Development of the International Space Station (ISS) Fine Water Mist (FWM) Portable Fire Extinguisher

NASA is developing a Fine Water Mist Portable Fire Extinguisher for use on the International Space Station. The International Space Station presently uses two different types of fire extinguishers: a water foam extinguisher in the Russian Segment, and a carbon dioxide extinguisher in the US Segment and Columbus and Kibo pressurized elements. Changes in emergency breathing equipment make Fine Water Mist operationally preferable. Supplied oxygen breathing systems allow for safe discharge of a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher, without concerns of the crew inhaling unsafe levels of carbon dioxide. But the Portable Breathing Apparatus (PBA) offers no more than 15 minutes of capability, and continued use of hose based supplied oxygen system increases the oxygen content in a fire situation. NASA has developed a filtering respirator cartridge for use in a fire environment. It is qualified to provide up to 90 minutes of capability, and because it is a filtering respirator it does not add oxygen to the environment. The fire response respirator cartridge does not filter carbon dioxide (CO2), so a crew member discharging a CO2 fire extinguisher while wearing this filtering respirator would be at risk of inhaling unsafe levels of CO2. Fine Water Mist extinguishes a fire without creating a large volume of air with reduced oxygen and elevated CO2. From a flight hardware design perspective, the fine water mist fire extinguisher has two major elements: (1) the nozzle and crew interface, and (2) the tank. The nozzle and crew interface has been under development for several years. It has gone through several design iterations, and has been part of more than 400 fire challenge and spray characterizations. The crew and vehicle interface aspects of the design will use the heritage of the CO2 based Portable Fire Extinguisher, to minimize the disruption to the crew and integration impacts to the ISS. The microgravity use environment of the system poses a set of unique design requirements specifically for the tank. The nozzle requirements drive a tank pressure that is 2-5 times higher than any commercially available water mist systems. Microgravity requires deliberate separation of gas and water, facilitated by a bladder, a diaphragm, a piston, or separate tanks. This paper will describe the design details of the tank and the nozzle, and discuss the trade studies that informed the decisions to select the tank and nozzle configuration

Material Testing in Support of the ISS Electrochemical Disinfection Feasibility Study

The International Space Station Program recognizes the risk of microbial contamination in their potable and non-potable water sources. With the end of the Space Shuttle Program, the ability to send up shock-kits of biocides in the event of an outbreak becomes even more difficult. Currently, the US Segment water system relies primarily on iodine to mitigate contamination concerns. To date, several small cases of contamination have occurred which have been remediated. NASA, however, realizes that having a secondary method of combating a microbial outbreak is a prudent investment. NASA is looking into developing hardware that can generate biocides electrochemically, and potentially deploying that hardware. The specific biocides that the technology could generate include: hydrogen peroxide, oxone, hypochlorite and peracetic acid. In order to use these biocides on deployed water systems, the project must determine that all the materials in the potential application are compatible with the biocides at their anticipated administered concentrations. This paper will detail the materials test portion of the feasibility assessment including the plan for both metals and non-metals along with results to date

Standards Workshop at Researcher to Reader Conference, London, Feb 2017: UNREPORT

OtherNon peer reviewe

Research Information Management: Defining RIM and the Library\u27s Role

Research information management (RIM) is the aggregation, curation, and utilization of information about research and is emerging as an area of increasing interest and relevance in many university libraries. RIM intersects with many aspects of traditional library services in discovery, acquisition, dissemination, and analysis of scholarly activities, and does so through the nexus with institutional data systems, faculty workflows, and institutional partners. RIM adoption offers libraries new opportunities to support institutional and researcher goals. In this paper prepared by Rebecca Bryant, OCLC Research Senior Program Officer, and a working group of librarians representing OCLC Research Library Partnership institutions, learn more about what RIM is, what is driving RIM adoption, and the library’s role in RIM. The publication is intended to help libraries and other institutional stakeholders understand developing research information management practices—and particularly the value add that libraries can offer in a complex ecosystem. This work is part of a suite of publications and resources around RIM practices. Read more about upcoming research and reports in the area of research information management

