Management of Science

NASA concept, philosophy, and approach to science managemen

Compendium of fracture mechanics problems

Fracture mechanics analysis results are presented from the following structures/components analyzed at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) between 1982 and 1989: space shuttle main engine (SSME), Hubble Space Telescope (HST), external tank attach ring, B-1 stand LOX inner tank, and solid rocket booster (SRB). Results from the SSME high pressure fuel turbopump (HPFTP) second stage blade parametric analysis determine a critical flaw size for a wide variety of stress intensity values. The engine 0212 failure analysis was a time dependent fracture life assessment. Results indicated that the disk ruptured due to an overspeed condition. Results also indicated that very small flaws in the curvic coupling area could propagate and lead to failure under normal operating conditions. It was strongly recommended that a nondestructive evaluation inspection schedule be implemented. The main ring of the HST, scheduled to launch in 1990, was analyzed by safe-life and fail-safe analyses. First safe-life inspection criteria curves for the ring inner and outer skins and the fore and aft channels were derived. Afterwards the skins and channels were determined to be fail-safe by analysis. A conservative safe-life analysis was done on the 270 redesign external tank attach ring. Results from the analysis were used to determine the nondestructive evaluation technique required

Supports for Working Families: Work and Care Policies across Welfare States

Familienpolitik, Sozialpolitik, Sozialstaat, Eltern, Erwerbstätigkeit, Familie, Kinderbetreuung, Vereinigte Staaten, Westeuropa, Family policy, Social policy, Welfare state, Parents, Labour force participation, Family, Child care, United states, Western

Feasibility model of a high reliability five-year tape transport. Volume 3: Appendices

Detailed drawings of the five year tape transport are presented. Analytical tools used in the various analyses are described. These analyses include: tape guidance, tape stress over crowned rollers, tape pack stress program, response (computer) program, and control system electronics description

Summary of the International Conference on Arabidopsis Research 2011, June 22-25, 2011

This project provided participant support for the gathering of plant biologists at the International Conferences on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR) in 2011. Arabidopsis thaliana, the reference flowering plant, has been intensely studied over the last 20 years and has proven to be an ideal model for studying nearly all aspects of plant biology. The success of this research field has been greatly facilitated by the openness and collegiality of the community fostered through multiple international forums including the ICAR. Advances in basic and applied plant biology are featured at the meeting, which is the primary gathering point for this strongly integrated international community. The ICAR convenes plant researchers, allows discussion and dissemination of the latest research in plant biology, and facilitates dialog among those that may be separated by geography, career stage, and culture. This project focused on facilitating access by early career scientists that have reduced access to attend major meetings

What Makes an Efficacious Elementary Principal? A Qualitative Study

Quality induction programming for novice principals should promote experiences that build self-efficacy (Tschannen-Moran & Gareis, 2007). Critical induction experiences are necessary to prepare school leaders for the increasing demands of the role. In the ever-changing world of public education, the importance of high-impact experiences for new principals has never been more critical than it is today. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the experiences that develop feelings of self-efficacy in novice elementary principals. A descriptive approach was used to examine the perspectives of seven practicing elementary principals at various stages of their careers. Results from the study suggest feelings of self-efficacy increased when study participants described experiences related to four themes: Collective Teacher Efficacy, Positive School Culture, Supportive Relationships, and Emotional Self-Awareness

Associations Between Climate, Latitude, Fertility and the Decline of the US Sex Ratio at Birth

