A damper for ground wind-induced launch vehicle oscillations

Prelaunch oscillatory bending deflections of the Atlas/Centaur launch vehicle are restrained by a damper mechanism mounted on the end of a horizontal boom supported from the umbilical tower. A single vertical pin on the vehicle engages the mechanism, and the damper is connected to the vehicle until liftoff. As the attach pin rises with the vehicle, a retractable arm mechanism provides initial clearance. An explosive release mechanism allows the boom to swing clear of the vehicle like a pendulum, while a snubber mechanism decelerates the free swinging boom and damper mechanism to a safe stop

Autoethnography and Subjective Experience in Marketing and Consumer Research (Autoetnografia e experiência subjetiva em marketing e pesquisa do consumidor)

Marketing and consumer research is often associated with the methods of natural science applied to experimental and survey data, but there are also strong traditions of interpretive and qualitative work that draw on disciplines such as qualitative sociology, ethnography and anthropology. This paper outlines one such approach, authoethnography, in order to consider its wider adoption in marketing and consumer research. The paper refers to multidisciplinary sources along with autoethnographic studies published in American and European marketing and consumer research journals. It concludes by suggesting that a stronger understanding of autoethnographic research principles could broaden the scope, reach and relevance of marketing and consumer researc

A qualitative case exploration of the use of image political advertising in the Taiwanese presidential election of 2000

By 'image' advertising we refer to television and press advertising that applies brand marketing techniques to political campaigns. Such advertising tends to contain appealing imagery and symbolism rather than factual, policy-based appeals. In the Taiwanese presidential election of 2000 the main opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party, used image advertising on TV before their widely unexpected victory. This was a major departure for the DPP who until then were typically associated with poorly resourced, controversial but ineffective election advertising. This paper examines the Taiwanese political context and briefly reviews relevant research literature before discussing this particular case of political advertising. The paper adopts a mixed interpretive approach drawing on a quantitative analysis of poll data, a qualitative focus group and secondary sources to seek insights into the voter impact this image political advertisement may have had

Why universities and grant bodies shouldn’t try to over-manage research impact

Academics should be engaged with the wider world, but impact, if it is routinised, loses its potential to change the dynamic of a system. Chris Hackley writes that the research that influences policy should be celebrated but we must be wary of the risk that the impact measurement will begin to define what is to be measured

Ethics and regulation of contemporary marketing communication practices: an exploration of the perceptions of UK-based consumers towards the ethical issues raised by product placement in British TV shows

Product placement, as a variant of television programme sponsorship, has become a unique and evolving marketing communications tool in which brands are seamlessly embedded within the consumer's experiential world. Although studies have suggested that consumer attitudes towards product placement are generally positive, several issues of ethical concern have emerged. To date, there is a marked shortage of studies that address particular ethical issues in specific contexts of product placement practice. This paper reviews previous work and reports a small-scale UK-based study into the ethics and acceptability of product placement in British television programmes. The research design adapts and extends that used in a larger US-based study. The major findings concur with previous studies and some new insights emerge. Ethical concerns tend to focus on the 'hidden' promotional motive of product placement and the problematic status of ethically-charged product categories. The paper discusses findings and suggests that product placement research needs to develop to keep pace with developments in the field. In particular, research is needed to inform regulatory systems that address ethical concerns

Sea Interdictions: Are Aliens Apprehended On The High Seas Entitled To Protections Afforded By The Immigration And Nationality Act

As more and more foreign nationals attempt entry into the United States by sea, legal scholars and lay persons have become interested in issues related to alien rights

Effects of Various Soil Amendments on Subsurface Water Quality at the ISU Farm

Starting in 2003, a series of field studies were conducted in conjunction with researchers from Illinois State University (ISU) at the ISU Farm north of Lexington, IL. Three sites for monitoring subsurface water quality beneath row crops receiving various soil amendments were established at or near the ISU Farm. The first site was a series of small experimental plots located on the northern edge of farm property just west of road 2550E, which were amended with various fertilizers, including compost (at two application rates), swine manure slurry, separated swine manure effluent, and synthetic fertilizer (urea). A zero-rate control plot was also initiated. The swine that produced the manure used in these studies were dosed with chlortetracycline prior to the 2004 applications and for every year afterward. A common practice in the livestock industry is to provide sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics to prevent disease outbreaks and increase growth rates (Mason et al., 2009). Tetracyclines are one of the most commonly used families of antibiotics for these purposes. The second site covered a larger area of privately owned fields to the north of the ISU Farm, which were amended with materials from the farm. Amendments included compost, manure slurry, and separated swine manure effluent. The third site was located on the northern section of ISU Farm property to the east of road 2550E. Narrowly spaced tile drains were installed at this site for the application of separated effluent via subsurface irrigation. The goal of all studies was to determine if the various soil amendments were affecting subsurface water quality. Monitoring wells were installed in up-gradient and down-gradient locations to monitor changes in shallow groundwater quality. Lysimeters were installed at the first and third sites beneath fields where various soil amendments were applied, as well as at a control location at site one. A summary of soil amendment and monitoring activities for all three sites is shown in Table 1. In addition to the field studies, a series of flow-through soil column experiments were conducted to help understand nitrogen dynamics, especially changes in nitrate isotopes.Ope

An ISA-TAB-Nano based data collection framework to support data-driven modelling of nanotoxicology

Analysis of trends in nanotoxicology data and the development of data driven models for nanotoxicity is facilitated by the reporting of data using a standardised electronic format. ISA-TAB-Nano has been proposed as such a format. However, in order to build useful datasets according to this format, a variety of issues has to be addressed. These issues include questions regarding exactly which (meta)data to report and how to report them. The current article discusses some of the challenges associated with the use of ISA-TAB-Nano and presents a set of resources designed to facilitate the manual creation of ISA-TAB-Nano datasets from the nanotoxicology literature. These resources were developed within the context of the NanoPUZZLES EU project and include data collection templates, corresponding business rules that extend the generic ISA-TAB-Nano specification as well as Python code to facilitate parsing and integration of these datasets within other nanoinformatics resources. The use of these resources is illustrated by a “Toy Dataset” presented in the Supporting Information. The strengths and weaknesses of the resources are discussed along with possible future developments