Solar array electrical performance assessment for Space Station Freedom

Electrical power for Space Station Freedom will be generated by large Photovoltaic arrays with a beginning of life power requirement of 30.8 kW per array. The solar arrays will operate in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) over a design life of fifteen years. This paper provides an analysis of the predicted solar array electrical performance over the design life and presents a summary of supporting analysis and test data for the assigned model parameters and performance loss factors. Each model parameter and loss factor is assessed based upon program requirements, component analysis, and test data to date. A description of the LMSC performance model, future test plans, and predicted performance ranges are also given

A Study To Determine The Impact Of The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery As A Predictor Of Student Aptitude

Aptitude Tests are special kinds of measurements used mainly for guidance in school. A person does not have an aptitude in the same sense that he has brown eyes or large feet. But he does have a combination of interest and experience in certain kinds of activity. A person who likes to tinker with machinery will do better on a test of mechanical aptitude than a person who has never tinkered with machinery. A school counselor would say that the person has an aptitude for mechanics. That is, he has a better chance of succeeding in mechanics than in some other field where he has a little interest or experience. his study proposed to determine the impact of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) as a predictor of business aptitude for high school students in the North Forest Independent School District, Houston, Texas

Med-Arb and Professional Sports: Could Med-Arb Work as an Effective Dispute Resolution Process in Professional Sports?

Non

Within-field variability of plant and soil parameters

The variability of ground truth data collected for vegetation experiments was investigated. Two fields of wheat and one field of corn were sampled on two different dates. The variability of crop and soil parameters within a field, between two fields of the same type, and within a field over time were compared statistically. The number of samples from each test site required in order to be able to determine with confidence the mean and standard deviations for a given variable was determined. Eight samples were found to be adequate for plant height determinations, while twenty samples were required for plant moisture and soil moisture characterization. Eighteen samples were necessary for detecting within field variability over time and for between field variability for the same crop. The necessary sample sites vary according to the physiological growth stage of the crop and recent weather events that affect the moisture and/or height characteristics of the field in question

Lamp enables measurement of oxygen concentration in presence of water vapor

Open-electrode ultraviolet source lamp radiates sufficient energy at 1800 angstroms and 1470 angstroms for use in a double-beam, duel-wavelength oxygen sensor. The lamp is filled with xenon at a pressure of 100 mm of Hg

Data documentation for the 1981 summer vegetation experiment

The mobile agricultural radar sensor was used to collect data from 31 fields in the floodplain of the Kansas River east of Lawrence, Kansas during the summer of 1981. Corn, soybeans, and wheat crops were observed from May 1 to November 11. Radar backscattering measurements were acquired at 10.2 GHz for VV and VH polarizations at 50 deg incidence angles for all fields and at 30 deg, 40 deg, 50 deg, 60 deg, and 70 deg for nine of the 31 fields. Target parameters describing the vegatation and soil characteristics, such as plant moisture, plant height, soil moisture, etc., were also measured. The methodology, radar backscatter data and associated ground-truth data obtained during this experiment are documented

Designing and Evaluating Playground Equipment for Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act

The need for accessible playgrounds is more prevalent than ever before, with approximately 3 million children having disabilities and health issues that limit their ability to partake in play and school. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) recently provided, for the first time, specific accessible design standards for playgrounds. All playgrounds must now comply with these rules that went into place on March 15, 2012. As it is vital that playgrounds undergo the necessary changes to come up to compliance, there is an opportunity to develop an accessible playground design which satisfies all ADA playground standards and requirements. The objective of this project was to design, develop, and analyze an accessible play structure that included; an elevated structure and a ground level component. This project utilized the engineering design process and civil engineering knowledge to develop computer aided drawings of the structures, structural analyses, complete construction plans, material lists, and cost analyses

The Difficulty of Moral Perfectionism

In this paper I want to consider a kind of inexpressiveness that can characterize our moral experience. The acknowledgement of the possibility of failure in trying to word the world – to find adequate means of expression for our condition – deeply informs Cora Diamond’s conception of language and moral thought as well as her philosophical method. In particular, in her paper The Difficulty of Reality and the Difficulty of Philosophy Diamond is concerned with a resistance by reality to one’s ordinary modes of thinking and talking, the feeling of a mismatch between concepts and experience in which it is the nature of experience itself that deprives one of the words suitable to contain it. In this paper I want to show how a particular kind of moral conflict can be perspicuously described as a difficulty of reality. This conflict occurs when we lose the ability to conceive the moral world we inhabit as ours, when, that is, our self-conceptions clash with the requirements of morality and we find ourselves in the position of not being able to say what “morality” means for us anymore. Stanley Cavell speaks in this vicinity of the possibility of repudiating morality when it threatens our integrity. This distance between the subject and the world, the self and morality, which, in Cavell’s account of perfectionism, is a precondition for the development of an authentic moral perspective, is nonetheless neglected by metathical analyses in which the prominent occurrences of ethical disagreements pertain principally to the correct application of evaluative terms. I sketch Cavell’s analysis of disagreement in the light of his discussion of moral rationality. Then I connect the topic with Diamond’s notion of the “difficulty of reality,” developing the link between Diamonds and Cavell’s thought by using an example taken from Richard Yates’s novel Revolutionary Road. My aim will be twofold: the focus on Cavell’s conception of moral rationality, on the one hand, is intended to show how the traditional meta-ethical debate about disagreement is deflected in that it cannot acknowledge this kind of conflict; on the other hand, to speak of a difficulty of reality in the context of a perfectionist account of moral life is a way to give content to the idea of morality as “limited,” a way of understanding morality as of human origin

