System for calibrating pressure transducer

A system for calibrating a pressure transducer which has a reference portion and an active portion is reported. A miniature selector valve is positioned immediately adjacent the pressure transducer. A reference pressure, known pressure, and unknown pressure can be selectively admitted to the active side of the pressure transducer by the selector valve to enable calibration of the transducer. A valve admits pressure to the selector valve which has a piston and floating piston arrangement which allows proper selection with very small linear movement

Teachers and the Common Core in Connecticut: From the State Capitol to a City School

Forty-two states across the country have adopted the Common Core State Standards, a set of K-12 education benchmarks for English Language Arts and math designed to unify academic expectations and prepare students for college and careers. However, while state governments initially chose whether or not to adopt the standards, previous research has shown that successful implementation of this policy ultimately lies in the hands of local educators. My study therefore seeks to understand how a group of teachers interpret and act on the Common Core State Standards and in what ways these educators use creative teaching strategies to move beyond the expectations of the Common Core. Findings are based primarily on responses from ten semi-structured interviews with elementary school teachers in an urban public school in Hartford, Connecticut, in the fall of 2015. My research shows that while teachers embrace the pedagogical messages of the Common Core, these educators also actively revise and refine their teaching methods in order to use the standards as a tool for teaching important life skills. By viewing student academic struggle as an opportunity for growth, teachers use the Common Core to teach ambition, self-sufficiency, and resiliency. In addition, my research reveals a greater shift in controversy that has taken place since the initial release of the Common Core. While many people still remain critical of the policy, it is surprising to see that the teachers involved in my study generally accept key elements of the standards that were once highly contentious

Is a Trial Before a Non-Attorney Judge Constitutional? \u3ci\u3eYoung v. Konz\u3c/i\u3e, 88 Wash. 2d 276, 558 P.2d 791 (1977)

The Washington Supreme Court in Young v. Konz held that a case heard by a non-attorney judge did not violate due process even though there was no provision for a trial de novo after the defendant had entered a plea of guilty in the justice court. The court did not take the opportunity to analyze the situation in terms of state constitutional grounds. The court indicated that it did think it would be preferable to have all cases heard before attorney judges. I. Introduction II. The Court’s Opinion … A. The Majority … B. The Dissent III. The Court’s Analysis … A. Precedents IV. Due Process Considerations … A. Fundamental Fairness … B. Due Process and the State Constitution V. Conclusio

Investigation of Aerodynamic and Icing Characteristics of Recessed Fuel-Vent Configurations

An investigation has been conducted in the NACA Cleveland icing research tunnel to determine the aerodynamic and icing characteristics of several recessed fuel-vent configurations. The vents were investigated aerodynamically to obtain vent-tube pressures and pressure distributions on the ramp surface as functions of tunnel-air velocity and angle of attack. Icing investigations were made to determine the vent-tube pressure losses for several icing conditions at tunnel-air velocities ranging from 220 to 440 feet per second. In general, under nonicing conditions, the configurations with diverging ramp walls maintained, vent-tube pressures greater than the required marginal value of 2 inches of water positive pressure differential between the fuel cell and the compartment containing the fuel cell for a range of angles of attack from 0 to 14deg at a tunnel-air velocity of approximately 240 feet per second. A configuration haying divergIng ramp sldewalls, a 7deg ramp angle; and vent tubes manifold,ed to a common plenum chamber opening through a slot In the ramp floor gave the greatest vent-tube pressures for all the configurations investigated. The use of the plenum chamber resulted in uniform pressures in all vent tubes. In a cloud-icing condition, roughness caused by ice formations on the airfoil surface ahead of the vent ramp, rather than icing of the vent configuration, caused a rapid loss in vent-tube pressures during the first few minutes of an icing period. Only the configuration having diverging ramp sidewalls, a 7 ramp angle, and a common plenum chamber maintained the required vent-tube pressures throughout a 60-minute icing period, although the ice formations on this configuration were more severe than those observed for the other configurations. No complete closure of vent-tube openings occurred for the configurations investigated. A simulated freezing-rain condition caused a greater and more rapid vent-tube pressure loss than was observed for a cloud-icing condition

Laser driven launch vehicles for continuous access to space

The availability of megawatt laser systems in the next century will make laser launch systems from ground to orbit feasible and useful. Systems studies indicate launch capabilities of 1 ton payload per gigawatt laser power. Recent research in ground to orbit laser propulsion has emphasized laser supported detonation wave thrusters driven by repetitively pulsed infrared lasers. In this propulsion concept each laser repetition cycle consists of two pulses. A lower energy first pulse is used to vaporize a small amount of solid propellant and then after a brief expansion period, a second and higher energy laser pulse is used to drive a detonation wave through the expanded vapor. The results are reported of numerical studies comparing the detonation wave properties of various candidate propellants, and the simulation of thruster performance under realistic conditions. Experimental measurements designed to test the theoretical predictions are also presented. Measurements are discussed of radiance and opacity in absorption waves, and mass loss and momentum transfer. These data are interpreted in terms of specific impulse and energy conversion efficiency

The Work of Recovery on Two Assertive Community Treatment Teams

The compatibility of recovery work with the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) model has been debated; and little is known about how to best measure the work of recovery. Two ACT teams with high and low recovery orientation were identified by expert consensus and compared on a number of dimensions. Using an interpretive, qualitative approach to analyze interview and observation data, teams differed in the extent to which the environment, team structure, staff attitudes, and processes of working with consumers supported principles of recovery orientation. We present a model of recovery work and discuss implications for research and practice

Validating gravitational-wave detections: The Advanced LIGO hardware injection system

Hardware injections are simulated gravitational-wave signals added to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). The detectors’ test masses are physically displaced by an actuator in order to simulate the effects of a gravitational wave. The simulated signal initiates a control-system response which mimics that of a true gravitational wave. This provides an end-to-end test of LIGO’s ability to observe gravitational waves. The gravitational-wave analyses used to detect and characterize signals are exercised with hardware injections. By looking for discrepancies between the injected and recovered signals, we are able to characterize the performance of analyses and the coupling of instrumental subsystems to the detectors’ output channels. This paper describes the hardware injection system and the recovery of injected signals representing binary black hole mergers, a stochastic gravitational wave background, spinning neutron stars, and sine-Gaussians

Innovations in Spacecraft Proximity & Navigation Lighting

New spacecraft bound for the Moon and Mars should be exploring lighting technologies that can reduce safety risks while increasing capability. The operational lighting environment for these new missions will not have the forgiving 90 minute orbit of the International Space Station. Advances in solid state lighting and optics design are yielding new form factors for lamps that have the potential to reduce operational risk for both humans and imaging systems that are impacted by high contrast lighting environments. This project evaluated light source form factors and control innovations for spacecraft exterior proximity and navigation lighting by building a demonstration test rig and testing the effectiveness of the light sources and their controls to increase visibility and usability

Commercial apple industry of New Hampshire, Bulletin, no. 223

The Bulletin is a publication of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire