Twistable mold for helicopter blades

Design is described of mold for fabrication of blades composed of sets of aerodynamic shells having same airfoil section characteristics but different distributions. Mold consists of opposing stacks of thin templates held together by long bolts. When bolts are loosened, templates can be set at different positions with respect to each other and then locked in place

Hydrologic verification: A call for action and collaboration

Traditionally, little attention has been focused on the systematic verification of operational hydrologic forecasts. This paper summarizes the results of forecasts verification from 15 river basins in the United States. The verification scores for these forecast locations do not show improvement over the periods of record despite a number of forecast process improvements. In considering a root cause for these results, the authors note that the current paradigm for designing hydrologic forecast process improvements is driven by expert opinion and not by objective verification measures. The authors suggest that this paradigm should be modified and objective verification metrics should become the primary driver for hydrologic forecast process improvements. ©2007 American Meteorological Society

Natural environment support guidelines for space shuttle tests and operations

All space shuttle events from launch through solid rocket booster recovery and orbiter landing are considered in terms of constraints placed on those operations by the natural environment. Thunderstorm activity is discussed as an example of a possible hazard. The activities most likely to require advanced detection and monitoring techniques are identified as those from deorbit decision to Orbiter landing. The inflexible flight plan will require the transmission of real time wind profile information below 24 km and warnings of thunderstorms or turbulence in the Orbiter flight path. Extensive aerial reconnaissance and communication facilities and procedures to permit immediate transmission of aircraft reports to the mission control authority and to the Orbiter will also be required

Renormalisation of gravitational self interaction for wiggly strings

It is shown that for any elastic string model with energy density $U$ and tension $T$, the divergent contribution from gravitational self interaction can be allowed for by an action renormalisation proportional to $(U-T)^2$. This formula is applied to the important special case of a bare model of the transonic type (characterised by a constant value of the product $UT$) that represents the macroscopically averaged effect of shortwavelength wiggles on an underlying microscopic model of the Nambu-Goto type (characterised by $U=T$).Comment: 11 pages, Latex; original 8 page version extended to include estimates of relevant orders of magnitude. To be published in Physical Review,

Recent developments in Vorton Theory

This article provides a concise overview of recent theoretical results concerning the theory of vortons, which are defined to be (centrifugally supported) equilibrium configurations of (current carrying) cosmic string loops. Following a presentation of the results of work on the dynamical evolution of small circular string loops, whose minimum energy states are the simplest examples of vortons, recent order of magnitude estimates of the cosmological density of vortons produced in various kinds of theoretical scenario are briefly summarised.Comment: 6 pages Latex. Contribution to 1996 Cosmology Meeting, Peyresq, Franc

Recurrence relation for the 6j-symbol of su_q(2) as a symmetric eigenvalue problem

A well known recurrence relation for the 6j-symbol of the quantum group su_q(2) is realized as a tridiagonal, symmetric eigenvalue problem. This formulation can be used to implement an efficient numerical evaluation algorithm, taking advantage of existing specialized numerical packages. For convenience, all formulas relevant for such an implementation are collected in the appendix. This realization is a byproduct of an alternative proof of the recurrence relation, which generalizes a classical (q=1) result of Schulten and Gordon and uses the diagrammatic spin network formalism of Temperley-Lieb recoupling theory to simplify intermediate calculations.Comment: v3: 13 pages, ws-ijgmmp; minor corrections, slight update to presentation; close to published versio

Reusable Agena study. Volume 2: Technical

The application of the existing Agena vehicle as a reusable upper stage for the space shuttle is discussed. The primary objective of the study is to define those changes to the Agena required for it to function in the reusable mode in the 100 percent capture of the NASA-DOD mission model. This 100 percent capture is achieved without use of kick motors or stages by simply increasing the Agena propellant load by using optional strap-on-tanks. The required shuttle support equipment, launch and flight operations techniques, development program, and cost package are also defined

Symplectic structure for elastic and chiral conducting cosmic string models

This article is based on the covariant canonical formalism and corresponding symplectic structure on phase space developed by Witten, Zuckerman and others in the context of field theory. After recalling the basic principles of this procedure, we construct the conserved bilinear symplectic current for generic elastic string models. These models describe current carrying cosmic strings evolving in an arbitrary curved background spacetime. Particular attention is paid to the special case of the chiral string for which the worldsheet current is null. Different formulations of the chiral string action are discussed in detail, and as a result the integrability property of the chiral string is clarified.Comment: 18 page

Listing of solar radiation measuring equipment and glossary

An attempt is made to list and provide all available information about solar radiation measuring equipment which are being manufactured and are available on the market. The list is in tabular form and includes sensor type, response time, cost data and comments for each model. A cost code is included which shows ranges only