The electrochemical generation of useful chemical species from lunar materials

Electrochemical cells have been fabricated for the simultaneous generation of oxygen and lithium from a Li2O containing molten salt (Li2O-LiCl-LiF). The cell utilizes an oxygen vacancy conducting solid electrolyte, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), to effect separation between oxygen evolving and lithium reduction half-cell reactions. The cell, which operates at 700 to 850 C, possesses rapid electrode kinetics at the lithium-alloy electrode with exchange current density (i sub o) values being greater than 60mA sq cm. When used in the electrolytic mode, lithium produced at the negative electrode would be continuously removed from the cell for later use (under lunar conditions) as an easily storable reducing agent (compared to H2) for the chemical refining of lunar ores. Because of the high reversibility of this electrochemical system, it has also formed tha basis for the lithium oxygen secondary battery system which possesses the highest theoretical energy density yet investigated

The electrochemical generation of useful chemical species from lunar materials

The current status of work on an electrochemical technology for the simultaneous generation of oxygen and lithium from a Li2O containing molten salt (Li2O-LiCl-LiF) is discussed. The electrochemical cell utilizes an oxygen vacancy conducting solid electrolyte, yttria-stabilized zirconia, to effect separation between the oxygen evolving and lithium reduction half-cell reactions. The cell, which operates at 700 to 800 C, possesses rapid electrode kinetics at the lithium-alloy electrode with exchange current density values being greater than 60 mA/sq cm, showing high reversibility for this reaction. When used in the electrolytic mode, lithium produced at the negative electrode would be continuously removed from the cell for later use (under lunar conditions) as an easily storable reducting agent (compared to H2) for the chemical refining of lunar ores via the general reaction: 2Li + MO yields Li2O + M where MO represents a lunar ore. Emphasis to this time has been on the simulated lunar ore ilmenite (FeTiO3), which we have found becomes chemically reduced by Li at 432 C. Furthermore, both Fe2O3 and TiO2 have been reduced by Li to give the corresponding metal. This electrochemical approach provides a convenient route for producing metals under lunar conditions and oxygen for the continuous maintenance of human habitats on the Moon's surface. Because of the high reversibility of this electrochemical system, it has also formed the basis for the lithium-oxygen secondary battery. This secondary lithium-oxygen battery system posses the highest theoretical energy density yet investigated

Transverse Momentum Dependence of the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal Effect

We study the transverse momentum dependence of the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect in QED, starting from the high energy expansion of the solution of the Dirac equation in the presence of an external field. The angular integrated energy loss formula differs from an earlier expression of Zakharov by taking finite kinematical boundaries into account. In an expansion in powers of the opacity of the medium, we derive explicit expressions for the radiation cross section associated with N=1, 2 and 3 scatterings. We verify the Bethe-Heitler and the factorization limit, and we calculate corrections to the factorization limit proportional to the square of the target size. A closed form expression valid to arbitrary orders in the opacity is derived in the dipole approximation. The resulting radiation spectrum is non-analytic in the coupling constant which is traced back to the transverse momentum broadening of a hard parton undergoing multiple small angle Moliere scattering. In extending the results to QCD, we test a previously used dipole prescription by comparing to direct pQCD results for N=1 and 2. For N=1, the QCD dipole prescription reproduces exactly the Bertsch-Gunion radiation spectrum. For N=2, we find a sizeable correction which reduces to a multiplicative factor 17/8 at large separation.Comment: 20 pages, Latex, 4 eps-figures, replaced by published version, minor typos correcte

A Checkpoint-Related Function of the MCM Replicative Helicase Is Required to Avert Accumulation of RNA:DNA Hybrids during S-phase and Ensuing DSBs during G2/M

