Systems Engineering of a Nuclear-Electric Spacecraft

Studies have shown that nuclear-electric propulsion systems will provide superior payload capability and unique advantages over chemical systems for high-energy deep-space missions. Conceptual design studies of unmanned spacecraft employing nuclear-electric propulsion systems have been undertaken to determine some of the major integration problems. Early recognition of these problems will help to stimulate the development effort that will be required to bring these systems into fruitful utilization. Typical designs under consideration for interplanetary missions for the next decade employ a nuclear reactor providing thermal energy to a turbogeneration system which, in turn, supplies electrical power to an ion engine for primary propulsion and additional utility power for guidance and control, powered-flight radio transmission, instrumentation, et cetera. The major systems and components which form a complete spacecraft are listed in this Report, and a review of the significant physical and operational characteristics of these various systems and components which affect spacecraft integration is made. Conceptual.configurations and detailed weight studies for a 60-kilowatts-electric Venus-capture spacecraft and a 1-megawattelectric Jupiter-capture spacecraft are shown to illustrate typical physical arrangements based on the various hardware constraints. From these configurations, the major development goals are ascertained and summarized

Judicial Notice of Foreign Law

In 1936 the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws promulgated the Uniform Judicial Notice of Foreign Law Act. To date the Act has been adopted by twenty-eight jurisdictions, including Washington. Although the purpose of the Act was commendable, and the modernization it sought to achieve greatly needed, it seems that further action, either judicial or legislative is needed in some of the states where it has been adopted. Reform is particularly necessary in Washington. This comment will explore the Washington law prior to the enactment of the Uniform Act, the intent of the Act, and the actual effect that its enactment has had upon the existing law. The operation of the Uniform Act in the other jurisdictions will be discussed with a view toward exposing both its strengths and weaknesses. A comparison of the rule as to judicial notice of the law of the various states by the federal courts will also be made. Finally, there will be suggestions for improvement, both in the way of judicial interpretation and of legislative action

Damages—Attorney\u27s Fees

In Wells v. Aetna Insurance Co. the Washington court indicated an increasing friendliness toward the allowance of attorney\u27s fees as damages. The plaintiff, Wells, had purchased a car from a used car dealer. The dealer had earlier made what the court called a fictitious sale to someone else, and had then assigned the conditional sales contract to a financing company, Hayden Mills & Associates, Inc. Apparently there was a record of this sale at the state license department, but no valid release was on file there. So when Wells applied for a new registration and a new title certificate, these were initially granted and later cancelled. Unable to get a license for the car he had purchased, and unable to sell it, Wells brought an action to quiet title, naming as defendants the dealer, the alleged purchaser, the alleged assignee of the conditional sales contract, and Aetna Insurance Co., which was the surety on the bond required of automobile dealers by RCW 46.70.070.

Interaction Issues in Computer Aided Semantic\ud Annotation of Multimedia

The CASAM project aims to provide a tool for more efficient and effective annotation of multimedia documents through collaboration between a user and a system performing an automated analysis of the media content. A critical part of the project is to develop a user interface which best supports both the user and the system through optimal human-computer interaction. In this paper we discuss the work undertaken, the proposed user interface and underlying interaction issues which drove its development

Tinbergian Practice, themes and variations: the field and laboratory methods and practice of the Animal Behaviour Research Group under Nikolaas Tinbergen at Oxford University

This thesis investigates the work of Nikolaas (Niko) Tinbergen and his students, often known as the Tinbergians. Based on extensive archival research, and particularly on intensive study of fieldnotes – a resource largely untouched in previous historical enquiry – I throw new light on the scientific practices both of Tinbergen himself and the practices of individual students of his, including the relationship between research in the field and in the laboratory and the relationship between that research and the Tinbergians representation of their science, both to scientific and lay audiences. Chapter one investigates Tinbergen's own background, and his writings on method and practice. This included a commitment to studying 'natural' behaviour, which led them to be wary of experimental methods that might distort such behaviour. Tinbergen's idea of the 'ethogram' – a complete listing of the behavioural repertoire of a species – is here linked to earlier interest in comparative anatomy as a means of elucidating evolutionary relationships Contrary to the work of Eileen Crist, who argues that ethologist concern to produce mechanomorphic descriptions of behaviour led them to see their animals as machines, I show that the fieldnotes regularly included anthropomorphic description, which only later was excised in writing up scientific publications where mechanistic description and a programmatic rejection of anthropomorphism were the norm. The backgrounds of many of Tinbergen's contemporaries and students was considered in the first half of chapter two, and showed that almost all members of the school had a background in amateur natural history and strong personal and aesthetic affection for the animals they studied. The early fieldwork of the Tinbergians is examined in more detail in the second half of the chapter. This considers the work of two of Tinbergen's students: Robert Hinde and Martin Moynihan. Hinde's work is shown to be transitional between earlier approaches to animal behaviour and the more systematic methodology promoted by Tinbergen, while Moynihan's work instantiated a particularly pure expression of early Tinbergian ideals. Tinbergen's Oxford laboratory is the subject of chapter three, looking in particular at how 'natural' behaviour was studied in an artificial environment. I look at the work of Desmond Morris, Margaret Bastock (later Manning) and J. Michael (Mike) Cullen. Morris's work reproduced field techniques of intensive close observation of behaviour in the laboratory. Bastock's work, largely overlooked by previous historians, showed interest in behaviour genetics. Cullen's work illustrates the difficulties of studying natural behaviour under laboratory conditions, and emphasises the value that Tinbergians placed on direct observation over other possible recording techniques. I then proceed to a more general consideration of the relationship between laboratory and field in the early years of the Tinbergen school. Change over time is the theme of chapter four. Many of the early methodological commitments of the school were subsequently abandoned as the observation-led approach to behaviour gave way to a more explicitly theory-led and interventionist concern with causation, development, evolution and function. This was apparent both in the field and in the laboratory, and even included the occasional adoption of vivisection – a method dramatically at odds with the ethos of the early Tinbergen school. The final chapter investigates how Tinbergen and others of his school communicated their work to amateur audiences, and shows that in some instances the anthropomorphic observations excluded for their scientific writings reappear in these more popular communications. I then link this to the Tinbergen school's longstanding interest in human behaviour. The thesis is supplemented by a conclusion, and two appendices one listing the students studied in the thesis, and the other listing as many of Tinbergen's students as I can identify with surety

Symmetrical and Anti-Symmetrical Buckling of Long Corroded Cylindrical Shell Subjected to External Pressure

This paper derives an exact analytical solution for determining elastic critical buckling pressures and mode shapes for very long corroded cylindrical steel shells subjected to external pressure considering symmetrical and anti-symmetrical mode cases. The corroded long cylindrical shell has been modelled as a non-uniform “stepped-type” ring consisting of two portions- corroded and un-corroded regions. A full range parametric study has been made to investigate the effect of corrosion angular extent and corrosion thickness on the elastic buckling pressures and their modes. The study shows that buckling loads and modes depend on the corrosion angular extent â and the corroded to un-corroded thicknesses ratio. The results are verified by a set of investigations with a series of corroded cylindrical shells. They showed a close agreement with those obtained from using the finite element package ABAQUS