14,533 research outputs found
Development of dispersion-strengthened Ni-Cr-ThOz alloys for the space shuttle thermal protection system
Manufacturing processes were developed for TD-NiCr providing small sheet (45 x 90 cm), and larger sheet (60 x 150 cm) and foil. The alternate alloy, DS-NiCr, was produced by pack-chromizing Ni-ThO2 sheet. Formability criteria are being established for basic sheet forming processes, which are brake forming, corrugation forming, joggling, dimpling, and beading. Resistance spot welding (fusion and solid state), resistance seam welding, solid state diffusion welding, and brazing are included in the joining programs. Major emphasis is centered on an Al-modified Ni-Cr-ThO2 alloy development. These alloys, containing 3 to 5% Al, form the protective Al2O3 scale. This enhances oxidation resistance under reentry conditions. Both TD-NiCrAl and DS-NiCrAl alloys are included. A tentative composition of Ni-16Cr-3.5Al-2ThO2 was selected based on oxidation resistance and fabricability
Experimental evidence for radiative attachment in astrochemistry from electron attachment to NCCCCN
Electron attachment to NCCCCN, dicyanoacetylene (2-butynedinitrile), has been observed. Metastable parent anions, NCCCCN_∗, with microsecond or longer lifetimes are formed close to 0 eV electron energy with a cross section of ≥0.25 2. The stability of NCCCCN suggests that radiative attachment to NCCCCN and similar _∗ °A linear carbon chain molecules may be an important mechanism for the formation of negatively charged molecular ions in astrophysical environments. CCCN_ and CN_ fragment anions are formed at ∼3 and ∼6 eV
The average magnetic field draping and consistent plasma properties of the Venus magnetotail
A new technique has been developed to determine the average structure of the Venus magnetotail (in the range from −8 Rv to −12 Rv) from the Pioneer Venus magnetometer observations. The spacecraft position with respect to the cross-tail current sheet is determined from an observed relationship between the field-draping angle and the magnitude of the field referenced to its value in the nearby magnetosheath. This allows us statistically to remove the effects of tail flapping and variability of draping for the first time and thus to map the average field configuration in the Venus tail. From this average configuration we calculate the cross-tail current density distribution and J × B forces. Continuity of the tangential electric field is utilized to determine the average variations of the X-directed velocity which is shown to vary from −250 km/s at −8 Rv to −470 km/s at −12 Rv. From the calculated J × B forces, plasma velocity, and MHD momentum equation the approximate plasma acceleration, density, and temperature in the Venus tail are determined. The derived ion density is approximately ∼0.07 p+/cm³ (0.005 O+/cm³) in the lobes and ∼0.9 p+/cm³ (0.06 O+/cm³) in the current sheet, while the derived approximate average plasma temperature for the tail is ∼6×106 K for a hydrogen plasma or ∼9×107 K for an oxygen plasma
Hybrid functionals within the all-electron FLAPW method: implementation and applications of PBE0
We present an efficient implementation of the PBE0 hybrid functional within
the full-potential linearized augmented-plane-wave (FLAPW) method. The
Hartree-Fock exchange term, which is a central ingredient of hybrid
functionals, gives rise to a computationally expensive nonlocal potential in
the one-particle Schroedinger equation. The matrix elements of this exchange
potential are calculated with the help of an auxiliary basis that is
constructed from products of FLAPW basis functions. By representing the Coulomb
interaction in this basis the nonlocal exchange term becomes a Brillouin-zone
(BZ) sum over vector-matrix-vector products. We show that the Coulomb matrix
can be made sparse by a suitable unitary transformation of the auxiliary basis,
which accelerates the computation of the vector-matrix-vector products
considerably. Additionally, we exploit spatial and time-reversal symmetry to
identify the nonvanishing exchange matrix elements in advance and to restrict
the k summations for the nonlocal potential to an irreducible set of k points.
Favorable convergence of the self-consistent-field cycle is achieved by a
nested density-only and density-matrix iteration scheme. We discuss the
convergence with respect to the parameters of our numerical scheme and show
results for a variety of semiconductors and insulators, including oxide
materials, where the PBE0 hybrid functional improves the band gaps and the
description of localized states in comparison with the PBE functional.
Furthermore, we find that in contrast to conventional local
exchange-correlation functionals ferromagnetic EuO is correctly predicted to be
a semiconductor.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, 2 table
Construction and evaluation of classifiers for forensic document analysis
In this study we illustrate a statistical approach to questioned document
examination. Specifically, we consider the construction of three classifiers
that predict the writer of a sample document based on categorical data. To
evaluate these classifiers, we use a data set with a large number of writers
and a small number of writing samples per writer. Since the resulting
classifiers were found to have near perfect accuracy using leave-one-out
cross-validation, we propose a novel Bayesian-based cross-validation method for
evaluating the classifiers.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/10-AOAS379 the Annals of
Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
MINRES-QLP: a Krylov subspace method for indefinite or singular symmetric systems
CG, SYMMLQ, and MINRES are Krylov subspace methods for solving symmetric
systems of linear equations. When these methods are applied to an incompatible
system (that is, a singular symmetric least-squares problem), CG could break
down and SYMMLQ's solution could explode, while MINRES would give a
least-squares solution but not necessarily the minimum-length (pseudoinverse)
solution. This understanding motivates us to design a MINRES-like algorithm to
compute minimum-length solutions to singular symmetric systems.
