Enhancement and suppression effects resulting from information structuring in sentences

Information structuring through the use of cleft sentences increases the processing efficiency of references to elements within the scope of focus. Furthermore, there is evidence that putting certain types of emphasis on individual words not only enhances their subsequent processing, but also protects these words from becoming suppressed in the wake of subsequent information, suggesting mechanisms of enhancement and suppression. In Experiment 1, we showed that clefted constructions facilitate the integration of subsequent sentences that make reference to elements within the scope of focus, and that they decrease the efficiency with reference to elements outside of the scope of focus. In Experiment 2, using an auditory text-change-detection paradigm, we showed that focus has similar effects on the strength of memory representations. These results add to the evidence for enhancement and suppression as mechanisms of sentence processing and clarify that the effects occur within sentences having a marked focus structure

Mechanisms of polymer degradation using an oxygen plasma generator

An RF oxygen plasma generator was used to produce polymer degradation which appears to be similar to that which has been observed in low Earth orbit. Mechanisms of this type of degradation were studied by collecting the reaction products in a cryogenic trap and identifying the molecular species using infrared, mass spectral, and X-ray diffraction techniques. No structurally dependent species were found from Kapton, Teflon, or Saran polymers. However, very reactive free radical entities are produced during the polymer degradation, as well as carbon dioxide and water. Reactions of the free radicals with the glass reaction vessel, with copper metal in the cold trap, and with a triphenyl phosphate scavenger in the cold trap, demonstrated the reactivity of the primary products

Wall jet analysis for circulation control aerodynamics. Part 2: Zonal modeling concepts for wall jet/potential flow coupling

Work currently in progress to update an existing transonic circulation control airfoil analysis method is described. Existing methods suffer from two dificiencies: the inability to predict the shock structure of the underexpanded supersonic jets; and the insensitivity of the calculation to small changes in the Coanda surface geometry. A method developed for the analysis of jet exhaust plumes in supersonic flow is being modified for the case of the underexpanded wall jet. In the subsonic case, the same wall jet model was modified to include the calculation of the normal pressure gradient. This model is currently being coupled with the transonic circulation control airfoil analysis

Infrared spectra of Mg-SiO smokes : comparison with analytical electron microscopy studies

An important component of current models for interstellar and circumstellar evolution is the infrared (IR)spectral data collected from stellar outflows around oxygen-rich stars and from the general interstellar medium [1]. IR spectra from these celestial bodies are usually interpreted as showing the general properties of sub-micron sized silicate grains [2]. Two major features at 10 and 20 microns are reasonably attributed to amorphous olivine or pyroxene (e.g. Mg2Si04 or MgSi03) on the basis of comparisons with natural standards and vapor condensed silicates [3-6]. In an attempt to define crystallisation rates for spectrally amorphous condensates, Nuth and Donn [5] annealed experimentally produced amorphous magnesium silicate smokes at 1000K. On analysing these smokes at various annealing times, Nuth and Donn [5] showed that changes in crystallinity measured by bulk X-ray diffraction occured at longer annealing times (days) than changes measured by IR spectra (a few hours). To better define the onset of crystallinity in these magnesium silicates, we have examined each annealed product using a JEOL 1OOCX analytical electron microscope (AEM). In addition, the development of chemical diversity with annealing has been monitored using energy dispersive spectroscopy of individual grains from areas <20nm in diameter. Furthermore, the crystallisation kinetics of these smokes under ambient, room temperature conditions have been examined using bulk and fourier transform infrared (FTIR)spectra

Thermodynamic data for fifty reference elements

This report is a compilation of thermodynamic functions of 50 elements in their standard reference state. The functions are C(sub p)(sup 0), (H(sup 0)(T) - H(sup 0)(0)), S(sup 0)(T), and -(G(sup 0)(T) - H(sup 0)(O)) for the elements Ag, Al, Ar, B, Ba, Be, Br2, C, Ca, Cd, Cl2, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, F2, Fe, Ge, H2, He, Hg, I2, K, Kr, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, N2, Na, Nb, Ne, Ni, O2, P, Pb, Rb, S, Si, Sn, Sr, Ta, Th, Ti, U, V, W, Xe, Zn, and Zr. Deuterium D2 and electron gas e(sup -) are also included. The data are tabulated as functions of temperature as well as given in the form of least-squares coefficients for two functional forms for C(sub p)(sup 0) with integration constants for enthalpy and entropy. One functional form for C(sub p)(sup 0) is a fourth-order polynomial and the other has two additional terms, one with T(exp -1) and the other with T(exp -2). The gases Ar, D2, e(sup -), H2, He, Kr, N2, Ne, O2, and Xe are tabulated for temperatures from 100 to 20,000 K. The remaining gases Cl2 and F2 are tabulated from 100 to 6000 K and 1000 to 6000 K. The second functional form for C(sub p)(sup 0) has an additional interval from 6000 to 20,000 K for the gases tabulated to 20,000 K. The fits are constrained so that the match at the common temperature endpoints. The temperature ranges for the condensed species vary with range of the data, phase changes, and shapes of the C(sub p)(sup 0) curves