The Corporate Occupation of the Final Frontier; Emerging Market Analysis of SpaceX and the Privatized Race to Space.

This project is important to allow a full understanding of the current environment of the emerging market of space transport and travel. As we continue to move into a more technologically advanced society, we will no doubt have more contact with companies looking to profit from the race to deliver the promise of satellite space to companies all over the world in a more cost effective and powerful manner. To this end, Google and Facebook have already begun cooperation with private companies to propagate the space around our planet, and in addition, the investment and return basis of this work is essential knowledge that must be understood. With the occupation of more and more technology within orbit around our planet will also come some very future oriented problems such as demand and market size potential that must be examined to gain a better understanding of the future for the new industry. The growth of commercial space companies is now burgeoning within the United States and soon the world, and with this poises a unique opportunity to examine both past and current events to illustrate the true nature of this emerging industry in a way that past work has not been able to; mainly in the realm of privatization. To illustrate these aspects of the growing industry this paper first examines the history of achievements and legislation that lead to the population of the market by commercial firms for the first time in history. Next, the paper analyzes the depth of a new aspect of the market, space tourism, its major players, and estimates for demand and pricing information. After this analysis is a complete illustration of the competitive and general environment of SpaceX and NASA, showing the differences and similarities of the old and new participants in the market. To show the crucial aspects of these firms, multiple analysis are used, including an advanced SWOT, Porter’s Five Forces, and a strategic mapping. Building on these differences brings the next portion of the research, the changes in cost and benefit provided by SpaceX affirming its foundation in the industry. Finally, the implications of this research are implored, followed by conclusions and potential future research that may come from this study

Converting three-space matrices to equivalent six-space matrices for Delone scalars in S6.

The transformations from the primitive cells of the centered Bravais lattices to the corresponding centered cells have conventionally been listed as three-by-three matrices that transform three-space lattice vectors. Using those three-by-three matrices when working in the six-dimensional space of lattices represented as Selling scalars as used in Delone (Delaunay) reduction, one could transform to the three-space representation, apply the three-by-three matrices and then back-transform to the six-space representation, but it is much simpler to have the equivalent six-by-six matrices and apply them directly. The general form of the transformation from the three-space matrix to the corresponding matrix operating on Selling scalars (expressed in space S6) is derived, and the particular S6matrices for the centered Delone types are listed. (Note: in his later publications, Boris Delaunay used the Russian version of his surname, Delone.)

Juvenile Chemical Sediments and the Long Term Persistence of Water at the Surface of Mars

Chemical sediments and the aqueous alteration products of volcanic rocks clearly indicate the presence of water, at least episodically, at the Martian surface. Compared to similar materials formed on the early Earth, however, Martian deposits are juvenile, or diagenetically under-developed. Here we examine the role of water in facilitating various diagenetic reactions and evaluate the predicted effects of time and temperature for aqueous diagenesis on Mars. Using kinetic formulations based on terrestrial sedimentary geology, we quantify the integrated effects of time and temperature for a range of possible burial and thermal histories of precipitated minerals on Mars. From this, we estimate thresholds beyond which these precipitates should have been converted to the point of non-detection in the presence of water. Surface water has been shown to be at least episodically present in recent times. Nonetheless, the integrated duration of aqueous activity recorded over geologically long intervals by hydrated amorphous silica, smectite clays and Fe-sulfate minerals suggests that where these minerals occur water did not persist much beyond their initial deposition. This geochemical conclusion converges with geomorphologic studies that suggest water limitation during the late Noachian–Hesperian peak of valley formation and a still more limited footprint of water since that time. In addition to documenting the presence of water and its chemical properties, a complete assessment of potentially habitable environments on Mars should address the timescales on which liquid water has persisted and the timing of aqueous episodes relative to major planetary events.Organismic and Evolutionary Biolog

Information sciences experiment system

The rapid expansion of remote sensing capability over the last two decades will take another major leap forward with the advent of the Earth Observing System (Eos). An approach is presented that will permit experiments and demonstrations in onboard information extraction. The approach is a non-intrusive, eavesdropping mode in which a small amount of spacecraft real estate is allocated to an onboard computation resource. How such an approach allows the evaluation of advanced technology in the space environment, advanced techniques in information extraction for both Earth science and information science studies, direct to user data products, and real-time response to events, all without affecting other on-board instrumentation is discussed

Lifetime exercise is associated with eugonadism in aging men: a preliminary investigation

Testosterone is an important biological hormone, which displays a gradual decline with advancing age. Exercise training has been proposed as a first-line therapy for biochemical hypogonadism (clinically low serum testosterone). As such, the present investigation compared the incidence of biochemical hypogonadism (total testosterone <11.3 nmol·L-1) in a cohort of otherwise healthy lifelong sedentary men (SED [N=24], 63±5 years), compared with a positive control group of lifelong exercisers (LEX [N=16], 60±5 years) using electrochemiluminescent immunoassay. Fisher’s exact test identified significantly more of the SED group were classified as biochemically hypogonadal than the LEX group (8/24 compared to 2/16 respectively; p<.05). These data provide preliminary evidence that exercise may protect against the development of low testosterone defined hypogonadism in aging men

