Development of software for the MSFC solar vector magnetograph

The Marshall Space Flight Center Solar Vector Magnetograph is a special purpose telescope used to measure the vector magnetic field in active areas on the surface of the sun. This instrument measures the linear and circular polarization intensities (the Stokes vectors Q, U and V) produced by the Zeeman effect on a specific spectral line due to the solar magnetic field from which the longitudinal and transverse components of the magnetic field may be determined. Beginning in 1990 as a Summer Faculty Fellow in project JOVE and continuing under NASA Grant NAG8-1042, the author has been developing computer software to perform these computations, first using a DEC MicroVAX system equipped with a high speed array processor, and more recently using a DEC AXP/OSF system. This summer's work is a continuation of this development

Reduction of solar vector magnetograph data using a microMSP array processor

The processing of raw data obtained by the solar vector magnetograph at NASA-Marshall requires extensive arithmetic operations on large arrays of real numbers. The objectives of this summer faculty fellowship study are to: (1) learn the programming language of the MicroMSP Array Processor and adapt some existing data reduction routines to exploit its capabilities; and (2) identify other applications and/or existing programs which lend themselves to array processor utilization which can be developed by undergraduate student programmers under the provisions of project JOVE

Data on Four-Rewriteability in Finite Groups

A four-tuple of elements, (x1,x2,x3,x4), from a finite group, G, is said to be rewriteable (see [l], [2], [3]) by p where p is an element of the symmetric group on four symbols, ifx1x2x3x4 = xp(l)xp(2)xp(3)xp(4) The entry at the intersection of the G-th row and j-th column of each table on the succeeding three pages is the number of four-tuples from G which are rewriteable by exactly j permutations in the symmetric group on four symbols. This data was generated using the computer algebra systen CAYLEY by participants in Rose-Hulman\u27s National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergra.duates program during the summer of 1991

Mechanisms of surface wave energy dissipation over a high-concentration sediment suspension

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2015. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 120 (2015): 1638–1681, doi:10.1002/2014JC010245.Field observations from the spring of 2008 on the Louisiana shelf were used to elucidate the mechanisms of wave energy dissipation over a muddy seafloor. After a period of high discharge from the Atchafalaya River, acoustic measurements showed the presence of 20 cm thick mobile fluid-mud layers during and after wave events. While total wave energy dissipation (D) was greatest during the high energy periods, these periods had relatively low normalized attenuation rates (κ = Dissipation/Energy Flux). During declining wave-energy conditions, as the fluid-mud layer settled, the attenuation process became more efficient with high κ and low D. The transition from high D and low κ to high κ and low D was caused by a transition from turbulent to laminar flow in the fluid-mud layer as measured by a Pulse-coherent Doppler profiler. Measurements of the oscillatory boundary layer velocity profile in the fluid-mud layer during laminar flow reveal a very thick wave boundary layer with curvature filling the entire fluid-mud layer, suggesting a kinematic viscosity 2–3 orders of magnitude greater than that of clear water. This high viscosity is also consistent with a high wave-attenuation rates measured by across-shelf energy flux differences. The transition to turbulence was forced by instabilities on the lutocline, with wavelengths consistent with the dispersion relation for this two-layer system. The measurements also provide new insight into the dynamics of wave-supported turbidity flows during the transition from a laminar to turbulent fluid-mud layer.This work was supported by Office of Naval Research Award N00014-06-1–0718, which was part of the ONR Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MUD-MURI): entitled ‘‘Mechanisms of Fluid-Mud Interactions Under Waves.’’ Additional support was provided by National Science Foundation grant 1059914.2015-09-1

The Rationality of Motherhood

Since both men and women, made in the divine image, bear rational souls, and the Catholic understanding of redemption requires that persons respond freely to the gift of grace, Saint Paul’s comment to Timothy that women can be saved through childbearing (cf. 1 Timothy 2:13-15) indicates that motherhood must be rational. This thesis responds to three different arguments against that premise—those of Simone deBeauvoir, Julia Kristeva, and Gertrude von le Fort—by illustrating that Thomas Aquinas’ application of Aristotelian principles restores both a proper understanding of rationality and how our hylemorphic construct directs us to our supernatural end. Weaving together a Thomistic view of natural law, the Church’s use of munus in Humanae Vitae, and Charles de Koninck’s explanation of how maternity contributes to the common good, I will show specifically how motherhood itself is rational and why it bears the potential not only to perfect the mother, but also to positively influence the common good—with the Virgin Mary standing as the most perfect example

Longitudinal flow evolution and turbulence structure of dynamically similar, sustained, saline density and turbidity currents

Experimental results are presented concerning flow evolution and turbulence structure of sustained saline and turbidity flows generated on 0°, 3°, 6°, and 9° sloping ramps that terminate abruptly onto a horizontal floor. Two-component velocity and current density were measured with an ultrasonic Doppler velocity profiler and siphon sampler on the slope, just beyond the slope break and downstream on the horizontal floor. Three main factors influence longitudinal flow evolution and turbulence structure: sediment transport and sedimentation, slope angle, and the presence of a slope break. These controls interact differently depending on flow type. Sediment transport is accompanied by an inertial fluid reaction that enhances Reynolds stresses in turbidity flows. Thus turbidity flows mix more vigorously than equivalent saline density flows. For saline flows, turbulent kinetic energy is dependent on slope, and rapid deceleration occurs on the horizontal floor. For turbidity flows, normalized turbulent kinetic energy increases downstream, and mean streamwise deceleration is reduced compared with saline flows. The slope break causes mean bed-normal velocity of turbidity flows to become negative and have a gentler gradient compared with other locations. A reduction of peak Reynolds normal stress in the bed-normal direction is accompanied by an increase in turbulent accelerations across the rest of the flow thickness. Thus the presence of particles acts to increase Reynolds normal stresses independently of gradients of mean velocity, and sediment transport increases across the break in slope. The experiments illustrate that saline density currents may not be good dynamic analogues for natural turbidity currents

Wave evolution across the Louisiana shelf

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Continental Shelf Research 52 (2013): 190-202, doi:10.1016/j.csr.2012.10.005.Observations and third-generation wave model hindcasts of ocean surface gravity waves propagating across the Louisiana shelf show that the effects of the mud environment on wave evolution are complex and episodic. Whereas low-frequency waves (0.04-0.20 Hz) show a consistent decay similar to earlier studies, the presence of mud also appears to suppress the development of short waves (0.20-0.25 Hz) under fetch-limited growth conditions. Significant suppression of wave development under wind-forced conditions is found to occur almost exclusively during easterly winds when satellite images show the Atchafalaya mud plume extends into the study area. These results suggest that episodic sediment suspension events with high mud concentrations in the upper water column can affect the evolution of wind waves.This work is supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research (Littoral Geosciences and Optics Program, and Physical Oceanography Program), the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, the National Science Foundation, and a National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship