Active controls for ride smoothing

Active controls technology offers great promise for significantly smoothing the ride, and thus improving public and air carrier acceptance, of certain types of transport aircraft. Recent findings which support this promise are presented in the following three pertinent areas: (1) Ride quality versus degree of traveler satisfaction; (2) significant findings from a feasibility study of a ride smoothing system; and (3) potential ride problems identified for several advanced transport concepts

A Qualitative Exploration of Firefighter Participation in Wellness Programs within a Career Fire Department in Northern Ohio

Firefighters respond to dangerous emergencies every day. The physical and mental wellness of firefighters is very important to their overall job performance. To support this, fire departments must have established, comprehensive wellness programs (International Association of Firefighters, 2008). Even with national standard recommendation of wellness programs, one does not exist in a fire department located in Northern Ohio. The focus of this research is to explore reasons why these highly recommended wellness programs are not established. Successful establishment of a wellness program requires understanding why this fire department is hesitant or unsuccessful in implementing and maintaining a wellness program. This research consisted of a qualitative study with employees from a single fire department. Three employees were chosen at three different levels of the fire department rank structure: entry-level, middle management, and high management. These three employees were chosen at random by the chief of the department. Employees were asked various questions about their knowledge of (a) the leading cause of firefighter fatalities, (b) awareness of wellness programs, (c) whether their department should have a wellness program, and (d) who in the department would be advocates for a wellness program. Participants all agree that the components of the wellness programs are important. Results from the interviews indicated that cost was not a reason preventing implementation; however, three main issues surfaced: (1) there was a clear breakdown of communication between different levels within the department, (2) the previously implemented wellness program failed, and (3) the department lacks voluntary participation

A Study Of Four Hundred And Sixty Negro Farm Families In Three Texas Counties

The writer has spent more than twenty years in working with rural families In Texas. During this time her interests and efforts have been directed toward the improvement of the quantity and quality of food for home use, interior and exterior home improvement, and development of the family health through better physical well being. A family needs and adequate food supply, a comfortable home, opportunities for education and recreation, clothing and a satisfactory family life. The attainment of these things will go a long way toward making possible the building of worth-while community life. Good community life cannot be hoped for, without a fairly good measure of these essentials. Efforts to encourage and assist with the provision of situations and conditions conducive to health and satisfactory family life did not meet with immediate success. The response in most instances was not enthusiastic to say the least. In many cases, information given was received in a passive manner, and in some cases, the response was very unsatisfactory. Many families found it difficult or well nigh impossible to obtain credit at stores, during the severest part of the depression, and this condition forced farm people, who had been unconcerned about home production of food, to begin responding to efforts of workers in persuading production of the home food supply. Records show that not only did they begin to listen to instructions, but many actually went to considerable trouble to seek this help. Other phases of home improvement were considered along with food production. Efforts to establish examples of comfortable, beautiful homes, with an adequate food supply, at last were showing good results. It was in 1939, that an agency of government found a so - called surplus of cotton in storage, and it seemed wise to dispose of it. It was decided to distribute this cotton to certain low income rural families for their use in making mattresses and comforts. This gave an opportunity for all educational agencies to cooperate in working with almost all of the Negro farm people, since most of them do belong to the low income group. This was an important phase of the home improvement plan mentioned above

Youth Change Agents: Comparing the Sociopolitical Identities of Youth Organizers and Youth Commissioners

Although youth have long been at the forefront of social change, the last two decades have seen an upsurge in the number of organizations, agencies, and governmental bodies dedicated to supporting the idea of youth voice in public policy. Drawing on in-depth individual interviews with 32 youth in one major urban center, this study compares how participation in differently positioned political activities influences participants’ sociopolitical identities and their views of the most effective mechanisms for social change. Specifically, this research compares youth involved in a government-sanctioned youth commission, developed to advise policymakers, with youth involved in a community-based youth organizing group, focused on fighting for educational reform. The study explores similarities and differences in the two sets of participants’ civic commitments, sense of agency, and beliefs about the process of social change

Connecting to the Data-Intensive Future of Scientific Research

In recent years enormous amounts of digital data have become available to scientific researchers. This flood of data is transforming the way scientific research is conducted. Independent researchers are in serious need of tools that will help them managed and preserve the large volumes of data being created in their own labs. Data management will not only help researchers get or keep a handle on their data, it will also help them stay relevant and competitive in increasingly strict funding environments. This paper provides summaries of best practices and case studies of data management that relate to three common data management challenges – multitudinous sensor data, short-term data loss, and digital images. We use a combination of open system solutions such as HydroServer Lite, an open system database for time series data, and proprietary tools such as Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Each lab may require its own unique suite of tools, but these are becoming numerous and readily available, making it easier to archive and share data with collaborators and to discover and integrate published data sets

