Development of an Orbital Receiver for Low-Frequency Radio Energy from the Planet Jupiter Final Report

Development of radio receiver for Pioneer F/G Asteroid-Jupiter spacecraf

Extending the JOVE Program through undergraduate research

The JOVE program was initiated in 1988 to develop NASA-related research capabilities in colleges and universities which had had little or no previous experience with NASA. Any institution which was not currently funded at more than $100 K annually by NASA was eligible. In an open competition six universities were selected for participation in the first year. NASA supplied funds, access to its facilities and data, collaboration with its researchers and a hookup to the internet. In return the university was expected to match NASA's investment by giving its participating faculty members time off of their teaching schedules to perform research during the school year, by waiving it overhead charge and by putting up real funds to match those supplied by NASA. Each school was eligible for three years after which they were expected to seek funds from other sources. Over the span of the program more than 100 colleges and universities have participated. Fifteen have finished their eligiblity. Since one of the strong components of the program was the direct involvement of undergraduate students in active research, it was decided to develop a follow-on program which would provide stipends to undergraduate students at the institutions who had used up their JOVE eligiblity. NASA's desire to transfer its technologies to the private sector now permeates all of its programs. Therefore a Partnering Venture (PAVE) program is now being discussed in which JOVE-like rules will be applied to small companies which do not now do much business with NASA. The JOVE, PAVE, and other summer activities of the author are told here

Detection and analysis of Jupiter's decametric micropulses

The occurrence of Jupiter's decametric radio emission can be correlated with the central meridian longitude of Jupiter as if the active regions were radio transmitters placed at fixed longitudes on its surface. These active regions are commonly called sources and are labelled Source A, Jovian longitude = 200 deg, Source B = 100 deg and Source C =300 deg. These sources are not always active. However, they can be turned-on if Jupiter's innermost Galilean moon, Io, is in the right phase. In fact, if Io is found 90 deg from superior geocentric conjunction (maximum eastern elongation) and if source B is simultaneously on the central meridian, source B radiation is almost guaranteed, whereas source C radiation is highly likely when Io is found 240 deg from superior geocentric conjunction. Source A radiation is largely independent of Io's position. Interestingly, the Io-related radio storms contain unusually rapid events that can only be properly studied using wide-band techniques

Development of an Outreach Program for NASA: "NASA Ambassadors"

It is widely known that the average American citizen has either no idea or the wrong impression of what NASA is doing. The most common impression is that NASA's sole mission is to build and launch spacecraft and that the everyday experience of the common citizen would be impacted very little if NASA failed to exist altogether. Some feel that most of NASA's efforts are much too expensive and that the money would be better used on other efforts. Others feel that most of NASA's efforts either fail altogether or fail to meet their original objectives. Yet others feel that NASA is so mired in bureaucracy that it is no longer able to function. The goal of the NASA Ambassadors Program (NAP) is to educate the general populace as to what NASA's mission and goals actually are, to re-excite the "man on the street" with NASA's discoveries and technologies, and to convince him that NASA really does impact his everyday experience and that the economy of the U.S. is very dependent on NASA-type research. Each of the NASA centers currently run a speakers bureau through its Public Affairs Office (PAO). The speakers, NASA employees, are scheduled on an "as available" status and their travel is paid by NASA. However, there are only a limited number of them and their message may be regarded as being somewhat biased as they are paid by NASA. On the other hand, there are many members of NASA's summer programs which come from all areas of the country. Most of them not only believe that NASA's mission is important but are willing and able to articulate it to others. Furthermore, in the eyes of the public, they are probably more effective as ambassadors for NASA than are the NASA employees, as they do not derive their primary funding from it. Therefore it was decided to organize materials for them to use in presentations to general audiences in their home areas. Each person who accepted these materials was to be called a "NASA Ambassador"

Simulations of shock generation and propagation in laser-plasmas

AbstractWe analyze the results of a recent experiment performed at the PALS laboratory and concerning ablation pressure at 0.44 µm laser wavelength measured at irradiance up to 2 × 1014 W/cm2. Using the code "ATLANT," we have performed two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamics simulations. Results show that 2D effects did not affect the experiment and also give evidence of the phenomenon of delocalized absorption of laser light

Nineteenth-century Ship-based Catches of Gray Whales, Eschrichtius robustus, in the Eastern North Pacific

The 19th century commercial ship-based fishery for gray whales, Eschrichtius robustus, in the eastern North Pacific began in 1846 and continued until the mid 1870’s in southern areas and the 1880’s in the north. Henderson identified three periods in the southern part of the fishery: Initial, 1846–1854; Bonanza, 1855–1865; and Declining, 1866–1874. The largest catches were made by “lagoon whaling” in or immediately outside the whale population’s main wintering areas in Mexico—Magdalena Bay, Scammon’s Lagoon, and San Ignacio Lagoon. Large catches were also made by “coastal” or “alongshore” whaling where the whalers attacked animals as they migrated along the coast. Gray whales were also hunted to a limited extent on their feeding grounds in the Bering and Chukchi Seas in summer. Using all available sources, we identified 657 visits by whaling vessels to the Mexican whaling grounds during the gray whale breeding and calving seasons between 1846 and 1874. We then estimated the total number of such visits in which the whalers engaged in gray whaling. We also read logbooks from a sample of known visits to estimate catch per visit and the rate at which struck animals were lost. This resulted in an overall estimate of 5,269 gray whales (SE = 223.4) landed by the ship-based fleet (including both American and foreign vessels) in the Mexican whaling grounds from 1846 to 1874. Our “best” estimate of the number of gray whales removed from the eastern North Pacific (i.e. catch plus hunting loss) lies somewhere between 6,124 and 8,021, depending on assumptions about survival of struck-but-lost whales. Our estimates can be compared to those by Henderson (1984), who estimated that 5,542–5,507 gray whales were secured and processed by ship-based whalers between 1846 and 1874; Scammon (1874), who believed the total kill over the same period (of eastern gray whales by all whalers in all areas) did not exceed 10,800; and Best (1987), who estimated the total landed catch of gray whales (eastern and western) by American ship-based whalers at 2,665 or 3,013 (method-dependent) from 1850 to 1879. Our new estimates are not high enough to resolve apparent inconsistencies between the catch history and estimates of historical abundance based on genetic variability. We suggest several lines of further research that may help resolve these inconsistencies

