2,204 research outputs found
Damage Characterization Method for Structural Health Management Using Reduced Number of Sensor Inputs
The development of validated multidisciplinary Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) tools, technologies, and techniques to enable detection, diagnosis, prognosis, and mitigation in the presence of adverse conditions during flight will provide effective solutions to deal with safety related challenges facing next generation aircraft. The adverse conditions include loss of control caused by environmental factors, actuator and sensor faults or failures, and damage conditions. A major concern in these structures is the growth of undetected damage (cracks) due to fatigue and low velocity foreign impacts that can reach a critical size during flight, resulting in loss of control of the aircraft. Hence, development of efficient methodologies to determine the presence, location, and severity of damage in critical structural components is highly important in developing efficient structural health management systems
A New Pleiades Member at the Lithium Substellar Boundary
We present the discovery of an object in the Pleiades open cluster, named
Teide 2, with optical and infrared photometry which place it on the cluster
sequence slightly below the expected substellar mass limit. We have obtained
low- and high-resolution spectra that allow us to determine its spectral type
(M6), radial velocity and rotational broadening; and to detect H in
emission and Li I 670.8 nm in absorption. All the observed properties strongly
support the membership of Teide 2 into the Pleiades. This object has an
important role in defining the reappearance of lithium below the substellar
limit in the Pleiades. The age of the Pleiades very low-mass members based on
their luminosities and absence or presence of lithium is constrained to be in
the range 100--120 Myr.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure
Soft X-ray harmonic comb from relativistic electron spikes
We demonstrate a new high-order harmonic generation mechanism reaching the
`water window' spectral region in experiments with multi-terawatt femtosecond
lasers irradiating gas jets. A few hundred harmonic orders are resolved, giving
uJ/sr pulses. Harmonics are collectively emitted by an oscillating electron
spike formed at the joint of the boundaries of a cavity and bow wave created by
a relativistically self-focusing laser in underdense plasma. The spike
sharpness and stability are explained by catastrophe theory. The mechanism is
corroborated by particle-in-cell simulations
Nitrogen Fertilization Has a Stronger Effect on Soil Nitrogen-Fixing Bacterial Communities than Elevated Atmospheric CO2
Biological nitrogen fixation is the primary supply of N to most ecosystems, yet there is considerable uncertainty about how N-fixing bacteria will respond to global change factors such as increasing atmospheric CO2 and N deposition. Using the nifH gene as a molecular marker, we studied how the community structure of N-fixing soil bacteria from temperate pine, aspen, and sweet gum stands and a brackish tidal marsh responded to multiyear elevated CO2 conditions. We also examined how N availability, specifically, N fertilization, interacted with elevated CO2 to affect these communities in the temperate pine forest. Based on data from Sanger sequencing and quantitative PCR, the soil nifH composition in the three forest systems was dominated by species in the Geobacteraceae and, to a lesser extent, Alphaproteobacteria. The N-fixing-bacterial-community structure was subtly altered after 10 or more years of elevated atmospheric CO2, and the observed shifts differed in each biome. In the pine forest, N fertilization had a stronger effect on nifH community structure than elevated CO2 and suppressed the diversity and abundance of N-fixing bacteria under elevated atmospheric CO2 conditions. These results indicate that N-fixing bacteria have complex, interacting responses that will be important for understanding ecosystem productivity in a changing climate
An Assessment of Oral Health on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
An assessment on the oral health of 292 Oglala Lakota residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota looks at dental issues, periodontal disease, oral lesions and need for dental care. The research was conducted by the University of Colorado, Center for Native Oral Health Research and funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Studies of Vibrational Properties in Ga Stabilized d-Pu by Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure
Temperature dependent extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS)
spectra were measured for a 3.3 at% Ga stabilized Pu alloy over the range T= 20
- 300 K at both the Ga K-edge and the Pu L_III-edge. The temperature dependence
of the pair-distance distribution widths, \sigma(T) was accurately modeled
using a correlated-Debye model for the lattice vibrational properties,
suggesting Debye-like behavior in this material. We obtain pair- specific
correlated-Debye temperatures, \Theta_cD, of 110.7 +/- 1.7 K and 202.6 +/- 3.7
K, for the Pu-Pu and Ga-Pu pairs, respectively. These results represent the
first unambiguous determination of Ga-specific vibrational properties in PuGa
alloys, and indicate the Ga-Pu bonds are significantly stronger than the Pu-Pu
bonds. This effect has important implications for lattice stabilization
mechanisms in these alloys.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, Phys. Rev. B in pres
P-P Total Cross Sections at VHE from Accelerator Data
Comparison of P-P total cross-sections estimations at very high energies -
from accelerators and cosmic rays - shows a disagreement amounting to more than
10 %, a discrepancy which is beyond statistical errors. Here we use a
phenomenological model based on the Multiple-Diffraction approach to
successfully describe data at accelerator energies. The predictions of the
model are compared with data On the basis of regression analysis we determine
confident error bands, analyzing the sensitivity of our predictions to the
employed data for extrapolation. : using data at 546 and 1.8 TeV, our
extrapolations for p-p total cross-sections are only compatible with the Akeno
cosmic ray data, predicting a slower rise with energy than other cosmic ray
results and other extrapolation methods. We discuss our results within the
context of constraints in the light of future accelerator and cosmic ray
experimental results.Comment: 26 pages aqnd 11 figure
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