Evaluation of space SAR as a land-cover classification

The multidimensional approach to the mapping of land cover, crops, and forests is reported. Dimensionality is achieved by using data from sensors such as LANDSAT to augment Seasat and Shuttle Image Radar (SIR) data, using different image features such as tone and texture, and acquiring multidate data. Seasat, Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-A), and LANDSAT data are used both individually and in combination to map land cover in Oklahoma. The results indicates that radar is the best single sensor (72% accuracy) and produces the best sensor combination (97.5% accuracy) for discriminating among five land cover categories. Multidate Seasat data and a single data of LANDSAT coverage are then used in a crop classification study of western Kansas. The highest accuracy for a single channel is achieved using a Seasat scene, which produces a classification accuracy of 67%. Classification accuracy increases to approximately 75% when either a multidate Seasat combination or LANDSAT data in a multisensor combination is used. The tonal and textural elements of SIR-A data are then used both alone and in combination to classify forests into five categories

A systematic technology evaluation and selection method for computer-supported collaborative design

Design is a global activity. It requires collaboration between individuals across borders and beyond barriers. Modern global design is achieved using computer technologies that support many activities of a design process. However, merely supporting design does not guarantee that it is a successful endeavour. The requirements of computer-supported collaborative design are abstract. They are influenced by human-to-human interaction and/or human to computer interaction. As our society moves towards faster communication technologies and a higher number of collaborative technologies available, the need to evaluate the available tools and select the best tool at the appropriate time of the design process is becoming more compelling. If the best tools are not identified, there are missed opportunities for productivity, impacting team communication, cooperation, coordination, and collaboration. Student designers at University have experienced an observable change in technology use within their personal and academic lives. The proliferation of Web 2.0 technologies and the spread of social media, social network sites and mobile technologies have impacted how students socialise and engage in group project work. However, it is unclear if these technologies support or hinder the design process. This behaviour change has led to a motivation to understand the use of technologies to support Computer-Supported Collaborative Design teamwork. This research intended to support Computer-Supported Collaborative Design teamwork by defining the requirements of Computer-Supported Collaborative Design, the technologies which can be used to support Computer-Supported Collaborative Design, the technology functionalities which these technologies feature, and to use this knowledge to systematically evaluate and select the appropriate technology to use for any given collaborative situation. The outcomes of this research documented within this thesis became the development of a systematic and automated method to allow engineering design teams to evaluate technologies based on the existing knowledge of the requirements of Computer Supported Collaborative Design and select which technologies would best support their group design activities. This technology evaluation and selection method was achieved by the creation of the Computer-Supported Collaborative Design matrix, a tool which enables the evaluation of technologies against Computer-Supported Collaborative Design requirements; the creation of an auto-population method for the tool supporting consistency and efficiency of using the method; and the development of an education programme to ensure the correct use of the Computer-Supported Collaborative Design matrix. The Computer-Supported Collaborative Design matrix can be used to support the assessment and selection of technology for use in Computer-Supported Collaborative Design projects by engineering design teams in an educational environment. The tool has been evaluated through demonstration of use for a class and implementation within a class environment. Beyond the Computer-Supported Collaborative Design matrix as a tool, a robust and systematic method of creating the tool has been documented, which is the first step towards broader use of the tool.Design is a global activity. It requires collaboration between individuals across borders and beyond barriers. Modern global design is achieved using computer technologies that support many activities of a design process. However, merely supporting design does not guarantee that it is a successful endeavour. The requirements of computer-supported collaborative design are abstract. They are influenced by human-to-human interaction and/or human to computer interaction. As our society moves towards faster communication technologies and a higher number of collaborative technologies available, the need to evaluate the available tools and select the best tool at the appropriate time of the design process is becoming more compelling. If the best tools are not identified, there are missed opportunities for productivity, impacting team communication, cooperation, coordination, and collaboration. Student designers at University have experienced an observable change in technology use within their personal and academic lives. The proliferation of Web 2.0 technologies and the spread of social media, social network sites and mobile technologies have impacted how students socialise and engage in group project work. However, it is unclear if these technologies support or hinder the design process. This behaviour change has led to a motivation to understand the use of technologies to support Computer-Supported Collaborative Design teamwork. This research intended to support Computer-Supported Collaborative Design teamwork by defining the requirements of Computer-Supported Collaborative Design, the technologies which can be used to support Computer-Supported Collaborative Design, the technology functionalities which these technologies feature, and to use this knowledge to systematically evaluate and select the appropriate technology to use for any given collaborative situation. The outcomes of this research documented within this thesis became the development of a systematic and automated method to allow engineering design teams to evaluate technologies based on the existing knowledge of the requirements of Computer Supported Collaborative Design and select which technologies would best support their group design activities. This technology evaluation and selection method was achieved by the creation of the Computer-Supported Collaborative Design matrix, a tool which enables the evaluation of technologies against Computer-Supported Collaborative Design requirements; the creation of an auto-population method for the tool supporting consistency and efficiency of using the method; and the development of an education programme to ensure the correct use of the Computer-Supported Collaborative Design matrix. The Computer-Supported Collaborative Design matrix can be used to support the assessment and selection of technology for use in Computer-Supported Collaborative Design projects by engineering design teams in an educational environment. The tool has been evaluated through demonstration of use for a class and implementation within a class environment. Beyond the Computer-Supported Collaborative Design matrix as a tool, a robust and systematic method of creating the tool has been documented, which is the first step towards broader use of the tool