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Continuously variable ratio transmissions (CVT) featuring cone and roller traction elements and computerized controls are studied. The CVT meets or exceeds all requirements set forth in the design criteria. Further, a scalability analysis indicates the basic concept is applicable to lower and higher power units, with upward scaling for increased power being more readily accomplished.
Recent hydrologic research has provided theoretical support for a hypothesis generally known as the variable source area concept. However, experimental study of variable source areas has been hampered by lack of suitable methods for identifying and mapping them on a large scale basis. Field studies combined with color infrared photography and direct measurement of soil moisture and other hydrologic variables have shown that it is definitely possible to differentiate high and low soil moisture zones in a watershed. Furthermore, mapping of high moisture zones for the 1839 hectare Lowery Creek, Wisconsin drainage basin has revealed a pattern that is fully consistent with hypotheses concerning source areas. Examination of transmittance curves for high moisture zones indicates that source areas may be delineated on the basis of the ratio of their transmittance at 550 nm to that at 675 nm.
The purpose of this proposal was to monitor the spectral variability of two luminous ULXs. One was awarded for study, in the galaxy NGC1365. The ULX NGC1365 X-1 is one of the few reported reaching X-ray luminosities near 10(exp 40) erg/s, and as such is a good IMBH candidate. The ULX was seen to vary in the ROSAT data. We now have 6 new observations: 1 archival Chandra observation and 5 observations we have obtained with XMM, including this proposal and a follow up XMM-Newton observation of NGC1365, aimed at studying the variable nuclear AGN. With this data set, we are studying in detail the spectral variability properties of this source. We observe a factor 4 variability among the XMM observation, with a peak luminosity approx.9 x 10(exp 39) ergs/s. There is also evidence of variability in the X-ray colors and spectral parameters. The last two XMM exposure of 60 ks each demonstrate that a simple power-law spectrum is not a good fit to the data, suggesting in both instances soft excesses, with possibly different temperatures.
Sea level variabilities in the Gulf Stream between Cape Hatteras and 50 deg W were examined by studying sea level residuals, relative to a 2-yr mean sea level, obtained from Geosat altimetry data for the period between November 1986 and December 1988. An array of sea-level time series was constructed for a region bounded by 30 deg N and 45 deg N in latitude and by 80 deg W and 50 deg W longitude. It is shown that the spectral characteristics of this time series varies with geographic location along the Gulf Stream path. Concurrent NOAA IR images are used to aid in the interpretation of sea level observations in terms of the variability of the stream's path, demonstrating the synergistic value of the combination of satellite-altimeter and IR data.
Venus has proven to have a very dynamic upper atmosphere. The upper atmosphere of Venus has been observed for many decades by multiple means of observation (e.g. ground-based, orbiters, probes, fly-by missions going to other planets). As of late, the European Space Agency Venus Express (VEX) orbiter has been a main observer of the Venusian atmosphere. Specifically, observations of Venus' O2 IR nightglow emission have been presented to show its variability. Nightglow emission is directly connected to Venus' circulation and is utilized as a tracer for the atmospheric global wind system. More recent observations are adding and augmenting temperature and density (e.g. CO, CO2, SO2) datasets. These additional datasets provide a means to begin analyzing the variability and study the potential drivers of the variability. A commonly discussed driver of variability is wave deposition. Evidence of waves has been observed, but these waves have not been completely analyzed to understand how and where they are important. A way to interpret the observations and test potential drivers is by utilizing numerical models.
In the report, the investigation of controlling helicopter-blade lead-lag vibration is described. Current practice of adding passive damping may be improved to handle large dynamic range of the blade with several peaks of vibration resonance. To minimize extra-large damping forces that may damage the control system of blade, passive dampers should have relatively small damping coefficients, which in turn limit the effectiveness. By providing variable damping, a much larger damping coefficient to suppress the vibration can be realized. If the damping force reaches the maximum allowed threshold, the damper will be automatically switched into the mode with smaller damping coefficient to maintain near-constant damping force. Furthermore, the proposed control system will also have a fail-safe feature to guarantee the basic performation of a typical passive damper. The proposed control strategy to avoid resonant regions in the frequency domain is to generate variable damping force in combination with the supporting stiffness to manipulate the restoring force and conservative energy of the controlled blade system. Two control algorithms are developed and verified by a prototype variable damper, a digital controller and corresponding algorithms. Primary experiments show good potentials for the proposed variable damper: about 66% and 82% reductions in displacement at 1/3 length and the root of the blade respectively.
Most of what is known about oceanic gyres comes from studies of the two main Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres. Also important in the overall circulation of the world's oceans are the Southern Hemisphere subtropical gyres and the cyclonic Alaskan Gyre in the northern Pacific. Due in part to their weaker surface topography signatures and their variable character, these gyres have not been observed and studied as well as the northern subtropical gyres. The combination of satellite altimetry with in situ ocean measurements will lead to improved resolution of the interannual and seasonal change in the circulation of these ocean gyres. Also, it will provide initialization input and verification for numerical modeling work designed to better understand internal gyre dynamics. The objective of this proposal is to combine satellite and in situ data in a study dedicated to a better understanding of the basic structure and dynamics of the weakly defined Southern Hemisphere gyres and the Alaskan Gyre and their roles in oceanic heat and mass transport of the world ocean. Emphasis will be on description of the Alaskan Gyre.
