Surveys of the earth's resources and environment by satellites

The potential and promise of observing the earth from the vantage point of space is discussed. The systematic surveying of processes and phenomena occurring on the surface of the earth by Landsat 1 and Nimbus 5 is considered to be useful in the following areas: assessment of water resources; mineral and petroleum exploration; land use planning; crop, forest, and rangeland inventory; assessment of flood, earthquake, and other environmental hazards; monitoring coastal processes; environmental effects of industrial effluents and of air pollution; mapping the distribution and types of ice covering the earth's polar caps and global soil moisture distributions

EMU Government Bond Yield Spreads and Determinants of Risk Premia -the Sovereign Debt Crisis: PIIGS in EU

Globalization and attributed financial markets integration are central themes and topics in today’s international finance. Since the start of 1999 when the euro was introduced, the integration started to accelerate among European financial markets and especially on the European government bond markets. This is also widely acknowledged in the topic’s previous literature. However things started to turn upside down since the beginning of the turmoil in financial markets caused by the US’s subprime mortgage crisis. The spreads between the EMU government bond yields begun to widen and in late 2009 the solvency of some member states became questionable. The aim of this thesis is to study how large have the EMU government bond yield spreads become during 2010. Moreover how well the country-specific EMU convergence criteria, international risk and liquidity premium explain these spreads. In line with the previous literature the evidence suggests the wider spreads are caused by the credit quality factors driven by the current market situation. Thus despite the earlier integration some risk premiums have grown unbearable while the EMU government bonds have became relatively strong substitutes.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Organic farming without fossil fuels - life cycle assessment of two Swedish cases

Organic agriculture is dependent on fossil fuels, just like conventional agriculture, but this can be reduced by the use of on-farm biomass resources. The energy efficiency and environmental impacts of different alternatives can be assessed by life cycle assessment (LCA), which we have done in this project. Swedish organic milk production can become self-sufficient in energy by using renewable sources available on the farm, with biogas from manure as the main energy source. Thereby greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the production system can be reduced, both by substituting fossil fuels and by reducing methane emissions from manure. The arable organic farm studied in the project could be self-sufficient in energy by using the residues available in the crop rotation. Because of soil carbon losses, the greenhouse gas emission savings were lower with the use of straw ethanol, heat and power (9%) than by using ley for biogas production (35%). In this research project, the system boundaries were set at energy self-sufficiency at farm or farm-cluster level. Heat and fuel were supplied as needed, and electricity production was equal to use on an annual basis. In practice, however, better resource efficiency can be achieved by making full use of available energy infrastructure, and basing production on resource availability and economic constraints, rather than a narrow self-sufficiency approach

Investigation of resin systems for improved ablative materials Interim report, 10 Jan. - 1 Jul. 1966

Preparation, and evaluation of polyimide sulfone resins, graphite-silica reinforced polyamide resins, and resin resistance to FLOX- methane, and fluorine-hydrogen fuel

Comparison of the beta-alpha angular correlations in the Li8 and B8 beta decays, and the conserved vector current theory

This paper describes a comparison of the beta-alpha angular correlations of the beta decays of Li8 and B8 to the 2.90-Mev alpha-unstable level of Be8. The data were fitted to an angular correlation in the laboratory system of the form W(θβα)=1+Acosθβα+Bcos2θβα, where A and B were independently determined for the Li8 and B8 beta decays from measurements at θβα=0°, 90°, and 180°. The coefficients A are due to the recoil of Be8* and have the same sign for both beta decays. The coefficients B arise from the interference of forbidden vector matrix elements with the allowed axial vector matrix element and have different signs in the two decays. The correlation for the Li8 decay was measured with average total beta energies, Wβ~5, 8, and 11 Mev. Both A and B were found to be approximately linear in Wβ. The correlation for the B8 decay was measured only with average Wβ~11 Mev. From the data with Wβ~11 Mev, the difference of the coefficients, B(Li8)-B(B8), equals (0.0070±0.0012)Wβ. This result is compared with theoretical predictions based on the older Fermi and the newer conserved vector current theories of beta decay. The experiment agrees with the prediction of the latter theory

