Rotating Metal Band Target for Pion Production at Muon Colliders and Neutrino Factories

A conceptual design is presented for a high power pion production target for muon colliders and neutrino factories that is based around a rotating metal band.Comment: 28 pages, 16 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beam

Saturated laser fluorescence in turbulent sooting flames at high pressure

The primary objective was to develop a quantitative, single pulse, laser-saturated fluorescence (LSF) technique for measurement of radical species concentrations in practical flames. The species of immediate interest was the hydroxyl radical. Measurements were made in both turbulent premixed diffusion flames at pressures between 1 and 20 atm. Interferences from Mie scattering were assessed by doping with particles or by controlling soot loading through variation of equivalence ratio and fuel type. The efficacy of the LSF method at high pressure was addressed by comparing fluorescence and adsorption measurements in a premixed, laminar flat flame at 1-20 atm. Signal-averaging over many laser shots is sufficient to determine the local concentration of radical species in laminar flames. However, for turbulent flames, single pulse measurements are more appropriate since a statistically significant number of laser pulses is needed to determine the probability function (PDF). PDFs can be analyzed to give true average properties and true local kinetics in turbulent, chemically reactive flows

Commercial phosphoric acid fuel cell system technology development

Reducing cost and increasing reliability were the technology drivers in both the electric utility and on-site integrated energy system applications. The longstanding barrier to the attainment of these goals was materials. Differences in approaches and their technological features, including electrodes, matrices, intercell cooling, bipolar/separator plates, electrolyte management, fuel selection, and system design philosophy were discussed

Status of commercial phosphoric acid fuel cell system development

In both the electric utility and onsite integrated energy system applications, reducing cost and increasing reliability are the main technology drivers. The longstanding barrier to the attainment of these goals, which manifests itself in a number of ways, was materials. The differences in approach among the three major participants (United Technologies Corporation, Westinghouse Electric Corporation/Energy Research Corporation, and Engelhard Industries) and their unique technological features, including electrodes, matrices, intercell cooling, bipolar/separator plates, electrolyte management, fuel selection and system design philosophy are discussed

The experiences of patients and carers in the daily management of care at the end of life

Background Home is the preferred location for most people with an advanced disease and at the end of life. A variety of care professionals work in community settings to provide support to this population. Patients and their spouses, who also care for them (spouse-carers), are rarely accompanied by these sources of support at all times, and have to manage independently between their contact with care professionals. Aim To explore how patients and spouse-carers manage their involvement with care professionals in the community setting. Method Interpretive phenomenology informs the design of the research, whereby 16 interviews were conducted with the patients and spouse-carers. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using phenomenological techniques including template analysis. Findings Patients and spouse-carers were interdependent and both parties played a role in co-ordinating care and managing relationships with professional care providers. The patients and spouse-carers actively made choices about how to manage their situation, and develop and modify managing strategies based on their experiences. Conclusions When daily management is effective and care professionals acknowledge the dyadic nature of the patient and spouse-carer relationship, people have confidence in living with advanced disease

Doing it differently: Engaging interview participants with imaginative variation

Imaginative variation was identified by Husserl (1936/1970) as a phenomenological technique for the purpose of elucidating the manner in which phenomena appear to consciousness. Briefly, by engaging in the phenomenological reduction and using imaginative variation, phenomenologists are able to describe the experience of consciousness, having stepped outside of the natural attitude through the epochē. Imaginative variation is a stage aimed at explicating the structures of experience, and is best described as a mental experiment. Features of the experience are imaginatively altered in order to view the phenomenon under investigation from varying perspectives. Husserl argued that this process will reveal the essences of an experience, as only those aspects that are invariant to the experience of the phenomenon will not be able to change through the variation. Often in qualitative research interviews, participants struggle to articulate or verbalise their experiences. The purpose of this article is to detail a radical and novel way of using imaginative variation with interview participants, by asking the participants to engage with imaginative variation, in order to produce a rich and insightful experiential account of a phenomenon. We will discuss how the first author successfully used imaginative variation in this way in her study of the erotic experience of bondage, discipline, dominance & submission, and sadism & masochism (BDSM), before considering the usefulness of this technique when applied to areas of study beyond sexuality

Why Low-Mass Black-Hole Binaries Are Transient

We consider transient behavior in low-mass X-ray binaries. In short-period neutron-star systems (orbital period less than ~ 1d) irradiation of the accretion disk by the central source suppresses this except at very low mass transfer rates. Formation constraints however imply that a significant fraction of these neutron star systems have nuclear-evolved main-sequence secondaries and thus mass transfer rates low enough to be transient. But most short-period low-mass black-hole systems will form with unevolved main-sequence companions and have much higher mass transfer rates. The fact that essentially all of them are nevertheless transient shows that irradiation is weaker, as a direct consequence of the fundamental black-hole property - the lack of a hard stellar surface.Comment: 13 pages (including 3 figures); accepted for publication in Ap