Heater Control for Thermionic Power Generation

The purpose of this report is to detail the conceptualization, analysis, budget, manufacturing, and assembly the heater for a thermionic energy converter for portable energy generation. This proof of concept will be created to provide a full thermionic energy converter with a reliable and satisfactory heater than can be used in future systems. The report highlights the feasibility and realities in the design and fabrication of the system

Liminal Space in Architecture: Threshold and Transition

The limen is defined as the transitional threshold between two fixed states in cultural rites of passage or between two dissimilar spaces in architecture. The study of rites of passage provides an analogy from which principles can be drawn for the design of a transformative space. The characteristics that define liminal space include layering, dissolution, blurring, and ambiguity and have the ability to transform the occupant of that space as they move through it. The experience of liminal space poses a discontinuity and leads the occupant to question their surroundings, thus leading to heightened awareness of the space as a transformative threshold between distinct spaces. The design of a ballpark, a building type associated with ritual, will be the vehicle for the exploration of the design of liminal space. Attention to the individual ritualistic acts of attending a ballgame can heighten the perception of the fan and their movement through a transitional space which transforms them from their everyday life. Additionally, a blurring of the space of the fan with the space of the player and a blurring of the space of the city and the space of the game will further heighten the ambiguity. Through an analysis of precedents that address both liminal space as transformative threshold and the liminality present in the ballpark, the design of the ballpark will create a transformative space for both the player and the fan which is based in history and advances the perception of the threshold as transformative

Navigation of the TSS-1 mission

The Tethered Satellite System Mission was analyzed to determine its impacts on the Mission Control Center (MCC) Navigation section's ability to maintain an accurate state vector for the Space Shuttle during nominal and off-nominal flight operations. Tether dynamics expected on the Shuttle introduces new phenomena when determining the best estimation of its position and velocity. In the analysis, emphasis was placed on determining the navigation state vectors accuracies resulting when the tether induced forces were and were not modeled as an additional acceleration upon processing tracking measurements around a TSS-1 trajectory. Results of the analyses show that when the forces are not modeled in the state vector generation process, the resulting solution state reflects a solution about the center of gravity of the tethered system and not that of the orbiter. The Navigation team's ability to provide accurate state vector estimates necessary for trajectory planning are impeded. In addition to this consequent, is an impact on Onboard Navigation state vector accuracies. These analyses will show that in order to preserve an accurate state onboard the orbiter a new operational procedure would have to be adopted

When another Asturias seemed possible: Regionalism and the heterodox Left during the Spanish Transition to Democracy

La Transición en Asturias pasó por una confluencia entre el regionalismo y los partidos minoritarios de la izquierda. A través de conexiones personales e ideológicas, los regionalistas extendieron su influencia sobre los partidos del ámbito intelectual: La Democracia Socialista Asturiana, el Movimiento Comunista de Asturias, y el Partido Socialista Popular de Asturias. Aunque nunca tuvieron éxito en las urnas, el entorno regionalista consiguió influir en la definición de la nueva democracia en Asturias en la misma medida que el proceso autonómico, a través de su campaña electoral y de la integración en el PSOE del bloque regionalista del PSPA. A partir de 1977, el PSOE se alzó como fuerza dominante, pero lo hizo solo parcialmente debido a la incorporación y cooptación de otras corrientes de la izquierda. No se puede entender la Transición centrándonos únicamente en los vencedores de las elecciones. Es necesario también tener en cuenta el ambiente político de la época y la diversidad de los grupos que contribuyeron a la articulación del nuevo concepto democrático.The Transition in Asturias saw an intersection between regionalism and the minority parties of the left. Through personal and ideological connections, the regionalists extended their influence over the parties of the intelligentsia: Asturian Socialist Democracy, the Communist Movement of Asturias, and the Popular Socialist Party of Asturias. Although unsuccessful at the polls, the regionalists managed to influence both the definition of the new democracy in Asturias and the autonomy process through their election campaign and also through the merging of the PSPA regionalist block with the PSOE. From 1977 onwards, the PSOE became dominant but they did so only partially due to the incorporation and the cooption of other leftist trends. The Transition to democracy cannot just be understood by focusing on the elected winners; rather it is necessary to pay attention to the political environment of the time and the diversity of the groups that contributed to the articulation of the new concept of democracy