How professionalisation of outreach practitioners could improve the quality of evaluation and evidence:a proposal

Professionalising outreach and evaluation work would enhance the quality and rigour of provision, benefit widening participation students and achieve regulatory requirements (Bowes et al. [2019]. The National Collaborative Outreach Programme End of Phase 1 report for the national formative and impact evaluations. Office for Students; Rainford [2020]. “Working with/in institutions: how policy enactment in widening participation is shaped through practitioners’ experience.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 42 (2): 287–303). This article presents practitioners’ experiences of how social justice can often feel unaligned to the technical expertise required in rigorous project design and evaluation. Professionalising outreach would achieve both improved practice and meet practitioners’ needs for development and a united professional voice. A professional body sharing standard methods of practice, offering CPD and skills would elevate outreach practitioners to a ‘professional’ standing (Eraut [1994]. Developing professional knowledge and competence. Falmer Press)

¿Qué es lo “fallido”? ¿Los Estados del Sur, o la investigación y las políticas de Occidente? Un estudio sobre órdenes Políticos híbridos y los Estados emergentes

This paper critically discusses the discourse on fragile and failing states and reviews current debates about state-building. The authors argue for an alternative conceptualization of states emerging from hybrid political orders. Hybrid political orders combine elements of the introduced Western models of governance and elements stemming from local indigenous traditions and practices. Shortcomings in a conventional example of state-building are identified in relation to East Timor, and are contrasted with successes flowing from more innovative approaches to peacebuilding and state formation in Somaliland and Bougainville. The authors conclude that approaches to conflict transformation, peacebuilding and state formation will only be successful in the long term if they engage with local sources of resilience and legitimacy within communities and non-state customary institutions, and if they seek to forge constructive relationships between communities and governments.Este documento de trabajo discute desde una perspectiva crítica el discurso sobre los Estados frágiles y fallidos y revisa los actuales debates sobre la construcción del Estado. Los autores argumentan a favor de una conceptualización alternativa de los Estados que emergen de órdenes políticos híbridos. Los órdenes políticos híbridos combinan elementos de modelos de gobernanza de Occidente, introducidos por éste, y elementos que provienen de las prácticas y tradiciones locales. Se identifican las limitaciones de ejemplos convencionales de construcción del Estado en Timor-Leste, y se contrastan con los éxitos que emanan de enfoques más innovadores de construcción de la paz y de formación del Estado en Somalilandia y Bouganville. Los autores concluyen que los enfoques de transformación del conflicto, construcción de la paz y de formación del Estado solo tendrán éxito a largo plazo si se vinculan con las fuentes de resiliencia y de legitimidad local en el seno de las comunidades y las instituciones consuetudinarias no estatales, y si se intenta forjar relaciones constructivas entre las comunidades y los gobiernos.Estados frágiles, construcción del Estado, construcción de la paz, órdenes políticos híbridos, Fragile states, state building, peacebuilding, hybrid political orders

Development of the International Space Station (ISS) Fine Water Mist (FWM) Portable Fire Extinguisher ICES Abstract

