction of hybrid motors has enabled a considerable decrease in overall cost. The transportation handling and storage procedures were greatly simplified due to the fact that a hybrid motor was not considered as explosive matter. A hybrid motor may also be designed to stand a severe environment without resorting to conditioning arrangements. The program started in the late 70th when the team ARSC was integrated in the Research and Development Institute in Celje (RDIC). The development program aimed to produce three types of meteorological rockets with diameters 76, 120 and 160 mm. Development of the RCHX-76 engine and rocket vehicle including flight certification has been undertaken by a joint team comprising of the ARCS, RDIC and the company Cestno podjetje Celje (CPC), Road building company Celje. Many new techniques and methods were used in this program such as computer simulation of external and internal ballistics, composite materials for rocket construction, intensive static testing of models and

  7. Spatial variability of hailfalls in France: an analysis of air mass retro-trajectories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hermida, Lucía; Merino, Andrés; Sánchez, José Luis; Berthet, Claude; Dessens, Jean; López, Laura; Fernández-González, Sergio; Gascón, Estíbaliz; García-Ortega, Eduardo

    2014-05-01

    Hail is the main meteorological risk in south-west France, with the strongest hailfalls being concentrated in just a few days. Specifically, this phenomenon occurs most often and with the greatest severity in the Midi-Pyrénées area. Previous studies have revealed the high spatial variability of hailfall in this part of France, even leading to different characteristics being recorded on hailpads that were relatively close together. For this reason, an analysis of the air mass trajectories was carried out at ground level and at altitude, which subsequently led to the formation of the hail recorded by these hailpads. It is already known that in the study zone, the trajectories of the storms usually stretch for long distances and are oriented towards the east, leading to hailstones with diameters in excess of 3 cm, and without any change in direction above 3 km. We analysed different days with hail precipitation where there was at least one stone with a diameter of 3 cm or larger. Using the simulations from these days, an analysis of the backward trajectories of the air masses was carried out. We used the HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model) to determine the origin of the air masses, and tracked them toward each of the hailpads that were hit during the day studied. The height of the final points was the height of the impacted hailpads. Similarly, the backward trajectories for different heights were also established. Finally, the results show how storms that affect neighbouring hailpads come from very different air masses; and provide a deeper understanding of the high variability that affects the characteristics of hailfalls. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the Regional Government of Castile-León for its financial support through the project LE220A11-2. This study was supported by the following grants: GRANIMETRO (CGL2010-15930); MICROMETEO (IPT-310000-2010-22).

  8. 29 CFR 776.20 - “Goods.”

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ..., 162 F. 2d 555 (C.A. 3) and Bozant v. Bank of New York, 156 F. 2d 787 (C.A. 2) which suggest that such.... 26 Bozant v. Bank of New York, 156 F. 2d 787 (C.A. 2). 27 Walling v. Haile Gold Mines, 136 F. 2d 102... which fall within the definition of “goods” include written materials such as newspapers, magazines...

  9. Nondefense Discretionary Science 2013 Survey: Unlimited Potential, Vanishing Opportunity

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    affected their research efforts. Over 3,700 scientists, hailing from every state in the union including Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico , responded to...Research that saves the lives of cancer, HIV and Alzheimer’s patients; prevents heart attacks, strokes and diabetes ; and treats congenital disorders...as type 2 diabetes , cardiovascular disease and chronic forms of neurodegeneration such as Alzheimer’s.” — Adjunct Associate Professor from the

  10. Pre-emptive Threat Mitigation: Neutralizing the Boko Haram Threat to U.S. Interests

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-05-04

    between Christian Igbo tribes and Muslim Hausa and Yoruba elite over the country’s oil wealth also fuels intense rivalry. 10 The failure by the...fact that many national forces hail from the south and share no ethnic or cultural ties with the northern population. 25 Also, those sympathetic to...should choose personnel with the maturity, professional expertise, and cultural understanding to operate in Nigeria and provide attractive

  11. Family involvement in the reintegration of former child soldiers in Sierra Leone:A critical examination

    OpenAIRE

    Anderson, Rachel

    2016-01-01

    Since the late 1980s Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programmes have been an integral part of post-conflict reconstruction. This was especially true of Sierra Leone’s post-conflict reconstruction which has frequently been hailed a ‘multilateral success story’ by the international community. Nevertheless, within Western-authored DDR literature there is a widespread but little interrogated assertion that, in post-conflict contexts, resettling former child soldiers with their...

  12. Electrical conductivity and chemical stability of BaCe0·8−xAxGd0 ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    −1 in air at 1073 K. BaCe0·7In0·1Gd0·2O3−δ and BaCe0·7Zr0·1Gd0·2O3−δ ceramics exhibit an ... cells convert chemical energy directly into electrical energy and their ... peratures in the presence of CO2 and water vapour (Haile. 2003 ...

  13. The Creation of a Multi-Human, Multi-Robot Interactive Jam Session

    OpenAIRE

    Weinberg, Gil; Blosser, Brian; Mallikarjuna, Trishul; Raman, Aparna

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents an interactive and improvisational jam session, including human players and two robotic musicians. The project was developed in an effort to create novel and inspiring music through human-robot collaboration. The jam session incorporates Shimon, a newly-developed socially-interactive robotic marimba player, and Haile, a perceptual robotic percussionist developed in previous work. The paper gives an overview of the musical perception modules, adaptive improvisation modes an...

  14. A Comparative Analysis of Social Media Marketing by Transportation Network Companies in the Sharing Economy

    OpenAIRE

    Heymans, Alice

    2017-01-01

    The sharing economy is a new business model rapidly expanding. In transportation, many people use innovative services proposed by ride-hailing mobile applications. These technological platforms, operated by networking companies, rely extensively on social media to promote their services, and reach new customers (riders) and providers (drivers). This dissertation focuses on e-marketing communication. It makes a comparative analysis of the information published on several social media (Facebook...

  15. Virtual Reality on a Desktop Hailed as New Tool in Distance Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Jeffrey R.

    2000-01-01

    Describes college and university educational applications of desktop virtual reality to provide a more human touch to interactive distance education programs and impress the brain with more vivid images. Critics suggest the technology is too costly and time consuming and may even distract students from the content of an online course. (DB)

  16. Lightning Sensors for Observing, Tracking and Nowcasting Severe Weather

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Colin Price

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Severe and extreme weather is a major natural hazard all over the world, oftenresulting in major natural disasters such as hail storms, tornados, wind storms, flash floods,forest fires and lightning damages. While precipitation, wind, hail, tornados, turbulence,etc. can only be observed at close distances, lightning activity in these damaging stormscan be monitored at all spatial scales, from local (using very high frequency [VHF]sensors, to regional (using very low frequency [VLF] sensors, and even global scales(using extremely low frequency [ELF] sensors. Using sensors that detect the radio wavesemitted by each lightning discharge, it is now possible to observe and track continuouslydistant thunderstorms using ground networks of sensors. In addition to the number oflightning discharges, these sensors can also provide information on lightningcharacteristics such as the ratio between intra-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning, thepolarity of the lightning discharge, peak currents, charge removal, etc. It has been shownthat changes in some of these lightning characteristics during thunderstorms are oftenrelated to changes in the severity of the storms. In this paper different lightning observingsystems are described, and a few examples are provided showing how lightning may beused to monitor storm hazards around the globe, while also providing the possibility ofsupplying short term forecasts, called nowcasting.

  17. It Started in a GE Freezer: Basic Precipitation Research Triggers the Business of Weather Modification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harper, K.

    2015-12-01

    At the end of World War II, Nobel Prize-winning chemist Irving Langmuir and his team at the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, were doing advanced research on cloaking smokes and aircraft icing for the US military. Trying to determine why some clouds precipitated while others did not, Langmuir concluded that non-precipitating clouds were lacking "ice nuclei" that would gather up cloud droplets until they became large enough to fall out of the cloud. If they could find an artificial substitute, it would be possible to modify clouds and the weather. Dry ice particles did the trick, military funding followed, and cloud busting commenced. But a handful of entrepreneurial meteorologists saw a different purpose: enhancing precipitation and preventing hail damage. The commercialization of weather modification was underway, with cloud seeding enhancing rainfall east of the Cascades, in the Desert Southwest, and even in the watersheds serving New York City. Hail busting took off in the Dakotas, and snowpack enhancement got a boost in Montana. Basic cloud physics research very quickly became commercial weather modification, fulfilling a postwar desire to use science and technology to control nature and creating an opening for meteorologists to provide a variety of specialized services to businesses whose profits depend on the weather.

  18. Medical Aid, Repression, and International Relations: The East German Hospital at Metema.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borowy, Iris

    2016-01-01

    Between 1984 and 1988, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) built a hospital in a remote part of Ethiopia, close to the Sudanese border. The project evolved in a complex combination of contexts, including the general foreign policy goals of the GDR, its specific alliance with Ethiopia, the famine of 1984-85, civil war in Ethiopia, and a controversial resettlement program by the government of Mengistu Haile Mariam. Though almost unknown today, it was a high-profile project at the time, which received the personal support both by Erich Honecker in the GDR and Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia. However, their interest was directed more at the political goals the project was expected to serve than at the hospital itself. Both the preparation and the implementation of the project were extremely difficult and almost failed due to problems of transportation, of red tape, and of security. The operation of the hospital was also not ideal, involving frustrated personnel and less than complete acceptance by the local population. Ironically, for all its practical difficulties, the hospital has outlived both governments and their political goals, surviving as a medical institution. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  19. IDC Robocon: A Transnational Teaming Competition for Project-Based Design Education in Undergraduate Robotics

    OpenAIRE

    Ning Tan; Rajesh Elara Mohan; Shaohui Foong; Masaki Yamakita; Masami Iwase; Shoshiro Hatakeyama; Norihiro Kamamichi; Libo Song; You Wang; Qiuguo Zhu

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents a robot design competition called ‘IDC Robocon’ as an effective tool for engineering education. The International Design Contest (IDC) Robocon competition has several benefits in creating a meaningful design experience for undergraduate engineering students and includes an international flavour as participants of the competition hail from all around the world. The problem posed to the contestants is to design, build and test mobile robots that are capable of accomplishing ...

  20. (Un)taming Citizen Science – Policies, Practices, People

    OpenAIRE

    Van Oudheusden, Michiel; Van Hoyweghen, Ine

    2017-01-01

    We are presently witnessing a global explosion of citizen science initiatives covering a wide range of topics, from counting hummingbirds to actively researching new medical treatments, to the use of smartphones to measuring radioactivity in the environment. European policymakers and societal stakeholders hail citizen science as a means of (re)building trust in science, which may in turn lead to “more democratic research based on evidence and informed decision-making” and more responsible inn...

  1. Mathematics its content, methods and meaning

    CERN Document Server

    Aleksandrov, A D; Lavrent’ev, M A

    1999-01-01

    Hailed by The New York Times Book Review as ""nothing less than a major contribution to the scientific culture of this world,"" this major survey features the work of 18 outstanding mathematicians. Primary subjects include analytic geometry, algebra, ordinary and partial differential equations, the calculus of variations, functions of a complex variable, prime numbers, and theories of probability and functions. Other topics include linear and non-Euclidean geometry, topology, functional analysis, more. 1963 edition.

  2. Zwei senatorische Familien aus Klaudiupolis

    OpenAIRE

    Adak, Mustafa

    2007-01-01

    Two Senatorial Families from KlaudiupolisA brief inscription on a pedestal found in the town centre of Bolu refutes the previously dominant view about the provenance of Marcus Ulpius Arabianus, consul suffectus in the late Antoninian period and afterwards governor of Syria Palaestina and Africa proconsularis. He did not hail from Amastris, where he had good, probably inherited connections, but from Klaudiupolis, where according to the new inscription he honoured his uncle M. Ulpius Aristaeus ...

  3. Technical Status Review on Drag Prediction and Analysis from Computational Fluid Dynamics: State of the Art

    Science.gov (United States)

    1989-06-01

    comportaicnt des informations pr~cieuses sur cc sujet. Par consequent il a t demande aux auteurs d’en fournir des versions ecrites pour les pr~senter dans...that ’a comprehensive drag predic- tion method, valid for the main classes of aircraft and based entirely on theory, is not likely to be possible for...configuration b) Field methods Comprehensive CFD calculations are not Albone. Hail & Transonic small P.D. Smith. turbulent available for this

  4. Mutually Assured Deletion: The Uncertain Future of Mass Destruction In Cyberspace

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-01

    jurisdiction or control within 10 years.28 The negotiations succeeded in gaining the approval of a majority of the countries involved and were hailed as a...arms race between the two superpowers of the Cold War was run at a breakneck pace, with more than 32,000 warheads in the US inventory alone in...organizational inertia that reinforce stable and continuous relations.”134 In an anarchical system, credibility is critical and compliance with

  5. To identify the factors affecting the risk of recurrent febrile seizures in saudi children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jamal, M.M.; Ahmed, W.

    2015-01-01

    Objective: To identify the risk factors of recurrent febrile seizures (FS) in Saudi children in a Northern Province of Hail in Saudi Arabia. Study Design: Descriptive prospective study. Place and Duration of Study: Pediatric department, King Khalid Hospital Hail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 01 October 2010 to 30 September 2011. Patients and Methods: A total of 132 children (age ranges from 03 months to 60 months) were included in the study, while they were admitted with the diagnosis of FS during the study period, in the Pediatric department of the King Khalid University Hospital, Hail. A predesigned study proforma was utilized for data collection. All the children included in the study were followed for a period of 01 year after discharge from the pediatric ward for any recurrence of FS. Results: During the study period 132 children were admitted for FS, the mean age of children in our sample was 16 months. There was a preponderance of male children. Among the causes of fever, mostly 63(47.73%) had symptoms of viral prodrome. Recurrent febrile seizure was found in 46 (34.85%) children. There was a statistically significant association between low temperature at onset of seizure and recurrent FS in 65.22% cases p-value= 0.001). Similarly, the association of duration of fever (= 6 hour) prior to onset of FS and recurrence was found to be significant in 56.52% (p-value= 0.001). Moreover it was found that lower age <12 months at onset of first FS and complex FS had a statistically significant association with its recurrence in 65.22% and 69.57% cases respectively p-value= 0.01 and 0.001). Non significant factors were sex and family history. Conclusion: FS is a common paediatric problem predominantly seen in males. Almost one third of these children are at risk for recurrence in later dates. The risk factors for these recurrences are modest rise in body temperature at the onset of seizure, younger age at presentation, onset of seizure within 6 hours of fever and

  6. ?A good method of quitting smoking? or ?just an alternative to smoking?? Comparative evaluations of e-cigarette and traditional cigarette usage by dual users

    OpenAIRE

    Vandrevala, Tushna; Coyle, Adrian; Walker, Victoria; Cabrera Torres, Joshelyn; Ordo?a, Izobel; Rahman, Panna

    2017-01-01

    The development of e-cigarettes was initially hailed as a resource in facilitating a reduction in or cessation of cigarette smoking. Many users of e-cigarettes are ‘dual users’, smoking traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes. The present qualitative study examines the factors that a group of 20 dual users considered to have been influential in their decisions to use e-cigarettes and their comparative evaluations of e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes. Health concerns were not found to be...

  7. Crazier than Sack of Ferrets!: Deadpool as the Post-Watchmen Superhero

    OpenAIRE

    Day, Kenna Alise

    2015-01-01

    Watchmen has been hailed as revolutionary not only for the literary quality of Alan Moore's script and the precise execution of Dave Gibbon's art, but also for the novel's successful exploration of sophisticated subject matter and realistic moral conflict. Perhaps the most interesting question Watchmen forces us to consider is why an individual would put on the costume and don the mask, and how such a constructed persona affects the individual psychologically and morally. For those heroes tha...

  8. Aquatic Plant Control Research Program. Large-Scale Operations Management Test of Use of the White Amur for Control of Problem Aquatic Plants. Report 5. Synthesis Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1984-06-01

    in 1977. Pre- cipitation in the form of snowflakes, snow pellets, or sleet is rare, although hail is fairly common during storms (National Oceanic and...were the green tree frog, Florida cricket frog, pennisula cooter, and southern leopard frog, which comprised 22.0, 11.4, 7.5, and 4.1 percent of the...1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 Figure 24. Mean monthly abundances of benthic organisms prestocking period. During the second poststocking year this genus was

  9. Controlling the uncontrollable: 'Agile' teams and illusions of autonomy in creative work

    OpenAIRE

    Hodgson, Damian; Briand, Louise

    2013-01-01

    The creative industries have recently been hailed as presenting a liberating model for the future of work and a valuable terrain on which to examine purported new regimes of workplace control. This article, based on the empirical examination of a Canadian video game development studio, traces the modes of control which operate on and through project teams in creative settings. The impact of the adoption of an 'emancipatory', post-bureaucratic project management technology, 'Agile', is critica...

  10. Doppler radar observation, CG lightning activity and aerial survey of a multiple downburst in southern Germany on 23 March 2001

    OpenAIRE

    Dotzek, Nikolai; Lang, Peter; Hagen, Martin; Fehr, Thorsten; Hellmiss, Werner

    2007-01-01

    Two downburst events from one thunderstorm are investigated, which occurred on 23 March 2001, in Germany's climatologic annual minimum of downburst activity. Observations by two Doppler radars are combined with hail reports, ground lightning detection and an aerial survey conducted after the event. The downburst-producing storm had formed at a synoptic convergence line within the warm sector of a cyclone. It had a remarkably high propagation speed of up to 31 m s−1 corresponding to the mid...

  11. Financial Assessment for Senior Military Officers

    Science.gov (United States)

    1990-03-30

    earthquake, flood, windstorm , hail, falling objects, collision with a bird or animal aj ;’- M unnatural damages of theft or larcenv, vandalism or...greatly reduced if policy held 4or less than 10 years -The longer the policy holder lives, the more of his own money is returned to survivors Straight ...may be an expensive line of credit. Credit unions are generally the next least expensive with banks and savings ana loans a little more expensive

  12. Statistics-based optimization of the polarimetric radar hydrometeor classification algorithm and its application for a squall line in South China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Chong; Liu, Liping; Wei, Ming; Xi, Baozhu; Yu, Minghui

    2018-03-01

    A modified hydrometeor classification algorithm (HCA) is developed in this study for Chinese polarimetric radars. This algorithm is based on the U.S. operational HCA. Meanwhile, the methodology of statistics-based optimization is proposed including calibration checking, datasets selection, membership functions modification, computation thresholds modification, and effect verification. Zhuhai radar, the first operational polarimetric radar in South China, applies these procedures. The systematic bias of calibration is corrected, the reliability of radar measurements deteriorates when the signal-to-noise ratio is low, and correlation coefficient within the melting layer is usually lower than that of the U.S. WSR-88D radar. Through modification based on statistical analysis of polarimetric variables, the localized HCA especially for Zhuhai is obtained, and it performs well over a one-month test through comparison with sounding and surface observations. The algorithm is then utilized for analysis of a squall line process on 11 May 2014 and is found to provide reasonable details with respect to horizontal and vertical structures, and the HCA results—especially in the mixed rain-hail region—can reflect the life cycle of the squall line. In addition, the kinematic and microphysical processes of cloud evolution and the differences between radar-detected hail and surface observations are also analyzed. The results of this study provide evidence for the improvement of this HCA developed specifically for China.

  13. Green Thunderstorms Observed.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallagher, Frank W., III; Beasley, William H.; Bohren, Craig F.

    1996-12-01

    Green thunderstorms have been observed from time to time in association with deep convection or severe weather events. Often the green coloration has been attributed to hail or to reflections of light from green foliage on the ground. Some skeptics who have not personally observed a green thunderstorm do not believe that green thunderstorms exist. They suggest that the green storms may be fabrications by excited observers. The authors have demonstrated the existence of green thunderstorms objectively using a spectrophotometer. During the spring and summer of 1995 the authors observed numerous storms and recorded hundreds of spectra of the light emanating corn these storms. It was found that the subjective judgment of colors can vary somewhat between observers, but the variation is usually in the shade of green. The authors recorded spectra of green and nongreen thunderstorms and recorded spectral measurements as a storm changed its appearance from dark blue to a bluish green. The change in color is gradual when observed from a stationary position. Also, as the light from a storm becomes greener, the luminance decreases. The authors also observed and recorded the spectrum of a thunderstorm during a period of several hours as they flew in an aircraft close to a supercell that appeared somewhat green. The authors' observations refute the ground reflection hypothesis and raise questions about explanations that require the presence of hail.

  14. Investigation of the amount, distribution, and contents of atmospheric precipitations. Untersuchungen ueber Menge, Verteilung und Inhaltsstoffe der Niederschlaege

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kolbe, W

    1986-01-01

    The amount, distribution, and analysis of atmospheric precipitations collected in the experimental area at 205 m above sea level is reported. The analytical data show sulfate, nitrate, phosphate, chloride, and ammonium ions, and the metals Fe, Mn, Pb, Cd, Hg, As. The pH-values are also given. After the Chernobyl reactor accident, the analyses included radioactivity measurements. The contribution also presents data collected during the last 35 years, that reveal the connection between hail storms and the fruit crop.

  15. Welcome to the dark side

    CERN Multimedia

    Hogan, Jenny

    2007-01-01

    "Physicists says that 96% of the Universe is unseen, and appeal tot he ideas of "dark matter" and "dark energy" to make up the difference. In the first of two articles, jeanny hogan reports that attempts to identify the mysterious dark matter are on the verge of success. In the second, Geoff Brumfiel asks why dark energy, hailed as a breakthrough when discovered a decade ago, is proving more frustrating than ever tot he scientists who study it." (4,5 pages)

  16. Critical Evaluation of Basel III as Prudential Regulation and its Consequences in Developing Countries’ Credit Needs

    OpenAIRE

    Dawa Sherpa

    2013-01-01

    This paper seeks to critically evaluate the nature and motivation for the regulatory frame sought in the Basel III norms and its consequences on the credit needs of developing countries. After the failure of previous two Basel accords (I and II), to act as the effective prudential regulation of large financial institutions operating on global scale, the new Basel III accord is hailed as the new regulatory rule which has successfully taken into consideration of all the lacunas of earlier accor...

  17. Death Rehearsal

    OpenAIRE

    Ma, Sheng-mei

    2010-01-01

    Living is dying, an unscripted, unconscious rehearsal for the premiere of death—one show only for each individual serving the life sentence, cyclical reruns for collective humanity.  A long, long time ago, on the Fourth of July in the year Two Thousand, the ceremony of (Un)Naturalization has rendered me an American citizen and, simultaneously, a ghost whose previous incarnation of the past century hails from Asia, specifically Taipei.  And it is to Taipei that my ghost returns nightly to the ...

  18. The Paris Agreement to Ignore Reality

    OpenAIRE

    Spash, Clive L.

    2016-01-01

    At the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Paris, France, 30 November to 11 December 2015, an Agreement was reached by the international community including 195 countries. The Agreement has been hailed, by participants and the media, as a major turning point for policy in the struggle to address human induced climate change. The following is a short critical commentary in which I briefly explain why ...

  19. Qualification test results for DOE solar photovoltaic flat panel procurement - PRDA 38

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffith, J. S.

    1980-01-01

    Twelve types of prototypes modules for the DOE Photovoltaic Flat Panel Procurement (PRDA 38) were subjected to qualification tests at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory according to a new specification. Environmental exposures were carried out separately and included temperature cycling, humidity, wind simulation, and hail. The most serious problems discovered were reduced insulation resistance to ground and ground continuity of the metal frames, electrical degradation, erratic power readings, and delamination. The electrical and physical characteristics of the newly received modules are also given.

  20. Hector Field, Fargo North Dakota. Revised Uniform Summary of Surface Weather Observations (RUSSWO). Parts A-F.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1987-12-01

    HOLRS I TSTMS C/OR RAIN L/OR HAIL WITH FOG C/OR uLO6ING C/OR A/LBST TOIAL ULT) I ORIZILL C/OP SLEET PRECIP PAZE SNOb SAND 10 0bC I RZZLE VIS ION JA. LE...AISARTEITItS TO t MILES ANT) GREATER THAN L rALT S. T1-.LBOPE TI J-L LOEUMN FOB BICIbILI TIES F,;ijAL T0 OR GREATER THAN 1D MALLS APPEAl BLANK. AS A "EL

  1. Storm and cloud dynamics

    CERN Document Server

    Cotton, William R

    1992-01-01

    This book focuses on the dynamics of clouds and of precipitating mesoscale meteorological systems. Clouds and precipitating mesoscale systems represent some of the most important and scientifically exciting weather systems in the world. These are the systems that produce torrential rains, severe winds including downburst and tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning, and major snow storms. Forecasting such storms represents a major challenge since they are too small to be adequately resolved by conventional observing networks and numerical prediction models.Key Features* Key Highlight

  2. Kuifjes katholieke jeugd. De katholieke achtergrond van Hergé. Deel 1 van 2

    OpenAIRE

    de Groot, C.N.

    2013-01-01

    Following the launch of Steven Spielberg’s ‘Tintin and the Secret of the Unicorn’, l’Osservore Romano hailed Tintin as a ‘catholic hero’. This article demonstrates that the comic originates, more specifically, in conservative and reactionary milieus in Belgian Catholicism. Hergé (ps. for Georges Rémi) designed Tintin for the children’s weekly of a newspaper that, in this period, shared its main themes with the Catholic fascist movement Rex: anti-communism, anti-capitalism, anti-semitism and t...

  3. Foundations of combinatorial topology

    CERN Document Server

    Pontryagin, L S

    2015-01-01

    Hailed by The Mathematical Gazette as ""an extremely valuable addition to the literature of algebraic topology,"" this concise but rigorous introductory treatment focuses on applications to dimension theory and fixed-point theorems. The lucid text examines complexes and their Betti groups, including Euclidean space, application to dimension theory, and decomposition into components; invariance of the Betti groups, with consideration of the cone construction and barycentric subdivisions of a complex; and continuous mappings and fixed points. Proofs are presented in a complete, careful, and eleg

  4. Le tyrannicide en droit international

    OpenAIRE

    d' Aspremont, J.; Tomuschat, C.; Lagrange, E.; Oeter, S.

    2010-01-01

    Drawing on practice pertaining to the killing of Saddam Hussein, Hailé Sélassié, Nicolae Ceausescu etc., the paper explores various legal aspects of a tyrannicide in International Law. It expounds more particularly on the legal problems caused by the murder of a head of State from the standpoint of the right to life of the tyran and from the angle of democracy. It also provides some insights from the vantage point of international criminal law. The paper argues that very limited consequences ...

  5. PAs: Fifty years young.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mandel, Ellen D; North, Shannon

    2017-10-01

    The PA profession is 50 years young. Practicing PAs and current students hail from several generational categories ranging from Builders to Generation Z. This article reviews how different generations may have experienced PA program expansion, professional identity, state licensing, and prescription delegation. The authors sampled a cohort of PA program applicants about their views on what evokes optimism and concern for the PA profession. These themes mirror the recently paved professional road, while posing the all-important question: What construction lies on the horizon?

  6. 11th Biennial Conference on Emerging Mathematical Methods, Models and Algorithms for Science and Technology

    CERN Document Server

    Manchanda, Pammy; Bhardwaj, Rashmi

    2015-01-01

    The present volume contains invited talks of 11th biennial conference on “Emerging Mathematical Methods, Models and Algorithms for Science and Technology”. The main message of the book is that mathematics has a great potential to analyse and understand the challenging problems of nanotechnology, biotechnology, medical science, oil industry and financial technology. The book highlights all the features and main theme discussed in the conference. All contributing authors are eminent academicians, scientists, researchers and scholars in their respective fields, hailing from around the world.

