Auroral substorm and magnetospheric substorm.
Auroral and magnetospheric substorms, understanding depends on knowledge of growth pattern and decay over polar cap
Akasofu, S.-I.↗
SEARCH · Search NASA
Results for “pattern dependence”
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.
The role of eigenvalues in linear feature selection theory
The analysis concerns the role of eigenvalues in determining a particular measure of pattern class distinction called the divergence, which is the pairwise average of the expected interclass divergence derived from Hajek's two-class divergence. Decel and Quirein (1973) showed that there always exists a k x n real matrix B such that the transformation determined by B maximizes divergence in k-dimensional space, and that B can be written as a product involving an orthogonal n x n matrix U. In the present paper it is shown that divergence measure of pattern class distinction does not depend on the eigenvalues of U.
Brown, D. R.↗
Fracture modes and acoustic emission of composite materials
Unidirectional fibrous composite material laminae are the construction material of a laminate. Four failure modes can occur in this material, and the identification of these modes is as important as the identification of onset of fracture. Acoustic emission (AE) pulses, generated by the change in the stress field resulting from cracking in a material, have a unique pattern of amplitude distribution that depends only on the mode of fracture and the type of material. By using a tapered double-cantilever beam as grips for the unidirectional lamina, a crack with a constant stress intensity factor was induced, thus eliminating the factor of the stress level. Placing the lamina in different directions relative to the grips imposed a different failure mode. By plotting the log of the relative number of AE pulses above some level versus the log of the relative level, a single constant coefficient can be measured for each material and mode of fracture. The AE energy is proportional to the energy released by the cracking; this proportionality depends on the medium where the AE waves have to travel, and not on the cracking mode.
Rotem, A.↗
Aircraft radar response to soil moisture
An analysis is presented of aircraft response to soil moisture in the upper surface layer of agricultural fields. Measurements (taken at 1.6 GHz and 4.75 GHz using HH and HV polarizations, and at 13.3 GHz using VV polarization from an experiment conducted in 1978 at Colby, Kansas) are used to derive the radar soil moisture sensitivities and correlations. It is shown that the aircraft response to soil moisture is optimum at C-band frequencies and incidence angles of 10-20 deg. confirming previous truck-radar results. Like-polarization radar response is unaffected by vegetation but is dependent on row-tillage patterns; cross-polarization response also is unaffected by vegetation but is approximately independent of tillage patterns. These results show that remote sensing radars can be used effectively for the detection and estimation of near-surface soil moisture in agricultural fields.
Bradley, G. A.↗
Thermospheric winds at high latitudes from chemical release observations
The considered investigation takes into account wind measurements conducted with the aid of 39 sounding rocket chemical release payloads. Attention is given to the geomagnetic dependence, winds and ion convection patterns, subauroral dayside measurements, evening auroral belt measurements, evening polar cap measurements, postmidnight polar cap measurements, midnight and early morning auroral belt measurements, late evening auroral belt measurements, and anomalous winds. The prevailing theme in presenting and interpreting the wind measurements between 160 and 320 km has been that the gross characteristics of the high-latitude wind system can be readily understood in terms of the pattern distribution of electric fields when the inertial properties of the neutral atmosphere and Coriolis forces are taken into account.
Heppner, J. P.↗
Different atmospheric effects in remote sensing of uniform and nonuniform surfaces
The atmospheric effect on the radiance of sunlight scattered from the earth-atmosphere system is greatly dependent on the surface reflectance pattern, the contrast between adjacent fields, and the optical properties of the atmosphere. In addition, the atmospheric effect is described by the range and magnitude of the adjacency effects, the atmospheric modulation transfer function, and the apparent spatial resolution of remotely sensed imagery. This paper discusses the atmospheric effect on classification of surface features and shows that surface nonuniformity can be used for developing procedures to remove the atmospheric effect from the satellite imagery.
