Multibody aircraft study, volume 2

The potential benefits of a multibody aircraft when compared to a single body aircraft are presented. The analyses consist principally of a detailed point design analysis of three multibody and one single body aircraft, based on a selected payload of 350,000 kg (771,618 lb), for final aircraft definitions; sensitivity studies to evaluate the effects of variations in payload, wing semispan body locations, and fuel price; recommendations as to the research and technology requirements needed to validate the multibody concept. Two, two body, one, three body, and one single body aircraft were finalized for the selected payload, with DOC being the prime figure of merit. When compared to the single body, the multibody aircraft showed a reduction in DOC by as much as 11.3 percent. Operating weight was reduced up to 14 percent, and fly away cost reductions ranged from 8.6 to 13.4 percent. Weight reduction, hence cost, of the multibody aircraft resulted primarily from the wing bending relief afforded by the bodies being located outboard on the wing

Implicit theories and offender representativeness in judgments about sexual crime

Implicit theories structure the way people understand and respond to various human actions. Typically, people believe attributes are either fixed (entitists) or malleable (incrementalists). The present study aimed to examine: (a) whether attitudes towards sexual offenders differ depending upon one’s implicit theory about human nature and sexual offenders, and (b) whether implicit theories are associated with judgments made about different types of child abuser. A sample of 252 community participants was recruited. Their attitudes, implicit theories, and political orientation were assessed via self-report. One of three vignettes describing an incidence of child sexual abuse was then presented. The cases were identical except the perpetrator was either an adult male, an adult female, or a male juvenile. Participants then made judgments about the offender's deserved sentence and moral character. Entitists (across both domains) held more negative attitudes than incrementalists, although the magnitude of the difference was greatest when examining implicit theories about sexual offenders. Compared to those with an incremental theory of sexual offenders, entity theorists judged sexual offending to be more: (a) indicative of the perpetrator’s moral character, and (b) deserving of punishment. However, scores were greater towards the adult male relative to the adult female and juvenile. The findings suggest that implicit theories about sexual offenders are domain-specific. They also indicate that judgments made by those with an entity theory (about sexual offenders) are affected by whether a case is representative of a stereotypical sexual offender. Implications of the findings are discussed, along with limitations and future research

Terbium luminescence in synthetic peptide loops from calcium-binding proteins with different energy donors.

Fourteen 14-mer peptides corresponding to a consensus sequence of metal-binding loops from proteins of the calmodulin family were synthesized. The effect of varying both the position in the binding loop, and the type of aromatic side chains as energy donors for enhancement of terbium luminescence, was studied. It was concluded that tryptophan in loop position 7 gave optimal luminescence enhancement, and that the additional inclusion of a tyrosine in the loop at positions 2 or 4 could further boost emission from the bound terbium. In all further cases energy transfer from aromatic residues at positions other than 7 was markedly less efficient. These results suggest that the peptides assume a configuration which allows a hexadentate ligand structure around the bound terbium ion. This is consistent with a Dexter-type electron exchange model of energy transfer

Far-Infrared Blocked Impurity Band Detector Development

DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems, supported by detector materials supplier Lawrence Semiconductor Research Laboratory, is developing far-infrared detectors jointly with NASA Langley under the Far-IR Detector Technology Advancement Partnership (FIDTAP). The detectors are intended for spectral characterization of the Earth's energy budget from space. During the first year of this effort we have designed, fabricated, and evaluated pilot Blocked Impurity Band (BIB) detectors in both silicon and germanium, utilizing pre-existing customized detector materials and photolithographic masks. A second-year effort has prepared improved silicon materials, fabricated custom photolithographic masks for detector process, and begun detector processing. We report the characterization results from the pilot detectors and other progress

Paper Session I-A - Electrostatic Charging of Polymers by Particle Impact at Martian Atmospheric Pressurs

Studies of the electrostatic interaction between micrometer-sized particles and polymer surfaces are of great interest to NASA’s planetary exploration program. The unmanned landing missions to Mars planned for this decade as well as the possible manned missions that might take place during the second decade of this century require a better understanding of the electrostatic response of the materials used in landing crafts and equipment when exposed to wind-blown dust or to surface dust and sand particles. We report on preliminary experiments designed to measure the electrostatic charge developed on three polymer surfaces as they are impacted by Mars simulant particles less than 5 micrometers in diameter moving at 20 m/s. Experiments were performed in a CO2 atmosphere at 10 mbars of pressure using a particle delivery method that propels the particles without contact. The polymer surfaces, commonly used in space applications, were chosen so that they span the triboelectric series

The Model Parameter Estimation Experiment (MOPEX): Its structure, connection to other international initiatives and future directions

The Model Parameter Estimation Experiment (MOPEX) is an international project aimed at developing enhanced techniques for the a priori estimation of parameters in hydrologic models and in land surface parameterization schemes connected to atmospheric models. The MOPEX science strategy involves: database creation, a priori parameter estimation methodology development, parameter refinement or calibration, and the demonstration of parameter transferability. A comprehensive MOPEX database has been developed that contains historical hydrometeorological data and land surface characteristics data for many hydrologic basins in the United States (US) and in other countries. This database is being continuously expanded to include basins from various hydroclimatic regimes throughout the world. MOPEX research has largely been driven by a series of international workshops that have brought interested hydrologists and land surface modelers together to exchange knowledge and experience in developing and applying parameter estimation techniques. With its focus on parameter estimation, MOPEX plays an important role in the international context of other initiatives such as GEWEX, PUB and PILPS. This paper outlines the MOPEX initiative, discusses its role in the scientific community and briefly states future directions

Persistent Organic Chemicals in the Pacific Basin Countries: An Overview

The Pacific Basin is a unique geographical region representing tropical, temperate and polar zones. This region is home to 2/3 of world’s population and consists of rapidly growing economies (countries) and highly developed countries. The Pacific Basin countries have had a history of use of persistent organic chemicals (POCs) at varying proportions during the last five decades. Due to diverse climatic and socio-economic conditions, the environment and biota in different countries in this basin have varying degrees of environmental contamination and effects on wildlife and humans. In this chapter, the historical background of POCs including, discovery, production, use, regulations/restrictions imposed, current status and possible future trends are reviewed especially focusing on the countries in the Pacific Rim

Coherent diffraction of single Rice Dwarf virus particles using hard X-rays at the Linac Coherent Light Source

Single particle diffractive imaging data from Rice Dwarf Virus (RDV) were recorded using the Coherent X-ray Imaging (CXI) instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). RDV was chosen as it is a wellcharacterized model system, useful for proof-of-principle experiments, system optimization and algorithm development. RDV, an icosahedral virus of about 70 nm in diameter, was aerosolized and injected into the approximately 0.1 mu m diameter focused hard X-ray beam at the CXI instrument of LCLS. Diffraction patterns from RDV with signal to 5.9 angstrom ngstrom were recorded. The diffraction data are available through the Coherent X-ray Imaging Data Bank (CXIDB) as a resource for algorithm development, the contents of which are described here.11Ysciescopu