How will humanity react to the discovery of extraterrestrial life? Speculation on this topic abounds, but empirical research is practically non-existent. We report the results of three empirical studies assessing psychological reactions to the discovery of extraterrestrial life using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) text analysis software. We examined language use in media coverage ...

Solar radiation models for predicting the average daily and hourly global radiation, beam radiation and diffuse radiation are reviewed in this paper. Seven models using the Ångström– Prescott equation to predict the average daily global radiation with hours of sunshine are considered. The average daily global radiation for Hong Kong (22.3 N latitude, 114.3 E longitude) is predicted. Estimations...

Binary ice mixtures of two carbon monoxide isotopomers, (13)C(16)O and (12)C(18)O, were subjected at 10 K to energetic electrons to investigate the interaction of ionizing radiation with extraterrestrial, carbon monoxide bearing ices. The chemical modifications were monitored on line and in situ via absorption-reflection-absorption Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy as well as in the gas-p...

Modeling potential evapotranspiration (ET0) is an important issue for water resources planning and management projects involving droughts flood hazards. Evapotranspiration, one of the main components hydrological cycle, highly effective in drought monitoring. This study investigates efficiency two machine-learning methods, random vector functional link (RVFL) relevance machine (RVM), improved w...

The official meteorological network is poor on the island of Corsica: only three sites being about 50 km apart are equipped with pyranometers which enable measurements by hourly and daily step. These sites are Ajaccio (41°55‟N and 8°48‟E, seaside), Bastia (42°33‟N, 9°29‟E, seaside) and Corte (42°30‟N, 9°15‟E average altitude of 486 meters). This lack of weather station makes difficult the predi...

The responses of microorganisms (viruses, bacterial cells, bacterial and fungal spores, and lichens) to selected factors of space (microgravity, galactic cosmic radiation, solar UV radiation, and space vacuum) were determined in space and laboratory simulation experiments. In general, microorganisms tend to thrive in the space flight environment in terms of enhanced growth parameters and a demo...

UV radiation exposure increases skin cancer risk. A substantial portion of a person's UV exposure occurs before the age of 18 years. We sought to determine UVB radiation exposure levels in high-school students during normal daily activity. Digital dosimeters were worn by 4 high-school students during 11 school days. Students were subjected to daily erythemal and suberythemal doses of UVB radiat...