NASA is developing a Fine Water Mist (FWM) Portable Fire Extinguisher (PFE) for use on the International Space Station. The International Space Station presently uses two different types of fire extinguishers: a water foam extinguisher in the Russian Segment, and a carbon dioxide extinguisher in the US Segment and Columbus and Kibo pressurized elements. Changes in emergency breathing equipment make Fine Water Mist operationally preferable. Supplied oxygen breathing systems allow for safe discharge of a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher, without concerns of the crew inhaling unsafe levels of carbon dioxide. But the Portable Breathing Apparatus (PBA) offers no more than 15 minutes of capability, and continued use of hose based supplied oxygen system increases the oxygen content in a fire situation. NASA has developed a filtering respirator cartridge for use in a fire environment. It is qualified to provide up to 90 minutes of capability, and because it is a filtering respirator it does not add oxygen to the environment. The fire response respirator cartridge does not filter carbon dioxide (CO2), so a crew member discharging a CO2 fire extinguisher while wearing this filtering respirator would be at risk of inhaling unsafe levels of CO2. FWM extinguishes a fire without creating a large volume of air with reduced oxygen and elevated CO2. The following paper will discuss the unique functional and performance requirements that have been levied on the FWM PFE. In addition, the NASA ISS specific fire standards will be described which were developed to establish acceptable extinguisher performance. The paper will also discuss the flight hardware design. The fin e water mist fire extinguisher has two major elements: (1) the nozzle and crew interface, and (2) the tank. The nozzle and crew interface have been under development for several years. They have gone through several design iterations, and have been part of more than 400 fire challenge and spray characterizations. The crew and vehicle interface aspects of the design will use the heritage of the CO2 based Portable Fire Extinguisher, to minimize the disruption to the crew and integration impacts to the ISS. The microgravity use environment of the system poses a set of unique design requirements specifically for the tank. The nozzle requirements drive a tank pressure that is 2-5 times higher than any commercially available water mist systems. Microgravity requires deliberate separation of gas and water, facilitated by a bladder, a diaphragm, a piston, or separate tanks. This paper will describe status of the project to date, the design details of the tank and the nozzle, and discuss the trade studies that informed the decisions to select the tank and nozzle configuration

The application of the CERIF data format to Snowball metrics

The euroCRIS Indicators Task Group aims to develop and share best practice in the use of indicators to support research information management. One of the outputs of the group will be indicators expressed in CERIF that can re-used by CERIF-compliant software services to support consistent measurements for both national and international purposes. This Task Group will express multiple sets of indicators in CERIF, with Snowball Metrics being the first set to be tackled. The goal of the Snowball Metrics initiative is for research-intensive institutions to share their knowledge and experiences to agree best practice in evidence-based institutional strategic planning. Agreed and tested metrics “recipes”, or methodologies, are shared free of charge with the sector in the Snowball Metrics Recipe Book (www.snowballmetrics.com/metrics)1 for use by any organization, whether for public service or commercial purposes. One of the principles of Snowball Metrics is that they are system-agnostic: in other words, that although particular types of data are needed to support their calculation, the data can come from any relevant source such that the recipes are not tied to any one particular system or supplier of research information. The application of the CERIF data standard to the recipes is an important component in enabling benchmarking between institutions in a system-agnostic manner through the exchange of Snowball Metrics. CERIFication of Snowball Metrics is also expected to facilitate the endorsement of these recipes as global standards. The first set of recipes was agreed and tested by a group of universities in the United Kingdom, but the vision is that Snowball Metrics are supported by universities globally, and that multiple national groups contribute their expertise to agree how best to leverage the institutional and national data sources available, alongside proprietary data sources. The formation of Working Groups and the use of Snowball Metrics outside the United Kingdom demonstrate that the initiative is gaining global traction, and strongly indicate that the needs being addressed are widespread problems for which the sector would like to find a single answer. The universal nature of CERIF provides an important reference point to which it is expected that distinct but equivalent national data sources can be mapped and so used in international benchmarking

Integration of an active research data system with a data repository to streamline the research data lifecycle : Pure-NOMAD case study

The authors acknowledge the work of Juan Karsten for the partial development of the Pure-NOMAD integration. This work has been supported by the EPSRC-Strategic Partners Project (2012, grant number EP/J501542/1) and the Impact Acceleration Account (2016, grant number EP/K503940/1).Research funders have introduced requirements that expect researchers to properly manage and publicly share their research data, and expect institutions to put in place services to support researchers in meeting these requirements. So far the general focus of these services and systems has been on addressing the final stages of the research data lifecycle (archive, share and re-use), rather than stages related to the active phase of the cycle (collect/create and analyse). As a result, full integration of active data management systems with data repositories is not yet the norm, making the streamlined transition of data from an active to a published and archived status an important challenge. In this paper we present the integration between an active data management system developed in-house (NOMAD) and Elsevier’s Pure data repository used at our institution with the aim of offering a simple workflow to facilitate and promote the data deposit process. The integration results in a new data management and publication workflow that helps researchers to save time, minimize human errors related to manually handling files, and further promote data deposit together with collaboration across the institution.PostprintPeer reviewe