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We describe our ongoing program to measure velocity dependent charge transfer (CT) cross sections for selected ions on atomic hydrogen using the ion-aloin merged-beams apparatus at Oak Ridge Natioiial Laboralory. Our focus is on those ions for which CT plays an important role in determining the ionization structure, line emis sion, and thermal structure of observed cosmic photoionized plasmas.
Low temperature dielectronic recombination (DR) is the dominant recombination mechanism for most ions in X-ray photoionized cosmic plasmas. Reliably modeling and interpreting spectra from these plasmas requires accurate low temperature DR rate Coefficients. Of particular importance are the DR rate coefficients for the iron L-shell ions (Fe XVII-Fe XXIV). These ions are predicted to play an important role in determining the thermal structure and line emission of X-ray photoionized plasmas, which form in the media surrounding accretion powered sources such as X-ray binaries (XRBs), active galactic nuclei (AGN), and cataclysmic variables (Savin et al., 2000). The need for reliable DR data of iron L-shell ions has become particularly urgent after the launches of Chandra and XMM-Newton. These satellites are now providing high-resolution X-ray spectra from a wide range of X-ray photoionized sources. Interpreting the spectra from these sources requires reliable DR rate coefficients. However, at the temperatures relevant, for X-ray photoionized plasmas, existing theoretical DR rate coefficients can differ from one another by factors of two to orders of magnitudes.
Commensurate and incommensurate modulation in protein crystals remain terra incognita for crystallographers. While small molecule crystallographers have successfully wrestled with this type of structure, no modulated macromolecular structures have been determined to date. In this work, methods and strategies have been developed to collect and analyze data from modulated macromolecular crystals. Preliminary data using these methods are presented for a semi-crystalline state of profilin:actin.
We describe numerical simulations we have begun in order to determine the observational requirements for future echo-apping experiments. We focus on two particular problems: (1) determination of the structure and kinematics of the broad-line region through emission- line reverberation mapping, and (2) detection of interband continuum lags that may be used as a probe of the continuum source, presumably a temperature-stratified accretion disk. Our preliminary results suggest the broad-line region can be reverberation-mapped to good precision with spectra of signal-to-noise ratio per pixel S/N approx. = 30, time resolution (Delta)t approx. = 0.1 day, and duration of about 60 days (which is a factor of three larger than the longest time scale in the input models); data that meet these requirements do not yet exist. We also find that interband continuum lags of approx. greater than 0.5 days can be detected at approx. greater than 95% confidence with at least daily observations for about 6 weeks, or rather more easily and definitively with shorter programs undertaken with satellite-based observatories. The results of these simulations show that significant steps forward in multiwavelength monitoring will almost certainly require dedicated facilities.
A global nonlinear parametric modeling technique is described and demonstrated. The technique uses multivariate orthogonal modeling functions generated from the data to determine nonlinear model structure, then expands each retained modeling function into an ordinary multivariate polynomial. The final model form is a finite multivariate power series expansion for the dependent variable in terms of the independent variables. Partial derivatives of the identified models can be used to assemble globally valid linear parameter varying models. The technique is demonstrated by identifying global nonlinear parametric models for nondimensional aerodynamic force and moment coefficients from a subsonic wind tunnel database for the F-16 fighter aircraft. Results show less than 10% difference between wind tunnel aerodynamic data and the nonlinear parameterized model for a simulated doublet maneuver at moderate angle of attack. Analysis indicated that the global nonlinear parametric models adequately captured the multivariate nonlinear aerodynamic functional dependence.
Patterns of longevity and rate of appearance of taxa in the fossil record indicate a different evolutionary dynamic between land plants and marine invertebrates. Among marine invertebrates, rates of taxonomic turnover declined through the Phanerozoic, with increasingly extinction-resistant, long-lived, clades coming to dominate. Among terrestrial vascular plants, rates of turnover increased through the Phanerozoic, with short-lived, extinction-prone clades coming to dominate from the Devonian to the present. Terrestrial vertebrates appear to approximate the marine invertebrate pattern more closely than the plant record. We identify two features which individually or jointly may have influenced this distinction. First, land plants continuously invaded stressful environments during their evolution, while marine invertebrates and terrestrial vertebrates did not. Second, the relative structural simplicity and indeterminate mode of plant growth vs. the relative structural complexity and determinate mode of animal growth may have influenced the timing of major clade origin in the two groups.
