Rotating Metal Band Target for Pion Production at Muon Colliders and Neutrino Factories

A conceptual design is presented for a high power pion production target for muon colliders and neutrino factories that is based around a rotating metal band.Comment: 28 pages, 16 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beam

Thermally-induced vacuum instability in a single plane wave

Ever since Schwinger published his influential paper [J. Schwinger, Phys. Rev. \textbf{82}, 664 (1951)], it has been unanimously accepted that the vacuum is stable in the presence of an electromagnetic plane wave. However, we advance an analysis that indicates this statement is not rigorously valid in a real situation, where thermal effects are present. We show that the thermal vacuum, in the presence of a single plane-wave field, even in the limit of zero frequency (a constant crossed field), decays into electron-positron pairs. Interestingly, the pair-production rate is found to depend nonperturbatively on both the amplitude of the constant crossed field and on the temperature.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Applying the Ablative Heat Shield to the Apollo Spacecraft

The Apollo program to land men on the moon is administered by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Production of the spacecraft command module has been assigned \u27to the North American Aviation Company. As a subcontractor to N.A.A., the Avco Corporation is carrying out the design and fabrication of the ablative heat shield for this module. Avco has the responsibility for the complete thermal design of the heat shield and for the analysis of any structural effect of the ablative material on the total vehicle. The environmental requirements which the heat shield must satisfy are determined by North American. The Apollo spacecraft command module houses the three-man crew during flight and is the only part of the spacecraft to re-enter the earth\u27s atmosphere at the completion of the lunar mission. It is a cone-shaped vehicle with a blunt base and is composed of an airtight aluminum inner crew compartment suspended within a stainless steel outer shell

Antarctic meteorite newsletter. Volume 4: Number 1, February 1981: Antarctic meteorite descriptions, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979

This issue of the Newsletter is essentially a catalog of all antarctic meteorites in the collections of the Johnson Space Center Curation Facility and the Smithsonian except for 288 pebbles now being classed. It includes listings of all previously distributed data sheets plus a number of new ones for 1979. Indexes of samples include meteorite name/number, classification, and weathering category. Separate indexes list type 3 and 4 chondrites, all irons, all achondrites, and all carbonaceous chondrites

Antarctic meteorite descriptions 1976-1977-1978-1979

All previously distributed meteorite data sheets, plus a number of new ones for 1979 chondrites are included. A comprehensive sample index listing meteorite name/number, classification, and weathering category is also included. Separate indexes listing all petrologic type 3 and type 4 chondrites, all irons, all achondrites, and all carbonaceous chondrites in the collection is provided

Description of complex interventions: analysis of changes in reporting in randomised trials since 2002

BACKGROUND: Inadequate description of non-pharmacological complex interventions in trial publications means that they cannot be replicated or assessed for generalisability. There are published guidelines on how to describe an intervention, such as those from the CONSORT Group. However, there have been few evaluations of whether intervention reporting is improving. METHODS: We aimed to assess whether descriptions of multicomponent, non-pharmacological interventions evaluated in randomised trials are improving. To do so, we chose trials of educational and psychotherapeutic interventions to promote adherence to therapy, and compared those published between 2002 and 2007 (Time-1) with those between 2010 and 2015 (Time-2). These time periods were chosen to concord with the publication in 2008 of the CONSORT extension statement of reporting guidelines for non-pharmacological treatment which included items on intervention description. We assessed 19 items, based on the CONSORT Statement and the more recent Template for Intervention Description and Replication Checklist (TIDieR). Two reviewers independently extracted data. We created a quality score of the eight items we considered key information for replication and assessment of generalisability (setting, provider, recipient, comparator, intervention intensity, how it was conducted, existence of a manual or protocol, and detail of whether there was an assessment of fidelity). Score per item was '1' if reported adequately and '0' if not. RESULTS: Of the eligible trials, 42 were published in Time-1 and 134 published in Time-2. The trials included were published in 112 peer-reviewed journals, 52 of these journals currently require authors to follow the CONSORT Statements, while only one recommended adherence to the TIDieR. Most items of CONSORT and TIDieR were reported by more than half of the trials at both time points. Few trials reported fidelity. A large proportion of the trials did not report the existence of a manual or protocol, or what the comparator group received. We found no statistically significant improvement in the eight-item quality score (Time-1: mean 5.71 (standard deviation (SD) 1.09), Time-2: 5.87 (SD 1.28), p = 0.49). CONCLUSIONS: We found no overall evidence that reporting the specifics of multicomponent, non-pharmacological interventions is improving. Details to replicate interventions remain lacking, impairing best implementation or meaningful further research. Editorial endorsement of reporting checklists needs to be more extensive

Late Miocene to early Pliocene stratigraphic record in northern Taranaki Basin: Condensed sedimentation ahead of Northern Graben extension and progradation of the modern continental margin

The middle Pliocene-Pleistocene progradation of the Giant Foresets Formation in Taranaki Basin built up the modern continental margin offshore from western North Island. The late Miocene to early Pliocene interval preceding this progradation was characterised in northern Taranaki Basin by the accumulation of hemipelagic mudstone (Manganui Formation), volcaniclastic sediments (Mohakatino Formation), and marl (Ariki Formation), all at bathyal depths. The Manganui Formation has generally featureless wireline log signatures and moderate to low amplitude seismic reflection characteristics. Mohakatino Formation is characterised by a sharp decrease in the GR log value at its base, a blocky GR log motif reflecting sandstone packets, and erratic resistivity logs. Seismic profiles show bold laterally continuous reflectors. The Ariki Formation has a distinctive barrel-shaped to blocky GR log motif. This signature is mirrored by the SP log and often by an increase in resistivity values through this interval. The Ariki Formation comprises (calcareous) marl made up of abundant planktic foraminifera, is 109 m thick in Ariki-1, and accumulated over parts of the Western Stable Platform and beneath the fill of the Northern Graben. It indicates condensed sedimentation reflecting the distance of the northern region from the contemporary continental margin to the south