7,597 research outputs found
Method of measuring thermal conductivity of high performance insulation
Method accurately measures the thermal conductivity of high-performance sheet insulation as a discrete function of temperature. It permits measurements to be made at temperature drops of approximately 10 degrees F across the insulation and ensures measurement accuracy by minimizing longitudinal heat losses in the system
A STRATEGIC AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION MODEL WITH RISK AND RETURN CONSIDERATIONS
Decision support systems are generally geared to short-term tactical decision making. As an alternative, this paper develops a mathematical programming model to evaluate long-term strategic alternatives in the context of farm-level agricultural production where a broiler farm considers long-term implications of diversification into commercial aquaculture. The model considers a ten-year strategic planning horizon, incorporates financial risk and return considerations, and accommodates capacity variations. Results indicate that a diversification strategy significantly increases farm profitability over a strategic planning horizon while simultaneously maintaining financial risk below a predetermined tolerance level and return on investment above a predetermined level.Production Economics,
Dusty plasma cavities: probe-induced and natural
A comprehensive exploration of regional dust evacuation in complex plasma
crystals is presented. Voids created in 3D crystals on the International Space
Station have provided a rich foundation for experiments, but cavities in dust
crystals formed in ground-based experiments have not received as much
attention. Inside a modified GEC RF cell, a powered vertical probe was used to
clear the central area of a dust crystal, producing a cavity with high
cylindrical symmetry. Cavities generated by three mechanisms are examined.
First, repulsion of micrometer-sized particles by a negatively charged probe is
investigated. A model of this effect developed for a DC plasma is modified and
applied to explain new experimental data in RF plasma. Second, the formation of
natural cavities is surveyed; a radial ion drag proposed to occur due to a
curved sheath is considered in conjunction with thermophoresis and a flattened
confinement potential above the center of the electrode. Finally, cavity
formation unexpectedly occurs upon increasing the probe potential above the
plasma floating potential. The cavities produced by these methods appear
similar, but each are shown to be facilitated by fundamentally different
processes.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure
Observations of MMOD Impact Damage to the ISS
This paper describes meteoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) damage observations on the International Space Station (ISS). Several hundred MMOD damage sites on ISS have been documented using imagery taken from ISS windows. MMOD damage sites visible from ISS windows are typically larger approximately 5mm diameter and greater due to the larger viewer-to-surface distance. Closer inspection of these surfaces by astronauts during spacewalks reveals many smaller features that are typically less distinct. Characterization of these features as MMOD or non- MMOD is difficult, but can be partially accomplished by matching physical characteristics of the damage against typical MMOD impact damage observed on ground-based impact tests. Numerous pieces of space-exposed ISS hardware were returned during space shuttle missions. Subsequent ground inspection of this hardware has also contributed to the database of ISS MMOD impact damage. A handful of orbital replacement units (ORUs) from the ISS active thermal control and electrical power subsystems were swapped out and returned during the Space Shuttle program. In addition, a reusable logistics module was deployed on ISS for a total 59.4 days on 11 shuttle missions between 2001 and 2011 and then brought back in the shuttle payload bay. All of this returned hardware was subjected to detailed post-flight inspections for MMOD damage, and a database with over 1,400 impact records has been collected. A description of the largest observed damage features is provided in the paper. In addition, a discussion of significant MMOD impact sites with operational or design aspects is presented. MMOD impact damage to the following ISS modules/subsystems is described: (1) Solar Arrays, (2) US and Russian windows, (3) Extravehicular Activity (EVA) handrails, (4) Radiators, and (5) Russian Functional Cargo Block (FGB) module
Rapidity gap survival in the black-disk regime
We summarize how the approach to the black-disk regime (BDR) of strong
interactions at TeV energies influences rapidity gap survival in exclusive hard
diffraction pp -> p + H + p (H = dijet, Qbar-Q, Higgs). Employing a recently
developed partonic description of such processes, we discuss (a) the
suppression of diffraction at small impact parameters by soft spectator
interactions in the BDR; (b) further suppression by inelastic interactions of
hard spectator partons in the BDR; (c) correlations between hard and soft
interactions. Hard spectator interactions substantially reduce the rapidity gap
survival probability at LHC energies compared to previously reported estimates.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Proceedings of XV International Workshop on
Deep-Inelastic Scattering and Related Subjects (DIS 2007), Munich, Germany,
Apr. 16-20, 200
Transverse imaging of the proton in exclusive diffractive pp scattering
In a recent paper (hep-ph/0608271) we describe a new approach to rapidity gap
survival (RGS) in the production of high-mass systems (H = dijet, Higgs, etc.)
