2,278 research outputs found
An intelligent, free-flying robot
The ground based demonstration of the extensive extravehicular activity (EVA) Retriever, a voice-supervised, intelligent, free flying robot, is designed to evaluate the capability to retrieve objects (astronauts, equipment, and tools) which have accidentally separated from the Space Station. The major objective of the EVA Retriever Project is to design, develop, and evaluate an integrated robotic hardware and on-board software system which autonomously: (1) performs system activation and check-out; (2) searches for and acquires the target; (3) plans and executes a rendezvous while continuously tracking the target; (4) avoids stationary and moving obstacles; (5) reaches for and grapples the target; (6) returns to transfer the object; and (7) returns to base
Asymptotic Normalization Coefficients for 13C+p->14N
The proton exchange reaction has been measured
at an incident energy of 162 MeV. Angular distributions were obtained for
proton transfer to the ground and low lying excited states in . Elastic
scattering of on also was measured out to the rainbow angle
region in order to find reliable optical model potentials. Asymptotic
normalization coefficients for the system have been
found for the ground state and the excited states at 2.313, 3.948, 5.106 and
5.834 MeV in . These asymptotic normalization coefficients will be used
in a determination of the S-factor for at solar
energies from a measurement of the proton transfer reaction
.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Tests of Transfer Reaction Determinations of Astrophysical S-Factors
The reaction has been used to determine
asymptotic normalization coefficients for transitions to the ground and first
excited states of . The coefficients provide the normalization for
the tails of the overlap functions for and allow us
to calculate the S-factors for at astrophysical
energies. The calculated S-factors are compared to measurements and found to be
in very good agreement. This provides the first test of this indirect method to
determine astrophysical direct capture rates using transfer reactions. In
addition, our results yield S(0) for capture to the ground and first excited
states in , without the uncertainty associated with extrapolation from
higher energies.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
A new algorithm for anisotropic solutions
We establish a new algorithm that generates a new solution to the Einstein
field equations, with an anisotropic matter distribution, from a seed isotropic
solution. The new solution is expressed in terms of integrals of an isotropic
gravitational potential; and the integration can be completed exactly for
particular isotropic seed metrics. A good feature of our approach is that the
anisotropic solutions necessarily have an isotropic limit. We find two examples
of anisotropic solutions which generalise the isothermal sphere and the
Schwarzschild interior sphere. Both examples are expressed in closed form
involving elementary functions only.Comment: 16 pages, to appear in Pramana - J. Phy
Asymptotic normalization coefficients for 8B->7Be+p from a study of 8Li->7Li+n
Asymptotic normalization coefficients (ANCs) for 8Li->7Li+n have been
extracted from the neutron transfer reaction 13C(7Li,8Li)12C at 63 MeV. These
are related to the ANCs in 8B->7Be+p using charge symmetry. We extract ANCs for
8B that are in very good agreement with those inferred from proton transfer and
breakup experiments. We have also separated the contributions from the p_1/2
and p_3/2 components in the transfer. We find the astrophysical factor for the
7Be(p,gamma)8B reaction to be S_17(0)=17.6+/-1.7 eVb. This is the first time
that the rate of a direct capture reaction of astrophysical interest has been
determined through a measurement of the ANCs in the mirror system.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 2 table
Mapping the Growth and Demographics of Managerial and Professional Staff in Higher Education
This chapter presents a descriptive analysis of the growth of managerial and professional staff from Fall 1993 to Fall 2011 across institution types and sectors, and a detailed snapshot of the demographic composition of these staff in Fall 2016. Our results indicate tremendous growth in the population of nonâfaculty staff over time, and reveal key patterns in staff employment by gender and race/ethnicity.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154664/1/he20352.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154664/2/he20352_am.pd
Effects of mountain gorilla foraging activities on the productivity of their food plant species
