Overview study of Space Power Technologies for the advanced energetics program

Space power technologies are reviewed to determine the state-of-the-art and to identify advanced or novel concepts which promise large increases in performance. The potential for incresed performance is judged relative to benchmarks based on technologies which have been flight tested. Space power technology concepts selected for their potentially high performance are prioritized in a list of R & D topical recommendations for the NASA program on Advanced Energetics. The technology categories studied are solar collection, nuclear power sources, energy conversion, energy storage, power transmission, and power processing. The emphasis is on electric power generation in space for satellite on board electric power, for electric propulsion, or for beamed power to spacecraft. Generic mission categories such as low Earth orbit missions and geosynchronous orbit missions are used to distinguish general requirements placed on the performance of power conversion technology. Each space power technology is judged on its own merits without reference to specific missions or power systems. Recommendations include 31 space power concepts which span the entire collection of technology categories studied and represent the critical technologies needed for higher power, lighter weight, more efficient power conversion in space

Growth and characterization of bismuth perovskite thin films for integrated magneto-optical isolator applications

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-156).In this thesis, we discuss the motivation for integrated magneto-optical isolators and explain why the orthoferrite is such an attractive materials class for this purpose. We then derive from first physical principles the dependence of Faraday rotation, absorption, and certain figures of merit on the material's dielectric tensor elements. Next, we use pulsed laser deposition to grow thin films of BiFeO3 on MgO (001) and SrTiO3 (001) substrates. After optimizing growth conditions to obtain high quality films, we characterize the films' crystal structure with two-dimensional x-ray diffraction. We then examine the magnetic, optical, and magneto-optical properties of these films. We find that the highly textured films grown on SrTiO3 are monoclinic with an out-of-plane c-axis aligned with the (001) direction of the substrate and approximate pseudocubic lattice parameters of a = b = 4.04 A, c = 3.95 A, and 90° - [beta] = -0.88°. These films are weakly magnetic, with a magnetization of 1.2 emu/cm3 at an applied field of 10 kOe; highly absorptive, with an average absorption coefficient of 910 cm-1; and possess a low specific Faraday rotation of 320/cm at 1.8 kOe of applied field. As expected, we find that the magneto-optical figure of merit is negligible for this material due to its high absorption, which we attribute to a thin surface layer of phase separated bismuth and iron oxides caused by bismuth segregation during growth. We offer additional explanations for these values and show the first results of newer, more promising work with mixed cation perovskite.by Alexander R. Taussig.S.M

Comments on ion-acoustic solitary waves in plasmas

Analysis of conceptual difficulties associated with ion-acoustic plasma wave equation derivation

'An Apotheosis of Well-Being': Durkheim on austerity and double-dip recessions

This article is an attempt to contribute a view on the economic crisis from classical sociology, a voice often missing from the sociological response to the crisis. The work of Émile Durkheim provides a unique perspective here centred on morality and inequality produced in a historical context akin to our neoliberal times. It is argued there are four key points to take from Durkheim’s work. Firstly, that the initial credit crunch can be more fully understood with reference to the economic anomie which Durkheim sees as ‘chronic’ in a time of marketization. Secondly, that this creates an antagonistic relationship between a supposedly self-dependent rich and lazy poor. Thirdly, this conception of self-dependency and individual initiative makes any attempt to regulate the economy akin to sacrilege. Finally, the state is unwilling to intervene due to the emergence of ‘pseudo-democracies’. Therefore, Durkheim’s theory accounts for the initial crisis, austerity and double-dip recessions in a sociological framework. The article concludes by returning to the centrality of morality to the crisis for Durkheim and highlighting the omission of this in contemporary debates

Evaluation expérimentale de stratégies de déploiement de gènes de résistance pour la gestion durable des nématodes à galles

Dans le cadre de projets soutenus par l'ANR Systerra et le GIS PICLeg (projets "Sysbiotel" et "Neoleg") menés en collaboration entre l'INRA PACA, l'IRD, l'APREL, la Chambre d'Agriculture du 06 et des entreprises privées de sélection de semences, plusieurs stratégies de déploiement de gènes de résistance ont été évaluées pendant 3 ans sur le terrain en conditions agronomiques pour mettre au point une gestion raisonnée des cultivars résistants permettant de gérer de manière durable les problèmes de nématodes à galles des racines. L'alternance des gènes de résistance dans la rotation et le "pyramiding" de gènes dans un même cultivar se sont révélés extrêmement efficaces pour supprimer l'émergence de populations virulentes et réduire les taux d'infestation du sol de plus de 80% en 3 ans. Un nouveau projet INRA "Gedunem", mis en place dans le cadre du Métaprogramme INRA SMaCH (Sustainable Management of Crop Health), vise maintenant à associer ces innovations variétales aux autres méthodes de lutte disponibles (gestion de l'interculture, plantes non hôtes, prophylaxie) afin de maintenir une pression parasitaire faible, tout en évaluant ces nouveaux systèmes de culture du point de vue agronomique et socio-économique

