Langley Ground Facilities and Testing in the 21st Century

A strategic approach for retaining and more efficiently operating the essential Langley Ground Testing Facilities in the 21st Century is presented. This effort takes advantage of the previously completed and ongoing studies at the Agency and National levels. This integrated approach takes into consideration the overall decline in test business base within the nation and reduced utilization in each of the Langley facilities with capabilities to test in the subsonic, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic speed regimes. The strategy accounts for capability needs to meet the Agency programmatic requirements and strategic goals and to execute test activities in the most efficient and flexible facility operating structure. The structure currently being implemented at Langley offers agility to right-size our capability and capacity from a national perspective, to accommodate the dynamic nature of the testing needs, and will address the influence of existing and emerging analytical tools for design. The paradigm for testing in the retained facilities is to efficiently and reliably provide more accurate and high-quality test results at an affordable cost to support design information needs for flight regimes where the computational capability is not adequate and to verify and validate the existing and emerging computational tools. Each of the above goals are planned to be achieved, keeping in mind the increasing small industry customer base engaged in developing unpiloted aerial vehicles and commercial space transportation systems

Character association and path coefficient analysis for grain yield of parents and hybrids in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

An experiment was conducted to study the inter-relationships, direct and indirect effects of various yield attributing characters towards grain yield per plant, at Rice Research Centre, Rajendranagar. Grain yield per plant had significant positive correlation with productivity per day (0.97), panicle weight (0.71), number of filled grains per panicle (0.57), panicle length (0.46), number of productive tillers per plant (0.34), days to 50 per cent flowering (0.23) and plant height (0.16).Path analysis revealed that productivity/ day (0.91) was the major contributor for grain yield followed by, days to 50 per cent flowering (0.19), grain length (0.05), number of productive tillers per plant (0.04), panicle weight (0.04) and number of filled grains per panicle (0.04). It can be concluded from the study that, the above characters can be used as the selection criteria in any rice yield improvement breeding programmes

Heterosis studies in rice for the identification of better hybrids for Telangana, India

In the present study, 23 elite rice genotypes were test crossed with IR 58025A and based on which, 12 restorer lines viz., Rajendra, MTU 1010, IR 64, KNM 118, NLR 33358, Satya, Varalu, RNR 15048, RNR 15038, Tel- lahamsa, RNR(RK) 28 and RNR(RK) 53 were identified during Kharif- Rabi 2013-14. Then, three CMS lines viz., IR 58025A, IR 68902A and IR 72081A were crossed with these identified 12 restorer lines to produce 36 hybrids in line × tester mating design and were evaluated along with standard hybrid check, PA 6129 at Rice Research Centre, Rajendranagar, during Kharif 2014 to find out the best heterotic combinations in terms of grain yield and yield component characters. The degree of heterosis varied from trait to trait. Out of 36 hybrids studied, the significant standard heterosis for grain yield is observed in 3 hybrids, over best check PA 6129, viz., IR 58025A × MTU 1010 (18.25), IR 68902A × RNR 15038 (14.59) and IR 72081A × RNR 15038 (9.57). The best experimental hybrid IR58025A × MTU 1010 recorded average heterosis (78.26) and heterobeltiosis (64.37). These three experimental hybrids can be further evaluated over locations for large scale commercialization in Telangana

Response of Composite Panels with Stiffness Gradients Due to Stiffener Terminations and Cutouts

The results of an analytical and experimental study of stiffened graphite-epoxy compression panels with terminated stiffeners are presented. The local stress gradients at the stiffener termination location are determined by finite element analysis. Three stiffener termination concepts are evaluated by analysis to determine the stiffener and skin laminate parameters that affect the panel response and failure. The effects of changing local skin laminate definitions, skin reinforcement details, and stiffener termination details on local stress gradients and load-path eccentricities are discussed. Analytical and test results are presented for panels with one terminated stiffener and for panels with one terminated stiffener and two unterminated stiffeners. The effects of a cutout in the skin of a panel with a terminated stiffener is also evaluated to determine the interaction between the stress gradients in the panel due to the cutout and those due to the terminated stiffener. The results of the study indicate that the critical failure modes of the panels initiate at the skin-stiffener interface near the end of the terminated stiffener