Kaufman, Y. J.↗
Numerical simulation of boundary-layer transition
The transition to turbulence in boundary layers was investigated by direct numerical solution of the nonlinear, three-dimensional, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in the half-infinite domain over a flat plate. Periodicity was imposed in the streamwise and spanwise directions. A body force was applied to approximate the effect of a nonparallel mean flow. The numerical method was spectra, based on Fourier series and Jacobi polynomials, and used divergence-free basis functions. Extremely rapid convergence was obtained when solving the linear Orr-Sommerfeld equation. The early nonlinear and three-dimensional stages of transition, in a boundary layer disturbed by a vibrating ribbon, were successfully simulated. Excellent qualitative agreement was observed with either experiments or weakly nonlinear theories. In particular, the breakdown pattern was staggered or nonstaggered depending on the disturbance amplitude.
Spalart, P. R.↗
Longitudinal-mode control in integrated semiconductor laser phased arrays by phase velocity matching
The spectrum of semiconductor-laser arrays with separate contacts is investigated. It is demonstrated that the individual laser currents can be selected such that the array operates in a single longitudinal mode, in contrast to the multimode nature of its individual constituents. Moreover, it is possible to tune the lasing frequency by varying the laser currents. Wavelength tuning range of about 50 A, with tuning rate of about 5 A per milliampere, is demonstrated. It is suggested that these spectral features, characteristic of lasers which are coupled in parallel, result from the strong frequency dependence of their spatial mode pattern near the phase-matching frequency of their coupled waveguides.
Kapon, E.↗
3-D stator-rotor interaction of the SSME
The time-dependent stator-rotor interaction pattern of the Space Shuttle Main Engine's High-Pressure Fuel-Side Turbopump is presently studied by a multiple-zone solution algorithm, for both a two-dimensional case with 2:3 stator-rotor blade ratio and a three-dimensional case with a 1:1 ratio. A time-centered differencing scheme is used for temporal discretization, together with a sliding-grid multiple-zone solution method and an extended two-equation turbulence model with a wall function approach. The algorithm's accuracy is tested against experimental data.
Chen, Yen-Sen↗
The velocity fields of elliptical galaxies: Steps toward a solution of the intrinsic shape problem
One of the few surviving signatures, at low redshift, of the process of galaxy formation should be the distribution of shapes of elliptical galaxies. Yet the problem of inferring this distribution from the observed ellipticals is still unsolved, because insufficient use has been made of kinematic information. The levels of 'sophistication' of the theoretical models and of the observations have up to now been poorly matched. The kinematic data available for most ellipticals consists of only major and minor axis spectra; and Franx et al. (1991) find, using simple geometric models, that the addition of only one kinematic parameter (the ratio of minor axis to major axis rotation velocity) to the photometry is just not enough to finely constrain the intrinsic shape distribution. On the other hand, the more elaborate self-consistent models (e.g., Levison and Richstone 1987, Statler 1987) have made only infrequent and model-dependent predictions of complicated velocity patterns, mostly at small radii, and have not discussed how they change with shape.
Statler, Thomas S.↗
Verification and Validation of KBS with Neural Network Components
Artificial Neural Network (ANN) play an important role in developing robust Knowledge Based Systems (KBS). The ANN based components used in these systems learn to give appropriate predictions through training with correct input-output data patterns. Unlike traditional KBS that depends on a rule database and a production engine, the ANN based system mimics the decisions of an expert without specifically formulating the if-than type of rules. In fact, the ANNs demonstrate their superiority when such if-then type of rules are hard to generate by human expert. Verification of traditional knowledge based system is based on the proof of consistency and completeness of the rule knowledge base and correctness of the production engine.These techniques, however, can not be directly applied to ANN based components.In this position paper, we propose a verification and validation procedure for KBS with ANN based components. The essence of the procedure is to obtain an accurate system specification through incremental modification of the specifications using an ANN rule extraction algorithm.
