UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Biomaterials, having evolved over millions of years, often exceed man-made materials in their properties. Spider silk is one outstanding fibrous biomaterial which consists almost entirely of large proteins....Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eight cross spiders (Araneus diadematus) were exposed overnight (16 h) during web-building activity to pulsed 9.6-GHz microwaves at average power densities of 10, 1, and 0.1 mW/sq. cm. (estimated SARs 40, 4, and 0.4 mW/g). Under these conditions, 9.6-GHz pulsed microwaves did not affect the web-spinning ability of the cross spider.

Science.gov (United States)

star formation. To either side of the center, a small bar of dust and gas is helping to fuel the new stars. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Dispersal can be regarded as a process operating both between and within patches of suitable habitat. For uncontrolled dispersal processes, the risk of crossing the borders of the habitat patch and arriving in the unsuitable landscape matrix will increase with decreasing patch area, in particular when the distance between isolated habitat patches is larger than the species' average dispersal capacity. Ballooning dispersal in spiders can be considered as a passive dispersal process, in which dispersed distances depend on the prevalent wind velocity. We executed a reaction norm analysis to analyze how dispersal propensity of the salt marsh wolf spider Pardosa purbeckensis depended on population characteristics (patch size) and the environment (wind velocity). Dispersal propensity was affecte...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Assessment strategies are an important component in game theoretical models of contests. Strategies can be either based on one’s own abilities (self assessment) or on the relative abilities...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This work presents the development of a streak camera 'jitter free' sweep unit synchronized on a femtosecond laser. This application of high voltage photoconductive switches ('High voltage Auston switch') yields subpicosecond resolution for accumulated images on streak camera on a few hundreds micro joule femtosecond laser. Two others applications of these photoconductive switches are studied: - ultrafast optical commutation by a Pockels cell directly driven by a photoconductive switch (rising edge < 100 ps and jitter < 2 ps), - laser pulse energy self-stabilization experimentally proving that driving a Pockels cell by a photoconductive switch can increase the stability of the laser pulse energy from 7 % to 0.7 % rms. Additionally, the application of the acoustic-optical programmable dispersive filter (Dazzler) to the self referenced spectral phase measurement is presented. As these measurements require a linear filter combined with a ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Before expanding on the development of the Terra Nova oilfield, the author discussed the overall business strategy of Petro-Canada and identified where the Terra Nova and offshore Newfoundland oil have their place within this strategy. The principal basins and oilfields offshore Newfoundland were reviewed, then the emphasis shifted to rest on the Terra Nova development project. A whole range of topics were brought up, including the Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility, the modules layout, the FPSO located at Bull Arm, and the floating production systems. The physical environment of the Grand Banks was highlighted, and the next few sections were devoted to the Terra Nova FPSO, FPSO and drill centres, the Turret General Arrangement, and Spider buoy including the disconnect/reconnect. The last four sections dealt with the animation of riser movement, the wellhead protection animation, Henry Goodrich, and operations readiness.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The Monte-Carlo transport code MCNP was used to evaluate possible arrangements of cores for the MIT Reactor using monolithic LEU fuel. Plate and moderator thicknesses were varied, and fixed absorbers and inner reflectors added in an effort to maximize available neutron fluxes at in-core and ex-core locations of experimental facilities. Addition of D_2O in the H_2O moderator was also evaluated. Comparisons of the fast, epithermal, and thermal fluxes were made at selected locations. Keff was also evaluated and critical blade heights compared with the existing HEU core. Results indicate that the LEU fluxes could approach HEU values with the use of a fueled in-core experimental facility, a fixed boron absorber spider and an inner beryllium reflector. (author)