L’adozione del regionalismo: il Partito Comunista Spagnolo nelle Asturie, 1988-2014

La storia recente della provincia delle Asturie, nel nord della Spagna, fornisce un esempio particolarmente interessante da studiare della relazione tra le ideologie regionaliste e la crisi d’identità della sinistra operaia attualmente in corso. A partire dai tardi anni Ottanta del XX secolo, la coalizione a guida comunista di Izquierda Unida (IU), capeggiata da Gaspar Llamazares, ha fatto propria in maniera crescente la retorica e il programma del regionalismo asturiano, abbracciando le sue richieste di bilinguismo ufficiale e di maggiore autonomia. Di conseguenza, la visibilità del regionalismo e del nazionalismo nelle Asturie è stata recentemente messa in stretta connessione con la tensione tra apertura e ortodossia nell’ambito del comunismo spagnolo, un primo campo di battaglia nella ridefinizione della sinistra in Spagna.  The recent history of the northern Spanish province of Asturias provides a particularly interesting case study of relationship between regionalist ideologies and the ongoing identity crisis of the working-class left.  From the late 1980s, the Communist-led coalition United Left (IU), led by Gaspar Llamazares, increasingly co-opted the rhetoric and program of Asturian regionalism, embracing its demands of official bilingualism and greater self-government. Accordingly, the visibility of regionalism and nationalism in Asturias has recently been strongly linked to the tension between openness and orthodoxy within Spanish communism, an early battleground in the re-definition of the left in Spain

Coupled Numerical Analysis of Variations in the Capacity of an Energy Pile in Clay Soil

Energy piles are an emerging alternative for the reduction of energy consumption to heat and cool buildings. The majority of the research to date focuses on thermodynamic properties or axial strain of piles. This paper concerns the effects of temperature fluctuation on the capacity of driven energy piles in clayey soils. Consolidation of clay (due to the dissipation of excess pore-water pressure in clay) surrounding piles affects the capacity of the pile (pile setup in clay). Reciprocally, it is reasonable to assume that heating and cooling periods will create or relax the excess pore-water pressure (EPWP) in clayey soils (due to the contraction and expansion of water) affecting the pile capacity. In the meantime, the thermal expansion and contraction of the pile also generates or relaxes the EPWP in the soil, which can be computed using the principle of cavity expansion theory. The resulting change in the EPWP due to the thermal cycle happens through day and night and is much faster than the drainage time required by the clay. This lack of time for dissipation of EPWP affects the effective stress and, hence, the capacity of the pile. Hence, there is a need for an analysis that couples: (i) consolidation of clay, (ii) thermal expansion/contraction of pile and, in turn, the resulting relaxed/generated EPWP in clay, and (iii) thermal expansion/contraction of soil and, in turn, the resulting generated/relaxed EPWP in clay computed through cavity expansion theory. Therefore, a numerical analysis model was developed to analyze the generation and dissipation of the EPWP resulting from all of these phenomena. This coupled analysis helps compute the variations of the generated EPWP and, in turn, its effect on the effective stress and, hence, pile capacity. The numerical model also supports the hypothesis that the heating effect can accelerate the pile setup in clay. This flexible model can be used to estimate the ultimate capacity of energy piles, or even evaluate the possibility of using heating through construction to expedite pile setup in clay

ODM use at JSC-MCC

No abstract availabl

Archäologische Prospektionen im Brüniggebiet - Vorbericht zur Prospektionskampagne 2014 in Lungern (OW) und Meiringen (BE)

Das Bronzemesser lag – wie auch ein Teil der mittelalterlichen Silberpfennige und verschiedene im Jahr 2014 gefundene (früh-)neuzeitliche Metallobjekte – unmittelbar auf der Laubdecke, d.h. auf der Oberkante des humosen Oberbodens (Ah-Horizont). Dies zeigt, dass die Bodenbildungsprozesse im Brüniggebiet äusserst langsam verlaufen und sich deswegen unterschiedlich alte Fundobjekte oftmals im gleichen stratigraphischen Kontext finden. Bei einer der untersuchten Trockenmauerkonstruktion am Nordrand der Geländestufe könnten Lage, Befund und Funde dafür sprechen, dass es sich um eine der „Hütten“ bzw. „Wachthütten“ handeln könnte, die von den Unterwaldnern im Zusammenhang mit dem Grenzkonflikt im Jahre 1712 errichtet wurden. Wichtige Hinweise für die Interpretation und Einordnung der diesjährigen und und früheren Prospektionsergebnisse lieferte die Transkription und Analyse des „Plan und Grundriss von dem grossen Pass über den so genannten Breünig Berg“ des Ingenieurs und Artillerieoffiziers Samuel Bodmer aus dem Jahr 1712 – auch wenn sich die Lokalisierung der verschiedenen militärischen und zivilen Bauten im Einzelfall ein schwieriges Unterfangen bleibt. Im Sinne einer ganzheitlichen Betrachtung der archäologisch-historischen Situation im Bereich des Brünig wurde im Berichtsjahr erstmals und mit Erfolg auch auf dem Gebiet der Gemeinde Meiringen (BE) prospektiert und erste Vorarbeiten und Abklärungen im Hinblick auf die geplante Dokumentation der erstaunlich gut erhaltenen Überreste des zwischen 1712 und 1714 errichteten „Schäntzli Nydegg“ durchgeführt

X-ray Observations of the Compact Source in CTA 1

The point source RX J0007.0+7302, at the center of supernova remnant CTA 1, was studied using the X-Ray Multi-mirror Mission. The X-ray spectrum of the source is consistent with a neutron star interpretation, and is well described by a power law with the addition of a soft thermal component that may correspond to emission from hot polar cap regions or to cooling emission from a light element atmosphere over the entire star. There is evidence of extended emission on small spatial scales which may correspond to structure in the underlying synchrotron nebula. No pulsations are observed. Extrapolation of the nonthermal spectrum of RX J0007.0+7302 to gamma-ray energies yields a flux consistent with that of EGRET source 3EG J0010+7309, supporting the proposition that there is a gamma-ray emitting pulsar at the center of CTA 1. Observations of the outer regions of CTA 1 with the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics confirm earlier detections of thermal emission from the remnant and show that the synchrotron nebula extends to the outermost reaches of the SNR.Comment: 5 pages, including 4 postscript figs.LaTex. Accepted for publication by Ap

Production and Composition of Pyrogenic Dissolved Organic Matter From a Logical Series of Laboratory-Generated Chars

Though pyrogenic carbon (pyC) has been assumed to be predominantly stable, degradation and transfers of pyC between various pools have been found to influence its cycling and longevity in the environment. Dissolution via leaching may be the main control on loss processes such as microbial or abiotic oxidation, mineral sorption, or export to aquatic systems. Yet, little is known about the controls on pyrogenic dissolved organic matter (pyDOM) generation or composition. Here, the yield and composition of pyDOM generated through batch leaching of a thermal series of oak and grass biochars, as well as several non-pyrogenic reference materials, was compared to that of their parent solids. Over 17 daily leaching cycles, biochars made from oak at 250–650◦C released decreasing amounts of C on both a weight (16.9–0.3%, respectively) and C yield basis (7.4–0.2% C, respectively). Aryl-C represented an estimated 32–82% of C in the parent solids (identified by 13C-NMR), but only 7–38% in the leachates (identified by 1H-NMR), though both increased with pyrolysis temperature. PyC, often operationally defined as condensed aromatic carbon (ConAC), was quantified using the benzenepolycarboxylic acid (BPCA) method. Tri- and tetra-carboxylated BPCAs were formed from non-pyrogenic reference materials, thus, only penta- and hexa-carboxylated BPCAs were used to derive a BPCA-C to ConAC conversion factor of 7.04. ConAC made up 24–57% of the pyrogenic solid C (excluding the 250◦C biochar), but only about 9–23% of their respective leachates’ DOC, though both proportions generally increased with pyrolysis temperature. Weighted BPCA compound distributions, or the BPCA Aromatic Condensation (BACon) Index, indicate that ConAC cluster size increased in pyrogenic solids but not in leachates. Additional evidence presented suggests that both aromatic cluster size and O-containing functional group contents in the pyrogenic solid control pyC solubility. Overall, pyDOM was found to be compositionally dissimilar from its parent chars and contained a complex mixture of organic compound groups. Thus, it is expected that estimates of dissolved pyC production and export, made only by detection of ConAC, are too low by factors of 4–11