Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “AgO”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 55 records · Page 3

Effect of seasonal anoxia on geochemical cycling in a stratified pond: Comparison to cooler pond conditions 40 years ago

Seasonal stratification in temperate lakes deeper than a few meters creates favorable conditions for pronounced vertical redox zones, often resulting in anaerobic hypolimnions and significant geochemical changes. Here, this study examined thermocline formation and trace element behavior in a seasonally stratified pond amid rising air temperatures. Over two years, data were collected from Pond B at the US Department of Energy Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina. Pond B, a man-made monomictic reservoir, received cooling water from a nuclear reactor from 1961 to 1964. Strong thermal stratification forms a distinct thermocline in May and progresses downward until November. Compared to the 1980s, this study shows a delayed onset and extended duration of stratification. The prolonged summer stratification reduces deep water oxygen replenishment, extending hypoxic conditions. Trace and major elements sampled in the water column revealed strong correlations between As, Fe, and Mn profiles, with concentrations increasing by 1–2 orders of magnitude in the anaerobic hypolimnion. This period captured the seasonal transition from winter mixing to summer stratification to fall overturn. Under anoxic conditions, Fe(III) reduces to Fe(II) in the sediment, releasing dissolved iron into the water column. The extended anoxic periods likely promoted arsenic release from sediments. Prolonged anoxia may enhance arsenic mobilization and solubility in the lake. This study illustrates how climate-induced changes in seasonal stratification of contaminated waters can convert contaminant sinks into sources, offering insights into the cycling of arsenic and other dissolved ions in stratified lakes and their implications for water quality management.

Anoxic conditions↗

Stellar populations and merger rates of brightest cluster galaxies a billion years ago: SDSS MaNGA IFU spectroscopy

ABSTRACT We investigate the spectroscopic properties of 85 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) and their companions observed with the SDSS MaNGA integral field unit. Galaxy redshifts are between 0.08 < z < 0.15, allowing for a field-of-view up to 80 × 80 kpc. For the main galaxies: the average age of the BCG cores is 7.66$\, \pm \,$1.36 Gyr with no significant gradient out to $2\, R_ {e}$; the average metallicity of the BCG cores is $[Z/H]=0.23\, \pm \, 0.03$ with a negative gradient of Δ[Z/H]/Δ(R/Re) = –0.14$\, \pm \, 0.09$ which flattens beyond $1.2\, R_ {e}$. Velocity dispersion gradients are mostly flat, but a few positive slopes are seen in the most massive galaxies. Emission lines are present in 12 of the BCGs, most often confined to the central $\sim 2\,$ kpc with emission line ratios well-described by a LINER or AGN excitation source. There are 78 companion galaxies identified and 9 have nebular emission lines that indicate recent star formation. The companions with flux ratios of 4:1 and 20:1 within 30 kpc of their BCG’s core are studied. The companion galaxies have a median age of 7.65$\, \pm \,$1.55 Gyr and are high-metallicity systems, with a median [Z/H] = 0.17 ± 0.07. Close spectroscopic companions with higher merging probabilities have an average merging time of 0.5 ± 0.2 Gyr. The average merger rate is 0.08$\, \pm \, 0.12 \,$ Gyr−1 for 4:1 companions and 0.26$\, \pm \, 0.22 \,$ Gyr−1 for 20:1 companions, allowing for an increase in mass of 2.3$\, \pm \,$3.4 per cent Gyr−1 and 3.5$\, \pm \,$3.2 per cent Gyr−1, respectively.

Edwards, Louise O. V. (ORCID:000000029135997X)↗

Four direct measurements of the fine-structure constant 13 billion years ago

Observations of the redshift z = 7.085 quasar J1120+0641 are used to search for variations of the fine structure constant, a, over the redshift range 5:5 to 7:1. Observations at z = 7:1 probe the physics of the universe at only 0.8 billion years old. These are the most distant direct measurements of a to date and the first measurements using a near-IR spectrograph. A new AI analysis method is employed. Four measurements from the x - shooter spectrograph on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) constrain changes in a relative to the terrestrial value (α 0 ). The weighted mean electromagnetic force in this location in the universe deviates from the terrestrial value by Δα/α = (α z - α 0 )/α 0 = (-2:18 ± 7:27) × 10 -5 , consistent with no temporal change. Combining these measurements with existing data, we find a spatial variation is preferred over a no-variation model at the 3:9σ level.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Ghost particles and Project Poltergeist: Long-ago Lab physicists studied science that haunted them

A neutrino is a tiny, almost massless particle that travels at near light speeds. They were first formed in the early universe and are continually being produced in the nuclear reactions of stars, like the sun, and nuclear reactions on earth. The existence of these “ghost particles” was incredibly difficult to detect, but doing so has helped scientists better understand fundamental principles in physics. Los Alamos Manhattan Project scientist Frederick Reines, along with his colleague Clyde Cowan, is credited with the experimental discovery of the nearly massless elementary particle after his team definitively proved the neutrino’s existence in 1956. Reines received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1995.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Ghost particles and Project Poltergeist: Long-ago Lab physicists studied science that haunted them

