Demographic and psychological variables affecting test subject evaluations of ride quality

Ride-quality experiments similar in objectives, design, and procedure were conducted, one using the U.S. Air Force Total In-Flight Simulator and the other using the Langley Passenger Ride Quality Apparatus to provide the motion environments. Large samples (80 or more per experiment) of test subjects were recruited from the Tidewater Virginia area and asked to rate the comfort (on a 7-point scale) of random aircraft motion typical of that encountered during STOL flights. Test subject characteristics of age, sex, and previous flying history (number of previous airplane flights) were studied in a two by three by three factorial design. Correlations were computed between one dependent measure, the subject's mean comfort rating, and various demographic characteristics, attitudinal variables, and the scores on Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. An effect of sex was found in one of the studies. Males made higher (more uncomfortable) ratings of the ride than females. Age and number of previous flights were not significantly related to comfort ratings. No significant interactions between the variables of age, sex, or previous number of flights were observed

Of Cherries, Fudge, and Onions: Science and Its Courtroom Perversion

The thesis of this article is that the Supreme Court decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.\u27s focus on the scientific method, however rigorously applied, invites certain classes of abuses. There are instances in which evidence can be made to look more scientific by a process that in fact and substance makes is utterly unscientific

Fixation of virgin lunar surface soil

Two systems are shown to be suitable for fixing loose particulate soils with a polymer film, without visually detectable disturbance of the soil particle spatial relationships. A two-component system is described, which uses a gas monomer condensible at the soil temperature and a gas phase catalyst acting to polymerize the monomer. A one-component system using a monomer which polymerizes spontaneously on and within the top few millimeters of the soil is also considered. The two-component system employs a simpler apparatus, but it operates over a narrower temperature range (approximately -40 to -10 C). Other two-component systems were identified which may operate at soil temperatures as high as +100 C, at relatively narrow temperature ranges of approximately 30 C. The one-component system was demonstrated to operate successfully with initial soil temperatures from -70 C or lower to +150 C

Migration with local public goods and the gains from changing places

Without public goods and under fairly standard assumptions, in Hammond and Sempere (J Pub Econ Theory, 8: 145–170, 2006) we show that freeing migration enhances the potential Pareto gains from free trade. Here, we present a generalization allowing local public goods subject to congestion. Unlike the standard literature on fiscal externalities, our result relies on fixing both local public goods and congestion levels at their status quo values. This allows constrained efficient and potentially Pareto improving population exchanges regulated only through appropriate residence charges, which can be regarded as Pigouvian congestion taxes

RP Process Selection for Rapid Tooling in Sand Casting

The significant cycle-time improvements and geometrical capabilities of solid freeform fabrication systems have led to applications in sand casting industry for design verification and tooling. The time and cost effective deployment of rapid tooling processes using rapid prototyping technology has thus becoming an emerging area to be studied. To make full use of the advantages of rapid prototyping processes, the factors influencing the tooling approach must be identified and understood. This understanding is then used to develop a decision-making structure for RP process selection for rapid tooling in sand casting. In this manuscript we review our work in evaluating and building a framework for tooling process selection for sand castingMechanical Engineerin

A simulation evaluation of a four-engine jet transport using engine thrust modulation for flightpath control

The use of throttle control laws to provide adequate flying qualities for flight path control in the event of a total loss of conventional flight control surface use was evaluated. The results are based on a simulation evaluation by transport research pilots of a B-720 transport with visual display. Throttle augmentation control laws can provide flight path control capable of landing a transport-type aircraft with up to moderate levels of turbulence. The throttle augmentation mode dramatically improves the pilots' ability to control flight path for the approach and landing flight condition using only throttle modulation. For light turbulence, the average Cooper-Harper pilot rating improved from unacceptable to acceptable (a pilot rating improvement of 4.5) in going from manual to augmented control. The low frequency response characteristics of the engines require a considerably different piloting technique. The various techniques used by the pilot resulted in considerable scatter in data. Many pilots readily adapted to a good piloting technique while some had difficulty. A new viable approach is shown to provide independent means of redundancy of transport aircraft flight path control

Fluvial Sedimentology and Paleoecology of Holocene Alluvial Deposits, Red River, Manitoba

