4,152 research outputs found
Proca equations derived from first principles
Gersten has shown how Maxwell equations can be derived from first principles,
similar to those which have been used to obtain the Dirac relativistic electron
equation. We show how Proca equations can be also deduced from first
principles, similar to those which have been used to find Dirac and Maxwell
equations. Contrary to Maxwell equations, it is necessary to introduce a
potential in order to transform a second order differential equation, as the
Klein-Gordon equation, into a first order differential equation, like Proca
equations.Comment: 6 page
Superfluid Helium Orbital Resupply Coupling
The resupply of superfluid helium to satellites and other space-based experiment packages can increase the useful longevity of these devices far beyond their present life expectancies which are many times determined by the supply of helium coolant. The transfer of superfluid helium to spacecraft in space will require a reusable coupling that functions at 1.8 Kelvin with little heat leak and low pressure drop. Moog has designed the Helium Resupply Coupling to meet these operational requirements. Initially, the coupling manual mode operation will be demonstrated on orbit by an EVA crew member during the Space Shuttle borne Superfluid Helium On-Orbit Transfer (SHOOT) experiment. The ultimate application will use robotic (automatic) coupling operation to which the present design readily adapts. The utilization of Moog's exclusive Rotary Shut-Off (RSO) technology in the development of the Superfluid Helium Resupply Coupling is described. The coupling not only performs the function of a flow control valve and disconnect but also provides adequate safety features for a shuttle launched man-rated payload. In addition, the coupling incorporates the necessary features to provide the high thermal isolation of the internal flow path from the external environment
Soft X-ray Emission from the Spiral Galaxy NGC 1313
The nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1313 has been observed with the PSPC
instr- ument on board the ROSAT X-ray satellite. Ten individual sources are
found. Three sources (X-1, X-2 and X-3 [SN~1978K]) are very bright (~10^40
erg/s) and are unusual in that analogous objects do not exist in our Galaxy. We
present an X-ray image of NGC~1313 and \xray spectra for the three bright
sources. The emission from the nuclear region (R ~< 2 kpc) is dominated by
source X-1, which is located ~1 kpc north of the photometric (and dynamical)
center of NGC~1313. Optical, far-infrared and radio images do not indicate the
presence of an active galactic nucleus at that position; however, the compact
nature of the \xray source (X-1) suggests that it is an accretion-powered
object with central mass M >~ 10^3 Msun. Additional emission (L_X ~ 10^39
erg/s) in the nuclear region extends out to ~2.6 kpc and roughly follows the
spiral arms. This emission is from 4 sources with luminosity of several x 10^38
erg/s, two of which are consistent with emission from population I sources
(e.g., supernova remnants, and hot interstellar gas which has been heated by
supernova remnants). The other two sources could be emission from population II
sources (e.g., low-mass \xray binaries). The bright sources X-2 and SN~1978K
are positioned in the southern disk of NGC~1313. X-2 is variable and has no
optical counterpart brighter than 20.8 mag (V-band). It is likely that it is an
accretion-powered object in NGC~1313. The type-II supernova SN~1978K (Ryder
\etal 1993) has become extra- ordinarily luminous in X-rays 13 years
after optical maximum.Comment: to appear in 10 Jun 1995 ApJ, 30 pgs uuencoded compressed postscript,
25 pgs of figures available upon request from colbert, whole preprint
available upon request from Sandy Shrader ([email protected]),
hopefully fixed unknown problem with postscript fil
Measurement of retinal vessel widths from fundus images based on 2-D modeling
Changes in retinal vessel diameter are an important sign of diseases such as hypertension, arteriosclerosis and diabetes mellitus. Obtaining precise measurements of vascular widths is a critical and demanding process in automated retinal image analysis as the typical vessel is only a few pixels wide. This paper presents an algorithm to measure the vessel diameter to subpixel accuracy. The diameter measurement is based on a two-dimensional difference of Gaussian model, which is optimized to fit a two-dimensional intensity vessel segment. The performance of the method is evaluated against Brinchmann-Hansen's half height, Gregson's rectangular profile and Zhou's Gaussian model. Results from 100 sample profiles show that the presented algorithm is over 30% more precise than the compared techniques and is accurate to a third of a pixel
Optic nerve head segmentation
Reliable and efficient optic disk localization and segmentation are important tasks in automated retinal screening. General-purpose edge detection algorithms often fail to segment the optic disk due to fuzzy boundaries, inconsistent image contrast or missing edge features. This paper presents an algorithm for the localization and segmentation of the optic nerve head boundary in low-resolution images (about 20 /spl mu//pixel). Optic disk localization is achieved using specialized template matching, and segmentation by a deformable contour model. The latter uses a global elliptical model and a local deformable model with variable edge-strength dependent stiffness. The algorithm is evaluated against a randomly selected database of 100 images from a diabetic screening programme. Ten images were classified as unusable; the others were of variable quality. The localization algorithm succeeded on all bar one usable image; the contour estimation algorithm was qualitatively assessed by an ophthalmologist as having Excellent-Fair performance in 83% of cases, and performs well even on blurred image
Salinity and waterlogging on the Esperance Downs Research Station
Details the situation on the station so that the demonstration and research programs can be designed and the effect of the treatments assessed. Past work on the station has been briefly summarised and the results of geophysical surveys and additional drilling are given. Surveys of electromagnetic terrain conductivities have shown where salinity is most serious at present. The most deeply penetrating method may have identified areas likely to developing salinity in future
Neutral Hydrogen in the Ringed Barred Galaxies NGC 1433 and NGC 6300
We have made observations of the \ion{H}{1} in the southern ringed barred
spiral galaxies NGC~1433 and NGC~6300 with the Australia Telescope Compact
Array (ATCA), the main goal being to test the resonance theory for the origin
of these rings. NGC~1433 is the prototypical ringed barred spiral, and displays
distinct \ion{H}{1}~counterparts to its nuclear ring, inner ring, outer
pseudoring, and plume-like features. The and regions at
corotation, as well as the bar itself, are relatively devoid of neutral atomic
hydrogen. By associating the inner ring of NGC~1433 with the inner second
harmonic resonance, and its outer pseudoring with the outer Lindblad resonance,
we are able to infer a bar pattern speed for NGC~1433 of
~km~s~kpc. By way of contrast, NGC~6300 possesses a much
more extended \ion{H}{1}~disk than NGC~1433. There is a gas ring underlying the
inner pseudoring, but it is both broader and slightly larger in diameter than
the optical feature. By again linking this inner ring feature to the inner
second harmonic resonance, we derive a bar pattern speed for NGC~6300 of
~km~s~kpc, but in this case, neither the outer pseudoring
nor the nuclear ring predicted by the resonance-ring theory can be identified
in NGC~6300. Although it may be the case that the ring in NGC~6300 is not
related to a resonance with the bar at all, we postulate instead that NGC~6300
is merely a less well-developed example of a resonance-ring galaxy than is
NGC~1433.Comment: 21 pages, aas2pp4 LaTeX, no figures included. Accepted for April 1
1996 ApJ. Full paper (with figures) available from
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~sdr/prep.htm
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