Solar Energy for Heating Farm Structures in Kentucky

This report is intended to summarize the important decisions which must be made by farmers in Kentucky, who are considering the utilization of solar energy for heating farm buildings or drying grain

Effect of alendronate on post-traumatic osteoarthritis induced by anterior cruciate ligament rupture in mice.

IntroductionPrevious studies in animal models of osteoarthritis suggest that alendronate (ALN) has antiresorptive and chondroprotective effects, and can reduce osteophyte formation. However, these studies used non-physiologic injury methods, and did not investigate early time points during which bone is rapidly remodeled prior to cartilage degeneration. The current study utilized a non-invasive model of knee injury in mice to investigate the effect of ALN treatment on subchondral bone changes, articular cartilage degeneration, and osteophyte formation following injury.MethodsNon-invasive knee injury via tibial compression overload or sham injury was performed on a total of 90 mice. Mice were treated with twice weekly subcutaneous injections of low-dose ALN (40 μg/kg/dose), high-dose ALN (1,000 μg/kg/dose), or vehicle, starting immediately after injury until sacrifice at 7, 14 or 56 days. Trabecular bone of the femoral epiphysis, subchondral cortical bone, and osteophyte volume were quantified using micro-computed tomography (μCT). Whole-joint histology was performed at all time points to analyze articular cartilage and joint degeneration. Blood was collected at sacrifice, and serum was analyzed for biomarkers of bone formation and resorption.ResultsμCT analysis revealed significant loss of trabecular bone from the femoral epiphysis 7 and 14 days post-injury, which was effectively prevented by high-dose ALN treatment. High-dose ALN treatment was also able to reduce subchondral bone thickening 56 days post-injury, and was able to partially preserve articular cartilage 14 days post-injury. However, ALN treatment was not able to reduce osteophyte formation at 56 days post-injury, nor was it able to prevent articular cartilage and joint degeneration at this time point. Analysis of serum biomarkers revealed an increase in bone resorption at 7 and 14 days post-injury, with no change in bone formation at any time points.ConclusionsHigh-dose ALN treatment was able to prevent early trabecular bone loss and cartilage degeneration following non-invasive knee injury, but was not able to mitigate long-term joint degeneration. These data contribute to understanding the effect of bisphosphonates on the development of osteoarthritis, and may support the use of anti-resorptive drugs to prevent joint degeneration following injury, although further investigation is warranted

Ground and space based optical analysis of materials degradation in low-Earth-orbit

There is strong interest in being able to accurately and sensitively monitor materials degradation in both ground-based and space-based environments. Two optical techniques for sensitive degradation monitoring are reviewed: spectroscopic ellipsometry and photothermal spectroscopy. These techniques complement each other in that ellipsometry is sensitive to atomically thin surface and subsurface changes, and photothermal spectroscopy is sensitive to local defects, pin-holes, subsurface defects, and delamination. Progress in applying these spectroscopies (both ex situ and in situ) to atomic oxygen degradation of space materials is reviewed