A comprehensive numerical study of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions in marine stratocumulus

Three-dimensional large-eddy simulations (LES) with detailed bin-resolved microphysics are performed to explore the diurnal variation of marine stratocumulus (MSc) clouds under clean and polluted conditions. The sensitivity of the aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions to variation of sea surface temperature, free tropospheric humidity, large-scale divergence rate, and wind speed is assessed. The comprehensive set of simulations corroborates previous studies that (1) with moderate/heavy drizzle, an increase in aerosol leads to an increase in cloud thickness; and (2) with non/light drizzle, an increase in aerosol results in a thinner cloud, due to the pronounced effect on entrainment. It is shown that for higher SST, stronger large-scale divergence, drier free troposphere, or lower wind speed, the cloud thins and precipitation decreases. The sign and magnitude of the Twomey effect, droplet dispersion effect, cloud thickness effect, and cloud optical depth susceptibility to aerosol perturbations (i.e., change in cloud optical depth to change in aerosol number concentration) are evaluated by LES experiments and compared with analytical formulations. The Twomey effect emerges as dominant in total cloud optical depth susceptibility to aerosol perturbations. The dispersion effect, that of aerosol perturbations on the cloud droplet size spectrum, is positive (i.e., increase in aerosol leads to spectral narrowing) and accounts for 3% to 10% of the total cloud optical depth susceptibility at nighttime, with greater influence in heavier drizzling clouds. The cloud thickness effect is negative (i.e., increase in aerosol leads to thinner cloud) for non/light drizzling cloud and positive for a moderate/heavy drizzling clouds; the cloud thickness effect contributes 5% to 22% of the nighttime total cloud susceptibility. Overall, the total cloud optical depth susceptibility ranges from ~0.28 to 0.53 at night; an increase in aerosol concentration enhances cloud optical depth, especially with heavier precipitation and in a more pristine environment. During the daytime, the range of magnitude for each effect is more variable owing to cloud thinning and decoupling. The good agreement between LES experiments and analytical formulations suggests that the latter may be useful in evaluations of the total cloud susceptibility. The ratio of the magnitude of the cloud thickness effect to that of the Twomey effect depends on cloud base height and cloud thickness in unperturbed (clean) clouds

CHANGES OF RESPIRATORY EXCHANGE RATIO IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY

We conducted a longitudinal study to examine changes in the respiratory exchange ratio (RER) during progressively increasing body exertion in children and adolescents of female sex. In this analysis we only included 23 examinees for whom we had all yearly measurements from examinee\u27s age 9 years until 18 years of age. The data were analyzed according to the chronological and biological age. According to both criteria, the highest RER values were recorded at moments of maximum exertion and they did not increase with age. We found the highest RER values were in the year of the menarche. We interpret these results as related to the effect of estrogen. The beginning of sexual development involves a gradual increase in estrogen plasma concentrations. At one point serum levels of estrogen reach a level high enough to allow for maximum RER values, i.e. causing the optimium anaerobic capacity of the examinee. this threshold estrogen value varies between individuals

High-Spin States Excited Via (p,n) Reactions

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY 81-14339 and by Indiana Universit

Relationship between School Location and Secondary Technical Students’ Acquisition of Knowledge-Based Skills in Cross River and Imo States of Nigeria

This paper investigated the influence of school location on students’ acquisition of knowledge-based skills in selected secondary technical schools in Cross River and Imo States of Nigeria. The objective of the study was to ascertain the influence of location (urban and rural) of secondary technical schools on students’ acquisition of knowledge-based skills (creative thinking, innovation, ICT and entrepreneurship skills) in the two states. A correlation design was adopted for the study. The population constituted 1328 SS II students drawn from 11 secondary technical schools across the two states out of which a stratified random sample of 330 was identified. Two research questions and two corresponding hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A twelve-item multiple choice Students’ Aptitude Test on Skills Acquisition (SATSA), validated by five experts in instruments construction, and was administered on the sample for data collection. Data were analyzed with One Sample Test and ANOVA to ascertain the relationship between school locations and students’ acquisition of knowledge-based skills in the identified knowledge-based skill subjects. The paper recommended that principals and teachers of secondary technical schools should sustain and improve the performance of students in the two states. It further recommended that further investigations be conducted to ascertain students’ acquisition of knowledge-based skills irrespective of school location