  7. Who calls the tune?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claude Chastagner

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available The real action was taking place behind the scenes.Irwin Pincus, music publisherA couple of weeks ago, while researching for this paper, I decided to read again Chronicles, Bob Dylan’s autobiography. Chapter 4 deals with the recording in a rented New Orleans mansion of Oh Mercy, the 1989 album produced by Daniel Lanois, unanimously hailed as Dylan’s resurrection. Dylan insists on the significant impact Lanois had on his own artistry. Through conversations, flashes of rage and frustration, and...

  8. Intermediate inflation in light of the three-year WMAP observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barrow, John D.; Liddle, Andrew R.; Pahud, Cedric

    2006-01-01

    The three-year observations from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe have been hailed as giving the first clear indication of a spectral index n s s =1 and allowing the tensor-to-scalar ratio r to be nonzero. The combination n s =1 and r>0 is given (within the slow-roll approximation) by a version of the intermediate inflation model with expansion rate H(t)∝t -1/3 . We assess the status of this model in light of the WMAP3 data

  9. Gnathostomiasis of the anterior chamber

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barua P

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Ocular involvement with Gnathostoma spinigerum occurs years after the initial infection that is acquired by ingestion of poorly cooked, pickled seafood or water contaminated with third stage larvae. Here we report a case of gnathostomiasis of the left eye of a 32-year-old lady hailing from Meghalaya, India. Her vision had deteriorated to hand movement. Slit lamp examination revealed a live, actively motile worm in the anterior chamber, which was extracted by supra temporal limbal incision and visual acuity was restored.

  10. Brave NUI World Designing Natural User Interfaces for Touch and Gesture

    CERN Document Server

    Wigdor, Daniel

    2011-01-01

    Touch and gestural devices have been hailed as next evolutionary step in human-computer interaction. As software companies struggle to catch up with one another in terms of developing the next great touch-based interface, designers are charged with the daunting task of keeping up with the advances in new technology and this new aspect to user experience design. Product and interaction designers, developers and managers are already well versed in UI design, but touch-based interfaces have added a new level of complexity.

  11. Simulations of a November thunderstorm event by two mesoscale models in the south Alpine region

    OpenAIRE

    Borroni, A.

    2005-01-01

    Abstract: Two numerical models have been used to investigate the development of a thunderstorm event that took place on November 7th , 2004, in the northern Italy. A cold air mass moved from the northeast to the Alps and the Po valley, while the temperature in the lower layers was quite warm. A thunderstorm with rain and hail developed in the central and eastern part of Italy's subalpine region. In this work it's analyzed some aspects of the thunderstorm dynamics at the mesoscale using two di...

  12. Impact of Short Interval SMS Digital Data on Wind Vector Determination for a Severe Local Storms Area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peslen, C. A.

    1979-01-01

    The impact of 5 minute interval SMS-2 visible digital image data in analyzing severe local storms is examined using wind vectors derived from cloud tracking on time lapsed sequence of geosynchronous satellite images. The cloud tracking areas are located in the Central Plains, where on 6 May 1975, hail-producing thunderstorms occurred ahead of a well defined dry line. The results demonstrate that satellite-derived wind vectors and their associated divergence fields complement conventional meteorological analyses in describing the conditions preceding severe local storm development.

  13. Mesmerising mirror neurons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heyes, Cecilia

    2010-06-01

    Mirror neurons have been hailed as the key to understanding social cognition. I argue that three currents of thought-relating to evolution, atomism and telepathy-have magnified the perceived importance of mirror neurons. When they are understood to be a product of associative learning, rather than an adaptation for social cognition, mirror neurons are no longer mesmerising, but they continue to raise important questions about both the psychology of science and the neural bases of social cognition. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Perceptions of risk to HIV Infection among Adolescents in Uganda: Are they Related to Sexual Behaviour?

    OpenAIRE

    Kibombo, Richard; Neema, Stella; Ahmed, Fatima H.

    2007-01-01

    Uganda has been hailed as a success story in the fight against HIV that has seen a reversal in prevalence from a peak of 15% in 1991 to about 6.5% currently. Since 1992, the largest and most consistent declines in HIV have occurred among the 15–19-year-olds. While many studies have examined how key behavior changes (Abstinence, Be faithful and Condom use) have contributed to the decline in HIV prevalence, few have studied the relationship between sexual behaviors and risk perception. Using da...

  15. Optical resonance and two-level atoms

    CERN Document Server

    Allen, L

    1987-01-01

    ""Coherent and lucid…a valuable summary of a subject to which [the authors] have made significant contributions by their own research."" - Contemporary PhysicsOffering an admirably clear account of the basic principles behind all quantum optical resonance phenomena, and hailed as a valuable contribution to the literature of nonlinear optics, this distinguished work provides graduate students and research physicists probing fields such as laser physics, quantum optics, nonlinear optics, quantum electronics, and resonance optics an ideal introduction to the study of the interaction of electroma

  16. Direct Quantification of Ice Nucleation Active Bacteria in Aerosols and Precipitation: Their Potential Contribution as Ice Nuclei

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, T. C.; DeMott, P. J.; Garcia, E.; Moffett, B. F.; Prenni, A. J.; Kreidenweis, S. M.; Franc, G. D.

    2013-12-01

    Ice nucleation active (INA) bacteria are a potentially prodigious source of highly active (≥-12°C) atmospheric ice nuclei, especially from agricultural land. However, we know little about the conditions that promote their release (eg, daily or seasonal cycles, precipitation, harvesting or post-harvest decay of litter) or their typical contribution to the pool of boundary layer ice nucleating particles (INP). To initiate these investigations we developed a quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) test of the ina gene, the gene that codes for the ice nucleating protein, to directly count INA bacteria in environmental samples. The qPCR test amplifies most forms of the gene and is highly sensitive, able to detect perhaps a single gene copy (ie, a single bacterium) in DNA extracted from precipitation. Direct measurement of the INA bacteria is essential because environmental populations will be a mixture of living, viable-but-not culturable, moribund and dead cells, all of which may retain ice nucleating proteins. Using the qPCR test on leaf washings of plants from three farms in Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska we found INA bacteria to be abundant on crops, especially on cereals. Mid-summer populations on wheat and barley were ~108/g fresh weigh of foliage. Broadleaf crops, such as corn, alfalfa, sugar beet and potato supported 105-107/g. Unexpectedly, however, in the absence of a significant physical disturbance, such as harvesting, we were unable to detect the ina gene in aerosols sampled above the crops. Likewise, in fresh snow samples taken over two winters, ina genes from a range of INA bacteria were detected in about half the samples but at abundances that equated to INA bacterial numbers that accounted for only a minor proportion of INP active at -10°C. By contrast, in a hail sample from a summer thunderstorm we found 0.3 INA bacteria per INP at -10°C and ~0.5 per hail stone. Although the role of the INA bacteria as warm-temperature INP in these samples

  17. Impact of smoking on aerobic capacity in young adult smokers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmed Abdelmoniem Ibrahim

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Cigarette smoking is a worldwide public health challenge, ,Cigarette smoking is also a strong risk factor for musculoskeletal and cardiovascular disease, It is also well known that low and declining muscle strength is linked to increased smoking .[23]Aims of this study was to examine the chronic effects of smoking on cardiovascular fitness in young and healthy male smokers[13]. This study was carried out in university of hail ,physiotherapy lab, ,30male participant was recruited from university students of hail divided into two group 15 smoker (A ,15 nonsmoker (B .All subjects underwent a sub maximal Bruce treadmill test and their HR was recorded during, at peak, and after termination of exercise. Our study revealed that the resting HR was 5.3 bpm higher in smoker than in non smoker (P:0.0001., data indicated that there was a significant difference found between young smokers and non-smokers regarding their sub-maximal HR values (P:0.0063., where smokers had significantly higher HR values. also there was no difference between both groups regarding to recovery heart rate (P:0.56. Smoking was found to affect young smokers’ increasing HR at rest, slowing of HR increase during exercise, and impairing their ability to reach the age predicted HRmax., Also smoking was associated with an attenuated HR. . also Smokers had a higher resting HR and showed a higher HR response during sub-maximal exercise compared to Non smokers .

  18. Complex airborne system with combined action on the conditions of risk weather phenomena

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niculae MARIN

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available The study of the weather phenomena is one of the main concerns of scientists. Initially, theresearches in this area were intended to provide military structures new ways of fighting in wars suchas the wars in Korea or Vietnam and then continued with the development of technologies to combatthe phenomena that affect the normal conditions of agriculture, the environment, etc. -extremephenomena- hail, low precipitation regime, etc. Since the last decade of last century also in Romaniathere were a number of initiatives supported through a national program of research in the fightagainst hail and stimulation of precipitation. In this context, INCAS proposed in 2008 a researchproject to implement a complex airborne system, which carry out actions to limit the effects of extremeweather events on crops and objectives of national and strategic interest, on the basis of informationreceived from a system of sensors located on the air platform and intended for measuring the physicalcharacteristics of the atmosphere. Also, as a long-term effect, the action of the complex airbornesystem may lead to the rainfall regulation and control, with all the implications arising from this(avoiding flooding, providing protection from frost of autumn crop, etc.The aerial platform chosen for this research approach is the aircraft for school and training IAR99SOIM, INCAS being the author of its structural design and also holding the patent for IndustrialDesign nr.00081 registered with OSIM. Project acronym : COMAEROPREC.

  19. Prevalence of airborne allergenic Amaranthus viridis pollen in seven different regions of Saudi Arabia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hasnain, Syed M.; Fatima, K.; Al-Frayh, A.

    2007-01-01

    Amaranthus pollen grains are known to have highly allergenic and potential cause of respiratory allergic diseases. Nevertheless, data on the prevalence of Amaranthus pollen in the environment is limited and almost non-existent for Saudi Arabia. We conducted an investigation to record the airborne incidence of A.viridis and other allergenic pollen in Al-Khobar, Dammam, Hail, Jeddah, Jizan, Qassim and Taif, using Burkard Volumetric Samplers. The samples were operated continuously for one year at each location. The data revealed A.viridis as one of the major components of outdoor airspora, constituting a maximum of 96% of total pollen counts in Hail, followed by Al-Khobar (89%), Jeddah (87%), Qassim (85%), Taif (84%), Dammam (83%) and Jizan (61%). These higher percentages contributed largely to the total weed pollen catch during August to November in all seven regions. In addition, the data also showed that A. virdis pollen were present throughout the year with distinct seasonal variations. The diel periodicities for at least five sites averaged over a year showed mid-day to early evening maxima. The maximum concentration approached 3000 mt. cube of air in October and 1827 mt. cube of air in September. The data also exhibited, a seasonal pattern, in their maximum appearance. Further studies related to biochemical and allergological aspects are needed to confirm the allergenic impact of Amaranthus pollen and sensitization in allergic individuals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. (author)

  20. Plasma physics

    CERN Document Server

    Drummond, James E

    1961-01-01

    A historic snapshot of the field of plasma physics, this fifty-year-old volume offers an edited collection of papers by pioneering experts in the field. In addition to assisting students in their understanding of the foundations of classical plasma physics, it provides a source of historic context for modern physicists. Highly successful upon its initial publication, this book was the standard text on plasma physics throughout the 1960s and 70s.Hailed by Science magazine as a ""well executed venture,"" the three-part treatment ranges from basic plasma theory to magnetohydrodynamics and microwa

  1. Johannes Amos Comenius (1592-1670) and his depiction of lenses and spectacles in the first children's picture book.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goss, David A

    2009-01-01

    Johannes Amos Comenius (1592-1670) was a Moravian clergyman, teacher, and author. He is recognized as introducing several concepts of modern education. He advanced the views that education should be appropriate to age and development levels and that teaching should make use of everyday sensory experience. One of his many books, Orbis Pictus, followed those concepts. Orbis Pictus, first published in 1657, is hailed as the first children's picture book. Among the many commonplace objects he included in the book were a mirror, spectacles, a telescope, a magnifying lens, and a burning glass.

  2. Functionals of finite Riemann surfaces

    CERN Document Server

    Schiffer, Menahem

    1954-01-01

    This advanced monograph on finite Riemann surfaces, based on the authors' 1949-50 lectures at Princeton University, remains a fundamental book for graduate students. The Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society hailed the self-contained treatment as the source of ""a plethora of ideas, each interesting in its own right,"" noting that ""the patient reader will be richly rewarded."" Suitable for graduate-level courses, the text begins with three chapters that offer a development of the classical theory along historical lines, examining geometrical and physical considerations, existence theo

  3. Engineering handbook on the atmospheric environmental guidelines for use in wind turbine generator development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frost, W.; Long, B. H.; Turner, R. E.

    1978-01-01

    The guidelines are given in the form of design criteria relative to wind speed, wind shear, turbulence, wind direction, ice and snow loading, and other climatological parameters which include rain, hail, thermal effects, abrasive and corrosive effects, and humidity. This report is a presentation of design criteria in an engineering format which can be directly input to wind turbine generator design computations. Guidelines are also provided for developing specialized wind turbine generators or for designing wind turbine generators which are to be used in a special region of the United States.

  4. Vaccinations: A public health triumph and a public relations tragedy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobson, Robert M

    2012-08-01

    Routine vaccination has been hailed as one of the top public health achievements of the last century. However, despite the reduced number of cases of and deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases such as pertussis and measles, outbreaks continue to occur as more parents fail to adequately vaccinate their children because of misinformation about immunizations. This article describes the challenges of making sure all children in the United States are fully immunized and what physicians need to know to effectively work with parents who may be hesitant to vaccinate their children.

  5. Čitanje Modruškog Marulićem: De consolatione i Evangelistarium

    OpenAIRE

    Jovanović, Neven

    1999-01-01

    I first of all compared the biographies and oeuvres of Nikola of Modruš and Marko Marulić, and then Modruški’s work De consolatione with Marulićs Evangelistarium. The first comparison was not particularly fruitful: we know of no direct relationship between the two. The less well-known humanist, Nikola, Bishop of Modruš (ca1427– ca 1480) is a generation older than Marulić. Nikola, hailing from Boka Kotorska, spent his life in the service of the Papacy, mostly in Italy. Only one work of Nikola ...

  6. Programming WCF Services Mastering WCF and the Azure AppFabric Service Bus

    CERN Document Server

    Lowy, Juval

    2010-01-01

    Programming WCF Services is the authoritative, bestselling guide to Microsoft's unified platform for developing modern service-oriented applications on Windows. Hailed as the definitive treatment of WCF, this book provides unique insight, rather than documentation, to help you learn the topics and skills you need for building WCF-based applications that are maintainable, extensible, and reusable. Author Juval Löwy -- one of the world's top .NET experts -- revised this edition to include the newest productivity-enhancing features of .NET Framework 4 and the Azure AppFabric Service Bus, as wel

  7. Accelerated rain erosion of wind turbine blade coatings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Shizhong

    . There are four chapters in the thesis. In chapter 1, a literature survey provides background information to the field. Topics discussed are the global wind energy development, possible wind turbine constructions, blade structures and materials, blade coatings, and liquid erosion mechanisms. In chapter 2......During operation, the fast-moving blades of wind turbines are exposed to continuous impacts with rain droplets, hail, insects, or solid particles. This can lead to erosion of the blades, whereby the electrical efficiency is compromised and expensive repairs may be required. One possible solution...

  8. Elementary induction on abstract structures

    CERN Document Server

    Moschovakis, Yiannis N

    2008-01-01

    Hailed by the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society as ""easy to use and a pleasure to read,"" this research monograph is recommended for students and professionals interested in model theory and definability theory. The sole prerequisite is a familiarity with the basics of logic, model theory, and set theory.The author, Professor of Mathematics at UCLA and Emeritus Professor of Mathematics,University of Athens, Greece, begins with a focus on the theory of inductive and hyperelementary sets. Subsequent chapters advance to acceptable structures and countable acceptable structures, concl

  9. Wave propagation and scattering in random media

    CERN Document Server

    Ishimaru, Akira

    1978-01-01

    Wave Propagation and Scattering in Random Media, Volume 2, presents the fundamental formulations of wave propagation and scattering in random media in a unified and systematic manner. The topics covered in this book may be grouped into three categories: waves in random scatterers, waves in random continua, and rough surface scattering. Random scatterers are random distributions of many particles. Examples are rain, fog, smog, hail, ocean particles, red blood cells, polymers, and other particles in a state of Brownian motion. Random continua are the media whose characteristics vary randomly an

  10. Environmental testing of flat plate solar cell modules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffith, J.; Dumas, L.; Hoffman, A.

    1978-01-01

    Commercially available flat-plate solar cell modules have been subjected to a variety of environmental tests designed to simulate service conditions. Among the tests are those simulating heat and rain, wind-driven rains, humidity and freezing, humidity and heat, humidity with a voltage bias, salt fog, hail impact, and fungus infestation. Tests for optical surface soiling and the combined effects of temperature, humidity and UV irradiation are under development. A correlation has been demonstrated between degradation caused by the qualification tests and such observed field effects as power loss.

  11. U-Tapao RTNAS, Thailand. Revised Uniform Summary of Surface Weather Observations (RUSSWO). Parts A-F.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1973-10-26

    HSOKE BLOWING DUST OF CBS TOTAL AND OW SSTNOROR ANMOW AN R WITA FOOD AND A S D R AlT OB NO. OF DMK D OR" HAIL BS IR SOT TA DRIZZLE DRIZZLE SLEE TPRECP...DATA PROICESSING FRANCH USAF ETAC CEILING VERSUS VISIBILITY AIR 4EAT’AER SEPVIGF/lAC 41026 LJ-IAPArl AB THAILAND J-72 dAN * PERCENTAGE FREQUENCY OF...SAF AC O 4 5 (OL Al............,~ . -- ---------------------- 4 DATA PREJCESStNG FRANCH C IIGVSBLT UISAF ETAC C INGVERSUS VSBLT AIR *EATHER SEIRV!CF

  12. Learning from the Ilulissat Initiative

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rahbek-Clemmensen, Jon; Thomasen, Gry

    In May 2018, ten years will have passed since the representatives from the five Arctic coastal states (Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia) and the Home Rule government of Greenland met in Ilulissat. Learning from the Ilulissat Initiative examines how the initiative came about, and how it has affected...... strong economic interests in maintaining peaceful Arctic relations. Northern forums therefore give policymakers a rare opportunity to meet, communicate, and influence a key region. The Ilulissat meeting was the result of a joint Danish‒Greenlandic initiative and is often hailed as one of the most...

  13. Field Investigation on the Prevalence of Avian Influenza Virus Infection in Some Localities in Saudi Arabia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdullah N. Alkhalaf

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to find out prevalence and types of avian influenza virus (AIV among broilers, native chickens, ducks and pigeons in Saudi Arabia. Field investigation was carried out in four localities including Al-Qassim, Hail, Al-Jouf and Northern Border regions. Serum sample, tracheal and cloacal swabs were collected from broilers (n=1561, layers (n=988, ducks (n=329 and pigeons (n=450 from these localities and tested for three different avian influenza viruses (H9, H5 and H3 using Enzyme linked immunosorbent (ELISA test, hamagglutination inhibition (HI test and polymerase chain reaction (PCR. All tested samples were negative for H5 and H3 viruses. In contrast, all positive results were found to be for H9 AI virus using PCR, ELISA and HI test. Chicken sera tested by ELISA for AIV revealed the highest positive samples in Northern Border regions (45.71%, followed by Al-Jouf (29.65%, Al-Qassim (23.98% and Hial (20.94% with non-significant difference (χ2=5.983; P=0.112. HI test carried out on duck sera revealed 35.90% prevalence of antibodies against AIV. PCR amplification resulted in 34.28 and 21.36% positive samples in ducks and chickens, respectively. The highest (45.71% PCR positive chicken samples were from Northern Border regions, followed by Al-Jouf (24.13%, Al-Qassim (19.30% and Hail (16.69% with significant difference (χ2=7.620; P=0.055. All tested pigeons samples were negative for the three virus serotypes included in the study.

  14. Heuristic considerations pertaining to hailstone size distributions in the plain of Friuli-Venezia Giulia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giaiotti, Dario; Gianesini, Elena; Stel, Fulvio

    In this work, the hailstone size distributions at the ground in the plain of Friuli-Venezia Giulia are presented, as revealed through a network of polystyrene pads (hailpads), managed by volunteers, which has been active since 1988. The aim of this work is to highlight possible differences in the diurnal and seasonal behavior of hail at the ground, both from Friuli-Venezia Giulia and other countries, in order to improve the knowledge of this meteorological phenomenon. In the comparison between different countries, differences are found between the yearly size distributions of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and those of North-East Colorado, measured during the National Hail Research Experiment (NHRE). The size distributions obtained in South West France and in Friuli-Venezia Giulia are quite similar and they are slightly different from those of the Grossversuch experiment. In the comparison between different periods of the year, relevant differences are found between April and May and the other months. In particular, thunderstorms are less efficient in producing big hailstones during the former months. The most prolific month in producing hailstones is June, followed by September. This feature is interpreted as due to a form of synergy between the frequency of the synoptic forcing of storms and the amount of available energy at the ground. Analyzing the size distributions at different times of the day, the greatest differences are found in the intervals [00-06] and [06-12] in local time (respectively, [22-04] and [04-10] in UTC). These differences cannot be ascribed to the melting of the hailstones during their fall.

  15. Numerical simulation and sensitivity study of a severe hailstorm in northeast Spain

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Ortega, E.; Fita, L.; Romero, R.; López, L.; Ramis, C.; Sánchez, J. L.

    2007-02-01

    During the afternoon of August 16th 2003 a severe hail event occurred in the town of Alcañiz in the Ebro Valley (Spain). This storm brought with it intense rain and hail precipitation that caused severe floods, damaged cars and street furniture. A diagnosis, using data from ECMWF, showed the presence of a mesolow at surface level centered over the Northeast of Spain, carrying winds from the Mediterranean Sea towards the Central Ebro Valley. At medium and high levels, a trough, whose axis extended over the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, moved eastwards preceded at 500 hPa by a thermal trough that caused increasing instability before the arrival of the geopotential trough. A numerical study of this event has been carried out using the MM5 model with a double aim. On the one hand, it attempts to check whether or not the simulation reproduces the storm in Alcañiz. On the other hand, it carries out a sensitivity experiment in order to evaluate the contribution of two specific factors: topography and solar radiation. Compared with radar data, the control simulation reproduces the region affected by the storm reasonably well. The suppression of topography and/or solar radiation substantially modifies the surface mesolow and the spatial distribution of the precipitation. Neither of these factors, considered independently, reproduces the precipitation caused by the storm in Alcañiz. However, the results illustrate the importance of the synergic effect of these two factors on the spatial localization of the storm and on the intensity of the precipitation registered.

  16. A Mediterranean nocturnal heavy rainfall and tornadic event. Part I: Overview, damage survey and radar analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bech, Joan; Pineda, Nicolau; Rigo, Tomeu; Aran, Montserrat; Amaro, Jéssica; Gayà, Miquel; Arús, Joan; Montanyà, Joan; der Velde, Oscar van

    2011-06-01

    This study presents an analysis of a severe weather case that took place during the early morning of the 2nd of November 2008, when intense convective activity associated with a rapidly evolving low pressure system affected the southern coast of Catalonia (NE Spain). The synoptic framework was dominated by an upper level trough and an associated cold front extending from Gibraltar along the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula to SE France, which moved north-eastward. South easterly winds in the north of the Balearic Islands and the coast of Catalonia favoured high values of 0-3 km storm relative helicity which combined with moderate MLCAPE values and high shear favoured the conditions for organized convection. A number of multicell storms and others exhibiting supercell features, as indicated by Doppler radar observations, clustered later in a mesoscale convective system, and moved north-eastwards across Catalonia. They produced ground-level strong damaging wind gusts, an F2 tornado, hail and heavy rainfall. Total lightning activity (intra-cloud and cloud to ground flashes) was also relevant, exhibiting several classical features such as a sudden increased rate before ground level severe damage, as discussed in a companion study. Remarkable surface observations of this event include 24 h precipitation accumulations exceeding 100 mm in four different observatories and 30 minute rainfall amounts up to 40 mm which caused local flash floods. As the convective system evolved northward later that day it also affected SE France causing large hail, ground level damaging wind gusts and heavy rainfall.

  17. CUMULONIMBUS CLOUDS AND RELATED WEATHER PHENOMENA AT TÂRGU-MUREŞ, ROMANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    RUSZ OTTILIA

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Cumulonimbus (Cb is a vertically developed cloud, associated with some several weather phenomena, such as hail. Yearly (and in some cases monthly meteorological data from the period 1971-2005 registered at the Târgu-Mureş weather station (lat. 46°32’, lon. 24°32’, elevation 308 m were studied. However, Altocumulus (relative frequency = 25% and Stratocumulus (14% are the most frequently clouds, in summer the presence of Cumulonimbus cloud is remarkable (18%. Mann-Kendall trend analysis and Sen’s slope estimate (Q show positive and statistically significant trend as regards number of Cumulonimbus clouds (Q=6.458, number of days with rain shower (Q=1.000, number of days with snow shower (Q=0.250 and a decreasing, statistically significant trend in the case of the number of days with hail (Q=-0.043 and number of days with thunderstorm (Q=-0.211. Moreover, monthly number of Cb also indicate an increasing, statistically significant trend in all 12 cases. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r is statistically significant between the number of Cb and the number of days with rain shower (r=0.827 respectively the number of Cb and the number of days with rain shower (r=0.541. Daily amount of precipitations exceeded 30 mm were registered mainly in summer. They are almost related to Cumulonimbus clouds and rain showers, and they occur most frequently during the presence of TRM (Trough over Central Europe, WZ (Cyclonic Westerly and BM (Zonal Ridge across Central Europe synoptic situations (Hess-Brezowsky classification.

  18. RISK MANAGEMENT OF GERMAN FRUIT PRODUCERS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annkatrin PORSCH

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Horticultural farms in Germany face substantial business risks. However, fruit farms often struggle to implement appropriate risk management processes, and the risk management literature widely has ignored this farm type. The aim of the study was to improve the assessment of risks by farmers and the choice of suitable risk management instruments. Therefore, a risk management process based on subjective probabilities and suitable for small and medium-sized farms was developed, considering the specific needs of family run businesses. An online survey was conducted to achieve a comprehensive view of the risk perception and risk management practices of German fruit producers. Price and production risks are the most relevant risk categories for fruit farmers. However, among single risk sources, those in the people risk category were seen as the most important. Results show significant interactions among risk categories and a significant correlation between loss experience and the rating of risk categories. The assumption that risk averse farmers generally rate risks higher than risk neutral or risk seeking farmers cannot be confirmed. Diversification seems to be the most important risk management instrument for many fruit producers, especially diversification of marketing channels, farm income, and production activities. Further research should focus on the apparent inconsistency between the satisfaction with instruments reported by farmers and the actual implementation of many of them (e.g., hail insurance and anti-hail net. Furthermore, there is a need for research, to develop decision models considering the interactions of risks and risk management instruments, loss experience and risk seeking attitudes.

  19. STANFORD (SLAC): B factory construction begins

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anon.

    1994-03-15

    At a ceremony marking the start of construction, members of the US Congress and Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary hailed the new Asymmetric B Factory as the key to continued vitality of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). Being built in collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the B factory is a $177 million upgrade of the existing PEP electron-positron collider. Scheduled for completion in 1998, the B factory will generate many millions of B mesons, allowing, among other physics, an intensive search for the phenomena of CP violation in the decays of these particles.

  20. Climate control: United States weather modification in the cold war and beyond.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harper, Kristine C

    2008-03-01

    Rainmaking, hail busting, fog lifting, snowpack enhancing, lightning suppressing, hurricane snuffing...weather control. At the lunatic fringe of scientific discussion in the early twentieth century--and the subject of newspaper articles with tones ranging from skeptical titters to awestruck wonder--weather modification research became more serious after World War II. In the United States, the 'seeds' of silver iodide and dry ice purported to enhance rainfall and bust hailstorms soon became seeds of controversy from which sprouted attempts by federal, state and local government to control the controllers and exploit 'designer weather' for their own purposes.