Before the arrival of the Galileo spacecraft at Jupiter, models for the interior structure of the four galilean satellites--Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto-ranged from uniform mixtures of rock and ice (that is, undifferentiated objects) or rocky cores surrounded by a mantle of water ice. Now it appears that Io has a large metallic core and that Ganymede is strongly differentiated, most probably into a three-layer structure consisting of a metallic core, a silicate mantle and a deep outer layer of ice. Direct information on the interior structure of Callisto determined from previous spacecraft fly-bys was essentially limited to an estimate of the mean density being intermediate between pure ice and pure rock. Here we report measurements of Callisto's gravitational field which reveal that, in contrast to Io and Ganymede, this galilean satellite is most probably a homogeneous object consisting of a solar mixture of 40% compressed ice and 60% rock (including iron and iron sulphide). Callisto's undifferentiated state is consistent with the apparent lack of an intrinsic magnetic field, and indicates that the outermost galilean satellite has not experienced a heating phase sufficiently high to separate its rock and metal components from the lighter ices.
Reinforced concrete structures such as bridges, parking decks, and balconies are designed to have a service life of over 50 years. All too often, however, many structures fall short of this goal, requiring expensive repairs and protection work earlier than anticipated. The corrosion of reinforced steel within the concrete infrastructure is a major cause for this premature deterioration. Such corrosion is a particularly dangerous problem for the facilities at NASA s Kennedy Space Center. Located near the Atlantic Ocean in Florida, Kennedy is based in one of the most corrosive-prone areas in the world. In order to protect its launch support structures, highways, pipelines, and other steel-reinforced concrete structures, Kennedy engineers developed the Galvanic Liquid Applied Coating System. The system utilizes an inorganic coating material that slows or stops the corrosion of reinforced steel members inside concrete structures. Early tests determined that the coating meets the criteria of the National Association of Corrosion Engineers for complete protection of steel rebar embedded in concrete. Testing is being continued at the Kennedy's Materials Science Beach Corrosion Test Site.
Rietveld refinements of neutron powder diffraction data on alpha(sub 2)-Ti3Al have been performed to determine the crystal structure as a function of interstitial oxygen (O) concentration for three alloys with a Ti/Al ratio of approximately equal to 2.34 and O concentrations of 0.25%, 3.99% and 7.71%. The structures of the allows are hexagonal in space group P6(sub 3)/mmc where Ti and Al atoms populate unique sites with excess Al at the Ti site and O atoms occupy octahedral interstitial sites surrounded by six Ti sites. The length of the c-axis was found to increase linearly as the O occupancy of the interstitial sites increased; this lattice lengthening effect was much less pronounced along the alpha axis. Correspondingly, the increases in the lengths of Ti-Al and Ti-Ti bonds with a major component of their direction parallel to the c-axis were roughly an order of magnitude greater than the increases in the lengths of Ti-al and Ti-Ti bonds more closely aligned with the alpha-axis. Densities calculated form the lattice parameters and occupancy factors fall in the range (4.118 plus or minus 0.004) grams per cubic centimeter to (4.194 plus or minus 0.004) grams per cubic centimeter, and exhibit a nearly linear increase with oxygen concentration. Measured densities of (4.113 plus or minus 0.001) grams per cubic centimeter, (4.146 plus or minus 0.009) grams per cubic centimeter, and (4.191 plus or minus 0.002) grams per cubic centimeter for these alloys agree with the results of the refinements.
STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) will launch in 2006 on a two-year mission to study Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and the solar wind. The mission consists of two space-based observatories - one moving ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind - to provide the first-ever stereoscopic measurements to study the Sun and the nature of CMEs. STEREO's scientific objectives are to: 1) Understand the causes and mechanisms of coronal mass ejection (CME) initiation; 2) Characterize the propagation of CMEs through the heliosphere; 3) Discover the mechanisms and sites of energetic particle acceleration in the low corona and the interplanetary medium; 4) Improve the determination of the structure of the ambient solar wind. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.