The Mcm2-7 complex is the catalytic core of the eukaryotic replicative helicase. Here, we identify a new role for this complex in maintaining genome integrity. Using both genetic and cytological approaches, we find that a specific mcm allele (mcm2DENQ) causes elevated genome instability that correlates with the appearance of numerous DNA-damage associated foci of γH2AX and Rad52. We further find that the triggering events for this genome instability are elevated levels of RNA:DNA hybrids and an altered DNA topological state, as over-expression of either RNaseH (an enzyme specific for degradation of RNA in RNA:DNA hybrids) or Topoisomerase 1 (an enzyme that relieves DNA supercoiling) can suppress the mcm2DENQ DNA-damage phenotype. Moreover, the observed DNA damage has several additional unusual properties, in that DNA damage foci appear only after S-phase, in G2/M, and are dependent upon progression into metaphase. In addition, we show that the resultant DNA damage is not due to spontaneous S-phase fork collapse. In total, these unusual mcm2DENQ phenotypes are markedly similar to those of a special previously-studied allele of the checkpoint sensor kinase ATR/MEC1, suggesting a possible regulatory interplay between Mcm2-7 and ATR during unchallenged growth. As RNA:DNA hybrids primarily result from transcription perturbations, we suggest that surveillance-mediated modulation of the Mcm2-7 activity plays an important role in preventing catastrophic conflicts between replication forks and transcription complexes. Possible relationships among these effects and the recently discovered role of Mcm2-7 in the DNA replication checkpoint induced by HU treatment are discussed

Diagnosis, surgical treatment, and management of borderline ovarian surface epithelial neoplasms: Report of 2 cases and review of literature

AbstractOvarian borderline surface epithelial neoplasms occur infrequently in the pediatric population. Preoperative diagnostic criteria include ultrasound and serum tumor markers with definitive diagnosis made on pathologic examinations intraoperatively. Treatment typically involves resection of the tumor with an emphasis on preserving fertility. Patients diagnosed with borderline tumors generally have a good prognosis; however the possibility of recurrence remains. Two cases of 15 year-old females with borderline ovarian tumors are presented that add to the current literature by highlighting the diagnosis, clinical management, and follow-up postoperatively

e+e−e^+e^- Pair Production from 10 GeV to 10 ZeV

At very high energies, pair production ($\gamma\to e^+e^-$) exhibits many interesting features. The momentum transfer from the target is very small, so the reaction probes the macroscopic properties of the target, rather than individual nuclei. Interference between interactions with different atoms reduces the pair production cross section considerably below the Bethe-Heitler values. At very high energies, photonuclear interactions may outnumber pair production. In contrast, in crystals, the interaction amplitudes may add coherently, greatly increasing the cross sections. Pair production in matter-free magnetic fields is also possible. The highest energy pair production occurs at high energy particle colliders. This article will compare pair production in these very different regimes.Comment: 37 pages with 9 figures. Invited Review for "Radiation Physics and Chemistry" Version for publication, incorporating comments by the referee, and by Gerhard Baur and Roman Le

A Statistical Approach to Snakes for Bimodal and Trimodal Imagery

© 1999 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.DOI: 10.1109/ICCV.1999.790317In this paper, we describe a new region-based approach to active contours for segmenting images com- posed of two or three types of regions characterizable by a given statistic. The essential idea is to derive curve evolutions which separate two or more values of a pre- determined set of statistics computed over geometrically determined subsets of the image. Both global and local image information is used to evolve the active contour. Image derivatives, however, are avoided, thereby giving rise to a further degree of noise robust- ness compared to most edge-based snake algorithms

Medical Image Segmentation via Coupled Curve Evolution Equations with Global Constraints

© 2000 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.DOI: 10.1109/MMBIA.2000.852355In this work we modify the couple d curve evolution approach to snakes presented by the authors in previous work for bimodal and trimodal imagery through the introduction of global constraints. The key idea, as before, is to derive curve evolution equations which "pull apart" the values of one or more statistics within the image. However, by imposing a new constraint on the evolution of these statistics, we are able to segment a larger class of medical imagery for which our original model would fail