Demonstration of the range over which the Langley Research Center digital computer charring ablation program (CHAP) can be used with confidence: Comparisons of CHAP predictions and test data for three ablation materials

Comparisons of ablation calculations with the charring ablation computer code and ablation test data are presented over a wide range of environmental conditions in air for three materials: low-density nylon phenolic, Avcoat 5026-39HC/G, and a filled silicon elastomer. Heat fluxes considered range from over 500 Btu/sq ft-sec to less than 50 Btu/sq ft-sec. Pressures range from 0.5 atm to .004 atm. Enthalpies range from about 2000 Btu/lb to 18000 Btu/lb. Predictions of recession, pyrolysis penetration, and thermocouple responses are considered. Recession predictions for nylon phenolic are good as steady state is approached, but strongly transient cases are underpredicted. Pyrolysis penetrations and thermocouple responses are very well predicted. Recession amounts for Avcoat and silicone elastomer are less well predicted, although high heat flux cases near steady state are fairly satisfactory. Pyrolysis penetrations and thermocouple responses are very well predicted

Analytical modeling of intumescent coating thermal protection system in a JP-5 fuel fire environment

The thermochemical response of Coating 313 when exposed to a fuel fire environment was studied to provide a tool for predicting the reaction time. The existing Aerotherm Charring Material Thermal Response and Ablation (CMA) computer program was modified to treat swelling materials. The modified code is now designated Aerotherm Transient Response of Intumescing Materials (TRIM) code. In addition, thermophysical property data for Coating 313 were analyzed and reduced for use in the TRIM code. An input data sensitivity study was performed, and performance tests of Coating 313/steel substrate models were carried out. The end product is a reliable computational model, the TRIM code, which was thoroughly validated for Coating 313. The tasks reported include: generation of input data, development of swell model and implementation in TRIM code, sensitivity study, acquisition of experimental data, comparisons of predictions with data, and predictions with intermediate insulation

Ablative response of a silica phenolic to simulated liquid propellant rocket engine operating conditions

Ablative response of silica phenolic to simulated liquid propellant rocket engine operating condition

The value of precedent : appellate briefs and judicial opinions in the U.S. courts of appeals.

This study of appellate advocacy examines factors that affect judicial treatment of precedents identified in litigant briefs. Although we find some attorney and party characteristics influence whether a court addresses precedent cited by a party, legal resources are not as influential in determining whether the court adopts a party’s use of a precedent. At times, ideological congruence between the circuit panel and the litigant can increase the likelihood that the court’s opinion will use a precedent in the same way as presented by the litigants. There is also some support for the importance of attorney experience. Even when their clients ultimately win the case, attorneys with no experience before the circuit are less likely to see the court use litigant-cited precedents in a similar way to the party brief. Even when their clients lose, there is some support to show that attorneys with more experience are more likely to see the court’s opinion address the precedents the attorneys have raised positively. This suggests that attorney experience has some influence in shaping legal policy, regardless of whether the litigant wins or loses

Unpredictable Variable Prenatal Stress Programs Expression of Genes Involved in Appetite Control and Energy Expenditure

Exposure to stress in the womb shapes neurobiological and physiological outcomes of offspring in later life, including body weight regulation and metabolic profiles. Our previous work utilizing a centrifugation-induced hypergravity demonstrated significantly increased (8-15) body mass in male, but not female, rats exposed throughout gestation to chronic 2-g from conception to birth. We reported the same outcome in adult offspring exposed throughout gestation to Unpredictable Variable Prenatal Stress (UVPS). Here we examine gene expression changes using our UVPS model to identify a potential role for prenatal stress in this hypergravity programming effect. Specifically we focused on appetite control and energy expenditure pathways in prenatally stressed adult (90-day-old) male Sprague-Dawley rats. Time-mated female rats were exposed throughout their 22-day pregnancy to UVPS consisting of white noise, strobe light, and tube restraint individually once per day on an unpredictable schedule for 15, 30 or 60 min. To control for potential changes in postnatal maternal care, newborn pups were fostered to non-manipulated, newly parturient dams. At 90-days of age, we analyzed plasma concentrations of hormones involved in appetite control and energy expenditure (leptin and adiponectin), and quantified expression of key genes in epididymal fat pads harvested from adult male offspring and controls. Leptin regulates energy balance by inhibiting hunger, and adiponectin modulates glucose levels and fatty acid breakdown. Our findings indicate significantly elevated plasma leptin concentrations and reduced expression of epididymal fat leptin (OB) and adiponectin (ADIPOQ) genes compared to controls. Analyses presently underway include quantification of plasma insulin and glucose, and the expression of ghrelin, a peptide that acts on the central nervous system and the body's perception of hunger. Collectively, these findings will further understanding of the consequences of UVPS on body weight regulation and metabolism, and provide further insight into the effect of gravity modulation on mammalian fetal development

Light-time computations for the BepiColombo radioscience experiment

The radioscience experiment is one of the on board experiment of the Mercury ESA mission BepiColombo that will be launched in 2014. The goals of the experiment are to determine the gravity field of Mercury and its rotation state, to determine the orbit of Mercury, to constrain the possible theories of gravitation (for example by determining the post-Newtonian (PN) parameters), to provide the spacecraft position for geodesy experiments and to contribute to planetary ephemerides improvement. This is possible thanks to a new technology which allows to reach great accuracies in the observables range and range rate; it is well known that a similar level of accuracy requires studying a suitable model taking into account numerous relativistic effects. In this paper we deal with the modelling of the space-time coordinate transformations needed for the light-time computations and the numerical methods adopted to avoid rounding-off errors in such computations.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, corrected reference

