The 110 watt per kilogram lightweight solar array system

This ultralightweight solar array system is applied to three generic mission types: (1) interplanetary, (2) geosynchronous, and (3) manned space station. The requirements of each of these missions, as they pertain to the solar array, are presented. Existing lightweight solar array system concepts are reviewed, along with conclusions regarding the applicability of this technology to the feasibility of the ultralightweight solar array system. Several system concepts are included for further evaluation. The existing technology base, as it pertains to solar cells, solar cell covers, interconnects and substrates, and deployable booms, is reviewed. The attitude control of spacecraft with large flexible solar arrays is also discussed

Feasibility study of a 110 watt per kilogram lightweight solar array system

An investigation of the feasibility of a solar array panel subsystem which will produce 10,000 watts of electrical output at 1 A.U. with an overall beginning-of-life power-to-weight ratio of at least 110 watt/kg is reported. A description of the current baseline configuration which meets these requirements is presented. A parametric analysis of the single boom, two blanket planar solar array system was performed to arrive at the optimum system aspect ratio. A novel concept for the stiffening of a lightweight solar array by canting the solar cell blankets at a small angle to take advantage of the inherent in-plane stiffness to increase the symmetric out-of-plane frequency is introduced along with a preliminary analysis of the stiffening effect. A comparison of welded and soldered solar cell interconnections leads to the conclusion that welding is required on this ultralightweight solar array. The use of a boron/aluminum composite material in a BI-STEM type deployable boom is investigated as a possible advancement in the state-of-the-art

Graphene field-effect transistors based on boron nitride gate dielectrics

Graphene field-effect transistors are fabricated utilizing single-crystal hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), an insulating isomorph of graphene, as the gate dielectric. The devices exhibit mobility values exceeding 10,000 cm2/V-sec and current saturation down to 500 nm channel lengths with intrinsic transconductance values above 400 mS/mm. The work demonstrates the favorable properties of using h-BN as a gate dielectric for graphene FETs.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figure

Solitary Waves and Compactons in a class of Generalized Korteweg-DeVries Equations

We study the class of generalized Korteweg-DeVries equations derivable from the Lagrangian: L(l,p) = \int \left( \frac{1}{2} \vp_{x} \vp_{t} - { {(\vp_{x})^{l}} \over {l(l-1)}} + \alpha(\vp_{x})^{p} (\vp_{xx})^{2} \right) dx, where the usual fields $u(x,t)$ of the generalized KdV equation are defined by u(x,t) = \vp_{x}(x,t). This class contains compactons, which are solitary waves with compact support, and when $l=p+2$, these solutions have the feature that their width is independent of the amplitude. We consider the Hamiltonian structure and integrability properties of this class of KdV equations. We show that many of the properties of the solitary waves and compactons are easily obtained using a variational method based on the principle of least action. Using a class of trial variational functions of the form $u(x,t) = A(t) \exp \left[-\beta (t) \left|x-q(t) \right|^{2n} \right]$ we find soliton-like solutions for all $n$, moving with fixed shape and constant velocity, $c$. We show that the velocity, mass, and energy of the variational travelling wave solutions are related by $c = 2 r E M^{-1}$, where $r = (p+l+2)/(p+6-l)$, independent of $n$.\newline \newline PACS numbers: 03.40.Kf, 47.20.Ky, Nb, 52.35.SbComment: 16 pages. LaTeX. Figures available upon request (Postscript or hard copy

Research on Long-Term Care Homes for Older People in Brazil: Protocol for Scoping Review

LOTUS CONSORTIUM - Improving care in Long-term Care Institutions in Brazil and Europe through Collaboration and ResearchBackground The fast growth of the ageing population in low and middle-income countries, such as Brazil, has allowed little time for social and health care systems to adapt. As the care needs for the most vulnerable and frail older people become increasingly complex, services and governments need to ensure that long term care homes deliver high-quality and evidence-based care to meet their healthcare needs. Aim To examine and map the range of research undertaken in Brazil regarding care homes published in peer reviewed journals. Method This scoping review will consider all relevant peer-reviewed primary studies fully or partly conducted in Brazilian care homes including those which consider workforce (for example, e.g. healthcare professionals, care staff, and management level staff) and care home residents (older people aged 60 years and above), using empirical and original research focused on any health related topic. The searches will be conducted using bibliographic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS and Google Scholar) and manual searching of the reference lists of relevant studies published in English, Portuguese or Spanish from inception up to 2018. Two authors will independently screen each document by title and abstract against the eligibility criteria. In case of disagreement, a third reviewer will be consulted. Data from the included studies will be extracted and reported using tables, graphs, and narrative accounts using elements of content analysis. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool will be used to appraise the methodological quality of the included studies

Feasibility study of a 30 watts per pound roll up solar array Quarterly technical report, 1 Jan. - 31 Mar. 1968

Feasibility of 30 watts per pound roll-up solar array - design of engineering demonstration model with deployability of selected flight configuration and thermal cycling tests of arra

Relative Comparison Kernel Learning with Auxiliary Kernels

In this work we consider the problem of learning a positive semidefinite kernel matrix from relative comparisons of the form: "object A is more similar to object B than it is to C", where comparisons are given by humans. Existing solutions to this problem assume many comparisons are provided to learn a high quality kernel. However, this can be considered unrealistic for many real-world tasks since relative assessments require human input, which is often costly or difficult to obtain. Because of this, only a limited number of these comparisons may be provided. In this work, we explore methods for aiding the process of learning a kernel with the help of auxiliary kernels built from more easily extractable information regarding the relationships among objects. We propose a new kernel learning approach in which the target kernel is defined as a conic combination of auxiliary kernels and a kernel whose elements are learned directly. We formulate a convex optimization to solve for this target kernel that adds only minor overhead to methods that use no auxiliary information. Empirical results show that in the presence of few training relative comparisons, our method can learn kernels that generalize to more out-of-sample comparisons than methods that do not utilize auxiliary information, as well as similar methods that learn metrics over objects

Electronic compressibility of layer polarized bilayer graphene

We report on a capacitance study of dual gated bilayer graphene. The measured capacitance allows us to probe the electronic compressibility as a function of carrier density, temperature, and applied perpendicular electrical displacement D. As a band gap is induced with increasing D, the compressibility minimum at charge neutrality becomes deeper but remains finite, suggesting the presence of localized states within the energy gap. Temperature dependent capacitance measurements show that compressibility is sensitive to the intrinsic band gap. For large displacements, an additional peak appears in the compressibility as a function of density, corresponding to the presence of a 1-dimensional van Hove singularity (vHs) at the band edge arising from the quartic bilayer graphene band structure. For D > 0, the additional peak is observed only for electrons, while D < 0 the peak appears only for holes. This asymmetry that can be understood in terms of the finite interlayer separation and may be useful as a direct probe of the layer polarization

Space suit

A pressure suit for high altitude flights, particularly space missions is reported. The suit is designed for astronauts in the Apollo space program and may be worn both inside and outside a space vehicle, as well as on the lunar surface. It comprises an integrated assembly of inner comfort liner, intermediate pressure garment, and outer thermal protective garment with removable helmet, and gloves. The pressure garment comprises an inner convoluted sealing bladder and outer fabric restraint to which are attached a plurality of cable restraint assemblies. It provides versitility in combination with improved sealing and increased mobility for internal pressures suitable for life support in the near vacuum of outer space