Comparing Management Approaches for Automatic Test Systems: A Strategic Missile Case Study

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-03-01

ground up, and is commonly conducted following five methods : ethnography , grounded theory , case study , phenomenological study , and biography...traditions frequently used (Creswell, 1998:5). The five traditions are biography, phenomenological study , grounded theory study , ethnography , and... Ethnography Biography Case Study Grounded Theory

47 CFR 22.861 - Emission limitations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.861 Emission limitations. The rules in this section govern the spectral characteristics of emissions for commercial aviation systems...

47 CFR 22.882 - Designated entities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.882 Designated entities. (a) Eligibility for small business provisions in the commercial Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service. (1) A small...

46 CFR 120.372 - Equipment and conductor grounding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Equipment and conductor grounding. 120.372 Section 120... INSTALLATION Power Sources and Distribution Systems § 120.372 Equipment and conductor grounding. (a) All... together to a common ground by a normally non-current carrying conductor. Metallic cases of instruments and...

46 CFR 120.372 - Equipment and conductor grounding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Equipment and conductor grounding. 120.372 Section 120... INSTALLATION Power Sources and Distribution Systems § 120.372 Equipment and conductor grounding. (a) All... together to a common ground by a normally non-current carrying conductor. Metallic cases of instruments and...

A guide for using the transient ground-water flow model of the Death Valley regional ground-water flow system, Nevada and California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Blainey, Joan B.; Faunt, Claudia C.; Hill, Mary C.

2006-01-01

This report is a guide for executing numerical simulations with the transient ground-water flow model of the Death Valley regional ground-water flow system, Nevada and California using the U.S. Geological Survey modular finite-difference ground-water flow model, MODFLOW-2000. Model inputs, including observations of hydraulic head, discharge, and boundary flows, are summarized. Modification of the DVRFS transient ground-water model is discussed for two common uses of the Death Valley regional ground-water flow system model: predictive pumping scenarios that extend beyond the end of the model simulation period (1998), and model simulations with only steady-state conditions.

The Advanced Orbiting Systems Testbed Program: Results to date

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Otranto, John F.; Newsome, Penny A.

1994-01-01

The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Recommendations for Packet Telemetry (PT) and Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS) propose standard solutions to data handling problems common to many types of space missions. The Recommendations address only space/ground and space/space data handling systems. Goddard Space Flight Center's (GSFC's) AOS Testbed (AOST) Program was initiated to better understand the Recommendations and their impact on real-world systems, and to examine the extended domain of ground/ground data handling systems. The results and products of the Program will reduce the uncertainties associated with the development of operational space and ground systems that implement the Recommendations.

Feasibility of using ground-penetrating radar to quantify root mass in Florida's intensively managed pine plantations

Treesearch

John Butnor; Brian Roth; Kurt Johnsen

2005-01-01

Tree root systems are commonly evaluated via labor intensive, destructive, time-consuming excavations. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) can be used to detect and monitor roots if there is sufficient electromagnetic contrast with the surrounding soil matrix. This methodology is commonly used in civil engineering for non-destructive testing of concrete as well as road and...

Ground System Harmonization Efforts at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Dan

2011-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the efforts made at Goddard Space Flight Center in harmonizing the ground systems to assist in collaboration in space ventures. The key elements of this effort are: (1) Moving to a Common Framework (2) Use of Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Standards (3) Collaboration Across NASA Centers (4) Collaboration Across Industry and other Space Organizations. These efforts are working to bring into harmony the GSFC systems with CCSDS standards to allow for common software, use of Commercial Off the Shelf Software and low risk development and operations and also to work toward harmonization with other NASA centers

The effects of large-scale pumping and diversion on the water resources of Dane County, Wisconsin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hunt, Randall J.; Bradbury, Kenneth R.; Krohelski, James T.

2001-01-01

Throughout many parts of the U.S., there is growing concern over the effects of rapid urban growth and development on water resources. Ground- water and surface-water systems (which comprise the hydrologic system) are linked in much of Wisconsin, and ground water can be utilized both for drinking water and as a source of water for sustaining lakes, streams, springs, and wetlands. Ground water is important for surface-water systems because it commonly has greater dissolved solids and more acid-neutraliz- ing capacity than surface water or precipitation. The supplies of ground water are finite, however, and, in many cases ground water used for one purpose cannot be used for another. Moreover, ground-water use and withdrawal patterns may not be easy to alter once established. Thus, urban and rural planners are faced with decisions that balance the need for ground- water withdrawals while maintaining the quantity and quality of ground water for sustaining surface-water resources. Science-based information on the ground-water system and the connections to surface-water systems provides valuable insight for such decisions.

Protective ability of the standard U.S. Military Personal Armor System, Ground Troops (PASGT) fragmentation vest against common small arms projectiles.

PubMed

Roberts, G K; Bullian, M E

1993-08-01

This study analyzes the ballistic protection provided by the standard U.S. Military Personal Armor System, Ground Troops fragmentation vest against threats from handgun and shotgun projectiles. Damage assessment was conducted using 10% ordnance gelatin, a tissue simulant which has been proven to have a close correlation with living tissue. The standard fragmentation vest was shown to provide protection from commonly encountered handgun bullets and shotgun pellets, but not from shotgun slugs or center-fire rifle bullets.

A Systems Approach to Developing an Affordable Space Ground Transportation Architecture using a Commonality Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garcia, Jerry L.; McCleskey, Carey M.; Bollo, Timothy R.; Rhodes, Russel E.; Robinson, John W.

2012-01-01

This paper presents a structured approach for achieving a compatible Ground System (GS) and Flight System (FS) architecture that is affordable, productive and sustainable. This paper is an extension of the paper titled "Approach to an Affordable and Productive Space Transportation System" by McCleskey et al. This paper integrates systems engineering concepts and operationally efficient propulsion system concepts into a structured framework for achieving GS and FS compatibility in the mid-term and long-term time frames. It also presents a functional and quantitative relationship for assessing system compatibility called the Architecture Complexity Index (ACI). This paper: (1) focuses on systems engineering fundamentals as it applies to improving GS and FS compatibility; (2) establishes mid-term and long-term spaceport goals; (3) presents an overview of transitioning a spaceport to an airport model; (4) establishes a framework for defining a ground system architecture; (5) presents the ACI concept; (6) demonstrates the approach by presenting a comparison of different GS architectures; and (7) presents a discussion on the benefits of using this approach with a focus on commonality.

Pooling the ground: understanding and coordination in collective sense making

PubMed Central

Rączaszek-Leonardi, Joanna; Dębska, Agnieszka; Sochanowicz, Adam

2014-01-01

Common ground is most often understood as the sum of mutually known beliefs, knowledge, and suppositions among the participants in a conversation. It explains why participants do not mention things that should be obvious to both. In some accounts of communication, reaching a mutual understanding, i.e., broadening the common ground, is posed as the ultimate goal of linguistic interactions. Yet, congruent with the more pragmatic views of linguistic behavior, in which language is treated as social coordination, understanding each other is not the purpose (or not the sole purpose) of linguistic interactions. This purpose is seen as at least twofold (e.g., Fusaroli et al., 2014): to maintain the systemic character of a conversing dyad and to organize it into a functional synergy in the face of tasks posed for a dyadic system as a whole. It seems that the notion of common ground is not sufficient to address the latter character of interaction. In situated communication, in which meaning is created in a distributed way in the very process of interaction, both common (sameness) and privileged (diversity) information must be pooled task-dependently across participants. In this paper, we analyze the definitions of common and privileged ground and propose a conceptual extension that may facilitate a theoretical account of agents that coordinate via linguistic communication. To illustrate the usefulness of this augmented framework, we apply it to one of the recurrent issues in psycholinguistic research, namely the problem of perspective-taking in dialog, and draw conclusions for the broader problem of audience design. PMID:25426087

Electrical Grounding Architecture for Unmanned Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

This handbook is approved for use by NASA Headquarters and all NASA Centers and is intended to provide a common framework for consistent practices across NASA programs. This handbook was developed to describe electrical grounding design architecture options for unmanned spacecraft. This handbook is written for spacecraft system engineers, power engineers, and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) engineers. Spacecraft grounding architecture is a system-level decision which must be established at the earliest point in spacecraft design. All other grounding design must be coordinated with and be consistent with the system-level architecture. This handbook assumes that there is no one single 'correct' design for spacecraft grounding architecture. There have been many successful satellite and spacecraft programs from NASA, using a variety of grounding architectures with different levels of complexity. However, some design principles learned over the years apply to all types of spacecraft development. This handbook summarizes those principles to help guide spacecraft grounding architecture design for NASA and others.

A geographic data model for representing ground water systems.

PubMed

Strassberg, Gil; Maidment, David R; Jones, Norm L

2007-01-01

The Arc Hydro ground water data model is a geographic data model for representing spatial and temporal ground water information within a geographic information system (GIS). The data model is a standardized representation of ground water systems within a spatial database that provides a public domain template for GIS users to store, document, and analyze commonly used spatial and temporal ground water data sets. This paper describes the data model framework, a simplified version of the complete ground water data model that includes two-dimensional and three-dimensional (3D) object classes for representing aquifers, wells, and borehole data, and the 3D geospatial context in which these data exist. The framework data model also includes tabular objects for representing temporal information such as water levels and water quality samples that are related with spatial features.

Supporting Common Ground Development in the Operation Room through Information Display Systems

PubMed Central

Feng, Yuanyuan; Mentis, Helena M.

2016-01-01

Effective information sharing is crucial for clinical team coordination. Most information display systems have been designed to replace verbal communication. However, information may not be available for capture before a communication event and information needs often become clear and evident through an evolving discourse. Thus, to build tools to support clinical team in situ information sharing, we need a better understanding of how evolving information needs are identified and satisfied. In this study, we used sequential analysis techniques to explore the ways communication and information sharing events between an attending surgeon and a resident change throughout a laparoscopic surgery. We demonstrate how common ground is developed and maintained, and how information needs change through the efforts of grounding. From our findings, we suggest that the design for information display systems could encourage communication and support the articulation work that is necessary to accomplish the information sharing. PMID:28269936

Supporting Common Ground Development in the Operation Room through Information Display Systems.

PubMed

Feng, Yuanyuan; Mentis, Helena M

2016-01-01

Effective information sharing is crucial for clinical team coordination. Most information display systems have been designed to replace verbal communication. However, information may not be available for capture before a communication event and information needs often become clear and evident through an evolving discourse. Thus, to build tools to support clinical team in situ information sharing, we need a better understanding of how evolving information needs are identified and satisfied. In this study, we used sequential analysis techniques to explore the ways communication and information sharing events between an attending surgeon and a resident change throughout a laparoscopic surgery. We demonstrate how common ground is developed and maintained, and how information needs change through the efforts of grounding. From our findings, we suggest that the design for information display systems could encourage communication and support the articulation work that is necessary to accomplish the information sharing.

Space vehicle field unit and ground station system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Judd, Stephen; Dallmann, Nicholas; Delapp, Jerry

A field unit and ground station may use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and share a common architecture, where differences in functionality are governed by software. The field units and ground stations may be easy to deploy, relatively inexpensive, and be relatively easy to operate. A novel file system may be used where datagrams of a file may be stored across multiple drives and/or devices. The datagrams may be received out of order and reassembled at the receiving device.

Space vehicle field unit and ground station system

DOEpatents

Judd, Stephen; Dallmann, Nicholas; Delapp, Jerry; Proicou, Michael; Seitz, Daniel; Michel, John; Enemark, Donald

2016-10-25

A field unit and ground station may use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and share a common architecture, where differences in functionality are governed by software. The field units and ground stations may be easy to deploy, relatively inexpensive, and be relatively easy to operate. A novel file system may be used where datagrams of a file may be stored across multiple drives and/or devices. The datagrams may be received out of order and reassembled at the receiving device.

47 CFR 22.878 - Obligation to abate unacceptable interference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

.... 22.878 Section 22.878 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.878 Obligation to abate unacceptable interference. This section applies only to commercial...

47 CFR 22.863 - Frequency stability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Frequency stability. 22.863 Section 22.863 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.863 Frequency stability. The...

Ground System Survivability Overview

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-27

Avoidance Blast Mitigation Optimization Customer ILIR RDT&E Funding 5.0 % 0.5% GSS has a proven, technically proficient workforce that meets...Evaluation of Defensive-Aid Suites (ARMED) Common Automatic Fire Extinguishing System ( CAFES ) Transparent Armor Development Ground Combat Vehicle...Survey TRADOC (WFO, CNA, etc) Voice of the Customer Sy st em s En gi ne er in g Publish overarching MIL-STD, design guidelines, technical

47 CFR 22.867 - Effective radiated power limits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Effective radiated power limits. 22.867 Section 22.867 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.867...

Launch Processing System. [for Space Shuttle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byrne, F.; Doolittle, G. V.; Hockenberger, R. W.

1976-01-01

This paper presents a functional description of the Launch Processing System, which provides automatic ground checkout and control of the Space Shuttle launch site and airborne systems, with emphasis placed on the Checkout, Control, and Monitor Subsystem. Hardware and software modular design concepts for the distributed computer system are reviewed relative to performing system tests, launch operations control, and status monitoring during ground operations. The communication network design, which uses a Common Data Buffer interface to all computers to allow computer-to-computer communication, is discussed in detail.

Securing Ground Data System Applications for Space Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pajevski, Michael J.; Tso, Kam S.; Johnson, Bryan

2014-01-01

The increasing prevalence and sophistication of cyber attacks has prompted the Multimission Ground Systems and Services (MGSS) Program Office at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to initiate the Common Access Manager (CAM) effort to protect software applications used in Ground Data Systems (GDSs) at JPL and other NASA Centers. The CAM software provides centralized services and software components used by GDS subsystems to meet access control requirements and ensure data integrity, confidentiality, and availability. In this paper we describe the CAM software; examples of its integration with spacecraft commanding software applications and an information management service; and measurements of its performance and reliability.

The advanced orbiting systems testbed program: Results to date

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newsome, Penny A.; Otranto, John F.

1993-01-01

The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems Recommendations for Packet Telemetry and Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS) propose standard solutions to data handling problems common to many types of space missions. The Recommendations address only space/ground and space/space data handling systems. Goddard Space Flight Center's AOS Testbed (AOST) Program was initiated to better understand the Recommendations and their impact on real-world systems, and to examine the extended domain of ground/ground data handling systems. Central to the AOST Program are the development of an end-to-end Testbed and its use in a comprehensive testing program. Other Program activities include flight-qualifiable component development, supporting studies, and knowledge dissemination. The results and products of the Program will reduce the uncertainties associated with the development of operational space and ground systems that implement the Recommendations. The results presented in this paper include architectural issues, a draft proposed standardized test suite and flight-qualifiable components.

Re-engineering Nascom's network management architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Drake, Brian C.; Messent, David

1994-01-01

The development of Nascom systems for ground communications began in 1958 with Project Vanguard. The low-speed systems (rates less than 9.6 Kbs) were developed following existing standards; but, there were no comparable standards for high-speed systems. As a result, these systems were developed using custom protocols and custom hardware. Technology has made enormous strides since the ground support systems were implemented. Standards for computer equipment, software, and high-speed communications exist and the performance of current workstations exceeds that of the mainframes used in the development of the ground systems. Nascom is in the process of upgrading its ground support systems and providing additional services. The Message Switching System (MSS), Communications Address Processor (CAP), and Multiplexer/Demultiplexer (MDM) Automated Control System (MACS) are all examples of Nascom systems developed using standards such as, X-windows, Motif, and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Also, the Earth Observing System (EOS) Communications (Ecom) project is stressing standards as an integral part of its network. The move towards standards has produced a reduction in development, maintenance, and interoperability costs, while providing operational quality improvement. The Facility and Resource Manager (FARM) project has been established to integrate the Nascom networks and systems into a common network management architecture. The maximization of standards and implementation of computer automation in the architecture will lead to continued cost reductions and increased operational efficiency. The first step has been to derive overall Nascom requirements and identify the functionality common to all the current management systems. The identification of these common functions will enable the reuse of processes in the management architecture and promote increased use of automation throughout the Nascom network. The MSS, CAP, MACS, and Ecom projects have indicated the potential value of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and standards through reduced cost and high quality. The FARM will allow the application of the lessons learned from these projects to all future Nascom systems.

The protection of photovoltaic power systems from lightning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogers, C. B.

Lightning protection techniques at nine prototype photovoltaic power system sites with outputs from 18-225 kW are described. Noting that protection schemes are devised to fit isokeraunic data for specific sites, grounding is cited as a common feature for all systems. The grounds are, in separate instances, connected to junction boxes, frames of the solar cell panels, lead from the dc center, from the dc negative terminal, from the frames and equipment, at the array turntable, or from the building rebar frames. The dc power cables are protected by either metal conduit, metal conduit ground wire, direct burial, by rigid metal conduit, ground conductors, or by ground conductors at the ends of the conduit run. Costs run from 0.01-0.28$/W, with all the systems outfitted with bypass and blocking diodes. Direct stroke protection is viewed as less important than isokeraunic data.

Regional hydrology of the Blanding-Durango area, southern Paradox Basin, Utah and Colorado

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Whitfield, M.S. Jr.; Thordarson, W.; Oatfield, W.J.

1983-01-01

Principal findings of this study that are pertinent to an assessment of suitability of the hydrogeologic systems to store and contain radioactive waste in salt anticlines of adjacent areas are: water in the upper ground-water flow system discharges to the San Juan River - a major tributary of the Colorado River. Discharge of water from the upper aquifer system to streambed channels of the San Juan River and its tributaries during low-flow periods primarily is through evapotranspiration from areas on flood plains and maintenance of streamflow; the lower ground-water system does not have known recharge or discharge areas within themore » study area; subsurface inflow to this system comes from recharge areas located north and northeast of the study area; the upper and lower ground-water systems are separated regionally by thick salt deposits in the Blanding-Durango study area of the Paradox basin; potential exists in mountainous areas for downward leakage between the upper and lower ground-water systems, where salt deposits are thin, absent, or faulted; no brines were found in this study area with outflow to the biosphere; water in the upper ground-water system generally is fresh. Water in the lower ground-water system generally is brackish or saline; and ground-water flow disruptions by contiguous faults probably are common in the upper ground-water system. These disruptions of flow are not apparent in the lower ground-water system, perhaps because available hydrologic data for the lower ground-water system are scarce. The above major findings do not preclude the potential for waste storage in salt; however, they do not allow the prediction of detailed ground-water flow rates and directions through this area. 55 references, 13 figures, 15 tables.« less

Online Aerial Terrain Mapping for Ground Robot Navigation

PubMed Central

Peterson, John; Chaudhry, Haseeb; Abdelatty, Karim; Bird, John; Kochersberger, Kevin

2018-01-01

This work presents a collaborative unmanned aerial and ground vehicle system which utilizes the aerial vehicle’s overhead view to inform the ground vehicle’s path planning in real time. The aerial vehicle acquires imagery which is assembled into a orthomosaic and then classified. These terrain classes are used to estimate relative navigation costs for the ground vehicle so energy-efficient paths may be generated and then executed. The two vehicles are registered in a common coordinate frame using a real-time kinematic global positioning system (RTK GPS) and all image processing is performed onboard the unmanned aerial vehicle, which minimizes the data exchanged between the vehicles. This paper describes the architecture of the system and quantifies the registration errors between the vehicles. PMID:29461496

Online Aerial Terrain Mapping for Ground Robot Navigation.

PubMed

Peterson, John; Chaudhry, Haseeb; Abdelatty, Karim; Bird, John; Kochersberger, Kevin

2018-02-20

This work presents a collaborative unmanned aerial and ground vehicle system which utilizes the aerial vehicle's overhead view to inform the ground vehicle's path planning in real time. The aerial vehicle acquires imagery which is assembled into a orthomosaic and then classified. These terrain classes are used to estimate relative navigation costs for the ground vehicle so energy-efficient paths may be generated and then executed. The two vehicles are registered in a common coordinate frame using a real-time kinematic global positioning system (RTK GPS) and all image processing is performed onboard the unmanned aerial vehicle, which minimizes the data exchanged between the vehicles. This paper describes the architecture of the system and quantifies the registration errors between the vehicles.

Distributed Common Ground System - Army (DCGS-A) Increment 1 Release 2 Follow-on Operational Test and Evaluation (FOT and E) Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-01-01

Moving Target Indicator, Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), Rivet Joint, U-2, and ground signals intelligence (PROPHET). At the BCT, Ranger Regiment and... metadata catalog managed by the DIB management office (outside of the DCGS-A system ). A metadata is a searchable description of data, and users across...challenge for users . The system required reboots about every 20 hours for users who had heavy workloads such as the fire support analysts and data

SCORPION persistent surveillance system with universal gateway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coster, Michael; Chambers, Jon; Winters, Michael; Belesi, Joe

2008-04-01

This paper addresses benefits derived from the universal gateway utilized in Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation's (NGSC) SCORPION, a persistent surveillance and target recognition system produced by the Xetron campus in Cincinnati, Ohio. SCORPION is currently deployed in Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF). The SCORPION universal gateway is a flexible, field programmable system that provides integration of over forty Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) types from a variety of manufacturers, multiple visible and thermal electro-optical (EO) imagers, and numerous long haul satellite and terrestrial communications links, including the Army Research Lab (ARL) Blue Radio. Xetron has been integrating best in class sensors with this universal gateway to provide encrypted data exfiltration and remote sensor command and control since 1998. SCORPION data can be distributed point to point, or to multiple Common Operational Picture (COP) systems, including Command and Control Personal Computer (C2PC), Common Data Interchange Format for the Situational Awareness Display (CDIF/SAD), Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2), Defense Common Ground Systems (DCGS), and Remote Automated Position Identification System (RAPIDS).

Automated Ground Umbilical Systems (AGUS) Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gosselin, Armand M.

2007-01-01

All space vehicles require ground umbilical systems for servicing. Servicing requirements can include, but are not limited to, electrical power and control, propellant loading and venting, pneumatic system supply, hazard gas detection and purging as well as systems checkout capabilities. Of the various types of umbilicals, all require several common subsystems. These typically include an alignment system, mating and locking system, fluid connectors, electrical connectors and control !checkout systems. These systems have been designed to various levels of detail based on the needs for manual and/or automation requirements. The Automated Ground Umbilical Systems (AGUS) project is a multi-phase initiative to develop design performance requirements and concepts for launch system umbilicals. The automation aspect minimizes operational time and labor in ground umbilical processing while maintaining reliability. This current phase of the project reviews the design, development, testing and operations of ground umbilicals built for the Saturn, Shuttle, X-33 and Atlas V programs. Based on the design and operations lessons learned from these systems, umbilicals can be optimized for specific applications. The product of this study is a document containing details of existing systems and requirements for future automated umbilical systems with emphasis on design-for-operations (DFO).

Common command-and-control user interface for current force UGS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stolovy, Gary H.

2009-05-01

The Current Force Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS) comprise the OmniSense, Scorpion, and Silent Watch systems. As deployed by U.S. Army Central Command in 2006, sensor reports from the three systems were integrated into a common Graphical User Interface (GUI), with three separate vendor-specific applications for Command-and-Control (C2) functions. This paper describes the requirements, system architecture, implementation, and testing of an upgrade to the Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination back-end server to incorporate common remote Command-and-Control capabilities.

Setting analyst: A practical harvest planning technique

Treesearch

Olivier R.M. Halleux; W. Dale Greene

2001-01-01

Setting Analyst is an ArcView extension that facilitates practical harvest planning for ground-based systems. By modeling the travel patterns of ground-based machines, it compares different harvesting settings based on projected average skidding distance, logging costs, and site disturbance levels. Setting Analyst uses information commonly available to consulting...

