Simulation of a lunar gradiometer mission

A lunar gradiometer mission involves the mounting of a gradiometer on a satellite which is in a low, polar, and circular lunar orbit. The results of a numerical simulation of the mission is presented. It is shown that if the satellite is in a 50 km orbit, 1 deg and 2 deg gravity anomalies may be estimated with accuracies of 12 mgal and 1 mgal respectively. At a 100 km altitude, 2 deg gravity anomalies can be estimated with an accuracy of 12 mgal. These results assume a rotating type gradiometer with a .1E accuracy. The results can be readily scaled to reflect another level

Fluid-solid transition in hard hyper-sphere systems

In this work we present a numerical study, based on molecular dynamics simulations, to estimate the freezing point of hard spheres and hypersphere systems in dimension D = 4, 5, 6 and 7. We have studied the changes of the Radial Distribution Function (RDF) as a function of density in the coexistence region. We started our simulations from crystalline states with densities above the melting point, and moved down to densities in the liquid state below the freezing point. For all the examined dimensions (including D = 3) it was observed that the height of the first minimum of the RDF changes in an almost continuous way around the freezing density and resembles a second order phase transition. With these results we propose a numerical method to estimate the freezing point as a function of the dimension D using numerical fits and semiempirical approaches. We find that the estimated values of the freezing point are very close to previously reported values from simulations and theoretical approaches up to D = 6 reinforcing the validity of the proposed method. This was also applied to numerical simulations for D = 7 giving new estimations of the freezing point for this dimensionality.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

Strategies for estimating the marine geoid from altimeter data

Altimeter data from a spacecraft borne altimeter was processed to estimate the fine structure of the marine geoid. Simulation studies show that, among several competing parameterizations, the mean free air gravity anomaly model exhibited promising geoid recovery characteristics. Using covariance analysis techniques, quantitative measures of the orthogonality properties are investigated

Strategies for estimating the marine geoid from altimeter data

In processing altimeter data from a spacecraft borne altimeter to estimate the fine structure of the marine geoid, a problem is encountered. In order to describe the geoid fine structure, a large number of parameters must be employed and it is not possible to simultaneously estimate all of them. Unless the parameterization exhibits good orthogonality in the data, serious aliasing results. From simulation studies it has been found that amongst several competing parameterizations, the mean free air gravity anomaly model (i.e., Stokes' formula) exhibited promising geoid recovery characteristics. Using covariance analysis techniques, this report provides quantitative measures of the orthogonality properties associated with the above mentioned parameterization. It has been determined that a 5 deg x 5 deg area mean free air gravity anomaly can be estimated with an uncertainty of 1 mgal (40 cm undulation) provided that all free air gravity anomalies within a spherical radius of 10 arc degrees are simultaneously estimated

Planar laser induced fluorescence for temperature measurement of optical thermocavitation

Pulsed laser-induced cavitation, has been the subject of many studies describing bubble growth, collapse and ensuing shock waves. To a lesser extent, hydrodynamics of continuous wave (CW) cavitation or thermocavitation have also been reported. However, the temperature field around these bubbles has not been measured, partly because a sensor placed in the fluid would interfere with the bubble dynamics, but also because the short-lived bubble lifetimes (∼70–200 µs) demand high sampling rates which are costly to achieve via infrared (IR) imaging. Planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) provides a non-intrusive alternative technique to costly IR imaging to measure the temperature around laser-induced cavitation bubbles. A 440 nm laser sheet excites rhodamine-B dye to fluoresce while thermocavitation is induced by a CW 810 nm laser. Post-calibration, the fluorescence intensity captured with a high-speed Phantom Miro camera is correlated to temperature field adjacent to the bubble. Using shadowgraphy and PLIF, a significant decrease in sensible heat is observed in the nucleation site– temperature decreases after bubble collapse and the initial heated volume of liquid shrinks. Based on irradiation time and temperature, the provided optical energy is estimated to be converted up to 50% into acoustic energy based on the bubble's size, with larger bubbles converting larger percentages

Prospective evaluation of low-dose ketoconazole plus hydrocortisone in docetaxel pre-treated castration-resistant prostate cancer patients.

