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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.

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At least 217 records · Page 12

On the relation between phase path, group path and attenuation in a cold absorbing plasma

Consideration is given to a cold absorbing plasma in which the collision frequency is zero. Expressions are developed which relate the attenuation and the group and phase refractive indices. It is found that because the expressions for the group and phase refractive indices and the imaginary part of the refractive index are closely related in form, the attenuation is related to the difference between the group and phase paths. Numerical calculations have derived approximations which significantly increase the range of known approximations of this type.

Bennett, J. A.↗

Relative ages of flow units in Mare Imbrium and Sinus Iridum

A method for determining relative ages from low-resolution Lunar Orbiter photographs of lunar plains has been developed and applied to Mare Imbrium and Sinus Iridum. The method is an extension of previous ones and uses the shapes of craters and a small-impact erosion model to estimate the net accumulated impact flux. The net impact flux that has accumulated on a surface of uniform age is a measure of relative age of that surface and can be estimated by the largest diameters of craters that have been degraded by the net impact flux. Frequency distributions or relative ages indicate that there are four major units present in Mare Imbrium and Sinus Iridum. The older mare units are generally found along the edge of the basin and the younger units in the center. A similar distribution of ages of units in Mare Serenitatis shows the two basins have had similar filling histories. Filling histories for other circular basins may be similar to these two.

Boyce, J. M.↗

A luminosity-temperature relation for cluster X-ray sources

Luminosity-temperature (L-T) relations are derived for a self-gravitating isothermal gas sphere and for an isothermal gas sphere in hydrostatic equilibrium with the total mass of a cluster of galaxies. The relationships are compared with X-ray data for 13 clusters of galaxies. The L-T relation for the self-gravitating isothermal gas sphere is found to predict X-ray luminosities that are considerably larger than those observed, and the corresponding model is ruled out. It is shown, however, that the L-T relation for the isothermal gas sphere in hydrostatic equilibrium with total cluster mass is consistent with X-ray observations for reasonable choices of the ratio between central density and confining-mass density. Core radii or gas temperatures are predicted for five of the 13 clusters considered.

Henry, P.↗

Relative toxicity of materials in fire situations

The results of toxicity testing of additional materials is presented. Relative toxicity data on polymers by generic type are presented and include wood, polyurethane flexible foam, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene (ABS), and polyisoprene (natural rubber). A second table gives relative toxicity data on fibers and fabrics including wool, nylon, rayon, polyester, and aromatic polyamide. Sulfur-containing materials seemed to exhibit the shortest times to death of laboratory animals. Some chlorine-containing polymers tended to exhibit shortest time to death also while some halogen-containing polymers gave the shortest time to incapacitation. Among fibers and fabrics, wool, silk, and polyester exhibited the shortest times to incapacitation and times to death. Difficulty in restricting generally accepted materials is discussed and attention is given to other factors important in comparing materials, such as backcoatings and relative weights.

Hilado, C. J.↗

The Barnes-Evans color-surface brightness relation: A preliminary theoretical interpretation

Model atmosphere calculations are used to assess whether an empirically derived relation between V-R and surface brightness is independent of a variety of stellar paramters, including surface gravity. This relationship is used in a variety of applications, including the determination of the distances of Cepheid variables using a method based on the Beade-Wesselink method. It is concluded that the use of a main sequence relation between V-R color and surface brightness in determining radii of giant stars is subject to systematic errors that are smaller than 10% in the determination of a radius or distance for temperature cooler than 12,000 K. The error in white dwarf radii determined from a main sequence color surface brightness relation is roughly 10%.

Shipman, H. L.↗

Electrical torques on the electrostatic gyro in the gyro relativity experiment

A comprehensive discussion and calculation of electrical torques on an electrostatic gyro as they relate to the gyroscope experiment to test general relativity is presented. Drift rates were computed for some typical state of the art rotors, including higher harmonics in the rotor shape. The effect of orbital averaging of gravity gradient forces, roll averaging of torques, and the effect of spin averaging on the effective shape of the rotor were considered. The electrical torques are reduced sufficiently in a low g environment to permit a measurement of the relativistic drifts predicted by general relativity.