PREventing Maternal And Neonatal Deaths (PREMAND): a study protocol for examining social and cultural factors contributing to infant and maternal deaths and near-misses in rural northern Ghana

Plain English Summary The Preventing Maternal And Neonatal Deaths (PREMAND) project works to understand the social and cultural factors that may contribute to the deaths and near-misses (people who almost die but end up surviving) of mothers and babies in four districts in Northern Ghana. Examples of these factors include such thing as treating a sick baby at home with traditional medicine instead of going to a hospital or health center, or pregnant women needing permission from several people before they can go to a hospital to deliver. These social and cultural factors will be placed on a map to understand where patterns and clusters of deaths and near-misses are present in these four communities. The final phase of the project will include support and small grants for community members and local leaders to use these maps and this information to create their own solutions that address the specific needs of each community. Abstract Background While Ghana is a leader in some health indicators among West African nations, it still struggles with high maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality rates, especially in the northern areas. The clinical causes of mortality and morbidity are relatively well understood in Ghana, but little is known about the impact of social and cultural factors on maternal and neonatal outcomes. Less still is understood about how such factors may vary by geographic location, and how such variability may inform locally-tailored solutions. Methods/Design Preventing Maternal And Neonatal Deaths (PREMAND) is a three-year, three-phase project that takes place in four districts in the Upper East, Upper West, and Northern Regions of Ghana. PREMAND will prospectively identify all maternal and neonatal deaths and ‘near-misses’, or those mothers and babies who survive a life threatening complication, in the project districts. Each event will be followed by either a social autopsy (in the case of deaths) or a sociocultural audit (in the case of near-misses). Geospatial technology will be used to visualize the variability in outcomes as well as the social, cultural, and clinical predictors of those outcomes. Data from PREMAND will be used to generate maps for local leaders, community members and Government of Ghana to identify priority areas for intervention. PREMAND is an effort of the Navrongo Health Research Centre and the University of Michigan Medical School. Discussion PREMAND uses an innovative, multifaceted approach to better understand and address neonatal and maternal morbidity and mortality in northern Ghana. It will provide unprecedented access to information on the social and cultural factors that contribute to deaths and near-misses in the project regions, and will allow such causal factors to be situated geographically. PREMAND will create the opportunity for local, regional, and national stakeholders to see how these events cluster, and place them relative to traditional healer compounds, health facilities, and other important geographic markers. Finally, PREMAND will enable local communities to generate their own solutions to maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality, an effort that has great potential for long-term impact.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134530/1/12978_2016_Article_142.pd

Pioneer 10 Doppler data analysis: disentangling periodic and secular anomalies

This paper reports the results of an analysis of the Doppler tracking data of Pioneer probes which did show an anomalous behaviour. A software has been developed for the sake of performing a data analysis as independent as possible from that of J. Anderson et al. \citep{anderson}, using the same data set. A first output of this new analysis is a confirmation of the existence of a secular anomaly with an amplitude about 0.8 nms$^{-2}$ compatible with that reported by Anderson et al. A second output is the study of periodic variations of the anomaly, which we characterize as functions of the azimuthal angle $\varphi$ defined by the directions Sun-Earth Antenna and Sun-Pioneer. An improved fit is obtained with periodic variations written as the sum of a secular acceleration and two sinusoids of the angles $\varphi$ and $2\varphi$. The tests which have been performed for assessing the robustness of these results are presented.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, minor amendment

Prospective Longitudinal Study of the Pregnancy DNA Methylome: The US Pregnancy, Race, Environment, Genes (PREG) Study

Purpose The goal of the Pregnancy, Race, Environment, Genes study was to understand how social and environmental determinants of health (SEDH), pregnancy-specific environments (PSE) and biological processes influence the timing of birth and account for the racial disparity in preterm birth. The study followed a racially diverse longitudinal cohort throughout pregnancy and included repeated measures of PSE and DNA methylation (DNAm) over the course of gestation and up to 1 year into the postpartum period. Participants All women were between 18 and 40 years of age with singleton pregnancies and no diagnosis of diabetes or indication of assisted reproductive technology. Both mother and father had to self-identify as either African-American (AA) or European-American (EA). Maternal peripheral blood samples along with self-report questionnaires measuring SEDH and PSE factors were collected at four pregnancy visits, and umbilical cord blood was obtained at birth. A subset of participants returned for two additional postpartum visits, during which additional questionnaires and maternal blood samples were collected. The pregnancy and postpartum extension included n=240 (AA=126; EA=114) and n=104 (AA=50; EA=54), respectively. Findings to date One hundred seventy-seven women (AA=89, EA=88) met full inclusion criteria out of a total of 240 who were initially enrolled. Of the 63 participants who met exclusion criteria after enrolment, 44 (69.8%) were associated with a medical reason. Mean gestational age at birth was significantly shorter for the AA participants by 5.1 days (M=272.5 (SD=10.5) days vs M=277.6 (SD=8.3)). Future plans Future studies will focus on identifying key environmental factors that influence DNAm change across pregnancy and account for racial differences in preterm birth