Qualification test report bump protection hat (subassembly of T020/M509 head protective assembly)

The bump protection hat (BPH) was subjected to impact testing in which it underwent three impacts at 35 foot-pounds of energy. The impacts generated stress cracks, but no penetration. All impacts resulted in deflections of less than one-half inch. It was shown that the BPH is qualified for Skylab and the rescue vehicle

Assessing Domestic Demand for Organic and ‘Locally Grown' Produce on An ‘Organic Island': Dominica's Dilemma

The economy of Dominica faces a unique set of challenges. As with many other Caribbean nations, Dominica has historically been dependent upon agriculture. Over the past several hundred years, the island's economy has been largely supported through the concentrated mono-cropping of a variety of export-oriented crops including coffee, limes, vanilla, and bananas (FAVACA, 2008). Today, approximately 45% of Dominica's labor force is employed in the agricultural sector (FAVACA, 2008). While neighboring countries have economically benefited from tourism, due to its lack of white sand beaches, Dominica is not a typical tourist destination. Taking advantage of its landscape, rainforests, and diversity of natural wildlife, in an effort to diversify its economy Dominica has instead catered to eco-/wellness tourists. Bridging its agricultural foundations with the ecological preservation needed to support its tourist industry, the government of Dominica has signaled its interest in transforming Dominica into an Organic Island (‘Organic Dominica') by 2015. Through this initiative, sustainable, organic agricultural production methods will be encouraged. Complementing this, a ‘Buy Organic, Locally Grown' campaign has been proposed to encourage domestic and regional consumption of Dominica's agricultural outputs and food products. As such, ‘Organic Dominica' has the potential to simultaneously address ongoing national concerns surrounding food security, foreign exchange availability, domestic un/underemployment, and environmental preservation. Before and since proposing this policy, surveys were conducted to identity the major stakeholders in (organic) agricultural production, and current and potential markets for organic production. It remains, however, to quantify Dominica's capacity to produce organic goods, the scale of the potential market, and the price premia that organic production could command. This information is critical to determining the appropriate initial level of producer support and marketing programs required to successfully promote the production and consumption of Dominica's organic outputs and propel Dominica toward the desired status of a model ‘Organic Island'.contingent valuation, willingness to pay, Caribbean, organic, locally grown, food, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, Marketing, O13, O54, Q01, Q13, Q18,

The Economic Value of Basin Protection to Improve the Quality and Reliability of Potable Water Supply: Some Evidence from Ecuador

This study estimates the willingness to pay (WTP) of Loja’s households to protect two micro-basins that supply over 40 percent of potable water to the city. Results indicate that households have an average WTP of $5.80 per month, which corresponds to a 25 percent increase in the self-reported monthly water bill, to preserve the basins.Basin protection, contingent valuation, Loja, Ecuador, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Developing enterprise culture in a northern educational authority in the UK: involving trainee teachers in learning-orientated evaluation

In this paper we discuss our use of innovative methods - at least in the context of regeneration evaluation - to help evaluate an enterprise project in northern England, paying particular attention to the involvement of trainee teachers. We discuss the methods used and critically appraise the methods and methodology, present some emerging findings from the trainee teachers strand and conclude by discussing the place of what might be termed 'learning-orientated evaluation' in relation to the currently dominant output-focussed evaluation paradigm.</p

Applications of ethylene vinyl acetate as an encapsulation material for terrestrial photovoltaic modules

Terrestrial photovoltaic modules must undergo substantial reductions in cost in order to become economically attractive as practical devices for large scale production of electricity. Part of the cost reductions must be realized by the encapsulation materials that are used to package, protect, and support the solar cells, electrical interconnects, and other ancillary components. As many of the encapsulation materials are polymeric, cost reductions necessitate the use of low cost polymers. The performance and status of ethylene vinyl acetate, a low cost polymer that is being investigated as an encapsulation material for terrestrial photovoltaic modules, are described

