4,309 research outputs found
Flightweight radiantly and actively cooled panel: Thermal and structural performance
A 2- by 4-ft flightweight panel was subjected to thermal/structural tests representative of design flight conditions for a Mach 6.7 transport and to off-design conditions simulating flight maneuvers and cooling system failures. The panel utilized Rene 41 heat shields backed by a thin layer of insulation to radiate away most of the 12 Btu/ft2-sec incident heating. A solution of ethylene glycol in water circulating through tubes in an aluminum-honeycomb-sandwich panel absorbed the remainder of the incident heating (0.8 Btu/sq ft-sec). The panel successfully withstood (1) 46.7 hr of radiant heating which included 53 thermal cycles and 5000 cycles of uniaxial inplane loading of + or - 1200 lfb/in; (2) simulated 2g-maneuver heating conditions and simulated cooling system failures without excessive temperatures on the structural panel; and (3) the extensive thermal/structural tests and the aerothermal tests reported in NASA TP-1595 without significant damage to the structural panel, coolant leaks, or hot-gas ingress to the structural panel
The Conical Point in the Ferroelectric Six-Vertex Model
We examine the last unexplored regime of the asymmetric six-vertex model: the
low-temperature phase of the so-called ferroelectric model. The original
publication of the exact solution, by Sutherland, Yang, and Yang, and various
derivations and reviews published afterwards, do not contain many details about
this regime. We study the exact solution for this model, by numerical and
analytical methods. In particular, we examine the behavior of the model in the
vicinity of an unusual coexistence point that we call the ``conical'' point.
This point corresponds to additional singularities in the free energy that were
not discussed in the original solution. We show analytically that in this point
many polarizations coexist, and that unusual scaling properties hold in its
vicinity.Comment: 28 pages (LaTeX); 8 postscript figures available on request
([email protected]). Submitted to Journal of Statistical Physics. SFU-DJBJDS-94-0
Time Ordering in Kicked Qubits
We examine time ordering effects in strongly, suddenly perturbed two-state
quantum systems (kicked qubits) by comparing results with time ordering to
results without time ordering. Simple analytic expressions are given for state
occupation amplitudes and probabilities for singly and multiply kicked qubits.
We investigate the limit of no time ordering, which can differ in different
representations.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figure
Three Dimensional Mapping of Texture in Dental Enamel
We have used synchrotron x-ray diffraction to study the crystal orientation in human dental enamel as a function of position within intact tooth sections. Keeping tooth sections intact has allowed us to construct 2D and 3D spatial distribution maps of the magnitude and orientation of texture in dental enamel. We have found that the enamel crystallites are most highly aligned at the expected occlusal points for a maxillary first premolar, and that the texture direction varies spatially in a three dimensional curling arrangement. Our results provide a model for texture in enamel which can aid researchers in developing dental composite materials for fillings and crowns with optimal characteristics for longevity, and will guide clinicians to the best method for drilling into enamel, in order to minimize weakening of remaining tooth structure, during dental restoration procedure
A generalized theory of semiflexible polymers
DNA bending on length scales shorter than a persistence length plays an
integral role in the translation of genetic information from DNA to cellular
function. Quantitative experimental studies of these biological systems have
led to a renewed interest in the polymer mechanics relevant for describing the
conformational free energy of DNA bending induced by protein-DNA complexes.
Recent experimental results from DNA cyclization studies have cast doubt on the
applicability of the canonical semiflexible polymer theory, the wormlike chain
(WLC) model, to DNA bending on biological length scales. This paper develops a
theory of the chain statistics of a class of generalized semiflexible polymer
models. Our focus is on the theoretical development of these models and the
calculation of experimental observables. To illustrate our methods, we focus on
a specific toy model of DNA bending. We show that the WLC model generically
describes the long-length-scale chain statistics of semiflexible polymers, as
predicted by the Renormalization Group. In particular, we show that either the
WLC or our new model adequate describes force-extension, solution scattering,
and long-contour-length cyclization experiments, regardless of the details of
DNA bend elasticity. In contrast, experiments sensitive to short-length-scale
chain behavior can in principle reveal dramatic departures from the linear
elastic behavior assumed in the WLC model. We demonstrate this explicitly by
showing that our toy model can reproduce the anomalously large
short-contour-length cyclization J factors observed by Cloutier and Widom.
