A new dry biomedical electrode

Electronic circuitry contains new operational amplifier which incorporates monolithic super-gain transistors. Electrode does not provide voltage amplification; instead, it acts as current amplifier to make it possible to pick up electrical potentials from surface of highly resistant dry skin

Gravity-assisted trajectories for unmanned space exploration

Gravity assistance to modify heliocentric trajectories of manned space probe

Thermal stress response of General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) aeroshell material

A thermal stress test was conducted to determine the ability of the GPHS aeroshell 3 D FWPF material to maintain physical integrity when exposed to a severe heat flux such as would occur from prompt reentry of GPHS modules. The test was performed in the Giant Planetary Facility at NASA's Ames Research Center. Good agreement was obtained between the theoretical and experimental results for both temperature and strain time histories. No physical damage was observed in the test specimen. These results provide initial corroboration both of the analysis techniques and that the GPHS reentry member will survive the reentry thermal stress levels expected

Local Revenue Hills: Evidence from Four U. S. Cities

We provide estimates of the impact and long-run elasticities of tax base with respect to tax rates for four large U.S. cities: Houston (property taxation), Minneapolis (property taxation), New York City (property, general sales, and income taxation), and Philadelphia (property, gross receipts, and wage taxation). Results suggest that three of our cities are near the peaks of their revenue hills; Minneapolis is the exception. A significant negative effect of a balanced budget increase in city property tax rates on city property base is interpreted as a capitalization effect and suggests that marginal increases in city spending do not provide positive net benefits to property owners. Estimates of the effects of taxes on city employment levels for New York City and Philadelphia -- the two cities for which employment series are available -- show the local income and wage tax rates have significant negative effects on city employment levels.Local Taxation, City Fiscal Policy, Urban Economic Development

Degradation and reuse of radiative thermal protection system materials for the space shuttle

Three silicide coated columbium alloys and two cobalt alloys were subjected to identical simulated reentry profiling exposures in both static (controlled vacuum leak) and dynamic (hypersonic plasma shear) environments. Primary emphasis in the columbium alloy evaluation was on the Cb752 and C129Y alloys with a lesser amount on FS85. Commercial silicide coatings of the R512E and VH109 formulations were used. The coated specimens were intentionally defected to provide the types of coating flaws that are expected in service. Temperatures were profiled up to peak temperatures of either 2350 F or 2500 F for 15 minutes in each cycle

Microminiaturized, biopotential conditioning system (MBCS)

Multichannel, medical monitoring system allows almost complete freedom of movement for subject during monitoring periods. System comprises monitoring unit (biobelt), transmission line, and data acquisition unit. Belt, made of polybenzimidizole fabric, is wrapped around individual's waist and held in place by overlapping sections of Velcro closure material

Comparisons of refractive index gradient and stability profiles measured by balloons and the MU radar at a high vertical resolution in the lower stratosphere

Many experimental studies have demonstrated that VHF Stratosphere-Troposphere (ST) radar echo power is proportional to the generalized refractive index gradient squared <I>M</I><sup>2</sup> when using a vertically oriented beam. Because humidity is generally negligible above the tropopause, VHF ST radars can thus provide information on the static stability (quantified by the squared Brunt-Väisälä frequency <I>N</I><sup>2</sup>) at stratospheric heights and this capability is useful for many scientific applications. Most studies have been performed until now at a vertical resolution of 150 m or more. In the present paper, results of comparisons between radar- and (balloon borne) radiosonde-derived <I>M</I><sup>2</sup> and <I>N</I><sup>2</sup> are shown at a better vertical resolution of 50 m with the MU radar (34.85° N, 136.15° E; Japan) by benefiting from the range resolution improvement provided by the multi-frequency range imaging technique, using the Capon processing method. Owing to favorable winds in the troposphere, the radiosondes did not drift horizontally more than about 30 km from the MU radar site by the time they reached an altitude of 20 km. The measurements were thus simultaneous and almost collocated. Very good agreements have been obtained between both high resolution profiles of <i>M</i><sup>2</sup>, as well as profiles of <i>N</i><sup>2</sup>. It is also shown that this agreement can still be improved by taking into account a frozen-in advection of the air parcels by a horizontally uniform wind. Therefore, it can be concluded that 1) the range imaging technique with the Capon method really provides substantial range resolution improvement, despite the relatively weak Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNR) over the analyzed region of the lower stratosphere, 2) the proportionality of the radar echo power to <I>M</I><sup>2</sup> at a vertical scale down to 50 m in the lower stratosphere is experimentally demonstrated, 3) the MU radar can provide stability profiles with a vertical resolution of 50 m at heights where humidity is negligible, 4) stable stratospheric layers as thin as 50 m or less have at least a horizontal extent of a few km to several tens of kilometers and can be considered as frozenly advected over scales of a few tens of minutes

