Space Shuttle Orbiter payload bay door mechanisms

The opening, closing, and latching of the first large clamshell door to operate in space presented some unusual challenges for the mechanism designer of the Space Shuttle Program. The requirements, hardware configuration, design trade-offs, and qualification testing in process to meet the challenge and to make the system operational for the Shuttle orbiter's approaching first orbital flight are described

Test Data of Flow Field of Shuttle SRM Nozzle Joint with Bond Defects, Using Unheated Air

The nozzle-to-case joint on the Shuttle SRM (as redesigned after the Challenger accident) features an adhesive sealant filling and bonding the joint, with a wiper O-ring to prevent the adhesive from reaching and disabling the closure O-ring. Flawless implementation of that joint design would ensure that hot, corrosive propellant combustion gases never reach the closure O-ring. However, understanding the flow field related to bonding defects is prudent. A comprehensive test program was conducted to quantify such flow fields and associated heating environments. A two-dimensional, full-scale model represented 65 inches of the nozzle joint, using unheated air as the test medium, in a blowdown mode. Geometry variations modeled RSRM assembly tolerances, and two types of bonding defects: pullaways and blowholes. A range of the magnitude of each type defect was tested. Also a range of operational parameters was tested, representative of the RSRM flow environment, including duplication of RSRM Mach and Reynolds numbers. Extensive instrumentation was provided to quantify pressures, heat rates, and velocities. The resulting data established that larger geometric defects cause larger pressure and larger heating, at the closure O-ring region. Velocity trends were not so straight-forward. Variations in assembly tolerances did not generally affect flow fields or heating. Operational parameters affected flow fields and heating as might be expected, increasing density or velocity increased heating. Complete details of this test effort are presented

Solvent-switchable continuous-breathing behaviour in a diamondoid metal–organic framework and its influence on CO2 versus CH4 selectivity

Understanding the behaviour of flexible metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)—porous crystalline materials that undergo a structural change upon exposure to an external stimulus—underpins their design as responsive materials for specific applications, such as gas separation, molecular sensing, catalysis and drug delivery. Reversible transformations of a MOF between open- and closed-pore forms—a behaviour known as ‘breathing’—typically occur through well-defined crystallographic transitions. By contrast, continuous breathing is rare, and detailed characterization has remained very limited. Here we report a continuous-breathing mechanism that was studied by single-crystal diffraction in a MOF with a diamondoid network, (Me2NH2)[In(ABDC)2] (ABDC, 2-aminobenzene-1,4-dicarboxylate). Desolvation of the MOF in two different solvents leads to two polymorphic activated forms with very different pore openings, markedly different gas-adsorption capacities and different CO2 versus CH4 selectivities. Partial desolvation introduces a gating pressure associated with CO2 adsorption, which shows that the framework can also undergo a combination of stepped and continuous breathing

On the evaluation formula for Jack polynomials with prescribed symmetry

The Jack polynomials with prescribed symmetry are obtained from the nonsymmetric polynomials via the operations of symmetrization, antisymmetrization and normalization. After dividing out the corresponding antisymmetric polynomial of smallest degree, a symmetric polynomial results. Of interest in applications is the value of the latter polynomial when all the variables are set equal. Dunkl has obtained this evaluation, making use of a certain skew symmetric operator. We introduce a simpler operator for this purpose, thereby obtaining a new derivation of the evaluation formula. An expansion formula of a certain product in terms of Jack polynomials with prescribed symmetry implied by the evaluation formula is used to derive a generalization of a constant term identity due to Macdonald, Kadell and Kaneko. Although we don't give the details in this work, the operator introduced here can be defined for any reduced crystallographic root system, and used to provide an evaluation formula for the corresponding Heckman-Opdam polynomials with prescribed symmetry.Comment: 18 page

Generalized boson algebra and its entangled bipartite coherent states

Starting with a given generalized boson algebra U_(h(1)) known as the bosonized version of the quantum super-Hopf U_q[osp(1/2)] algebra, we employ the Hopf duality arguments to provide the dually conjugate function algebra Fun_(H(1)). Both the Hopf algebras being finitely generated, we produce a closed form expression of the universal T matrix that caps the duality and generalizes the familiar exponential map relating a Lie algebra with its corresponding group. Subsequently, using an inverse Mellin transform approach, the coherent states of single-node systems subject to the U_(h(1)) symmetry are found to be complete with a positive-definite integration measure. Nonclassical coalgebraic structure of the U_(h(1)) algebra is found to generate naturally entangled coherent states in bipartite composite systems.Comment: 15pages, no figur

