EMI Suppression in an Aircraft Cooling Vent

Digital avionics systems are increasingly under threat from external electromagnetic interference (EMI). The same avionics systems require a thermal cooling mechanism and one method of providing this is to mount an air vent on the body of the aircraft. For the first time, a nacelle-mounted air vent that may expose the flight critical full authority digital engine controller (FADEC) to high intensity radiated fields (HIRF) is examined. The reflection/transmission characteristics of the vent are reported and the current shielding method employed is shown to provide a low shielding level (5 dB at 18 GHz). A new design has been proposed, providing over 100 dB of attenuation at 18 GHz. To the authors' knowledge this is the first time this shielding method has been applied to aircraft air vents.

Detection of a Red Supergiant Progenitor Star of a Type II-Plateau Supernova

We present the discovery of a red supergiant star that exploded as supernova 2003gd in the nearby spiral galaxy M74. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Gemini Telescope imaged this galaxy 6 to 9 months before the supernova explosion, and subsequent HST images confirm the positional coincidence of the supernova with a single resolved star that is a red supergiant of 8+4-2 solar masses. This confirms both stellar evolution models and supernova theories predicting that cool red supergiants are the immediate progenitor stars of type II-plateau supernovae.

No new perspectives, just red herrings: a reply to Gorard

No abstract.

Low-pressure synthesis and characterisation of hydroxyapatite derived from mineralise red algae

There is a great need to design functional bioactive substitute materials capable of surviving harsh and diverse conditions within the human body. Calcium-phosphate ceramics, in particular hydroxyapatite are well established substitute materials for orthopaedic and dental applications. The aim of this study was to develop a bioceramic from alga origins suitable for bone tissue application. This was achieved by a novel synthesis technique using ambient pressure at a low temperature of 100 degrees C in a highly alkaline environment. The algae was characterised using SEM, BET, XRD and Raman Spectroscopy to determine its physiochemical properties at each stage. The results confirmed the successful conversion of mineralised red alga to hydroxyapatite, by way of this low-pressure hydrothermal process. Furthermore, the synthesised hydroxyapatite maintained the unique micro-porous structure of the original algae, which is considered beneficial in bone repair applications. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.