35,695 research outputs found
Nondestructive measurement of capillary tube internal diameter
Technique provides nondestructive method of making quick, accurate determination by measuring electrical resistance of capillary tube when it is filled with electrolyte of known conductivity. Apparatus consists of conductivity cell and equipment for measuring resistance and for monitoring and controlling temperature
Measurements of the dielectric properties of sea water at 1.43 GHz
Salinity and temperature of water surfaces of estuaries and bay regions are determined to accuracies of 1 ppt salinity and 0.3 kelvin surface temperature. L-band and S-band radiometers are used in combination as brightness temperature detectors. The determination of the brightness temperature versus salinity, with the water surface temperature as a parameter for 1.4 GHz, is performed with a capillary tube inserted into a resonance cavity. Detailed analysis of the results indicates that the measured values are accurate to better than 0.2 percent in the electric property epsilon' and 0.4 percent in epsilon''. The calculated brightness temperature as a function of temperature and salinity is better than 0.2 kelvin. Thus it is possible to reduce the measured data obtained with the two-frequency radiometer system with 1 ppt accuracy to values in the salinity range 5 to 40 ppt
Stellar Velocity Dispersion and Black Hole Mass in the Blazar Markarian 501
The recently discovered correlation between black hole mass and stellar
velocity dispersion provides a new method to determine the masses of black
holes in active galaxies. We have obtained optical spectra of Markarian 501, a
nearby gamma-ray blazar with emission extending to TeV energies. The stellar
velocity dispersion of the host galaxy, measured from the calcium triplet lines
in a 2"x3.7" aperture, is 372 +/- 18 km/s. If Mrk 501 follows the M-sigma
correlation defined for local galaxies, then its central black hole has a mass
of (0.9-3.4)x10^9 solar masses. This is significantly larger than some previous
estimates for the central mass in Mrk 501 that have been based on models for
its nonthermal emission. The host galaxy luminosity implies a black hole of
6x10^8 solar masses, but this is not in severe conflict with the mass derived
from the M-sigma relation because the M_BH-L_bulge correlation has a large
intrinsic scatter. Using the emission-line luminosity to estimate the
bolometric luminosity of the central engine, we find that Mrk 501 radiates at
an extremely sub-Eddington level of L/L_Edd ~ 10^-4. Further applications of
the M-sigma relation to radio-loud active galactic nuclei may be useful for
interpreting unified models and understanding the relationship between radio
galaxies and BL Lac objects.Comment: To appear in ApJ Letters. 5 pages, 2 figure
Oscillator strengths for OII ions
Oscillator strengths between various doublet states of OII ions are calculated in which extensive multi-configuration wave functions are used. The lower levels for the transitions are of the 2p(3) D(2)o and 2p(3) 2po states, and the upper levels are 2p(4), 3s, and 3d states. The results, which are estimated to have errors of less than 10% for individual transitions, agree quite well with the beam foil experiments, as well as with the calculations by use of the non-closed shell many electron theory (NCMET). The agreement with the rocket measurements is also good except for the 538/581 A pair, in which the 538 A line is believed to be blend with the other stronger quartet line. However, a comparison with the recent branching ratio measurement indicates that discrepances between the present calculation and th experiment do exist for certain transistions
Seismology of adolescent neutron stars: Accounting for thermal effects and crust elasticity
We study the oscillations of relativistic stars, incorporating key physics
associated with internal composition, thermal gradients and crust elasticity.
Our aim is to develop a formalism which is able to account for the
state-of-the-art understanding of the complex physics associated with these
systems. As a first step, we build models using a modern equation of state
including composition gradients and density discontinuities associated with
internal phase-transitions (like the crust-core transition and the point where
muons first appear in the core). In order to understand the nature of the
oscillation spectrum, we carry out cooling simulations to provide realistic
snapshots of the temperature distribution in the interior as the star evolves
through adolescence. The associated thermal pressure is incorporated in the
perturbation analysis, and we discuss the presence of -modes arising as a
result of thermal effects. We also consider interface modes due to
phase-transitions and the gradual formation of the star's crust and the
emergence of a set of shear modes.Comment: 27 pages, 14 figure
Trees of Unusual Size: Biased Inference of Early Bursts from Large Molecular Phylogenies
An early burst of speciation followed by a subsequent slowdown in the rate of
diversification is commonly inferred from molecular phylogenies. This pattern
is consistent with some verbal theory of ecological opportunity and adaptive
radiations. One often-overlooked source of bias in these studies is that of
sampling at the level of whole clades, as researchers tend to choose large,
speciose clades to study. In this paper, we investigate the performance of
common methods across the distribution of clade sizes that can be generated by
a constant-rate birth-death process. Clades which are larger than expected for
a given constant-rate branching process tend to show a pattern of an early
burst even when both speciation and extinction rates are constant through time.
All methods evaluated were susceptible to detecting this false signature when
extinction was low. Under moderate extinction, both the gamma-statistic and
diversity-dependent models did not detect such a slowdown but only because the
signature of a slowdown was masked by subsequent extinction. Some models which
estimate time-varying speciation rates are able to detect early bursts under
higher extinction rates, but are extremely prone to sampling bias. We suggest
that examining clades in isolation may result in spurious inferences that rates
of diversification have changed through time.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure
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SLS Processing Studies of Nylon 11 Nanocomposites
Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is widely used for rapid prototyping/manufacturing of
nylon 11 and nylon 12 parts. This processing technique has not been explored for
nylon nanocomposites. This study investigates the technicalities of processing nylon
11-clay and nylon-carbon nanofiber nanocomposites with SLS. Microstructural
analyses of the SLS powders and parts were conducted under SEM. Results suggest
that SLS processing is possible with the new nylon 11 nanocomposites. Yet the SLS
parts built have inferior properties relative to those of injection molding, suggesting
that more fine tuning for the processing is required.Mechanical Engineerin
Protein transduction: A novel tool for tissue regeneration
Tissue regeneration in humans is limited and excludes vitals organs like heart and brain. Transformation experiments with oncogenes like T antigen have shown that retrodifferentiation of the respective cells is possible but hard to control. To bypass the risk of cancer formation a protein therapy approach has been developed. The transient delivery of proteins rather than genes could still induce terminallydifferentiated cells to reenter the cell cycle. This approach takes advantage of proteintransducing domains that mediate the transfer of cargo proteins into cells. The goal of this brief review is to outline the basics of protein transduction and to discuss potential applications for tissue regeneration
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