Eby, P.↗

Crystal Microbalance Monitors Relative Humidity

Sensor monitors water evaporation in industrial drying processes. Measured adsorption isotherm for instrument essentially linear over entire range of relative humidity. Testing at each temperature setting less than half hour for full relative-humidity range, with estimated frequency response time less than 10 seconds. Used to measure relative humidity of ambient atmosphere near drying paper, food textile fabrics and pulp to optimize water-drying portion of processing cycle.

Yang, L. C.↗

Theoretical method for calculating relative joint geometry of assembled robot arms

Equations are developed to extract the relative joint parameters of an assembled robot arm. Specifically, the Denavit-Hartenberg parameters, which completely characterize the relative joint geometry, are calculated. These parameters are needed to control the hand of the robot arm by resolved rate. As an example, the parameter extraction equations are used with perfect simulated data (no measurement noise) obtained from a mathematical model of a six-degree-of-freedom robot arm. For an actual application, measurement data needed to estimate the relative joint parameters can be generated by moving a robot arm to different positions, measuring the location of the hand (or other extension) in base coordinates, and recording the corresponding joint angles.

Barker, L. K.↗

Resolution versus speckle relative to geologic interpretability of spaceborne radar images - A survey of user preference

A survey conducted to evaluate user preference for resolution versus speckle relative to the geologic interpretability of spaceborne radar images is discussed. Thirteen different resolution/looks combinations are simulated from Seasat synthetic-aperture radar data of each of three test sites. The SAR images were distributed with questionnaires for analysis to 85 earth scientists. The relative discriminability of geologic targets at each test site for each simulation of resolution and speckle on the images is determined on the basis of a survey of the evaluations. A large majority of the analysts respond that for most targets a two-look image at the highest simulated resolution is best. For a constant data rate, a higher resolution is more important for target discrimination than a higher number of looks. It is noted that sand dunes require more looks than other geologic targets. At all resolutions, multiple-look images are preferred over the corresponding single-look image. In general, the number of multiple looks that is optimal for discriminating geologic targets is inversely related to the simulated resolution.

Ford, J. P.↗

Spinning fluids in general relativity

General relativity field equations are employed to examine a continuous medium with internal spin. A variational principle formerly applied in the special relativity case is extended to the general relativity case, using a tetrad to express the spin density and the four-velocity of the fluid. An energy-momentum tensor is subsequently defined for a spinning fluid. The equations of motion of the fluid are suggested to be useful in analytical studies of galaxies, for anisotropic Bianchi universes, and for turbulent eddies.

Ray, J. R.↗

Cardiovascular responses to exercise as functions of absolute and relative work load

The roles of absolute and relative oxygen uptake (VO2 and percent of muscle group specific VO2-max) as determinants of the cardiovascular and ventilatory responses to exercise over a wide range of active muscle mass are investigated. Experiments were conducted using four types of dynamic exercise: one-arm curl, one-arm cranking, and one and two-leg cycling at four different relative work loads (25, 50, 75, and 100 percent of VO2-max) for the corresponding muscle group. Results show that VO2 during maximal one-arm curl, one-arm cranking, and one-leg cycling averaged 20, 50, and 75 percent, respectively, of that for maximal two-leg cycling. Cardiac output was determined to be linearly related to VO2 with a similar slope and intercept for each type of exercise, and the heart rate at a given percent VO2-max was higher with larger active muscle mass. It is concluded that the cardiovascular responses to exercise was determined to a large extent by the active muscle mass and the absolute oxygen uptake, with the principal feature appearing to be the tight linkage between systematic oxygen transport and utilization.

Lewis, S. F.↗

Relative Elevation Determination from LANDSAT Imagery

In LANDSAT imagery, spectral and spatial information can be used to detect the drainage network as well as the relative elevation model in mountainous terrain. To do this, the mixed information of material reflectance and topographic modulation in the original LANDSAT imagery must be first separated. From the material reflectance information, big visible rivers can be detected. From the topographic modulation information, ridges and valleys can be detected and assigned relative elevations. Finally, a relative elevation model can be generated by interpolating values for nonridge and nonvalley pixels.

