Aeronautics systems technology studies

Data collection and analysis in the areas of air transportation, aircraft manufacturing and sales, airline operations, market projections, internal trade, and energy consumption; legislation and regulations, technology needs; surveys; decision-making; cost analyses; and technology transfer are discussed

Research and technology program perspectives for general aviation and commuter aircraft

The uses, benefits, and technology needs of the U.S. general aviation industry were studied in light of growing competition from foreign general aviation manufacturers, especially in the commuter and business jet aircraft markets

Tradeoff analysis of technology needs for public service helicopters

The design requirements for a family or type of Public Service Helicopter (PSH) is examined which will satisfy the needs of municipal and state governments in the following mission areas: Emergency Medical Service--Airborne Rescue Squad; Law Enforcement; Search and Rescue; and Environmental Control (Fire Fighting, Pollution, Resource Management). The report compares both design and performance requirements as specified by the PSH user's group against current technological capabilities, RTOPS and US Army LHX design requirements. The study explores various design trade-offs and options available to the aircraft designer/manufacturer in order to meet the several criteria specified by the PSH user's group. In addition, the report includes a brief assessment of the feasibility of employing certain advanced rotorcraft designs to meet the stringent combination of operational capabilities desired by the Public Service Helicopter Users

Emergency Medical Service (EMS): Rotorcraft Technology Workshop

A lead organization on the national level should be designated to establish concepts, locations, and the number of shock trauma air medical services. Medical specialists desire a vehicle which incorporates advances in medical technology trends in health care. Key technology needs for the emergency medical services helicopter of the future include the riding quality of fixed wing aircraft (reduced noise and vibration), no tail rotor, small rotor, small rotor diameter, improved visibility, crashworthy vehicle, IFR capability, more affordability high reliability, fuel efficient, and specialized cabins to hold medical/diagnostic and communications equipment. Approaches to a national emergency medical service are discussed

Aerial applications dispersal systems control requirements study

Performance deficiencies in aerial liquid and dry dispersal systems are identified. Five control system concepts are explored: (1) end of field on/off control; (2) manual control of particle size and application rate from the aircraft; (3) manual control of deposit rate on the field; (4) automatic alarm and shut-off control; and (5) fully automatic control. Operational aspects of the concepts and specifications for improved control configurations are discussed in detail. A research plan to provide the technology needed to develop the proposed improvements is presented along with a flight program to verify the benefits achieved

Parental cultural models and resources for understanding mathematical achievement in culturally diverse school settings

This paper proposes that the theoretical concept of cultural models can offer useful insights into parental involvement in their child’s mathematical achievement and the resources they use to go about gaining information in culturally diverse learning settings. This examination takes place within a cultural-developmental framework and draws on the notion of cultural models to explicate parental understandings of their child’s mathematics achievement and what resources are used to make sense of this. Three parental resources are scrutinized: (a) the teacher, (b) examination test results, and (c) constructions of child development. The interviews with 22 parents revealed some ambiguity around the interpretation of these resources by the parent, which was often the result of incongruent cultural models held between the home and the school. The resources mentioned are often perceived as being unambiguous but show themselves instead to be highly interpretive because of the diversity of cultural models in existence in culturally diverse settings. Parents who are in minority or marginalized positions tend to have difficulties in interpreting cultural models held by school, thereby disempowering them to be parentally involved in the way the school would like

Salivary identities : the matter of affect

This article is drawn from empirical research being conducted with jewellery designer makers. It takes an event of salivating over a gemstone to explore how we can bring together the biology and neurology of the body with cultural and sociological analysis. A focus on salivation provides an opportunity to consider how this very ordinary mouthwatering sensation brings to the fore the mutual entailment of matter and discourse. Focusing on this case of salivation, the article takes the concepts of intra-action and agential cut to provide alternate analyses of the data. This raises questions of how knowledge is framed, through which kinds of instruments and, in consequence, what is the adequacy of the knowledge produced. Threading through this is a concern with how knowledge is authorised

Doing the politics of technological decision making: due process and the debate about identity cards in the UK

The U.K. Government, in presenting its proposals for biometric identity cards, made strong claims about the technology and science underlying the proposed National Identity Scheme. In this paper, we use insights from science and technology studies (STS), particularly Latour’s ‘Politics of Nature’ argument, to analyse the parliamentary debates about the technological and scientific aspects of the proposals. The authors were part of a team that produced a report that raised a series of perplexities about the Scheme in an attempt to counter the short-circuiting of discussion of these perplexities in the parliamentary debate. The paper analyses the government’s attempts at short-circuiting in light of Latour’s argument and the introduction of perplexities by our report. It demonstrates the extent to which this form of STS can enhance political debate about technological decisions