Comparison and Analysis of Flexibility for Cutlery Made from Biobased/ Biodegradable and Petrochemical Materials

Biorenewable plastics can have the potential to reduce pollution, demand on landfills, and dependence on foreign petroleum caused by petroleum-based plastics. To determine the performance of biobased utensils compared to petrochemical based utensils, this study investigated 13 bio-based/biorenewable utensils and six petrochemical utensils in terms of weight, stiffness, and specific stiffness (stiffness/weight ratio). The Commercial Item Description (CID), which was created by the U.S. Government via the General Services Administration (GSA), is the current standard for testing utensils. The biobased products selected for this study were “commercial or industrial products (other than food or feed) that are composed, in whole, or in significant part, of biological products, renewable agricultural materials (including plant, animal, and marine materials), or forestry materials.” (USDA Bio Preferred Program, 2012). The results of this study show that the majority of biobased products exhibited similar strength and deflection under a given load as petrochemical products. This is the first comparison of this kind and it will allow designers and manufacturers to further optimize their products

Evolution of the star formation histories of BLAST galaxies

We have measured star formation histories (SFHs) and stellar masses of galaxies detected by the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Sub-millimetre Telescope (BLAST) over approximately 9 square degrees centred on the Chandra Deep Field South. We have applied the recently developed SFH reconstruction method of Dye et al. to optical, near-infrared and mid-infrared photometry of 92 BLAST galaxies. We find significant differences between the SFHs of low mass (<10^11 M_sol) and high mass (>10^11 M_sol) galaxies. On average, low mass galaxies exhibit a dominant late burst of star formation which creates a large fraction of their stellar mass. Conversely, high mass systems tend to have a significant amount of stellar mass that formed much earlier. We also find that the high mass SFHs evolve more strongly than the low mass SFHs. These findings are consistent with the phenomenon of downsizing observed in optically selected samples of galaxies.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS Letters. 5 pages. 4 figure

Ensuring the survival of critical information sources after an underground incident: can it be achieved?

Through a risk management process ACARP Project C19010 (Emergency Response: Mine Entry Data Management) identified critical information decision makers required to make informed, risk based decisions on whether mines rescue teams could enter or remain in a mine in response to an incident. The project also developed a proof of concept software tool to assist making informed and considered, risked based decisions founded on predetermined relevant and reliable information. One of the questions that presented most commonly throughout this project was how can operations effectively sustain the systems which could provide this required information once an incident occurs. This leads to other questions such as; what level and type of incident could render our existing systems obsolete in an emergency? And what contingencies do operations have in place or available to them to counter this risk? To assist address these issues an extension to ACARP Project C19010 was sought and successful, allowing a scoping study to research and identify existing and future strategies, systems and hardware which have the potential to support and provide the information requirements of decision makers during or after an incident at an underground coal mine. This paper outlines findings to date, of the ACARP Project C19010 extension

BFORE: The B-mode Foreground Experiment

The B-mode Foreground Experiment (BFORE) is a proposed NASA balloon project designed to make optimal use of the sub-orbital platform by concentrating on three dust foreground bands (270, 350, and 600 GHz) that complement ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) programs. BFORE will survey ~1/4 of the sky with 1.7 - 3.7 arcminute resolution, enabling precise characterization of the Galactic dust that now limits constraints on inflation from CMB B-mode polarization measurements. In addition, BFORE's combination of frequency coverage, large survey area, and angular resolution enables science far beyond the critical goal of measuring foregrounds. BFORE will constrain the velocities of thousands of galaxy clusters, provide a new window on the cosmic infrared background, and probe magnetic fields in the interstellar medium. We review the BFORE science case, timeline, and instrument design, which is based on a compact off-axis telescope coupled to >10,000 superconducting detectors.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, conference proceedings published in Journal of Low Temperature Physic

Germany and the United States: Reliable Allies. But Disagreement on Russia, Global Leadership and Trade

