Cockpit resource management training at People Express

In January 1986 in a continuing effort to maintain and improve flight safety and solve some Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) problems, People Express implemented a new CRM training program. It is a continuously running program, scheduled over the next three years and includes state-of-the-art full-mission simulation (LOFT), semi-annual seminar workshops and a comprehensive academic program authored by Robert W. Mudge of Cockpit Management Resources Inc. That program is outlined and to maximize its contribution to the workshop's goals, is organized into four topic areas: (1) Program content: the essential elements of resource management training; (2) Training methods: the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches; (3) Implementation: the implementation of CRM training; and (4) Effectiveness: the effectiveness of training. It is confined as much as possible to concise descriptions of the program's basic components. Brief discussions of rationale are included, however no attempt is made to discuss or review popular CRM tenets or the supporting research

PORT ELEVATOR CAPACITY AND NATIONAL AND WORLD GRAIN SHIPMENTS

An analysis is conducted on the port component of the United States grain export system. A transshipment model is utilized which covers both United States internal and foreign shipments of corn, soybeans, and wheat during the four quarters of a year. The model suggests that there will be quarter to quarter constraints on port capacity but that annual capacity is adequate. Through sensitivity analysis a number of key factors were found which influence the adequacy of the current port system. Port adequacy is found to depend not as much on export market location as it does on domestic transportation rates and policies.International Relations/Trade,

Origins of the low yield of chlorophyll a fluorescence induced by single turnover flash in spinach thylakoids

AbstractIn whole algae and isolated thylakoids, the maximum yield of Chla fluorescence induced by a saturating single turnover flash is about half of the maximum yield observed under continuous illumination. The origins of this low fluorescence yield were investigated by measuring in fresh spinach thylakoids incubated under different conditions the fluorescence yield induced by a weak non-actinic flash fired alone (Fo) or 50 μs after a saturating laser flash (Fm) and also the PSII effective absorption cross-section (σPSII) derived from the flash energy saturation curves of Fv (Fv = Fm − Fo). We observed that: (1) In the presence of a background blue light or after the chemical reduction of the primary quinone electron acceptor QA, a saturating single turnover flash induced high fluorescence yields comparable to the maximum yield observed under continuous illumination. (2) Addition of carbonylcyanide-m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) in the assay medium increased the variable fluorescence (Fv = Fm − Fo) by 24% relative to the control and abolished its period-four oscillation under repetitive flashes. (3) After dark incubation of thylakoids under reducing conditions where most of the plastoquinone pool was chemically reduced, large increases of both FvσPSII were observed. (4) In thylakoids treated with the inhibitor DCMU, both Fo and Fm were increased by 30% relative to the control but no significant change of σPSII was observed. In contrast to intact thylakoids, Fm increased significantly under repititive flashes in DCMU-treated thylakoids. Moreover, the enhancements of σPSII following the plastoquinone chemical reduction were largely abolished in DCMU-treated thylakoids. From these observations, we conclude that although some limitations of the PSII donor side contribute to the low fluorescence yield after a single turnover flash, most of the fluorescence quenching present after a single turnover flash originates from the oxidized plastoquinone pool and/or from a unidentified component, possibly the putative quencher Q2

AES Key Agility Issues in High-Speed IPsec Implementations

Some high-speed IPsec hardware systems need to support many thousands of security associations. The cost of switching among different encryption keys can dramatically affect throughput, particularly for the very common case of small packets. Three of the AES finalists (Rijndael, Serpent, and Twofish) provide very high key agility, as is required for such applications. The other two candidates (MARS, RC6) exhibit low key agility and may not be appropriate for use in such equipment

Predicting amount of saleable products using neural network metamodels of casthouses

This study aims at developing abstract metamodels for approximating highly nonlinear relationships within a metal casting plant. Metal casting product quality nonlinearly depends on many controllable and uncontrollable factors. For improving the productivity of the system, it is vital for operation planners to predict in advance the amount of high quality products. Neural networks metamodels are developed and applied in this study for predicting the amount of saleable products. Training of metamodels is done using the Levenberg-Marquardt and Bayesian learning methods. Statistical measures are calculated for the developed metamodels over a grid of neural network structures. Demonstrated results indicate that Bayesian-based neural network metamodels outperform the Levenberg-Marquardt-based metamodels in terms of both prediction accuracy and robustness to the metamodel complexity. In contrast, the latter metamodels are computationally less expensive and generate the results more quickly

Shellfish Spotlight: 2008

Each year Granite State shellfishers search shallow briny waters in search of delicious mussels, clams, or oysters for the dinner table. Those who are skilled often are rewarded with full buckets, but few shellfishers realize that good harvests in New Hampshire’s Seacoast owe much to activities occurring far upstream. The quality of the water and amount of available nutrients that sustain a clam or oyster is directly related to the condition of the rivers and streams that drain the land. The Hampton-Seabrook Estuary is fed by approximately 46 square miles of surrounding land. An even larger system, the Piscataqua River Estuary that includes Great Bay, is supplied by a watershed that is 1,023 square miles. Development within the coastal watershed area has profound impacts on the amount of contaminants flowing to the sea. Sediment washed from roadways and bare soil flows downstream and collects in the estuary where it smothers shellfish beds in extreme cases. Nutrients, primarily nitrogen, are contributed by wastewater treatment plants, septic systems, and land use activities such as lawn fertilizing. Excessive nutrients threaten the ecological balance of the estuaries and thus the survival of shellfish populations. Finally, bacteria from failing septic systems, pet waste, or damaged sewer systems create a human health hazard in estuarine waters. Because shellfish filter great amounts of water to take in food and oxygen, they absorb contaminants from the water that accumulate in their flesh. Therefore, a watershed that flushes large amounts of contaminants downstream will deliver many of these contaminants to shellfish and reduce their numbers or often make them unsafe to eat. It is this close relationship between coastal watershed function and shellfish health that caused the New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP), and many partnering agencies, to monitor shellfish in New Hampshire and make their restoration and maintenance a priority. The NHEP Manage- ment Plan includes many strategies that improve water quality throughout the watershed that will in turn improve shellfish populations and open more harvesting areas