The Coulomb dissociation (CD) of 8B has emerged as a landmark testing ground of the very method of CD for measuring the cross section of the low-energy 7Be(p, γ )8B direct capture (DC) reaction. Recent claims of evidence of slope difference between CD and DC results are critically examined. We include all relevant RIKEN2 data and all previously published DC data, and we examine the extracted so...

Passive-dynamic walkers are simple mechanical devices, composed of solid parts connected by joints, that walk stably down a slope. They have no motors or controllers, yet can have remarkably humanlike motions. This suggests that these machines are useful models of human locomotion; however, they cannot walk on level ground. Here we present three robots based on passive-dynamics, with small acti...

Standard free energies (DeltaGN degree) for formation of near attack conformers, those ground state conformers that can convert directly to the transition state, were calculated for the Claisen rearrangement of chorismate to prephenate in six different environments: water, wild-type enzymes from Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli, their Arg90Cit and Glu52Ala mutants, and the 1F7 catalytic a...

We tested the accuracy of an atmospheric correction method that depends on clear water bodies to infer solar and atmospheric parameters for radiative transfer equations by measuring the reflectance signature of four prominent south Texas rangeland plants with the Earth Resource Technology (LANDSAT) satellite multispectral scanner (MSS) and a ground-based Exotech Model 20 spectroradiometer. The ...

Models of ground surface elevation, slope, aspect, curvature, roughness, deformation, as well as other features are gathered together in the term Digital Terrain Model (DTM). DTMs can be generated from a wide range of technologies such as ground surveying, aerial and satellite imagery, including both active and passive sensors. Some elevationderived parameters, such as roughness and slope can b...

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate technique differences between expert and novice manual wheelchair users during over-ground wheelchair propulsion. Method: Seven experts (spinal cord injury level between T5 and L1) and six novices (non-wheelchair users) pushed a manual wheelchair over level ground, a 2.5% cross slope and up a 6.5% incline (7.2 m length) and 12% incline (1...

Many land-management agencies are caught between decreased budgets and increasing public interest. Furthermore, semi-arid landscapes are sensitive to management prescriptions and use, and require a significant amount of monitoring in order to assess vegetation productivity and health. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) Imagery to monitor ...

Cloven hooves of ruminants adapt to diverse terrain, provide propulsive force and support the whole body during movement in natural environments. To reveal how the feet ensure terrain adaptability by choosing the proper configurations and terrain conditions, we model the feet of ruminants as an equivalent mechanism with flexion-extension and lateral movement decoupled. The upper part of the equ...

[1] The emerging interdisciplinary approaches of ecohydrology and hydropedology are sensitive to variation in soil-surface energy inputs, which are primarily modified by topography and woody plant canopies. Yet a synthesis of the interactive effects of these two modification types is lacking. We systematically estimated near-ground surface solar radiation inputs as modified by key attributes of...

Keel bone damage (KBD) is prevalent in hens raised for egg production, and ramps between different tiers in aviaries have potential to reduce the frequency of falls resulting in KBD. Effective use of ramps requires modulation of locomotion in anticipation of the incline. Inadequate adaptive locomotion may be one explanation why domestic layer hens (Gallus gallus domesticus) exhibit high rates o...