An accumulation theory approach to the explanation of regional disparities in underdeveloped countries

This article argues that the current explanations (polarization and polarization reversal theories) for the existing and widening regional disparities found in the developing countries are unsatisfactory and lead to unhelpful policy initiatives. It accepts the existance of polarisation and equalization mechanisms but argues that the influence of the historically and spatially differentiated socio-economic structure is the proper focus of attention.     

The planet formation imager

The Planet Formation Imager (PFI, www.planetformationimager.org) is a next-generation infrared interferometer array with the primary goal of imaging the active phases of planet formation in nearby star forming regions. PFI will be sensitive to warm dust emission using mid-infrared capabilities made possible by precise fringe tracking in the near-infrared. An L/M band combiner will be especially sensitive to thermal emission from young exoplanets (and their disks) with a high spectral resolution mode to probe the kinematics of CO and H₂O gas. In this paper, we give an overview of the main science goals of PFI, define a baseline PFI architecture that can achieve those goals, point at remaining technical challenges, and suggest activities today that will help make the Planet Formation Imager facility a reality.     

亚——非季风区非绝热加热与夏季环流关系的诊断研究

基于热力适应理论,本文利用 ＮＣＥＰ／ ＮＣＡＲ再分析资料对撒哈拉沙漠、青藏高原和孟加拉湾地区的非绝热加热与夏季环流进行了诊断研究。在非洲撒哈拉沙漠地区,以感热输送为主的加热仅局限于近地面层,边界层以上的大气则以辐射冷却占优势。因而除了边界层内存在着浅薄的正涡度和微弱的上升运动以外,整个对流层几乎都维持负涡度并盛行下沉运动。对于青藏高原地区,强大的表面感热通量引起的垂直扩散是近地面大气加热的主要分量,与大尺度上升运动相关的凝结潜热对低层大气的加热也有一定的贡献。长波辐射造成的对流层中、上层大气的冷却则主要由深对流潜热释放来补偿。夏季高原地区总非绝热加热是正值,且最大加热率出现在边界层内。低空大气辐合产生正涡度,而中、高层大气辐散伴有较强的负涡度。因而高原盛行上升运动,最大上升运动位于近地面层。夏季孟加拉湾地区的深对流凝结潜热释放远大于长波辐的冷却作用,因而整个对流层几乎都保持较强的非绝热加热。４００ｈＰａ层附近的最大加热率引起３００－４００ｈＰａ最强的上升运动。对流层上层是负涡度区,而中、低层为正涡度区。结果还表明,垂直和水平辐散环流与大气的热源和热汇区密切相联：在高层,辐散气流从热源区流向热汇区;在低层则相     

A multilevel path analysis of contact frequency between social network members

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the role of social networks in spatial-choice and travel behavior. It has been acknowledged that social activities and the travel for these activities can emerge from individuals’ social networks and that social activities are responsible for an important portion of travel demand. The influence of information and communication technologies (ICT’s) is also important in this respect. The purpose of the paper is to examine the effects of characteristics of egos and ego-alter relationships on the frequency of social interaction by different communication modes, using multilevel path analysis. The analyses are based on social network data collected in 2008 in the Eindhoven region in the Netherlands among 116 respondents. The results indicate a complementary relationship between contact frequencies by different modes. The contact frequencies of the different modes, especially face-to-face and telephone, can also be largely explained by the ego’s personal characteristics and the type of relationship and the distance between ego and alter.     

热带湿润气候中的局地天气预报

本文目的在于描述热带湿润气候中局地天气预报的各种方法。文中所给的结果在大多数情况下是可靠的。     

A wavefront tilt correction servo for the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer

The tilt correction servo for the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer (SUSI) consists of a 'pyramid' detector and piezo-electrically controlled tilt mirrors. The system measures image position and re-centers it with a sample frequency of 1000 Hz thereby holding the two beams of the interferometer parallel with a standard deviation of 0.164 ± 0.025 arcseconds. With an aperture size of 0.06 metres this implies less than a 2% loss in the visibility measurements made by SUSI. The servo has been used to magnitude 6.5 stars and is predicted to have a limiting magnitude of 7.5 and possibly as high as 8.5. The system not only corrects for the tilt introduced by the atmosphere but will supply a good estimate of seeing conditions using the same optical path through the atmosphere as the visibility measurements of the interferometer.     

