A feasibility study for advanced technology integration for general aviation

An investigation was conducted to identify candidate technologies and specific developments which offer greatest promise for improving safety, fuel efficiency, performance, and utility of general aviation airplanes. Interviews were conducted with general aviation airframe and systems manufacturers and NASA research centers. The following technologies were evaluated for use in airplane design tradeoff studies conducted during the study: avionics, aerodynamics, configurations, structures, flight controls, and propulsion. Based on industry interviews and design tradeoff studies, several recommendations were made for further high payoff research. The most attractive technologies for use by the general aviation industry appear to be advanced engines, composite materials, natural laminar flow airfoils, and advanced integrated avionics systems. The integration of these technologies in airplane design can yield significant increases in speeds, ranges, and payloads over present aircraft with 40 percent to 50 percent reductions in fuel used

What's the point of knowing how?

Why is it useful to talk and think about knowledge-how? Using Edward Craig’s discussion of the function of the concepts of knowledge and knowledge-how as a jumping off point, this paper argues that considering this question can offer us new angles on the debate about knowledge-how. We consider two candidate functions for the concept of knowledge-how: pooling capacities, and mutual reliance. Craig makes the case for pooling capacities, which connects knowledge-how to our need to pool practical capacities. I argue that the evidence is much more equivocal. My suggested diagnosis is that the concept of knowledge-how plays both functions, meaning that the concept of knowledge-how is inconsistent, and that the debate about knowledge-how is at least partly a metalinguistic negotiation. In closing, I suggest a way to revise the philosophical concept of knowledge how

Media coverage and speculation about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide: A content analysis of UK news

Objectives: Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been much concern and speculation about rises in suicide rates, despite evidence that suicides did not in fact increase in the first year of the pandemic in most countries with real-time suicide data. This public narrative is potentially harmful, as well as misleading, and is likely to be perpetuated by sensational news coverage. Method: Using a bespoke database, we analysed the quality and content of print and online UK news (including opinion pieces) on the impact of COVID-19 on suicidality, based on adherence to international recommendations. Chi-square tests were conducted to examine variability in relation to key characteristics (e.g., type of publication) and to four ‘restriction phases’ (based on UK government official lockdown measures) over the first 14 months of the pandemic. Results: We identified 372 stories about COVID-19 and suicidality in online and print news between the first UK lockdown (March 2020) and May 2021 (when restrictions were significantly eased in the UK). Throughout this period, over a third of articles (39.2%) and headlines (41.4%) claimed or predicted a rise in suicide, often attributed to feelings of entrapment and poor mental health (especially amongst young people), and fueled by expert commentary and speculation. Almost a third of reports were rated as being of negative quality (116, 31.2%), and at least half included no signposting to help and support. However, reporting improved in phases of less stringent COVID-19 restrictions and over time, with later articles and headlines including fewer negative statements and predictions about rises in suicides, and greater reliance on academic evidence. Conclusions: As the longer-term consequences of the pandemic develop, and other national and global events unfold, it is increasingly important that the media, and the wider community of experts shaping its narratives, strive for a positive and evidence-informed approach to news coverage of suicide

Design Criteria for Zero Leakage Connectors for Launch Vehicles. Mathematical Model of Interface Sealing Phenomenon, Volume 2 Final Report

Mathematical model of interface sealing phenomenon in determining design criteria for zero leakage connectors for launch vehicle

Have news reports on suicide and attempted suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic adhered to guidance on safer reporting? A UK-wide content analysis study

Background: Associations between sensational news coverage of suicide and increases in suicidal behaviour have been well documented. Amidst growing concern over the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide rates, it is especially important that news coverage adheres to recommended standards. Methods: We analysed the quality and content of print and online UK news reports of possible COVID-19 related suicides and suicide attempts in the first four months of the pandemic (N=285). Results: Most reports made explicit links between suicidal behaviour and the COVID-19 pandemic in the headline (65.5%), based on statements by family, friends or acquaintances of the deceased (60%). The impact of the pandemic on suicidal behaviour was most often attributed to feelings of isolation (27.4%), poor mental health (14.7%) and entrapment due to government-imposed restrictions (14.4%). Although rarely of poor overall quality, reporting was biased towards young people, frontline staff and relatively unusual suicides and, to varying degrees, failed to meet recommended standards (e.g. 41.1% did not signpost readers to sources of support). Limitations: This analysis cannot account for the impact of reporting on suicide. Conclusions: Careful attention must be paid to the quality and content of reports, especially as longer-term consequences of the pandemic develop

