Molded composite pyrogen igniter for rocket motors

A lightweight pyrogen igniter assembly including an elongated molded plastic tube adapted to contain a pyrogen charge was designed for insertion into a rocket motor casing for ignition of the rocket motor charge. A molded plastic closure cap provided for the elongated tube includes an ignition charge for igniting the pyrogen charge and an electrically actuated ignition squib for igniting the ignition charge. The ignition charge is contained within a portion of the closure cap, and it is retained therein by a noncorrosive ignition pellet retainer or screen which is adapted to rest on a shoulder of the elongated tube when the closure cap and tube are assembled together. A circumferentially disposed metal ring is provided along the external circumference of the closure cap and is molded or captured within the plastic cap in the molding process to provide, along with O-ring seals, a leakproof rotary joint

Molding a high-density laminate

Molding press is used to form phenolic resin impregnated glass fiber cloth into a high-density, cylindrical-ring laminate. The press applies clamping pressure and heat to a mold containing the glass fiber cloth laminate, which has hydrostatic pressure applied to it by means of a specially designed pressure plug

Optimum Movement of Feeder Calves and Feed Grains within South Dakota with Implications for Slaughter Plant Location

The basic economic activity in South Dakota is agriculture. Therefore, it is essential to the economic position of the state that information is made available which can serve as a guide in developing the agricultural industries within the state. The purpose of this study is to provide such information to the cattle feeding and beef slaughtering industries. Livestock data indicate that a large proportion of the cattle produced in South Dakota is shipped out of the state for fattening and slaughter. Data also indicate that the state is an exporter of feed grains. It seems that if these feeder cattle and feed grains were retained within the state, South Dakota would have available potential resources to expand its beef industry. Studies have shown that there are markets available for dressed beef and slaughter cattle from South Dakota. These studies also indicate that South Dakota has a comparative advantage in supplying these markets. Another study concludes that the structure of shipping. Patterns for beef from surplus regions to deficit regions is quite stable. This means that the probability that South Dakota will lose its comparative advantage is slight. Also, predictions on the expansion of beef production and the expected growth of feedlots for beef, shown in Figures 1-1 and 1-2 respectively; suggest that cattle feeding should increase in South Dakota. Given this information, along with favorable Jong-term demand prospects for beef, it becomes apparent that the cattle feeding, and beef slaughtering industries in the state are operating far below their potential production. The question which arises is, how can these industries be more fully developed

Field-Level Land-Use Adaptation to Local Weather Trends

The intersection of agriculture and climate has been well researched for at least the last couple of decades. Largely, the motivation for previous research has been the potential impact on food security for the world's (growing) population. Many studies have predicted unfavorable yield scenarios for some geographic regions. As a result, another common research theme is farmer adaptation to a changing climate. Typically, these studies are concerned with what farmers could or should do to adapt to adverse outcomes. However, research examining whether farmers respond to weather patterns has largely been ignored. Answering this question can help provide more accurate food security analyses: if farmers do respond to changing patterns through cropping decisions, for instance, the global food supply outcome will be different than a world in which they do not respond. This article aims to provide insights into what and how farmers' cropping decisions respond to weather patterns. The study region is a set of eleven Kansas counties. The article provides an important step toward more credible estimates of global food supplies under changing climates and the methods themselves translate to other areas. Results suggest that land-use responses to changing weather patterns will vary across time and space

Reference values of impulse oscillometric lung function indices in adults of advanced age.

Impulse oscillometry (IOS) is a non-demanding lung function test. Its diagnostic use may be particularly useful in patients of advanced age with physical or mental limitations unable to perform spirometry. Only few reference equations are available for Caucasians, none of them covering the old age. Here, we provide reference equations up to advanced age and compare them with currently available equations. IOS was performed in a population-based sample of 1990 subjects, aged 45-91 years, from KORA cohorts (Augsburg, Germany). From those, 397 never-smoking, lung healthy subjects with normal spirometry were identified and sex-specific quantile regression models with age, height and body weight as predictors for respiratory system impedance, resistance, reactance, and other parameters of IOS applied. Women (n = 243) showed higher resistance values than men (n = 154), while reactance at low frequencies (up to 20 Hz) was lower (p<0.05). A significant age dependency was observed for the difference between resistance values at 5 Hz and 20 Hz (R5-R20), the integrated area of low-frequency reactance (AX), and resonant frequency (Fres) in both sexes whereas reactance at 5 Hz (X5) was age dependent only in females. In the healthy subjects (n = 397), mean differences between observed values and predictions for resistance (5 Hz and 20 Hz) and reactance (5 Hz) ranged between -1% and 5% when using the present model. In contrast, differences based on the currently applied equations (Vogel & Smidt 1994) ranged between -34% and 76%. Regarding our equations the indices were beyond the limits of normal in 8.1% to 18.6% of the entire KORA cohort (n = 1990), and in 0.7% to 9.4% with the currently applied equations. Our study provides up-to-date reference equations for IOS in Caucasians aged 45 to 85 years. We suggest the use of the present equations particularly in advanced age in order to detect airway dysfunction

The evolutionarily conserved protein CG9186 is associated with lipid droplets, required for their positioning and for fat storage.

