Whole body measurement systems

A system for measuring the volume and volume variations of a human body under zero gravity conditions is disclosed. An enclosed chamber having a defined volume and arranged for receiving a human body is provided with means for infrasonically varying the volume of the chamber. The changes in volume produce resultant changes in pressure, and under substantially isentropic conditions, an isentropic relationship permits a determination of gas volume which, in turn, when related to total chamber volume permits a determination of the body volume. By comparison techniques, volume changes of a human independent of gravity conditions can be determined

An extended XMM-Newton observation of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4051. II. Soft X-ray emission from a limb-brightened shell of post-shock gas

An extended XMM-Newton observation of the Seyfert I galaxy NGC 4051 in 2009 revealed a complex absorption spectrum, with a wide range of outflow velocities and ionisation states.The main velocity and ionisation structure was interpreted in Paper I in terms of a decelerating, recombining flow resulting from the shocking of a still higher velocity wind colliding with the ISM or slower moving ejecta. The high sensitivity of the XMM-Newton observation also revealed a number of broad emission lines, all showing evidence of self-absorption near the line cores. The line profiles are found here to be consistent with emission from a limb-brightened shell of post-shock gas building up ahead of the contact discontinuity. While the broad emission lines remain quasi-constant as the continuum flux changes by an order of magnitude, recombination continua of several H- and He-like ions are found to vary in response to the continuum, providing an important key to scaling the ionised flow.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Historical review of financial equity in Missouri : 1993 foundation formula and amendments

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on December 12, 2007)Vita.Thesis (Ed. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2007.Outstanding Schools Act (OSA) Foundation Funding Formula and subsequent revisions on the equity of statewide educational funding. This research considered the revenue per student per penny of property tax levy, the revenue per student, and the legislative decision to guarantee a minimum (hold harmless) payment per student to analyze whether funding for Missouri public schools was more equitable than the pre-1993 OSA formula. Specific fiscal years from 1998-99 through 2005-06 were selected for analysis. The horizontal equity statistics of coefficient of variation, federal range ratio, and McLoone Index were calculated and tracked for the selected years. These measures were applied to the data for all districts and to the data for non-hold harmless districts. The results of this study were compared to the pre-OSA (1992-93) statistics reported in the 1999 Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education study. Data for all years selected compared to the pre-OSA year of 1992-93 showed improved equity for all districts and for non-hold harmless districts on both the revenue per student per penny of tax rate basis and on a revenue per student basis using the coefficient of variation and the federal range ratio. All years, except 2005-06, showed improved equity using the McLoone Index. All statistics analyzed demonstrated dramatically greater improved equity for non-hold harmless districts than for all districts.Includes bibliographical reference

Quasar 3C 298: a test-case for meteoritic nanodiamond 3.5 µm emission

Aims. We calculate the dust emission expected at 3.43 and 3.53 µm if meteoritic (i.e. hydrogenated) nanodiamonds are responsible for most of the far-UV break observed in quasars. Methods. We integrate the UV flux that hydrogenated nanodiamonds must absorb to reproduce the far-UV break. Based on laboratory spectra of H-terminated diamond surfaces, we analyse the radiative energy budget and derive theoretically the IR emission profiles expected for possible C-H surface stretch modes of the diamonds. Results. Using as test case a spectrum of 3C 298 provided by the Spitzer Observatory, we do not find evidence of these emission bands. Conclusions. While diamonds without surface adsorbates remain a viable candidate for explaining the far-UV break observed in quasars, hydrogenated nanodiamonds appear to be ruled out, as they would give rise to IR emission bands, which have not been observed so far

Nitrous oxide emissions from 2008 to 2012 for agricultural lands in the conterminous United States