A neutrino is a tiny, almost massless particle that travels at near light speeds. They were first formed in the early universe and are continually being produced in the nuclear reactions of stars, like the sun, and nuclear reactions on earth. The existence of these “ghost particles” was incredibly difficult to detect, but doing so has helped scientists better understand fundamental principles in physics. Los Alamos Manhattan Project scientist Frederick Reines, along with his colleague Clyde Cowan, is credited with the experimental discovery of the nearly massless elementary particle after his team definitively proved the neutrino’s existence in 1956. Reines received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1995.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Commuting again to work on-site? Lab’s first drivers faced their own challenges decades ago

After a long pause in commuting, more and more Lab staff are filling travel mugs, topping off their tanks, and heading up the hill for on-site work. As long as the Lab has existed, workers have snaked through tight mountain roads to get to their jobs. And, back in the early 1940s, drivers faced even more challenges. In the Lab’s earliest years, drivers likely worried about getting stuck in the mud, navigating intense switchbacks, or making sure important equipment, such as a disassembled power plant, didn’t fall off the back of the truck that was hauling it. Creative solutions could go a long way to get out of a jam. As many of us return onsite and get reacquainted with commuting, we look back at how transportation has changed since the Manhattan Project, the U.S. government’s top secret effort at Los Alamos to create the first atomic bombs to help end World War II. These stories and photos are part of the collections in the National Security Research Center, which is the Lab’s classified library and also houses unclassified artifacts from our past.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗

Chicago Pile-1 paved the way for nuclear science and a lab in Los Alamos First self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was nearly 80 years ago

On a bitter-cold winter day, 43 scientists gathered at an abandoned squash court at the University of Chicago where they would ultimately enable a secret lab in Los Alamos to change the world just years later. It was December 2, 1942. The group, led by Italian physicist and Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi, stacked graphite bricks, piling 57 layers that totaled more than 770,000 pounds. Later named Chicago Pile-1, their goal was to create the world’s first self-sustaining, controlled nuclear chain reaction. Inside the approximately 20-feet-tall pile were smaller blocks of uranium and control rods that, when removed, would cause the reaction to go critical – meaning create a nuclear chain reaction. It was roughly $1 million worth of materials, equivalent to nearly $16 million today, and a concept that a nuclear chain reaction would allow the weaponization of the atom. “Its success would be the crucial proof needed to know it would be possible to create an atomic bomb,” said LANL Historian Roger Meade (C-NR). “This was the precursor to the Lab we have today, nearly 80 years later.”

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Video, photos capture first full-scale H-bomb test 70 years ago

This collection of images was curated by the National Security Research Center in recognition of the 70 th anniversary of the nuclear test codenamed “Mike” of Operation Ivy. The NSRC is the Lab’s classified library, which also houses unclassified artifacts from the Lab’s history. The NSRC has archived photos of nuclear tests from over the years to preserve our history.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Space Act signed 15 years ago

A brief history of NASA is presented. Summaries of major programs presented include: manned space flight, space sciences, applications, and technology utilization.

Waggoner, M.↗

Ernst Mach on the vestibular organ 100 years ago

The paper reviews the contributions of Ernst Mach to vestibular research. His experiments, mainly psychophysical in nature, included measurements of threshold and investigation of the vestibular-visual interaction. Among his conclusions are that the adequate stimulus for the semicircular canals must be pressure, and that the sustained endolymph flow theory of Breuer (1874) and Crum Brown (1874) is erroneous. Excerpts are given of Mach's publications on vestibular functions.-

Henn, V.↗

A solar origin for the large lunar magnetic field at 4.0 billion yr ago

A new method (Shaw, 1974) for paleointensity determination has been applied to three subsamples of one polymict breccia, 72215 (of age 4.0 billion yr) to yield an average paleointensity of 0.41 Oe at the Taurus-Littrow region of the moon around the time of breccia formation. Of the present models for lunar magnetism, only the Sonett and Runcorn (1974) model of a central iron core dynamo can explain the presence of such a large field in early lunar history. However, because of the similarity in size of this field and that for the early solar system deduced from carbonaceous chondrites, we draw attention to an apparently little-considered possibility: that the large magnetic field in early lunar history was external and solar in origin, and emanated from a pre-main sequence T-Tauri stage sun. Therefore, there should be no record of such a large magnetic field in lunar rocks younger than approximately 4.0 billion yr.

Banerjee, S. K.↗

Remote sensing data processing: Two years ago, today, and two years from today

Beginning with a survey of the state-of-the-art of processing remotely sensed data in early 1975, significant developments between that time and the present are chronicled, and technologies for early 1979 are projected. Current technical issues discussed include: training selection and labeling; classification and mensuration; use of satellite indicators to supplement predictions; small scale field structures; physical factors; ancillary data; geometric quality; and the cost of processing.

Holmes, Q. A.↗