Lunar base launch and landing facilities conceptual design

The purpose of this study was to perform a first look at the requirements for launch and landing facilities for early lunar bases and to prepared conceptual designs for some of these facilities. The emphasis of the study is on the facilities needed from the first manned landing until permanent occupancy, the Phase 2 lunar base. Factors including surface characteristics, navigation system, engine blast effects, and expected surface operations are used to develop landing pad designs, and definitions fo various other elements of the launch and landing facilities. Finally, the dependence of the use of these elements and the evolution of the facilities are established

Pulmonary artery catheters in acute heart failure: end of an era?

Whereas the pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) is still widely used in guiding assessment and treatment of heart failure, controversy surrounding its safety and efficacy has prompted development of newer, less invasive techniques. For these purposes, the transpulmonary thermodilution technique allows assessment of preload, cardiac output, filling volumes, and metrics of contractility without the need to pass a catheter through the right heart. In a previous issue of Critical Care, Ritter and colleagues compare metrics of transpulmonary thermodilution with the PAC in patients with acute heart failure and severe sepsis. The results add to a growing body of evidence that the PAC adds little to information attainable by less invasive methods in many conditions, including acute heart failure. Whether newer devices improve outcome needs to be tested in well-controlled prospective trials

"Current practices and anticipated changes in academic and nonacademic admission sources for entry-level PharmD programs"

Renae J. Chesnut is Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Drake University. She can be contacted at [email protected] Charles R. Phillips is an Associate Professor of Pharmacy Administration/Department Chair of Pharmacy Practice in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Drake University. He can be contacted at [email protected] purpose of this study was to describe and compare current admission practices with anticipated changes in academic and nonacademic admission information sources for entry-level PharmD programs. An author-constructed survey collected data from pharmacy programs on current and anticipated admission processes. After follow-up efforts, a 92 percent response rate was achieved. Results suggest that a lack of significant changes can be expected between admission practices used for the Fall 1997 entering class and those anticipated for Fall 2000. Likewise, applicant qualities sought and information sources used to measure these qualities are not expected to change significantly prior to the Fall 2000 entering class. This study indicated that most pharmacy programs utilize academic and nonacademic admission information sources and that they feel they are meeting the adopted ACPE Standard and Guideline 16.3 which requires that pharmacy programs use information sources in the admission process other than academic information

"Assessing Pharmacy Students' Learning Styles and Personality Types: A Ten-Year Analysis "

Charles R. Phillips is an Associate Professor of Pharmacy Administration/Department Chair of Pharmacy Practice in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Drake University. He can be contacted at [email protected] ten-year analysis of 1,313 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is presented to address learning styles in pharnacy students. Objectives were to present a ten-year view of pharmacy student's learning styles, identify differences in pharmacy students versus the general college student population, and compare personality types of students choosing to track into the PharmD Program with those in the BS Pharmacy program. Compared to the general college poplation, the distribution of pharmacy students differed in several personality types measured by the Myerss-Briggs Type Indicator. Generally, Drake pharmacy student's modal type remained introvert, Sensing, Thinking, Judging, (ISTJ) to Introvert, Sensing, Feeling, Judging (ISFJ) for the ten years of data. Female pharmacy students were 72 percent more likely to have feeling as a dominant function. Females were also more likely to have a judging preference. When compared to BS Pharmacy students, PharmD students were more than three times more likely to be Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging (ENFJ). This analysis provided learning and teaching style information for both students and faculty. It is timely as colleges attempt to change students to independent learners. The key to successfully implementing ability-based outcomes and active learning may lie with the use of a variety of strategies that help students with different preferences

Gravitational wave detectors based on matter wave interferometers (MIGO) are no better than laser interferometers (LIGO)

We show that a recent claim that matter wave interferometers have a much higher sensitivity than laser interferometers for a comparable physical setup is unfounded. We point out where the mistake in the earlier analysis is made. We also disprove the claim that only a description based on the geodesic deviation equation can produce the correct physical result. The equations for the quantum dynamics of non-relativistic massive particles in a linearly perturbed spacetime derived here are useful for treating a wider class of related physical problems. A general discussion on the use of atom interferometers for the detection of gravitational waves is also provided.Comment: 16 pages, REVTeX4; minor changes, one figure and a few references were added, an additional appendix was included where we explain why, contrary to the claims in gr-qc/0409099, the effects due to the reflection off the mirrors cancel out in the final result for the phase shif

Forest Management Guideline Development Through Consensus: Important Factors to Consider

Consensus forums are one method of dealing with controversial natural resource issues. Minnesota regulators learned numerous important lessons when they used a consensus-based approach to develop voluntary site-level forest management guidelines. These include: 1) take active steps to facilitate information sharing among team leaders, 2) select team members who can effectively represent their group's perspective, who are solution-oriented, and who can help shape a compromise, 3) be prepared for problems that will arise so that they don't bog down the process, 4) use field tours as a mechanism to educate participants and to test the practicality of proposed guidelines, and 5) build in flexibility to accommodate the range of considerations which affect guideline application