in exclusive double-gap diffractive pp scattering, pp -> p + H + p. It is based
on the idea that hard and soft interactions are approximately independent (QCD
factorization), and allows us to calculate the RGS probability in a
model-independent way in terms of the gluon generalized parton distributions
(GPDs) in the colliding protons and the pp elastic scattering amplitude. Here
we focus on the transverse momentum dependence of the cross section. By
measuring the "diffraction pattern," one can perform detailed tests of the
interplay of hard and soft interactions, and even extract information about the
gluon GPD in the proton from the data.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, uses ws-procs9x6.cls. Proceedings of XIV
International Workshop on Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS2006), Tsukuba City,
Japan, Apr 20 - 24, 200
Geometrical characterization of textures consisting of two or three discrete colorings
Geometrical characterization for discretized contrast textures is realized by computing the Gaussian and mean curvatures relative to the central pixel of a clique and four neighboring pixels, these four neighbors either being first or second order neighbors. Practical formulae for computing these curvatures are presented. Curvatures based on the central pixel depend upon the brightness configuration of the clique pixels. Therefore the cliques are classified into classes by configuration of pixel contrast or coloring. To look at the textures formed by geometrically classified cliques, we create several textures using overlapping tiling of cliques belonging to a single curvature class. Several examples of hyperbolic textures, consisting of repeated hyperbolic cliques surrounded by non-hyperbolic cliques, are presented with the nonhyperbolic textures. We also introduce a system of 81 rotationally and brightness shift invariant geo-cliques that have shared curvatures and show that histograms of these 81 geo-cliques seem to be able to distinguish isotrigon textures
Comparison of Risk from Orbital Debris and Meteoroid Environment Models on the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU)
A well-known hazard associated with exposure to the space environment is the risk of failure from an impact from a meteoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) particle. An extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) spacesuit impact during a US extravehicular activity (EVA) is of great concern as a large leak could prevent an astronaut from safely reaching the airlock in time resulting in a loss of life. A risk assessment is provided to the EVA office at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) by the Hypervelocity Impact Technology (HVIT) group prior to certification of readiness for each US EVA. Need to understand the effect of updated meteoroid and orbital debris environment models to EMU risk
Small dynamical heights for quadratic polynomials and rational functions
Let be a polynomial or rational function of degree 2. A special
case of Morton and Silverman's Dynamical Uniform Boundedness Conjecture states
that the number of rational preperiodic points of is bounded above by an
absolute constant. A related conjecture of Silverman states that the canonical
height of a non-preperiodic rational point is bounded below
by a uniform multiple of the height of itself. We provide support for these
conjectures by computing the set of preperiodic and small height rational
points for a set of degree 2 maps far beyond the range of previous searches.Comment: 19 page
Teach us incessantly : lessons and learning in the antebellum Gulf South
Before 1860 people in the Gulf South valued education and sought to extend schooling to residents across the region. Southerners learned in a variety of different settings – within their own homes taught by a family member or hired tutor, at private or parochial schools as well as in public free schools. Regardless of the venue, the ubiquity of learning in the region reveals the importance of education in Southern culture. In the 1820s and 1830s, legislators in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama sought to increase access to education by offering financial assistance to private schools in order to offset tuition costs and thereby extend learning to less wealthy residents. The Panic of 1837 made it difficult for legislators to appropriate money for education, but the economic recovery of the 1840s ushered in a new era of educational progress. The return of prosperity in the Gulf South coincided with the maturation of Jacksonian democracy – a political philosophy that led Southerners to demand access to privileges formerly reserved for the elite, including schooling. While Jacksonian ideology led voters to lobby for schools, the value that Southerners placed on learning stemmed from other sources. The political philosophy of republicanism rested on the premise that a representative democracy needed an educated populace to survive. In addition, Southerners embraced learning as a means of social mobility. Most parents exhibited an innate desire to have their children educated in hopes that it would contribute to later success in life. The urban governments of the South were the first to acquiesce to voters’ demands, so that New Orleans, Natchez, and Mobile all established public schools during the 1840s and 1850s. The success of these schools led residents in rural areas to lobby their legislatures for similar schools in their neighborhoods; by 1860 Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama had all established statewide public school systems. The story of these developments not only catalogues educational developments largely overlooked in the larger historical narrative of the antebellum South, but offers insight into the worldview and aspirations of the people inhabiting the region
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