An introduction to spacecraft thermal control

External and internal passive and active methods for spacecraft thermal control - material insulation and structural propertie

Concatenation of convolutional and block codes Final report

Comparison of concatenated and sequential decoding systems and convolutional code structural propertie

The functional analytic foundation of Colombeau algebras

Colombeau algebras constitute a convenient framework for performing nonlinear operations like multiplication on Schwartz distributions. Many variants and modifications of these algebras exist for various applications. We present a functional analytic approach placing these algebras in a unifying hierarchy, which clarifies their structural properties as well as their relation to each other.Comment: 31 pages; updated section on sheaf propertie

Wholeness as a Hierarchical Graph to Capture the Nature of Space

According to Christopher Alexander's theory of centers, a whole comprises numerous, recursively defined centers for things or spaces surrounding us. Wholeness is a type of global structure or life-giving order emerging from the whole as a field of the centers. The wholeness is an essential part of any complex system and exists, to some degree or other, in spaces. This paper defines wholeness as a hierarchical graph, in which individual centers are represented as the nodes and their relationships as the directed links. The hierarchical graph gets its name from the inherent scaling hierarchy revealed by the head/tail breaks, which is a classification scheme and visualization tool for data with a heavy-tailed distribution. We suggest that (1) the degrees of wholeness for individual centers should be measured by PageRank (PR) scores based on the notion that high-degree-of-life centers are those to which many high-degree-of-life centers point, and (2) that the hierarchical levels, or the ht-index of the PR scores induced by the head/tail breaks can characterize the degree of wholeness for the whole: the higher the ht-index, the more life or wholeness in the whole. Three case studies applied to the Alhambra building complex and the street networks of Manhattan and Sweden illustrate that the defined wholeness captures fairly well human intuitions on the degree of life for the geographic spaces. We further suggest that the mathematical model of wholeness be an important model of geographic representation, because it is topological oriented that enables us to see the underlying scaling structure. The model can guide geodesign, which should be considered as the wholeness-extending transformations that are essentially like the unfolding processes of seeds or embryos, for creating beautiful built and natural environments or with a high degree of wholeness.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, 2 table

Influence of the ionic composition on the diffusion mass transfer of saccharides through a cation-exchange membrane

Recent studies have pointed out that the presence of salts can change significantly the membrane process performances because of the resulting modification of the neutral solutes transfer through the membrane. The influence of the ionic composition on the transfer of neutral solutes through membranes could be explained by a modification of the membrane properties, due to electrostatic effects, by a modification of the solute radius, likely due to its dehydration induced by the electrolyte, or more probably by a combination of both. This study deals with the investigation of the mechanisms governing the mass transfer of neutral species through an ion-exchange membrane used in electrodialysis, CMX, with a focus on the role of ions. The mass transfer of various saccharides (xylose,glucose and sucrose) as well as the solvent transfer in different electrolytic solutions (NaCl,NH 4Cl, CaCl 2 and MgCl 2) was studied in a diffusion regime. A specific procedure has been used to dissociate the solvent or solute fluxes variations due to the modifications of the solute properties and of the membrane material induced by the electrolyte. The results showed that the transfer modification is mainly due to the influence of the electrolyte on the membrane properties, which is fixed by the membrane soaking. A quantitative correlation has been established between the solvent and solute transfer and the hydration number of the membrane counterion. In presence of electrolyte, the saccharide mass transfer increased but the impact of the presence of electrolyte is much less than the one of membrane soaking. However, in this case, a relationship has been also established between the increase of the saccharide mass transfer and the cation hydration state

Structural application of high strength, high temperature ceramics

The operation of rocket engine turbine pumps is limited by the temperature restrictions of metallic components used in the systems. Mechanical strength and stability of these metallic components decrease drastically at elevated temperatures. Ceramic materials that retain high strength at high temperatures appear to be a feasible alternate material for use in the hot end of the turbopumps. This project identified and defined the processing parameters that affected the properties of Si3N4, one of candidate ceramic materials. Apparatus was assembled and put into operation to hot press Si3N4 powders into bulk material for in house evaluation. A work statement was completed to seek outside contract services to design, manufacture, and evaluate Si3N4 components in the service environments that exists in SSME turbopumps

Regional investigation of tectonic and igneous geology in Iran, Pakistan and Turkey

The author has identified the following significant results. It appears that the information gained from the imageries would result in revision of the existing tectonic maps of the region

Структурно-механические свойства и морфология биокерамики

The Calcium Hydroxyapatite (HAp), which physical and chemical properties are similar to bone tissue, is applied in various medicine areas as ceramics, cements and composite implants. It is exposed that thermo treatment leads to crystallites form and structure modification. It is examined the crystallites morphology, that influence to structural and mechanical HAp propertie

Semi-interpenetrating polymer network for tougher and more microcracking resistant high temperature polymers

This invention is a semi-interpenetrating polymer network which includes a high performance thermosetting polyimide having a nadic end group acting as a crosslinking site and a high performance linear thermoplastic polyimide. An improved high temperature matrix resin is provided which is capable of performing at 316 C in air for several hundreds of hours. This resin has significantly improved toughness and microcracking resistance, excellent processability and mechanical performance, and cost effectiveness