Nickel-hydrogen batteries from Intelsat 5 to space station

The heritage of the Ni-H2 technology that makes the space station application feasible is discussed. It also describes a design for a potential space station Ni-H2 battery system. Specific design values presented here were developed by Ford Aerospace as part of the Rocketdyne team effort on the Phase B Definition and Preliminary Design of the Space Station Power System in support of NASA Lewis Research Center

Institutionalized Individuality: Death Practices and Afterlife Beliefs in Unity Church, Unitarian Universalism, and Spiritualism in Santa Barbara

Both scholars and the larger public are becoming more interested in death rituals and afterlife beliefs as demonstrated by emerging scholarly panels and conferences on the topic and popular books that are topping the best-seller lists. This interest coincides with polls that show increasing numbers of nonreligious people in the United States. Where do people who fall into this “nonreligious” category—including those that are “spiritual but not religious,” unaffiliated, atheist, agnostic, and others—turn when considering ontological questions about death and afterlife? One possibility is toward American liberal religious institutions such as Unity Church, Unitarian Universalism, and Spiritualism. Through ethnographic research at these three institutions in Santa Barbara, I examine the way in which the individual and the group interact to understand afterlife beliefs and death rituals. Unity Church of Santa Barbara, the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, and the Spiritualist Church of the Comforter each has flexible guidelines and leadership training that invites the integration of personal afterlife beliefs and death rituals within an institutionally agreed-upon framework. These are sites of meaning-making for those that are religious or “spiritual but not religious.” Here, beliefs about the afterlife and expectations surrounding death rituals are actively explored through interactions with other members, ritual attendance, and personal experiences of loss

Barriers to Prevention and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Qualitative Analysis of Women in East Sikkim, India

Diabetes Mellitus is a metabolic disorder that affects more people in India than anywhere else in the world (Ramachandran et. al., 2010). A recent national study concluded that Sikkim, a small northeastern state in the Himalayas, has the highest prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus compared to any other state in India. In order to determine why this is so, this study looks at the barriers women face when attempting to prevent and treat Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) in East Sikkim. Fieldwork for this study was facilitated by The Volunteer Health Association of Sikkim, and took place in Gangtok and a small village near Sikkim’s border. Qualitative data for this study was collected through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with state health officials, private practicing doctors, and both rural and urban women living with T2DM. It was found that housewives faced barriers not experienced by men, however no other gender-specific barriers were identified. Lack of knowledge surrounding the prevalence of T2DM, lack of knowledge about the causes of the disease, limited doctor-patient interactions, limited access to health services for rural populations, and the inability to seek treatment as a result of socioeconomic standing were all identified as non gender-specific barriers

Property survey of Y₂O₃-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-MₓO\u3csub\u3ey\u3c/sub\u3e glasses

The purpose of this work was to investigate the properties of Y₂O₃-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-MxOy glasses. Many MxOy components were tested, but TiO₂ and B₂O₃ proved the most interesting. Glasses containing 5 to 25 wt % TiO₂ were melted and found to have improved chemical durability and a higher refractive index and density than the eutectic Y₂O₃-Al₂O₃-SiO₂ starting glass. These glasses could be crystallized to form an opaque glass ceramic. Glasses containing B₂O₃ were formed by exchanging SiO₂ with B₂O₃ while holding the Y₂O₃ and Al₂O₃ content constant. The density, hardness, refractive index, transformation temperature, softening temperature and chemical durability decreased with increasing B₂O₃ content, while the thermal expansion coefficient increased --Abstract, page 1

The World of Shadow Banking: An Examination of Non-Bank Financial Intermediaries and Their Contribution to the 2008 Financial Crisis

