Selected reliability studies for the NERVA program

An investigation was made into certain methods of reliability analysis that are particularly suitable for complex mechanisms or systems in which there are many interactions. The methods developed were intended to assist in the design of such mechanisms, especially for analysis of failure sensitivity to parameter variations and for estimating reliability where extensive and meaningful life testing is not feasible. The system is modeled by a network of interconnected nodes. Each node is a state or mode of operation, or is an input or output node, and the branches are interactions. The network, with its probabilistic and time-dependent paths is also analyzed for reliability and failure modes by a Monte Carlo, computerized simulation of system performance

Symbiont 'bleaching' in planktic foraminifera during the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum

Many genera of modern planktic foraminifera are adapted to nutrient-poor (oligotrophic) surface waters by hosting photosynthetic symbionts, but it is unknown how they will respond to future changes in ocean temperature and acidity. Here we show that ca. 40 Ma, some fossil photosymbiont-bearing planktic foraminifera were temporarily 'bleached' of their symbionts coincident with transient global warming during the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO). At Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Sites 748 and 1051 (Southern Ocean and mid-latitude North Atlantic, respectively), the typically positive relationship between the size of photosymbiont-bearing planktic foraminifer tests and their carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) was temporarily reduced for ∼100 k.y. during the peak of the MECO. At the same time, the typically photosymbiont-bearing planktic foraminifera Acarinina suffered transient reductions in test size and relative abundance, indicating ecological stress. The coincidence of minimum δ18O values and reduction in test size–δ13C gradients suggests a link between increased sea-surface temperatures and bleaching during the MECO, although changes in pH and nutrient availability may also have played a role. Our findings show that host-photosymbiont interactions are not constant through geological time, with implications for both the evolution of trophic strategies in marine plankton and the reliability of geochemical proxy records generated from symbiont-bearing planktic foraminifera

Numerical Evidence for the Observation of a Scalar Glueball

We compute from lattice QCD in the valence (quenched) approximation the partial decay widths of the lightest scalar glueball to pairs of pseudoscalar quark-antiquark states. These predictions and values obtained earlier for the scalar glueball's mass are in good agreement with the observed properties of $f_J(1710)$ and inconsistent with all other observed meson resonances.Comment: 12 pages of Latex, 3 PostsScript figures as separate uufil

New biostratigraphic, magnetostratigraphic and isotopic insights into the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum in low latitudes

The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) was a warming event that interrupted the long-term Eocene cooling trend. While this event is well documented at high southern and mid-latitudes, it is poorly known from low latitudes and its timing and duration are not well constrained because of problems of hiati, microfossil preservation and weak magnetic polarity in key sedimentary sections. Here, we report the results of a study designed to improve the bio-, magneto- and chemostratigraphy of the MECO interval using high-resolution records from two low-latitude sections in the Atlantic Ocean, Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Sites 1051 and 1260. We present the first detailed benthic foraminiferal stable isotope records of the MECO from the low latitudes as well as the biostratigraphic counts of Orbulinoides beckmanni and new magnetostratigraphic results. Our data demonstrate a ~ 750 kyr-long duration for the MECO characterized by increasing δ13C and decreasing δ18O, with minimum δ18O values lasting ~ 40 kyr at 40.1 Ma coincident with a short-lived negative δ13C excursion. Thereafter, δ18O and δ13C values recover rapidly. The shift to minimum δ18O values at 40.1 Ma is coincident with a marked increase in the abundance of the planktonic foraminifera O. beckmanni, consistent with its inferred warm-water preference. O. beckmanni is an important Eocene biostratigraphic marker, defining planktonic foraminiferal Zone E12 with its lowest and highest occurrences (LO and HOs). Our new records reveal that the LO of O. beckmanni is distinctly diachronous, appearing ~ 500 kyr earlier in the equatorial Atlantic than in the subtropics (40.5 versus 41.0 Ma). We also show that, at both sites, the HO of O. beckmanni at 39.5 Ma is younger than the published calibrations, increasing the duration of Zone E12 by at least 400 kyr. In accordance with the tropical origins of O. beckmanni, this range expansion to higher latitudes may have occurred in response to sea surface warming during the MECO and subsequently disappeared with cooling of surface waters

