Design, fabrication, and tests of a metallic shell tile thermal protection system for space transportation

A thermal protection tile for earth-to-orbit transports is described. The tiles consist of a rigid external shell filled with a flexible insulation. The tiles tend to be thicker than the current Shuttle rigidized silica tiles for the same entry heat load but are projected to be more durable and lighter. The tiles were thermally tested for several simulated entry trajectories

Enzymatic formulation capable of degrading scrapie prion under mild digestion conditions

The prion agent is notoriously resistant to common proteases and conventional sterilisation procedures. The current methods known to destroy prion infectivity such as incineration, alkaline and thermal hydrolysis are harsh, destructive, environmentally polluting and potentially hazardous, thus limit their applications for decontamination of delicate medical and laboratory devices, remediation of prion contaminated environment and for processing animal by-products including specified risk materials and carcases. Therefore, an environmentally friendly, non-destructive enzymatic degradation approach is highly desirable. A feather-degrading Bacillus licheniformis N22 keratinase has been isolated which degraded scrapie prion to undetectable level of PrPSc signals as determined by Western Blot analysis. Prion infectivity was verified by ex vivo cell-based assay. An enzymatic formulation combining N22 keratinase and biosurfactant derived from Pseudomonas aeruginosa degraded PrPSc at 65°C in 10 min to undetectable level -. A time-course degradation analysis carried out at 50°C over 2 h revealed the progressive attenuation of PrPSc intensity. Test of residual infectivity by standard cell culture assay confirmed that the enzymatic formulation reduced PrPSc infectivity to undetectable levels as compared to cells challenged with untreated standard scrapie sheep prion (SSBP/1) (p-value = 0.008 at 95% confidence interval). This novel enzymatic formulation has significant potential application for prion decontamination in various environmentally friendly systems under mild treatment conditions

Guidelines for validating Bowen ratio data

For a variety of reasons, the measurement of latent heat flux using the Bowen ratio method can sometimes result in erroneous data. This study provides guidelines for detecting erroneous Bowen ratio data and illustrates the application of these guidelines by comparing Bowen ratio and lysimeter data collected over grass and alfalfa in southern Idaho. Errors in net radiation were detected by comparing measured with theoretical values. However, it was found that good theoretical procedures to validate soil heat flux data are lacking. Only empirical equations mainly used for remote sensing applications to obtain estimates close to noontime are available. Extremely inaccurate latent heat fluxes were easily filtered out by rejecting data when the calculated Bowen ratio (β) values were close to -1. A simplified procedure was proposed to reject fluxes with the wrong sign, and three different equations were used successfully to detect the occurrence of condensation inside the type of measurement system used in the study. Guidelines to assure adequate fetch are provided. Fetch did not affect the measured fluxes in this study, which may have been due to the similarity in surface properties between the crops under study and those in the surrounding fields

IT Innovation in China: Industry and Business Capabilities

China is investing heavily in leading edge and innovative information technologies to support its continuing economic growth. At the same time, Chinese businesses increasingly need to innovate with IT to create competitive difference and expand internationally. However, to what extent has China developed the capabilities to develop IT innovations and adopt them to generate value and competitive difference? This panel session will build learning on the capabilities both of the software industry and of businesses in China around IT innovation. To create a rich picture of maturity, skills and management processes concerning innovation, this multi-disciplinary session will bring together diverse perspectives from research and practice. By drawing on experience from Europe and the USA, as well as China itself, it will also reflect on key differences and lessons which can be learnt from China’s vast IT investment and rapid acquisition of skills

Temperature dependent c-axis hole mobilities in rubrene single crystals determined by time-of-flight

Hole mobilities (μ) in rubrene single crystals (space group Cmca) along the crystallographic c-axis have been investigated as a function of temperature and applied electric field by the time-of-fight method. Measurements demonstrate an inverse power law dependence on temperature, namely,μ=μ0T−n with n = 1.8, from room temperature down to 180 K. At 296 K, the average value of μ was found to be 0.29 cm2/Vs increasing to an average value of 0.70 cm2/Vs at 180 K. Below 180 K a decrease in mobility is observed with further cooling. Overall, these results confirm the anisotropic nature of transport in rubrene crystals as well as the generality of the inverse power law temperature dependence that is observed for field effect mobility measurements in the a-b crystal plane