Baseline stabilization system for ionization detector Patent

Automatic baseline stabilization for ionization detector used in gas chromatograp

Genesis of the 1000-Foot Arecibo Dish

The giant radar/radio astronomy dish near Arecibo, Puerto Rico, was conceived by William E. Gordon in early 1958 as a back-scattering radar system to measure the density and temperature of the Earth’s ionosphere up to a few thousand kilometers. Gordon calculated the required size of the antenna by using the Thomson cross-section for scattering by the electrons, and assuming that the elementary scattered waves would be incoherent. During the summer and autumn of 1958 Gordon led a study group that published a design report in December 1958. The report showed that a dish 1000 feet in diameter would be required, and described a limestone sinkhole in Puerto Rico that would make a suitable support for such a dish. Meanwhile, in November 1958, Kenneth L. Bowles per-formed an ionospheric radar experiment that showed that the Gordon calculation for the scattered power was roughly correct, but that the calculated spectral width was too big. The consequence of these results was that a dish substantially smaller than 1000 feet could have satisfied the original goals for the radar. However, from the spring of 1958 the value of 1000 feet had been in the minds of the study team, and a large suite of important experiments that such a dish could do had been identified. These apparently became the raison d’être for the project, and the possibility of shrinking the dish to accomplish only the original goals seems to have been ignored. The project was sold to a new federal funding agency, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), which was interested, in part at least, because ballistic missiles traveled through the ionosphere and it was important to fully understand that environment. Gordon’s original calculation contained a remarkably beneficial error. Without it, it is doubtful that such a large dish would have been built

Phytoplankton assemblages within the Chesapeake Bay plume and adjacent waters of the continental shelf

The Chesapeake Bay plume was identified and plotted in relation to the presence and high concentrations of phytoplankton assemblages. Seasonal differences occurred within the plume during the collection period, with Skeletonema costatum and an ultraplankton component the dominant forms. Patchiness was found along the transects, with variations in composition and concentrations common on consecutive day sampling within the plume in its movement along the shelf. The presence of 236 species is noted, with their presence indicated for plume and shelf stations during the March, June, and October 1980 collections

PUBLIC POLICY EDUCATION: A CHALLENGE FOR THE 90'S

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

An amplifier for use with solid state radiation detectors in spacecraft applications

Charge-sensitive amplifier for use with solid state radiation detectors in spacecraft instrumentation syste

Numerical Studies of the Compressible Ising Spin Glass

We study a two-dimensional compressible Ising spin glass at constant volume. The spin interactions are coupled to the distance between neighboring particles in the Edwards-Anderson model with +/- J interactions. We find that the energy of a given spin configuration is shifted from its incompressible value, E_0, by an amount quadratic in E_0 and proportional to the coupling strength. We then construct a simple model expressed only in terms of spin variables that predicts the existence of a critical value of the coupling above which the spin-glass transition disappears.Comment: REVTeX, 4 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let