Temporally stable coherent states in energy degenerate systems: The hydrogen atom

Klauder's recent generalization of the harmonic oscillator coherent states [J. Phys. A 29, L293 (1996)] is applicable only in non-degenerate systems, requiring some additional structure if applied to systems with degeneracies. The author suggests how this structure could be added, and applies the complete method to the hydrogen atom problem. To illustrate how a certain degree of freedom in the construction may be exercised, states are constructed which are initially localized and evolve semi-classically, and whose long time evolution exhibits "fractional revivals."Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Dimensional Renormalization in phi^3 theory: ladders and rainbows

The sum of all ladder and rainbow diagrams in $\phi^3$ theory near 6 dimensions leads to self-consistent higher order differential equations in coordinate space which are not particularly simple for arbitrary dimension D. We have now succeeded in solving these equations, expressing the results in terms of generalized hypergeometric functions; the expansion and representation of these functions can then be used to prove the absence of renormalization factors which are transcendental for this theory and this topology to all orders in perturbation theory. The correct anomalous scaling dimensions of the Green functions are also obtained in the six-dimensional limit.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX, no figure

Solutions to the Quantum Yang-Baxter Equation with Extra Non-Additive Parameters

We present a systematic technique to construct solutions to the Yang-Baxter equation which depend not only on a spectral parameter but in addition on further continuous parameters. These extra parameters enter the Yang-Baxter equation in a similar way to the spectral parameter but in a non-additive form. We exploit the fact that quantum non-compact algebras such as $U_q(su(1,1))$ and type-I quantum superalgebras such as $U_q(gl(1|1))$ and $U_q(gl(2|1))$ are known to admit non-trivial one-parameter families of infinite-dimensional and finite dimensional irreps, respectively, even for generic $q$. We develop a technique for constructing the corresponding spectral-dependent R-matrices. As examples we work out the the $R$-matrices for the three quantum algebras mentioned above in certain representations.Comment: 13 page

A mouse model for adult cardiac-specific gene deletion with CRISPR/Cas9

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated (Cas) 9 genomic editing has revolutionized the generation of mutant animals by simplifying the creation of null alleles in virtually any organism. However, most current approaches with this method require zygote injection, making it difficult to assess the adult, tissue-specific functions of genes that are widely expressed or which cause embryonic lethality when mutated. Here, we describe the generation of cardiac-specific Cas9 transgenic mice, which express high levels of Cas9 in the heart, but display no overt defects. In proof-of-concept experiments, we used Adeno-Associated Virus 9 (AAV9) to deliver single-guide RNA (sgRNA) that targets the Myh6 locus exclusively in cardiomyocytes. Intraperitoneal injection of postnatal cardiac-Cas9 transgenic mice with AAV9 encoding sgRNA against Myh6 resulted in robust editing of the Myh6 locus. These mice displayed severe cardiomyopathy and loss of cardiac function, with elevation of several markers of heart failure, confirming the effectiveness of this method of adult cardiac gene deletion. Mice with cardiac-specific expression of Cas9 provide a tool that will allow rapid and accurate deletion of genes following a single injection of AAV9-sgRNAs, thereby circumventing embryonic lethality. This method will be useful for disease modeling and provides a means of rapidly editing genes of interest in the heart

Radial Squeezed States and Rydberg Wave Packets

We outline an analytical framework for the treatment of radial Rydberg wave packets produced by short laser pulses in the absence of external electric and magnetic fields. Wave packets of this type are localized in the radial coordinates and have p-state angular distributions. We argue that they can be described by a particular analytical class of squeezed states, called radial squeezed states. For hydrogenic Rydberg atoms, we discuss the time evolution of the corresponding hydrogenic radial squeezed states. They are found to undergo decoherence and collapse, followed by fractional and full revivals. We also present their uncertainty product and uncertainty ratio as functions of time. Our results show that hydrogenic radial squeezed states provide a suitable analytical description of hydrogenic Rydberg atoms excited by short-pulsed laser fields.Comment: published in Physical Review