Computer program determines performance efficiency of remote measuring systems

Computer programs control and evaluate instrumentation system performance for numerous rocket engine test facilities and prescribe calibration and maintenance techniques to maintain the systems within process specifications. Similar programs can be written for other test equipment in an industry such as the petrochemical industry

Beam steering system

A simple technique for steering the beam of a multimodule phased array MST (mesosphere, stratosphere, troposphere) radar antenna is described. It is desirable to be able to point the antenna in multiple directions, so as to derive all components of the horizontal velocity. This was done on an experimental basis by adding parallel wire line to the feed and achieving a southward tilt of the antenna. It is proved possible to steer the beam through most of the available range without adversely affecting the VSWR seen from the transmitter. Calibrating the antenna direction can be accomplished by observing radio sources, though there are an inadequate number to cover all directions. For various assumed values of the aspect sensitivity in dB/deg, and the calculated antenna pattern, it is possible to calculate the effective pointing angle of the antenna, defined as that angle which would give an identical location for the centroid of the power spectrum if aspect sensitivity were absent. Using averaged apparent steering directions, eastward and northward winds were calculated for special radar runs simultaneous with 14 balloon launches at Peoria and results are presented

Propagating tides in the mesosphere

A preliminary search has begun for evidence of tides in the 1-hr average line-of-sight mesospheric velocity data from the Urbana radar in the period 1978 to 1982, inclusive. Observations are restricted to the southeasterly component of those velocities. Since observations are only available for a fraction of a day due to the absence of night-time ionization in the Urbana mesosphere, it was decided to adopt an unusual procedure in the search; namely, to perform a Fourier analysis in the vertical direction and look for rotation in phase of vectors representing spatial frequency components. Propagating tidal modes would then show as vectors with a net rotation corresponding to their downward phase velocity. Five year monthly averages of hourly mean horizontal velocities inferred from the Urbana data are given. Consistent diurnal variation is seen for a number of months. These data were analyzed for vertical spatial periods of 3, 4.5, 6, 9, 12, and 24 km. When plotted as a function of time of day, many of the phasors tended to show a net rotation. The sense of rotation of a spinning vector in the complex plane can be determined objectively by computing the signed area swept out by the vector in saving from point to point. This calculation, indicated downward motion in 8 out of 12 months for the 9-km component and in 11 out of 12 months for the 24-km component. A comparison of the magnitudes of the 6 modes showed that the primary component was the 24-km component, a result confirmed by the tidal models of Forbes

Enchanted animism: A matter of care

© The Author(s) 2020. Jean Piaget, whose work continues to be very influential in early childhood education, associated young children’s animism with their ‘primitive thought’ claiming children remain animists until they reach a more advanced and rational stage of development. This article proposes a rethinking of the Piagetian view of animism, suggesting instead that children’s animism be conceived as a ‘matter of care’ which may then offer possibilities for living more responsively and attentively with non human others. Drawing on two recent research projects involving two-to-eight-year-old children, the article contends that children’s playful and speculative ‘enchanted animism’ can create a spaces for curiosity, wonder and immersion in and of the world. The author argues that enchanted animism has the potential to open children to their worldly embeddedness and can ignite possibilities for more responsive and attentive ways of living with an increasingly damaged Earth

Pogled na problem pneumokonioza

The problem of pneumoconioses and its historical background are reviewed. Pneumoconioses present a very difficult economic problem. In 1951 1300 workers in England died of pneumoconioses. In the same year 5250 persons died from traffic accidents and in the same period tuberculosis was responsible for the death of 11.631 persons. If these numbers are compared with the population at risk, the danger of pneumoconioses becomes evident. Pneumoconiosis is not accompanied only with tuberculosis: among 300 workers who died from asbestosis 16% had primary lung cancer. At the same time among 6000 death of silicosis 1.3% had primary lung cancer. This is very interesting fenomenon which should be carefully examined. More attention be paid in future to the prevention of silicosis and other pneumoconioses.Prikazan je problem i historijski razvoj pneumokonioza. Medicina je dugo čekala na neka otkrića, koja su bila potrebna, da se razjasni pitanje nastanka pneumokonioza. Jedno od tih je otkriće bacila tuberkuloze. Pneumokonioze predstavljaju teški ekonomski problem. Godine 1951. umrlo je u Engleskoj oko 1.300 radnika oboljelih od pneumokonioza. Iste je godine u prometnim nesrećama nastradala 5.250 ljudi, a od tuberkuloze je umrla 11.631 osoba. Kad se te brojke usporede s brojem pučanstva, koje je izvrgnuto opasnosti od pneumokonioza, nesreća u prometu i tuberkulozi, onda dobivamo mnogo teže rezultate, iz kojih se vidi, da su pneumokonioze naročito opasna i teška bolest. Tuberkuloza nije jedina bolest, koja prati pneumokonioze. Od 300 radnika umrlih od azbestoze bolovalo je 16% od primarnog karcinoma pluća. Istovremeno je od 6.000 umrlih od silikoze bolovale od primarnog karcinoma pluća 1,3%. To je zanimljiva pojava, koju treba dalje pažljivo pratiti. U budućnosti treba što veću pažnju obratiti na prevenciju silikoze i ostalih pneumokonioza. Vjerojatno je, da će se u budućih 25 godina problem pueumokonioza u Engleskoj potpuno riješiti

Spatiotemporal modelling of hormonal crosstalk in the Arabidopsis root.