Smartphone Application Enabling Global Graph Exploitation and Proactive Dissemination Service (DSPro) Integration (Revised Fiscal Year 2015)

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

interface. 15. SUBJECT TERMS smartphone, HDPT, global graph, DSPro, ozone widget framework, distributed common ground system, web service 16. SECURITY...Lee M. Lessons learned with a global graph and ozone widget framework (OWF) testbed. Aberdeen Proving Ground (MD): Army Research Laboratory (US); 2013

Water-quality assessment of the Rio Grande Valley, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas : shallow ground-water quality and land use in the Albuquerque area, central New Mexico, 1993

USGS Publications Warehouse

Anderholm, Scott K.

1997-01-01

This report describes the quality of shallow ground water and the relations between land use and the quality of that shallow ground water in an urban area in and adjacent to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Water samples were collected from 24 shallow wells. Samples were analyzed for selected common constituents, nutrients, trace elements, radionuclides, volatile organic compounds, and pesticides. The study area, which is in the Albuquerque Basin in central New Mexico, was limited to the Rio Grande flood plain; depth to water in this area generally is less than 25 feet. The amount and composition of recharge to the shallow ground-water system are important factors that affect shallow ground-water composition in this area. Important sources of recharge that affect shallow ground-water quality in the area include infiltration of surface water, which is used in agricultural land-use areas to irrigate crops, and infiltration of septic-system effluent in residential areas. Agricultural land use represents about 28 percent of the area, and residential land use represents about 35 percent of the total study area. In most of the study area, agricultural land use is interspersed with residential land use and neither is the dominant land use in the area. Land use in the study area historically has been changing from agricultural to urban. The composition of shallow ground water in the study area varies considerably. The dissolved solids concentration in shallow ground water in the study area ranges from 272 to 1,650 milligrams per liter, although the relative percentages of selected cations and anions do not vary substantially. Calcium generally is the dominant cation and bicarbonate generally is the dominant anion. Concentrations of nutrients generally were less than 1 milligram per liter. The concentration of many trace elements in shallow ground water was below or slightly above 1 microgram per liter and there was little variation in the concentrations. Barium, iron, manganese, molybdenum, and uranium were the only trace elements analyzed for that had median concentrations greater than 5 micrograms per liter. Volatile organic compounds were detected in 5 of 24 samples. Cis-1,2-dichloroethene and 1,1-dichloroethane were the most commonly detected volatile organic compounds (detected in two samples each). Pesticides were detected in 8 of 24 samples. Prometon was the most commonly detected pesticide (detected in 5 of 24 samples). Concentrations of volatile organic compounds and pesticides detected were much smaller than any U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards that have been established. Infiltration of surface water and the evaporation or transpiration of this water, which partially is the result of past and present agricultural land use, seem to affect the concentrations of common constituents in shallow ground water in the study area. The small excess chloride in shallow ground water relative to surface water that has been affected by evaporation or transpiration could be due to mixing of shallow ground water with small amounts of precipitation/bulk deposition or septic-system effluent. Infiltration of septic-system effluent (residential land use) has affected the shallow ground-water composition in parts of the study area on the basis of the small dissolved oxygen concentrations, large dissolved organic carbon concentrations, and excess chloride. Despite the loading of nitrogen to the shallow ground-water system as the result of infiltration of septic-system effluent, the small nitrogen concentrations in shallow ground water probably are due to the small dissolved oxygen concentrations and relatively large dissolved organic carbon concentrations. The small concentrations and lack of variation of most trace elements indicate that land use has not substantially affected the concentration

Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Common Ground System (CGS) Block 3.0 Communications Strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, S. W.; Grant, K. D.; Ottinger, K.

2015-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are jointly acquiring the next-generation civilian weather and environmental satellite system: the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). The JPSS program is the follow-on for both space and ground systems to the Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) managed by NOAA. The JPSS satellites will carry a suite of sensors designed to collect meteorological, oceanographic, climatological and geophysical observations of the Earth. The ground processing system for JPSS is known as the JPSS Common Ground System (JPSS CGS). Developed and maintained by Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services (IIS), the CGS is a globally distributed, multi-mission system serving NOAA, NASA and their national and international partners. The CGS has demonstrated its scalability and flexibility to incorporate multiple missions efficiently and with minimal cost, schedule and risk, while strengthening global partnerships in weather and environmental monitoring. In a highly successful international partnership between NOAA and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the CGS currently provides data routing from McMurdo Station in Antarctica to the EUMETSAT processing center in Darmstadt, Germany. Continuing and building upon that partnership, NOAA and EUMETSAT are collaborating on the development of a new path forward for the 2020's. One approach being explored is a concept of operations where each organization shares satellite downlink resources with the other. This paper will describe that approach, as well as modeling results that demonstrate its feasibility and expected performance.

VHF Air/Ground Communications for Air Traffic Control: A Decision Tree Approach to System Innovations. Volume 2

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-07-01

GROUND RADIO ISSUES Multiple transmitters and receivers at a common site has been a dfficult integration issue for many communicaton systems...lower data rate vocoders become available. 10. Compatibility of modulation with channel availability and message integrity improvements, including...overrides can use in- frequency and path diversity, integrity improvements band signaling, busy channel overrides, and Frequency diversity and ARQ ARQ is

Ground Data System Risk Mitigation Techniques for Faster, Better, Cheaper Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Catena, John J.; Saylor, Rick; Casasanta, Ralph; Weikel, Craig; Powers, Edward I. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

With the advent of faster, cheaper, and better missions, NASA Projects acknowledged that a higher level of risk was inherent and accepted with this approach. It was incumbent however upon each component of the Project whether spacecraft, payload, launch vehicle, or ground data system to ensure that the mission would nevertheless be an unqualified success. The Small Explorer (SMEX) program's ground data system (GDS) team developed risk mitigation techniques to achieve these goals starting in 1989. These techniques have evolved through the SMEX series of missions and are practiced today under the Triana program. These techniques are: (1) Mission Team Organization--empowerment of a closeknit ground data system team comprising system engineering, software engineering, testing, and flight operations personnel; (2) Common Spacecraft Test and Operational Control System--utilization of the pre-launch spacecraft integration system as the post-launch ground data system on-orbit command and control system; (3) Utilization of operations personnel in pre-launch testing--making the flight operations team an integrated member of the spacecraft testing activities at the beginning of the spacecraft fabrication phase; (4) Consolidated Test Team--combined system, mission readiness and operations testing to optimize test opportunities with the ground system and spacecraft; and (5). Reuse of Spacecraft, Systems and People--reuse of people, software and on-orbit spacecraft throughout the SMEX mission series. The SMEX ground system development approach for faster, cheaper, better missions has been very successful. This paper will discuss these risk management techniques in the areas of ground data system design, implementation, test, and operational readiness.

James Webb Space Telescope: Supporting Multiple Ground System Transitions in One Year

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Detter, Ryan; Fatig, Curtis; Steck, Jane

2004-01-01

Ideas, requirements, and concepts developed during the very early phases of the mission design often conflict with the reality of a situation once the prime contractors are awarded. This happened for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as well. The high level requirement of a common real-time ground system for both the Integration and Test (I&T), as well as the Operation phase of the mission is meant to reduce the cost and time needed later in the mission development for re-certification of databases, command and control systems, scripts, display pages, etc. In the case of JWST, the early Phase A flight software development needed a real-time ground system and database prior to the spacecraft prime contractor being selected. To compound the situation, the very low level requirements for the real-time ground system were not well defined. These two situations caused the initial real-time ground system to be switched out for a system that was previously used by the Bight software development team. To meet the high-!evel requirement, a third ground system was selected based on the prime spacecraft contractor needs and JWST Project decisions. The JWST ground system team has responded to each of these changes successfully. The lessons learned from each transition have not only made each transition smoother, but have also resolved issues earlier in the mission development than what would normally occur.

Memory and Common Ground Processes in Language Use.

PubMed

Brown-Schmidt, Sarah; Duff, Melissa C

2016-10-01

During communication, we form assumptions about what our communication partners know and believe. Information that is mutually known between the discourse partners-their common ground-serves as a backdrop for successful communication. Here we present an introduction to the focus of this topic, which is the role of memory in common ground and language use. Two types of questions emerge as central to understanding the relationship between memory and common ground, specifically questions having to do with the representation of common ground in memory, and the use of common ground during language processing. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

SCL: An off-the-shelf system for spacecraft control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buckley, Brian; Vangaasbeck, James

1994-11-01

In this age of shrinking military, civil, and commercial space budgets, an off-the-shelf solution is needed to provide a multimission approach to spacecraft control. A standard operational interface which can be applied to multiple spacecraft allows a common approach to ground and space operations. A trend for many space programs has been to reduce operational staff by applying autonomy to the spacecraft and to the ground stations. The Spacecraft Command Language (SCL) system developed by Interface and Control Systems, Inc. (ICS) provides an off-the-shelf solution for spacecraft operations. The SCL system is designed to provide a hyper-scripting interface which remains standard from program to program. The spacecraft and ground station hardware specifics are isolated to provide the maximum amount of portability from system to system. Uplink and downlink interfaces are also isolated to allow the system to perform independent of the communications protocols chosen. The SCL system can be used for both the ground stations and the spacecraft, or as a value added package for existing ground station environments. The SCL system provides an expanded stored commanding capability as well as a rule-based expert system on-board. The expert system allows reactive control on-board the spacecraft for functions such as electrical power systems (EPS), thermal control, etc. which have traditionally been performed on the ground. The SCL rule and scripting capability share a common syntax allowing control of scripts from rules and rules from scripts. Rather than telemeter over sampled data to the ground, the SCL system maintains a database on-board which is available for interrogation by the scripts and rules. The SCL knowledge base is constructed on the ground and uploaded to the spacecraft. The SCL system follows an open-systems approach allowing other tasks to communicate with SCL on the ground and in space. The SCL system was used on the Clementine program (launched January 25, 1994) and is required to have bidirectional communications with the guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) algorithms which were written as another task. Sequencing of the spacecraft maneuvers are handled by SCL, but the low-level thruster pulse commands are handled by the GNC software. Attitude information is reported back as telemetry, allowing the SCL expert system to inference on the changing data. The Clementine SCL flight software was largely reused from another Naval Center for Space Technology (NCST) satellite program.

SCL: An off-the-shelf system for spacecraft control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buckley, Brian; Vangaasbeck, James

1994-01-01

In this age of shrinking military, civil, and commercial space budgets, an off-the-shelf solution is needed to provide a multimission approach to spacecraft control. A standard operational interface which can be applied to multiple spacecraft allows a common approach to ground and space operations. A trend for many space programs has been to reduce operational staff by applying autonomy to the spacecraft and to the ground stations. The Spacecraft Command Language (SCL) system developed by Interface and Control Systems, Inc. (ICS) provides an off-the-shelf solution for spacecraft operations. The SCL system is designed to provide a hyper-scripting interface which remains standard from program to program. The spacecraft and ground station hardware specifics are isolated to provide the maximum amount of portability from system to system. Uplink and downlink interfaces are also isolated to allow the system to perform independent of the communications protocols chosen. The SCL system can be used for both the ground stations and the spacecraft, or as a value added package for existing ground station environments. The SCL system provides an expanded stored commanding capability as well as a rule-based expert system on-board. The expert system allows reactive control on-board the spacecraft for functions such as electrical power systems (EPS), thermal control, etc. which have traditionally been performed on the ground. The SCL rule and scripting capability share a common syntax allowing control of scripts from rules and rules from scripts. Rather than telemeter over sampled data to the ground, the SCL system maintains a database on-board which is available for interrogation by the scripts and rules. The SCL knowledge base is constructed on the ground and uploaded to the spacecraft. The SCL system follows an open-systems approach allowing other tasks to communicate with SCL on the ground and in space. The SCL system was used on the Clementine program (launched January 25, 1994) and is required to have bidirectional communications with the guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) algorithms which were written as another task. Sequencing of the spacecraft maneuvers are handled by SCL, but the low-level thruster pulse commands are handled by the GNC software. Attitude information is reported back as telemetry, allowing the SCL expert system to inference on the changing data. The Clementine SCL flight software was largely reused from another Naval Center for Space Technology (NCST) satellite program. This paper details the SCL architecture and how an off-the-shelf solution makes sense for multimission spacecraft programs. The Clementine mission will be used as a case study in the application of the SCL to a 'fast track' program. The benefits of such a system in a 'better, cheaper, faster' climate will be discussed.

Extending Cancer Prevention to Improve Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

PubMed Central

Freedman, Darcy A.; Peña-Purcell, Ninfa; Friedman, Daniela B.; Ory, Marcia; Flocke, Susan; Barni, Marie T.; Hébert, James R.

2014-01-01

Consuming a diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables is critical for preventing cancer and cancer-related disparities. Food systems approaches that increase spatial-temporal, economic, and social access to fruits and vegetables may ultimately result in improved consumption patterns among Americans. Engaging the triad of Cooperative Extension Services, public health systems, and community health centers may yield maximal public health benefits from food systems interventions. These entities have a mutual interest in promoting health equity and community and economic vitality that provides common ground to (a) implement solutions through the dissemination of evidence-based programs and (b) share resources to foster grassroots support for sustained change. Working together, these systems have an unprecedented opportunity to build on their common ground to implement, evaluate, and disseminate evidence-based food systems interventions in communities and with populations experiencing disparate risk for cancer and cancer-related diseases. PMID:24748060

Distributed Common Ground System-Navy Increment 2 (DCGS-N Inc 2)

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

15 minutes Enter and be Managed in the Network: Reference SvcV-7, Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services ( CANES ) CDD, DCGS-N Inc 2...Red, White , Gray Data and Tracks to Command and Control System. Continuous Stream from SCI Common Intelligence Picture to General Service (GENSER...AIS - Automatic Information System AOC - Air Operations Command CANES - Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services CID - Center for

A Passive EMI Filter with Access to the Ungrounded Motor Neutral Line-The Case that a General-Purpose Inverter is Directly Connected to a Three-Phase Grounded Voltage Source-

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doumoto, Takafumi; Akagi, Hirofumi

This paper proposes a small-sized passive EMI filter for the purpose of eliminating high-frequency shaft voltage and ground leakage current from an ac motor. The motor is driven by a general-purpose PWM inverter connected to a three-phase grounded voltage source. The passive EMI filter requires access to the ungrounded neutral point of the motor. This unique circuit configuration makes the common-mode inductor effective in reducing the high-frequency common-mode voltage generated by the PWM inverter with a carrier frequency of 15kHz. As a result, both high-frequency shaft voltage and ground leakage current can be eliminated very efficiently. However, the common-mode inductor may not play any role in reducing the low-frequency common-mode voltage generated by the diode rectifier, so that a low-frequency component still remains in the shaft voltage. Such a low-frequency shaft voltage may not produce any bad effect on motor bearings. The validity and effectiveness of the EMI filter is verified by experimental results obtained from a 200-V 5-kVA laboratory system.

Control methods for merging ALSM and ground-based laser point clouds acquired under forest canopies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slatton, Kenneth C.; Coleman, Matt; Carter, William E.; Shrestha, Ramesh L.; Sartori, Michael

2004-12-01

Merging of point data acquired from ground-based and airborne scanning laser rangers has been demonstrated for cases in which a common set of targets can be readily located in both data sets. However, direct merging of point data was not generally possible if the two data sets did not share common targets. This is often the case for ranging measurements acquired in forest canopies, where airborne systems image the canopy crowns well, but receive a relatively sparse set of points from the ground and understory. Conversely, ground-based scans of the understory do not generally sample the upper canopy. An experiment was conducted to establish a viable procedure for acquiring and georeferencing laser ranging data underneath a forest canopy. Once georeferenced, the ground-based data points can be merged with airborne points even in cases where no natural targets are common to both data sets. Two ground-based laser scans are merged and georeferenced with a final absolute error in the target locations of less than 10cm. This is comparable to the accuracy of the georeferenced airborne data. Thus, merging of the georeferenced ground-based and airborne data should be feasible. The motivation for this investigation is to facilitate a thorough characterization of airborne laser ranging phenomenology over forested terrain as a function of vertical location in the canopy.

Adaptive nonlinear control for autonomous ground vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Black, William S.

We present the background and motivation for ground vehicle autonomy, and focus on uses for space-exploration. Using a simple design example of an autonomous ground vehicle we derive the equations of motion. After providing the mathematical background for nonlinear systems and control we present two common methods for exactly linearizing nonlinear systems, feedback linearization and backstepping. We use these in combination with three adaptive control methods: model reference adaptive control, adaptive sliding mode control, and extremum-seeking model reference adaptive control. We show the performances of each combination through several simulation results. We then consider disturbances in the system, and design nonlinear disturbance observers for both single-input-single-output and multi-input-multi-output systems. Finally, we show the performance of these observers with simulation results.

A Proven Ground System Architecture for Promoting Collaboration and Common Solutions at NASA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Danford

2005-01-01

Requirement: Improve how NASA develops and maintains ground data systems for dozens of missions, with a couple new missions always in the development phase. Decided in 2001 on enhanced message-bus architecture. Users offered choices for major components. They plug and play because key interfaces are all the same. Can support COTS, heritage, and new software. Even the middleware can be switched. Project name: GMSEC. Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center.

Memory and Common Ground Processes in Language Use

PubMed Central

Brown-Schmidt, Sarah; Duff, Melissa C.

2018-01-01

During communication, we form assumptions about what our communication partners know and believe. Information that is mutually known between the discourse partners—their common ground—serves as a backdrop for successful communication. Here we present an introduction to the focus of this topic, which is the role of memory in common ground and language use. Two types of questions emerge as central to understanding the relationship between memory and common ground, specifically questions having to do with the representation of common ground in memory, and the use of common ground during language processing. PMID:27797165

Three-phase heaters with common overburden sections for heating subsurface formations

DOEpatents

Vinegar, Harold J [Bellaire, TX

2012-02-14

A heating system for a subsurface formation is described. The heating system includes three substantially u-shaped heaters with first end portions of the heaters being electrically coupled to a single, three-phase wye transformer and second end portions of the heaters being electrically coupled to each other and/or to ground. The three heaters may enter the formation through a first common wellbore and exit the formation through a second common wellbore so that the magnetic fields of the three heaters at least partially cancel out in the common wellbores.

USE OF COMPOUND-SPECIFIC STABLE CARBON ISOTOPE ANALYSES TO DEMONSTRATE NATURAL BIODEGRADATION OF MTBE IN GROUND WATER AT A GASOLINE RELEASE SITE

EPA Science Inventory

Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) has been used as an additive in gasoline to enhance
octane rating and to improve combustion efficiency. It is also a commonly detected contaminant in both surface water and ground water systems. This study presents concentration and stable ...

Quality of Nevada's aquifers and their susceptibility to contamination, 1990-2004

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lopes, Thomas J.

2006-01-01

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency introduced a rule to protect the quality of ground water in areas other than source-water protection areas. These other sensitive ground-water areas (OSGWA) are areas that are not currently but could eventually be used as a source of drinking water. To help determine whether a well is in an OSGWA, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection needs statewide information on the susceptibility and vulnerability of Nevada's aquifer systems to contamination. This report presents an evaluation of the quality of ground water and susceptibility of Nevada's aquifer systems to anthropogenic contamination. Chemical tracers and statistical methods were used to assess the susceptibility of aquifer systems in Nevada. Chemical tracers included nitrate, pesticides, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), dissolved gases, and isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen. Ground-water samples were collected from 133 wells during August 2002 through October 2003. Logistic regression was done to estimate the probability of detecting nitrate above concentrations typically found in undeveloped areas. Nitrate is one of the most common anthropogenic contaminants that degrades ground-water quality, is commonly measured and is persistent, except in reducing conditions. These characteristics make nitrate a good indicator of aquifer susceptibility. Water-quality data for 5,528 wells were compiled into a database. The area around each well was characterized using information on explanatory variables that could be related to nitrate concentrations. Data also were used to characterize the quality of ground water in Nevada, including dissolved solids, nitrate, pesticide, and VOC concentrations.

The common ground of genomics and systems biology

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

The rise of systems biology is intertwined with that of genomics, yet their primordial relationship to one another is ill-defined. We discuss how the growth of genomics provided a critical boost to the popularity of systems biology. We describe the parts of genomics that share common areas of interest with systems biology today in the areas of gene expression, network inference, chromatin state analysis, pathway analysis, personalized medicine, and upcoming areas of synergy as genomics continues to expand its scope across all biomedical fields. PMID:25033072

Development of thermal control methods for specialized components and scientific instruments at very low temperatures (follow-on)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wright, J. P.; Wilson, D. E.

1976-01-01

Many payloads currently proposed to be flown by the space shuttle system require long-duration cooling in the 3 to 200 K temperature range. Common requirements also exist for certain DOD payloads. Parametric design and optimization studies are reported for multistage and diode heat pipe radiator systems designed to operate in this temperature range. Also optimized are ground test systems for two long-life passive thermal control concepts operating under specified space environmental conditions. The ground test systems evaluated are ultimately intended to evolve into flight test qualification prototypes for early shuttle flights.

Absolute radiometric calibration of advanced remote sensing systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slater, P. N.

1982-01-01

The distinction between the uses of relative and absolute spectroradiometric calibration of remote sensing systems is discussed. The advantages of detector-based absolute calibration are described, and the categories of relative and absolute system calibrations are listed. The limitations and problems associated with three common methods used for the absolute calibration of remote sensing systems are addressed. Two methods are proposed for the in-flight absolute calibration of advanced multispectral linear array systems. One makes use of a sun-illuminated panel in front of the sensor, the radiance of which is monitored by a spectrally flat pyroelectric radiometer. The other uses a large, uniform, high-radiance reference ground surface. The ground and atmospheric measurements required as input to a radiative transfer program to predict the radiance level at the entrance pupil of the orbital sensor are discussed, and the ground instrumentation is described.

Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Common Ground System (CGS) Current Technical Performance Measures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cochran, S.; Panas, M.; Jamilkowski, M. L.; Miller, S. W.

2015-12-01

ABSTRACT The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are jointly acquiring the next-generation civilian weather and environmental satellite system: the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). The Joint Polar Satellite System will replace the afternoon orbit component and ground processing system of the current Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) managed by NOAA. The JPSS satellites will carry a suite of sensors designed to collect meteorological, oceanographic, climatological and geophysical observations of the Earth. The ground processing system for JPSS is known as the JPSS Common Ground System (JPSS CGS). Developed and maintained by Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services (IIS), the CGS is a multi-mission enterprise system serving NOAA, NASA and their national and international partners. The CGS has demonstrated its scalability and flexibility to incorporate multiple missions efficiently and with minimal cost, schedule and risk, while strengthening global partnerships in weather and environmental monitoring. The CGS architecture is being upgraded to Block 2.0 in 2015 to "operationalize" S-NPP, leverage lessons learned to date in multi-mission support, take advantage of more reliable and efficient technologies, and satisfy new requirements and constraints in the continually evolving budgetary environment. To ensure the CGS meets these needs, we have developed 49 Technical Performance Measures (TPMs) across 10 categories, such as data latency, operational availability and scalability. This paper will provide an overview of the CGS Block 2.0 architecture, with particular focus on the 10 TPM categories listed above. We will provide updates on how we ensure the deployed architecture meets these TPMs to satisfy our multi-mission objectives with the deployment of Block 2.0.

Time Transfer by Laser Link - T2L2: An Opportunity to Calibrate RF Links

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

GNSS and TWSTFT , with an improvement of at least one order of magnitude as compared to the best calibrations performed so far (about 1 ns exactitude...frequency transfer systems like GPS or TWSTFT , and comparisons of cold atomic clocks at a level never reached before. Continuous comparison of T2L2 and...Station reattachment to local UTC Ground to Space Transfer : 30 Ground to Ground Transfer : 43 Common view TWSTFT GPS Laser ranging

Tracking contamination through ground beef production and identifying points of recontamination using a novel green fluorescent protein (GFP) expressing, E. coli O103, non-pathogenic surrogate

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Introduction: Commonly, ground beef processors conduct studies to model contaminant flow through their production systems using surrogate organisms. Typical surrogate organisms may not behave as Escherichia coli O157:H7 during grinding and are not easy to detect at very low levels. Purpose: Develop...

Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Common Ground System (CGS) Technical Performance Measures of the Block 2 Architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grant, K. D.; Panas, M.

2016-12-01

NOAA and NASA are jointly acquiring the next-generation civilian weather satellite system: the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). JPSS replaced the afternoon orbit component and ground processing of NOAA's old POES system. JPSS satellites carry sensors that collect meteorological, oceanographic, climatological, and solar-geophysical observations of the earth, atmosphere, and space. The ground processing system for JPSS is known as the JPSS Common Ground System (JPSS CGS). Developed and maintained by Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services (IIS), the CGS is a globally distributed, multi-mission system serving NOAA, NASA and their national and international partners. The CGS has demonstrated its scalability and flexibility to incorporate multiple missions efficiently and with minimal cost, schedule and risk, while strengthening global partnerships in weather and environmental monitoring. The CGS architecture has been upgraded to Block 2.0 to satisfy several key objectives, including: "operationalizing" the first satellite, Suomi NPP, which originally was a risk reduction mission; leveraging lessons learned in multi-mission support, taking advantage of newer, more reliable and efficient technologies and satisfying constraints due of the continually evolving budgetary environment. To ensure the CGS meets these needs, we have developed 48 Technical Performance Measures (TPMs) across 9 categories: Data Availability, Data Latency, Operational Availability, Margin, Scalability, Situational Awareness, Transition (between environments and sites), WAN Efficiency, and Data Recovery Processing. This paper will provide an overview of the CGS Block 2.0 architecture, with particular focus on the 9 TPM categories listed above. We will describe how we ensure the deployed architecture meets these TPMs to satisfy our multi-mission objectives with the deployment of Block 2.0.

Recent field experiments with commercial satellite imagery direct downlink.

PubMed

Gonzalez, Anthony R; Amber, Samuel H

US Pacific Command's strategy includes assistance to United States government relief agencies and nongovernment organizations during humanitarian aid and disaster relief operations in the Asia-Pacific region. Situational awareness during these operations is enhanced by broad interagency access to unclassified commercial satellite imagery. The Remote Ground Terminal-a mobile satellite downlink ground station-has undergone several technology demonstrations and participated in an overseas deployment exercise focused on a natural disaster scenario. This ground station has received new commercial imagery within 20 minutes, hastening a normally days-long process. The Army Geospatial Center continues to manage technology development and product improvement for the Remote Ground Terminal. Furthermore, this ground station is now on a technology transition path into the Distributed Common Ground System-Army program of record.

Lessons Learned from Engineering a Multi-Mission Satellite Operations Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Madden, Maureen; Cary, Everett, Jr.; Esposito, Timothy; Parker, Jeffrey; Bradley, David

2006-01-01

NASA's Small Explorers (SMEX) satellites have surpassed their designed science-lifetimes and their flight operations teams are now facing the challenge of continuing operations with reduced funding. At present, these missions are being reengineered into a fleet-oriented ground system at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). When completed, this ground system will provide command and control of four SMEX missions and will demonstrate fleet automation and control concepts. As a path-finder for future mission consolidation efforts, this ground system will also demonstrate new ground-based technologies that show promise of supporting longer mission lifecycles and simplifying component integration. One of the core technologies being demonstrated in the SMEiX Mission Operations Center is the GSFC Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC) architecture. The GMSEC architecture uses commercial Message Oriented Middleware with a common messaging standard to realize a higher level of component interoperability, allowing for interchangeable components in ground systems. Moreover, automation technologies utilizing the GMSEC architecture are being evaluated and implemented to provide extended lights-out operations. This mode of operation will provide routine monitoring and control of the heterogeneous spacecraft fleet. The operational concepts being developed will reduce the need for staffed contacts and is seen as a necessity for fleet management. This paper will describe the experiences of the integration team throughout the reengineering effort of the SMEX ground system. Additionally, lessons learned will be presented based on the team s experiences with integrating multiple missions into a fleet-based automated ground system.

Lessons Learned from Engineering a Multi-Mission Satellite Operations Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Madden, Maureen; Cary, Everett, Jr.; Esposito, Timothy; Parker, Jeffrey; Bradley, David

2006-01-01

NASA's Small Explorers (SMEX) satellites have surpassed their designed science-lifetimes and their flight operations teams are now facing the challenge of continuing operations with reduced funding. At present, these missions are being re-engineered into a fleet-oriented ground system at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). When completed, this ground system will provide command and control of four SMEX missions and will demonstrate fleet automation and control concepts. As a path-finder for future mission consolidation efforts, this ground system will also demonstrate new ground-based technologies that show promise of supporting longer mission lifecycles and simplifying component integration. One of the core technologies being demonstrated in the SMEX Mission Operations Center is the GSFC Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC) architecture. The GMSEC architecture uses commercial Message Oriented Middleware with a common messaging standard to realize a higher level of component interoperability, allowing for interchangeable components in ground systems. Moreover, automation technologies utilizing the GMSEC architecture are being evaluated and implemented to provide extended lights-out operations. This mode of operation will provide routine monitoring and control of the heterogeneous spacecraft fleet. The operational concepts being developed will reduce the need for staffed contacts and is seen as a necessity for fleet management. This paper will describe the experiences of the integration team throughout the re-enginering effort of the SMEX ground system. Additionally, lessons learned will be presented based on the team's experiences with integrating multiple missions into a fleet-automated ground system.

From Zero to Integration in Eight Months, the Dawn Ground Data System Engineering Challenge

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dubon, Lydia P.

2006-01-01

The Dawn GDS Team met the SC Sim integration challenge in eight months. The GDS System Engineering approach in response to the SC Simintegration challenge, focused on a set of key practices: decomposition of project request into manageable requirements; integration of multiple ground disciplines and experts into a focused team effort; risk management thru management of expectations; and aggregation of intermediate products into a final product. By maintaining a a system-level focus, the overall systems engineering process unified team GDS Team members with a common goal: the success of the ground system as a whole and not just the success of their individual expert contributions. Incorporation of Agile-type development efforts were aligned with a risk strategy based on team-oriented principles and expectations management, thus achieving a more stable baseline solution without compromising the integrity of the GDS design.

The Situation of Women Who Teach in Universities: Contrasts and Common Ground.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sutherland, Margaret B.

1985-01-01

Interviews were conducted with 244 women teaching in universities in Finland, France, East Germany, West Germany, and Great Britain to discover causes for the minority position of women who teach in universities. Women's position appeared to depend not on characteristics of individual educational systems but on common factors--social attitudes,…

ELISA, a demonstrator environment for information systems architecture design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Panem, Chantal

1994-01-01

This paper describes an approach of reusability of software engineering technology in the area of ground space system design. System engineers have lots of needs similar to software developers: sharing of a common data base, capitalization of knowledge, definition of a common design process, communication between different technical domains. Moreover system designers need to simulate dynamically their system as early as possible. Software development environments, methods and tools now become operational and widely used. Their architecture is based on a unique object base, a set of common management services and they host a family of tools for each life cycle activity. In late '92, CNES decided to develop a demonstrative software environment supporting some system activities. The design of ground space data processing systems was chosen as the application domain. ELISA (Integrated Software Environment for Architectures Specification) was specified as a 'demonstrator', i.e. a sufficient basis for demonstrations, evaluation and future operational enhancements. A process with three phases was implemented: system requirements definition, design of system architectures models, and selection of physical architectures. Each phase is composed of several activities that can be performed in parallel, with the provision of Commercial Off the Shelves Tools. ELISA has been delivered to CNES in January 94, currently used for demonstrations and evaluations on real projects (e.g. SPOT4 Satellite Control Center). It is on the way of new evolutions.

Operational Reconnaissance for the Anti-Access /Area Denial environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-01

locations, the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System ( DCGS ) collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates over 1.3 million megabits of... DCGS ; satellite data link between the aircraft and ground based receiver; and fiber- optic connection between the receiver, RPA crew, and DCGS . This...analysts and end users. DCGS Integration The Air Force global ISR enterprise is not configured to efficiently receive, exploit, or disseminate fighter

Marriage and Family Therapy and the Law: Discovering Systemic Common Ground

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richards, Jason C.

2017-01-01

Many important decisions regarding couples and families are made by the legal system. However, this system's adversarial nature often results in relational losses for clients, even when one "wins" a case. Some believe a solution may exist in legally-minded marriage and family therapists, who, as experts in family systems theory, are in a…

The CommonGround Visual Paradigm for Biosurveillance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Livnat, Yarden; Jurrus, Elizabeth R.; Gundlapalli, Adi V.

2013-06-14

Biosurveillance is a critical area in the intelligence community for real-time detection of disease outbreaks. Identifying epidemics enables analysts to detect and monitor disease outbreaks that might be spread from natural causes or from possible biological warfare attacks. Containing these events and disseminating alerts requires the ability to rapidly find, classify and track harmful biological signatures. In this paper, we describe a novel visual paradigm to conduct biosurveillance using an Infectious Disease Weather Map. Our system provides a visual common ground in which users can view, explore and discover emerging concepts and correlations such as symptoms, syndromes, pathogens, and geographicmore » locations.« less

New Reflections on Mirror Neuron Research, the Tower of Babel, and Intercultural Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westbrook, Timothy Paul

2015-01-01

Studies of the human mirror neuron system demonstrate how mental mimicking of one's social environment affects learning. The mirror neuron system also has implications for intercultural encounters. This article explores the common ground between the mirror neuron system and theological principles from the Tower of Babel narrative and applies them…

Hydrologic considerations in defining isolated wetlands

USGS Publications Warehouse

Winter, T.C.; LaBaugh, J.W.

2003-01-01

Wetlands that are not connected by streams to other surface-water bodies are considered to be isolated. Although the definition is based on surface-water connections to other water bodies, isolated wetlands commonly are integral parts of extensive ground-water flow systems, and isolated wetlands can spill over their surface divides into adjacent surface-water bodies during periods of abundant precipitation and high water levels. Thus, characteristics of ground-water flow and atmospheric-water flow affect the isolation of wetlands. In general, the degree that isolated wetlands are connected through the ground-water system to other surface-water bodies depends to a large extent on the rate that ground water moves and the rate that hydrologic stresses can be transmitted through the ground-water system. Water that seeps from an isolated wetland into a gravel aquifer can travel many kilometers through the ground-water system in one year. In contrast, water that seeps from an isolated wetland into a clayey or silty substrate may travel less than one meter in one year. For wetlands that can spill over their surface watersheds during periods of wet climate conditions, their isolation is related to the height to a spill elevation above normal wetland water level and the recurrence interval of various magnitudes of precipitation. The concepts presented in this paper indicate that the entire hydrologic system needs to be considered in establishing a definition of hydrologic isolation.

Common ground: An environmental ethic for Los Alamos National Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Menlove, F.L.

1991-01-01

Three predominant philosophies have characterized American business ethical thinking over the past several decades. The first phase is the ethics of self-interest'' which argues that maximizing self-interest coincidentally maximizes the common good. The second phase is legality ethics.'' Proponents argue that what is important is knowing the rules and following them scrupulously. The third phase might be called stake-holder ethics.'' A central tenant is that everyone affected by a decision has a moral hold on the decision maker. This paper will discuss one recent initiative of the Los Alamos National Laboratory to move beyond rules and regulations toward an environmentalmore » ethic that integrates the values of stakeholder ethics'' into the Laboratory's historical culture and value systems. These Common Ground Principles are described. 11 refs.« less

Assessing Common Ground in Conversation: The Effect of Linguistic and Physical Co-Presence on Early Planning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galati, Alexia

2009-01-01

Speakers routinely adjust their behavior upon assessing the information they share in common with their conversational partners, but there remains controversy over when and how these adjustments happen. In this dissertation I address two debates regarding partner-specific adjustments: (a) whether they recruit the language processing system in a…

Zero to Integration in Eight Months, the Dawn Ground Data System Engineering Challange

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dubon, Lydia P.

2006-01-01

The Dawn Project has presented the Ground Data System (GDS) with technical challenges driven by cost and schedule constraints commonly associated with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Discovery Projects. The Dawn mission consists of a new and exciting Deep Space partnership among: the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), responsible for project management and flight operations; Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC), spacecraft builder and responsible for flight system test and integration; and the University of California, at Los Angeles (UCLA), responsible for science planning and operations. As a cost-capped mission, one of Dawn s implementation strategies is to leverage from both flight and ground heritage. OSC's ground data system is used for flight system test and integration as part of the flight heritage strategy. Mission operations, however, are to be conducted with JPL s ground system. The system engineering challenge of dealing with two heterogeneous ground systems emerged immediately. During the first technical interchange meeting between the JPL s GDS Team and OSC's Flight Software Team, August 2003, the need to integrate the ground system with the flight software was brought to the table. This need was driven by the project s commitment to enable instrument engineering model integration in a spacecraft simulator environment, for both demonstration and risk mitigation purposes, by April 2004. This paper will describe the system engineering approach that was undertaken by JPL's GDS Team in order to meet the technical challenge within a non-negotiable eight-month schedule. Key to the success was adherence to an overall systems engineering process and fundamental systems engineering practices: decomposition of the project request into manageable requirements; definition of a structured yet flexible development process; integration of multiple ground disciplines and experts into a focused team effort; in-process risk management; and aggregation of the intermediate products to an integrated final product. In addition, this paper will highlight the role of lessons learned from the integration experience. The lessons learned from an early GDS deployment have served as the foundation for the design and implementation of the Dawn Ground Data System.

BEARS: a multi-mission anomaly response system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roberts, Bryce A.

2009-05-01

The Mission Operations Group at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory operates a highly automated ground station and presently a fleet of seven satellites, each with its own associated command and control console. However, the requirement for prompt anomaly detection and resolution is shared commonly between the ground segment and all spacecraft. The efficient, low-cost operation and "lights-out" staffing of the Mission Operations Group requires that controllers and engineers be notified of spacecraft and ground system problems around the clock. The Berkeley Emergency Anomaly and Response System (BEARS) is an in-house developed web- and paging-based software system that meets this need. BEARS was developed as a replacement for an existing emergency reporting software system that was too closedsource, platform-specific, expensive, and antiquated to expand or maintain. To avoid these limitations, the new system design leverages cross-platform, open-source software products such as MySQL, PHP, and Qt. Anomaly notifications and responses make use of the two-way paging capabilities of modern smart phones.

Interdisciplinary Common Ground: Techniques and Attentional Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arvidson, P. Sven

2014-01-01

Common ground in the interdisciplinary research process is the pivot from disciplinary to interdisciplinary perspective. As thinking moves from disciplinary to interdisciplinary, what is the shape or structure of attention, how does intellectual content transform in the attending process? Four common ground techniques--extension, redefinition,…

Zero to Integration in Eight Months, the Dawn Ground Data System Engineering Challenge

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dubon, Lydia P.

2006-01-01

The Dawn Project has presented the Ground Data System (GDS) with technical challenges driven by cost and schedule constraints commonly associated with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Discovery Projects. The Dawn mission consists of a new and exciting Deep Space partnership among: the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), manages the project and is responsible for flight operation; Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC), is the spacecraft builder and is responsible for flight system test and integration; and the University of California, at Los Angeles (UCLA), is responsible for science planning and operations. As a cost-capped mission, one of Dawn's implementation strategies is to leverage from both flight and ground heritage. OSC's ground data system is used for flight system test and integration as part of the flight heritage strategy. Mission operations, however, are to be conducted with JPL's ground system. The system engineering challenge of dealing with two heterogeneous ground systems emerged immediately. During the first technical interchange meeting between the JPL's GDS Team and OSC's Flight Software Team, August 2003, the need to integrate the ground system with the flight software was brought to the table. This need was driven by the project's commitment to enable instrument engineering model integration in a spacecraft simulator environment, for both demonstration and risk mitigation purposes, by April 2004. This paper will describe the system engineering approach that was undertaken by JPL's GDS Team in order to meet the technical challenge within a non-negotiable eight-month schedule. Key to the success was adherence to fundamental systems engineering practices: decomposition of the project request into manageable requirements; integration of multiple ground disciplines and experts into a focused team effort; definition of a structured yet flexible development process; definition of an in-process risk reduction plan; and aggregation of the intermediate products to an integrated final product. In addition, this paper will highlight the role of lessons learned from the integration experience. The lessons learned from an early GDS deployment have served as the foundation for the design and implementation of the Dawn Ground Data System.

Comparative study of control strategies for hybrid GSHP system in the cooling dominated climate

DOE PAGES

Wang, Shaojie; Liu, Xiaobing; Gates, Steve

2015-01-06

The ground source heat pump (GSHP) system is one of the most energy efficient HVAC technologies in the current market. However, the heat imbalance may degrade the ability of the ground loop heat exchanger (GLHX) to absorb or reject heat. The hybrid GSHP system, which combines a geothermal well field with a supplemental boiler or cooling tower, can balance the loads imposed on the ground loop heat exchangers to minimize its size while retaining superior energy efficiency. This paper presents a recent simulation-based study with an intention to compare multiple common control strategies used in hybrid GSHP systems, including fixedmore » setpoint, outside air reset, load reset, and wetbulb reset. A small office in Oklahoma City conditioned by a hybrid GSHP system was simulated with the latest version of eQUEST 3.7 [1]. In the end, the simulation results reveal that the hybrid GSHP system has the excellent capability to meet the cooling and heating setpoints during the occupied hours, balance thermal loads on the ground loop, as well as improve the thermal comfort of the occupants with the reduced size well field.« less

Population Census of a Large Common Tern Colony with a Small Unmanned Aircraft

PubMed Central

Chabot, Dominique; Craik, Shawn R.; Bird, David M.

2015-01-01

Small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) may be useful for conducting high-precision, low-disturbance waterbird surveys, but limited data exist on their effectiveness. We evaluated the capacity of a small UAS to census a large (>6,000 nests) coastal Common tern (Sterna hirundo) colony of which ground surveys are particularly disruptive and time-consuming. We compared aerial photographic tern counts to ground nest counts in 45 plots (5-m radius) throughout the colony at three intervals over a nine-day period in order to identify sources of variation and establish a coefficient to estimate nest numbers from UAS surveys. We also compared a full colony ground count to full counts from two UAS surveys conducted the following day. Finally, we compared colony disturbance levels over the course of UAS flights to matched control periods. Linear regressions between aerial and ground counts in plots had very strong correlations in all three comparison periods (R 2 = 0.972–0.989, P < 0.001) and regression coefficients ranged from 0.928–0.977 terns/nest. Full colony aerial counts were 93.6% and 94.0%, respectively, of the ground count. Varying visibility of terns with ground cover, weather conditions and image quality, and changing nest attendance rates throughout incubation were likely sources of variation in aerial detection rates. Optimally timed UAS surveys of Common tern colonies following our method should yield population estimates in the 93–96% range of ground counts. Although the terns were initially disturbed by the UAS flying overhead, they rapidly habituated to it. Overall, we found no evidence of sustained disturbance to the colony by the UAS. We encourage colonial waterbird researchers and managers to consider taking advantage of this burgeoning technology. PMID:25874997

Energy Sources | Climate Neutral Research Campuses | NREL

Science.gov Websites

. Common systems include: Biomass Deep Water Cooling Fuel Cells Geothermal Energy Ground-Source Heat Pumps Sources Energy Sources Many opportunities exist to improve the efficiency of energy supply systems and to incorporate renewable energy, especially at large research campuses with many facilities

Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Common Ground System (CGS) Architecture Overview and Technical Performance Measures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grant, K. D.; Johnson, B. R.; Miller, S. W.; Jamilkowski, M. L.

2014-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are jointly acquiring the next-generation civilian weather and environmental satellite system: the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). The Joint Polar Satellite System will replace the afternoon orbit component and ground processing system of the current Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) managed by NOAA. The JPSS satellites will carry a suite of sensors designed to collect meteorological, oceanographic, climatological and geophysical observations of the Earth. The ground processing system for JPSS is known as the JPSS Common Ground System (JPSS CGS). Developed and maintained by Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services (IIS), the CGS is a multi-mission enterprise system serving NOAA, NASA and their national and international partners. The CGS provides a wide range of support to a number of missions. Originally designed to support S-NPP and JPSS, the CGS has demonstrated its scalability and flexibility to incorporate all of these other important missions efficiently and with minimal cost, schedule and risk, while strengthening global partnerships in weather and environmental monitoring. The CGS architecture will be upgraded to Block 2.0 in 2015 to satisfy several key objectives, including: "operationalizing" S-NPP, which had originally been intended as a risk reduction mission; leveraging lessons learned to date in multi-mission support; taking advantage of newer, more reliable and efficient technologies; and satisfying new requirements and constraints due to the continually evolving budgetary environment. To ensure the CGS meets these needs, we have developed 48 Technical Performance Measures (TPMs) across 9 categories: Data Availability, Data Latency, Operational Availability, Margin, Scalability, Situational Awareness, Transition (between environments and sites), WAN Efficiency, and Data Recovery Processing. This paper will provide an overview of the CGS Block 2.0 architecture, with particular focus on the 9 TPM categories listed above. We will describe how we ensure the deployed architecture meets these TPMs to satisfy our multi-mission objectives with the deployment of Block 2.0 in 2015.

Building on common ground to address biodiversity conflicts and foster collaboration in environmental management.

PubMed

Lecuyer, Lou; White, Rehema M; Schmook, Birgit; Calmé, Sophie

2018-08-15

Conservation biology faces critical challenges that require collaborative approaches, including novel strategies to support interactions among actors in biodiversity conflicts. The goals of this study were to investigate the concept of common ground across multiple issues and to explore its practical application for the support of environmental management. We conceptually defined common ground as the areas of relevance underlying the suite of issues expressed by people regarding environmental management in a particular context. We then empirically tested this in the Calakmul region of Mexico, where the complex socio-historical context and high biodiversity have created environmental management challenges that are now being addressed by a local, multi-stakeholder management board. We conducted 26 open interviews with members of the board and a further round of quantitative prioritisation of issues raised. Using a coding process designed to reveal common ground, we categorized the issues at four levels ranging from coarse to fine (themes, topics, sub-topics and perspectives). We then analysed two levels, topics (n = 14 issues) and sub-topics (n = 51 issues). To do so, we built common ground matrices to identify and analyze common ground among actors and across issues. First, cluster and non-metrical data analyses revealed the diversity of actor positions and the lack of consistent grouping among actors by occupational activity. This demonstrated that focusing on actors' differences might be misleading, and that actors' views were not closely aligned with their roles. Second, we located issues according to their levels of common ground and importance among actors. We showed that by not focusing on single issue conflicts, the identification of common ground across multiple issues can pinpoint synergies. We then proposed a framework for collaboration that prioritizes issues of high importance with greater common ground (e.g. sustainable resource use activities), to support the development of trust and norms of reciprocity among actors, strengthening the potential for future cooperation. By adopting this approach, environmental managers could support the initial stages of collaborative conservation strategies, engaging with other actors to seek common ground, avoid the creation of polarised groups and help effectively manage biodiversity conflicts. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Guide to North Dakota's ground-water resources

USGS Publications Warehouse

Paulson, Q.F.

1983-01-01

Ground water, the water we pump from the Earth through wells or that which flows naturally from springs, is one of North Dakota's most valuable resources. More than 60 percent of the people living in the State use ground water for one purpose of another. It is the only source of water for thousands of farm families and their livestock. Almost all smaller cities and villages depend solely on groudn water as a source of supply. Increasingly, ground water is being used to irrigate crops and grasslands (fig. 1) during protracted dry spells so common in North Dakota. During recent years there has been a rapid development of rural water ditribution systems in which thousands of farms and rurals residences are connected via underground pipeline to a single water source, usually wells pumping ground water.

