44,205 research outputs found
Plastic shoe facilitates ultrasonic inspection of thin wall metal tubing
Plastic shoe aids inspection of thin walled stainless steel welded tubing to locate voids or other material defects in critical component equipment. Incorporated in available ultrasonic inspection equipment, it couples the transducer to the tube at desired incident angles
High-temperature oxidation and erosion-resistant refractory coatings
Various refractory coating systems were evaluated for rocket nozzle applications by actual rocket test firings. A reference is noted which identifies failure mechanisms and gives results of the firing tests for 18 coating systems. Iridium, iridium-rhenium, and hafnium oxide-zirconium oxide coatings show most promising results
Hyperswitch communication network
The Hyperswitch Communication Network (HCN) is a large scale parallel computer prototype being developed at JPL. Commercial versions of the HCN computer are planned. The HCN computer being designed is a message passing multiple instruction multiple data (MIMD) computer, and offers many advantages in price-performance ratio, reliability and availability, and manufacturing over traditional uniprocessors and bus based multiprocessors. The design of the HCN operating system is a uniquely flexible environment that combines both parallel processing and distributed processing. This programming paradigm can achieve a balance among the following competing factors: performance in processing and communications, user friendliness, and fault tolerance. The prototype is being designed to accommodate a maximum of 64 state of the art microprocessors. The HCN is classified as a distributed supercomputer. The HCN system is described, and the performance/cost analysis and other competing factors within the system design are reviewed
A Potts Neuron Approach to Communication Routing
A feedback neural network approach to communication routing problems is
developed with emphasis on Multiple Shortest Path problems, with several
requests for transmissions between distinct start- and endnodes. The basic
ingredients are a set of Potts neurons for each request, with interactions
designed to minimize path lengths and to prevent overloading of network arcs.
The topological nature of the problem is conveniently handled using a
propagator matrix approach. Although the constraints are global, the
algorithmic steps are based entirely on local information, facilitating
distributed implementations. In the polynomially solvable single-request case
the approach reduces to a fuzzy version of the Bellman-Ford algorithm. The
approach is evaluated for synthetic problems of varying sizes and load levels,
by comparing with exact solutions from a branch-and-bound method. With very few
exceptions, the Potts approach gives legal solutions of very high quality. The
computational demand scales merely as the product of the numbers of requests,
nodes, and arcs.Comment: 10 pages LaTe
Rotorcraft digital advanced avionics system (RODAAS) functional description
A functional design of a rotorcraft digital advanced avionics system (RODAAS) to transfer the technology developed for general aviation in the Demonstration Advanced Avionics System (DAAS) program to rotorcraft operation was undertaken. The objective was to develop an integrated avionics system design that enhances rotorcraft single pilot IFR operations without increasing the required pilot training/experience by exploiting advanced technology in computers, busing, displays and integrated systems design. A key element of the avionics system is the functionally distributed architecture that has the potential for high reliability with low weight, power and cost. A functional description of the RODAAS hardware and software functions is presented
Determining Central Black Hole Masses in Distant Active Galaxies and Quasars. II. Improved Optical and UV Scaling Relationships
We present four improved empirical relationships useful for estimating the
central black hole mass in nearby AGNs and distant luminous quasars alike using
either optical or UV single-epoch spectroscopy. These mass-scaling
relationships between line widths and luminosity are based on recently improved
empirical relationships between the broad-line region size and luminosities in
various energy bands and are calibrated to the improved mass measurements of
nearby AGNs based on emission-line reverberation mapping. The mass-scaling
relationship based on the Hbeta line luminosity allows mass estimates for
low-redshift sources with strong contamination of the optical continuum
luminosity by stellar or non-thermal emission, while that based on the C IV
lambda 1549 line dispersion allows mass estimates in cases where only the line
dispersion (as opposed to the FWHM) can be reliably determined. We estimate
that the absolute uncertainties in masses given by these mass-scaling
relationships are typically around a factor of 4. We include in an Appendix
mass estimates for all the Bright Quasar Survey (PG) quasars for which direct
reverberation-based mass measurements are not available.Comment: 48 pages including 12 figures and 7 tables. Accepted by Ap
Diagnostics of the structure of AGN's broad line regions with reverberation mapping data: confirmation of the two-component broad line region model
We re-examine the ten Reverberation Mapping (RM) sources with public data
based on the two-component model of the Broad Line Region (BLR). In fitting
their broad H-beta lines, six of them only need one Gaussian component, one of
them has a double-peak profile, one has an irregular profile, and only two of
them need two components, i.e., a Very Broad Gaussian Component (VBGC) and an
Inter-Mediate Gaussian Component (IMGC). The Gaussian components are assumed to
come from two distinct regions in the two-component model; they are Very Broad
Line Region (VBLR) and Inter-Mediate Line region (IMLR). The two sources with a
two-component profile are Mrk 509 and NGC 4051. The time lags of the two
components of both sources satisfy ,
where and are the lags of the two components while
and represent the mean gas velocities of the two regions,
supporting the two-component model of the BLR of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN).
The fact that most of these ten sources only have the VBGC confirms the
assumption that RM mainly measures the radius of the VBLR; consequently, the
radius obtained from the R-L relationship mainly represent the radius of VBLR.
Moreover, NGC 4051, with a lag of about 5 days in the one component model, is
an outlier on the R-L relationship as shown in Kaspi et al. (2005); however
this problem disappears in our two-component model with lags of about 2 and 6
days for the VBGC and IMGC, respectively.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in the Special Issue of
Science in China (G) "Astrophysics of Black holes and Related Compact
Objects
A circumpolar perspective on fluvial sediment flux to the Arctic ocean
Quantification of sediment fluxes from rivers is fundamental to understanding land‐ocean linkages in the Arctic. Numerous publications have focused on this subject over the past century, yet assessments of temporal trends are scarce and consensus on contemporary fluxes is lacking. Published estimates vary widely, but often provide little accessory information needed to interpret the differences. We present a pan‐arctic synthesis of sediment flux from 19 arctic rivers, primarily focusing on contributions from the eight largest ones. For this synthesis, historical records and recent unpublished data were compiled from Russian, Canadian, and United States sources. Evaluation of these data revealed no long‐term trends in sediment flux, but did show stepwise changes in the historical records of two of the rivers. In some cases, old values that do not reflect contemporary fluxes are still being reported, while in other cases, typographical errors have been propagated into the recent literature. Most of the discrepancy among published estimates, however, can be explained by differences in years of records examined and gauging stations used. Variations in sediment flux from year to year in arctic rivers are large, so estimates based on relatively few years can differ substantially. To determine best contemporary estimates of sediment flux for the eight largest arctic rivers, we used a combination of newly available data, historical records, and literature values. These estimates contribute to our understanding of carbon, nutrient, and contaminant transport to the Arctic Ocean and provide a baseline for detecting future anthropogenic or natural change in the Arctic
Stability of the Submillimeter Brightness of the Atmosphere Above Mauna Kea, Chajnantor and the South Pole
The summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the area near Cerro Chajnantor in Chile,
and the South Pole are sites of large millimeter or submillimeter wavelength
telescopes. We have placed 860 GHz sky brightness monitors at all three sites
and present a comparative study of the measured submillimeter brightness due to
atmospheric thermal emission. We report the stability of that quantity at each
site.Comment: 6 figure
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