Equal Educational Opportunity Programs Utilizing The Busing Method

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Outcomes after angiography with sodium bicarbonate and acetylcysteine

Background: Intravenous sodium bicarbonate and oral acetylcysteine are widely used to prevent acute kidney injury and associated adverse outcomes after angiography without definitive evidence of their efficacy. Methods: Using a 2-by-2 factorial design, we randomly assigned 5177 patients at high risk for renal complications who were scheduled for angiography to receive intravenous 1.26% sodium bicarbonate or intravenous 0.9% sodium chloride and 5 days of oral acetylcysteine or oral placebo; of these patients, 4993 were included in the modified intention-to-treat analysis. The primary end point was a composite of death, the need for dialysis, or a persistent increase of at least 50% from baseline in the serum creatinine level at 90 days. Contrast-associated acute kidney injury was a secondary end point. Results: The sponsor stopped the trial after a prespecified interim analysis. There was no interaction between sodium bicarbonate and acetylcysteine with respect to the primary end point (P=0.33). The primary end point occurred in 110 of 2511 patients (4.4%) in the sodium bicarbonate group as compared with 116 of 2482 (4.7%) in the sodium chloride group (odds ratio, 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72 to 1.22; P=0.62) and in 114 of 2495 patients (4.6%) in the acetylcysteine group as compared with 112 of 2498 (4.5%) in the placebo group (odds ratio, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.78 to 1.33; P=0.88). There were no significant between-group differences in the rates of contrast-associated acute kidney injury. Conclusions: Among patients at high risk for renal complications who were undergoing angiography, there was no benefit of intravenous sodium bicarbonate over intravenous sodium chloride or of oral acetylcysteine over placebo for the prevention of death, need for dialysis, or persistent decline in kidney function at 90 days or for the prevention of contrast-associated acute kidney injury. (Funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Research and Development and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia; PRESERVE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01467466.

Nonlinear dynamic analysis and seismic fragility assessment of a corrosion damaged integral bridge

Purpose In this paper the impact of corrosion of reinforcing steel in RC columns on the seismic performance of a multi-span concrete integral bridge is explored. A new constitutive model for corroded reinforcing steel is used. This model simulates the buckling of longitudinal reinforcement under cyclic loading and the impact of corrosion on buckling strength. Cover concrete strength is adjusted to account for corrosion induced damage and core concrete strength and ductility is adjusted to account for corrosion induced damage to transverse reinforcement. This study evaluates the impact which chloride induced corrosion of the reinforced concrete columns on the seismic fragility of the bridge. Fragility curves are developed at a various time intervals over the lifetime. The results of this study show that the bridge fragility increases significantly with corrosion. Design/methodology/approach This paper firstly evaluates the impact which chloride induced corrosion of the columns has on bridge fragility. Finally, fragility curves are developed at various time intervals over the lifetime of the bridge. The results of this study show that the bridge fragility increases significantly with corrosion. Findings 1) It was found that columns dominate the system fragility at all levels of deterioration. Therefore, it highlights the importance of good column design in terms of both seismic detailing and durability for this integral bridge type. 2) In terms of foundation settlement coupled with corrosion, it was found that settlements on the order of the discrete levels adopted for this study increased the system fragility at the slight, moderate and extensive damage states but their impact at the complete damage states is negligible. 3) Ageing considerations are currently neglected in widespread regional risk assessment and loss estimation packages for transport infrastructure. The result of this study provides a methodology that enables bridge managers and owners to employ in seismic risk assessment of existing aging bridges. Originality/value The modelling technician developed in this paper considers the impact of detailed corrosion damaged of RC column on nonlinear dynamic response and fragility of a corroded integral bridge under earthquake loading. The current modelling technique is the most comprehensive 3D fibre element model for seismic analysis and risk assessment of corroded bridges. </jats:sec

Researching Market and Supply-Chain Opportunities for Local Foods Systems: Setting Priorities and Identifying Linkages

There is an increasing array of land-grant, nonprofit, and other academic programs intended to support the development of food system enterprises and programs. However, research to track consumers\u27 evolving preferences and behaviors within these systems and to measure the intended policy outcomes of any public investments in these systems is lagging. This research commentary represents a compilation of opinions and insights from those who are interested in exploring research priorities for economic, marketing, and supply-chain aspects of local food systems. The priorities that emerge are framed in the following way: (1) opportunities for increased and more targeted research to help identify gaps in the literature; (2) areas where current localized research projects could be leveraged and scaled up to the national level; and (3) innovative projects and partnerships that are evolving to bridge both knowledge and systems gaps