Artificial gravity spin deployment system Patent

Development of method for producing artificial gravity in manned spacecraf

Perceptions of the Evidence of a Servant Leadership Culture Among Educators in the P-12 School System in the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists

Problem Statement. The Seventh-day Adventist church has consistently advocated that adherents to this religion should be Christ-like in every aspect of their lives. They should be of service to others as they create a community of believers who are loving, kind, and considerate of others. These ideals form some of the characteristics of servant leadership. The question therefore is whether servant leadership is being practiced in the P-12 school system. No study related to the presence and practice of servant leadership in the P-12 school system of the NAD has been conducted. Research was needed to determine the perceptions of the evidence of servant leadership and the possible impact of gender, age, ethnic background, the size of the school in which the respondents worked, the gender of the principal, the respondents’ level of education, the configuration of school operation, and the type of SDA teaching certification that the respondents held. Methodology. A descriptive, explorative, cross-sectional survey was conducted. Participants in this study were selected by stratified random sampling from a population of 6,697 educators employed in the P-12 school system of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. Data were collected using the Organizational Leadership Assessment and a demographic questionnaire that were mailed to 1,110 educators with a response rate of 33.4%. Two research questions and eight null hypotheses were tested. The first research question was analyzed using descriptive statistics and a comparison of means. The null hypotheses and remaining research question were tested at the .05 level of significance using one-way ANOVA. Results. Laub contends that organizations at or above a 4.0 composite mean score on the OLA can be identified as a servant organization. The composite means of all scores on this survey was found to be 3.91 which are very close to the Laub threshold score of 4.0. This would seem to indicate that the P-12 school system of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists is not a fully servant organization, but instead practices a positive version of paternalistic leadership. The results also indicated that there is a difference in how educators perceive the attributes of servant leadership based on the gender of the educator as well as the enrollment and configuration of school operation in which the educator works. However, there is no difference in how educators’ perceive the attributes based on age, ethnic background, gender of the principal, the educators’ level of education, as well as the SDA teaching certification

Space station propulsion analysis study

This paper summarizes the impacts on the weight, volume and power usage of a manned space station and its 90-day resupply for three integrated, auxiliary propulsion subsystems. The study was performed in coordination with activities of the Space Staton Concept Development Group (CDG). The study focused on three space station propulsion high-low thrust options that make use of fluids that will be available on the manned space station. Specific uses of carbon dioxide, water and cryogen boiloff were considered. For each of the options the increase in station hardware mass and volume to accommodate the dual thrust option is offset by the resupply savings, relative to the reference hydrazine system, after one to several resupplies. Over the life of the station the savings in cost of logistics could be substantial. The three options are examples of alternative technology paths that, because of the opportunity they provide for integration with the environmental control life support system (ECLSS) and OTV propellant storage systems, may reduce the scarring which is required on the early station to meet the increasing propulsion requirements of the growth station

Exploring positive adjustment in people with spinal cord injury.

This study explored adjustment in people with spinal cord injury; data from four focus groups are presented. Thematic analysis revealed four themes, managing goals and expectations, comparison with others, feeling useful and acceptance, showing participants positively engaged in life, positively interpreted social comparison information and set realistic goals and expectations. These positive strategies show support for adjustment theories, such as the Cognitive Adaptation Theory, the Control Process Theory and Response Shift Theory. These results also provide insight into the adjustment process of a person with spinal cord injury and may be useful in tailoring support during rehabilitation

Development of single cell protectors for sealed silver-zinc cells, phase 1

A single cell protector (SCP) assembly capable of protecting a single silver-zinc (Ag Zn) battery cell was designed, fabricated, and tested. The SCP provides cell-level protection against overcharge and overdischarge by a bypass circuit. The bypass circuit consists of a magnetic-latching relay that is controlled by the high and low-voltage limit comparators. Although designed specifically for secondary Ag-Zn cells, the SCP is flexible enough to be adapted to other rechargeable cells. Eighteen SCPs were used in life testing of an 18-cell battery. The cells were sealed Ag-Zn system with inorganic separators. For comparison, another 18-cell battery was subjected to identical life test conditions, but with battery-level protection rather than cell-level. An alternative approach to the SCP design in the form of a microprocessor-based system was conceptually designed. The comparison of SCP and microprocessor approaches is also presented and a preferred approach for Ag-Zn battery protection is discussed

