Design and physical characteristics of the Transonic Aircraft Technology (TACT) research aircraft

The Transonic Aircraft Technology (TACT) research program provided data necessary to verify aerodynamic concepts, such as the supercritical wing, and to gain the confidence required for the application of such technology to advanced high performance aircraft. An F-111A aircraft was employed as the flight test bed to provide full scale data. The data were correlated extensively with predictions based on data obtained from wind tunnel tests. An assessment of the improvement afforded at transonic speeds in drag divergence, maneuvering performance, and airplane handling qualities by the use of the supercritical wing was included in the program. Transonic flight and wind tunnel testing techniques were investigated, and specific research technologies evaluated were also summarized

Rotor systems research aircraft airplane configuration flight-test results

The rotor systems research aircraft (RSRA) has undergone ground and flight tests, primarily as a compound aircraft. The purpose was to train pilots and to check out and develop the design flight envelope. The preparation and flight test of the RSRA in the airplane, or fixed-wind, configuration are reviewed and the test results are discussed

Optical read out and feedback cooling of a nanostring optomechanical cavity

Optical measurement of the motion of a 940 kHz mechanical resonance of a silicon nitride nanostring resonator is demonstrated with a read out noise imprecision reaching 37 dB below that of the resonator's zero-point fluctuations. Via intensity modulation of the optical probe laser, radiation pressure feedback is used to cool and damp the mechanical mode from an initial room temperature occupancy of $\bar{n}_{b} = 6.5 \times 10^6$ ($T_{b}=295$K) down to a phonon occupation of $\langle n \rangle = 66 \pm 10$, representing a mode temperature of $T_{m} \approx 3$mK. The five decades of cooling is enabled by the system's large single-photon cooperativity $(C_{1} = 4)$ and high quantum efficiency of optical motion detection ($\eta_{t} = 0.27$).Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure

HFL-10 lifting body flight control system characteristics and operational experience

A flight evaluation was made of the mechanical hydraulic flight control system and the electrohydraulic stability augmentation system installed in the HL-10 lifting body research vehicle. Flight tests performed in the speed range from landing to a Mach number of 1.86 and the altitude range from 697 meters (2300 feet) to 27,550 meters (90,300 feet) were supplemented by ground tests to identify and correct structural resonance and limit-cycle problems. Severe limit-cycle and control sensitivity problems were encountered during the first flight. Stability augmentation system structural resonance electronic filters were modified to correct the limit-cycle problem. Several changes were made to control stick gearing to solve the control sensitivity problem. Satisfactory controllability was achieved by using a nonlinear system. A limit-cycle problem due to hydraulic fluid contamination was encountered during the first powered flight, but the problem did not recur after preflight operations were improved

Operational experiences and characteristics of the M2-F2 lifting body flight control system

M2-F2 lifting body flight control syste

The Effect of Mutators on Adaptability in Time-Varying Fitness Landscapes

This Letter studies the quasispecies dynamics of a population capable of genetic repair evolving on a time-dependent fitness landscape. We develop a model that considers an asexual population of single-stranded, conservatively replicating genomes, whose only source of genetic variation is due to copying errors during replication. We consider a time-dependent, single-fitness-peak landscape where the master sequence changes by a single point mutation every time $\tau$. We are able to analytically solve for the evolutionary dynamics of the population in the point-mutation limit. In particular, our model provides an analytical expression for the fraction of mutators in the dynamic fitness landscape that agrees well with results from stochastic simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Thermal surveillance of Cascade Range volcanoes using ERTS-1 multispectral scanner, aircraft imaging systems, and ground-based data communication platforms

A combination of infrared images depicting areas of thermal emission and ground calibration points have proved to be particularly useful in plotting time-dependent changes in surface temperatures and radiance and in delimiting areas of predominantly convective heat flow to the earth's surface in the Cascade Range and on Surtsey Volcano, Iceland. In an integrated experiment group using ERTS-1 multispectral scanner (MSS) and aircraft infrared imaging systems in conjunction with multiple thermistor arrays, volcano surface temperatures are relayed daily to Washington via data communication platform (DCP) transmitters and ERTS-1. ERTS-1 MSS imagery has revealed curvilinear structures at Lassen, the full extent of which have not been previously mapped. Interestingly, the major surface thermal manifestations at Lassen are aligned along these structures, particularly in the Warner Valley

Impact of Parental Interference on Children in High Conflict Divorce

Parental interference in high conflict divorce cases continues to evoke much debate among mental health professionals in the forensic psychology field. Although over the past thirty years, some empirical studies have been conducted regarding the long-term psychological impact of adults that experienced parental interference as children, few studies have examined the impact that this phenomenon has on children during and immediately following divorce proceedings. The present study utilized an original data set that was collected with fifty-five families (e.g., mother, father, and oldest child) from de-identified reports completed by two private Court-appointed licensed clinical-forensic psychologists. The overarching purpose of the present study was to gain further insight into identifying the impact that parental interference had on the psychological functioning within the identified sample. Moreover, the first purpose of this paper sought to highlight the specific domains that children and adolescents are negatively affected by as a result of parental interference within the present sample. Overall, results yielded no significant differences between groups regarding reported (self, teacher, and parent report) elevations on BASC-2 outcomes for children and adolescents. However, the results of a step-wise regression analysis suggested that female children and adolescents were more likely to have mothers rate them highly on the anxiety scale of the BASC-2. Limitations and suggestions for future research were discussed

Oral contraception and eye disease: findings in two large cohort studies

AIM : To investigate the relation between oral contraceptive use and certain eye diseases. \ud \ud METHODS : Abstraction of the relevant data from the two large British cohort studies of the effects of oral contraception, the Royal College of General Practitioners' (RCGP) Oral Contraception Study and the Oxford-Family Planning Association (Oxford-FPA) Contraceptive Study. Both cohort studies commenced in 1968 and were organised on a national basis. Between them they have accumulated over 850 000 person years of observation involving 63 000 women. \ud \ud RESULTS : The conditions considered in the analysis were conjunctivitis, keratitis, iritis, lacrimal disease, strabismus, cataract, glaucoma, retinal detachment, and retinal vascular lesions. With the exception of retinal vascular lesions, there was no consistent evidence of important increases in risk of eye diseases in users of oral contraception. There was about a twofold increase in the risk of retinal vascular lesions in recent pill users in both studies (statistically significant only in the RCGP study). The increase was not limited to any specific type of lesion and may well reflect diagnostic bias. \ud \ud CONCLUSION : Oral contraceptive use does not appear to increase the risk of eye disease, with the possible exception of retinal vascular lesions. \ud \ud Keywords: oral contraception; eye disease; cohort studie

Analysis of the extraterrestrial life detection problem

Analysis of extraterrestrial life detection proble