Plant development, growth and response to varying environmental conditions, involves a complex network of overlapping interactions between plant signalling hormones and gene expression, known as ‘CROSSTALK’, which controls cell proliferation, elongation and differentiation. Hormone response, concentrations and gene expression levels vary through the root tip and display patterning, which ultimately drives development; however, little is known about how this is established. Models have been constructed to explain patterning, including a ‘physical’ auxin flux model in a simple rectangular 2-D multicellular Arabidopsis root which excludes crosstalk (Grieneisen et al., 2007), and a single cell ‘biological crosstalk’ model of multiple hormone and protein interactions in WT and mutants (Liu et al., 2010; Liu et al., 2013). The project goal was to combine these approaches by embedding the single cell biological crosstalk relationships into a 2-D multicellular root structure to reproduce experimentally observed hormone and gene expression patterning. An initial model was constructed and parameter values calibrated to meet fit criteria and produce a WT parameter set. The model proved robust to parameter variation, indicating that results did not rely on unique parameter value selections. Model results were compared to experimental data to test predictive capability and matched experimentally observed patterning and concentration trends for most species and mutants. A more realistic digital root map was then developed with additional auxin carriers to allow improved comparison between model and experimental images at a cell-scale level. The roles of auxin influx and efflux carriers in regulating auxin patterning were investigated by developing a ‘Recovery Principle’, where pattern perturbations due to changes in one carrier set could be recovered by adjustments to the other carrier set. Finally, using additional experimental data from the literature, the crosstalk network was revised to produce more representative cytokinin patterning. The model provides an explanation of crosstalk control of gene expression and patterning, and forms a foundation for future expansion of hormonal crosstalk and gene expression modelling in the Arabidopsis root. In summary, this project has developed predictive models to further explore hormone and gene expression levels and spatiotemporal pattern formation in the Arabidopsis thaliana root tip

Enhanced lifetime of methane bubble streams within the deep ocean

We have made direct comparisons of the dissolution and rise rates of methane and argon bubbles experimentally released in the ocean at depths from 440 to 830 m. The bubbles were injected from the ROV Ventana into a box open at the top and the bottom, and imaged by HDTV while in free motion. The vehicle was piloted upwards at the rise rate of the bubbles. Methane and argon show closely similar behavior at depths above the methane hydrate stability field. Below that boundary (∼520 m) markedly enhanced methane bubble lifetimes are observed, and are attributed to the formation of a hydrate skin. This effect greatly increases the ease with which methane gas released at depth, either by natural or industrial events, can penetrate the shallow ocean layers

Aesthetic-ethical-political movements in professional learning: Encounters with feminist new materialisms and Reggio Emilia in early childhood research

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Professional learning is considered essential for early childhood teachers, and is frequently associated with childhood outcomes and dominant constructs of quality which perpetuate neoliberal ideals and position early childhood teachers within a framework of rationality, privileging discourses of masculinity and power. By engaging with feminist new materialist perspectives, with the concept of ‘movement’, and with the theory-practice of the educational project of the city of Reggio Emilia, Italy, this paper extends understandings of professional learning to include nonhuman others as worthy interlocutors, and puts forth an invitation to welcome unease and an aesthetic-ethical-political stance in early childhood education. To complicate normative conceptions of professional learning, fragments from a project that used pedagogical documentation and dialogue to transform children’s relations with waste are presented. These fragments elucidate how professional learning in early childhood education might be aesthetically-ethically-politically conceptually grounded and practiced. The conclusions presented are neither simple nor linear; rather invitations are offered to problematise, to avoid being satisfied with overt, dominant and linear constructs, and to welcome uncertainty in worldly relations

Extinction, education and the curious practice of visiting thrombolites

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The Earth is in the midst of a recent acceleration in the rate of species extinction and the unravelling of ecological communities. The authors think with the emerging field of Extinction Studies to explore educational approaches to ecological endangerment and extinction. Using a notion of visiting as ‘curious practice’, we story encounters between the authors, young children and the endangered Noorook Yalgorup-Lake Clifton thrombolites and their ecological community in south-western Australia. These visits were not intended to teach about extinction or the thrombolites. Rather, our aim was to generate pedagogical insights through approaching the threatened thrombolites and their environment with curiosity, openness and attentiveness, and framed by perspectives that trouble human exceptionalism and Western dualisms. Guided by Haraway’s notion of ‘staying with the trouble’, we argue this approach to encountering extinction generates insights into learning and living with ecological crisis in our shared world. Specifically, that for educators and children to relearn the world and their place in it, educators must enable new senses, meanings, perspectives and stories to populate the Earth and for this to occur they should listen with openness to, and think with, children

Young children moving through ecological anxiety and grief: Dancing with demolition

As the extent of planetary unraveling becomes increasingly apparent, scholars are beginning to document responses to the loss of ecological systems, mass extinctions, and climate change. However, there are few studies documenting children’s eco-anxiety responses. In this study, children’s eco-anxiety and grief became apparent when they expressed dismay at the imminent demolition of a derelict building. Children were concerned for the fate of the building, the land on which it stood, and the myriad others it sheltered. Using participatory and creative methodologies including dance, this project worked with children to tell a more-than-human story of becoming-with children-building-weeds-graffiti-dust-researchers-unhoused-bacteria-rats-and unloved others, which culminated in a video work. In this article Butler’s concept of “grievability” is extended to include those not typically thought to be “grievable.” The article concludes with a discussion about how dance improvisation allowed children to express feelings of loss and move through their eco-anxiety and grief