KSC Vertical Launch Site Evaluation

RS&H was tasked to evaluate the potential available launch sites for a combined two user launch pad. The Launch sites were to be contained entirely within current Kennedy Space Center property lines. The user launch vehicles to be used for evaluation are in the one million pounds of first stage thrust range. Additionally a second evaluation criterion was added early on in the study. A single user launch site was to be evaluated for a two million pound first stage thrust vehicle. Both scenarios were to be included in the report. To provide fidelity to the study criteria, a specific launch vehicle in the one million pound thrust range was chosen as a guide post or straw-man launch vehicle. The RpK K-1 vehicle is a current Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS), contract awardee along with the SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle. SpaceX, at the time of writing, is planning to launch COTS and possibly other payloads from Cx-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station property. RpK has yet to declare a specific launch site as their east coast US launch location. As such it was deemed appropriate that RpK's vehicle requirements be used as conceptual criteria. For the purposes of this study those criteria were marginally generalized to make them less specifiC

Governing Through Accountability: Gender Equality and the United Nations

This article investigates the audit culture of UNIFEM, an international organization dedicated to bringing about global gender equality. UNIFEM's strategic plans, regional activities, and one fund-raising activity are analyzed to illustrate how pressures to "manage for results" combine with the UN's promotion of a transnational, modernist ethos to shape gender equity policy and, ultimately, what we know about women's lives. Résumé Cet article enquête la culture de vérification chez UNIFEM, un organisme dédié à amener l'égalité globale entre les sexes. Les plans stratégiques de l'UNIFEM, les activités régionales et une activité de levée de fonds sont analysées pour illustrer comment les pressions pour "gérer pour les résultats," combinées avec la promotion de l'ONU d'une philosophie transnationale,moderniste visée à l'établissement d'une politique pour l'équité entre les sexes, et ultimement, ce que nous connaissons sur les vies des femmes

Eating Cars : Food Citizenship in a « Community in Crisis »

Guptill et Wilkins (2002) s’appuient sur le concept de la « citoyenneté alimentaire » pour faire valoir que l’implication des personnes dans la prise de décision sur leurs propres systèmes d’approvisionnement alimentaire incite à la formation d’alliances entre les producteurs et consommateurs de denrées alimentaires et contribue à la création d’environnements alimentaires viables. Dans cet article, je m’intéresse au développement de la citoyenneté alimentaire communautaire, une notion à laquelle je me réfère afin d’attirer l’attention sur la dynamique qui vise à inclure tous les résidants dans la conception de nouveaux systèmes alimentaires. L’accent est mis sur la diversité communautaire qui se réfère, par exemple, aux résidents économiquement démunis et privilégiés, de même que les résidents qui défendent les droits alimentaires et ceux qui ne sont pas des militants. Cette perspective fait ressortir les dimensions pédagogiques liées à la mise en place et le renforcement de la citoyenneté alimentaire dans des lieux particuliers. Je présente une description sommaire des tensions que suscitent la citoyenneté alimentaire communautaire et les possibilités qui en résultent au moyen d’une étude de cas sur Windsor, Ontario, un ancien centre manufacturier de l’industrie automobile qui a déjà été prospère, mais qui fait face aujourd’hui à des taux de chômage élevés et de difficultés économiques. Les types de lien que j’entretiens avec la présente étude de cas sont d’abord comme participante dans les efforts communautaires visant à élaborer un système alimentaire alternatif et puis comme chercheure/éducatrice qui dirige présentement une étude de ce processus.Guptill and Wilkins (2002) employ the concept of “food citizenship” to argue that engaging people more fully in decision-making about their own food systems encourages alliances between food producers and eaters and helps to build sustainable food environments. In this article my focus is on the development of community food citizenship, a phrase I use to draw attention to the dynamics of including all residents in the creation of new food systems. Focusing on a community’s diversity – to include, for example, residents who are economically marginalized and those who are economically privileged, as well as residents who are food activists and those who are not – highlights the pedagogical dimensions of initiating and building food citizenship in particular places. To sketch out some of the tensions in and possibilities for community food citizenship, I focus here on the case of Windsor, Ontario, a once thriving automotive centre now facing high unemployment rates and economic hardship. My relationship to this particular case study is as a participant in community efforts to develop an alternative food system and as a researcher/educator who is currently studying this process