Selectvie Modification of Membrane Pore and External Surfaces

Modification of membrane surfaces by grafting polymer brushes from the surface has been shown to impart unique surface properties. These polymer brushes can be used as ligands in membrane for adsorbers, they can be used to reduce membrane fouling as well as for the development of responsive membranes that can change their conformation in response to an external stimulus1,2. Here we focus on magnetically responsive membranes where magnetically responsive polymer chains are grown from the membrane surface. We have developed a range of microfiltration3, ultrafiltration and nanofiltration4,5 membranes by grafting magnetically responsive polymer brushes from the membrane surface. Here we focus on regenerated cellulose based ultrafiltration membranes. Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) has been used to graft poly-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (polyHEMA) from the surface of the membrane. Superparamagnetic particles have been attached to the chain ends. In an oscillating magnetic field, movement of the magnetically responsive nanobrushes leads to suppression of concentration polarization resulting in higher permeate fluxes and better rejection. We have also grafted with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) a thermo-responsive polymer that exhibits a lower critical solution temperature, using ATRP, from the surface of the membrane. By carefully choosing the frequency of the oscillating magnetic field, movement of the polymer chains can used to induce mixing. Using much higher frequencies, around 1,000 Hz, heating will lead to collapse of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) layer as the temperature of the grafted polymer layer increase above the lower critical solution temperature of the grafted poly(N-isopropylacrylamide). Unlike nanofiltration and microfiltration membranes where the majority the polymer chains are grafted from the barrier layer or the inside pore surface respectively, in the case of ultrafiltration membranes significant grafting can occur from both the barrier layer and the internal pore surface. In addition given the smaller pore sizes compared to microfiltration membranes, pore plugging by the grafted polymer chains must be avoided We have developed a novel technique to selectively graft from the external barrier layer or the internal membrane pore surface. We show that the magnetically responsive polymer brushes can have a significant different effect on rejection and flux of model feed streams consisting of proteins such as bovine serum albumin, depending on their location on the membrane barrier layer or in the pores. Our work highlights the importance of being able to control not only the three dimensional structure of the grafted polymers but also their location; from the membrane barrier layer or from the inside pore surface References 1. D. Bhattacharyya, T. Schäfer, S. R. Wickramasinghe, S. Daunert, eds., Responsive Membranes and Materials, John Wiley & Sons, 2013, West Sussex, UK. 2. S. Darvishmanesh, , Qian, X., Wickramasinghe, S. R. (2015), ‘Responsive membranes for advanced separations’, Current Opinions in Chemical Engineering, 8, 98-104. 3. H. H. Himstedt, Q. Yang, X. Qian, S. R. Wickramasinghe, M. Ulbricht, M., Toward remote-controlled valve functions via magnetically responsive capillary pore membranes’, J Membr. Sc., 423 (2012) 257-266. 4. Q. Yang, Q., H. H. Himstedt, M. Ulbricht, X. Qian, X., S. R. Wickramasinghe, Designing magnetic field responsive nanofiltration membranes, J Membr. Sc., 430 (2013) 70-78. 5. X. Qian, Yang, Q., Vu, A. T., Wickramasinghe, S. R. (2016), ‘Localized Heat generation from Magnetically Responsive Membranes’, Industrial & Engineering Research, 55 (33), 9015–9027

Impacts of crop insurance on cash rents

This study examines the degree to which net payments from federal crop insurance products impact cash rents paid for farmland. A spatial panel model is employed to control for spatial dependence and heterogeneity in cash rental rates. Results show that producers factor a statistically significant proportion of the value received from crop insurance into cash rents. However, the directly measurable rate is lower than found in previous studies. This result likely reflects the complexity in the relationship between losses and crop insurance rates, and the aggregation across producers in both measured rent and estimates of the net value of crop insurance to a producer. Further, the indirect effects of crop insurance and the ancillary impacts of a producer’s risk profile are difficult to identify independently due to the highly variable nature of crop insurance payments, and the smoothed nature of cash rental values. Nonetheless, even as the model removes much of the variation in the data, this analysis shows crop insurance is an important factor in a producer’s expected revenue, as cash rents are positively affected in counties that receive consistent and positive net value

Testing of Gas Reactor Fuel and Materials in the Advanced Test Reactor

The recent growth in interest for high temperature gas reactors has resulted in an increased need for materials and fuel testing for this type of reactor. The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR), located at the US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, has long been involved in testing gas reactor fuel and materials, and has facilities and capabilities to provide the right environment for gas reactor irradiation experiments. These capabilities include both passive sealed capsule experiments, and instrumented/actively controlled experiments. The instrumented/actively controlled experiments typically contain thermocouples and control the irradiation temperature, but on-line measurements and controls for pressure and gas environment have also been performed in past irradiations. The ATR has an existing automated gas temperature control system that can maintain temperature in an irradiation experiment within very tight bounds, and has developed an on-line fission product monitoring system that is especially well suited for testing gas reactor particle fuel. The ATR’s control system, which consists primarily of vertical cylinders used to rotate neutron poisons/reflectors toward or away from the reactor core, provides a constant vertical flux profile over the duration of each operating cycle. This constant chopped cosine shaped axial flux profile, with a relatively flat peak at the vertical centre of the core, is more desirable for experiments than a constantly moving axial flux peak resulting from a control system of axially positioned control components which are vertically withdrawn from the core

