12,281 research outputs found
Risk management technique for liquefied natural gas facilities
Checklists have been compiled for planning, design, construction, startup and debugging, and operation of liquefied natural gas facilities. Lists include references to pertinent safety regulations. Methods described are applicable to handling of other hazardous materials
Phytoplankton And The Macondo Oil Spill: A Comparison Of The 2010 Phytoplankton Assemblage To Baseline Conditions On The Louisiana Shelf
The Macondo oil spill was likely the largest oil spill to ever occur in United States territorial waters. We report herein our findings comparing the available baseline phytoplankton data from coastal waters west of the Mississippi River, and samples collected monthly from the same sampling stations, during and after the oil spill (May-October, 2010). Our results indicate that overall, the phytoplankton abundance was 85% lower in 2010 versus the baseline, and that the species composition of the phytoplankton community moved towards diatoms and cyanobacteria and away from ciliates and phytoflagellates. The results of this study reaffirm the view that phytoplankton responses will vary by the seasonal timing of the oil spill and the specific composition of the spilled oil. The trophic impacts of the purported lower abundance of phytoplankton in 2010 coupled with the observed assemblage shift remain unknown. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Electron-hole imbalance in superconductor-normal metal mesoscopic structures
We analysed the electron-hole or, in another words, branch imbalance (BI) and
the related electric potential which may arise in a mesoscopic
superconductor/normal metal (S/N) structure under non-equilibrium conditions in
the presence of a supercurrent. Non-equilibrium conditions can be created in
different ways: a) a quasiparticle current flowing between the N reservoirs; b)
a temperature gradient between the N reservoirs and no quasiparticle current.
It is shown that the voltage oscillates with the phase difference
. In a cross-geometry structure the voltage arises in the
vertical branch and affects the conditions for a transition into the
-state.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Europhysics Letter
High Mass Triple Systems: The Classical Cepheid Y Car
We have obtained an HST STIS ultraviolet high dispersion Echelle mode
spectrum the binary companion of the double mode classical Cepheid Y Car. The
velocity measured for the hot companion from this spectrum is very different
from reasonable predictions for binary motion, implying that the companion is
itself a short period binary. The measured velocity changed by 7 km/ s during
the 4 days between two segments of the observation confirming this
interpretation. We summarize "binary" Cepheids which are in fact members of
triple system and find at least 44% are triples. The summary of information on
Cepheids with orbits makes it likely that the fraction is under-estimated.Comment: accepted by A
Study of ATLAS sensitivity to FCNC top decays
The ATLAS experiment sensitivity to top quark Flavour Changing Neutral
Current (FCNC) decays was studied at LHC using ttbar events. While one of the
top quarks is expected to follow the dominant Standard Model decay t->bW, the
other decays through a FCNC channel, i.e. t-> Z u(c), t-> gamma u(c) or t-> g
u(c). Different types of analyses, applied to each FCNC decay mode, were
compared. The FCNC branching ratio sensitivity (assuming a 5sigma signal
significance) and 95% confidence level limits on the branching ratios (in the
hypothesis of signal absence) were obtained
Sociological and Communication-Theoretical Perspectives on the Commercialization of the Sciences
Both self-organization and organization are important for the further
development of the sciences: the two dynamics condition and enable each other.
Commercial and public considerations can interact and "interpenetrate" in
historical organization; different codes of communication are then
"recombined." However, self-organization in the symbolically generalized codes
of communication can be expected to operate at the global level. The Triple
Helix model allows for both a neo-institutional appreciation in terms of
historical networks of university-industry-government relations and a
neo-evolutionary interpretation in terms of three functions: (i) novelty
production, (i) wealth generation, and (iii) political control. Using this
model, one can appreciate both subdynamics. The mutual information in three
dimensions enables us to measure the trade-off between organization and
self-organization as a possible synergy. The question of optimization between
commercial and public interests in the different sciences can thus be made
empirical.Comment: Science & Education (forthcoming
Wetting Properties Induced in Nano-Composite POSS-MA Polymer Films by Atomic Layer Deposited Oxides
Due to their unique properties, nano-composite polyhedral oligomeric silsequioxane (POSS) copolymer films are attractive for various applications. Here we show that their natural hydrophobic character can become hydrophilic when the films are modified by a thin oxide layer, up to 8 nm thick, prepared using atomic layer deposition. A proper choice of the deposition temperature and thickness of the oxide layer are required to achieve this goal. Unlike other polymeric systems, a marked transition to a hydrophilic state is observed with oxide layers deposited at increasing temperatures up to the glass transition temperature (∼110 °C) of the POSS copolymer film. The hydrophilic state is monitored through the water contact angle of the POSS film. Infrared absorbance spectra indicate that, in hydrophilic samples, the integral of peaks corresponding to surface Al–O (hydrophilic) is significantly larger than that of peaks linked to hydrophobic species
Spectral Cross-calibration of the Konus-Wind, the Suzaku/WAM, and the Swift/BAT Data using Gamma-Ray Bursts
We report on the spectral cross-calibration results of the Konus-Wind, the
Suzaku/WAM, and the Swift/BAT instruments using simultaneously observed
gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). This is the first attempt to use simultaneously
observed GRBs as a spectral calibration source to understand systematic
problems among the instruments. Based on these joint spectral fits, we find
that 1) although a constant factor (a normalization factor) agrees within 20%
among the instruments, the BAT constant factor shows a systematically smaller
value by 10-20% compared to that of Konus-Wind, 2) there is a systematic trend
that the low-energy photon index becomes steeper by 0.1-0.2 and Epeak becomes
systematically higher by 10-20% when including the BAT data in the joint fits,
and 3) the high-energy photon index agrees within 0.2 among the instruments.
Our results show that cross-calibration based on joint spectral analysis is an
important step to understanding the instrumental effects which could be
affecting the scientific results from the GRB prompt emission data.Comment: 82 pages, 88 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
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