Commercial jet transport crashworthiness

The results of a study to identify areas of research and approaches that may result in improved occupant survivability and crashworthiness of transport aircraft are given. The study defines areas of structural crashworthiness for transport aircraft which might form the basis for a research program. A 10-year research and development program to improve the structural impact resistance of general aviation and commercial jet transport aircraft is planned. As part of this program parallel studies were conducted to review the accident experience of commercial transport aircraft, assess the accident performance of structural components and the status of impact resistance technology, and recommend areas of research and development for that 10-year plan. The results of that study are also given

Experimental investigation of the effect of aspect ratio and Mach number on the flutter of cantilever wings

The results of some wind-tunnel experiments to investigate the effects of aspect ratio and Mach number on the flutter of uniform, unswept, cantilever wings are reported. Models having aspect ratios ranging from 2 to 13 were tested at Mach numbers up to 0.92. No general attempt is made to correlate the data with three-dimensional-flow theory, but an examination of the data is made on the basis of reference theoretical values obtained from the two-dimensional incompressible-flow theory. On this basis a reduction in aspect ratio, in general, increased the ratio of the experimental flutter speed to the calculated flutter speed. The analysis also indicated that for a given aspect ratio, this ratio decreased slightly as the Mach number is increased

Functional Neuroimaging Correlates of Aggression in Psychosis: A Systematic Review With Recommendations for Future Research

Background and methods: Aggression in psychosis is clinically important. We systematically compiled the evidence on functional correlates of aggression in psychosis searching PubMed, EMBASE, ScienceDirect, and PsycINFO until September 2017. We included studies reporting functional brain imaging correlates of aggression comparing: (1) affective or non-affective psychosis groups with a history of violence or with aggression operationalized using questionnaires, (2) affective or non-affective psychosis groups with a history of violence or with aggression operationalized using questionnaires to controls, (3) affective or non-affective psychosis groups with a history of violence or with aggression operationalized using questionnaires to controls with diagnoses other than affective or non-affective psychoses. We applied no language restriction and required patients to have a DSM or ICD diagnosis of affective or non-affective psychosis.Results: Our sample consisted of 12 studies with 334 patients and 113 controls. During n-back tasks, violent (VS) as opposed to non-violent persons with schizophrenia (NVS) hypoactivated their inferior parietal lobe. When anticipating shock, VS vs. NVS hyperactivated their medial prefrontal gyrus, cuneus, middle temporal gyrus, and middle occipital gyrus. When viewing negative emotional pictures, VS vs. NVS hyperactivated the middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate, lingual gyrus, precentral gyrus, globus pallidus, mid-cingulate, and precuneus.Limitations: Due to the small number of available studies, sample overlap, and insufficient reporting of relevant moderators we could not conduct a meta-analysis.Conclusions: We found non-systematic functional correlates of aggression in schizophrenia. Only few studies using varied paradigms and often overlapping samples have been conducted. There have been no attempts to replicate any of the observed findings in the published literature. Focusing on future directions, we recommend that authors adhere to clear definitions of aggression, measurements of psychopathology, comorbidities, and medication. In particular, replication studies would allow for a better synthesis of the findings.PROSPERO Registration Number: CRD4201604857

Recent performance results of the National Ignition Facility Beamlet demonstration project

The laser driver for the National Ignition Facility will be a departure from previous inertial confinement fusion laser architecture of a master oscillator single pass power amplifier (MOPA) design. The laser will use multi-segment Nd:Glass amplifiers in a multipass cavity arrangement, which can be assembled into compact and cost effective arrays to deliver the required multi- megajoule energy to target. A single beam physics prototype, the Beamlet, has been in operation for over two years and has demonstrated the feasibility of this architecture. We present a short review of Beamlet`s performance and limitations based on beam quality both at its fundamental and frequency converted wavelengths of 1.053 and 0.351 {mu}m

Improved Performance of High Areal Density Indirect Drive Implosions at the National Ignition Facility using a Four-Shock Adiabat Shaped Drive

Hydrodynamic instabilities can cause capsule defects and other perturbations to grow and degrade implosion performance in ignition experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Here, we show the first experimental demonstration that a strong unsupported first shock in indirect drive implosions at the NIF reduces ablation front instability growth leading to a 3 to 10 times higher yield with fuel ρR > 1  g/cm[superscript 2]. This work shows the importance of ablation front instability growth during the National Ignition Campaign and may provide a path to improved performance at the high compression necessary for ignition

Neonatal intervention

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68335/2/10.1177_027112148300300105.pd

Cross-Species Comparison of Genes Related to Nutrient Sensing Mechanisms Expressed along the Intestine

Introduction Intestinal chemosensory receptors and transporters are able to detect food-derived molecules and are involved in the modulation of gut hormone release. Gut hormones play an important role in the regulation of food intake and the control of gastrointestinal functioning. This mechanism is often referred to as “nutrient sensing”. Knowledge of the distribution of chemosensors along the intestinal tract is important to gain insight in nutrient detection and sensing, both pivotal processes for the regulation of food intake. However, most knowledge is derived from rodents, whereas studies in man and pig are limited, and cross-species comparisons are lacking. Aim To characterize and compare intestinal expression patterns of genes related to nutrient sensing in mice, pigs and humans. Methods Mucosal biopsy samples taken at six locations in human intestine (n = 40) were analyzed by qPCR. Intestinal scrapings from 14 locations in pigs (n = 6) and from 10 locations in mice (n = 4) were analyzed by qPCR and microarray, respectively. The gene expression of glucagon, cholecystokinin, peptide YY, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor, taste receptor T1R3, sodium/glucose cotransporter, peptide transporter-1, GPR120, taste receptor T1R1, GPR119 and GPR93 was investigated. Partial least squares (PLS) modeling was used to compare the intestinal expression pattern between the three species. Results and conclusion The studied genes were found to display specific expression patterns along the intestinal tract. PLS analysis showed a high similarity between human, pig and mouse in the expression of genes related to nutrient sensing in the distal ileum, and between human and pig in the colon. The gene expression pattern was most deviating between the species in the proximal intestine. Our results give new insights in interspecies similarities and provide new leads for translational research and models aiming to modulate food intake processes in man

Programmable beam spatial shaping system for the National Ignition Facility

A system of customized spatial light modulators has been installed onto the front end of the laser system at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The devices are capable of shaping the beam profile at a low-fluence relay plane upstream of the amplifier chain. Their primary function is to introduce 'blocker' obscurations at programmed locations within the beam profile. These obscurations are positioned to shadow small, isolated flaws on downstream optical components that might otherwise limit the system operating energy. The modulators were designed to enable a drop-in retrofit of each of the 48 existing Pre Amplifier Modules (PAMs) without compromising their original performance specifications. This was accomplished by use of transmissive Optically Addressable Light Valves (OALV) based on a Bismuth Silicon Oxide photoconductive layer in series with a twisted nematic liquid crystal (LC) layer. These Programmable Spatial Shaper packages in combination with a flaw inspection system and optic registration strategy have provided a robust approach for extending the operational lifetime of high fluence laser optics on NIF