Applicability of ERTS-1 to Montana geology

The author has identified the following significant results. Late autumn imagery provides the advantages of topographic shadow enhancement and low cloud cover. Mapping of rock units was done locally with good results for alluvium, basin fill, volcanics, inclined Paleozoic and Mesozoic beds, and host strata of bentonite beds. Folds, intrusive domes, and even dip directions were mapped where differential erosion was significant. However, mapping was not possible for belt strata, was difficult for granite, and was hindered by conifers compared to grass cover. Expansion of local mapping required geologic control and encountered significant areas unmappable from ERTS imagery. Annotation of lineaments provided much new geologic data. By extrapolating test site comparisons, it is inferred that 27 percent of some 1200 lineaments mapped from western Montana represent unknown faults. The remainder appear to be localized mainly by undiscovered faults and sets of minor faults or joints

Applicability of ERTS-1 to lineament and photogeologic mapping in Montana: Preliminary report

A lineament map prepared from a mosaic of western Montana shows about 85 lines not represented on the state geologic map, including elements of a northeast-trending set through central western Montana which merit ground truth checking and consideration in regional structural analysis. Experimental fold annotation resulted in a significant local correction to the state geologic map. Photogeologic mapping studies produced only limited success in identification of rock types, but they did result in the precise delineation of a late Cretaceous or early Tertiary volcanic field (Adel Mountain field) and the mapping of a connection between two granitic bodies shown on the state map. Imagery was used successfully to map clay pans associated with bentonite beds in gently dipping Bearpaw Shale. It is already apparent that ERTS imagery should be used to facilitate preparation of a much needed statewide tectonic map and that satellite imagery mapping, aided by ground calibration, provides and economical means to discover and correct errors in the state geologic map

The continued optical to mid-IR evolution of V838 Monocerotis

The eruptive variable V838 Monocerotis gained notoriety in 2002 when it brightened nine magnitudes in a series of three outbursts and then rapidly evolved into an extremely cool supergiant. We present optical, near-IR, and mid-IR spectroscopic and photometric observations of V838 Monocerotis obtained between 2008 and 2012 at the Apache Point Observatory 3.5m, NASA IRTF 3m, and Gemini South 8m telescopes. We contemporaneously analyze the optical & IR spectroscopic properties of V838 Monocerotis to arrive at a revised spectral type L3 supergiant and effective temperature Teff~2000--2200 K. Because there are no existing optical observational data for L supergiants in the optical, we speculate that V838 Monocerotis may represent the prototype for L supergiants in this wavelength regime. We find a low level of Halpha emission present in the system, consistent with interaction between V838 Monocerotis and its B3V binary; however, we cannot rule out a stellar collision as the genesis event, which could result in the observed Halpha activity. Based upon a two-component blackbody fit to all wavelengths of our data, we conclude that, as of 2009, a shell of ejecta surrounded V838 Monocerotis at a radius of R=263+/-10 AU with a temperature of T=285+/-2 K. This result is consistent with IR interferometric observations from the same era and predictions from the Lynch et al. model of the expanding system, which provides a simple framework for understanding this complicated system.Comment: 6 pages, 2 tables, 6 figures; accepted to A

Discovery of a New Nearby Star

We report the discovery of a nearby star with a very large proper motion of 5.06 +/- 0.03 arcsec/yr. The star is called SO025300.5+165258 and referred to herein as HPMS (high proper motion star). The discovery came as a result of a search of the SkyMorph database, a sensitive and persistent survey that is well suited for finding stars with high proper motions. There are currently only 7 known stars with proper motions > 5 arcsec/yr. We have determined a preliminary value for the parallax of 0.43 +/- 0.13 arcsec. If this value holds our new star ranks behind only the Alpha Centauri system (including Proxima Centauri) and Barnard's star in the list of our nearest stellar neighbors. The spectrum and measured tangential velocity indicate that HPMS is a main-sequence star with spectral type M6.5. However, if our distance measurement is correct, the HPMS is underluminous by 1.2 +/- 0.7 mag.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to ApJ Letter

High-velocity white dwarfs: thick disk, not dark matter

We present an alternative interpretation of the nature of the extremely cool, high-velocity white dwarfs identified by Oppenheimer et al (2001) in a high-latitude astrometric survey. We argue that the velocity distribution of the majority of the sample is more consistent with the high-velocity tail of a rotating population, probably the thick disk, rather than a pressure-supported halo system. Indeed, the observed numbers are well matched by predictions based on the kinematics of a complete sample of nearby M dwarfs. Analysing only stars showing retrograde motion gives a local density close to that expected for white dwarfs in the stellar (R^-3.5) halo. Under our interpretation, none of the white dwarfs need be assigned to the dark-matter, heavy halo. However, luminosity functions derived from observations of these stars can set important constraints on the age of the oldest stars in the Galactic Disk.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; accepted for ApJ, 29 May 200