Operational benefits from the terminal configured vehicle

The NASA Terminal Configured Vehicle is a flying laboratory used to conduct research and development on improved airborne systems (including avionics) and operational flight procedures, with particular emphasis on utilization in the terminal area environment. The objectives of this technology development activity, focused on conventional transport aircraft, are to develop and demonstrate improvements which can lead to increased airport and runway capacity, increased air traffic controller productivity, energy efficient terminal area operations, reduced weather minima with safety, and reduced community noise by use of appropriate procedures. This paper discusses some early results of this activity in addition to defining present efforts and future research plans

Summary of a flight-test evaluation of the CL-84 tilt-wing V/STOL aircraft

Flight test evaluation of second generation CL-84 tilt-wing aircraft in hover, transition, and cruise mode

Engineering tyrosine-based electron flow pathways in proteins: The case of aplysia myoglobin

Tyrosine residues can act as redox cofactors that provide an electron transfer ("hole-hopping") route that enhances the rate of ferryl heme iron reduction by externally added reductants, for example, ascorbate. Aplysia fasciata myoglobin, having no naturally occurring tyrosines but 15 phenylalanines that can be selectively mutated to tyrosine residues, provides an ideal protein with which to study such through-protein electron transfer pathways and ways to manipulate them. Two surface exposed phenylalanines that are close to the heme have been mutated to tyrosines (F42Y, F98Y). In both of these, the rate of ferryl heme reduction increased by up to 3 orders of magnitude. This result cannot be explained in terms of distance or redox potential change between donor and acceptor but indicates that tyrosines, by virtue of their ability to form radicals, act as redox cofactors in a new pathway. The mechanism is discussed in terms of the Marcus theory and the specific protonation/deprotonation states of the oxoferryl iron and tyrosine. Tyrosine radicals have been observed and quantified by EPR spectroscopy in both mutants, consistent with the proposed mechanism. The location of each radical is unambiguous and allows us to validate theoretical methods that assign radical location on the basis of EPR hyperfine structure. Mutation to tyrosine decreases the lipid peroxidase activity of this myoglobin in the presence of low concentrations of reductant, and the possibility of decreasing the intrinsic toxicity of hemoglobin by introduction of these pathways is discussed. © 2012 American Chemical Society

Fine forecasts: encouraging the media to include ultraviolet radiation information in summertime weather forecasts

Melanoma and skin cancer are largely attributable to over-exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Reports of UVR levels within media weather forecasts appear to be well received by the public and have good potential to communicate the need for appropriate sun protection to a broad audience. This study describes provision of UVR messages by New Zealand newspapers, radio and TV stations over a 4-year period, and examines the impact of an intervention which aimed to address media concerns about the financial costs of accessing UVR information for broadcast. Newspaper and radio presentation of UVR information increased immediately after these costs were removed; however, among radio stations it dropped in subsequent years. Among those media that were presenting UVR, this information was broadcast throughout the summer period and repeated throughout the day. Furthermore, most reports included concomitant, behavioral sun protection messages. At the final assessment (summer 2001/02), 66% of radio stations, both TV channels and 48% of newspapers reported UVR information in summertime weather reports. Efforts to further increase UVR presentation will need to address media concerns about time constraints on weather forecasts and media perceptions of poor audience demand or understanding of some UVR message

Impact of Grazing Management Strategies on Carbon Sequestration in a Semi-Arid Rangeland, USA

The effects of 12 years of grazing management strategies on carbon (C) distribution and sequestration were assessed on a semi-arid mixed-grass prairie in Wyoming, USA. Five grazing treatments were evaluated: non-grazed exclosures; continuous, season-long grazing at a light (22 steer-days ha-1) stocking rate; and, rotationally-deferred, short-duration rotation, and continuous, season-long grazing, all three at a heavy stocking rate (59 steer-days ha-1). Non-grazed exclosures exhibited a large buildup of dead plant material (72% of total aboveground plant matter) and forb biomass represented a large component (35%) of the plant community. Stocking rate, but not grazing strategy, changed plant community composition and decreased surface litter. Light grazing decreased forbs and increased cool-season mid-grasses, resulting in a highly diversified plant community and the highest total production of grasses. Heavy grazing increased warm-season grasses at the expense of the cool-season grasses, which decreased total forage production and opportunity for early season grazing. Compared to the exclosures, all grazing treatments resulted in significantly higher levels of C (6000-9000 kg ha-1) in the surface 15 cm of the soil. Higher levels of soil C with grazing are likely the result of faster litter decomposition and recycling, and redistribution of C within the 0-60 cm plant-soil system. Grazing at an appropriate stocking rate had beneficial effects on plant composition, forage production, and soil C sequestration. Without grazing, deterioration of the plant-soil system is indicated

On the elliptic nonabelian Fourier transform for unipotent representations of p-adic groups

In this paper, we consider the relation between two nonabelian Fourier transforms. The first one is defined in terms of the Langlands-Kazhdan-Lusztig parameters for unipotent elliptic representations of a split p-adic group and the second is defined in terms of the pseudocoefficients of these representations and Lusztig's nonabelian Fourier transform for characters of finite groups of Lie type. We exemplify this relation in the case of the p-adic group of type G_2.Comment: 17 pages; v2: several minor corrections, references added; v3: corrections in the table with unipotent discrete series of G

Quantifying patient satisfaction with process metrics using a weighted bundle approach.

Background:Current patient satisfaction assessment results are delayed and obtained from select patient surveys. As a result, these assessments may not represent the experience of the entire patient population. This study developed a method to measure and evaluate all patients\u27 experiences while they are within the care episode and link it to processes within the organisation. Methods:Using the Six Sigma methodology, sites assembled diverse teams to categorise and analyse negative experience comments from patients to understand the drivers of dissatisfaction. These customer expectations lead to the development of the four components in the Patient Experience Bundle (PEB): communication, environment, basic needs/comfort and logistics. Individual process elements were ranked to create a numerical relationship between service and the needs expressed by the voice of the customer. Sites created surveys incorporating questions that focused on the bundle elements and measured daily bundle compliance. Graphical analysis and hypothesis testing enabled sites to determine key drivers of patient dissatisfaction within the bundle elements. Improvement strategies were developed and implemented to address the key drivers of patient dissatisfaction. Results:After implementing process improvements focused on issues identified by the PEB, bundle compliance improved from an average of 51% to an average of 82.5% and Press Ganey Likelihood to Recommend (PG LTR) scores improved from an average of 64.73% to an average 74.64%. The data demonstrated that the trends in improving PEB are followed by meaningful changes in PG LTR scores. Conclusion:This work is built on the identification of common elements of care that impact patient satisfaction and detailed mathematical analysis of the relationship between factors. Using the bundle concept, these improvement efforts maintain highly reliable processes to drive outcomes and provide real-time feedback on patient experience

Calorimetric Studies of the Energetics of Order-Disorder in the System Mg(1-x)Fe(x)Ca(CO(3))(2)

Calorimetric studies by Chai and Navrotsky (1996) on dolomite-ankerite energetic have been extended by including two additional types of samples: a very disordered stoichiometric MgCa(CO{sub 3}){sub 2} prepared from low temperature aqueous solution and three largely ordered natural samples of intermediate iron content. Combining these data with previous work, three distinct trends of energetic can be seen: those for samples with nearly complete order, nearly complete disorder, and intermediate order. From these trends, the enthalpy of complete disordering is estimated to be 33 {+-} 6 kJ/mol for MgCa(CO{sub 3}){sub 2} and 18 {+-} 5 kJ/mol for FeCa(CO{sub 3}){sub 2}