Titanium aluminides are attractive alternatives to superalloys in moderate temperature applications (600 to 850 C) by virtue of their high strength-to-density ratio (high specific strength). These alloys are also more ductile than competing intermetallic systems. However, most Ti-based alloys tend to degrade through interstitial embrittlement and rapid oxidation during exposure to elevated temperatures. Therefore, their environmental behavior must be thoroughly investigated before they can be developed further. The goals of titanium aluminide environmental studies at the NASA Lewis Research Center are twofold: characterize the degradation mechanisms for advanced structural alloys and determine what means are available to minimize degradation. The studies to date have covered the alpha 2 (Ti3Al), orthorhombic (Ti2AlNb), and gamma (TiAl) classes of alloys.
We have been working on the development of thin film photovoltaic solar cell materials that can be produced entirely by wet chemical methods on low-cost flexible substrates. P-type copper indium diselenide (CIS) absorber layers have been deposited via electrochemical deposition. Similar techniques have also allowed us to incorporate both Ga and S into the CIS structure, in order to increase its optical bandgap. The ability to deposit similar absorber layers with a variety of bandgaps is essential to our efforts to develop a multi-junction thin-film solar cell. Chemical bath deposition methods were used to deposit a cadmium sulfide (CdS) buffer layers on our CIS-based absorber layers. Window contacts were made to these CdS/CIS junctions by the electrodeposition of zinc oxide (ZnO). Structural and elemental determinations of the individual ZnO, CdS and CIS-based films via transmission spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy will be presented. The electrical characterization of the resulting devices will be discussed.
Intensity "dimmings" in coronal images are a key feature of solar eruptions. Such dimmings are likely the source locations for much of the material expelled in coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Characteristics such as the timing of the dimmings with respect to the onset of other eruption signatures, and the location of the dimmings in the context of the magnetic field environment of the erupting region, are indicative of the mechanism leading to the eruption. We examine dimmings of six eruptions in images from the EUV Imaging Telescope (EIT) on SOHO, along with supplementary soft X-ray (SXR) data from GOES and the SXR Telescope (SXT) on Yohkoh. We examine the timing of the dimming onset and compare with the time of EUV and SXR brightening and determine the timescale for the recovery from dimming for each event. With line-of-sight photospheric magnetograms from the MDI instrument on SOHO, we determine the magnetic structure of the erupting regions and the locations of the dimmings in those regions. From our analysis we consider which mechanism likely triggered each eruption: internal tether cutting, external tether cutting ("breakout"), loss of equilibrium, or some other mechanism.
The antenna shown is the new, multiple-beam, Unattended Earth Terminal, located at COMSAT Laboratories in Clarksburg, Maryland. Seemingly simple, it is actually a complex structure capable of maintaining contact with several satellites simultaneously (conventional Earth station antennas communicate with only one satellite at a time). In developing the antenna, COMSAT Laboratories used NASTRAN, NASA's structural analysis computer program, together with BANDIT, a companion program. The computer programs were used to model several structural configurations and determine the most suitable, The speed and accuracy of the computerized design analysis afforded appreciable savings in time and money.
Andreyivanovite (ideally FeCrP) is another new phosphide species from the Kaidun meteorite, which fell in South Yemen in 1980. Kaidun is a unique breccia containing an unprecedented variety of fragments of different chondritic as well as achondritic lithologies. Andreyivanovite was found as individual grains and linear arrays of grains with a maximum dimension of 8 m within two masses of Fe-rich serpentine. In one sample it is associated with Fe-Ni-Cr sulfides and florenskyite (FeTiP). Andreyivanovite is creamy white in reflected light, and its luster is metallic. The average of nine electron microprobe analyses yielded the formula Fe(Cr0.587 Fe0.150 V0.109 Ti0.081 Ni0.060 Co0.002)P. Examination of single grains of andreyivanovite using Laue patterns collected by in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD), and by electron backscattered diffraction revealed that it is isostructural with florenskyite; we were unable to find single crystals of sufficient quality to perform a complete structure analysis. Andreyivanovite crystallizes in the space group Pnma, and has the anti-PbCl2 structure. Previously-determined cell constants of synthetic material [a = 5.833(1), b = 3.569(1), c = 6.658(1) A] were consistent with our XRD work. We used the XPOW program to calculate a powder XRD pattern; the 5 most intense reflections are d = 2.247 (I = 100), 2.074 (81), 2.258 (46), 1.785 (43), and 1.885 A (34). Andreyivanovite is the second new phosphide to be described from the Kaidun meteorite. Andreyivanovite could have formed as a result of cooling and crystallization of a melted precursor consisting mainly of Fe-Ni metal enriched in P, Ti, and Cr. Serpentine associated with andreyivanovite would then have formed during aqueous alteration on the parent asteroid. It is also possible that the andreyivanovite could have formed during aqueous alteration, however, artificial FeTiP has been synthesized only during melting experiments, at low oxygen fugacity, and there is no evidence that a hydrothermal genesis is reasonable.
