U.S. monetary policy in an integrating world: 1960 to 2000: discussion

Monetary policy ; Federal Open Market Committee ; Monetary policy - United States

Report on Mini-conference on Sludge Disposal Alternatives in the Ocean off Southern California, 8 September 1976

The purpose of the conference was to review the status of our capability to predict the environmental effects of the disposal of digested sewage sludge in the ocean off the coast of Southern California. At present, the ocean disposal of sewage sludge is prohibited by State and Federal regulations. Ocean disposal of sludge, however, is a complex of many alternative combinations of what, where and how; and the environmental consequences of all such combinations have not yet been determined. There is, in fact, some evidence that at least one environmentally sound mode of sludge disposal in the ocean off the Southern California coast may exist. This is the trapping of sludge in the sediments of deep, nearshore ocean basins. such as the Santa Monica Basin. Details of this method are given in Section 3.3. p. 12. It is the philosophy of the Environmental Quality Laboratory to study and evaluate policy alternatives but not to be an advocate of one alternative or another. Some of the policies studied may be contrary to existing laws or regulations, but it is believed that there is a better chance for improvement in the laws or regulations if alternatives currently outside them are also studied. The conference was sponsored by the Environmental Quality Laboratory in the belief that sufficient information is now available to begin making reasonable estimates of the environmental consequences of existing or alternative ocean disposal methods in order to compare them to land-based disposal methods. The purpose of this report is not to publish the actual proceedings of the conference. but rather to act as a communications aid. It is intended to publicize the issues that were raised at the conference, to give the names and addresses of people who are involved in these issues, and to present abstracts and literature citations. The schedule of the conference is presented in the next section. It is followed by a section containing abstracts of current research by conference attendees along with reference lists supplied by them. The fourth section is a summary of the afternoon discussion sessions. The final section is a list of conference attendees with their mailing addresses

Secular Effects of Tidal Damping in Compact Planetary Systems

We describe the long-term evolution of compact systems of terrestrial planets, using a set of simulations that match the statistical properties of the observed exoplanet distribution. The evolution is driven by tidal dissipation in the planetary interiors, but the systems evolve as a whole due to secular gravitational interactions. We find that, for Earth-like dissipation levels, planetary orbits can be circularised out to periods of order 100 days, an order of magnitude larger than is possible for single planets. The resulting distribution of eccentricities is a qualitative match to that inferred from transit timing variations, with a minority of non-zero eccentricities maintained by particular secular configurations. The coupling of the tidal and secular processes enhance the inward migration of the innermost planets in these systems, and can drive them to short orbital periods. Resonant interactions of both the mean motion and secular variety are observed, although the interactions are not strong enough to drive systemic instability in most cases. However, we demonstrate that these systems can easily be driven unstable if coupled to giant planets on longer period orbits.Comment: 17 pages, 22 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Stellar Equilibrium in 2+1 Dimensions

The hydrostatic equilibrium of a $2+1$ dimensional perfect fluid star in asymptotically anti-de Sitter space is discussed. The interior geometry matches the exterior $2+1$ black-hole solution. An upper mass limit is found, analogous to Buchdahl's theorem in 3+1, and the possibility of collapse is discussed. The case of a uniform matter density is solved exactly and a new interior solution is presented.Comment: 11 pages, revtex, no figure

Engineering technology for networks

Space Network (SN) modeling and evaluation are presented. The following tasks are included: Network Modeling (developing measures and metrics for SN, modeling of the Network Control Center (NCC), using knowledge acquired from the NCC to model the SNC, and modeling the SN); and Space Network Resource scheduling

Determination of the distribution of sound source intensities in subsonic and supersonic jets

Equations relating crossed beam space-time correlations to the sound source strength per unit length of an idealized jet are presented and applied to actual measurements in unheated jets at M = 0.71 and M = 1.0. The infrared crossed beam system was assembled and checked out. The prediction of the system's insensitivity to temperature fluctuations when set at 4.31 microns with a 0.08 micron bandpass was checked. Relative intensity profiles of density fluctuations for jets at M = 0.71, 1.0 and 1.94 were measured. These profiles differ considerably from velocity fluctuation profiles measured by other investigators with hotwires. The convection speeds also differ. Finally, the sound source strengths per unit length are obtained at various axial distances for the subsonic and sonic jet. The sonic jet shows peak source strength at an axial distance of six diameters

What is the balance of payments?

Balance of payments

Advanced long term cryogenic storage systems

Long term, cryogenic fluid storage facilities will be required to support future space programs such as the space-based Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV), Telescopes, and Laser Systems. An orbital liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen storage system with an initial capacity of approximately 200,000 lb will be required. The storage facility tank design must have the capability of fluid acquisition in microgravity and limit cryogen boiloff due to environmental heating. Cryogenic boiloff management features, minimizing Earth-to-orbit transportation costs, will include advanced thick multilayer insulation/integrated vapor cooled shield concepts, low conductance support structures, and refrigeration/reliquefaction systems. Contracted study efforts are under way to develop storage system designs, technology plans, test article hardware designs, and develop plans for ground/flight testing