Study of methane fuel for subsonic transport aircraft

The cost and performance were defined for commercial transport using liquid methane including its fuel system and the ground facility complex required for the processing and storage of methane. A cost and performance comparison was made with Jet A and hydrogen powered aircraft of the same payload and range capability. Extensive design work was done on cryogenic fuel tanks, insulation systems as well as the fuel system itself. Three candidate fuel tank locations were evaluated, i.e., fuselage tanks, wing tanks or external pylon tanks

New Technologies for Weather Accident Prevention

Weather is a causal factor in thirty percent of all aviation accidents. Many of these accidents are due to a lack of weather situation awareness by pilots in flight. Improving the strategic and tactical weather information available and its presentation to pilots in flight can enhance weather situation awareness and enable avoidance of adverse conditions. This paper presents technologies for airborne detection, dissemination and display of weather information developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), industry and the research community. These technologies, currently in the initial stages of implementation by industry, will provide more precise and timely knowledge of the weather and enable pilots in flight to make decisions that result in safer and more efficient operations

Blood group terminology 2004: from the International Society of Blood Transfusion committee on terminology for red cell surface antigens

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73460/1/j.1423-0410.2004.00564.x.pd

Cupriphication of gold to sensitize d10–d10 metal–metal bonds and near-unity phosphorescence quantum yields

Outer-shell s0/p0 orbital mixing with d10 orbitals and symmetry reductionuponcupriphicationofcyclic trinucleartrigonal-planargold(I) complexes are found to sensitize ground-state Cu(I)–Au(I) covalent bonds and near-unity phosphorescence quantum yields. Heterobimetallic Au4Cu2 {[Au4(μ-C2,N3-EtIm)4Cu2(μ-3,5-(CF3)2Pz)2], (4a)}, Au2Cu {[Au2(μ-C2,N3-BzIm)2Cu(μ-3,5-(CF3)2Pz)], (1) and [Au2(μ-C2, N3-MeIm)2Cu(μ-3,5-(CF3)2Pz)], (3a)}, AuCu2 {[Au(μ-C2,N3-MeIm)Cu2(μ3,5-(CF3)2Pz)2], (3b) and [Au(μ-C2,N3-EtIm)Cu2(μ-3,5-(CF3)2Pz)2], (4b)} and stacked Au3/Cu3 {[Au(μ-C2,N3-BzIm)]3[Cu(μ-3,5-(CF3)2Pz)]3, (2)} formuponreactingAu3 {[Au(μ-C2,N3-(N-R)Im)]3 ((N-R)Im = imidazolate; R =benzyl/methyl/ethyl =BzIm/MeIm/EtIm)} with Cu3 {[Cu(μ-3,5(CF3)2Pz)]3 (3,5-(CF3)2Pz = 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)pyrazolate)}. The crystal structures of 1 and 3a reveal stair-step infinite chains whereby adjacent dimer-of-trimer units are noncovalently packed via twoAu(I)⋯Cu(I)metallophilicinteractions,whereas 4a exhibitsa hexanuclear cluster structure wherein two monomer-of-trimer units are linked by a genuine d10–d10 polar-covalent bond with ligandunassisted Cu(I)–Au(I) distances of 2.8750(8) Å each—the shortest such an intermolecular distance ever reported between any two d10 centers so as to deem it a “metal–metal bond” vis-à-vis “metallophilic interaction.” Density-functional calculations estimate 35– 43kcal/molbindingenergy,akintotypicalM–Msingle-bondenergies. Congruently, FTIR spectra of4a showmultiple far-IR bands within 65– 200 cm−1, assignable to vCu-Au as validated by both the Harvey–Gray method of crystallographic-distance-to-force-constant correlation and dispersive density functional theory computations. Notably, the heterobimetallic complexes herein exhibit photophysical properties that are favorable to those for their homometallic congeners, due to threefold-to-twofold symmetry reduction, resulting in cuprophilicsensitizationinextinctioncoefficientandsolid-state photoluminescence quantum yields approaching unity (ΦPL = 0.90–0.97 vs. 0–0.83 for Au3 and Cu3 precursors), which bodes well for potential future utilization in inorganic and/or organic LED applications

A prospective cohort study of biomarkers of prenatal tobacco smoke exposure: the correlation between serum and meconium and their association with infant birth weight