In this paper, we present the Fermi All-sky Variability Analysis (FAVA), a tool to systematically study the variability of the gamma-ray sky measured by the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.For each direction on the sky, FAVA compares the number of gamma-rays observed in a given time window to the number of gamma-rays expected for the average emission detected from that direction. This method is used in weekly time intervals to derive a list of 215 flaring gamma-ray sources. We proceed to discuss the 27 sources found at Galactic latitudes smaller than 10 and show that, despite their low latitudes, most of them are likely of extragalactic origin.
The variable resolution stretched grid (SG) version of the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) Data Assimilation System (DAS) incorporating the GEOS SG-GCM, has been developed and tested. The area/region of interest used in experiments is a rectangle over the U.S. with -60 km horizontal resolution and 70 layers extending from the surface to 0.1 hPa. The forecast error statistics has been reassessed for finer regional resolution. The experiments are performed for winter and summer seasons. The SG-GCM and SG-DAS experiments show that a definite down-scaling takes place over the area of interest. The SG-DAS is capable of reproducing regional mesoscale patterns and diagnostics that are not produced by coarser uniform resolution runs. The SG-DAS fields and diagnostics are used for regional forecasting, new instrument impact studies, and for validation of regional climate simulation experiments.
Noise reduction studies involving variable geometry inlet guide vanes for choking using two-sector cascade apparatus with three inlet configurations
A detailed case study of variability in the stellar wind of the O7.5 III star Xi Persei is presented based on 56 high-resolution IUE observations taken between 1978 and 1984. Profile-fitting techniques are described, and possible interpretations for the observed Si IV variability are discussed. The derived properties of the narrow and broad discrete absorption features are given along with other P Cygni profile characteristics, including emission-to-absorption ratios and mass-loss rates. The role of ionization conditions and episodic formation of shells in accounting for the variability is addressed together with some previously reported observations of Xi Per.
Flux density of centimeter condensations at 9400 megacycles as function of solar activity
Two axis compensatory manual control systems with compatible integrated display and control
Flow variables related to minimum pressure in circular pipe bends
Photometric data from the Wisconsin Experiment package on OAO-2 were obtained for six Beta Cephei variable stars. The data were reduced in accordance with the OAO 2/Wisconsin Experiment Package Photometer Users Guide. For delta Cet and gamma Peg, there were enough data points to form reliable composite light curves at seven or eight ultraviolet wavelengths. The light curves are well represented by sine waves in phase with the blue light curve for each star. The amplitude of the light variation increases with shorter wavelengths. For theta Oph, epsilon Cen, eta Sco, and Lambda Sco, mean magnitudes and light ranges were obtained at several ultraviolet wavelengths. No significant differences were found between the mean, de-reddened ultraviolet colors of the observed stars, and the mean values for standard stars computed by Bottemiller. An attempt to derive a temperature scale from a comparison of the observed ultraviolet colors with Kurucz models was unsuccessful.
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A method, suggested by Leith (1975), which employed stochastic-dynamic forecasts obtained from a general circulation model in such a way as to satisfy the definition of climatic noise, was used to validate assumptions accounting for the effects of external influences in estimating the climatic noise. Two assumptions were investigated: (1) that the weather fluctuations can be represented as a Markov process, and (2) that changing external conditions do not influence the atmosphere's statistical properties on short time scales. The general circulation model's simulation of the daily weather fluctuations was generated by performing integrations with prescribed climatological boundary conditions for random initial atmospheric states, with resulting dynamical forecasts providing an ensemble of simulated data for the autoregressive modeling of weather fluctuations. To estimate the climatic noise from the observational data (consisting of hourly values of sea level pressure and surface temperature at 54 U.S. stations for the month of January for the years 1949-1975) use of the short time-scale assumption is made. The simulated and observed data were found not to be consistent with either white noise or a Markov process of weather fluctuations. Good agreement was found between the results of the hypothetical testing of the simulated and the observed surface temperatures; and only partial support was found for the short time-scale assumption, i.e., for sea level pressure.
The Multichannel Astrometric Photometer (MAP) was used to determine parallaxes of stars in the region centered on the Mira variable R Leonis. R Leonis, with a parallax of 8.3 +/- 1.0 mas (120 +/- 15 pc), is significantly closer than most recent estimates. At visual wavelengths, its mean physical diameter is 612 +/- 96 times that of the sun. The photocentric motion of R Leonis is not suggestive of either optical or orbital companions, excluding possible secondary components over a wide range of magnitudes as well as orbital periods of up to approximately one decade. Nineteen Leonis, an occultation-speckle binary with a well-determined orbit and a reference star in the R Leonis field, has a distance of 92.6 +/- 12 pc. The 15.2 yr period binary exhibits a slight perturbation during the 4 yr of MAP observations. The similar primary and secondary of this A7 Vn system are 2.41 +/- 0.96 and 2.31 +/- 0.92 solar masses, respectively.