Pharmacy Participation in Non-Prescription Syringe Sales in Los Angeles and San Francisco Counties, 2007

Increasing sterile syringe access for injection drug users (IDUs) is one way to prevent HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission in this population. In 2005, California Senate Bill 1159 allowed counties to adopt the Disease Prevention Demonstration Project (DPDP). Where enacted, the DPDP allows pharmacies that register with the county to sell up to ten syringes to adults without a prescription. In the current study, we describe pharmacy participation in nonprescription syringe sales (NPSS) in two counties in California and examine factors associated with NPSS. Telephone and in-person interviews were conducted in Los Angeles (LA) and San Francisco (SF) with 238 pharmacies in 2007 (n = 67 in SF; n = 171 in LA). Quantitative survey items captured pharmacy registration with the county, pharmacy policies/practices, episodes and conditions of NPSS and refusals to sell, potential negative consequences of NPSS, and staff attitudes regarding HIV and HCV prevention for IDUs. Overall, 42% of pharmacies reported NPSS (28% in LA and 81% in SF), although only 34% had registered with the county (17% in LA and 76% in SF). Many pharmacies required proof of a medical condition (80% in LA and 30% in SF) and refused NPSS if the customer was a suspected IDU (74% in LA, 33% in SF). Few negative consequences of NPSS were reported. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, we found that the odds of NPSS were significantly higher among pharmacists who thought syringe access was important for preventing HIV among IDUs [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.95; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.10–7.92], were chain pharmacies (AOR = 12.5; 95% CI = 4.55–33.33), and were located in SF (AOR = 4.88; 95% CI = 1.94–12.28). These results suggest that NPSS were influenced by pharmacists’ perception. NPSS might be increased through greater educational efforts directed at pharmacists, particularly those in non-chain pharmacies

Counterparts: Clothing, value and the sites of otherness in Panapompom ethnographic encounters

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Anthropological Forum, 18(1), 17-35, 2008 [copyright Taylor & Francis], available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00664670701858927.Panapompom people living in the western Louisiade Archipelago of Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea, see their clothes as indices of their perceived poverty. ‘Development’ as a valued form of social life appears as images that attach only loosely to the people employing them. They nevertheless hold Panapompom people to account as subjects to a voice and gaze that is located in the imagery they strive to present: their clothes. This predicament strains anthropological approaches to the study of Melanesia that subsist on strict alterity, because native self‐judgments are located ‘at home’ for the ethnographer. In this article, I develop the notion of the counterpart as a means to explore these forms of postcolonial oppression and their implications for the ethnographic encounter

New evidence on Allyn Young's style and influence as a teacher

This paper publishes the hitherto unpublished correspondence between Allyn Abbott Young's biographer Charles Blitch and 17 of Young's former students or associates. Together with related biographical and archival material, the paper shows the way in which this adds to our knowledge of Young's considerable influence as a teacher upon some of the twentieth century's greatest economists. The correspondents are as follows: James W Angell, Colin Clark, Arthur H Cole, Lauchlin Currie, Melvin G de Chazeau, Eleanor Lansing Dulles, Howard S Ellis, Frank W Fetter, Earl J Hamilton, Seymour S Harris, Richard S Howey, Nicholas Kaldor, Melvin M Knight, Bertil Ohlin, Geoffrey Shepherd, Overton H Taylor, and Gilbert Walker

Profitable failure: antidepressant drugs and the triumph of flawed experiments

Drawing on an analysis of Irving Kirsch and colleagues? controversial 2008 article in PLoS [Public Library of Science] Medicine on the efficacy of SSRI antidepressant drugs such as Prozac, I examine flaws within the methodologies of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that have made it difficult for regulators, clinicians and patients to determine the therapeutic value of this class of drug. I then argue, drawing analogies to work by Pierre Bourdieu and Michael Power, that it is the very limitations of RCTs ? their inadequacies in producing reliable evidence of clinical effects ? that help to strengthen assumptions of their superiority as methodological tools. Finally, I suggest that the case of RCTs helps to explore the question of why failure is often useful in consolidating the authority of those who have presided over that failure, and why systems widely recognized to be ineffective tend to assume greater authority at the very moment when people speak of their malfunction