Thrust reverser design studies for an over-the-wing STOL transport

Aerodynamic and acoustics analytical studies were conducted to evaluate three thrust reverser designs for potential use on commercial over-the-wing STOL transports. The concepts were: (1) integral D nozzle/target reverser, (2) integral D nozzle/top arc cascade reverser, and (3) post exit target reverser integral with wing. Aerodynamic flowpaths and kinematic arrangements for each concept were established to provide a 50% thrust reversal capability. Analytical aircraft stopping distance/noise trade studies conducted concurrently with flow path design showed that these high efficiency reverser concepts are employed at substantially reduced power settings to meet noise goals of 100 PNdB on a 152.4 m sideline and still meet 609.6 m landing runway length requirements. From an overall installation standpoint, only the integral D nozzle/target reverser concept was found to penalize nacelle cruise performance; for this concept a larger nacelle diameter was required to match engine cycle effective area demand in reverse thrust

The Oyster River Culvert Analysis Project

Studies have already detected intensification of precipitation events consistent with climate change projections. Communities may have a window of opportunity to prepare, but information sufficiently quantified and localized to support adaptation programs is sparse: published literature is typically characterized by general resilience building or regional vulnerability studies. The Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC observed that adaptation can no longer be postponed pending the effective elimination of uncertainty. Methods must be developed that manage residual uncertainty, providing community leaders with decision-support information sufficient for implementing infrastructure adaptation programs. This study developed a local-scale and actionable protocol for maintaining historical risk levels for communities facing significant impacts from climate change and population growth. For a coastal watershed, the study assessed the capacity of the present stormwater infrastructure capacity for conveying expected peak flow resulting from climate change and population growth. The project transferred coupled-climate model projections to the culvert system, in a form understandable to planners, resource managers and decision-makers; applied standard civil engineering methods to reverse-engineer culverts to determine existing and required capacities; modeled the potential for LID methods to manage peak flow in lieu of, or combination with, drainage system upsizing; and estimated replacement costs using local and national construction cost data. The mid-21st century, most likely 25-year, 24-hour precipitation is estimated to be 35% greater than the TP-40 precipitation for the SRES A1b trajectory, and 64% greater than the TP-40 value for the SRES A1fi trajectory. 5% of culverts are already undersized for the TP-40 event to which they should have been designed. Under the most likely A1b trajectory, an additional 12% of culverts likely will be undersized, while under the most likely A1fi scenario, an additional 19% likely will be undersized. These conditions place people and property at greater risk than that historically acceptable from the TP-4025-year design storm. This risk level may be maintained by a long-term upgrade program, utilizing existing strategies to manage uncertainty and costs. At the upper-95% confidence limit for the A1fi 25-year event, 65% of culverts are adequately sized, and building the remaining 35%, and planned, culverts to thrice the cross-sectional area specified from TP-40 should provide adequate capacity through this event. Realizable LID methods can mitigate significant impacts from climate change and population growth, however effectiveness is limited for the more pessimistic climate change projections. Results indicate that uncertainty in coupled-climate model projections is not an impediment to adaptation. This study makes a significant contribution toward the generation of reliable and specific estimates of impacts from climate change, in support of programs to adapt civil infrastructures. This study promotes a solution to today\u27s arguably most significant challenge in civil infrastructure adaptation: translating the extensive corpus of adaptation theory and regional-scale impacts analyses into localscale action

Naive Yearling Steers Consume Little Sericea Lespedeza in the Kansas Flint Hills

Objective: The objective of this study was to characterize diets selected by steers grazing sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata)-infested native tallgrass pastures. Study Description: The experiment was conducted on eight native tallgrass pastures located in Woodson County, KS, at the Kansas State University Bessner Range Research Unit during the 2015 and 2016 growing season. Pastures were burned annually in April and stocked with yearling steers (n = 281/year; initial body weight = 582 ± 75 lb) at a relatively high stocking rate (2.7 acres/steer) from April 15 to July 15. Basal frequency of sericea lespedeza was 2.9 ± 2.43% during the period of our experiment. Four 328-ft transects were laid out in a north-south gradient in each pasture. Following a 2-week adaptation period, fecal samples were collected bi-weekly from fresh fecal pats along each transect from May 1 to July 15, annually. Fecal samples were prepared and viewed under a compound microscope to identify and count plant fragment species. These data were used to determine the frequency of which plant species appeared in steer diets. The Bottom Line: In this experiment, grasses comprised not less than 88.4% of steer diets, whereas forbs comprised not more than 11.6% of steer diets. Sericea lespedeza comprised only a minor proportion of grazing steer diets. This finding highlights the difficulty in achieving control over sericea lespedeza using grazing by yearling cattle alone

Grazing Diets of Mature Ewes in the Flint Hills Contain a Significant Proportion of Sericea Lespedeza

