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At least 307 records · Page 17

Approximate minimum-time trajectories for two-link flexible manipulators

The method of recursive quadratic programming was used to generate approximate minimum-time tip trajectories for two-link semi-rigid and flexible manipulator movements in the horizontal plane. The manipulator is modeled with an efficient finite-element scheme for an n-link, m-joint system with bending only in the horizontal plane. Constraints on the trajectory include boundary conditions on position and energy for a rest-to-rest maneuver, straight-line tracking between boundary positions, and motor torque limits. Trajectory comparisons utilize a change in the link stiffness to compare a semi-rigid configuration to a flexible one. The level of bending flexibility necessary to excite significant modal behavior is demonstrated. Applied torques for minimum-time maneuvers are shown to be very similar between configurations and retain much of the qualitative character of rigid-body slewing motion.

Eisler, G. R.↗

IUE spectra and optical imaging of the oxygen-rich supernova remnant N132D

We present new optical Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) interference filter imagery and International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) spectroscopy for the oxygen-rich supernova remnant N132D in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The optical images show a wealth of structure, and comparison with an archival Einstein High Resolution Imager (HRI) X-ray image shows that a few optical features have X-ray counter-parts, but in general there is little correlation between X-ray and optical features. The IUE spectra at two positions show strong lines of carbon and oxygen, with lines of neon, magnesium, silicon, and helium also present and variable in relative intensities. We use optical data for N132D from Dopita & Tuohy (1984) with our UV observations to compare with shock models (both with and without thermal conduction) and X-ray photoionization model calculations. While none of the model fits is entirely satisfactory, the generally weak UV emission relative to optical disagrees with the general character of shock model predictions and indicates that photoionization is the dominant excitation mechanism for the UV/optical emission. This conclusion is similar to what was found for E0102 - 7219, the oxygen-rich remnant in the Small Magellanic Cloud. We derive rough abundances for the emitting material in N132D, compare to stellar nucleosynthesis models, and discuss the implications for its precursor. A precursor near 20 solar mass is consistent with the data.

Blair, William P.↗

Tables for the Rapid Estimation of Downwash and Sidewash Behind Wings Performing Various Motions at Supersonic Speeds

Equations for the downwash and sidewash due to supersonic yawed and unswept horseshoe vortices have been utilized in formulating tables and charts to permit a rapid estimation of the flow velocities behind wings performing various steady motions. Tabulations are presented of the downwash and sidewash in the wing vertical plane of symmetry due to a unit-strength yawed horseshoe vortex located at 20 equally spaced spanwise positions along lifting lines of various sweeps. (The bound portion of the yawed vortex is coincident with the lifting line.) Charts are presented for the purpose of estimating the spanwise variations of the flow-field velocities and give longitudinal variations of the downwash and sidewash at a nuMber of vertical and spanwise locations due to a unit-strength unswept horseshoe vortex. Use of the tables and charts to calculate wing downwash or sidewash requires a knowledge of the wing spanwise distribution of circulation. Sample computations for the rolling sidewash and angle-of-attack downwash behind a typical swept wing are presented to demonstrate the use of the tables and charts.

Bobbitt, Percy J.↗

Dynamic behavior of the Bering Glacier-Bagley icefield system during a surge, and other measurements of Alaskan glaciers with ERS SAR imagery

ERS-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery was employed for the measurement of the dynamics of the Bagley icefield during a major surge in 1993-1994, the measurement of ice velocities on the Malaspina piedmont glacier during a quiescent phase between surges, and for mapping the snow lines and the position of the terminus of Nabesna glacier on Mount Wrangell (a 4317 m andesitic shield volcano) in the heavily glacierized Saint Elias and Wrangell Mountains of Alaska. An overview and summary of results is given. The methods used include interferometry, cross-correlation of sequential images, and digitization of boundaries using terrain-corrected SAR imagery.

