Prototype thin-film thermocouple/heat-flux sensor for a ceramic-insulated diesel engine

A platinum versus platinum-13 percent rhodium thin-film thermocouple/heat-flux sensor was devised and tested in the harsh, high-temperature environment of a ceramic-insulated, low-heat-rejection diesel engine. The sensor probe assembly was developed to provide experimental validation of heat transfer and thermal analysis methodologies applicable to the insulated diesel engine concept. The thin-film thermocouple configuration was chosen to approximate an uninterrupted chamber surface and provide a 1-D heat-flux path through the probe body. The engine test was conducted by Purdue University for Integral Technologies, Inc., under a DOE-funded contract managed by NASA Lewis Research Center. The thin-film sensor performed reliably during 6 to 10 hr of repeated engine runs at indicated mean surface temperatures up to 950 K. However, the sensor suffered partial loss of adhesion in the thin-film thermocouple junction area following maximum cyclic temperature excursions to greater than 1150 K

Law Library Service in Montana

Law Library Service in Montan

Law Library Service in Montana

Law Library Service in Montan

Forest Fires in the Northern Rocky Mountains

This is a report on an analysis of 36,000 forest fires in the northern Rocky Mountains. The analysis was made to gain a better understanding of the occurrence, behavior, control, and effects of fires, and in turn to obtain essential information required for improved planning and management of fire protection systems. The results present answers to these questions: 1) What is the magnitude of the regional fire problem? 2) What are the basic features of fire behavior under various topographic, fuel, and weather conditions? 3) What have been the results of organized fire control programs including fire prevention, detection, communication, transportation, and suppression action? and 4) What special factors are of outstanding importance

Assimilating Non-Probabilistic Assessments of the Estimation of Uncertainty Bias in Expert Judgment Elicitation Using an Evidence Based Approach in High Consequence Conceptual Designs

One of the major challenges in conceptual designs of complex systems is the identification of uncertainty embedded in the information due to lack of historic data. This becomes of increased concern especially in high-risk industries. This document reports a developed methodology that allows for the cognitive bias, estimation of uncertainty, to be elucidated to improve the quality of elicited data. It consists of a comprehensive literature review that begins by defining a \u27High Consequence Conceptual Engineering Environment\u27 and identifies the high-risk industries in which these environments are found. It proceeds with a discussion that differentiates risk and uncertainty in decision-making in these environments. An argument was built around the identified epistemic category of uncertainty, the impact on hard data for decision-making, and from whom we obtain this data. The review shifts to defining and selecting the experts, the elicitation process in terms of the components, the process phases and steps involved, and an examination of a probabilistic and a fuzzy example. This sets the stage for this methodology that uses evidence theory for the mathematical analysis after the data is elicited using a tailored elicitation process. Yager\u27s combination rule is used to combine evidence and fully recognize the ignorance without ignoring available information. Engineering and management teams from NASA Langley Research Center were the population from which the experts for this study were identified. NASA officials were interested in obtaining uncertainty estimates, and a comparison of these estimates, associated with their Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) designs; the existing Exploration Systems Architecture Study Crew Launch Vehicle (ESAS CLV) and the Parallel-Staged Crew Launch Vehicle (P-S CLV) which is currently being worked. This evidence-based approach identified that the estimation of cost parameters uncertainty is not specifically over or underestimated in High Consequence Conceptual Engineering Environments; rather, there is more uncertainty present than what is being anticipated. From the perspective of maturing designs, it was concluded that the range of cost parameters\u27 uncertainty at different error-state-values were interchangeably larger or smaller when compared to each other even as the design matures

Monitoring the Formation of a CH<inf>3</inf>NH<inf>3</inf>PbI<inf>3-</inf><inf>x</inf>Cl<inf>x</inf> Perovskite during Thermal Annealing Using X-Ray Scattering

Grazing incidence wide and small angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS and GISAXS) measurements have been used to study the crystallization kinetics of the organolead halide perovskite CH3NH3PbI3-xClx during thermal annealing. In situ GIWAXS measurements recorded during annealing are used to characterize and quantify the transition from a crystalline precursor to the perovskite structure. In situ GISAXS measurements indicate an evolution of crystallite sizes during annealing, with the number of crystallites having sizes between 30 and 400 nm increasing through the annealing process. Using ex situ scanning electron microscopy, this evolution in length scales is confirmed and a concurrent increase in film surface coverage is observed, a parameter crucial for efficient solar cell performance. A series of photovoltaic devices are then fabricated in which perovskite films have been annealed for different times, and variations in device performance are explained on the basis of X-ray scattering measurements

Infrared Thermography as a Diagnostic Tool for Pododermatitis in Captive Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus)

This cross-sectional study investigated the use of infrared thermography as a diagnostic tool for pododermatitis in captive greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus). Photographs and thermal images were obtained for 775 feet from 408 flamingos held at three UK zoological collections. The feet were divided into eight regions, which were assigned a score for hyperkeratosis, fissures, nodules and papillomatous growths according to a previously defined scoring system. Minimum, mean and maximum temperatures were recorded for each region. 97 feet (12.5%) were scored as normal (no lesions or only mild hyperkeratosis), whilst 678 (87.5%) were scored as abnormal. It was found that 99.9% (95% confidence interval (CI): 99.3–100%) of the scored feet exhibited hyperkeratosis, 61.7% (95% CI: 58.2–65.1%) fissures, 16.0% (95% CI: 13.5–18.8%) nodules and 38.5% (95% CI: 35.0–42.0%) papillomatous growths. Thermal data assessed using general linear mixed effect modelling showed that regional and individual bird temperature differences accounted for most of the temperature variation, but there was a statistically significant (P<0.05) difference between regions with nodules versus regions without when using maximum temperatures. Intra- and inter-foot variation, using a regional correction factor and ankle temperatures, was assessed for 272 birds, where temperature distributions for each lesion type were compared with that of normal regions using t-tests. A statistically significant difference (P<0.05) was found between corrected values for regions with hyperkeratosis and papillomatous growths compared with normal, but no difference was found for fissures or nodules. Despite the differences found, the results suggest that infrared thermography may not be a practical diagnostic tool for pododermatitis in flamingos due to wide temperature variations between and within normal feet and a great degree of overlap of temperatures between normal and abnormal feet