  1. Collective Agreements for the Clearance of Copyrights

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schovsbo, Jens Hemmingsen; Riis, Thomas; Rognstad, Ole-Andreas

    2016-01-01

    This contribution analyses and discusses the use of collective management organizations (CMOs) in copyright. More concretely, it examines the use and effects of extended collective licenses (ECL). This model of rights management has been developed in the Nordic countries and has for some time been...... hailed as a promising tool to solve some of copyright’s problems relating to mass uses of works. It is pointed out how ECL builds on users generated rights managements structures (CMOs) but owes its specific effectiveness to a legislator’s willingness to provide a third-party effect of the collective...

  2. Joe Celko's SQL for Smarties Advanced SQL Programming

    CERN Document Server

    Celko, Joe

    2010-01-01

    SQL for Smarties was hailed as the first book devoted explicitly to the advanced techniques needed to transform an experienced SQL programmer into an expert. Now, 15 years later and in its fourth edition, this classic reference still reigns supreme as the only book written by a SQL master that teaches programmers and practitioners to become SQL masters themselves! These are not just tips and techniques; also offered are the best solutions to old and new challenges. Joe Celko conveys the way you need to think in order to get the most out of SQL programming efforts for both correctness and perfo

  3. Computing on the Desktop: From Batch to Online in Two Large Danish Service Bureaus

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Anker Helms

    The advent of the personal computer is often hailed as the major step towards empowering the computer user. This step was indeed significant, but it was preceeded by a similar step some 10-15 years earlier: the advent of the video terminal or ”glass–TTY”. The video terminal invaded the desktop...... of many while collar workers and the workplace of many blue collar workers in the 1970s and 1980s. It replaced batch processing and facilitated direct, interactive access to computing services. This had a considerable impact on working conditions. This paper addresses this transition in two large Danish...

  4. Cold-formed steel design

    CERN Document Server

    Yu, Wei-Wen

    2010-01-01

    The definitive text in the field, thoroughly updated and expanded Hailed by professionals around the world as the definitive text on the subject, Cold-Formed Steel Design is an indispensable resource for all who design for and work with cold-formed steel. No other book provides such exhaustive coverage of both the theory and practice of cold-formed steel construction. Updated and expanded to reflect all the important developments that have occurred in the field over the past decade, this Fourth Edition of the classic text provides you with more of the detailed, up-to-the-minute techni

  5. A primer on string theory

    CERN Document Server

    Schomerus, Volker

    2017-01-01

    Since its conception in the 1960s, string theory has been hailed as one of the most promising routes we have to unify quantum mechanics and general relativity. This book provides a concise introduction to string theory explaining central concepts, mathematical tools and covering recent developments in physics including compactifications and gauge/string dualities. With string theory being a multidisciplinary field interfacing with high energy physics, mathematics and quantum field theory, this book is ideal for both students with no previous knowledge of the field and scholars from other disciplines who are looking for an introduction to basic concepts.

  6. THE IMPACT OF NATURAL RISKS ON AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena NIREAN

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Climate, topography and soil are natural conditions of basic agricultural yields. In general, Moldova has favorable climatic conditions and relief. Soils in the North have a high degree of fertility, while the central and southern regions are of average fertility. At the same time natural calamities such as droughts, late spring frosts, hail and floods have a destructive impact on crops. Climate instability is one of the main causes of unstable yields and is an inherent risk for agriculture of the country. More than that, most of the plots lose their natural fertility and require rehabilitation.

  7. INTERNET AND SOCIAL CONTROL: THE CASE OF THE CEBU PRISON EXPERIMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriel Cavaglion

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available This article deals with a unique project now ongoing at the Cebu Prison in the Philippines. This institution has been hailed on the Internet where recently a number of musical clips featuring hundreds of prisoners performing a variety of dances have been aired. In this paper we analyzed the visual texts of the twenty most popular clips disseminated on the Youtube website, and we inferred on theories of social control, mainly focusing on Erving Goffman concepts of Total Institution and Michel Foucault’s concepts of Modern Panopticon and docile forms of social control.

  8. The "One-Letter-War"

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gammeltoft, Peder

    2017-01-01

    The resolve of the naming dispute between Denmark, Norway and Sweden over the sea name Skagerrak has always been hailed as a prime example of how a naming dispute between countries over joint geographical name features should be handled and solved. This is a search into the story behind the scenes...... by the national mapping agencies. Practical Implications: Useful for institutions seeking name dispute resolution. Building on the extensive correspondence of almost fifty letters in the Danish Place-Name Commission’s journal archive, this naming dispute is shown to be of a rather different nature and resolve...

  9. The role of ice particles in the microphysics and dynamics of deep convective storms in various latitudes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Y. C.; Wang, P. K.

    2017-12-01

    The role of ice particles in the microphysics and dynamics of deep convective storms in various latitudes Yi-Chih Huang and Pao K. Wang Ice particles contribute to the microphysics and dynamics of severe storms in various regions of the world to a degree that is not commonly recognized. This study is motivated by the need to understand the role of ice particles plays in the development of severe storms so that their impact on various aspects of the storm behavior can be properly assessed. In this study, we perform numerical simulations of thunderstorms using a cloud resolving model WISCDYMM that includes parameterized microphysical processes to understand the role played by ice processes. We simulate thunderstorms occurred over various regions of the world including tropics, substropics and midlatitudes. We then perform statistical analysis of the simulated results to show the formation of various categories of hydrometeors to reveal the importance of ice processes. We will show that ice hydrometeors (cloud ice, snow, graupel/hail) account for 80% of the total hydrometeor mass for the High Plains storms but 50% for the subtropical storms. In addition, the melting of large ice particles (graupel and hail) is the major production process of rain in tropical storms although the ratio of ice-phase mass is responsible for only 40% of the total hydrometeor mass. Furthermore, hydrometeors have their own special microphysical processes in development and depletion over various latitudes. Microphysical structures depend on atmospheric dynamical and thermodynamical conditions which determine the partitioning of hydrometeors. This knowledge would benefit the microphysics parameterization in cloud models and cumulus parameterization in global circulation models.

  10. Variations of Precipitation Structure and Microwave Tbs During the Evolution of a Hailstorm from TRMM Observations

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2007-01-01

    In this paper, a hailstorm occurring on 9 May 1999 in Huanghuai region was studied by using the combined data from the precipitation radar (PR), microwave image (TMI), and visible infrared scanner (VIRS) on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. According to the 3-orbit observations of 5-h duration from the TRMM satellite, the variation characteristics of the precipitation structures as well as cloud top temperature and microwave signals of the precipitating cloud were comprehensively analyzed during the evolution of hailstorm. The results show that the precipitation is obviously converted from early hail cloud with strong convection into the later storm cloud with weak convection. For hail cloud, there exists some strong convective cells, and the heavy solid precipitation is shown at the middle-top levels so that the contribution of rainfall amount above the freezing-layer to the column precipitation amount is rather larger than that within the melting-layer. However, for storm cloud, the convective cells are surrounded by the large area of stratiform precipitation, and the precipitation thickness gradually decreases, and the rainfall above the freezing-layer obviously reduces and the contribution of rainfall amount within the melting-layer rapidly increases. Therefore, the larger ratio of rainfall amount above the freezing layer to column precipitation amount is, the more convective the cloud is; reversely, the larger proportion of rainfall below the melting layer is, the more stable the stratiform cloud is. The different changing trends of microwave signals at different precipitation stages show that it is better to consider the structures and stages of precipitating cloud to choose the optimal microwave channels to retrieve surface rainfall.

  11. Anaerobic digestion: a pre-historic process to solve modern problems?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Higham, Ian

    1998-01-01

    Anaerobic digestion is one of the earth's natural processes for assimilating waste materials. It has been harnessed by humans for waste treatment and energy generation for centuries. Since the oil crises of the 1970s the technology has been on and off various agendas such as energy generation, waste treatment and pollution control. Indeed, the technology has been hailed as a wonder solution to all sorts of problems, though in practice there have been successes and failures. In the last few years interest in aerobic digestion has been increasing again. Are the conditions now right for large scale deployment and where is the technology going in the future? (UK)

  12. Radioactive waste warehousing site installation - INB 56, Additional safety assessment with respect to the accident which occurred in the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2012-01-01

    After a presentation of some characteristics of the installation located in Cadarache and used for radioactive waste warehousing (description, radioactive and chemical materials, specific risks, present status), this document reports the identification of cliff-edge effect risks and of critical structures and equipment. Then, it addresses the different risks: earthquake (installation sizing, margin assessment), external flooding (installation sizing, margin assessment in relationship with the different flooding origins), other extreme natural events (hail, extreme rainfalls, strong winds, lightning, and earthquake exceeding the design level), loss of electric supplies. The next parts address severe accident management (means and organization for crisis management, robustness of available means), and subcontracting conditions and practices

  13. Impact of general data protection regulation on children's rights in digital environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krivokapić Đorđe

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Raising the age of consent to data processing to 16 and allowing member states to set it at a lower age, was one of the major points of argument in the wake of passing the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, otherwise hailed for introducing the Article 8 that recognizes children as a vulnerable group. This paper analyzes legal grounds for concerns raised over the provisions related to personal data protection of minors, possible ramifications and remedies within the given framework. It also highlights innovations and positive solutions set in the GDPR, with respect to privacy risks and opportunities for children in the information society.

  14. STANFORD (SLAC): B factory construction begins

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1994-01-01

    At a ceremony marking the start of construction, members of the US Congress and Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary hailed the new Asymmetric B Factory as the key to continued vitality of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). Being built in collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the B factory is a $177 million upgrade of the existing PEP electron-positron collider. Scheduled for completion in 1998, the B factory will generate many millions of B mesons, allowing, among other physics, an intensive search for the phenomena of CP violation in the decays of these particles

  15. Greenhouse effect gases and climatic change: quantification and tools to fight against the emissions; Gaz a effet de serre et changement climatique: quantification et instruments de lutte contre des emissions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bizec, R.F

    2006-07-01

    The greenhouse effect gases are considered responsible of the climatic change. Their consequences are numerous: increase of the sea level, displacement of the climatic areas, modification of the forests ecosystems, rarefaction of water, progressively decrease of glaciers... This fast modification of the climate would lead to the increase of natural hazards as hurricanes, storms, hails and so on. It is then a necessity to reduce as fast as possible the greenhouse effect gases. The author describes in a first part the methods of the greenhouse effect gases quantification and in the second part the tools to fight these gases, regulations, standards, economic tools, national tools and the projects. (A.L.B.)

  16. Greenhouse effect gases and climatic change: quantification and tools to fight against the emissions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bizec, R.F.

    2006-01-01

    The greenhouse effect gases are considered responsible of the climatic change. Their consequences are numerous: increase of the sea level, displacement of the climatic areas, modification of the forests ecosystems, rarefaction of water, progressively decrease of glaciers... This fast modification of the climate would lead to the increase of natural hazards as hurricanes, storms, hails and so on. It is then a necessity to reduce as fast as possible the greenhouse effect gases. The author describes in a first part the methods of the greenhouse effect gases quantification and in the second part the tools to fight these gases, regulations, standards, economic tools, national tools and the projects. (A.L.B.)

  17. Prospecting the radioactivity of the air. [In French

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Garrigue, H

    1953-01-01

    Measurements aboard an airplane (3000 m altitude) indicated a sudden influx of radioactive particles A with a mean life of 25 hours on Aug. 8 (traces) and, in appreciable amounts, on Aug. 15, 28 and Sept. 5, 1953. The maximum of intensity of about 0.1 x 10/sup -18/ equivalent curie of Rn activity/cc probably prevailed around Aug. 15. No activity could be detected prior to these dates in air or in snow on the summit of Puy-de-Dome (1460 m), nor did the evaporation of hail (collected on the ground), precipitated during a microcyclone, which occurred on Aug. 8, disclose any abnormal activity.

  18. Case study: A severe hailstorm and strong downbursts over northeastern Slovenia on June 16th 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korosec, M.

    2009-09-01

    Introduction A strong isolated storm complex with bow echo feature crossed northeastern Slovenia in the late afternoon hours and caused extensive damage due to severe wind gusts near 30m/s, excessive rainfalls and large hail. Synoptic situation On June 16th 2009, an upper-level ridge persists over southern Europe while a positively tilted short-wave trough, connected to a complex deep trough over northern Europe, crosses central Europe. Accompanied by this trough, a cold front is extending southwestwards towards the Alps. A relatively strong jet steak wraps around the trough axis and creates strong shear environment which overlaps with a narrow band of unstable airmass present ahead of the coming frontal boundary. Behind this trough/front over central Europe, a high pressure area is developing with stable conditions. Over Slovenia, strong surface heating was on going through the day but lack of near-surface convergence zones, limited moisture and strong capping inversion surpressed any storm initiation in the afternoon. Presentation of research This case study will go through a research of damaging bow echo which caused extensive damage due to severe winds, excessive rainfalls and large hail over much of northeastern Slovenia. Numerous trees were down or uprooted and numerous roofs were blown off or were seriously damaged due to severe wind gusts near or exceeding 30m/s. At first stages, when an isolated severe storm entered Slovenia, it had classic high precipitation supercell features while it transformed into a powerful bow echo later on. Very large hail up to 6cm in diameter was first observed in southeast Austria and near the border with Slovenia, while later on the main threat was very strong wind gusts and intense rainfalls. This research paper will show a detailed analysis of the synoptic situation including analysis of satellite, radar and surface observations. Radar imagery clearly showed isolated storm trailing along the near-surface frontal boundary as

  19. STS-96 Crew Training, Mission Animation, Crew Interviews, STARSHINE, Discovery Rollout and Repair of Hail Damage

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-01-01

    Live footage shows the crewmembers of STS-96, Commander Kent V. Rominger, Pilot Rick D. Husband, Mission Specialists Ellen Ochoa, Tamara E. Jernigan, Daniel T. Barry, Julie Payette and Valery Ivanovich Tokarev during various training activities. Scenes include astronaut suit-up, EVA training in the Virtual Reality Lab, Orbiter space vision training, bailout training, and crew photo session. Footage also shows individual crew interviews, repair activities to the external fuel tank, and Discovery's return to the launch pad. The engineers are seen sanding, bending, and painting the foam used in repairing the tank. An animation of the deployment of the STARSHINE satellite, International Space Station, and the STS-96 Mission is presented. Footage shows the students from Edgar Allen Poe Middle School sanding, polishing, and inspecting the mirrors for the STARSHINE satellite. Live footage also includes students from St. Michael the Archangel School wearing bunny suits and entering the clean room at Goddard Space Flight Center.

  20. Integration of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Imagery and Derived Products into Severe Weather Disaster Response

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schultz, L. A.; Molthan, A.; Nicoll, J. B.; Bell, J. R.; Gens, R.; Meyer, F. J.

    2017-12-01

    Disaster response efforts leveraging imagery from NASA, USGS, NOAA, and the European Space Agency (ESA) have continued to expand as satellite imagery and derived products offer an enhanced overview of the affected areas, especially in remote areas where terrain and the scale of the damage can inhibit response efforts. NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center has been supporting the NASA Earth Science Disaster Response Program by providing both optical and SAR imagery products to the NWS and FEMA to assist during domestic response efforts. Although optical imagery has dominated, the availability of ESA's Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from the Sentinel 1-A/B satellites offers a unique perspective to the damage response community as SAR imagery can be collected regardless of the time of day or the presence of clouds, two major hindrances to the use of satellite optical imagery. Through a partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and the collocated Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF), NASA's SAR Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), SPoRT has been investigating the use of SAR imagery products to support storm damage surveys conducted by the National Weather Service after any severe weather event. Additionally, products are also being developed and tested for FEMA and the National Guard Bureau. This presentation will describe how SAR data from the Sentinel 1A/B satellites are processed and developed into products. Examples from multiple tornado and hail events will be presented highlighting both the strengths and weaknesses of SAR imagery and how it integrates and compliments more traditional optical imagery collected post-event. Specific case study information from a large hail event in South Dakota and a long track tornado near Clear Lake, Wisconsin will be discussed as well as an overview of the work being done to support FEMA and the National Guard.

  1. Microphysical variability of vigorous Amazonian deep convection observed by CloudSat, and relevance for cloud-resolving model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dodson, J. B.; Taylor, P. C.

    2017-12-01

    The number and varieties of both satellite cloud observations and cloud simulations are increasing rapidly. This create a challenge in identifying the best methods for quantifying the physical processes associated with deep convection, and then comparing convective observations with simulations. The use of satellite simulators in conjunction with model output is an increasingly popular method of comparison studies. However, the complexity of deep convective systems renders simplistic comparison metrics hazardous, possibly resulting is misleading or even contradicting conclusions. To investigate this, CloudSat observations of Amazonian deep convective cores (DCCs) and associated anvils are compared and contrasted with output from cloud resolving models in a manner that both highlights microphysical proprties of observed convection, and displays the effects of microphysical parameterizations on allowing robust comparisons. First, contoured frequency by altitude diagrams (CFAD) are calculated from the reflectivity fields of DCCs observed by CloudSat. This reveals two distinct modes of hydrometeor variability in the high level cloud region, with one dominated by snow and aggregates, and the other by large graupel and hail. Second, output from the superparameterized Community Atmospheric Model (SP-CAM) data are processed with the Quickbeam radar simulator to produce CFADs which can be compared with the observed CFADs. Two versions of SP-CAM are used, with one (version 4) having single-moment microphysics which excludes graupel/hail, and the other (version 5) a double-moment scheme with graupel. The change from version 4 to 5 improves the reflectivity CFAD, even without corresponding changes to non-hydrometeor fields such as vertical velocity. However, it does not produce a realistic double hydrometeor mode. Finally, the influences of microphysics are further tested in the System for Atmospheric Modeling (SAM), which allows for higher control over model parameters than

  2. A comparison of the nuclear options for greenhouse gas mitigation in China and in the United States

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yang, Chi-Jen, E-mail: cj.y@duke.edu [Center on Global Change, Box 90658, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708 (United States)

    2011-06-15

    China is quickly building up its nuclear power capacity while the hailed nuclear renaissance in the United States has been largely stagnant. The political and industrial structures explain the divergent paths. This paper draws lessons from the French experiences in deploying nuclear power and uses the lessons in comparing Chinese and U.S. policies. An authoritative political system and state-owned utility industry allow China to emulate the French approaches such as government-backed financing and broad-scale deployment with standardized design. The democratic political system and fragmented utility industry, and the laissez-faire ideology in the United States, on the other hand, are unfavorable to a nuclear renaissance. The prospect of a nuclear revival in the United States remains highly uncertain. As China builds up its nuclear industry, it will be able to reduce carbon emissions without a carbon price through a national plan to deploy low-carbon nuclear electricity, while the United States cannot implement a climate policy without a carbon price. American politicians should stop using China's lack of carbon cap as an excuse for postponing the legislation of a carbon price. - Highlights: > The Chinese government and Chinese state-owned companies are indigenizing nuclear power technologies, establishing nuclear manufacturing capacity, and gradually scaling up nuclear power deployment. > China is likely on a path to the biggest nuclear buildup in human history. > The hailed nuclear renaissance in the United States has been largely stagnant. > The underlying causes of U.S. Nuclear stagnation is rooted in the democratic political system and fragmented utility industry, and the laissez-faire ideology, which are unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. > China can move toward a low-carbon electricity system without a carbon price. The United States needs a carbon price to implement a climate policy.

  3. A comparison of the nuclear options for greenhouse gas mitigation in China and in the United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Chi-Jen

    2011-01-01

    China is quickly building up its nuclear power capacity while the hailed nuclear renaissance in the United States has been largely stagnant. The political and industrial structures explain the divergent paths. This paper draws lessons from the French experiences in deploying nuclear power and uses the lessons in comparing Chinese and U.S. policies. An authoritative political system and state-owned utility industry allow China to emulate the French approaches such as government-backed financing and broad-scale deployment with standardized design. The democratic political system and fragmented utility industry, and the laissez-faire ideology in the United States, on the other hand, are unfavorable to a nuclear renaissance. The prospect of a nuclear revival in the United States remains highly uncertain. As China builds up its nuclear industry, it will be able to reduce carbon emissions without a carbon price through a national plan to deploy low-carbon nuclear electricity, while the United States cannot implement a climate policy without a carbon price. American politicians should stop using China's lack of carbon cap as an excuse for postponing the legislation of a carbon price. - Highlights: → The Chinese government and Chinese state-owned companies are indigenizing nuclear power technologies, establishing nuclear manufacturing capacity, and gradually scaling up nuclear power deployment. → China is likely on a path to the biggest nuclear buildup in human history. → The hailed nuclear renaissance in the United States has been largely stagnant. → The underlying causes of U.S. Nuclear stagnation is rooted in the democratic political system and fragmented utility industry, and the laissez-faire ideology, which are unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. → China can move toward a low-carbon electricity system without a carbon price. The United States needs a carbon price to implement a climate policy.

  4. Fabrication of metallic honeycomb panels for reusable TPS - structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tabernig, B.; Thierfelder, W.; Alber, H.; Sudmeijer, K.

    2001-01-01

    The manufacturing technology with specific regard to high temperature brazing was developed to fabricate a honeycomb panel consisting of a thin-sectioned PM 2000 core material sandwiched on both sides with PM 1000 face sheets. For brazing the PM 1000 / PM 2000 panel the braze alloy PdNi was selected due to the best oxidation behavior while good mechanical properties and wetting behavior compared with other tested filler alloys. To examine the concept of a hybrid PM 1000/2000 panel as a stiffened skin panel a number of engineering test samples of sub-scale and two full-size panels were fabricated at Plansee AG and supplied to Fokker Space for testing under representative in-service conditions. Engineering tests showed that the test samples were rather insensitive to temperature gradients even at temperature differences between the face sheets of 550 o C. The engineering test samples exhibited no plastic deformation after testing at different heating rates ranging from 5 to 40 o C/s and at temperature profiles representative for two flights. The requirement for the designed application regarding impact properties at low as well as high speed were met. Impact at low speed with an energy of 8 J did not cause any cracks. Hail tests where ice bullets were fired with speeds to 208 m/s at different angles from 25 o to 90 o C against the test piece showed no damage at 25 o and caused slight indentation at 45 o and cracks at 90 o , which demonstrated a good performance for the fly through a hail cloud without any problems. In tests to determine the response of a full-size panel to a number of simulated thermo-mechanical flight load cycles the panel passed 50 cycles successfully without damage. (author)

  5. Fluorescent carbon dots from mono- and polysaccharides: synthesis, properties and applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephen Hill

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Fluorescent carbon dots (FCDs are an emerging class of nanomaterials made from carbon sources that have been hailed as potential non-toxic replacements to traditional semiconductor quantum dots (QDs. Particularly in the areas of live imaging and drug delivery, due to their water solubility, low toxicity and photo- and chemical stability. Carbohydrates are readily available chiral biomolecules in nature which offer an attractive and cheap starting material from which to synthesise FCDs with distinct features and interesting applications. This mini-review article will cover the progress in the development of FCDs prepared from carbohydrate sources with an emphasis on their synthesis, functionalization and technical applications, including discussions on current challenges.

  6. Mind, Machine, and Creativity: An Artist's Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sundararajan, Louise

    2014-06-01

    Harold Cohen is a renowned painter who has developed a computer program, AARON, to create art. While AARON has been hailed as one of the most creative AI programs, Cohen consistently rejects the claims of machine creativity. Questioning the possibility for AI to model human creativity, Cohen suggests in so many words that the human mind takes a different route to creativity, a route that privileges the relational, rather than the computational, dimension of cognition. This unique perspective on the tangled web of mind, machine, and creativity is explored by an application of three relational models of the mind to an analysis of Cohen's talks and writings, which are available on his website: www.aaronshome.com.

  7. The Case Against B. F. Skinner 45 years Later: An Encounter with N. Chomsky.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Virués-Ortega, Javier

    2006-01-01

    Chomsky's (1959) review of Verbal Behavior (Skinner, 1957) has been hailed as the most influential document in the history of psychology. Although many rejoinders to Chomsky's review have been published, their impact has been minimal. Moreover, Chomsky has not answered them in detail. To invite Chomsky to revisit a number of matters concerning the review, he was interviewed. The principal topics addressed by Chomsky were (a) historical factors associated with behaviorism after World War II; (b) circumstances surrounding the preparation of the review; (c) likely compatibility between formal and functional analyses of language; and (d) Chomsky's current point of view on aspects of the content of his review and on the evolution of behavior analysis.

  8. A bridge between two conventions on civil liability for nuclear damage: The Joint Protocol relating to the application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Busekist, Otto von

    2006-01-01

    The adoption of the Joint Protocol and its signature on 21 September 1988, at the closure of the diplomatic conference jointly convened in Vienna by the IAEA and the NEA, was hailed as landmark in efforts towards the establishment of a comprehensive civil nuclear liability regime. The importance of liability and compensation for transfrontier damage caused by a nuclear incident is indeed one of the lessons learned from the Chernobyl accident. The present article attempts to describe the history of the Joint Protocol during the many years it took to develop this link between the two conventions, to provide comment on its objectives and content, and to discuss some important questions related to its application

  9. The Pegase installation - INB 22. Additional safety assessment with respect to the accident which occurred in the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2012-01-01

    After a presentation of some characteristics of the Pegase base nuclear installation located in Cadarache (description and functions, radioactive and chemical materials, specific risks, present status), this document reports the identification of cliff-edge effect risks and of critical structures and equipment. Then, it addresses the different risks: earthquake (installation sizing and compliance, margin assessment), external flooding (installation sizing and compliance, margin assessment in relationship with the different flooding origins), other extreme natural events (hail, extreme rainfalls, strong winds, lightning, and earthquake exceeding the design level), and loss of external or internal electric supplies. The next parts address severe accident management (means and organization for crisis management, robustness of available means), and subcontracting conditions and practices

  10. Walking for art's sake

    CERN Multimedia

    2005-01-01

    The man who compared himself to a proton ! On 20 May, Gianni Motti went down into the LHC tunnel and walked around the 27 kilometres of the underground ring at an average, unaccelerated pace of 5 kph. This was an artistic rather than an athletic performance, aimed at drawing a parallel between the fantastic speed of the beams produced by the future accelerator and the leisurely stroll of a human. The artist, who hails from Lombardy, was accompanied by cameraman Ivo Zanetti, who filmed the event from start to finish, and physicist Jean-Pierre Merlo. The first part of the film can be seen at the Villa Bernasconi, 8 route du Grand-Lancy, Grand Lancy, until 26 June.

  11. Walking for art's sake

    CERN Multimedia

    2005-01-01

      The man who compared himself to a proton ! On 20 May, Gianni Motti went down into the LHC tunnel and walked around the 27 kilometres of the underground ring at an average, unaccelerated pace of 5 kph. This was an artistic rather than an athletic performance, aimed at drawing a parallel between the fantastic speed of the beams produced by the future accelerator and the leisurely stroll of a human. The artist, who hails from Lombardy, was accompanied by cameraman Ivo Zanetti, who filmed the event from start to finish, and physicist Jean-Pierre Merlo. The first part of the film can be seen at the Villa Bernasconi, 8 route du Grand-Lancy, Grand Lancy, until 26 June.

  12. Kolektivní paměť jako předmět historicko-sociologického bádání

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiří Šubrt

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The article engages with the sociological approach to the problems of collective memory from the historical perspective. The explanation starts with Maurice Halbwachs and his conception of frames of memory and goes on to examine how this was later used by Halbwachs’ followers in France, where the theory of memory was hailed as a new paradigm for social sciences. Special attention is devoted to Pierre Nora’s conception of “places of memory” (les lieux de mémoire and Paul Ricoeur’s approach to the “workings of memory” (travail de mémoire. At the end the authors introduce their own approach, based on the ideas of system theory.

  13. A bridge between two Conventions on civil liability for nuclear damage: the Joint protocol Relating to the application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Busekist, O. von.

