Volunteer Moments: Vignettes of the History of the University of Tennessee, 1794-1994

Volunteer Moments is collection of sketches of the people and events that illuminate the two-hundred year history of the University of Tennessee from its beginnings as Blount College through its redesignations as East Tennessee College and East Tennessee University and its emergence in the twentieth century as the statewide University of Tennessee system. Originally appearing over the past several years in Context, the faculty and staff newspaper at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, these carefully researched essays, produced by former University Historian Milton M. Klein and his staff, which were then compiled by Klein and his research associate, Margaret Ellen Crawford, especially for this bicentennial volume

Aerodynamic Characteristics of Four Republic Airfoil Sections from Tests in Langley Two-Dimensional Low-Turbulence Tunnels

Four airfoils sections, designed by the Republic Aviation Corporation for the root and tip sections of the XF-12 airplane, were tested in the Langley two-dimensional low-turbulence tunnels to obtain their aerodynamic characteristics. Lift characteristics were obtained at Reynolds numbers of 3,000,000, 6,000,000, 9,000,000, and 14,000,000, whereas drag characteristics were obtained at Reynolds numbers of 3,000,000, 6,000,000, and 9,000,000. Pressure distributions were obtained for one of the root sections for several angles of attack at a Reynolds number of 2,600,000. Comparison of the root section that appeared best from the tests with the corresponding NACA 65-series section shows the Republic section has a higher maximum lift and higher calculated critical speeds, but a higher minimum drag. In addition, with standard roughness applied to the leading edge, the maximum lift of the Republic airfoil is lower than that of the NACA airfoil. Comparison of the Republic tip section with the corresponding NACA 65-series section shows the Republic airfoil has a lower maximum lift and a higher minimum drag than the NACA airfoil. The calculated critical speeds of the Republic section are slightly higher than those of the NACA section

The Casimir Force in Randall Sundrum Models

We discuss and compare the effects of one extra dimension in the Randall Sundrum models on the evaluation of the Casimir force between two parallel plates. We impose the condition that the result reproduce the experimental measurements within the known uncertainties in the force and the plate separation, and get an upper bound kR < 20 if the curvature parameter k of AdS_5 is equal to the Planck scale. Although the upper bound decreases as k decreases, kR ~ 12, which is the required value for solving the hierarchy problem, is consistent with the Casimir force measurements. For the case where the 5th dimension is infinite, the correction to the Casimir force is very small and negligible.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, references added, text improved, accepted for publication in PR

General Relativistic Contributions in Transformation Optics

One potentially realistic specification for devices designed with transformation optics is that they operate with high precision in curved space-time, such as Earth orbit. This raises the question of what, if any, role does space-time curvature play in determining transformation media? Transformation optics has been based on a three-vector representation of Maxwell's equations in flat Minkowski space-time. I discuss a completely covariant, manifestly four-dimensional approach that enables transformations in arbitrary space-times, and demonstrate this approach for stable circular orbits in the spherically symmetric Schwarzschild geometry. Finally, I estimate the magnitude of curvature induced contributions to satellite-borne transformation media in Earth orbit and comment on the level of precision required for metamaterial fabrication before such contributions become important.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures. Latest version has expanded analysis, corresponds to published versio