Non-linear effects in internal-tide beams, and mixing

A non-linear non-hydrostatic model (MIT-gcm) is used to study the generation and propagation of internal tides. The model domain covers a continental slope and neighbouring parts of the deep ocean and shelf. Uniformity in the along-slope direction is assumed. We focus on the non-linear evolution of the internal tide once generated. In particular, we show that in the main region of generation, over the upper part of the slope, small-scale features occur, indicative of breaking and mixing. Far from the generation region, non-linear processes are important in the reflection of the beam at the bottom, where higher harmonics are generated. This implies an energy transfer toward higher frequencies and the resulting shape of the energy spectra is consistent with observations. Turbulent and mixing processes are analysed by employing an adiabatic sorting method; thus, we calculate the development in time of the available potential energy, the variation in the background potential energy due to irreversible processes, and the distribution of the Cox number (the local turbulent diffusivity normalized by the background diffusivity) over the slope. With rotation, the transfer of energy to higher harmonics is reduced.     

Global ocean circulation patterns based on seasat altimeter data and the GEML2 gravity field

The Seasat altimeter data has been completely adjusted by a crossing arc technique to reduce the crossover discrepancies to approximately ±30 cm in five regional adjustments. This data was then used to create sea surface heights at 1° intersections in the ocean areas with respect to the GRS80 ellipsoid. These heights excluded the direct tidal effects but included the induced permanent deformation. A geoid corresponding to these sea surface heights was computed, based on the potential coefficients of the GEML2 gravity field up to degree 6, augmented by Rapp's coefficients up to degree 180. The differences between sea surface heights and the geoid were computed to give approximate estimates of sea surface topography. These estimates are dominated by errors in both sea surface heights and geoid undulations. To optimally determine sea surface topography a spherical harmonic analysis of raw estimates was carried out and the series was further truncated at degree 6, giving estimates with minimum wavelengths on the order of 6000 km. The direction of current flow can be computed on a global basis using the spherical harmonic expansion of the sea surface topography. Ths has been done, not only for Seasat/GEML2 estimates, but also using the recent dynamic topography estimates of Levitus. The results of the two solutions are very similar and agree well with the major circulation features of the oceans.     

Sustainable conjunctive use of groundwater for additional irrigation

The key to ‘sustainable conjunctive use of groundwater for additional irrigation’ is the salt balance of groundwater below an irrigated field. This paper aims to develop a mathematical tool to study the accumulation of salt in the groundwater below an irrigated field as caused by irrigation recirculation. This study derives a salt balance of groundwater to ensure that the additional irrigation from groundwater remains possible in the future. The water and salt budgets by themselves do neither provide information concerning farmers' options nor on the limits of the individual terms in the budget equations. It is presumed that farmers will intuitively aim for (1) an optimal value of the actual evapotranspiration, and (2) a return flow as a feasible low fraction of the available water. We, therefore, derive the irrigation from groundwater Q as a consequence of the predefined farmers' aims to achieve a high actual evapotranspiration in combination with a given optimally used irrigation system. Our model concludes that the required amount of drainage is only dependent on the ratio of the salinity in the surface irrigation water and the acceptable salinity of the groundwater. The final salinity in the saturated zone only depends on salt‐carrying inflows and outflows. From the aforesaid model, it is further concluded that sustainable conjunctive use of groundwater for additional irrigation requires long‐term salt management, which should be founded on the essential controlling factors as derived in this paper. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Autonomous and rapid deployment of a compact taut-wire mooring

The deployment time of a taut-wire mooring is reduced to the time any transportation/hoisting device needs to put a payload at the sea surface. This is a matter of minutes rather than hours needed for deployment of long deep-ocean moorings in the regular way. It is achieved by extending the basic function of mooring parts to temporarily form a Launcher for Oceanographic Equipment and Instruments (LOEI). Full preparation of the mooring is done onshore where the instruments are prepared and programmed, and spooled onto the top-buoy together with the line. At sea, no other gear is required than a device that is able to lift a load of, say, 2000 kg, even for long deep-ocean moorings. The compact mooring method realizes considerable budget savings through deployments from non-research vessels and airborne transportation-deployment. Limitations lay in size and weight of the oceanographic instruments. We present a test-design shaped as a barbell and loaded with 940 m line and 3 current meters. Unfurling speed was maximally 2.3 m s⁻¹ and the descent speed amounted 1.2 m s⁻¹ until landing on the seabed. These speeds are comparable to those acquired during a conventional free-falling mooring deployment.