Regionalisation of climate impacts on flood flows to support the development of climate change guidance for Flood Management

Current Defra / Environment Agency guidance (FCDPAG3 supplementary note: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environ/fcd/pubs/pagn/climatechangeupdate.pdf) requires all flood management plans to allow for climate change by incorporating, within a sensitivity analysis, an increase in river flows of up 20% over the next 50 years, and beyond. This guidance is the same for all of England and Wales, making no allowance for regional variation in climate change or catchment type. This reflects the lack of scientific evidence to resolve the spatial distribution of potential impacts on flood flows with enough confidence to set such policy regionally. The 20% allowance was first raised in 1999 for MAFF and subsequently reviewed following the release of the UKCIP02 scenarios. Although the 20% figure is a memorable precautionary target, there is the risk that it leads to a significant under- or over-estimation of future flood risk in individual catchments. Defra and the Environment Agency procured project FD2020 (Regionalisation of climate change impacts on flood flows) to provide a more rigorous science base for refreshing the FCDPAG3: supplementary note guidance. The FD2020 approach is exploring the relationships between catchment characteristics and climate change impacts on peak flows in a “scenario neutral” way. This is done by defining a regular set of changes in climate that encompass all the current knowledge from the new scenarios available from the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. For each of the 155 catchments included in the research, this broad approach will provide multiple scenarios to produce a “vulnerability surface” for change in the metrics of peak flows (e.g. the 20-year flood flow). Some of the UKCP09 products have also been used to understand what these projections may mean for changes to peak flow. The catchment-based analysis will be used to generalise to other gauged sites across Britain, using relationships with catchment characteristics, providing the scientific evidence for the development of regional guidance on climate change allowances. Specifically the project is: Investigating the impact of climate change on peak river flows in over 150 catchments across Britain to assess the suitability of the FCDPAG3 20% climate change allowance. Investigating catchment response to climate change to identify potential similarities such that the FCDPAG3 nationwide allowance could be regionalised. Investigating the uncertainty in changes to future peak river flows from climate change. Developing an approach that has longevity beyond the project timeframe and the lifetime of the latest generation of climate model results

The Human Insulin Debate: A Case Study of Contested Innovation in Medical Technology

This thesis describes and analyses a case study of contested innovation in medical technology using actor network theory (ANT). As well as ANT other areas of sociology are drawn upon, such as the public understanding of science, and the sociologies of the body and consumption. The multiple approaches are used in order to develop ANT in novel directions. The particular medical innovation is the introduction and use of human insulin. Human insulin was first prescribed to diabetics in 1981, and was initially welcomed as a technological innovation that would reduce diabetic complications that are associated with animal insulin. However, as human insulin began to be used, the superiority of human insulin began to be questioned by some diabetics, doctors and care groups. One particular concern was the change in warning signs of approaching hypoglycaemia that were reported by some diabetics. Importantly, there was no agreement within the medical and scientific communities as to whether human insulin did cause negative effects. Data came from different types of documented evidence, including: scientific studies, medical reports, articles published by care groups and letters from diabetics. Aspects of ANT, and certain elaborations of ANT (e.g. the 'network body'), were used to explore this data. Thus, the thesis analyses some of the means by which human insulin was initially constructed as being superior to existing animal insulins, and how, later, actors began to marshal resources in order to redefine the meaning of human insulin. The thesis also describes how diabetics, aided by care groups, were able to have an influence on the insulin species they were to use by stressing the value of their experiential knowledge. Not only this, actors wanting to claim 'facticity' within the human insulin debate had to collectivize texts from both 'lay' and 'scientific' sources