7,399 research outputs found
Magnetic latching valve
Latching, fast-acting 2-port poppet valve has been developed for use in gas chromatograph - mass spectrometer combinations. Requisites included positive actuation time, few hundredths of a second, and static force holding valve in position at all times
Oscillating hot-wire anemometer
Performance analysis was made of oscillating hot-wire anemometer electrical output in gas stream. Advantages include no calibration and measurement of fluid direction as well as fluid speed
On the torque and wear behavior of selected thin film MOS2 lubricated gimbal bearings
During the thermal vacuum test phase of the GOES 7 spacecraft, the primary scan mirror system exhibited unacceptably high drive friction. The observed friction was found to correlate with small misalignments in the mirror structure and unavoidable loads induced by the vehicle spin. An intensive effort to understand and document the performance of the scan mirror bearing system under these loads is described. This effort involved calculation of the bearing loads and expected friction torque, comparison of the computed values to test data, and verification of the lubrication system performance and limitations under external loads. The study culminated in a successful system launch in February of 1987. The system has operated as predicted since that time
Experience with synthetic fluorinated fluid lubricants
Since the late 1970's, the wet lubricant of choice for space mechanisms has been one of the family of synthetic perfluoro polyalkylether (PFPE) compounds, namely Fomblin Z-25 (Bray-815Z) or DuPont's Krytox 143xx series. While offering the advantages of extremely low vapor pressures and wide temperature ranges, these oils and derived greases have a complex chemistry compared to the more familiar natural and synthetic hydrocarbons. Many aerospace companies have conducted test programs to characterize the behavior of these compounds in a space environment, resulting in a large body of hard knowledge as well as considerable space lore concerning the suitability of the lubricants for particular applications and techniques for successful application. The facts are summarized and a few myths about the compounds are dispelled, and some performance guidelines for the mechanism design engineer are provided
Supernova Constraints and Systematic Uncertainties from the First Three Years of the Supernova Legacy Survey
We combine high-redshift Type Ia supernovae from the first three years of the Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS) with other supernova (SN) samples, primarily at lower redshifts, to form a high-quality joint sample of 472 SNe (123 low-z, 93 SDSS, 242 SNLS, and 14 Hubble Space Telescope). SN data alone require cosmic acceleration at >99.999% confidence, including systematic effects. For the dark energy equation of state parameter (assumed constant out to at least z = 1.4) in a flat universe, we find w = –0.91^(+0.16)_(–0.20)(stat)^(+0.07)_(–0.14)(sys) from SNe only, consistent with a cosmological constant. Our fits include a correction for the recently discovered relationship between host-galaxy mass and SN absolute brightness. We pay particular attention to systematic uncertainties, characterizing them using a systematic covariance matrix that incorporates the redshift dependence of these effects, as well as the shape-luminosity and color-luminosity relationships. Unlike previous work, we include the effects of systematic terms on the empirical light-curve models. The total systematic uncertainty is dominated by calibration terms. We describe how the systematic uncertainties can be reduced with soon to be available improved nearby and intermediate-redshift samples, particularly those calibrated onto USNO/SDSS-like systems
SimDialog: A visual game dialog editor
SimDialog is a visual editor for dialog in computer games. This paper
presents the design of SimDialog, illustrating how script writers and
non-programmers can easily create dialog for video games with complex branching
structures and dynamic response characteristics. The system creates dialog as a
directed graph. This allows for play using the dialog with a state-based cause
and effect system that controls selection of non-player character responses and
can provide a basic scoring mechanism for games
L'CO/LFIR Relations with CO Rotational Ladders of Galaxies Across the Herschel SPIRE Archive
We present a catalog of all CO (J=4-3 through J=13-12)), [CI], [NII] lines
available from extragalactic spectra from the Herschel SPIRE Fourier Transform
Spectrometer (FTS) archive combined with observations of the low-J CO lines
from the literature and from the Arizona Radio Observatory. This work examines
the relationships between LFIR, L'CO, and LCO/LCO(1-0). We also present a new
method for estimating probability distribution functions (PDFs) from marginal
signal-to-noise ratio Herschel} FTS spectra, which takes into account the
instrumental "ringing" and the resulting highly correlated nature of the
spectra. The slopes of log(LFIR) vs. log(L'CO) are linear for all mid- to
high-J CO lines and slightly sublinear if restricted to (U)LIRGs. The mid- to
high-J CO luminosity relative to CO J=1-0 increases with increasing LFIR,
indicating higher excitement of the molecular gas, though these ratios do not
exceed ~ 180. For a given bin in LFIR, the luminosities relative to CO J=1-0
remain relatively flat from J=6-5 through J=13-12, across three orders of
magnitude of LFIR. A single component theoretical photon-dominated region (PDR)
model cannot match these flat SLED shapes, though combinations of PDR models
with mechanical heating added qualitatively match the shapes, indicating the
need for further comprehensive modeling of the excitation processes of warm
molecular gas in nearby galaxies.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures (including appendix), accepted by ApJ. Full
tables will be in VizieR upon publication, email first author for tables in
the meantim
Migration with local public goods and the gains from changing places
Without public goods and under fairly standard assumptions, in Hammond and Sempere (J Pub Econ Theory, 8: 145–170, 2006) we show that freeing migration enhances the potential Pareto gains from free trade. Here, we present a generalization allowing local public goods subject to congestion. Unlike the standard literature on fiscal externalities, our result relies on fixing both local public goods and congestion levels at their status quo values. This allows constrained efficient and potentially Pareto improving population exchanges regulated only through appropriate residence charges, which can be regarded as Pigouvian congestion taxes
The Peculiar Velocities of Local Type Ia Supernovae and their Impact on Cosmology
We quantify the effect of supernova Type Ia peculiar velocities on the
derivation of cosmological parameters. The published distant and local Ia SNe
used for the Supernova Legacy Survey first-year cosmology report form the
sample for this study. While previous work has assumed that the local SNe are
at rest in the CMB frame (the No Flow assumption), we test this assumption by
applying peculiar velocity corrections to the local SNe using three different
flow models. The models are based on the IRAS PSCz galaxy redshift survey, have
varying beta = Omega_m^0.6/b, and reproduce the Local Group motion in the CMB
frame. These datasets are then fit for w, Omega_m, and Omega_Lambda using
flatness or LambdaCDM and a BAO prior. The chi^2 statistic is used to examine
the effect of the velocity corrections on the quality of the fits. The most
favored model is the beta=0.5 model, which produces a fit significantly better
than the No Flow assumption, consistent with previous peculiar velocity
studies. By comparing the No Flow assumption with the favored models we derive
the largest potential systematic error in w caused by ignoring peculiar
velocities to be Delta w = +0.04. For Omega_Lambda, the potential error is
Delta Omega_Lambda = -0.04 and for Omega_m, the potential error is Delta
Omega_m < +0.01. The favored flow model (beta=0.5) produces the following
cosmological parameters: w = -1.08 (+0.09,-0.08), Omega_m = 0.27 (+0.02,-0.02)
assuming a flat cosmology, and Omega_Lambda = 0.80 (+0.08,-0.07) and Omega_m =
0.27 (+0.02,-0.02) for a w = -1 (LambdaCDM) cosmology.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
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