NASA would like new devices and sensors for performing nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of aerospace vehicles. These devices must be small in size/volume, mass, and power consumption. The devices must be autonomous and mobile so they can access the internal structures of aircraft and spacecraft and adequately monitor the structural health of these craft. The platforms must be mobile in order to transport NDE sensors for evaluating structural integrity and determining whether further investigations will be required. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology is crucial to the development of the mobile platforms and sensor systems. This paper presents NASA s needs for micro mobile platforms and MEMS sensors that will enable NDE to be performed on aerospace vehicles.
The CloudSat satellite's Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) is a highly sensitive 94 GHz (W-band) nadir viewing radar system flown in retrograde sun synchronous orbit useful for determining the vertical structure of cloud hydrometeors down to sensitivity of approx. -30 dBZ reflectivity factor. Given this sensitivity, it is possible to unambiguously measure precipitation rates in clouds over a spectrum extending from approx. 0.08 - 3.0 mm hr (sup -1) down to altitudes of 0.5 km with approx.0.25 km vertical binning. This enables an effective means to measure a great deal of the drizzle and light rain spectrum. However, because of its near-polar sunsynchronous orbit, CloudSat cannot sample the diurnal cycle of precipitation, nor with its nadir-only CPR view can it obtain a high duty cycle in sampling precipitation at fixed local times over fixed positions. On the other hand, the TRMM satellite, which is flown in a non-sunsynchronous 35-degree inclined orbit carrying the 13.8 GHz KU-band Precipitation Radar (PR) scanning through nadir over an approx. 225 km swath, can sample both the diurnal cycle and with a much improved duty cycle relative to CloudSat. Moreover, the PR and CPR have the same 0.25 km vertical binning capability. The PR's greatest shortcoming is its approx. +17 dBZ sensitivity, which eliminates the possibility of measuring rain rates below -0.3-0.5 mm hr(sup -1), which can involve rainfall accumulations of up to 50% of the total over some regions. This begs the question of whether by combining CPR and PR data sets, whether it is possible to obtain an augmented measurement of the diurnal precipitation cycle. By collecting complimentary datasets during CloudSat and TRMM satellite orbit crossings within a delta t = 45-min proximity window, it is possible to demonstrate that whenever TRMM detects a precipitation signal, the correlations along the vertical axis between the reflectivities acquired from the CPR and PR are in inverse proportion to the magnitude of the delta t proximity window. By taking advantage of these underlying correlations, it is possible to develop a functional which can be used to broaden the reflectivity spectrum, concomitantly the rain rate spectrum, of the PR measurements based on the inherently broader reflectivity spectrum of the CPR at the lower reflectivity end of the spectrum, concomitantly at lighter rain rates. With the functional in place, it is then possible to produce synthetic CloudSat precipitation imagery over the PR track and thus over the diurnal time period. These augmented data are then used to study the spectral-vertical diurnal properties of precipitation over oceanic regions observed by TRMM.
The present invention provides a digital topography imaging system for determining the crystalline structure of a biological macromolecule, wherein the system employs a charge coupled device (CCD) camera with antiblooming circuitry to directly convert x-ray signals to electrical signals without the use of phosphor and measures reflection profiles from the x-ray emitting source after x-rays are passed through a sample. Methods for using said system are also provided.