3,352 research outputs found

    Compensating for Cryogenic Propellant Boiloff for a Cargo Mission to Mars

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    A previous work by the authors (Architecture Study for a Fuel Depot Supplied from Lunar Resources – AIAA 2016-5306) examined architectures for a fuel depot supplied from lunar ice deposits. The study recommended a fuel depot be located at Earth-Moon L1. The study used three design reference missions in the formulation of candidate architectures – among them a Mars Cargo Vehicle (MCV). Each vehicle used 60 layers of multi-layer insulation (MLI) to minimize the boiloff of cryogenic propellants. Boiloff was shown to not be a driver in architecture selection, but it was noted that reducing the number of layers of MLI from 60 to 30 reduced the MLI mass by almost 4,000 kg, but the predicted boiloff only increased about 2,000 kg. This suggested that further investigation was needed to determine the optimum balance between MLI mass, predicted boiloff, and the mass of propellant needed to compensate for that boiloff. While holding the payload mass constant, this paper uses the Modified Lockheed Model to calculate predicted boiloff, and uses multiple iterations of the classic rocket equation to determine how much propellant will be needed to compensate for boiloff over a 288-day mission to Mars

    The Structure of High Strehl Ratio Point-Spread Functions

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    We describe the symmetries present in the point-spread function (PSF) of an optical system either located in space or corrected by an adaptive o to Strehl ratios of about 70% and higher. We present a formalism for expanding the PSF to arbitrary order in terms of powers of the Fourier transform of the residual phase error, over an arbitrarily shaped and apodized entrance aperture. For traditional unapodized apertures at high Strehl ratios, bright speckles pinned to the bright Airy rings are part of an antisymmetric perturbation of the perfect PSF, arising from the term that is first order in the residual phase error. There are two symmetric second degree terms. One is negative at the center, and, like the first order term, is modulated by the perfect image's field strength -- it reduces to the Marechal approximation at the center of the PSF. The other is non-negative everywhere, zero at the image center, and can be responsible for an extended halo -- which limits the dynamic range of faint companion detection in the darkest portions of the image. In regimes where one or the other term dominates the speckles in an image, the symmetry of the dominant term can be exploited to reduce the effect of those speckles, potentially by an order of magnitude or more. We demonstrate the effects of both secondary obscuration and pupil apodization on the structure of residual speckles, and discuss how these symmetries can be exploited by appropriate telescope and instrument design, observing strategies, and filter bandwidths to improve the dynamic range of high dynamic range AO and space-based observations. Finally, we show that our analysis is relevant to high dynamic range coronagraphy.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 20 pages, 4 figure

    The Solar-System-Scale Disk Around AB Aurigae

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    The young star AB Aurigae is surrounded by a complex combination of gas-rich and dust dominated structures. The inner disk which has not been studied previously at sufficient resolution and imaging dynamic range seems to contain very little gas inside a radius of least 130 astronomical units (AU) from the star. Using adaptive-optics coronagraphy and polarimetry we have imaged the dust in an annulus between 43 and 302 AU from the star, a region never seen before. An azimuthal gap in an annulus of dust at a radius of 102 AU, along with a clearing at closer radii inside this annulus, suggests the formation of at least one small body at an orbital distance of about 100 AU. This structure seems consistent with crude models of mean motion resonances, or accumulation of material at two of the Lagrange points relative to the putative object and the star. We also report a low significance detection of a point source in this outer annulus of dust. This source may be an overdensity in the disk due to dust accreting onto an unseen companion. An alternate interpretation suggests that the object's mass is between 5 and 37 times the mass of Jupiter. The results have implications for circumstellar disk dynamics and planet formation.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal, V. 680, June 10, 200

    Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics Integral Field Spectroscopy of a Tightly Collimated Bipolar Jet from the Herbig Ae star LkHa 233

