Noncontact true temperature measurement, 2

A laser pyrometer was developed for acquiring the true temperature of a levitated sample. The reflectivity is measured by first expanding the laser beam to cover the entire cross-sectional surface of the diffuse target. The reflectivity calibration of this system is determined from the surface emissivity of a target with a blackbody cavity. The emissivity of the real target can then be calculated. The overall system constant is obtained by passively measuring the radiance of the blackbody cavity (emissivity = 1.0) at a known, arbitrary temperature. Since the photosensor used is highly linear over the entire operating temperature range, the true temperature of the target can then be computed. The latest results available from this on-going research indicate that true temperatures thus obtained are in very good quantitative agreement with thermocouple measured temperatures

Method and apparatus for producing microshells

A method is described for forming hollow particles, or shells, of extremely small size. The shell material is heated to a molten temperature in the presence of a gas that is at least moderately soluble in the shell material, to form a solution of the molten shell material and the soluble gas. The solution is atomized to form a multiplicity of separate droplets that are cooled while in free fall. Cooling of a droplet from the outside traps the desolved gas and forces it to form a gas bubble at the center of the droplet which now forms a gas filled shell. The shell is reheated and then cooled in free fall, in an environment having a lower pressure than the gas pressure in the shell. This causes expansion of the shell and the formation of a shell having a small wall thickness compared to its diameter

Noncontact temperature pattern measuring device

Laser pyrometer techniques are utilized to accurately image a true temperature distribution on a given target without touching the target and without knowing the localized emissivity of the target. The pyrometer utilizes a very high definition laser beam and photodetector, both having a very narrow focus. The pyrometer is mounted in a mechanism designed to permit the pyrometer to be aimed and focused at precise localized points on the target surface. The pyrometer is swept over the surface area to be imaged, temperature measurements being taken at each point of focus

On the Mass-Metallicity-Star Formation Rate Relation for Galaxies at z∼2z\sim 2

Recent studies have shown that the local mass-metallicity (M-Z) relation depends on the specific star formation rate (SSFR). Whether such a dependence exists at higher redshifts, and whether the resulting M-Z-SFR relation is redshift invariant, is debated. We re-examine these issues by applying the non-parametric techniques of Salim et al. (2014) to ~130 $z\sim2.3$ galaxies with N2 and O3 measurements from KBSS (Steidel et al. 2014). We find that the KBSS M-Z relation depends on SSFR at intermediate masses, where such dependence exists locally. KBSS and SDSS galaxies of the same mass and SSFR ("local analogs") are similarly offset in the BPT diagram relative to the bulk of local star-forming galaxies, and thus we posit that metallicities can be compared self-consistently at different redshifts as long as the masses and SSFRs of the galaxies are similar. We find that the M-Z-SFR relation of $z\sim2$ galaxies is consistent with the local one at $\log M_*<10$, but is offset up to -0.25 dex at higher masses, so it is altogether not redshift invariant. This high-mass offset could arise from a bias that high-redshift spectroscopic surveys have against high-metallicity galaxies, but additional evidence disfavors this possibility. We identify three causes for the reported discrepancy between N2 and O3N2 metallicities at $z\sim2$: (1) a smaller offset that is also present for SDSS galaxies, which we remove with new N2 calibration, (2) a genuine offset due to differing ISM condition, which is also present in local analogs, (3) an additional offset due to unrecognized AGN contamination.Comment: ApJ accepted. 14 pages. Comments welcom

Quantifying the timescales of fluid-rock interaction on Mars using the nakhlite meteorites

Etch pits within olivine grains from the nakhlite meteorites reveal the magnitude and timescale of water-mediated alteration of the martian crust

Effective Exchange Rate Classifications and Growth

We propose an econometric procedure for obtaining de facto exchange rate regime classifications which we apply to study the relationship between exchange rate regimes and economic growth. Our classification method models the de jure regimes as outcomes of a multinomial logit choice problem conditional on the volatility of a country's effective exchange rate, a bilateral exchange rate and international reserves. An `effective' de facto exchange rate regime classification is then obtained by assigning country-year observations to the regime with the highest predictive probability obtained from the estimation problem. An econometric investigation into the relationship between exchange rate regimes and GDP growth finds that growth is higher under stable currency-value regimes. Significant asymmetric effects on country growth from not doing what is said are found for nonindustrialized countries. Countries that exhibit `fear of floating' experience significantly higher growth.

Charge of the containerless experimentation in microgravity

The experimentation was undertaken to study the elimination or reduction of surface contamination for which there is adequate Earth-based technology along with the reduction of dynamic nucleation for which there a paucity of reliable data. One objective is to delineate scientific justification of the U.S. Containerless Experimentation Program in Microgravity for the next decade and beyond. Another objective is for the guidance of NASA to define the next generation of containerless experimentation instruments in microgravity

Abundance of conserved CRISPR-Cas9 target sites within the highly polymorphic genomes of Anopheles and Aedes mosquitoes.

A number of recent papers report that standing genetic variation in natural populations includes ubiquitous polymorphisms within target sites for Cas9-based gene drive (CGD) and that these "drive resistant alleles" (DRA) preclude the successful application of CGD for managing these populations. Here we report the results of a survey of 1280 genomes of the mosquitoes Anopheles gambiae, An. coluzzii, and Aedes aegypti in which we determine that ~90% of all protein-encoding CGD target genes in natural populations include at least one target site with no DRAs at a frequency of ≥1.0%. We conclude that the abundance of conserved target sites in mosquito genomes and the inherent flexibility in CGD design obviates the concern that DRAs present in the standing genetic variation of mosquito populations will be detrimental to the deployment of this technology for population modification strategies