High-resolution vertical imaging of the troposphere and lower stratosphere using the new MU radar system

International audienceIn the present paper, a new application of the range imaging technique called Frequency Interferometry Imaging (FII) or Range Imaging (RIM), performed in April 2005, is shown using the new 46.5-MHz Middle and Upper (MU) atmosphere radar system (Shigaraki, Japan). Height-time images of brightness distribution have been computed at the highest resolution ever obtained for imaging with VHF radars in the troposphere and, for the very first time, in the lower stratosphere, up to about 22 km. The images were produced by processing signals obtained with an initial range-resolution of ?r=150 m and five equally-spaced frequencies within ?f=1.0 MHz, with the adaptive Capon method. These values represent an improvement of a factor 2 over all the previous published experiments at VHF, which were performed with ?r=300 m and ?f=0.5 MHz. The Capon images present realistic and self-consistent features, and reveal many more organized structures than the height-time SNR plots at the initial range-resolution. For example, the Capon images show persistent enhanced brightness layers significantly thinner than 150 m in the stratosphere, which are impossible to track with the standard single-frequency mode owing to a lack of range resolution. These observations thus support the idea of strong stratification even at vertical scales much smaller than 100 m, as suggested by recent high-resolution temperature observations by balloons (Dalaudier et al., 1994). We also present comparisons of Capon images with patterns obtained from the dual-FDI technique and two parametric methods (the MUSIC algorithm and the newly-introduced Maximum Entropy Method based on an auto-regressive (AR) model). The comparisons confirm the insufficiencies of the dual-FDI technique and indicate that parametric methods such as MEM and the MUSIC algorithm can help to validate the Capon images when the parametric methods provide similar patterns

Man Is What He Eats: The Philosophy and Ethics of Eating

The article is based on Feuerbach's well-known ruling that "man is what he eats", to analyse its possible different meanings, even the most recondited ones. To do this the research winds through a long journey, which begins with a reflection on the role that food has in some Western religions, especially in Judaism and Christianity. Two processes which have deeply characterized the relationship of Western man with food are then examined: the process of industrialization and that of the medicalization of food. Finally, coming to the contemporary, the article goes into the merits of the relationship that different cultures have with food in a multicultural society and offers some indications for alternative models compared to those currently dominant. The conclusion, with Feuerbach and beyond Feuerbach, is that man is yes what he eats, but also what he does not eat and, above all, man eats what he is

Social inequalities in breast cancer mortality among French women: disappearing educational disparities from 1968 to 1996

We investigated the time trends in social inequalities in breast cancer mortality with an analysis by age at death and birth cohort using a representative 1% sample of the French population and four subcohorts (1968–1974, 1975–1981, 1982–1988 and 1990–1996). Causes of death were obtained by direct linkage with the French national death registry. Education was measured at the beginning of each period, and educational disparities in breast cancer mortality were studied among women aged 35–74 at the beginning of each period. In the 1970s, higher breast cancer mortality was found among higher educated women. This positive association progressively weakened and no association remained in the 1990s although it disappeared earlier among younger women. In an analysis by birth cohort, the same pattern was found among women born before 1925, whereas no association between education and mortality was observed among women born after 1925. Educational disparities in breast cancer mortality are currently changing and the previously observed positive gradient has disappeared. An important question is whether these relations are indirect, and due to changes in the prevalence of risk factors associated with education, but which we could not study