Stratigraphie and paleoecological analyses at five sections, together with age determinations based on 19 previously published and 21 new radiocarbon dates, provide a detailed late Holocene history of the Red River, Manitoba. Ecological information, such as age frequency analysis, relative abundance, diversity and association of species was drawn from 19 mollusc species. These data indicate that the Red and Assiniboine rivers cut the valleys they occupy today within a thousand years of the regression of Lake Agassiz. In the south, up to 14 m of alluvium has accumulated during the last 7000 years. A decrease in the sedimentation rate at 1400 BP is coincident with the shift in the position of the Assiniboine from the valley of the La Salle River to its present position. Overbank sedimentation did not start in the northern part of the area until ca. 5200 BP. Initial rapid sedimentation rates in this area are attributed to increased precipitation and a brief eastward excursion of the Assiniboine River into the Red. In spite of increased precipitation, flood frequencies remained low in the north until 1400 BP. Increased overbank sedimentation after 1400 BP is attributed to the northward shift in the position ot the Assiniboine.Les analyses stratigraphiques et paléoécologiques de cinq coupes, ainsi qu'une chronologie fondée sur 19 datations déjà connues et 21 nouvelles datations au radiocarbone permettent de reconstituer l'évolution de la rivière Rouge à l'Holocène. Des renseignements d'ordre écologique, comme l'analyse de la fréquence d'âge, l'abondance relative, la diversité et l'association des espèces ont été colligés sur 19 espèces de mollusques. Ces données montrent que les rivières Assiniboine et Rouge ont entaillé les vallées qu'elles occupent maintenant en moins de mille ans après le retrait du Lac Agassiz. Dans le sud, 14 m d'alluvions se sont accumulés depuis 7000 ans. La diminution du taux de sédimentation à 1400 BP coïncide avec le déplacement de !'Assiniboine de la vallée de la rivière LaSaIIe à son emplacement actuel. La sédimentation alluviale d'inondation n'a pas commencé dans la partie nord de la région avant environ 5200 BP. Les taux de sédimentation rapides initiaux sont attribuables aux précipitations accrues et à une brève incursion vers l'est de !'Assiniboine vers la rivière Rouge. En dépit des précipitations accrues, la fréquence des inondations est demeurée faible dans le nord jusqu'à 1400 BP. L'accroissement de la sédimentation alluviale d'inondation après 1400 BP est attribuée au déplacement de !'Assiniboine vers le nord.Mit stratigraphischen und palàoôkologischen Analysen von 5 Schnitten sowie einer auf 19 schon bekannte Datierungen und 21 neue Radikarbondatierungen gestùtzten Chronologie IaRt sich die Entwicklung des Red River im Holozàn rekonstruieren. Okologische Informationen wie die Analyse der Altersfrequenz, relative Haufigkeit, Vielfalt und Verbindung der Arten, wurden auf 19 Molluskenarten gesammelt. Dièse Daten zeigen, daB die Flùsse Assiniboine und Red die Tàler, durch sie sie jetzt fliefîen, in weniger als tausend Jahren nach dem Rùckzug des Agassizsees eingeschnitten haben. Im Sùden wurden seit 7000 Jahren 14 m Alluvium akkumuliert. Die Abnahme der Sedimentationsrate um 1400 v.u.Z. tritt gleichzeitig mit dem Wechsel des Assiniboine vom TaI des La SalleFlusses zu seiner jetzigen Position ein. Die alluviale Ùberschwemmungssedimentation hat im nôrdlichen Teil des Gebiets nicht vor etwa 5200 v.u.Z. begonnen. Die anfànglich sehr schnellen Sedimentationsraten fùhrt man auf verstàrkte Niederschlàge und einen kurzen ostwàrtigen Ausfall des Assiniboine River in Richtung Red River zurùck. Trotz der verstàrkten Niederschlàge ist die Haufigkeit der Ùberschwemmungen im Norden bis 1400 v.u.Z. niedrig geblieben. Die Zunahme der alluvialen Uberschwemmungssedimentation nach 1400 v.u.Z. wird auf die Verlagerung des Assiniboine nach Norden zurùckgefùhrt

Attribution of chemistry-climate model initiative (CCMI) ozone radiative flux bias from satellites

The top-of-atmosphere (TOA) outgoing longwave flux over the 9.6 µm ozone band is a fundamental quantity for understanding chemistry–climate coupling. However, observed TOA fluxes are hard to estimate as they exhibit considerable variability in space and time that depend on the distributions of clouds, ozone (O3), water vapor (H2O), air temperature (Ta), and surface temperature (Ts). Benchmarking present-day fluxes and quantifying the relative influence of their drivers is the first step for estimating climate feedbacks from ozone radiative forcing and predicting radiative forcing evolution. To that end, we constructed observational instantaneous radiative kernels (IRKs) under clear-sky conditions, representing the sensitivities of the TOA flux in the 9.6 µm ozone band to the vertical distribution of geophysical variables, including O3, H2O, Ta, and Ts based upon the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) measurements. Applying these kernels to present-day simulations from the Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) project as compared to a 2006 reanalysis assimilating satellite observations, we show that the models have large differences in TOA flux, attributable to different geophysical variables. In particular, model simulations continue to diverge from observations in the tropics, as reported in previous studies of the Atmospheric Chemistry Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP) simulations. The principal culprits are tropical middle and upper tropospheric ozone followed by tropical lower tropospheric H2O. Five models out of the eight studied here have TOA flux biases exceeding 100 mW m−2 attributable to tropospheric ozone bias. Another set of five models have flux biases over 50 mW m−2 due to H2O. On the other hand, Ta radiative bias is negligible in all models (no more than 30 mW m−2). We found that the atmospheric component (AM3) of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) general circulation model and Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (CMAM) have the lowest TOA flux biases globally but are a result of cancellation of opposite biases due to different processes. Overall, the multi-model ensemble mean bias is −133±98  mW m−2, indicating that they are too atmospherically opaque due to trapping too much radiation in the atmosphere by overestimated tropical tropospheric O3 and H2O. Having too much O3 and H2O in the troposphere would have different impacts on the sensitivity of TOA flux to O3 and these competing effects add more uncertainties on the ozone radiative forcing. We find that the inter-model TOA outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) difference is well anti-correlated with their ozone band flux bias. This suggests that there is significant radiative compensation in the calculation of model outgoing longwave radiation

Global surfaces of section in the planar restricted 3-body problem

The restricted planar three-body problem has a rich history, yet many unanswered questions still remain. In the present paper we prove the existence of a global surface of section near the smaller body in a new range of energies and mass ratios for which the Hill's region still has three connected components. The approach relies on recent global methods in symplectic geometry and contrasts sharply with the perturbative methods used until now.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur