38,338 research outputs found
Thermal Insulative Elastomers for Clustered Large Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines
As thrust levels increase and as rocket engines fire for longer periods of time, the difficulties encountered in the protection of critical components from the effects of excessively high temperatures greatly increase. To protect these components a series of filled elastomeric composites have been evaluated. A brief discussion is presented of the problems of hot gas recirculation, radiation, and base plane heating with particular reference to large, clustered, liquid propellant rocket engines. The effect on components is discussed and an evaluation of a series of insulators based on filled elastomeric composites is presented. The evaluations are based on specialized thermal tests which were designed to simulate as far as possible, conditions during flight. The most promising of these elastomeric composites are compared to three alternative insulative systems, a filled, castable ceramic, a metal foil-silica fiber batting, and an asbestos-inconel wire mesh composite, in terms of weight, cost, and ease of fabrication and repair
Annual Performance Reviews Of, For and By Faculty: A Qualitative Analysis of One Department's Experiences
Purpose:
Although annual performance reviews and feedback are recommended for faculty development, best practices and faculty perceptions have not been documented. The authors sought to evaluate the process in one medical school department that established and has sustained an innovative review tradition for 25 years.
Method:
Content analysis of faculty reports and immersion/crystallization to analyze interviews.
Results:
Faculty reports described satisfaction and dissatisfaction; facilitators and barriers to goals; and requests for feedback, with community, collaboration and mentorship integral to all three. Interviewees emphasized practical challenges, the role of the mentor and the power of the review to establish community norms.
Conclusion:
Respondents generally found reviews constructive and supportive. The process informs departmental expectations and culture
RESULTS OF ANALYSES OF THE MACROBATCH 4 TANK 49H CONFIRMATORY SAMPLE
Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) analyzed samples from Tank 49H in support of qualification of Salt (Macro)Batch 4 for the Integrated Salt Disposition Project (ISDP). This document reports the results of the analyses of the confirmatory sample of Tank 49H. All sample results either agree with expectations based on prior analyses or are considered trivial enough not to warrant concern. No issues with the projected Salt Batch 4 strategy are identified. This report describes the laboratory results of Salt (Macro)Batch 4 confirmatory sample. These results will be used by Tank Farm Engineering for their blend calculations. This work was specified by Technical Task Request (TTR) and by Task Technical and Quality Assurance Plan (TTQAP)
Lifetime Adherence to Physical Activity Recommendations and Fall Occurrence in Community-dwelling Older Adults: a Retrospective Cohort Study
Falling is a major health concern for community-dwelling older adults. Regular physical activity has been proposed to prevent falls. The aim of this study was to assess whether the achievement of the 2004 UK Department of Health physical activity recommendations over a lifetime had a protective effect against falling in older people. 313 community-dwelling older adults completed a questionnaire about lifetime physical activity and fall occurrence. There were significantly fewer falls in those who had led an active lifestyle compared to those who had not (χ2Yates=4.568, p=0.033), with a lower relative risk of fall occurrence for the active respondents (RR=0.671) compared to the inactive (RR=1.210). Of those who were sufficiently active in their early adulthood, the decade where there was the biggest decrease in remaining active enough was in the 60s. It is concluded that an active lifestyle may have decreased the likelihood of having a fall in older ag
Ultrafast Molecular Imaging by Laser Induced Electron Diffraction
We address the feasibility of imaging geometric and orbital structure of a
polyatomic molecule on an attosecond time-scale using the laser induced
electron diffraction (LIED) technique. We present numerical results for the
highest molecular orbitals of the CO2 molecule excited by a near infrared
few-cycle laser pulse. The molecular geometry (bond-lengths) is determined
within 3% of accuracy from a diffraction pattern which also reflects the nodal
properties of the initial molecular orbital. Robustness of the structure
determination is discussed with respect to vibrational and rotational motions
with a complete interpretation of the laser-induced mechanisms
The SILCC (SImulating the LifeCycle of molecular Clouds) project: I. Chemical evolution of the supernova-driven ISM
The SILCC project (SImulating the Life-Cycle of molecular Clouds) aims at a
more self-consistent understanding of the interstellar medium (ISM) on small
scales and its link to galaxy evolution. We simulate the evolution of the
multi-phase ISM in a 500 pc x 500 pc x 10 kpc region of a galactic disc, with a
gas surface density of .
The Flash 4.1 simulations include an external potential, self-gravity, magnetic
fields, heating and radiative cooling, time-dependent chemistry of H and CO
considering (self-) shielding, and supernova (SN) feedback. We explore SN
explosions at different (fixed) rates in high-density regions (peak), in random
locations (random), in a combination of both (mixed), or clustered in space and
time (clustered). Only random or clustered models with self-gravity (which
evolve similarly) are in agreement with observations. Molecular hydrogen forms
in dense filaments and clumps and contributes 20% - 40% to the total mass,
whereas most of the mass (55% - 75%) is in atomic hydrogen. The ionised gas
contributes <10%. For high SN rates (0.5 dex above Kennicutt-Schmidt) as well
as for peak and mixed driving the formation of H is strongly suppressed.
Also without self-gravity the H fraction is significantly lower (
5%). Most of the volume is filled with hot gas (90% within 2 kpc).
Only for random or clustered driving, a vertically expanding warm component of
atomic hydrogen indicates a fountain flow. Magnetic fields have little impact
on the final disc structure. However, they affect dense gas () and delay H formation. We highlight that individual chemical
species, in particular atomic hydrogen, populate different ISM phases and
cannot be accurately accounted for by simple temperature-/density-based phase
cut-offs.Comment: 30 pages, 23 figures, submitted to MNRAS. Comments welcome! For
movies of the simulations and download of selected Flash data see the SILCC
website: http://www.astro.uni-koeln.de/silc
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