New Partnerships for a New Generation

Objective:This poster will demonstrate how partnering with civic and community organizations to host a traveling exhibit helps the library reach beyond its primary clientele to: 1) heighten awareness of the historical roles of women physicians, 2) encourage young women to enter the medical fields, 3) promote medical librarians and library services, and 4) increase visibility of the medical school. Method:In the summer of 2004, a core group of library staff gathered to prepare the application to host the ALA/NLM traveling exhibit, “Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians.” Once selected as a host site, the group reached out to a diverse mix of academic and administrative staff from across the Medical School, as well as members of the local community. This group became the formal steering committee to plan programming to accompany the exhibit, helping meet the educational and promotional goals set forth in the initial application. Some outreach events included movie nights at the public library, an essay contest for grade school students, a career day with Girl Scouts, a review of research in women’s health (WHI), etc. Promotional methods/vehicles included “save the date” postcards, flyers, posters, and coverage through area radio, television, and newspapers. Results:Seventeen events were held in conjunction with the Library’s hosting of the exhibit. During the six-week period, approximately 60,000 individuals visited the Library, more than 750 specifically devoted to viewing the display. Two hundred people from the medical school community and the public at large attended the opening ceremony, 100 area Girl Scout members participated in multiple educational events, local middle and high school students took part in an essay contest, and more than 100 people attended book signings, film screenings, and a dramatic performance about Elizabeth Blackwell. Six groups provided financial support of the exhibit, totaling more than $7,000. Conclusion:The exhibit encouraged new experiences for Library staff including collaboration, marketing and outreach to a wider audience. It introduced many first-time Library visitors to a valued local resource, helped develop relationships between medical school students and the public, and introduced a different and important historical perspective on medicine to all. Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting on May 20, 2007, in Philadelphia, PA

Determination of thermophysical properties of ablative materials. Phase 1 - Laboratory determinations. Part B - Thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity

Thermophysical property measurements on ablative materials for Apollo spacecraft propulsion system configuratio

Analysis of Congestion Control

Agents must work. Given the trends in elec- tronic models, programmers particularly note the construction of the lookaside buffer, which embodies the theoretical principles of dis- tributed systems. In order to overcome this chal- lenge, we consider how the Turing machine can be applied to the simulation of the UNIVAC computer

Our Fat Future: Translating Adipose Stem Cell Therapy

Human adipose stem cells (hASCs) have the potential to treat patients with a variety of clinical conditions. Recent advancements in translational research, regulatory policy, and industry have positioned hASCs on the threshold of clinical translation. We discuss the progress and challenges of bringing adipose stem cell therapy into mainstream clinical use

Electrical Cell-Substrate Impedance Spectroscopy Can Monitor Age-Grouped Human Adipose Stem Cell Variability During Osteogenic Differentiation

: Human adipose stem cells (hASCs) are an attractive cell source for bone tissue engineering applications. However, a critical issue to be addressed before widespread hASC clinical translation is the dramatic variability in proliferative capacity and osteogenic potential among hASCs isolated from different donors. The goal of this study was to test our hypothesis that electrical cell-substrate impedance spectroscopy (ECIS) could track complex bioimpedance patterns of hASCs throughout proliferation and osteogenic differentiation to better understand and predict variability among hASC populations. Superlots composed of hASCs from young (aged 24-36 years), middle-aged (aged 48-55 years), and elderly (aged 60-81 years) donors were seeded on gold electrode arrays. Complex impedance measurements were taken throughout proliferation and osteogenic differentiation. During osteogenic differentiation, four impedance phases were identified: increase, primary stabilization, drop phase, and secondary stabilization. Matrix deposition was first observed 48-96 hours after the impedance maximum, indicating, for the first time, that ECIS can identify morphological changes that correspond to late-stage osteogenic differentiation. The impedance maximum was observed at day 10.0 in young, day 6.1 in middle-aged, and day 1.3 in elderly hASCs, suggesting that hASCs from younger donors require a longer time to differentiate than do hASCs from older donors, but young hASCs proliferated more and accreted more calcium long-term. This is the first study to use ECIS to predict osteogenic potential of multiple hASC populations and to show that donor age may temporally control onset of osteogenesis. These findings could be critical for development of patient-specific bone tissue engineering and regenerative medicine therapies. SIGNIFICANCE: Human adipose stem cells (hASCs) are an appealing cell source for bone tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications because they can be obtained in high quantities via liposuction procedures and can differentiate down musculoskeletal lineages. However, a major barrier to clinical translation of hASCs is that cells from different donors have varying capacities to proliferate and differentiate. This study used electrical impedance spectroscopy to noninvasively track osteogenic differentiation of age-grouped donors in real time, showing that age-grouped hASCs have distinct complex impedance patterns. This method could be used to improve understanding of the biology that causes variability among hASC populations and to provide quantitative quality control standards for hASC populations in stem cell manufacturing and bone tissue engineering applications