Analytical study of a technique for the elimination of steering rate gyro bias in a typical missile autopilot

Digitized by Kansas State University Librarie

On Wings of the Minimum Induced Drag: Spanload Implications for Aircraft and Birds

For nearly a century Ludwig Prandtl's lifting-line theory remains a standard tool for understanding and analyzing aircraft wings. The tool, said Prandtl, initially points to the elliptical spanload as the most efficient wing choice, and it, too, has become the standard in aviation. Having no other model, avian researchers have used the elliptical spanload virtually since its introduction. Yet over the last half-century, research in bird flight has generated increasing data incongruous with the elliptical spanload. In 1933 Prandtl published a little-known paper presenting a superior spanload: any other solution produces greater drag. We argue that this second spanload is the correct model for bird flight data. Based on research we present a unifying theory for superior efficiency and coordinated control in a single solution. Specifically, Prandtl's second spanload offers the only solution to three aspects of bird flight: how birds are able to turn and maneuver without a vertical tail; why birds fly in formation with their wingtips overlapped; and why narrow wingtips do not result in wingtip stall. We performed research using two experimental aircraft designed in accordance with the fundamentals of Prandtl's second paper, but applying recent developments, to validate the various potentials of the new spanload, to wit: as an alternative for avian researchers, to demonstrate the concept of proverse yaw, and to offer a new method of aircraft control and efficiency

Resistance to the impact of interruptions during multitasking by healthy adults and dysexecutive patients

Two experiments (one with healthy adult volunteers and the other with controls and dysexecutive patients) assessed the impact of interruptions on a novel test of multitasking. The test involved switching repeatedly between four tasks (block construction, bead threading, paper folding, alphabetical searching) over a 10 minute period. In Experiment 1, there were 4 groups of 20 healthy participants. One group attempted multitasking with no interruption, a second group was interrupted early in the test, a third group late in the test and a fourth group was interrupted both early and late. Interruption involved carrying out a fifth, unexpected task for a period of one minute before returning to the four main tasks. There was no difference in multitasking performance between the groups. In Experiment 2 the participants were seven dysexecutive patients and 14 age-matched controls. A repeated measures approach was employed to assess the impact of two interruptions (early and late) for both groups. Contrary to predictions, the patients as well as controls were resistant to the effects of interruptions, despite their clearly impaired multitasking performance. These results suggest that the ability to deal with interruptions may be separable from the ability to organise and execute multiple tasks within a limited time frame

The CI-FLOW Project: A System for Total Water Level Prediction from the Summit to the Sea

Kildow et al. (2009) reported that coastal states support 81% of the U.S. population and generate 83 percent [$11.4 trillion (U.S. dollars) in 2007] of U.S. gross domestic product. Population trends show that a majority of coastal communities have transitioned from a seasonal, predominantly weekend, tourist-based economy to a year-round, permanently based, business economy where industry expands along shorelines and the workforce commutes from inland locations. As a result of this transition, costs associated with damage to the civil infrastructure and disruptions to local and regional economies due to coastal flooding events are escalating, pushing requirements for a new generation of flood prediction technologies and hydrologic decision support tools

An Initial Assessment of Hanford Impact Performed with the System Assessment Capability

The System Assessment Capability is an integrated system of computer models and databases to assess the impact of waste remaining at Hanford. This tool will help decision makers and the public evaluate the cumulative effects of contamination from Hanford. This report describes the results of an initial assessment performed with the System Assessment Capability tools

A bioenergetics-based population dynamics model of Pacific herring (Clupea harengus pallasi) coupled to a lower trophic level nutrient-phytoplankton-zooplankton model: Description, calibration, and sensitivity analysis

We describe an approach to dynamically couple a fish bioenergetics-based population dynamics model to the NEMURO lower trophic level nutrient–phytoplankton–zooplankton model. The coupled models, denoted NEMURO.FISH and configured for Pacific herring (Clupea harengus pallasii) on the west coast of Vancouver Island, are capable of simulating the daily dynamics of the lower trophic levels and the daily average weight and numbers of individual herring in each of 10 age classes over multiple years. New recruits to the herring population are added each June based on either constant recruitment or dynamic recruitment generated from an environmental Ricker spawner–recruitment relationship. The dynamics of the three zooplankton groups in the NEMURO model determine the consumption rate of the herring; herring consumption affects the zooplankton, and egestion and excretion contribute to the nitrogen dynamics. NEMURO was previously calibrated to field data for the West Coast Vancouver Island. Thirty-year simulations of herring growth and population dynamics were performed that used repeated environmental conditions for the lower trophic levels of NEMURO and historical environmental variables for the herring spawner–recruit relationship. Herring dynamics were calibrated to the west coast of Vancouver Island such that the coupled models reasonably duplicated observed herring weights-at-age and total herring biomass. Additional 30-year simulations under constant recruitment with herring coupled and uncoupled from NEMURO clearly showed the effects of the feedback mechanism between the two models and also showed that herring have small to moderate effects on their prey. Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis showed the importance of feeding- and respiration-related parameters to predicted individual and population herring growth. The utility of theNEMURO.FISH framework for improving our understanding of climate change effects on marine ecosystem dynamics is discussed

GC protein-derived macrophage-activating factor decreases α- N

α-N-acetylgalactosaminidase (nagalase) accumulates in the serum of cancer patients and its activity correlates with tumor burden, aggressiveness and clinical disease progression. The administration of GC protein-derived macrophage-activating factor (GcMAF) to cancer patients with elevated levels of nagalase has been associated with a decrease of serum nagalase activity and with significant clinical benefits. Here, we report the results of the administration of GcMAF to a heterogeneous cohort of patients with histologically diverse, advanced neoplasms, generally considered as “incurable” diseases. In most cases, GcMAF therapy was initiated at late stages of tumor progression. As this is an open-label, non-controlled, retrospective analysis, caution must be employed when establishing cause-effect relationships between the administration GcMAF and disease outcome. However, the response to GcMAF was generally robust and some trends emerged. All patients (n = 20) presented with elevated serum nagalase activity, well above normal values. All patients but one showed a significant decrease of serum nagalase activity upon weekly GcMAF injections. Decreased nagalase activity was associated with improved clinical conditions and no adverse side effects were reported. The observations reported here confirm and extend previous results and pave the way to further studies aimed at assessing the precise role and indications for GcMAF-based anticancer immunotherapy