The cost of applying current helicopter external noise reduction methods while maintaining realistic vehicle performance

Analytical methods were developed and/or adopted for calculating helicopter component noise, and these methods were incorporated into a unified total vehicle noise calculation model. Analytical methods were also developed for calculating the effects of noise reduction methodology on helicopter design, performance, and cost. These methods were used to calculate changes in noise, design, performance, and cost due to the incorporation of engine and main rotor noise reduction methods. All noise reduction techniques were evaluated in the context of an established mission performance criterion which included consideration of hovering ceiling, forward flight range/speed/payload, and rotor stall margin. The results indicate that small, but meaningful, reductions in helicopter noise can be obtained by treating the turbine engine exhaust duct. Furthermore, these reductions do not result in excessive life cycle cost penalties. Currently available main rotor noise reduction methodology, however, is shown to be inadequate and excessively costly

Visualizing experience: using creative research methods with members of sexual and gender communities

This chapter argues that visual methods may be particularly appropriate for the study of non- heteronormative sexualities and genders, particularly the more marginal identities and practices which have tended to be pathologised in, and excluded from, past research. We focus here on three of these: bisexuality (attraction to more than one gender, or regardless of gender), trans (moving away from the gender which was assigned at birth), and polyamory (having multiple sexual and/or intimate relationships). Of course trans people may be heterosexual, or indeed of any sexuality, but have tended to be marginalised in many of the same ways as people from non-heterosexual sexualities, and are consequently included in this chapter for that reason. First we briefly overview the history of qualitative research on non-heterosexual sexualities and trans, arguing that qualitative methods, per se, do not prevent researchers from forming limiting understandings and problematic generalisations about such groups. Then we present an alternative to conventional interview/focus group discussion research involving the use of visual methods. We summarise key reasons why this may be particularly appropriate to the exploration of those in marginalised sexualities, genders and relationship forms, and then present three examples, based in our own research, of the ways in which such research provided data which confounded simple celebratory or critical conclusions about people in these communities. Finally, we summarise some methodological considerations which are of value to those considering the use of visual methods in their own research

Review of early childhood parenting, education and health intervention programs for Indigenous children and families in Australia

This paper provides a review of prevention and early intervention research literature that is focused on improving outcomes for Australian Indigenous children in the early childhood years. For the purposes of this paper, early childhood is defined as the years from conception to school entry. The included literature was drawn from 3 key areas of early childhood research: parenting, early childhood education, and early childhood health. Aims One aim of this paper is to bring together up-to-date information about the range of evaluated intervention programs for Indigenous children and their families, where the information is targeted at the early childhood years. A second aim is to review research on the programs’ effectiveness in bringing about positive change in the lives of Indigenous children and their parents. The third and primary aim of the paper is to assess the quality of published or publicly available research and evaluation of early intervention programs for Indigenous children and families in Australia: the intent is to assist practitioners and policy makers in their choice of intervention programs for use in Indigenous communities. In doing so, the paper omits discussion of programs that have not yet been evaluated or whose evaluations are not publicly available. Such programs may well be as effective, or even more effective, than those reviewed here. It also needs to be kept in mind that using the quality of research design as a primary criterion for program adoption can be problematic in Australia, where research funding is difficult to obtain and often inadequate to conduct the randomised controlled trials and longitudinal research designs that are the ‘gold standard’ for a high-quality evidence base

Software fault characteristics: A synthesis of the literature

Faults continue to be a significant problem in software. Understanding the nature of these faults is important for practitioners and researchers. There are many published fault characteristics schemes but no one scheme dominates. Consequently it is difficult for practitioners to effectively evaluate the nature of faults in their software systems, and it is difficult for researchers to compare the types of faults found by different fault detection techniques. In this paper we synthesise previous fault characteristics schemes into one comprehensive scheme. Our scheme provides a richer view of faults than the previous schemes published and presents a comprehensive, unified approach which accommodates the many previous schemes. A characteristics-based view of faults should be considered by future researchers in the analysis of software faults and in the design and evaluation of new fault detection tools. We recommend that our fault characteristics scheme be used as a benchmark scheme