Calibration of the Langley 16-foot transonic tunnel with test section air removal

The Langley 16-foot transonic tunnel with test section air removal (plenum suction) was calibrated to a Mach number of 1.3. The results of the calibration, including the effects of slot shape modifications, test section wall divergence, and water vapor condensation, are presented. A complete description of the wind tunnel and its auxiliary equipment is included

Conservation and concealment in SpeciesBanking.com, USA: an analysis of neoliberal performance in the species offsetting industry

Market-based strategies are promoted as neoliberal governance solutions to environmental problems, from local to global scales. Tradable mitigation schemes are proliferating. These include species banking, which enables payments for the purchase of species credits awarded to conserved areas to offset development impacts on protected species elsewhere. An analysis of species banks in the USA through a survey of data from the website www.SpeciesBanking.com (established as a ‘clearing house’ for species banking information) was complemented by questionnaire material from USA bank managers. The number of USA species banks has increased rapidly, bank area ownership and management is consolidated in a small number of organizations, and public information on species credit price is limited. In interrogating the case material, the roles of specific economic policies associated with neoliberalism are considered, focusing on the extension of privatization, de- and re-regulation and marketization into the arena of environmental conservation, and commodification processes as manifested in species banking. Problematic ecological and distributive ‘concealments’ in species banking include the ‘development-led’ nature of conservation banking, tendencies towards net biodiversity loss, and an emphasis on supporting conservation-related wealth accumulation by larger landowners and investors

Full-scale aircraft simulation with cryogenic tunnels and status of the National Transonic Facility

The effect of thermal and caloric imperfections in cryogenic nitrogen on boundary layers was determined to indicate that in order to simulate nonadiabatic laminar or turbulent boundary layers in a cryogenic nitrogen wind tunnel, the flight enthalpy ratio, rather than the temperature ratio, should be reproduced. The absence of significant real gas effects on both viscous and inviscid flows makes it unlikely that there will be large real gas effects on the cryogenic tunnel simulation of shock boundary layer interactions or other complex flow conditions encountered in flight. Condensation effects were studied to determine the minimum usable temperature and indicated that under most circumstances free stream Mach number rather than maximum local Mach number determines the onset of condensation effects

Characterization of cloud cover with a smartphone camera

A smartphone sky camera and associated image analysis algorithm has been developed and validated for the determination of the percentage of cloud cover. This provides the total cloud cover and the percentage of thick and thin cloud in the image. The system has been validated and tested using supervised image classification for a range of cloud types and cloud cover ranging from 4% to 98% and solar zenith angles between 6o and 49o. Additionally, this system provides the percentage of total cloud and thick and thin cloud in proximity to the solar disc. The size of the errors is comparable to those associated with the cloud fractions determined with commercial sky camera systems. The benefits of increasing the availability of cloud fraction measurements through the system described include the potential to develop improved local ultraviolet index and weather forecasts and contribute toward better understanding of local trends in cloud patterns that is required to be considered in the generation of solar energy

Autofluorescence Imaging of Endogenous Metabolic Cofactors in Response to Cytokine Stimulation of Classically Activated Macrophages

Background Macrophages are one of the most prevalent subsets of immune cells within the tumor microenvironment and perform a range of functions depending on the cytokines and chemokines released by surrounding cells and tissues. Recent research has revealed that macrophages can exhibit a spectrum of phenotypes, making them highly plastic due to their ability to alter their physiology in response to environmental cues. Recent advances in examining heterogeneous macrophage populations include optical metabolic imaging, such as fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM), and multiphoton microscopy. However, the method of detection for these systems is reliant upon the coenzymes NAD(P)H and FAD, which can be affected by factors other than cytoplasmic metabolic changes. In this study, we seek to validate these optical measures of metabolism by comparing optical results to more standard methods of evaluating cellular metabolism, such as extracellular flux assays and the presence of metabolic intermediates. Methods Here, we used autofluorescence imaging of endogenous metabolic co-factors via multiphoton microscopy and FLIM in conjunction with oxygen consumption rate and extracellular acidification rate through Seahorse extracellular flux assays to detect changes in cellular metabolism in quiescent and classically activated macrophages in response to cytokine stimulation. Results Based on our Seahorse XFP flux analysis, M0 and M1 macrophages exhibit comparable trends in oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR). Autofluorescence imaging of M0 and M1 macrophages was not only able to show acute changes in the optical redox ratio from pre-differentiation (0 hours) to 72 hours post-cytokine differentiation (M0: 0.320 to 0.258 and M1: 0.316 to 0.386), mean NADH lifetime (M0: 1.272 ns to 1.379 ns and M1: 1.265 ns to 1.206 ns), and A1/A2 ratio (M0: 3.452 to ~ 4 and M1: 3.537 to 4.529) but could also detect heterogeneity within each macrophage population. Conclusions Overall, the findings of this study suggest that autofluorescence metabolic imaging could be a reliable technique for longitudinal tracking of immune cell metabolism during activation post-cytokine stimulation

Transonic Aerodynamic Loading Characteristics of a Wing-Body-Tail Combination Having a 52.5 deg. Sweptback Wing of Aspect Ratio 3 With Conical Wing Camber and Body Indentation for a Design Mach Number of Square Root of 2