Natural Resources at Kennedy Space Center

Informative presentation on the purpose and need for an Ecological Program at the Kennedy Space Center. Includes the federal laws mandating the program followed by a description of many of the long term monitoring projects. Projects include wildlife surveying by observation as well as interactive surveys to collect basic animal data for analysis of trends in habitat use and ecosystem health. The program is designed for a broad range in audience from elementary to college level

Quality Enhancement Through Goal-Setting: Examining the Effects of Goal Attributes and Feedback on Performance.

A laboratory experiment, using 165 students, was conducted to assess the effects of goal type (quantity vs quality), goal difficulty (difficult vs easy), goal specificity (specific vs nonspecific), and feedback type (goal-discrepant vs strategic) on performance. Subjects were asked to perform a heuristic task, appropriate for the assessment of both quantity and quality performance. Results indicated: (a) the provision of quality feedback will increase effort and will improve quality performance; (b) individuals value quality feedback more than they value quantity feedback; (c) individuals are more accurate in their prediction of quantity performance than they are in their prediction of quality performance; (d) the provision of strategic feedback results in better quality performance than the provision of only goal-discrepant feedback. However, strategic feedback does not encourage any more planning than goal-discrepant feedback; (e) quality goal specificity does not reduce inter-individual quality performance variability, but does reduce intra-individual quality performance variability; (f) providing a quality goal will improve quality performance, even before feedback is provided, (g) before feedback, individuals with difficult quality goals will not perform any better qualitatively than individuals with easy quality goals. However, after feedback, quality goal difficulty does make a difference; (h) feedback can help individuals accurately direct attention to areas of performance deficiency; and (i) multiple goals which are easy evoke more positive affective reactions (higher goal commitment and performance satisfaction, less goal conflict, and lower perceptions of goal difficulty) than multiple goals which are difficult. The results of this study not only contribute to the theoretical refinement of the goal-setting paradigm, but also suggest directions for including quality goal-setting within a total quality management paradigm

NASA Kennedy Space Center: Contributions to Sea Turtle Science and Conservation

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a United States (US) federal agency that oversees US space exploration and aeronautical research. NASA's primary launch site, Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is located along the east coast of Florida, on Cape Canaveral and the western Atlantic Ocean. The natural environment within KSC's large land boundaries, not only functions as an extensive safety buffer-area, it performs simultaneously as a wildlife refuge and a national seashore. In the early 1960s, NASA was developing KSC for rocket launches and the US was establishing an awareness of, and commitment to protecting the environment. The US began creating regulations that required the consideration of the environment when taking action on federal land or with federal funds. The timing of the US Endangered Species Act (1973), the US National Environmental Policy Act (1972), coincided with the planning and implementation of the US Space Shuttle Program. This resulted in the first efforts to evaluate the impacts of space launch operation operations on waterways, air quality, habitats, and wildlife. The first KSC fauna and flora baseline studies were predominantly performed by University of Central Florida (then Florida Technological University). Numerous species of relative importance were observed and sea turtles were receiving regulatory review and protection as surveys by Dr. L Ehrhart (UCF) from 1973-1978 described turtles nesting along the KSC beaches and foraging in the KSC lagoon systems. These data were used in the first NASA Environmental Impact Statement for the Space Transportation System (shuttle program) in 1980. In 1982, NASA began a long term ecological monitoring program with contracted scientists on site. This included efforts to track sea turtle status and trends at KSC and maintain protective measures for these species. Many studies and collaborations have occurred on KSC over these last 45 years with agencies (USFWS, NOAA, NAVY), students, and universities (UCF, University of Toronto, Texas A&M, UF). This presentation will review the various studies and collaborations on sea turtles at KSC that include: nest distributions and success, stranding network development, aerial survey testing for nest counts, predator control assessments, the earliest baseline blood chemistry health determinations on nesting females, stress hormones in nesting females, multi-year study of hatchling sex ratios, genetics, species composition, abundance and distribution of in-water juveniles, turtle cold stun response, exterior lighting impacts and control, and satellite tag tracking of post-nesting turtles in the vicinity of near shore shoals and sand mining sites. Through these studies, monitoring, and recommendations, KSC has provided excellent stewardship and protection of the local environment. While conducting its space program mission, KSC has also made significant contributions of information for agencies charged with the conservation and management of these specie