Lingle, Craig S.↗

GeoSAR: A Radar Terrain Mapping System for the New Millennium

GeoSAR Geographic Synthetic Aperture Radar) is a new 3 year effort to build a unique, dual-frequency, airborne Interferometric SAR for mapping of terrain. This is being pursued via a Consortium of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Calgis, Inc., and the California Department of Conservation. The airborne portion of this system will operate on a Calgis Gulfstream-II aircraft outfitted with P- and X-band Interferometric SARs. The ground portions of this system will be a suite of Flight Planning Software, an IFSAR Processor and a Radar-GIS Workstation. The airborne P-band and X-band radars will be constructed by JPL with the goal of obtaining foliage penetration at the longer P-band wavelengths. The P-band and X-band radar will operate at frequencies of 350 Mhz and 9.71 Ghz with bandwidths of either 80 or 160 Mhz. The airborne radars will be complemented with airborne laser system for measuring antenna positions. Aircraft flight lines and radar operating instructions will be computed with the Flight Planning Software The ground processing will be a two-step step process. First, the raw radar data will be processed into radar images and interferometer derived Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). Second, these radar images and DEMs will be processed with a Radar GIS Workstation which performs processes such as Projection Transformations, Registration, Geometric Adjustment, Mosaicking, Merging and Database Management. JPL will construct the IFSAR Processor and Calgis, Inc. will construct the Radar GIS Workstation. The GeoSAR Project was underway in November 1996 with a goal of having the radars and laser systems fully integrated onto the Calgis Gulfstream-II aircraft in early 1999. Then, Engineering Checkout and Calibration-Characterization Flights will be conducted through November 1999. The system will be completed at the end of 1999 and ready for routine operations in the year 2000.

Thompson, Thomas↗

Detection and quantification of Epstein-Barr virus EBER1 in EBV-infected cells by fluorescent in situ hybridization and flow cytometry

A rapid and highly sensitive fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) assay was developed to detect Epstein Barr virus (EBV)-infected cells in peripheral blood. Multiple fluorescein-labeled antisense oligonucleotide probes were designed to hybridize to the EBER1 transcript, which is highly expressed in latently infected cells. After a rapid (30 min) hybridization, the cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. EBER1 was detected in several positive control cell lines that have variable numbers of EBV genome copies. No EBER1 was detected in two known EBV-negative cell lines. Northern blot analyses confirmed the presence and quantity of EBER1 transcripts in each cell line. This method was used to quantify the number of EBV-infected cells in peripheral blood from a patient with chronic mononucleosis. These results indicate that EBV-infected cells can be detected at the single cell level, and that this assay can be used to quantify the number of EBV-infected cells in clinical samples.

NASA Discipline Regulatory Physiology↗

How Does a Liquid Wet a Solid? Hydrodynamics of Dynamic Contact Angles

A contact line is defined at the intersection of a solid surface with the interface between two immiscible fluids. When one fluid displaces another immiscible fluid along a solid surface, the process is called dynamic wetting and a "moving" contact line (one whose position relative to the solid changes in time) often appears. The physics of dynamic wetting controls such natural and industrial processes as spraying of paints and insecticides, dishwashing, film formation and rupture in the eye and in the alveoli, application of coatings, printing, drying and imbibition of fibrous materials, oil recovery from porous rocks, and microfluidics.

Rame, Enrique↗

MEMS-Based Force-Detected Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (FDNMR) Spectrometer

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy allows assignment of molecular structure by acquiring the energy spectrum of nuclear spins in a molecule, and by interpreting the symmetry and positions of resonance lines in the spectrum. As such, NMR has become one of the most versatile and ubiquitous spectroscopic methods. Despite these tremendous successes, NMR experiments suffer from inherent low sensitivity due to the relatively low energy of photons in the radio frequency (rt) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Here, we describe a high-resolution spectroscopy in samples with diameters in the micron range and below. We have reported design and fabrication of force-detected nuclear magnetic resonance (FDNMR).

