Heated element fluid flow sensor Patent

Heated element sensor for fluid flow detection in thermal conductive conduit with adaptive means to determine flow rate and directio

Highspeed Pursuit of a Claim for Negligence: Analyzing Police Liability in a Vehicular Accident Involving Bystanders

Between 1994 and 2002, 3,146 people died as a result of highspeed police pursuits. Many of these decedents were pedestrians, bicyclists, or occupants of an uninvolved vehicle. In fact, statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) indicate that bystander fatalities make up approximately 42% of total fatalities resulting from highspeed pursuits by law enforcement. Deaths related to these pursuits may be even greater than the statistics suggest due to underreporting on the matter. How is fault attributed when a highspeed police pursuit harms an innocent bystander? Can a court attribute liability to law enforcement? Are there legal remedies available for victims to pursue against law enforcement? The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District recently addressed these issues in Harris v. City of St. Louis

Photocrosslinkable nonlinear optical polymers and directly-patternable polyimide dielectrics

textThe development of high-efficiency nonlinear optical (NLO) polymers has opened up many opportunities in the field of electro-optics. However, current NLO polymers do not meet stability requirements for semiconductor integration. In an effort to improve this, we examined the effects of crosslinking following electric field poling. A series of photocrosslinkable polymers bearing side chain chromophores was synthesized, poled and evaluated on the basis of the thermal stability of Second Harmonic Generation. Photoinitiation allowed for control of the onset of curing. Crosslinking was monitored by FTIR and optimal conversion was achieved by applying a slow temperature ramp during exposure. The ultimate stability of the poled polymers was directly related to the number of crosslinking substituents attached to the chromophore pendant group. With two reactive groups per chromophore significant SHG was retained at temperatures beyond the polymer Tg. In integrated circuit packaging there is a need for directly-patternable polymers of low dielectric constant. Bridging the gap between the high-value silicon chip and circuit board is a substrate comprising alternating layers of metal conductor and polymer dielectric. PMDA-ODA, an aromatic polyimide, meets many of the requirements for integration and can be patterned using a photobase generator (PBG). Due to absorbance by the PMDA-ODA precursor, this PBG must have activity at visible wavelengths. Several oxime urethanes were synthesized and evaluated as candidate long wavelength PBG. These compounds exhibit clean photochemistry and high visible light sensitivity. Unfortunately, carbamate thermal stability is insufficient for patterning PMDA-ODA. For improved material properties, PMDA-TFMB, a fluorinated polyimide, was also evaluated. Importantly, the polymer precursor is sufficiently transparent to employ thermally-stable near-UV photobases. With photobase, 2.5 micron features were resolved in PMDA-TFMB. An ancillary benefit of this methodology is reduced cure temperature (~200 °C), a traditional drawback of polyimides. This material demonstrates a dielectric constant near 3 and a thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) of approximately 6 ppm/°C in-plane. Through-plane thermal expansion is somewhat problematic, with a CTE of approximately 160 ppm/°C, and will likely require a nanoparticle composite strategy. However, this combination of material and lithographic properties make PMDA-TFMB a promising candidate for this application.Chemistr

"What Was the War Like?" Experiencing Surrender; Talking with Josh Fox

International WOW Company's 'Surrender' combines elements of avantgarde performance, dramatic karaoke, and audience participation to create an immersive portrait of urban combat and communicate the challenges soldiers face reintegrating into civilian life. Director Josh Fox reflects on making theatre out of the experience of being a soldier in 21st-century Iraq

Effects of Surface Roughness on the Electrochemical Reduction of CO₂ over Cu

We have investigated the role of surface roughening on the CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) over Cu. The activity and product selectivity of Cu surfaces roughened by plasma pretreatment in Ar, O₂, or N₂ were compared with that of electrochemically polished Cu samples. Differences in total and product current densities, the ratio of current densities for HER (the hydrogen evolution reaction) to CO₂RR, and the ratio of current densities for C₂₊ to C₁ products depend on the electrochemically active surface and are nearly independent of plasma composition. Theoretical analysis of an electropolished and roughened Cu surface reveals a higher fraction of undercoordinated Cu sites on the roughened surface, sites that bind CO preferentially. Roughened surfaces also contain square sites similar to those on a Cu(100) surface but with neighboring step sites, which adsorb OC–COH, a precursor to C₂₊ products. These findings explain the increases in the formation of oxygenates and hydrocarbons relative to CO and the ratio of oxygenates to hydrocarbons observed with increasing surface roughness

