Caging Mechanism for a drag-free satellite position sensor

A disturbance compensation system for satellites based on the drag-free concept was mechanized and flown, using a spherical proof mass and a cam-guided caging mechanism. The caging mechanism controls the location of the proof mass for testing and constrains it during launch. Design requirements, design details, and hardware are described

Daily Life in McMinnville 100 Years Ago

The McMinnville 100 Years Ago project is a collaborative research project that has been initiated by Professor Huntsberger’s History of Mass Communication class. This particular project topic focuses on the daily life of Yamhill County in 1912. As a group we have chosen to divide our project into different subject areas: churches, businesses, schools, recreation, and clothing. In order to learn about the daily life of Yamhill County, we analyzed historical evidence from Yamhill County in 1912, such as newspapers, pictures, and journals. These documents were found with help from the Yamhill County Historical Museum and the McMinnville Public Library. With this evidence, we crafted together a thorough portrayal on the daily life of Yamhill County in 1912

Airborne Measurements of Gravity Wave Breaking at the Tropopause

2000 FLORIDA AVE NW, WASHINGTON, DC, 2000

Building envelope design for climate change mitigation: a case study of hotels in Greece

This paper presents results of a study of the impact of future climate change scenarios as developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and implemented in weather files for specific future time slices (2020, 2050 and 2080) for the three climatic regions of Greece on the design of the external envelope of a hotel building in Greece. The impact of climate change on the hotel is assessed via hourly simulations of a calibrated model developed using the software TRNSYS. Additionally, the paper aims to identify optimal refurbishment strategies, given the constraints of the existing case-study building when transposed to the three different climatic zones in Greece. Two modes of the hotel building were studied: ‘all year’ and ‘seasonally’ operated. It was found that different external envelope energy-efficient strategies can be applied depending on the climatic zone and whether the hotel is all-year or seasonally operated

The Puzzle of the Antebellum Fertility Decline in the United States: New Evidence and Reconsideration

All nations that can be characterized as developed have undergone the demographic transition from high to low levels of fertility and mortality. Most presently developed nations began their fertility transitions in the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries. The United States was an exception. Evidence using census-based child-woman ratios suggests that the fertility of the white population of the United States was declining from at least the year 1800. By the end of the antebellum period in 1860, child-woman ratios had declined 33 percent. There is also indication that the free black population was experiencing a fertility transition. This transition was well in advance of significant urbanization, industrialization, and mortality decline and well in advance of every other presently developed nation with the exception of France. This paper uses census data on county-level child-woman ratios to test a variety of explanations on the antebellum American fertility transition. It also uses micro data from the IPUMS files for 1850 and 1860. A number of the explanations, including the land availability hypothesis, the local labor market-child default hypothesis, and the life cycle saving hypothesis, are consistent with the data, but nuptiality, not one of the usual explanations, emerges as likely very important.

American Indian Mortality in the Late Nineteenth Century: The Impact of Federal Assimilation Policies on a Vulnerable Population

Under the urging of late nineteenth-century humanitarian reformers, U.S. policy toward American Indians shifted from removal and relocation efforts to state-sponsored attempts to "civilize" Indians through allotment of tribal lands, citizenship, and forced education. There is little consensus, however, whether and to what extent federal assimilation efforts played a role in the stabilization and recovery of the American Indian population in the twentieth century. In this paper, we rely on a new IPUMS sample of the 1900 census of American Indians and census-based estimation methods to investigate the impact of federal assimilation policies on childhood mortality. We use children ever born and children surviving data included in the censuses to estimate childhood mortality and [responses to] several questions unique to the Indian enumeration [including tribal affiliation, degree of "white blood", type of dwelling, ability to speak English, and whether a citizen by allotment] to construct multivariate models of child mortality. The results suggest that mortality among American Indians in the late nineteenth century was very high - approximately 62% [standardize as % or percent throughout] higher than that for the white population. The impact of assimilation policies was mixed. Increased ability to speak English was associated with lower child mortality, while allotment of land in severalty was associated with higher mortality. The combined effect was a very modest four percent [as above] decline in mortality. As of 1900, the government campaign to assimilate Indians had yet to result in a significant decline in Indian mortality while incurring substantial economic and cultural costs.

Measurement and analysis of lightning induced voltages in aircraft electrical systems

Lightning induced voltages in aircraft electrical circuit

Weekly irinotecan in a patient with metastatic colorectal cancer on hemodialysis due to chronic renal failure

Background: The cytotoxic treatment of patients suffering from advanced or metastatic cancer undergoing hemodialysis due to chronic renal failure still remains a problem, since for those patients pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data on most cytotoxic agents are lacking. Case Report: We report a 45-year-old male who suffered from chronic renal failure and was diagnosed with stage-3 colorectal cancer (CRC) in February 2000. After surgical removal of the tumor an adjuvant chemotherapy of dose-reduced i.v. bolus 5-fluorouracil and folinic acid was begun (Mayo protocol). Due to excessive gastrointestinal toxicity, therapy was discontinued after the first cycle. In April 2000 liver metastases were diagnosed. The patient was then put on a weekly schedule of dose-reduced CPT-11 (50 mg/m(2), 80 mg total). No hematological or non-hematological toxicity grade 3/4 was observed. Due to excellent tolerability and lack of severe side effects the dose was increased up to 80 mg/m2 (140 mg total) weekly. A dose escalation to 100 mg/m(2) (180 mg total) resulted in severe diarrhea (grade 4). Within 2 months of treatment the patient achieved a lasting partial remission until April 2001 (12 months). A significant progression of hepatic metastases required an alternative treatment regimen beginning in July 2001 (HAI, hepatic artery infusion). Conclusion: This case report demonstrates the feasibility and efficacy of a weekly treatment with dose-reduced CPT-11 in a patient with metastatic CRC on hemodialysis due to chronic renal failure