force detected nuclear magnetic resonance (FDNMR)↗

Chandra X-ray Spectroscopy of the Focused Wind In the Cygnus X-1 System I. The Non-Dip Spectrum in the Low/Hard State

We present analyses of a 50 ks observation of the supergiant X-ray binary system CygnusX-1/HDE226868 taken with the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS). CygX-1 was in its spectrally hard state and the observation was performed during superior conjunction of the black hole, allowing for the spectroscopic analysis of the accreted stellar wind along the line of sight. A significant part of the observation covers X-ray dips as commonly observed for CygX-1 at this orbital phase, however, here we only analyze the high count rate non-dip spectrum. The full 0.5-10 keV continuum can be described by a single model consisting of a disk, a narrow and a relativistically broadened Fe K line, and a power law component, which is consistent with simultaneous RXTE broad band data. We detect absorption edges from overabundant neutral O, Ne and Fe, and absorption line series from highly ionized ions and infer column densities and Doppler shifts. With emission lines of He-like Mg XI, we detect two plasma components with velocities and densities consistent with the base of the spherical wind and a focused wind. A simple simulation of the photoionization zone suggests that large parts of the spherical wind outside of the focused stream are completely ionized, which is consistent with the low velocities (<200 km/s) observed in the absorption lines, as the position of absorbers in a spherical wind at low projected velocity is well constrained. Our observations provide input for models that couple the wind activity of HDE 226868 to the properties of the accretion flow onto the black hole.

Hanke, Manfred↗

Verification of the H2O Linelists with Theoretically Developed Tools

Two basic rules (i.e., the pair identity and the smooth variation rules) resulting from the properties of the energy levels and wave functions of H2O states govern how the spectroscopic parameters vary with the H2O lines within the individually defined groups of lines. With these rules, for those lines involving high j states in the same groups, variations of all their spectroscopic parameters (i.e., the transition frequency, intensity, pressure broadened half-width, pressure-induced shift, and temperature exponent) can be well monitored. Thus, the rules can serve as simple and effective tools to screen the H2O spectroscopic data listed in the HITRAN database and verify the latter's accuracies. By checking violations of the rules occurring among the data within the individual groups, possible errors can be picked up and also possible missing lines in the linelist whose intensities are above the threshold can be identified. We have used these rules to check the accuracies of the spectroscopic parameters and the completeness of the linelists for several important H2O vibrational bands. Based on our results, the accuracy of the line frequencies in HITRAN 2008 is consistent. For the line intensity, we have found that there are a substantial number of lines whose intensity values are questionable. With respect to other parameters, many mistakes have been found. The above claims are consistent with a well known fact that values of these parameters in HITRAN contain larger uncertainties. Furthermore, supplements of the missing line list consisting of line assignments and positions can be developed from the screening results.

spectroscopy↗

Design of a Parachute Canopy Instrumentation Platform

This paper discusses the current technology available to design and develop a reliable and compact instrumentation platform for parachute system data collection and command actuation. Wireless communication with a parachute canopy will be an advancement to the state of the art of parachute design, development, and testing. Embedded instrumentation of the parachute canopy will provide reefing line tension, skirt position data, parachute health monitoring, and other telemetry, further validating computer models and giving engineering insight into parachute dynamics for both Earth and Mars entry that is currently unavailable. This will allow for more robust designs which are more optimally designed in terms of structural loading, less susceptible to adverse dynamics, and may eventually pave the way to currently unattainable advanced concepts of operations. The development of this technology has dual use potential for a variety of other applications including inflatable habitats, aerodynamic decelerators, heat shields, and other high stress environments.

