Ignition overpressure study from solid rocket motor firings

The objective was to investigate, through experimental means, the basic mechanisms influencing ignition overpressure and to determine ways to suppress ignition overpressure. Ignition overpressure was studied using solid rocket motors with geometry scaled at 1 percent of the Shuttle's Solid Rocket Boosters. Both water injection and aerosol foam were examined as a mean of reducing ignition overpressure. The results of the water injection tests indicate that a relatively small amount of water is sufficient to provide significant suppression. Of the flow rates tested, the lower water injection flow rates provided the best reduction of the ignition overpressure wave. Also, the test results show there is an optimum water flow rate range that provides the best suppression, and as this range is exceeded the effectiveness of water to reduce ignition overpressure is decreased. Aerosol foam provided very little reduction of ignition overpressure, but only small volumes of foam were used and further testing is necessary to determine its total effectiveness as a means of suppression

SRB water impact velocity trade study

The results of the attrition/cost studies which formulated the data base for the recommendation to reduce the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster's nominal vertical water impact velocity to 85 feet per second is presented

eJournal interface can influence usage statistics: implications for libraries, publishers, and Project COUNTER

The design of a publisher's electronic interface can have a measurable effect on electronic journal usage statistics. A study of journal usage from six COUNTER-compliant publishers at thirty-two research institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden indicates that the ratio of PDF to HTML views is not consistent across publisher interfaces, even after controlling for differences in publisher content. The number of fulltext downloads may be artificially inflated when publishers require users to view HTML versions before accessing PDF versions or when linking mechanisms, such as CrossRef, direct users to the full text, rather than the abstract, of each article. These results suggest that usage reports from COUNTER-compliant publishers are not directly comparable in their current form. One solution may be to modify publisher numbers with adjustment factors deemed to be representative of the benefit or disadvantage due to its interface. Standardization of some interface and linking protocols may obviate these differences and allow for more accurate cross-publisher comparisons.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures. JASIST (in press, 2006

Evaluating The Role Of Nitric Oxide Synthase In Oncogenic Ras-Driven Tumorigenesis

We previously reported that oncogenic KRAS activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway stimulates the remaining wild-type HRAS and NRAS proteins in a manner dependent upon both eNOS expression and C118 in HRAS and NRAS, which promoted tumor growth. Interestingly however, we recently found that loss of wild-type HRAS, NRAS, and even more potently, loss of both of these genes actually enhanced oncogenic KRAS-driven early tumorigenesis. Taken together, these results indicate that wild-type RAS proteins are tumor suppressing early in tumorigenesis, but tumor promoting in more malignant settings. Knock-in of a C118S mutation into an endogenous wild-type RAS gene did not, however, hamper oncogenic KRAS-driven tumor initiation. As such, redox-dependent reactions with C118 of wild-type RAS proteins are unlikely to be responsible for the tumor suppressive role of wild-type RAS proteins. This suggests that the redox-dependent reactions with C118 of wild-type RAS proteins are more important in more malignant settings. Given this, it stands to reason that inhibiting redox-dependent reactions like S-nitrosylation of wild-type RAS proteins may be more effective in established cancer settings. Indeed, we find that in three different models of KRAS-driven cancers-skin, pancreatic and lung- the general NOS inhibitor l-NAME reduced tumor burden and/or extended the lifespan of mice. Since oncogenic RAS has so far proven refractory to pharmacologic inhibition, targeting NOS activity may be an actionable approach to inhibiting RAS signaling for the treatment of a broad spectrum of cancers

Has anyone ever lived in the Alumni House?

Abbot Pennings answers a question about the history of the Alumni House, archived from the SNC website

Message Framing Concerning Homosexuality: A Comparison between Radical and Moderate Christian Anti-Gay Organizations

In the decades since the 1969 Stonewall riots, the homosexual population of the United States has made tremendous strides in the political, legal, and cultural spheres, and has thus prompted the religious-right to mobilize in order to oppose the continual expansion and acceptance of homosexuality. Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, and Exodus International are three such religious, conservative organizations which have been instrumental in the anti-gay counter social movement. However, as the actions of radically anti-gay organizations such as the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas have shown, the general population doesn’t view overt homophobia as an accepted social stance

Counter Patent

Circuit for measuring wide range of pulse rates by utilizing high capacity counte

Counter lung

Counter lung, incorporated in closed-loop rebreathing system, accommodates user's breathing tidal volume so that the loop pressure is relatively constant during breathing cycles