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The evaluation of infant meconium as a cumulative matrix of prenatal toxicant exposure requires comparison to established biomarkers of prenatal exposure.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We calculated the frequency of detection and concentration of tobacco smoke metabolites measured in meconium (nicotine, cotinine, and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine concentrations) and three serial serum cotinine concentrations taken during the latter two-thirds of pregnancy among 337 mother-infant dyads. We estimated the duration and intensity of prenatal tobacco smoke exposure using serial serum cotinine concentrations and calculated geometric mean meconium tobacco smoke metabolite concentrations according to prenatal exposure. We also compared the estimated associations between these prenatal biomarkers and infant birth weight using linear regression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We detected nicotine (80%), cotinine (69%), and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine (57%) in most meconium samples. Meconium tobacco smoke metabolite concentrations were positively associated with serum cotinine concentrations and increased with the number of serum cotinine measurements consistent with secondhand or active tobacco smoke exposure. Like serum cotinine, meconium tobacco smoke metabolites were inversely associated with birth weight.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Meconium is a useful biological matrix for measuring prenatal tobacco smoke exposure and could be used in epidemiological studies that enroll women and infants at birth. Meconium holds promise as a biological matrix for measuring the intensity and duration of environmental toxicant exposure and future studies should validate the utility of meconium using other environmental toxicants.</p

A Pair of Dopamine Neurons Target the D1-Like Dopamine Receptor DopR in the Central Complex to Promote Ethanol-Stimulated Locomotion in Drosophila

Dopamine is a mediator of the stimulant properties of drugs of abuse, including ethanol, in mammals and in the fruit fly Drosophila. The neural substrates for the stimulant actions of ethanol in flies are not known. We show that a subset of dopamine neurons and their targets, through the action of the D1-like dopamine receptor DopR, promote locomotor activation in response to acute ethanol exposure. A bilateral pair of dopaminergic neurons in the fly brain mediates the enhanced locomotor activity induced by ethanol exposure, and promotes locomotion when directly activated. These neurons project to the central complex ellipsoid body, a structure implicated in regulating motor behaviors. Ellipsoid body neurons are required for ethanol-induced locomotor activity and they express DopR. Elimination of DopR blunts the locomotor activating effects of ethanol, and this behavior can be restored by selective expression of DopR in the ellipsoid body. These data tie the activity of defined dopamine neurons to D1-like DopR-expressing neurons to form a neural circuit that governs acute responding to ethanol

Capsular profiling of the Cronobacter genus and the association of specific Cronobacter sakazakii and C. malonaticus capsule types with neonatal meningitis and necrotizing enterocolitis

Background: Cronobacter sakazakii and C. malonaticus can cause serious diseases especially in infants where they are associated with rare but fatal neonatal infections such as meningitis and necrotising enterocolitis. Methods: This study used 104 whole genome sequenced strains, covering all seven species in the genus, to analyse capsule associated clusters of genes involved in the biosynthesis of the O-antigen, colanic acid, bacterial cellulose, enterobacterial common antigen (ECA), and a previously uncharacterised K-antigen. Results: Phylogeny of the gnd and galF genes flanking the O-antigen region enabled the defining of 38 subgroups which are potential serotypes. Two variants of the colanic acid synthesis gene cluster (CA1 and CA2) were found which differed with the absence of galE in CA2. Cellulose (bcs genes) were present in all species, but were absent in C. sakazakii sequence type (ST) 13 and clonal complex (CC) 100 strains. The ECA locus was found in all strains. The K-antigen capsular polysaccharide Region 1 (kpsEDCS) and Region 3 (kpsMT) genes were found in all Cronobacter strains. The highly variable Region 2 genes were assigned to 2 homology groups (K1 and K2). C. sakazakii and C. malonaticus isolates with capsular type [K2:CA2:Cell+] were associated with neonatal meningitis and necrotizing enterocolitis. Other capsular types were less associated with clinical infections. Conclusion: This study proposes a new capsular typing scheme which identifies a possible important virulence trait associated with severe neonatal infections. The various capsular polysaccharide structures warrant further investigation as they could be relevant to macrophage survival, desiccation resistance, environmental survival, and biofilm formation in the hospital environment, including neonatal enteral feeding tubes