Vehicle for civil helicopter ride quality research

A research aircraft for investigating the factors involved in civil helicopter operations was developed for NASA Langley Research Center. The aircraft is a reconfigured 17000 kg (36000 lb) military transport helicopter. The basic aircraft was reconfigured with advanced acoustic treatment, air-conditioning, and a 16-seat airline cabin. During the spring of 1975, the aircraft was flight tested to measure interior environment characteristics - noise and vibration - and was flown on 60 subjective flight missions with over 600 different subjects. Data flights established noise levels somewhat higher than expected, with a pure tone at 1400 Hz and vertical vibration levels between 0.07g and 0.17g. The noise and vibration levels were documented during subjective flight evaluations as being the primary source of discomfort. The aircraft will be utilized to document in detail the impact of various noise and vibration levels on passenger comfort during typical short-haul missions

The Television Violence Act of 1990: A New Program for Government Censorship?

The Television Violence Act of 1990 is designed to encourage the networks, the cable industry, and independent stations to reduce the amount of violence currently shown on television. To accomplish this goal, the Act grants a three-year antitrust exemption to the television industry so that it may meet and develop joint standards aimed at reducing the amount of violence currently shown on television. The Act\u27s sponsor, Senator Paul Simon, emphasized that the Act simply encouraged the broadcast industry to set standards; it did not require them to do so. However, in December 1992, when the television industry had still not met, Congress threatened that if the broadcasters did not meet soon, sterner legislation might follow. Finally, in August 1993, when there was still no noticeable reduction of violence on television, Senator Simon told the networks they had sixty days to reduce the amount of violence on television or face increased regulation by the government. The Author argues that although the Act may be constitutional, it will not reduce violence on television enough to satisfy the government\u27s goal of decreasing the amount of violence in society by reducing it on television. While the Author suggests alternatives to the Act for reducing violence on television, the Author ultimately recommends leaving regulation of violence on television to the marketplace

Purification of prostaglandin E2-9-oxoreductase from human decidua vera

AbstractProstaglandin E2-9-oxoreductase (PGE2-9-OR), the enzyme which converts prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) to prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α), has been detected in human decidua vera. A 105-fold purification was achieved when the centrifuged homogenate was fractionated sequentially by DEAE—Trisacryl, hydroxyapatite—agarose gel, ultrogel AcA 44 and Matrex gel blue A gel chromatographies. The following kinetic constants for PGE2-9-OR have been obtained. The equilibrium constant with respect to PGE2 is 83 μM, the Michaelis constant, Km, for PGE2 is 80 μM, for NADPH 1.6 μM. The maximal velocity for the forward reaction is V1 = .203 pmol/min. The enzyme was inhibited by progesterone, oestradiol-17β, cortisol and pharmaceutical drugs. An activating effect could be demonstrated with Ca2+ and oxytocin. The occurrence of PGE2-9-OR in the decidua vera suggests that this enzyme may be responsible for the transformation of PGE2 to PGF2α in these tissues. This may be an important mechanism for the initiation and maintenance of uterine contractions

Representations of celestial coordinates in FITS

In Paper I, Greisen & Calabretta (2002) describe a generalized method for assigning physical coordinates to FITS image pixels. This paper implements this method for all spherical map projections likely to be of interest in astronomy. The new methods encompass existing informal FITS spherical coordinate conventions and translations from them are described. Detailed examples of header interpretation and construction are given.Comment: Consequent to Paper I: "Representations of world coordinates in FITS". 45 pages, 38 figures, 13 tables, aa macros v5.2 (2002/Jun). Both papers submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics (2002/07/19). Replaced to try to get figure and table placement right (no textual changes