Appraisal of ground-water quality near wastewater-treatment facilities, Glacier National Park, Montana

USGS Publications Warehouse

Moreland, Joe A.; Wood, Wayne A.

1982-01-01

Water-level and water-quality data were collected from monitoring wells at wastewater-treatment facilities in Glacier National Park. Five additional shallow observation wells were installed at the Glacier Park Headquarters facility to monitor water quality in the shallow ground-water system.Water-level, water-quality, and geologic information indicate that some of the initial monitoring wells are not ideally located to sample ground water most likely to be affected by waste disposal at the sites. Small differences in chemical characteristics between samples from monitor wells indicate that effluent may be affecting ground-water quality but that impacts are not significant.Future monitoring of ground-water quality could be limited to selected wells most likely to be impacted by percolating effluent. Laboratory analyses for common ions could detect future impacts.

Stepped frequency ground penetrating radar

DOEpatents

Vadnais, Kenneth G.; Bashforth, Michael B.; Lewallen, Tricia S.; Nammath, Sharyn R.

1994-01-01

A stepped frequency ground penetrating radar system is described comprising an RF signal generating section capable of producing stepped frequency signals in spaced and equal increments of time and frequency over a preselected bandwidth which serves as a common RF signal source for both a transmit portion and a receive portion of the system. In the transmit portion of the system the signal is processed into in-phase and quadrature signals which are then amplified and then transmitted toward a target. The reflected signals from the target are then received by a receive antenna and mixed with a reference signal from the common RF signal source in a mixer whose output is then fed through a low pass filter. The DC output, after amplification and demodulation, is digitized and converted into a frequency domain signal by a Fast Fourier Transform. A plot of the frequency domain signals from all of the stepped frequencies broadcast toward and received from the target yields information concerning the range (distance) and cross section (size) of the target.

How universal is the entanglement spectrum?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chandran, Anushya; Khemani, Vedika; Sondhi, Shivaji

2014-03-01

It is now commonly believed that the ground state entanglement spectrum (ES) exhibits universal features characteristic of a given phase. In this letter, we show that this belief is false in general. Most significantly, we show that the entanglement Hamiltonian can undergo quantum phase transitions in which its ground state and low energy spectrum exhibit singular changes, even when the physical system remains in the same phase. For broken symmetry problems, this implies that the ES and the Renyi entropies can mislead entirely, while for quantum Hall systems the ES has much less universal content than assumed to date.

How Universal Is the Entanglement Spectrum?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chandran, Anushya; Khemani, Vedika; Sondhi, S. L.

2014-08-01

It is now commonly believed that the ground state entanglement spectrum (ES) exhibits universal features characteristic of a given phase. In this Letter, we show that this belief is false in general. Most significantly, we show that the entanglement Hamiltonian can undergo quantum phase transitions in which its ground state and low-energy spectrum exhibit singular changes, even when the physical system remains in the same phase. For broken symmetry problems, this implies that the low-energy ES and the Rényi entropies can mislead entirely, while for quantum Hall systems, the ES has much less universal content than assumed to date.

Ground heat flux and power sources of low-enthalpy geothermal systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bayer, Peter; Blum, Philipp; Rivera, Jaime A.

2015-04-01

Geothermal heat pumps commonly extract energy from the shallow ground at depths as low as approximately 400 m. Vertical borehole heat exchangers are often applied, which are seasonally operated for decades. During this lifetime, thermal anomalies are induced in the ground and surface-near aquifers, which often grow over the years and which alleviate the overall performance of the geothermal system. As basis for prediction and control of the evolving energy imbalance in the ground, focus is typically set on the ground temperatures. This is reflected in regulative temperature thresholds, and in temperature trends, which serve as indicators for renewability and sustainability. In our work, we examine the fundamental heat flux and power sources, as well as their temporal and spatial variability during geothermal heat pump operation. The underlying rationale is that for control of ground temperature evolution, knowledge of the primary heat sources is fundamental. This insight is also important to judge the validity of simplified modelling frameworks. For instance, we reveal that vertical heat flux from the surface dominates the basal heat flux towards a borehole. Both fluxes need to be accounted for as proper vertical boundary conditions in the model. Additionally, the role of horizontal groundwater advection is inspected. Moreover, by adopting the ground energy deficit and long-term replenishment as criteria for system sustainability, an uncommon perspective is adopted that is based on the primary parameter rather than induced local temperatures. In our synthetic study and dimensionless analysis, we demonstrate that time of ground energy recovery after system shutdown may be longer than what is expected from local temperature trends. In contrast, unrealistically long recovery periods and extreme thermal anomalies are predicted without account for vertical ground heat fluxes and only when the energy content of the geothermal reservoir is considered.

GPS-Based Excavation Encroachment Notification

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-10-31

Excavation damage is the primary threat to the integrity of the natural gas distribution system. According to the Common Ground Alliance, the two primary root causes of excavation damage are failure to notify the one-call center and careless excavati...

ASTM METHODS

EPA Science Inventory

ASTM is a not-for-profit organization that provides a forum for producers, users, ultimate consumers, and those having a general interest (representatives of government and academia) to meet on common ground and write standards for materials, products, systems, and services. From...

Langmuir Probe Measurements in a Grid-Assisted Magnetron Sputtering System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sagás, Julio César; Pessoa, Rodrigo Sávio; Maciel, Homero Santiago

2018-02-01

The grid-assisted magnetron sputtering is a variation of the magnetron sputtering commonly used for thin film deposition. In this work, Langmuir probe measurements were performed in such a system by using the grid under two basic and practical electrical conditions, i.e., floating and grounded. The results show that grounding the grid leads to an enhancement of the plasma confinement and to increases in both floating and plasma potential, as inferred from the probe characteristics. The grounded grid drains electrons from the plasma, acting as an auxiliary anode and reducing the plasma diffusion toward the chamber walls. For the same discharge current, the improved confinement results in a lower electron temperature when compared to floating condition, although the electron densities are comparable in both cases.

A Common Approach for the Certifying of International Space Station (ISS) Basic Hardware for Ground Safety

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirkpatrick, Paul D.; Trinchero, Jean-Pierre

2005-01-01

In order to support the International Space Station, as well as any future long term human missions, vast amounts of logistical-type hardware is required to be processed through the various launch sites. This category consists of such hardware as spare parts, replacement items, and upgraded hardware. The category also includes samples for experiments and consumables. One attribute that all these items have is they are generally non-hazardous, at least to ground personnel. Even though the items are non-hazardous, launch site ground safety has a responsibility for the protection of personnel, the flight hardware, and launch site resources. In order to fulfill this responsibility, the safety organization must have knowledge of the hardware and its operations. Conversely, the hardware providers are entitled to a process that is commensurate with the hazard. Additionally, a common system should be in place that is flexible enough to account for the requirements at all launch sites, so that, the hardware provider need only complete one process for ground safety regardless of the launch site.

The Impact of Integrated Coaching and Collaboration within an Inquiry Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dragon, Toby

2013-01-01

This thesis explores the design and evaluation of a collaborative, inquiry learning Intelligent Tutoring System for ill-defined problem spaces. The common ground in the fields of Artificial Intelligence in Education and Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning is investigated to identify ways in which tutoring systems can employ both automated…

Finding Common Ground in Pension Reform: Lessons from the Washington State Pension System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldhaber, Dan; Grout, Cyrus

2014-01-01

As states and localities across the nation consider the tradeoffs between defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pension systems, it is important to gain insight into what implications pension reforms might have on workforce composition and teachers' retirement savings behavior. Moreover, it is also important to consider that…

Arsenic in ground water of the United States: occurrence and geochemistry

USGS Publications Warehouse

Welch, Alan H.; Westjohn, D.B.; Helsel, Dennis R.; Wanty, Richard B.

2000-01-01

Concentrations of naturally occurring arsenic in ground water vary regionally due to a combination of climate and geology. Although slightly less than half of 30,000 arsenic analyses of ground water in the United States were 1 μg/L, about 10% exceeded 10 μg/L. At a broad regional scale, arsenic concentrations exceeding 10 μg/L appear to be more frequently observed in the western United States than in the eastern half. Arsenic concentrations in ground water of the Appalachian Highlands and the Atlantic Plain generally are very low ( 1 μg/L). Concentrations are somewhat greater in the Interior Plains and the Rocky Mountain System. Investigations of ground water in New England, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin within the last decade suggest that arsenic concentrations exceeding 10 μg/L are more widespread and common than previously recognized.Arsenic release from iron oxide appears to be the most common cause of widespread arsenic concentrations exceeding 10 μg/L in ground water. This can occur in response to different geochemical conditions, including release of arsenic to ground water through reaction of iron oxide with either natural or anthropogenic (i.e., petroleum products) organic carbon. Iron oxide also can release arsenic to alkaline ground water, such as that found in some felsic volcanic rocks and alkaline aquifers of the western United States. Sulfide minerals are both a source and sink for arsenic. Geothermal water and high evaporation rates also are associated with arsenic concentrations 10g/L in ground and surface water, particularly in the west.Arsenic release from iron oxide appears to be the most common cause of widespread arsenic concentrations exceeding 10 µg/L a ground water. This can occur in response to different geochemical conditions, including release of arsenic to ground water through reaction of iron oxide with either natural or anthropogenic (i.e., petroleum products) organic carbon. Iron oxide also can release arsenic to alkaline ground water, such as that found in some felsic volcanic rocks and alkaline aquifers of the Western United States. Sulfide minerals are both a source and sink for arsenic. Geothermal water and high evaporation rates also are associated with arsenic concentrations ≥ 10g/L in ground and surface water, particularly in the west.

Ground-water flow in the shallow aquifer system at the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, Virginia

USGS Publications Warehouse

Smith, Barry S.

2001-01-01

The Environmental Directorate of the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, Virginia, is concerned about possible contamination of ground water at the Station. Ground water at the Station flows through a shallow system of layered aquifers and leaky confining units. The units of the shallow aquifer system are the Columbia aquifer, the Cornwallis Cave confining unit, the Cornwallis Cave aquifer, the Yorktown confining unit, and the Yorktown-Eastover aquifer. The Eastover-Calvert confining unit separates the shallow aquifer system from deeper confined aquifers beneath the Station. A three-dimensional, finite-difference, ground-water flow model was used to simulate steady-state ground-water flow of the shallow aquifer system in and around the Station. The model simulated ground-water flow from the peninsular drainage divide that runs across the Lackey Plain near the southern end of the Station north to King Creek and the York River and south to Skiffes Creek and the James River. The model was calibrated by minimizing the root mean square error between 4 7 measured and corresponding simulated water levels. The calibrated model was used to determine the ground-water budget and general directions of ground-water flow. A particle-tracking routine was used with the calibrated model to estimate groundwater flow paths, flow rates, and traveltimes from selected sites at the Station. Simulated ground-water flow velocities of the Station-area model were small beneath the interstream areas of the Lackey Plain and Croaker Flat, but increased outward toward the streams and rivers where the hydraulic gradients are larger. If contaminants from the land surface entered the water table at or near the interstream areas of the Station, where hydraulic gradients are smaller, they would migrate more slowly than if they entered closer to the streams or the shores of the rivers where gradients commonly are larger. The ground-water flow simulations indicate that some ground water leaks downward from the water table to the Yorktown confining unit and, where the confining unit is absent, to the Yorktown-Eastover aquifer. The velocities of advective-driven contaminants would decrease considerably when entering the Yorktown confining unit because the hydraulic conductivity of the confining unit is small compared to that of the aquifers. Any contaminants that moved with advective ground-water flow near the groundwater divide of the Lackey Plain would move relatively slowly because the hydraulic gradients are small there. The direction in which the contaminants would move, however, would be determined by precisely where the contaminants entered the water table. The model was not designed to accurately simulate ground-water flow paths through local karst features. Beneath Croaker Flat, ground water flows downward through the Columbia aquifer and the Yorktown confining unit into the Yorktown-Eastover aquifer. Analyses of the movement of simulated particles from two adjacent sites at Croaker Flat indicated that ground-water flow paths were similar at first but diverged and discharged to different tributaries of Indian Field Creek or to the York River. These simulations indicate that complex and possibly divergent flow paths and traveltimes are possible at the Station. Although the Station-area model is not detailed enough to simulate ground-water flow at the scales commonly used to track and remediate contaminants at specific sites, general concepts about possible contaminant migration at the Station can be inferred from the simulations.

Reading Researchers in Search of Common Ground: The Expert Study Revisited. 2nd Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flippo, Rona F., Ed.

2011-01-01

In "Reading Researchers in Search of Common Ground, Second Edition", Rona F. Flippo revisits her study, in which she set out to find common ground among experts in the much-fragmented field of reading research. The original edition, featuring contributions from participants in the study, commentary from additional distinguished literacy scholars…

Preschoolers Use Common Ground in Their Justificatory Reasoning with Peers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Köymen, Bahar; Mammen, Maria; Tomasello, Michael

2016-01-01

In the context of joint decision-making, we investigated whether preschoolers alter the informativeness of their justifications depending on the common ground that they share with their partner. Pairs of 3- and 5-year-olds (N = 146) were introduced to a novel animal with unique characteristics (e.g., eating rocks). In the common ground condition,…

Young Children's Understanding of Cultural Common Ground

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liebal, Kristin; Carpenter, Malinda; Tomasello, Michael

2013-01-01

Human social interaction depends on individuals identifying the common ground they have with others, based both on personally shared experiences and on cultural common ground that all members of the group share. We introduced 3- and 5-year-old children to a culturally well-known object and a novel object. An experimenter then entered and asked,…

Common data buffer system. [communication with computational equipment utilized in spacecraft operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byrne, F. (Inventor)

1981-01-01

A high speed common data buffer system is described for providing an interface and communications medium between a plurality of computers utilized in a distributed computer complex forming part of a checkout, command and control system for space vehicles and associated ground support equipment. The system includes the capability for temporarily storing data to be transferred between computers, for transferring a plurality of interrupts between computers, for monitoring and recording these transfers, and for correcting errors incurred in these transfers. Validity checks are made on each transfer and appropriate error notification is given to the computer associated with that transfer.

Grounding, bonding and shielding for safety and signal interference control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Forsyth, T. J.; Bautista, AL

1990-01-01

Aircraft models and other aerodynamic tests are conducted at the NASA Ames Research Center National Full Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC). The models, tested in NFAC's wind tunnels, are sometimes heavily instrumented and are connected to a data acquisition system. Besides recording data for evaluation, certain critical information must be monitored to be sure the model is within operational limits. The signals for these parameters are for the most part low-level signals that require good instrumentation amplification. These amplifiers need to be grounded and shielded for common mode rejection and noise reduction. The instrumentation also needs to be grounded to prevent electrical shock hazards. The purpose of this paper is to present an understanding of the principles and purpose of grounding, bonding, and shielding.

School Grounds Guide: A Pictured Guide for Identifying Common Organisms Found In and Around the School Ground.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bain, Rodney

Designed for quick, easy identification of some of the most commonly encountered organisms found in and around the school ground, this illustrated guide identifies by a picture and a short biological description the common animals and plants found in and around school lawns, house lawns, parks, fence rows, flower gardens, vacant lots, and…

Response of the Rio Grande and shallow ground water in the Mesilla Bolson to irrigation, climate stress, and pumping

USGS Publications Warehouse

Walton, J.; Ohlmacher, G.; Utz, D.; Kutianawala, M.

1999-01-01

The El Paso-Ciudad Juarez metropolitan area obtains its water from the Rio Grande and intermontane-basin aquifers. Shallow ground water in this region is in close communications with the surface water system. A major problem with both systems is salinity. Upstream usage of the water in the Rio Grande for irrigation and municipalities has led to concentration of soluble salts to the point where the surface water commonly exceeds drinking water standards. Shallow ground water is recharged by surface water (primarily irrigation canals and agricultural fields) and discharges to surface water (agricultural drains) and deeper ground water. The source of water entering the Rio Grande varies seasonally. During the irrigation season, water is released from reservoirs and mixes with the return flow from irrigation drains. During the non-irrigation season (winter), flow is from irrigation drains and river water quality is indicative of shallow ground water. The annual cycle can be ascertained from the inverse correlation between ion concentrations and discharge in the river. Water-quality data indicate that the salinity of shallow ground water increases each year during a drought. Water-management strategies in the region can affect water quality. Increasing the pumping rate of water-supply wells will cause shallow ground water to flow into the deeper aquifers and degrade the water quality. Lining the canals in the irrigation system to stop water leakage will lead to water quality degradation in shallow ground water and, eventually, deep ground water by removing a major source of high quality recharge that currently lowers the salinity of the shallow ground water.

Limnological characteristics of selected lakes in the Nebraska sandhills, U.S.A., and their relation to chemical characteristics of adjacent ground water

USGS Publications Warehouse

La Baugh, J.W.

1986-01-01

Limnological characteristics of Crane, Hackberry, Island and Roundup Lakes, and chemical characteristics of shallow ground water, within the Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge, western Nebraska, were determined during a preliminary investigation of the interaction between lakes and ground water in this study area between 1980 and 1984. When ice cover was absent, the lakes were well-mixed vertically, regardless of season. Depth to which 1% of surface illumination penetrated was commonly less than 1m. Variability in light penetration, as measured by Secchidisk transparency, appeared to be unrelated to changes in algal biomass, even though algal biomass, measured as chlorophyll a, varied seasonally within a two-order-of-magnitude range. Blue-green algae were the most abundant phytoplankton; this condition occurred most often when the ratio of total nitrogen to total phosphorus in the lakes' water was less than 29. Although rotifers and copepod naupli commonly were the most abundant zooplankton in the lakes, cladocerans were dominant occasionally. Either sodium or calcium was the most abundant cation, and bicarbonate was the most abundant anion, in water from water-table wells and lakes sampled during the study. The second most abundant cation in the ground water was related to the location of the sampled well within the ground-water system. The lakes were a source of dissolved organic carbon seeping to ground water. Chemical and hydrologic data indicate there is interaction between lakes and ground water in the study area. ?? 1986.

Common approach to solving SGEMP, DEMP, and ESD survivability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ling, D.

1977-01-01

System Generated Electromagnetic Pulse (SGEMP) and Dispersed Electromagnetic Pulse DEMP) are nuclear generated spacecraft environments. Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a natural spacecraft environment resulting from differential charging in magnetic substorms. All three phenomena, though differing in origin, result in the same problem to the spacecraft and that is Electromagnetic Interference (EMI). A common design approach utilizing a spacecraft structural Faraday Cage is presented which helps solve the EMI problem. Also, other system design techniques are discussed which minimize the magnitude of these environments through control of materials and electrical grounding configuration.

Model-Based Knowing: How Do Students Ground Their Understanding About Climate Systems in Agent-Based Computer Models?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markauskaite, Lina; Kelly, Nick; Jacobson, Michael J.

2017-12-01

This paper gives a grounded cognition account of model-based learning of complex scientific knowledge related to socio-scientific issues, such as climate change. It draws on the results from a study of high school students learning about the carbon cycle through computational agent-based models and investigates two questions: First, how do students ground their understanding about the phenomenon when they learn and solve problems with computer models? Second, what are common sources of mistakes in students' reasoning with computer models? Results show that students ground their understanding in computer models in five ways: direct observation, straight abstraction, generalisation, conceptualisation, and extension. Students also incorporate into their reasoning their knowledge and experiences that extend beyond phenomena represented in the models, such as attitudes about unsustainable carbon emission rates, human agency, external events, and the nature of computational models. The most common difficulties of the students relate to seeing the modelled scientific phenomenon and connecting results from the observations with other experiences and understandings about the phenomenon in the outside world. An important contribution of this study is the constructed coding scheme for establishing different ways of grounding, which helps to understand some challenges that students encounter when they learn about complex phenomena with agent-based computer models.

Integrating Automation into a Multi-Mission Operations Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Surka, Derek M.; Jones, Lori; Crouse, Patrick; Cary, Everett A, Jr.; Esposito, Timothy C.

2007-01-01

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Space Science Mission Operations (SSMO) Project is currently tackling the challenge of minimizing ground operations costs for multiple satellites that have surpassed their prime mission phase and are well into extended mission. These missions are being reengineered into a multi-mission operations center built around modern information technologies and a common ground system infrastructure. The effort began with the integration of four SMEX missions into a similar architecture that provides command and control capabilities and demonstrates fleet automation and control concepts as a pathfinder for additional mission integrations. The reengineered ground system, called the Multi-Mission Operations Center (MMOC), is now undergoing a transformation to support other SSMO missions, which include SOHO, Wind, and ACE. This paper presents the automation principles and lessons learned to date for integrating automation into an existing operations environment for multiple satellites.

Bilateral amygdala damage impairs the acquisition and use of common ground in social interaction

PubMed Central

Gupta, Rupa; Duff, Melissa C.; Tranel, Daniel

2010-01-01

Objective The development of “common ground,” or mutual knowledge of shared information, is believed to require the ability to update a mental representation of another person’s thoughts and knowledge based on verbal information and nonverbal social and emotional signals, in order to facilitate economical communication. As in other forms of everyday social communication, the development of common ground likely requires the orchestration of multiple cognitive processes supported by various neural systems. Here, we investigate the contribution of the amygdala to these processes. Methods SM, a patient with complete, focal, bilateral amygdala damage and deficits in social and emotional processing, and five healthy comparison participants, each interacted with a familiar partner. We investigated the participants’ ability to develop and use referential labels across twenty-four dynamic, collaborative interactions. Participants verbally directed their partner how to arrange a set of 12 abstract tangrams while separated by a low barrier, allowing them to see each other but hiding their tangrams. Results In contrast to comparison participants, SM exhibited an impaired rate of learning across trials and did not show the typical simplification in the labels generated during the interactions. Detailed analyses of SM’s interactional discourse and social behavior suggested that she has impaired perspective-taking or what can be interpreted as deficient “theory of mind,” manifested in abnormal “language-in-use.” Conclusions These results support the conclusion that the amygdala, a structure critical for social and emotional processing, plays an important role in the acquisition and use of common ground and in social communication more broadly. PMID:21381821

Inmarsat aeronautical mobile satellite system: Internetworking issues

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sengupta, Jay R.

1990-01-01

The Inmarsat Aeronautical Mobile Satellite System (AMSS) provides air-ground and air-air communications services to aero-mobile users on a global basis. Communicating parties may be connected either directly, or more commonly, via interconnecting networks to the Inmarsat AMSS, in order to construct end-to-end communications circuits. The aircraft earth station (AES) and the aeronautical ground earth station (GES) are the points of interconnection of the Inmarsat AMSS to users, as well as to interconnecting networks. This paper reviews the internetworking aspects of the Inmarsat AMSS, by introducing the Inmarsat AMSS network architecture and services concepts and then discussing the internetwork address/numbering and routing techniques.

Designation of principal water-supply aquifers in Minnesota

USGS Publications Warehouse

Adolphson, D.G.; Ruhl, J.F.; Wolf, R.J.

1981-01-01

The State's ground water generally contains less than 1,000 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids, except in the extreme southwest, northeast, and western areas. Mineralized water is present at depth throughout the State. Freshwater extends to depths of about 1,000 feet in the center of the Hollandale embayment and in the Twin Cities basin. Six principal water-quality types are present in the .aquifers. Calcium magnesium bicarbonate type water, the most common, is generally present throughout the upper part of the ground-water system.

