Improved relay chatter detector

Detector provides go/no-go sensing of momentary relay or contact opening during vibration testing. Device compares duration of unwanted openings to calibrated standard and lights indicator if standard is exceeded. Stability and reliability are higher than in any other comparable device

Developing an Online Learning Pedagogy for Conflict Resolution Training

Ye

New Models for X-Ray Synchrotron Radiation from the Remnant of Supernova 1006 AD

Galactic cosmic rays up to energies of around 10^15 eV are assumed to originate in supernova remnants (SNRs). The shock wave of a young SNR like SN 1006 AD can accelerate electrons to energies greater than 1 TeV, where they can produce synchrotron radiation in the X-ray band. A new model (SRESC) designed to model synchrotron X-rays from Type Ia supernovae can constrain values for the magnetic-field strength and electron scattering properties, with implications for the acceleration of the unseen ions which dominate the cosmic-ray energetics. New observations by ASCA, ROSAT, and RXTE have provided enormously improved data, which now extend to higher X-ray energies. These data allow much firmer constraints. We will describe model fits to these new data on SN 1006 AD, emphasizing the physical constraints that can be placed on SNRs and on the cosmic-ray acceleration process.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures. to appear in "Cosmic Explosions", proceeding of the 10th Annual October Astrophysics Conference (ed. S.S. Holt and W. W. Zhang) LaTex aipproc.st

Hydrogen-fueled engine

A hydrogen-oxygen fueled internal combustion engine is described, which utilizes an inert gas, such as argon, as a working fluid to increase the efficiency of the engine, eliminate pollution, and facilitate operation of a closed cycle energy system. In a system where sunlight or other intermittent energy source is available to separate hydrogen and oxygen from water, the oxygen and inert gas are taken into a diesel engine into which hydrogen is injected and ignited. The exhaust is cooled so that it contains only water and the inert gas. The inert gas in the exhaust is returned to the engine for use with fresh oxygen, while the water in the exhaust is returned to the intermittent energy source for reconversion to hydrogen and oxygen

Implicit theories of firesetters

Firesetting has significant social and financial consequences. Firesetters are deemed a dangerous group with a poor prognosis. The existing literature has focused on describing the characteristics of firesetters and developing typologies. The psychological understanding of firesetting is limited. Implicit theories are underlying causal theories. Positioned within a social cognitive framework they are thought to be the intervening process between observable stimuli and responses which enable individuals to make sense of their social world and make predictions within it. The identification of implicit theories has contributed to the understanding of the way information processing is carried out by other offender groups. This study aimed to explore the implicit theories held by male firesetters in secure forensic psychiatric services. Using grounded theory methodology, interviews were conducted with nine men with a history of firesetting. Six implicit theories were generated: malevolent world, uncontrollable world, violence is normal, accountability, fire is controllable and fire is a powerful tool. These implicit theories have the potential to be utilised as treatment targets by challenging and restructuring them. Future research should focus on exploring the specific implicit theories at different points in the offense process, those held by subtypes of firesetters, and those held by female firesetters

Splanchnic metabolism of nutrients and hormones in steers fed alfalfa under conditions of increased absorption of ammonia and L-arginine supply across the portal-drained viscera

Effects of increased ammonia and/or arginine absorption on net splanchnic (portal-drained viscera [PDV] plus liver) metabolism of nonnitrogenous nutrients and hormones in cattle were examined. Six Hereford × Angus steers (501 ± 1 kg BW) prepared with vascular catheters for measurements of net flux across the splanchnic bed were fed a 75% alfalfa:25% (as-fed basis) corn and soybean meal diet (0.523 MJ of ME/[kg BW0.75.d]) every 2 h without (27.0 g of N/kg of DM) and with 20 g of urea/kg of DM (35.7 g of N/kg of DM) in a split-plot design. Net flux measurements were made immediately before and after a 72-h mesenteric vein infusion of L-arginine (15 mmol/h). There were no treatment effects onPDVor hepaticO2 consumption. Dietary urea had no effect on splanchnic metabolism of glucose or L-lactate, but arginine infusion decreased net hepatic removal of L-lactate when urea was fed (P < 0.01). Net PDV appearance of n-butyrate was increased by arginine infusion (P < 0.07), and both dietary urea (P < 0.09) and arginine infusion (P < 0.05) increased net hepatic removal of n-butyrate. Dietary urea also increased total splanchnic acetate output (P < 0.06), tended to increase arterial glucagon concentration (P < 0.11), and decreased arterial ST concentration (P < 0.03). Arginine infusion increased arterial concentration (P < 0.07) and net PDV release (P < 0.10) and tended to increase hepatic removal (P < 0.11) of insulin, as well as arterial concentration (P < 0.01) and total splanchnic output (P < 0.01) of glucagon. Despite changes in splanchnic N metabolism, increased ammonia and arginine absorption had little measurable effect on splanchnic metabolism of glucose and other nonnitrogenous components of splanchnic energy metabolism

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of band tails in lightly doped cuprates

We amend ab initio strongly-correlated band structures by taking into account the band-tailing phenomenon in doped charge-transfer Mott-Hubbard insulators. We show that the photoemission from band tails accounts for sharp "quasi-particle" peaks, rapid loss of their intensities in some directions of the Brillouin zone ("Fermi-arcs") and high-energy "waterfall" anomalies as a consequence of matrix-element effects of disorder-localised states in the charge-transfer gap of doped cuprates.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

A powerful and highly variable off-nuclear X-ray source in the composite starburst/Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 4945

We report on a powerful and variable off-nuclear X-ray source in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 4945. Two ROSAT PSPC observations show the source to brighten in 0.5--2.0 keV flux by a factor of about 9 on a time-scale of 11 months or less. It is seen by ASCA about one month after the second PSPC pointing, and is seen to have dimmed by a factor of > 7 in a ROSAT HRI pointing about one year after the second PSPC pointing. Its maximum observed 0.8--2.5 keV luminosity is about 8E38 erg/s, making it brighter than any known persistent X-ray binary in the Milky Way. Its total X-ray luminosity is probably larger than 1.2E39 erg/s. The observed variability argues against a superbubble interpretation, and the off-nuclear position argues against a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus. The source is therefore probably either an ultra-powerful X-ray binary or an ultra-powerful supernova remnant. Optical monitoring has not identified any supernovae in NGC 4945 during the time of the X-ray observations, and any supernova would have had to have been either very highly absorbed or intrinsically optically faint.Comment: 5 pages, uuencoded compressed tar file, MNRAS in pres