Method for producing oxygen from lunar materials

This invention is related to producing oxygen from lunar or Martian materials, particularly from lunar ilmenite in situ. The process includes producing a slurry of the minerals and hot sulfuric acid, the acid and minerals reacting to form sulfates of the metal. Water is added to the slurry to dissolve the minerals into an aqueous solution, the first aqueous solution is separated from unreacted minerals from the slurry, and the aqueous solution is electrolyzed to produce the metal and oxygen

A Response to: "A Commentary on "Stabilizing Constructs through Collaboration across Different Research Fields as a Way to Foster the Integrative Approach of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Project"

This paper is a response to a commentary by Walter Glannon (2016, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience) on my paper "Stabilizing Constructs Across Research Fields as a Way to Foster the Integrative Approach of the Research Domain Criteria Project"

Experimentally Probing the Shape of Extra Dimensions

In brane world scenarios in which only gravity can propagate in the extra dimensions, effects on the gravitational force may be experimentally testable if there are two or three large extra dimensions. The strength of the force at distances smaller than the compactification radius will be sensitive to the volume of the extra dimensions, but the determination of the shape requires knowing the gravitational potential at intermediate scales. We determine the dependence of the potential vs. distance as a function of both the relative size of the extra dimensions and the possible angle between the extra dimensional unit vectors, and show that high precision measurements of the gravitational force will allow the determination of the shape of the extra dimensions.Comment: Much more pedagogical version. Version to be published in the American Journal of Physic

Shapes of Polynomial Julia Sets

Any Jordan curve in the complex plane can be approximated arbitrarily well in the Hausdorff topology by Julia sets of polynomials. Finite collections of disjoint Jordan domains can be approximated by the basins of attraction of rational maps.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

Stroke Knowledge Test

The Stroke Knowledge Test (SKT) was developed with the intention of helping people with Stroke. Stroke is a serious and common health problem. The SKT is intended for use by health professionals working in the area of stroke. The test can be used one-on-one or in group settings. It can be used to assess stroke knowledge among survivors, people at risk of stroke, carers and family members, or support staff working with people who have had stroke. The aim of this test is to provide a benchmark against which changes in stroke knowledge and understanding might be mapped. It can also be used to: assist health professionals to tailor their delivery of stroke educations specifically to the needs of a given client; and in research applications

A Calibrated Measurement of the Near-IR Continuum Sky Brightness Using Magellan/FIRE

We characterize the near-IR sky background from 308 observations with the FIRE spectrograph at Magellan. A subset of 105 observations selected to minimize lunar and thermal effects gives a continuous, median spectrum from 0.83 to 2.5 microns which we present in electronic form. The data are used to characterize the broadband continuum emission between atmospheric OH features and correlate its properties with observing conditions such as lunar angle and time of night. We find that the moon contributes significantly to the inter-line continuum in the Y and J bands whereas the observed H band continuum is dominated by the blended Lorentzian wings of multiple OH line profiles even at R=6000. Lunar effects may be mitigated in Y and J through careful scheduling of observations, but the most ambitious near-IR programs will benefit from allocation during dark observing time if those observations are not limited by read noise. In Y and J our measured continuum exceeds space-based average estimates of the Zodiacal light, but it is not readily identified with known terrestrial foregrounds. If further measurements confirm such a fundamental background, it would impact requirements for OH-suppressed instruments operating in this regime.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, accepted to PAS