IUS solid rocket motor contamination prediction methods

A series of computer codes were developed to predict solid rocket motor produced contamination to spacecraft sensitive surfaces. Subscale and flight test data have confirmed some of the analytical results. Application of the analysis tools to a typical spacecraft has provided early identification of potential spacecraft contamination problems and provided insight into their solution; e.g., flight plan modifications, plume or outgassing shields and/or contamination covers

Experimental study of bubble cavities attached to a rotating shaft in a reservoir

Bubble cavities formed by air entrainment and attached to a rotating shaft in an oil reservoir were studied. The cavities appear to the unaided eye as toroidal. High speed photography, however, reveals the individuality of the bubble cavities and their near solid body rotational characteristics. The cavities are distorted by the rotation effects but remain attached and tend to merge because of edge effects in the axial direction. The flow field within the reservoir is influenced by the unusual character of the two phase fluid found there; the vorticity is readily visualized. Other examples of vapor entrapment at the inlet of an eccentric rotor are also discussed. A simplified analytical method is provided, and a numerical analysis is being investigated. Vapor (void) entrainment and generation can significantly alter leakage rates and stability of seals, bearings, and dampers. Recognition of these effects in the component design systems will result only after detailed studies of the above phenomena

The Collaborative Development of New CFD Methods Adapted for Tilt Rotor Aircraft in the HiPerTilt Project

No abstract available

Research and development of superconducting thin films Final report, 15 Dec. 1965 - 15 Dec. 1966

Superconducting niobium thin film productio

Monograph on Computation of RF Hazards

No abstract availabl

Nested subcritical flows within supercritical systems

In supercritical systems the design inlet and outlet pressures are maintained above the thermaodynamic critical pressure P sub C. Designers rely on this simple rule of thumb to circumvent problems associated with a subcritical pressure regime nested within the supercritical pressure system along with the uncertainties in heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and thermophysical property variations. The simple rule of thumb is adequate in many low-power designs but is inadequate for high-performance turbomachines and linear systems, where nested two-phase regions can exist. Examples for a free-jet expansion with backpressure greater than P sub C and a rotor (bearing) with ambient pressure greater than P sub C illustrate the existence of subcritical pressure regimes nested within supercritical systems

Automatic normal orientation in point clouds of building interiors

Orienting surface normals correctly and consistently is a fundamental problem in geometry processing. Applications such as visualization, feature detection, and geometry reconstruction often rely on the availability of correctly oriented normals. Many existing approaches for automatic orientation of normals on meshes or point clouds make severe assumptions on the input data or the topology of the underlying object which are not applicable to real-world measurements of urban scenes. In contrast, our approach is specifically tailored to the challenging case of unstructured indoor point cloud scans of multi-story, multi-room buildings. We evaluate the correctness and speed of our approach on multiple real-world point cloud datasets

Teegi: Tangible EEG Interface

We introduce Teegi, a Tangible ElectroEncephaloGraphy (EEG) Interface that enables novice users to get to know more about something as complex as brain signals, in an easy, en- gaging and informative way. To this end, we have designed a new system based on a unique combination of spatial aug- mented reality, tangible interaction and real-time neurotech- nologies. With Teegi, a user can visualize and analyze his or her own brain activity in real-time, on a tangible character that can be easily manipulated, and with which it is possible to interact. An exploration study has shown that interacting with Teegi seems to be easy, motivating, reliable and infor- mative. Overall, this suggests that Teegi is a promising and relevant training and mediation tool for the general public.Comment: to appear in UIST-ACM User Interface Software and Technology Symposium, Oct 2014, Honolulu, United State

Urine peptidomic biomarkers for diagnosis of patients with systematic lupus erythematosus

Background: Systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized with various complications which can cause serious organ damage in the human body. Despite the significant improvements in disease management of SLE patients, the non-invasive diagnosis is entirely missing. In this study, we used urinary peptidomic biomarkers for early diagnosis of disease onset to improve patient risk stratification, vital for effective drug treatment. Methods: Urine samples from patients with SLE, lupus nephritis (LN) and healthy controls (HCs) were analyzed using capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry (CE-MS) for state-of-the-art biomarker discovery. Results: A biomarker panel made up of 65 urinary peptides was developed that accurately discriminated SLE without renal involvement from HC patients. The performance of the SLE-specific panel was validated in a multicentric independent cohort consisting of patients without SLE but with different renal disease and LN. This resulted in an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of 0.80 (p < 0.0001, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.65–0.90) corresponding to a sensitivity and a specificity of 83% and 73%, respectively. Based on the end terminal amino acid sequences of the biomarker peptides, an in silico methodology was used to identify the proteases that were up or down-regulated. This identified matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) as being mainly responsible for the peptides fragmentation. Conclusions: A laboratory-based urine test was successfully established for early diagnosis of SLE patients. Our approach determined the activity of several proteases and provided novel molecular information that could potentially influence treatment efficacy

Radiation-induced insulator discharge pulses in the CRRES internal discharge monitor satellite experiment

The Internal Discharge Monitor (IDM) was designed to observe electrical pulses from common electrical insulators in space service. The sixteen insulator samples included twelve planar printed circuit boards and four cables. The samples were fully enclosed, mutually isolated, and space radiation penetrated 0.02 cm of aluminum before striking the samples. Pulsing began on the seventh orbit, the maximum pulse rate occurred on the seventeenth orbit when 13 pulses occurred, and the pulses slowly diminished to about one per 3 orbits six months later. After 8 months, the radiation belts abruptly increased and the pulse rates attained a new high. These pulse rates were in agreement with laboratory experience on shorter time scales. Several of the samples never pulsed. If the pulses were not confined within IDM, the physical processes could spread to become a full spacecraft anomaly. The IDM results indicate the rate at which small insulator pulses occur. Small pulses are the seeds of larger satellite electrical anomalies. The pulse rates are compared with space radiation intensities, L shell location, and spectral distributions from the radiation spectrometers on the Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite