Modified NASA-Lewis chemical equilibrium code for MHD applications

A substantially modified version of the NASA-Lewis Chemical Equilibrium Code was recently developed. The modifications were designed to extend the power and convenience of the Code as a tool for performing combustor analysis for MHD systems studies. The effect of the programming details is described from a user point of view

Introduction to The Special Issue: Advances in Methods and Measurement in Family Psychology

This special issue presents a collection of reports that highlight recent advances in methods and measurement and also shed light on the complexity of family psychology. The importance of theory in guiding solid family science is evident throughout these reports. The reports include guides for researchers who incorporate direct observation into their research protocols and the ever-expanding field of tele-health interventions. Advanced analytic approaches are offered in the areas of grid sequence analysis, latent fixed-effects models, and the Factors of Curves Model (FOCUS). These sophisticated analytic approaches may be applied to advance systemic thinking in family psychology. The last set of articles illustrate how complex and innovative methodologies are applied to address important societal issues. Work experiences and marital relationships in African American couples address the importance of spillover effects in contemporary families. The creation of biobehavioral plasticity index has the potential to inform gene x environment contributions to family functioning. Finally, the unique methodological issues that are particularly germane to the diverse nature of stepfamilies and nonresident fathers are addressed. We hope that readers of this special issue will return to these reports as resources and examples of theory-driven methods and measurements

Asymmetric magnetic reconnection with a flow shear and applications to the magnetopause

We perform a theoretical and numerical study of anti-parallel 2D magnetic reconnection with asymmetries in the density and reconnecting magnetic field strength in addition to a bulk flow shear across the reconnection site in the plane of the reconnecting fields, which commonly occurs at planetary magnetospheres. We predict the speed at which an isolated X-line is convected by the flow, the reconnection rate, and the critical flow speed at which reconnection no longer takes place for arbitrary reconnecting magnetic field strengths, densities, and upstream flow speeds, and confirm the results with two-fluid numerical simulations. The predictions and simulation results counter the prevailing model of reconnection at Earth's dayside magnetopause which says reconnection occurs with a stationary X-line for sub-Alfvenic magnetosheath flow, reconnection occurs but the X-line convects for magnetosheath flows between the Alfven speed and double the Alfven speed, and reconnection does not occur for magnetosheath flows greater than double the Alfven speed. We find that X-line motion is governed by momentum conservation from the upstream flows, which are weighted differently in asymmetric systems, so the X-line convects for generic conditions including sub-Alfvenic upstream speeds. For the reconnection rate, while the cutoff condition for symmetric reconnection is that the difference in flows on the two sides of the reconnection site is twice the Alfven speed, we find asymmetries cause the cutoff speed for asymmetric reconnection to be higher than twice the asymmetric form of the Alfven speed. The results compare favorably with an observation of reconnection at Earth's polar cusps during a period of northward interplanetary magnetic field, where reconnection occurs despite the magnetosheath flow speed being more than twice the magnetosheath Alfven speed, the previously proposed suppression condition.Comment: 46 pages, 7 figures, abstract abridged here, accepted to Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physic

Optimal Kinematic Design of a Robotic Lizard using Four-Bar and Five-Bar Mechanisms

Designing a mechanism to mimic the motion of a common house gecko is the objective of this work. The body of the robot is designed using four five-bar mechanisms (2-RRRRR and 2-RRPRR) and the leg is designed using four four-bar mechanisms. The 2-RRRRR five-bar mechanisms form the head and tail of the robotic lizard. The 2-RRPRR five-bar mechanisms form the left and right sides of the body in the robotic lizard. The four five-bar mechanisms are actuated by only four rotary actuators. Of these, two actuators control the head movements and the other two control the tail movements. The RRPRR five-bar mechanism is controlled by one actuator from the head five-bar mechanism and the other by the tail five-bar mechanism. A tension spring connects each active link to a link in the four bar mechanism. When the robot is actuated, the head, tail and the body moves, and simultaneously each leg moves accordingly. This kind of actuation where the motion transfer occurs from body of the robot to the leg is the novelty in our design. The dimensional synthesis of the robotic lizard is done and presented. Then the forward and inverse kinematics of the mechanism, and configuration space singularities identification for the robot are presented. The gait exhibited by the gecko is studied and then simulated. A computer aided design of the robotic lizard is created and a prototype is made by 3D printing the parts. The prototype is controlled using Arduino UNO as a micro-controller. The experimental results are finally presented based on the gait analysis that was done earlier. The forward walking, and turning motion are done and snapshots are presented.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, Submitted for iNaCoMM 2023 conferenc

