Professional Concerns

In the contribution which follows, Collett B. Dilworth, Jr., of the English Department at East Carolina University, gets to the very heart of why literature is taught in schools. He broaches the question of how literary study relates to the basic skills, and he ties his rationale in with questions of accountability and its handmaiden, competency testing. Probably the heart of Dilworth\u27s argument is in his statement, The student of literature is not primarily looking for information, s/he is looking for experience

Mars Orbiter Study. Volume 2: Mission Design, Science Instrument Accommodation, Spacecraft Design

Spacecraft system and subsystem designs were developed at the conceptual level to perform either of two Mars Orbiter Missions, a Climatology Mission and an Aeronomy Mission. The objectives of these missions are to obtain and return data to increase knowledge of Mars

Franck-Condon Factors and Radiative Lifetime of the A^{2}\Pi_{1/2} - X^{2}\Sigma^{+} Transition of Ytterbium Monoflouride, YbF

The fluorescence spectrum resulting from laser excitation of the A^{2}\Pi_{1/2} - X^{2}\Sigma^{+} (0,0) band of ytterbium monofluoride, YbF, has been recorded and analyzed to determine the Franck-Condon factors. The measured values are compared with those predicted from Rydberg-Klein-Rees (RKR) potential energy curves. From the fluorescence decay curve the radiative lifetime of the A^{2}\Pi_{1/2} state is measured to be 28\pm2 ns, and the corresponding transition dipole moment is 4.39\pm0.16 D. The implications for laser cooling YbF are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Changes in Continental and Sea-salt Atmospheric Loadings in Central Greenland during the Most Recent Deglaciation: Model-based Estimates

By fitting a very simple atmospheric impurity model to high-resolution data on ice accumulation and contaminant f1uxes in the GISP2 ice core, we have estimated changes in the atmospheric concentrations of soluble major ions, insoluble particulates and 10Be during the transition from glacial to Holocene conditions. For many species, changes in concentration in the ice typically overestimate atmospheric changes, and changes in flux to the ice typically underestimate atmospheric changes, because times of increased atmospheric contaminant loading are also times of reduced snowfall. The model interpolates between the flux and concentration records by explicitly allowing [or wet- and dry- deposition processes. Compared to the warm Preboreal that followed, we estimate that the atmosphere over Greenland sampled b y snow accumulated during the Younger Dryas cold event contained on average four-seven times the insoluble particulates and n early seven times the soluble calcium derived from continental sources, and about three times the sea salt but only slightly more cosmogenic 10Be

Stark deceleration of CaF molecules in strong- and weak-field seeking states

We report the Stark deceleration of CaF molecules in the strong-field seeking ground state and in a weak-field seeking component of a rotationally-excited state. We use two types of decelerator, a conventional Stark decelerator for the weak-field seekers, and an alternating gradient decelerator for the strong-field seekers, and we compare their relative merits. We also consider the application of laser cooling to increase the phase-space density of decelerated molecules.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Large-Area Silicon Detectors for the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS)

Extensive measurements were made of the thicknesses and dead-layers of the large-area, highpurity silicon detectors used for the Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS), an instrument to be launched on the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft. Tests using accelerated beams of heavy nuclei were also carried out to characterize the completed instrument