Since its rise in the second half of the twentieth century, shadow banking has grown to overtake commercial banking in the financial sector. The health of the economy now relies heavily on the sustainability of shadow banks, as seen with the financial crisis of 2008. This thesis will examine exactly how shadow banking became such a vital component to the economy. It will look at the history of the financial system that was conducive to the growth of shadow banking, with an emphasis on the Banking Act of 1933. Further, it will discuss key financial instruments that are the backbone of shadow banking operations, specifically those that contributed to the banking panic of 2007. It will show that the banking panic of 2007 was the result of a series of runs on systemic financial institutions, which had a similar effect as the bank runs of the Great Depression

Step by Step: A Survey of the Hierarchy Found in Charleston Staircases with an Emphasis on Secondary Stairs

A secondary staircase is a stair built for the use of domestic workers to reach both utilitarian and non-utilitarian spaces of a structure. These service stairs may be found not only in the United States, but in many areas of the world. These staircases are also examples of dual circulation, meaning there are multiple ways to travel through the same space. The presence of these staircases is a sign of extreme wealth, as people who found the need for a secondary stair were wealthy enough to afford servants, or in the case of the American south prior to the Civil War, enslaved African Americans. It is the purpose of this thesis to study the placement, function and character of service stairs located in Charleston and how they changed through time. This thesis analyzes the floor plans of sixteen structures in order to study the differences of the service stairs through time and also the differences in their relationship with primary staircases. This thesis concludes that secondary staircases in Charleston did change with time. In the four early Georgian structures represented in this thesis, the secondary staircases were located in the center of the structure, usually placed between a fireplace chimney stack and a wall. In the remaining twelve structures, the secondary staircase was placed in the rear of the structure, close to dining rooms, butler’s pantries, and side work yard exits. The reason for this shift in placement from a central and vertical part of the house to a rear placement could be a combination of several factors. These factors are the advancement of architecture, growing racial tensions, a lesser need for the enslaved to be located within the house, a change in urban density, and less intrusion upon the privacy of the enslavers. While not groundbreaking, the change in character of these staircases have the potential to tell us about the changing of the attitudes of Charlestonians through time, both socially and architecturally

Electronic Packaging Techniques in the Mars Observer Camera

Volume constraints of small spacecraft place difficult packaging requirements on electronic designs. High component counts per unit area and stiff, lightweight boards with large surface to volume ratios will define the state of the art for PWB assemblies. The Mars Observer Camera, a high resolution imager on the Mars Observer mission, required innovative developments in these design areas to satisfy the difficult volume constraints placed on the instrument. These included qualifying a high-reliability I-lead surface mount technique used throughout the electronic system. This enabled a density with 4500 parts (including large DIPs and flatpacks), boards, and cabling in 900 cubic inches and a 14 inch diameter PWB/honeycomb board design. These PWBs were mounted through low frequency vibration isolators which provided dynamic and thermal strain isolation. This paper outlines the specific technical achievements gained with the Mars Observer Camera packaging design and the many design rules developed from it

2-({4-[(1H-Imidazol-2-ylsulfanyl)methyl]-2,5-dimethylbenzyl}sulfanyl)-1H-imidazole

The title compound, C16H18N4S2, was prepared by the substitution reaction of two equivalents of 2-mercaptoimidazole for every bromine substituent of 1,4-bis­(bromo­meth­yl)-2,5-dimethyl­benzene. The mol­ecule is located on a crystallographic centre of inversion and therefore adopts a trans configuration with regards to the orientation of the two sulfur atoms. An inter­molecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bond forms layers of mol­ecules parallel to (03). The dihedral angle between the central and terminal rings is 174.8 (2)°

Energy Systems Divisions

This slide presentation reviews the JSC Energy Systems Divisions work in propulsion. Specific work in LO2/CH4 propulsion, cryogenic propulsion, low thrust propulsion for Free Flyer, robotic and Extra Vehicular Activities, and work on the Morpheus terrestrial free flyer test bed is reviewed. The back-up slides contain a chart with comparisons of LO2/LCH4 with other propellants, and reviewing the advantages especially for spacecraft propulsion