Producing gallium arsenide crystals in space

The production of high quality crystals in space is a promising near-term application of microgravity processing. Gallium arsenide is the selected material for initial commercial production because of its inherent superior electronic properties, wide range of market applications, and broad base of on-going device development effort. Plausible product prices can absorb the high cost of space transportation for the initial flights provided by the Space Transportation System. The next step for bulk crystal growth, beyond the STS, is planned to come later with the use of free flyers or a space station, where real benefits are foreseen. The use of these vehicles, together with refinement and increasing automation of space-based crystal growth factories, will bring down costs and will support growing demands for high quality GaAs and other specialty electronic and electro-optical crystals grown in space

Pyrotechnic shock analysis and testing methods

Pyrotechnic shock analysis and testing methods for Ranger and Mariner spacecraft measurement

TRANSPORTATION DEREGULATION AND INTERREGIONAL COMPETITION IN THE NORTHEASTERN FEED ECONOMY

The effects of rail deregulation on feed transportation in the Northeast are examined through construction of a spatial equilibrium model of the Northeastern feed industry. Short-run and long-run effects of deregulation are analyzed through incorporation of rail rate structures for 1981 and 1984, respectively, into model simulations and comparison with pre-deregulation base year results (1980). The results show that the Northeast feed economy has generally benefited from rail deregulation which has led to lower transportation costs, lower feed costs and an enhanced competitive position relative to the Southeastern U.S.Public Economics,

An analytical basis for assaying buried biological contamination Interim report

Assay techniques for determining biological contamination of spacecraft material

Social and Ethical Considerations of Nuclear Power Development

A new urgency is emerging around nuclear power development and this urgency is accentuated by the post-tsunami events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. This urgency extends beyond these dramatic events in Japan, however, to many other regions of the world and situations where nuclear power development is receiving renewed attention as an alternative to carbon-based energy sources. As a contribution to the growing public debate about nuclear power development, this paper offers a set of insights into the social and ethical aspects of nuclear power development by drawing from published literature in the humanities and social sciences. We offer insights into public risk perception of nuclear power at individual and national levels, the siting of nuclear waste repositories, the changing policy context for nuclear power development, social movements, and the challenges of risk management at the institutional level. We also pay special attention to the ethical aspects of nuclear power with attention to principles such as means and ends, use value and intrinsic value, private goods and public goods, harm, and equity considerations. Finally, we provide recommendations for institutional design and performance in nuclear power design and management.nuclear power, risk perception, social context, megaprojects, energy production, applied ethics, social values, social movements, complexity, hazards, disaster response, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Q40, Z00,

Enterprising Rural Families: Making It Work

Enterprising Rural Families (ERFTM) is an international course for the rural family in business. ERFTM teaches a process of finding success, resilience and satisfaction for rural families engaged in enterprises; including agriculture. Instructors from the United States, Canada and Australia have teamed together to offer this course that focuses on the three main components of a family business: individuals, the family unit and the business enterprise. This course also allows families in business to increase their awareness of cultural differences and similarities and improve their understanding of global issues. The course consists of written presentations, online chat sessions, threaded discussions, readings, videos, case studies and individual projects. Using these mechanisms, the online interaction provides rural families with both the tools and skills to resolve immediate family business issues and build a profitable business for the future.Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management,

Thinking Outside the Can: Restoring the Value, Teaching and Practice of Limited Preparation in Limited-Prepartin Events

It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. - Mark Twain The humor in Twain\u27s often-referenced quotation is more readily apparent to those outside of the forensics community than to those within. Ironically, a student addressing this quotation in competition would likely disagree with the quotation, because, well, it seems like one should. Two arguments would ensue—one trumpeting the importance of preparation, and a second reaffirming the value of free speech. After hearing these truisms supported by Festinger\u27s Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, the Dalai Lama\u27s new PR strategy of emptiness, Maslow\u27s Hierarchy of Needs, and those feisty boys from George Orwell\u27s Lord of the Flies (yes, the author is aware that Orwell did not write Lord of the Flies, but a student in the 2007 NFA final round was not), a judge would be expected to comment intelligently on the fluent, at times almost human, presentation. And so the examples that were neatly packaged weeks earlier would stand in opposition to Twain\u27s observation about preparing what is typically not prepared in advance. In actuality, the arguments and examples would be irrelevant to an understanding of the quotation, but such is the nature of the game. Our tournament champion in generic exemplification is ... Language matters. This point is not lost on any serious student, teacher or scholar of rhetoric. Burke (1957, 1961) claims that language represents strategic, stylized responses to the human condition. The label assigned is loaded with meaning, allowing the agent to accept or reject the prevailing context or condition (Burke, 1952). When something is assigned a label, a suggestion is made regarding what the thing is, and what it is not. When forensic educators use the terms impromptu and extemporaneous in journals or at conferences, the words suggest modes of delivery associated with speeches developed in a limited time frame. However, the pedagogy of practice that has emerged over the past three decades works against the nature of these terms and the intent of these events. When limited preparation really means advanced preparation, when impromptu rewards the use of examples fully pre-prepared and extemporaneous punishes only the deliveries that are truly extemporaneous, then perhaps the forensics community is experiencing an accurately-referenced Orwellian nightmare. Our language betrays us

A comparison of assistance used by field-dependent and field-independent adults engaged in self-planned learning

The purpose of this investigation was to compare field-dependent and field-independent adult learners on the importance of assistance in self-planned learning. Fifty-seven adult learners were interviewed concerning the extent of their self-planned learning efforts. They were given the Embedded Figures Test, an instrument identifying tendencies toward field-dependent or field-independent cognitive style. They were also asked to complete three, researcher designed checklists examining the importance of assistance to self-planned learning;Checklist one listed 20 sources of assistance learners use in self-planned learning. Ten sources of assistance were categorized as human sources (involving interaction with people) and ten were categorized as nonhuman (interaction with materials or inanimate objects). Checklists two and three studied the types of assistance adults receive from human and nonhuman resources during their learning efforts;The study failed to reject eight hypotheses and rejected two. Field-dependent learners did report that nonhuman sources of assistance were more important to their learning than was reported by field-independent learners. The importance of nonhuman sources of assistance was found to be a predictor of reported satisfaction with self-planned learning. No significant difference between field-dependent and field-independent learners was found on the importance of human or nonhuman assistance during the process of choosing, planning, or implementing self-planned learning;The study identified areas needing further investigation including: a more precise examination of the behavior of self-planned learners when engaged in choosing, planning, and implementing learning projects; further study of those sources of assistance that aid or hinder self-planned learning; a more detailed comparison of the learning behavior of those adults possessing strong field-dependent or field-independent cognitive tendencies in lieu of studying the behavior of adults with varying degrees of field-dependence or field-independence