6,823 research outputs found
Rapid Technique for Liquid Scintillation Counting of Carbon-14-labelled Barium Carbonate
Rapid technique for liquid scintillation counting of carbon-14-labelled barium carbonat
Sub-Nanometer Catalyst Clusters for Propane Dehydrogenation
Propane dehydrogenation (PDH) is used to produce propene, which is the primary building block for many commercial plastics. The catalyst most commonly used for this reaction is platinum. Due to rising demand for propene, an alternative catalyst is being sought due to platinum’s high cost. Alternatives might involve very small platinum particles as well as particles composed of different atoms. For this purpose, we have performed a computational study of the PDH reaction with a 4 atom platinum cluster (Pt4) and several different 4-atom transition metal cluster (TM4) catalysts on a graphene support. We have computed the equilibrium structures of the Pt4 and TM4 clusters on both single-and double-vacancy sites and have calculated the complete PDH reaction pathway for each case. This allowed us to study the effect of the graphene support on catalytic activity. We have also calculated the PDH reaction pathway for larger Ptx clusters, where x = 5-14, in order to study the effect of particle size on catalytic activity. These results help clarify the relationship between the PDH activation energy and the propane binding energy and overall reaction energy and may aid in the design of new potential catalysts for the PDH reaction
Parameterizations of Chromospheric Condensations in dG and dMe Model Flare Atmospheres
The origin of the near-ultraviolet and optical continuum radiation in flares
is critical for understanding particle acceleration and impulsive heating in
stellar atmospheres. Radiative-hydrodynamic simulations in 1D have shown that
high energy deposition rates from electron beams produce two flaring layers at
T~10^4 K that develop in the chromosphere: a cooling condensation (downflowing
compression) and heated non-moving (stationary) flare layers just below the
condensation. These atmospheres reproduce several observed phenomena in flare
spectra, such as the red wing asymmetry of the emission lines in solar flares
and a small Balmer jump ratio in M dwarf flares. The high beam flux simulations
are computationally expensive in 1D, and the (human) timescales for completing
NLTE models with adaptive grids in 3D will likely be unwieldy for a time to
come. We have developed a prescription for predicting the approximate evolved
states, continuum optical depth, and the emergent continuum flux spectra of
radiative-hydrodynamic model flare atmospheres. These approximate prescriptions
are based on an important atmospheric parameter: the column mass (m_ref) at
which hydrogen becomes nearly completely ionized at the depths that are
approximately in steady state with the electron beam heating. Using this new
modeling approach, we find that high energy flux density (>F11) electron beams
are needed to reproduce the brightest observed continuum intensity in IRIS data
of the 2014-Mar-29 X1 solar flare and that variation in m_ref from 0.001 to
0.02 g/cm2 reproduces most of the observed range of the optical continuum flux
ratios at the peaks of M dwarf flares.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Temperament in the Classroom
Variance in academic performance that persists when situational variables are held constant suggests that whether students fail or thrive depends not only on circumstance, but also on relatively stable individual differences in how children respond to circumstance. More academically talented children generally outperform their less able peers, but much less is known about how traits unrelated to general intelligence influence academic outcomes. This paper addresses several related questions: What insights can be gleaned from historical interest in the role of temperament in the classroom? What does recent empirical research say about the specific dimensions of temperament most important to successful academic performance? In particular, which aspects of temperament most strongly influence school readiness, academic achievement, and educational attainment? What factors mediate and moderate associations between temperament and academic outcomes? What progress has been made in deliberately cultivating aspects of temperament that matter most to success in school? And, finally, for researchers keenly interested in better understanding how and why temperament influences academic success, in which direction does future progress lie?
A Unified Computational Model for Solar and Stellar Flares
We present a unified computational framework which can be used to describe
impulsive flares on the Sun and on dMe stars. The models assume that the flare
impulsive phase is caused by a beam of charged particles that is accelerated in
the corona and propagates downward depositing energy and momentum along the
way. This rapidly heats the lower stellar atmosphere causing it to explosively
expand and dramatically brighten. Our models consist of flux tubes that extend
from the sub-photosphere into the corona. We simulate how flare-accelerated
charged particles propagate down one-dimensional flux tubes and heat the
stellar atmosphere using the Fokker-Planck kinetic theory. Detailed radiative
transfer is included so that model predictions can be directly compared with
observations. The flux of flare-accelerated particles drives return currents
which additionally heat the stellar atmosphere. These effects are also included
in our models. We examine the impact of the flare-accelerated particle beams on
model solar and dMe stellar atmospheres and perform parameter studies varying
the injected particle energy spectra. We find the atmospheric response is
strongly dependent on the accelerated particle cutoff energy and spectral
index.Comment: Accepted for publication by the Astrophysical Journa
A White Light Megaflare on the dM4.5e Star YZ CMi
On UT 2009 January 16, we observed a white light megaflare on the dM4.5e star
YZ CMi as part of a long-term spectroscopic flare-monitoring campaign to
constrain the spectral shape of optical flare continuum emission. Simultaneous
U-band photometric and 3350A-9260A spectroscopic observations were obtained
during 1.3 hours of the flare decay. The event persisted for more than 7 hours
and at flare peak, the U-band flux was almost 6 magnitudes brighter than in the
quiescent state. The properties of this flare mark it as one of the most
energetic and longest-lasting white light flares ever to be observed on an
isolated low-mass star. We present the U-band flare energetics and a flare
continuum analysis. For the first time, we show convincingly with spectra that
the shape of the blue continuum from 3350A to 4800A can be represented as a sum
of two components: a Balmer continuum as predicted by the Allred et al
radiative hydrodynamic flare models and a T ~ 10,000K blackbody emission
component as suggested by many previous studies of the broadband colors and
spectral distributions of flares. The areal coverage of the Balmer continuum
and blackbody emission regions vary during the flare decay, with the Balmer
continuum emitting region always being significantly (~3-16 times) larger.
These data will provide critical constraints for understanding the physics
underlying the mysterious blue continuum radiation in stellar flares.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Astrophysical Journal Letter
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