Socioeconomic impact of photovoltaic power at Schuchuli, Arizona

The social and economic impact of photovoltaic power on a small, remote native American village is studied. Village history, group life, energy use in general, and the use of photovoltaic-powered appliances are discussed. No significant impacts due to the photovoltaic power system were observed

Design guidelines for assessing and controlling spacecraft charging effects

The need for uniform criteria, or guidelines, to be used in all phases of spacecraft design is discussed. Guidelines were developed for the control of absolute and differential charging of spacecraft surfaces by the lower energy space charged particle environment. Interior charging due to higher energy particles is not considered. A guide to good design practices for assessing and controlling charging effects is presented. Uniform design practices for all space vehicles are outlined

Magnification Ratio of the Fluctuating Light in Gravitational Lens 0957+561

Radio observations establish the B/A magnification ratio of gravitational lens 0957+561 at about 0.75. Yet, for more than 15 years, the optical magnfication ratio has been between 0.9 and 1.12. The accepted explanation is microlensing of the optical source. However, this explanation is mildly discordant with (i) the relative constancy of the optical ratio, and (ii) recent data indicating possible non-achromaticity in the ratio. To study these issues, we develop a statistical formalism for separately measuring, in a unified manner, the magnification ratio of the fluctuating and constant parts of the light curve. Applying the formalism to the published data of Kundi\'c et al. (1997), we find that the magnification ratios of fluctuating parts in both the g and r colors agrees with the magnification ratio of the constant part in g-band, and tends to disagree with the r-band value. One explanation could be about 0.1 mag of consistently unsubtracted r light from the lensing galaxy G1, which seems unlikely. Another could be that 0957+561 is approaching a caustic in the microlensing pattern.Comment: 12 pages including 1 PostScript figur

Relation of Engine Turbine-blade Life to Stress-rupture Properties of the Alloys, Stellite 21, Hastelloy B, Cast S-816, Forged S-816, X-40, Nimonic 80, Refractaloy 26, N-155, and Inconel X

An investigation was conducted to relate the engine performance of the heat-resistant alloys, Stellite 21, Hastelloy B, cast S-816, forged S-816, X-40, Nimonic 80, Refractory 26, N-155, and Iconel X to their stress-rupture properties. The engine test consisted of the repetition of a 20-minute cycle, 15 minutes at rated speed and approximately 5 minutes at idle. The results of the investigation indicated a direct correlation between stress-rupture life and blade life for the relatively low-strength alloys. The stress-rupture life and blade life for the relatively high-strength alloys did not correlate because of the effects of the vibratory stresses and the corrosive-gas atmosphere

Investigation of Mechanisms of Blade Failure of Forged Hastalloy B and Cast Stellite 21 Turbine Blades in Turbojet Engine

An investigation was conducted to study the mechanisms of blade failure of forged Hastelloy B and cast Stellite 21. The blades were mounted in a 16-25-6 alloy rotor and subjected to 20-minute cycles consisting of 15 minutes at rated speed and approximately 5 minutes at idle. The first failures of the Hastelloy B and Stellite 21 blades were probably the result of excessive vibratory stresses and occurred after 14.25 and 16.75 hours, respectively. After 28.75 hours of operation, all but 3 of the original 25 Hastelloy B blades had either failed or contained stress-rupture-type cracks and four of the original 27 Stellite 21 blades contained stress-rupture-type cracks

Elastic energy of proteins and the stages of protein folding

We propose a universal elastic energy for proteins, which depends only on the radius of gyration $R_{g}$ and the residue number $N$. It is constructed using physical arguments based on the hydrophobic effect and hydrogen bonding. Adjustable parameters are fitted to data from the computer simulation of the folding of a set of proteins using the CSAW (conditioned self-avoiding walk) model. The elastic energy gives rise to scaling relations of the form $R_{g}\sim N^{\nu}$ in different regions. It shows three folding stages characterized by the progression with exponents $\nu = 3/5, 3/7, 2/5$, which we identify as the unfolded stage, pre-globule, and molten globule, respectively. The pre-globule goes over to the molten globule via a break in behavior akin to a first-order phase transition, which is initiated by a sudden acceleration of hydrogen bonding