Surface distortion of polyester double knit fabrics using a rotary abrasion device

Surface distortion of knit fabrics has received considerable attention from research personnel due to consumer complaints concerning excessive snagging and picking problems associated with the fabric. One reason for this problem of distortion of the surface of knit fabrics is the lack of an adequate test method to measure distortion propensity of a fabric before it is marketed. A second proposed reason is the effect of laundry temperature and technique on the polyester fiber structure. Another suggested reason is the effect of surface design. The purpose of this study was to develop a test procedure to predict surface distortion propensity in polyester double knit fabrics. In order to test the effectiveness of the test procedure, the distortion propensity of different surface designs were investigated. Testing also included investigation of the effect of laundering temperature and technique on the surface distortion of the experimental fabrics. The surface distortion apparatus developed for this study was a Tabor Abraser Model E-4010 adapted with wire brush wheels Instead of Calibrase or Calibrade wheels. A variac rheostat was used to slow the revolutions per minute from 69 down to &9 revolutions per minute. The results of experimentation indicated that a rotary abraser of this type could be developed for the abrading of fabrics. Further experimentation sight Indicate that the number of cycles sight be reduced to prevent immediate destruction of the fabric

Outcomes of a teacher-led reading intervention for elementary students at-risk for behavioral disorders

This is the publisher's version, also found here: http://cec.metapress.com/content/g8686u4nu0p8772l/?p=1258705a1fcb41948563bb666b6ae215&pi=2To date, reports of reading interventions for students at risk for emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD) that have been published in refereed journals have involved sustained support by university or school-site personnel. This study examined the efficacy and feasibility of a reading intervention that 2 general education teachers implemented in inclusive settings to support 7 first-grade students at risk for E/BD and reading difficulties. Results of a multiple baseline design revealed lasting improvements in reading fluency for all students, accompanied by decreases in variability of academic engagement for 4 students. Although intervention goals, procedures, and outcomes exceeded teacher expectations, social validity ratings for some students declined between the onset and the conclusion of the intervention. This article presents limitations, future directions, and educational implications

NASA Kennedy Space Center: Contributions to Sea Turtle Science and Conservation

No abstract availabl

Measuring tiny mass accretion rates onto young brown dwarfs

We present low-resolution Keck I/LRIS spectra spanning from 3200-9000 A of nine young brown dwarfs and three low-mass stars in the TW Hya Association and in Upper Sco. The optical spectral types of the brown dwarfs range from M5.5-M8.75, though two have near-IR spectral types of early L-dwarfs. We report new accretion rates derived from excess Balmer continuum emission for the low-mass stars TW Hya and Hen 3-600A and the brown dwarfs 2MASS J12073347-3932540, UScoCTIO 128, SSSPM J1102-3431, UScoJ160606.29-233513.3, DENIS-P J160603.9-205644, and Oph J162225-240515B, and upper limits on accretion for the low-mass star Hen 3-600B and the brown dwarfs UScoCTIO 112, Oph J162225-240515A, and USco J160723.82-221102.0. For the six brown dwarfs in our sample that are faintest at short wavelengths, the accretion luminosity or upper limit is measurable only when the image is binned over large wavelength intervals. This method extends our sensivity to accretion rate down to ~1e-13 solar masses/year for brown dwarfs. Since the ability to measure an accretion rate from excess Balmer continuum emission depends on the contrast between excess continuum emission and the underlying photosphere, for objects with earlier spectral types the upper limit on accretion rate is much higher. Absolute uncertainties in our accretion rate measurements of ~3-5 include uncertainty in accretion models, brown dwarf masses, and distance. The accretion rate of 2e-12 solar masses/year onto 2MASS J12073347-3932540 is within 15% of two previous measurements, despite large changes in the H-alpha flux.Comment: Accepted by ApJ. 23 pages, 5 figures, 3 table