Objective: The objective of this study was to characterize diets selected by sheep grazing sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) infested native tallgrass pastures and contrast these diets to those of cattle grazing the same range earlier in the grazing season. Multi-species grazing may provide an additional tool to aid landholders in the control of sericea lespedeza compared to cattle grazing only. Study Description: The study was conducted on 8 native tallgrass pastures grazed by more than 800 mature ewes. Pastures were infested with sericea lespedeza (basal frequency = 2.9 ± 2.43%) and stocked with yearling steers at a relatively high stocking rate (2.7 acres/steer) from April 15 to July 15 and subsequently grazed by sheep from July 30 to October 1. Fecal samples were collected from individual sheep on August 15 and on September 15 for 2 years. Samples were prepared and viewed under a compound microscope to identify and count plant fragments. These data were used to determine frequency at which each plant species appeared in diets selected by freely-grazing sheep. The Bottom Line: Sericea lespedeza comprised approximately 1.5% of sheep diets. Consumption at that level is likely sufficient to control seed production by that plant. Grazing of small ruminants in addition to cattle in a grazing system may provide landholders an additional tool for control of sericea lespedeza

MeCP2 recognizes cytosine methylated tri-nucleotide and di-nucleotide sequences to tune transcription in the mammalian brain

Mutations in the gene encoding the methyl-CG binding protein MeCP2 cause several neurological disorders including Rett syndrome. The di-nucleotide methyl-CG (mCG) is the classical MeCP2 DNA recognition sequence, but additional methylated sequence targets have been reported. Here we show by in vitro and in vivo analyses that MeCP2 binding to non-CG methylated sites in brain is largely confined to the tri-nucleotide sequence mCAC. MeCP2 binding to chromosomal DNA in mouse brain is proportional to mCAC + mCG density and unexpectedly defines large genomic domains within which transcription is sensitive to MeCP2 occupancy. Our results suggest that MeCP2 integrates patterns of mCAC and mCG in the brain to restrain transcription of genes critical for neuronal function

Structure and magnetism of epitaxial rare-earth-transition-metal films

Growth of epitaxial transition-metal superlattices; has proven essential in elucidating the role of crystal orientation and structure on magnetic properties such as giant magnetoresistance, interlayer coupling, and magnetic surface anisotropies. Extending these studies to the growth of epitaxial rare earth-transition metal (RE-TM) films and superlattices promises to play an equally important role in exploring and optimizing the properties of hard magnets. For instance, Skomski and Coey predict that a giant energy product (120 MG Oe) is possible in multilayer structures consisting of aligned hard-magnet layers exchanged coupled with soft-phase layers with high magnetization. Epitaxy provides one route to synthesizing such exchange-hardened magnets on controlled length scales. Epitaxial growth also allows the magnetic properties to be tailored by controlling the crystal orientation and the anisotropies of the magnetic layers and holds the possibility of stabilizing metastable phases. This paper describes the epitaxy and magnetic properties for several alloys

Magnetic Phase Transitions in Epitaxial Fe/Cr Superlattices

The surface spin-flop and Neel transitions are examined in Fe/Cr superlattices. The surface spin-flop, originally predicted by Mills [Phys. Rev. Lett. 20, 18 (1968)], is observed in Fe/Cr(211) superlattices with antiferromagnetic interlayer coupling and uniaxial in-plane-anisotropy. The Neel transition (T{sub N}) of Cr is observed in Fe/Cr(001) superlattices, for which the onset of antiferromagnetism is at a thickness t{sub Cr} of 42{angstrom}. The bulk value of T{sub N} is approached asymptotically as t{sub Cr} increases and is characterized by a three-dimensional shift exponent. These T{sub N} results are attributed to finite-size effects and spin-frustration near rough Fe-Cr interfaces

Magnetic phase transitions in epitaxial Fe/Cr superlattices

The surface spin-flop and Neel transitions are examined in Fe/Cr superlattices. The surface spin-flop, originally predicted by Mills [Phys. Rev. Lett. 20, 18 (1968)], is observed in Fe/Cr(211) superlattices with antiferromagnetic interlayer coupling and uniaxial in-plane-anisotropy. The Neel transition (T{sub N}) of Cr is observed in Fe/Cr(001) superlattices, for which the onset of antiferromagnetism is at a thickness t{sub Cr} of 42{angstrom}. The bulk value of T{sub N} is approached asymptotically as t{sub Cr} increases and is characterized by a three-dimensional shift exponent. These T{sub N} results are attributed to finite-size effects and spin-frustration near rough Fe-Cr interfaces

TRH: Pathophysiologic and clinical implications

Thyrotropin releasing hormone is thought to be a tonic stimulator of the pituitary TSH secretion regulating the setpoint of the thyrotrophs to the suppressive effect of thyroid hormones. The peptide stimulates the release of normal and elevated prolactin. ACTH and GH may increase in response to exogenous TRH in pituitary ACTH and GH hypersecretion syndromes and in some extrapituitary diseases. The pathophysiological implications of extrahypothalamic TRH in humans are essentially unknown. The TSH response to TRH is nowadays widely used as a diganostic amplifier in thyroid diseases being suppressed in borderline and overt hyperthyroid states and increased in primary thyroid failure. In hypothyroid states of hypothalamic origin, TSH increases in response to exogenous TRH often with a delayed and/or exaggerated time course. But in patients with pituitary tumors and suprasellar extension TSH may also respond to TRH despite secondary hypothyroidism. This TSH increase may indicate a suprasellar cause for the secondary hypothyroidism, probably due to portal vessel occlusion. The TSH released in these cases is shown to be biologically inactive