Instrumentation for sensing moisture content of material using a transient thermal pulse

Instrumentation for sensing moisture content of material using a transient thermal pulse is comprised of a sensing probe having a sensing element in the form of a ribbon excited by a constant current pulse from a source to increase the temperature and therefore the resistance of the ribbon linearly. Moisture in web material will limit the increase of temperature during the pulse in proportion to the moisture content. This increase in temperature produces a proportional increase in resistivity which is measured with a wheatstone bridge as a change in voltage displayed by a measurement display unit. The probe is glued in a shallow groove of a Lucite bar and connected to copper pins embedded in the bar

Portable heatable container

A container is provided which can be designed to heat its outer surface to sterilize it, or to heat its inner surface and any contents therewithin. In a container that self sterilizes its outer surface, the container includes a combustible layer of thermite-type pyrotechnic material which can be ignited to generate considerable heat, and a thin casing around the combustible layer which is of highly thermally conductive materials such as aluminum which can be heated to a high temperature by the ignited combustible layer. A buffer layer which may be of metal, lies within the combustible layer, and a layer of insulation such as Teflon lies within the buffer layer to insulate the contents of the container from the heat

Relating Meson and Baryon Fragmentation Functions by Shower-Parton Recombination

We relate the fragmentation functions of partons into mesons and baryons in the framework of recombination of shower partons. The results are in reasonable agreement with the data. The implication is that the meson and baryon fragmentation functions are not independent when hadronization of the shower partons are taken into account. The conclusion therefore closes a conceptual gap in the system of fragmentation functions whose $Q^2$ evolution has been more extensively studied than their interrelationship.Comment: 10 pages in LaTex + 3 figures in ep

Proton enhancement at large p_T at LHC without structure in associated-particle distribution

The production of pions and protons in the $p_T$ range between 10 and 20 GeV/c for Pb+Pb collisions at LHC is studied in the recombination model. It is shown that the dominant mechanism for hadronization is the recombination of shower partons from neighboring jets when the jet density is high. Protons are more copiously produced than pions in that $p_T$ range because the coalescing partons can have lower momentum fractions, but no thermal partons are involved. The proton-to-pion ratio can rise beyond 20. When such a high $p_T$ hadron is used as a trigger particle, there will not be any associated particles that are not in the background.Comment: Revised version with new material adde

Underwater seismic source

Apparatus for generating a substantially oscillation-free seismic signal for use in underwater petroleum exploration, including a bag with walls that are flexible but substantially inelastic, and a pressured gas supply for rapidly expanding the bag to its fully expanded condition is described. The inelasticity of the bag permits the application of high pressure gas to rapidly expand it to full size, without requiring a venting mechanism to decrease the pressure as the bag approaches a predetermined size to avoid breaking of the bag