Mars Telescopic Observations Workshop II

Mars Telescopic Observations Workshop E convened in Tucson, Arizona, in October 1997 by popular demand slightly over two years following the first successful Mars Telescopic Observations Workshop, held in Ithaca, New York, in August 1995. Experts on Mars from the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, and the United States were present. Twenty-eight oral presentations were made and generous time allotted for useful discussions among participants. The goals of the workshop were to (1) summarize active groundbased observing programs and evaluate them in the context of current and future space missions to Mars, (2) discuss new technologies and instrumentation in the context of changing emphasis of observations and theory useful for groundbased observing, and (3) more fully understand capabilities of current and planned Mars missions to better judge which groundbased observations are and will continue to be of importance to our overall Mars program. In addition, the exciting new discoveries presented from the Pathfinder experiments and the progress report from the Mars Global Surveyor infused the participants with satisfaction for the successes achieved in the early stages of these missions. Just as exciting was the enthusiasm for new groundbased programs designed to address new challenges resulting from mission science results. We would like to thank the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as well as Dr. David Black, director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute, and the staff of the Institute's Publications and Program Services Department for providing logistical, administrative, and publication support services for this workshop

High spatial resolution telescopic multispectral imaging and spectroscopy of the Moon. 1: The Serenitatis/Tranquillitatis border region

The region of the moon near the border between Mare Serenitatis and Mare Tranquillitatis is one of the most geologically and compositionally complex areas of the nearside. The geologic history of this region has been shaped by impacts of widely-varying spatial scale and temporal occurrence, by volcanism of variable style and composition with time, and by limited tectonism. We have been studying this region as part of a larger multi remote sensing technique effort to understand the composition, morphology, geology, and stratigraphy of the moon at spatial scales of 2 km or less. The effort has been aided by the proximity of this area to the Apollo 11, 15, and 17 landing sites and by the occurrence of one of the primary lunar spectroscopic 'standard areas' within our scene (MS2). Here, some of the findings from the multispectral imaging and spectroscopy part of this effort are reported

Thermal emission measurements (5-25 microns) of Hawaiian palagonitic soils with implications for Mars

Careful laboratory studies have shown that the coloring agent in Mars analog Hawaiian palagonitic soils is nanophase iron oxide. We have measured the emissivity of two Mauna Kea palagonitic soils whose transmission spectra exhibit different spectral features and of a thermally-altered volcanic tephra sample that exhibits a wide range of crystallinity and degree of alteration (from black cinders to fully hematitic). Both of these samples may represent analogs for formation mechanisms involving the production of highly-altered secondary weathering products on Mars. The emission spectra of all samples were measured at the TES spectroscopy laboratory at Arizona State University. The data were converted to emissivity using blackbody measurements combined with measurements of each sample at different temperatures

Workshop on Mars Telescopic Observations

The Mars Telescopic Observations Workshop, held August 14-15, 1995, at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, was organized and planned with two primary goals in mind: The first goal was to facilitate discussions among and between amateur and professional observers and to create a workshop environment fostering collaborations and comparisons within the Mars observing community. The second goal was to explore the role of continuing telescopic observations of Mars in the upcoming era of increased spacecraft exploration. The 24 papers presented at the workshop described the current NASA plans for Mars exploration over the next decade, current and recent Mars research being performed by professional astronomers, and current and past Mars observations being performed by amateur observers and observing associations. The workshop was divided into short topical sessions concentrating on programmatic overviews, groundbased support of upcoming spacecraft experiments, atmospheric observations, surface observations, modeling and numerical studies, and contributions from amateur astronomers