Sealing member and combination thereof and method of producing said sealing member Patent

Electrode sealing and insulation for fuel cells containing caustic liquid electrolytes using powdered plastic and meta

Space tug propulsion system failure mode, effects and criticality analysis

For purposes of the study, the propulsion system was considered as consisting of the following: (1) main engine system, (2) auxiliary propulsion system, (3) pneumatic system, (4) hydrogen feed, fill, drain and vent system, (5) oxygen feed, fill, drain and vent system, and (6) helium reentry purge system. Each component was critically examined to identify possible failure modes and the subsequent effect on mission success. Each space tug mission consists of three phases: launch to separation from shuttle, separation to redocking, and redocking to landing. The analysis considered the results of failure of a component during each phase of the mission. After the failure modes of each component were tabulated, those components whose failure would result in possible or certain loss of mission or inability to return the Tug to ground were identified as critical components and a criticality number determined for each. The criticality number of a component denotes the number of mission failures in one million missions due to the loss of that component. A total of 68 components were identified as critical with criticality numbers ranging from 1 to 2990

A Water Recovery System Evolved for Exploration

A new water recovery system designed towards fulfillment of NASA's Vision for Space Exploration is presented. This water recovery system is an evolution of the current state-of-the-art system. Through novel integration of proven technologies for air and water purification, this system promises to elevate existing technology to higher levels of optimization. The novel aspect of the system is twofold: Volatile organic contaminants will be removed from the cabin air via catalytic oxidation in the vapor phase, prior to their absorption into the aqueous phase, and vapor compression distillation technology will be used to process the condensate and hygiene waste streams in addition to the urine waste stream. Oxidation kinetics dictate that removal of volatile organic contaminants from the vapor phase is more efficient. Treatment of the various waste streams by VCD will reduce the load on the expendable ion exchange and adsorption media which follow, and on the aqueous-phase volatile removal assembly further downstream. Incorporating these advantages will reduce the weight, volume, and power requirements of the system, as well as resupply

Photovoltaic power plants: a multicriteria approach to investment decisions and a case study in western Spain

his paper proposes a compromise programming (CP) model to help investors decide whether to construct photovoltaic power plants with government financial support. For this purpose, we simulate an agreement between the government, who pursues political prices (guaranteed prices) as low as possible, and the project sponsor who wants returns (stochastic cash flows) as high as possible. The sponsor s decision depends on the positive or negative result of this simulation, the resulting simulated price being compared to the effective guaranteed price established by the country legislation for photovoltaic energy. To undertake the simulation, the CP model articulates variables such as ranges of guaranteed prices, tech- nical characteristics of the plant, expected energy to be generated over the investment life, investment cost, cash flow probabilities, and others. To determine the CP metric, risk aver- sion is assumed. 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Nest Usurpation Of Vespula Vulgaris By Dolichovespula arenaria With Successive Parasitism Of Dolichovespula arenaria By Dolichovespula arctica (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

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The trk proto-oncogene encodes a receptor for nerve growth factor

Two classes of receptors with distinct affinities for nerve growth factor (NGF) have been identified. The low affinity receptor (K(d) almost-equal-to 10(-9) to 10(-8) M) is a cysteine-rich glycoprotein encoded by the previously characterized LNGFR gene. The structural nature of the high affinity receptor (K(d) almost-equal-to 10(-11) to 10(-10) M) has yet to be established. In this study we show that the product of the human trk proto-oncogene (gp 140trk) binds NGF with high affinity. Moreover, NGF could be chemically cross-linked to the endogenous gp140trk present in rat PC12 pheochromocytoma cells as well as to gp140trk ectopically expressed in mouse fibroblasts and in insect Sf9 cells. High affinity binding of NGF to gp140trk can occur in the absence of low affinity LNGFR receptors, at least in nonneural cells. Addition of NGF to PC12 cells elicits rapid phosphorylation of gp140trk on tyrosine residues and stimulates its tyrosine kinase activity. These results indicate that gp140trk is a functional NGF receptor that mediates at least some of the signal transduction processes initiated by this neurotrophic factor

The Exploration Water Recovery System

The Exploration Water Recovery System is designed towards fulfillment of NASA s Vision for Space Exploration, which will require elevation of existing technologies to higher levels of optimization. This new system, designed for application to the Exploration infrastructure, presents a novel combination of proven air and water purification technologies. The integration of unit operations is modified from that of the current state-of-the-art water recovery system so as to optimize treatment of the various waste water streams, contaminant loads, and flow rates. Optimization is achieved primarily through the removal of volatile organic contaminants from the vapor phase prior to their absorption into the liquid phase. In the current state-of-the-art system, the water vapor in the cabin atmosphere is condensed, and the volatile organic contaminants present in that atmosphere are absorbed into the aqueous phase. Removal of contaminants the5 occurs via catalytic oxidation in the liquid phase. Oxidation kinetics, however, dictate that removal of volatile organic contaminants from the vapor phase can inherently be more efficient than their removal from the aqueous phase. Taking advantage of this efficiency reduces the complexity of the water recovery system. This reduction in system complexity is accompanied by reductions in the weight, volume, power, and resupply requirements of the system. Vapor compression distillation technology is used to treat the urine, condensate, and hygiene waste streams. This contributes to the reduction in resupply, as incorporation of vapor compression distillation technology at this point in the process reduces reliance on the expendable ion exchange and adsorption media used in the current state-of-the-art water recovery system. Other proven technologies that are incorporated into the Exploration Water Recovery System include the Trace Contaminant Control System and the Volatile Removal Assembly

Resolving Apparent Differences between Heat and Density Pulse-Propagation in Jet and Text

Sawtooth induced heat and density pulse measurements reported in the literature for the JET and TEXT experiments are discussed. In JET the heat pulse travels ten times faster than the density pulse, but in TEXT both pulses travel at the same speed. The measurements are analysed using coupled transport equations for energy and particles. It is shown that the different behaviour of the density pulse in the two experiments can be attributed to differences in the off-diagonal elements of the transport matrix. If the perturbed fluxes of heat and particles are expressed as linear combinations of the thermodynamic forces del p and del T (rather than del n and del T), the corresponding transport matrices are remarkably similar. However, minor differences in this transport matrix between JET and TEXT account for the qualitative difference in the density pulses

The trk tyrosine protein kinase mediates the mitogenic properties of nerve growth factor and neurotrophin-3

The product of the trk proto-oncogene encodes a receptor for nerve growth factor (NGF). Here we show that NGF is a powerful mitogen that can induce resting NIH 3T3 cells to enter S phase, grow in semisolid medium, and become morphologically transformed. These mitogenic effects are absolutely dependent on expression of gp140trk receptors, but do not require the presence of the previously described low affinity NGF receptor. gp140trk also serves as a receptor for the related factor neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), but not for brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Both NGF and NT-3 induce the rapid phosphorylation of gp140trk receptors and the transient expression of c-Fos proteins. However, NT-3 appears to elicit more limited mitogenic responses than NGF. These results indicate that the product of the trk proto-oncogene is sufficient to mediate signal transduction processes induced by NGF and NT-3, at least in proliferating cells