Finally, we discuss the applicability of these models to DNA chain statistics
in the context of future experiments
The effects of shoe temperature on the kinetics and kinematics of running
The aim of the current investigation was to examine the effects of cooled footwear on the kinetics and kinematics of running in comparison to footwear at normal temperature. Twelve participants ran at 4.0 m/s ± 5% in both cooled and normal temperature footwear conditions over a force platform. Two identical footwear were worn, one of which was cooled for 30 min. Lower extremity kinematics were obtained using a motion capture system and tibial accelerations were measured using a triaxial accelerometer. Differences between cooled and normal footwear temperatures were contrasted using paired samples t-tests. The results showed that midsole temperature (cooled = 4.21 °C and normal = 23.25 °C) and maximal midsole deformation during stance (cooled = 12.85 mm and normal = 14.52 mm) were significantly reduced in the cooled footwear. In addition, instantaneous loading rate (cooled = 186.21 B.W/s and normal = 167.08 B W/s), peak tibial acceleration (cooled = 12.75 g and normal = 10.70 g) and tibial acceleration slope (cooled = 478.69 g/s and normal = 327.48 g/s) were significantly greater in the cooled footwear. Finally, peak eversion (cooled = −10.57 ° and normal = −7.83°) and tibial internal rotation (cooled = 10.67 ° and normal = 7.77°) were also shown to be significantly larger in the cooled footwear condition. This study indicates that running in cooled footwear may place runners at increased risk from the biomechanical parameters linked to the aetiology of injuries
Galaxy Formation by Galactic Magnetic Fields
Galaxies exhibit a sequence of various morphological types, i.e., the Hubble
sequence, and they are basically composed of spheroidal components (elliptical
galaxies and bulges in spiral galaxies) and disks. It is known that spheroidal
components are found only in relatively massive galaxies with M=10^{10-12}
M_sun, and all stellar populations in them are very old, but there is no clear
explanation for these facts. Here we present a speculative scenario for the
origin of the Hubble sequence, in which magnetic fields ubiquitously seen in
galaxies have played a crucial role. We first start from a strange
observational fact that magnetic field strengths observed in spiral galaxies
sharply concentrate at a few microgauss, for a wide range of galaxy luminosity
and types. We then argue that this fact and the observed correlation between
star formation activity and magnetic field strength in spiral galaxies suggest
that spheroidal galaxies have formed by starbursts induced by strong magnetic
fields. Then we show that this idea naturally leads to the formation of
spheroidal systems only in massive and high-redshift objects in hierarchically
clustering universe, giving a simple explanation for various observations.Comment: 7 pages including 2 figures. Accepted by ApJ Letter
The Refractive Index of Curved Spacetime II: QED, Penrose Limits and Black Holes
This work considers the way that quantum loop effects modify the propagation
of light in curved space. The calculation of the refractive index for scalar
QED is reviewed and then extended for the first time to QED with spinor
particles in the loop. It is shown how, in both cases, the low frequency phase
velocity can be greater than c, as found originally by Drummond and Hathrell,
but causality is respected in the sense that retarded Green functions vanish
outside the lightcone. A "phenomenology" of the refractive index is then
presented for black holes, FRW universes and gravitational waves. In some
cases, some of the polarization states propagate with a refractive index having
a negative imaginary part indicating a potential breakdown of the optical
theorem in curved space and possible instabilities.Comment: 62 pages, 14 figures, some signs corrected in formulae and graph
Two-Pulse Propagation in a Partially Phase-Coherent Medium
We analyze the effects of partial coherence of ground state preparation on
two-pulse propagation in a three-level medium, in contrast to
previous treastments that have considered the cases of media whose ground
states are characterized by probabilities (level populations) or by probability
amplitudes (coherent pure states). We present analytic solutions of the
Maxwell-Bloch equations, and we extend our analysis with numerical solutions to
the same equations. We interpret these solutions in the bright/dark dressed
state basis, and show that they describe a population transfer between the
bright and dark state. For mixed-state media with partial ground
state phase coherence the dark state can never be fully populated. This has
implications for phase-coherent effects such as pulse matching, coherent
population trapping, and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We
show that for partially phase-coherent three-level media, self induced
transparency (SIT) dominates EIT and our results suggest a corresponding
three-level area theorem.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Efficacy Of Prophylactic Knee Bracing In Conservative Management Of Knee Pain In Recreational Athletes
Patellofemoral pain is extremely common in recreational athletes. Patellofemoral symptoms can severely restrict participation in athletic activities, and may also progress into osteoarthritis in later life
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