    1989-01-01

    The adoption of the Joint-Protocol and its signature on 21 September 1988, at the closure of the diplomatic conference jointly convened in Vienna by the IAEA and NEA, was hailed as a landmark in efforts towards the establishment of a comprehensive civil nuclear liability regime. The importance of liability and compensation for transfrontier damage caused by a nuclear incident is indeed one of the lessons learned from the Chernobyl accident. This article describes the history of the Joint Protocol during the many years it took to develop this link between the two Conventions, provides a comment on its objectives and content, and discusses some important questions related to its application. (NEA) [fr

  14. From The House with the Green Shutters to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour: the portrayal of alcohol in the modern Scottish novel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beveridge, A W

    2017-03-01

    In modern Scottish literature alcohol is a recurrent subject; this paper examines the different ways it is portrayed with particular emphasis on the novel. It has been seen as the resort of the weak-minded and the cause of personal degradation. It has been portrayed as a response to and a symptom of social disintegration. It has been depicted as leading to delirium and psychosis. On a positive note it has been hailed as a source of inspiration and as a means of celebration. It has helped some troubled characters find the road to redemption. Along the way we encounter various literary stereotypes of the drinker, while the pub forms the backdrop to much of the action.

  15. On stable ground: Tackling soil erosion with nuclear techniques in Viet Nam

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gaspar, Miklos

    2015-01-01

    Dao Thanh Canh never studied physics or chemistry in school, but he understands a thing or two about nuclear isotopes. Until a couple of years ago, much of his five acre farm on the hills of central Viet Nam was gradually sliding away. Thanks to nuclear techniques used in determining the exact cause and source of soil erosion, his land is now stable, and his coffee plantation profitable. “We were very worried as uncertainty loomed,” he said. “A few centimetres of the soil disappeared every year when we had big hail storms.” Thanh Canh is not alone. Soil degradation affects 1.9 billion hectares of land worldwide, close to two thirds of global soil resources.

  16. Artificial Intelligence and brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shapshak, Paul

    2018-01-01

    From the start, Kurt Godel observed that computer and brain paradigms were considered on a par by researchers and that researchers had misunderstood his theorems. He hailed with displeasure that the brain transcends computers. In this brief article, we point out that Artificial Intelligence (AI) comprises multitudes of human-made methodologies, systems, and languages, and implemented with computer technology. These advances enhance development in the electron and quantum realms. In the biological realm, animal neurons function, also utilizing electron flow, and are products of evolution. Mirror neurons are an important paradigm in neuroscience research. Moreover, the paradigm shift proposed here - 'hall of mirror neurons' - is a potentially further productive research tactic. These concepts further expand AI and brain research.

  17. Application of TRMM PR and TMI Measurements to Assess Cloud Microphysical Schemes in the MM5 Model for a Winter Storm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Mei; Braun, Scott A.; Olson, William S.; Persson, P. Ola G.; Bao, Jian-Wen

    2009-01-01

    Seen by the human eye, precipitation particles are commonly drops of rain, flakes of snow, or lumps of hail that reach the ground. Remote sensors and numerical models usually deal with information about large collections of rain, snow, and hail (or graupel --also called soft hail ) in a volume of air. Therefore, the size and number of the precipitation particles and how particles interact, evolve, and fall within the volume of air need to be represented using physical laws and mathematical tools, which are often implemented as cloud and precipitation microphysical parameterizations in numerical models. To account for the complexity of the precipitation physical processes, scientists have developed various types of such schemes in models. The accuracy of numerical weather forecasting may vary dramatically when different types of these schemes are employed. Therefore, systematic evaluations of cloud and precipitation schemes are of great importance for improvement of weather forecasts. This study is one such endeavor; it pursues quantitative assessment of all the available cloud and precipitation microphysical schemes in a weather model (MM5) through comparison with the observations obtained by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) s and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation radar (PR) and microwave imager (TMI). When satellite sensors (like PR or TMI) detect information from precipitation particles, they cannot directly observe the microphysical quantities (e.g., water species phase, density, size, and amount etc.). Instead, they tell how much radiation is absorbed by rain, reflected away from the sensor by snow or graupel, or reflected back to the satellite. On the other hand, the microphysical quantities in the model are usually well represented in microphysical schemes and can be converted to radiative properties that can be directly compared to the corresponding PR and TMI observations

  18. Assessment of Lung Epithelial Cytological Changes Associated with Air Pollution in Hail Industrial Area in Saudi Arabia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fawaz D. Alshammari

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the lung epithelial atypical changes (if any, which might be associated with continuous exposure to air pollution resulting from motor vehicles maintenance. Methodology: This is a case control study, investigated 250 participants by cytological methods. Of the 250 participants, 200 were cases exposed to vehicle maintenance emissions air pollution and 50 were controls (non-exposed. Early morning expectorated sputum specimen was obtained and cytologically assessed. Results: Cytological atypia was identified in 7 (3.5% out of the 200 cases and could not be identified in 193 (96.5% cases, whereas, in the control group, cytological atypia was not found. The risk of cytological atypia, which is associated with exposure to vehicle maintenance emissions air pollution, the 95% confidence interval (95% CI and relative risk (RR; RR=3.9 (0.2199 to 69.7010, P=0.3529. Metaplasia was identified among 26 (13% cases and 2/50 (4% in the controls. The risk of metaplasia that is associated with exposure to vehicle maintenance emissions air pollution, the 95% CI and RR=3.5 (0.8218 to 15.649, P=0.0893. Conclusion: The exposure to vehicle maintenance air pollution increases the risk of lung epithelial atypical changes, which may develop in to precancerous and cancerous changes.

  19. Hail, reverend Structure!’ Questioning Patriarchal Parenthood in the Aquatic Imagery of Grottoes in Court Masques

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caterina Guardini

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Jonson’s Neptune’s Triumph for the Return of Albion (1624, Daniel’s Tethy’s Festival (1610, and Jonson’s Love’s Triumph through Callipolis (1631 explore the representation of royal private and political patriarchy within the Stuart courts of James I and Charles I. By questioning the representation of gender and parenthood, this paper aims at conjecturing the conflictual variety of audience-responses to the aquatic imagery of Mannerist garden grottoes at work in these shows in order to investigate whether the motherly agency of Queen Anna is really erased by James I’s imagery of aquatic patriarchy or if it survives in Charles’s mnemonic reception during his later performances on the masquing stage.

  20. Cloud time

    CERN Document Server

    Lockwood, Dean

    2012-01-01

    The ‘Cloud’, hailed as a new digital commons, a utopia of collaborative expression and constant connection, actually constitutes a strategy of vitalist post-hegemonic power, which moves to dominate immanently and intensively, organizing our affective political involvements, instituting new modes of enclosure, and, crucially, colonizing the future through a new temporality of control. The virtual is often claimed as a realm of invention through which capitalism might be cracked, but it is precisely here that power now thrives. Cloud time, in service of security and profit, assumes all is knowable. We bear witness to the collapse of both past and future virtuals into a present dedicated to the exploitation of the spectres of both.

  1. Humanitarian Logistics: a Clustering Methodology for Assisting Humanitarian Operations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabiana santos Lima

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we propose a methodology to identify and classify regions by the type and frequency of disasters. The data on the clusters allow you to extract information that can be used in the preparedness phase as well as to identify the relief items needed to meet each cluster. Using this approach, the clusters are formed by using a computing tool that uses as the input the history data of the disasters in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, with a specific focus on: windstorms, hail, floods, droughts, landslides, and flash floods. The results show that the knowledge provided by the clustering analysis contributes to the decision making process in the response phase of Humanitarian Logistics (HL.

  2. Perspectives for genetic engineering for the phytoremediation of arsenic-contaminated environments: from imagination to reality?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yong-Guan; Rosen, Barry P

    2009-04-01

    Phytoremediation to clean up arsenic-contaminated environments has been widely hailed as environmentally friendly and cost effective, and genetic engineering is believed to improve the efficiency and versatility of phytoremediation. Successful genetic engineering requires the thorough understanding of the mechanisms involved in arsenic tolerance and accumulation by natural plant species. Key mechanisms include arsenate reduction, arsenic sequestration in vacuoles of root or shoot, arsenic loading to the xylem, and volatilization through the leaves. Key advances include the identification of arsenic (As) translocation from root to shoot in the As hyperaccumulator, Pteris vittata, and the characterization of related key genes from hyperaccumulator and nonaccumulators. In this paper we have proposed three pathways for genetic engineering: arsenic sequestration in the root, hyperaccumulation of arsenic in aboveground tissues, and phytovolatilization.

  3. Discovery of the Higgs boson

    CERN Document Server

    Sharma, Vivek

    2016-01-01

    The recent observation of the Higgs boson has been hailed as the scientific discovery of the century and led to the 2013 Nobel Prize in physics. This book describes the detailed science behind the decades-long search for this elusive particle at the Large Electron Positron Collider at CERN and at the Tevatron at Fermilab and its subsequent discovery and characterization at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Written by physicists who played leading roles in this epic search and discovery, this book is an authoritative and pedagogical exposition of the portrait of the Higgs boson that has emerged from a large number of experimental measurements. As the first of its kind, this book should be of interest to graduate students and researchers in particle physics.

  4. Current topics in summability theory and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Rhoades, Billy

    2016-01-01

    This book discusses recent developments in and contemporary research on summability theory, including general summability methods, direct theorems on summability, absolute and strong summability, special methods of summability, functional analytic methods in summability, and related topics and applications. All contributing authors are eminent scientists, researchers and scholars in their respective fields, and hail from around the world. The book can be used as a textbook for graduate and senior undergraduate students, and as a valuable reference guide for researchers and practitioners in the fields of summability theory and functional analysis. Summability theory is generally used in analysis and applied mathematics. It plays an important part in the engineering sciences, and various aspects of the theory have long since been studied by researchers all over the world. .

  5. An investigation into driver fatigue on the N3 between Villiers and Warden

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Venter, Karien

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available 23 Slight/ no injury 633 105 155 Total 867 166 194 Weather Clear 84% 75% 82% Rain 9% 25% 7% Mist 2% 0% 6% Hail 0% 0% 4% Wind 0% 0% 1% Smoke 1% 0% 0% Overcast 4% 0% 0% Peak times 1> heavy vehicles 3h00-5h00 and 21:00- 24:00 03...:00-05:00 and 21:00 - 24:00 06:00-08:00 and 18:00-20:00 Other vehicles a)21:00- 24:00, b)15:00- 17:00 15:00 and 17:00 15:00 and 17:00 Time of day Involving 1> heavy vehicles Night between 18:01-5:59 Night between 18:01-5:59 Night between...

  6. Improvement of Representation of the Cloud-Aerosol Interaction in Large-Scale Models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khain, Alexander [Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem (Israel); Phillips, Vaughan [Lund Univ. (Sweden); Pinsky, Mark [Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem (Israel); Lynn, Barry [Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem (Israel)

    2016-12-20

    The main achievements reached under the DOE award DE-SC0006788 are described. It is shown that the plan of the Project is completed. Unique results concerning cloud-aerosol interaction are obtained. It is shown that aerosols affect intensity of hurricanes. The effects of small aerosols on formation of ice in anvils of deep convective clouds are discovered, for the first time the mechanisms of drizzle formation are found and described quantitatively. Mechanisms of formation of warm rain are clarified and the dominating role of adiabatic processes and turbulence are stressed. Important results concerning the effects of sea spray on intensity of clouds and tropical cyclones are obtained. A novel methods of calculation of hail formation has been developed and implemented.

  7. How Does My Cellphone GPS Work?-The Physics of Precision Time-Keeping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chu, Steven

    The most precise measurements in all of science are frequency and frequency difference measurements, or alternatively, phase and phase change of electromagnetic waves. Improvements in time-keeping have opened up many horizons in fundamental and applied physics that range from the detection of gravity waves to the melting of glaciers and the depletion of underground aquifers. Precision time keeping has also had important practical applications such as in the navigation, beginning with the determination of the longitude position of sailing ships. We now use our cell phones to help us navigate city streets and hail taxis from Uber and Lyft based on our geographical position within a few meters. How did this come about? What will the new time-keeping technologies enable in the future?

  8. Impacts of a Destructive and Well-Observed Cross-Country Winter Storm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martner, Brooks E.; Rauber, Robert M.; Ramamurthy, Mohan K.; Rasmussen, Roy M.; Prater, Erwin T.

    1992-02-01

    A winter storm that crossed the continental United States in mid-February 1990 produced hazardous weather across a vast area of the nation. A wide range of severe weather was reported, including heavy snowfall; freezing rain and drizzle; thunderstorms with destructive winds, lightning, large hail, and tornadoes; prolonged heavy rain with subsequent flooding; frost damage to citrus orchards; and sustained destructive winds not associated with thunderstorms. Low-end preliminary estimates of impacts included 9 deaths, 27 injuries, and $120 million of property damage. At least 35 states and southeastern Canada were adversely affected. The storm occurred during the field operations of four independent atmospheric research projects that obtained special, detailed observations of it from the Rocky Mountains to the eastern great Lakes.

  9. Geology of the Cane Branch and Helton Branch watershed areas, McCreary County, Kentucky

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyons, Erwin J.

    1957-01-01

    Cane Branch and Helton Branch in McCreary County, Kentucky, are about 1.4 miles apart (fig. 1). Can Branch, which is about 2.1 miles long, emptied into Hughes Fork of Beaver Creek. Its watershed area of about 1.5 square miles lies largely in the Wiborf 7 1/2-minute quadrangle (SW/4 Cumberland Falls 15-minute quadrangle), but the downstream part of the area extends northward into the Hail 7 1/2-minute quadrangle (NW/4 Cumberland Falls 15-minute quadrangle). Helton Branch, which is about 1.1 miles long, has two tributaries and empties into Little Hurricane Fork of Beaver Creek. It drains an area of about 0.8 square mile of while about 0.5 square mile is in the Hail quadrangle and the remainder in the Wilborg quadrangle. The total relief in the Can Branch area is about 500 feet and in the Helton Branch area about 400 feet. Narrow, steep-sided to canyon-like valley and winding ridges, typical of the Pottsville escarpment region, are characteristic of both areas. Thick woods and dense undergrowth cover much of the two areas. Field mapping was done on U.S. Geological Survey 7 1/2-minute maps having a scale of 1:24,000 and a contour interval of 20 feet. Elevations of lithologic contacts were determined with a barometer and a hand level. Aerial photographs were used principally to trace the cliffs formed by sandstone and conglomerate ledges. Exposures, except for those of the cliff- and ledge-forming sandstone and conglomerates, are not abundant. The most complete stratigraphic sections (secs. 3 and 4, fig. 2) in the two areas are exposed in cuts of newly completed Forest Service roads, but the rick in the upper parts of the exposures is weathered. To supplement these sections, additional sections were measured in cuts along the railroad and main highways in nor near the watersheds.

  10. Three Kings and the Bright Star of Fame

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emalyn J. Bullis

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Many phenomena in music history as well as in American history have helped develop and shape the types of music listened to today, but none have been so fresh as looking back to twentieth-century popular music and the several key individuals that “ruled” in this area. These “rulers” were hailed as “kings” firstly as a media ploy, but the American public did nothing but encourage the titles. This is somewhat confusing considering American’s pride in their democratic political system but history shows that in several key American cultural changes the “Kings” crowned in the music sphere are representative of these changes. While not difficult to determine who these individuals are, as most of them were hailed and recognized as “Kings” to their respective audiences. Benny Goodman, the King of Swing, in the 1920’s and 30’s helped usher in and popularize the Swing movement. Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, capitalized (intentionally or not on the move towards combining African-American sounds such as blues and jazz with folk, gospel, and soul, thus creating a whole new and extremely popular sound. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, was practically born into fame with his involvement with the ‘Jackson 5,’ but that did not stop him from rising up the ladder of fame in his solo career to change the face of pop music forever. There were also many artists that surrounded these “kings,” a court, if you will, that allowed their new styles to proliferate throughout American culture, and sometimes even surpassed them musically. However, as icons, these men stand on their own for their achievements in music and their ability to change and adapt to the culture around them. By looking at the three Kings of American pop culture’s past, it is possible to see the direction of America’s culture in general from the 1920’s on and perhaps see the trajectory of music of the USA today

  11. Realizing the Value of Citizen Science Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abdalati, W.

    2015-12-01

    Typical data sources for both basic and mission-focused environmental research include satellite sensors, in situ observations made by scientists, and data from well established and often government-sponsored networks. While these data sources enable substantial advances in understanding our environment, they are not always complete in the picture they present. By incorporating citizen science into our portfolio of observations, we gain a powerful complement to these traditional data sources, drawing on the enthusiasm and commitment of volunteer observers. While such data can be more difficult to calibrate or quality check, these challenges can be overcome by clear and simple protocols and consistent instrumentation. One such example is the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) in which thousands of volunteers in the United States and Canada use low-cost equipment to make point-measurements of rain, hail and snowfall near their homes or workplaces. All participants in CoCoRaHS make these measurements with the same $30 rain gauges and follow a well-established protocol in which they are trained. These observations feed into National Weather Service forecast models, sometimes directly influencing the issuing of alerts and warnings, and are used to both validate and improve these models. In other cases, observations can be more subjective, such as Buddhist monks in the Catskills documenting leaf fall, or the Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count in which birds are surveyed annually as their habitats change. The uncertainty associated with such subjective measurements is far outweighed by the value of the data, and it can be reduced by increasing the numbers of observers and encouraging participation by the same observers year after year for consistent inputs. These citizen science efforts, and many others like them, provide tremendous scientific opportunities for complementing big-picture science with local variability, resulting in a more

  12. Quantitative measurement of lightning-induced electron precipitation using VLF remote sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peter, William Bolton

    This dissertation examines the detection of lightning-induced energetic electron precipitation via subionospheric Very Low Frequency (VLF) remote sensing. The primary measurement tool used is a distributed set of VLF observing sites, the Holographic Array for Ionospheric/Lightning Research (HAIL), located along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains in the Central United States. Measurements of the VLF signal perturbations indicate that 90% of the precipitation occurs over a region ˜8 degrees in latitudinal extent, with the peak of the precipitation poleward displaced ˜7 degrees from the causative discharge. A comparison of the VLF signal perturbations recorded on the HAIL array with a comprehensive model of LEP events allows for the quantitative measurement of electron precipitation and ionospheric density enhancement with unprecedented quantitative detail. The model consists of three major components: a test-particle model of gyroresonant whistler-induced electron precipitation; a Monte Carlo simulation of energy deposition into the ionosphere; and a model of VLF subionospheric signal propagation. For the two representative LEP events studied, the model calculates peak VLF amplitude and phase perturbations within a factor of three of those observed, well within the expected variability of radiation belt flux levels. The modeled precipitated energy flux (E>45 keV) peaks at ˜1 x 10-2 [ergs s-1 cm -2], resulting in a peak loss of ˜0.001% from a single flux tube at L˜2.2, consistent with previous satellite measurements of LEP events. Metrics quantifying the ionospheric density enhancement (N ILDE) and the electron precipitation (Gamma) are strongly correlated with the VLF signal perturbations calculated by the model. A conversion ratio Psi relates VLF signal amplitude perturbations (DeltaA) to the time-integrated precipitation (100-300 keV) along the VLF path (Psi=Gamma / DeltaA). The total precipitation (100-300 keV) induced by one of the representative LEP

  13. CoCoRaHS: A Community Science Program Providing Valuable Precipitation Data to Guide Decision Making

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, D. A.; Doesken, N.

    2017-12-01

    CoCoRaHS is an acronym for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. It is long-running, community-based network of volunteers working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow). Precipitation is an ideal element for public engagement because it affects everyone, it is so variable in time and space and it impacts so many things. By using a standard precipitation gauge, stressing training and education, utilizing an interactive website, and having observations undergo quality assurance, the CoCoRaHS program provides high-quality data for natural resource, education and research applications. The program currently operates in all states, Canada and the Bahamas. It originated with the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University in 1998 due in part to the Fort Collins flood a year prior. Upwards of 12,000 observers submit observations each day. Observations meet federal guidelines and are archived at the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Information. Because of excellent spatial coverage, data quality, practical relevance, and accessibility, CoCoRaHS observations are used by a wide variety of organizations and individuals. The U.S. National Weather Service, hydrologists, emergency managers, city utilities (water supply, storm water), insurance adjusters, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, engineers, mosquito control commissions, ranchers and farmers, outdoor and recreation interests, teachers and students are just some examples of those who use CoCoRaHS data in making well-informed, meaningful decisions. Some examples of community applications and the science utility of CoCoRaHS observations include storm warnings, water supply and demand forecasts, disaster declarations (drought, winter storm, etc.), drought and food production assessments, calibration/validation of remote sensing, infrastructure evaluation and potential redesign (ice and snow loading, bridge, storm and sewer design), recreation planning, and

  14. Rifkin and NIH win in court ruling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, M

    1985-03-15

    On 27 February 1985 Judge J. Skelly Wright of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that experiments involving the release of genetically altered organisms into the environment can proceed, provided that their potential ecological effects have been properly evaluated. The ruling has been hailed as a victory by both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Jeremy Rifkin. Rifkin brought suit against NIH in 1983, charging that the agency had failed to evaluate adequately the environmental impact of some deliberate release experiments. Sun discusses the implications of the judge's ruling. She also describes a move by private companies to submit their recombinant DNA experiment proposals to the Environmental Protection Agency rather than to NIH, which has regulatory authority only over academic researchers.

  15. Legal, imagined, and real worlds: reflections on National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mashaw, Jerry L

    2013-04-01

    Chief Justice John Roberts's opinion upholding the individual mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been hailed as an act of judicial statesmanship that saved the Supreme Court from serious criticism as a partisan, political institution. This article argues that any such praise should be tempered by an understanding of just how far outside mainstream legal understandings the chief justice's opinion strayed when considering constitutional issues that were unnecessary to the decision of the case and, in one instance, not ripe for judicial review. Except in its narrow result upholding the mandate, the chief justice's opinion is heedless of long-standing precedent, aggressive in creating novel grounds for judicial second-guessing of legislative judgments, cavalier with factual assertions, and disrespectful of the position of other governmental institutions.

  16. Keynote address

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McClellan, S.

    1991-01-01

    Activities in Alberta relating to research on the impact of climate change on the Great Plains are reviewed. Alberta has been active in trying to understand climate, and trying to change it. These activities have included the provision of significant irrigation capabilities in southern Alberta, and many years of research into the possibility of weather modification for precipitation enhancement and hail suppression. Organizations in Alberta active in the area of climate include the Alberta Climatological Association, the Climate Advisory Committee, the Alberta Research Council, the provincial departments Alberta Environment and Alberta Forestry, Lands and Wildlife, and the Department of Agriculture. It is widely recognized that crop production on the Great Plains is dependent on water, and climate is one of the greatest sources of risk facing agriculture in Alberta

  17. An epidemiological study of cannabis abuse among college students of Varanasi.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reddy, D C; Singh, S P; Tiwari, I C; Shukla, K P; Srivastava, M K

    1993-01-01

    A study of 4326 students, selected by stratified random sampling and using a self administered questionnaire, revealed that overall cannabis abuse among them was 4.5%. It amounted to a considerable decline in prevalence compared to 10.2% observed in 1976. However, it was noted that this reduction was mainly in occasional users and the proportion of regular users has actually increased in 1986. The prevalence has also shown an increase among girl students. The regular users were mainly from professional colleges, hailing from metropolitan cities and with relatively higher amount of pocket money at their disposal. It was concluded that the observed trends could be due to peer pressures. It was also considered that health education of such students at entry point may help reduce the problem.

  18. Biomass power in transition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marshall, D.K. [Zurn/NEPCO, Redmond, WA (United States)

    1996-12-31

    Electricity production from biomass fuel has been hailed in recent years as an environmentally acceptable energy source that delivers on its promise of economically viable renewable energy. A Wall Street Journal article from three years ago proclaimed wood to be {open_quotes}moving ahead of costly solar panels and wind turbines as the leading renewable energy alternative to air-fouling fossils fuels and scary nuclear plants.{close_quotes} Biomass fuel largely means wood; about 90% of biomass generated electricity comes from burning waste wood, the remainder from agricultural wastes. Biomass power now faces an uncertain future. The maturing of the cogeneration and independent power plant market, restructuring of the electric industry, and technological advances with power equipment firing other fuels have placed biomass power in a competitive disadvantage with other power sources.

  19. From David Walker to President Obama: Tropes of the Founding Fathers in African American Discourses of Democracy, or The Legacy of Ishmael

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth J. West

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available More than a century after the Emancipation Proclamation, in a society that still others blackness, we continue to hold to the mythical humanizing power of literacy. In our own time this has been poignantly evinced in the public reception of the current President of the United States, Barack Obama. He has been internationally hailed for his written and oral eloquence, and many Americans expected that Obama’s evident intellectual prowess would reverse prevailing stereotypes of black inferiority. Obama’s rhetorical success is rooted in the longstanding literary practice of invoking the mythical founding fathers to validate text and subject. In this regard, David Walker’s Appeal (1829 represents the emergence of a long tradition of black voices invoking America’s most sacred patriarchs and their rhetoric of Americanness.

  20. ‘I ♥ Skagens Museum’: Patterns of Interaction in the Institutional Facebook Communication of Museums

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Laursen, Ditte; Mortensen, Christian Hviid; Olesen, Anne Rørbæk

    2017-01-01

    Facebook has often been hailed for affording participation and thus for representing an opportunity for institutions to interact with the public. However, research concerning how institutions are actualizing this communicative opportunity is still scarce. In this article, we seek to address...... this gap by investigating empirically how one type of institution, namely museums, and their Facebook followers, actually communicate. Our approach is innovative in combining analytical tools from speech act theory and Conversation Analysis (CA) to a corpus of activities from the Facebook pages of nine...... Danish museums of different types and sizes collected during eight consecutive weeks in 2013. This approach enables us to both investigate communicative actions as isolated speech acts and the micromechanics of the interaction that potentially arise from these actions. Our findings indicate that certain...

  1. Bruxism Associated with Anoxic Encephalopathy: Successful Treatment with Baclofen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Bruce Janati

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction. Bruxism is a movement disorder characterized by grinding and clenching of the teeth. Etiology of bruxism can be divided into three groups: psychosocial factors, peripheral factors, and pathophysiological factors. Methods. The clinical investigation was conducted at King Khaled Hospital in Hail, Saudi Arabia, in 2012. Results. A 16-year-old Saudi female was brought to the hospital in a comatose state and with generalized convulsive seizures secondary to acute anoxic encephalopathy. In the third week of hospitalization, while still in a state of akinetic mutism, she developed incessant bruxism which responded favorably to a GABA receptor agonist (baclofen. Conclusion. Our data support the hypothesis that bruxism emanates from imbalance or dysregulation of the neurotransmitter system. Larger scale studies will be needed to confirm this hypothesis.

  2. Implementing structure and control over unofficial inventories in a multispecialty group practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gall, M

    1994-02-01

    Materiel managers have been in control of most aspects of the supply chain except for the inventories of the end users, which account for 70 percent of the inventory supply dollars. When the Materials Manager at Lexington Clinic in Lexington, Kentucky, was approached by the Clinic's Chief Executive Officer to implement cost containment measures, the Materials Manager seized the opportunity to implement a six-step program aimed at controlling those supply dollars. Through requisition training, enforcing approval levels, limiting the number of requisitioners, and establishing par levels on floor inventories, the clinic's "unofficial" inventory supply dollars were reduced by 7 percent in the first 12 departments where the par levels were established. The program was hailed as a tremendous success and a positive experience for everyone, from nurses to warehouse clerks.

  3. The implications of the Supreme Court's California nuclear moratorium decision

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, O.F.; Davis, E.M.