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    We have used the integral field spectrograph OSIRIS and laser guide star adaptive optics at Keck Observatory to obtain high angular resolution (0.06"), moderate spectral resolution (R ~ 3800) images of the bipolar jet from the Herbig Ae star LkHa 233, seen in near-IR [Fe II] emission at 1.600 & 1.644 microns. This jet is narrow and tightly collimated, with an opening angle of only 9 degrees, and has an average radial velocity of ~ 100 km/s. The jet and counterjet are asymmetric, with the red-shifted jet much clumpier than its counterpart at the angular resolution of our observations. The observed properties are in general similar to jets seen around T Tauri stars, though it has a relatively large mass flux of (1.2e-7 +- 0.3e-7) M_sun/year, near the high end of the observed mass flux range around T Tauri stars. We also spatially resolve an inclined circumstellar disk around LkHa 233, which obscures the star from direct view. By comparison with numerical radiative transfer disk models, we estimate the disk midplane to be inclined i = 65 +- 5 degrees relative to the plane of the sky. Since the star is seen only in scattered light at near-infrared wavelengths, we detect only a small fraction of its intrinsic flux. Because previous estimates of its stellar properties did not account for this, either LkHa 233 must be located closer than the previously believed, or its true luminosity must be greater than previously supposed, consistent with its being a ~4 M_sun star near the stellar birthline.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Ap

    Adolescent Report of Lifestyle Counseling

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    Background: Physician counseling on lifestyle factors has been recommended as one way to help combat the obesity epidemic in the United States. The aim of this study was to examine the frequency of lifestyle counseling among healthy weight, overweight, and obese adolescents and determine the contributions of adolescent weight and physical activity

    Relative importance of βcyto- and γcyto-actin in primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts

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    The highly homologous β (βcyto) and γ (γcyto) cytoplasmic actins are hypothesized to carry out both redundant and unique essential functions, but studies using targeted gene knockout and siRNA-mediated transcript knockdown to examine βcyto- and γcyto-isoform--specific functions in various cell types have yielded conflicting data. Here we quantitatively characterized actin transcript and protein levels, as well as cellular phenotypes, in both gene- and transcript-targeted primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts. We found that the smooth muscle αsm-actin isoform was the dominantly expressed actin isoform in WT primary fibroblasts and was also the most dramatically up-regulated in primary βcyto- or β/γcyto-actin double-knockout fibroblasts. Gene targeting of βcyto-actin, but not γcyto-actin, led to greatly decreased cell proliferation, decreased levels of cellular ATP, and increased serum response factor signaling in primary fibroblasts, whereas immortalization induced by SV40 large T antigen supported fibroblast proliferation in the absence of βcyto-actin. Consistent with in vivo gene-targeting studies in mice, both gene- and transcript-targeting approaches demonstrate that the loss of βcyto-actin protein is more disruptive to primary fibroblast function than is the loss of γcyto-actin

    The Role of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families in the Youth Development Field

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    This special issue of the Journal of Youth Development highlights a range of important contributions that the work of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families (BCYF) at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, makes to the field of youth development. This issue traces how BCYF peer-reviewed, published consensus reports use transdisciplinary expertise to assemble relevant research, develop evidence-based findings that then undergird policy recommendations, and then communicate them to a wide audience of policy makers, academics, and practitioners. These consensus reports inform and support practice which improves constructive youth development

    The Molecular Gas Environment around Two Herbig Ae/Be Stars: Resolving the Outflows of LkHa 198 and LkHa 225S

