Space Environments and Spacecraft Effects Organization Concept

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is embarking on a course to expand human presence beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) while also expanding its mission to explore the solar system. Destinations such as Near Earth Asteroids (NEA), Mars and its moons, and the outer planets are but a few of the mission targets. Each new destination presents an opportunity to increase our knowledge of the solar system and the unique environments for each mission target. NASA has multiple technical and science discipline areas specializing in specific space environments disciplines that will help serve to enable these missions. To complement these existing discipline areas, a concept is presented focusing on the development of a space environments and spacecraft effects (SENSE) organization. This SENSE organization includes disciplines such as space climate, space weather, natural and induced space environments, effects on spacecraft materials and systems and the transition of research information into application. This space environment and spacecraft effects organization will be composed of Technical Working Groups (TWG). These technical working groups will survey customers and users, generate products, and provide knowledge supporting four functional areas: design environments, engineering effects, operational support, and programmatic support. The four functional areas align with phases in the program mission lifecycle and are briefly described below. Design environments are used primarily in the mission concept and design phases of a program. Engineering effects focuses on the material, component, sub-system and system-level selection and the testing to verify design and operational performance. Operational support provides products based on real time or near real time space weather to mission operators to aid in real time and near-term decision-making. The programmatic support function maintains an interface with the numerous programs within NASA, other federal government agencies, and the commercial sector to ensure that communications are well established and the needs of the programs are being met. The programmatic support function also includes working in coordination with the program in anomaly resolution and generation of lessons learned documentation. The goal of this space environment and spacecraft effects organization is to develop decision-making tools and engineering products to support all mission phases from mission concept through operations by focusing on transitioning research to application. Products generated by this space environments and effects application are suitable for use in anomaly investigations. This paper will describe the scope of the TWGs and their relationship to the functional areas, and discuss an organizational structure for this space environments and spacecraft effects organization

Octet baryon electromagnetic form factors in nuclear medium

We study the octet baryon electromagnetic form factors in nuclear matter using the covariant spectator quark model extended to the nuclear matter regime. The parameters of the model in vacuum are fixed by the study of the octet baryon electromagnetic form factors. In nuclear matter the changes in hadron properties are calculated by including the relevant hadron masses and the modification of the pion-baryon coupling constants calculated in the quark-meson coupling model. In nuclear matter the magnetic form factors of the octet baryons are enhanced in the low $Q^2$ region, while the electric form factors show a more rapid variation with $Q^2$. The results are compared with the modification of the bound proton electromagnetic form factors observed at Jefferson Lab. In addition, the corresponding changes for the bound neutron are predicted.Comment: Version accepted for publication in J.Phys. G. Few changes. 40 pages, 14 figures and 8 table

An Overview of the Space Environments and Spacecraft Effects Organization Concept

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is embarking on a course to expand human presence beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) while also expanding its mission to explore our Earth, and the solar system. Destinations such as Near Earth Asteroids (NEA), Mars and its moons, and the outer planets are but a few of the mission targets. Each new destination presents an opportunity to increase our knowledge on the solar system and the unique environments for each mission target. NASA has multiple technical and science discipline areas specializing in specific space environments fields that will serve to enable these missions. To complement these existing discipline areas, a concept is presented focusing on the development of a space environment and spacecraft effects (SESE) organization. This SESE organization includes disciplines such as space climate, space weather, natural and induced space environments, effects on spacecraft materials and systems, and the transition of research information into application. This space environment and spacecraft effects organization will be composed of Technical Working Groups (TWG). These technical working groups will survey customers and users, generate products, and provide knowledge supporting four functional areas: design environments, engineering effects, operational support, and programmatic support. The four functional areas align with phases in the program mission lifecycle and are briefly described below. Design environments are used primarily in the mission concept and design phases of a program. Environment effects focuses on the material, component, sub-system, and system-level response to the space environment and include the selection and testing to verify design and operational performance. Operational support provides products based on real time or near real time space weather to mission operators to aid in real time and near-term decision-making. The programmatic support function maintains an interface with the numerous programs within NASA, other federal government agencies, and the commercial sector to ensure that communications are well established and the needs of the programs are being met. The programmatic support function also includes working in coordination with the program in anomaly resolution and generation of lessons learned documentation. The goal of this space environment and spacecraft effects organization is to develop decision-making tools and engineering products to support all mission phases from mission concept through operations by focusing on transitioning research to application. Products generated by this space environments and effects application are suitable for use in anomaly investigations. This paper will describe the scope and purpose of the space environments and spacecraft effects organization and describe the TWG's and their relationship to the functional areas

IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0-50,000yeats cal BP

The IntCal04 and Marine04 radiocarbon calibration curves have been updated from 12 cal kBP (cal kBP is here defined as thousands of calibrated years before AD 1950), and extended to 50 cal kBP, utilizing newly available data sets that meet the IntCal Working Group criteria for pristine corals and other carbonates and for quantification of uncertainty in both the 14C and calendar timescales as established in 2002. No change was made to the curves from 0–12 cal kBP. The curves were constructed using a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) implementation of the random walk model used for IntCal04 and Marine04. The new curves were ratified at the 20th International Radiocarbon Conference in June 2009 and are available in the Supplemental Material at www.radiocarbon.org

The Red Sea, Coastal Landscapes, and Hominin Dispersals

This chapter provides a critical assessment of environment, landscape and resources in the Red Sea region over the past five million years in relation to archaeological evidence of hominin settlement, and of current hypotheses about the role of the region as a pathway or obstacle to population dispersals between Africa and Asia and the possible significance of coastal colonization. The discussion assesses the impact of factors such as topography and the distribution of resources on land and on the seacoast, taking account of geographical variation and changes in geology, sea levels and palaeoclimate. The merits of northern and southern routes of movement at either end of the Red Sea are compared. All the evidence indicates that there has been no land connection at the southern end since the beginning of the Pliocene period, but that short sea crossings would have been possible at lowest sea-level stands with little or no technical aids. More important than the possibilities of crossing the southern channel is the nature of the resources available in the adjacent coastal zones. There were many climatic episodes wetter than today, and during these periods water draining from the Arabian escarpment provided productive conditions for large mammals and human populations in coastal regions and eastwards into the desert. During drier episodes the coastal region would have provided important refugia both in upland areas and on the emerged shelves exposed by lowered sea level, especially in the southern sector and on both sides of the Red Sea. Marine resources may have offered an added advantage in coastal areas, but evidence for their exploitation is very limited, and their role has been over-exaggerated in hypotheses of coastal colonization

Evidence for multiple alleles effecting muscling and fatness at the Ovine GDF8 locus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The current investigation surveyed genetic polymorphism at the ovine <it>GDF8 </it>locus and determined its contribution to variation in muscling and fatness in sheep.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Re-sequencing 2988 bp from a panel of 15 sires revealed a total of six SNP, none of which were located within exons of the gene. One of the identified SNP, <it>g+6723G>A</it>, is known to increase muscularity within the Belgian Texel. A genetic survey of 326 animals revealed that the mutation is near fixation within Australian Texels and present in additional breeds including White Suffolk, Poll Dorset and Lincoln. Using a resource population comprising 15 sires and 1191 half-sib progeny with genotypic data, the effect of this and other SNP was tested against a set of 50 traits describing growth, muscling, fatness, yield, meat and eating quality. The loss of function allele (<it>g+6723A</it>) showed significant effects on slaughter measurements of muscling and fatness. No effect was detected on objectively assessed meat quality however evidence was found for an association between <it>g+6723G>A</it>, decreased intramuscular fat and reduced eating quality. Haplotype analysis using flanking microsatellites was performed to search for evidence of currently unidentified mutations which might affect production traits. Four haplotypes were identified that do not carry <it>g+6723A </it>but which showed significant associations with muscling and fatness.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The finding that <it>g+6723G>A </it>is present within Australian sheep facilitated an independent evaluation into its phenotypic consequence. Testing was conducted using a separate genetic background and animals raised in different environments to the Belgian Texel in which it was first identified. The observation that the direction and size of effects for <it>g+6723A </it>is approximately consistent represented a robust validation of the effects of the mutation. Based on observed allele frequencies within breeds, selection for <it>g+6723A </it>will have the largest impact within the White Suffolk. <it>GDF8 </it>may harbour additional mutations which serve to influence economically important traits in sheep.</p

Global Perspectives on Immunization During Pregnancy and Priorities for Future Research and Development: An International Consensus Statement.

Immunization during pregnancy has been recommended in an increasing number of countries. The aim of this strategy is to protect pregnant women and infants from severe infectious disease, morbidity and mortality and is currently limited to tetanus, inactivated influenza, and pertussis-containing vaccines. There have been recent advancements in the development of vaccines designed primarily for use in pregnant women (respiratory syncytial virus and group B Streptococcus vaccines). Although there is increasing evidence to support vaccination in pregnancy, important gaps in knowledge still exist and need to be addressed by future studies. This collaborative consensus paper provides a review of the current literature on immunization during pregnancy and highlights the gaps in knowledge and a consensus of priorities for future research initiatives, in order to optimize protection for both the mother and the infant