Development of High Efficiency (14%) Solar Cell Array Module

High efficiency solar cells required for the low cost modules was developed. The production tooling for the manufacture of the cells and modules was designed. The tooling consisted of: (1) back contact soldering machine; (2) vacuum pickup; (3) antireflective coating tooling; and (4) test fixture

Development of high efficiency (14 percent) solar cell array module

Most effort was concentrated on development of procedures to provide large area (3 in. diameter) high efficiency (16.5 percent AM1, 28 C) P+NN+ solar cells. Intensive tests with 3 in. slices gave consistently lower efficiency (13.5 percent). The problems were identified as incomplete formation of and optimum back surface field (BSF), and interaction of the BSF process and the shallow P+ junction. The problem was shown not to be caused by reduced quality of silicon near the edges of the larger slices

The ROTSE-III Robotic Telescope System

The observation of a prompt optical flash from GRB990123 convincingly demonstrated the value of autonomous robotic telescope systems. Pursuing a program of rapid follow-up observations of gamma-ray bursts, the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) has developed a next-generation instrument, ROTSE-III, that will continue the search for fast optical transients. The entire system was designed as an economical robotic facility to be installed at remote sites throughout the world. There are seven major system components: optics, optical tube assembly, CCD camera, telescope mount, enclosure, environmental sensing & protection and data acquisition. Each is described in turn in the hope that the techniques developed here will be useful in similar contexts elsewhere.Comment: 19 pages, including 4 figures. To be published in PASP in January, 2003. PASP Number IP02-11

An engineered Tetrahymena tRNA(Gln) for in vivo incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins by nonsense suppression

A new tRNA, THG73, has been designed and evaluated as a vehicle for incorporating unnatural amino acids site-specifically into proteins expressed in vivo using the stop codon suppression technique. The construct is a modification of tRNAGln(CUA) from Tetrahymena thermophila, which naturally recognizes the stop codon UAG. Using electrophysiological studies of mutations at several sites of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, it is established that THG73 represents a major improvement over previous nonsense suppressors both in terms of efficiency and fidelity of unnatural amino acid incorporation. Compared with a previous tRNA used for in vivo suppression, THG73 is as much as 100-fold less likely to be acylated by endogenous synthetases of the Xenopus oocyte. This effectively eliminates a major concern of the in vivo suppression methodology, the undesirable incorporation of natural amino acids at the suppression site. In addition, THG73 is 4-10-fold more efficient at incorporating unnatural amino acids in the oocyte system. Taken together, these two advances should greatly expand the range of applicability of the in vivo nonsense suppression methodology

Stability Measurements of Rutherford Cables with Various Treatments

To improve the stability of Rutherford type superconducting cables, various methods of treating cables were considered and tested. These treatments include strand coating, partial soldering, "barber-pole" insulation and "porous $9 metal" solder filling. To study the effect of these treatments, several cables were prepared and MQE (minimum quench energy) values were measured. Coating, partial soldering or "barber-pole insulation" improved the relative stability$9 for some cables. The "porous metal" filled cables showed higher MQE. However the results suggest that the porous metal process needs to be improved. The measured data for cables with various treatments are presented. (8 refs)

Leaf area index (LAI) of loblolly pine and emergent vegetation following a harvest. Trans

ABSTRACT. Forests provide goods and services to society and, often, refugia for plants and animals; forest managers utilize silviculture to provide ecosystem services and to create habitat. On the Coastal Plain of North Carolina, forest management objectives typically include wood fiber production but may also include the maintenance of environmental quality and, sometimes, species diversity. Silvicultural prescriptions alter stand structure and development trajectories by influencing the competitive interactions among plant species for site resources. Early site intervention may include nutrient additions and/or vegetation control; in coastal loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) stands, herbaceous and arborescent species can dominate the site leaf area index (LAI) for many years after a harvest (followed by planting). LAI is an important structural and functional component of a forest stand. Many eco‐hydrologic and water quality models do not accurately account for LAI as the process driver to evapotranspiration (ET), and thus they ignore the ecophysiological effects of LAI on site water balance and nutrient loading. We measured LAI of emergent vegetation following a harvest, mechanical site preparation, and then pine planting for a drained loblolly pine plantation in coastal North Carolina. For six years monthly, growing season estimates of LAI were obtained using a LI‐COR LAI 2000 Plant Canopy Analyzer (PCA) for control (D1), thinned (D3), and harvested (D2) watersheds. In this article, we present results from the D2 treatment. In D2, we “harvested ” all emergent vegetation in 18 randomly placed 1 m 2 clip plots for three growing seasons where we estimated LAI using species‐pooled estimates of specific leaf area and total leaf dry mass (i.e., LAICLIP); PCA measurements were recorded prior to clipping (LAIPCA). We als