The Advanced Test Reactor Irradiation Capabilities Available as a National Scientific User Facility

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is one of the world’s premiere test reactors for performing long term, high flux, and/or large volume irradiation test programs. The ATR is a very versatile facility with a wide variety of experimental test capabilities for providing the environment needed in an irradiation experiment. These capabilities include simple capsule experiments, instrumented and/or temperature-controlled experiments, and pressurized water loop experiment facilities. Monitoring systems have also been utilized to monitor different parameters such as fission gases for fuel experiments, to measure specimen performance during irradiation. ATR’s control system provides a stable axial flux profile throughout each reactor operating cycle, and allows the thermal and fast neutron fluxes to be controlled separately in different sections of the core. The ATR irradiation positions vary in diameter from 16 mm to 127 mm over an active core height of 1.2 m. This paper discusses the different irradiation capabilities with examples of different experiments and the cost/benefit issues related to each capability. The recent designation of ATR as a national scientific user facility will make the ATR much more accessible at very low to no cost for research by universities and possibly commercial entities

Safety Assurance for ATR Irradiations

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) located at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is the world’s premiere test reactor for performing high fluence, large volume, irradiation test programs. The ATR has many capabilities and a wide variety of tests are performed in this truly one of a kind reactor, including isotope production, simple self-contained static capsule experiments, instrumented/controlled experiments, and loop testing under pressurized water conditions. Along with the five pressurized water loops, ATR may also have gas (temperature controlled) lead experiments, fuel boosted fast flux experiments, and static sealed capsules all in the core at the same time. In addition, any or all of these tests may contain fuel or moderating materials that can affect reactivity levels in the ATR core. Therefore the safety analyses required to ensure safe operation of each experiment as well as the reactor itself are complex. Each test has to be evaluated against stringent reactor control safety criteria, as well as the effects it could have on adjacent tests and the reactor as well as the consequences of those effects. The safety analyses of each experiment are summarized in a document entitled the Experiment Safety Assurance Package (ESAP). The ESAP references and employs the results of the reactor physics, thermal, hydraulic, stress, seismic, vibration, and all other analyses necessary to ensure the experiment can be irradiated safely in the ATR. The requirements for reactivity worth, chemistry compatibilities, pressure limitations, material issues, etc. are all specified in the Technical Safety Requirements and the Upgraded Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR) for the ATR. This paper discusses the ESAP process, types of analyses, types of safety requirements and the approvals necessary to ensure an experiment can be safely irradiated in the ATR

APPLICATIONOFSPECTROSCOPIC ELLIPSOMETRY TO IN-STU. REAL-TIME FABRICATION OF MULTIPLE LAYER ALTERNATING HIGH/LOW REFRACTIVE INDEX FILTERS

Disclosed is application of oblique angle of incidence, reflection and/or transmission mode spectroscopic ellipsometry PSI and/or DELTA, (including combinations thereof and/or mathematical equivalents), vs. wavelength data to monitor and/or control fabrication of multiple layer high/low refractive index band-pass, band-reject and varied attenuation vs. wavelength filters, either alone or in combination with transmissive non-ellipsometric electromagnetic beam turning point vs. layer data obtained at an essentially normal angle of incidence

Hidden Consequence of Active Local Lorentz Invariance

In this paper we investigate a hidden consequence of the hypothesis that Lagrangians and field equations must be invariant under active local Lorentz transformations. We show that this hypothesis implies in an equivalence between spacetime structures with several curvature and torsion possibilities.Comment: Some misprints appearing in the published version have been correcte