Dynamic stability of crack fronts: Out-of-plane corrugations

The dynamics and stability of brittle cracks are not yet fully understood. Here we use the Willis-Movchan 3D linear perturbation formalism [J. Mech. Phys. Solids {\bf 45}, 591 (1997)] to study the out-of-plane stability of planar crack fronts in the framework of linear elastic fracture mechanics. We discuss a minimal scenario in which linearly unstable crack front corrugations might emerge above a critical front propagation speed. We calculate this speed as a function of Poisson's ratio and show that corrugations propagate along the crack front at nearly the Rayleigh wave-speed. Finally, we hypothesize about a possible relation between such corrugations and the long-standing problem of crack branching.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures + supplementary informatio

Gold coast domestic water end use study

This paper presents the preliminary findings of the Gold Coast Watersaver End Use Project which was conducted in winter 2008, for 151 homes on the Gold Coast, Australia. Specifically, the paper includes a break down of water end use consumption data, compares this with results of previous national studies, and explores the degree of influence of household socioeconomic regions on end use. Two highly variable water end use distributions, namely shower and irrigation, were examined in detail, clustered and are discussed herein. The paper concludes with a brief description of the greater ongoing research program

Calibrating AIS images using the surface as a reference

A method of evaluating the initial assumptions and uncertainties of the physical connection between Airborne Imaging Spectrometer (AIS) image data and laboratory/field spectrometer data was tested. The Tuscon AIS-2 image connects to lab reference spectra by an alignment to the image spectral endmembers through a system gain and offset for each band. Images were calibrated to reflectance so as to transform the image into a measure that is independent of the solar radiant flux. This transformation also makes the image spectra directly comparable to data from lab and field spectrometers. A method was tested for calibrating AIS images using the surface as a reference. The surface heterogeneity is defined by lab/field spectral measurements. It was found that the Tuscon AIS-2 image is consistent with each of the initial hypotheses: (1) that the AIS-2 instrument calibration is nearly linear; (2) the spectral variance is caused by sub-pixel mixtures of spectrally distinct materials and shade, and (3) that sub-pixel mixtures can be treated as linear mixtures of pure endmembers. It was also found that the image can be characterized by relatively few endmembers using the AIS-2 spectra

Porous and Microporous Honeycomb Composites as Potential Boundary-Layer Bleed Materials

Results of an experimental investigation are presented in which the use of porous and microporous honeycomb composite materials is evaluated as an alternate to perforated solid plates for boundary-layer bleed in supersonic aircraft inlets. The terms "porous" and "microporous," respectively, refer to bleed orifice diameters roughly equal to and much less than the displacement thickness of the approach boundary-layer. A Baseline porous solid plate, two porous honeycomb, and three microporous honeycomb configurations are evaluated. The performance of the plates is characterized by the flow coefficient and relative change in boundary-layer profile parameters across the bleed region. The tests were conducted at Mach numbers of 1.27 and 1.98. The results show the porous honeycomb is not as efficient at removing mass compared to the baseline. The microporous plates were about equal to the baseline with one plate demonstrating a significantly higher efficiency. The microporous plates produced significantly fuller boundary-layer profiles downstream of the bleed region for a given mass flow removal rate than either the baseline or the porous honeycomb plates

Getting at the Moral Leadership of Education Deans

Vignettes were used to prompt four education deans to think aloud about ways in which they would resolve problems with embedded moral issues. Thematic coding was used to analyze the interview texts that had been tape recorded and transcribed. There was general support for the two moral themes of holding to broad social ideals and negotiating for mutually acceptable outcomes, but individual expressions of specific strategies and actions differed. The results of this study support a multi-dimensional approach to the study of the leadership of deans that simultaneously examines the moral, social, intellectual and emotional aspects of problem solving. The results also suggest a possible shift in the way to advertise and interview for education deans. The advertisement should ask prospective candidates to discuss their list of accomplishments in relation to personal leadership characteristics. The interview should include an administrative colloquium on the order of the pedagogical colloquium suggested by Shulman (1993)