Materials Development: Pitfalls, Successes, and Lessons

The incorporation of new or improved materials in aerospace systems, or indeed any systems, can yield tremendous payoffs in the system performance or cost, and in many cases can be enabling for a mission or concept. However, the availability of new materials requires advance development, and too often this is neglected or postponed, leaving a project or mission with little choice. In too many cases, the immediate reaction is to use what was used before; this usually turns out not to be possible and results in large sums of money, and amounts of time, being expended on reinvention rather than development of a material with extended capabilities. Material innovation and development is time consuming, with some common wisdom claiming that the timeline is at least 20 years. This time expands considerably when development is stopped and restarted, or knowledge is lost. Down selection of materials is necessary, especially as the Technical Readiness Level (TRL) increases. However, the costs must be considered and approaches should be taken to retain knowledge and allow for restarting the development process. Regardless of the exact time required, it is clear that it is necessary to have materials, at all stages of development, in a research and development pipeline and available for maturation as required. This talk will discuss some of theses issues, including some of the elements for a development path for materials. Some history of materials developments will be included. The usefulness of computational materials science, as a route to decreasing material development time, will be an important element of this discussion. Collaboration with outside institutions and nations is also critical for innovation, but raises the issues of intellectual property and protections, and national security (ITAR rules, for example)

The Effects of a Maternal Childhood Lead-Poisoning Education Program on Knowledge, Health Beliefs, and Compliance

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of two educational intervention methods on participant\u27s knowledge, health beliefs and prevention behavior as they relate to childhood lead poisoning. The two educational methods being used in the study are personal instruction by the investigator and a 12-minute video developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics on childhood lead poisoning. Information contained in both educational tools is identical. In particular, this study seeks to determine if one educational intervention was more effective than the other. The final purpose of the study is to test the Health Belief Model by examining the effects of knowledge and health beliefs on prevention at posttest in both groups. The study employs an adapted version of Russell\u27s (1991) Childhood Injury Prevention Instrument which was developed using constructs of the Health Belief Model. The sample of 50 women was 94% African American, 4% Caucasian and 2% other race individuals. The majority of the sample (64%) report a total family income of under $10,000 per year. Approximately 82\% of the sample are unmarried and 38\% report having at least a high school education, Most of the subjects were between 19--24 years of age (34\%). All of the participants utilize Women and Infant Children (WIC) clinics within the local health department. Overall, the study finds a statistically significant difference in pre and post prevention behavior p \u3c.05 within each intervention group. An increase in posttest knowledge is also shown to be statistically significant at p \u3c.05 within each group. Only two subscales of the Health Belief Model are shown to be statistically significant at p \u3c.05 at posttest: perceived seriousness and perceived barriers. No differences are seen between the two types of instruction received on prevention behavior, knowledge or health beliefs. Finally, knowledge and health beliefs were not found to be predictors of compliance at posttest

Strengthening Black Churches: A Collaborative Approach

Throughout United States history the Black Church has played a significant role in the Black community. As one of a few truly African-American institutions, the Black Church, led by skilled, committed pastors and lay leader, has served as an anchor for the survival and achievement of the African-American community. Black churches bring to their social ministries and neighborhood revitalization efforts a wealth of strengths and assets including a set of values, a self-help philosophy, an emphasis on leadership development, and human resources which are all brought to bear on the myriad of social, economic and moral issues confronting Black people. In the early 1990s, Boston-area foundations began supporting the work of several Black churches in the community. After initial data gathering and reflection, foundations concluded that Black churches have a unique and critical role to play in building and sustaining the Black community and that foundations can further their own goals by forming new partnerships with Black churches