Cold cathode ionization gage has rigid metal housing

Cold cathode ionization gage in a stainless steel housing accurately measures high pressures. The penning effect is used with a high voltage discharge in the presence of a magnetic field for an ion current proportional to the gas pressure in the gage

Optimized maximum-confidence discrimination of N mixed quantum states and application to symmetric states

We study an optimized measurement which discriminates N mixed quantum states occurring with given prior robabilities. The measurement yields the maximum achievable confidence for each of the N conclusive outcomes, thereby keeping the overall probability of inconclusive outcomes as small as possible. It corresponds to optimum unambiguous discrimination when for each outcome the confidence is equal to unity. Necessary and sufficient optimality conditions are derived and general properties of the optimum measurement are obtained. The results are applied to the optimized maximum-confidence discrimination of N equiprobable symmetric mixed states. Analytical solutions are presented for a number of examples, including the discrimination of N symmetric pure states spanning a d-dimensional Hilbert space (d \leq N) and the discrimination of N symmetric mixed qubit states.Comment: minor corrections, final versio

THE BIOMECHANICS OF DYNAMICALLY CONTRACTING SKELETAL MUSCLE

History-dependent properties of skeletal muscle contraction have been observed for half a century. The origin of these properties has been the focus of intense scientific debate. One of these properties, the force enhancement following muscle stretching, has been associated with the development of sarcomere length non-uniformities. Here, we show that this long-held belief is likely not correct. We show this by rejecting three specific hypotheses that arise directly from the sarcomere length non-uniformity theory. We further found novel evidence that force enhancement is likely associated with the development of extra tension in a passive, molecular spring, such as titin or nebulin. This finding has a profound impact on the theory of force enhancement following muscle stretching, and has direct implications for muscle injuries occurring during active muscle stretching

Diode pumped Nd:YAG laser development

A low power Nd:YAG laser was constructed which employs GaAs injection lasers as a pump source. Power outputs of 125 mW TEM CW with the rod at 250 K and the pump at 180 K were achieved for 45 W input power to the pump source. Operation of the laser, with array and laser at a common heat sink temperature of 250 K, was inhibited by difficulties in constructing long-life GaAs LOC laser arrays. Tests verified pumping with output power of 20 to 30 mW with rod and pump at 250 K. Although life tests with single LOC GaAs diodes were somewhat encouraging (with single diodes operating as long as 9000 hours without degradation), failures of single diodes in arrays continue to occur, and 50 percent power is lost in a few hundred hours at 1 percent duty factor. Because of the large recent advances in the state of the art of CW room temperature AlGaAs diodes, their demonstrated lifetimes of greater than 5,000 hours, and their inherent advantages for this task, it is recommended that these sources be used for further CW YAG injection laser pumping work

Thermoplasmonics: Quantifying plasmonic heating in single nanowires

Plasmonic absorption of light can lead to significant local heating in metallic nanostructures, an effect that defines the sub-field of thermoplasmonics and has been leveraged in diverse applications from biomedical technology to optoelectronics. Quantitatively characterizing the resulting local temperature increase can be very challenging in isolated nanostructures. By measuring the optically-induced change in resistance of metal nanowires with a transverse plasmon mode, we quantitatively determine the temperature increase in single nanostructures, with the dependence on incident polarization clearly revealing the plasmonic heating mechanism. Computational modeling explains the resonant and nonresonant contributions to the optical heating and the dominant pathways for thermal transport. These results, obtained by combining electronic and optical measurements, place a bound on the role of optical heating in prior experiments, and suggest design guidelines for engineered structures meant to leverage such effects.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures + 3 pages supporting materia

Linear resolutions of powers and products

The goal of this paper is to present examples of families of homogeneous ideals in the polynomial ring over a field that satisfy the following condition: every product of ideals of the family has a linear free resolution. As we will see, this condition is strongly correlated to good primary decompositions of the products and good homological and arithmetical properties of the associated multi-Rees algebras. The following families will be discussed in detail: polymatroidal ideals, ideals generated by linear forms and Borel fixed ideals of maximal minors. The main tools are Gr\"obner bases and Sagbi deformation

Lunar lander mass spectrometer Final report

Sputter ion source for lunar lander mass spectromete

The Effect of Student Satisfaction on Freshman Retention in Undergraduate Athletic Training Education Programs

Student retention is an issue facing higher education administrators that cannot be ignored. Program directors of athletic training education programs (ATEP) must become aware of the factors which influence retention and develop strategies to reduce attrition. Because the majority of attrition occurs during the freshman year, the focus of retention programs should be on the first year of the students’ college experience. To better understand why they persist in undergraduate ATEPs, freshman students (n = 603) were surveyed to determine their level of satisfaction with various aspects of the program as well as whether or not they chose to apply to the program during the spring semester. Of the surveys that were mailed, 347 were returned for a 58% return rate. Significant differences were found at the p \u3c .01 level with regard to their satisfaction with their intellectual integration, social integration, commitment, and clinical education experience. Significant differences between groups were also noted at the p \u3c .01 and p \u3c .05 levels for the students’ college cumulative grade point average (GPA) and their athletic training and science course grades. This study provides sufficient support for the development of retention programs to enhance student satisfaction with the freshman experience in ATEPs and in turn, increase the retention rates as well. Enriched by an evidence-based and coordinated retention program, the freshman experience can be a stimulating and fulfilling transition into college life as an athletic training student

Development and fabrication of bismaleimide-graphite composites

The successful fabrication of high temperature resistant composites depends mainly on the processability of the resin binder matrix. For two new bismaleimide type resins the processing of graphite fabric prepregs to composites is described. One resin coded M 751 has to be processed from N-Methylpyrrolidone, the other resin evaluated is a so-called hot melt solvent-less system. Commercial T300/3000 Graphite fabrics were used as reinforcement. The M 751 - Resin is a press grade material and laminates are therefore moulded in high pressure conditions (400 N/sq cm). The solvent-less resin system H 795 is an autoclave grade material and can be cured at 40 N/sq cm. The cure cycles for both the press grade and the autoclave grade material (Fiberite W 143 fabric prepregs) are provided and the mechanical properties of laminates at low (23 C) and high (232 C) temperatures were measured. For comparison, the neat resin flexural properties are also presented. The water absorption for the neat resins and the graphite fabric laminates after a 1000 hour period was evaluated