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Large scale steam valve test: Performance testing of large butterfly valves and full scale high flowrate steam testing
This report presents the results of the design testing of large (36-inch diameter) butterfly valves under high flow conditions. The two butterfly valves were pneumatically operated air-open, air-shut valves (termed valves 1 and 2). These butterfly valves were redesigned to improve their ability to function under high flow conditions. Concern was raised regarding the ability of the butterfly valves to function as required with high flow-induced torque imposed on the valve discs during high steam flow conditions. High flow testing was required to address the flow-induced torque concerns. The valve testing was done using a heavily instrumented piping system. This test program was called the Large Scale Steam Valve Test (LSSVT). The LSSVT program demonstrated that the redesigned valves operated satisfactorily under high flow conditions
Three disks in a row: A two-dimensional scattering analog of the double-well problem
We investigate the scattering off three nonoverlapping disks equidistantly
spaced along a line in the two-dimensional plane with the radii of the outer
disks equal and the radius of the inner disk varied. This system is a
two-dimensional scattering analog to the double-well-potential (bound state)
problem in one dimension. In both systems the symmetry splittings between
symmetric and antisymmetric states or resonances, respectively, have to be
traced back to tunneling effects, as semiclassically the geometrical periodic
orbits have no contact with the vertical symmetry axis. We construct the
leading semiclassical ``creeping'' orbits that are responsible for the symmetry
splitting of the resonances in this system. The collinear three-disk-system is
not only one of the simplest but also one of the most effective systems for
detecting creeping phenomena. While in symmetrically placed n-disk systems
creeping corrections affect the subleading resonances, they here alone
determine the symmetry splitting of the 3-disk resonances in the semiclassical
calculation. It should therefore be considered as a paradigm for the study of
creeping effects. PACS numbers: 03.65.Sq, 03.20.+i, 05.45.+bComment: replaced with published version (minor misprints corrected and
references updated); 23 pages, LaTeX plus 8 Postscript figures, uses
epsfig.sty, espf.sty, and epsf.te
âIt Takes Two Hands to Clapâ: How Gaddi Shepherds in the Indian Himalayas Negotiate Access to Grazing
This article examines the effects of state intervention on the workings of informal institutions that coordinate the communal use and management of natural resources. Specifically it focuses on the case of the nomadic Gaddi
shepherds and official attempts to regulate their access to grazing pastures in the Indian Himalayas. It is often predicted that the increased presence of the modern state critically undermines locally appropriate and community-based resource management arrangements. Drawing on the work of Pauline Peters and Francis Cleaver, I identify key instances of socially embedded âcommonâ management institutions and explain the evolution of these arrangements
through dynamic interactions between individuals, communities and the agents of the state. Through describing the âliving spaceâ of Gaddi shepherds across the annual cycle of nomadic migration with their flocks I explore the
ways in which they have been able to creatively reinterpret external interventions, and suggest how contemporary arrangements for accessing pasture at different moments of the annual cycle involve complex combinations of the
formal and the informal, the âtraditionalâ and the âmodernâ
Wetting films on chemically heterogeneous substrates
Based on a microscopic density functional theory we investigate the
morphology of thin liquidlike wetting films adsorbed on substrates endowed with
well-defined chemical heterogeneities. As paradigmatic cases we focus on a
single chemical step and on a single stripe. In view of applications in
microfluidics the accuracy of guiding liquids by chemical microchannels is
discussed. Finally we give a general prescription of how to investigate
theoretically the wetting properties of substrates with arbitrary chemical
structures.Comment: 56 pages, RevTeX, 20 Figure
Human antigen R as a therapeutic target in pathological cardiac hypertrophy
RNA binding proteins represent an emerging class of proteins with a role in cardiac dysfunction. We show that activation of the RNA binding protein human antigen R (HuR) is increased in the failing human heart. To determine the functional role of HuR in pathological cardiac hypertrophy, we created an inducible cardiomyocyte-specific HuR-deletion mouse and showed that HuR deletion reduces left ventricular hypertrophy, dilation, and fibrosis while preserving cardiac function in a transverse aortic constriction (TAC) model of pressure overload-induced hypertrophy. Assessment of HuR-dependent changes in global gene expression suggests that the mechanistic basis for this protection occurs through a reduction in fibrotic signaling, specifically through a reduction in TGF-ÎČ (Tgfb) expression. Finally, pharmacological inhibition of HuR at a clinically relevant time point following the initial development of pathological hypertrophy after TAC also yielded a significant reduction in pathological progression, as marked by a reduction in hypertrophy, dilation, and fibrosis and preserved function. In summary, this study demonstrates a functional role for HuR in the progression of pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy and establishes HuR inhibition as a viable therapeutic approach for pathological cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure
The British Army, information management and the First World War revolution in military affairs
Information Management (IM) â the systematic ordering, processing and channelling of information within organisations â forms a critical component of modern military command and control systems. As a subject of scholarly enquiry, however, the history of military IM has been relatively poorly served. Employing new
and under-utilised archival sources, this article takes the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) of the First World War as its case study and assesses the extent to which its IM system contributed to the emergence of the modern battlefield in 1918. It argues that the
demands of fighting a modern war resulted in a general, but not universal, improvement in the BEFâs IM techniques, which in turn laid the groundwork, albeit in embryonic form, for the IM systems of modern armies.
KEY WORDS: British Army, Information Management, First World War, Revolution in Military Affairs, Adaptatio
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