Development of polyisocyanurate pour foam formulation for space shuttle external tank thermal protection system

Four commercially available polyisocyanurate polyurethane spray-foam insulation formulations are used to coat the external tank of the space shuttle. There are several problems associated with these formulations. For example, some do not perform well as pourable closeout/repair systems. Some do not perform well at cryogenic temperatures (poor adhesion to aluminum at liquid nitrogen temperatures). Their thermal stability at elevated temperatures is not adequate. A major defect in all the systems is the lack of detailed chemical information. The formulations are simply supplied to NASA and Martin Marietta, the primary contractor, as components; Part A (isocyanate) and Part B (poly(s) and additives). Because of the lack of chemical information the performance behavior data for the current system, NASA sought the development of a non-proprietary room temperature curable foam insulation. Requirements for the developed system were that it should exhibit equal or better thermal stability both at elevated and cryogenic temperatures with better adhesion to aluminum as compared to the current system. Several formulations were developed that met these requirements, i.e., thermal stability, good pourability, and good bonding to aluminum

Comparing Wilson and Clover Quenched SU(3)SU(3) Spectroscopy with an Improved Gauge Action

We present results of quenched $SU(3)$ hadron spectroscopy comparing \order(a) improved Wilson (Clover) fermions with conventional Wilson fermions. The configurations were generated using an \order(a^2) improved 6-link $SU(3)$ pure gauge action at $\beta$'s corresponding to lattice spacings of $0.15$, $0.18$, $0.20$, $0.33$, and $0.43$ fm. We find evidence that fermionic scaling violations are consistent with \order(a^2) for Clover and \order(a) with a nonnegligible \order(a^2) term for standard Wilson fermions. This latter mixed ansatz makes a reliable continuum extrapolation problematic for Wilson fermions. We also find that the slope of the scaling violations is roughly $250 MeV$ for both Wilson and Clover fermions.Comment: 3 pages latex with 2 postscript figures. Talk presented at LATTICE96(spectrum

An Anthropometric Study of 38 Individuals With Prader-Labhart- Willi Syndrome

Weight, height, sitting height, and 24 other anthropometric variables (5 body circumferences, skinfolds at 7 sites, 4 head dimensions, and 8 hand and foot measurements) were obtained on 38 Prader-Labhart-Willi syndrome (PLWS) individuals (21 with apparent chromosome 15 deletions and 17 nondeletion cases) with an age range of 2 weeks to 38½ years. More than half of these individuals were measured on more than one occasion. The measurements confirmed the presence of short stature, small hands and feet, obesity, and narrow bi-frontal diameter in PLWS. No differences were found for the anthropometric measurements between the 2 chromosome subgroups. Inverse correlations were produced with linear measurements (eg, height, hand and foot lengths) and age, which indicated a deceleration of linear growth relative to normal individuals with increasing age

Quenched SU(3)SU(3) hadron spectroscopy using improved fermionic and gauge actions

We present results of quenched $SU(3)$ hadron spectroscopy using \order(a) improved Wilson fermions. The configurations were generated using an \order(a^2) improved 6-link $SU(3)$ pure gauge action at $\beta$'s corresponding to lattice spacings of $0.43$, $0.25$, $0.20$, $0.18$, and $0.15$ fm. We find evidence that fermionic scaling violations are consistent with \order(a^2) errors.Comment: 4 pages latex with 3 postscript figures. Corrected column heading in tabl

SCRI Results With the Tadpole-Improved Clover Action

We compare light hadron spectroscopy using the Wilson and Clover fermionic actions. We show that a Clover coefficient chosen using tadpole-improved tree-level perturbation theory effectively eliminates the O(a) discretization errors present in the Wilson action. We find that discretization errors in light spectroscopy for both the Wilson and Clover actions are characterized by an energy scale mu of about 200-300 MeV, indicating that these errors can be reduced to the 5% level by using the Clover action at an inverse lattice spacing of about 1.3 GeV.Comment: Talk presented at the International Workshop on Lattice QCD On Parallel Computers, University of Tsukuba, March 10-15 1997. 9 LaTex pages plus 6 postscript figures, uses espcrc2.st

Education Reform for the Digital Era

Will the digital-learning movement repeat the mistakes of the charter-school movement? How much more successful might today's charter universe look if yesterday's proponents had focused on the policies and practices needed to ensure its quality, freedom, and resources over the long term? What mistakes might have been avoided? Damaging scandals forestalled? Missed opportunities seized