[Review of] Aldon Lynn Nielsen, ed. Reading Race in American Poetry: An Area of Act

For some time now it has been fashionable when reviewing any sort of anthology to focus critical lens on what the anthology leaves out. In both formal and informal reviews of literary anthologies and collections of essays what an editor does not include in his or her text often takes precedent over the relative virtues of the texts actually appearing in the anthology itself. In the most postmodern of moments, absence erases presence

“yellow crowfoot in the pond,/not lotus, not lily”: Mapping the River, Mapping Voices

This paper examines the prosody of Chin’s eponymous poem, The Phoenix Gone, The Terrace Empty, through an eco-critical lens. While it does not dismiss the hybrid cultural influences of the poem, it focuses on the ways the non-human agents, or the figures in the poem’s landscape, “speak.” Poetry, like the poem’s terraced gardens, traces tension between the controlling human forces experienced by the narrating female I personas and the natural world’s affective inclinations

Information Literacy and the Undergraduate Curriculum

published or submitted for publicatio

Reinforcement of polymeric structures with asbestos fibrils

Investigation determines structural potential of asbestos fibrils. Methods are developed for dispersing macrofibers of the asbestos into colloidal-sized ultimate fibrils and incorporating these fibrils in matrices without causing reagglomeration

Analytical study of lightweight acoustic shrouds for shuttle experiments and payloads

Results are presented of acoustic tests performed on an STS payload shroud simulator to determine the effects of a helium filled liner on the noise reduction characteristics. The basic test program included the following configurations: (1) bare shroud (baseline configuration); (2) shroud with empty liner; (3) shroud with liner filled with air; and (4) shroud with liner filled with helium. The results indicate negligible effects from the helium. Configurations for liner filled with air, and liner filled with helium were also tested. The data from these configurations indicate increased noise reduction from the use of helium

Monitoring cardiovascular function in the primate under prolonged weightlessness

Monitoring cardiovascular function in primates under prolonged weightlessnes

A Cassegrain reflector system for compact range applications

An integral part of a compact range is the means of providing a uniform plane wave. A Cassegrain reflector system is one alternative for achieving this goal. Theoretically, this system offers better performance than a simple reflector system. The longer pathlengths in the Cassegrain system lead to a more uniform field in the plane of interest. The addition of the subreflector creates several problems, though. System complexity is increased both in terms of construction and performance analysis. The subreflector also leads to aperture blockage and the orientation of the feed now results in spillover illuminating the target areas as well as the rest of the range. Finally, the addition of the subreflector leads to interaction between the two reflectors resulting in undesired field variations in the plane of interest. These difficulties are addressed and through the concept of blending the surfaces, a Cassegrain reflector system is developed that will provide a uniform plane wave that offers superior performance over large target areas for a given size reflector system. Design and analysis is implemented by considering the main reflector and subreflector separately. Then the system may be put together and the final design and system analysis completed

The KIT swiss knife gripper for disassembly tasks: a multi-functional gripper for bimanual manipulation with a single arm

© 20xx IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.This work presents the concept of a robotic gripper designed for the disassembly of electromechanical devices that comprises several innovative ideas. Novel concepts include the ability to interchange built-in tools without the need to grasp them, the ability to reposition grasped objects in-hand, the capability of performing classic dual arm manipulation within the gripper and the utilization of classic industrial robotic arms kinematics within a robotic gripper. We analyze state of the art grippers and robotic hands designed for dexterous in-hand manipulation and extract common characteristics and weak points. The presented concept is obtained from the task requirements for disassembly of electromechanical devices and it is then evaluated for general purpose grasping, in-hand manipulation and operations with tools. We further present the CAD design for a first prototype.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A study to define an in-flight dynamics measurement and data applications program for space shuttle payloads

Data measurement and interpretation techniques were defined for application to the first few space shuttle flights, so that the dynamic environment could be sufficiently well established to be used to reduce the cost of future payloads through more efficient design and environmental test techniques. It was concluded that: (1) initial payloads must be given comprehensive instrumentation coverage to obtain detailed definition of acoustics, vibration, and interface loads, (2) analytical models of selected initial payloads must be developed and verified by modal surveys and flight measurements, (3) acoustic tests should be performed on initial payloads to establish realistic test criteria for components and experiments in order to minimize unrealistic failures and retest requirements, (4) permanent data banks should be set up to establish statistical confidence in the data to be used, (5) a more unified design/test specification philosophy is needed, (6) additional work is needed to establish a practical testing technique for simulation of vehicle transients

Viking dynamics experience with application to future payload design

Analytical and test techniques are discussed. Areas in which hindsight indicated erroneous, redundant, or unnecessarily severe design and test specifications are identified. Recommendations are made for improvements in the dynamic design and criteria philosophy, aimed at reducing costs for payloads