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Assessing the association between developed surface area and land surface temperature of urban areas

Ustin et al. | Nov 11, 2024

Assessing the association between developed surface area and land surface temperature of urban areas
Image credit: The authors

Almost all urban areas face the challenge of urban heat islands, areas with substantially hotter land surface temperatures than the surrounding rural areas. These areas are associated with worse air and water
quality, increased power outages, and increased heat-related illnesses. To learn more about these areas, Ustin et al. analyze satellite images of Cleveland neighborhoods to find out if there is a correlation between surface area development and surface temperature.

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Statistical evaluation of the effects of surface processing on aerospace fastener tested strength

Zeng et al. | Mar 31, 2023

Statistical evaluation of the effects of surface processing on aerospace fastener tested strength
Image credit: Robert Ruggiero

In the aerospace industry, various surface processing or coatings are widely used. However, no detailed research on the aerospace fastener tensile and double shear strength variation due to surface processing has been conducted. Thus, the purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the effect of surface processing on the standard aerospace fastener's tensile and shear properties.

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Isolation of Microbes From Common Household Surfaces

Gajanan et al. | Jan 27, 2013

Isolation of Microbes From Common Household Surfaces

Microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi live everywhere in the world around us. The authors here demonstrate that these predominantly harmless microbes can be isolated from many household locations that appear "clean." Further, they test the cleaning power of 70% ethanol and suggest that many "clean" surfaces are not in fact "sterile."

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The Effects of Atmospheric Attenuation on Cosmic Ray Muons: How is Surface Level Cosmic Ray Muon Flux Affected by Atmospheric Attenuation?

Sun et al. | Sep 11, 2021

The Effects of Atmospheric Attenuation on Cosmic Ray Muons: How is Surface Level Cosmic Ray Muon Flux Affected by Atmospheric Attenuation?

Cosmic rays are high-energy astronomical particles originating from various sources across the universe. Here, The authors sought to understand how surface-level cosmic-ray muon flux is affected by atmospheric attenuation by measuring the variation in relative muon-flux rate relative to zenith angle, testing the hypothesis that muons follow an exponential attenuation model. The attenuation model predicts an attenuation length of 6.3 km. This result implies that only a maximum of 24% of muons can reach the Earth’s surface, due to both decay and atmospheric interactions.

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Cathodal Galvanotaxis: The Effect of Voltage on the distribution of Tetrahymena pyriformis

Zheng et al. | Jun 10, 2019

Cathodal Galvanotaxis: The Effect of Voltage on the distribution of <em>Tetrahymena pyriformis</em>

The surface of the unicellular eukaryote, Tetrahymena pyriformis, is covered with thousands of hair-like cilia. These cilia are very similar to cilia of the human olfactory and respiratory tracts making them model organisms for studying cilia function and pathology. The authors of this study investigated the effect of voltage on T. pyriformis galvanotaxis, the movement towards an electrical stimulus. They observed galvanotaxis towards the cathode at voltages over 4V which plateau, indicating opening of voltage gated-ion channels to trigger movement.

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Analysis of the effects of positive ions and boundary layer temperature at various hypersonic speeds on boundary layer density

Selvakumar et al. | Oct 02, 2020

Analysis of the effects of positive ions and boundary layer temperature at various hypersonic speeds on boundary layer density

This study's goal was to identify the Mach numbers for which electrostatic drag and heat transfer manipulation would be most applicable inside the stratosphere. The experiments were conducted using computational fluid dynamics software. The study demonstrated that, on average, higher Mach speeds resulted in a considerably higher potential decrease in density. The study highlights that further research on the surface charge method is warranted to explore higher hypersonic speeds within the stratosphere.

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