42,479 research outputs found
Applicability of fluidic controls to a Rankine cycle automotive engine Final report
Fluidic controls for automotive engine examined by Rankine cycle performance with water, CP-34, and freon TF and investigation for boiler and feed pump control criteri
You get what you (don’t) pay for: The impact of volunteer labour and candidate spending at the 2010 British general election
The published version of this article is fully available from the publisher at the link below.Repeated evidence in Britain demonstrates the positive electoral payoffs from constituency campaigning. However, the impact of such campaigning varies depending upon the electoral context and the effectiveness of campaign management. Debate also exists in respect of the relative impact of traditional versus more modern campaign techniques, as well as between campaign techniques that incur cost and those that are carried out voluntarily. Such debates are of interest not only to academics and political parties, but also to regulators when considering whether to restrict campaign spending in the interests of electoral parity. This article uses candidate spending data and responses to an extensive survey of election agents at the British General Election of 2010 to assess the impact of both campaign expenditure and free, voluntary labour on electoral performance. It suggests that both have some independent impact, but that impact varies by party. The implications of these results are highly significant in both academic and regulatory terms—campaign expenditure can affect electoral outcomes but these effects are offset to some extent by voluntary efforts
Can crack front waves explain the roughness of cracks ?
We review recent theoretical progress on the dynamics of brittle crack fronts
and its relationship to the roughness of fracture surfaces. We discuss the
possibility that the intermediate scale roughness of cracks, which is
characterized by a roughness exponent approximately equal to 0.5, could be
caused by the generation, during local instabilities by depinning, of
diffusively broadened corrugation waves, which have recently been observed to
propagate elastically along moving crack fronts. We find that the theory agrees
plausibly with the orders of magnitude observed. Various consequences and
limitations, as well as alternative explanations, are discussed. We argue that
another mechanism, possibly related to damage cavity coalescence, is needed to
account for the observed large scale roughness of cracks that is characterized
by a roughness exponent approximately equal to 0.8Comment: 26 pages, 3 .eps figure. Submitted to J. Mech. Phys. Solid
The role of freestream turbulence scale in subsonic flow separation
The clarification of the role of freestream turbulence scale in determining the location of boundary layer separation is discussed. Modifications to the test facility were completed. Wind tunnel flow characteristics, including turbulence parameters, were determined with two turbulence generating grids, as well as no grid. These results are summarized. Initial results on the role of scale on turbulent boundary layer separation on the upper surface of an airfoil model are also discussed
Heat capacity of the site-diluted spin dimer system Ba3(Mn1-xVx)2O8
Heat capacity and susceptibility measurements have been performed on the
diluted spin dimer compound Ba3(Mn1-xVx)2O8. The parent compound Ba3Mn2O8 is a
spin dimer system based on pairs of antiferromagnetically coupled S = 1, 3d2
Mn5+ ions such that the zero field groundstate is a product of singlets.
Substitution of non-magnetic S = 0, 3d0 V5+ ions leads to an interacting
network of unpaired Mn moments, the low temperature properties of which are
explored in the limit of small concentrations, 0<x<0.05. The zero-field heat
capacity of this diluted system reveals a progressive removal of magnetic
entropy over an extended range of temperatures, with no evidence for a phase
transition. The concentration dependence does not conform to expectations for a
spin glass state. Rather, the data suggest a low temperature random singlet
phase, reflecting the hierarchy of exchange energies found in this system.Comment: Full Publication Citation Include
The influence of free-stream turbulence on separation of turbulent boundary layers in incompressible, two-dimensional flow
Experiments were conducted to determine if free-stream turbulence scale affects separation of turbulent boundary layers. In consideration of possible interrelation between scale and intensity of turbulence, the latter characteristic also was varied and its role was evaluated. Flow over a 2-dimensional airfoil in a subsonic wind tunnel was studied with the aid of hot-wire anemometry, liquid-film flow visualization, a Preston tube, and static pressure measurements. Profiles of velocity, relative turbulence intensity, and integral scale in the boundary layer were measured. Detachment boundary was determined for various angles of attack and free-stream turbulence. The free-stream turbulence intensity and scale were found to spread into the entire turbulent boundary layer, but the effect decreased as the airfoil surface was approached. When the changes in stream turbulence were such that the boundary layer velocity profiles were unchanged, detachment location was not significantly affected by the variations of intensity and scale. Pressure distribution remained the key factor in determining detachment location
Use of ERTS-1 data in the educational and applied research programs of agricultural extension
There are no author-identified significant results in this report
Plume mapping and isotopic characterisation of anthropogenic methane sources
Methane stable isotope analysis, coupled with mole fraction measurement, has been used to link isotopic signature to methane emissions from landfill sites, coal mines and gas leaks in the United Kingdom. A mobile Picarro G2301 CRDS (Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy) analyser was installed on a vehicle, together with an anemometer and GPS receiver, to measure atmospheric methane mole fractions and their relative location while driving at speeds up to 80 kph. In targeted areas, when the methane plume was intercepted, air samples were collected in Tedlar bags, for delta C-13-CH4 isotopic analysis by CF-GC-IRMS (Continuous Flow Gas Chromatography-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry). This method provides high precision isotopic values, determining delta C-13-CH4 to +/- 0.05 per mil. The bulk signature of the methane plume into the atmosphere from the whole source area was obtained by Keeling plot analysis, and a delta C-13 -CH4 signature, with the relative uncertainty, allocated to each methane source investigated. Both landfill and natural gas emissions in SE England have tightly constrained isotopic signatures. The averaged delta C-13-CH4 for landfill sites is -58 +/- 3%o. The delta C-13-CH4 signature for gas leaks is also fairly constant around -36 +/- 2 parts per thousand, a value characteristic of homogenised North Sea supply. In contrast, signatures for coal mines in N. England and Wales fall in a range of -51.2 +/- 0.3 parts per thousand to 30.9 +/- 1.4 parts per thousand, but can be tightly constrained by region. The study demonstrates that CRDS-based mobile methane measurement coupled with off-line high precision isotopic analysis of plume samples is an efficient way of characterising methane sources. It shows that iiotopic measurements allow type identification, and possible location of previously unknown methane sources. In modelling studies this measurement provides an independent constraint to determine the contributions of different sources to the regional methane budget and in the verification of inventory source distribution. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Research in the field of molecular collision phenomena using molecular beam techniques Final report
Aerodynamic molecular beam interactions with solid surface
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