Large-Scale Cryogenic Testing of Launch Vehicle Ground Systems at the Kennedy Space Center

The development of a new launch vehicle to support NASA's future exploration plans requires significant redesign and upgrade of Kennedy Space Center's (KSC) launch pad and ground support equipment systems. In many cases, specialized test equipment and systems will be required to certify the function of the new system designs under simulated operational conditions, including propellant loading. This paper provides an overview of the cryogenic test infrastructure that is in place at KSC to conduct development and qualification testing that ranges from the component level to the integrated-system level. An overview of the major cryogenic test facilities will be provided, along with a detailed explanation of the technology focus area for each facilit

Delusional beliefs and reason giving

Delusions are often regarded as irrational beliefs, but their irrationality is not sufficient to explain what is pathological about them. In this paper we ask whether deluded subjects have the capacity to support the content of their delusions with reasons, that is, whether they can author their delusional states. The hypothesis that delusions are characterised by a failure of authorship, which is a dimension of self knowledge, deserves to be empirically tested because (a) it has the potential to account for the distinction between endorsing a delusion and endorsing a framework belief; (b) it contributes to a philosophical analysis of the relationship between rationality and self knowledge; and (c) it informs diagnosis and therapy in clinical psychiatry. However, authorship cannot provide a demarcation criterion between delusions and other irrational belief states

Bodily feeling in depersonalisation: a phenomenological account

publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticlePre-print - please cite published version at Sage web site: http://emr.sagepub.com/content/4/2/145.full.pdf+htmlThis paper addresses the phenomenology of bodily feeling in depersonalisation disorder. We argue that not all bodily feelings are intentional states that have the body or part of it as their object. We distinguish three broad categories of bodily feeling: noematic feeling, noetic feeling and existential feeling. Then we show how an appreciation of the differences between them can contribute to an understanding of the depersonalisation experience.ER

Foreign Direct Investments in Business Services: Transforming the Visegrád Four Region into a Knowledge-based Economy?

Foreign direct investments (FDIs) in the service sector are widely attributed an important role in bringing more skill-intensive activities into the Visegrad Four (V4). This region—comprising Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia—relied heavily on FDIs in manufacturing, which was often found to generate activities with limited skill content. This contribution deconstructs the chaotic concept of “business services” by analysing the actual nature of service sector activities outsourced and offshored to the V4. Using the knowledge-based economy (KBE) as a benchmark, the paper assesses the potential of service sector outsourcing in contributing to regional competitiveness by increasing the innovative capacity. It also discusses the role of state policies towards service sector FDI (SFDI). The analysis combines data obtained from case studies undertaken in service sector outsourcing projects in V4 countries. Moreover, it draws on interviews with senior employees of investment promotion agencies and publicly available data and statistics on activities within the service sector in the region. It argues that the recent inward investments in business services in the V4 mainly utilize existing local human capital resources, and their contribution to the development of the KBE is limited to employment creation and demand for skilled labour

Why the idea of framework propositions cannot contribute to an understanding of delusions

One of the tasks that recent philosophy of psychiatry has taken upon itself is to extend the range of understanding to some of those aspects of psychopathology that Jaspers deemed beyond its limits. Given the fundamental difficulties of offering a literal interpretation of the contents of primary delusions, a number of alternative strategies have been put forward including regarding them as abnormal versions of framework propositions described by Wittgenstein in On Certainty. But although framework propositions share some of the apparent epistemic features of primary delusions, their role in partially constituting the sense of inquiry rules out their role in helping to understand delusions

Bridging charge-orbital ordering and Fermi surface instabilities in half-doped single-layered manganite La_0.5Sr_1.5MnO_4

Density waves are inherent to the phase diagrams of materials that exhibit unusual, and sometimes extraordinarily useful properties, such as superconductivity and colossal magnetoresistance. While the pure charge density waves (CDW) are well described by an itinerant approach, where electrons are treated as waves propagating through the crystal, the charge-orbital ordering (COO) is usually explained by a local approach, where the electrons are treated as localized on the atomic sites. Here we show that in the half-doped manganite La0.5Sr1.5MnO4 (LSMO) the electronic susceptibility, calculated from the angle-resolved photoemission spectra (ARPES), exhibits a prominent nesting-driven peak at one quarter of the Brillouin zone diagonal, that is equal to the reciprocal lattice vector of the charge-orbital pattern. Our results demonstrate that the Fermi surface geometry determines the propensity of the system to form a COO state which, in turn, implies the applicability of the itinerant approach also to the COO

Effect of variety and cultivation technology on phenols and antioxidant activity of sweet and sour cherry

The goal of the present work was to compare different sweet and sour cherry cultivars and cultivation methods (bio/integrated) with respect to polyphenol content and antioxidant activity. The concentration of total polyphenols ranged between 880–1050 mg kg-1 of fresh fruit, whereas antioxidant activity expressed as TEAC was found to be between 5.4 and 10.3 mmol kg-1 for the sweet cherry cultivars examined. In case of sour cherry the level of polyphenols ranged between 1283 and 3490 mg/kg fresh edible part of the fruit. Antioxidant activity was recorded between 15–32 mmol kg-1 for the different sour cherry cultivars included in this work. After one-month storage at low temperature, the total phenols and antioxidant activity decreased by 2–40% in the sour cherry cultivars studied. The anthocyanin content in cherry cultivars was less (131–312 mg kg-1) than the135–1893 mg kg-1 found in sour cherries. Anthocyanin level was higher in samples produced under organic farming conditions than in those produced with integrated cultivation

A risk prediction model for the assessment and triage of women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in low-resourced settings: the miniPIERS (Pre-eclampsia Integrated Estimate of RiSk) multi-country prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Pre-eclampsia/eclampsia are leading causes of maternal mortality and morbidity, particularly in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs). We developed the miniPIERS risk prediction model to provide a simple, evidence-based tool to identify pregnant women in LMICs at increased risk of death or major hypertensive-related complications. METHODS AND FINDINGS: From 1 July 2008 to 31 March 2012, in five LMICs, data were collected prospectively on 2,081 women with any hypertensive disorder of pregnancy admitted to a participating centre. Candidate predictors collected within 24 hours of admission were entered into a step-wise backward elimination logistic regression model to predict a composite adverse maternal outcome within 48 hours of admission. Model internal validation was accomplished by bootstrapping and external validation was completed using data from 1,300 women in the Pre-eclampsia Integrated Estimate of RiSk (fullPIERS) dataset. Predictive performance was assessed for calibration, discrimination, and stratification capacity. The final miniPIERS model included: parity (nulliparous versus multiparous); gestational age on admission; headache/visual disturbances; chest pain/dyspnoea; vaginal bleeding with abdominal pain; systolic blood pressure; and dipstick proteinuria. The miniPIERS model was well-calibrated and had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC ROC) of 0.768 (95% CI 0.735-0.801) with an average optimism of 0.037. External validation AUC ROC was 0.713 (95% CI 0.658-0.768). A predicted probability ≥25% to define a positive test classified women with 85.5% accuracy. Limitations of this study include the composite outcome and the broad inclusion criteria of any hypertensive disorder of pregnancy. This broad approach was used to optimize model generalizability. CONCLUSIONS: The miniPIERS model shows reasonable ability to identify women at increased risk of adverse maternal outcomes associated with the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. It could be used in LMICs to identify women who would benefit most from interventions such as magnesium sulphate, antihypertensives, or transportation to a higher level of care