Humanoids Designed to do Work

NASA began with the challenge of building a robot fo r doing assembly, maintenance, and diagnostic work in the Og environment of space. A robot with human form was then chosen as the best means of achieving that mission. The goal was not to build a machine to look like a human, but rather, to build a system that could do the same work. Robonaut could be inserted into the existing space environment, designed for a population of astronauts, and be able to perform many of the same tasks, with the same tools, and use the same interfaces. Rather than change that world to accommodate the robot, instead Robonaut accepts that it exists for humans, and must conform to it. While it would be easier to build a robot if all the interfaces could be changed, this is not the reality of space at present, where NASA has invested billions of dollars building spacecraft like the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. It is not possible to go back in time, and redesign those systems to accommodate full automation, but a robot can be built that adapts to them. This paper describes that design process, and the res ultant solution, that NASA has named Robonaut

User's manual for the model interface and plugboard cabinets in the 14- by 22-foot subsonic tunnel

The primary method of connection between the wind tunnel model instrumentation and the data acquisition system in the 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel is through the Model Interface (MIF) and Plugboard cabinets. The MIF and Plugboard cabinets allow versatility in the connection of the instrumentation to the different data systems in the facility. The User's Manual describes the components inside the MIF cabinet, the input and output of the MIF, and the MIF patchboard, and the Plugboard cabinets. There are examples of standard connections for most of the instrumentation used in the facility

Tulips

A-11

Links between soil microbial communities and plant traits in a species-rich grassland under long-term climate change

Climate change can influence soil microorganisms directly by altering their growth and activity but also indirectly via effects on the vegetation, which modifies the availability of resources. Direct impacts of climate change on soil microorganisms can occur rapidly, whereas indirect effects mediated by shifts in plant community composition are not immediately apparent and likely to increase over time. We used molecular fingerprinting of bacterial and fungal communities in the soil to investigate the effects of 17 years of temperature and rainfall manipulations in a species‐rich grassland near Buxton, UK. We compared shifts in microbial community structure to changes in plant species composition and key plant traits across 78 microsites within plots subjected to winter heating, rainfall supplementation, or summer drought. We observed marked shifts in soil fungal and bacterial community structure in response to chronic summer drought. Importantly, although dominant microbial taxa were largely unaffected by drought, there were substantial changes in the abundances of subordinate fungal and bacterial taxa. In contrast to short‐term studies that report high resistance of soil fungi to drought, we observed substantial losses of fungal taxa in the summer drought treatments. There was moderate concordance between soil microbial communities and plant species composition within microsites. Vector fitting of community‐weighted mean plant traits to ordinations of soil bacterial and fungal communities showed that shifts in soil microbial community structure were related to plant traits representing the quality of resources available to soil microorganisms: the construction cost of leaf material, foliar carbon‐to‐nitrogen ratios, and leaf dry matter content. Thus, our study provides evidence that climate change could affect soil microbial communities indirectly via changes in plant inputs and highlights the importance of considering long‐term climate change effects, especially in nutrient‐poor systems with slow‐growing vegetation

Asparagus and Rhubarb

A-6

Shelf-life stability of Asparagopsis bromoform in oil and freeze-dried powder

The idea of delivering bromoform from Asparagopsis using edible oil has gained momentum recently due to the improved processing time and that it is already a feed that many livestock producers use. The stability of bromoform in oil compared to freeze-dried product is still not well understood. To fill this gap, a systematic study was carried out to determine the effects of storage temperatures (40 °C, 25 °C, 4 °C and -20 °C), fluorescent light and exposure to open air, on the retention of bromoform in freeze-dried Asparagopsis (FD-Asp) and Asparagopsis oil (Asp-Oil) over 24-week period. In the absence of fluorescent light, Asp-Oil was a more effective way to preserve bromoform compared to FD-Asp due to either no change or higher Asp-Oil bromoform content (storage temperature dependent) after 24-week storage. Under the same conditions, FD-Asp bromoform content decreased by 74% at 40 °C, 53% at 25 °C, 6% at 4 °C, and no change of FD-Asp bromoform content at -20 °C. The presence of fluorescent light negatively affected Asp-Oil bromoform content at both 25 °C and 40 °C while the effect was insignificant on FD-Asp. The exposure of Asp-Oil to open air resulted in the decrease of bromoform content to below quantification limit (0.18 mg g(-1)) on week 8 for 40 °C sample and on week 16 for 25 °C sample. This study provides empirical evidence on the stabilising effect of oil in preserving bromoform extracted from Asparagopsis, confirming it is a more attractive medium to deliver bromoform compared to the freeze-dried powder form

The Situation Analysis Approach to Assessing Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services: A Handbook

Good family planning service delivery emphasizing both access and quality is key to the related goals of satisfying individual needs and achieving programmatic success. Situation Analysis (SA) provides a needed link between the manager and the client he or she is trying to serve. The data marshaled for SA offer a representative picture of how subsystems are working and provide a way to “see” the client’s experience. Situation Analyses assist managers in achieving the broadest management goal—that of efficient administration of a vital health care service while keeping in view the ultimate goal—providing good care for those who seek it. “The Situation Analysis Approach to Assessing Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services” handbook is a tool to help implement SA studies. Some of the sections are more valuable for policymakers and program planners, others for researchers, and still others for field interviewers. The handbook consists of four chapters: The Situation Analysis Study Methodology; Conducting the Study; Instruments and Question-by-Question Guides; and Data Analysis and Reporting