Design of Test Support Hardware for Advanced Space Suits

As a member of the Space Suit Assembly Development Engineering Team, I designed and built test equipment systems to support the development of the next generation of advanced space suits. During space suit testing it is critical to supply the subject with two functions: (1) cooling to remove metabolic heat, and (2) breathing air to pressurize the space suit. The objective of my first project was to design, build, and certify an improved Space Suit Cooling System for manned testing in a 1G environment. This design had to be portable and supply a minimum cooling rate of 2500 BTU/hr. The Space Suit Cooling System is a robust, portable system that supports very high metabolic rates. It has a highly adjustable cool rate and is equipped with digital instrumentation to monitor the flowrate and critical temperatures. It can supply a variable water temperature down to 34 deg., and it can generate a maximum water flowrate of 2.5 LPM. My next project was to design and build a Breathing Air System that was capable of supply facility air to subjects wearing the Z2 space suit. The system intakes 150 PSIG breathing air and regulates it to two operating pressures: 4.3 and 8.3 PSIG. It can also provide structural capabilities at 1.5x operating pressure: 6.6 and 13.2 PSIG, respectively. It has instrumentation to monitor flowrate, as well as inlet and outlet pressures. The system has a series of relief valves to fully protect itself in case of regulator failure. Both projects followed a similar design methodology. The first task was to perform research on existing concepts to develop a sufficient background knowledge. Then mathematical models were developed to size components and simulate system performance. Next, mechanical and electrical schematics were generated and presented at Design Reviews. After the systems were approved by the suit team, all the hardware components were specified and procured. The systems were then packaged, fabricated, and thoroughly tested. The next step was to certify the equipment for manned used, which included generating a Hazard Analysis and giving a presentation to the Test Readiness Review Board. Both of these test support systems will perform critical roles in the development of nextgeneration space suits. They will used on a regular basis to test the NASA's new Z2 Space Suit. The Space Suit Cooling System is now the primary cooling system for all advanced suit tests

Obviation, Inversion, and Topic Rank in Ojibwa

Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: Special Session on General Topics in American Indian Linguistics (1990), pp. 101-11

Syntax vs. Morphology: A Chicken and Egg Problem

Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: Special Session on Syntactic Issues in Native American Languages (1993

What is a Morpheme? A View from Construction Grammar

Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on The Place of Morphology in a Grammar (1992), pp. 409-42

Agency, Inversion, and Thematic Alignment in Ojibwe

Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session Dedicated to the Contributions of Charles J. Fillmore (1994

Extension rates across the northern Shanxi Grabens, China, from Quaternary geology, seismicity and geodesy

Discrepancies between geological, seismic and geodetic rates of strain can indicate that rates of crustal deformation, and hence seismic hazard, are varying through time. Previous studies in the northern Shanxi Grabens, at the northeastern corner of the Ordos Plateau in northern China, have found extension rates of anywhere between 0 and 6 mm a−1 at an azimuth of between 95° and 180°. In this paper we determine extension rates across the northern Shanxi Grabens from offset geomorphological features and a variety of Quaternary dating techniques (including new IRSL and Ar-Ar ages), a Kostrov summation using a 700 yr catalogue of historical earthquakes, and recent campaign GPS measurements. We observe good agreement between Quaternary, seismic and geodetic rates of strain, and we find that the northern Shanxi Grabens are extending at around 1–2 mm a−1 at an azimuth of ≈151°. The azimuth of extension is particularly well constrained and can be reliably inferred from catalogues of small earthquakes. We do not find evidence for any substantial variations in extension rate through time, though there is a notable seismic moment rate deficit since 1750. This deficit could indicate complex fault interactions across large regions, aseismic accommodation of deformation, or that we are quite late in the earthquake cycle with the potential for larger earthquakes in the relatively near future

The relevance of smallholder farming to African agricultural growth and development

Farms less than two hectares constitute most farm holdings in Africa. Most of these farms are operated by rural smallholder farmers who are dependent on agriculture for their economic livelihoods. However, they are constrained by lack of capital assets that would enable them to increase agricultural productivity, food security and income. Despite these challenges, smallholders contribute significantly to the rural economy, and play a significant role in natural resource conservation. Therefore, they represent a critical population to include in poverty reduction efforts. Recent initiatives by African leaders aim to increase public expenditures on agriculture in order to spur economic development, position smallholders to play a significant role in regional growth. To understand the relevance of smallholder farming to Africa’s development agenda, this paper reviews the body of knowledge on smallholder farmers, the constraints and opportunities they face, and their use of practices which embody the tenets of ecological and climate-smart agriculture despite little public investment in this area. This paper recognizes the role of smallholder farmers and concludes that smallholder agriculture will be a driver of economic growth and development in Africa. In order to achieve this, adequate investment should be focused on eliminating the challenges faced by smallholder farmers.Keywords: Smallholder farmers, Sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural development, climate-smart agriculture, green agricultur

Habitat and Bird Communities at Small Airports in the Midwestern USA

Despite a substantial amount of information available on bird and other wildlife strikes at large international airports, relatively few researchers have considered bird hazards at smaller general aviation (GA) airports and airfields. However, small airports often are located in rural areas, and the potential for wildlife strikes may be significant, especially because airworthiness standards related to bird strikes are much less stringent for GA aircraft compared to commercial aircraft. In this study, we conducted habitat assessments (onsite land-cover evaluations and Geographic Information System analyses) and seasonal bird surveys (walking transects) over a period of 1 year at 10 small airports in the state of Indiana, USA. Across all airports, the 3 most abundant habitat types were short (mowed) grass (mean = 40.2% of total airport area), soybean fields (10.3%), and corn fields (9.5%). At least 2 types of bird attractants (e.g., standing water, agricultural fields, woodlots) were present at each airport property, although most airports had 5 to 7 types. Seven species groups (American kestrel [Falco sparverius], blackbirds-starling, crows-ravens, mourning dove [Zenaida macroura], shorebirds, sparrows, and swallows) each were present at 9-10 of the airport properties during 1 or more seasons. The most numerous species group was blackbirds-starling, although the abundance of this and most other species groups varied widely across seasons and airports. Our results indicate that small airports in Indiana contain many bird attractants and harbor substantial numbers of birds hazardous to aviation. Management of wildlife hazards at small airports is especially challenging, given that many such airports have limited resources available for design and implementation of effective wildlife management programs. Future research should evaluate the suitability of alternative habitat types and agricultural crops that are cost-effective but compatible with effective management of wildlife hazards to aviation

Biocontamination Control for Spacesuit Garments - A Preliminary Study

This paper outlines a preliminary study that was conducted to review, test, and improve on current space suit biocontamination control. Biocontamination from crew members can cause space suit damage and objectionable odors and lead to crew member health hazards. An understanding of the level of biocontamination is necessary to mitigate its effects. A series of tests were conducted with the intent of evaluating current suit materials, ground and on-orbit disinfectants, and potential commercial off-the-shelf antimicrobial materials. Included in this paper is a discussion of the test methodology, results, and analysis method