Intermittent type silica gel adsorption refrigerator Patent

Intermittent type silica gel adsorption refrigerator for providing temperature control for spacecraft component

Flow modifying device

A swirler for a gas turbine engine combustor is disclosed for simultaneously controlling combustor flow rate, swirl angle, residence time and fuel-air ratio to provide three regimes of operation. A first regime is provided in which fuel-air ratio is less than stoichiometric, NOx is produced at one level, and combustor flow rate is high. In a second regime, fuel-air ratio is nearly stoichiometric, NOx production is less than that of the first regime, and combustor flow rate is low. In a third regime, used for example at highoff, fuel-air ratio is greater than stoichiometric and the combustor flow rate is less than in either of the other regimes

Airborne profiling of ice thickness using a short pulse radar

The acquisition and interpretation of ice thickness data from a mobile platform has for some time been a goal of the remote sensing community. Such data, once obtainable, is of value in monitoring the changes in ice thickness over large areas, and in mapping the potential hazards to traffic in shipping lanes. Measurements made from a helicopter-borne ice thickness profiler of ice in Lake Superior, Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair river as part of NASA's program to develop an ice information system are described. The profiler described is a high resolution, non-imaging, short pulse radar, operating at a carrier frequency of 2.7 GHz. The system can resolve reflective surfaces separated by as little as 10 cm. and permits measurement of the distance between resolvable surfaces with an accuracy of about 1 cm. Data samples are given for measurements both in a static (helicopter hovering), and a traverse mode. Ground truth measurements taken by an ice auger team traveling with the helicopter are compared with the remotely sensed data and the accuracy of the profiler is discussed based on these measurements

Remote profiling of lake ice thickness using a short pulse radar system aboard a C-47 aircraft

Design and operation of short pulse radar systems for use in ice thickness measurement are described. Two ice profiling systems were tested, an S system which used either random noise or continous wave modulation at 2.8 GHz and a less powerful C band system which operated at 6.0 GHz and did not have random noise modulation. Flight altitudes of 4,000 feet were used, but the S band system was usable at 7,000 feet allowing flights in poor weather conditions. A minimum ice thickness of four inches is required for measurement, while the thickest ice measured was 36 inches. System accuracy is plus or minus one inch

On the Geroch-Traschen class of metrics

We compare two approaches to semi-Riemannian metrics of low regularity. The maximally 'reasonable' distributional setting of Geroch and Traschen is shown to be consistently contained in the more general setting of nonlinear distributional geometry in the sense of Colombea

Monodon baculovirus from Australia: Ultrastructural observations

The cytopathology, virogenesis and replication of monodon baculovirus (MBV) in Penaeus monodon from Australia are described. Electron-dense unenveloped nucleocapsids, not previously described for MBV, are shown in the cytoplasm and attached to the nuclear envelope of infected hepatopancreatocytes. These nucleocapsids comprise a missing link in the published literature on the replication cycle of MBV by providing evidence for the means by which the viral genome travels from the plasma membrane of the hepatopancreatocyte to the nucleus. Features similar to those of MBV from other areas, but not previously reported for MBV from Australia include empty capsids attached to the nuclear pore, central filaments in developing capsids, capsids partly filled with nucleic acid, and filaments in subapical envelope expansions. A model for virogenesis and replication is illustrated which takes into account the new observations as well as previously described ultrastructural characteristics of the developing viral particle

Systematic reviews of complementary therapies - an annotated bibliography. Part 1: Acupuncture

Background Complementary therapies are widespread but controversial. We aim to provide a comprehensive collection and a summary of systematic reviews of clinical trials in three major complementary therapies (acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy). This article is dealing with acupuncture. Potentially relevant reviews were searched through the register of the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field, the Cochrane Library, Medline, and bibliographies of articles and books. To be included articles had to review prospective clinical trials of acupuncture; had to describe review methods explicitly; had to be published; and had to focus on treatment effects. Information on conditions, interventions, methods, results and conclusions was extracted using a pretested form and summarized descriptively. Results From a total of 48 potentially relevant reviews preselected in a screeening process 39 met the inclusion criteria. 22 were on various pain syndromes or rheumatic diseases. Other topics addressed by more than one review were addiction, nausea, asthma and tinnitus. Almost unanimously the reviews state that acupuncture trials include too few patients. Often included trials are heterogeneous regarding patients, interventions and outcome measures, are considered to have insufficient quality and contradictory results. Convincing evidence is available only for postoperative nausea, for which acupuncture appears to be of benefit, and smoking cessation, where acupuncture is no more effective than sham acupuncture. Conclusions A large number of systematic reviews on acupuncture exists. What is most obvious from these reviews is the need for (the funding of) well-designed, larger clinical trials

Towards practice-based studies of HRM: an actor-network and communities of practice informed approach

HRM may have become co-terminus with the new managerialism in the rhetorical orthodoxies of the HRM textbooks and other platforms for its professional claims. However, we have detailed case-study data showing that HR practices can be much more complicated, nuanced and indeed resistive toward management within organizational settings. Our study is based on ethnographic research, informed by actor-network theory and community of practice theory conducted by one of the authors over an 18-month period. Using actor-network theory in a descriptive and critical way, we analyse practices of managerial resistance, enrolment and counter-enrolment through which an unofficial network of managers used a formal HRM practice to successfully counteract the official strategy of the firm, which was to close parts of a production site. As a consequence, this network of middle managers effectively changed top management strategy and did so through official HRM practices, coupled with other actor-network building processes, arguably for the ultimate benefit of the organization, though against the initial views of the top management. The research reported here, may be characterized as a situated study of HRM-in-practice and we draw conclusions which problematize the concept of HRM in contemporary management literature