BackgroundKetoconazole is a well-known CYP17-targeted systemic treatment for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). However, most of the published data has been in the pre-chemotherapy setting; its efficacy in the post-chemotherapy setting has not been as widely described. Chemotherapy-naïve patients treated with attenuated doses of ketoconazole (200-300 mg three times daily) had PSA response rate (>50% decline) of 21-62%. We hypothesized that low-dose ketoconazole would likewise possess efficacy and tolerability in the CRPC post-chemotherapy state.MethodsMen with CRPC and performance status 0-3, adequate organ function and who had received prior docetaxel were treated with low-dose ketoconazole (200 mg orally three times daily) and hydrocortisone (20 mg PO qAM and 10 mg PO qPM) until disease progression. Primary endpoint was PSA response rate (>50% reduction from baseline) where a rate of 25% was to be considered promising for further study (versus a null rate of <5%); 25 patients were required. Secondary endpoints included PSA response >30% from baseline, progression-free survival (PFS), duration of stable disease and evaluation of adverse events (AEs).ResultsThirty patients were accrued with median age of 72 years (range 55-86) and median pre-treatment PSA of 73 ng ml(-1) (range 7-11,420). Twenty-nine patients were evaluable for response and toxicity. PSA response (>50% reduction) was seen in 48% of patients; PSA response (>30% reduction) was seen in 59%. Median PFS was 138 days; median duration of stable disease was 123 days. Twelve patients experienced grade 3 or 4 AEs. Of the 17 grade 3 AEs, only 3 were attributed to treatment. None of the two grade 4 AEs were considered related to treatment.ConclusionsIn docetaxel pre-treated CRPC patients, low-dose ketoconazole and hydrocortisone is a well-tolerated, relatively inexpensive and clinically active treatment option. PSA response to low-dose ketoconazole appears historically comparable to that of abiraterone in this patient context. A prospective, randomized study of available post-chemotherapy options is warranted to assess comparative efficacy

Dissolution experiments of commercial PWR (52 MWd/kgU) and BWR (53 MWd/kgU) spent nuclear fuel cladded segments in bicarbonate water under oxidizing conditions. Experimental determination of matrix and instant release fraction

The denominated instant release fraction (IRF) is considered in performance assessment (PA) exercises to govern the dose that could arise from the repository. A conservative definition of IRF comprises the total inventory of radionuclides located in the gap, fractures, and the grain boundaries and, if present, in the high burn-up structure (HBS). The values calculated from this theoretical approach correspond to an upper limit that likely does not correspond to what it will be expected to be instantaneously released in the real system. Trying to ascertain this IRF from an experimental point of view, static leaching experiments have been carried out with two commercial UO2 spent nuclear fuels (SNF): one from a pressurized water reactor (PWR), labelled PWR, with an average burn-up (BU) of 52 MWd/kgU and fission gas release (FGR) of 23.1%, and one from a boiling water reactor (BWR), labelled BWR, with an average BU of and 53 MWd/kgU and FGR of 3.9%.; One sample of each SNF, consisting of fuel and cladding, has been leached in bicarbonate water during one year under oxidizing conditions at room temperature (25 +/- 5) degrees C. The behaviour of the concentration measured in solution can be divided in two according to the release rate. All radionuclides presented an initial release rate that after some days levels down to a slower second one, which remains constant until the end of the experiment. Cumulative fraction of inventory in aqueous phase (FIAPc) values has been calculated. Results show faster release in the case of the PWR SNF. In both cases Np, Pu, Am, Cm, Y, Tc, La and Nd dissolve congruently with U, while dissolution of Zr, Ru and Rh is slower. Rb, Sr, Cs and Mo, dissolve faster than U. The IRF of Cs at 10 and 200 days has been calculated, being (3.10 +/- 0.62) and (3.66 +/- 0.73) for PWR fuel, and (035 +/- 0.07) and (0.51 +/- 0.10) for BWR fuel. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Optimization of 2-d lattice cellular automata for pseudorandom number generation

This paper proposes a generalized approach to 2-d CA PRNGs – the 2-d lattice CA PRNG – by introducing vertical connections to arrays of 1-d CA. The structure of a 2-d lattice CA PRNG lies in between that of 1-d CA and 2-d CA grid PRNGs. With the generalized approach, 2-d lattice CA PRNG offers more 2-d CA PRNG variations. It is found that they can do better than the conventional 2-d CA grid PRNGs. In this paper, the structure and properties of 2-d lattice CA are explored by varying the number and location of vertical connections, and by searching for different 2-d array settings that can give good randomness based on Diehard test. To get the most out of 2-d lattice CA PRNGs, genetic algorithm is employed in searching for good neighborhood characteristics. By adopting an evolutionary approach, the randomness quality of 2-d lattice CA PRNGs is optimized. In this paper, a new metric, #rn is introduced as a way of finding a 2-d lattice CA PRNG with the least number of cells required to pass Diehard test. Following the introduction of the new metric #rn, a cropping technique is presented to further boost the CA PRNG performance. The cost and efficiency of 2-d lattice CA PRNG is compared with past works on CA PRNGs

Elastic transport through dangling-bond silicon wires on H passivated Si(100)

We evaluate the electron transmission through a dangling-bond wire on Si(100)-H (2x1). Finite wires are modelled by decoupling semi-infinite Si electrodes from the dangling-bond wire with passivating H atoms. The calculations are performed using density functional theory in a non-periodic geometry along the conduction direction. We also use Wannier functions to analyze our results and to build an effective tight-binding Hamiltonian that gives us enhanced insight in the electron scattering processes. We evaluate the transmission to the different solutions that are possible for the dangling-bond wires: Jahn-Teller distorted ones, as well as antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic ones. The discretization of the electronic structure of the wires due to their finite size leads to interesting transmission properties that are fingerprints of the wire nature