Investigation of low-cost fabrication of ablative heat shields

The fabrication, testing, and evaluation of materials and techniques employed in the fabrication of ablative heat shield panels are described. Results of this effort show projected reductions in labor man-hours for dielectric curing of panels when compared to panels molded in a steam-heated press. In addition, panels were fabricated with more than one density within the cross-section. These dual-density panels show significant weight and cost reduction potentials

A modified expression of the major hydrolase activator in Hypocrea jecorina (Trichoderma reesei) changes enzymatic catalysis of biopolymer degradation

AbstractHypocrea jecorina (anamorph Trichoderma reesei) is a saprophytic fungus that produces hydrolases, which are applied in different types of industries and used for the production of biofuel. A recombinant Hypocrea strain, which constantly expresses the main transcription activator of hydrolases (Xylanase regulator 1), was found to grow faster on xylan and its monomeric backbone molecule d-xylose. This strain also showed improved ability of clearing xylan medium on plates. Furthermore, this strain has a changed transcription profile concerning genes encoding for hydrolases and enzymes associated with degradation of (hemi)celluloses. We demonstrated that enzymes of this strain from a xylan cultivation favoured break down of hemicelluloses to the monomer d-xylose compared to the parental strain, while the enzymes of the latter one formed more xylobiose. Applying supernatants from cultivation on carboxymethylcellulose in enzymatic conversion of hemicelluloses, the enzymes of the recombinant strain were clearly producing more of both, d-xylose and xylobiose, compared to the parental strain. Altogether, these results point to a changed hydrolase expression profile, an enhanced capability to form the xylan-monomer d-xylose and the assumption that there is a disordered induction pattern if the Xylanase regulator 1 is de-regulated in Hypocrea

On the stability of self-gravitating accreting flows

Analytic methods show stability of the stationary accretion of test fluids but they are inconclusive in the case of self-gravitating stationary flows. We investigate numerically stability of those stationary flows onto compact objects that are transonic and rich in gas. In all studied examples solutions appear stable. Numerical investigation suggests also that the analogy between sonic and event horizons holds for small perturbations of compact support but fails in the case of finite perturbations.Comment: 10 pages, accepted for publication in PR

Mach's principle: Exact frame-dragging via gravitomagnetism in perturbed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes with K=(±1,0)K = (\pm 1, 0)

We show that the dragging of the axis directions of local inertial frames by a weighted average of the energy currents in the universe is exact for all linear perturbations of any Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe with K = (+1, -1, 0) and of Einstein's static closed universe. This includes FRW universes which are arbitrarily close to the Milne Universe, which is empty, and to the de Sitter universe. Hence the postulate formulated by E. Mach about the physical cause for the time-evolution of the axis directions of inertial frames is shown to hold in cosmological General Relativity for linear perturbations. The time-evolution of axis directions of local inertial frames (relative to given local fiducial axes) is given experimentally by the precession angular velocity of gyroscopes, which in turn is given by the operational definition of the gravitomagnetic field. The gravitomagnetic field is caused by cosmological energy currents via the momentum constraint. This equation for cosmological gravitomagnetism is analogous to Ampere's law, but it holds also for time-dependent situtations. In the solution for an open universe the 1/r^2-force of Ampere is replaced by a Yukawa force which is of identical form for FRW backgrounds with $K = (-1, 0).$ The scale of the exponential cutoff is the H-dot radius, where H is the Hubble rate, and dot is the derivative with respect to cosmic time. Analogous results hold for energy currents in a closed FRW universe, K = +1, and in Einstein's closed static universe.Comment: 23 pages, no figures. Final published version. Additional material in Secs. I.A, I.J, III, V.H. Additional reference

Nuclear structure of Ac-231

The low-energy structure of 231Ac has been investigated by means of gamma ray spectroscopy following the beta-decay of 231Ra. Multipolarities of 28 transitions have been established by measuring conversion electrons with a mini-orange electron spectrometer. The decay scheme of 231Ra --> 231Ac has been constructed for the first time. The Advanced Time Delayed beta-gamma-gamma(t) method has been used to measure the half-lives of five levels. The moderately fast B(E1) transition rates derived suggest that the octupole effects, albeit weak, are still present in this exotic nucleus

Leptons, quarks, and their antiparticles from a phase-space perspective

It is argued that antiparticles may be interpreted in macroscopic terms without explicitly using the concept of time and its reversal. The appropriate framework is that of nonrelativistic phase space. It is recalled that a quantum version of this approach leads also, alongside the appearance of antiparticles, to the emergence of `internal' quantum numbers identifiable with weak isospin, weak hypercharge and colour, and to the derivation of the Gell-Mann-Nishijima relation, while simultaneously offering a preonless interpretation of the Harari-Shupe rishon model. Furthermore, it is shown that - under the assumption of the additivity of canonical momenta - the approach entails the emergence of string-like structures resembling mesons and baryons, thus providing a different starting point for the discussion of quark unobservability.Comment: Talk given at Fifth Int. Workshop DICE2010 Space-Time-Matter, Castiglioncello, Italy, September 13-17, 201

The Problem of Inertia in Friedmann Universes

In this paper we study the origin of inertia in a curved spacetime, particularly the spatially flat, open and closed Friedmann universes. This is done using Sciama's law of inertial induction, which is based on Mach's principle, and expresses the analogy between the retarded far fields of electrodynamics and those of gravitation. After obtaining covariant expressions for electromagnetic fields due to an accelerating point charge in Friedmann models, we adopt Sciama's law to obtain the inertial force on an accelerating mass $m$ by integrating over the contributions from all the matter in the universe. The resulting inertial force has the form $F = -kma$, where $k < 1$ depends on the choice of the cosmological parameters such as $\Omega_{M}$, $\Omega_{\Lambda}$, and $\Omega_{R}$ and is also red-shift dependent.Comment: 10 page

Variation of the speed of light with temperature of the expanding universe

From an extended relativistic dynamics for a particle moving in a cosmic background field with temperature T, we aim to obtain the speed of light with an explicit dependence on the background temperature of the universe. Although finding the speed of light in the early universe much larger than its current value, our approach does not violate the postulate of special relativity. Moreover, it is shown that the high value of the speed of light in the early universe was drastically decreased before the beginning of the inflationary period. So we are led to conclude that the theory of varying speed of light should be questioned as a possible solution of the horizon problem.Comment: 3 pages and 1 figure; Phys. Rev. D86, 027703 (2012

New insight into cataract formation -- enhanced stability through mutual attraction

Small-angle neutron scattering experiments and molecular dynamics simulations combined with an application of concepts from soft matter physics to complex protein mixtures provide new insight into the stability of eye lens protein mixtures. Exploring this colloid-protein analogy we demonstrate that weak attractions between unlike proteins help to maintain lens transparency in an extremely sensitive and non-monotonic manner. These results not only represent an important step towards a better understanding of protein condensation diseases such as cataract formation, but provide general guidelines for tuning the stability of colloid mixtures, a topic relevant for soft matter physics and industrial applications.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication on Phys. Rev. Let