The Isovector Quadrupole Resonance in 16-O

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY 87-1440

Quadrupole and Octupole Radiation from 16-O Near 39 MeV Excitation

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY 87-1440

Multipole Strength Distributions in 16-O Above the Dipole Resonance Region

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY-931478

Combustion flame spray of CoNiCrAlY & YSZ coatings

The properties of CoNiCrAlY and ∼7–8%YSZ layers, used as thermal barrier coatings (TBC) to protect hot gas paths of power generation and aerospace gas turbines, that have been deposited through the Combustion Flame Spray (CFS) process, are assessed and compared to coatings of the same materials deposited through Atmospheric Plasma Spray (APS). Fuel-to-oxygen equivalence ratio, combustion and carrier gases flows, torch standoff distance and powder feed rate values have been varied during the CFS tests in order to assess their effect on microstructural characteristics, i.e. thickness, total porosity, oxide level and microhardness. Results show that, in CFS-deposited coatings, although a higher content of oxide strings and porosity is observed compared to APS, also comparable phase transformations and a higher thermal cyclic lifetime can be achieved with an appropriate tuning of the deposition parameters. Thus, the study demonstrates the excellent capability of the CFS process in depositing thermal barrier coating systems, providing a viable alternative deposition technology for this class of materials at significant hardware simplicity. As the CFS setup has a simple design, this research stimulates a miniaturisation concept of the combustion flame spray torch for allowing its deployment into highly restricted workspaces

Contact With Nature, Sense of Humor, and Psychological Well-Being

We administered a questionnaire measuring contact with nature, sense of humor, and psychological well-being. Factor analysis of the humor items yielded four factors: humor production, humor appreciation, coping humor, and humor tolerance. Factor analysis of 14 well-being measures yielded three factors: emotional well-being, personal development, and effective functioning. The best sense-of-humor predictor of the well-being measures and factors was humor appreciation. Regression models for each of the well-being factors as dependent variables with humor appreciation and contact with nature as independent variables showed that additive models with both predictors were appropriate for personal development and effective functioning and that a simple model with humor appreciation as the sole predictor was sufficient for emotional well being. Secondary analyses suggested that contact with nature was the better predictor of effective functioning, whereas sense of humor was the better predictor of personal development