Barometric formula for non-isothermal atmosphere

A new barometric formula is derived for a non-isothermal atmosphere. It takes into account the dependence of the acceleration of gravity and gas temperature on the height z above the Earth’s surface. When deriving this formula, it was assumed that the dependence of the gas temperature on altitude is due to the heating of the Earth’s surface by the Sun and the subsequent heat transfer of energy from the Earth’s surface to the atmosphere. The proposed formula coincides with the classical barometric formula for an isothermal atmosphere at low altitudes z, takes into account the experimental linear decrease in the temperature of the atmosphere in its lower layers with increasing altitude z and gives a physically correct asymptotics for the pressure (and for concentration) of the gas as z -> oo, namely, the pressure (and concentration) of gas tends to zero faster than exponentially as z -> oo, which ensures the localization of a finite amount of gas near the Earth.

Interaction of exercise bioenergetics with pacing behavior predicts track distance running performance

The best possible finishing time for a runner competing in distance track events can be estimated from their critical speed (CS) and the finite amount of energy that can be expended above CS (D'). During tactical races with variable pacing, the runner with the 'best' combination of CS and D' and, therefore, the fastest estimated finishing time prior to the race, does not always win. We hypothesized that final race finishing positions depend on the relationships between the pacing strategy employed, the athletes' initial CS, and their instantaneous D' (i.e., D' balance) as the race unfolds. Using publicly available data from the 2017 IAAF World Championships men's 5,000 m and 10,000 m races, race speed, CS, and D' balance were calculated. The correlation between D' balance and actual finishing positions was non-significant utilizing start-line values but improved to R2 > 0.90 as both races progressed. The D' balance with 400 m remaining was strongly associated with both final 400 m split time and proximity to the winner. Athletes who exhausted their D' were unable to hold pace with the leaders, whereas a high D´ remaining enabled a fast final 400 m and a high finishing position. The D' balance model was able to accurately predict finishing positions in both a 'slow' 5,000 m and a 'fast' 10,000 m race. These results indicate that while CS and D' can characterize an athlete's performance capabilities prior to the start, the pacing strategy that optimizes D' utilization significantly impacts final race outcome.

Borough in the Basin: An exploration into how urbanism can adapt and respond to the opportunities and limitations of a basins’ landform

<p><b>Basins have a finite amount of flat land with limited access and a single drainage catchment. These elements create both opportunities and limitations for urban development. The flatness of land allows for effective urban densification and the surrounding hills hinder sprawl. These surrounding hills create a single, well-defined drainage catchment setting up an ideal landscape for total stormwater management. As basins have an isolation risk there is a need for a resiliency framework in their urban design. In the context of Wellington’s hilly landscape, the shallow terrain of basins is valuable for urban development. </b></p> <p>This research explores how urbanism can respond to the conditions of elevated basins, creating a dense urban fabric that is environmentally resilient. This exploration involves an analysis of the existing conditions of a chosen basin, Karori, through mapping and fieldwork, the development of a theoretical framework based on precedents and literature and a design process that enhances natural systems to increase amenity and encourage development.</p>

Borough in the Basin: An exploration into how urbanism can adapt and respond to the opportunities and limitations of a basins’ landform

<p><b>Basins have a finite amount of flat land with limited access and a single drainage catchment. These elements create both opportunities and limitations for urban development. The flatness of land allows for effective urban densification and the surrounding hills hinder sprawl. These surrounding hills create a single, well-defined drainage catchment setting up an ideal landscape for total stormwater management. As basins have an isolation risk there is a need for a resiliency framework in their urban design. In the context of Wellington’s hilly landscape, the shallow terrain of basins is valuable for urban development. </b></p> <p>This research explores how urbanism can respond to the conditions of elevated basins, creating a dense urban fabric that is environmentally resilient. This exploration involves an analysis of the existing conditions of a chosen basin, Karori, through mapping and fieldwork, the development of a theoretical framework based on precedents and literature and a design process that enhances natural systems to increase amenity and encourage development.</p>

