4,413 research outputs found
Runway Incursion Prevention: A Technology Solution
A runway incursion occurs any time an airplane, vehicle, person or object on the ground creates a collision hazard with an airplane that is taking off or landing at an airport under the supervision of Air Traffic Control (ATC). Despite the best efforts of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), runway incursions continue to occur more frequently. The number of incursions reported in the U.S. rose from 186 in 1993 to 431 in 2000, an increase of 132 percent. Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has made specific recommendations for reducing runway incursions including a recommendation that the FAA require, at all airports with scheduled passenger service, a ground movement safety system that will prevent runway incursions; the system should provide a direct warning capability to flight crews. To this end, NASA and its industry partners have developed an advanced surface movement guidance and control system (A-SMGCS) architecture and operational concept that are designed to prevent runway incursions while also improving operational capability. This operational concept and system design have been tested in both full-mission simulation and operational flight test experiments at major airport facilities. Anecdotal, qualitative, and specific quantitative results will be presented along with an assessment of technology readiness with respect to equipage
EXPLORING FACTORS AFFECTING ATRAZINE CONCENTRATION IN THE BIG BLUE RIVER BASIN
Atrazine is a herbicide commonly used on corn and sorghum. Consumption of atrazine adversely affects humans. Environmental factors are related to atrazine concentration in the surface waters of the Big Blue River Basin using regression techniques. The usefulness of environmental factors as predictors of surface water atrazine contamination appears to depend on the time period
New Generation of Massless Dirac Fermions in Graphene under External Periodic Potentials
We show that new massless Dirac fermions are generated when a slowly varying
periodic potential is applied to graphene. These quasiparticles, generated near
the supercell Brillouin zone boundaries with anisotropic group velocity, are
different from the original massless Dirac fermions. The quasiparticle
wavevector (measured from the new Dirac point), the generalized pseudospin
vector, and the group velocity are not collinear. We further show that with an
appropriate periodic potential of triangular symmetry, there exists an energy
window over which the only available states are these quasiparticles, thus,
providing a good system to probe experimentally the new massless Dirac
fermions. The required parameters of external potentials are within the realm
of laboratory conditions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Performance analysis of a combat simulation game under binocular and monocular viewing conditions
Using a combat simulation game on a Macintosh microcomputer, seven male subjects were tested under binocular, dominant eye and non-dominant eye viewing conditions. Total points scored and number of shots fired were recorded at the completion of each game. A subjective rating of game difficulty was also acquired at the end of each three game set. No significant differences in game performance were found for binocular, dominant eye and non-dominant eye viewing conditions for either total score or shot efficiency. However, subjective rating of game difficulty was significantly different with all subjects finding the monocular conditions more difficult than the binocular condition. The subjects\u27 ratings of game difficulty did not correlate with their game scores or shot efficiencys
Flight demonstration of integrated airport surface automation concepts
A flight demonstration was conducted to address airport surface movement area capacity issues by providing pilots with enhanced situational awareness information. The demonstration showed an integration of several technologies to government and industry representatives. These technologies consisted of an electronic moving map display in the cockpit, a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) receiver, a high speed VHF data link, an ASDE-3 radar, and the Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS). Aircraft identification was presented to an air traffic controller on AMASS. The onboard electronic map included the display of taxi routes, hold instructions, and clearances, which were sent to the aircraft via data link by the controller. The map also displayed the positions of other traffic and warning information, which were sent to the aircraft automatically from the ASDE-3/AMASS system. This paper describes the flight demonstration in detail, along with preliminary results
Electrical Switching in Metallic Carbon Nanotubes
We present first-principles calculations of quantum transport which show that
the resistance of metallic carbon nanotubes can be changed dramatically with
homogeneous transverse electric fields if the nanotubes have impurities or
defects. The change of the resistance is predicted to range over more than two
orders of magnitude with experimentally attainable electric fields. This novel
property has its origin that backscattering of conduction electrons by
impurities or defects in the nanotubes is strongly dependent on the strength
and/or direction of the applied electric fields. We expect this property to
open a path to new device applications of metallic carbon nanotubes.Comment: 4 pages and 4 figure
Spatial Distribution of Nucleosynthesis Products in Cassiopeia A: Comparison Between Observations and 3D Explosion Models
We examine observed heavy element abundances in the Cassiopeia A supernova
remnant as a constraint on the nature of the Cas A supernova. We compare bulk
abundances from 1D and 3D explosion models and spatial distribution of elements
in 3D models with those derived from X-ray observations. We also examine the
cospatial production of 26Al with other species. We find that the most reliable
indicator of the presence of 26Al in unmixed ejecta is a very low S/Si ratio
(~0.05). Production of N in O/S/Si-rich regions is also indicative. The
biologically important element P is produced at its highest abundance in the
same regions. Proxies should be detectable in supernova ejecta with high
spatial resolution multiwavelength observations.Comment: To appear in the Conference Proceedings for the "10th Symposium on
Nuclei in the Cosmos (NIC X)", July 27 - August 1 2008, Mackinack Island,
Michigan, US
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