    1983-01-01

    A decision of 20 April 1983 of the US Supreme Court, upholding a moratorium imposed by the State of California against new construction of nuclear plants until certain conditions are met, is being hailed by critics of nuclear power as a defeat for the nuclear and electric utility industries. The authors in their commentary of the decision disagree with this interpretation and believe that its impact is limited in scope and there are some positive aspects with respect to the decision. They furthermore consider that the recently enacted Nuclear Waste Policy Act at the federal level would seem to satisfy state requirements for the availability of nuclear waste disposal and that the future of nuclear power will depend more on its relative economics than on this court decision. (NEA) [fr

  4. Putting Citizen-Collected Observations to Work -- The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doesken, N.

    2015-12-01

    When CoCoRaHS was born (1998), climate-relevant information was far from our minds. We were simply enlisting volunteers to help capture, display and communicate the nature of small scale variability within northern Colorado storms. Climate change was talked about then, but not with the sense of concern and urgency as today. Now, many years later, the simple back-yard precipitation measurements being taken by thousands of volunteers across much of North America are creating valuable and easily-accessible data and information serving many and varied purposes from federal and state climate monitoring to drought and extreme storm analysis and research. Many volunteers have been with the project now for a decade or longer and have contributed literally thousands of individual observations and reports. Long-time participants along with recent recruits of all ages are seeing first-hand how day by day observations of weather conditions combine - over time and space -- to define and describe key elements of our climate and its variations. The fact that the data from volunteers are frequently used and applied by scientists and decision makers is one of the key factors in retaining long-term volunteers. Examples will be presented of volunteer precipitation data being used both independently and in combination with data from federal monitoring systems. Challenges of maintaining a large volunteer network will be discussed along with some plans and opportunities for the future.

  5. Detection of hail through the three-body scattering signatures and its effects on radar algorithms observed in Romania

    OpenAIRE

    CARBUNARU, DANIEL VICTOR; SASU, MONICA; BURCEA, SORIN; BELL, AURORA

    2014-01-01

    The Romanian National Meteorological Administration (NMA) radar network consists of five S-band and four C-band radars. Observation of convection in Romania through the Doppler radar network offered a new perspective in understanding the climatologic risk of certain regions and mesoscale environments. Highly organized convective systems, such as supercells, are better observed and their subsequent threat can be better anticipated during the nowcasting process using Doppler velocity fields and...

  6. 76 FR 60474 - Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Haile Gold Mine in...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-29

    ..., economics, aesthetics, general environmental concerns, historic properties, fish and wildlife values, flood... necessarily be limited to, Section 401 of Clean Water Act; Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) consultation...

  7. Compliance with infection control standard precautions guidelines: a survey among dental healthcare workers in Hail Region, Saudi Arabia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haridi, Hassan Kasim; Al-Ammar, Abdalmohsen Saud; Al-Mansour, Moazzy Ibraheim

    2016-11-01

    The concept of standard precautions (SP) has been a cornerstone of dental infection control (IC) practice. Full adherence with SP guidelines is still a matter of concern in many institutions. The objectives of the present study were to assess and characterise compliance with SP guidelines among dental healthcare workers (DHCWs) and to analyse factors that affect compliance. A regional cross-sectional questionnaire survey among DHCWs in all health facilities was carried out from August to November 2014. A total of 307 returned valid self-report questionnaires with a response rate of 73.1%. Most participants (86.3%) were aware of the SP guidelines, 84.4% received IC training and 88.9% received hepatitis B vaccination. Compliance with SP was found to be high; the majority (90.1%) attained 75% on the compliance scale. In the multivariate logistic regression model, perceived higher institutional commitment as regard IC requirements (odds ratio [OR], 4.34; P guidelines. Institutional factors appear to have an important role. Attention should be paid to dental assistants and private DHCWs.

  8. Implementation and adaptation of a macro-scale methodology to calculate direct economic losses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Natho, Stephanie; Thieken, Annegret

    2017-04-01

    As one of the 195 member countries of the United Nations, Germany signed the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR). With this, though voluntary and non-binding, Germany agreed to report on achievements to reduce disaster impacts. Among other targets, the SFDRR aims at reducing direct economic losses in relation to the global gross domestic product by 2030 - but how to measure this without a standardized approach? The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) has hence proposed a methodology to estimate direct economic losses per event and country on the basis of the number of damaged or destroyed items in different sectors. The method bases on experiences from developing countries. However, its applicability in industrial countries has not been investigated so far. Therefore, this study presents the first implementation of this approach in Germany to test its applicability for the costliest natural hazards and suggests adaptations. The approach proposed by UNISDR considers assets in the sectors agriculture, industry, commerce, housing, and infrastructure by considering roads, medical and educational facilities. The asset values are estimated on the basis of sector and event specific number of affected items, sector specific mean sizes per item, their standardized construction costs per square meter and a loss ratio of 25%. The methodology was tested for the three costliest natural hazard types in Germany, i.e. floods, storms and hail storms, considering 13 case studies on the federal or state scale between 1984 and 2016. Not any complete calculation of all sectors necessary to describe the total direct economic loss was possible due to incomplete documentation. Therefore, the method was tested sector-wise. Three new modules were developed to better adapt this methodology to German conditions covering private transport (cars), forestry and paved roads. Unpaved roads in contrast were integrated into the agricultural and

  9. Study of Maca (Lepidium meyenii Walp., Andean crop with therapeutic properties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriel Sifuentes-Penagos

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The maca is a native product of the Central Andes of Peru, it is resistant to hail, to frost and to prolonged droughts. It is cultivated from the Inca period in altitudes between 3800 - 4500 meters above sea level. This herbaceous plant, has not only a high nutritional value, but it is also valued for its medicinal role. Among the chemical components of this andean crop that have been related with therapeutic actions the increasing fertility and the energy levels, the antioxidant actions, the improving sexual desire and the growth rate. There are glucosinolates, sterols, fatty acids (macaene and their corresponding amides (macamides, alkaloids (lepidilines A and B, macaridine and polyphenols. This article presents a compilation of the researches that has been performed on the therapeutic properties of maca and its compounds responsible of them.

  10. The open society and its enemies

    CERN Document Server

    Popper, Karl Raimund

    2003-01-01

    Written in political exile during the Second World War and first published in 1945, Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies is one of the most influential books of the twentieth century. Hailed by Bertrand Russell as a 'vigorous and profound defence of democracy', its now legendary attack on the philosophies of Plato, Hegel and Marx exposed the dangers inherent in centrally planned political systems. Popper's highly accessible style, his erudite and lucid explanations of the thought of great philosophers and the recent resurgence of totalitarian regimes around the world are just three of the reasons for the enduring popularity of The Open Society and Its Enemies, and for why it demands to be read both today and in years to come. This is the second of two volumes of The Open Society and Its Enemies.

  11. Collective Agreements for the Clearance of Copyrights – The Case of Collective Management and Extended Collective Licenses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schovsbo, Jens Hemmingsen; Riis, Thomas; Rognstad, Ole-Andreas

    2016-01-01

    This contribution analyses and discusses the use of collective management organizations (CMOs) in copyright. More concretely, it examines the use and effects of extended collective licenses (ECL). This model of rights management has been developed in the Nordic countries and has for some time been...... hailed as a promising tool to solve some of copyright’s problems relating to mass uses of works. It is pointed out how ECL builds on users generated rights managements structures (CMOs) but owes its specific effectiveness to a legislator’s willingness to provide a third-party effect of the collective...... agreements entered into by representative CMOs. In the final part some of the challenges to ECLs arising from internationalisation and individualisation are identified and discussed. The article is part of a research project on “User Generated Law” and uses the methodologies developed as part of this....

  12. Barzani and Erdogan Meet in Diyarbakir

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Necef, Mehmet Ümit

    2014-01-01

    On 16th November 2013, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a mass meeting in Diyarbakir, the biggest city in Turkish Kurdistan, with the President of the Kurdistan Regional Government Masoud Barzani. While many political analysts hailed the meeting as historical, the opposition...... and a number of commentators attacked Erdogan for abandoning Turkey’s traditional policies towards Kurds in general, and the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq in particular. Especially the fact that Erdogan addressed Barzani with his official title: "The President of the Kurdistan Regional Government......", and his reference to the Kurdish populated area in Northern Iraq as "Kurdistan" was seen as a radical break from traditional state policy towards the Kurds. The present news analysis argues that the "Diyarbakir Meeting" was indeed a break with traditional Turkish state policies towards the Kurds...

  13. 2nd International Conference on Mathematics and Computing

    CERN Document Server

    Chowdhury, Dipanwita; Giri, Debasis

    2015-01-01

    This book discusses recent developments and contemporary research in mathematics, statistics and their applications in computing. All contributing authors are eminent academicians, scientists, researchers and scholars in their respective fields, hailing from around the world. This is the second conference on mathematics and computing organized at Haldia Institute of Technology, India. The conference has emerged as a powerful forum, offering researchers a venue to discuss, interact and collaborate, and stimulating the advancement of mathematics and its applications in computer science. The book will allow aspiring researchers to update their knowledge of cryptography, algebra, frame theory, optimizations, stochastic processes, compressive sensing, functional analysis, complex variables, etc. Educating future consumers, users, producers, developers and researchers in mathematics and computing is a challenging task and essential to the development of modern society. Hence, mathematics and its applications in com...

  14. Modeling and Structural Optimization of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Panagakos, Grigorios

    energy basket of solutions. In this project, consulting role was also undertaken by researchers at National Center for Sustainable Energy, Risø and more specifically by Dr. Martin Søgaard, Dr. Henrik Frandsen and Dr. Peter Vang Hendriksen (team leader). The other approach is based on attacking......, such as the tortuosity and the porosity of the material, for preselected micro-structures. Furthermore, we apply optimization techniques to lead this ASR to minimization. This work has been the fruit of collaboration with Professor Sossina Haile at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and with assistant...... Professor Francesco Ciucci at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). As a complementary in this modeling work, we have also developed other activities, leading to either already accepted, submitted or soon to be submitted publications. These additional to the main focus directions, have...

  15. Assessing the specificity of posttraumatic stress disorder's dysphoric items within the dysphoria model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armour, Cherie; Shevlin, Mark

    2013-10-01

    The factor structure of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) currently used by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), has received limited support. A four-factor dysphoria model is widely supported. However, the dysphoria factor of this model has been hailed as a nonspecific factor of PTSD. The present study investigated the specificity of the dysphoria factor within the dysphoria model by conducting a confirmatory factor analysis while statistically controlling for the variance attributable to depression. The sample consisted of 429 individuals who met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD in the National Comorbidity Survey. The results concluded that there was no significant attenuation in any of the PTSD items. This finding is pertinent given several proposals for the removal of dysphoric items from the diagnostic criteria set of PTSD in the upcoming DSM-5.

  16. Bibliometrics and research evaluation uses and abuses

    CERN Document Server

    Gingras, Yves

    2016-01-01

    The research evaluation market is booming. "Ranking," "metrics," "h-index," and "impact factors" are reigning buzzwords. Government and research administrators want to evaluate everything -- teachers, professors, training programs, universities -- using quantitative indicators. Among the tools used to measure "research excellence," bibliometrics -- aggregate data on publications and citations -- has become dominant. Bibliometrics is hailed as an "objective" measure of research quality, a quantitative measure more useful than "subjective" and intuitive evaluation methods such as peer review that have been used since scientific papers were first published in the seventeenth century. In this book, Yves Gingras offers a spirited argument against an unquestioning reliance on bibliometrics as an indicator of research quality. Gingras shows that bibliometric rankings have no real scientific validity, rarely measuring what they pretend to. Although the study of publication and citation patterns, at the proper scales...

  17. The real value of nuclear-weapon-free zones

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carasales, J.

    1998-01-01

    The international community has greeted the establishment of two new nuclear weapon-free zones with praise. Africa and South Asia are the regions which will join, once the respective treaties are ratified and in force, Latin America and the South Pacific to ensure that extensive areas of the earth remain free of nuclear weapons. The usual reaction to these accomplishments is to hail them as important contributions to international peace and security, and as meaningful steps towards a world free of nuclear weapons. The nuclear weapon-free zones have their value but this value relates mainly to the countries within the zone. The interest of nuclear-weapon states are not really affected, or, if they are, the influence is not significant. One should bear in mind that the really important and meaningful nuclear weapon-free zones have yet to be achieved

  18. Environment Copenhagen: some hope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mulot, R.

    2010-01-01

    The Copenhagen summit has been often hailed as a complete failure but we can find 5 reasons for hope. First, climatologists are now taken seriously. Secondly, some financing has been announced: 30*10 9 dollars will be donated to developing countries to adapt themselves to climate change in the 2010-2012 period. Thirdly, the American power act is in preparation, this law aims to reduce greenhouse gas emission in the US by 20% by 2020. Fourthly, Europe has appeared as a leader in the fight against climate change in terms of emission reductions, carbon taxes or carbon allowance market. Fifthly, China has acknowledged for the first time a co-responsibility in the climate warming and has launched a green revolution whose main aim is 15% of renewable energies in the Chinese energy mix by 2020. (A.C.)

  19. The Fall of the Tektōn and The Rise of the Architect: On The Greek Origins of Architectural Craftsmanship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonas Holst

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The origins of architectural craftsmanship in ancient Greece are to be found in the archaic arts of tectonics. The first Greek architects, appearing under that name around the 6th century BC, rose out of and based their work on this age-old tectonic tradition, which semantically underwent a transformation during the time from Homer to Plato, the latter relegating the tektones to a lower rank in the order of craftsmanship. Through a detailed reading of the ancient Greek testimonies of the tectonic tradition, the paper demonstrates that in the Homeric tradition the tektones were hailed as versatile, first-rate craftsmen who created wonders out of matter, but in classical times they fell from their high status of old. In Plato’s writings tectonics ends up at the lower end of the epistemological and ontological scale.

  20. Dam! Dam! Dam!

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCully, P.

    1997-01-01

    The author of ''Silenced Rivers'' a book questioning the desirability of dam building and hydroelectric power generation argues the main themes of his book in this paper. Despite being hailed by politicians as good solutions to power generation problems, and enthusiastically pursued in China, the U.S.A., the former Soviet Union, India and Japan, dams have far-reaching ecological and human consequences. The ecosystems lost to flooding, and the agricultural land use lost, the human cost in terms of homes and employment lost to reservoirs, disease from water-borne infections such as malaria, and the hazards of dams overflowing or breaking are all factors which are against the case for dam construction. The author argues the hydroelectric power may be renewable, but the social, agricultural and ecological costs are too high to justify it as a method of first choice. (UK)

  1. Technology and Sport

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Møller, Rasmus Bysted; Møller, Verner

    2015-01-01

    The relationship between sport and technology is close and can be both fruitful and destructive. Technology has a constitutive function in sport as it makes the activity possible and it can enhance performance as well as the sporting experience. The use of football boots is clearly more comfortable...... and effective than playing in bare feet in a game of football. However, sport challenges its athletes by demanding the employment of less efficient means rather than more efficient means in pursuit of sport specific goals. Therefore technology can potentially subtract from the sporting experience and even...... threaten the internal logic of sport. If as an example very efficient hail cartridges were allowed for use in double trap shooting it would reduce the skills required to excel at that discipline reducing its value for participants and spectators alike. The use of forbidden performance enhancing substances...

  2. International Conference on Mathematics and Computing

    CERN Document Server

    Giri, Debasis; Saxena, P; Srivastava, P

    2014-01-01

    This book discusses recent developments and contemporary research in mathematics, statistics and their applications in computing. All contributing authors are eminent academicians, scientists, researchers and scholars in their respective fields, hailing from around the world. The conference has emerged as a powerful forum, offering researchers a venue to discuss, interact and collaborate, and stimulating the advancement of mathematics and its applications in computer science. The book will allow aspiring researchers to update their knowledge of cryptography, algebra, frame theory, optimizations, stochastic processes, compressive sensing, functional analysis, complex variables, etc. Educating future consumers, users, producers, developers and researchers in mathematics and computing is a challenging task and essential to the development of modern society. Hence, mathematics and its applications in computer science are of vital importance to a broad range of communities, including mathematicians and computing p...

  3. FACILITIES OF MEASURING OF WIND FOR RESEARCHES AND PLANNING OF THE AIR FIELDS AND HELIPORTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    А. Бєлятинський

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The choice of the place for the future airdrome (heliport construction must satisfy the financial appropriatenessand also exploitation security. For this purpose on the stage of the researches and designing the information is neededabout wind speed and its direction with an error 0,5 m/s and 10 hail accordingly, in a radius up to 15 km, as to heightfrom 2 to 1000 m with resolution 30 m, a spatial interval of measuring in a horizontal plane is not more than 20 km,in time - not rarer, than each 3 hours. Information is needed to be gained for maximal temporal period (it is desirableno less than five years. A device for the receipt of such information must be of low cost. The acoustic andradioacoustic sounding systems answer the indicated requirements most of all

  4. International Conference on Recent Trends in Mathematical Analysis and its Applications 2014

    CERN Document Server

    Mohapatra, R; Singh, Uaday; Srivastava, H

    2015-01-01

    This book discusses recent developments in and the latest research on mathematics, statistics and their applications. All contributing authors are eminent academics, scientists, researchers and scholars in their respective fields, hailing from around the world. The book presents roughly 60 unpublished, high-quality and peer-reviewed research papers that cover a broad range of areas including approximation theory, harmonic analysis, operator theory, fixed-point theory, functional differential equations, dynamical and control systems, complex analysis, special functions, function spaces, summability theory, Fourier and wavelet analysis, and numerical analysis – all of which are topics of great interest to the research community – while further papers highlight important applications of mathematical analysis in science, engineering and related areas. This conference aims at bringing together experts and young researchers in mathematics from all over the world to discuss the latest advances in mathematical an...

  5. Black Edens, country Eves: Listening, performance, and black queer longing in country music.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Royster, Francesca T

    2017-07-03

    This article explores Black queer country music listening, performance, and fandom as a source of pleasure, nostalgia, and longing for Black listeners. Country music can be a space for alliance and community, as well as a way of accessing sometimes repressed cultural and personal histories of violence: lynching and other forms of racial terror, gender surveillance and disciplining, and continued racial and economic segregation. For many Black country music listeners and performers, the experience of being a closeted fan also fosters an experience of ideological hailing, as well as queer world-making. Royster suggests that through Black queer country music fandom and performance, fans construct risky and soulful identities. The article uses Tina Turner's solo album, Tina Turns the Country On! (1974) as an example of country music's power as a tool for resistance to racial, sexual, and class disciplining.

  6. A Synoptic Climatology of Combined Severe/Weather/Flash Flood Events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pallozzi, Kyle J.

    Classical forms of severe weather such as tornadoes, damaging convective wind gusts, and large hail, as well as flash flooding events, all have potentially large societal impacts. This impact is further magnified when these hazards occur simultaneously in time and space. A major challenge for operational forecasters is how to accurately predict the occurrence of combined storm hazards, and how to communicate the associated multiple threat hazards to the public. A seven-year climatology (2009-2015) of combined severe weather/flash flooding (SVR/FF) events across the contiguous United States was developed in attempt to study the combined SVR/FF event hazards further. A total of 211 total cases were identified and sub-divided into seven subcategories based on their convective morphology and meteorological characteristics. Heatmaps of event report frequency were created to extract spatial, seasonal and interannual patterns in SVR/FF event activity. Diurnal trends were examined from time series plots of tornado, hail, wind and flash flood/flood reports. Event-centered composites of environmental variables were created for each subcategory from 13 km RUC/RAP analyses. Representative cases studies were conducted for each subcategory. A "ring of fire" with the highest levels of SVR/FF event activity was noted across the central United States. SVR/FF events were least common in the Southeast, High Plains, and Northern Plains. Enhanced SVR/FF activity reflected contributions from synoptic events during the cool and shoulder seasons over the Lower Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee Valleys, and MCS activity during the warm season over the lower Great Plains, and the Upper Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio River Valleys. Results from the composite analyses indicated that relatively high values of CAPE, surface-500 hPa shear and precipitable water were observed for all subcategories. Case studies show that many high-end SVR/FF events featured slow-moving, or quasi

  7. On the robustness of aerosol effects on an idealized supercell storm simulated with a cloud system-resolving model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Morrison

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available A cloud system-resolving model (the Weather Research and Forecasting model with 1 km horizontal grid spacing is used to investigate the response of an idealized supercell storm to increased cloud droplet concentrations associated with polluted conditions. The primary focus is on exploring robustness of simulated aerosol effects in the face of complex process interactions and feedbacks between the cloud microphysics and dynamics. Simulations are run using sixteen different model configurations with various microphysical or thermodynamic processes modified or turned off. Robustness of the storm response to polluted conditions is also explored for each configuration by performing additional simulations with small perturbations to the initial conditions. Differences in the domain-mean accumulated surface precipitation and convective mass flux between polluted and pristine conditions are small for almost all model configurations, with relative differences in each quantity generally less than 15%. Configurations that produce a decrease (increase in cold pool strength in polluted conditions also tend to simulate a decrease (increase in surface precipitation and convective mass flux. Combined with an analysis of the dynamical and thermodynamic fields, these results indicate the importance of interactions between microphysics, cold pool evolution, and dynamics along outflow boundaries in explaining the system response. Several model configurations, including the baseline, produce an overall similar storm response (weakening in polluted conditions despite having different microphysical or thermodynamic processes turned off. With hail initiation turned off or the hail fallspeed-size relation set to that of snow, the model produces an invigoration instead of weakening of the storm in polluted conditions. These results highlight the difficulty of foreseeing impacts of changes to model parameterizations and isolating process interactions that drive the system

  8. Global challenges of implementing human papillomavirus vaccines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mishra Amrita

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Human Papillomavirus vaccines are widely hailed as a sweeping pharmaceutical innovation for the universal benefit of all women. The implementation of the vaccines, however, is far from universal or equitable. Socio-economically marginalized women in emerging and developing, and many advanced economies alike, suffer a disproportionately large burden of cervical cancer. Despite the marketing of Human Papillomavirus vaccines as the solution to cervical cancer, the market authorization (licensing of the vaccines has not translated into universal equitable access. Vaccine implementation for vulnerable girls and women faces multiple barriers that include high vaccine costs, inadequate delivery infrastructure, and lack of community engagement to generate awareness about cervical cancer and early screening tools. For Human Papillomavirus vaccines to work as a public health solution, the quality-assured delivery of cheaper vaccines must be integrated with strengthened capacity for community-based health education and screening.

  9. Politique sociale et religion aux Etats-Unis : du « conservatisme compatissant » à l’ouragan Katrina Social Policy and Religion in the United States: From Compassionate Conservatism to Hurricane Katrina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taoufik Djebali

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Breaking with the traditional conservatism championed by Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush wanted his social policy to move away from monetary considerations to embrace a religious and spiritual method in healing social ills. The Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, located in the White House, was inaugurated a few days after Bush was sworn in. However, the Office was immediately plagued by internal strife, lack of funding and absence of political commitment. Hurricane Katrina (2005 dealt a serious political blow to the Republican President. But paradoxically, it reinforced the ideological hegemony of faith-based organizations. Indeed, following the relief efforts, faith-based organizations, rather than government, were hailed as effective instruments in the fight against poverty, distress, and deviance. This article will argue that contrary to this perception, faith-based organizations have a limited effect on poverty and that the Bush administration exploited them for political purposes.

  10. p-Medicine: From data sharing and integration via VPH models to personalized medicine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossi, S; Christ-Neumann, ML; Rüping, S; Buffa, FM; Wegener, D; McVie, G; Coveney, PV; Graf, N; Delorenzi, M

    2011-01-01

    The Worldwide innovative Networking in personalized cancer medicine (WIN) initiated by the Institute Gustave Roussy (France) and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA) has dedicated its 3rd symposium (Paris, 6–8 July 2011) to discussion on gateways to increase the efficacy of cancer diagnostics and therapeutics (http://www.winconsortium.org/symposium.html). Speakers ranged from clinical oncologist to researchers, industrial partners, and tools developers; a famous patient was present: Janelle Hail, a 30-year breast cancer survivor, founder and CEO of the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. (NBCF). The p-medicine consortium found this venue a perfect occasion to present a poster about its activities that are in accordance with the take home message of the symposium. In this communication, we summarize what we presented with particular attention to the interaction between the symposium’s topic and content and our project. PMID:22276060

  11. The Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS): Reliability, validity, and gender invariance in an Indian adolescent sample.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hashim, Jayana; Areepattamannil, Shaljan

    2017-06-01

    This study examined the internal consistency reliability, factorial, convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity, as well as gender invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS; Seligson, Huebner, & Valois, 2003) in a sample of 445 adolescents (M age  = 16.04 years) hailing from the southernmost state of India, Kerala. The study also examined the test-retest reliability (n = 392) of the BMSLSS. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient suggested that the BMSLSS was reliable. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated the factorial validity of the BMSLSS. Bivariate correlational analyses provided support for the convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of the BMSLSS. The test-retest reliability coefficient indicated the temporal stability of the BMSLSS. Finally, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the gender invariance of the BMSLSS. Copyright © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Protection of nuclear facilities against outer aggressions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aussourd, P.; Candes, P.; Le Quinio, R.

    1976-01-01

    The various types of outer aggressions envisaged in safety analysis for nuclear facilities are reviewed. These outer aggressions are classified as natural and non-natural phenomena, the latter depending on the human activities in the vicinity of nuclear sites. The principal natural phenomena able to constitute aggressions are atmospheric phenomena (strong winds, snow storms, hail, frosting mists), hydrologie phenomena such as tides, surges, flood, low waters, and geologic phenomena such as earthquakes. Artificial phenomena are concerned with aircraft crashes, projectiles, fire, possible ruptures of dams, and intentional human aggressions. The protection against intentional human aggressions is of two sorts: first, the possibility of access to the installations mostly sensitive to sabotage are to be prevented or reduced, secondly redundant circuits and functions must be separated for preventing their simultaneous destruction in the case when sabotage actors have reach the core of the facility [fr

  13. Chemical and sensory quality of processed carrot puree as influenced by stress-induced phenolic compounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Talcott, S T; Howard, L R

    1999-04-01

    Physicochemical analysis of processed strained product was performed on 10 carrot genotypes grown in Texas (TX) and Georgia (GA). Carrots from GA experienced hail damage during growth, resulting in damage to their tops. Measurements included pH, moisture, soluble phenolics, total carotenoids, sugars, organic acids, and isocoumarin (6-MM). Sensory analysis was conducted using a trained panel to evaluate relationships between chemical and sensory attributes of the genotypes and in carrots spiked with increasing levels of 6-MM. Preharvest stress conditions in GA carrots seemed to elicit a phytoalexic response, producing compounds that impacted the perception of bitter and sour flavors. Spiking 6-MM into strained carrots demonstrated the role bitter compounds have in lowering sweetness scores while increasing the perception of sour flavor. Screening fresh carrots for the phytoalexin 6-MM has the potential to significantly improve the sensory quality of processed products.

  14. The Short Life of the Bank of Ethiopia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arnaldo Mauri

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The Bank of Abyssinia, established in 1905, was given a 50-years concession by theEmperor Menelek II. This institution was engaged in issuing notes as well as in any kind ofcommercial banking business. Haile Sellassie, after acceding to the throne in 1930, could not acceptthat the country’s issuing bank was a foreign-owned share company and decided for nationalization.The change was implemented, however, in a soft way, providing an adequate compensation toshareholders, and in agreement with the main foreign shareholder, the National Bank of Egypt. TheBank of Abyssinia went, therefore, into liquidation and a new institution, the Bank of Ethiopia, wasestablished in 1931. The new bank, although under full Government control, retained management,staff, premises and clients of the ceased financial institution. Italian occupation of the country, in1936, brought the liquidation of the Bank of Ethiopia.

  15. Use of remote sensing techniques for inventorying and planning utilization of land resources in South Dakota

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, V. I.; Frazee, C. J.; Rusche, A. E.; Moore, D. G.; Nelson, G. D.; Westin, F. C.

