Summary report of Committee A

Sessions were held with the standing committees on aircraft design, simulation, general services, and general aviation. It was stated that current procedures for designing structural components with respect to turbulence forcing functions were adequate. It was agreed that the ultimate goal of aviation weather services was the delivery of accurate and timely information to the cockpit flight crew

Black Hole Spin Properties of 130 AGN

Supermassive black holes may be described by their mass and spin. When supermassive black holes are active, the activity provides a probe of the state of the black hole system. The spin of a hole can be estimated when the black hole mass and beam power of the source are known for sources with powerful outflows. Seventy-five sources for which both the black hole mass and beam power could be obtained are identified and used to obtain estimates of black hole spins. The 75 supermassive black holes studied include 52 FRII radio galaxies and 23 FRII radio loud quasars with redshifts ranging from about zero to two. The new values are combined with those obtained previously for 19 FRII radio galaxies, 7 FRII radio loud quasars, and 29 radio sources associated with CD galaxies to form samples of 71 FRII radio galaxies, 30 FRII quasars, and a total sample of 130 spin values; all of the sources are associated with massive elliptical galaxies. The new values obtained are similar to those obtained earlier at similar redshift, and range from about 0.1 to 1 for FRII sources. The overall results are consistent with those obtained previously: the spins tend to decrease with decreasing redshift for the FRII sources studied. There is a hint that the range of values of black hole spin at a given redshift is larger for FRII quasars than for FRII radio galaxies. There is no indication of a strong correlation between supermassive black hole mass and spin for the supermassive black holes studied here. The relation between beam power and black hole mass is obtained and used as a diagnostic of the outflows and the dependence of the magnetic field strength on black hole mass.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, 5 table

Proposed dynamic phase difference method for the detection of tile debonding from the space shuttle orbiter

A noncontracting, semi-global, dynamic technique was developed for detecting loose tiles on the space shuttle orbiter. In laboratory tests on a single tile, the substrate was excited into lateral motion at a constant frequency and amplitude of 2g. The phase relationship between the motions of tile and substrate was examined by noncontacting probes in order to relate the dynamic properties of the tile SIP system to its fatigue history; by a visual technique using a stroboscope and split screen video monitor for practical application in the field. When the substrate is excited at an appropriate frequency (between 30 and 60 Hz), a good tile moves in phase and a loose tile out of phase with the substrate. The out of phase motion is readily observable in the form of a "beat" between the tile and a reference marker on the substrate

A new technique for measuring gas conversion factors for hydrocarbon mass flowmeters

A technique for measuring calibration conversion factors for hydrocarbon mass flowmeters was developed. It was applied to a widely used type of commercial thermal mass flowmeter for hydrocarbon gases. The values of conversion factors for two common hydrocarbons measured using this technique are in good agreement with the empirical values cited by the manufacturer. Similar agreements can be expected for all other hydrocarbons. The technique is based on Nernst theorem for matching the partial pressure of oxygen in the combustion product gases with that in normal air. It is simple, quick and relatively safe--particularly for toxic/poisonous hydrocarbons

A method for monitoring the variability in nuclear absorption characteristics of aviation fuels

A technique for monitoring variability in the nuclear absorption characteristics of aviation fuels has been developed. It is based on a highly collimated low energy gamma radiation source and a sodium iodide counter. The source and the counter assembly are separated by a geometrically well-defined test fuel cell. A computer program for determining the mass attenuation coefficient of the test fuel sample, based on the data acquired for a preset counting period, has been developed and tested on several types of aviation fuel

New edrioasteroid from the Middle Cambrian of western Utah

4 p., 1 fig.http://paleo.ku.edu/contributions.htm