The soil N2O emissions data for the conterminous United States were generated by the DayCent ecosystem model using the crop and land-use histories for survey locations in the USDA-NRCS National Resources Inventory (NRI). The model also requires weather and soils data. Daily maximum/minimum temperature and precipitation data are based on gridded weather data from the PRISM Climate Data product. Soils data are obtained from Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO). See Del Grosso et al. (2022) and US-EPA (2020) for more details about the simulations. Atmospheric inversions were conducted using the CarbonTracker Langrage framework (Nevison et al. 2018). These results provide total N2O fluxes for the domain using atmospheric observations and an inverse modeling, and are compared to the DayCent emissions to confirm seasonal patterns, particularly the role of freeze-thaw events in driving pulses of N2O emissions from agricultural lands.Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important greenhouse gas (GHG) that also contributes to depletion of ozone in the stratosphere. Agricultural soils account for about 60% of anthropogenic N2O emissions. Most national GHG reporting to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change assumes nitrogen (N) additions drive emissions during the growing season, but soil freezing and thawing during spring is also an important driver in cold climates. We show that both atmospheric inversions and newly implemented bottom-up modeling approaches exhibit large N2O pulses in the northcentral region of the United States during early spring and this increases annual N2O emissions from croplands and grasslands reported in the national GHG inventory by 11%. Considering this, emission accounting in cold climate regions is very likely under-estimated in most national reporting frameworks. Current commitments related to the Paris Agreement and COP 26 emphasize reductions of carbon compounds. Assuming these targets are met, the importance of accurately accounting and mitigating N2O increases once CO2 and CH4 are phased out. Hence, the N2O emission under-estimate introduces additional risks into meeting long term climate goals.US Forest Service 18-CR-11242305-109, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) UV-B Monitoring and Research Program, Colorado State University, under USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Grant 2016-34263-25763, and the USDA GHG and DayCent modeling NACA agreements (58-3012-9-012 and 58-3012-1-015

Studying Conceptual Models for Publishing Library Data to the Semantic Web

This thesis studies the library data and the way that linked data technologies may affect libraries. The thesis aims to contribute to the research regarding the devel-opment and implementation of a framework for the integration of bibliographic data in the semantic web. It seeks to make sound propositions for the interopera-bility of conceptual bibliographic models, as well as for future library systems and search environments integrating bibliographic information

Chandra Observations of the X-ray Narrow-Line Region in NGC 4151

We present the first high-resolution X-ray spectrum of the Seyfert 1.5 galaxy NGC 4151. Observations with the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer reveal a spectrum dominated by narrow emission lines from a spatially resolved (1.6 kpc), highly ionized nebula. The X-ray narrow-line region is composite, consisting of both photoionized and collisionally ionized components. The X-ray emission lines have similar velocities, widths, and spatial extent to the optical emission lines, showing that they arise in the same region. The clouds in the narrow-line region must contain a large range of ionization states in order to explain both the optical and X-ray photoionized emission. Chandra data give the first direct evidence of X-ray line emission from a hot plasma (T~1e7 K) which may provide pressure confinement for the cooler (T=3e4 K) photoionized clouds.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Astrophysical Journal Letter

Shocked Molecular Hydrogen in the 3C 326 Radio Galaxy System

The Spitzer spectrum of the giant FR II radio galaxy 3C 326 is dominated by very strong molecular hydrogen emission lines on a faint IR continuum. The H2 emission originates in the northern component of a double-galaxy system associated with 3C 326. The integrated luminosity in H2 pure-rotational lines is 8.0E41 erg/s, which corresponds to 17% of the 8-70 micron luminosity of the galaxy. A wide range of temperatures (125-1000 K) is measured from the H2 0-0 S(0)-S(7) transitions, leading to a warm H2 mass of 1.1E9 Msun. Low-excitation ionic forbidden emission lines are consistent with an optical LINER classification for the active nucleus, which is not luminous enough to power the observed H2 emission. The H2 could be shock-heated by the radio jets, but there is no direct indication of this. More likely, the H2 is shock-heated in a tidal accretion flow induced by interaction with the southern companion galaxy. The latter scenario is supported by an irregular morphology, tidal bridge, and possible tidal tail imaged with IRAC at 3-9 micron. Unlike ULIRGs, which in some cases exhibit H2 line luminosities of comparable strength, 3C 326 shows little star-formation activity (~0.1 Msun/yr). This may represent an important stage in galaxy evolution. Starburst activity and efficient accretion onto the central supermassive black hole may be delayed until the shock-heated H2 can kinematically settle and coolComment: 27 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa