Friction stir weld tools

A friction stir weld tool sleeve is supported by an underlying support pin. The pin material is preferably selected for toughness and fracture characteristics. The pin sleeve preferably has a geometry which employs the use of an interrupted thread, a plurality of flutes and/or eccentric path to provide greater flow through. Paddles have been found to assist in imparting friction and directing plastic metal during the welding process

Helium in Stream Water as a Volcanic Monitoring Tool

We show that synoptic sampling of streams can be used to characterize volcanic volatiles in groundwater over large spatial scales. Synoptic sampling of dissolved noble gases, 222Rn, major ions, and stream discharge was carried out along a 30 km reach of the Gibbon River, near Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park, USA. Groundwater discharge location, volume, and composition were estimated by constrained calibration of a stream flow and solute transport model. Estimated groundwater composition from stream modeling was compared to shallow groundwater concentrations measured in nearby springs. 3He, 222Rn, and Cl− aq signatures in the Gibbon River are indicative of groundwater discharge with a volcanic signature along the study reach. Stream water noble gas isotopic composition has similar isotopic mixing patterns to springs. The model-estimated composition of groundwater discharging to the Gibbon agrees well with observed groundwater composition from nearby springs for all modeled analytes. We present the first observations of elevated mantle helium in stream water and show that stream water can be used as a convenient collection point to estimate spatially distributed groundwater composition and to monitor changes in volatile flux over large spatial areas. These results offer the possibility that stream surveys in volcanic terrain could be a new method for distributed volcanic monitoring at the catchment scale and beyond

Evaluating the Use of Environmental Tracers to Reduce Conceptual Model Uncertainty of Hydrogeologic Models

Environmental tracer concentrations for CFC12, SF6, and tritium are used in groundwater simulations to assess the ability of these tracers to reduce conceptual model uncertainty due to uncertainty of a site’s geologic and recharge characterization. The resulting groundwater simulations are characterized by site-specific hydrologic and geologic data, and with coordination from a field team with years of knowledge about the site. First-order (conceptual) uncertainty is directly addressed by using a stochastic modeling approach for spatial variability of the proposed subsurface configurations. Simulations of environmental tracer concentrations and water levels are used to assess six alternate conceptual models that are based on three alternate geologic interpretations and two levels of spatial complexity in groundwater recharge. Our results show that water levels and tracers both provide unique information, but tracers enhance our ability to distinguish between models throughout multiple analyses. Tracers CFC12 and tritium show how simulating environmental tracer transport in groundwater is better than using water levels at testing alternate hydrogeologic conceptual models and reducing conceptual uncertainty between them

Analyzing the Variable Pain

This presentation is a thorough analysis of participant physical pain and physical impairment within the given study. This data was conducted through an EMA study. The smartphone apps TigerAware and Qualtrics were used to give participants surveys throughout the course of ten days. The participants were undergraduate students at UMSL who received extra credit for participating in the study. Out of the 126 participants, 13 were male and 113 female. The surveys focused on comparing the relationship between alcohol usage and other variables. These surveys had questions relating to alcohol usage, marijuana usage, mood, pain, and questions about daily functioning. Participants\u27 level of physical pain and physical impairment were analyzed in correlation to alcohol usage and other variables. In this study, the more pain someone experiences, the more physical impairment they will have. Other possible correlations are found, although the data was not significant, future research should be conducted to analyze the data further

Plug-in vehicles and the future of road infrastructure funding in the United States

In the United States, the road infrastructure funding is declining due to an increase in fuel efficiency and the non-adjustment of fuel taxes to inflation. Propositions to tax plug-in vehicles have been proposed or implemented in several states. Those propositions are contrary to policies to promote the sale of fuel efficient vehicles. This paper assesses (1) the magnitude of the decline in federal fuel tax revenue caused by plug-in vehicles and (2) quantifies the amount of revenue that could be generated from a federal plug-in vehicle registration fee. We find that the contribution of plug-in vehicles to the decline of the federal fuel tax revenue is at most 1.56% and that the majority of the shortfall can be attributed to the non-adjustment of the fuel tax rate by 2040. An additional tax of $50-$200 per plug-in vehicle per year in the reference case would generate $188-$745 million in 2040 which represents an increase of 1.7% - 6.7% in federal fuel tax revenue compared to no tax. The lesson for policy makers is that plug-in vehicles do not contribute significantly to the funding shortfall in the short- and medium-run and a supplemental tax would generate a small percentage of additional revenue

Home opioid use following cesarean delivery: How many opioid tablets should obstetricians prescribe?

AimTo quantify home opioid use after cesarean delivery and identify factors associated with increased opioid use.MethodsA convenience sample of women discharged by postoperative day 2 following a term cesarean delivery of a singleton fetus from May 2015 to May 2016 were contacted 2 weeks post‐partum and questioned regarding opioid use, pain control and pain expectations.ResultsAmong 141 women included in the analysis, the median number of opioid tablets used was 36 (interquartile range 16–45) and the median number prescribed was 60 (interquartile range 42–65). Logistic regression identified operative time ≥59.5 min and number of opioid tablets prescribed as two factors independently associated with opioid use in the top quartile.ConclusionIn the first 2 weeks post‐partum, 75% of women used 45 or fewer opioid tablets. Operative time over 1 h and increased number of opioid tablets prescribed are factors associated with higher post‐partum opioid use.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143657/1/jog13579.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143657/2/jog13579_am.pd

Failure of the ERBE scanner instrument aboard NOAA 10 spacecraft and results of failure analysis

The Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) scanner instrument on the NOAA 10 spacecraft malfunctioned on May 22, 1989, after more than 4 years of in-flight operation. After the failure, all instrument operational mode commands were tested and the resulting data analyzed. Details of the tests and analysis of output data are discussed therein. The radiometric and housekeeping data appear to be valid. However, the instrument will not correctly execute operational scan mode commands or the preprogrammed calibration sequences. The data indicate the problem is the result of a failure in the internal address decoding circuity in one of the ROM (read only memory) chips of the instrument computer