Lipid droplets (LDs) are specialized cell organelles for the storage of energy-rich lipids. Although lipid storage is a conserved feature of all cells and organisms, little is known about fundamental aspects of the cell biology of LDs, including their biogenesis, structural assembly and subcellular positioning, and the regulation of organismic energy homeostasis. We identified a novel LD-associated protein family, represented by the Drosophila protein CG9186 and its murine homolog MGI:1916082. In the absence of LDs, both proteins localize at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Upon lipid storage induction, they translocate to LDs using an evolutionarily conserved targeting mechanism that acts through a 60-amino-acid targeting motif in the center of the CG9186 protein. Overexpression of CG9186, and MGI: 1916082, causes clustering of LDs in both tissue culture and salivary gland cells, whereas RNAi knockdown of CG9186 results in a reduction of LDs. Organismal RNAi knockdown of CG9186 results in a reduction in lipid storage levels of the fly. The results indicate that we identified the first members of a novel and evolutionarily conserved family of lipid storage regulators, which are also required to properly position LDs within cells

Cyanine platelet single crystals: Growth, crystal structure and optical spectra

© the Owner Societies. Crystalline organic semiconducting materials are much in demand for multiple electronic and optoelectronic device applications. Here, solution grown ultrathin rhombic crystals of a trimethine carbocyanine anionic dye are used to establish relationships between structural and optical properties. The dye crystallized in the monoclinic space group P21/c featuring alternating layers of molecules in two different herringbone type patterns, with perchlorate counterions located mostly within one of the two layers. Micro transmittance spectroscopy revealed a broadened spectrum compared to those obtained in solution and in an amorphous thin film. Using polarized light, transmission spectroscopy revealed strong low-energy and weak high-energy bands polarized along the crystallographic b- and c-axis, respectively. Using the extended dipole approximation, significant exciton couplings are predicted between neighboring molecules in the crystal, of the order of the intrinsic monomer reorganization energies associated with nuclear relaxation after excitation, depicting a complex spectral scenario. The exciton coupling pattern explains the relative energies of the b- and c-polarized components but the observed intensities are opposite to expectations based on chromophore alignment within the crystal

Prognostic value of stress hyperglycemia ratio on short- and long-term mortality after acute myocardial infarction

Aims: Prior studies demonstrated an association between hospital admission blood glucose and mortality in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Because stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) has been suggested as a more reliable marker of stress hyperglycemia this study investigated to what extent SHR in comparison with admission blood glucose is associated with short- and long-term mortality in diabetic and non-diabetic AMI patients. Methods: The analysis was based on 2,311 AMI patients aged 25–84&nbsp;years from the population-based Myocardial Infarction Registry Augsburg (median follow-up time 6.5&nbsp;years [IQR: 4.9–8.1]). The SHR was calculated as admission glucose (mg/dl)/(28.7 × HbA1c (%)—46.7). Using logistic and COX regression analyses the associations between SHR and admission glucose and mortality were investigated. Result: Higher admission glucose and higher SHR were significantly and nonlinearly associated with higher 28-day mortality in AMI patients with and without diabetes. In patients without diabetes, the AUC for SHR was significantly lower than for admission glucose (SHR: 0.6912 [95%CI 0.6317–0.7496], admission glucose: 0.716 [95%CI 0.6572–0.7736], p-value: 0.0351). In patients with diabetes the AUCs were similar for SHR and admission glucose. Increasing admission glucose and SHR were significantly nonlinearly associated with higher 5-year all-cause mortality in AMI patients with diabetes but not in non-diabetic patients. AUC values indicated a comparable prediction of 5-year mortality for both measures in diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Conclusions: Stress hyperglycemia in AMI patients plays a significant role mainly with regard to short-term prognosis, but barely so for long-term prognosis, underlining the assumption that it is a transient dynamic disorder that occurs to varying degrees during the acute event, thereby affecting prognosis