Fault tree safety analysis of a large Li/SOCl(sub)2 spacecraft battery

The results of the safety fault tree analysis on the eight module, 576 F cell Li/SOCl2 battery on the spacecraft and in the integration and test environment prior to launch on the ground are presented. The analysis showed that with the right combination of blocking diodes, electrical fuses, thermal fuses, thermal switches, cell balance, cell vents, and battery module vents the probability of a single cell or a 72 cell module exploding can be reduced to .000001, essentially the probability due to explosion for unexplained reasons

Evaluation of the Land Surface Water Budget in NCEP/NCAR and NCEP/DOE Reanalyses using an Off-line Hydrologic Model

The ability of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) reanalysis (NRA1) and the follow-up NCEP/Department of Energy (DOE) reanalysis (NRA2), to reproduce the hydrologic budgets over the Mississippi River basin is evaluated using a macroscale hydrology model. This diagnosis is aided by a relatively unconstrained global climate simulation using the NCEP global spectral model, and a more highly constrained regional climate simulation using the NCEP regional spectral model, both employing the same land surface parameterization (LSP) as the reanalyses. The hydrology model is the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model, which is forced by gridded observed precipitation and temperature. It reproduces observed streamflow, and by closure is constrained to balance other terms in the surface water and energy budgets. The VIC-simulated surface fluxes therefore provide a benchmark for evaluating the predictions from the reanalyses and the climate models. The comparisons, conducted for the 10-year period 1988–1997, show the well-known overestimation of summer precipitation in the southeastern Mississippi River basin, a consistent overestimation of evapotranspiration, and an underprediction of snow in NRA1. These biases are generally lower in NRA2, though a large overprediction of snow water equivalent exists. NRA1 is subject to errors in the surface water budget due to nudging of modeled soil moisture to an assumed climatology. The nudging and precipitation bias alone do not explain the consistent overprediction of evapotranspiration throughout the basin. Another source of error is the gravitational drainage term in the NCEP LSP, which produces the majority of the model\u27s reported runoff. This may contribute to an overprediction of persistence of surface water anomalies in much of the basin. Residual evapotranspiration inferred from an atmospheric balance of NRA1, which is more directly related to observed atmospheric variables, matches the VIC prediction much more closely than the coupled models. However, the persistence of the residual evapotranspiration is much less than is predicted by the hydrological model or the climate models

A spatially distributed model for the dynamic prediction of sediment erosion and transport in mountainous forested watersheds

Erosion and sediment transport in a temperate forested watershed are predicted with a new sediment model that represents the main sources of sediment generation in forested environments (mass wasting, hillslope erosion, and road surface erosion) within the distributed hydrology-soil-vegetation model (DHSVM) environment. The model produces slope failures on the basis of a factor-of-safety analysis with the infinite slope model through use of stochastically generated soil and vegetation parameters. Failed material is routed downslope with a rule-based scheme that determines sediment delivery to streams. Sediment from hillslopes and road surfaces is also transported to the channel network. A simple channel routing scheme is implemented to predict basin sediment yield. We demonstrate through an initial application of this model to the Rainy Creek catchment, a tributary of the Wenatchee River, which drains the east slopes of the Cascade Mountains, that the model produces plausible sediment yield and ratios of landsliding and surface erosion when compared to published rates for similar catchments in the Pacific Northwest. A road removal scenario and a basin-wide fire scenario are both evaluated with the model

Control methods for Dermanyssus gallinae in systems for laying hens: results of an international seminar

This paper reports the results of a seminar on poultry red mite (PRM), Dermanyssus gallinae. Eighteen researchers from eight European countries discussed life cycle issues of the mite, effects of mites on hens and egg production, and monitoring and control methods for PRM in poultry facilities. It was determined that PRM probably causes more damage than envisaged, with the cost in The Netherlands alone reaching 11 million euro per annum. However a great deal is still unknown about PRM (e.g. reproduction, survival methods, etc.) and that PRM monitoring is an important instrument in recognising and admitting the problem and in taking timely measures. Currently, the most promising control method combines heating the hen house in combination with chemical treatments. Future areas of development which show promise include the use of entomopathogenic fungi, vaccination and predatory mites. The final aim is to solve the problem of D. gallinae in housing systems for laying hens

Influence of process parameters and heat treatment on porosity of additively manufactured AlSi10Mg

Material which is produced by the additive manufacturing technology laser powder-bed fusion (L- PBF), tends to build pores, depending on the process parameters. So does the highly used alloy AlSi10Mg. These pores can either be round or irregular shaped due to different formation processes. Round pores are mostly influenced by e.g. evaporation, hollow powder particles, remaining H2O content or a high laser power. Whereas influencing factors on the formation of irregular shaped pores are e.g. instability of the keyhole, oxides in the powder, large layer thickness, large scan space or an uneven upper powder surface. However, this contribution only focusses on the influence of variations in the process parameters, but also a subsequently performed heat treatment. Therefore a statistical design of experiments with a face-centered central composite design (CCD) was performed. The parameters studied, are Laser Power P, Scan velocity v and Hatch spacing h. All three are varied in three stages each, resulting in 16 samples using the above mentioned CCD plan. A second set of 16 samples, with the same variation in parameters is additionally heat treated at 300 °C for 2 hours after the manufacturing process. For a simplified view of the results, the influencing parameters are combined into one factor, the volumetric energy density (VED) which is calculated as follows VED = P v h d. The results are showing that there is a non-linear progression of the relative density, a measure of the overall porosity in a part, as function of the VED. For low, but also high VED the relative density is quite low. While an optimum of the relative density could be achieved for VEDs between 36,46 J/m³ and 46,62 J/m³. However, the comparison of the heat-treated and non-heat-treated samples revealed that on average the relative density is lower for the heat-treated ones. Namely ρ(nHT)=99,36% compared to ρ(HT)=98,82%. An additionally metallographic examination showed the shape but also the distribution of the pores in the manufactured parts

