An evaluation of some alternative approaches for reducing fan tone noise

The potential of two alternative approaches for reducing fan ton noise was investigated in this study. One of these approaches increases the number of rotor blades to shift the tone noise to higher frequencies that are not rated as strongly by the perceived noise scale. This alternative fan also would have a small number of long chord stator vanes which would reduce the stator response and lower rotor-stator interaction noise. Comparison of the conventional and alternative fan concepts showed that this alternative approach has as large or larger a perceived tone noise reduction potential as the conventional approach. The other alternative, a high Mach number inlet, is evaluated both for its noise attenuation and for its change in noise directivity

The Real Exchange Rate and Employment in U.S. Manufacturing: State and Regional Results

In a series of earlier papers we have examined the impact of exchange rate movements on employment and output in the manufacturing sector, disaggregated by industry sector and by production and non-production workers. In this paper we examine the impact of exchange rate movements on manufacturing employment, disaggregated geographically, using census divisions, regions, states and SMSA's as the unit of analysis. Empirical estimates of employment changes are first presented for the four census regions, the nine census divisions, and the fifty states plus the District of Columbia. For the country as a whole, we estimate that movements in the real exchange rate led to the loss of about 1 million manufacturing jobs over this period. We go on to examine in greater detail manufacturing employment in New York State, and report that exchange rate movements had a much larger impact in the areas outside of New York City than in the metropolitan area. This result is consistent with earlier work that found that employment in management or research is not as sensitive to exchange rate movements as employment in production processes. The New York results are followed by an examination of manufacturing employment in five southern states with large rural populations. Some policy makers have expressed a concern that manufacturing employment in rural areas suffered more than in urban areas during the period of the dollar appreciation. We find that within these five states, the impact of the exchange rate on manufacturing employment in the non-SMSA areas was the same or less than was the case for employment within SMSA areas. Finally, we use a multivariate model to explore why manufacturing employment is more sensitive to exchange rate movements in some states than in others. Factors which are associated with greater sensitivity of manufacturing employment to exchange rate movements are: the percent of the population living outside of SMSA areas, the level of production worker wages, and crude oil production. Factors that are associated with less sensitivity of manufacturing employment to exchange rate movements include the percent of the population with 4 years or more of college or per-capita expenditures on public secondary schools.

The Real Exchange Rate, Employment, and Output in Manufacturing in the U.S. and Japan

In the spring of 1981 the U.S. dollar began a four-year period of real appreciation that took it to a peak of more than 50 percent by first quarter 1985. Since then, the dollar has depreciated substantially, but remains above its 1980 level. During the same period, the Japanese yen first depreciated by 12 percent in real terms from 1981 to 1982, and then appreciated by some 30 percent to 1986. These swings in real exchange rates effects on the relative competitiveness of U.S. and Japanese industry, and have effects on employment and output in sectors producing tradeable goods. This paper presents estimates of these effects. Using time series data for the period 1970 to 1986, we use a simple model of supply and demand to estimate the impact of swings in the effective real exchange rate of the dollar and the yen on manufacturing employment and output in the U.S. and Japan, disaggregated by industry sectors, and by production and non-production workers in the case of the U.S. employment. These results are part of a larger research project to estimate the effects of the movements in the real exchange rate on world manufacturing industries. We find significant and substantial effects of the dollar appreciation on employment and output in U.S. manufacturing. In particular, we find that exchange rate movements have had important effects on the durable goods sectors, including primary metals, fabricated metal products, and non-electrical machinery. Other sectors that suffer large employment and output losses when the dollar appreciates are stone, clay and glass products, transportation, instruments, and chemicals. Estimates are also presented for non-production and production workers in the U.S. employment of the latter is more sensitive to the real exchange rate, especially in the durable goods sectors. This suggests the possibility of hysteresis in trade. For Japan, we find significant effects of movements in the yen on employment and output in the durable goods sectors, especially those producing machinery. In particular, yen appreciation causes substantial losses in employment and output in fabricated metal products, general machinery, and electrical machinery. The results for Japan are not as clear as for the U.S., perhaps because we have only annual data for Japan, but quarterly data for the U.S.. Nevertheless, the importance of movements in the real exchange rate for employment and output in manufacturing is evident in both cases.

Action perception is intact in autism spectrum disorder

Date of Acceptance:10/11/2014. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/351849-09$15.00/0. Copyright of all material published in The Journal of Neuroscience remains with the authors. The authors grant the Society for Neuroscience an exclusive license to publish their work for the first 6 months. After 6 months the work becomes available to the public to copy, distribute, or display under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Photocatalytic production of organic compounds from CO and H2O in a simulated Martian atmosphere

[14C]CO2 and [14C]organic compounds are formed when a mixture of [14C]CO and water vapor diluted in [12C]CO2 or N2 is irradiated with ultraviolet light in the presence of soil or pulverized vycor substratum. The [14C]CO2 is recoverable from the gas phase, the [14C]organic products from the substratum. Three organic products have been tentatively identified as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and glycolic acid. The relative yields of [14C]CO2 and [14C]organics are wavelength- and surface-dependent. Conversion of CO to CO2 occurs primarily at wavelengths shorter than 2000 angstrom, apparently involves the photolysis of water, and is inhibited by increasing amounts of vycor substratum. Organic formation occurs over a broad spectral range below 3000 angstrom and increases with increasing amounts of substratum. It is suggested that organic synthesis results from adsorption of CO and H2O on surfaces, with excitation of one or both molecules occurring at wavelengths longer than those absorbed by the free gases. This process may occur on Mars and may have been important on the primitive earth