Automation of cutting and drilling of composite components

The task was to develop a preliminary plan for an automated system for the cutting and drilling of advanced aerospace composite components. The goal was to automate the production of these components, but the technology developed can be readily extended to other systems. There is an excellent opportunity for developing a state of the art automated system for the cutting and drilling of large composite components at NASA-Marshall. Most of the major system components are in place: the robot, the water jet pump, and the off-line programming system. The drilling system and the part location system are the only major components that need to be developed. Also, another water jet nozzle and a small amount of high pressure plumbing need to be purchased from, and installed

Graphics modelling of non-contact thickness measuring robotics work cell

A system was developed for measuring, in real time, the thickness of a sprayable insulation during its application. The system was graphically modelled, off-line, using a state-of-the-art graphics workstation and associated software. This model was to contain a 3D color model of a workcell containing a robot and an air bearing turntable. A communication link was established between the graphics workstations and the robot's controller. Sequences of robot motion generated by the computer simulation are transmitted to the robot for execution

LMSS propagation modeling at Virginia Tech

Recent efforts in the modeling of land mobile satellite systems are reported. These include descriptions of a simple model for prediction of fading statistics, a propagation simulator, and results from studies using the simulator. Predictions are compared to available measured data

Rambles about Portsmouth : sketches of persons, localities, and incidents of two centuries: principally from tradition and unpublished documents.

Includes index

Intergalactic Baryons in the Local Universe

Simulations predict that shocks from large-scale structure formation and galactic winds have reduced the fraction of baryons in the warm, photoionized phase (the Lya forest) from nearly 100% in the early universe to less than 50% today. Some of the remaining baryons are predicted to lie in the warm-hot ionized medium (WHIM) phase at T=10^5-10^7 K, but the quantity remains a highly tunable parameter of the models. Modern UV spectrographs have provided unprecedented access to both the Lya forest and potential WHIM tracers at z~0, and several independent groups have constructed large catalogs of far-UV IGM absorbers along ~30 AGN sight lines. There is general agreement between the surveys that the warm, photoionized phase makes up ~30% of the baryon budget at z~0. Another ~10% can be accounted for in collapsed structures (stars, galaxies, etc.). However, interpretation of the ~100 high-ion (OVI, etc) absorbers at z<0.5 is more controversial. These species are readily created in the shocks expected to exist in the IGM, but they can also be created by photoionization and thus not represent WHIM material. Given several pieces of observational evidence and theoretical expectations, I argue that most of the observed OVI absorbers represent shocked gas at T~300,000 K rather than photoionized gas at T<30,000 K, and they are consequently valid tracers of the WHIM phase. Under this assumption, enriched gas at T=10^5-10^6 K can account for ~10% of the baryon budget at z<0.5, but this value may increase when bias and incompleteness are taken into account and help close the gap on the 50% of the baryons still "missing".Comment: Invited review to appear in "Future Directions in Ultraviolet Spectroscopy", Oct 20-22, 2008, Annapolis, MD, M. E. Van Steenberg, ed. (April 2009). 8 pages, five figure

Complete and safe resection of challenging retroperitoneal tumors: anticipation of multi-organ and major vascular resection and use of adjunct procedures.

BackgroundRetroperitoneal tumors are often massive and can involve adjacent organs and/or vital structures, making them difficult to resect. Completeness of resection is within the surgeon's control and critical for long-term survival, particularly for malignant disease. Few studies directly address strategies for complete and safe resection of challenging retroperitoneal tumors.MethodsFifty-six patients representing 63 cases of primary or recurrent retroperitoneal tumor resection between 2004-2009 were identified and a retrospective chart review was performed. Rates of complete resection, use of adjunct procedures, and perioperative complications were recorded.ResultsIn 95% of cases, complete resection was achieved. Fifty-eight percent of these cases required en bloc multi-organ resection, and 8% required major vascular resection. Complete resection rates were higher for primary versus recurrent disease. Adjunct procedures (ureteral stents, femoral nerve monitoring, posterior laminotomy, etc.) were used in 54% of cases. Major postoperative complications occurred in 16% of cases, and one patient died (2% mortality).ConclusionsComplete resection of challenging retroperitoneal tumors is feasible and can be done safely with important pre- and intraoperative considerations in mind

Geology and Ground-water Hydrology of the Ingalls Area, Kansas

This report describes the geology and ground-water hydrology of a 540-square-mile area in Finney and Gray Counties, Kansas. The city of Ingalls is approximately in the center of the area, which is in the Finney lowland and High Plains physiographic provinces and is crossed by Arkansas River. The normal annual precipitation is 19.93 inches, and the mean annual temperature is 55° F. The rocks exposed in the Ingalls area are sedimentary and range in age from Tertiary to Recent. The geology of the area is described, and cross sections show the extent of the unconsolidated deposits in the subsurface. These unconsolidated deposits are about 140 to 300 feet thick and yield water to wells for all public, domestic, stock, and most irrigation supplies in the area. The quantity of water in storage in that part of the area that is 10 miles wide and 24 miles long and lies adjacent to Arkansas River between Pierceville and Cimarron amounts to about 130,000 acre-feet in the alluvium of Arkansas River and about 2,700,000 acre-feet in the Ogallala formation beneath and adjacent to the alluvium. The ground water in most of the area is moderately hard, and the water of Arkansas River and the alluvium north of the river is very hard. Data collected from seven aquifer tests and analyses of the data are included in this report. Three aquifer tests were made of the alluvium of Arkansas River and four of the Ogallala formation. The coefficient of transmissibility of the alluvium computed from the test data ranged from 97,000 to 180,000 gpd per foot and of the Ogallala formation from 12,000 to 61,000 gpd per foot. The storage coefficient of the Ogallala formation is about 2.5 x 10-4. The hydrologic and geologic data on which this report is based include records of 231 wells and test holes, logs of 89 wells and test holes, and analyses of 14 samples of water