23,883 research outputs found
Propellant/material compatibility program and results: Ten-year milestones
The analyses and results of a test program to establish the effects of long term (10 years or more) contact of materials with earth-storable propellants for the purpose of designing chemical propulsion system components which are used for current as well as future planetary spacecraft are described. The period from the publication of JPL TM 33-779 IN 1976 through the testing accomplished in 1981 is covered. The following propellants are reported herein: hydrazine, monomethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. Materials included the following: aluminum alloys, corrosion resistant steels and a titanium alloy. The results of the testing of more than 80 specimens are included. Material ratings relative to the ten year milepost were assigned. Some evidence of propellant decomposition was found. Titanium is rated as acceptable for ten year applications. Aluminum and stainless steel alloys are also rated as acceptable with few restrictions
On constructions preserving the asymptotic topology of metric spaces
We prove that graph products constructed over infinite graphs with bounded
clique number preserve finite asymptotic dimension. We also study the extent to
which Dranishnikov's property C, and Dranishnikov and Zarichnyi's straight
finite decomposition complexity are preserved by constructions such as unions,
free products, and group extensions.Comment: 13 pages, accepted for publication in NC Journal of Mathematics and
Statistic
Individual Budgets : Lessons from Early Users' Experiences
Within the context of modernization, there has been a trend towards 'cash-for-care' schemes designed to bring choice and control closer to the service user. In England, Individual Budgets (IBs) are being piloted, with the aim of promoting personalized support for disabled people and other users of social care services. This paper reports on the experiences and outcomes of early IB users two to three months after first being offered an IB. The users included adults with physical/sensory impairments, learning difficulties, mental health problems and older people. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with nine service users and five proxies. The findings suggest that IBs have the potential to be innovative and life-enhancing. However, achieving this potential in practice depends on a range of other factors, including changes in the routine practices and organizational culture of adult social care services and ensuring users have access to appropriate documentation and support. Any conclusions drawn from the experiences of these early IB users must be treated with caution. The findings nevertheless indicate some of the issues that will need to be addressed as IBs are implemented more widely to replace conventional forms of adult social care provision
Experimental realization of multipartite entanglement of 60 modes of a quantum optical frequency comb
We report the experimental realization and characterization of one 60-mode
copy, and of two 30-mode copies, of a dual-rail quantum-wire cluster state in
the quantum optical frequency comb of a bimodally pumped optical parametric
oscillator. This is the largest entangled system ever created whose subsystems
are all available simultaneously. The entanglement proceeds from the coherent
concatenation of a multitude of EPR pairs by a single beam splitter, a
procedure which is also a building block for the realization of
hypercubic-lattice cluster states for universal quantum computing.Comment: Accepted by PRL. 5 pages, 5 figures + 14 pages, 9 figures of
supplemental material. Ver3: better experimental dat
Globular Cluster Formation in the Virgo Cluster
Metal poor globular clusters (MPGCs) are a unique probe of the early
universe, in particular the reionization era. Systems of globular clusters in
galaxy clusters are particularly interesting as it is in the progenitors of
galaxy clusters that the earliest reionizing sources first formed. Although the
exact physical origin of globular clusters is still debated, it is generally
admitted that globular clusters form in early, rare dark matter peaks (Moore et
al. 2006; Boley et al. 2009). We provide a fully numerical analysis of the
Virgo cluster globular cluster system by identifying the present day globular
cluster system with exactly such early, rare dark matter peaks. A popular
hypothesis is that that the observed truncation of blue metal poor globular
cluster formation is due to reionization (Spitler et al. 2012; Boley et al.
2009; Brodie & Strader 2006); adopting this view, constraining the formation
epoch of MPGCs provides a complementary constraint on the epoch of
reionization. By analyzing both the line of sight velocity dispersion and the
surface density distribution of the present day distribution we are able to
constrain the redshift and mass of the dark matter peaks. We find and quantify
a dependence on the chosen line of sight of these quantities, whose strength
varies with redshift, and coupled with star formation efficiency arguments find
a best fitting formation mass and redshift of and . We predict intracluster MPGCs in
the Virgo cluster. Our results confirm the techniques pioneered by Moore et al.
(2006) when applied to the the Virgo cluster and extend and refine the analytic
results of Spitler et al. (2012) numerically.Comment: 13 Pages, 13 Figures, submitted to MNRA
Test program to demonstrate the stability of hydrazine in propellant tanks
A 24-month coupon test program to evaluate the decomposition of propellant tanks is reported. The propellant fuel evaluated was monopropellant-grade hydrazine (N2H4), which is normally a colorless, fuming, corrosive, strongly reducing liquid. The degree of hydrazine decomposition was determined by means of chemical analyses of the liquid and evolved gases at the end of the test program. The experimental rates of hydrazine decomposition were determined to be within acceptable limits. The propellant tank materials and material combinations were not degraded by a 2-year exposure to hydrazine propellant. This was verified using change-of-weight determinations and microscopic examination of the specimen surface before and after exposure, and by posttest chemical analyses of hydrazine liquid for residual metal content
Reforming OPIC for the 21st Century
The mission of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)--created in 1969 through an amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act--is "to mobilize and facilitate the participation of United States private capital and skills in the economic and social development of less developed countries and areas, and countries in transition from nonmarket to market economies, thereby complementing the development assistance objectives of the United States." OPIC pursues this mission by insuring US investors against political risks that include expropriation, currency inconvertibility, and political violence; by financing US investors overseas through loans and loan guarantees; and by providing credits to private investment funds that make equity investments in businesses in underdeveloped countries and regions.
Operative Techniques for Cervical Radiculopathy and Myelopathy
The surgical treatment of cervical spondylosis and resulting cervical radiculopathy or myelopathy has evolved over the past century. Surgical options for dorsal decompression of the cervical spine includes the traditional laminectomy and laminoplasty, first described in Asia in the 1970's. More recently the dorsal approch has been explored in terms of minimally invasive options including foraminotomies for nerve root descompression. Ventral decompression and fusion techniques are also described in the article, including traditional anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, strut grafting and cervical disc arthroplasty. Overall, the outcome from surgery is determined by choosing the correct surgery for the correct patient and pathology and this is what we hope to explain in this brief review
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