Experiments to investigate particulate materials in reduced gravity fields

Study investigates agglomeration and macroscopic behavior in reduced gravity fields of particles of known properties by measuring and correlating thermal and acoustical properties of particulate materials. Experiment evaluations provide a basis for a particle behavior theory and measure bulk properties of particulate materials in reduced gravity

An Investigation of the Innovation and Integration Capacity of U.S. Health Care Organizations

Innovation in the U.S. healthcare system is often fragmented with various parts of the system producing unintended consequences for the system as a whole. Many U.S. health care organizations build strategies and innovate by focusing on the competition versus the needs of the customer, resulting in products or services that lack an improvement in cost, quality, or access. With changes and reforms expected and required in the U.S. health care system, health care organizations must be prepared to evolve or become obsolete. This study provides an assessment of how and to what degree health care organizations innovate and integrate to produce change in the U.S. health care system. Data were collected from more than 200 individual respondents representing 124 different health care related organizations through a mixed methods research, quantitative and qualitative. Results depicted significant relationships among the innovation and integration factors. Significant relationships also emerged among the innovation and innovation factors and the type of organizations assessed. Based on the synthesis of evidence and data from the research, a conceptual model for innovative and integrative change is defined. The findings and discussion provide guidance for C-Level Executives, Vice Presidents, Directors, and Managers of Product Strategy, Product Development, Marketing and Innovation functions and other health care organizations/service providers who are involved with the construction, implementation, and monitoring of health care

Penetration of Air Jets Issuing from Circular, Square, and Elliptical Orifices Directed Perpendicularly to an Air Stream

An experimental investigation was conducted to determine the penetration of air jets d.irected perpendicularlY to an air stream. Jets Issuing from circular, square, and. elliptical orifices were investigated. and. the jet penetration at a position downstream of the orifice was determined- as a function of jet density, jet velocity, air-stream d.enaity, air-stream velocity, effective jet diameter, and. orifice flow coeffIcient. The jet penetrations were determined for nearly constant values of air-stream density at three tunnel-air velocities arid for a large range of Jet velocities and. densities. The results were correlated in terms of dimensionless parameters and the penetrations of the various shapes were compared. Greater penetration was obtained. with the square orifices and the elliptical orifices having an axis ratio of 4:1 at low tunnel-air velocities and low jet pressures than for the other orifices investigated. The square orifices gave the best penetrations at the higher values of tunnel-air velocity and jet total pressure

Research into the efficacy of Reiki

The aim was to contribute to an evidence base for the efficacy of Reiki. Initially in three cases studies chronic fatigue syndrome patients received seven Reiki treatments over eight weeks. All three showed overall health improvements following treatment, although one relapsed at eight-week follow-up. Without a control group the improvements may have been due to expectation, relaxation and practitioner effects. A randomised controlled trial was next conducted where 35 undergraduates over two­and-a-half to twelve weeks received ten 20-minute Reiki or No-Reiki sessions while their attention was absorbed in self-hypnosis or guided relaxation. The Reiki group showed comparatively greater improvements in illness symptoms and stress, although they had higher baseline scores. A constructive replication was conducted where 40 students - half with high depression and/or anxiety and half with low depression and/or anxiety - were randomised to receive Reiki or a non-Reiki-control. Participants experienced six 25-minute sessions over two to eight weeks, where they underwent a guided-relaxation to facilitate Reiki-blinding. Those with high anxiety and/or depression who received Reiki had significantly better overall mood at five-week follow-up, whereas there was no change in the other controls. Three double-blind experiments followed involving a total of eight Reiki Masters. In each experiment different Reiki Masters each treated four dishes of gamma-irradiated canary seeds. Germination was monitored daily for 12 days and compared with control dishes. Overall analysis of the three studies found no statistical germination differences between the groups, although the dishes treated third and fourth had higher germination than their controls. However, the controls of the dishes treated first had higher germination than their Reiki dishes, and higher germination than other control dishes, presumably by chance. In conclusion, while benefits occurred following Reiki in each study, due to limitations of the studies nothing can be concluded with regards to a Reiki effect

Application of remote sensing to selected problems within the state of California

There are no author-identified signficant results in this report

Application of remote sensing to selected problems within the state of California

There are no author-identified significant results in this report