Propfan Test Assessment (PTA)

The objectives of the Propfan Test Assessment (PTA) Program were to validate in flight the structural integrity of large-scale propfan blades and to measure noise characteristics of the propfan in both near and far fields. All program objectives were met or exceeded, on schedule and under budget. A Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation GII aircraft was modified to provide a testbed for the 2.74m (9 ft) diameter Hamilton Standard SR-7 propfan which was driven by a 4475 kw (600 shp) turboshaft engine mounted on the left-hand wing of the aircraft. Flight research tests were performed for 20 combinations of speed and altitude within a flight envelope that extended to Mach numbers of 0.85 and altitudes of 12,192m (40,000 ft). Propfan blade stress, near-field noise on aircraft surfaces, and cabin noise were recorded. Primary variables were propfan power and tip speed, and the nacelle tilt angle. Extensive low altitude far-field noise tests were made to measure flyover and sideline noise and the lateral attenuation of noise. In coopertion with the FAA, tests were also made of flyover noise for the aircraft at 6100m (20,000 ft) and 10,668m (35,000 ft). A final series of tests were flown to evaluate an advanced cabin wall noise treatment that was produced under a separate program by NASA-Langley Research Center

Optical Detection of Melting Point Depression For Silver Nanoparticles Via In Situ Real Time Spectroscopic Ellipsometry

Silver nanoparticle films were deposited by sputtering at room temperature and were annealed while monitoring by real time spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). The nanoparticle dielectric functions (0.75 eV-6.5 eV) obtained by SE were modeled using Lorentz and generalized oscillators for the nanoparticle plasmon polariton (NPP) and interband transitions, respectively. The nanoparticle melting point could be identified from variations in the oscillator parameters during annealing, and this identification was further confirmed after cooling through significant, irreversible changes in these parameters relative to the as-deposited film. The variation in melting point with physical thickness, and thus average nanoparticle diameter, as measured by SE enables calculation of the surface energy density

Testing the assumptions of linear prediction analysis in normal vowels

This paper develops an improved surrogate data test to show experimental evidence, for all the simple vowels of US English, for both male and female speakers, that Gaussian linear prediction analysis, a ubiquitous technique in current speech technologies, cannot be used to extract all the dynamical structure of real speech time series. The test provides robust evidence undermining the validity of these linear techniques, supporting the assumptions of either dynamical nonlinearity and/or non-Gaussianity common to more recent, complex, efforts at dynamical modelling speech time series. However, an additional finding is that the classical assumptions cannot be ruled out entirely, and plausible evidence is given to explain the success of the linear Gaussian theory as a weak approximation to the true, nonlinear/non-Gaussian dynamics. This supports the use of appropriate hybrid linear/nonlinear/non-Gaussian modelling. With a calibrated calculation of statistic and particular choice of experimental protocol, some of the known systematic problems of the method of surrogate data testing are circumvented to obtain results to support the conclusions to a high level of significance

Hot melt adhesive attachment pad

A hot melt adhesive attachment pad for releasably securing distinct elements together is described which is particularly useful in the construction industry or a spatial vacuum environment. The attachment pad consists primarily of a cloth selectively impregnated with a charge of hot melt adhesive, a thermo-foil heater, and a thermo-cooler. These components are securely mounted in a mounting assembly. In operation, the operator activates the heating cycle transforming the hot melt adhesive to a substantially liquid state, positions the pad against the attachment surface, and activates the cooling cycle solidifying the adhesive and forming a strong, releasable bond

Magnetohydrodynamics of Cloud Collisions in a Multi-phase Interstellar Medium

We extend previous studies of the physics of interstellar cloud collisions by beginning investigation of the role of magnetic fields through 2D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical simulations. We study head-on collisions between equal mass, mildly supersonic diffuse clouds. We include a moderate magnetic field and two limiting field geometries, with the field lines parallel (aligned) and perpendicular (transverse) to the colliding cloud motion. We explore both adiabatic and radiative cases, as well as symmetric and asymmetric ones. We also compute collisions between clouds evolved through prior motion in the intercloud medium and compare with unevolved cases. We find that: In the (i) aligned case, adiabatic collisions, like their HD counterparts, are very disruptive, independent of the cloud symmetry. However, when radiative processes are taken into account, partial coalescence takes place even in the asymmetric case, unlike the HD calculations. In the (ii) transverse case, collisions between initially adjacent unevolved clouds are almost unaffected by magnetic fields. However, the interaction with the magnetized intercloud gas during the pre-collision evolution produces a region of very high magnetic energy in front of the cloud. In collisions between evolved clouds with transverse field geometry, this region acts like a ``bumper'', preventing direct contact between the clouds, and eventually reverses their motion. The ``elasticity'', defined as the ratio of the final to the initial kinetic energy of each cloud, is about 0.5-0.6 in the cases we considered. This behavior is found both in adiabatic and radiative cases.Comment: 40 pages in AAS LaTeX v4.0, 13 figures (in degraded jpeg format). Full resolution images as well as mpeg animations are available at http://www.msi.umn.edu:80/Projects/twj/mhd-cc/ . Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Gravitational Dynamics of an Infinite Shuffled Lattice: Particle Coarse-grainings, Non-linear Clustering and the Continuum Limit

We study the evolution under their self-gravity of infinite ``shuffled lattice'' particle distributions, focussing specifically on the comparison of this evolution with that of ``daughter'' particle distributions, defined by a simple coarse-graining procedure. We consider both the case that such coarse-grainings are performed (i) on the initial conditions, and (ii) at a finite time with a specific additional prescription. In numerical simulations we observe that, to a first approximation, these coarse-grainings represent well the evolution of the two-point correlation properties over a significant range of scales. We note, in particular, that the form of the two-point correlation function in the original system, when it is evolving in the asymptotic ``self-similar'' regime, may be reproduced well in a daughter coarse-grained system in which the dynamics are still dominated by two-body (nearest neighbor) interactions. Using analytical results on the early time evolution of these systems, however, we show that small observed differences between the evolved system and its coarse-grainings at the initial time will in fact diverge as the ratio of the coarse-graining scale to the original inter-particle distance increases. The second coarse-graining studied, performed at a finite time in a specified manner, circumvents this problem. It also makes more physically transparent why gravitational dynamics from these initial conditions tends toward a ``self-similar'' evolution. We finally discuss the precise definition of a limit in which a continuum (specifically Vlasov-like) description of the observed linear and non-linear evolution should be applicable.Comment: 21 pages, 8 eps figures, 2 jpeg figures (available in high resolution at http://pil.phys.uniroma1.it/~sylos/PRD_dec_2006/

The relationships between internal and external threat and right-wing attitudes: A three-wave longitudinal study

The interplay between threat and right-wing attitudes has received much research attention, but its longitudinal relationship has hardly been investigated. In this study, we investigated the longitudinal relationships between internal and external threat and right-wing attitudes using a cross-lagged design at three different time points in a large nationally representative sample (N = 800). We found evidence for bidirectional relationships. Higher levels of external threat were related to higher levels of Right-Wing Authoritarianism and to both the egalitarianism and dominance dimensions of Social Dominance Orientation at a later point in time. Conversely, higher levels of RWA were also related to increased perception of external threat later in time. Internal threat did not yield significant direct or indirect longitudinal relationships with right-wing attitudes. Theoretical and practical implications of these longitudinal effects are discussed