1,243 research outputs found

    System Level Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing for Cubesats

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    Characterization of an Axially Sampling Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometer for Upper Atmospheric Measurements

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    The mesosphere/lower thermosphere (MLT) lies between the turbulent mixing and diffusive layers of the earth’s upper atmosphere. Temperatures in this region are varied and include the coldest region of the earth’s atmosphere, the mesopause. Too high for aircraft and too low for satellites, the only method of direct access to the MLT is by sounding rocket for periods of at most a few minutes. Because of this, the MLT is the most difficult region of the earth’s atmosphere to access and is therefore the least understood region of the earth’s atmosphere. Accurate in-situ measurements of MLT species are important for the following reasons: •CO2 concentration profiles collected in-situ will be useful in validating and improving atmospheric temperature measurements made by satellite based instruments, for example, the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry on the TIMED spacecraft. • Study the transport of atmospheric species near the turbopause region. For example, NO, which is thought to be linked to ozone depletion in the stratosphere • In-situ concentration data will help to improve atmospheric models, such as the MSIS model We present an axially-sampling time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS) suitable for deployment aboard sounding rockets to make measurements in the MLT. Use of a Bradbury- Nielsen gate to modulate ions makes on-axis sampling possible. The TOF-MS also employs a pressure tolerant microchannel plate (MCP) detector capable of operating at pressures into the 10-4 torr range. We have built and are currently testing a prototype instrument in our ion optics facility. Experiments to date demonstrate the potential of the TOF-MS to successfully make measurements in the MLT and thereby improve our knowledge of this important region of the earth’s atmosphere

    Lessons Learned During the Implementation of a Cold Gas Propulsion System for the SunRISE Mission

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    The SunRISE mission utilizes a two-phase cold gas propulsion system, which provides several advantages over other cold gas systems but experienced challenges during assembly and testing. Since 2020, Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC), Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL), and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (FPL) have implemented several improvements to the SunRISE propulsion system. The SunRISE propulsion system leverages an additively manufactured monolithic structure, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) valves and transducers, and the benign working fluid R-236fa to provide a suitable propulsion system for the SunRise mission. While the GTRC propulsion system had been developed for other missions, the multi-organizational team found and corrected several previously undetected design issues, including filters with highly variable flow performance, solenoid valve drive circuit issues, and inconsistencies in the tank additive manufacturing process that impacted manufacturing yield, thrust consistency, and quality of seals. Leaks in metallic fittings were also identified, and process improvements were put in place to mitigate them. Solenoid valve stiction was the last issue which was mitigated through valve screening and drive circuit adjustments. In this paper, we present lessons learned from the SunRISE propulsion system effort to aid future teams in identifying and addressing similar issues

    Molecular basis for Lewis alpha (1, 3/1, 4)-fucosyltransferase gene deficiency (FUT3) found in Lewis-negative Indonesian pedigrees.

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    The Le(a) and Le(b) human blood group antigens are synthesized in tissues producing exocrine secretions; they also circulate in plasma, where they are adsorbed by erythrocytes. They are synthesized by two fucosyltransferases, encoded by Lewis (FUT3) and secretor (FUT2) loci. This genetic model has been challenged because some erythrocyte Lewis-negative individuals express Lewis antigens in saliva. To define the molecular basis of this apparent discrepancy, we sequenced FUT3 in Lewis-negative individuals. We identified two single base pair changes. One, termed L1, yields a Leu-20-->Arg substitution in the enzyme's transmembrane domain. When expressed in COS-7 cells, enzyme substrate affinities are essentially identical to those of wild type. However, the mutant enzyme is found at substantially reduced levels in transfected cells. This suggests that the L1 mutation may alter the Golgi membrane anchoring of the enzyme. It was found alone in double dose in 10 of 30 erythrocyte Lewis-negative individuals, nine of whom express Lewis antigens in saliva. Therefore, L1 can account for erythrocyte/saliva-discrepant Lewis typing results. The L2 mutation creates an Ile-356-->Lys change in the enzyme's catalytic domain and inactivates the enzyme. It was found in double dose in 18 of 19 individuals bearing the double erythrocyte and salivary Lewis deficiency and can account for this phenotype

    Nebuliser therapy in the intensive care unit

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    The relationship between identity, lived experience, sexual practices and the language through which these are conveyed has been widely debated in sexuality literature. For example, ‘coming out’ has famously been conceptualised as a ‘speech act’ (Sedgwick 1990) and as a collective narrative (Plummer 1995), while a growing concern for individuals’ diverse identifications in relations to their sexual and gender practices has produced interesting research focusing on linguistic practices among LGBT-identified individuals (Leap 1995; Kulick 2000; Cameron and Kulick 2006; Farqhar 2000). While an explicit focus on language remains marginal to literature on sexualities (Kulick 2000), issue of language use and translation are seldom explicitly addressed in the growing literature on intersectionality. Yet intersectional perspectives ‘reject the separability of analytical and identity categories’ (McCall 2005:1771), and therefore have an implicit stake in the ‘vernacular’ language of the researched, in the ‘scientific’ language of the researcher and in the relationship of continuity between the two. Drawing on literature within gay and lesbian/queer studies and cross-cultural studies, this chapter revisits debates on sexuality, language and intersectionality. I argue for the importance of giving careful consideration to the language we choose to use as researchers to collectively define the people whose experiences we try to capture. I also propose that language itself can be investigated as a productive way to foreground how individual and collective identifications are discursively constructed, and to unpack the diversity of lived experience. I address intersectional complexity as a methodological issue, where methodology is understood not only as the methods and practicalities of doing research, but more broadly as ‘a coherent set of ideas about the philosophy, methods and data that underlie the research process and the production of knowledge’ (McCall 2005:1774). My points are illustrated with examples drawn from my ethnographic study on ‘lesbian’ identity in urban Russia, interspersed with insights from existing literature. In particular, I aim to show that an explicit focus on language can be a productive way to explore the intersections between the global, the national and the local in cross-cultural research on sexuality, while also addressing issues of positionality and accountability to the communities researched

    State of the Art: Small Spacecraft Technology

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    This report provides an overview of the current state-of-the-art of small spacecraft technology, with particular emphasis placed on the state-of-the-art of CubeSat-related technology. It was first commissioned by NASAs Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP) in mid-2013 in response to the rapid growth in interest in using small spacecraft for many types of missions in Earth orbit and beyond, and was revised in mid-2015 and 2018. This work was funded by the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). For the sake of this assessment, small spacecraft are defined to be spacecraft with a mass less than 180 kg. This report provides a summary of the state-of-the-art for each of the following small spacecraft technology domains: Complete Spacecraft, Power, Propulsion, Guidance Navigation and Control, Structures, Materials and Mechanisms, Thermal Control, Command and Data Handling, Communications, Integration, Launch and Deployment, Ground Data Systems and Operations, and Passive Deorbit Devices

    Writing in Britain and Ireland, c. 400 to c. 800

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    Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    This paper presents measurements of the W+μ+νW^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu and WμνW^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13
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