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) increases insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) in sedentary aging men but not masters’ athletes: an observational study

Introduction: The aim of this investigation was to examine the impact high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on serum insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) in active compared with sedentary aging men. Methods: 22 lifetime sedentary (SED; 62 ± 2 years) and 17 masters’ athletes (LEX; 60 ± 5 years) were recruited to the study. As HIIT requires preconditioning exercise in sedentary cohorts, the study required three assessment phases; enrollment (phase A), following preconditioning exercise (phase B), and post-HIIT (phase C). Serum IGF-I was determined by electrochemiluminescent immunoassay. Results: IGF-I was higher in LEX compared to SED at baseline (p = 0.007, Cohen’s d = 0.91), and phase B (p = 0.083, Cohen’s d = 0.59), with only a small difference at C (p = 0.291, Cohen’s d = 0.35). SED experienced a small increase in IGF-I following preconditioning from 13.1 ± 4.7 to 14.2 ± 6.0 μg·dl−1 (p = 0.376, Cohen’s d = 0.22), followed by a larger increase post-HIIT (16.9 ± 4.4 μg·dl−1), which was significantly elevated compared with baseline (p = 0.002, Cohen’s d = 0.85), and post-preconditioning (p = 0.005, Cohen’s d = 0.51). LEX experienced a trivial changes in IGF-I from A to B (18.2 ± 6.4 to 17.2 ± 3.7 μg·dl−1 [p = 0.538, Cohen’s d = 0.19]), and a small change post-HIIT (18.4 ± 4.1 μg·dl−1 [p = 0.283, Cohen’s d = 0.31]). Small increases were observed in fat-free mass in both groups following HIIT (p < 0.05, Cohen’s d = 0.32–0.45). Conclusions: In conclusion, HIIT with preconditioning exercise abrogates the age associated difference in IGF-I between SED and LEX, and induces small improvements in fat-free mass in both SED and LEX

HIIT produces increases in muscle power and free testosterone in male masters athletes

High intensity interval training (HIIT) improves peak power output (PPO) in sedentary aging men but has not been examined in masters endurance athletes. Therefore, we investigated whether a 6-week programme of low volume HIIT would (i) improve PPO in masters athletes and (ii) whether any change in PPO would be associated with steroid hormone perturbations.Seventeen male masters athletes (60 ± 5 years) completed the intervention which comprised of nine HIIT sessions over six weeks. HIIT sessions involved six 30 s sprints at 40% PPO, interspersed with 3 min active recovery. Absolute PPO (799 ± 205 W and 865 ± 211 W) and relative PPO (10.2 ± 2.0 W·kg-1 and 11.0 ± 2.2 W·kg-1) increased from pre- to post-HIIT respectively (P<0.001, Cohen’s d=0.32-0.38). No significant change was observed for total testosterone (15.2 ± 4.2 nmol·l-1 to 16.4 ± 3.3 nmol·l-1 [P=0.061, Cohen’s d=0.32]), whilst a small increase in free testosterone occurred following HIIT (7.0 ± 1.2 ng·dl-1 to 7.5 ± 1.1 ng·dl-1 pre- to post-HIIT [P=0.050, Cohen’s d=0.40]). Six weeks’ HIIT improves PPO in masters athletes and increases free testosterone. Taken together, these data indicate there is a place for carefully timed HIIT epochs in regimes of masters athletes

Hearing Loss and Driving: Does Auditory Distraction Have a Disproportionate Effect on the Hearing Impaired?

Research showing differences between the driving outcomes of hearing impaired and normally hearing individuals (such as raised road traffic accidents), proposes this has occurred due to two main reasons: (1) that sound present in the driving environment is inaudible for hearing impaired drivers, and (2) that audible sound is disproportionately distracting for the hearing impaired driver. This thesis reports on a series of experiments which investigated the latter of these proposals. A questionnaire study was used to explore driving patterns and experiences of hearing impaired individuals. Empirical studies were also conducted to investigate the effect of hearing loss on driving performance and visual attention, under auditory task conditions. Questionnaire responses suggested that hearing impaired individuals did not perceive hearing loss as problematic for driving performance. However, the self-reported hearing of respondents predicted reports of driving difficulty better than any other independent variable. A laboratory-based study hinted that extra visual task performance decrements as a result of auditory engagement occurred in hearing impaired individuals. Since these findings were in older adults, the influence of factors co-existing with hearing loss (such as cognitive decline) were questioned. These confounds were removed by presenting an auditory task subject to simulated hearing loss in a dual-task driving simulator experiment; allowing for a young, normally hearing sample, and within-subjects design. The resulting data showed no disproportionate effect of hearing loss on driving performance during the concurrent auditory task. Accordingly, distortion to sound arising from hearing loss may not be entirely responsible for the disproportionate effects of auditory distraction in hearing impaired drivers. Other factors, co-existing with hearing loss, appear to act synergistically to cause problems. Future work should investigate further the aspects of hearing loss (and co-existing factors) responsible for changes in driving outcomes, by, for instance, using a group of young hearing impaired participants