The Weakly Coupled Gross-Neveu Model with Wilson Fermions

The nature of the phase transition in the lattice Gross-Neveu model with Wilson fermions is investigated using a new analytical technique. This involves a new type of weak coupling expansion which focuses on the partition function zeroes of the model. Its application to the single flavour Gross-Neveu model yields a phase diagram whose structure is consistent with that predicted from a saddle point approach. The existence of an Aoki phase is confirmed and its width in the weakly coupled region is determined. Parity, rather than chiral symmetry breaking naturally emerges as the driving mechanism for the phase transition.Comment: 15 pages including 1 figur

The Effect of Cellular Coenzyme Q10 Deficiency on Lysosomal Acidification

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) deficiency currently represents the only treatable mitochondrial disorder, however, little is known about how it may affect other organelles. The lysosome has been found to have a large concentration of CoQ10 localised at its membrane; additionally, it has been suggested that it plays a role in the normal acidification of the lysosomal lumen. As a result, in this study we assessed the effect of CoQ10 deficiency on lysosomal acidification. In order to investigate this, a neuronal cell model of CoQ10 deficiency was established via the treatment of SH-SY5Y cells with para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA). This method works through the competitive inhibition of the CoQ10 biosynthetic pathway enzyme, CoQ2. A single 1 mM (5 days) treatment with PABA resulted in a decrease of up to 58% in cellular CoQ10 (p < 0.05). It was found that this resulted in a significant decrease in fluorescence of both the LysoSensor (23%) and LysoTracker (35%) probes used to measure lysosomal pH (p < 0.05). It was found that subsequent treatment with CoQ10 (5 µM, 3 days) was able to restore cellular CoQ10 concentration (p < 0.005), which was associated with an increase in fluorescence from both probes to around 90% of controls (p < 0.05), suggesting a restoration of lysosomal pH. This study provides insights into the association between lysosomal pH and cellular CoQ10 status and the possibility that a deficit in the status of this isoprenoid may result in an impairment of lysosomal acidification

Light hadron spectroscopy with O(a) improved dynamical fermions

We present the first results for the static quark potential and the light hadron spectrum using dynamical fermions at $\beta=5.2$ using an O(a) improved Wilson fermion action together with the standard Wilson plaquette action for the gauge part. Sea quark masses were chosen such that the pseudoscalar-vector mass ratio, m_PS/m_V$, varies from 0.86 to 0.67. Finite-size effects are studied by using three different volumes, 8^3\cdot 24, 12^3\cdot 24 and 16^3\cdot 24. Comparing our results to previous ones obtained using the quenched approximation, we find evidence for sea quark effects in quantities like the static quark potential and the vector-pseudoscalar hyperfine splitting.Comment: 38 pages, 14 Postscript figure, LaTe

Single Event Effects in the Pixel readout chip for BTeV

In future experiments the readout electronics for pixel detectors is required to be resistant to a very high radiation level. In this paper we report on irradiation tests performed on several preFPIX2 prototype pixel readout chips for the BTeV experiment exposed to a 200 MeV proton beam. The prototype chips have been implemented in commercial 0.25 um CMOS processes following radiation tolerant design rules. The results show that this ASIC design tolerates a large total radiation dose, and that radiation induced Single Event Effects occur at a manageable level.Comment: 15 pages, 6 Postscript figure

Exact Calculation of the Spatio-temporal Correlations in the Takayasu model and in the q-model of Force Fluctuations in Bead Packs

We calculate exactly the two point mass-mass correlations in arbitrary spatial dimensions in the aggregation model of Takayasu. In this model, masses diffuse on a lattice, coalesce upon contact and adsorb unit mass from outside at a constant rate. Our exact calculation of the variance of mass at a given site proves explicitly, without making any assumption of scaling, that the upper critical dimension of the model is 2. We also extend our method to calculate the spatio-temporal correlations in a generalized class of models with aggregation, fragmentation and injection which include, in particular, the $q$-model of force fluctuations in bead packs. We present explicit expressions for the spatio-temporal force-force correlation function in the $q$-model. These can be used to test the applicability of the $q$-model in experiments.Comment: 15 pages, RevTex, 2 figure