2,830 research outputs found

    Documentation of the analysis of the benefits and costs of aeronautical research and technology models, volume 1

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    The analysis of the benefits and costs of aeronautical research and technology (ABC-ART) models are documented. These models were developed by NASA for use in analyzing the economic feasibility of applying advanced aeronautical technology to future civil aircraft. The methodology is composed of three major modules: fleet accounting module, airframe manufacturing module, and air carrier module. The fleet accounting module is used to estimate the number of new aircraft required as a function of time to meet demand. This estimation is based primarily upon the expected retirement age of existing aircraft and the expected change in revenue passenger miles demanded. Fuel consumption estimates are also generated by this module. The airframe manufacturer module is used to analyze the feasibility of the manufacturing the new aircraft demanded. The module includes logic for production scheduling and estimating manufacturing costs. For a series of aircraft selling prices, a cash flow analysis is performed and a rate of return on investment is calculated. The air carrier module provides a tool for analyzing the financial feasibility of an airline purchasing and operating the new aircraft. This module includes a methodology for computing the air carrier direct and indirect operating costs, performing a cash flow analysis, and estimating the internal rate of return on investment for a set of aircraft purchase prices

    Tuning gastropod locomotion: Modeling the influence of mucus rheology on the cost of crawling

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    Common gastropods such as snails crawl on a solid substrate by propagating muscular waves of shear stress on a viscoelastic mucus. Producing the mucus accounts for the largest component in the gastropod's energy budget, more than twenty times the amount of mechanical work used in crawling. Using a simple mechanical model, we show that the shear-thinning properties of the mucus favor a decrease in the amount of mucus necessary for crawling, thereby decreasing the overall energetic cost of locomotion.Comment: Corrected typo

    Restricted Size Ramsey Number for Path of Order Three Versus Graph of Order Five

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    Let GG and HH be simple graphs. The Ramsey number for a pair of graph GG and HH is the smallest number rr such that any red-blue coloring of edges of KrK_r contains a red subgraph GG or a blue subgraph HH. The size Ramsey number for a pair of graph GG and HH is the smallest number r^\hat{r} such that there exists a graph FF with size r^\hat{r} satisfying the property that any red-blue coloring of edges of FF contains a red subgraph GG or a blue subgraph HH. Additionally, if the order of FF in the size Ramsey number is r(G,H)r(G,H), then it is called the restricted size Ramsey number. In 1983, Harary and Miller started to find the (restricted) size Ramsey number for any pair of small graphs with order at most four. Faudree and Sheehan (1983) continued Harary and Miller\u27s works and summarized the complete results on the (restricted) size Ramsey number for any pair of small graphs with order at most four. In 1998, Lortz and Mengenser gave both the size Ramsey number and the restricted size Ramsey number for any pair of small forests with order at most five. To continue their works, we investigate the restricted size Ramsey number for a path of order three versus connected graph of order five

    Seasonal Variability of Light Absorption Coefficient of Surface Water

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    Absorption coefficient measurement can be used in estimating water quality, optical characteristic of water column, and marine bio-optical models. The purposes of this research were to determine values and variability of sea surface absorption coefficient in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico (NEGOM) based on various seasons. The data were collected in spring, summer, and fall seasons in 1999-2000 with AC-9 instrument. The spatial distribution of absorption coefficient showed that relatively high values were generally found along the run off Missisippi, Mobile, Chochawati, Escambia, Apalachicola, and Suwannee rivers, as well as Tampa Bay. Meanwhile, relatively low values were found in offshore region. This pattern followed the distribution pattern of chlorophyll and CDOM. Based on the local region comparison of spectral average value of absorption coefficient, we found a significant difference (α = 95%) among regions with the highest value in the run off of the Mississippi and Mobile rivers, and the lowest value in the offshore region. Comparison of spectral average value of absorption coefficient among seasons at the three primary wavelengths (blue=440 nm, green=510 nm, and red=676 nm) also showed a significant difference (α = 95%) with the highest value during the summer 1999 (Su-99) and the lowest value during the spring of 2000 (Sp-00). Absorption coefficient values were influenced by oceanographic factors that varied in every season such as wind, surface currents, upwelling, the location and speed of the Loop Current, and the river discharge of fresh water into the NEGOM

    Exact Calculation of Laminar Boundary Layer in Longitudinal Flow over a Flat Plate with Homogeneous Suction

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    /2 ), less than -2.0. ° This is verified in both Pigs. 1 and 2. However, for plane stagnation-point flow, Pigs. 1 and 2 show a considerable discrepancy between actual and asymptotic shear for values of the suction parameter well below -2.0. And, of course, as the suction parameter approaches zero (small condensation rates), the asymptotic expression gives way to the dry-wall value of the shear for the particular geometry involved. This suggests that a simple interpolation formula between the two extremes could be used for the entire range. A formula of the form The numerical results o

    Functional analyses of a putative, membrane-bound, peroxisomal import mechanism from the apicomplexan protozoan Toxoplasma gondii

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    Peroxisomes are central to eukaryotic metabolism, including the oxidation of fatty acids—which subsequently provide an important source of metabolic energy—and in the biosynthesis of cholesterol and plasmalogens. However, the presence and nature of peroxisomes in the parasitic apicomplexan protozoa remains controversial. A survey of the available genomes revealed that genes encoding peroxisome biogenesis factors, so-called peroxins (Pex), are only present in a subset of these parasites, the coccidia. The basic principle of peroxisomal protein import is evolutionarily conserved, proteins harbouring a peroxisomal-targeting signal 1 (PTS1) interact in the cytosol with the shuttling receptor Pex5 and are then imported into the peroxisome via the membrane-bound protein complex formed by Pex13 and Pex14. Surprisingly, whilst Pex5 is clearly identifiable, Pex13 and, perhaps, Pex14 are apparently absent from the coccidian genomes. To investigate the functionality of the PTS1 import mechanism in these parasites, expression of Pex5 from the model coccidian Toxoplasma gondii was shown to rescue the import defect of Pex5-deleted Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In support of these data, green fluorescent protein (GFP) bearing the enhanced (e)PTS1 known to efficiently localise to peroxisomes in yeast, localised to peroxisome-like bodies when expressed in Toxoplasma. Furthermore, the PTS1-binding domain of Pex5 and a PTS1 ligand from the putatively peroxisome-localised Toxoplasma sterol carrier protein (SCP2) were shown to interact in vitro. Taken together, these data demonstrate that the Pex5–PTS1 interaction is functional in the coccidia and indicate that a nonconventional peroxisomal import mechanism may operate in the absence of Pex13 and Pex14
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