Ground and Space Radar Volume Matching and Comparison Software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, Kenneth; Schwaller, Mathew

2010-01-01

This software enables easy comparison of ground- and space-based radar observations. The software was initially designed to compare ground radar reflectivity from operational, ground based Sand C-band meteorological radars with comparable measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite s Precipitation Radar (PR) instrument. The software is also applicable to other ground-based and space-based radars. The ground and space radar volume matching and comparison software was developed in response to requirements defined by the Ground Validation System (GVS) of Goddard s Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) project. This software innovation is specifically concerned with simplifying the comparison of ground- and spacebased radar measurements for the purpose of GPM algorithm and data product validation. This software is unique in that it provides an operational environment to routinely create comparison products, and uses a direct geometric approach to derive common volumes of space- and ground-based radar data. In this approach, spatially coincident volumes are defined by the intersection of individual space-based Precipitation Radar rays with the each of the conical elevation sweeps of the ground radar. Thus, the resampled volume elements of the space and ground radar reflectivity can be directly compared to one another.

Reusable Autonomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Truszkowski, Walt; Obenschain, Arthur F. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Currently, spacecraft ground systems have a well defined and somewhat standard architecture and operations concept. Based on domain analysis studies of various control centers conducted over the years it is clear that ground systems have core capabilities and functionality that are common across all ground systems. This observation alone supports the realization of reuse. Additionally, spacecraft ground systems are increasing in their ability to do things autonomously. They are being engineered using advanced expert systems technology to provide automated support for operators. A clearer understanding of the possible roles of agent technology is advancing the prospects of greater autonomy for these systems. Many of their functional and management tasks are or could be supported by applied agent technology, the dynamics of the ground system's infrastructure could be monitored by agents, there are intelligent agent-based approaches to user-interfaces, etc. The premise of this paper is that the concepts associated with software reuse, applicable in consideration of classically-engineered ground systems, can be updated to address their application in highly agent-based realizations of future ground systems. As a somewhat simplified example consider the following situation, involving human agents in a ground system context. Let Group A of controllers be working on Mission X. They are responsible for the command, control and health and safety of the Mission X spacecraft. Let us suppose that mission X successfully completes it mission and is turned off. Group A could be dispersed or perhaps move to another Mission Y. In this case there would be reuse of the human agents from Mission X to Mission Y. The Group A agents perform their well-understood functions in a somewhat but related context. There will be a learning or familiarization process that the group A agents go through to make the new context, determined by the new Mission Y, understood. This simplified scenario highlights some of the major issues that need to be addressed when considering the situation where Group A is composed of software-based agents (not their human counterparts) and they migrate from one mission support system to another. This paper will address: - definition of an agent architecture appropriate to support reuse; - identification of non-mission-specific agent capabilities required; - appropriate knowledge representation schemes for mission-specific knowledge; - agent interface with mission-specific knowledge (a type of Learning); development of a fully-operational group of cooperative software agents for ground system support; architecture and operation of a repository of reusable agents that could be the source of intelligent components for realizing an autonomous (or nearly autonomous) agent-based ground system, and an agent-based approach to repository management and operation (an intelligent interface for human use of the repository in a ground-system development activity).

234U/238U evidence for local recharge and patterns of groundwater flow in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Paces, J.B.; Ludwig, K. R.; Peterman, Z.E.; Neymark, L.A.

2002-01-01

Uranium concentrations and 234U/238U ratios in saturated-zone and perched ground water were used to investigate hydrologic flow and downgradient dilution and dispersion in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain, a potential high-level radioactive waste disposal site. The U data were obtained by thermal ionization mass spectrometry on more than 280 samples from the Death Valley regional flow system. Large variations in both U concentrations (commonly 0.6-10 ??g 1-1) and 234U/238U activity ratios (commonly 1.5-6) are present on both local and regional scales; however, ground water with 234U/238U activity ratios from 7 up to 8.06 is restricted largely to samples from Yucca Mountain. Data from ground water in the Tertiary volcanic and Quaternary alluvial aquifers at and adjacent to Yucca Mountain plot in 3 distinct fields of reciprocal U concentration versus 234U/238U activity ratio correlated to different geographic areas. Ground water to the west of Yucca Mountain has large U concentrations and moderate 234U/238U whereas ground water to the east in the Fortymile flow system has similar 234U/238U, but distinctly smaller U concentrations. Ground water beneath the central part of Yucca Mountain has intermediate U concentrations but distinctive 234U/238U activity ratios of about 7-8. Perched water from the lower part of the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain has similarly large values of 234U/238U. These U data imply that the Tertiary volcanic aquifer beneath the central part of Yucca Mountain is isolated from north-south regional flow. The similarity of 234U/238U in both saturated- and unsaturated-zone ground water at Yucca Mountain further indicates that saturated-zone ground water beneath Yucca Mountain is dominated by local recharge rather than regional flow. The distinctive 234U/238U signatures also provide a natural tracer of downgradient flow. Elevated 234U/238U in ground water from two water-supply wells east of Yucca Mountain are interpreted as the result of induced flow from 40 a of ground-water withdrawal. Elevated 234U/238U in a borehole south of Yucca Mountain is interpreted as evidence that natural downgradient flow is more likely to follow southerly paths in the structurally anisotropic Tertiary volcanic aquifer where it becomes diluted by regional flow in the Fortymile system.

Satellite markers: a simple method for ground truth car pose on stereo video

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gil, Gustavo; Savino, Giovanni; Piantini, Simone; Pierini, Marco

2018-04-01

Artificial prediction of future location of other cars in the context of advanced safety systems is a must. The remote estimation of car pose and particularly its heading angle is key to predict its future location. Stereo vision systems allow to get the 3D information of a scene. Ground truth in this specific context is associated with referential information about the depth, shape and orientation of the objects present in the traffic scene. Creating 3D ground truth is a measurement and data fusion task associated with the combination of different kinds of sensors. The novelty of this paper is the method to generate ground truth car pose only from video data. When the method is applied to stereo video, it also provides the extrinsic camera parameters for each camera at frame level which are key to quantify the performance of a stereo vision system when it is moving because the system is subjected to undesired vibrations and/or leaning. We developed a video post-processing technique which employs a common camera calibration tool for the 3D ground truth generation. In our case study, we focus in accurate car heading angle estimation of a moving car under realistic imagery. As outcomes, our satellite marker method provides accurate car pose at frame level, and the instantaneous spatial orientation for each camera at frame level.

FINDING COMMON GROUND IN MANAGING DATA USED IN REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS

EPA Science Inventory

Evaluating the overall environmental health of a region invariably involves using data-bases from multiple organizations. Several approaches to deal with the related technological and sociological issues have been used by various programs. Flexible data systems are required to de...

Consumer Outcomes After Implementing CommonGround as an Approach to Shared Decision Making.

PubMed

Salyers, Michelle P; Fukui, Sadaaki; Bonfils, Kelsey A; Firmin, Ruth L; Luther, Lauren; Goscha, Rick; Rapp, Charles A; Holter, Mark C

2017-03-01

The authors examined consumer outcomes before and after implementing CommonGround, a computer-based shared decision-making program. Consumers with severe mental illness (N=167) were interviewed prior to implementation and 12 and 18 months later to assess changes in active treatment involvement, symptoms, and recovery-related attitudes. Providers also rated consumers on level of treatment involvement. Most consumers used CommonGround at least once (67%), but few used the program regularly. Mixed-effects regression analyses showed improvement in self-reported symptoms and recovery attitudes. Self-reported treatment involvement did not change; however, for a subset of consumers with the same providers over time (N=83), the providers rated consumers as more active in treatment. This study adds to the growing literature on tools to support shared decision making, showing the potential benefits of CommonGround for improving recovery outcomes. More work is needed to better engage consumers in CommonGround and to test the approach with more rigorous methods.

Global-to-local incompatibility, monogamy of entanglement, and ground-state dimerization: Theory and observability of quantum frustration in systems with competing interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giampaolo, S. M.; Hiesmayr, B. C.; Illuminati, F.

2015-10-01

Frustration in quantum many-body systems is quantified by the degree of incompatibility between the local and global orders associated, respectively, with the ground states of the local interaction terms and the global ground state of the total many-body Hamiltonian. This universal measure is bounded from below by the ground-state bipartite block entanglement. For many-body Hamiltonians that are sums of two-body interaction terms, a further inequality relates quantum frustration to the pairwise entanglement between the constituents of the local interaction terms. This additional bound is a consequence of the limits imposed by monogamy on entanglement shareability. We investigate the behavior of local pair frustration in quantum spin models with competing interactions on different length scales and show that valence bond solids associated with exact ground state dimerization correspond to a transition from generic frustration, i.e., geometric, common to classical and quantum systems alike, to genuine quantum frustration, i.e., solely due to the noncommutativity of the different local interaction terms. We discuss how such frustration transitions separating genuinely quantum orders from classical-like ones are detected by observable quantities such as the static structure factor and the interferometric visibility.

Data Distribution System (DDS) and Solar Dynamic Observatory Ground Station (SDOGS) Integration Manager

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pham, Kim; Bialas, Thomas

2012-01-01

The DDS SDOGS Integration Manager (DSIM) provides translation between native control and status formats for systems within DDS and SDOGS, and the ASIST (Advanced Spacecraft Integration and System Test) control environment in the SDO MOC (Solar Dynamics Observatory Mission Operations Center). This system was created in response for a need to centralize remote monitor and control of SDO Ground Station equipments using ASIST control environment in SDO MOC, and to have configurable table definition for equipment. It provides translation of status and monitoring information from the native systems into ASIST-readable format to display on pages in the MOC. The manager is lightweight, user friendly, and efficient. It allows data trending, correlation, and storing. It allows using ASIST as common interface for remote monitor and control of heterogeneous equipments. It also provides failover capability to back up machines.

Tip-over Prevention Through Heuristic Reactive Behaviors for Unmanned Ground Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-01

Systems Center Pacific Unmanned Systems Group 53406 Woodward Road San Diego, CA 92152 ABSTRACT Skid-steer teleoperated robots are commonly used by...Reactive Behaviors Further author information: (Send correspondence to K.T.) K.T.: E-mail: kurt.talke@navy.mil, SPIE Proc. 9084: Unmanned Systems ...5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center

The pursuit of longevity - the bringer of peace to the middle East.

PubMed

Stambler, Ilia

2014-01-01

Despite the common apprehensions regarding the aging population, this work aims to argue, on both deontological and utilitarian moral grounds, that any increase in general life-expectancy will be beneficial for the Middle East, countering the common fears associated with this increase. A set of ethical arguments concerning increasing longevity is presented, from both the deontological and utilitarian perspective. A wide selection of economic, psychological, demographic and epidemiological literature and databases is analyzed to determine common correlates of extended longevity. On the deontological grounds, the value of extended longevity is derived from the value of life preservation, regardless of its term. On the utilitarian grounds, the value of extended longevity is demonstrated by its correlation with further human values, such as education level and intellectual activity, economic prosperity, equality, solidarity and peacefulness. With the common apprehensions of stagnation and scarcity due to life extension found wanting, the pursuit of longevity by the population can be seen as a cross-cultural and cross-generational good. Though the current study mainly refers to sources and data relevant to the Middle East, a similar pro-longevity argument can be also made for other cultural contexts. In view of its numerous benefits, normatively, the goal of longevity should be set clearly and openly by the society, and actively pursued, or at least discussed, in academia, the political system and broader public.

Hydrogeology of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

USGS Publications Warehouse

Friedel, Michael J.; Finn, Carol

2008-01-01

Hydrogeologic maps were constructed for the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. The ground-water flow system in the country can best be described as two interconnected regional systems: the porous Continental Terminal coastal system and the interior, fractured sedimentary Taoudeni Basin system. In these systems, ground-water flow occurs in fill deposits and carbonate, clastic, metasedimentary, and metavolcanic rocks. Based on an evaluation of the potentiometric surface, there are three areas of ground-water recharge in the Taoudeni Basin system. One region occurs in the northwest at the edge of the Shield, one occurs to the south overlying the Tillites, and one is centered at the city of Tidjikdja. In contrast to the flow system in the Taoudeni Basin, the potentiometric surfaces reveal two areas of discharge in the Continental Terminal system but no localized recharge areas; the recharge is more likely to be areal. In addition to these recharge and discharge areas, ground water flows across the country's borders. Specifically, ground water from the Atlantic Ocean flows into Mauritania, transporting dissolved sodium from the west as a salt water intrusion, whereas fresh ground water discharges from the east into Mali. To the north, there is a relatively low gradient with inflow of fresh water to Mauritania, whereas ground-water flow discharges to the Senegal River to the south. A geographical information system (GIS) was used to digitize, manage, store, and analyze geologic data used to develop the hydrogeologic map. The data acquired for map development included existing digital GIS files, published maps, tabulated data in reports and public-access files, and the SIPPE2 Access database. Once in digital formats, regional geologic and hydrologic features were converted to a common coordinate system and combined into one map. The 42 regional geologic map units were then reclassified into 13 hydrogeologic units, each having considerable lateral extent and distinct hydrologic properties. Because the hydrologic properties of these units are also influenced by depth and degree of fracturing, the hydraulic conductivity values of these hydrogeologic units can range over many orders of magnitude.

2018 Ground Robotics Capabilities Conference and Exhibiton

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-04-11

Transportable Robot System (MTRS) Inc 1 Non -standard Equipment (approved) Explosive Ordnance Disposal Common Robotic System-Heavy (CRS-H) Inc 1 AROC: 3-Star...and engineering • AI risk mitigation methodologies and techniques are at best immature – E.g., V&V; Probabilistic software analytics; code level...controller to minimize potential UxS mishaps and unauthorized Command and Control (C2). • PSP-10 – Ensure that software systems which exhibit non

The HERSCHEL/PACS early Data Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wieprecht, E.; Wetzstein, M.; Huygen, R.; Vandenbussche, B.; De Meester, W.

2006-07-01

ESA's Herschel Space Observatory to be launched in 2007, is the first space observatory covering the full far-infrared and submillimeter wavelength range (60 - 670 microns). The Photodetector Array Camera & Spectrometer (PACS) is one of the three science instruments. It contains two Ge:Ga photoconductor arrays and two bolometer arrays to perform imaging line spectroscopy and imaging photometry in the 60 - 210 micron wavelength band. The HERSCHEL ground segment (Herschel Common Science System - HCSS) is implemented using JAVA technology and written in a common effort by the HERSCHEL Science Center and the three instrument teams. The PACS Common Software System (PCSS) is based on the HCSS and used for the online and offline analysis of PACS data. For telemetry bandwidth reasons PACS science data are partially processed on board, compressed, cut into telemetry packets and transmitted to the ground. These steps are instrument mode dependent. We will present the software model which allows to reverse the discrete on board processing steps and evaluate the data. After decompression and reconstruction the detector data and instrument status information are organized in two main PACS Products. The design of these JAVA classes considers the individual sampling rates, data formats, memory and performance optimization aspects and comfortable user interfaces.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A CARBON-BASED REACTIVE BARRIER FOR NITRATE REMEDIATION

EPA Science Inventory

Nitrate (NO3-) is a common ground water contaminant related to agricultural activity, waste water disposal, leachate from landfills, septic systems, and industrial processes. This study reports on the performance of a carbon-based permeable reactive barrier (PRB) that was constr...

CARBON-BASED REACTIVE BARRIER FOR NITRATE REMEDIATION AT A FORMER SWINE CAFO

EPA Science Inventory

Nitrate (NO3-) is a common ground water contaminant related to agricultural activity, waste water disposal, leachate from landfills, septic systems, and industrial processes. This study reports on the performance of a carbon-based permeable reactive barrier (PRB) that was constr...

A knowledge-based system for prototypical reasoning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lieto, Antonio; Minieri, Andrea; Piana, Alberto; Radicioni, Daniele P.

2015-04-01

In this work we present a knowledge-based system equipped with a hybrid, cognitively inspired architecture for the representation of conceptual information. The proposed system aims at extending the classical representational and reasoning capabilities of the ontology-based frameworks towards the realm of the prototype theory. It is based on a hybrid knowledge base, composed of a classical symbolic component (grounded on a formal ontology) with a typicality based one (grounded on the conceptual spaces framework). The resulting system attempts to reconcile the heterogeneous approach to the concepts in Cognitive Science with the dual process theories of reasoning and rationality. The system has been experimentally assessed in a conceptual categorisation task where common sense linguistic descriptions were given in input, and the corresponding target concepts had to be identified. The results show that the proposed solution substantially extends the representational and reasoning 'conceptual' capabilities of standard ontology-based systems.

Advanced training systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Savely, Robert T.; Loftin, R. Bowen

1990-01-01

Training is a major endeavor in all modern societies. Common training methods include training manuals, formal classes, procedural computer programs, simulations, and on-the-job training. NASA's training approach has focussed primarily on on-the-job training in a simulation environment for both crew and ground based personnel. NASA must explore new approaches to training for the 1990's and beyond. Specific autonomous training systems are described which are based on artificial intelligence technology for use by NASA astronauts, flight controllers, and ground based support personnel that show an alternative to current training systems. In addition to these specific systems, the evolution of a general architecture for autonomous intelligent training systems that integrates many of the features of traditional training programs with artificial intelligence techniques is presented. These Intelligent Computer Aided Training (ICAT) systems would provide much of the same experience that could be gained from the best on-the-job training.

Touch and step potential analysis at 23.9kV to 4.16kV & 13.8kV to 4.16kV distribution substations with pad-mounted transformers, floating grounds, and other exposed ungrounded metal bodies using WinIGS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guzman, David G.

An electrical substation is composed of various subsystems that allow for the effective and safe operation of the power grid. One of the subsystems integrating a conventional substation is defined as the ground grid system. This system allows for the effective operation of the power grid and all the electrical equipment connected to it by providing a ground potential reference, commonly known as the system ground. In addition, the ground grid system provides safety to the workers and the public transiting inside or living nearby a substation by reducing the step and touch potential (or voltage) levels present during a system fault. In today's utility industry practices there is an increasing trend for using pad-mounted electrical equipment for substation applications in an effort to construct new or upgrade existing electrical facilities inside limited property spaces. This thesis work presents an analysis for the effects of touch and step voltages at existing distribution substations where 23.9kV to 4.16kV & 13.8kV to 4.16kV pad-mounted transformers and other pad-mounted switchgear was installed to replace the traditional station class equipment. Moreover, this study will expose modeling techniques employed to define and determine the effects of floating grounds and other exposed metal bodies inside or surrounding these substations using WinIGS; this is in an effort to determine any risks of electric shock associated with this type of installations. The results presented in this work are intended to verify the requirements for the ground grid analysis and design for 4.16kV distribution substations with pad-mounted equipment in order to prevent dangerous step and touch voltage levels appearing at these sites during system faults; and ultimately prevent exposing individuals to the risk of an electric shock.

Bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated ground water: The perspectives of history and hydrology

USGS Publications Warehouse

Chapelle, F.H.

1999-01-01

Bioremediation, the use of microbial degradation processes to detoxify environmental contamination, was first applied to petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated ground water systems in the early 1970s. Since that time, these technologies have evolved in some ways that were clearly anticipated early investigators, and in other ways that were not foreseen. The expectation that adding oxidants and nutrients to contaminated aquifers would enhance biodegradation, for example, has been born out subsequent experience. Many of the technologies now in common use such as air sparging, hydrogen peroxide addition, nitrate addition, and bioslurping, are conceptually similar to the first bioremediation systems put into operation. More unexpected, however, were the considerable technical problems associated with delivering oxidants and nutrients to heterogeneous ground water systems. Experience has shown that the success of engineered bioremediation systems depends largely on how effectively directions and rates of ground water flow can be controlled, and thus how efficiently oxidants and nutrients can be delivered to contaminated aquifer sediments. The early expectation that injecting laboratory-selected or genetically engineered cultures of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria into aquifers would be a useful bioremediation technology has not been born out subsequent experience. Rather, it appears that petroleum hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria are ubiquitous in ground water systems and that bacterial addition is usually unnecessary. Perhaps the technology that was least anticipated early investigators was the development of intrinsic bioremediation. Experience has shown that natural attenuation mechanisms - biodegradation, dilution, and sorption - limit the migration of contaminants to some degree in all ground water systems. Intrinsic bioremediation is the deliberate use of natural attenuation processes to treat contaminated ground water to specified concentration levels at predetermined points in the aquifer. In current practice, intrinsic bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons requires a systematic assessment to show that ambient natural attenuation mechanisms are efficient enough to meet regulatory requirements and a monitoring program to verify that performance requirements are met in the future.

Calculating ground water transit time of horizontal flow through leaky aquifers.

PubMed

Braunsfurth, Angelika C; Schneider, Wilfried

2008-01-01

The calculation of ground water transit times is one important factor in ground water protection. In this paper, we present an analytical solution for the transit time for a Dupuit-type flow system applicable to saturated flow through a horizontal leaky aquifer discharging to a downgradient fixed-head boundary under steady-state conditions. We investigate the influence of leakage when comparing the resulting travel times of our model based on head-dependent leakage with the commonly used model with no leakage and a simplified model with constant leakage. The results show significant differences in the position of the water divide and transit time, suggesting that leakage cannot be ignored.

Environmental effects of solar-thermal power systems. Systematic status of the Mojave ground squirrel, Spermophilus mohavensis (subgenus Xerospermophilus)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hafner, D.J.; Yates, T.L.

1982-06-01

The Mojave ground squirrel, Spermophilus mohavensis, is listed as a rare species by The California Fish and Game Commission. Its well-being has emerged as an environmental concern associated with deployment of solar thermal power systems in western parts of the Motave Desert. The more common round-tailed ground squirrel, Spermophilus tereticaudus, also occurs in the Mojave Desert, and this species closely resembles S. mohavensis. The systematic status of the sibling species was investigated using allozymic and chromosomal data. Karyotypically, the two species differ in diploid number while they share a level of genic similarity reported for other mammalian semispecies. Hybridization wasmore » detected only at a single disturbed site, while allelic introgression was confined to an estimated 60 km reach. The two taxa are retained as full biological species.« less

Ground-Water Temperature, Noble Gas, and Carbon Isotope Data from the Espanola Basin, New Mexico

USGS Publications Warehouse

Manning, Andrew H.

2009-01-01

Ground-water samples were collected from 56 locations throughout the Espanola Basin and analyzed for general chemistry (major ions and trace elements), carbon isotopes (delta 13C and 14C activity) in dissolved inorganic carbon, noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, and 3He/4He ratio), and tritium. Temperature profiles were measured at six locations in the southeastern part of the basin. Temperature profiles suggest that ground water generally becomes warmer with distance from the mountains and that most ground-water flow occurs at depths 50 years old, consistent with the 14C ages. Terrigenic He (Heterr) concentrations in ground water are high (log Delta Heterr of 2 to 5) throughout much of the basin. High Heterr concentrations are probably caused by in situ production in the Tesuque Formation from locally high concentrations of U-bearing minerals (Northeast zone only), or by upward diffusive/advective transport of crustal- and mantle-sourced He possibly enhanced by basement piercing faults, or by both. The 3He/4He ratio of Heterr (Rterr) is commonly high (Rterr/Ra of 0.3-2.0, where Ra is the 3He/4He ratio in air) suggesting that Espanola Basin ground water commonly contains mantle-sourced He. The 3He/4He ratio of Heterr is generally the highest in the western and southern parts of the basin, closest to the western border fault system and the Quaternary to Miocene volcanics of the Jemez Mountains and Cerros del Rio.

Synthesis of Common Arabic Handwritings to Aid Optical Character Recognition Research.

PubMed

Dinges, Laslo; Al-Hamadi, Ayoub; Elzobi, Moftah; El-Etriby, Sherif

2016-03-11

Document analysis tasks such as pattern recognition, word spotting or segmentation, require comprehensive databases for training and validation. Not only variations in writing style but also the used list of words is of importance in the case that training samples should reflect the input of a specific area of application. However, generation of training samples is expensive in the sense of manpower and time, particularly if complete text pages including complex ground truth are required. This is why there is a lack of such databases, especially for Arabic, the second most popular language. However, Arabic handwriting recognition involves different preprocessing, segmentation and recognition methods. Each requires particular ground truth or samples to enable optimal training and validation, which are often not covered by the currently available databases. To overcome this issue, we propose a system that synthesizes Arabic handwritten words and text pages and generates corresponding detailed ground truth. We use these syntheses to validate a new, segmentation based system that recognizes handwritten Arabic words. We found that a modification of an Active Shape Model based character classifiers-that we proposed earlier-improves the word recognition accuracy. Further improvements are achieved, by using a vocabulary of the 50,000 most common Arabic words for error correction.