    1974-01-01

    The basic procedures for interpreting remote sensing imagery to rapidly develop general soils and land use inventories were developed and utilized in Pennington County, South Dakota. These procedures and remote sensing data products were illustrated and explained to many user groups, some of whom are interested in obtaining similar data. The general soils data were integrated with land soils data supplied by the county director of equalization to prepare a land value map. A computer print-out of this map indicating a land value for each quarter section is being used in tax reappraisal of Pennington County. The land use data provided the land use planners with the present use of land in Pennington County. Additional uses of remote sensing applications are also discussed including tornado damage assessment, hail damage evaluation, and presentation of soil and land value information on base maps assembled from ERTS-1 imagery.

  16. Modelling with the master equation solution methods and applications in social and natural sciences

    CERN Document Server

    Haag, Günter

    2017-01-01

    This book presents the theory and practical applications of the Master equation approach, which provides a powerful general framework for model building in a variety of disciplines. The aim of the book is to not only highlight different mathematical solution methods, but also reveal their potential by means of practical examples. Part I of the book, which can be used as a toolbox, introduces selected statistical fundamentals and solution methods for the Master equation. In Part II and Part III, the Master equation approach is applied to important applications in the natural and social sciences. The case studies presented mainly hail from the social sciences, including urban and regional dynamics, population dynamics, dynamic decision theory, opinion formation and traffic dynamics; however, some applications from physics and chemistry are treated as well, underlining the interdisciplinary modelling potential of the Master equation approach. Drawing upon the author’s extensive teaching and research experience...

  17. p-Medicine: From data sharing and integration via VPH models to personalized medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossi, S; Christ-Neumann, Ml; Rüping, S; Buffa, Fm; Wegener, D; McVie, G; Coveney, Pv; Graf, N; Delorenzi, M

    2011-01-01

    The Worldwide innovative Networking in personalized cancer medicine (WIN) initiated by the Institute Gustave Roussy (France) and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA) has dedicated its 3rd symposium (Paris, 6-8 July 2011) to discussion on gateways to increase the efficacy of cancer diagnostics and therapeutics (http://www.winconsortium.org/symposium.html).Speakers ranged from clinical oncologist to researchers, industrial partners, and tools developers; a famous patient was present: Janelle Hail, a 30-year breast cancer survivor, founder and CEO of the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. (NBCF).The p-medicine consortium found this venue a perfect occasion to present a poster about its activities that are in accordance with the take home message of the symposium.In this communication, we summarize what we presented with particular attention to the interaction between the symposium's topic and content and our project.

  18. 3D printing in dentistry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawood, A; Marti Marti, B; Sauret-Jackson, V; Darwood, A

    2015-12-01

    3D printing has been hailed as a disruptive technology which will change manufacturing. Used in aerospace, defence, art and design, 3D printing is becoming a subject of great interest in surgery. The technology has a particular resonance with dentistry, and with advances in 3D imaging and modelling technologies such as cone beam computed tomography and intraoral scanning, and with the relatively long history of the use of CAD CAM technologies in dentistry, it will become of increasing importance. Uses of 3D printing include the production of drill guides for dental implants, the production of physical models for prosthodontics, orthodontics and surgery, the manufacture of dental, craniomaxillofacial and orthopaedic implants, and the fabrication of copings and frameworks for implant and dental restorations. This paper reviews the types of 3D printing technologies available and their various applications in dentistry and in maxillofacial surgery.

  19. [The reception of Heinz Kohut in Germany].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milch, Wolfgang

    2016-01-01

    First the discussion of Kohut's new ideas in the United States is sketched as a background. The response to these ideas was divided: on the one hand they were hailed as important innovations of psychoanalytic theory, and a circle of colleagues formed around their author; on the other hand they were violently rejected, and old friends distanced themselves from him. In Germany Kuhut's ideas were initially well received. His visits, lectures and supervisions resulted in a lively exchange and a number of friendships. When the differences between Kohutian and classical theory became evident this led increasingly to disillusionment and retreat. De-emphasizing drive and ego psychology had considerable consequences for psychoanalytic technique as well as for the analyst's Menschenbild, his relationship to the patient and his critical self-reflection. In Germany, too, a circle of colleagues emerged, following and elaborating the ideas of Kohut.

  20. Estimation of integrated public risks for nonseismic external events affecting the Savannah River Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Durant, W.S.; robinette, R.J.; Kirchner, J.R.

    1994-03-01

    In essence, this study was envisioned as the ''combination'' of existing accident dose and risk calculations from safety analyses of individual facilities. However, because of the extended time period over which the safety analyses were prepared, calculational assumptions and methodologies differed between the analyses. The scope of this study therefore included the standardization of assumptions and calculations as necessary to insure that the analytical logic was consistent for all the facilities. Each of the nonseismic external events considered in the analyses are addressed in individual sections in this report. In Section 2, extreme straight-line winds are examined. Section 3 addresses tornadoes, and Section 4 addresses other external events [floods, other extreme weather events (lightning, hail, and extremes in temperature or precipitation), vehicle impact, accidents involving adjacent facilities, aircraft impact, and meteorite impact]. Section 5 provides a summary of the general conclusions of the report

  1. Decreasing trend in severe weather occurrence over China during the past 50 years

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Qinghong; Ni, Xiang; Zhang, Fuqing

    2017-04-01

    Understanding the trend of localized severe weather under the changing climate is of great significance but remains challenging which is at least partially due to the lack of persistent and homogeneous severe weather observations at climate scales while the detailed physical processes of severe weather cannot be resolved in global climate models. Based on continuous and coherent severe weather reports from over 500 manned stations, for the first time, this study shows a significant decreasing trend in severe weather occurrence across China during the past five decades. The total number of severe weather days that have either thunderstorm, hail and/or damaging wind decrease about 50% from 1961 to 2010. It is further shown that the reduction in severe weather occurrences correlates strongly with the weakening of East Asian summer monsoon which is the primary source of moisture and dynamic forcing conducive for warm-season severe weather over China.

  2. Perspectives in shape analysis

    CERN Document Server

    Bruckstein, Alfred; Maragos, Petros; Wuhrer, Stefanie

    2016-01-01

    This book presents recent advances in the field of shape analysis. Written by experts in the fields of continuous-scale shape analysis, discrete shape analysis and sparsity, and numerical computing who hail from different communities, it provides a unique view of the topic from a broad range of perspectives. Over the last decade, it has become increasingly affordable to digitize shape information at high resolution. Yet analyzing and processing this data remains challenging because of the large amount of data involved, and because modern applications such as human-computer interaction require real-time processing. Meeting these challenges requires interdisciplinary approaches that combine concepts from a variety of research areas, including numerical computing, differential geometry, deformable shape modeling, sparse data representation, and machine learning. On the algorithmic side, many shape analysis tasks are modeled using partial differential equations, which can be solved using tools from the field of n...

  3. Cooperatives for “fair globalization”? Indigenous people, cooperatives, and corporate social responsibility in the Brazilian Amazon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burke, Brian J

    2010-01-01

    Cooperatives and socially responsible corporations are being hailed as possible correctives to the socioeconomic and ecological exploitation of transnational capitalism. AmazonCoop—a cooperative linking indigenous Brazil nut harvesters and the multinational firm The Body Shop through trade and development projects—capitalized on indigenous symbolism to generate significant material benefits for both parties. At the same time, however, it made indigenous people more vulnerable and dependent, failed to promote participatory development, masked the effects of unfavorable state policies, and perpetuated discriminatory distinctions among indigenous people. Furthermore, the cooperative did not provide an organizational framework to ameliorate the vulnerabilities of indigenous identity politics or transform symbolic capital into enduring political-economic change. This case strongly supports arguments that cooperatives must be rooted in participation, democratic member control, and autonomy if they are to promote “fair globalization” or social transformation rather than institutionalize existing patterns of exploitation.

  4. Environmental requirements for flat plate photovoltaic modules for terrestrial applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffman, A. R.; Ross, R. G., Jr.

    1979-01-01

    The environmental test requirements that have been developed for flat plate modules purchased through Department of Energy funding are described. Concurrent with the selection of the initial qualification tests from space program experience - temperature cycling and humidity - surveys of existing photovoltaic systems in the field revealed that arrays were experiencing the following failure modes: interconnect breakage, delamination, and electrical termination corrosion. These coupled with application-dependent considerations led to the development of additional qualification tests, such as cyclic pressure loading, warped mounting surface, and hail. Rationale for the selection of tests, their levels and durations is described. Comparisons between field-observed degradation and test-induced degradation show a positive correlation with some of the observed field effects. Also, the tests are proving useful for detecting design, process, and workmanship deficiencies. The status of study efforts for the development of environmental requirements for field-related problems is reviewed.

  5. O conhecimento pedagógico do conteúdo na prática profissional de professores de geografia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudivan Sanches Lopes

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Current essay describes and analyzes the production and development of the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK, a category of teaching knowledge deve- loped by Lee S. Shulman in the professional practice of Geography teachers. The importance of knowledge for the development of teaching profissionality and the strengthening of the professional identity are discussed in the wake of research underscoring teaching knowledge. Essay comprises bibliographical research with a focus on this theme and data from observations in the classroom and interviews with five experienced teachers, hailing from Maringá-PR, Brazil, who are experts in school curriculum. The development of PCK by the teachers is one of the signs of special comprehension of geographic contents that quality teaching demands and, at the same time, reveals control of the profession. Current paper contri- butes towards the formation processes of the teachers and the strengthening of their professional identity.

  6. Hails from the crypt: a terror management health model investigation of the effectiveness of health-oriented versus celebrity-oriented endorsements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCabe, Simon; Vail, Kenneth E; Arndt, Jamie; Goldenberg, Jamie L

    2014-03-01

    Interfacing the terror management health model with the meaning transfer model, we offer novel hypotheses concerning the effectiveness of celebrity and medical endorsements for consumer products and health behavior decisions. Studies 1 and 2 revealed that, compared with control topic primes, death thoughts in focal attention increased the effectiveness of health-oriented (doctor) endorsers but not culture-oriented (celebrity) endorsers, whereas death thoughts outside of focal attention increased the effectiveness of culture-oriented endorsers but not health-oriented endorsers. Studies 3 and 4 then focus more specifically on the valence and specificity of culture-oriented endorsements, revealing that death thoughts outside focal attention increase the effectiveness of culture-oriented endorsers only on the behaviors specifically endorsed and only when the endorser is characterized as possessing cultural value. Discussion focuses on everyday management of existential concerns and implications for persuasive communications in the health domain.

  7. Protection of the human race against natural hazards (asteroids, comets, volcanoes, earthquakes)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Joseph V.

    1985-10-01

    Although we justifiably worry about the danger of nuclear war to civilization, and perhaps even to survival of the human race, we tend to consider natural hazards (e.g., comets, asteroids, volcanoes, earthquakes) as unavoidable acts of God. In any human lifetime, a truly catastrophic natural event is very unlikely, but ultimately one will occur. For the first time in human history we have sufficient technical skills to begin protection of Earth from some natural hazards. We could decide collectively throughout the world to reassign resources: in particular, reduction of nuclear and conventional weapons to a less dangerous level would allow concomitant increase of international programs for detection and prevention of natural hazards. Worldwide cooperation to mitigate natural hazards might help psychologically to lead us away from the divisive bickering that triggers wars. Future generations could hail us as pioneers of peace and safety rather than curse us as agents of death and destruction.

  8. CERN safety reaches out to medicine

    CERN Document Server

    2001-01-01

    What do CERN and other scientific organizations like ESA and ESO have in common with neurosurgery and airlines? At first sight, not much. But all require sound safety management. CERN's expertise in this field was recently highlighted when two CERN engineers were invited to talk at an international conference on Quality Management and Risk Control in Neurosurgery.CERN has long been recognised as a centre of excellence in physics, and its spin-offs in fields such as medicine have been widely hailed. But increasingly, the Laboratory's expertise in the management of large international collaborations is also being recognised. Contacts between CERN and organizations like ESA and ESO, as well as with industry, bear witness to this fact. One recent example comes from Airbus Industrie, which organized a meeting in 1998 with CERN to compare notes on project management, safety, and quality assurance. Safety management is a recognised speciality in the field of project management and at CERN, TIS and the safety offici...

  9. Bulimia nervosa in adolescents: prevalence and treatment challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hail L

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Lisa Hail, Daniel Le Grange Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA Abstract: Bulimia nervosa (BN is a serious psychiatric illness that typically develops during adolescence or young adulthood, rendering adolescents a target for early intervention. Despite the increasing research devoted to the treatment of youth with anorexia nervosa (AN and adults with BN, there remains a dearth of evidence for treating younger individuals with BN. To date, there have been four published randomized controlled trials comparing psychosocial treatments, leaving significant room to improve treatment outcomes. Family-based treatment is the leading treatment for youth with AN, while cognitive-behavioral therapy is the leading intervention for adults with BN. Involving caregivers in treatment shows promising results, however, additional research is needed to investigate ways in which this treatment can be adapted further to achieve higher rates of recovery. Keywords: eating disorders, youth, family-based treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy, psychodynamic therapy, psychopharmacological treatment, evidence based treatment

  10. Oil pollution in the Baltic Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kostianoy, Andrey G.; Lavrova, Olga Yu.

    2014-01-01

    This thorough review is based on observational satellite, airborne and in-situ data, scientific literature and technical reports, as well as the substantial experience of the authors, who hail from several Baltic Sea countries. They pay special attention to national practices, HELCOM and EMSA CleanSeaNet activities in oil pollution monitoring, and show different applications of the Seatrack Web model for oil spill drift prediction and the identification of illegal polluters, as well as for environmental risk assessment. Furthermore, some of the results on satellite monitoring of the Nord Stream gas pipeline construction in the Gulf of Finland are presented. This volume addresses the needs of specialists working in different fields of marine, environmental, and remote sensing sciences. It is a useful handbook on oil pollution for international and governmental agencies, as well as for policy makers who plan and manage oil and gas projects, the construction of ports and terminals, shipping, fishery, recreation, and tourist activities in the Baltic Sea.

  11. 'A good method of quitting smoking' or 'just an alternative to smoking'? Comparative evaluations of e-cigarette and traditional cigarette usage by dual users.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vandrevala, Tushna; Coyle, Adrian; Walker, Victoria; Cabrera Torres, Joshelyn; Ordoña, Izobel; Rahman, Panna

    2017-01-01

    The development of e-cigarettes was initially hailed as a resource in facilitating a reduction in or cessation of cigarette smoking. Many users of e-cigarettes are 'dual users', smoking traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes. The present qualitative study examines the factors that a group of 20 dual users considered to have been influential in their decisions to use e-cigarettes and their comparative evaluations of e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes. Health concerns were not found to be sole motivators. Participants pointed to financial and contextual considerations, particularly peer influence on uptake and continued usage of e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes were evaluated as comparable to cigarettes in some ways but not in other important respects such as sensation and satisfaction. Different social evaluations of cigarette and e-cigarette usage were discerned which influenced how participants identified as smokers, 'vapers' or neither. Findings are discussed in relation to social representations, identity and implications for continued e-cigarette usage among dual users.

  12. Qualification standard for photovoltaic concentrator modules

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McConnell, R.; Kurtz, S.; Bottenberg, W. R.; Hammond, R.; Jochums, S. W.; McDanal, A. J.; Roubideaux, D.; Whitaker, C.; Wohlgemuth, J.

    2000-05-05

    The paper describes a proposed qualification standard for photovoltaic concentrator modules. The standard's purpose is to provide stress tests and procedures to identify any component weakness in photovoltaic concentrator modules intended for power generation applications. If no weaknesses are identified during qualification, both the manufacturer and the customer can expect a more reliable product. The qualification test program for the standard includes thermal cycles, humidity-freeze cycles, water spray, off-axis beam damage, hail impact, hot-spot endurance, as well as electrical tests for performance, ground continuity, isolation, wet insulation resistance, and bypass diodes. Because concentrator module performance can not be verified using solar simulator and reference cell procedures suitable for flat-plate modules, the standard specifies an outdoor I-V test analysis allowing a performance comparison before and after a test procedure. Two options to this complex analysis are the use of a reference concentrator module for side-by-side outdoor comparison with modules undergoing various tests and a dark I-V performance check.

  13. A status report on weather modification research in the Dakotas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Paul L.; Orville, Harold D.; Boe, Bruce A.; Stith, Jeffrey L.

    An overview of the status of weather modification research in North and South Dakota (USA) is presented. The operational North Dakota Cloud Modification Projects has, since 1976, been seeding summer convective clouds for the dual objectives of hail suppression and rainfall enhancement. Research being carried out as part of a Federal/State cooperative program, in coordination with the operational activities, has included physical and statistical evaluation studies as well as numerical cloud modeling investigations. The statistical analyses provide some indications that the intended seeding effects are being obtained. The physical studies involve aircraft and radar observations and emphasize tracer experiments to study the transport and dispersion of seeding agents and the activation of ice nuclei. The modeling studies simulate the experiments and aid in investigation of the process involved and the effects of seeding. The 1989 North Dakota Thunderstorm Project, a major field study emphasizing physical and numerical modeling studies, is described briefly.

  14. Geoffrey Hill’s “Hard-Won Affirmation”: The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul J. Contino

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Sir Geoffrey Hill, long hailed as Britain’s greatest living poet, was devoted to remembering the deceased, those forgotten in the debased din of mass culture—some of them worthy of our emulation, others edifying by their “folly” or “criminality” (Paris Review interview. Hill’s recent death, on 30 June 2016, presents an apt time to remember his own life-work. In its act of memorial as homage, The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy marks a departure for Hill: whereas his earlier work often rests in ambiguity, Péguy labors through the ambiguity—through characteristically antiphonal tones of voice, rhythms, and images—and concludes in affirmation, a note of hope, which points in the direction of some of his later work. Through all of his complexity, Péguy’s life—like Hill’s poem—conforms to a kenotic, Christological pattern and is thus worthy of our emulation.

  15. Standard Practice for Visual Inspections of Photovoltaic Modules

    CERN Document Server

    American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia

    2008-01-01

    1.1 This practice covers procedures and criteria for visual inspections of photovoltaic modules. 1.2 Visual inspections of photovoltaic modules are normally performed before and after modules have been subjected to environmental, electrical, or mechanical stress testing, such as thermal cycling, humidity-freeze cycling, damp heat exposure, ultraviolet exposure, mechanical loading, hail impact testing, outdoor exposure, or other stress testing that may be part of photovoltaic module testing sequence. 1.3 This practice does not establish pass or fail levels. The determination of acceptable or unacceptable results is beyond the scope of this practice. 1.4 There is no similar or equivalent ISO standard. 1.5 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

  16. "Homosexuality/Homophobia Is Un-African"?: Un-Mapping Transnational Discourses in the Context of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill/Act.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wahab, Amar

    2016-01-01

    This article un-maps the recent impasse between pro- and antigay mobilization around Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA, 2009-2014). Drawing on scholarly and social media sources, it summarizes the increasing influence of (U.S.) transnational evangelism that has precipitated a state-religious complex of "anticipatory political homophobia" in Uganda. If transnational evangelism against same-sex sexuality in Uganda has generated a strong reaction from global LGBT human-rights advocates, this article critiques this Western homotransnationalist response by analyzing its limited terms of operation, focusing on the ways in which Uganda is hailed into the biopolitical project of a Western queer modernity. The author focuses on the copresence between homotransnationalist mobilization and "homophobic anticipatory countermobilization" as (re)organizing/suturing a global ordering project that is deeply invested in biopolitics and necropolitics. This suggests that the global flashpointing of Uganda in the context of the AHA incites further questions concerning the transnationality of "gay human rights" discourse under neoliberalism.

  17. ‘A good method of quitting smoking’ or ‘just an alternative to smoking’? Comparative evaluations of e-cigarette and traditional cigarette usage by dual users

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tushna Vandrevala

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The development of e-cigarettes was initially hailed as a resource in facilitating a reduction in or cessation of cigarette smoking. Many users of e-cigarettes are ‘dual users’, smoking traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes. The present qualitative study examines the factors that a group of 20 dual users considered to have been influential in their decisions to use e-cigarettes and their comparative evaluations of e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes. Health concerns were not found to be sole motivators. Participants pointed to financial and contextual considerations, particularly peer influence on uptake and continued usage of e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes were evaluated as comparable to cigarettes in some ways but not in other important respects such as sensation and satisfaction. Different social evaluations of cigarette and e-cigarette usage were discerned which influenced how participants identified as smokers, ‘vapers’ or neither. Findings are discussed in relation to social representations, identity and implications for continued e-cigarette usage among dual users.

  18. Vote for the GridCafé!

    CERN Multimedia

    2004-01-01

    CERN's GridCafé website (http://www.gridcafe.org) has been nominated for the 8th Annual Webby Awards, together with four other finalists in the Technical Achievement category. The Webby Awards have been hailed as the "online Oscars" by Time Magazine, and are the leading international honours for websites, so this nomination represents a significant achievement. The winner in this category last year was Google. The GridCafé website, which was launched at Telecom '03 and forms part of the Microcosm exhibit on computing, introduces Grid technology to the general public, and provides information on all major Grid projects around the world, focusing in particular on the pioneering Grid developments being carried out by CERN and its many international partners for the Large Hadron Collider project. Being nominated for a Webby Award represents a great opportunity to draw positive media attention to Grid technology, to CERN and to science in general. Last year's nominees were covered...

  19. A VARIAÇÃO DO RÓTICO EM CIDADES TOCANTINENSES: EM BUSCA DE UMA NORMA FONÉTICA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Greize Alves da Silva

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The political emancipation of the state of Tocantins, Brazil, occurred 28 years ago, The state is characterized by linguistic varieties due to the intense migratory flow of people hailing mainly from neighboring states of Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia and Pará. Porto Nacional, Pedro Afonso and Natividade, founded on the former northern region of the state of Goiás, are the towns with the highest number of immigrants. In fact, they are relevant historical places formed by autochthonous people and immigrants. Since the above-mentioned towns present important variation aspects of the spoken Portuguese language in Tocantins, current study identifies and analyzes rhotic pronunciation, graphematically represented by /R/ as a syllabic coda, in the three mentioned towns. Survey was undertaken with 24 topodynamic and topostatic informants distributed by gender and age. A segment of the questionnaire with 25 questions collected from the project “Topodynamic and Topostatic Linguistic Atlas of the State of Tocantins (ALiTTETO”is investigated.

  20. Small(pox) success?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birn, Anne-Emanuelle

    2011-02-01

    The 30th anniversary of the World Health Organization's (WHO) official certification of smallpox eradication was marked by a slew of events hailing the campaign's dramatic tale of technological and organizational triumph against an ancient scourge. Yet commemorations also serve as moments of critical reflection. This article questions the acclaim showered upon smallpox eradication as the single greatest public health success in history. It examines how and why smallpox eradication and WHO's concurrent social justice-oriented primary health care approach (following from the Declaration of Alma-Ata) became competing paradigms. It synthesizes critiques of eradication's shortcomings and debunks some of the myths surrounding the global eradication campaign as a public health priority and necessity, and as a Cold War victory of cooperation. The article concludes with thoughts on integrating technical and social-political aspects of health within the context of welfare states as the means to achieving widespread and enduring global public health success.

  1. Small(pox success?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne-Emanuelle Birn

    Full Text Available The 30th anniversary of the World Health Organization's (WHO official certification of smallpox eradication was marked by a slew of events hailing the campaign's dramatic tale of technological and organizational triumph against an ancient scourge. Yet commemorations also serve as moments of critical reflection. This article questions the acclaim showered upon smallpox eradication as the single greatest public health success in history. It examines how and why smallpox eradication and WHO's concurrent social justice-oriented primary health care approach (following from the Declaration of Alma-Ata became competing paradigms. It synthesizes critiques of eradication's shortcomings and debunks some of the myths surrounding the global eradication campaign as a public health priority and necessity, and as a Cold War victory of cooperation. The article concludes with thoughts on integrating technical and social-political aspects of health within the context of welfare states as the means to achieving widespread and enduring global public health success.

  2. Defining greed.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seuntjens, Terri G; Zeelenberg, Marcel; Breugelmans, Seger M; van de Ven, Niels

    2015-08-01

    Although greed is both hailed as the motor of economic growth and blamed as the cause of economic crises, very little is known about its psychological underpinnings. Five studies explored lay conceptualizations of greed among U.S. and Dutch participants using a prototype analysis. Study 1 identified features related to greed. Study 2 determined the importance of these features; the most important features were classified as central (e.g., self-interested, never satisfied), whereas less important features were classified as peripheral (e.g., ambition, addiction). Subsequently, we found that, compared to peripheral features, participants recalled central features better (Study 3), faster (Study 4), and these central features were more present in real-life episodes of greed (Study 5). These findings provide a better understanding of the elements that make up the experience of greed and provide insights into how greed can be manipulated and measured in future research. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

  3. Pola Komunikasi Terapeutik Perawat dan Pasien Hemodialisis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rini Rinawati

    2008-06-01

    Healthy Lifestyle which applying food combining approach recently is hailed as a breakthrough in health communication. Meanwhile, the dissemination process consists of message characteristic, communication channel, and range of time period. The innovation on message characteristic involves factors such as relative benefit, compatibility, and complexity. Relative innovation is generated from economy aspect: by applying healthy lifestyle information, it is strongly hoped that human body will become healthy, full of energy, and free from disease. On the other hand, there is difficulty on compatibility factors, due to society’s eating pattern which referred on four-healthy pattern for every meal, not for a whole day. The spread of information need a deep toward lifestyle—add complexity for the matter. The communication channels to widespread this information to the public utilize a combination of interpersonal communication (for consultation, group communication (public speech, and mass communication (print media. Time is also a crucial factor in planning information dissemination.

  4. Teacher in Residence: Bringing Science to Students

    CERN Multimedia

    Daisy Yuhas

    CERN welcomes its first Teacher in Residence, Terrence Baine of the University of Oslo. Baine, who originally hails from Canada, will be concurrently completing his PhD in Physics Education during his time at CERN. Like CERN’s High School Teacher Programme (HST), of which Baine is an alumnus, the Teacher in Residence position is designed to help educators spread the science of CERN in a form that is accessible to students and can encourage them to pursue physics throughout their education.   Terrence Baine, first 'teacher in residence' at CERN Baine explains, “It’s very important to have a teacher present who can be that middle person between the young peoplecoming here, whom we are trying to enlighten, and the physicists who work at CERN. The Teacher in Residence can act as an on-site educational consultant.” As Teacher in Residence, Baine’s primary project will be to develop teaching modules, or a series of lesson plans, that can help high schoo...

  5. Additional safety assessment of common means or support of the Marcoule centre

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2012-01-01

    This report first presents some characteristics of the Marcoule centre: location and environment, base nuclear installations and other installations, technical installations and installations classified for protection of the environment which could affect the safety of nearby installations, demographic and industrial environment and risks generated for the site's installations, general description of crisis management means. The second part addresses situations to be considered, functional needs related to additional safety assessments, needs in terms of support functions, and critical structures and equipment. The next parts address the seismic risk (structure and equipment sizing, margin assessment, flooding due to an earthquake, loss of electric supply due to an earthquake), the flooding risk (flooding sources, main alarm measures, structure and equipment sizing and availability for crisis management during a flooding from different origins), other extreme phenomena (lightning, hail, wind, external fire), the loss of electric supplies and the loss of cooling systems, the organisation of accident management, and subcontracting practices

  6. 24th ICM

    CERN Document Server

    Yeung, David

    2003-01-01

    Since the first Congress in Zürich in 1897, the ICM has been an eagerly­ awaited event every four years. Many of these occasions are celebrated for historie developments and seminal contributions to mathematics. 2002 marks the year of the 24th ICM, the first of the new millennium. Also historie is the first ICM Satellite Conference devoted to game theory and applications. It is one of those rare occasions, in which masters of the field are able to meet under congenial surroundings to talk and share their gathered wisdom. As is usually the case in ICM meetings, participants of the ICM Satellite Conference on Game Theory and Applications (Qingdao, August 2(02) hailed from the four corners of the world. In addition to presentations of high qual­ ity research, the program also included twelve invited plenary sessions with distinguished speakers. This volume, which gathers together selected papers read at the conference, is divided into four sections: (I) Foundations, Concepts, and Structure. (II) Equilibrium P...