Wen, Wu↗
The Spatial Variation of Polar Rain Electrons and its Cause
It is generally accepted that field aligned electrons in the solar wind can follow field lines connected to Earth and precipitate in the polar ionosphere where they are known as polar rain. Few-hundred eV, field-aligned electrons of the solar wind "strahl" carry the interplanetary heat flux moving out from the sun and these electrons precipitate in either the northern or southern hemisphere depending on the magnetic field direction. These electrons produce enhanced polar rain in one hemisphere or the other although weaker polar rain is usually produced in the opposite hemisphere by whatever electrons are moving in the opposite direction. Although much evidence exists for this simple free entry mechanism, it has also long been known that there are spatial variations in the energies and intensities of the precipitating electrons. The present work compares electron distribution functions measured by the ACE spacecraft in the solar wind with those measured by the DMSP spacecraft at 800 km altitude over the polar cap. It is found that shifting the DMSP distribution functions in energy by amounts ranging from 10's to a few hundred eV produces quite good agreement with simultaneous ACE measurements. Over most of the polar cap this DMSP energy shift must be positive to achieve this agreement, suggesting the electrons have been decelerated by a field aligned potential as they move from the solar wind to low altitudes. The largest shifts occur on the nightside and on the dawn or dusk side, with the latter depending on the plasma convection pattern which is controlled by the orientation of the IMF. Nearer the cusp the shift is smaller or even negative. Since more massive tailward flowing magnetosheath ions are unable io follow the field lines into the magnetotail like the electrons, a field aligned potential is expected to develop to exclude low energy electrons and prevent an excessive charge imbalance. Such a potential would also produce the deceleration of those electrons that reach low altitudes. This improved understanding of polar rain should increase the utility of polar rain measurements as a diagnostic of the magnetosphere magnetic field configuration.
Fairfield, D. H.↗
Simulation of Complex Cracking in Plain Weave C/SiC Composite under Biaxial Loading
Finite element analysis is performed on a mesh, based on computed geometry of a plain weave C/SiC composite with assumed internal stacking, to reveal the pattern of internal damage due to biaxial normal cyclic loading. The simulation encompasses intertow matrix cracking, matrix cracking inside the tows, and separation at the tow-intertow matrix and tow-tow interfaces. All these dissipative behaviors are represented by traction-separation cohesive laws. Not aimed at quantitatively predicting the overall stress-strain relation, the simulation, however, does not take the actual process of fiber debonding into account. The fiber tows are represented by a simple rule-of-mixture model where the reinforcing phase is a hypothetical one-dimensional material. Numerical results indicate that for the plain weave C/SiC composite, 1) matrix-crack initiation sites are primarily determined by large intertow matrix voids and interlayer tow-tow contacts, 2) the pattern of internal damage strongly depends on the loading path and initial stress, 3) compressive loading inflicts virtually no damage evolution. KEY WORDS: ceramic matrix composite, plain weave, cohesive model, brittle failure, smeared crack model, progressive damage, meso-mechanical analysis, finite element.
Cheng, Ron-Bin↗
Chasing Shadows: Rotation of the Azimuthal Asymmetry in the TW Hya Disk
We have obtained new images of the protoplanetary disk orbiting TW Hya in visible, total intensity light with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), using the newly commissioned BAR5 occulter. These HSTSTIS observations achieved an inner working angle of approximately 0 "2, or11.7 au, probing the system at angular radii coincident with recent images of the disk obtained by ALMA and in polarized intensity near-infrared light. By comparing our new STIS images to those taken with STIS in 2000 and with NICMOS in 1998, 2004, and 2005, we demonstrate that TW Hyas azimuthal surface brightness asymmetry moves coherently in position angle. Between 50 au and 141 au we measure a constant angular velocity in the azimuthal brightness asymmetry of 22.deg7 yr(exp -1) in a counterclockwise direction, equivalent to a period of 15.9yrassuming circular motion. Both the (short) inferred period and lack of radial dependence of the moving shadow pattern are inconsistent with Keplerian rotation at these disk radii. We hypothesize that the asymmetry arises from the fact that the disk interior to 1 au is inclined and precessing owing to a planetary companion, thus partially shadowing the outer disk. Further monitoring of this and other shadows on protoplanetary disks potentially opens anew avenue for indirectly observing the sites of planet formation.