Synthesis of Common Arabic Handwritings to Aid Optical Character Recognition Research

PubMed Central

Dinges, Laslo; Al-Hamadi, Ayoub; Elzobi, Moftah; El-etriby, Sherif

2016-01-01

Document analysis tasks such as pattern recognition, word spotting or segmentation, require comprehensive databases for training and validation. Not only variations in writing style but also the used list of words is of importance in the case that training samples should reflect the input of a specific area of application. However, generation of training samples is expensive in the sense of manpower and time, particularly if complete text pages including complex ground truth are required. This is why there is a lack of such databases, especially for Arabic, the second most popular language. However, Arabic handwriting recognition involves different preprocessing, segmentation and recognition methods. Each requires particular ground truth or samples to enable optimal training and validation, which are often not covered by the currently available databases. To overcome this issue, we propose a system that synthesizes Arabic handwritten words and text pages and generates corresponding detailed ground truth. We use these syntheses to validate a new, segmentation based system that recognizes handwritten Arabic words. We found that a modification of an Active Shape Model based character classifiers—that we proposed earlier—improves the word recognition accuracy. Further improvements are achieved, by using a vocabulary of the 50,000 most common Arabic words for error correction. PMID:26978368

Memory for conversation and the development of common ground.

PubMed

McKinley, Geoffrey L; Brown-Schmidt, Sarah; Benjamin, Aaron S

2017-11-01

Efficient conversation is guided by the mutual knowledge, or common ground, that interlocutors form as a conversation progresses. Characterized from the perspective of commonly used measures of memory, efficient conversation should be closely associated with item memory-what was said-and context memory-who said what to whom. However, few studies have explicitly probed memory to evaluate what type of information is maintained following a communicative exchange. The current study examined how item and context memory relate to the development of common ground over the course of a conversation, and how these forms of memory vary as a function of one's role in a conversation as speaker or listener. The process of developing common ground was positively related to both item and context memory. In addition, content that was spoken was remembered better than content that was heard. Our findings illustrate how memory assessments can complement language measures by revealing the impact that basic conversational processes have on memory for what has been discussed. By taking this approach, we show that not only does the process of forming common ground facilitate communication in the present, but it also promotes an enduring record of that event, facilitating conversation into the future.

Nitrate and selected pesticides in ground water of the Mid-Atlantic region

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ator, Scott W.; Ferrari, Matthew J.

1997-01-01

Data from more than 850 sites were compiled and analyzed to document the occurrence of nitrate and pesticides in ground water of the Mid-Atlantic region as part of the Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Only those data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey as part of regional networks between October 1985 and September 1996 (inclusive) were used in the analyses, and the data were examined to ensure analytical results are not biased toward sites at the same location or sites sampled multiple times during this period. Regional data are available for most of the Mid-Atlantic region but large spatial gaps in available data do exist. Nitrate was detected in nearly three-quarters of the samples for which it was analyzed, commonly at levels that suggest anthropogenic sources. Ten percent of samples contained nitrate at concentrations exceeding the Federal Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 10 milligrams per liter as nitrogen. Pesticide compounds (including atrazine, metolachlor, prometon, simazine, and desethylatrazine, an atrazine degradate) were detected in about half of the samples for which they were analyzed, but rarely at concentrations exceeding established MCL?s. The most commonly detected pesticide compounds were desethylatrazine and atrazine. The occurrence of nitrate and pesticides in ground water of the Mid-Atlantic region is related to land cover and rock type. Likely sources of nitrate and pesticides to ground water include agricultural and urban land-use practices; rock type affects the movement of these compounds into and through the ground-water system. Nitrate concentrations in the compiled data set are significantly higher in ground water in agricultural areas than in urban or forested areas, but concentrations in areas of row crops are statistically indistinguishable from those in areas of pastures. Detection frequencies of atrazine, desethylatrazine, and simazine are indistinguishable among urban areas, row crops, and pastures. Prometon was most commonly detected in ground water in urban areas. Ground-water samples from forested areas typically contained the lowest concentrations of nitrate and detection frequencies of pesticides. Concentrations of nitrate and detection frequencies of pesticides were significantly higher in samples from carbonate rocks than in those from any other rock type. Most areas of the Mid-Atlantic region that are underlain by carbonate rocks have been developed for agricultural or urban use and the solution channels that are typical of carbonate rocks allow for relatively rapid transport of surficial contaminants throughout the ground-water system. Nitrate concentrations in unconsolidated aquifers were among the lowest for all rock types, possibly because of denitrification in organic-rich subsoils and shallow sediments.

AMS Ground Truth Measurements: Calibrations and Test Lines

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wasiolek, Piotr T.

2015-12-01

Airborne gamma spectrometry is one of the primary techniques used to define the extent of ground contamination after a radiological incident. Its usefulness was demonstrated extensively during the response to the Fukushima NPP accident in March-May 2011. To map ground contamination, a set of scintillation detectors is mounted on an airborne platform (airplane or helicopter) and flown over contaminated areas. The acquisition system collects spectral information together with the aircraft position and altitude every second. To provide useful information to decision makers, the count data, expressed in counts per second (cps), need to be converted to a terrestrial component ofmore » the exposure rate at 1 meter (m) above ground, or surface activity of the isotopes of concern. This is done using conversion coefficients derived from calibration flights. During a large-scale radiological event, multiple flights may be necessary and may require use of assets from different agencies. However, because production of a single, consistent map product depicting the ground contamination is the primary goal, it is critical to establish a common calibration line very early into the event. Such a line should be flown periodically in order to normalize data collected from different aerial acquisition systems and that are potentially flown at different flight altitudes and speeds. In order to verify and validate individual aerial systems, the calibration line needs to be characterized in terms of ground truth measurements This is especially important if the contamination is due to short-lived radionuclides. The process of establishing such a line, as well as necessary ground truth measurements, is described in this document.« less

AMS Ground Truth Measurements: Calibration and Test Lines

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wasiolek, P.

2013-11-01

Airborne gamma spectrometry is one of the primary techniques used to define the extent of ground contamination after a radiological incident. Its usefulness was demonstrated extensively during the response to the Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) accident in March-May 2011. To map ground contamination a set of scintillation detectors is mounted on an airborne platform (airplane or helicopter) and flown over contaminated areas. The acquisition system collects spectral information together with the aircraft position and altitude every second. To provide useful information to decision makers, the count rate data expressed in counts per second (cps) needs to be converted tomore » the terrestrial component of the exposure rate 1 m above ground, or surface activity of isotopes of concern. This is done using conversion coefficients derived from calibration flights. During a large scale radiological event, multiple flights may be necessary and may require use of assets from different agencies. However, as the production of a single, consistent map product depicting the ground contamination is the primary goal, it is critical to establish very early into the event a common calibration line. Such a line should be flown periodically in order to normalize data collected from different aerial acquisition systems and potentially flown at different flight altitudes and speeds. In order to verify and validate individual aerial systems, the calibration line needs to be characterized in terms of ground truth measurements. This is especially important if the contamination is due to short-lived radionuclides. The process of establishing such a line, as well as necessary ground truth measurements, is described in this document.« less

Development of a Ground Water Data Portal for Interoperable Data Exchange within the U.S. National Ground Water Monitoring Network and Beyond

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Booth, N. L.; Brodaric, B.; Lucido, J. M.; Kuo, I.; Boisvert, E.; Cunningham, W. L.

2011-12-01

The need for a national groundwater monitoring network within the United States is profound and has been recognized by organizations outside government as a major data gap for managing ground-water resources. Our country's communities, industries, agriculture, energy production and critical ecosystems rely on water being available in adequate quantity and suitable quality. To meet this need the Subcommittee on Ground Water, established by the Federal Advisory Committee on Water Information, created a National Ground Water Monitoring Network (NGWMN) envisioned as a voluntary, integrated system of data collection, management and reporting that will provide the data needed to address present and future ground-water management questions raised by Congress, Federal, State and Tribal agencies and the public. The NGWMN Data Portal is the means by which policy makers, academics and the public will be able to access ground water data through one seamless web-based application from disparate data sources. Data systems in the United States exist at many organizational and geographic levels and differing vocabulary and data structures have prevented data sharing and reuse. The data portal will facilitate the retrieval of and access to groundwater data on an as-needed basis from multiple, dispersed data repositories allowing the data to continue to be housed and managed by the data provider while being accessible for the purposes of the national monitoring network. This work leverages Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) data exchange standards and information models. To advance these standards for supporting the exchange of ground water information, an OGC Interoperability Experiment was organized among international participants from government, academia and the private sector. The experiment focused on ground water data exchange across the U.S. / Canadian border. WaterML2.0, an evolving international standard for water observations, encodes ground water levels and is exchanged using the OGC Sensor Observation Service (SOS) standard. Ground Water Markup Language (GWML) encodes well log, lithology and construction information and is exchanged using the OGC Web Feature Service (WFS) standard. Within the NGWMN Data Portal, data exchange between distributed data provider repositories is achieved through the use of these web services and a central mediation hub, which performs both format (syntactic) and nomenclature (semantic) mediation, conforming heterogeneous inputs into common standards-based outputs. Through these common standards, interoperability between the U.S. NGWMN and Canada's Groundwater Information Network (GIN) is achieved, advancing a ground water virtual observatory across North America.

SENSITIVITY OF DIFFERENT AEROMONAS SPECIES TO COPPER AND SILVER

EPA Science Inventory

Aeromonas bacteria are common flora in surface and ground waters and are considered to be human pathogens. They can also be found in municipally treated drinking water, likely as a component of biofilms, as found in distribution system pipes and point of use water filters. It ...

Scheduling System Assessment, and Development and Enhancement of Re-engineered Version of GPSS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loganantharaj, Rasiah; Thomas, Bushrod; Passonno, Nicole

1996-01-01

The objective of this project is two-fold. First to provide an evaluation of a commercially developed version of the ground processing scheduling system (GPSS) for its applicability to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) ground processing problem. Second, to work with the KSC GPSS development team and provide enhancement to the existing software. Systems reengineering is required to provide a sustainable system for the users and the software maintenance group. Using the LISP profile prototype code developed by the GPSS reverse reengineering groups as a building block, we have implemented the resource deconfliction portion of GPSS in common LISP using its object oriented features. The prototype corrects and extends some of the deficiencies of the current production version, plus it uses and builds on the classes from the development team's profile prototype.

Comparison of Ground-Based and Airborne Function Allocation Concepts for NextGen Using Human-In-The-Loop Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wing, David J.; Prevot, Thomas; Murdoch, Jennifer L.; Cabrall, Christopher D.; Homola, Jeffrey R.; Martin, Lynne H.; Mercer, Joey S.; Hoadley, Sherwood T.; Wilson, Sara R.; Hubbs, Clay E.;

49 CFR 236.2 - Grounds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... circuit, except circuits which include any track rail and except the common return wires of single-wire, single-break, signal control circuits using a grounded common, and alternating current power distribution...

49 CFR 236.2 - Grounds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... circuit, except circuits which include any track rail and except the common return wires of single-wire, single-break, signal control circuits using a grounded common, and alternating current power distribution...

49 CFR 236.2 - Grounds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... circuit, except circuits which include any track rail and except the common return wires of single-wire, single-break, signal control circuits using a grounded common, and alternating current power distribution...

A matched filter method for ground-based sub-noise detection of terrestrial extrasolar planets in eclipsing binaries: application to CM Draconis.

PubMed

Jenkins, J M; Doyle, L R; Cullers, D K

1996-02-01

The photometric detection of extrasolar planets by transits in eclipsing binary systems can be significantly improved by cross-correlating the observational light curves with synthetic models of possible planetary transit features, essentially a matched filter approach. We demonstrate the utility and application of this transit detection algorithm for ground-based detections of terrestrial-sized (Earth-to-Neptune radii) extrasolar planets in the dwarf M-star eclipsing binary system CM Draconis. Preliminary photometric observational data of this system demonstrate that the observational noise is well characterized as white and Gaussian at the observational time steps required for precision photometric measurements. Depending on planet formation scenarios, terrestrial-sized planets may form quite close to this low-luminosity system. We demonstrate, for example, that planets as small as 1.4 Earth radii with periods on the order of a few months in the CM Draconis system could be detected at the 99.9% confidence level in less than a year using 1-m class telescopes from the ground. This result contradicts commonly held assumptions limiting present ground-based efforts to, at best, detections of gas giant planets after several years of observation. This method can be readily extended to a number of other larger star systems with the utilization of larger telescopes and longer observing times. Its extension to spacecraft observations should also allow the determination of the presence of terrestrial-sized planets in nearly 100 other known eclipsing binary systems.

A matched filter method for ground-based sub-noise detection of terrestrial extrasolar planets in eclipsing binaries: application to CM Draconis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jenkins, J. M.; Doyle, L. R.; Cullers, D. K.

1996-01-01

The photometric detection of extrasolar planets by transits in eclipsing binary systems can be significantly improved by cross-correlating the observational light curves with synthetic models of possible planetary transit features, essentially a matched filter approach. We demonstrate the utility and application of this transit detection algorithm for ground-based detections of terrestrial-sized (Earth-to-Neptune radii) extrasolar planets in the dwarf M-star eclipsing binary system CM Draconis. Preliminary photometric observational data of this system demonstrate that the observational noise is well characterized as white and Gaussian at the observational time steps required for precision photometric measurements. Depending on planet formation scenarios, terrestrial-sized planets may form quite close to this low-luminosity system. We demonstrate, for example, that planets as small as 1.4 Earth radii with periods on the order of a few months in the CM Draconis system could be detected at the 99.9% confidence level in less than a year using 1-m class telescopes from the ground. This result contradicts commonly held assumptions limiting present ground-based efforts to, at best, detections of gas giant planets after several years of observation. This method can be readily extended to a number of other larger star systems with the utilization of larger telescopes and longer observing times. Its extension to spacecraft observations should also allow the determination of the presence of terrestrial-sized planets in nearly 100 other known eclipsing binary systems.

Exploration Medical System Demonstration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rubin, D. A.; Watkins, S. D.

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Exploration class missions will present significant new challenges and hazards to the health of the astronauts. Regardless of the intended destination, beyond low Earth orbit a greater degree of crew autonomy will be required to diagnose medical conditions, develop treatment plans, and implement procedures due to limited communications with ground-based personnel. SCOPE: The Exploration Medical System Demonstration (EMSD) project will act as a test bed on the International Space Station (ISS) to demonstrate to crew and ground personnel that an end-to-end medical system can assist clinician and non-clinician crew members in optimizing medical care delivery and data management during an exploration mission. Challenges facing exploration mission medical care include limited resources, inability to evacuate to Earth during many mission phases, and potential rendering of medical care by non-clinicians. This system demonstrates the integration of medical devices and informatics tools for managing evidence and decision making and can be designed to assist crewmembers in nominal, non-emergent situations and in emergent situations when they may be suffering from performance decrements due to environmental, physiological or other factors. PROJECT OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the EMSD project are to: a. Reduce or eliminate the time required of an on-orbit crew and ground personnel to access, transfer, and manipulate medical data. b. Demonstrate that the on-orbit crew has the ability to access medical data/information via an intuitive and crew-friendly solution to aid in the treatment of a medical condition. c. Develop a common data management framework that can be ubiquitously used to automate repetitive data collection, management, and communications tasks for all activities pertaining to crew health and life sciences. d. Ensure crew access to medical data during periods of restricted ground communication. e. Develop a common data management framework that allows for scalability, extensibility, and interoperability of data sources and data users. f. Lower total cost of ownership for development and sustainment of peripheral hardware and software that use EMSD for data management. g. Provide a better standard of healthcare for crew members through reductions in the time required by crew and ground personnel to provide medical treatment and the number of crew errors experienced during treatment.

The Charlotte (TM) intra-vehicular robot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swaim, Patrick L.; Thompson, Clark J.; Campbell, Perry D.

1994-01-01

NASA has identified telerobotics and telescience as essential technologies to reduce the crew extra-vehicular activity (EVA) and intra-vehicular activity (IVA) workloads. Under this project, we are developing and flight testing a novel IVA robot to relieve the crew of tedious and routine tasks. Through ground telerobotic control of this robot, we will enable ground researchers to routinely interact with experiments in space. Our approach is to develop an IVA robot system incrementally by employing a series of flight tests with increasing complexity. This approach has the advantages of providing an early IVA capability that can assist the crew, demonstrate capabilities that ground researchers can be confident of in planning for future experiments, and allow incremental refinement of system capabilities and insertion of new technology. In parallel with this approach to flight testing, we seek to establish ground test beds, in which the requirements of payload experimenters can be further investigated. In 1993 we reviewed manifested SpaceHab experiments and defined IVA robot requirements to assist in their operation. We also examined previous IVA robot designs and assessed them against flight requirements. We rejected previous design concepts on the basis of threat to crew safety, operability, and maintainability. Based on this insight, we developed an entirely new concept for IVA robotics, the CHARLOTTE robot system. Ground based testing of a prototype version of the system has already proven its ability to perform most common tasks demanded of the crew, including operation of switches, buttons, knobs, dials, and performing video surveys of experiments and switch panels.

A hardware-in-the-loop simulation program for ground-based radar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lam, Eric P.; Black, Dennis W.; Ebisu, Jason S.; Magallon, Julianna

2011-06-01

A radar system created using an embedded computer system needs testing. The way to test an embedded computer system is different from the debugging approaches used on desktop computers. One way to test a radar system is to feed it artificial inputs and analyze the outputs of the radar. More often, not all of the building blocks of the radar system are available to test. This will require the engineer to test parts of the radar system using a "black box" approach. A common way to test software code on a desktop simulation is to use breakpoints so that is pauses after each cycle through its calculations. The outputs are compared against the values that are expected. This requires the engineer to use valid test scenarios. We will present a hardware-in-the-loop simulator that allows the embedded system to think it is operating with real-world inputs and outputs. From the embedded system's point of view, it is operating in real-time. The hardware in the loop simulation is based on our Desktop PC Simulation (PCS) testbed. In the past, PCS was used for ground-based radars. This embedded simulation, called Embedded PCS, allows a rapid simulated evaluation of ground-based radar performance in a laboratory environment.

The Distributed Common Ground System-Army User Interface

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-12

its perceived lack of effectiveness. Popular opinion of the DCGS-A user interface within the military is it is unfriendly to use and not intuitive...from members of the United States Congress due to its perceived lack of effectiveness. Popular opinion of the DCGS-A user interface within the

Simulation of the Regional Ground-Water-Flow System and Ground-Water/Surface-Water Interaction in the Rock River Basin, Wisconsin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Juckem, Paul F.

2009-01-01

A regional, two-dimensional, areal ground-water-flow model was developed to simulate the ground-water-flow system and ground-water/surface-water interaction in the Rock River Basin. The model was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Rock River Coalition. The objectives of the regional model were to improve understanding of the ground-water-flow system and to develop a tool suitable for evaluating the effects of potential regional water-management programs. The computer code GFLOW was used because of the ease with which the model can simulate ground-water/surface-water interactions, provide a framework for simulating regional ground-water-flow systems, and be refined in a stepwise fashion to incorporate new data and simulate ground-water-flow patterns at multiple scales. The ground-water-flow model described in this report simulates the major hydrogeologic features of the modeled area, including bedrock and surficial aquifers, ground-water/surface-water interactions, and ground-water withdrawals from high-capacity wells. The steady-state model treats the ground-water-flow system as a single layer with hydraulic conductivity and base elevation zones that reflect the distribution of lithologic groups above the Precambrian bedrock and a regionally significant confining unit, the Maquoketa Formation. In the eastern part of the Basin where the shale-rich Maquoketa Formation is present, deep ground-water flow in the sandstone aquifer below the Maquoketa Formation was not simulated directly, but flow into this aquifer was incorporated into the GFLOW model from previous work in southeastern Wisconsin. Recharge was constrained primarily by stream base-flow estimates and was applied uniformly within zones guided by regional infiltration estimates for soils. The model includes average ground-water withdrawals from 1997 to 2006 for municipal wells and from 1997 to 2005 for high-capacity irrigation, industrial, and commercial wells. In addition, the model routes tributary base flow through the river network to the Rock River. The parameter-estimation code PEST was linked to the GFLOW model to select the combination of parameter values best able to match more than 8,000 water-level measurements and base-flow estimates at 9 streamgages. Results from the calibrated GFLOW model show simulated (1) ground-water-flow directions, (2) ground-water/surface-water interactions, as depicted in a map of gaining and losing river and lake sections, (3) ground-water contributing areas for selected tributary rivers, and (4) areas of relatively local ground water captured by rivers. Ground-water flow patterns are controlled primarily by river geometries, with most river sections gaining water from the ground-water-flow system; losing sections are most common on the downgradient shore of lakes and reservoirs or near major pumping centers. Ground-water contributing areas to tributary rivers generally coincide with surface watersheds; however the locations of ground-water divides are controlled by the water table, whereas surface-water divides are controlled by surface topography. Finally, areas of relatively local ground water captured by rivers generally extend upgradient from rivers but are modified by the regional flow pattern, such that these areas tend to shift toward regional ground-water divides for relatively small rivers. It is important to recognize the limitations of this regional-scale model. Heterogeneities in subsurface properties and in recharge rates are considered only at a very broad scale (miles to tens of miles). No account is taken of vertical variations in properties or pumping rates, and no provision is made to account for stacked ground-water-flow systems that have different flow patterns at different depths. Small-scale flow systems (hundreds to thousands of feet) associated with minor water bodies are not considered; as a result, the model is not currently designed for simulating site-specifi

Ground System Extensibility Considerations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, S. W.; Greene, E.

2017-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are jointly acquiring the next-generation civilian weather and environmental satellite system: the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). The Joint Polar Satellite System will replace the afternoon orbit component and ground processing system of the current Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) managed by NOAA. The JPSS satellites will carry a suite of sensors designed to collect meteorological, oceanographic, climatological and geophysical observations of the Earth. The ground processing system for JPSS is known as the JPSS Common Ground System (JPSS CGS). Developed and maintained by Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services (IIS), the CGS is a multi-mission enterprise system serving NOAA, NASA and their national and international partners, such as NASA's Earth Observation System (EOS), NOAA's current POES, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Global Change Observation Mission - Water (GCOM-W1), and DoD's Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). The CGS provides a wide range of support to a number of national and international missions, including command and control, mission management, data acquisition and routing, and environmental data processing and distribution. The current suite of CGS-supported missions has demonstrated the value of interagency and international partnerships to address global observation needs. With its established infrastructure and existing suite of missions, the CGS is extensible to a wider array of potential new missions. This paper will describe how the inherent scalability and extensibility of the CGS enables the addition of these new missions, with an eye on global enterprise needs in the 2020's and beyond.

Spatial-temporal and modal analysis of propeller induced ground vortices by particle image velocimetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Y.; Sciacchitano, A.; Veldhuis, L. L. M.; Eitelberg, G.

2016-10-01

During the ground operation of aircraft, there is potentially a system of vortices generated from the ground toward the propulsor, commonly denoted as ground vortices. Although extensive research has been conducted on ground vortices induced by turbofans which were simplified by suction tubes, these studies cannot well capture the properties of ground vortices induced by propellers, e.g., the flow phenomena due to intermittent characteristics of blade passing and the presence of slipstream of the propeller. Therefore, the investigation of ground vortices induced by a propeller is performed to improve understanding of these phenomena. The distributions of velocities in two different planes containing the vortices were measured by high frequency Particle Image Velocimetry. These planes are a wall-parallel plane in close proximity to the ground and a wall-normal plane upstream of the propeller. The instantaneous flow fields feature highly unsteady flow in both of these two planes. The spectral analysis is conducted in these two flow fields and the energetic frequencies are quantified. The flow fields are further evaluated by applying the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition analysis to capture the coherent flow structures. Consistent flow structures with strong contributions to the turbulent kinetic energy are noticed in the two planes.

