Collisional Effects on Nonlinear Ion Drag Force for Small Grains

The ion drag force arising from plasma flow past an embedded spherical grain is calculated self-consistently and non-linearly using particle in cell codes, accounting for ion-neutral collisions. Using ion velocity distribution appropriate for ion drift driven by a force field gives wake potential and force greatly different from a shifted Maxwellian distribution, regardless of collisionality. The low-collisionality forces are shown to be consistent with estimates based upon cross-sections for scattering in a Yukawa (shielded) grain field, but only if non-linear shielding length is used. Finite collisionality initially enhances the drag force, but only by up to a factor of 2. Larger collisionality eventually reduces the drag force. In the collisional regime, the drift distribution gives larger drag than the shift distribution even at velocities where their collisionless drags are equal. Comprehensive practical analytic formulas for force that fit the calculations are provided.Comment: Fig 1. corrected in this versio

RSRM-11 (36OW011) ballistics mass properties (STS-35)

The propulsion performance and reconstructed mass properties data from Thiolol's RSRM-11 motors which were assigned to the STS-35 launch are contained. The Thiokol manufacturing designations for the motors were 360W011A/360W011B, which are referred to as RSRM-11A and RSRM-B, respectively. The launch of STS-35 occurred on 2 December 1990 at the Eastern Test Range (ETR). The data contained herein was input to the STS-35 Flight Evaluation Report. The SRM propellant, TP-H1148, is a composite type solid propellants, formulated of polybutediene acrylic acid, acryonitrile terpolymer binder, epoxy curing agent, ammonium perchlorate oxidizer, and aluminum powder fuel. A small amount of burning rate catalyst (iron oxide) was added to achieve the desired propellant burn rate. The propellant evaluation and raw material information for the RSRM-11 are included. The ballistic performance presented was based on the Operational Flight Instrumentation (OFI) 12.5 sample per second pressure data for the steady state and tail off portion of the pressure trace. Recent studies have shown that the transducers are affected by the measuring system at KSC and temperature gradients created by the igniter heaters. Therefore, an adjustment to the data from each transducer is made to make the initial reading match the atmospheric pressure at the time of launch

Morphine activates neuroinflammation in a manner parallel to endotoxin

Opioids create a neuroinflammatory response within the CNS, compromising opioid-induced analgesia and contributing to various unwanted actions. How this occurs is unknown but has been assumed to be via classic opioid receptors. Herein, we provide direct evidence that morphine creates neuroinflammation via the activation of an innate immune receptor and not via classic opioid receptors. We demonstrate that morphine binds to an accessory protein of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation protein 2 (MD-2), thereby inducing TLR4 oligomerization and triggering proinflammation. Small-molecule inhibitors, RNA interference, and genetic knockout validate the TLR4/MD-2 complex as a feasible target for beneficially modifying morphine actions. Disrupting TLR4/MD-2 protein–protein association potentiated morphine analgesia in vivo and abolished morphine-induced proinflammation in vitro, the latter demonstrating that morphine-induced proinflammation only depends on TLR4, despite the presence of opioid receptors. These results provide an exciting, nonconventional avenue to improving the clinical efficacy of opioids.Xiaohui Wang, Lisa C. Loram, Khara Ramos, Armando J. de Jesus, Jacob Thomas, Kui Cheng, Anireddy Reddy, Andrew A. Somogyi, Mark R. Hutchinson, Linda R. Watkins and Hang Yi

Electron Temperature of Ultracold Plasmas

We study the evolution of ultracold plasmas by measuring the electron temperature. Shortly after plasma formation, competition between heating and cooling mechanisms drives the electron temperature to a value within a narrow range regardless of the initial energy imparted to the electrons. In agreement with theory predictions, plasmas exhibit values of the Coulomb coupling parameter $\Gamma$ less than 1.Comment: 4 pages, plus four figure

A Human Factors Framework for Payload Display Design

During missions to space, one charge of the astronaut crew is to conduct research experiments. These experiments, referred to as payloads, typically are controlled by computers. Crewmembers interact with payload computers by using visual interfaces or displays. To enhance the safety, productivity, and efficiency of crewmember interaction with payload displays, particular attention must be paid to the usability of these displays. Enhancing display usability requires adoption of a design process that incorporates human factors engineering principles at each stage. This paper presents a proposed framework for incorporating human factors engineering principles into the payload display design process

Human Factors Engineering at Marshall Space Flight Center

The mission of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is to develop, implement, and maintain systems for space transportation and microgravity research. Factors impacting the MSFC position as a leader in advancing science and technology include: (1) heightened emphasis on safety; (2) increased interest in effective resource utilization; and (3) growing importance of employing systems and procedures that pragmatically support mission science. In light of these factors, MSFC is integrating human factors engineering (HFE) into the systems engineering process. This paper describes the HFE program, applications of HFE in MSFC projects, and the future of HFE at MSFC

Coating thermal noise of a finite-size cylindrical mirror

Thermal noise of a mirror is one of the limiting noise sources in the high precision measurement such as gravitational-wave detection, and the modeling of thermal noise has been developed and refined over a decade. In this paper, we present a derivation of coating thermal noise of a finite-size cylindrical mirror based on the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. The result agrees to a previous result with an infinite-size mirror in the limit of large thickness, and also agrees to an independent result based on the mode expansion with a thin-mirror approximation. Our study will play an important role not only to accurately estimate the thermal-noise level of gravitational-wave detectors but also to help analyzing thermal noise in quantum-measurement experiments with lighter mirrors.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Coherence properties of the two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate

We present a detailed finite-temperature Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) treatment of the two-dimensional trapped Bose gas. We highlight the numerical methods required to obtain solutions to the HFB equations within the Popov approximation, the derivation of which we outline. This method has previously been applied successfully to the three-dimensional case and we focus on the unique features of the system which are due to its reduced dimensionality. These can be found in the spectrum of low-lying excitations and in the coherence properties. We calculate the Bragg response and the coherence length within the condensate in analogy with experiments performed in the quasi-one-dimensional regime [Richard et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 010405 (2003)] and compare to results calculated for the one-dimensional case. We then make predictions for the experimental observation of the quasicondensate phase via Bragg spectroscopy in the quasi-two-dimensional regime.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Applied Remote Sensing Program (ARSP)

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Dissipation in nanocrystalline-diamond nanomechanical resonators

We have measured the dissipation and frequency of nanocrystalline-diamond nanomechanical resonators with resonant frequencies between 13.7 MHz and 157.3 MHz, over a temperature range of 1.4–274 K. Using both magnetomotive network analysis and a time-domain ring-down technique, we have found the dissipation in this material to have a temperature dependence roughly following T^(0.2), with Q^(–1) ≈ 10^(–4) at low temperatures. The frequency dependence of a large dissipation feature at ~35–55 K is consistent with thermal activation over a 0.02 eV barrier with an attempt frequency of 10 GHz