Studies of droplet burning and extinction

A project on droplet combustion, pursued jointly with F.L. Dryer of Princeton University, has now been in progress for many years. The project involves experiments on the burning of single droplets in various atmospheres, mainly at normal atmosperic pressure and below, performed in drop towers and designed to be performed aboard space-based platforms such as the Space Shuttle or the Space Station. It also involves numerical computations on droplet burning, performed mainly at Princeton, and asymptotic analyses of droplet burning, performed mainly at UCSD. The focus of the studies rests primarily on time-dependent droplet-burning characteristics and on extinction phenomena. The presentation to be given here concerns the recent research on application of asymptotic methods to investigation of the flame structure and extinction of hydrocarbon droplets. These theoretical studies are investigating the extent to which combustion of higher hydrocarbons - heptane, in particular - can be described by four-step reduced chemistry of the kind that has achieved a good degree of success for methane flames. The studies have progressed to a point at which a number of definite conclusions can now be stated. These conclusions and the reasoning that led to them are outlined here

The 'equilibrium' anisotropy in the flux of 10 MeV solar flare particles and their convection in the solar wind

Equilibrium anisotropy in flux solar flare particles calculated from particle spectra and solar wind speed

The excess burden of cancer in men in the UK

In general men are at significantly greater risk than women from nearly all of the common cancers that occur in both sexes (with the exception of breast cancer) (White 2009, Wilkins 2006, DH 2007). This report will consider the current overall burden of cancer among men in the UK, estimated from the latest statistics, and outline the extent of the differences between the sexes. All figures and calculations reported here are based on data extracted from the Cancer Research UK CancerStats web pages extracted in June 2009 (Cancer Research UK, 2009)

Tool pre-tensions covers prior to lacing

In securing a bulky object in a storage compartment, a cinching or tightening tool is used to draw two opposing cover halves together at a predetermined tension to permit quick lacing to retain the stored object. This tool is also useful in fabrication industries to draw components together during assembly or treating

An evaluation of the fatigue crack growth and fracture toughness properties of beryllium-copper alloy CDA172

A series of fracture mechanics tests, using the Be-Cu alloy CDA172 in the round rod product form, was conducted in a lab air environment at room temperature. Tensile data is presented in both the L and C directions and K sub Ic data in both the C-R and C-L orientations. Fracture toughness values were derived from M(T) (center cracked), PS(T) (surface cracked) and CC01 (corner cracked) specimens of varying thickness. Fatigue crack growth data were obtained for the C-R orientation at stress ratio of 0.1, 0.4, and 0.7 and for the C-L orientation at stress ratios of 0.1, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.7

Joint disease mapping using six cancers in the Yorkshire region of England

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to model jointly the incidence rates of six smoking related cancers in the Yorkshire region of England, to explore the patterns of spatial correlation amongst them, and to estimate the relative weight of smoking and other shared risk factors for the relevant disease sites, both before and after adjustment for socioeconomic background (SEB). METHODS: Data on the incidence of oesophagus, stomach, pancreas, lung, kidney, and bladder cancers between 1983 and 2003 were extracted from the Northern & Yorkshire Cancer Registry database for the 532 electoral wards in the Yorkshire region. Using postcode of residence, each case was assigned an area-based measure of SEB using the Townsend index. Standardised incidence ratios (SIRs) were calculated for each cancer site and their correlations investigated. The joint analysis of the spatial variation in incidence used a Bayesian shared-component model. Three components were included to represent differences in smoking (for all six sites), bodyweight/obesity (for oesophagus, pancreas and kidney cancers) and diet/alcohol consumption (for oesophagus and stomach cancers). RESULTS: The incidence of cancers of the oesophagus, pancreas, kidney, and bladder was relatively evenly distributed across the region. The incidence of stomach and lung cancers was more clustered around the urban areas in the south of the region, and these two cancers were significantly associated with higher levels of area deprivation. The incidence of lung cancer was most impacted by adjustment for SEB, with the rural/urban split becoming less apparent. The component representing smoking had a larger effect on cancer incidence in the eastern part of the region. The effects of the other two components were small and disappeared after adjustment for SEB. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the feasibility of joint disease modelling using data from six cancer sites. Incidence estimates are more precise than those obtained without smoothing. This methodology may be an important tool to help authorities evaluate healthcare system performance and the impact of policies