5,517 research outputs found
Spacelab 3 Mission Science Review
Papers and abstracts of the presentations made at the symposium are given as the scientific report for the Spacelab 3 mission. Spacelab 3, the second flight of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) orbital laboratory, signified a new era of research in space. The primary objective of the mission was to conduct applications, science, and technology experiments requiring the low-gravity environment of Earth orbit and stable vehicle attitude over an extended period (e.g., 6 days) with emphasis on materials processing. The mission was launched on April 29, 1985, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger which landed a week later on May 6. The multidisciplinary payload included 15 investigations in five scientific fields: material science, fluid dynamics, life sciences, astrophysics, and atmospheric science
Exploring geographic proximity to fast-food restaurants and convenience stores with dental caries in patients at the University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine
Dental caries is present worldwide and has afflicted over 90% of all adults in the United States. Biological determinants of the disease are well understood but social determinants and how they interact with biological factors are not. Programs designed to reduce incidence and prevalence of caries often target certain individuals and involve behavioral change. Some programs are more successful when environmental and societal issues are also addressed (Watt, 2002). Biological and behavioral processes leading to caries should include the modification of social factors to enhance results of prevention programs designed to reduce caries in populations. Preventing disease comes not only from treating individuals but also from the modification of environmental factors facilitating disease occurrence along with community education.
This project examined whether the relationship between the prevalence of dental caries among patients at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine and the number of fast-food and convenience stores within a one-half mile and one mile distance from their place of residence. One goal was to map the distribution of caries for the dental school patient population by geographic region using their place of residence.
The other goal was to determine if a relationship existed between prevalence of dental caries in patients and the location of fast-food and convenience stores based on geographic data. It is anticipated that future research will provide an exploration of the social determinants of caries in the dental school patient population and development of programs designed to reduce oral health disease and inequalities. Analysis of the demographics and caries percentage of the dental school patient population revealed patients live across the entire Las Vegas community and dental caries is widespread. Combined with the significant relationship between convenience stores within one mile of patient residence and caries percentage, this information should aid future research and dental school patient education
Factors Associated with Artificial-Reef Fish Assemblages
Visual census (5-min point-count, 100 m2) was used to estimate fish assemblage parameters associated with artificial reef variables from 64 reefs over a 3-yr period in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Dependent variables, recorded by divers [i.e., number of species, number of individuals, length (TL in cm), and species diversity (H\u27)], were analyzed for their associations with potentially underlying environmental attributes using stepwise regression, TWINSPAN, and canonical correspondence analyses (CCA). The fish assemblages (dominated by haemulids, labrids, and serranids) were qualitatively and quantitatively similar to the assemblages described by others from the same general area. Pelagic fishes (carangids and scombrids) associated with the reefs were among the most numerous and were the largest predators in the assemblage. The stepwise regression analysis was able to account for fairly high percentages of the variation in number of species (37%), number of red snapper (43%), and size of red snapper (52%). TWINSPAN allowed the recognition of fish assemblages based on their inshore-offshore biotopes. Vermilion snapper was identified as a key indicator species. The CCA helped identify species groups and factors associated with them. The affinity of pinfish and spottail pinfish with rock jetty was evident, as was the association of triggerfish with vertical steel structure. Although the axis loadings using CCA did not identify a clear species/factor relationship, this analytical method should prove useful in recognizing environmental factors that can be controlled to optimize species-specific artificial reef construction
A Phased Approach for Assessing Combined Effects from Multiple Stressors
We present a phased approach for evaluating the effects of physical, biological, chemical, and psychosocial stressors that may act in combination. Although a phased concept is common to many risk-based approaches, it has not been explicitly outlined for the assessment of combined effects of multiple stressors. The approach begins with the development of appropriate conceptual models and assessment end points. The approach then proceeds through a screening stage wherein stressors are evaluated with respect to their potential importance as contributors to risk. Stressors are considered individually or as a combination of independent factors with respect to one or more common assessment end points. As necessary, the approach then proceeds to consider interactions among stressors. We make a distinction between applications that begin with effects of concern (effects based) or with specific stressors (stressor based). We describe a number of tools for use within the phased approach. The methods profiled are ones that have been applied to yield results that can be communicated to a wide audience. The latter characteristic is considered especially important because multiple stressor problems usually involve exposures to communities or to ecologic regions with many stakeholders
Evaluation of 20 Ah Li Ion Cells
Lithium ion cells of 20 Ah capacity were fabricated by Bluestar Advanced Technology Corporation, Canada under a developmental contract from US Air Force. In this paper, we report our studies on the evaluation of these cells under various test conditions. These include generic test conditions such as discharges and charges at different temperatures to understand the rate-limiting processes in the discharge/charge processes as a function of temperature, and cycle life under standard cycling conditions (100% DOD) at ambient temperature. In addition, tests are being done to ascertain the performance of the cells in the Mars 2001 Lander application, which includes pulse testing of the cells at 60 A and 40 A loads for 100 mS and 1 min., respectively at different states of charge and temperatures, and cycling at low temperature at partial depths of discharge
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Electron–Nuclear Interaction in Nanotube Double Quantum Dots
For coherent electron spins, hyperfine coupling to nuclei in the host material can either be a dominant source of unwanted spin decoherence or, if controlled effectively, a resource enabling storage and retrieval of quantum information. To investigate the effect of a controllable nuclear environment on the evolution of confined electron spins, we have fabricated and measured gate-defined double quantum dots with integrated charge sensors made from single-walled carbon nanotubes with a variable concentration of (nuclear spin among the majority zero-nuclear-spin atoms. We observe strong isotope effects in spin-blockaded transport, and from the magnetic field dependence estimate the hyperfine coupling in nanotubes to be of the order of , two orders of magnitude larger than anticipated. -enhanced nanotubes are an interesting system for spin-based quantum information processing and memory: the nuclei differ from those in the substrate, are naturally confined to one dimension, lack quadrupolar coupling and have a readily controllable concentration from less than one to per electron.Physic
A Medium-Resolution Near-Infrared Spectral Library of Late Type Stars: I
We present an empirical infrared spectral library of medium resolution
(R~2000-3000) H (1.6 micron) and K (2.2 micron) band spectra of 218 red stars,
spanning a range of [Fe/H] from ~-2.2 to ~+0.3. The sample includes Galactic
disk stars, bulge stars from Baade's window, and red giants from Galactic
globular clusters. We report the values of 19 indices covering 12 spectral
features measured from the spectra in the library. Finally, we derive
calibrations to estimate the effective temperature, and diagnostic
relationships to determine the luminosity classes of individual stars from
near-infrared spectra.