Mountain gorillas subsist principally on foliage from the dense herbaceous understorey that is found throughout most of their habitat in the Virunga Volcanoes region. Their foraging activities cause considerable structural damage to this vegetation. Those plant species that are quantitatively most important in the gorillas' diet respond to this damage by increasing primary productivity. At a sample of spots at which gorillas had fed, these species showed significantly higher growth rates over a 6-month interval than they did at nearby spots that had not been touched by the gorillas. Stem densities of herbaceous food species at feeding spots increased markedly both in comparison to their original values and to values for the same species at untouched spots. As a result, spots at which gorillas have fed are likely to become very attractive as future feeding spots. It is unlikely that gorillas âmanageâ their habitat in any specific fashion, largely because they do not have exclusive use of their home ranges. Their activities appear to maintain habitat productivity over the short term, on a time scale relevant to patterns of area revisits by social groups, and may contribute to long term beneficial alterations of regularly used areas, however. Effects of the type reported here may have been an important aspect of the adaptation by gorillas to terrestrial folivory. RĂSUMEĂ Les gorilles de montagne s'alimentent principalement de feuillages dans le sous-bois herbacĂ dense prĂsent presque partout dans leur habitat de la rĂgion des volcans Virunga. Leurs activitĂs alimentaires causent des dommages structurels considĂrables Ă cette vĂgĂtation. Les plantes des espĂces qui sont quantitativement les plus importants dans le rĂgime du gorille rĂagissent Ă ces dĂgats en augmentant leur productivitĂ primaire. Aux postes Ăchantillons oĂ les gorilles se sont nourris, ces espĂces prĂsentent des taux de croissance significantivement supĂrieurs sur un intervalle de six mois, par rapport aux postes voisins qui n'ont pas ĂtĂ touchĂs par les gorilles. Les densitĂs de tiges des espĂces herbacĂes appĂtĂes aux postes de nourrissage augmentent nettement aussi bien en comparaison avec leurs valeurs antĂrieures qu'avec celles de ces mÄmes espĂces dans des stations non touchĂes. En consĂquence, les postes oĂ les gorilles se sont nourris ont plus de chance de devenir des futurs postes de nourrissage trĂs attractifs. Il est peu probable que les gorilles âgĂrentâ leur habitat d'une quelconque faĂon, surtout parce qu'ils n'ont pas l'utilisation exclusive de leur domaine vital. Leurs activitĂs semblent maintenir Ă court terme la productivitĂ de leur habitat, sur une Ăchelle de temps comprenant les visites successives de groupes sociaux, et peuvent contribuer Ă long terme Ă des altĂrations bĂnĂfiques pour ces zones rĂguliĂrement frĂquentĂes. Des effets du type rapportĂ ici peuvent avoir ĂtĂ un ĂlĂment important de l'adaptation des gorilles Ă la folivorie terrestre.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75171/1/j.1365-2028.1987.tb01102.x.pd
Trends in stream nitrogen concentrations for forested reference catchments across the USA
To examine whether stream nitrogen concentrations in forested reference catchments have changed over time and if patterns were consistent across the USA, we synthesized up to 44 yr of data collected from 22 catchments at seven USDA Forest Service Experimental Forests. Trends in stream nitrogen presented high spatial variability both among catchments at a site and among sites across the USA. We found both increasing and decreasing trends in monthly flow-weighted stream nitrate and ammonium concentrations. At a subset of the catchments, we found that the length and period of analysis influenced whether trends were positive, negative or non-significant. Trends also differed among neighboring catchments within several Experimental Forests, suggesting the importance of catchment-specific factors in determining nutrient exports. Over the longest time periods, trends were more consistent among catchments within sites, although there are fewer long-term records for analysis. These findings highlight the critical value of long-term, uninterrupted stream chemistry monitoring at a network of sites across the USA to elucidate patterns of change in nutrient concentrations at minimally disturbed forested sites
Optical model potentials involving loosely bound p-shell nuclei around 10 MeV/A
We present the results of a search for optical model potentials for use in
the description of elastic scattering and transfer reactions involving stable
and radioactive p-shell nuclei. This was done in connection with our program to
use transfer reactions to obtain data for nuclear astrophysics, in particular
for the determination of the astrophysical S_17 factor for 7Be(p,\gamma)8B
using two (7Be,8B) proton transfer reactions. Elastic scattering was measured
using 7Li, 10B, 13C and 14N projectiles on 9Be and 13C targets at or about
E/A=10 MeV/nucleon. Woods-Saxon type optical model potentials were extracted
and are compared with potentials obtained from a microscopic double folding
model. We use these results to find optical model potentials for unstable
nuclei with emphasis on the reliability of the description they provide for
peripheral proton transfer reactions. We discuss the uncertainty introduced by
the procedure in the prediction of the DWBA cross sections for the (7Be,8B)
reactions used in extracting the astrophysical factor S_17(0).Comment: 16 pages, LaTEX file, 9 figures (PostScript files
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