37,455 research outputs found
Protection Against Hearing Loss in General Aviation Operations, Phase II
An inflight evaluation of four aural protectors is presented. The hearing protection devices studied were ear muffs, plastic ear plugs, rubber ear plugs, and wax ear plugs. It is concluded that ear plugs are satisfactory for providing adequate sound attenuation in general aviation aircraft. However, two problems were found in the use of ear plugs; comfort and interference with cabin communications
A flight investigation of simulated data link communications during single-pilot IFR flight
A Flight Data Console (FDC) was developed to allow simulation of a digital communications link to replace the current voice communication system used in air traffic control (ATC). The voice system requires manipulation of radio equipment, read-back of clearances, and mental storage of critical information items, all contributing to high workload, particularly during single-pilot operations. This was an inflight study to determine how a digital communications system might reduce cockpit workload, improve flight proficiency, and be accepted by general aviation pilots. Results show that instrument flight, including approach and landing, can be accomplished quite effectively using a digital data link system for ATC communications. All pilots expressed a need for a back-up voice channel. When included, this channel was used sparingly and principally to confirm any item of information about which there might be uncertainty
A flight investigation of simulated data-link communications during single-pilot IFR flight. Volume 2: Flight evaluations
Key problems in single pilot instrument flight operations are in the management of flight data and the processing of cockpit information during conditions of heavy workload. A flight data console was developed to allow simulation of a digital data link to replace the current voice communications stem used in air traffic control. This is a human factors evaluation of a data link communications system to determine how such a system might reduce cockpit workload, improve flight proficiency, and be accepted by general aviation pilots. The need for a voice channel as backup to a digital link is examined. The evaluations cover both airport terminal area operations and full mission instrument flight. Results show that general aviation pilots operate well with a digital data link communications system. The findings indicate that a data link system for pilot/ATC communications, with a backup voice channel, is well accepted by general aviation pilots and is considered to be safer, more efficient, and result in less workload than the current voice system
A review of the influence of physical condition parameters on a typical aerospace stress effect: Decompression sickness
The study examines data on episodes of decompression sickness, particularly from recent Navy work in which the event occurred under multiple stress conditions, to determine the extent to which decompression sickness might be predicted on the basis of personal characteristics such as age, weight, and physical condition. Such information should ultimately be useful for establishing medical selection criteria to screen individuals prior to participation inactivities involving extensive changes in ambient pressure, including those encountered in space operations. The main conclusions were as follows. There is a definite and positive relationship between increasing age and weight and the likelihood of decompression sickness. However, for predictive purposes, the relationship is low. To reduce the risk of bends, particularly for older individuals, strenuous exercise should be avoided immediately after ambient pressure changes. Temperatures should be kept at the low end of the comfort zone. For space activities, pressure changes of over 6-7 psi should be avoided. Prospective participants in future missions such as the Space Shuttle should not be excluded on the basis of age, certainly to age 60, if their general condition is reasonably good and they are not grossly obese. (Modified author abstract
Inflation, Renormalization, and CMB Anisotropies
In single-field, slow-roll inflationary models, scalar and tensorial
(Gaussian) perturbations are both characterized by a zero mean and a non-zero
variance. In position space, the corresponding variance of those fields
diverges in the ultraviolet. The requirement of a finite variance in position
space forces its regularization via quantum field renormalization in an
expanding universe. This has an important impact on the predicted scalar and
tensorial power spectra for wavelengths that today are at observable scales. In
particular, we find a non-trivial change in the consistency condition that
relates the tensor-to-scalar ratio "r" to the spectral indices. For instance,
an exact scale-invariant tensorial power spectrum, n_t=0, is now compatible
with a non-zero ratio r= 0.12 +/- 0.06, which is forbidden by the standard
prediction (r=-8n_t). Forthcoming observations of the influence of relic
gravitational waves on the CMB will offer a non-trivial test of the new
predictions.Comment: 4 pages, jpconf.cls, to appear in the Proceedings of Spanish
Relativity Meeting 2009 (ERE 09), Bilbao (Spain
A flight investigation of simulated data-link communications during single-pilot IFR flight. Volume 1: Experimental design and initial test
A Flight Data Console simulation of a digital communication link to replace the current voice communication system used in air traffic control (ATC) was developed. The study determined how a digital communications system reduces cockpit workload, improve, flight proficiency, and is acceptable to general aviation pilots. It is shown that instrument flight, including approach and landing, can be accomplished by using a digital data link system for ATC communication
Binary planetary nebulae nuclei towards the Galactic bulge. II. A penchant for bipolarity and low-ionisation structures
Considerable effort has been applied towards understanding the precise
shaping mechanisms responsible for the diverse range of morphologies exhibited
by planetary nebulae (PNe). A binary companion is increasingly gaining support
as a dominant shaping mechanism, however morphological studies of the few PNe
that we know for certain were shaped by binary evolution are scarce or biased.
Newly discovered binary central stars (CSPN) from the OGLE-III photometric
variability survey have significantly increased the sample of post
common-envelope (CE) nebulae available for morphological analysis. We present
Gemini South narrow-band images for most of the new sample to complement
existing data in a qualitative morphological study of 30 post-CE nebulae.
Nearly 30% of nebulae have canonical bipolar morphologies, however this rises
to 60% once inclination effects are incorporated with the aid of geometric
models. This is the strongest observational evidence yet linking CE evolution
to bipolar morphologies. A higher than average proportion of the sample shows
low-ionisation knots, filaments or jets suggestive of a binary origin. These
features are also common around emission-line nuclei which may be explained by
speculative binary formation scenarios for H-deficient CSPN.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Non-gaussianities and the Stimulated creation of quanta in the inflationary universe
Cosmological inflation generates a spectrum of density perturbations that can
seed the cosmic structures we observe today. These perturbations are usually
computed as the result of the gravitationally-induced spontaneous creation of
perturbations from an initial vacuum state. In this paper, we compute the
perturbations arising from gravitationally-induced stimulated creation when
perturbations are already present in the initial state. The effect of these
initial perturbations is not diluted by inflation and survives to its end, and
beyond. We consider a generic statistical density operator describing an
initial mixed state that includes probabilities for nonzero numbers of scalar
perturbations to be present at early times during inflation. We analyze the
primordial bispectrum for general configurations of the three different
momentum vectors in its arguments. We find that the initial presence of quanta
can significantly enhance non-gaussianities in the so-called squeezed limit.
Our results show that an observation of non-gaussianities in the squeezed limit
can occur for single-field inflation when the state in the very early
inflationary universe is not the vacuum, but instead contains early-time
perturbations. Valuable information about the initial state can then be
obtained from observations of those non-gaussianities.Comment: 25 page
Spatial curvature effects on molecular transport by diffusion
For a substance diffusing on a curved surface, we obtain an explicit relation
valid for very small values of the time, between the local concentration, the
diffusion coefficient, the intrinsic spatial curvature and the time. We recover
the known solution of Fick's law of diffusion in the flat space limit. In the
biological context, this result would be useful in understanding the variations
in the diffusion rates of integral proteins and other molecules on membranes.Comment: 10 page
- …