53,003 research outputs found
Three-track runway elevation profiles measured at two United States Government installations
Three-track airport runway elevation profiles and airplane response to runway roughnes
The NASA digital VGH program, early results
Data from airline digital flight data recorders provides relevant statistical data for estimating fatigue life consumption of the current airliner fleet and for design criteria updating for future designs. The data indicates real operating effects due to the autopilot, i.e., gust response frequency peak increase by 2 or 3 times, and the existence of the low frequency low amplitude limit cycle motion in altitude hold. The extension of more data types for ground operations is considered. Onboard processing of simple data types is also considered
Basic research in wake vortex alleviation using a variable twist wing
The variable twist wing concept was used to investigate the relative effects of lift and turbulence distribution on the rolled up vortex wake. Several methods of reducing the vortex strength behind an aircraft were identified. These involve the redistribution of lift spanwise on the wing and drag distribution along the wing. Initial attempts to use the variable twist wing velocity data to validate the WAKE computer code have shown a strong correlation, although the vorticity levels were not exactly matched
NASA thermionic-conversion program
Current out-of-core emphases allow converter material and design freedoms previously prohibited by in-core nucleonic and geometric restrictions. As a result, potential improvements indicate possibilities for severalfold increases in efficiencies. The new TEC-ART program concentrated initially on low-work function collectors and interelectrode-loss reduction and revealed much in a short time. This new emission capability coupled with improved collectors that maintain performance with emitter-vapor deposit accumulations are requisites for efficient, enduring thermionic converters
Development and evaluation of a prototype in-flight instrument flight rules (IFR) procedures trainer
An in-flight instrument flight rules (IFR) procedures trainer capable of providing simulated indications of instrument flight in a typical general aviation aircraft independent of ground based navigation aids was developed. The IFR navaid related instruments and circuits from an ATC 610J table top simulator were installed in a Cessna 172 aircraft and connected to its electrical power and pitot static systems. The benefits expected from this hybridization concept include increased safety by reducing the number of general aviation aircraft conducting IFR training flights in congested terminal areas, and reduced fuel use and instruction costs by lessening the need to fly to and from navaid equipped airports and by increased efficiency of the required in-flight training. Technical feasibility was demonstrated and the operational feasibility of the concept was evaluated. Results indicated that the in-flight simulator is an effective training device for teaching IFR procedural skills
A review of the NASA V-G/VGH general aviation program
The V-G and VGH data collected from a wide variety of general aviation airplanes since the inception of the NASA V-G/VGH General Aviation Program in 1962 are presented. These data were analyzed to obtain information on the gust and maneuver loads, on the operating practices, and on the effects of different types of operations on these parameters
Sensitivity of Nonrenormalizable Trajectories to the Bare Scale
Working in scalar field theory, we consider RG trajectories which correspond
to nonrenormalizable theories, in the Wilsonian sense. An interesting question
to ask of such trajectories is, given some fixed starting point in parameter
space, how the effective action at the effective scale, Lambda, changes as the
bare scale (and hence the duration of the flow down to Lambda) is changed. When
the effective action satisfies Polchinski's version of the Exact
Renormalization Group equation, we prove, directly from the path integral, that
the dependence of the effective action on the bare scale, keeping the
interaction part of the bare action fixed, is given by an equation of the same
form as the Polchinski equation but with a kernel of the opposite sign. We then
investigate whether similar equations exist for various generalizations of the
Polchinski equation. Using nonperturbative, diagrammatic arguments we find that
an action can always be constructed which satisfies the Polchinski-like
equation under variation of the bare scale. For the family of flow equations in
which the field is renormalized, but the blocking functional is the simplest
allowed, this action is essentially identified with the effective action at
Lambda = 0. This does not seem to hold for more elaborate generalizations.Comment: v1: 23 pages, 5 figures, v2: intro extended, refs added, published in
jphy
Why stigma matters in addressing alcohol harm
Alcohol problems are amongst the most stigmatized of conditions, resulting in multiple additional harms for people with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Alcohol stigma encompasses widely endorsed negative stereotypes leading to prejudice and discrimination towards people with AUD. Self-stigma further harms individuals through preventing and undermining recovery. The persistence of alcohol stigma highlights the limitations of an illness model of AUD for stigma reduction; in fact, many groups inadvertently reinforce stigma by emphasizing the artificial line between ‘normal’ drinkers and the pathologized ‘alcoholic other’. A public health case for alcohol stigma reduction highlights the need to address this societal false dichotomization of problem drinkers. Promoting a continuum aligned model of AUD, a dynamic model of responsibility, and other evidence-led approaches such as person-first language by key stakeholders are recommended
Chameleon effect and the Pioneer anomaly
The possibility that the apparent anomalous acceleration of the Pioneer 10
and 11 spacecraft may be due, at least in part, to a chameleon field effect is
examined. A small spacecraft, with no thin shell, can have a more pronounced
anomalous acceleration than a large compact body, such as a planet, having a
thin shell. The chameleon effect seems to present a natural way to explain the
differences seen in deviations from pure Newtonian gravity for a spacecraft and
for a planet, and appears to be compatible with the basic features of the
Pioneer anomaly, including the appearance of a jerk term. However, estimates of
the size of the chameleon effect indicate that its contribution to the
anomalous acceleration is negligible. We conclude that any inverse-square
component in the anomalous acceleration is more likely caused by an unmodelled
reaction force from solar-radiation pressure, rather than a chameleon field
effect.Comment: 16 pages; to appear in Phys.Rev.
Web-based Tools for the Analysis of DNA Microarrays
End of project reportDNA microarrays are widely used for gene expression profiling. Raw data resulting from microarray experiments, however, tends to be very noisy and there are many sources of technical variation and bias. This raw data needs to be quality assessed and interactively preprocessed to minimise variation before statistical analysis in order to achieve meaningful result. Therefore microarray analysis requires a combination of visualisation and statistical tools, which vary depending on what microarray platform or experimental design is used.Bioconductor is an existing open source software project that attempts to facilitate
analysis of genomic data. It is a collection of packages for the statistical programming
language R. Bioconductor is particularly useful in analyzing microarray experiments. The
problem is that the R programming language’s command line interface is intimidating to
many users who do not have a strong background in computing. This often leads to a
situation where biologists will resort to using commercial software which often uses
antiquated and much less effective statistical techniques, as well as being expensively
priced. This project aims to bridge this gap by providing a user friendly web-based
interface to the cutting edge statistical techniques of Bioconductor
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