Natural convection driven by buoyancy and surface tension forces under external magnetic field

Two-dimensional natural convection driven both by buoyancy and surface tension in the horizontal layer of an electrically conducting liquid which is subjected to a horizontal temperature gradient and a vertical magnetic field is studied theoretically. The flow and temperature distribution in the liquid layer is analysed for two cases; (1) the top surface is free and the bottom is a rigid wall, and (2) both surfaces are rigid. The effect of the magnetic field on the flow velocity and the temperature distribution is made clear and the simple expressions are obtained for two extreme cases of the sufficiently large magnetic field and the small magnetic field.     

Collaborative Navigation in an Unfamiliar Environment with People Having Different Spatial Aptitudes

This study addressed the issue of collaborative navigation by examining the types of information communicated in the processes of direction giving and receiving between people who guided each other simultaneously to a destination over the cell phone in a novel environment. When paired with a partner whose sense of direction differed greatly from their own, people found the collaboration difficult and took a longer time to verbally direct the partner to the destination. Landmarks that people used in giving navigational instructions differed depending on sense of direction. People with a good sense of direction adjusted route directions to their partners' wayfinding ability. Results from a detailed qualitative analysis of participants' verbal protocols and implications for personalized navigation tools are discussed.     

Ionospheric disturbance associated with radiation accidents of Fukushima I nuclear power plant damaged by the M9.0 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

Transient ionospheric disturbances in the total electron content (TEC) are examined before and after the M9.0 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake to find ionospheric responses to the radiation caused by Fukushima I nuclear power plant accident, which was damaged by the earthquake and tsunamis. The TEC is derived from records of a ground-based receiving network of GPS Earth Observation Network (GEONET) in Japan. Both small enhancement and disturbance of TEC were detected over the nuclear power plant after the radiation was suddenly enhanced on March 14 of 2011, while similar signatures were not detected in the other sudden radiation enhancements. Further, no continuous enhancement and disturbance lasting for more than an hour were observed over the nuclear power plant. Therefore, the results indicate that radioactive materials may not cause the ionospheric disturbance or disturb the ionosphere in highly specific circumstance even if such effects exist.     

Improvements in and actual performance of the Plant Experiment Unit onboard Kibo,the Japanese experiment module on the international space station

In 2004, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency developed the engineered model of the Plant Experiment Unit and the Cell Biology Experiment Facility. The Plant Experiment Unit was designed to be installed in the Cell Biology Experiment Facility and to support the seed-to-seed life cycle experiment of Arabidopsis plants in space in the project named Space Seed. Ground-based experiments to test the Plant Experiment Unit showed that the unit needed further improvement of a system to control the water content of a seedbed using an infrared moisture analyzer and that it was difficult to keep the relative humidity inside the Plant Experiment Unit between 70 and 80% because the Cell Biology Experiment Facility had neither a ventilation system nor a dehumidifying system. Therefore, excess moisture inside the Cell Biology Experiment Facility was removed with desiccant bags containing calcium chloride. Eight flight models of the Plant Experiment Unit in which dry Arabidopsis seeds were fixed to the seedbed with gum arabic were launched to the International Space Station in the space shuttle STS-128 (17A) on August 28, 2009. Plant Experiment Unit were installed in the Cell Biology Experiment Facility with desiccant boxes, and then the Space Seed experiment was started in the Japanese Experiment Module, named Kibo, which was part of the International Space Station, on September 10, 2009 by watering the seedbed and terminated 2 months later on November 11, 2009. On April 19, 2010, the Arabidopsis plants harvested in Kibo were retrieved and brought back to Earth by the space shuttle mission STS-131 (19A). The present paper describes the Space Seed experiment with particular reference to the development of the Plant Experiment Unit and its actual performance in Kibo onboard the International Space Station. Downlinked images from Kibo showed that the seeds had started germinating 3 days after the initial watering. The plants continued growing, producing rosette leaves, inflorescence stems, flowers, and fruits in the Plant Experiment Unit. In addition, the senescence of rosette leaves was found to be delayed in microgravity.