MINRES uses QR factors of the tridiagonal matrix from the Lanczos process
(where R is upper-tridiagonal). MINRES-QLP uses a QLP decomposition (where
rotations on the right reduce R to lower-tridiagonal form). On ill-conditioned
systems (singular or not), MINRES-QLP can give more accurate solutions than
MINRES. We derive preconditioned MINRES-QLP, new stopping rules, and better
estimates of the solution and residual norms, the matrix norm, and the
condition number.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figure
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Inequalities in Health and Service Use among People with Borderline Intellectual Impairment
This report, produced in collaboration with Professor Angela Hassiotis and others, sets out the extent to which people with borderline intellectual impairment face inequalities in health and use of services compared with the rest of the population, and seeks to improve awareness of these inequalities.
Findings
- Borderline intellectual impairment is common, affecting at least one adult in ten in England. The term is used here to refer to people with good verbal skills and living in private households, but who may experience cognitive impairments.
- The findings in this report are consistent with previous research: people with borderline intellectual impairment are a disadvantaged group and their needs are not well understood.
- Such adults face high levels of poor mental health, poorer general health, and many limitations in their daily lives.
- Their level of use of mental health treatment and services does not appear to be commensurate with their higher level of need. This indicates that they are underserved compared with the rest of the population.
- This may be due to a lack of professional awareness of their needs, to services not adapting enough to meet those needs, or to difficulties the individual faces in seeking treatment and support.
- Adults with borderline intellectual impairment constitute key users of primary and secondary health care, and employment, education and welfare support. Improving awareness of the needs of this group should form part of wider plans to reduce inequalities in health and service use in England.
Methods
Secondary analysis of data from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) was conducted to profile the circumstances of people with borderline intellectual impairment. APMS is one of the most authoritative and comprehensive national household surveys to assess both intellectual functioning and mental health in adults in England
The significance of lifeworld and the case of hospice
Questions on what it means to live and die well are raised and discussed in the hospice movement. A phenomenological lifeworld perspective may help professionals to be aware of meaningful and important dimensions in the lives of persons close to death. Lifeworld is not an abstract philosophical term, but rather the opposite. Lifeworld is about everyday, common life in all its aspects. In the writings of Cicely Saunders, known as the founder of the modern hospice movement, facets of lifeworld are presented as important elements in caring for dying patients. Palliative care and palliative medicine today are, in many ways, replacing hospices. This represents not only a change in name, but also in the main focus. Hospice care was originally very much about providing support and comfort for, and interactions with the patients. Improved medical knowledge today means improved symptomatic palliation, but also time and resources spent in other ways than before. Observations from a Nordic hospice ward indicate that seriously ill and dying persons spend much time on their own. Different aspects of lifeworld and intersubjectivity in the dying persons’ room is presented and discussed
A review of the current state of global surgical oncology and the role of surgeons who treat cancer: our profession’s imperative to act upon a worldwide crisis in evolution
Worldwide, the capacity of healthcare systems and physician workforce is woefully inadequate for the surgical treatment of cancer. With major projected increases in the global burden of neoplastic disease, this inadequacy is expected to worsen, and interventions to increase the workforce of surgeons who treat cancer and strengthen the necessary supporting infrastructure, equipment, staffing, financial and information systems are urgently called for to prevent this inadequacy from deepening. These efforts must also occur in the context of broader healthcare systems strengthening and cancer control plans, including prevention, screening, early detection, safe and effective treatment, surveillance, and palliation. The cost of these interventions should be considered a critical investment in healthcare systems strengthening that will contribute to improvement in the public and economic health of nations. Failure to act should be seen as a missed opportunity, at the cost of lives and delayed economic growth and development. Surgeons who treat cancer must engage with a diverse array of stakeholders in efforts to address this critical need and are indispensably positioned to participate in collaborative approaches to influence these efforts through research, advocacy, training, and initiatives for sustainable development and overall systems strengthening
Large-scale structure in a new deep IRAS galaxy redshift survey
We present here the first results from two recently completed, fully sampled redshift surveys comprising 3703 IRAS Faint Source Survey (FSS) galaxies. An unbiased counts-in-cells analysis finds a clustering strength in broad agreement with other recent redshift surveys and at odds with the standard cold dark matter model. We combine our data with those from the QDOT and 1.2 Jy surveys, producing a single estimate of the IRAS galaxy clustering strength. We compare the data with the power spectrum derived from a mixed dark matter universe. Direct comparison of the clustering strength seen in the IRAS samples with that seen in the APM-Stromlo survey suggests b_O/b_I=1.20+/-0.05 assuming a linear, scale independent biasing. We also perform a cell by cell comparison of our FSS-z sample with galaxies from the first CfA slice, testing the viability of a linear-biasing scheme linking the two. We are able to rule out models in which the FSS-z galaxies identically trace the CfA galaxies on scales 5-20h^{-1}Mpc. On scales of 5 and 10h^{-1}Mpc no linear-biasing model can be found relating the two samples. We argue that this result is expected since the CfA sample includes more elliptical galaxies which have different clustering properties from spirals. On scales of 20h^{-1}Mpc no linear-biasing model with b_O/b_I < 1.70 is acceptable. When comparing the FSS-z galaxies to the CfA spirals, however, the two populations trace the same structures within our uncertaintie
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