The US sex ratio at birth (SRB) has declined since 1970, while ambient temperatures have been increasing. This study examines the temporal and spatial variation of the US SRB from 1979–2002 in association with fertility rates and climate variables. Approximately 62.8 million birth records from the National Center for Health Statistics were linked to monthly climate division data and county level socioeconomic variables to evaluate the association of SRB and environmental conditions at or near the time of conception. Seasonal variation in US SRB is detectable in time series analysis, and is somewhat in phase with variation in fertility. Logistic regression analysis shows that temperature in the month before conception is significantly positively correlated with the likelihood of a male birth when birth order, maternal age, maternal education, plurality, gestation length, race, and Hispanic origin are controlled. This association was significant in models that include all births from 1979–1988, non-Hispanic white births from 1979–1988, and all births in US large counties from 1979–2002. Geographic nonstationarity of US SRB was found in smoothed rate climate division maps for 1979–1988, with higher SRB in latitudes below 40 degrees N, especially in the southeastern US. However, both the overall rates of summer conception and the likelihood of summer male conception are reduced in lower latitudes relative to higher ones. A logistic regression model was also fit using only non-Hispanic births from US large counties from 1989–2002. In addition to a significant positive association of sex ratio and temperature in the month before conception, deviation from normal monthly temperature during the month of conception, compared to the 1971–2000 baseline temperature, is significantly associated with sex ratio variation. In this population, fewer males were conceived when temperature extremes were significantly above normal; more males were conceived when temperatures were significantly below normal. In both high and low latitude zones over this period, the peak of male conceptions shifted to earlier in the year. Variation in SRB is potentially a sentinel health event and this research suggests that the association between temperature and SRB should be integral to any study of SRB variation across large geographic areas or long time periods

Nagual interpretations

Not Include

Toward a Geography of Hormones: The Human Sex Ratio at Birth in the United States 1970-1995

It has been hypothesized that humans may exert facultative, adaptive control over their sex of their offspring through the action of the endocrine system. No conclusive evidence of this has been found, although varying hormonal levels in parents at the time of conception may partly influence the sex of the child (James 1986, 1987b, 1999). A decline in the human sex ratio at birth (SRB) observed in the U.S. and some other countries has been attributed by some investigators to widespread environmental exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. The many factors hypothesized to influence the SRB make testing this attribution difficult, but one suggestion has been to explore the geographic and temporal pattern of SRB to determine if a sentinel health event signaled by abnormal SRB is present (Davis et al. 1998). This thesis explores the possibilities of geographic analysis of SRB at various scales, focusing on the local geographic scale of the U.S. county to determine whether patterns of explainable variation exist. It tests the basic geographic-patterning assumption, the hypothesis that hormonal mediated influences such as local socioeconomic conditions, adult reproductive sex ratio, urban versus farm environment, and racial composition may influence the SRB, and looks for posited geographic patterning that might be indicative of hormonally active agents working in the human environment. This set of hypotheses is tested in univariate and multivariate logistic regression models combining complete U.S. individual birth record datasets for 1970, 1980 and 1990 with selected U.S. Census county-level statistics that were chosen to represent hypothesized socio-environmental, hormonally mediated influences. Separate models were constructed for white and black births, and variables of birth order, plurality, and seasons of birth were included in multivariate models to control for these confounding individual influences on the SRB. Results show that geographic patterning is strongly evident at the county level and this approach in general works well to elucidate the influence on SRB of these external hormonally medicated factors. SRB in white populations significantly decreased with increases in county urban population proportion in 1980 and 1990 and with increases of the percentage of families living below the poverty line in 1970 and 1990. The change in odds ratio for white male births was barely detectable, however, and was less than that found for individual characteristics such as birth order and plurality. Black population SRB was not as influenced by externally hormonally mediated factors as white SRB, except in 1980. Little clear evidence for the presumed effects of endocrine disruptors was found. The results support further study of externally hormonal mediated influences on the SRB at local geographic scales. In particular, geographic patterning is strongly evident but varies locally in magnitude and sign, and spatially in pattern, between sampling dates. This suggests that not all significant factors are accounted for in this analysis, and that more work needs to be done to weigh the independent influences of individual biological factors and those external factors that might vary with changes in social, economic, and age-distribution conditions. A significant influence of SRB seasonality in the 1970 sample year also suggests that changes in temperature, light, rainfall patterns and other environmental signals that might stimulate hormonal influence of the SRB should be explored