Angiogenese - therapeutische Interventionsmöglichkeiten bei rheumatischen Erkrankungen

Zusammenfassung: Im Gegensatz zur Vaskulogenese bedeutet Angiogenese die Formation neuer Blutgefäße aus bereits bestehenden Gefäßen. Dieser vielschrittige Prozess tritt beim Erwachsenen physiologisch nur während des Reproduktionszyklus und der Schwangerschaft auf, pathophysiologisch bei Wundheilung und Entzündung, aber auch bei Tumorwachstum und Metastasierung. Zugrunde liegende Mechanismen sind Vasodilatation und Steigerung der Gefäßpermeabilität, gefolgt von einer Destabilisierung der Gefäßwände und der extrazellulären Matrix mit anschließender Endothelzellproliferation und -migration, die zur Bildung eines neuen Gefäßsystems führt, das schließlich durch Perizyten und glatte Muskelzellen stabilisiert wird. Dieser Ablauf wird durch ein komplexes Zusammenspiel proangiogener und angiostatischer Faktoren kontrolliert. Im Gegensatz zur Karzinogenese ist die Bedeutung der Angiogenese für die Pathogenese und Therapie rheumatischer Erkrankungen bisher weniger gut untersucht. In diesem Übersichtsartikel werden verschiedene Aspekte pathologischer Angiogenese im Hinblick auf therapeutische Optionen bei der rheumatoiden Arthritis (RA) und der systemischen Sklerose (SSc) diskutier

Systemische Sklerose: Zielkriterien der Behandlung

Zusammenfassung: Die systemische Sklerose (SSc) ist eine Multisystemfibrose mit weltweitem Vorkommen und hoher Morbidität und Mortalität. Charakteristika der Erkrankung sind ausgedehnte Vaskulopathie, Entzündung, Autoimmunität und Fibrose. Therapieerfolge der letzten Jahre beinhalten im Wesentlichen ein besseres Management von Organkomplikationen. Bis heute gibt es jedoch keine zugelassene spezifische Therapie, die das Fortschreiten der Erkrankung verhindern oder auch nur verlangsamen kann. Konventionelle DMARDs ("disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs") haben keinen substanziellen Einfluss auf den Erkrankungsverlauf und verlängern das Gesamtüberleben nicht. Aufgrund molekularbiologischer Studien und verschiedener Tiermodelle konnten in den letzten Jahren Schlüsselmoleküle der Pathogenese von Fibrose und Vaskulopathie in SSc identifiziert werden. Vor diesem Hintergrund müssen nun Zielkriterien der Behandlung neu überdacht und definiert werden. In diesem Artikel werden mit Bezug auf pulmonal-arterielle Hypertonie, Lungenfibrose und Haut-/Systemfibrose aktuelle und künftige Therapiekonzepte, Ziele der Behandlung und Erfassung/Bewertung von Verlaufsparametern diskutier

Exchange bias in Co/CoO core-shell nanowires: Role of the antiferromagnetic superparamagnetic fluctuations

The magnetic properties of Co (=15 nm, =130nm) nanowires are reported. In oxidized wires, we measure large exchange bias fields of the order of 0.1 T below T ~ 100 K. The onset of the exchange bias, between the ferromagnetic core and the anti-ferromagnetic CoO shell, is accompanied by a coercivity drop of 0.2 T which leads to a minimum in coercivity at $\sim100$ K. Magnetization relaxation measurements show a temperature dependence of the magnetic viscosity S which is consistent with a volume distribution of the CoO grains at the surface. We propose that the superparamagnetic fluctuations of the anti-ferromagnetic CoO shell play a key role in the flipping of the nanowire magnetization and explain the coercivity drop. This is supported by micromagnetic simulations. This behavior is specific to the geometry of a 1D system which possesses a large shape anisotropy and was not previously observed in 0D (spheres) or 2D (thin films) systems which have a high degree of symmetry and low coercivities. This study underlines the importance of the AFM super-paramagnetic fluctuations in the exchange bias mechanism.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Circumventing magnetostatic reciprocity: a diode for magnetic fields

Lorentz reciprocity establishes a stringent relation between electromagnetic fields and their sources. For static magnetic fields, a relation between magnetic sources and fields can be drawn in analogy to the Green’s reciprocity principle for electrostatics. So far, the magnetostatic reciprocity principle remains unchallenged and the magnetostatic interaction is assumed to be symmetric (reciprocal). Here, we theoretically and experimentally show that a linear and isotropic electrically conductive material moving with constant velocity is able to circumvent the magnetostatic reciprocity principle and realize a diode for magnetic fields. This result is demonstrated by measuring an extremely asymmetric magnetic coupling between two coils that are located near a moving conductor. The possibility to generate controlled unidirectional magnetic couplings implies that the mutual inductances between magnetic elements or circuits can be made extremelly asymmetric. We anticipate that this result will provide novel possibilities for applications and technologies based on magnetically coupled elements and might open fundamentally new avenues in artificial magnetic spin systems