Haralick, R. M.↗

Redundancy relations and robust failure detection

All failure detection methods are based on the use of redundancy, that is on (possible dynamic) relations among the measured variables. Consequently the robustness of the failure detection process depends to a great degree on the reliability of the redundancy relations given the inevitable presence of model uncertainties. The problem of determining redundancy relations which are optimally robust in a sense which includes the major issues of importance in practical failure detection is addressed. A significant amount of intuition concerning the geometry of robust failure detection is provided.

Chow, E. Y.↗

The energy relation between hard X-ray and O V emission in solar flares

The relationship between energy emitted in hard X-rays and the ultraviolet during the impulsive phase of solar flares provides an important diagnostic for understanding the energy flow from nonthermal to thermal. Many flares were observed from the Solar Maximum Mission satellite simultaneously in hard X-rays and the O V line at 1371 A formed at 250,000 K, providing information relevant to this problem. Previous work has shown that short time scale peaks in emission of these two types of radiation coincide in time to within 1 s. In this work the energy relation between the two types of emission is investigated and it is found that for any given flare there is a definite relation between hard X-ray and O V emissions throughout the flare, but from one flare to the next this relation varies markedly. These differences are attributed to the initial conditions in the flaring loops and some exploratory model calculations are presented to support this hypothesis.

Poland, A. I.↗

Large-scale circulation departures related to wet episodes in northeast Brazil

Large scale circulation features are presented as related to wet spells over northeast Brazil (Nordeste) during the rainy season (March and April) of 1979. The rainy season season is devided into dry and wet periods, the FGGE and geostationary satellite data was averaged and mean and departure fields of basic variables and cloudiness were studied. Analysis of seasonal mean circulation features show: lowest sea level easterlies beneath upper level westerlies; weak meridional winds; high relative humidity over the Amazon basin and relatively dry conditions over the South Atlantic Ocean. A fluctuation was found in the large scale circulation features on time scales of a few weeks or so over Nordeste and the South Atlantic sector. Even the subtropical High SLP's have large departures during wet episodes, implying a short period oscillation in the Southern Hemisphere Hadley circulation.

Sikdar, D. N.↗

The aging correlation (RH + t): Relative humidity (%) + temperature (deg C)

An aging correlation between corrosion lifetime, and relative humidity RH (%) and temperature t (C) has been reported in the literature. This aging correlation is a semi-log plot of corrosion lifetime on the log scale versus the interesting summation term RH(%) + t(C) on the linear scale. This empirical correlation was derived from observation of experimental data trends and has been referred to as an experimental law. Using electrical resistivity data of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) measured as a function of relative humidity and temperature, it was found that the electrical resistivity could be expressed as a function of the term RH(%) t(C). Thus, if corrosion is related to leakage current through an organic insulator, which, in turn, is a function of RH and t, then some partial theoretical validity for the correlation is indicated. This article describes the derivation of the term RH(%) t(C) from PVB electrical resistivity data.

Cuddihy, E. F.↗

Relative displacement measurements for two-body problems

While high-sensitivity moire interferometry is very effective for displacement measurements in continuous bodies, special difficulties arise with two-body problems. Fringes may become discontinuous at the boundary between the bodies and as a result the relative displacements cannot be extracted from the fringe patterns. In this work, flexible bridges are used between the bodies to provide a continuous path for fringe counting. The bridges are made of relatively low modulus material and have a low stiffness geometry, such that they deform under minimal load. The experimental methods used for obtaining relative displacement measurements in two-body problems are described for the two cases; dovetail joint in turbo-machinery, and thick adherend lap joint.

Post, D.↗

Large-scale circulation departures related to wet episodes in north-east Brazil

Large scale circulation features are presented as related to wet spells over northeast Brazil (Nordeste) during the rainy season (March and April) of 1979. The rainy season is divided into dry and wet periods; the FGGE and geostationary satellite data was averaged; and mean and departure fields of basic variables and cloudiness were studied. Analysis of seasonal mean circulation features show: lowest sea level easterlies beneath upper level westerlies; weak meridional winds; high relative humidity over the Amazon basin and relatively dry conditions over the South Atlantic Ocean. A fluctuation was found in the large scale circulation features on time scales of a few weeks or so over Nordeste and the South Atlantic sector. Even the subtropical High SLPs have large departures during wet episodes, implying a short period oscillation in the Southern Hemisphere Hadley circulation.

Sikdar, Dhirendra N.↗