Low frequency elastic measurements on solid 4^{4}He in Vycor using a torsional oscillator

Torsional oscillator experiments involving solid $^{4}$He confined in the nanoscale pores of Vycor glass showed anomalous frequency changes at temperatures below 200 mK. These were initially attributed to decoupling of some of the helium's mass from the oscillator, the expected signature of a supersolid. However, these and similar anomalous effects seen with bulk $^{4}$He now appear to be artifacts arising from large shear modulus changes when mobile dislocations are pinned by $^{3}$He impurities. We have used a torsional oscillator (TO) technique to directly measure the shear modulus of the solid $^{4}$He/Vycor system at a frequency (1.2 kHz) comparable to that used in previous TO experiments. The shear modulus increases gradually as the TO is cooled from 1 K to 20 mK. We attribute the gradual modulus change to the freezing out of thermally activated relaxation processes in the solid helium. The absence of rapid changes below 200 mK is expected since mobile dislocations could not exist in pores as small as those of Vycor. Our results support the interpretation of a recent torsional oscillator experiment that showed no anomaly when elastic effects in bulk helium were eliminated by ensuring that there were no gaps around the Vycor sample.Comment: Accepted by Journal of Low Temperature Physic

Dislocation networks in helium-4 crystals

The mechanical behavior of crystals is dominated by dislocation networks, their structure and their interactions with impurities or thermal phonons. However, in classical crystals, networks are usually random with impurities often forming non-equilibrium clusters when their motion freezes at low temperature. Helium provides unique advantages for the study of dislocations: crystals are free of all but isotopic impurities, the concentration of these can be reduced to the ppb level, and the impurities are mobile at all temperatures and therefore remain in equilibrium with the dislocations. We have achieved a comprehensive study of the mechanical response of 4He crystals to a driving strain as a function of temperature, frequency and strain amplitude. The quality of our fits to the complete set of data strongly supports our assumption of string-like vibrating dislocations. It leads to a precise determination of the distribution of dislocation network lengths and to detailed information about the interaction between dislocations and both thermal phonons and 3He impurities. The width of the dissipation peak associated with impurity binding is larger than predicted by a simple Debye model, and much of this broadening is due to the distribution of network lengths.Comment: accepted by Phys. Rev.

Critical Habitat and the Conservation Ecology of the Freshwater Parasitic Lamprey, Lampetra macrostoma

Lampetra macrostoma, the Cowichan Lamprey, is a freshwater parasitic lamprey that probably evolved from L. tridentata within the last 10 000 years. It is unique to the Cowichan Lake watershed on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Larval rearing in Mesachie and Cowichan lakes occurs in shallow, silt-covered gravel areas at the mouths of rivers and streams flowing into the lakes. Spawning occurs over a protracted period from early May until about late July. Shallow areas with small gravel along the shore of the lakes, near the mouths of rivers are essential for successful spawning. Adults prey on a variety of salmonid species within the lake. There has been considerable development around Mesachie Lake and reported increased fishing pressure on prey in Mesachie and Cowichan lakes. It is not known if the size of the population of L. macrostoma has changed since an initial study in the early 1980s, but a study in 2008 captured very few spawning lamprey in Mesachie Lake, possibly indicating that the population is declining

Deformation of Silica Aerogel During Fluid Adsorption

Aerogels are very compliant materials - even small stresses can lead to large deformations. In this paper we present measurements of the linear deformation of high porosity aerogels during adsorption of low surface tension fluids, performed using a Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT). We show that the degree of deformation of the aerogel during capillary condensation scales with the surface tension, and extract the bulk modulus of the gel from the data. Furthermore we suggest limits on safe temperatures for filling and emptying low density aerogels with helium.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR

Wind tunnel investigation of an oblique wing transport model at mach numbers between 0.6 and 1.4

Models of three practical oblique-wing transport configurations were tested in the NASA Ames 11 foot wind tunnel. The three configurations used a common forward fuselage, wing, and support system but employed different aft fuselage sections simulating alternate propulsion system installations. These included an integrated propulsion system, pylon-mounted nacelles, and clean (no propulsion system) configuration. The tests were conducted over a Mach number range from 0.6 to 1.4 and at sweep angles from 0 to 60 degrees. The nominal unit Reynolds number was 1.83 million per meter and the angle of attack range was -3 to +6 degrees. The models were mounted in the tunnel by means of a lower blade support system. The interference effects of this lower blade and the flow inclination were determined by using an image blade system and testing the configuration in both the upright and inverted positions

The Murdoch-Godfrey Letters of 1869: A Nova Scotia - Maine Historical Correspondence

An introduction, source notes, and transcription of three letters from Beamis Murdoch in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to John Edward Godfrey in Bangor, Maine, February 8 to 27, 1869

Knowledge discovery for friction stir welding via data driven approaches: Part 2 – multiobjective modelling using fuzzy rule based systems

In this final part of this extensive study, a new systematic data-driven fuzzy modelling approach has been developed, taking into account both the modelling accuracy and its interpretability (transparency) as attributes. For the first time, a data-driven modelling framework has been proposed designed and implemented in order to model the intricate FSW behaviours relating to AA5083 aluminium alloy, consisting of the grain size, mechanical properties, as well as internal process properties. As a result, ‘Pareto-optimal’ predictive models have been successfully elicited which, through validations on real data for the aluminium alloy AA5083, have been shown to be accurate, transparent and generic despite the conservative number of data points used for model training and testing. Compared with analytically based methods, the proposed data-driven modelling approach provides a more effective way to construct prediction models for FSW when there is an apparent lack of fundamental process knowledge

The holy blood and the holy grail: Myths of scientific racism and the pursuit of excellence in sport

Despite the continuing publication of research that suggests there is no scientific basis to 'race' as a biological category, theories of racial difference continue to be invoked within sport to explain the perceived dominance of black athletes. In the case of John Entine's controversial 'Taboo: why black athletes dominate sports and why we are afraid to talk about it' or undergraduate textbooks that suggest 'racial differences' in physique may significantly affect athletic performance, scientific racism is normalised in sport. In this article, the relationship between scientific racism and sport will be examined. Qualitative research with current sport scientists is used to investigate the socio-ethical tensions within the subject field of sport science between professionalism, scientism and the demand from external interests to produce results that help people in sport win medals. It will be shown that these tensions, combined with the history of race as a category in sport science, combine to create the discourse of scientific knowledge that reflects, rather than challenges, folk genetics of black athletic physicality