Pesticides in Ground Water of the Maryland Coastal Plain

USGS Publications Warehouse

Denver, Judith M.; Ator, Scott W.

2006-01-01

Selected pesticides are detectable at low levels (generally less than 0.1 microgram per liter) in unconfined ground water in many parts of the Maryland Coastal Plain. Samples were recently collected (2001-04) from 47 wells in the Coastal Plain and analyzed for selected pesticides and degradate compounds (products of pesticide degradation). Most pesticide degradation occurs in the soil zone before infiltration to the water table, and degradates of selected pesticides were commonly detected in ground water, often at higher concentrations than their respective parent compounds. Pesticides and their degradates often occur in ground water in mixtures of multiple compounds, reflecting similar patterns in usage. All measured concentrations in ground water were below established standards for drinking water, and nearly all were below other health-based guidelines. Although drinking-water standards and guidelines are typically much higher than observed concentrations in ground water, they do not exist for many detected compounds (particularly degradates), or for mixtures of multiple compounds. The distribution of observed pesticide compounds reflects known usage patterns, as well as chemical properties and environmental factors that affect the fate and transport of these compounds in the environment. Many commonly used pesticides, such as glyphosate, pendimethalin, and 2,4-D were not detected in ground water, likely because they were sorbed onto organic matter or degraded in the soil zone. Others that are more soluble and (or) persistent, like atrazine, metolachlor, and several of their degradates, were commonly detected in ground water where they have been used. Atrazine, for example, an herbicide used primarily on corn, was most commonly detected in ground water on the Eastern Shore (where agriculture is common), particularly where soils are well drained. Conversely, dieldrin, an insecticide previously used heavily for termite control, was detected only on the Western Shore, where urban land is more common. Use of dieldrin was suspended in 1987, but this compound is relatively persistent in the environment, and several decades are typically required for ground water to move completely through the surficial aquifer. U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey USGS Fact Sheet FS 2006-3119 2006 Location of the Maryland Coastal Plain.

Determining Component Probability using Problem Report Data for Ground Systems used in Manned Space Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Monaghan, Mark W.; Gillespie, Amanda M.

2013-01-01

During the shuttle era NASA utilized a failure reporting system called the Problem Reporting and Corrective Action (PRACA) it purpose was to identify and track system non-conformance. The PRACA system over the years evolved from a relatively nominal way to identify system problems to a very complex tracking and report generating data base. The PRACA system became the primary method to categorize any and all anomalies from corrosion to catastrophic failure. The systems documented in the PRACA system range from flight hardware to ground or facility support equipment. While the PRACA system is complex, it does possess all the failure modes, times of occurrence, length of system delay, parts repaired or replaced, and corrective action performed. The difficulty is mining the data then to utilize that data in order to estimate component, Line Replaceable Unit (LRU), and system reliability analysis metrics. In this paper, we identify a methodology to categorize qualitative data from the ground system PRACA data base for common ground or facility support equipment. Then utilizing a heuristic developed for review of the PRACA data determine what reports identify a credible failure. These data are the used to determine inter-arrival times to perform an estimation of a metric for repairable component-or LRU reliability. This analysis is used to determine failure modes of the equipment, determine the probability of the component failure mode, and support various quantitative differing techniques for performing repairable system analysis. The result is that an effective and concise estimate of components used in manned space flight operations. The advantage is the components or LRU's are evaluated in the same environment and condition that occurs during the launch process.

A model of collaborative agency and common ground.

PubMed

Kuziemsky, Craig E; Cornett, Janet Alexandra

2013-01-01

As more healthcare delivery is provided via collaborative means there is a need to understand how to design information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support collaboration. Existing research has largely focused on individual aspects of ICT usage and not how they can support the coordination of collaborative activities. In order to understand how we can design ICTs to support collaboration we need to understand how agents, technologies, information and processes integrate while providing collaborative care delivery. Co-agency and common ground have both provided insight about the integration of different entities as part of collaboration practices. However there is still a lack of understanding about how to coordinate the integration of agents, processes and technologies to support collaboration. This paper combines co-agency and common ground to develop a model of collaborative agency and specific categories of common ground to facilitate its coordination.

ADRPM-VII applied to the long-range acoustic detection problem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shalis, Edward; Koenig, Gerald

1990-01-01

An acoustic detection range prediction model (ADRPM-VII) has been written for IBM PC/AT machines running on the MS-DOS operating system. The software allows the user to predict detection distances of ground combat vehicles and their associated targets when they are involved in quasi-military settings. The program can also calculate individual attenuation losses due to spherical spreading, atmospheric absorption, ground reflection and atmospheric refraction due to temperature and wind gradients while varying parameters effecting the source-receiver problem. The purpose here is to examine the strengths and limitations of ADRPM-VII by modeling the losses due to atmospheric refraction and ground absorption, commonly known as excess attenuation, when applied to the long range detection problem for distances greater than 3 kilometers.

Ground Water Atlas of the United States: Introduction and national summary

USGS Publications Warehouse

Miller, James A.

1999-01-01

The Ground Water Atlas of the United States provides a summary of the most important information available for each principal aquifer, or rock unit that will yield usable quantities of water to wells, throughout the 50 States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Atlas is an outgrowth of the Regional Aquifer-System Analysis (RASA) program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a program that investigated 24 of the most important aquifers and aquifer systems of the Nation and one in the Caribbean Islands (fig. 1). The objectives of the RASA program were to define the geologic and hydrologic frameworks of each aquifer system, to assess the geochemistry of the water in the system, to characterize the ground-water flow system, and to describe the effects of development on the flow system. Although the RASA studies did not cover the entire Nation, they compiled much of the data needed to make the National assessments of ground-water resources presented in the Ground Water Atlas of the United States. The Atlas, however, describes the location, extent, and geologic and hydrologic characteristics of all the important aquifers in the United States, including those not studied by the RASA program. The Atlas is written so that it can be understood by readers who are not hydrologists. Simple language is used to explain technical terms. The principles that control the presence, movement, and chemical quality of ground water in different climatic, topographic, and geologic settings are clearly illustrated. The Atlas is, therefore, useful as a teaching tool for introductory courses in hydrology or hydrogeology at the college level and as an overview of ground-water conditions for consultants who need information about an individual aquifer. It also serves as an introduction to regional and National ground-water resources for lawmakers, personnel of local, State, or Federal agencies, or anyone who needs to understand ground-water occurrence, movement, and quality. The purpose of the Ground Water Atlas of the United States is to summarize, in one publication with a common format, the most important ground-water information that has been collected over many years by the USGS, other Federal agencies, and State and local water management agencies. The purpose of this introductory chapter is to describe the content of the Atlas; to discuss the characteristics, use, and limitations of the maps and other types of illustrations used in the different chapters of the book; to summarize the locations of the principal aquifers on a Nationwide map; and to give an example of an aquifer in each principal hydrogeologic setting.

A Synthesis of Star Calibration Techniques for Ground-Based Narrowband Electron-Multiplying Charge-Coupled Device Imagers Used in Auroral Photometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grubbs, Guy II; Michell, Robert; Samara, Marilia; Hampton, Don; Jahn, Jorg-Micha

2016-01-01

A technique is presented for the periodic and systematic calibration of ground-based optical imagers. It is important to have a common system of units (Rayleighs or photon flux) for cross comparison as well as self-comparison over time. With the advancement in technology, the sensitivity of these imagers has improved so that stars can be used for more precise calibration. Background subtraction, flat fielding, star mapping, and other common techniques are combined in deriving a calibration technique appropriate for a variety of ground-based imager installations. Spectral (4278, 5577, and 8446 A ) ground-based imager data with multiple fields of view (19, 47, and 180 deg) are processed and calibrated using the techniques developed. The calibration techniques applied result in intensity measurements in agreement between different imagers using identical spectral filtering, and the intensity at each wavelength observed is within the expected range of auroral measurements. The application of these star calibration techniques, which convert raw imager counts into units of photon flux, makes it possible to do quantitative photometry. The computed photon fluxes, in units of Rayleighs, can be used for the absolute photometry between instruments or as input parameters for auroral electron transport models.

Well characteristics influencing arsenic concentrations in ground water.

PubMed

Erickson, Melinda L; Barnes, Randal J

2005-10-01

Naturally occurring arsenic contamination is common in ground water in the upper Midwest. Arsenic is most likely to be present in glacial drift and shallow bedrock wells that lie within the footprint of northwest provenance Late Wisconsinan glacial drift. Elevated arsenic is more common in domestic wells and in monitoring wells than it is in public water system wells. Arsenic contamination is also more prevalent in domestic wells with short screens set in proximity to an upper confining unit, such as glacial till. Public water system wells have distinctly different well-construction practices and well characteristics when compared to domestic and monitoring wells. Construction practices such as exploiting a thick, coarse aquifer and installing a long well screen yield good water quantity for public water system wells. Coincidentally, these construction practices also often yield low arsenic water. Coarse aquifer materials have less surface area for adsorbing arsenic, and thus less arsenic available for potential mobilization. Wells with long screens set at a distance from an upper confining unit are at lower risk of exposure to geochemical conditions conducive to arsenic mobilization via reductive mechanisms such as reductive dissolution of metal hydroxides and reductive desorption of arsenic.

Lightning and surge protection of large ground facilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stringfellow, Michael F.

1988-04-01

The vulnerability of large ground facilities to direct lightning strikes and to lightning-induced overvoltages on the power distribution, telephone and data communication lines are discussed. Advanced electrogeometric modeling is used for the calculation of direct strikes to overhead power lines, buildings, vehicles and objects within the facility. Possible modes of damage, injury and loss are discussed. Some appropriate protection methods for overhead power lines, structures, vehicles and aircraft are suggested. Methods to mitigate the effects of transients on overhead and underground power systems as well as within buildings and other structures are recommended. The specification and location of low-voltage surge suppressors for the protection of vulnerable hardware such as computers, telecommunication equipment and radar installations are considered. The advantages and disadvantages of commonly used grounding techniques, such as single point, multiple and isolated grounds are compared. An example is given of the expected distribution of lightning flashes to a large airport, its buildings, structures and facilities, as well as to vehicles on the ground.

Design of a Multi-mode Flight Deck Decision Support System for Airborne Conflict Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barhydt, Richard; Krishnamurthy, Karthik

2004-01-01

NASA Langley has developed a multi-mode decision support system for pilots operating in a Distributed Air-Ground Traffic Management (DAG-TM) environment. An Autonomous Operations Planner (AOP) assists pilots in performing separation assurance functions, including conflict detection, prevention, and resolution. Ongoing AOP design has been based on a comprehensive human factors analysis and evaluation results from previous human-in-the-loop experiments with airline pilot test subjects. AOP considers complex flight mode interactions and provides flight guidance to pilots consistent with the current aircraft control state. Pilots communicate goals to AOP by setting system preferences and actively probing potential trajectories for conflicts. To minimize training requirements and improve operational use, AOP design leverages existing alerting philosophies, displays, and crew interfaces common on commercial aircraft. Future work will consider trajectory prediction uncertainties, integration with the TCAS collision avoidance system, and will incorporate enhancements based on an upcoming air-ground coordination experiment.

The use of body weight support on ground level: an alternative strategy for gait training of individuals with stroke.

PubMed

Sousa, Catarina O; Barela, José A; Prado-Medeiros, Christiane L; Salvini, Tania F; Barela, Ana M F

2009-12-01

Body weight support (BWS) systems on treadmill have been proposed as a strategy for gait training of subjects with stroke. Considering that ground level is the most common locomotion surface and that there is little information about individuals with stroke walking with BWS on ground level, it is important to investigate the use of BWS on ground level in these individuals as a possible alternative strategy for gait training. Thirteen individuals with chronic stroke (four women and nine men; mean age 54.46 years) were videotaped walking on ground level in three experimental conditions: with no harness, with harness bearing full body weight, and with harness bearing 30% of full body weight. Measurements were recorded for mean walking speed, cadence, stride length, stride speed, durations of initial and terminal double stance, single limb support, swing period, and range of motion of ankle, knee, and hip joints; and foot, shank, thigh, and trunk segments. The use of BWS system leads to changes in stride length and speed, but not in stance and swing period duration. Only the hip joint was influenced by the BWS system in the 30% BWS condition. Shank and thigh segments presented less range of motion in the 30% BWS condition than in the other conditions, and the trunk was held straighter in the 30% BWS condition than in the other conditions. Individuals with stroke using BWS system on ground level walked slower and with shorter stride length than with no harness. BWS also led to reduction of hip, shank, and thigh range of motion. However, this system did not change walking temporal organization and body side asymmetry of individuals with stroke. On the other hand, the BWS system enabled individuals with chronic stroke to walk safely and without physical assistance. In interventions, the physical therapist can watch and correct gait pattern in patients' performance without the need to provide physical assistance.

Proposed Functional Architecture and Associated Benefits Analysis of a Common Ground Control Station for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-01

143 Table 12. High Level Analysis of O&S Costs of Different Training Options...Station On station 24/7 ( ETOS 80%) On station 24/7 for 30 consecutive days ( ETOS 95%) Mission Radius ≥ 2,000 nm ≥ 3,000 nm Net Ready-KPP COMMON...Training with As-Is Unique GCS Architectures 143 The results of the analysis for BUQs I-IV are shown in Table 11. The data shows that

Characterization and disinfection by-product formation potential of natural organic matter in surface and ground waters from Northern Florida

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rostad, C.E.; Leenheer, J.A.; Katz, B.; Martin, B.S.; Noyes, T.I.

2000-01-01

Streamwaters in northern Florida have large concentrations of natural organic matter (NOM), and commonly flow directly into the ground water system through karst features, such as sinkholes. In this study NOM from northern Florida stream and ground waters was fractionated, the fractions characterized by infrared (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and then chlorinated to investigate their disinfection by-product (DBP) formation potential (FP). As the NOM character changed (as quantified by changes in NOM distribution in various fractions, such as hydrophilic acids or hydrophobic neutrals) due to migration through the aquifer, the total organic halide (TOX)-FP and trihalomethane (THM)-FP yield of each of these fractions varied also. In surface waters, the greatest DBP yields were produced by the colloid fraction. In ground waters, DBP yield of the hydrophobic acid fraction (the greatest in terms of mass) decreased during infiltration.

Fighting Testing ACAT/FRRP: Automatic Collision Avoidance Technology/Fighter Risk Reduction Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Skoog, Mark A.

2009-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the work of the Flight testing Automatic Collision Avoidance Technology/Fighter Risk Reduction Project (ACAT/FRRP). The goal of this project is to develop common modular architecture for all aircraft, and to enable the transition of technology from research to production as soon as possible to begin to reduce the rate of mishaps. The automated Ground Collision Avoidance System (GCAS) system is designed to prevent collision with the ground, by avionics that project the future trajectory over digital terrain, and request an evasion maneuver at the last instance. The flight controls are capable of automatically performing a recovery. The collision avoidance is described in the presentation. Also included in the presentation is a description of the flight test.

The use of grounded theory in studies of nurses and midwives' coping processes: a systematic literature search.

PubMed

Cheer, Karen; MacLaren, David; Tsey, Komla

2015-01-01

Researchers are increasingly using grounded theory methodologies to study the professional experience of nurses and midwives. To review common grounded theory characteristics and research design quality as described in grounded theory studies of coping strategies used by nurses and midwives. A systematic database search for 2005-2015 identified and assessed grounded theory characteristics from 16 studies. Study quality was assessed using a modified Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool. Grounded theory was considered a methodology or a set of methods, able to be used within different nursing and midwifery contexts. Specific research requirements determined the common grounded theory characteristics used in different studies. Most researchers did not clarify their epistemological and theoretical perspectives. To improve research design and trustworthiness of grounded theory studies in nursing and midwifery, researchers need to state their theoretical stance and clearly articulate their use of grounded theory methodology and characteristics in research reporting.

Linear Power-Flow Models in Multiphase Distribution Networks: Preprint

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bernstein, Andrey; Dall'Anese, Emiliano

This paper considers multiphase unbalanced distribution systems and develops approximate power-flow models where bus-voltages, line-currents, and powers at the point of common coupling are linearly related to the nodal net power injections. The linearization approach is grounded on a fixed-point interpretation of the AC power-flow equations, and it is applicable to distribution systems featuring (i) wye connections; (ii) ungrounded delta connections; (iii) a combination of wye-connected and delta-connected sources/loads; and, (iv) a combination of line-to-line and line-to-grounded-neutral devices at the secondary of distribution transformers. The proposed linear models can facilitate the development of computationally-affordable optimization and control applications -- frommore » advanced distribution management systems settings to online and distributed optimization routines. Performance of the proposed models is evaluated on different test feeders.« less

Finding the Common Ground: A Comparison of Writing Expectations and Outcomes between the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and the Common Core State Standards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacoby, Pat; Vasinda, Sheri

2014-01-01

In the Winter 2013 edition of the "Texas Journal of Literacy Education," we announced that a special task force from the TALE board would be sharing the common ground among the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and the College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS). In that first edition, we…

An Introduction to Message-Bus Architectures for Space Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Danford; Gregory, Brian

2005-01-01

This course presents technical and programmatic information on the development of message-based architectures for space mission ground and flight software systems. Message-based architecture approaches provide many significant advantages over the more traditional socket-based one-of-a-kind integrated system development approaches. The course provides an overview of publish/subscribe concepts, the use of common isolation layer API's, approaches to message standardization, and other technical topics. Several examples of currently operational systems are discussed and possible changes to the system discussed and time for questions and answers will be provided.

The Nature of Teacher Interactions at a High Achieving, High-Risk Urban Middle School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heaton, Charles Richard

2010-01-01

Increasingly, teachers are asked to work both systemically and systematically in addressing school performance and student failure. Structuring school communities for teacher collaboration is one area where educators have found common ground; the present and unprecedented need is reflected in the policy statements of the leading education…

Yours, Mine, Theirs: Multiple Generations in Today's Workplace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grotophorst, Julie

2011-01-01

For the first time in history, four distinct generations are sharing the same workspace. Veterans, Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Generation Y (the Millennials) are all bringing very different life experiences, expectations, and value systems to the work table. How do leaders bridge the gap among these generations and provide common ground on which…

The Professional Foreign Language Teacher in Estonia: Students' and Principals' Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oder, Tuuli

2008-01-01

The Republic of Estonia as a typical country in transition is going through major changes in educational thinking. Global and European educational trends, together with local changes, the most important being a new state system, have resulted in changes in the concept of professional foreign language (FL) teaching. Common ground among various…

Soil response to skidder trafficking and slash application

Treesearch

Brian M. Parkhurst; W. Michael Aust; M. Chad Bolding; Scott M. Barrett; Emily A. Carter

2018-01-01

Ground-based timber harvesting systems are common in the United States. Harvesting machinery can negatively influence soils by increasing erosion and decreasing site productivity. Skid trails can become compacted and erosive. Slash applications to skid trails are effective for erosion control, yet few investigations have examined effects of slash on soil physical...

Environmental Assessment Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) Operations Facility, Beale Air Force Base, California

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-07-01

The following prehistory and history of Beale AFB has been excerpted from the Beale AFB Integrated Cultural Resource Management Plan (ICRMP) (U.S...during all of the defined prehistoric phases. The prevailing trend in the prehistory of the region is from small, highly mobile hunter-gatherer

Agricultural drainage pipe detection using ground penetrating radar: Effects of antenna orientation relative to drainage pipe directional trend

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Locating buried agricultural drainage pipes is a difficult problem confronting farmers and land improvement contractors, especially in the Midwest U.S., where the removal of excess soil water using subsurface drainage systems is a common farm practice. Enhancing the efficiency of soil water removal ...

Stereo depth and the control of locomotive heading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rushton, Simon K.; Harris, Julie M.

1998-04-01

Does the addition of stereoscopic depth aid steering--the perceptual control of locomotor heading--around an environment? This is a critical question when designing a tele-operation or Virtual Environment system, with implications for computational resources and visual comfort. We examined the role of stereoscopic depth in the perceptual control of heading by employing an active steering task. Three conditions were tested: stereoscopic depth; incorrect stereoscopic depth and no stereoscopic depth. Results suggest that stereoscopic depth does not improve performance in a visual control task. A further set of experiments examined the importance of a ground plane. As a ground plane is a common feature of all natural environments and provides a pictorial depth cue, it has been suggested that the visual system may be especially attuned to exploit its presence. Thus it would be predicted that a ground plane would aid judgments of locomotor heading. Results suggest that the presence of rich motion information in the lower visual field produces significant performance advantages and that provision of such information may prove a better target for system resources than stereoscopic depth. These findings have practical consequences for a system designer and also challenge previous theoretical and psychophysical perceptual research.

Evaluation of the recorded ground motions for the unusual earthquake of 13 August 2006 ( M w 5.3) in Michoacán México

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramírez-Gaytán, Alejandro; Jaimes, Miguel A.; Bandy, William L.; Huerfano, Victor M.; Salido-Ruiz, Ricardo A.

2015-10-01

The focal mechanism of the moderate earthquake of 13 August 2006 M w = 5.3, which occurred in the border coastal area between Michoacán and Colima, México, is unusual. As shown by the Global Centroid Moment Tensor (CMT) project and the Servicio Sismológico Nacional de Mexico (SSN), the thrust mechanism is striking almost perpendicularly to the majority of earthquakes occurring along the subduction zone of the Mexican Pacific continental margin which commonly strike nearly parallel to the trench. The purpose of this study is to analyze the observed ground motions of this particular event relative to those of the common events. First, we apply the H/V technique to verify that the stations involved in this study are nearly free of site effects. Then, we compare the observed ground motions with (i) three empirical ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) appropriate for the region, (ii) ground motions of four real earthquakes with the common mechanism, and (iii) the Fourier spectrum of a selected common event.

Freshwater wetlands: fertile grounds for the invasive Phragmites australis in a climate change context

PubMed Central

Tougas-Tellier, Marie-Andrée; Morin, Jean; Hatin, Daniel; Lavoie, Claude

2015-01-01

Climate change will likely affect flooding regimes, which have a large influence on the functioning of freshwater riparian wetlands. Low water levels predicted for several fluvial systems make wetlands especially vulnerable to the spread of invaders, such as the common reed (Phragmites australis), one of the most invasive species in North America. We developed a model to map the distribution of potential germination grounds of the common reed in freshwater wetlands of the St. Lawrence River (Québec, Canada) under current climate conditions and used this model to predict their future distribution under two climate change scenarios simulated for 2050. We gathered historical and recent (remote sensing) data on the distribution of common reed stands for model calibration and validation purposes, then determined the parameters controlling the species establishment by seed. A two-dimensional model and the identified parameters were used to simulate the current (2010) and future (2050) distribution of germination grounds. Common reed stands are not widespread along the St. Lawrence River (212 ha), but our model suggests that current climate conditions are already conducive to considerable further expansion (>16,000 ha). Climate change may also exacerbate the expansion, particularly if river water levels drop, which will expose large bare areas propitious to seed germination. This phenomenon may be particularly important in one sector of the river, where existing common reed stands could increase their areas by a factor of 100, potentially creating the most extensive reedbed complex in North America. After colonizing salt and brackishwater marshes, the common reed could considerably expand into the freshwater marshes of North America which cover several million hectares. The effects of common reed expansion on biodiversity are difficult to predict, but likely to be highly deleterious given the competitiveness of the invader and the biological richness of freshwater wetlands. PMID:26380675

Exploration Medical System Demonstration Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chin, D. A.; McGrath, T. L.; Reyna, B.; Watkins, S. D.