Prehospital hemodynamic improvement in patients treated for suspected sepsis

"Sepsis is a medical condition associated with high morbidity and mortality if not recognized and treated quickly. Over one-third of patients treated for sepsis in the emergency department are brought in by EMS. Studies have shown early recognition and treatment of septic patients shortens time to initiation of intravenous fluids and antibiotics. While this is encouraging, survey data shows aramedic knowledge and awareness of sepsis is widely variable. Due to this variation in knowledge, prehospital sepsis may be missed if there is not a robust prehospital sepsis protocol in place."--Introduction

Electron impact excitation cross sections for allowed transitions in atoms

We present a semiempirical Gaunt factor for widely used Van Regemorter formula [Astrophys. J. 136, 906 (1962)] for the case of allowed transitions in atoms with the LS coupling scheme. Cross sections calculated using this Gaunt factor agree with measured cross sections to within the experimental error.Comment: RevTeX, 3 pages, 10 PS figures, 2 PS tables, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Consumption of a high-fat meal increased monocyte adhesion molecule expression and oxLDL phagocytosis: implications for cardiovascular disease risk?

Macrophage-derived foam cells are the predominant component of arterial plaques in the early stages of atherosclerosis. The deposition of arterial plaques is effected by several factors that are influenced by a person’s daily nutritional habits. One factor that poses a major risk for plaque development is high levels of plasma LDL resulting from the consumption of a high-fat meal. In order to understand how an individuals’ diet effects arterial plaque deposition via the process of foam cell formation, we measured the acute response in circulating monocyte activity after consuming a high-fat meal. Samples were acquired on a FlowSight (EMD Millipore) equipped with 405, 488, 642, and 785 nm lasers. Samples were analyzed in IDEAS software to identify pro-inflammatory (CD14+/16+) and classic (CD14+/16-) monocytes. We measured monocyte concentration, adhesion molecule expression, scavenger R expression, and oxLDL phagocytosis for 5 h postprandial. We found that consuming a high-fat meal caused an increase in pro-inflammatory monocyte concentration, adhesion molecule expression, monocyte phagocytosis of oxLDL, and CD36 expression in pro-inflammatory monocytes. These results suggest that consuming a high-fat meal increases the potential of monocytes to become foam cells for at least 5 h postprandial

Launch Pad in a Box

NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is developing a new deployable launch system capability to support a small class of launch vehicles for NASA and commercial space companies to test and launch their vehicles. The deployable launch pad concept was first demonstrated on a smaller scale at KSC in 2012 in support of NASA Johnson Space Center's Morpheus Lander Project. The main objective of the Morpheus Project was to test a prototype planetary lander as a vertical takeoff and landing test-bed for advanced spacecraft technologies using a hazard field that KSC had constructed at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF). A steel pad for launch or landing was constructed using a modular design that allowed it to be reconfigurable and expandable. A steel flame trench was designed as an optional module that could be easily inserted in place of any modular steel plate component. The concept of a transportable modular launch and landing pad may also be applicable to planetary surfaces where the effects of rocket exhaust plume on surface regolith is problematic for hardware on the surface that may either be damaged by direct impact of high speed dust particles, or impaired by the accumulation of dust (e.g., solar array panels and thermal radiators). During the Morpheus free flight campaign in 2013-14, KSC performed two studies related to rocket plume effects. One study compared four different thermal ablatives that were applied to the interior of a steel flame trench that KSC had designed and built. The second study monitored the erosion of a concrete landing pad following each landing of the Morpheus vehicle on the same pad located in the hazard field. All surfaces of a portable flame trench that could be directly exposed to hot gas during launch of the Morpheus vehicle were coated with four types of ablatives. All ablative products had been tested by NASA KSC and/or the manufacturer. The ablative thicknesses were measured periodically following the twelve Morpheus free flight tests. The thermal energy from the Morpheus rocket exhaust plume was only found to be sufficient to cause appreciable ablation of one of the four ablatives that were tested. The rocket exhaust plume did cause spalling of concrete during each descent and landing on a landing pad in the hazard field. The Extended Abstract ASE Earth and Space Conference April, 2016 - Orlando, FL concrete surface was laser scanned following each Morpheus landing, and the total volume of spalled concrete that eroded between the first and final landings of the Morpheus Project's test campaign was estimated. This paper will also describe a new deployable launch system (DLS) capability that is being developed at KSC and was publicly announced in May 2015 (KSC Partnerships, 2015). The DLS is a set of multi-user Ground Support Equipment that will be used to test and launch small class launch vehicles. The system is comprised of four main elements: the Launch Stand, the Flame Deflector, the Pad Apron and the KAMAG transporter. The system elements are designed to be deployed at launch or test sites within the KSC/CCAFS boundaries. The DLS is intended to be used together with the Fluid and Electrical System of the Universal Propellant Servicing Systems and Mobile Power Data and Communications Unit