Internally damped, self-arresting vertical drop-weight impact test apparatus

A vertical dropped-weight impact test machine has a dropped-weight barrel vertically supported on upper and lower support brackets. The dropped-weight barrel is chambered to receive a dropped-weight assembly having a latch pin at its upper end, a damping unit in the middle, and a tup at its lower end. The tup is adapted for gathering data during impact testing. The latch pin releasably engages a latch pin coupling assembly. The latch pin coupling assembly is attached to a winch via a halyard for raising and lowering the dropped-weight assembly. The lower end of the dropped-weight barrel is provided with a bounce-back arresting mechanism which is activated by the descending passage of the dropped-weight assembly. After striking the specimen, the dropped-weight assembly rebounds vertically and is caught by the bounce-back arresting mechanism. The damping unit of the dropped-weight assembly serves to dissipate energy from the rebounding dropped-weight assembly and prevents the dropped-weight assembly from rebounding from the self-arresting mechanism

Internally damped, self-arresting vertical drop-weight apparatus

A vertical dropped-weight impact test machine has a dropped-weight barrel vertically supported on upper and lower support brackets. The dropped-weight barrel is chambered to receive a dropped-weight assembly having a latch pin at its upper end, a damping unit in the middle, and a tup at its lower end. The tup is adapted for gathering data during impact testing. The latch pin releasably engages a latch pin coupling assembly. The latch pin coupling assembly is attached to a winch via a halyard for raising and lowering the dropped-weight assembly. The lower end of the dropped-weight barrel is provided with a bounce-back arresting mechanism which is activated by the descending passage of the dropped-weight assembly. After striking the specimen, the dropped-weight assembly rebounds vertically and is caught by the bounce-back arresting mechanism. The damping unit of the dropped-weight assembly serves to dissipate energy from the rebounding dropped-weight assembly and prevents the dropped-weight assembly from rebounding from the self-arresting mechanism

Market efficiency of gold exchange-traded funds in India

Background: Gold exchange-traded funds, since introduction, are primarily aimed at tracking the price of physical gold in the financial market. This, a category of exchange-traded funds, whose units represent physical gold, is traded on exchanges like any other financial instrument. In the Indian financial market, gold exchange traded funds were introduced a decade ago to facilitate ordinary households' participation in the bullion market. They were also designed to assist in the price discovery mechanism of the bullion market. Presentation of the hypothesis: In this paper, it is attempted to check if one of the constituents of price discovery mechanism, informational efficiency, has been achieved in gold exchange-traded funds' market. Information efficiency becomes evident only when all available information is reflected in the market price of the instrument. Testing the hypothesis: Therefore, in order to assess the weak-form efficiency of the gold exchange-traded funds market, the daily returns of five gold exchange-traded funds traded on the Indian Stock Exchange over the period March 22, 2010, to August 28, 2015, were used. The non-parametric runs test, the parametric serial correlation test, and the augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test are employed. Implications of the hypothesis: The test results provide evidence that the efficient market hypothesis does not hold for the gold exchange-traded funds' market in India. Further, the test results address several underlying issues with respect to price discovery in the market under study and suggest that the Indian market for this derivative is not weak-form efficient. Hence, the factors affecting gold exchange traded-funds' market warrant the attention of the country's regulatory bodies, as appropriate legislation in support of market efficiency is needed

Um modelo para análise socioeconômica da criminalidade no município de Aracaju

Este trabalho tem por objetivo investigar as razões socioeconômicas da criminalidade em Aracaju, a partir de fontes primárias e secundárias de informação. Para tanto, parte-se de uma análise teórica, na qual foram identificadas quatro hipóteses explicativas para a criminalidade: (i) ato racional deliberado; (ii) relacionada com o ciclo econômico; (iii) decorrente da maior desigualdade social existente na economia contemporânea e; (iv) não diretamente relacionada com variáveis socioeconômicas. A seção seguinte descreve a metodologia empregada para a construção do banco de dados e para a análise por meio de regressão do tipo stepwise. Na última seção são apresentados os resultados: o modelo explica 90% do comportamento dos crimes contra o patrimônio, e as variáveis responsáveis por tal comportamento são: a concentração de renda, características da infra-estrutura existente nos bairros, a baixa densidade demográfica e a menor participação dos jovens no total da população.________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT: This paper aims to investigate the socioeconomic reasons of criminality in Aracaju/SE, using primary and secondary sources of information. Beginning with a theoretical analysis, we identified four hyphotesis to the criminality which are: (i) a deliberated rational action; (ii) related to the economic cycle; (iii) consequence of the growing social inequality in the contemporary economy and (iv) not directly related to the socioeconomic reasons. The next section describes the methodology employed to construct the database and for analysis through stepwise regression. The results are presented in the last section: our model explains 90% of the property crime behavior, mainly due: income inequality, existing characteristics of infrastructure in the city districts, low demographic density and low rate of youths participation in the whole population