A Small Town Drug Problem: The Socio-Economy of Malindi’s Heroin-Using Population

Research was conducted in Malindi focusing on the social and economic characteristics of heroin-users. A survey of users’ ages, employment, education level, future ambitions, family status, and attitudes towards rehabilitation was undertaken with the assistance of The Omari Project, a local non-governmental organization specializing in rehabilitation services. The findings reveal a community mired in the throes of poverty and unemployment, which exacerbates the community’s drug problem. Recommendations are offered suggesting how best to meet the economic and social challenges presented by the heroin-using community

NASA/MSFC FY88 Global Scale Atmospheric Processes Research Program Review

Interest in environmental issues and the magnitude of the environmental changes continues. One way to gain more understanding of the atmosphere is to make measurements on a global scale from space. The Earth Observation System is a series of new sensors to measure globally atmospheric parameters. Analysis of satellite data by developing algorithms to interpret the radiance information improves the understanding and also defines requirements for these sensors. One measure of knowledge of the atmosphere lies in the ability to predict its behavior. Use of numerical and experimental models provides a better understanding of these processes. These efforts are described in the context of satellite data analysis and fundamental studies of atmospheric dynamics which examine selected processes important to the global circulation

Automatic Recognition of Light Microscope Pollen Images

This paper is a progress report on a project aimed at the realization of a low-cost, automatic, trainable system "AutoStage" for recognition and counting of pollen. Previous work on image feature selection and classification has been extended by design and integration of an XY stage to allow slides to be scanned, an auto focus system, and segmentation software. The results of a series of classification tests are reported, and verified by comparison with classification performance by expert palynologists. A number of technical issues are addressed, including pollen slide preparation and slide sampling protocols

Mechanical Design and Testing of Deployable Wideband Antenna for Nano- and Micro-Satellites

HawkEye 360 is an American geospatial analytics company that focuses on Radio Frequency (RF) signals. Satellite constellations comprised of microsatellite clusters use a unique formations to collect RF signals for geolocation. Spectrum-based frequency and geoanalytics are of great use in communication, wildlife preservation, and military defense. The Space Flight Laboratory (SFL)’s work and DEFIANT bus has been vital to the success of the 21 microsatellites within HawkEye360’s satellite constellation. The DEFIANT bus is one of SFL’s satellite platforms that has a mass of 20 – 50 kg, a volume of 36 x 36 x 45 cm, and follows the microspace design approach. SFL has not only equipped HawkEye360 with the DEFIANT bus, but has developed technologies vital to the success of each cluster. More specifically, SFL has developed high performance attitude control systems, navigation technology, and SFL formation determination and control algorithms. There is a demand for improved communications antennas to ensure that the microsatellite industry is evolving to face new challenges. SFL’s discone antenna will fly on the Cluster 9 satellites, enabling HawkEye360 to enhance their RF capabilities

Effect of grazing on ship rat density in forest fragments of lowland Waikato, New Zealand

Ship rat (Rattus rattus) density was assessed by snap-trapping during summer and autumn in eight indigenous forest fragments (mean 5 ha) in rural landscapes of Waikato, a lowland pastoral farming district of the North Island, New Zealand. Four of the eight were fenced and four grazed. In each set of four, half were connected with hedgerows, gullies or some other vegetative corridor to nearby forest and half were completely isolated. Summer rat density based on the number trapped in the first six nights was higher in fenced (mean 6.5 rats ha–1) than in grazed fragments (mean 0.5 rats ha–1; P = 0.02). Rats were eradicated (no rats caught and no rat footprints recorded for three consecutive nights) from all eight fragments in January–April 2008, but reinvaded within a month; time to eradication averaged 47 nights in fenced and 19 nights in grazed fragments. A second six-night trapping operation in autumn, 1–3 months after eradication, found no effect of fencing (P = 0.73). Connectedness to an adjacent source of immigrants did not influence rat density within a fragment in either season (summer P = 0.25, autumn P = 0.67). An uncalibrated, rapid (one-night) index of ship rat density, using baited tracking tunnels set in a 50 × 50 m grid, showed a promising relationship with the number of rats killed per hectare over the first six nights, up to tracking index values of c. 30% (corresponding to c. 3–5 rats ha–1). The index will enable managers to determine if rat abundance is low enough to achieve conservation benefits. Our results confirm a dilemma for conservation in forest fragments. Fencing protects vegetation, litter and associated ecological processes, but also increases number of ship rats, which destroy seeds, invertebrates and nesting birds. Maximising the biodiversity values of forest fragments therefore requires both fencing and control of ship rats

The No‐Miracles Argument for Realism: Inference to an Unacceptable Explanation

I argue that a certain type of naturalist should not accept a prominent version of the no-miracles argument (NMA). First, scientists (usually) do not accept explanations whose explanans-statements neither generate novel predictions nor unify apparently disparate established claims. Second, scientific realism (as it appears in the NMA) is an explanans that makes no new predictions and fails to unify disparate established claims. Third, many proponents of the NMA explicitly adopt a naturalism that forbids philosophy of science from using any methods not employed by science itself. Therefore, such naturalistic philosophers of science should not accept the version of scientific realism that appears in the NMA

Shear cell test and hopper design

Relevance of the work. The Hopper and Bin design is the most commonly used technique of storing materials as it is a gravity fed system and is generally used for storing materials such as agricultural grains as well as mined minerals such as sand and coal. Mass flow, which is ideally the most desired flow type sees the bulk material travel uniformly with all particles in motion until all the material leaves the bin. The other types of flow generally occur with flat-bottomed bins with shallow hoppers are not seen as ideal as with this design problems such as arching and rat holing occur. The issue with the current design is that some of the material becomes stagnant in the bin, this can be costly as if the bulk material becomes stuck, degradation can occur over time. It can be observed for the Funnel and Expanded flow, the rat holing and arching occurring due to the stagnant material. Research Objective is to design a novel mass flow acrylic bin and hopper to store bulk quantities of sand without stagnation or degradation Methodology. Two separate experimental procedures were carried out including the measurement of the specific gravity of the sand, shear test and final hopper design. The data was then manipulated and plotted stress transformations and identified multiple key flow property constituents. Using values such as the yield loci and associative yield stresses the hopper half angle α and opening diameter B were tabulated. Results and Conclusions. The optimum opening diameter B for an uncompacted system is 2 mm and the hopper half angle α adjusted to 34.58o, this was tested and provided a successful mass flow hopper system. Overall, the techniques used with specific gravity and shear cell testing gave a sufficient insight into the appropriate procedure for designing efficient and accurate bin and hoppers. Then substituting the values gathered into the appropriate formulae provided a successful mass flow system for the intended bulk material which is sand