This paper is part of a larger effort aimed at building a near-IR spectral
library to be incorporated in population synthesis models, as well as, at
testing synthetic stellar spectra.Comment: 34 pages, 12 figures; accepted for publication at ApJS; the spectra
are available from the authors upon reques
Two-Dimensional Helioseismic Power, Phase, and Coherence Spectra of {\it Solar Dynamics Observatory} Photospheric and Chromospheric Observables
While the {\it Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager} (HMI) onboard the {\it Solar
Dynamics Observatory} (SDO) provides Doppler velocity [], continuum
intensity [], and line-depth [] observations, each of which is
sensitive to the five-minute acoustic spectrum, the {\it Atmospheric Imaging
Array} (AIA) also observes at wavelengths -- specifically the 1600 and 1700
Angstrom bands -- that are partly formed in the upper photosphere and have good
sensitivity to acoustic modes. In this article we consider the characteristics
of the spatio--temporal Fourier spectra in AIA and HMI observables for a
15-degree region around NOAA Active Region 11072. We map the
spatio--temporal-power distribution for the different observables and the HMI
Line Core [], or Continuum minus Line Depth, and the phase and coherence
functions for selected observable pairs, as a function of position and
frequency. Five-minute oscillation power in all observables is suppressed in
the sunspot and also in plage areas. Above the acoustic cut-off frequency, the
behaviour is more complicated: power in HMI is still suppressed in the
presence of surface magnetic fields, while power in HMI and the AIA bands
is suppressed in areas of surface field but enhanced in an extended area around
the active region, and power in HMI is enhanced in a narrow zone around
strong-field concentrations and suppressed in a wider surrounding area. The
relative phase of the observables, and their cross-coherence functions, are
also altered around the active region. These effects may help us to understand
the interaction of waves and magnetic fields in the different layers of the
photosphere, and will need to be taken into account in multi-wavelength local
helioseismic analysis of active regions.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures, to be published in Solar Physic
Gradient and Passive Circuit Structure in a Class of Non-linear Dynamics on a Graph
We consider a class of non-linear dynamics on a graph that contains and
generalizes various models from network systems and control and study
convergence to uniform agreement states using gradient methods. In particular,
under the assumption of detailed balance, we provide a method to formulate the
governing ODE system in gradient descent form of sum-separable energy
functions, which thus represent a class of Lyapunov functions; this class
coincides with Csisz\'{a}r's information divergences. Our approach bases on a
transformation of the original problem to a mass-preserving transport problem
and it reflects a little-noticed general structure result for passive network
synthesis obtained by B.D.O. Anderson and P.J. Moylan in 1975. The proposed
gradient formulation extends known gradient results in dynamical systems
obtained recently by M. Erbar and J. Maas in the context of porous medium
equations. Furthermore, we exhibit a novel relationship between inhomogeneous
Markov chains and passive non-linear circuits through gradient systems, and
show that passivity of resistor elements is equivalent to strict convexity of
sum-separable stored energy. Eventually, we discuss our results at the
intersection of Markov chains and network systems under sinusoidal coupling
Fast Non-Adiabatic Two Qubit Gates for the Kane Quantum Computer
In this paper we apply the canonical decomposition of two qubit unitaries to
find pulse schemes to control the proposed Kane quantum computer. We explicitly
find pulse sequences for the CNOT, swap, square root of swap and controlled Z
rotations. We analyze the speed and fidelity of these gates, both of which
compare favorably to existing schemes. The pulse sequences presented in this
paper are theoretically faster, higher fidelity, and simpler than existing
schemes. Any two qubit gate may be easily found and implemented using similar
pulse sequences. Numerical simulation is used to verify the accuracy of each
pulse scheme
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