22,148 research outputs found
Hydrogen-fueled engine
A hydrogen-oxygen fueled internal combustion engine is described, which utilizes an inert gas, such as argon, as a working fluid to increase the efficiency of the engine, eliminate pollution, and facilitate operation of a closed cycle energy system. In a system where sunlight or other intermittent energy source is available to separate hydrogen and oxygen from water, the oxygen and inert gas are taken into a diesel engine into which hydrogen is injected and ignited. The exhaust is cooled so that it contains only water and the inert gas. The inert gas in the exhaust is returned to the engine for use with fresh oxygen, while the water in the exhaust is returned to the intermittent energy source for reconversion to hydrogen and oxygen
Searching for annihilation radiation from SN 1006 with SPI on INTEGRAL
Historical Type Ia supernovae are a leading candidate for the source of
positrons observed through their diffuse annihilation emission in the Galaxy.
However, search for annihilation emission from individual Type Ia supernovae
has not been possible before the improved sensitivity of \integral. The total
511 keV annihilation flux from individual SNe Ia, as well as their contribution
to the overall diffuse emission, depends critically on the escape fraction of
positrons produced in Co decays. Late optical light curves suggest that
this fraction may be as high as 5%. We searched for positron annihilation
radiation from the historical Type Ia supernova SN 1006 using the SPI
instrument on \integral. We did not detect significant 511 keV line emission,
with a 3 flux upper limit of 0.59 x 10 ergs cm^-2 s^-1 for \wsim
1 Msec exposure time, assuming a FWHM of 2.5 keV. This upper limit corresponds
to a 7.5% escape fraction, 50% higher than the expected 5% escape scenario, and
rules out the possibility that Type Ia supernovae produce all of the positrons
in the Galaxy (~ 12% escape fraction), if the mean positron lifetime is less
than 10 years. Future observations with \integral will provide stronger
limits on the escape fraction of positrons, the mean positron lifetime, and the
contribution of Type Ia supernovae to the overall positron content of the
Galaxy.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
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Splanchnic metabolism of nutrients and hormones in steers fed alfalfa under conditions of increased absorption of ammonia and L-arginine supply across the portal-drained viscera
Effects of increased ammonia and/or arginine
absorption on net splanchnic (portal-drained viscera
[PDV] plus liver) metabolism of nonnitrogenous
nutrients and hormones in cattle were examined. Six
Hereford à Angus steers (501 ± 1 kg BW) prepared with
vascular catheters for measurements of net flux across
the splanchnic bed were fed a 75% alfalfa:25% (as-fed
basis) corn and soybean meal diet (0.523 MJ of ME/[kg
BW0.75.d]) every 2 h without (27.0 g of N/kg of DM) and
with 20 g of urea/kg of DM (35.7 g of N/kg of DM) in a
split-plot design. Net flux measurements were made
immediately before and after a 72-h mesenteric vein
infusion of L-arginine (15 mmol/h). There were no treatment
effects onPDVor hepaticO2 consumption. Dietary
urea had no effect on splanchnic metabolism of glucose
or L-lactate, but arginine infusion decreased net hepatic
removal of L-lactate when urea was fed (P < 0.01). Net PDV appearance of n-butyrate was increased by arginine
infusion (P < 0.07), and both dietary urea (P <
0.09) and arginine infusion (P < 0.05) increased net
hepatic removal of n-butyrate. Dietary urea also increased
total splanchnic acetate output (P < 0.06),
tended to increase arterial glucagon concentration (P
< 0.11), and decreased arterial ST concentration (P <
0.03). Arginine infusion increased arterial concentration
(P < 0.07) and net PDV release (P < 0.10) and
tended to increase hepatic removal (P < 0.11) of insulin,
as well as arterial concentration (P < 0.01) and total
splanchnic output (P < 0.01) of glucagon. Despite
changes in splanchnic N metabolism, increased ammonia
and arginine absorption had little measurable effect
on splanchnic metabolism of glucose and other nonnitrogenous
components of splanchnic energy metabolism
A Search for Ionized Gas in the Draco and Ursa Minor Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies
The Wisconsin H Alpha Mapper has been used to set the first deep upper limits
on the intensity of diffuse H alpha emission from warm ionized gas in the Local
Group dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) Draco and Ursa Minor. Assuming a
velocity dispersion of 15 km/s for the ionized gas, we set limits for the H
alpha intensity of less or equal to 0.024 Rayleighs and less or equal to 0.021
Rayleighs for the Draco and Ursa Minor dSphs, respectively, averaged over our 1
degree circular beam. Adopting a simple model for the ionized interstellar
medium, these limits translate to upper bounds on the mass of ionized gas of
approximately less than 10% of the stellar mass, or approximately 10 times the
upper limits for the mass of neutral hydrogen. Note that the Draco and Ursa
Minor dSphs could contain substantial amounts of interstellar gas, equivalent
to all of the gas injected by dying stars since the end of their main star
forming episodes more than 8 Gyr in the past, without violating these limits on
the mass of ionized gas.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, AASTeX two-column format. Accepted for
publication in The Astrophysical Journa
A Significant Threat to Neuropsychological Test Validity
Objective: Neuropsychological test security is vital to the validity of assessment. Previous research in our lab has shown that 71% of participants use the Internet to prepare for neuropsychological evaluations (Kimpton, 2015). We investigated the availability of information related to neuropsychological tests on the Internet, a topic that has received little attention in the research literature.
Participants and Methods: First, we decided a priori that we would not reveal the terms used in this Internet search, as to not contribute to the problem of threatened test security. We used the Internet search engine âGoogleâ to begin a search using a general question that a person with no neuropsychological expertise would use to access initial results. We obtained 899,000 results for this question. We decided that of these results, we would select from the first five results. One link provided us with a list of 52 commonly used neuropsychological tests. This list also included information about the type of cognitive information that the test was meant to assess. Lastly, we searched for these tests on Google Images and YouTube in order to investigate the extent of the information available.
Results: The protocols for 43% of the 52 tests were available on Google Images. At least partial administration demonstrations were available on YouTube for 54% of the 52 neuropsychological tests. These demonstrations revealed the test protocols and basic strategy of the tests.
Conclusions: A substantial amount of information regarding neuropsychological tests is available on Google Images and YouTube, threatening the validity of these tests. It is recommended that professional neuropsychological associations begin to develop guidelines regarding appropriate content for websites and identify and continuously monitor websites that contain threatening information
The content of gender stereotypes embedded in language use
Gender stereotypes have endured despite substantial change in gender roles. Previous work has assessed how gender stereotypes affect language production in particular interactional contexts. Here, we assessed communication biases where context was less specified: written texts to diffuse audiences. We used Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) to computationally quantify the similarity in meaning between gendered names and stereotype-linked terms in these communications. This revealed that female names were more similar in meaning to the proscriptive (undesirable) masculine terms, such as emotional
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