Alshahin, Wahab M.↗

Velocimeter LIDAR Based Bulk Velocity Estimation for Terrain Relative Navigation Applications

A novel batch state estimation approach to estimate the translational and angular velocity states of a vehicle using a state-of-the-art velocimeter Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensor for use in Terrain and Hazard Relative Navigation (TRN/HRN) applications is presented in this paper. The velocimeter LIDAR is capable of measuring three dimensional position and line-of-sight (LOS) velocity associated with every pixel in the field-of-view (FOV). This new batch state estimation methodology is shown to provide accurate and statistically consistent velocity estimates with no a priori information. In contrast to traditional computer vision approaches for TRN, the proposed technique is not dependent on image features. This feature alleviates the need for accurate feature detection and correspondence to a predefined map making it suitable for unknown operating environments. Following a detailed development of the mathematical details associated with the batch state estimation methodology, the efficacy and utility of the proposed algorithms are evaluated through emulation robotics experiments performed at Texas A&M’s Land, Air, and Space Robotics (LASR) laboratory.

Skulsky, Eli↗

The ultraviolet spectrum of UW Canis Majoris

High resolution spectra of the eclipsing binary UW CMa have been obtained in the wavelength range 950 to 3200 A with the Copernicus (OAO-3) and IUE satellites. UW CMa is an interacting system, consisting of an 07f Ia primary and an O-B secondary. The spectra have been used to compile a list of stellar and interstellar lines. Identifications together with position and laboratory wavelengths are given. The spectra are dominated by envelope (P Cygni) lines. Numerous, but less conspicuous photospheric absorption lines from the 07f component are present. In addition, a wealth of interstellar lines appear.

Drechsel, H.↗

Airborne water vapor DIAL system development

A differential absorption lidar (DIAL) system developed at NASA Langley Research Center for the remote measurement of atmospheric H2O and aerosols from an aircraft is briefly discussed. This DIAL system utilizes a Nd:YAG laser-pumped dye laser as the off-line transmitter and a narrowband, tunable Alexandrite laser as the on-line transmitter. A 1-m monochromator and a multipass absorption cell are used to position the on-line laser to the center of the H2O line. The receiver system has a 14-in. diameter, f/7 Celestron telescope to collect the backscattered laser light and focus in into the detector optics. Return signals are converted to electrical signals by the optical detector and are digitalized and stored on magnetic tape. The results of fligh tests of the system are shown.

Higdon, Noah S.↗

Thermal Properties of Prominence Motions as Observed in the UV

The mechanisms by which solar prominences are filled with plasma are still undetermined. In this study we perform a quantitative analysis of the thermal properties of moving features in prominences in order to put constraints on models of prominence formation and dynamics. In order to make such measurements of quickly moving features seen in prominences in the UV we use the SOHO instruments SUMER and CDS to take a time series of exposures at a single pointing position, providing a measurement of spectral line properties as a function of time and position along the slit. The resulting observations in spectral lines in a range of 'transition region' temperatures allow us to analyze the thermal properties of the moving prominence sources as a function of time.

Kucera, T.↗

Getting around Antarctica: New High-Resolution Mappings of the Grounded and Freely-Floating Boundaries of the Antarctic Ice Sheet Created for the International Polar Year