This Pew Research Center report, in association with Bertelsmann Foundation, examines American and German attitudes toward each other and their respective geopolitical roles. This report is based on telephone surveys in the United States and Germany. In the U.S., interviews were conducted February 26 to March 1, 2015 among a national sample of 1,003 persons, 18 years of age or older. In Germany, interviews were conducted February 24-25, 2015 among a national sample of 963 persons, 18 years of age or older. For more details, see survey methods and topline results

Mechanical design and development of TES bolometer detector arrays for the Advanced ACTPol experiment

The next generation Advanced ACTPol (AdvACT) experiment is currently underway and will consist of four Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometer arrays, with three operating together, totaling ~5800 detectors on the sky. Building on experience gained with the ACTPol detector arrays, AdvACT will utilize various new technologies, including 150mm detector wafers equipped with multichroic pixels, allowing for a more densely packed focal plane. Each set of detectors includes a feedhorn array of stacked silicon wafers which form a spline profile leading to each pixel. This is then followed by a waveguide interface plate, detector wafer, back short cavity plate, and backshort cap. Each array is housed in a custom designed structure manufactured from high purity copper and then gold plated. In addition to the detector array assembly, the array package also encloses cryogenic readout electronics. We present the full mechanical design of the AdvACT high frequency (HF) detector array package along with a detailed look at the detector array stack assemblies. This experiment will also make use of extensive hardware and software previously developed for ACT, which will be modified to incorporate the new AdvACT instruments. Therefore, we discuss the integration of all AdvACT arrays with pre-existing ACTPol infrastructure.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation conference proceeding

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Two-Season ACTPol Spectra and Parameters

We present the temperature and polarization angular power spectra measured by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarimeter (ACTPol). We analyze night-time data collected during 2013-14 using two detector arrays at 149 GHz, from 548 deg$^2$ of sky on the celestial equator. We use these spectra, and the spectra measured with the MBAC camera on ACT from 2008-10, in combination with Planck and WMAP data to estimate cosmological parameters from the temperature, polarization, and temperature-polarization cross-correlations. We find the new ACTPol data to be consistent with the LCDM model. The ACTPol temperature-polarization cross-spectrum now provides stronger constraints on multiple parameters than the ACTPol temperature spectrum, including the baryon density, the acoustic peak angular scale, and the derived Hubble constant. Adding the new data to planck temperature data tightens the limits on damping tail parameters, for example reducing the joint uncertainty on the number of neutrino species and the primordial helium fraction by 20%.Comment: 23 pages, 25 figure

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Detection of mm-wave transient sources

We report on the serendipitous discovery of three transient mm-wave sources using data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. The first, detected at RA = 273.8138, dec = -49.4628 at ${\sim}50\sigma$ total, brightened from less than 5 mJy to at least 1100 mJy at 150 GHz with an unknown rise time shorter than thirteen days, during which the increase from 250 mJy to 1100 mJy took only 8 minutes. Maximum flux was observed on 2019-11-8. The source's spectral index in flux between 90 and 150 GHz was positive, $\alpha = 1.5\pm0.2$. The second, detected at RA = 105.1584, dec = -11.2434 at ${\sim}20\sigma$ total, brightened from less than 20 mJy to at least 300 mJy at 150 GHz with an unknown rise time shorter than eight days. Maximum flux was observed on 2019-12-15. Its spectral index was also positive, $\alpha = 1.8\pm0.2$. The third, detected at RA = 301.9952, dec = 16.1652 at ${\sim}40\sigma$ total, brightened from less than 8 mJy to at least 300 mJy at 150 GHz over a day or less but decayed over a few days. Maximum flux was observed on 2018-9-11. Its spectrum was approximately flat, with a spectral index of $\alpha = -0.2\pm0.1$. None of the sources were polarized to the limits of these measurements. The two rising-spectrum sources are coincident in position with M and K stars, while the third is coincident with a G star.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl