9,743 research outputs found
Radiological assessment for Space Station Freedom
Circumstances have made it necessary to reassess the risks to Space Station Freedom crewmembers that arise from exposure to the space radiation environment. An option is being considered to place it in an orbit similar to that of the Russian Mir space station. This means it would be in a 51.6 deg inclination orbit instead of the previously planned 28.5 deg inclination orbit. A broad range of altitudes is still being considered, although the baseline is a 407 km orbit. In addition, recent data from the Japanese A-bomb survivors has made it necessary for NASA to have the exposure limits reviewed. Preliminary findings of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements indicate that the limits must be significantly reduced. Finally, the Space Station will be a laboratory where effects of long-term zero gravity on human physiology will be studied in detail. It is possible that a few crewmembers will be assigned to as many as three 1-year missions. Thus, their accumulated exposure will exceed 1,000 days. Results of this radiation risk assessment for Space Station Freedom crewmembers finds that females less than 35 years old will be confined to mission assignments where the altitude is less than about 400 km. Slight restrictions may also need to be made for male crewmembers less than 35 years old
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LENS® and SFF: Enabling Technologies for Optimized Structures
Optimized, lightweight, high-strength structures are needed in many applications from aerospace
to automotive. In pursuit of such structures, there have been proposed analytical solutions and
some specialized FEA solutions for specific structures such as automobile frames. However,
generalized 3D optimization methods have been unavailable for use by most designers.
Moreover, in the cases where optimized structural solutions are available, they are often hollow,
curving, thin wall structures that cannot be fabricated by conventional manufacturing methods.
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Rhode Island teamed to solve
these problems. The team has been pursuing two methods of optimizing models for generalized
loading conditions, and also has been investigating the methods needed to fabricate these
structures using Laser Engineered Net Shaping™ (LENS®) and other rapid prototyping
methods. These solid freeform fabrication (SFF) methods offer the unique ability to make
hollow, high aspect ratio features out of many materials. The manufacturing development
required for LENS to make these complex structures has included the addition of rotational axes
to Sandia’s LENS machine bringing the total to 5 controlled axes. The additional axes have
required new efforts in process planning. Several of the unique structures that are only now
possible through the use of SFF technology are shown as part of the discussion of this exciting
new application for SFF.Mechanical Engineerin
Radiation Nephropathy: A Review
The marked radiosensitivity of renal tissue represents a limitation on the total radiotherapeutic dose that safely can be applied to treatment volumes that include the kidneys. Radiation nephropathy is characterized by a progressive reduction in renal hemodynamics associated with a severe anemia. The latter is often normochromic normocytic in character, but can progress to a microangiopathic hemolytic anemia. The pathogenic mechanisms responsible for the development of radiation nephropathy remain ill-defined. Experimental studies which allow serial determinations of functional, morphologic, and cell kinetic radiation-induced changes indicate that primarily glomerular but also tubular alterations occur in the primary stages of radiation nephropathy. Glomerular capillary endothelial cell loss is seen within several weeks of irradiation. Remaining endothelial cells exhibit increased permeability leading to a subendothelial transudate. Mesangiolysis also is observed. In contrast, podocytes appear to be relatively unaffected at this stage. The endothelial changes appear to resolve, but the mesangial lesions progress, with hypercellularity and/or hypertrophy, increased mesangial matrix, mesangial sclerosis, and ultimately, glomerulosclerosis. These mesangial changes are similar to those observed in other chronic glomerulopathies. Dietary protein restriction, corticosteroids, and ACE-inhibitors all can reduce the severity of experimental radiation nephropathy
PPARs and Anticancer Therapies
Editoria
Evolution of displacements and strains in sheared amorphous solids
The local deformation of two-dimensional Lennard-Jones glasses under imposed
shear strain is studied via computer simulations. Both the mean squared
displacement and mean squared strain rise linearly with the length of the
strain interval over which they are measured. However, the
increase in displacement does not represent single-particle diffusion. There
are long-range spatial correlations in displacement associated with slip lines
with an amplitude of order the particle size. Strong dependence on system size
is also observed. The probability distributions of displacement and strain are
very different. For small the distribution of displacement has
a plateau followed by an exponential tail. The distribution becomes Gaussian as
increases to about .03. The strain distributions consist of
sharp central peaks associated with elastic regions, and long exponential tails
associated with plastic regions. The latter persist to the largest studied.Comment: Submitted to J. Phys. Cond. Mat. special volume for PITP Conference
on Mechanical Behavior of Glassy Materials. 16 Pages, 8 figure
Unified Description of Aging and Rate Effects in Yield of Glassy Solids
The competing effects of slow structural relaxations (aging) and deformation
at constant strain rate on the shear yield stress of simple model
glasses are examined using molecular simulations. At long times, aging leads to
a logarithmic increase in density and . The yield stress also rises
logarithmically with rate, but shows a sharp transition in slope at a rate that
decreases with increasing age. We present a simple phenomenological model that
includes both intrinsic rate dependence and the change in properties with the
total age of the system at yield. As predicted by the model, all data for each
temperature collapse onto a universal curve.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
LIMS Instrument Package (LIP) balloon experiment: Nimbus 7 satellite correlative temperature, ozone, water vapor, and nitric acid measurements
The Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) LIP balloon experiment was used to obtain correlative temperature, ozone, water vapor, and nitric acid data at altitudes between 10 and 36 kilometers. The performance of the LIMS sensor flown on the Nimbus 7 Satellite was assessed. The LIP consists of the modified electrochemical concentration cell ozonesonde, the ultraviolet absorption photometric of ozone, the water vapor infrared radiometer sonde, the chemical absorption filter instrument for nitric acid vapor, and the infrared radiometer for nitric acid vapor. The limb instrument package (LIP), its correlative sensors, and the resulting data obtained from an engineering and four correlative flights are described
Jamming under tension in polymer crazes
Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study a unique expanded jammed
state. Tension transforms many glassy polymers from a dense glass to a network
of fibrils and voids called a craze. Entanglements between polymers and
interchain friction jam the system after a fixed increase in volume. As in
dense jammed systems, the distribution of forces is exponential, but they are
tensile rather than compressive. The broad distribution of forces has important
implications for fibril breakdown and the ultimate strength of crazes.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Background modeling for video sequences by stacked denoising autoencoders
Nowadays, the analysis and extraction of relevant information in visual data flows is of paramount importance. These images sequences can last for hours, which implies that the model must adapt to all kinds of circumstances so that the performance of the system does not decay over time. In this paper we propose a methodology for background modeling and foreground detection, whose main characteristic is its robustness against stationary noise. Thus, stacked denoising autoencoders are applied to generate a set of robust characteristics for each region or patch of the image, which will be the input of a probabilistic model to determine if that region is background or foreground. The evaluation of a set of heterogeneous sequences results in that, although our proposal is similar to the classical methods existing in the literature, the inclusion of noise in these sequences causes drastic performance drops in the competing methods, while in our case the performance stays or falls slightly.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional AndalucĂa Tech
Fcc-bcc transition for Yukawa interactions determined by applied strain deformation
Calculations of the work required to transform between bcc and fcc phases
yield a high-precision bcc-fcc transition line for monodisperse point Yukawa
(screened-Couloumb) systems. Our results agree qualitatively but not
quantitatively with previously published simulations and phenomenological
criteria for the bcc-fcc transition. In particular, the bcc-fcc-fluid triple
point lies at a higher inverse screening length than previously reported.Comment: RevTex4, 9 pages, 6 figures. Discussion of phase coexistence
extended, a few other minor clarifications added, referencing improved.
Accepted for publication by Physical Review
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