58,786 research outputs found
A review of fracture mechanics life technology
Current lifetime prediction technology for structural components subjected to cyclic loads was reviewed. The central objectives of the project were to report the current state of and recommend future development of fracture mechanics-based analytical tools for modeling and forecasting subcritical fatigue crack growth in structures. Of special interest to NASA was the ability to apply these tools to practical engineering problems and the developmental steps necessary to bring vital technologies to this stage. A survey of published literature and numerous discussions with experts in the field of fracture mechanics life technology were conducted. One of the key points made is that fracture mechanics analyses of crack growth often involve consideration of fatigue and fracture under extreme conditions. Therefore, inaccuracies in predicting component lifetime will be dominated by inaccuracies in environment and fatigue crack growth relations, stress intensity factor solutions, and methods used to model given loads and stresses. Suggestions made for reducing these inaccuracies include: development of improved models of subcritical crack growth, research efforts aimed at better characterizing residual and assembly stresses that can be introduced during fabrication, and more widespread and uniform use of the best existing methods
Extended Red Emission and the evolution of carbonaceaous nanograins in NGC 7023
Extended Red Emission (ERE) was recently attributed to the photo-luminescence
of either doubly ionized Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH), or
charged PAH dimers. We analysed the visible and mid-infrared (mid-IR) dust
emission in the North-West and South photo-dissociation regions of the
reflection nebula NGC 7023.Using a blind signal separation method, we extracted
the map of ERE from images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope, and at the
Canada France Hawaii Telescope. We compared the extracted ERE image to the
distribution maps of the mid-IR emission of Very Small Grains (VSGs), neutral
and ionized PAHs (PAH and PAH) obtained with the Spitzer Space
Telescope and the Infrared Space Observatory. ERE is dominant in transition
regions where VSGs are being photo-evaporated to form free PAH molecules, and
is not observed in regions dominated by PAH. Its carrier makes a minor
contribution to the mid-IR emission spectrum. These results suggest that the
ERE carrier is a transition species formed during the destruction of VSGs.
Singly ionized PAH dimers appear as good candidates but PAH molecules
seem to be excluded.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Factors Affecting Farmersâ Utilization of Agricultural Risk Management Tools: The Case of Crop Insurance, Forward Contracting, and Spreading Sales
Factors affecting the adoption of crop insurance, forward contracting, and spreading sales are analyzed using multivariate and multinomial probit approaches that account for simultaneous adoption and/or correlation among the three risk management adoption decisions. Our empirical results suggest that the decision to adopt crop insurance, forward contracting, and/or spreading sales are correlated. Richer insights can be drawn from our multivariate and multinomial probit analysis than from separate, single-equation probit estimation that assumes independence of adoption decisions. Some factors significantly affecting the adoption of the risk management tools analyzed are proportion of owned acres, off-farm income, education, age, and level of business risks.adoption decisions, crop insurance, forward contracting, multinomial probit, multivariate probit, risk management, spreading sales, Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, G22, Q12, Q18,
The French Atlantic littoral and the Massif Armoricain, part 1
The author has identified the following significant results. For interpretation of Isle of Jersey imagery, two types of taxons were defined according to their variability in time. On the whole, taxons with a similar spectral signature were opposed to those with strongly varying spectral signature. The taxon types were low diachronic variations and strong diachronic variation. Imagery interpretation was restricted to the landward part of the Fromentine area, including the sand beaches which were often difficult to spectrally separate from the barren coastal dunes in the southern part of Noirmoutier Island as well as along the Breton marsh. From 1972 to 1976, sandbanks reduced in area. Two high river discharge images showed over a two year period an identical outline for the Bilho bank to seaward, whereas upstream, the bank has receeded in the same time to a line joining Paimboeuf to Montoir. The Brillantes bank has receeded at both ends, partly due to dredging operations in the access channel to Donges harbor
Insights from unifying modern approximations to infections on networks
Networks are increasingly central to modern science owing to their ability to conceptualize multiple interacting components of a complex system. As a specific example of this, understanding the implications of contact network structure for the transmission of infectious diseases remains a key issue in epidemiology. Three broad approaches to this problem exist: explicit simulation; derivation of exact results for special networks; and dynamical approximations. This paper focuses on the last of these approaches, and makes two main contributions.
Firstly, formal mathematical links are demonstrated between several prima facie unrelated dynamical approximations. And secondly, these links are used to derive two novel dynamical models for network epidemiology, which are compared against explicit stochastic simulation. The success of these new models provides improved understanding about the interaction of network structure and transmission dynamics
The Effect of Randomized School Admissions on Voter Participation
There is little causal evidence on the effect of economic and policy outcomes on voting behavior. This paper uses randomized outcomes from a school choice lottery to examine if lottery outcomes affect voting behavior in a school board election. We show that losing the lottery has no significant impact on overall voting behavior; however, among white families, those with above median income and prior voting history, lottery losers were significantly more likely to vote than lottery winners. Using propensity score methods, we compare the voting of lottery participants to similar families who did not participate in the lottery. We find that losing the school choice lottery caused an increase in voter turnout among whites, while winning the lottery had no effect relative to non-participants. Overall, our empirical results lend support to models of expressive and retrospective voting, where likely voters are motivated to vote by past negative policy outcomes.
Convective intensification of magnetic fields in the quiet Sun
Kilogauss-strength magnetic ïŹelds are often observed in intergranular lanes at the photosphere in the quiet Sun. Such ïŹelds are stronger than the equipartition ïŹeld B_e, corresponding to a magnetic energy density that matches the kinetic energy density of photospheric convection, and comparable with the ïŹeld B_p that exerts a magnetic pressure equal to the ambient gas pressure. We present an idealised numerical model of three-dimensional compressible magnetoconvection at the photosphere, for a range of values of the magnetic Reynolds number. In the absence of a magnetic ïŹeld, the convection is highly supercritical and is characterised by a pattern of vigorous, time-dependent, âgranularâ motions. When a weak magnetic ïŹeld is imposed upon the convection, magnetic ïŹux is swept into the convective downïŹows where it forms localised concentrations. Unless this process is significantly inhibited by magnetic diffusion, the resulting ïŹelds are often much greater than B_e, and the high magnetic pressure in these ïŹux elements leads to their being partially evacuated. Some of these ïŹux elements contain ultra-intense magnetic ïŹelds that are significantly greater than B_p. Such ïŹelds are contained by a combination of the thermal pressure of the gas and the dynamic pressure of the convective motion, and they are constantly evolving. These ultra-intense ïŹelds develop owing to nonlinear interactions between magnetic ïŹelds and convection; they cannot be explained in terms of âconvective collapseâ within a thin ïŹux tube that remains in overall pressure equilibrium with its surroundings
Journal Staff
A time-dependent coordinate transformation of a constant coeffcient hyperbolic equation which results in a variable coeffcient problem is considered. By using the energy method, we derive well-posed boundary conditions for the continuous problem. It is shown that the number of boundary conditions depend on the coordinate transformation. By using Summation-by-Parts (SBP) operators for the space discretization and weak boundary conditions, an energy stable finite dieffrence scheme is obtained. We also show how to construct a time-dependent penalty formulation that automatically imposes the right number of boundary conditions. Numerical calculations corroborate the stability and accuracy of the approximations
- âŠ