An investigation has been made of the effects of conical wing camber and body indentation according to the supersonic area rule on the aerodynamic wing loading characteristics of a wing-body-tail configuration at transonic speeds. The wing aspect ratio was 3, taper ratio was 0.1, and quarter-chord-line sweepback was 52.5 deg. with 3-percent-thick airfoil sections. The tests were conducted in the Langley 16-foot transonic tunnel at Mach numbers from 0.80 to 1.05 and at angles of attack from 0 deg. to 14 deg., with Reynolds numbers based on mean aerodynamic chord varying from 7 x 10(exp 6) to 8 x 10(exp 6). Conical camber delayed wing-tip stall and reduced the severity of the accompanying longitudinal instability but did not appreciably affect the spanwise load distribution at angles of attack below tip stall. Body indentation reduced the transonic chordwise center-of-pressure travel from about 8 percent to 5 percent of the mean aerodynamic chord

The Simulated Ocular and Whole-body Distribution of Natural Sunlight to Kiteboarders: A High Risk Case of UVR Exposure for Athletes Utilizing Water Surfaces in Sport [Not yet published 14/01/20 MC]

Kiteboarding is an aquatic sporting discipline that has not yet been considered in the literature to date in terms of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) measurement. Kiteboarders need to look upward and are placed obliquely relative to the horizon when towed behind an overhead kite over a reflective water surface. This research defines the typical body surface orientation of a kiteboarder in motion through video vector analysis and demonstrates the potential risk to ocular and skin surface damage through practical measurement of solar UVR using a manikin model. Video analysis of 51 kiteboarders were made to construct skeletal wireframes showing the surface orientation of the leg, thigh, spine, humerus, lower arm and head of a typical kiteboarder. Solar UVR dosimeter measurements made using a manikin model demonstrate that the vertex and anterior surfaces of the knee, lower leg, and lower humerus received 89%, 90%, 80% and 63% of the available ambient UVR respectively for a typical kiteboarder who is tilted back more than 15o from vertical while in motion. Ocular (periorbital) exposures ranged from 56 to 68% of ambient. These new findings show that the anterior skin surfaces of kiteboarders and the eye are at elevated risk of solar UVR damage

Towards a synthesized critique of neoliberal biodiversity conservation

During the last three decades, the arena of biodiversity conservation has largely aligned itself with the globally dominant political ideology of neoliberalism and associated governmentalities. Schemes such as payments for ecological services are promoted to reach the multiple ‘wins’ so desired: improved biodiversity conservation, economic development, (international) cooperation and poverty alleviation, amongst others. While critical scholarship with respect to understanding the linkages between neoliberalism, capitalism and the environment has a long tradition, a synthesized critique of neoliberal conservation - the ideology (and related practices) that the salvation of nature requires capitalist expansion - remains lacking. This paper aims to provide such a critique. We commence with the assertion that there has been a conflation between ‘economics’ and neoliberal ideology in conservation thinking and implementation. As a result, we argue, it becomes easier to distinguish the main problems that neoliberal win-win models pose for biodiversity conservation. These are framed around three points: the stimulation of contradictions; appropriation and misrepresentation and the disciplining of dissent. Inspired by Bruno Latour’s recent ‘compositionist manifesto’, the conclusion outlines some ideas for moving beyond critique

Lung involvement at presentation predicts disease activity and permanent organ damage at 6, 12 and 24 months follow - up in ANCA - associated vasculitis.

BACKGROUND: Antineutrophilic cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) may present with pulmonary involvement ranging from mild to life-threatening disease such as diffuse alveolar hemorrhage. There is a paucity of information regarding morbidity outcomes for AAV subjects presenting with lung involvement. This study determines the relationship between disease activity and damage in these subjects using the Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score v 3 (BVAS 3) and Vasculitis Damage Index (VDI) respectively. RESULTS: 151 patients with AAV were included with 59 presenting initially with pulmonary involvement. The initial BVAS scores recorded at time of diagnosis were positively correlated with the final VDI scores at 24 months (p \u3c 0.0001, rs = 0.5871). No differences between BVAS and VDI scores were seen for both groups, however in the lung-involvement group only, BVAS scores were significantly higher at 6, 12 and 24 months whilst the VDI scores were significantly higher at 12 and 24 months. Subjects presenting with pulmonary involvement had an increased likelihood for cardiovascular (OR 1.31, 95% CI 0.89, 1.54; p = 0.032) and renal (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.22, 1.39; p = 0.005) involvement. Subjects presenting with lung involvement with granulomatosis with polyangiitis and microscopic polyangiitis had 24-month VDI scores that were significantly higher (p = 0.027, p = 0.045), and more likely to develop pulmonary fibrosis (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.48, 2.12; p \u3c 0.001). CONCLUSION: AAV subjects with lung involvement at presentation had a higher disease activity and damage scores at 6, 12 and 24 months follow-up representing a considerable burden of disease despite improvement in overall survival due to the introduction of immunosuppressive therapy

Evaluation of shade profiles while walking in urban environments: A case study from inner suburban Sydney, Australia

Precise shade distributions at the street level are an area of research of increasing importance to provide complete and high spatial and temporal resolutions of the amount and effectiveness of shade. Temporal shade distributions and profiles were evaluated for an inner Sydney tree-lined suburban street at different times of the day using an electronic sun journal (ESJ), providing detailed profiles of shade availability for various times of the day to provide very detailed street-level shade profiles and distributions that are often not included in shade audit methods and models. Further profiles were developed of streets adjoining shopfronts and public parks. Distributions of dense, light and no shade areas were calculated, revealing that tree canopy shade area during the middle of the day is considerably less effective and more prone to gaps than at other times. Distributions calculated using the ESJ were compatible with the paper-based shade auditing with less than 10% variation, whilst the ESJ has revealed a greater resolution of detail of gaps in the shade, thus records a higher amount of areas of no shade. The ESJ is a robust, low cost and portable tool that can efficiently and quickly produce shade profiles during walks in an urban environment, such as streetscapes