2,922 research outputs found
Enhancing the Performance of the T-Peel Test for Thin and Flexible Adhered Laminates
Symmetrically bonded thin and flexible T-peel specimens, when tested on
vertical travel machines, can be subject to significant gravitational loading;
with the associated asymmetry and mixed-mode failure during peeling. This can
cause erroneously high experimental peel forces to be recorded which leads to
uncertainty in estimating interfacial fracture toughness and failure mode. To
overcome these issues, a mechanical test fixture has been designed for use with
vertical test machines, that supports the unpeeled portion of the test specimen
and suppresses parasitic loads due to gravity from affecting the peel test. The
mechanism, driven by the test machine cross-head, moves at one-half of the
velocity of the cross-head such that the unpeeled portion always lies in the
plane of the instantaneous center of motion. Several specimens such as bonded
polymeric films, laminates, and commercial tapes were tested with and without
the fixture, and the importance of the proposed T-peel procedure has been
demonstrated
Macroinvertebrate community responses to a dewatering disturbance gradient in a restored stream
Dewatering disturbances are common in aquatic systems and represent a relatively untapped field of disturbance ecology, yet studying dewatering events along gradients in non-dichotomous (i.e. wet/dry) terms is often difficult. Because many stream restorations can essentially be perceived as planned hydrologic manipulations, such systems can make ideal test-cases for understanding processes of hydrological disturbance. In this study we used an experimental drawdown in a 440 ha stream/wetland restoration site to assess aquatic macroinvertebrate community responses to dewatering and subsequent rewetting. The geomorphic nature of the site and the design of the restoration allowed dewatering to occur predictably along a gradient and decoupled the hydrologic response from any geomorphic (i.e. habitat heterogeneity) effects. In the absence of such heterogeneous habitat refugia, reach-scale wetted perimeter and depth conditions exerted a strong control on community structure. The community exhibited an incremental response to dewatering severity over the course of this disturbance, which was made manifest not as a change in community means but as an increase in community variability, or dispersion, at each site. The dewatering also affected inter-species abundance and distributional patterns, as dewatering and rewetting promoted alternate species groups with divergent habitat tolerances. Finally, our results indicate that rapid rewetting – analogous to a hurricane breaking a summer drought – may represent a recovery process rather than an additional disturbance and that such processes, even in newly restored systems, may be rapid
Storage-ring measurement of the hyperfine induced 47Ti18+(2s 2p 3P0 -> 2s2 1S0) transition rate
The hyperfine induced 2s 2p 3P0 > 2s2 1S0 transition rate AHFI in
berylliumlike 47Ti18+ was measured. Resonant electron-ion recombination in a
heavy-ion storage ring was employed to monitor the time dependent population of
the 3P0 state. The experimental value AHFI=0.56(3)/s is almost 60% larger than
theoretically predicted.Comment: 4 pages. 3 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in Physical
Review Letter
Angular Forces Around Transition Metals in Biomolecules
Quantum-mechanical analysis based on an exact sum rule is used to extract an
semiclassical angle-dependent energy function for transition metal ions in
biomolecules. The angular dependence is simple but different from existing
classical potentials. Comparison of predicted energies with a
computer-generated database shows that the semiclassical energy function is
remarkably accurate, and that its angular dependence is optimal.Comment: Tex file plus 4 postscript figure
Electron-ion recombination of Si IV forming Si III: Storage-ring measurement and multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock calculations
The electron-ion recombination rate coefficient for Si IV forming Si III was
measured at the heavy-ion storage-ring TSR. The experimental electron-ion
collision energy range of 0-186 eV encompassed the 2p(6) nl n'l' dielectronic
recombination (DR) resonances associated with 3s to nl core excitations, 2s
2p(6) 3s nl n'l' resonances associated with 2s to nl (n=3,4) core excitations,
and 2p(5) 3s nl n'l' resonances associated with 2p to nl (n=3,...,infinity)
core excitations. The experimental DR results are compared with theoretical
calculations using the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock (MCDF) method for DR via
the 3s to 3p n'l' and 3s to 3d n'l' (both n'=3,...,6) and 2p(5) 3s 3l n'l'
(n'=3,4) capture channels. Finally, the experimental and theoretical plasma DR
rate coefficients for Si IV forming Si III are derived and compared with
previously available results.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in Physical
Review
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