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    Observations of outflows associated with pre-main-sequence stars reveal details about morphology, binarity and evolutionary states of young stellar objects. We present molecular line data from the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association array and Five Colleges Radio Astronomical Observatory toward the regions containing the Herbig Ae/Be stars LkHa 198 and LkHa 225S. Single dish observations of 12CO 1-0, 13CO 1-0, N2H+ 1-0 and CS 2-1 were made over a field of 4.3' x 4.3' for each species. 12CO data from FCRAO were combined with high resolution BIMA array data to achieve a naturally-weighted synthesized beam of 6.75'' x 5.5'' toward LkHa 198 and 5.7'' x 3.95'' toward LkHa 225S, representing resolution improvements of factors of approximately 10 and 5 over existing data. By using uniform weighting, we achieved another factor of two improvement. The outflow around LkHa 198 resolves into at least four outflows, none of which are centered on LkHa 198-IR, but even at our resolution, we cannot exclude the possibility of an outflow associated with this source. In the LkHa 225S region, we find evidence for two outflows associated with LkHa 225S itself and a third outflow is likely driven by this source. Identification of the driving sources is still resolution-limited and is also complicated by the presence of three clouds along the line of sight toward the Cygnus molecular cloud. 13CO is present in the environments of both stars along with cold, dense gas as traced by CS and (in LkHa 225S) N2H+. No 2.6 mm continuum is detected in either region in relatively shallow maps compared to existing continuum observations.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures (5 color), accepted for publication in Ap

    Mobile phone and tablet apps to support young people’s management of their physical long-term conditions: a systematic review protocol

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    Background: The prevalence of long-term or chronic conditions that limit activity and reduce quality of life in young people aged 10-24 years is rising. This group has distinct health care needs and requires tailored support strategies to facilitate increasing personal responsibility for the management of their condition wherever possible, as they mature. Mobile phone and tablet mobile technologies featuring software program apps are already well used by young people for social networking or gaming. They have also been utilized in health care to support personal condition management, using condition-specific and patient-tailored software. Such apps have much potential, and there is an emerging body of literature on their use in a health context making this review timely. Objective: The objective of this paper is to develop a systematic review protocol focused on identifying and assessing the effectiveness of mobile phone and tablet apps that support young people’s management of their chronic conditions. Methods: The search strategy will include a combination of standardized indexed search terms and free-text terms related to the key concepts of young people; long-term conditions and mobile technology. Peer-reviewed journal articles published from 2003 that meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria will be identified through searching the generated hits from 5 bibliographical databases. Two independent reviewers will screen the titles and abstracts to determine which articles focus on testing interventions identified as a mobile phone or tablet apps, and that have been designed and delivered to support the management of long-term conditions in young people aged 10-24 years. Data extraction and quality assessment tools will be used to facilitate consistent analysis and synthesis. It is anticipated that several studies will meet the selection criteria but that these are likely to be heterogeneous in terms of study design, reported outcomes, follow-up times, participants’ age, and health condition. Sub-group analyses will be undertaken and where possible meta-analyses will take place.Results: This review will synthesize available knowledge surrounding tablet and mobile phone apps that support management of long term physical health conditions in young people. The findings will be synthesized to determine which elements of the technologies were most effective for this population. Conclusions: This systematic review aims to synthesize existing literature in order to generate findings that will facilitate the development of an app intervention. The review will form the first phase of development and evaluation of a complex intervention as recommended by the United Kingdom Medical Research Council. The knowledge gained from the review will be verified in subsequent phases, which will include primary qualitative work with health professionals and young people with long term conditions as research participants. Young people living with long-term conditions will be involved as co-researchers and consumer advisors in all subsequent phases to develop and evaluate an app to support the management of long-term physical health conditions

    Ketamine as the anaesthetic for electroconvulsive therapy:the KANECT randomised controlled trial

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    C.AS. reports grants from Vifor Pharma, outside the submitted work. I.C.R. (deceased) declared personal fees from AstraZeneca, Sanofi Aventis and Sunovion, and non-financial support from Lundbeck, between 2009 and 2014 and all outside the submitted work. Volume 212, Issue 5 May 2018 , p. 323 Ketamine as the anaesthetic for electroconvulsive therapy: the KANECT randomised controlled trial – CORRIGENDUM Gordon Fernie, James Currie, Jennifer S. Perrin, Caroline A. Stewart... https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2018.76 Published online: 06 April 2018 Summary: This notice describes a correction to the above mentioned paper.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
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