Liquid Booster Module (LBM) plume flowfield model

A complete definition of the LBM plume is important for many Shuttle design criteria. The exhaust plume shape has a significant effect on the vehicle base pressure. The LBM definition is also important to the Shuttle base heating, aerodynamics and the influence of the exhaust plume on the launch stand and environment. For these reasons a knowledge of the LBM plume characteristics is necessary. A definition of the sea level LBM plume as well as at several points along the Shuttle trajectory to LBM, burnout is presented

Planning Graph Heuristics for Belief Space Search

Some recent works in conditional planning have proposed reachability heuristics to improve planner scalability, but many lack a formal description of the properties of their distance estimates. To place previous work in context and extend work on heuristics for conditional planning, we provide a formal basis for distance estimates between belief states. We give a definition for the distance between belief states that relies on aggregating underlying state distance measures. We give several techniques to aggregate state distances and their associated properties. Many existing heuristics exhibit a subset of the properties, but in order to provide a standardized comparison we present several generalizations of planning graph heuristics that are used in a single planner. We compliment our belief state distance estimate framework by also investigating efficient planning graph data structures that incorporate BDDs to compute the most effective heuristics. We developed two planners to serve as test-beds for our investigation. The first, CAltAlt, is a conformant regression planner that uses A* search. The second, POND, is a conditional progression planner that uses AO* search. We show the relative effectiveness of our heuristic techniques within these planners. We also compare the performance of these planners with several state of the art approaches in conditional planning

Validation of the face-name pairs task in major depression: impaired recall but not recognition

Major depression can be associated with neurocognitive deficits which are believed in part to be related to medial temporal lobe pathology. The purpose of this study was to investigate this impairment using a hippocampal-dependent neuropsychological task. The face-name pairs task was used to assess associative memory functioning in 19 patients with major depression. When compared to age-sex-and-education matched controls, patients with depression showed impaired learning, delayed cued-recall, and delayed free-recall. However, they also showed preserved recognition of the verbal and nonverbal components of this task. Results indicate that the face-name pairs task is sensitive to neurocognitive deficits in major depression.Thisresearchwasfundedbya4-yearHealthResearch Board grant

Ion clustering in aqueous salt solutions near the liquid/vapor interface

Molecular dynamics simulations of aqueous NaCl, KCl, NaI, and KI solutions are used to study the effects of salts on the properties of the liquid/vapor interface. The simulations use the models which include both charge transfer and polarization effects. Pairing and the formation of larger ion clusters occurs both in the bulk and surface region, with a decreased tendency to form larger clusters near the interface. An analysis of the roughness of the surface reveals that the chloride salts, which have less tendency to be near the surface, have a roughness that is less than pure water, while the iodide salts, which have a greater surface affinity, have a larger roughness. This suggests that ions away from the surface and ions near the surface affect the interface in opposite ways.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

The Secondary Star in Cataclysmic Variables and Low Mass X-ray Binaries

We critically re-examine the available data on the spectral types, masses and radii of the secondary stars in cataclysmic variables (CVs) and low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), using the new catalogue of Ritter & Kolb (1998) as a starting point. We find there are 55 reliable spectral type determinations and only 14 reliable mass determinations of CV secondary stars (10 and 5, respectively, in the case of LMXBs). We derive new spectral type-period, mass-radius, mass-period and radius-period relations, and compare them with theoretical predictions. We find that CV secondary stars with orbital periods shorter than 7-8 hours are, as a group, indistinguishable from main sequence stars in detached binaries. We find it is not valid, however, to estimate the mass from the spectral type of the secondary star in CVs or LMXBs. We find that LMXB secondary stars show some evidence for evolution, with secondary stars which are slightly too large for their mass. We show how the masses and radii of the secondary stars in CVs can be used to test the validity of the disrupted magnetic braking model of CV evolution, but we find that the currently available data are not sufficiently accurate or numerous to allow such an analysis. As well as considering secondary star masses, we also discuss the masses of the white dwarfs in CVs, and find mean values of M_1 = 0.69+/-0.13 M_sun below the period gap, and M_1 = 0.80+/-0.22 M_sun above the period gap.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Evidence of a saturated gravity-wave spectrum throughout the atmosphere