The Brain and the New Foundations of Mathematics

Many concepts in mathematics are not fully defined, and their properties are implicit, which leads to paradoxes. New foundations of mathematics were formulated based on the concept of innate programs of behavior and thinking. The basic axiom of mathematics is proposed, according to which any mathematical object has a physical carrier. This carrier can store and process only a finite amount of information. As a result of the D-procedure (encoding of any mathematical objects and operations on them in the form of qubits), a mathematical object is digitized. As a consequence, the basis of mathematics is the interaction of brain qubits, which can only implement arithmetic operations on numbers. A proof in mathematics is an algorithm for finding the correct statement from a list of already-existing statements. Some mathematical paradoxes (e.g., Banach–Tarski and Russell) and Smale’s 18th problem are solved by means of the D-procedure. The axiom of choice is a consequence of the equivalence of physical states, the choice among which can be made randomly. The proposed mathematics is constructive in the sense that any mathematical object exists if it is physically realized. The consistency of mathematics is due to directed evolution, which results in effective structures. Computing with qubits is based on the nontrivial quantum effects of biologically important molecules in neurons and the brain.

Sports Television and the Continuing Search for Alternative Programming

The American sports television industry has scrambled to adjust to the loss of live sporting events in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic – a scramble clearly evidenced in programming schedules suddenly filled with replays of older event telecasts. However, rather than focus on the apparent novelty of this type of substitute coronavirus programming, this article instead argues that the loss of live sporting events represents the amplification of a problem television networks have already been grappling with for years: how to fill an ever greater number of outlets with sufficient year-round programming given a finite amount of live events. That in mind, this article proposes that many of the programming strategies that networks have turned to in the midst of the pandemic, including the expanded coverage of transactions (e.g. coverage of NFL free agency) and the increased scheduling of documentaries (e.g. The Last Dance), have been familiar extensions of previously established alternative programming solutions.

Travellers, Easter Witches and Cunning Folk: Regulators of Fortune and Misfortune in Ostrobothnian Folklore in Finland

This article* is about the distinct groups that practised malevolent and benevolent witchcraft in Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia in late-modern Finland according to belief legends and memorates. Placing belief legends and memorates in Mary Douglas’ tripartite classification of powers that regulate fortune and misfortune illuminates the social structure of agents who posed a threat or regulated it by means of their supranormal powers. Powers that bring misfortune dwell outside or within the community, whereas powers that bring fortune live within it but nevertheless may be ambivalent and pose a threat to its members as well. Threat towards the community was based on the concept of limited good, in other words the belief that there was a finite amount of prosperity in the world. The aim is to paint a detailed picture of the complex social structure and approaches to witchcraft in late-modern Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia.

Classical and quantum equations of motion of a 4-dimensional Schwarzschild–AdS and Reissner–Nordström–AdS black hole

We investigate the gravitational collapse of both a massive (Schwarzschild–AdS) and a massive-charged (Reissner–Nordström–AdS) 4-dimensional domain wall in AdS space. Here, we consider both the classical and quantum collapse, in the absence of quasi-particle production and backreaction. For the massive case, we show that, as far as the asymptotic observer is concerned, the collapse takes an infinite amount of time to occur in both the classical and quantum cases. Hence, quantizing the domain wall does not lead to the formation of the black hole in a finite amount of time. For the infalling observer, we find that the domain wall collapses to both the event horizon and the classical singularity in a finite amount of proper time. In the region of the classical singularity, however, the wave function exhibits both nonlocal and nonsingular effects. For the massive-charged case, we show that, as far as the asymptotic observer is concerned, the details of the collapse depend on the amount of charge present; that is, the extremal, nonextremal and overcharged cases. In the overcharged case, the collapse never fully occurs since the solution is an oscillatory solution which prevents the formation of a naked singularity. For the extremal and nonextremal cases, it takes an infinite amount of time for the outer horizon to form. For the infalling observer in the nonextremal case, we find that the domain wall collapses to both the event horizon and the classical singularity in a finite amount of proper time. In the region of the classical singularity, the wave function also exhibits both nonlocal and nonsingular effects. Furthermore, in the large energy density limit, the wave function vanishes as the domain wall approaches classical singularity implying that the quantization does not rid the black hole of its singular nature.

Quantum Measurements in a Finite Space–Time Domain

In this paper, we discuss the quantum Unruh–DeWitt detector, which couples to the field bath for a finite amount of its proper time. It is demonstrated that due to the renormalization procedure, a new dimensionful parameter appears, having the meaning of a detector’s recovery proper time. It plays no role in the leading order of the perturbation theory, but can be important non-perturbatively. We also analyze the structure of finite time corrections in two cases—perturbative switching on, and switching off when the detector is thermalized.