Performance of alumina-supported Pt catalysts in an electron-beam-sustained CO2 laser amplifier

The performance of an alumina-supported Pt catalyst system used to maintain the gas purity in an electron-beam-sustained (636) isotope CO2 laser amplifier has been tested. The system characteristics using the two-zone, parallel flow reactor were determined for both continuous- and end-of-day reactor operation using on-line mass spectrometric sampling. The laser amplifier was run with an energy loading of typically 110 J-l/atm and an electron-beam current of 4 mA/sq cm. With these conditions and a pulse repetition frequency of 10 Hz for up to 10,000 shots, increases on the order of 100 ppm O2 were observed with the purifier on and 150 ppm with it off. The 1/e time recovery time was found to be approximately 75 minutes

Reduction of laser intensity scintillations in turbulent atmospheres using time averaging of a partially coherent beam

We demonstrate experimentally and numerically that the application of a partially coherent beam (PCB) in combination with time averaging leads to a significant reduction in the scintillation index. We use a simplified experimental approach in which the atmospheric turbulence is simulated by a phase diffuser. The role of the speckle size, the amplitude of the phase modulation, and the strength of the atmospheric turbulence are examined. We obtain good agreement between our numerical simulations and our experimental results. This study provides a useful foundation for future applications of PCB-based methods of scintillation reduction in physical atmospheres.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figure

How model sets can be determined by their two-point and three-point correlations

We show that real model sets with real internal spaces are determined, up to translation and changes of density zero by their two- and three-point correlations. We also show that there exist pairs of real (even one dimensional) aperiodic model sets with internal spaces that are products of real spaces and finite cyclic groups whose two- and three-point correlations are identical but which are not related by either translation or inversion of their windows. All these examples are pure point diffractive. Placed in the context of ergodic uniformly discrete point processes, the result is that real point processes of model sets based on real internal windows are determined by their second and third moments.Comment: 19 page

Dark-Matter Decays and Self-Gravitating Halos

We consider models in which a dark-matter particle decays to a slightly less massive daughter particle and a noninteracting massless particle. The decay gives the daughter particle a small velocity kick. Self-gravitating dark-matter halos that have a virial velocity smaller than this velocity kick may be disrupted by these particle decays, while those with larger virial velocities will be heated. We use numerical simulations to follow the detailed evolution of the total mass and density profile of self-gravitating systems composed of particles that undergo such velocity kicks as a function of the kick speed (relative to the virial velocity) and the decay time (relative to the dynamical time). We show how these decays will affect the halo mass-concentration relation and mass function. Using measurements of the halo mass-concentration relation and galaxy-cluster mass function to constrain the lifetime--kick-velocity parameter space for decaying dark matter, we find roughly that the observations rule out the combination of kick velocities greater than 100 km/s and decay times less than a few times the age of the Universe.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, replaced with published versio

From solid solution to cluster formation of Fe and Cr in α\alpha-Zr

To understand the mechanisms by which Fe and Cr additions increase the corrosion rate of irradiated Zr alloys, a combination of experimental (atom probe tomography, x-ray diffraction and thermoelectric power measurements) and modelling (density functional theory) techniques are employed to investigate the non-equilibrium solubility and clustering of Fe and Cr in binary Zr alloys. Cr occupies both interstitial and substitutional sites in the {\alpha}-Zr lattice, Fe favours interstitial sites, and a low-symmetry site that was not previously modelled is found to be the most favourable for Fe. Lattice expansion as a function of alloying concentration (in the dilute regime) is strongly anisotropic for Fe additions, expanding the $c$-axis while contracting the $a$-axis. Defect clusters are observed at higher solution concentrations, which induce a smaller amount of lattice strain compared to the dilute defects. In the presence of a Zr vacancy, all two-atom clusters are more soluble than individual point defects and as many as four Fe or three Cr atoms could be accommodated in a single Zr vacancy. The Zr vacancy is critical for the increased solubility of defect clusters, the implications for irradiation induced microstructure changes in Zr alloys are discussed.Comment: 15 pages including figure, 9 figures, 2 tables. Submitted for publication in Acta Mater, Journal of Nuclear Materials (2015

Icosahedral multi-component model sets

A quasiperiodic packing Q of interpenetrating copies of C, most of them only partially occupied, can be defined in terms of the strip projection method for any icosahedral cluster C. We show that in the case when the coordinates of the vectors of C belong to the quadratic field Q[\sqrt{5}] the dimension of the superspace can be reduced, namely, Q can be re-defined as a multi-component model set by using a 6-dimensional superspace.Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX2e in IOP styl

On the effect of Ti on Oxidation Behaviour of a Polycrystalline Nickel-based Superalloy

Titanium is commonly added to nickel superalloys but has a well-documented detrimental effect on oxidation resistance. The present work constitutes the first atomistic-scale quantitative measurements of grain boundary and bulk compositions in the oxide scale of a current generation polycrystalline nickel superalloy performed through atom probe tomography. Titanium was found to be particularly detrimental to oxide scale growth through grain boundary diffusion

The Paranormal is (Still) Normal: The Sociological Implications of a Survey of Paranormal Experiences in Great Britain

Historically, there has been limited sociological interest in the paranormal and no systematic study of reported paranormal experiences. There are also few medium-to-large-scale survey results with nationally representative populations focusing on paranormal experiences. This paper provides details of an exploratory survey conducted in 2009 with a nationally representative sample of 4,096 adults aged 16 years and over across Great Britain. Our findings show that 37% of British adults report at least one paranormal experience and that women, those who are middle-aged or individuals resident in the South West are more likely to report such experiences. These results establish incidence levels of reported paranormal experiences in contemporary Britain. We argue also that they merit a more sustained sociological consideration of the paranormal. In this respect we renew and update the robust justification and call for serious research positioning the paranormal as a social phenomenon, originally proposed well over thirty years ago by Greeley (1975)

Final design proposal: Delta Group-Nood Rider 821(tm)

The Nood Rider 821 (trademark) twin-engine, prop passenger aircraft is described. It is argued that the aircraft is very economical to operate and maintain, offering competitive advantages in the air travel marketplace. The aircraft was designed to operate in 'Aeroworld', a fictional world where the passengers are ping pong balls and the distances between cites are on the order of thousands of feet