Earth: Review Article

Every year on 22 April, we have celebrated Earth Day and the beautiful planet we call home. Earth Day, established in 1970, has been used to highlight our planet’s environmental challenges and raise awareness of the importance of protecting our world for future generations [1]. To provide the protection of our planet, we should explain Earth’s environmental challenges to the best of our knowledge in frames of contemporary Geophysics. This paper gives a short overview of the developed Hypersphere World-Universe Model (WUM) and pay particular attention to the principal role of Dark Matter (DM) in the Earth’s life. In this manuscript, we discuss different aspects of the Earth: a condition of Young Earth before the Beginning of life on It;Internal Structure;“The 660-km Boundary” that we named Geomagma;Random Variations of Earth’s Rotational Speed on a daily basis;Origin of Moon;Expanding Earth;Internal Heating;Faint Young Sun paradox;Geocorona and Planetary Coronas;High-Energy Atmospheric Physics. WUM proposed principally different ways to solve the problems of Internal Heating, Origin of the Moon, and Faint Young Sun paradox based on DM core of the Earth. The Model revealed the fact that the Sun Activity causes the Geomagma Activity and, as a consequence, Random Variations of Earth’s Rotational Speed by the varying Sun’s magnetic field.

The temporal and spatial variations in the Pacific wind and wave fields for the period 2002–2011

The temporal and spatial variations in the wind and wave fields in the Pacific Ocean between 2002 and 2011 are analyzed using a third-generation wave model（WAVEWATCH III）. The model performance for a significant wave height is validated using in situ buoy data. The results show that the wave model effectively hindcasts the significant wave height in the Pacific Ocean, but the errors are relatively large in the mid- and low-latitude regions. The spatial distributions and temporal variations in a wind speed and the significant wave height in the Pacific Ocean are then considered after dividing the Pacific Ocean into five regions, which show meridional differences and seasonal cycles. Regional mean values are used to give yearly average time series for each separate zone. The high latitude region in the Southern Hemisphere had a stronger significant wave height trend in the model results than regions at other latitudes. The sources and sinks of wave energy are then investigated. Their regional mean values are used to quantify variations in surface waves. Finally, the spectral analyses of the daily mean wind speeds and the significant wave heights are obtained. The significant wave height and the wind speed spectra are found to be connected in some ways but also show certain differences.

NOVEL METHOD OF REALIZING THE OPTIMAL TRANSMISSION OF THE CRANK-AND-ROCKERMECHANISM DESIGN

A novel method of realizing the optimal transmission of the crank-and-rockermechanism is presented. The optimal combination design is made by finding the related optimaltransmission parameters. The diagram of the optimal transmission is drawn. In the diagram, therelation among mini-mum transmission angle, the coefficient of travel speed variation, theoscillating angle of the rocker and the length of the bars is shown, concisely, conveniently anddirectly. The method possesses the main characteristic. That it is to achieve the optimaltransmission parameters under the transmission angle by directly choosing in the diagram, accordingto the given requirements. The characteristics of the mechanical transmission can be improved togain the optimal transmission effect by the method. Especially, the method is simple and convenientin practical use.

Review of the Effectiveness of Vehicle Activated Signs

This paper reviews the effectiveness of vehicle activated signs. Vehicle activated signs are being reportedly used in recent years to display dynamic information to road users on an individual basis in order to give a warning or inform about a specific event. Vehicle activated signs are triggered individually by vehicles when a certain criteria is met. An example of such criteria is to trigger a speed limit sign when the driver exceeds a pre-set threshold speed. The preset threshold is usually set to a constant value which is often equal, or relative, to the speed limit on a particular road segment. This review examines in detail the basis for the configuration of the existing sign types in previous studies and explores the relation between the configuration of the sign and their impact on driver behavior and sign efficiency. Most of previous studies show that these signs have significant impact on driver behavior, traffic safety and traffic efficincy. In most cases the signs deployed have yielded reductions in mean speeds, in speed variation and in longer head-ways. However most experiments reported within the area were performed with the signs set to a certain static configuration within applicable conditions. Since some of the aforementioned factors are dynamic in nature, it is felt that the configurations of these signs were thus not carefully considered by previous researchers and there is no clear statement in the previous studies describing the relationship between the trigger value and its consequences under different conditions. Bearing in mind that different designs of vehicle activated signs can give a different impact under certain conditions of road, traffic and weather conditions the current work suggests that variable speed thresholds should be considered instead.

The significance of the posted minimum speed limits along interstate highways in South Carolina on traffic operation and safety

This paper evaluated the significance of the posted differential speed limits(DSL)on traffic safety and operation along interstate highways in South Carolina.This paper defines DSL as the difference between the posted maximum and minimum speed limits.The paper used vehicle speed and traffic crashes for analysis.The evaluation results showed over 99%of all vehicles complied with the posted 45 mph minimum speed limit and more than 50%of drivers drove above the posted maximum speed limit regardless of the posted maximum speed limits.The results also indicated that speed variations increased as the DSL increased.However,the safety evaluation showed conflicting results on the impacts of the DSL on safety.The results showed the DSL had negative implications on crashes per AADT per lane.This is attributed to increased interactions between slower and faster-moving vehicles in the traffic stream.On the contrary,it was observed that segments with higher DSL had fewer crashes per mile per lane than the segments with the lower DSL.These results suggest there is a need to conduct more research to quantify the efficacy of posting the minimum speed limit because there were no problems observed with motorists driving too slowly on interstate highways.The results provide important information on the efficacy of posting minimum speed limits to improve the uniformity of traffic flow and safety.