Autonomous integrated GPS/INS navigation experiment for OMV. Phase 1: Feasibility study

The phase 1 research focused on the experiment definition. A tightly integrated Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System (GPS/INS) navigation filter design was analyzed and was shown, via detailed computer simulation, to provide precise position, velocity, and attitude (alignment) data to support navigation and attitude control requirements of future NASA missions. The application of the integrated filter was also shown to provide the opportunity to calibrate inertial instrument errors which is particularly useful in reducing INS error growth during times of GPS outages. While the Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) provides a good target platform for demonstration and for possible flight implementation to provide improved capability, a successful proof-of-concept ground demonstration can be obtained using any simulated mission scenario data, such as Space Transfer Vehicle, Shuttle-C, Space Station

Family meshworks: children’s geographies and collective ambulatory sense-making in an immersive mathematics exhibition

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. We present a video-based study of family visits to Taping Shape, an immersive exhibition that allows visitors to explore the inside of geometric objects. The exhibition was designed to support embodied sense-making, intimacy, and material encounter with mathematical objects. This study builds on research on walking and movement as forms of place- and sense-making. We draw on the notion of a meshwork to examine how children and their families co-produce, develop familiarity with, and assemble meanings for the exhibition space. This case study focuses on 4-year-old Easton and his extended family, exploring how Easton’s talk and movements are part of an intergenerational meshwork that weaves together an emergent and distributed sense of place within the built geometries of Taping Shape. Our findings further considerations of embodiment and materiality in children’s geographies

A management-oriented study of habitat selection and effects of boating activities on wintering bald eagles, Millerton Lake State Recreation Area, California

Behavioral responses of wintering Bald Eagles (Haliaeetusleucocephalus) to boating activities were studied during the winters of 1983- 1986 and 1987-1988 by measuring approach distances of motorized boats to perched eagles and recording resulting flushing behavior. Boating activities disturbed wintering Bald Eagles. Disturbance was greatest for eagles perchedon the ground (p < 0.05). No differences were found in avoidance behavior between age classes. Characteristics of perch and roost trees were compared to those available in oak-savanna and oak-woodland vegetation types. Canopy cover, diameter breast height (dbh), and height of perch and roost trees were significantly different (p < 0.05) from trees found within randomly selectedquadrates; eagles selected larger and taller trees for perch sites. The average perching distance from the high-water line of the reservoir was 18 m. Food habits analysis revealed that waterfowl were the preferred prey item of wintering Bald Eagles