Ada and the rapid development lifecycle

JPL is under contract, through NASA, with the US Army to develop a state-of-the-art Command Center System for the US European Command (USEUCOM). The Command Center System will receive, process, and integrate force status information from various sources and provide this integrated information to staff officers and decision makers in a format designed to enhance user comprehension and utility. The system is based on distributed workstation class microcomputers, VAX- and SUN-based data servers, and interfaces to existing military mainframe systems and communication networks. JPL is developing the Command Center System utilizing an incremental delivery methodology called the Rapid Development Methodology with adherence to government and industry standards including the UNIX operating system, X Windows, OSF/Motif, and the Ada programming language. Through a combination of software engineering techniques specific to the Ada programming language and the Rapid Development Approach, JPL was able to deliver capability to the military user incrementally, with comparable quality and improved economies of projects developed under more traditional software intensive system implementation methodologies

Minerals and their environment of formation

The history of mineralogy began with the development of mining and the use of certain minerals as useful products, such as lime, pigments and precious stones. In order to know how to distinguish these minerals when found and where they were likely to found, it was necessary to study the nature, properties and the modes of occurrence. In order to determine all these properties, it was necessary to classify and compare them with the purpose of ascertaining how they resemble each other, and how they differ --page 1

UNESCO\u27s MacBride Commission Report and the Editorial Reactions of Four Major Communications Trade Publications

This analysis examines the International Commission for the Study of Communications Problems (CIC), known popularly as the MacBride Commission, and compares reactions of four major communications journals to the Commission\u27s report. The Commission was convened by the United Nations\u27 Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1977. Its report was presented in October, 1980 at UNESCO\u27s 21st general conference held in Belgrade. The United States journals studied are: Editor and Publisher, Advertising Age, Public Relations Journal and Broadcasting. It was hypothesized the news and editorial coverage of all four journals would (1) narrowly reflect primarily the specific ways the report might affect that particular medium or function in the United States; (2) tend to ignore the major worldwide issues; and (3) react in similar ways. Issues of the four journals were examined for the twenty-four month period from October 1979 to October 1981 and bracketing the October 1980 presentation of the report in Belgrade. Thus the reactions of the four journals were considered for twelve months before and twelve months after the report was discussed at the UNESCO general conference. The analysis indicates the publications (1) were generally hostile to the report and (2) viewed the Commission\u27s work primarily as a threat to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, and (3) expressed little interest in, or awareness of, the worldwide communications problems discussed by the MacBride Commission. Three of the major journals--Editor and Publisher, Advertising Age and Broadcasting-- confirmed the specific hypothesis. The fourth journal, Public Relations Journal, did not discuss the MacBride Commission in its 1979-1980 issues

Photoinduced dichroism in amorphous As2Se3 thin film

The dichroism in amorphous As2Se3 induced by a polarized beam of near band-gap light (λ = 632.8 nm) was measured in films that ranged in thickness from 0.25 µm to 1.93 µm. Most noncrystalline materials are initially isotropic and homogeneous. When amorphous As2Se3 (a chalcogenide glass) absorbs an intense pump-beam of polarized light, the absorption coefficient for light polarized in the same direction as the pump-beam is less than for the perpendicular polarization, i.e. the sample becomes anisotropic (dichroic). The induced dichroism is reversible by rotating the polarization of the pump light by 90°. Induced dichroism is potentially useful in various photonic devices including optical switches, optical memory, and photowritable polarizers.Several aspects of photoinduced anisotropy in a-As2Se3 have been analyzed:(i) rate of photoinduced anisotropy buildup as a function of inducing beam intensity and sample thickness, (ii) the kinetics of the photoinduced anisotropy buildup in terms of a stretched exponential curve, (iii) the stretched exponent, β, as a function of inducing beam intensity and sample thickness, (iv) reversibility of the photoinduced anisotropy, (v) saturation level of photoinduced anisotropy as a function of inducing beam intensity and sample thickness.The anisotropy buildup kinetics has been found to follow a stretched exponential behavior and that there exists an inverse relationship between the pump intensity and the time constant, τ. The τ(I) vs intensity (I) relationship more closely follows a logistic dose response curve than a simple straight line or power law relationship. There exists a direct relationship between the time contact  and the sample thickness, where a longer anisotropy buildup time is required as the sample thickness increases. The stretched exponent, β, was found to be approximately 0.6 and has a slight dependence on the inducing light intensity. The correlation of the stretching exponent, β, to sample thickness, L, was found to have a weak inverse relationship, that is β tends to decrease as the sample thickness increases.The findings in this work demonstrate that the anisotropy orientation could be changed indefinitely since it was found that even after 100 orientation changes the anisotropy saturation had no measurable fatiguing. The anisotropy saturation level was found to be independent of the inducing beam intensity and linearly proportional to the sample thickness

Applying Regulatory Fit to Memory Confidence: A Test of the Regulatory Fit Framework

Regulatory fit effects have been hypothesized to be caused by a “feeling of rightness.” I applied the regulatory fit framework to the novel area of memory confidence in a test of the proposed feeling of rightness mechanism. I accomplished this by manipulating regulatory fit using a median split on the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire and randomly assigning participants to a task reward structure (gains or losses). Participants completed a standard recognition memory test and rated their confidence in their memory judgments. I examined how regulatory fit affects confidence in accurate memories and false memories. I explored whether regulatory fit affects another measure of memory confidence, that of global predictions and post-dictions of memory performance. I also examined whether methodology impacted regulatory fit effects. Results indicated that regulatory fit did not affect confidence in accurate memories or false memories, memory performance, or global predictions or second-order judgments. Regulatory fit did affect global post-dictions. Memory confidence methodology did not alter any effects

The Allenic Carbocyclization Reaction of Allene-ynes: Progress towards the Syntheses of Fumagillol and Ovalicin

The Rh(I)-catalyzed allenic carbocyclization reaction is a powerful strategy for the assembly of densely functionalized cyclic cross-conjugated trienes. This methodology exhibits excellent functional group compatibility, and allows for the construction of five-, six-, and seven-membered rings in high yields from allene-yne precursors. In this thesis, progress towards the total synthesis of (-)-fumagillol and (-)-ovalicin is reported. The entire carbocyclic skeleton of both structurally related natural products has been synthesized in a single synthetic transformation via an allenic carbocyclization reaction. It is anticipated that the allylic hydroxyl group of the functionalized cross-conjugated can be used for the chemo- and stereoselective installation of epoxides and hydroxyl groups incorporated in both sesquiterpenes.The constitutional group selectivity of the â-hydride elimination step in the allenic carbocyclization reaction has been investigated. We found that TMS-alkynyl allenes with an appending isobutylene group can be reacted under Rh(I)-catalyzed allenic carbocyclization reaction conditions to afford regioisomerically pure cross-conjugated trienes in good yields. The examples within, indicate that a coordinating alkene can be incorporated into the allene-yne substrate to control the â-hydride elimination step of the cyclization reaction to yield trienes with a 1,1-disubstituted alkene side chain