  7. Intangible life functorial connections in relational biology

    CERN Document Server

    Louie, A H

    2017-01-01

    This rare publication continues an exploratory journey in relational biology, a study of biology in terms of the organization of networked connections in living systems. It builds on the author’s two earlier monographs which looked at the epistemology of life and the ontogeny of life. Here the emphasis is on the intangibility of life, that the real nature of living systems is conveyed not by their tangible material basis but by their intangible inherent processes.    Relational biology is the approach that hails ‘function dictates structure’; it is mathematics decoded into biological realizations. Therefore, the work begins with a concise introduction to category theory, equiping the reader with the mathematical metalanguage of relation biology. The book is organized around three parts:   Part I is a comprehensive study of the most important functor in relational biology, the power set functor.  The author lays the set-theoretic foundations of the functorial connections in relational biology, explor...

  8. Exploitation of the vulnerable in research: Responses to lessons learnt in history.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dhai, Amaboo

    2017-05-24

    The Nuremberg Trials raised insightful issues on how and why doctors who were trained in the Hippocratic tradition were able to commit such egregious and heinous medical crimes. The vulnerable were considered to be subhuman, of decreased intelligence, of no moral status and lacking human dignity. The reputation of the medical profession had been undermined, professionalism questioned and the doctor-patient relationship damaged as a result of the Nazi medical experiments. The World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki has been hailed as one of the most successful efforts in rescuing medical research from the darkness of the scandals and tragedies in health research. The first Research Ethics Committee in South Africa was established in 1966 at the University of the Witwatersrand. From the mid-1970s other institutions followed suit. The promulgation of the National Health Act No. 61 of 2003, in 2004, resulted in strong protectionism for research participants in the country.

  9. Ben Franklin's Scientific Amusements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herschbach, Dudley

    2003-04-01

    As an American icon, Benjamin Franklin is often portrayed as wise and canny in business and politics, earnestly pursuing and extolling diligence, sensible conduct, pragmatism, and good works. Also legendary are some of his inventions, particularly the lightning rod, bifocals, and an efficient wood-burning stove. The iconic image is misleading in major respects. Today, surprisingly few people appreciate that, in the 18th century, Franklin was greatly esteemed throughout Europe as a scientist (termed then a "natural philosopher.") He was hailed as the "Newton of Electricity." Indeed, until Franklin, electricity seemed more mysterious than had gravity in Newton's time, and lightning was considered the wrath of God. By his own account, Franklin's studies of electricity and many other phenomena were prompted not by practical aims, but by his playful curiosity--which often became obsessive. Also not generally appreciated is the importance of Franklin's scientific reputation in enhancing his efforts to obtain French support for the American Revolution.

  10. 2015 Philip S. Portoghese Medicinal Chemistry Lectureship. Curing Hepatitis C Virus Infection with Direct-Acting Antiviral Agents: The Arc of a Medicinal Chemistry Triumph.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meanwell, Nicholas A

    2016-08-25

    The development of direct-acting antiviral agents that can cure a chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection after 8-12 weeks of daily, well-tolerated therapy has revolutionized the treatment of this insidious disease. In this article, three of Bristol-Myers Squibb's HCV programs are summarized, each of which produced a clinical candidate: the NS3 protease inhibitor asunaprevir (64), marketed as Sunvepra, the NS5A replication complex inhibitor daclatasvir (117), marketed as Daklinza, and the allosteric NS5B polymerase inhibitor beclabuvir (142), which is in late stage clinical studies. A clinical study with 64 and 117 established for the first time that a chronic HCV infection could be cured by treatment with direct-acting antiviral agents alone in the absence of interferon. The development of small molecule HCV therapeutics, designed by medicinal chemists, has been hailed as "the arc of a medical triumph" but may equally well be described as "the arc of a medicinal chemistry triumph".

  11. Parameterization of cirrus microphysical and radiative properties in larger-scale models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heymsfield, A.J.; Coen, J.L.

    1994-01-01

    This study exploits measurements in clouds sampled during several field programs to develop and validate parameterizations that represent the physical and radiative properties of convectively generated cirrus clouds in intermediate and large-scale models. The focus is on cirrus anvils because they occur frequently, cover large areas, and play a large role in the radiation budget. Preliminary work focuses on understanding the microphysical, radiative, and dynamical processes that occur in these clouds. A detailed microphysical package has been constructed that considers the growth of the following hydrometer types: water drops, needles, plates, dendrites, columns, bullet rosettes, aggregates, graupel, and hail. Particle growth processes include diffusional and accretional growth, aggregation, sedimentation, and melting. This package is being implemented in a simple dynamical model that tracks the evolution and dispersion of hydrometers in a stratiform anvil cloud. Given the momentum, vapor, and ice fluxes into the stratiform region and the temperature and humidity structure in the anvil's environment, this model will suggest anvil properties and structure

  12. A numerical model of aerosol scavenging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bradley, M.M.; Molenkamp, C.R.

    1991-10-01

    Using a three-dimensional numerical cloud/smoke-plume model, we have simulated the burning of a large, mid-latitude city following a nuclear exchange. The model includes 18 dynamic and microphysical equations that predict the fire-driven airflow, cloud processes, and smoke-cloud interactions. In the simulation, the intense heating from the burning city produces a firestorm with updraft velocities exceeding 60 m/s. Within 15 minutes of ignition, the smoke plume penetrates the tropopause. The updraft triggers a cumulonimbus cloud that produces significant quantities of ice, snow, and hail. These solid hydrometeors, as well as cloud droplets and rain, interact with the smoke particles from the fire. At the end of the one-hour simulation, over 20% of the smoke is in slowly falling snowflakes. If the snow reaches the ground before the flakes completely sublimate (or melt and then evaporate), then only approximately 50% of the smoke will survive the scavenging processes and remain in the atmosphere to affect the global climate

  13. Does weather explain cost and quality performance? An analysis of UK electricity distribution companies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, William; Jamasb, Tooraj; Pollitt, Michael

    2009-01-01

    In recent years, a number of empirical studies and energy regulators have applied benchmarking techniques to measuring the efficiency and performance of network utilities. An important issue has been the extent to which the results are influenced by contextual factors. Among these, weather factors are frequently discussed as being important. We use factor analysis and two-stage data envelopment analysis techniques to examine the effect of a set of important weather factors (gale, hail, temperatures, rainfall and thunder) on the performance of electricity distribution networks in the UK. The results indicate that such factors often do not have a significant economic and statistical effect on the overall performance of the utilities. The weather parameters in some models are significant in terms of economic efficiency. The results echo our previous findings of the importance of extending the basic model to include other inputs such as total expenditure (Totex), customer minutes lost (CML) and network energy losses in regulatory benchmarking.

  14. Ethnographies of pain: culture, context and complexity

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-01-01

    This article briefly introduces and discusses the value of ethnographic research, particularly research hailing from the discipline of social and cultural anthropology. After an introduction to ethnography in general, key ethnographic studies of pain are described. These show that ethnography provides a set of techniques for data collection and analysis, as well as a way of thinking about pain as socially and culturally embedded. Modern ethnographic writing is far removed from the literature of the past that sometimes described stereotypes rather than process and complexity. Ethnography provides the chance to describe the complexity and nuance of culture, which serves to counter stereotypes. The article concludes with an example from pain research conducted in a clinical setting. Through the use of ethnographic techniques, the research study provided greater insight than other methods alone might have achieved. The article includes references for further reading should readers be interested in developing their engagement with ethnographic method and interpretation. PMID:26516554

  15. Physics is in trouble, the string theory has failed

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smolin, L.

    2007-01-01

    The popularity of the string theory is based on its claim to explain both the very big and the very small: gravity and elementary particles. The string theory assumes that the real world contains dimensions that have not yet been observed and that any elementary particle is a vibration of a unique entity called string that obeys simple and elegant laws. Most theoretical physicists and mathematicians have focused their attention on this theory for the last 25 years and the diagnosis is clear: string theory fails to cope with the standard model and to explain the existence of dark matter or the mass of neutrinos. The string theory is hailed for its beauty or elegancy but this theory has never been backed by experimental data. While science has made significant progress in numerous domains, particle physics seems to have reached a dead-end. It is high time we officially questioned the string theory and opened the gate for alternative theories. (A.C.)

  16. Detention and treatment down under: human rights and mental health laws in Australia and New Zealand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McSherry, Bernadette; Wilson, Kay

    2011-01-01

    Mental health law reform in recent decades has drawn on the international human rights movement. The entering into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on May 3 2008 has been hailed by some as signalling a new era in relation to how domestic mental health laws should be reformed. Both Australia and New Zealand have ratified the CRPD and Australia has acceded to its Optional Protocol. New Zealand and the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria have statutory bills of rights which have an interpretive effect, but are unable to render other statutes invalid. Drawing on the results of interviews conducted with fifty-two representatives of consumer and carer organisations, lawyers, and mental health professionals across Australia and New Zealand, this paper examines the current thinking on human rights and mental health laws in these countries and outlines what changes, if any, may be brought to domestic legislation in light of the Convention.

  17. Large Eddy Simulations of Severe Convection Induced Turbulence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmad, Nash'at; Proctor, Fred

    2011-01-01

    Convective storms can pose a serious risk to aviation operations since they are often accompanied by turbulence, heavy rain, hail, icing, lightning, strong winds, and poor visibility. They can cause major delays in air traffic due to the re-routing of flights, and by disrupting operations at the airports in the vicinity of the storm system. In this study, the Terminal Area Simulation System is used to simulate five different convective events ranging from a mesoscale convective complex to isolated storms. The occurrence of convection induced turbulence is analyzed from these simulations. The validation of model results with the radar data and other observations is reported and an aircraft-centric turbulence hazard metric calculated for each case is discussed. The turbulence analysis showed that large pockets of significant turbulence hazard can be found in regions of low radar reflectivity. Moderate and severe turbulence was often found in building cumulus turrets and overshooting tops.

  18. Ambiguous Authorities: Vertigo and the Auteur Figure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isabelle Licari-Guillaume

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article examines authorial performance in the context of DC’s Vertigo line. In the 1990s, Vertigo gained its reputation as an innovative and progressive imprint by promoting the work of British scriptwriters, who were hailed as true author figures, despite the inherently collaborative nature of the mainstream comics industry. In a manner reminiscent of “auteur theory”, writers such as Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis or Grant Morrison developed attractive author personas which they consistently displayed through interviews, letter columns or social media, but also, more importantly, by inserting their avatars within the comics they scripted. Upon closer examination, however, it becomes clear that their work in fact simultaneously asserts and destabilizes writerly authority, in a manner that is consistent with Linda Hutcheon’s view of postmodernity. By multiplying author figures and playfully disseminating authority, Vertigo authors question their own authorial control over the text, asserting instead the crucial role played by the reader.

  19. The design of everyday things

    CERN Document Server

    Norman, Don

    2013-01-01

    Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door. The fault, argues this ingenious—even liberating—book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary relationships between controls and functions, coupled with a lack of feedback or other assistance and unreasonable demands on memorization. The Design of Everyday Things shows that good, usable design is possible. The rules are simple: make things visible, exploit natural relationships that couple function and control, and make intelligent use of constraints. The goal: guide the user effortlessly to the right action on the right control at the right time. In this entertaining and insightful analysis, cognitive scientist Don Norman hails excellence of design as the most important key to regaining the competitive e...

  20. The mathematical career of Pierre de Fermat 1601-1665

    CERN Document Server

    Mahoney, Michael Sean

    1994-01-01

    Hailed as one of the greatest mathematical results of the twentieth century, the recent proof of Fermat's Last Theorem by Andrew Wiles brought to public attention the enigmatic problem-solver Pierre de Fermat, who centuries ago stated his famous conjecture in a margin of a book, writing that he did not have enough room to show his "truly marvelous demonstration" Along with formulating this proposition-xn+yn=zn has no rational solution for n > 2-Fermat, an inventor of analytic geometry, also laid the foundations of differential and integral calculus, established, together with Pascal, the conceptual guidelines of the theory of probability, and created modern number theory. In one of the first full-length investigations of Fermat's life and work, Michael Sean Mahoney provides rare insight into the mathematical genius of a hobbyist who never sought to publish his work, yet who ranked with his contemporaries Pascal and Descartes in shaping the course of modern mathematics.

  1. Perfuração gástrica secundária a tricobezoar gigante: descrição de caso e revisão da literatura

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clementino Zeni Neto

    Full Text Available Gastric bezoars are impactations offoreign material in lhe stomach. When they are caused by hail; they are named tricho- bezoars. The complications oftrichobezoars are very rare. In this papel; we describe a case of a 16-year-old girl that had a previous history oftricophagia, and had an acute abdominal pain with a pneumoperitoneum in the abdomen radiography. An operation was performed and a gastric perforation was founded associated with a giant trichobezoa7: The trichobezoar was removed by traction through a gastrostomy which was performed in order to remove lhe trichobezoa7: Some fragments of the ulcer were obtained to histological study. The gastrostomy was treated by a gastrorraphy confection. In lhe post- operative period a left subfrenic abscess was revealed and has been drained by laparatomy 15 days after the fisrt operation. After the second surgical procedure the patient had a good evolution, and left the hospital in good health conditions.

  2. Imaginary Savior: the image of the nuclear bomb in Korea, 1945-1960.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Dong-Won

    2009-01-01

    Two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 brought the unexpected liberation of Korea from the 35-year Japanese occupation. Koreans therefore had a very favorable and positive image of the nuclear bomb and nuclear energy from the beginning. The image of the nuclear bomb as "savior" was strengthened during the Korean War when the United States openly mentioned the possible use of the nuclear bomb against North Korean and Chinese military. After the end of the Korean War in July 1953 South Koreans strongly supported the development of the nuclear bomb in order to deter another North Korean invasion. When the US government provided South Korea with a research nuclear reactor in the late 1950s, most South Koreans hailed it as the first step to developing their own nuclear bomb. This paper will analyze how and why the savior image of the nuclear bomb originated and spread in Korea during the 1950s.

  3. Exploitation of the vulnerable in research: Responses to lessons learnt in history

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amaboo Dhai

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The Nuremberg Trials raised insightful issues on how and why doctors who were trained in the Hippocratic tradition were able to commit such egregious and heinous medical crimes. The vulnerable were considered to be subhuman, of decreased intelligence, of no moral status and lacking human dignity. The reputation of the medical profession had been undermined, professionalism questioned and the doctor-patient relationship damaged as a result of the Nazi medical experiments. The World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki has been hailed as one of the most successful efforts in rescuing medical research from the darkness of the scandals and tragedies in health research. The first Research Ethics Committee in South Africa was established in 1966 at the University of the Witwatersrand. From the mid-1970s other institutions followed suit. The promulgation of the National Health Act No. 61 of 2003, in 2004, resulted in strong protectionism for research participants in the country.

  4. Advances in laser technology for the atmospheric sciences; Proceedings of the Seminar, San Diego, Calif., August 25, 26, 1977

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trolinger, J. D. (Editor); Moore, W. W.

    1977-01-01

    These papers deal with recent research, developments, and applications in laser and electrooptics technology, particularly with regard to atmospheric effects in imaging and propagation, laser instrumentation and measurements, and particle measurement. Specific topics include advanced imaging techniques, image resolution through atmospheric turbulence over the ocean, an efficient method for calculating transmittance profiles, a comparison of a corner-cube reflector and a plane mirror in folded-path and direct transmission through atmospheric turbulence, line-spread instrumentation for propagation measurements, scaling laws for thermal fluctuations in the layer adjacent to ocean waves, particle sizing by laser photography, and an optical Fourier transform analysis of satellite cloud imagery. Other papers discuss a subnanosecond photomultiplier tube for laser application, holography of solid propellant combustion, diagnostics of turbulence by holography, a camera for in situ photography of cloud particles from a hail research aircraft, and field testing of a long-path laser transmissometer designed for atmospheric visibility measurements.

  5. Polarimetric signatures indicative of severe storm development - the Pentecost event 2014

    Science.gov (United States)

    Troemel, Silke; Diederich, Malte; Evaristo, Raquel; Ryzhkov, Alexander; Simmer, Clemens

    2015-04-01

    The 2014 Pentecost weekend storms in Europe were a series of severe supercell storms which followed a heatwave in early June 2014, resulting from a Spanish plume synoptic weather pattern. Outbreaks of severe weather were reported from these storm developments with the worst damages occurring over the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on 9 June, where the storm was described as one of the most violent in decades by the German weather service (DWD). During this event six fatalities, wind gusts up to 150km/h, hail and a flash flood in Düsseldorf has been reported. Monitoring and analysis of high-impact weather using weather radars of shorter wavelength (X- and C-bands) requires special methods, i.e. anomalous high attenuation and differential attenuation due to very large raindrops originating from melting large hail has to be investigated and corrected. During the Pentecost event a record breaking ZDR bias of up to -25dB has been observed. Different strategies for reliable attenuation correction and rainfall estimation for this extreme event are explored and will be presented. A national 3D composite of polarimetric moments covering Germany with 1km horizontal, 250m vertical, and 5 minutes temporal resolution has been generated. 10 C-band radars from the DWD radar network, recently upgraded to polarimetry, have been included. Meanie3D, a 3D scale space tracking algorithm, is applied to the composite to investigate the magnitudes and temporal development of the 3 fundamental steps of a storms lifecycle: 1) high values of differential reflectivity ZDR aloft first indicate a developing cell, 2) ZDR-columns (these are vertical columns of high differential reflectivity) then indicate the updraft zone of a cell in the mature state. The vertical extent of the ZDR-column is thus a measure of the strength of the updraft and for the ensuing rainfall enhancement. 3) The very first big drops reach the surface before the most intense rain begins. This is reflected by the

  6. A quantitative comparison of lightning-induced electron precipitation and VLF signal perturbations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peter, W. B.; Inan, U. S.

    2007-12-01

    VLF signal perturbations recorded on the Holographic Array for Ionospheric/Lightning Research (HAIL) are quantitatively related to a comprehensive model of lightning-induced electron precipitation (LEP) events. The model consists of three major components: a test-particle model of gyroresonant whistler-induced electron precipitation, a Monte Carlo simulation of energy deposition into the ionosphere, and a model of VLF subionospheric signal propagation. For the two representative LEP events studied, the model calculates peak VLF amplitude perturbations within a factor of three of those observed, well within the expected variability of radiation belt flux levels. The phase response of the observed VLF signal to precipitation varied dramatically over the course of the two nights and this variability in phase response is not properly reproduced by the model. The model calculates a peak in the precipitation that is poleward displaced ~6° from the causative lightning flash, consistent with observations. The modeled precipitated energy flux (E > 45 keV) peaks at ~1 × 10-2 (ergs s-1 cm-2), resulting in a peak loss of ~0.001% from a single flux tube at L ~ 2.2, consistent with previous satellite measurements of LEP events. The precipitation calculated by the model is highly dependent on the near-loss-cone trapped radiation belt flux levels assumed, and hence our main objective is not to compare the model calculations and the VLF signal observations on an absolute basis but is rather to develop metrics with which we can characterize the VLF signal perturbations recorded on HAIL in terms of the associated precipitation flux. Metrics quantifying the ionospheric density enhancement (N ILDE) and the electron precipitation (Γ) along a VLF signal path are strongly correlated with the VLF signal perturbations calculated by the model. A conversion ratio Ψ, relating VLF signal amplitude perturbations (ΔA) to the time-integrated precipitation (100-300 keV) along the VLF path (

  7. Analysis of the Convective Storm using Meteosat Second Generation and SPOL Radar over a Megacity, on May 18, 2014

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Silva Júnior, Ivon Wilson; José Pereira Filho, Augusto; Alves Barbosa, Humberto

    2017-04-01

    The rapid populational growth in urban areas of Southeast and South Brazil has increased anthropic effects on severe weather caused by thunderstorms whose impacts require mitigation on a small space-time scale more susceptible to natural disasters such as flooding. The 18 May 2015 thunderstorms in The Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) caused many losses due to heavy rain, gusty winds and falling hail. The local press reported 310 tons of ice removed from the surface. Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) images, polarimetric weather radar measurements, radiosondes and surface weather variables data sets were used to analyze the event. The environmental thermodynamic analysis showed a dry layer at mid levels with wind shear at upper levels. Diabatic heating increased throughout the day and made the atmosphere very unstable at the end of the afternoon with greater potential energy induced by the local sea breeze. The 0 °C isotherm was at 3781 m. Initially, the rapid horizontal expansion of the storm caused by environmental wind shear was observed at 10.8 mm IR MSG channel brightness temperature (BT) was of -57 ° C. The brightness temperature differences (BTD) between WV and IR MSG channels evidenced vertical moisture transport from near the surface to the upper levels during convection. In the mature stage, radar reflectivity showed widespread multi cellular storm structures. Vertical cross-section indicated reflectivities between 45 dBZ to 55 dBZ with cloud tops with reflectivity greater than 30 dBZ at 14 km altitude when updrafts were more intense. Vertical profiles of differential reflectivity (ZDR) showed a deep column from to +2 to +4 dB between 6 km to 12 km altitude where intense vertical transport of large drops and a mixture of water and ice well above the 0 ° C isotherm level. This environment increased efficiency of the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen type microphysics with rapid ice crystal growth to hail with later precipitation at the surface that lasted

  8. There's gold in them thar' hills!

    CERN Multimedia

    Anaïs Vernède & Anaïs Schaeffer

    2011-01-01

    A former EN Department trainee, Vincent Gauthier-Manuel, has come away from the 2011 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championship at Sestriere in Italy with three world titles and now has his sights firmly set on the 2014 Paralympics.   Vincent Gauthier-Manuel at the IPC Alpine Skiing Championship in Sestriere, in January 2011. It's been nearly five years since Vincent Gauthier-Manuel successfully completed his two-month traineeship in the EN Department. Now 24, Vincent is making a name for himself in another field - he won three medals in the "standing" category at the Vancouver Paralympic Games in 2010 (Super-G, Super Combined and Slalom) and has now been crowned triple World Champion (Super Combined, Slalom and Giant Slalom) at Sestriere in Italy in January 2011. Vincent hails from the French Jura and was born, on 6 April 1986, with a truncated left arm. Making light of this disability, he took up skiing at an early age, starting with cross-country before moving on to downhill. Up u...

  9. Atmospheric natural disasters in Serbia: Management experience and economic effects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nikolić Jugoslav

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Natural disasters occur as a result of an action of natural forces and represent limitations in spatial planning and efficient spatial development, with different consequences in terms of scope on humans, living things and tangible property. Consequences can be ecological, economic, in terms of health, demographic, social, psychological, etc. Weather modification management involves policies, methods, techniques and technologies that affect atmospheric features in order to make atmospheric water useful for humans, while eliminating its negative effects. Highly significant risk of natural disasters in Serbia is related to hailstorm disasters and droughts as atmospheric elementary disasters. The goal of this paper is to present certain methodologies and experience in Serbia in the weather modification management, mainly in the hailstorm processes. This paper provides analysis and critical review of the methodology of an action, with the analysis of the economic benefits. Cost-benefit analysis of a hail suppression project in Serbia was performed. The results point to the economic justification of some aspects of artificial influence on weather disasters.

  10. Why are doctors still prescribing neuroleptics?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charlton, B G

    2006-06-01

    There are two main pharmacological methods of suppressing undesired behaviour: sedation or neuroleptics. Traditionally, the invention of neuroleptics has been hailed as one of the major clinical breakthroughs of the twentieth century, since they calmed agitation without (necessarily) causing sedation. The specifically neuroleptic form of behavioural control is achieved by making patients psychologically Parkinsonian, which entails emotional blunting and consequent demotivation. Furthermore, chronic neuroleptic usage creates dependence, so that in the long term, neuroleptics are doing most patients more harm than good. The introduction of 'atypical' neuroleptics (neuroleptically-weak but strongly sedative neuroleptics) has made only a difference in degree, and at the cost of a wide range of potentially fatal metabolic and other side-effects. For half a century, the creation of millions of Parkinsonian patients may have been misinterpreted as a 'cure' for schizophrenia. Such a wholesale re-interpretation of neuroleptic therapy represents an unprecedented disaster for the self-image and public reputation of both psychiatry and the whole medical profession. Nonetheless, except as a last resort, neuroleptics should swiftly be replaced by gentler and safer sedatives.

  11. NDE of Damage in Aircraft Flight Control Surfaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hsu, David K.; Barnard, Daniel J.; Dayal, Vinay

    2007-01-01

    Flight control surfaces on an aircraft, such as ailerons, flaps, spoilers and rudders, are typically adhesively bonded composite or aluminum honeycomb sandwich structures. These components can suffer from damage caused by hail stone, runway debris, or dropped tools during maintenance. On composites, low velocity impact damages can escape visual inspection, whereas on aluminum honeycomb sandwich, budding failure of the honeycomb core may or may not be accompanied by a disbond. This paper reports a study of the damage morphology in such structures and the NDE methods for detecting and characterizing them. Impact damages or overload failures in composite sandwiches with Nomex or fiberglass core tend to be a fracture or crinkle or the honeycomb cell wall located a distance below the facesheet-to-core bondline. The damage in aluminum honeycomb is usually a buckling failure, propagating from the top skin downward. The NDE methods used in this work for mapping out these damages were: air-coupled ultrasonic scan, and imaging by computer aided tap tester. Representative results obtained from the field will be shown

  12. Ontario FIT - From poster child to industry crisis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roeper, Uwe

    2011-01-01

    Ortech is a consulting firm that provides engineering services to investors and developers in planning and operating solar, wind and water projects. This study discusses the issues involved in the renewable energy Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program in Ontario. Initially hailed as the poster child of innovative renewable programs in North America, the FIT program has been under increasing attack from political parties, anti wind groups and legal suits. The reason was the negative media coverage of noise, birdlife and health effects. Criticism was first voiced over health concerns and lack of consultation. Local governments and the legislature debated these issues and began to split along political lines over them. The lack of public support was because there was insufficient effort put into creating public awareness. Boosting grass-roots support by creating awareness is a recommendation of the paper, which also emphasises the need for a win-win strategy when the government is involved. It can be concluded that the FIT program has gone from poster child to industry crisis but has provided several learning opportunities along the way.

  13. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs, psychiatry and the Clinical assessment of Skills and Competencies (CASCSame Evidence, Different Judgement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marwaha Steven

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE, originally developed in the 1970's, has been hailed as the "gold standard" of clinical assessments for medical students and is used within medical schools throughout the world. The Clinical assessment of Skills and Competencies (CASC is an OSCE used as a clinical examination gateway, granting access to becoming a senior Psychiatrist in the UK. Discussion Van der Vleuten's utility model is used to examine the CASC from the viewpoint of a senior psychiatrist. Reliability may be equivalent to more traditional examinations. Whilst the CASC is likely to have content validity, other forms of validity are untested and authenticity is poor. Educational impact has the potential to change facets of psychiatric professionalism and influence future patient care. There are doubts about acceptability from candidates and more senior psychiatrists. Summary Whilst OSCEs may be the best choice for medical student examinations, their use in post graduate psychiatric examination in the UK is subject to challenge on the grounds of validity, authenticity and educational impact.

  14. An Althusserian Study of A Streetcar Named Desire: An Ideological Entanglement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samira Sasani

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In the Marxist perspective in general, and in Althusser’s ideas in particular, every individual is controlled by the society’s dominant ideology and its apparatuses called Ideological State Apparatuses and Repressive State Apparatuses. Individuals are not at all free agents of their own lives, but it is the government deciding on the nature of the normal and the abnormal. Individuals are unconsciously instilled with the ideas and ideologies of the dominant class of the society who defines their worldview and mannerism. Therefore, the ruling class, by a variety of ways, ‘hails’ its subjects and makes them behave according to its own codes. In Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (1947, this struggle and clash of ideologies are embodied in the characters of Stanley and Blanche who are regarded as a threat to the dominant ideology. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to clarify the high points of this struggle and to indicate how the ideology of southern America is hailed by Industrialized America.

