Clamp-mount device

A clamp-mount device is disclosed for mounting equipment to an associated I-beam and the like structural member of the type having oppositely extending flanges wherein the device comprises a base and a pair of oppositely facing clamping members carried diagonally on the base clamping flanges therebetween and having flange receiving openings facing one another. Lock means are carried diagonally by the base opposite the clamping members locking the flanges in the clamping members. A resilient hub is carried centrally of the base engaging and biasing a back side of the flanges maintaining tightly clamped and facilitating use on vertical as well as horizontal members. The base turns about the hub to receive the flanges within the clamping members. Equipment may be secured to the base by any suitable means such as bolts in openings. Slidable gate latches secure the hinged locks in an upright locking position. The resilient hub includes a recess opening formed in the base and a rubber-like pad carried in this opening being depressably and rotatably carried therein

Hemispherical latching apparatus

An apparatus for securing payloads in a space vehicle such as the space shuttle is described. The apparatus includes many latching assemblies carried by a platform on the vehicle and a like number of latching elements carried by the payload and adapted to mate with the latching assemblies. The novelty of the invention is believed to reside in the use of complementary hemispherical elements which automatically align and engage with one another. This enables a simple but effective mode of operation and avoids the need for hinged linkages and similar moving parts

Apparatus for adapting an end effector device remotely controlled manipulator arm

Apparatus for adapting a general purpose and effector device to a special purpose and effector is disclosed which includes an adapter bracket assembly which provides a mechanical and electrical interface between the end effector devices. The adapter bracket assembly includes an adapter connector post which interlocks with a diamond shaped gripping channel formed in closed jaws of the general purpose end effector. The angularly intersecting surfaces of the connector post and gripping channel prevent any relative movement there between. Containment webs constrain the outer finger plates of the general purpose jaws to prevent pitch motion. Electrical interface is provided by conical, self aligning electrical connector components carried by respective ones of said end effectors

Immigrant Labour Market Assimilation and Arrival Effects: Evidence from the Labour Force Survey

We estimate models of earnings and employment outcomes for a sample of white and non-white male immigrants drawn from the Labour Force Survey between 1993 and 2002. Two hypotheses are investigated: (i) whether immigrant outcomes assimilate towards those of natives and (ii) whether labour market conditions at time of entry to the UK labour market have a permanent impact on outcomes. We find positive earnings assimilation for all immigrant groups and strong employment assimilation for those immigrants who complete their education in the UK. We find negative employment assimilation for South Asian immigrants who completed their education overseas. There is some evidence of unemployment rates at time of entry to the labour market causing permanently lower earnings for non-white immigrants

Combustion and Society: A Fire-Centred History of Energy Use

Fire is a force that links everyday human activities to some of the most powerful energetic movements of the Earth. Drawing together the energy-centred social theory of Georges Bataille, the fire-centred environmental history of Stephen Pyne, and the work of a number of ‘pyrotechnology’ scholars, the paper proposes that the generalized study of combustion is a key to contextualizing human energetic practices within a broader ‘economy’ of terrestrial and cosmic energy flows. We examine the relatively recent turn towards fossil-fuelled ‘internal combustion’ in the light of a much longer human history of ‘broadcast’ burning of vegetation and of artisanal pyrotechnologies – the use of heat to transform diverse materials. A combustion-centred analysis, it is argued, brings human collective life into closer contact with the geochemical and geologic conditions of earthly existence, while also pointing to the significance of explorative, experimental and even playful dispositions towards energy and matter. © 2014, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved

Issues in the Analysis of Capital Formation and Productivity Growth

macroeconomics,product growth, capital formation

Operational Time and Seasonality in Distributed Lag Estimation

The following paper discusses the analysis of some types of economic time series using an altered time scale, or operational time. It is argued that for some series, observations that are ordinarily thought of as equidistant in time are actually irregularly spaced in a more natural time scale. Section A discusses point or impulse sampling of related series and the estimation of distributed lag relationships between them. Section B discusses time-aggregated sampling. In Section C, operational-time methods are used to calculate the distributed lag relationship between starts and completions for single-family dwellings in the United States. The results are statistically compared with those of ordinary distributed lag methods.