NASP X-30 Propulsion technology status

The performance goals of the NASP program require an aero-propulsion system with a high effective specific impulse. In order to achieve these goals, the high potential performance of air-breathing engines must be achieved over a very wide Mach number operating range. This, in turn, demands high component performance and involves many important technical issues which must be resolved. Scramjet Propulsion Technology is divided into five major areas: (1) inlets, (2) combustors, (3) nozzles, (4) component integration, and (5) test facilities. A status report covering the five areas is presented

Home Ranges of Rusty Blackbirds Breeding in Wetlands: How Much Would Buffers from Timber Harvest Protect Habitat?

We calculated the home ranges and core areas of 13 adult Rusty Blackbirds (Euphagus carolinus) in Maine to determine (1) the area requirements of breeding adults, (2) whether area requirements of the sexes and of colonial and noncolonial individuals differ, and (3) the proportion of the home range and core area that would be protected by a buffer of no logging of 50–100 m around occupied wetlands. Mean home ranges (37.5 ± 12.6 ha) and core areas (11.1 ± 2.8 ha) were large in comparison to those of other breeding icterids, and adults often foraged in multiple unconnected wetlands. Rusty Blackbirds that were part of a loose colony had home ranges and core areas three times larger than those of pairs that nested solitarily, which we speculate may be due to adults following one other to feed on unpredictable emergences of aquatic insects. Home ranges and core areas included a surprisingly small amount of wetland habitat, only 12% and 19% respectively, but adults often foraged in small wet patches (\u3c16 m2) in otherwise upland habitat. The 75-m buffers around wetlands that we recommended in a concurrent study may help protect the Rusty Blackbird\u27s nesting habitat, but such buffers contained less than half the average home range, suggesting that they may be of only limited benefit as a conservation strategy for protecting foraging habitat

U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill et Al., No. 76-1701

U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of TVA v. Hill. The court\u27s opinion, written by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, orders the TVA to cease construction on the Tellico Dam. The decision includes dissenting opinions authored by Lewis F. Powell, Jr. and William H. Rehnquist. The opinion was published in West\u27s Supreme Court Reporter at 437 U.S. 153 (1978)

The pre-inflationary vacuum in the cosmic microwave background

We consider the effects on the primordial power spectrum of a period of radiation-dominated expansion prior to the inflationary era. If inflation lasts a total of only 60 e-folds or so, the boundary condition for quantum modes cannot be taken in the short-wavelength limit as in the standard perturbation calculation. Instead, the boundary condition is set by the vacuum state of the prior radiation-dominated epoch, which only corresponds to the inflationary vacuum state in the ultraviolet limit. This altered vacuum state results in a modulation of the inflationary power spectrum. We calculate the modification to a best-fit model from the WMAP3 data set, and find that power is suppressed at large scales. The modified power spectrum is favored only very weakly by the data.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, references added. Version submitted to PRL. (v3: 9 pages, 4 figures, detailed justification of Eq. 11 of v2. Version accepted for publication by PRD.

Duplicated Palmaris Longus Muscle With Insertion Onto The Transverse Carpal Ligament: A Case Report

The palmaris longus muscle is one of the most anatomically variable muscles in the human body, with incidence ranging from 0-63.9%.  While these anatomical variations are typically benign, they are of clinical importance as they can contribute to neurovascular and biomechanical dysfunction.  We report here a duplicated palmaris longus muscle with an insertion onto the transverse carpal ligament found during cadaveric dissection in a graduate anatomy course for physical and occupational therapy students.&nbsp

Habitat occupancy of Rusty Blackbirds (Euphagus carolinus) breeding in northern New England, USA

The Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus), an uncommon songbird often associated with northern coniferous wetlands, has experienced a precipitous population decline since at least the early 20th century. Here, we provide the first analysis of breeding-habitat occupancy at the wetland scale and make recommendations for streamlined monitoring. We modeled occupancy and detectability as a function of site (i.e. habitat-based) and sampling (i.e. visit-specific) variables collected at 546 wetlands in northern New England, USA. Wetland occupancy (mean 6 SE ¼ 0.07 6 0.02 in randomly selected wetlands, and 0.12 6 0.02 in all wetlands surveyed) was best explained by variables describing Rusty Blackbird foraging habitat (PUDDLES: a proxy for shallow water), nesting habitat (coniferous adjacent uplands), and evidence of beavers. In contrast to Rusty Blackbirds’ selection of pole-stage conifers at the nest-site scale, stand age did not affect occupancy at the wetland scale. It appears that most wetlands in northern coniferous forest landscapes, regardless of stand age, offer dense conifer patches nearby and provide suitable breeding habitat if quality foraging sites (e.g., areas of shallow water) also are available. Detectability (0.29 6 0.04) decreased with increasing wind speed, and decreased about fourfold over the course of the breeding season. Rusty Blackbirds responded to broadcast of conspecific vocalizations by flying toward the observer and perching more often than prior to broadcast, demonstrating that broadcasts can be a useful tool to enhance visual detectability. Given our results, observers can now focus site selection on wetlands and sampling conditions most likely to maximize detections of Rusty Blackbirds

Sandiness in nut ice creams

Publication authorized January 10, 1933."The data presented in this bulletin were taken from a thesis submitted by the junior author in fulfillment of the thesis requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate School of the University of Missouri, 1930"--P. [3].Digitized 2007 AES.Includes bibliographical references (page 19)