An evaluation of contractor projected and actual costs

GSFC contractors with cost-plus contracts provide cost estimates for each of the next four quarters on a quarterly basis. Actual expenditures over a two-year period were compared to the estimates, and the data were sorted in different ways to answer several questions and give quantification to observations, such as how much does the accuracy of estimates degrade as they are made further into the future? Are estimates made for small dollar amounts more accurate than for large dollar estimates? Other government agencies and private companies with cost-plus contracts may be interested in this analysis as potential methods of contract management for their organizations. It provides them with the different methods one organization is beginning to use to control costs

Physical and dynamical characterisation of low Delta-V NEA (190491) 2000 FJ10

We investigated the physical properties and dynamical evolution of Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) (190491) 2000 FJ10 in order to assess the suitability of this accessible NEA as a space mission target. Photometry and colour determination were carried out with the 1.54 m Kuiper Telescope and the 10 m Southern African Large Telescope during the object's recent favourable apparition in 2011-12. During the earlier 2008 apparition, a spectrum of the object in the 6000-9000 Angstrom region was obtained with the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope. Interpretation of the observational results was aided by numerical simulations of 1000 dynamical clones of 2000 FJ10 up to 10^6 yr in the past and in the future. The asteroid's spectrum and colours determined by our observations suggest a taxonomic classification within the S-complex although other classifications (V, D, E, M, P) cannot be ruled out. On this evidence, it is unlikely to be a primitive, relatively unaltered remnant from the early history of the solar system and thus a low priority target for robotic sample return. Our photometry placed a lower bound of 2 hrs to the asteroid's rotation period. Its absolute magnitude was estimated to be 21.54+-0.1 which, for a typical S-complex albedo, translates into a diameter of 130+-20 m. Our dynamical simulations show that it has likely been an Amor for the past 10^5 yr. Although currently not Earth-crossing, it will likely become so during the period 50 - 100 kyr in the future. It may have arrived from the inner or central Main Belt > 1 Myr ago as a former member of a low-inclination S-class asteroid family. Its relatively slow rotation and large size make it a suitable destination for a human mission. We show that ballistic Earth-190491-Earth transfer trajectories with Delta-V < 2 km s^-1 at the asteroid exist between 2052 and 2061.Comment: 2 Tables, 11 Figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Service-Learning Program Institutionalization, Success, and Possible Alternative Futures: A Scholarly Perspective

Service-learning continues to develop as an integral component of higher education curricula, with administrators embracing the positive impact that it can have on the communities involved. The higher education environment, however, has changed in recent years. The global economic downturn of 2007– 2008 decreased university endowments and has made funding more difficult to obtain and education more financially prohibitive. Simultaneously, an increased scrutiny of the value of a college education by the federal government, accrediting agencies, and the general public has driven institutions to focus efforts on learning outcomes. This investigative study of five universities with established SL programs is a first attempt to update SL theory and practice in light of the current academic climate. The results indicate that while the literature appears to maintain a general relevance, specific “twist” themes also emerged that might better describe SL administration in the second decade of the 21st century. Based on the literature, current publications engaging higher education trends, and study results, the researchers put forth a scholarly perspective they hope will create a context for SL in the future, spark conversations about the success of SL programs in the current environment, provide evidence that SL administration is continually evolving, and encourage additional work in this area

Hammerhead, an ultrahigh resolution ePix camera for wavelength-dispersive spectrometers

Wavelength-dispersive spectrometers (WDS) are often used in synchrotron and FEL applications where high energy resolution (in the order of eV) is important. Increasing WDS energy resolution requires increasing spatial resolution of the detectors in the dispersion direction. The common approaches with strip detectors or small pixel detectors are not ideal. We present a novel approach, with a sensor using rectangular pixels with a high aspect ratio (between strips and pixels, further called "strixels"), and strixel redistribution to match the square pixel arrays of typical ASICs while avoiding the considerable effort of redesigning ASICs. This results in a sensor area of 17.4 mm x 77 mm, with a fine pitch of 25 $\mu$m in the horizontal direction resulting in 3072 columns and 176 rows. The sensors use ePix100 readout ASICs, leveraging their low noise (43 e$^-$, or 180 eV rms). We present results obtained with a Hammerhead ePix100 camera, showing that the small pitch (25 $\mu$m) in the dispersion direction maximizes performance for both high and low photon occupancies, resulting in optimal WDS energy resolution. The low noise level at high photon occupancy allows precise photon counting, while at low occupancy, both the energy and the subpixel position can be reconstructed for every photon, allowing an ultrahigh resolution (in the order of 1 $\mu$m) in the dispersion direction and rejection of scattered beam and harmonics. Using strixel sensors with redistribution and flip-chip bonding to standard ePix readout ASICs results in ultrahigh position resolution ($\sim$1 $\mu$m) and low noise in WDS applications, leveraging the advantages of hybrid pixel detectors (high production yield, good availability, relatively inexpensive) while minimizing development complexity through sharing the ASIC, hardware, software and DAQ development with existing versions of ePix cameras.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

In My View

I think Richard H. Kohn [“The Erosion of Civilian Control of the Military in the United States Today,” Summer 2002, pp. 9–60] is largely correct, based on my twenty years of participation/observation. There are two areas, however, where I think he may be missing something. One is the so-called Republican affiliation of the military officers. You do find a preponderance of what used to be called conservative—we now call it paleoconservative—viewpoints in the military. But in party affiliation, due to the merger in ideologies of the two major parties in the last thirty years, a pretty fair representation of officers consider themselves independents, Democrats (hawkish, often southern Democrat in ideology, and libertarian-leaning), as well as registered Republicans

Recovery from disturbance requires resynchronization of ecosystem nutrient cycles

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are tightly cycled in most terrestrial ecosystems, with plant uptake more than 10 times higher than the rate of supply from deposition and weathering. This near-total dependence on recycled nutrients and the stoichiometric constraints on resource use by plants and microbes mean that the two cycles have to be synchronized such that the ratio of N:P in plant uptake, litterfall, and net mineralization are nearly the same. Disturbance can disrupt this synchronization if there is a disproportionate loss of one nutrient relative to the other. We model the resynchronization of N and P cycles following harvest of a northern hardwood forest. In our simulations, nutrient loss in the harvest is small relative to postharvest losses. The low N:P ratio of harvest residue results in a preferential release of P and retention of N. The P release is in excess of plant requirements and P is lost from the active ecosystem cycle through secondary mineral formation and leaching early in succession. Because external P inputs are small, the resynchronization of the N and P cycles later in succession is achieved by a commensurate loss of N. Through succession, the ecosystem undergoes alternating periods of N limitation, then P limitation, and eventually co-limitation as the two cycles resynchronize. However, our simulations indicate that the overall rate and extent of recovery is limited by P unless a mechanism exists either to prevent the P loss early in succession (e.g., P sequestration not stoichiometrically constrained by N) or to increase the P supply to the ecosystem later in succession (e.g., biologically enhanced weathering). Our model provides a heuristic perspective from which to assess the resynchronization among tightly cycled nutrients and the effect of that resynchronization on recovery of ecosystems from disturbance

Global Precipitation Measurement: Evolution of Algorithms from TRMM to GPM

Topics include level 1C processing of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Images (GMI) and intercalibration, radar-enhanced radiometer GPROF radiometer retrieval algorithm (radiometer-RE), combined radar-radiometer algorithms, and merged algorithm product