Comparison of Orbiter PRCS Plume Flow Fields Using CFD and Modified Source Flow Codes

The Space Shuttle Orbiter will use Reaction Control System (RCS) jets for docking with the planned International Space Station (ISS). During approach and backout maneuvers, plumes from these jets could cause high pressure, heating, and thermal loads on ISS components. The object of this paper is to present comparisons of RCS plume flow fields used to calculate these ISS environments. Because of the complexities of 3-D plumes with variable scarf-angle and multi-jet combinations, NASA/JSC developed a plume flow-field methodology for all of these Orbiter jets. The RCS Plume Model (RPM), which includes effects of scarfed nozzles and dual jets, was developed as a modified source-flow engineering tool to rapidly generate plume properties and impingement environments on ISS components. This paper presents flow-field properties from four PRCS jets: F3U low scarf-angle single jet, F3F high scarf-angle single jet, DTU zero scarf-angle dual jet, and F1F/F2F high scarf-angle dual jet. The RPM results compared well with plume flow fields using four CFD programs: General Aerodynamic Simulation Program (GASP), Cartesian (CART), Unified Solution Algorithm (USA), and Reacting and Multi-phase Program (RAMP). Good comparisons of predicted pressures are shown with STS 64 Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight Experiment (SPIFEX) data

Measurements of nonlinear harmonic generation at the Advanced Photon Source's SASE FEL

SASE saturation was recently achieved at the Advanced Photon Source's SASE FFL in the low-energy undulator test line at 530 nm and 385 urn. The electron beam microbunching becomes more and more prominent until saturation is achieved. This bunching causes nonlinear harmonic emission that extends the usefulness of a SASE system in achieving shorter FEL wavelengths for the same electron beam energy. We have investigated the intensity of the fundamental and second harmonic undulator radiation as a function of distance along the undulator line and present the experimental results and compare them to numerical simulations. In addition, we have measured the single-shot second harmonic spectra as well as the simultaneous fundamental and second harmonic spectra and present the experimental results. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All riudits reserved

Cerebellar stem cells act as medulloblastoma-initiating cells in a mouse model and a neural stem cell signature characterizes a subset of human medulloblastomas

Cells with stem cell properties have been isolated from various areas of the postnatal mammalian brain, most recently from the postnatal mouse cerebellum. We show here that inactivation of the tumor suppressor genes Rb and p53 in these endogenous neural stem cells induced deregulated proliferation and resistance to apoptosis in vitro. Moreover, injection of these cells into mice formed medulloblastomas. Medulloblastomas are the most common malignant brain tumors of childhood, and despite recent advances in treatment they are associated with high morbidity and mortality. They are highly heterogeneous tumors characterized by a diverse genetic make-up and expression profile as well as variable prognosis. Here, we describe a novel ontogenetic pathway of medulloblastoma that significantly contributes to understanding their heterogeneity. Experimental medulloblastomas originating from neural stem cells preferentially expressed stem cell markers Nestin, Sox2 and Sox9, which were not expressed in medulloblastomas originating from granule-cell-restricted progenitors. Furthermore, the expression of these markers identified a subset of human medulloblastomas associated with a poorer clinical outcome

Rapid cross-density ocean mixing at mid-depths in the Drake Passage measured by tracer release

Diapycnal mixing (across density surfaces) is an important process in the global ocean overturning circulation1, 2, 3. Mixing in the interior of most of the ocean, however, is thought to have a magnitude just one-tenth of that required to close the global circulation by the downward mixing of less dense waters4. Some of this deficit is made up by intense near-bottom mixing occurring in restricted ‘hot-spots’ associated with rough ocean-floor topography5, 6, but it is not clear whether the waters at mid-depth, 1,000 to 3,000 metres, are returned to the surface by cross-density mixing or by along-density flows7. Here we show that diapycnal mixing of mid-depth (~1,500 metres) waters undergoes a sustained 20-fold increase as the Antarctic Circumpolar Current flows through the Drake Passage, between the southern tip of South America and Antarctica. Our results are based on an open-ocean tracer release of trifluoromethyl sulphur pentafluoride. We ascribe the increased mixing to turbulence generated by the deep-reaching Antarctic Circumpolar Current as it flows over rough bottom topography in the Drake Passage. Scaled to the entire circumpolar current, the mixing we observe is compatible with there being a southern component to the global overturning in which about 20 sverdrups (1Sv = 106 m3 s-1) upwell in the Southern Ocean, with cross-density mixing contributing a significant fraction (20 to 30 per cent) of this total, and the remainder upwelling along constant-density surfaces. The great majority of the diapycnal flux is the result of interaction with restricted regions of rough ocean-floor topography