Oblique radiative shocks, including their interactions with nonradiative polytropic shocks

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98755/1/PhysPlasmas_18_056901.pd

U.V. spectra parameters to investigate the influences of intensifications of soybean with sorghum and maize on the physical properties of soybean seed oils

Using U.V. spectra measurements as a tool to investigate the influences of intensifications or intercroping of crops on the physical properties of the constituents of the yielded grains or seeds. In this paper the authors used U.V. spectra measurement to deduce the effects of intensifications of Clark and Crowmord soybean varieties on some sorghum and maize varieties on the physical properties of the oils of the soybean seed varieties. Results of this work revealed that the highest U.V. spectra measurements at bands 270 nm, were 2.5 for the oils of Crowmord soybean seed variety intensificated on Giza 15 sorghum variety intensity 2:4 (2 rows soybean: 4 rows sorghum) and Giza 2, Hz 215 and Hz 310 maize varieties, intensity 2:2, 2:4, 2:4 and 2:2 respectively in the regions of spectra differences. The intensification of Clark and Crowmord soybean varieties on sorghum and maize is effective as the physical properties of their oils improved by increasing the cromophor and carotenoids compound levels.Se usaron medidas de espectros U.V. como una herramienta para investigar las influencias de intensificaciones o intercultivos sobre las propiedades físicas de los constituyentes de granos o semillas producidos. En este trabajo el autor usó medidas de espectros U.V. para deducir los efectos de intensificaciones de variedades de soja Clark y Crowmord con variedades de sorgo y maíz sobre las propiedades físicas de los aceites de soja. Los resultados de este trabajo revelaron que los valores de espectros U.V. más elevados a 270 nm, fueron 2'5 para los aceites de variedades de semilla de soja Crowmord intensificado con la variedad sorgo Giza 15 (2 filas soja: 4 filas sorgo) y las variedades de maíz Giza 2 (2:2 y 2:4), Hz 215 (2:4) y Hz 310 (2:2). La intensificación de variedades de soja Clark y Crowmord con sorgo y maíz es efectiva, ya que las propiedades físicas de sus aceites mejoraron por aumento de los niveles de compuestos cromóforos y carotenoides

Hybrid Method for Digits Recognition using Fixed-Frame Scores and Derived Pitch

This paper presents a procedure of frame normalization based on the traditional dynamic time warping (DTW) using the LPC coefficients. The redefined method is called as the DTW frame-fixing method (DTW-FF), it works by normalizing the word frames of the input against the reference frames. The enthusiasm to this study is due to neural network limitation that entails a fix number of input nodes for when processing multiple inputs in parallel. Due to this problem, this research is initiated to reduce the amount of computation and complexity in a neural network by reducing the number of inputs into the network. In this study, dynamic warping process is used, in which local distance scores of the warping path are fixed and collected so that their scores are of equal number of frames. Also studied in this paper is the consideration of pitch as a contributing feature to the speech recognition. Results showed a good performance and improvement when using pitch along with DTW-FF feature. The convergence rate between using the steepest gradient descent is also compared to another method namely conjugate gradient method. Convergence rate is also improved when conjugate gradient method is introduced in the back-propagation algorithm

EFFECT OF SMOKING ON HEART RATE VARIABILITY IN NORMAL HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS

ABSTRACTObjective: The aim of this study is to determine the effect of tobacco smoke on heart rate variability (HRV).Methods: This study included 90 male smokers (30-mild, 30-moderate, 30-severe) (Group II) and 30 age-matched non-smokers as controls (Group I).HRV analysis was performed using 8 channels Physiopac of Medicaid Company. All the subjects were subjected to HRV test. The short-term 8 minutesHR recording was performed for HRV analysis.Results: Mean RR, mean HR, root mean square of the successive differences, of the smokers and non-smokers, did not differ significantly. However,smokers NN50, Pnn50, high frequency (HF) declined significantly, and the smokers show significantly higher low frequency (LF), LF/HF ratio whencompared with those of the non-smoking individuals (p<0.05).Conclusion: HRV analysis of smokers and nonsmokers showed that smoking subjects had an autonomic imbalance suggestive of an increasedsympathetic tone or decreased parasympathetic tone. Sympathetic overactivity may lead to cardiovascular disease development in smokers.Keywords: Smoking, Healthy volunteers, Heart rate variability