Validation of a vector version of the 6S radiative transfer code for atmospheric correction of satellite data. Part II. Homogeneous Lambertian and anisotropic surfaces

This is the second part of the validation effort of the recently developed vector version of the 6S (Second Simulation of a Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum) radiative transfer code (6SV1), primarily used for the calculation of look-up tables in the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) atmospheric correction algorithm. The 6SV1 code was tested against a Monte Carlo code and Coulson's tabulated values for molecular and aerosol atmospheres bounded by different Lambertian and anisotropic surfaces. The code was also tested in scalar mode against the scalar code SHARM to resolve the previous 6S accuracy issues in the case of an anisotropic surface. All test cases were characterized by good agreement between the 6SV1 and the other codes: The overall relative error did not exceed 0.8%. The study also showed that ignoring the effects of radiation polarization in the atmosphere led to large errors in the simulated top-of-atmosphere reflectances: The maximum observed error was approximately 7.2% for both Lambertian and anisotropic surfaces.     

Development of a disposable potentiometric sensor for the near patient testing of plasma thiol concentrations

The reaction of naphthoquinone with physiological thiols has been investigated as the basis of a NPT strategy for the measurement of the latter. Screen-printed carbon electrode assemblies provide an inexpensive and inherently disposable platform for the detection methodology. The key analytical parameters underpinning the selective and sensitive (0.4 uM-1 mM) determination of reduced thiol have been assessed, and the clinical efficacy of the approach has been demonstrated through its application to the analysis of human plasma. The results have been corroborated using standard techniques, and the routes through which the system can be adopted within mainstream biomedical environments are highlighted.     

Hydrological fronts seen in visible and infrared MODIS imagery of the Black Sea

This article presents an examination of hydrological fronts in the Black Sea based on visible and infrared Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) imagery obtained during 2008–2013. First the images were preliminarily treated (e.g. via applying a median filter) and then the fronts were detected using the Sobel operator. Further processing of the fields of the gradient norm thus obtained helped determine the generalized results of the front density for different years and seasons. On analysis of such results it was shown that the strongest thermal and optical fronts in the Black Sea are located in the near-coastal area. Nevertheless, analysis of the front density contrasts in the open sea was discovered to be very helpful as well, because it provided important information on the trajectories of the main macro- and mesoscale circulation patterns in the basin such as the Rim Current, Batumi eddy, and eddies of the Anatolian coast.     

The straight‐chain segment length distribution in xerogels of UHMWPE,which provide high drawability of gel‐derived fibers

A series of ultra‐high‐molecular‐weight reactor powders with different technological prehistory were utilized for obtaining fibers through the gel technology. The fibers prepared from some powders exhibited high draw ratios and good mechanical properties (Young's modulus and tensile stress) but other powders yielded fibers of very low drawability. The low‐frequency Raman study revealed that the straight‐chain‐segment (SCS) length distributions in dried gels prepared from powders of “drawable” group are bimodal, while the gels issued from powders unsuitable for fiber drawing have unimodal length distributions of SCS. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007     

The importance of ‘process’ in Rethinking Project Management: The story of a UK Government-funded research network

This paper tells the story of a UK Government-funded research network called Rethinking Project Management, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council between 2004 and 2006. The story is significant because of the considerable attention given to the process of the Network, both the inquiry process of ‘rethinking’ project management, and the broader social process in which the rethinking activity was carried out. In telling this story, the lead organisers explain how the inquiry process was organised as a learning system to enable the Network to ‘learn’ its way to relevant directions for future research, and secondly, how the broader social process was organised and facilitated to create a context for effective interaction between the people involved. A significant challenge in managing the research programme was how to engage the participants in purposeful inquiry, which would serve not only the primary aims of the Network, but would also yield new and interesting insights for the people involved. This paper seeks to explain how the lead organisers addressed this challenge, through a detailed and reflective discussion of how the research programme was organised and facilitated to achieve the Network’s primary aims. In summary, the principal aim in telling this story is to highlight the importance of process in collaborative research activity involving academics and practitioners, in order that other researchers might draw on the experience of this Network.     

Crystalline phase in the ultrahigh molecular‐weight polyethylene gel solution and xerogel

The transverse and longitudinal sizes of crystallites in thermoreversible polyethylene gels and xerogels were measured using wide‐angle X‐ray scattering and a low‐frequency Raman spectroscopy, and were found to be 10–40 and 4–5 nm, respectively. The experimental data evidence the imperfection of primary crystallites in both dimensions. The gel‐to‐solid transition results in gaining the direct interaction between crystalline entities with increasing the cracking, on the one hand, and forming the clusters of stacked crystalline platelets linked with regular molecular rods, on the other hand. These contact interaction leads, in addition, to the coiling of a great part of regular sequences that emanate from the crystallite cores to the amorphous region. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 373–378, 2003     

Cesium uptake by pentacyanoferrate(II) complexes with O-containing derivatives of chitosan

Here we report on synthesis of new organic-inorganic materials based on products of interaction between sodium aminoprusside and polymer ligands. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and UV-visible spectroscopy and thermogravimetry were used to investigate the structure and stability of the complexes. It was found that ion and ligand exchange were the main reactions of the interaction of sodium aminoprusside with water-soluble polymer salts. All other composites in the Co(II) form were characterized in terms of sorption capacities and distribution coefficients (K_d) for cesium ions. The highest values of distribution coefficients were obtained for polyampholyte chitosan derivatives.