Two ice-dynamic transitions of the Antarctic ice sheet - the boundary of grounded ice features and the freely-floating boundary - are mapped at 15-m resolution by participants of the International Polar Year project ASAID using customized software combining Landsat-7 imagery and ICESat/GLAS laser altimetry. The grounded ice boundary is 53 610 km long; 74% abuts to floating ice shelves or outlet glaciers, 19% is adjacent to open or sea-ice covered ocean, and 7% of the boundary ice terminates on land. The freely-floating boundary, called here the hydrostatic line, is the most landward position on ice shelves that expresses the full amplitude of oscillating ocean tides. It extends 27 521 km and is discontinuous. Positional (one-sigma) accuracies of the grounded ice boundary vary an order of magnitude ranging from +/- 52m for the land and open-ocean terminating segments to +/- 502m for the outlet glaciers. The hydrostatic line is less well positioned with errors over 2 km. Elevations along each line are selected from 6 candidate digital elevation models based on their agreement with ICESat elevation values and surface shape inferred from the Landsat imagery. Elevations along the hydrostatic line are converted to ice thicknesses by applying a firn-correction factor and a flotation criterion. BEDMAP-compiled data and other airborne data are compared to the ASAID elevations and ice thicknesses to arrive at quantitative (one-sigma) uncertainties of surface elevations of +/-3.6, +/-9.6, +/-11.4, +/-30 and +/-100m for five ASAID-assigned confidence levels. Over one-half of the surface elevations along the grounded ice boundary and over one-third of the hydrostatic line elevations are ranked in the highest two confidence categories. A comparison between ASAID-calculated ice shelf thicknesses and BEDMAP-compiled data indicate a thin-ice bias of 41.2+/-71.3m for the ASAID ice thicknesses. The relationship between the seaward offset of the hydrostatic line from the grounded ice boundary only weakly matches a prediction based on beam theory. The mapped products along with the customized software to generate them and a variety of intermediate products are available from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Bindschadler, R.↗

Measurements of Cyclotron Features and Pulse Periods in the High-Mass X-Ray Binaries 4U 1538-522 and 4U 1907+09 with the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory

We present a spectral and timing analysis of International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) observations of two high-mass X-ray binaries, 4U 1538−522 and 4U 1907+09. Our timing measurements for 4U 1538−522 find the pulse period to have exhibited a spin-up trend until approximately 2009, after which there is evidence for a torque reversal, with the source beginning to spin down to the most recently measured period of 525.407 plus or minus 0.001 seconds. The most recent INTEGRAL observations of 4U 1907+09 are not found to yield statistically significant pulse periods due to the significantly lower flux from the source compared with 4U 1538−522. A spectral model consisting of a power-law continuum with an exponential cutoff and modified by two cyclotron resonance scattering features is found to fit both sources well, with the cyclotron scattering features detected at approximately 22 and approximately 49 kiloelectronvolts for 4U 1538−522 and at approximately 18 and approximately 36 kiloelectronvolts for 4U 1907+09. The spectral parameters of 4U 1538−522 are generally not found to vary significantly with flux and there is little to no variation across the torque reversal. Examining our results in conjunction with previous work, we find no evidence for a correlation between cyclotron line energy and luminosity for 4U 1538−522. 4U 1907+09 shows evidence for a positive correlation between cyclotron line energy and luminosity, which would make it the fourth, and lowest luminosity, cyclotron line source to exhibit this relationship.

stars: magnetic field↗

Erratum: "Photoionization Modeling of Oxygen K Absorption in the Interstellar Medium, the Chandra Grating Spectra of XTE J1817-330" (2013, Apj, 768, 60)

In the published version of this paper, there are some minor inaccuracies in the absorption-line wavelengths listed in Table 4 as a result of a faulty reduction procedure of the Obs6615 spectrum. The shifts have been detected in a comparison with the wavelengths listed for this spectrum in the Chandra Transmission Grating Catalog and Archive (TGCat8). They are due to incorrect centroid positions of the zero-order image in both reductions as determined by the tgdetect utility which, when disentangled, yield the improved line positions of the amended Table 4 given below. It must also be pointed out that other quantitative findings of the original paper: 1. Table 5, p. 9: the column density (NH), ionization parameter, oxygen abundance of the warmabs model and the normalization and photon index of the power-law model; 2. Table 6, p. 9: the hydrogen column density of the warmabs fit; 3. Table 7, p. 9: the present oxygen equivalent widths of XTE J1817-330; and 4. Table 8, p. 10: the present oxygen column densities of XTE J1817-330 derived from both the curve of growth and warmabs model fit have been revised in the new light and are, within the estimated uncertainty ranges, in good accord with the new rendering.

abundance of the warmabs↗