protoplanetary disk orbiting TW Hya↗
Modeling Space-Radiation Induced Chromosome Aberrations
Exposure to ionizing radiation is identified as one of the main hazards of space flight. Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) are composed of energetic protons (87%), helium nuclei (12%) and high-charge and energy (HZE) ions. At the cellular scale, HZE ions have a pattern of energy deposition that depends on the ion linear energy transfer (LET), with high LET ions favoring the formation of complex DNA damages that induce chromosome aberrations (CAs). Understanding how physical (e.g., ion type and energy) and biological (e.g., cell type) parameters impact CA formation is required to assess space radiation risks such as carcinogenesis. The Monte Carlo tool RITCARD/RITRACKS [1,2] developed by NASA allows simulation of the transport of HZE ions and subsequent energy deposition at the cellular scale and models the creation of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs), DNA repair and formation of CAs. We used this radiation transport code to further understand how radiation quality and cell size affects CA formation.
Floriane Poignant↗
Optimization of Training Sets for Neural-Net Processing of Characteristic Patterns from Vibrating Solids
Artificial neural networks have been used for a number of years to process holography-generated characteristic patterns of vibrating structures. This technology depends critically on the selection and the conditioning of the training sets. A scaling operation called folding is discussed for conditioning training sets optimally for training feed-forward neural networks to process characteristic fringe patterns. Folding allows feed-forward nets to be trained easily to detect damage-induced vibration-displacement-distribution changes as small as 10 nm. A specific application to aerospace of neural-net processing of characteristic patterns is presented to motivate the conditioning and optimization effort.
Decker, Arthur J.↗
Ground testing of bioconvective variables such as morphological characterizations and mechanisms which regulate macroscopic patterns
Conditions simulating low- and high-gravity, reveal changes in macroscopic pattern formation in selected microorganisms, but whether these structures are gravity dependent is not clear. Two theories have been identified in the fluid dynamics community which support macroscopic pattern formation. The first one is gravity dependent (fluid density models) where small concentrated regions of organisms sink unstably, and the second is gravity independent (wave reinforcement theory) where organisms align their movements in concert, such that either their swimming strokes beat in phase or their vortices entrain neighbors to follow parallel paths. Studies have shown that macroscopic pattern formation is consistent with the fluid density models for protozoa and algae and wave reinforcement hypothesis for caprine spermatozoa.
Johnson, Adriel D.↗
Utilizing TRMM to Analyze Sea Breeze Thunderstorm Patterns During El Nino Southern Oscillations and Their Effects upon Available Fresh Water for South Florida Agricultural Planning and Management
Water is in high demand for farmers regardless of where you go. Unfortunately, farmers in southern Florida have fewer options for water supplies than public users and are often limited to using available supplies from surface and ground water sources which depend in part upon variable weather patterns. There is an interest by the agricultural community about the effect weather has on usable surface water, however, research into viable weather patterns during La Nina and El Nino has yet to be researched. Using rainfall accumulation data from NASA Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite, this project s purpose was to assess the influence of El Nino and La Nina Oscillations on sea breeze thunderstorm patterns, as well as general rainfall patterns during the summer season in South Florida. Through this research we were able to illustrate the spatial and temporal variations in rainfall accumulation for each oscillation in relation to major agricultural areas. The study period for this project is from 1998, when TRMM was first launched, to 2009. Since sea breezes in Florida typically occur in the months of May through October, these months were chosen to be the months of the study. During this time, there were five periods of El Nino and two periods of La Nina, with a neutral period separating each oscillation. In order to eliminate rainfall from systems other than sea breeze thunderstorms, only days that were conducive to the development of a sea breeze front were selected.
Cooley, Clayton↗