Weather data dissemination to aircraft

Documentation exists that shows weather to be responsible for approximately 40 percent of all general aviation accidents with fatalities. Weather data products available on the ground are becoming more sophisticated and greater in number. Although many of these data are critical to aircraft safety, they currently must be transmitted verbally to the aircraft. This process is labor intensive and provides a low rate of information transfer. Consequently, the pilot is often forced to make life-critical decisions based on incomplete and outdated information. Automated transmission of weather data from the ground to the aircraft can provide the aircrew with accurate data in near-real time. The current National Airspace System Plan calls for such an uplink capability to be provided by the Mode S Beacon System data link. Although this system has a very advanced data link capability, it will not be capable of providing adequate weather data to all airspace users in its planned configuration. This paper delineates some of the important weather data uplink system requirements, and describes a system which is capable of meeting these requirements. The proposed system utilizes a run-length coding technique for image data compression and a hybrid phase and amplitude modulation technique for the transmission of both voice and weather data on existing aeronautical Very High Frequency (VHF) voice communication channels

Extreme fire weather associated with nocturnal drying in elevated coastal Terrain of California

The second largest fire shelter deployment in U.S. history occurred in August 2003 during the Devil Fire, which was burning in a remote and rugged region of the San Francisco Bay Area, when relative humidity abruptly dropped in the middle of the night, causing rapid fire growth. Nocturnal drying events in the higher elevations along California\u27s central coast are a unique phenomenon that poses a great risk to wildland firefighters. Single-digit relative humidity with dewpoints below -25°C is not uncommon during summer nights in this region. To provide the fire management community with knowledge of these hazardous conditions, an event criterion was established to develop a climatology of nocturnal drying and to investigate the synoptic patterns associated with these events. A lower-tropospheric source region of dry air was found over the northeastern Pacific Ocean corresponding to an area of maximum low-level divergence and associated subsidence. This dry air forms above a marine inversion and advects inland overnight with the marine layer and immerses higher-elevation terrain with warm and dry air. An average of 15-20 nocturnal drying events per year occur in elevations greater than 700m in the San Francisco Bay Area, and their characteristics are highly variable, making them a challenge to forecast

A sufficient pipeline of doctors for rural communities is vital for Australia's overall medical workforce

The shortage of doctors in remote, rural and regional Australian communities is a longstanding health policy challenge. It is the main reason why almost 3000 overseas-trained doctors enter the labour force annually1 — a similar number to the domestic graduate output of Australian medical schools.2 Most overseas-trained doctors end up practising in major cities; 75% of all registered overseas-trained doctors in clinical practice in 2021 were metropolitan based, with major cities also accounting for 76% of the growth in overseas-trained doctors over the 2015–2021 period.3 In effect, rurally targeted recruitment of overseas-trained doctors compounds the problem of geographic maldistribution that it is meant to solve. Achieving a substantial pipeline of Australian-trained graduates who will willingly pursue regional careers as general practitioners, rural generalists and non-GP specialists is therefore a first order policy priority

Health Risks, Past Usage, and Intention to Use Weight Loss Products in Normal Weight Women with High and Low Body Dysphoria

Objective: There are many health risks involved with the use of weight loss products by normal weight women. The mass media may compound this problem through the promotion of weight loss products and a thin body size. This study tested women\u27s perceptions of different weight loss product ads to determine if body dysphoria (i.e., an over concern with body size and shape in normal weight people) was associated with risk beliefs, past behaviors, and intention toward using weight loss products. Method: Normal weight women (age range = 18-41 yr), who were classified as either high (n=45) or low (n=43) on a measure of body dysphoria, rated different weight loss products according to their perception of health risks, past behavior, and their intention to consume the products. These products were a dietary fat substitute (olestra), a prescription obesity medication (sibutramine), and an over-the-counter appetite suppressant (phenylpropanolamine). Results: High body dysphoric women reported higher intentions to use the products as well as increased prior use of two of the three weight loss products. High body dysphoric women did not believe that these weight loss products were harmless. They recognized potential health risks associated with using such products, but nonetheless, expressed intention to use these weight loss products at a higher frequency. Also, several variables related to body image were found to effectively discriminate normal weight women at risk for abusing weight loss products. Discussion: This study found that women who do not need to lose weight but have significant body image concerns were willing to use potentially harmful weight loss products despite the knowledge that such products might pose significant health risks. Techniques utilized by advertising regulatory agencies such as warning labels did not have a strong deterrent effect for stated intentions to use the products. Implications of these findings for public health policy issues were discussed

The Symbiotic System SS73 17 Seen with Suzaku

We observed with Suzaku the symbiotic star SS73 17, motivated by the discovery by the INTEGRAL satellite and the Swift BAT survey that it emits hard X-rays. Our observations showed a highly-absorbed X-ray spectrum with NH > 10^23 cm-2, equivalent to A_V > 26, although the source has B magnitude 11.3 and is also bright in UV. The source also shows strong, narrow iron lines including fluorescent Fe K as well as Fe xxv and Fe xxvi. The X-ray spectrum can be fit with a thermal model including an absorption component that partially covers the source. Most of the equivalent width of the iron fluorescent line in this model can be explained as a combination of reprocessing in a dense absorber plus reflection off a white dwarf surface, but it is likely that the continuum is partially seen in reflection as well. Unlike other symbiotic systems that show hard X-ray emission (CH Cyg, RT Cru, T CrB, GX1+4), SS73 17 is not known to have shown nova-like optical variability, X-ray flashes, or pulsations, and has always shown faint soft X-ray emission. As a result, although it is likely a white dwarf, the nature of the compact object in SS73 17 is still uncertain. SS73 17 is probably an extreme example of the recently discovered and relatively small class of hard X-ray emitting symbiotic systems.Comment: 6 pages, accepted by PASJ for 2nd Suzaku Special Issu

Objectives and integrated approaches for the control of brown tree snakes: An updated overview

After its inadvertent introduction to Guam, the brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis, BTS) extirpated most of the island\u27s native terrestrial vertebrates, presented a health hazard to small children, and had considerable economic ramifications. Management of BTS is aimed at a number of objectives, the foremost of which has been to deter its dispersal from Guam to other locations. Further objectives include reclaiming areas on Guam as snake-free for reintroduction of native wildlife, to protect small sensitive sites on Guam from BTS intrusion (e.g, power stations, bird nesting sites), to contain and capture stowaway BTS incoming to vulnerable destinations, and to control incipient populations in other areas beyond their native range. A number of control tools have been developed, and the efficacy of each control method depends on the situation to which it is applied. Integration of control methods provides the most efficacious results for all objectives. Here, we outline the different objectives for managing BTS, and the tools and methods available for BTS management. We complete the picture by describing which tools and methods are best suited to accomplish each management objective

Analysis of employment conditions for full-time hired farm labor on eastern Iowa hog farms

American agriculture has been and continues to be an industry with a changing structure. The amount of farm labor declined steadily over the 1950-1970 period as competitive forces in farming resulted in capital being substituted for labor and land. One factor in this decline has been the increased productivity resulting from technological improvements in capital inputs and the greater know how” in the use of these inputs. A second factor has been the decline in prices of capital inputs relative to the prices of land and labor. As farms have become larger and more capitalized, decision making has become more complex. The level of skill needed by farm labor also has increased as the size of enterprises and the complexities of equipment have increased. This study examines the employment conditions of full-time hired farm labor in an effort to resolve a farm-labor paradox. The paradox results from full-time job positions in farming going unfilled in the late 1960s, at a time when labor was being freed” from farming as a result of the decline in farm numbers and the substitution of capital for labor