The view adapted here is that the dominant mesoscale motions are due to internal gravity waves and show that previous and new vertical wave number spectra of horizontal winds are consistent with the notion of a saturation limit on wave amplitudes. It is also proposed that, at any height, only those vertical wave numbers m less than m sub asterisk are at saturation amplitudes, where m sub asterisk is the vertical wave number of the dominant energy-containing scale. Wave numbers m less than m sub asterisk are unsaturated, but experience growth with height due to the decrease of atmospheric density. The result is a saturated spectrum of gravity waves with both m sub asterisk decreasing and wave energy increasing with height. This saturation theory is consistent with a variety of atmospheric spectral observations and provides a basis for the notion of a universal spectrum of atmospheric gravity waves

Discrete Logarithms in Generalized Jacobians

D\'ech\`ene has proposed generalized Jacobians as a source of groups for public-key cryptosystems based on the hardness of the Discrete Logarithm Problem (DLP). Her specific proposal gives rise to a group isomorphic to the semidirect product of an elliptic curve and a multiplicative group of a finite field. We explain why her proposal has no advantages over simply taking the direct product of groups. We then argue that generalized Jacobians offer poorer security and efficiency than standard Jacobians

A search for quasar protoclusters at z greater than 4

In the CDM and many other hierarchical scenarios for the origins of large scale structure, the existence of luminous quasars at very high redshifts (z greater than 3 or 4) is difficult to understand, unless such objects form at the very highest peaks of the density field. One then might expect a strong clustering of quasars at large redshifts. This is a generic prediction for practically any reasonable primordial density fluctuation spectrum. For CDM, Efstathiou & Rees (1988) predicted that quasars at z greater than 4 should be clustered as strongly as the bright galaxies at z approx. than 0. Cole & Kaiser (1989) suggest that z greater than 4 quasars might represent greater than or approximately = 4(sigma) peaks of the density field and thus, should be clustered more strongly than galaxies at z approximately = 0. We are performing the following experiment: a search for quasars, AGN, or other discrete objects, e.g., starforming galaxies, near known, z greater than 4 quasars. In other words, use the early quasars as markers of possible protoclusters. This is a fairly basic test of our understanding of the formation of galaxies, large-scale structure, and the origin of the first quasars themselves

Analytical study of catalytic reactors for hydrazine decomposition. One and two dimensional steady-state programs, computer programs manual

Programs manual for one-dimensional and two- dimensional steady state models of catalyzed hydrazine decomposition reaction chamber

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of nickel and nickel-base alloy surface alterations in simulated hot corrosion conditions with emphasis on eventual application to turbine blade corrosion

Research on the high temperature oxidation and Na2SO4 induced hot corrosion of some nickel base superalloys was accomplished by using ESCA to determine the surface composition of the oxidized or corroded samples. Oxidation was carried out at 900 or 1000 C in slowly flowing O2 for samples of B-1900, NASA-TRW VIA, 713C, and IN-738. Oxidation times ranged from 0.5 to 100 hr. Hot corrosion of B-1900 was induced applying a coating of Na2SO4 to peroxidized samples, the heating to 900 C in slowly flowing O2. For oxidized samples, the predominant type of scale formed by each superalloy was determined, and a marked surface enrichment of Ti was found in each case. For corroded samples, the transfer of significant amounts of material from the oxide layer to the surface of the salt layer was observed to occur long before the onset of accelerating weight-gain. Changes in surface composition were observed to coincide with the beginning of accelerating corrosion, the most striking of which was a tenfold decrease in the sulfur to sodium ration and an increase in the Cr(VI) ratio