Measurements of solar occulation: the error in a naive retrieval if the constituent's concentration changes

The stratospheric concentrations of many minor constituents change rapidly at sunrise or sunset. If this happens, there is an inherent error when retrieving the vertical profiles of the constituents from measurements of their absorption of sunlight. For retrievals of NO at sunset the error can be estimated from in-situ measurements alone, without appeal to a model of stratospheric photochemistry. Below 20 km this error can approach 100% so that the retrieved NO is zero. But at 40 km, and at 25 km when the absorption is strong and Lorentzian, it can be less than 20%. Precise calculations of the error, even if small, require model calculations of the sunset and sunrise changes. With a model, we have calculated the error for NO, NO₂, OH and ClO.     

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Triple approaches in the plane isosceles equal-mass three-body problem

We analyze flyby-type triple approaches in the plane isosceles equal-mass three-body problem and in its vicinity. At the initial time, the central body lies on a straight line between the other two bodies. Triple approaches are described by two parameters: virial coefficient k and parameter $\mu = \dot r/\sqrt {\dot r^2 + \dot R^2 }$ , where $\dot r$ is the relative velocity of the extreme bodies and $\dot R$ is the velocity of the central body relative to the center of mass of the extreme bodies. The evolution of the triple system is traceable until the first turn or escape of the central body. The ejection length increases with closeness of the triple approach (parameter k). The longest ejections and escapes occur when the extreme bodies move apart with a low velocity at the time of triple approach. We determined the domain of escapes; it corresponds to close triple approaches (k>0.8) and to μ in the range ?0.2<μ<0.7. For small deviations from the isosceles problem, the evolution does not differ qualitatively from the isosceles case. The domain of escapes decreases with increasing deviations. In general, the ejection length increases for wide approaches and decreases for close approaches.     

Deriving rules from activity diary data: A learning algorithm and results of computer experiments

 Activity-based models consider travel as a derived demand from the activities households need to conduct in space and time. Over the last 15 years, computational or rule-based models of activity scheduling have gained increasing interest in time-geography and transportation research. This paper argues that a lack of techniques for deriving rules from empirical data hinders the further development of rule-based systems in this area. To overcome this problem, this paper develops and tests an algorithm for inductively deriving rules from activity-diary data. The decision table formalism is used to exhaustively represent the theoretically possible decision rules that individuals may use in sequencing a given set of activities. Actual activity patterns of individuals are supplied to the system as examples. In an incremental learning process, the system progressively improves on the selection of rules used for reproducing the examples. Computer experiments based on simulated data are performed to fine-tune rule selection and rule value update functions. The results suggest that the system is effective and fairly robust for parameter settings. It is concluded, therefore, that the proposed approach opens up possibilities to derive empirically tested rule-based models of activity scheduling. Follow-up research will be concerned with testing the system on empirical data. Received: 31 January 2001 / Accepted: 13 September 2001     

On the sensitivity of mesoscale models to surface-layer parameterization constants

The Colorado State University standard mesoscale model is used to evaluate the sensitivity of one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) fields to differences in surface-layer parameterization constants. Such differences reflect the range in the published values of the von Karman constant, Monin-Obukhov stability functions and the temperature roughness length at the surface. The sensitivity of 1D boundary-layer structure, and 2D sea-breeze intensity, is generally less than that found in published comparisons related to turbulence closure schemes generally.