Chemical Environment Selectivity in Mössbauer Diffraction from 57Fe3Al

Mössbauer diffraction was used to measure different autocorrelation functions for 57Fe atoms in different chemical environments. The sample was polycrystalline 57Fe3Al with the ordered DO3 structure. Diffraction peaks from a fcc structure with a doubled unit cell were detected when the incident radiation was tuned to the Mössbauer resonance of the Wyckoff 4(b) Fe site, but not for tuning to the 8(c) site, thereby distinguishing the spatial arrangements of these two Fe sites

Wind-tunnel simulation of store jettison with the aid of magnetic artificial gravity

A method employed in the simulation of jettison of stores from aircraft involving small scale wind-tunnel drop tests from a model of the parent aircraft is described. Proper scaling of such experiments generally dictates that the gravitational acceleration should ideally be a test variable. A method of introducing a controllable artificial component of gravity by magnetic means has been proposed. The use of a magnetic artificial gravity facility based upon this idea, in conjunction with small scale wind-tunnel drop tests, would improve the accuracy of simulation. A review of the scaling laws as they apply to the design of such a facility is presented. The design constraints involved in the integration of such a facility with a wind tunnel are defined. A detailed performance analysis procedure applicable to such a facility is developed. A practical magnet configuration is defined which is capable of controlling the strength and orientation of the magnetic artificial gravity field in the vertical plane, thereby allowing simulation of store jettison from a diving or climbing aircraft. The factors involved in the choice between continuous or intermittent operation of the facility, and the use of normal or superconducting magnets, are defined

Preparation, analysis and release of simulated interplanetary grains into low Earth orbit

Astronomical observations which reflect the optical and dynamical properties of interstellar and interplanetary grains are the primary means of identifying the shape, size, and the chemistry of extraterrestrial grain materials. Except for recent samplings of extraterrestrial particles in near-Earth orbit and in the stratosphere observations were the only method of deducing the properties of extraterrestrial particles. In order to elucidate the detailed characteristics of observed dust, the observations must be compared with theoretical studies, some of which are discussed in this volume, or compared with terrestrial laboratory experiments. The formation and optical characterization of simulated interstellar and interplanetary dust with particular emphasis on studying the properties on irregularly shaped particles were discussed. Efforts to develop the techniques to allow dust experiments to be carried out in low-Earth orbit were discussed, thus extending the conditions under which dust experiments may be performed

Vibrational state dependence of ionic rotational branching ratios in resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization of CH

We show that rapid evolution of a Rydberg orbital with internuclear distance in a resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) process can have a profound influence on the production of molecular ions in alternative rotational states. This is illustrated by calculations of ionic rotational branching ratios for (2+1′) REMPI via the O11 (20.5) branch of the E′ ^2Σ^+(3pσ) Rydberg state of CH. The rotational propensity rule for ionization changes from ΔN=odd (ΔN=N_+−N_i) at lower vibrational excitation, as expected from the ΔN+l=odd selection rule, to ΔN=even at higher vibrational levels. This effect is expected to be quite general and should be most readily observable in diatomic hydrides

Local Chemical Environments and the Phonon Partial Densities of States of 57Fe in 57Fe3Al

Inelastic nuclear resonant scattering spectra were measured on alloys of Fe3Al that were chemically disordered, partially ordered, and D03 ordered. The features in the phonon partial density of states of 57Fe were found to change systematically with chemical short-range order in the alloy. Changes in the phonon partial density of states were modeled successfully by assigning vibrational spectra to 57Fe atoms in different first-nearest-neighbor chemical environments

Studies related to the design of a magnetic suspension and balance system Interim technical report, Dec. 1964 - Jan. 1966

Magnetic suspension and balance system for use in hypersonic flow apparatu

Mössbauer diffractometry on polycrystalline (57)Fe3Al

A Mossbauer powder diffractometer was used to measure diffraction patterns from polycrystalline foils of (Fe3Al)-Fe-57. The intensities of Bragg diffractions were measured as a function of the energy of the incident photon. The bee fundamental diffractions showed large changes in intensity as the incident energy was tuned through the nuclear resonances. These variations of diffraction intensity with incident energy were calculated with reasonable success using a kinematical theory of diffraction that included effects of coherent interference between x-ray Rayleigh scattering and, more importantly for these samples, Mossbauer scattering from nuclei having different hyperfine magnetic fields

A hierarchical Bayesian model for predicting ecological interactions using scaled evolutionary relationships

Identifying undocumented or potential future interactions among species is a challenge facing modern ecologists. Recent link prediction methods rely on trait data, however large species interaction databases are typically sparse and covariates are limited to only a fraction of species. On the other hand, evolutionary relationships, encoded as phylogenetic trees, can act as proxies for underlying traits and historical patterns of parasite sharing among hosts. We show that using a network-based conditional model, phylogenetic information provides strong predictive power in a recently published global database of host-parasite interactions. By scaling the phylogeny using an evolutionary model, our method allows for biological interpretation often missing from latent variable models. To further improve on the phylogeny-only model, we combine a hierarchical Bayesian latent score framework for bipartite graphs that accounts for the number of interactions per species with the host dependence informed by phylogeny. Combining the two information sources yields significant improvement in predictive accuracy over each of the submodels alone. As many interaction networks are constructed from presence-only data, we extend the model by integrating a correction mechanism for missing interactions, which proves valuable in reducing uncertainty in unobserved interactions.Comment: To appear in the Annals of Applied Statistic

Microgravity nucleation and particle coagulation experiments support

This project is a part of a program at GSFC to study to formation and growth of cosmic dust grain analogs under terrestrial as well as microgravity conditions. Its primary scientific objective is to study the homogeneous nucleation of refractory metal vapors and a variety of their oxides among others, while the engineering, and perhaps a more immediate objective is to develop a system capable of producing mono-dispersed, homogeneous suspensions of well-characterized refractory particles for various particle interaction experiments aboard the Space Shuttle and Space Station Freedom. Both of these objectives are to be met by a judicious combination of laboratory experiments on the ground and aboard NASA's KC-135 experimental research aircraft. Major effort during the current reporting period was devoted to the evaluation of our very successful first series of microgravity test runs in Feb. 1990. Although the apparatus performed well, it was decided to 'repackage' the equipment for easier installation on the KC-135 and access to various components. It will now consist of three separate racks: one each for the nucleation chamber, the power subsystem, and the electronic packages. The racks were fabricated at the University of Virginia and the assembly of the repackaged units is proceeding well. Preliminary analysis of the video data from the first microgravity flight series was performed and the results appear to display some trends expected from Hale's Scaled Nucleation Theory of 1986. The data acquisition system is currently being refined