  15. Health Assimilation among Hispanic Immigrants in the United States: The Impact of Ignoring Arrival-cohort Effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamilton, Tod G; Palermo, Tia; Green, Tiffany L

    2015-12-01

    A large literature has documented that Hispanic immigrants have a health advantage over their U.S.-born counterparts upon arrival in the United States. Few studies, however, have disentangled the effects of immigrants' arrival cohort from their tenure of U.S. residence, an omission that could produce imprecise estimates of the degree of health decline experienced by Hispanic immigrants as their U.S. tenure increases. Using data from the 1996-to-2014 waves of the March Current Population Survey, we show that the health (i.e., self-rated health) of Hispanic immigrants varies by both arrival cohort and U.S. tenure for immigrants hailing from most of the primary sending countries/regions of Hispanic immigrants. We also find evidence that acculturation plays an important role in determining the health trajectories of Hispanic immigrants. With respect to self-rated health, however, our findings demonstrate that omitting arrival-cohort measures from health assimilation models may result in overestimates of the degree of downward health assimilation experienced by Hispanic immigrants. © American Sociological Association 2015.

  16. Wireless AE Event and Environmental Monitoring for Wind Turbine Blades at Low Sampling Rates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouzid, Omar M.; Tian, Gui Y.; Cumanan, K.; Neasham, J.

    Integration of acoustic wireless technology in structural health monitoring (SHM) applications introduces new challenges due to requirements of high sampling rates, additional communication bandwidth, memory space, and power resources. In order to circumvent these challenges, this chapter proposes a novel solution through building a wireless SHM technique in conjunction with acoustic emission (AE) with field deployment on the structure of a wind turbine. This solution requires a low sampling rate which is lower than the Nyquist rate. In addition, features extracted from aliased AE signals instead of reconstructing the original signals on-board the wireless nodes are exploited to monitor AE events, such as wind, rain, strong hail, and bird strike in different environmental conditions in conjunction with artificial AE sources. Time feature extraction algorithm, in addition to the principal component analysis (PCA) method, is used to extract and classify the relevant information, which in turn is used to classify or recognise a testing condition that is represented by the response signals. This proposed novel technique yields a significant data reduction during the monitoring process of wind turbine blades.

  17. Next-generation storm tracking for minimizing service interruption

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sznaider, R. [Meteorlogix, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

    2002-08-01

    Several technological changes have taken place in the field of weather radar since its discovery during World War II. A wide variety of industries have benefited over the years from conventional weather radar displays, providing assistance in forecasting and estimating the potential severity of storms. The characteristics of individual storm cells can now be derived from the next-generation of weather radar systems (NEXRAD). The determination of which storm cells possess distinct features such as large hail or developing tornadoes was made possible through the fusing of various pieces of information with radar pictures. To exactly determine when and where a storm will hit, this data can be combined and overlaid into a display that includes the geographical physical landmarks of a specific region. Combining Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and storm tracking provides a more complete, timely and accurate forecast, which clearly benefits the electric utilities industries. The generation and production of energy are dependent on how hot or cold it will be today and tomorrow. The author described each major feature of this next-generation weather radar system. 9 figs.

  18. The first American magnet has arrived!

    CERN Multimedia

    2003-01-01

    On 21 January the first US-built LHC magnet arrived at CERN, after a journey of 6000 km by land and sea, an event hailed on both sides of the Atlantic. This 10-m long, 4.7-tonne dipole magnet was manufactured over a period of nine months by Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). Single-aperture magnets of this type will be installed on either side of the ALICE and LHCb experiments and will deviate the beams in order to provoke their interaction and subsequent separation. Brookhaven will be supplying 19 other dipoles for the insertion regions, including four of the same type as the one which has just arrived. «These magnets are based on a technology developed by Brookhaven Laboratory for its own RHIC accelerator,» explains Ranko Ostojic. LHC Project Leader Lyn Evans adds «our Brookhaven colleagues have done a fantastic job in completing the USA's first superconducting magnet for the LHC to specification and on schedule. Other deliveries will shortly be arriving from Brookhaven but also from Fermilab and the ...

  19. What is life? with Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches

    CERN Document Server

    Schrödinger, Erwin

    1992-01-01

    Nobel laureate Erwin Schrödinger's What is Life? is one of the great science classics of the twentieth century. A distinguished physicist's exploration of the question which lies at the heart of biology, it was written for the layman, but proved one of the spurs to the birth of molecular biology and the subsequent discovery of the structure of DNA. The philosopher Karl Popper hailed it as a 'beautiful and important book' by 'a great man to whom I owe a personal debt for many exciting discussions'. It appears here together with Mind and Matter, his essay investigating a relationship which has eluded and puzzled philosophers since the earliest times. Schrodinger asks what place consciousness occupies in the evolution of life, and what part the state of development of the human mind plays in moral questions. Brought together with these two classics are Schrödinger's autobiographical sketches, published and translated here for the first time. They offer a fascinating fragmentary account of his life as a backgro...

  20. American Christians for and against Parsifal: Debating the Holy Grail Opera in New York

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frederick Hale

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The appropriateness of Christian themes in the performing arts has often been debated. Defenders have argued that various media, including drama, can serve as instruments of spiritual edification, while critics have contended that such efforts often eventuate in sacrilege and a vulgarising exploitation of the sacred for commercial and entertainment purposes. A heated debate took place in 1903 when Richard Wagner’s opera Parsifal, which since its première at Bayreuth in 1882 had been hailed as a magnificent representation of redemption and other themes central to Christianity, was staged at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York – its first performance as an opera outside its original venue. Numerous clergymen and lay people in several denominations sought to have the production banned and cautioned fellow Christians against seeing it. Others, generally of a theologically more liberal bent, defended the work. The heated public controversy is placed into historical context and compared with the history of Parsifal in the United Kingdom, where it was widely appreciated without noteworthy opposition.

  1. PTSD-8: A Short PTSD Inventory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, Maj; Andersen, Tonny Elmose; Armour, Cherie; Elklit, Ask; Palic, Sabina; Mackrill, Thomas

    2010-09-28

    Traumatic events pose great challenges on mental health services in scarcity of specialist trauma clinicians and services. Simple short screening instruments for detecting adverse psychological responses are needed. Several brief screening instruments have been developed. However, some are limited, especially in relation to reflecting the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis. Recently, several studies have challenged pre-existing ideas about PTSD's latent structure. Factor analytic research currently supports two four factor models. One particular model contains a dysphoria factor which has been associated with depression and anxiety. The symptoms in this factor have been hailed as less specific to PTSD. The scope of this article is therefore to present a short screening instrument, based on this research; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - 8 items. The PTSD-8 is shown to have good psychometric properties in three independent samples of whiplash patients (n=1710), rape victims (n=305), and disaster victims (n=516). Good test-rest reliability is also shown in a pilot study of young adults from families with alcohol problems (n=56).

  2. Reconsidering solar grid parity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, C.-J.

    2010-01-01

    Grid parity-reducing the cost of solar energy to be competitive with conventional grid-supplied electricity-has long been hailed as the tipping point for solar dominance in the energy mix. Such expectations are likely to be overly optimistic. A realistic examination of grid parity suggests that the cost-effectiveness of distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems may be further away than many are hoping for. Furthermore, cost-effectiveness may not guarantee commercial competitiveness. Solar hot water technology is currently far more cost-effective than photovoltaic technology and has already reached grid parity in many places. Nevertheless, the market penetration of solar water heaters remains limited for reasons including unfamiliarity with the technologies and high upfront costs. These same barriers will likely hinder the adoption of distributed solar photovoltaic systems as well. The rapid growth in PV deployment in recent years is largely policy-driven and such rapid growth would not be sustainable unless governments continue to expand financial incentives and policy mandates, as well as address regulatory and market barriers.

  3. Can biofuel crops alleviate tribal poverty in India's drylands?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Agoramoorthy, Govindasamy; Hsu, Minna J.; Chaudhary, Sunita; Shieh, Po-Chuen

    2009-01-01

    The on-going climate change concerns have stimulated heavy interest in biofuels, and supporters of biofuels hail that they are considered naturally carbon-neutral. Critiques on the other hand cry that the large-scale production of biofuels can not only strain agricultural resources, but also threaten future food security. People who live in the drylands of India are often faced with challenges and constraints of poverty. Foremost among the challenges are the marginal environmental conditions for agriculture, often influenced by low and erratic rainfall, frequent droughts, poor soil condition, unreliable irrigation water supply, and rural migration to urban areas in search of work. In this paper, we have analyzed a case study of community lift irrigation practiced in India and its impact in boosting agricultural productivity and enhancing local food security. The lift-irrigation model practiced in the drylands of India to grow food crops can be adopted for the expansion of biofuel crops that has the potential to eradicate poverty among farming communities if appropriate sustainable development measures are carefully implemented. (author)

  4. Complementarity of deuterium and tritium measurements to study hailstone formation. An example

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jouzel, Jean.

    1975-12-01

    The complementarity of deuterium and tritium measurement to study hailstone formation is presented and this method is applied to measurements made on three hailstones produced during a storm on August 7th 1971 in the province of Alberta (Canada). Firstly, the isotopic variations of condensed water in a hail cloud are studied on the basis of a cloud model as proposed by Chisholm. The importance of tritium analysis is demonstrated and conditions of validity of the isotopic model proposed by Merlivat, Nief and Roth in the case of deuterium are defined. The tritium measurement method used for analysis of small water samples and carrier out with an Oeschgger gas counter is described. The results connected with three Alberta hailstones are discussed. It is demonstrated particularly that these hailstones were formed during a succession of upward and downward movements, at least two of the latter occuring in the updraft core, and that the distribution of the updraft velocity with altitude was not stable during the storm which is in agreement with its multicellular nature [fr

  5. Towards the future of fuzzy logic

    CERN Document Server

    Trillas, Enric; Kacprzyk, Janusz

    2015-01-01

    This book provides readers with a snapshot of the state-of-the art in fuzzy logic. Throughout the chapters, key theories developed in the last fifty years as well as important applications to practical problems are presented and discussed from different perspectives, as the authors hail from different disciplines and therefore use fuzzy logic for different purposes.  The book aims at showing how fuzzy logic has evolved since the first theory formulation by Lotfi A. Zadeh in his seminal paper on Fuzzy Sets in 1965. Fuzzy theories and implementation grew at an impressive speed and achieved significant results, especially on the applicative side. The study of fuzzy logic and its practice spread all over the world, from Europe to Asia, America and Oceania. The editors believe that, thanks to the drive of young researchers, fuzzy logic will be able to face the challenging goals posed by computing with words. New frontiers of knowledge are waiting to be explored. In order to motivate young people to engage in the ...

  6. Investigation of the gilding technique in two post-Byzantine wall paintings using micro-analytical techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katsibiri, Olga; Boon, Jaap J.

    2004-01-01

    The main churches of two important monasteries in Thessalia, Central Greece, are decorated with wall paintings that hail from the post-Byzantine period. The mural decoration of the main church of the St. Byssarionas Monastery at Doussiko has been attributed to the iconographer Tzortzis. The same painter is believed to have also operated in the main church of the Transfiguration Monastery at the monastic community of Meteora. The light microscopic (LM) examination of the cross-sections of samples taken from the gilded areas of the wall paintings, together with the direct temperature resolved mass spectrometric (DTMS) and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopic (SEM-EDX) analysis, revealed a further resemblance of the materials and the methodology employed. The gold leaf was applied to the paintings by means of a mordant, which contains linseed oil mixed with a lead-containing dryer and an earth pigment or clay. The present study can constitute additional evidence to reinforce the idea that the two churches may have been painted by the same painter or workshop

  7. Introducing the North Water: Histories of exploration, ice dynamics, living resources, and human settlement in the Thule Region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hastrup, Kirsten; Mosbech, Anders; Grønnow, Bjarne

    2018-04-01

    The North Water is a recurrent polynya in the High Arctic situated between Northwest Greenland and Ellesmere Island of Canada. The North Water makes a dynamic space, where various processes may enhance or obstruct each other, accelerating or halting particular modes of human-animal relations in the region, where life itself depends on the North Water. This will be discussed in four steps. The first step posits the North Water as a perceived oasis for explorers and whalers hailing from Europe or America in the nineteenth century. The second step concentrates on the diverse rhythms inherent in the ice conditions, as affected by trends that are set in motion elsewhere. The third step highlights the implications of the dynamics of the ice and sea currents for animal life in the region. The fourth step gives an overview of human settlement patterns around the North Water across the ages. The article shows how natural and social features are deeply implicated in each other, even if they are not directly co-variant.

  8. Russian JV workovers proliferating

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1992-11-09

    Well remediation is gathering momentum in Russia as more companies apply western technology to idle wells. Western petroleum technology is being widely hailed as the best way to halt the decline in crude oil production in Russia and other members of the former Soviet Union. More than 20,000 Russian wells are estimated idle, many of which observers say could be returned to service with western know-how. Progress has been outlined on two significant projects in the Komi and Chechen autonomous republics of Russia: KomiQuest Ltd., a joint venture of an international group of companies and Komi republic agencies, has used a Russian rig and crew to work over four wells and started producing oil in one of four Vozey area oil fields in the Komi republic. A Chechen republic delegation led by President Dzhahar Jusyavitch Dudaev last month in Houston let a 2 year contract worth about $100 million to Enforce Energy Corp., San Antonio, covering workover, drilling, and other services in two oil fields north of the Chechen capital of Grozny.

  9. Hidden attraction the history and mystery of magnetism

    CERN Document Server

    Verschuur, Gerrit L

    1996-01-01

    Long one of nature''s most fascinating phenomena, magnetism was once the subject of many superstitions. Magnets were thought useful to thieves, effective as a love potion or as a cure for gout or spasms. They could remove sorcery from women and put demons to flight and even reconcile married couples. It was said that a lodestone pickled in the salt of sucking fish had the power to attract gold. Today, these beliefs have been put aside, but magnetism is no less remarkable for our modern understanding of it. In Hidden Attraction, Gerrit L. Verschuur, a noted astronomer and National Book Award nominee for The Invisible Universe, traces the history of our fascination with magnetism, from the first discovery of magnets in Greece, to state-of-the-art theories that see magnetism as a basic force in the universe. The book begins with the early debunking of superstitions by Peter Peregrinus (Pierre de Maricourt), whom Roger Bacon hailed as one of the world''s first experimental scientists (Perigrinus held that "experi...

  10. CERN to start producing medical isotopes

    CERN Document Server

    Anaïs Schaeffer

    2012-01-01

    A promising project that was hailed at the ICTR-PHE 2012 medical conference (see Bulletin issues 10-11/2012 and 12-13/2012) has seen the light of day at CERN. The project, known by the name of MEDICIS, will make it possible to produce a large variety of radioactive isotopes for medical research.   This image of a brain, superimposed on a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, was taken by a PET scanner after injecting a molecule containing a positron-emitting isotope. CERN-MEDICIS will produce new isotopes for imaging which will be able to show up cancerous tissues and destroy them by emitting local radiation as the isotopes decay. In the United States, a new radium-based drug which targets bone metastases is about to go on the market. Radium, which can be brought to bear at the cell level, is a potent weapon in the fight against certain types of cancer, and is opening the way to a new form of medicine. This is the direction that CERN has decided to follow through the CERN-MEDICIS* (Medical Isotopes...

  11. Profiles of Attendees in Voluntary Counseling and Testing Centers of a Medical College Hospital in Coastal Karnataka

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jayarama, S; Shenoy, Shaliny; Unnikrishnan, B; Ramapuram, John; Rao, Manjula

    2008-01-01

    Research Question: What are the socio-demographic profile and risk behavior pattern of seropositive attendees in the voluntary counseling and testing center (VCTC)? Study Design: Retrospective study. Setting: VCTC in the outpatient complex of Kasturba Medical College Hospital, Mangalore, Karnataka. Subjects: Records pertaining to all the 539 and 330 seropositive attendees during the years 2005 and 2006, respectively, were included in the study besides data from 2001 onwards in order to assess the time trend of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Study Variables: Age, sex, marital status, religion, educational status, occupation, place of residence and pattern of risk behavior in relation to HIV/AIDS. Statistical Analysis: Analysis was done with SPSS version 11. Statistical test and Chi-square was done, and P profile, about 17-27% were housewives, 19-21% were laborers/hotel workers and 7% were entrepreneurs. About 45% were from urban area and nearly one-third hailing from other districts in the border of Karnataka. About 25% were exposed to commercial sex workers; another 21-23% were involved in premarital sex and nearly 38% were indulging in heterosexual activities. PMID:19966996

  12. Opportunities for social workers in the patient centered medical home.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawk, Mary; Ricci, Edmund; Huber, George; Myers, Marcella

    2015-01-01

    The Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) has been hailed as one method of improving chronic care outcomes in the United States. A number of studies have underscored the importance of the social work role within the PCMH, yet little existing research explores the social worker as a driver of improved patient care. The Pennsylvania Chronic Care Initiative was created with a primary goal of increasing the number of practices that were recognized as PCMH by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. This article describes findings from in-depth qualitative interviews with representatives from seven primary care practices, in which the authors examined barriers and facilitators to implementation of the initiative. Barriers to implementation included small practice size, payer-driven care, not having a strong physician champion, variability within patient populations, and high implementation costs. Facilitators included having a social worker coordinate behavioral health services, clinical nurse case managers, preexisting models of outcomes-driven care, and being part of an integrated health delivery and financing system. Recommendations strengthening the role of medical social workers in primary care practices are discussed.

  13. Bridging nations through muons

    CERN Multimedia

    2006-01-01

    From America to Israel and Japan, a team of international technicians and scientists are working together to build the ATLAS endcap muon chambers. The Israeli and Pakistani teams stand in front of part of the ATLAS endcap muon spectrometer. They are working on the project along with...... a team from American universities and research institutions. It's a small world; at least you might think so after a visit to Building 180. Inside, about 30 engineers and physicists weld, measure and hammer away, many of whom are miles from their homes and families. They hail from Pakistan, Israel, Japan, China, Russia and the United States. Coordinated by a group of CERN engineers, the team represents an international collaboration in every sense. Whether they've been here for years or months, CERN is their temporary home as they work toward one common goal: the completion of the ATLAS muon chamber endcaps. When finished, the ATLAS muon spectrometer will include four moving 'big wheel'structures on each end of the detecto...

  14. Incidence rate of ovarian cancer cases in Saudi Arabia: an observational descriptive epidemiological analysis of data from Saudi Cancer Registry 2001–2008

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alghamdi IG

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Ibrahim G Alghamdi,1,2 Issam I Hussain,1 Mohamed S Alghamdi,3 Mansour M Alghamdi,4 Ahlam A Dohal,4 Mohammed A El-Sheemy51School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, Lincoln, UK; 2Al-Baha University, Kingdom of Saudia Arabia; 3Ministry of Health, General Directorate of Health Affairs, Al-Baha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 4King Fahad Specialist Hospital–Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 5Department of Research and Development, Lincoln Hospital, United Lincolnshire Hospitals, National Health Service Trust, Lincoln, UKPurpose: This study provides descriptive epidemiological data, such as the percentage of cases diagnosed, crude incidence rate (CIR, and age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR of ovarian cancer in Saudi Arabia from 2001–2008. Patients and methods: A retrospective descriptive epidemiological analysis of all ovarian cancer cases recorded in the Saudi Cancer Registry (SCR from January 2001–December 2008 was performed. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance tests, Poisson regression, and simple linear modeling.Results: A total of 991 ovarian cancer cases were recorded in the SCR from January 2001–December 2008. The region of Riyadh had the highest overall ASIR at 3.3 cases per 100,000 women, followed by the Jouf and Asir regions at 3.13 and 2.96 cases per 100,000 women. However, Hail and Jazan had the lowest rates at 1.4 and 0.6 cases per 100,000 women, respectively. Compared to Jazan, the incidence rate ratio for the number of ovarian cancer cases was significantly higher (P<0.001 in the Makkah region at 6.4 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.13–9.83, followed by Riyadh at 6.3 (95% CI: 4.10–9.82, and the eastern region of Saudi Arabia at 4.52 (95% CI: 2.93–6.98. The predicted annual CIR and ASIR for ovarian cancer in Saudi Arabia could be defined by the equations 0.9 + (0.07× years and 1.71 + (0.09× years, respectively.Conclusion: We observed a slight increase in the CIRs and

  15. Incidence rate of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas among males in Saudi Arabia: an observational descriptive epidemiological analysis of data from the Saudi Cancer Registry, 2001–2008

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alghamdi IG

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Ibrahim G Alghamdi,1,2 Issam I Hussain,1 Mohamed S Alghamdi,3 Ahlam A Dohal,4 Mansour M Alghamdi,4 Mohammed A El-Sheemy5 1School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK; 2Albaha University, Al Baha city, Saudi Arabia; 3General Directorate of Health Affairs, Ministry of Health, Al Baha, 4King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Dammam, Saudi Arabia; 5Research and Development, Lincoln Hospital, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHSTrust, Lincoln, UK Background: This study describes epidemiological data of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL diagnosed from 2001 to 2008 among Saudi men. Materials and methods: Retrospective data from all NHL cancer cases among Saudi men recorded in the Saudi Cancer Registry (SCR between January 2001 and December 2008 were used. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, Poisson regression, and simple linear regression were also used. Results: In total, 2,555 new cases of NHL were recorded between January 2001 and December 2008. The region of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia had the highest overall age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR at 7.8, followed by the Eastern region at 6.8, and Makkah at 6.1 per 100,000 men; however, Jazan, Hail, and Baha had the lowest average ASIRs at 2.5, 3.7, and 3.9 per 100,000 men, respectively. The incidence-rate ratio for the number of NHL cases was significantly higher in Riyadh (4.68, 95% confidence interval [CI] 4.11–5.32, followed by Makkah (4.47, 95% CI 3.94–5.07, and the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia (3.27, 95% CI 2.90–3.69 than that in the reference region of Jazan. Jouf had the highest changes in the ASIRs of NHL among Saudi men from 2001 and 2008 (5.0 per 100,000 men. Conclusion: A significant increase in the crude incidence rate and ASIR for NHL in Saudi Arabia between 2001 and 2008 was found. Riyadh, the Eastern region, and Makkah had the highest overall ASIR in Saudi Arabia. Jazan, Hail, and Baha had the lowest rates. Additionally, Riyadh, Makkah, and the Eastern region had the

  16. The Influence of Eroded Blades on Wind Turbine Performance Using Numerical Simulations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthias Schramm

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available During their operation, wind turbine blades are eroded due to rain and hail, or they are contaminated with insects. Since the relative inflow velocity is higher at the outer than at the inner part of the blades, erosion occurs mostly at the outer blade region. In order to prevent strong erosion, it is possible to install a leading edge protection, which can be applied to the blades after the initial installation, but changes the shape of the initial airfoil sections. It is unclear how this modification influences the aerodynamic performance of the turbine. Hence, it is investigated in this work. The NREL 5 MW turbine is simulated with clean and eroded blades, which are compared to coated blades equipped with leading edge protection. Aerodynamic polars are generated by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics, and load calculations are conducted using the blade element momentum theory. The analysis in this work shows that, compared to clean rotor blades, the worse aerodynamic behaviour of strongly eroded blades can lead to power losses of 9 % . In contrast, coated blades only have a small impact on the turbine power of less than 1 % .

  17. Bending without breaking: A two-study examination of employee resilience in the face of job insecurity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shoss, Mindy K; Jiang, Lixin; Probst, Tahira M

    2018-01-01

    Job insecurity is a ubiquitous threat that has been linked to a number of undesirable emotional, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes. Against this backdrop, popular and academic accounts have hailed the ability to bounce back from threats (i.e., resilience) as a crucial competency. We leverage the cognitive-relational model of stress to examine the extent to which resilience (operationalized as both dispositional tendencies and coping strategies) mitigates several negative consequences of job insecurity. We tested the moderating role of resilience in 2 studies. In a cross-sectional study with a sample of 1,071 university employees in the United States, we found resilience weakened the relationships between job insecurity and emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and psychological contract breach. In a 2-wave study with 335 employees demographically representative of working population of the United States, we found that resilience mitigated the negative consequences of job insecurity on emotional exhaustion and interpersonal counterproductive work behaviors assessed 1 month later. Results of both studies converge to support the proposed buffering effect of resilience during times of job insecurity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  18. Lightning Applications in Weather and Climate Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Price, Colin G.

    2013-11-01

    Thunderstorms, and lightning in particular, are a major natural hazard to the public, aviation, power companies, and wildfire managers. Lightning causes great damage and death every year but also tells us about the inner working of storms. Since lightning can be monitored from great distances from the storms themselves, lightning may allow us to provide early warnings for severe weather phenomena such as hail storms, flash floods, tornadoes, and even hurricanes. Lightning itself may impact the climate of the Earth by producing nitrogen oxides (NOx), a precursor of tropospheric ozone, which is a powerful greenhouse gas. Thunderstorms themselves influence the climate system by the redistribution of heat, moisture, and momentum in the atmosphere. What about future changes in lightning and thunderstorm activity? Many studies show that higher surface temperatures produce more lightning, but future changes will depend on what happens to the vertical temperature profile in the troposphere, as well as changes in water balance, and even aerosol loading of the atmosphere. Finally, lightning itself may provide a useful tool for tracking climate change in the future, due to the nonlinear link between lightning, temperature, upper tropospheric water vapor, and cloud cover.

  19. Book review of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Piketty. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard Press, 2014, 605 pages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul Dobrescu

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available “Every now and then, the field of economics produces an important book; this is one of them” (Cowen, 2014. These are the opening words of Tyler Cowen’s presentation of Thomas Piketty’s work, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” (Piketty, 2014, in Foreign Affairs. This is a book that is visibly placed in all important bookstores around the world, widely debated, acclaimed, sold (over 1 million copies have been sold so far. It has been favorably reviewed or quoted in all major journals. The assessment of “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” by Paul Krugman, Nobel Economics Prize Laureate as a “magnificent, sweeping meditation on inequality”, is highly relevant: “This is a book that will change both the way we think about society and the way we do economics” (Krugman, 2014. Finally, Piketty’s book is included in the list of the year’s best books by prestigious journals, such as The Economist, Financial Times, The Washington Post, Observer, The Independent, Daily Telegraph; Financial Times and McKinsey have hailed it as the best book of 2014.

  20. Color Shade Nets Improve Vegetables Quality at Harvest and Maintain Quality During Storage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilić Zoran S.

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The photoselective, light-dispersive shade nets can be used as an alternative to protect crops from adverse environmental conditions such as; excessive solar radiation, heat and drought stress, wind and hail, birds, flying pests, thus improving crop’s production, yield and quality. The physiological parameters discussed in the review include: vegetable growth parameters (leaf area, leaf chlorophyll, tissue structure, fruit ripening, physiological disorders, pest and disease incidence, fruit quality parameters (soluble solids content and titratable acidity, bioactive compounds (antioxidant activity, ascorbic acid, carotenoid and flavonoid contents and aroma volatile compounds at harvest. Also, it is evident in the reviewed literature that light quality influences the biosynthesis, accumulation and retention of vegetable phytochemicals, as well as the decay development during storage. These new strategies to modulate light quality should be conveyed to vegetable producing farmers, thus allowing them to preserve the freshness and post-harvest quality of vegetables for an extended period of time, and to meet the consumers demand for vegetables with high nutritional value all year round. Research on light manipulation in horticultural systems is necessary for a sustainable and market-oriented open field and greenhouse vegetable production in the future.