20,053 research outputs found
Spacecraft component heater control system
A heater control circuit is disclosed as being constructed in a single integrated circuit, with the integrated circuit conveniently mounted proximate to a spacecraft component requiring temperature control. Redundant heater controllers control power applied to strip heaters disposed to provide heat to a component responsive to sensed temperature from temperature sensors. Signals from these sensors are digitized and compared with a dead band temperature and set point temperature stored in memory to generate an error signal if the sensed temperature is outside the parameter stored in the memory. This error signal is utilized by a microprocessor to selectively instruct the heater controllers to apply power to the strip heaters. If necessary, the spacecraft central processor may access or interrogate the microprocessor in order to alter the set point temperature and dead band temperature range to obtain operational data relating to the operation of an integrated circuit for relaying to the ground control, or to switch off faulty components
The effectiveness of thin films in lieu of hyperbolic metamaterials in the near field
We show that the near-field functionality of hyperbolic metamaterials (HMM),
typically proposed for increasing the photonic local density of states (LDOS),
can be achieved with thin metal films. Although HMMs have an infinite density
of internally-propagating plane-wave states, the external coupling to nearby
emitters is severely restricted. We show analytically that properly designed
thin films, of thicknesses comparable to the metal size of a hyperbolic
metamaterial, yield a LDOS as high as (if not higher than) that of HMMs. We
illustrate these ideas by performing exact numerical computations of the LDOS
of multilayer HMMs, along with their application to the problem of maximizing
near-field heat transfer, to show that thin films are suitable replacements in
both cases.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Evaluation of flow quality in two large NASA wind tunnels at transonic speeds
Wind tunnel testing of low drag airfoils and basic transition studies at transonic speeds are designed to provide high quality aerodynamic data at high Reynolds numbers. This requires that the flow quality in facilities used for such research be excellent. To obtain a better understanding of the characteristics of facility disturbances and identification of their sources for possible facility modification, detailed flow quality measurements were made in two prospective NASA wind tunnels. Experimental results are presented of an extensive and systematic flow quality study of the settling chamber, test section, and diffuser in the Langley 8 foot transonic pressure tunnel and the Ames 12 foot pressure wind tunnel. Results indicate that the free stream velocity and pressure fluctuation levels in both facilities are low at subsonic speeds and are so high as to make it difficult to conduct meaningful boundary layer control and transition studies at transonic speeds
Generalized curve fit and plotting (GECAP) program
Program generates graphs on 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper and is designed to be used by engineers and scientists who are not necessarily professional programers. It provides fast and efficient method for display of plotted data without having to generate any additional FORTRAN instructions
Giant frequency-selective near-field energy transfer in active--passive structures
We apply a fluctuation electrodynamics framework in combination with
semianalytical (dipolar) approximations to study amplified spontaneous energy
transfer (ASET) between active and passive bodies. We consider near-field
energy transfer between semi-infinite planar media and spherical structures
(dimers and lattices) subject to gain, and show that the combination of loss
compensation and near-field enhancement (achieved by the proximity, enhanced
interactions, and tuning of subwavelength resonances) in these structures can
result in orders of magnitude ASET enhancements below the lasing threshold. We
examine various possible geometric configurations, including realistic
materials, and describe optimal conditions for enhancing ASET, showing that the
latter depends sensitively on both geometry and gain, enabling efficient and
tunable gain-assisted energy extraction from structured surfaces
New Velocity Distribution in the Context of the Eddington Theory
Exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy (associated with the
cosmological constant) seem to dominate the Universe. Thus its direct detection
is central to particle physics and cosmology. Supersymmetry provides a natural
dark matter candidate, the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). One
essential ingredient in obtaining the direct detection rates is the density and
velocity distribution of the LSP. The detection rate is proportional to this
density in our vicinity. Furthermore, since this rate is expected to be very
low, one should explore the two characteristic signatures of the process,
namely the modulation effect, i.e. the dependence of the event rate on the
Earth's motion and the correlation of the directional rate with the motion of
the sun. Both of these crucially depend on the LSP velocity distribution. In
the present paper we study simultaneously density profiles and velocity
distributions based on the Eddington theory.Comment: 40 LaTex pages, 19 figures and one table. The previous version was
expanded to include new numerical solutions to Poisson's equation. Sheduled
to appear in vol. 588, ApJ, May 1, 300
Cognitive performance in multiple system atrophy
The cognitive performance of a group of patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA) of striato-nigral predominance was compared with that of age and IQ matched control subjects, using three tests sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction and a battery sensitive to memory and learning deficits in Parkinson's disease and dementia of the Alzheimer type. The MSA group showed significant deficits in all three of the tests previously shown to be sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction. Thus, a significant proportion of patients from the MSA group failed an attentional set-shifting test, specifically at the stage when an extra-dimensional shift was required. They were also impaired in a subject-ordered test of spatial working memory. The MSA group showed deficits mostly confined to measures of speed of thinking, rather than accuracy, on the Tower of London task. These deficits were seen in the absence of consistent impairments in language or visual perception. Moreover, the MSA group showed no significant deficits in tests of spatial and pattern recognition previously shown to be sensitive to patients early in the course of probable Alzheimer's disease and only a few patients exhibited impairment on the Warrington Recognition Memory Test. There were impairments on other tests of visual memory and learning relative to matched controls, but these could not easily be related to fundamental deficits of memory or learning. Thus, on a matching-to-sample task the patients were impaired at simultaneous but not delayed matching to sample, whereas difficulties in a pattern-location learning task were more evident at its initial, easier stages. The MSA group showed no consistent evidence of intellectual deterioration as assessed from their performance on subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the National Adult Reading Test (NART). Consideration of individual cases showed that there was some heterogeneity in the pattern of deficits in the MSA group, with one patient showing no impairment, even in the face of considerable physical disability. The results show a distinctive pattern of cognitive deficits, unlike those previously seen using the same tests in patients with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, and suggesting a prominent frontal-lobe-like component. The implications for concepts of 'subcortical' dementia and 'fronto-striatal' cognitive dysfunction are considered
Exceptional Sequences on Rational C*-Surfaces
Inspired by Bondal's conjecture, we study the behavior of exceptional
sequences of line bundles on rational C*-surfaces under homogeneous
degenerations. In particular, we provide a sufficient criterion for such a
sequence to remain exceptional under a given degeneration. We apply our results
to show that, for toric surfaces of Picard rank 3 or 4, all full exceptional
sequences of line bundles may be constructed via augmentation. We also discuss
how our techniques may be used to construct noncommutative deformations of
derived categories.Comment: 30 pages, 11 figures. Some parts of this preprint originally appeared
in arXiv:0906.4292v2 but have been revised and expanded upon. Minor changes,
to appear in Manuscripta Mathematic
Stress relief as the driving force for self-assembled Bi nanolines
Stress resulting from mismatch between a substrate and an adsorbed material
has often been thought to be the driving force for the self-assembly of
nanoscale structures. Bi nanolines self-assemble on Si(001), and are remarkable
for their straightness and length -- they are often more than 400 nm long, and
a kink in a nanoline has never been observed. Through electronic structure
calculations, we have found an energetically favourable structure for these
nanolines that agrees with our scanning tunneling microscopy and photoemission
experiments; the structure has an extremely unusual subsurface structure,
comprising a double core of 7-membered rings of silicon. Our proposed structure
explains all the observed features of the nanolines, and shows that surface
stress resulting from the mismatch between the Bi and the Si substrate are
responsible for their self-assembly. This has wider implications for the
controlled growth of nanostructures on semiconductor surfaces.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
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