3,269 research outputs found
Basic statistical analyses of candidate nickel-hydrogen cells for the Space Station Freedom
Nickel-Hydrogen (Ni/H2) secondary batteries will be implemented as a power source for the Space Station Freedom as well as for other NASA missions. Consequently, characterization tests of Ni/H2 cells from Eagle-Picher, Whittaker-Yardney, and Hughes were completed at the NASA Lewis Research Center. Watt-hour efficiencies of each Ni/H2 cell were measured for regulated charge and discharge cycles as a function of temperature, charge rate, discharge rate, and state of charge. Temperatures ranged from -5 C to 30 C, charge rates ranged from C/10 to 1C, discharge rates ranged from C/10 to 2C, and states of charge ranged from 20 percent to 100 percent. Results from regression analyses and analyses of mean watt-hour efficiencies demonstrated that overall performance was best at temperatures between 10 C and 20 C while the discharge rate correlated most strongly with watt-hour efficiency. In general, the cell with back-to-back electrode arrangement, single stack, 26 percent KOH, and serrated zircar separator and the cell with a recirculating electrode arrangement, unit stack, 31 percent KOH, zircar separators performed best
A Large-scale CO Imaging of the Galactic Center. II. Dynamical Properties of Molecular Clouds
The data from the Nobeyama Radio Observatory 45 m telescope Galactic Center
CO survey have been analyzed to generate a compilation of molecular clouds with
intense CO emission in this region. Clouds are identified in an automated
manner throughout the main part of the survey data for all CO emission peaks
exceeding 10 K (). Correlations between the size, velocity dispersion,
virial mass, and the CO luminosity, for the molecular clouds in the Galactic
center were shown. We diagnosed gravitational stabilities of identified clouds
assuming that the disk clouds are nearly at the onset of gravitational
instability. Most of the clouds and cloud complexes in the Galactic center are
gravitationally stable, while some clouds with intense CO emission are
gravitationally unstable.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of the 32nd COSPAR
Scientific Assembl
Power, Propulsion, and Communications for Microspacecraft Missions
The development of small sized, low weight spacecraft should lead to reduced scientific mission costs by lowering fabrication and launch costs. An order of magnitude reduction in spacecraft size can be obtained by miniaturizing components. Additional reductions in spacecraft weight, size, and cost can be obtained by utilizing the synergy that exists between different spacecraft systems. The state-of-the-art of three major systems, spacecraft power, propulsion, and communications is discussed. Potential strategies to exploit the synergy between these systems and/or the payload are identified. Benefits of several of these synergies are discussed
Mapping Children's Discussions of Evidence in Science to Assess Collaboration and Argumentation
The research reported in this paper concerns the development of children's skills of interpreting and evaluating evidence in science. Previous studies have shown that school teaching often places limited emphasis on the development of these skills, which are necessary for children to engage in scientific debate and decision-making. The research, undertaken in the UK, involved four collaborative decision-making activities to stimulate group discussion, each was carried out with five groups of four children (10-11 years old). The research shows how the children evaluated evidence for possible choices and judged whether their evidence was sufficient to support a particular conclusion or the rejection of alternative conclusions. A mapping technique was developed to analyse the discussions and identify different "levels" of argumentation. The authors conclude that suitable collaborative activities that focus on the discussion of evidence can be developed to exercise children's ability to argue effectively in making decisions
Novel upregulation of amyloid-β precursor protein (APP) by microRNA-346 via targeting of APP mRNA 5â˛-untranslated region: Implications in Alzheimerâs disease
In addition to the devastating symptoms of dementia, Alzheimerâs disease (AD) is characterized by accumulation of the processing products of the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide precursor protein (APP). APPâs non-pathogenic functions include regulating intracellular iron (Fe) homeostasis. MicroRNAs are small (~â20 nucleotides) RNA species that instill specificity to the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). In most cases, RISC inhibits mRNA translation through the 3â˛-untranslated region (UTR) sequence. By contrast, we report a novel activity of miR-346: specifically, that it targets the APP mRNA 5â˛-UTR to upregulate APP translation and Aβ production. This upregulation is reduced but not eliminated by knockdown of argonaute 2. The target site for miR-346 overlaps with active sites for an iron-responsive element (IRE) and an interleukin-1 (IL-1) acute box element. IREs interact with iron response protein1 (IRP1), an iron-dependent translational repressor. In primary human brain cultures, miR-346 activity required chelation of Fe. In addition, miR-346 levels are altered in late-Braak stage AD. Thus, miR-346 plays a role in upregulation of APP in the CNS and participates in maintaining APP regulation of Fe, which is disrupted in late stages of AD. Further work will be necessary to integrate other metals, and IL-1 into the Fe-miR-346 activity network. We, thus, propose a âFeARâ (Fe, APP, RNA) nexus in the APP 5â˛-UTR that includes an overlapping miR-346-binding site and the APP IRE. When a âhealthy FeARâ exists, activities of miR-346 and IRP/Fe interact to maintain APP homeostasis. Disruption of an element that targets the FeAR nexus would lead to pathogenic disruption of APP translation and protein production
Chiral Supergravity
We study the linearized approximation of N=1 topologically massive
supergravity around AdS3. Linearized gravitino fields are explicitly
constructed. For appropriate boundary conditions, the conserved charges
demonstrate chiral behavior, so that chiral gravity can be consistently
extended to chiral supergravity.Comment: 30 page
Observations of the Extended Distribution of Ionized Hydrogen in the Plane of M31
We have used the Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) to observe the spatially
extended distribution of ionized hydrogen in M31 beyond the stellar disk. We
obtained five sets of observations, centered near the photometric major axis of
M31, that extend from the center of the galaxy to just off the edge of the
southwestern HI disk. Beyond the bright stellar disk, but within the HI disk,
weak H-alpha is detected with an intensity I(H-alpha) = 0.05 (+0.01 / -0.02)
Rayleighs. Since M31 is inclined 77 degrees with respect to the line of sight,
this implies that the ambient intergalactic ionizing flux onto each side of M31
is Phi_0 <= 1.6 x 10^4 photons cm^-2 s^-1. Just beyond the outer boundary of
the HI disk we find no significant detection of H-alpha and place an upper
limit I(H-alpha) <= 0.019 Rayleighs.Comment: To appear in ApJ Letters; 12 pages, 4 figure
Reconstructing Images from Projections Using the Maximum-Entropy Method. Numerical Simulations of Low-Aspect Astrotomography
The reconstruction of images from a small number of projections using the
maximum-entropy method (MEM) with the Shannon entropy is considered. MEM
provides higher-quality image reconstruction for sources with extended
components than the Hogbom CLEAN method, which is also used in low-aspect
astrotomography. The quality of image reconstruction for sources with mixed
structure containing bright, compact features embedded in a comparatively weak,
extended base can be further improved using a difference-mapping method, which
requires a generalization of MEM for the reconstruction of sign-variable
functions.We draw conclusions based on the results of numerical simulations for
a number of model radio sources with various morphologies.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
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