Analysis of plasmas generated by fission fragments

A kinetic model is developed for a plasma generated by fission fragments and the results are employed to study helium plasma generated in a tube coated with fissionable material. Because both the heavy particles and electrons play important roles in creating the plasma, their effects are considered simultaneously. The calculations are carried out for a range of neutron fluxes and pressures. In general, the predictions of the theory are in good agreement with available intensity measurements. Moreover, the theory predicts the experimentally measured inversions. However, the calculated gain coefficients are such that lasing is not expected to take place in a helium plasma generated by fission fragments. The effects of an externally applied electric field are also considered

The electron Boltzmann equation in a plasma generated by fission fragments

A Boltzmann equation formulation is presented for the determination of the electron distribution function in a plasma generated by fission fragments. The formulation takes into consideration ambipolar diffusion, elastic and inelastic collisions, recombination and ionization, and allows for the fact that the primary electrons are not monoenergetic. Calculations for He in a tube coated with fissionable material show that, over a wide pressure and neutron flux range, the distribution function is non-Maxwellian, but the electrons are essentially thermal. Moreover, about a third of the energy of the primary electrons is transferred into the inelastic levels of He. This fraction of energy transfer is almost independent of pressure and neutron flux but increases sharply in the presence of a sustainer electric field

Thermodynamic properties of UF6 at high temperatures

The equilibrium composition and the thermodynamic properties of the mixture resulting from the decomposition of uranium hexafluoride is calculated for temperatures ranging from 600 K to 4000 K at pressures from 0.01 atmospheres to 10 atmospheres

Crossover from Endogenous to Exogenous Activity in Open-Source Software Development

We have investigated the origin of fluctuations in the aggregated behaviour of an open-source software community. In a recent series of papers, de Menezes and co-workers have shown how to separate internal dynamics from external fluctuations by capturing the simultaneous activity of many system's components. In spite of software development being a planned activity, the analysis of fluctuations reveals how external driving forces can be only observed at weekly and higher time scales. Hourly and higher change frequencies mostly relate to internal maintenance activities. There is a crossover from endogenous to exogenous activity depending on the average number of file changes. This new evidence suggests that software development is a non-homogeneous design activity where stronger efforts focus in a few project files. The crossover can be explained with a Langevin equation associated to the cascading process, where changes to any file trigger additional changes to its neighbours in the software network. In addition, analysis of fluctuations enables us to detect whether a software system can be decomposed in several subsystems with different development dynamics.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Europhysics Letter

Forecasting wind speed data by using a combination of ARIMA model with single exponential smoothing

Wind serves as natural resources as the solution to minimize global warming and has been commonly used to produce electricity. Because of their uncontrollable wind characteristics, wind speed forecasting is considered one of the best challenges in developing power generation. The Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), Simple Exponential Smoothing (SES) and a hybrid model combination of ARIMA and SES will be used in this study to predict the wind speed. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and the root mean square error (RMSE) are used as measurement of efficiency. The hybrid model provides a positive outcome for predicting wind speed compare to the single model of ARIMA and SES

Resistance of three different populations of mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) to Bacillus thuringiensis

The relative resistance levels of three different populations of mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori L. to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has been studied. All three populations (two Australian and one Indonesian) were observed for similar characteristics including 3rd instar larval mortality at 24, 48, 72 and 96 h after treatment (HAT), LD50 ratio and probit mortality. Among the Australian two populations, the QuBill (yellow coloured, oval shaped cocoon) population showed higher larval mortality to Bt toxicity compared to the QuBite (white coloured, oval shaped cocoon) population. When all the populations were compared, the Insab (Indonesian population with white Coloured, peanut shaped cocoon) showed lower larval mortality and highest LD50 ratio up to 48 HAT. The Insab population also showed a 24 It longer incubation/latent period prior to the start Of Mortality

A New Approach for Determining Onset of Transition

The final report consists of three papers which outline and demonstrate the new method for determining transition onset. The procedure developed under this grant requires specification of the instability mechanism, i.e., Tollmien-Schlichting or crossflow, that leads to transition. The attached papers are entitled: 'An Alternative to the e(sup n) Method for Determining Onset of Transition', 'Transition Model for Swept Wing Flows', and 'A Transition Closure Model for Predicting Transition Onset'

Effect of Hydrogen on Pristine Amorphous V2O5 Thin Film

Sequentially deposited layer by layer up to five vanadium oxide film is deposited on glass and silica substrates at 300 k by vacuum thermal evaporation technique. The deposited samples subjected to reduction process in the preparation situe by hydrogen gas at 473k for 10 minutes and 573 k for 10, 20 minutes. The XRD investigation of the samples demonstrates that the pristine sample is amorphous while those reduced are crystalline. The existed phases in virgin samples are educated by Raman spectroscopy which indicates the single V2O5 phase. The different phases in the reduced sample are identified by analyzing their XRD patterns. The electrical resistance of the reduced samples is measured as a function of temperature during heating and cooling cycles. The transition temperature from semiconducting to metal state is defined by the derivative of dR/d