750 research outputs found
Development of integrated, zero-G pneumatic transporter/rotating paddle incinerator/catalytic afterburner subsystem for processing human wastes on board spacecraft
A four component system was developed which consists of a particle size reduction mechanism, a pneumatic waste transport system, a rotating-paddle incinerator, and a catalytic afterburner to be integrated into a six-man, zero-g subsystem for processing human wastes on board spacecraft. The study included the development of different concepts or functions, the establishment of operational specifications, and a critical evaluation for each of the four components. A series of laboratory tests was run, and a baseline subsystem design was established. An operational specification was also written in preparation for detailed design and testing of this baseline subsystem
Development of an integrated, zero-G pneumatic transporter/rotating-paddle incinerator/catalytic afterburner subsystem for processing human waste on board spacecraft
A baseline laboratory prototype of an integrated, six man, zero-g subsystem for processing human wastes onboard spacecraft was investigated, and included the development of an operational specification for the baseline subsystem, followed by design and fabrication. The program was concluded by performing a series of six tests over a period of two weeks to evaluate the performance of the subsystem. The results of the tests were satisfactory, however, several changes in the design of the subsystem are required before completely satisfactory performance can be achieved
Vacuum distillation/vapor filtration water recovery
The development and evaluation of a vacuum distillation/vapor filtration (VD/VF) water recovery system are considered. As a functional model, the system converts urine and condensates waste water from six men to potable water on a steady-state basis. The system is designed for 180-day operating durations and for function on the ground, on zero-g aircraft, and in orbit. Preparatory tasks are summarized for conducting low gravity tests of a vacuum distillation/vapor filtration system for recovering water from urine
A high-precision polarimeter
We have built a polarimeter in order to measure the electron beam
polarization in hall C at JLAB. Using a superconducting solenoid to drive the
pure-iron target foil into saturation, and a symmetrical setup to detect the
Moller electrons in coincidence, we achieve an accuracy of <1%. This sets a new
standard for Moller polarimeters.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, submitted to N.I.
Sparse Coding Predicts Optic Flow Specificities of Zebrafish Pretectal Neurons
Zebrafish pretectal neurons exhibit specificities for large-field optic flow
patterns associated with rotatory or translatory body motion. We investigate
the hypothesis that these specificities reflect the input statistics of natural
optic flow. Realistic motion sequences were generated using computer graphics
simulating self-motion in an underwater scene. Local retinal motion was
estimated with a motion detector and encoded in four populations of
directionally tuned retinal ganglion cells, represented as two signed input
variables. This activity was then used as input into one of two learning
networks: a sparse coding network (competitive learning) and backpropagation
network (supervised learning). Both simulations develop specificities for optic
flow which are comparable to those found in a neurophysiological study (Kubo et
al. 2014), and relative frequencies of the various neuronal responses are best
modeled by the sparse coding approach. We conclude that the optic flow neurons
in the zebrafish pretectum do reflect the optic flow statistics. The predicted
vectorial receptive fields show typical optic flow fields but also "Gabor" and
dipole-shaped patterns that likely reflect difference fields needed for
reconstruction by linear superposition.Comment: Published Conference Paper from ICANN 2018, Rhode
High potential for weathering and climate effects of non-vascular vegetation in the Late Ordovician
It has been hypothesized that predecessors of today’s bryophytes significantly increased global chemical weathering in the Late Ordovician, thus reducing atmospheric CO2 concentration and contributing to climate cooling and an interval of glaciations. Studies that try to quantify the enhancement of weathering by non-vascular vegetation, however, are usually limited to small areas and low numbers of species, which hampers extrapolating to the global scale and to past climatic conditions. Here we present a spatially explicit modelling approach to simulate global weathering by non-vascular vegetation in the Late Ordovician. We estimate a potential global weathering flux of 2.8 (km3 rock) yr−1, defined here as volume of primary minerals affected by chemical transformation. This is around three times larger than today’s global chemical weathering flux. Moreover, we find that simulated weathering is highly sensitive to atmospheric CO2 concentration. This implies a strong negative feedback between weathering by non-vascular vegetation and Ordovician climate
Phenomenology of the Deuteron Electromagnetic Form Factors
A rigorous extraction of the deuteron charge form factors from tensor
polarization data in elastic electron-deuteron scattering, at given values of
the 4-momentum transfer, is presented. Then the world data for elastic
electron-deuteron scattering is used to parameterize, in three different ways,
the three electromagnetic form factors of the deuteron in the 4-momentum
transfer range 0-7 fm^-1. This procedure is made possible with the advent of
recent polarization measurements. The parameterizations allow a
phenomenological characterization of the deuteron electromagnetic structure.
They can be used to remove ambiguities in the form factors extraction from
future polarization data.Comment: 18 pages (LaTeX), 2 figures Feb. 25: minor changes of content and in
Table
Coherent States of the q--Canonical Commutation Relations
For the -deformed canonical commutation relations for in some Hilbert
space we consider representations generated from a vector
satisfying , where .
We show that such a representation exists if and only if .
Moreover, for these representations are unitarily equivalent
to the Fock representation (obtained for ). On the other hand
representations obtained for different unit vectors are disjoint. We
show that the universal C*-algebra for the relations has a largest proper,
closed, two-sided ideal. The quotient by this ideal is a natural -analogue
of the Cuntz algebra (obtained for ). We discuss the Conjecture that, for
, this analogue should, in fact, be equal to the Cuntz algebra
itself. In the limiting cases we determine all irreducible
representations of the relations, and characterize those which can be obtained
via coherent states.Comment: 19 pages, Plain Te
Saturable metabolism of continuous high-dose ifosfamide with Mesna and GM-CSF: A pharmacokinetic study in advanced sarcoma patients
Background: The aim of this study was to assess the pharmacology, toxicity and activity of high-dose ifosfamide/mesna ± GM-CSF administered by a five-day continuous infusion at a total ifosfamide dose of 12-18 g/m2 in adult patients with advanced sarcomas. Patients and methods: Between January 1991 and October 1992 32 patients with advanced or metastatic sarcoma were entered the study. Twenty-seven patients were pretreated including twenty-three with prior ifosfamide at less than 8 g/m2 total dose/cycle. In 25 patients (27 cycles) extensive pharmacokinetic analyses were performed. Results: The area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) for ifosfamide increased linearly with dose while the AUC's of the metabolites measured in plasma by thin-layer chromatography did not increase with dose, particularly that of the active metabolite isophosphoramide mustard. Furthermore the AUC of the inactive carboxymetabolite did not increase with dose. Interpatient variability of pharmacokinetic parameters was high. Dose-limiting toxicity was myelosup-pression at 18 g/m2 total dose with grade 4 neutropenia in five of six patients and grade 4 thrombocytopenia in four of six patients. Therefore the maximum tolerated dose was considered to be 18 g/m2 total dose. There was one CR and eleven PR in twenty-nine evaluable patients (overall response rate 41%). Conclusion: Both the activation and inactivation pathways of ifosfamide are non-linear and saturable at high-doses although the pharmacokinetics of the parent drug itself are dose linear. Ifosfamide doses greater than 14-16 g/m2 per cycle appear to result in a relative decrease of the active metabolite isophosphoramide mustard. These data suggest a dose-dependent saturation or even inhibition of ifosfamide metabolism by increasing high dose ifosfamide and suggest the need for further metabolic studie
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