2011-01-01

A near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) mission will present significant new challenges including hazards to crew health created by exploring a beyond low earth orbit destination, traversing the terrain of asteroid surfaces, and the effects of variable gravity environments. Limited communications with ground-based personnel for diagnosis and consultation of medical events require increased crew autonomy when diagnosing conditions, creating treatment plans, and executing procedures. Scope: The Exploration Medical System Demonstration (EMSD) project will be a test bed on the International Space Station (ISS) to show an end-to-end medical system assisting the Crew Medical Officers (CMO) in optimizing medical care delivery and medical data management during a mission. NEA medical care challenges include resource and resupply constraints limiting the extent to which medical conditions can be treated, inability to evacuate to Earth during many mission phases, and rendering of medical care by a non-clinician. The system demonstrates the integration of medical technologies and medical informatics tools for managing evidence and decision making. Project Objectives: The objectives of the EMSD project are to: a) Reduce and possibly eliminate the time required for a crewmember and ground personnel to manage medical data from one application to another. b) Demonstrate crewmember's ability to access medical data/information via a software solution to assist/aid in the treatment of a medical condition. c) Develop a common data management architecture that can be ubiquitously used to automate repetitive data collection, management, and communications tasks for all crew health and life sciences activities. d) Develop a common data management architecture that allows for scalability, extensibility, and interoperability of data sources and data users. e) Lower total cost of ownership for development and sustainment of peripheral hardware and software that use EMSD for data management f) Provide better crew health via the reduction in crew errors, crew time, and ground time.

Intelligent unmanned vehicle systems suitable for individual or cooperative missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, Matthew O.; McKay, Mark D.; Wadsworth, Derek C.

2007-04-01

The Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been researching autonomous unmanned vehicle systems for over fifteen years. Areas of research have included unmanned ground and aerial vehicles used for hazardous and remote operations as well as teamed together for advanced payloads and mission execution. Areas of application include aerial particulate sampling, cooperative remote radiological sampling, and persistent surveillance including real-time mosaic and geo-referenced imagery in addition to high-resolution still imagery. Both fixed-wing and rotary airframes are used possessing capabilities spanning remote control to fully autonomous operation. Patented INL-developed auto steering technology is taken advantage of to provide autonomous parallel path swathing with either manned or unmanned ground vehicles. Aerial look-ahead imagery is utilized to provide a common operating picture for the ground and air vehicles during cooperative missions. This paper will discuss the various robotic vehicles, including sensor integration, used to achieve these missions and anticipated cost and labor savings.

Strengthening the Security of ESA Ground Data Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flentge, Felix; Eggleston, James; Garcia Mateos, Marc

2013-08-01

A common approach to address information security has been implemented in ESA's Mission Operations (MOI) Infrastructure during the last years. This paper reports on the specific challenges to the Data Systems domain within the MOI and how security can be properly managed with an Information Security Management System (ISMS) according to ISO 27001. Results of an initial security risk assessment are reported and the different types of security controls that are being implemented in order to reduce the risks are briefly described.

Multimodality imaging of foreign bodies of the musculoskeletal system.

PubMed

Jarraya, Mohamed; Hayashi, Daichi; de Villiers, Richard V; Roemer, Frank W; Murakami, Akira M; Cossi, Alda; Guermazi, Ali

2014-07-01

The purpose of this article is to clarify the most relevant points in managing suspected foreign bodies of the musculoskeletal system on the basis of a literature review and published reports with cases to illustrate each type on different imaging modalities. Foreign bodies of the musculoskeletal system are a common problem in emergency departments, with more than a third missed in the initial clinical evaluation. These retained objects may result in various complications and also offer fertile ground for litigation.

49 CFR 236.2 - Grounds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

..., single-break, signal control circuits using a grounded common, and alternating current power distribution...) Alternating current power distribution circuits that are grounded in the interest of safety. ...

Contexts as Shared Commitments

PubMed Central

García-Carpintero, Manuel

2015-01-01

Contemporary semantics assumes two influential notions of context: one coming from Kaplan (1989), on which contexts are sets of predetermined parameters, and another originating in Stalnaker (1978), on which contexts are sets of propositions that are “common ground.” The latter is deservedly more popular, given its flexibility in accounting for context-dependent aspects of language beyond manifest indexicals, such as epistemic modals, predicates of taste, and so on and so forth; in fact, properly dealing with demonstratives (perhaps ultimately all indexicals) requires that further flexibility. Even if we acknowledge Lewis (1980)'s point that, in a sense, Kaplanian contexts already include common ground contexts, it is better to be clear and explicit about what contexts constitutively are. Now, Stalnaker (1978, 2002, 2014) defines context-as-common-ground as a set of propositions, but recent work shows that this is not an accurate conception. The paper explains why, and provides an alternative. The main reason is that several phenomena (presuppositional treatments of pejoratives and predicates of taste, forces other than assertion) require that the common ground includes non-doxastic attitudes such as appraisals, emotions, etc. Hence the common ground should not be taken to include merely contents (propositions), but those together with attitudes concerning them: shared commitments, as I will defend. PMID:26733087

The positive side of a negative reference: the delay between linguistic processing and common ground

PubMed Central

Noveck, Ira; Rivera, Natalia; Jaume-Guazzini, Francisco

2017-01-01

Interlocutors converge on names to refer to entities. For example, a speaker might refer to a novel looking object as the jellyfish and, once identified, the listener will too. The hypothesized mechanism behind such referential precedents is a subject of debate. The common ground view claims that listeners register the object as well as the identity of the speaker who coined the label. The linguistic view claims that, once established, precedents are treated by listeners like any other linguistic unit, i.e. without needing to keep track of the speaker. To test predictions from each account, we used visual-world eyetracking, which allows observations in real time, during a standard referential communication task. Participants had to select objects based on instructions from two speakers. In the critical condition, listeners sought an object with a negative reference such as not the jellyfish. We aimed to determine the extent to which listeners rely on the linguistic input, common ground or both. We found that initial interpretations were based on linguistic processing only and that common ground considerations do emerge but only after 1000 ms. Our findings support the idea that—at least temporally—linguistic processing can be isolated from common ground. PMID:28386440

Ground-water system, estimation of aquifer hydraulic properties, and effects of pumping on ground-water flow in Triassic sedimentary rocks in and near Lansdale, Pennsylvania

USGS Publications Warehouse

Senior, Lisa A.; Goode, Daniel J.

1999-01-01

Ground water in Triassic-age sedimentary fractured-rock aquifers in the area of Lansdale, Pa., is used as drinking water and for industrial supply. In 1979, ground water in the Lansdale area was found to be contaminated with trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, and other man-made organic compounds, and in 1989, the area was placed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) National Priority List as the North Penn Area 6 site. To assist the USEPA in the hydrogeological assessment of the site, the U.S. Geological Survey began a study in 1995 to describe the ground-water system and to determine the effects of changes in the well pumping patterns on the direction of ground-water flow in the Lansdale area. This determination is based on hydrologic and geophysical data collected from 1995-98 and on results of the simulation of the regional ground-water-flow system by use of a numerical model.Correlation of natural-gamma logs indicate that the sedimentary rock beds strike generally northeast and dip at angles less than 30 degrees to the northwest. The ground-water system is confined or semi-confined, even at shallow depths; depth to bedrock commonly is less than 20 feet (6 meters); and depth to water commonly is about 15 to 60 feet (5 to 18 meters) below land surface. Single-well, aquifer-interval-isolation (packer) tests indicate that vertical permeability of the sedimentary rocks is low. Multiple-well aquifer tests indicate that the system is heterogeneous and that flow appears primarily in discrete zones parallel to bedding. Preferred horizontal flow along strike was not observed in the aquifer tests for wells open to the pumped interval. Water levels in wells that are open to the pumped interval, as projected along the dipping stratigraphy, are drawn down more than water levels in wells that do not intersect the pumped interval. A regional potentiometric map based on measured water levels indicates that ground water flows from Lansdale towards discharge areas in three drainages, the Wissahickon, Towamencin, and Neshaminy Creeks.Ground-water flow was simulated for different pumping patterns representing past and current conditions. The three-dimensional numerical flow model (MODFLOW) was automatically calibrated by use of a parameter estimation program (MODFLOWP). Steady-state conditions were assumed for the calibration period of 1996. Model calibration indicates that estimated recharge is 8.2 inches (208 millimeters) and the regional anisotropy ratio for the sedimentary-rock aquifer is about 11 to 1, with permeability greatest along strike. The regional anisotropy is caused by up- and down-dip termination of high-permeability bed-oriented features, which were not explicitly simulated in the regional-scale model. The calibrated flow model was used to compare flow directions and capture zones in Lansdale for conditions corresponding to relatively high pumping rates in 1994 and to lower pumping rates in 1997. Comparison of the 1994 and 1997 simulations indicates that wells pumped at the lower 1997 rates captured less ground water from known sites of contamination than wells pumped at the 1994 rates. Ground-water flow rates away from Lansdale increased as pumpage decreased in 1997.A preliminary evaluation of the relation between ground-water chemistry and conditions favorable for the degradation of chlorinated solvents was based on measurements of dissolved-oxygen concentration and other chemical constituents in water samples from 92 wells. About 18 percent of the samples contained less than or equal to 5 milligrams per liter dissolved oxygen, a concentration that indicates reducing conditions favorable for degradation of chlorinated solvents.

An exploratory study to determine the integrated technological air transportation system ground requirements of liquid-hydrogen-fueled subsonic, long-haul civil air transports

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

A baseline air terminal concept was developed which permitted airlines and the airport to operate JP- or LH2-fueled aircraft at common terminal gates. The concept included installation of a hydrogen liquefaction and storage facility on airport property, as well as the fuel distribution system. The capital investment and hydrogen-related operating costs to the airlines were estimated.

Well-construction, water-level, and water-quality data for ground-water monitoring wells for the J4 hydrogeologic study, Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee

USGS Publications Warehouse

Haugh, C.J.

1996-01-01

Between December 1993 and March 1994, 27 wells were installed at 12 sites near the J4 test cell at Arnold Engineering Development Center in Coffee County, Tennessee. The wells ranged from 28 to 289 feet deep and were installed to provide information on subsurface lithology, aquifer characteristics, ground-water levels, and ground-water quality. This information will be used to help understand the effects of dewatering operations at the J4 test cell on the local ground-water-flow system. The J4 test cell, extending approximately 250 feet below land surface, is used in the testing of rocket motors. Ground water must be pumped continuously from around the test cell to keep it structurally intact. The amount of water discharged from the J4 test cell was monitored to estimate the average rate of ground-water withdrawal at the J4 test cell. Ground- water levels were monitored continuously at 14 wells for 12 months. Water-quality samples were collected from 26 of the new wells, 9 existing wells, and the ground-water discharge from the J4 test cell. All samples were analyzed for common inorganic ions, trace metals, and volatile organic compounds.

Transforming Our SMEX Organization by Way of Innovation, Standardization, and Automation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Madden, Maureen; Crouse, Pat; Carry, Everett; Esposito, timothy; Parker, Jeffrey; Bradley, David

2006-01-01

NASA's Small Explorer (SMEX) Flight Operations Team (FOT) is currently tackling the challenge of supporting ground operations for several satellites that have surpassed their designed lifetime and have a dwindling budget. At Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), these missions are presently being reengineered into a fleet-oriented ground system. When complete, this ground system will provide command and control of four SMEX missions, and will demonstrate fleet automation and control concepts as a pathfinder for additional mission integrations. A goal of this reengineering effort is to demonstrate new ground-system technologies that show promise of supporting longer mission lifecycles and simplifying component integration. In pursuit of this goal, the SMEX organization has had to examine standardization, innovation, and automation. A core technology being demonstrated in this effort is the GSFC Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC) architecture. The GMSEC architecture focuses on providing standard interfaces for ground system applications to promote application interoperability. Building around commercial Message Oriented Middleware and providing a common messaging standard allows GMSEC to provide the capabilities necessary to support integration of new software components into existing missions and increase the level of interaction within the system. For SMS, GMSEC has become the technology platform to transform flight operations with the innovation and automation necessary to reduce operational costs. The automation technologies supported in SMEX are built upon capabilities provided by the GMSEC architecture that allows the FOT to further reduce the involvement of the console, operator. Initially, SMEX is automating only routine operations, such as safety and health monitoring, basic commanding, and system recovery. The operational concepts being developed here will reduce the need for staffed passes and are a necessity for future fleet management. As this project continues to evolve, additional innovations beyond GMSEC and automation have, and will continue to be developed. The team developed techniques for migrating ground systems of existing on-orbit assets. The tools necessary to monitor and control software failures were integrated and tailored for operational environments. All this was done with a focus of extending fleet operations to mission beyond SMU. The result of this work is the foundation for a broader fleet-capable ground system that will include several missions supported by the Space Science Mission Operations Project.

Integration of topological modification within the modeling of multi-physics systems: Application to a Pogo-stick

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdeljabbar Kharrat, Nourhene; Plateaux, Régis; Miladi Chaabane, Mariem; Choley, Jean-Yves; Karra, Chafik; Haddar, Mohamed

2018-05-01

The present work tackles the modeling of multi-physics systems applying a topological approach while proceeding with a new methodology using a topological modification to the structure of systems. Then the comparison with the Magos' methodology is made. Their common ground is the use of connectivity within systems. The comparison and analysis of the different types of modeling show the importance of the topological methodology through the integration of the topological modification to the topological structure of a multi-physics system. In order to validate this methodology, the case of Pogo-stick is studied. The first step consists in generating a topological graph of the system. Then the connectivity step takes into account the contact with the ground. During the last step of this research; the MGS language (Modeling of General System) is used to model the system through equations. Finally, the results are compared to those obtained by MODELICA. Therefore, this proposed methodology may be generalized to model multi-physics systems that can be considered as a set of local elements.

Mapping Evapotranspiration Units in the Basin and Range Carbonate-Rock Aquifer System, White Pine County, Nevada, and Adjacent Areas in Nevada and Utah

USGS Publications Warehouse

Smith, J. LaRue; Laczniak, Randell J.; Moreo, Michael T.; Welborn, Toby L.

2007-01-01

Accurate estimates of ground-water discharge are crucial in the development of a water budget for the Basin and Range carbonate-rock aquifer system study area. One common method used throughout the southwestern United States is to estimate ground-water discharge from evapotranspiration (ET). ET is a process by which water from the Earth's surface is transferred to the atmosphere. The volume of water lost to the atmosphere by ET can be computed as the product of the ET rate and the acreage of vegetation, open water, and moist soil through which ET occurs. The procedure used in the study groups areas of similar vegetation, water, and soil conditions into different ET units, assigns an average annual ET rate to each unit, and computes annual ET from each ET unit within the outer extent of potential areas of ground-water discharge. Data sets and the procedures used to delineate the ET-unit map used to estimate ground-water discharge from the study area and a qualitative assessment of the accuracy of the map are described in this report.

Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) Architecture Standard. Release 1.02.1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reinhart, Richard C.; Kacpura, Thomas J.; Handler, Louis M.; Hall, C. Steve; Mortensen, Dale J.; Johnson, Sandra K.; Briones, Janette C.; Nappier, Jennifer M.; Downey, Joseph A.; Lux, James P.

2012-01-01

This document contains the NASA architecture standard for software defined radios used in space- and ground-based platforms to enable commonality among radio developments to enhance capability and services while reducing mission and programmatic risk. Transceivers (or transponders) with functionality primarily defined in software (e.g., firmware) have the ability to change their functional behavior through software alone. This radio architecture standard offers value by employing common waveform software interfaces, method of instantiation, operation, and testing among different compliant hardware and software products. These common interfaces within the architecture abstract application software from the underlying hardware to enable technology insertion independently at either the software or hardware layer.

Dynamic factor analysis for estimating ground water arsenic trends.

PubMed

Kuo, Yi-Ming; Chang, Fi-John

2010-01-01

Drinking ground water containing high arsenic (As) concentrations has been associated with blackfoot disease and the occurrence of cancer along the southwestern coast of Taiwan. As a result, 28 ground water observation wells were installed to monitor the ground water quality in this area. Dynamic factor analysis (DFA) is used to identify common trends that represent unexplained variability in ground water As concentrations of decommissioned wells and to investigate whether explanatory variables (total organic carbon [TOC], As, alkalinity, ground water elevation, and rainfall) affect the temporal variation in ground water As concentration. The results of the DFA show that rainfall dilutes As concentration in areas under aquacultural and agricultural use. Different combinations of geochemical variables (As, alkalinity, and TOC) of nearby monitoring wells affected the As concentrations of the most decommissioned wells. Model performance was acceptable for 11 wells (coefficient of efficiency >0.50), which represents 52% (11/21) of the decommissioned wells. Based on DFA results, we infer that surface water recharge may be effective for diluting the As concentration, especially in the areas that are relatively far from the coastline. We demonstrate that DFA can effectively identify the important factors and common effects representing unexplained variability common to decommissioned wells on As variation in ground water and extrapolate information from existing monitoring wells to the nearby decommissioned wells.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lentine, Anthony L.; Kekatpure, Rohan Deodatta; Zortman, William A.

A photonic resonator system is designed to use thermal tuning to adjust the resonant wavelength of each resonator in the system, with a separate tuning circuit associated with each resonator so that individual adjustments may be made. The common electrical ground connection between the tuning circuits is particularly formed to provide thermal isolation between adjacent resonators by including a capacitor along each return path to ground, where the presence of the capacitor's dielectric material provides the thermal isolation. The use of capacitively coupling necessarily requires the use of an AC current as an input to the heater element (conductor/resistor) ofmore » each resonator, where the RMS value of the AC signal is indicative of the amount of heat that is generated along the element and the degree of wavelength tuning that is obtained.« less

Protecting intellectual property in space; Proceedings of the Aerospace Computer Security Conference, McLean, VA, March 20, 1985

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

The primary purpose of the Aerospace Computer Security Conference was to bring together people and organizations which have a common interest in protecting intellectual property generated in space. Operational concerns are discussed, taking into account security implications of the space station information system, Space Shuttle security policies and programs, potential uses of probabilistic risk assessment techniques for space station development, key considerations in contingency planning for secure space flight ground control centers, a systematic method for evaluating security requirements compliance, and security engineering of secure ground stations. Subjects related to security technologies are also explored, giving attention to processing requirements of secure C3/I and battle management systems and the development of the Gemini trusted multiple microcomputer base, the Restricted Access Processor system as a security guard designed to protect classified information, and observations on local area network security.

Field size, length, and width distributions based on LACIE ground truth data. [large area crop inventory experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pitts, D. E.; Badhwar, G.

1980-01-01

The development of agricultural remote sensing systems requires knowledge of agricultural field size distributions so that the sensors, sampling frames, image interpretation schemes, registration systems, and classification systems can be properly designed. Malila et al. (1976) studied the field size distribution for wheat and all other crops in two Kansas LACIE (Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment) intensive test sites using ground observations of the crops and measurements of their field areas based on current year rectified aerial photomaps. The field area and size distributions reported in the present investigation are derived from a representative subset of a stratified random sample of LACIE sample segments. In contrast to previous work, the obtained results indicate that most field-size distributions are not log-normally distributed. The most common field size observed in this study was 10 acres for most crops studied.

The Uses and Applications of Learning Technologies in the Modern Classroom: Finding a Common Ground Between Kinaesthetic and Theoretical Delivery.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glass, Samuel

Under the old system of trade skills education, instruction was delivered largely through kinesthetic methods. Currently, however, secondary and postsecondary trade skills education programs institutions in Australia and elsewhere are changing their educational emphasis from traditional skills to more technology-based skills. This shift raises the…

Soil response to skidder and dozer traffic as indicated by soil stress residuals

Treesearch

Brian Parkhurst; Mike Aust; Chad Bolding; Scott Barrett; Andrew Vinson; John Klepac; Emily Carter

2015-01-01

Ground-based timber harvesting systems are common throughout many regions of the United States. Machine movements during harvesting can negatively impact soils leading to increased erosion and soil compaction. This is especially true of skid trails that have been established to facilitate tree removals. Several techniques have the potential to reduce soil compaction...

Modeling crop residue burning experiments to evaluate smoke emissions and plume transport

Treesearch

Luxi Zhou; Kirk R. Baker; Sergey L. Napelenok; George Pouliot; Robert Elleman; Susan M. O' Neill; Shawn P. Urbanski; David C. Wong

2018-01-01

Crop residue burning is a common land management practice that results in emissions of a variety of pollutants with negative health impacts. Modeling systems are used to estimate air quality impacts of crop residue burning to support retrospective regulatory assessments and also for forecasting purposes. Ground and airborne measurements from a recent field experiment...

Improving Behavior through Differential Reinforcement: A Praise Note System for Elementary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wheatley, Rikki K.; West, Richard P.; Charlton, Cade T.; Sanders, Richard B.; Smith, Tim G.; Taylor, Matthew J.

2009-01-01

Schools are often in need of low-cost, high-impact strategies to improve student behavior in school common areas. While many behavior management programs exist, there are few resources available to guide the implementation of these programs and ensure they are grounded in evidence-based strategies. Therefore, the current study had two primary…

FamPlex: a resource for entity recognition and relationship resolution of human protein families and complexes in biomedical text mining.

PubMed

Bachman, John A; Gyori, Benjamin M; Sorger, Peter K

2018-06-28

For automated reading of scientific publications to extract useful information about molecular mechanisms it is critical that genes, proteins and other entities be correctly associated with uniform identifiers, a process known as named entity linking or "grounding." Correct grounding is essential for resolving relationships among mined information, curated interaction databases, and biological datasets. The accuracy of this process is largely dependent on the availability of machine-readable resources associating synonyms and abbreviations commonly found in biomedical literature with uniform identifiers. In a task involving automated reading of ∼215,000 articles using the REACH event extraction software we found that grounding was disproportionately inaccurate for multi-protein families (e.g., "AKT") and complexes with multiple subunits (e.g."NF- κB"). To address this problem we constructed FamPlex, a manually curated resource defining protein families and complexes as they are commonly encountered in biomedical text. In FamPlex the gene-level constituents of families and complexes are defined in a flexible format allowing for multi-level, hierarchical membership. To create FamPlex, text strings corresponding to entities were identified empirically from literature and linked manually to uniform identifiers; these identifiers were also mapped to equivalent entries in multiple related databases. FamPlex also includes curated prefix and suffix patterns that improve named entity recognition and event extraction. Evaluation of REACH extractions on a test corpus of ∼54,000 articles showed that FamPlex significantly increased grounding accuracy for families and complexes (from 15 to 71%). The hierarchical organization of entities in FamPlex also made it possible to integrate otherwise unconnected mechanistic information across families, subfamilies, and individual proteins. Applications of FamPlex to the TRIPS/DRUM reading system and the Biocreative VI Bioentity Normalization Task dataset demonstrated the utility of FamPlex in other settings. FamPlex is an effective resource for improving named entity recognition, grounding, and relationship resolution in automated reading of biomedical text. The content in FamPlex is available in both tabular and Open Biomedical Ontology formats at https://github.com/sorgerlab/famplex under the Creative Commons CC0 license and has been integrated into the TRIPS/DRUM and REACH reading systems.

Monitoring and remediation of on-farm and off-farm ground current measured as step potential on a Wisconsin dairy farm: A case study.

PubMed

Stetzer, Dave; Leavitt, Adam M; Goeke, Charles L; Havas, Magda

2016-01-01

Ground current commonly referred to as "stray voltage" has been an issue on dairy farms since electricity was first brought to rural America. Equipment that generates high-frequency voltage transients on electrical wires combined with a multigrounded (electrical distribution) system and inadequate neutral returns all contribute to ground current. Despite decades of problems, we are no closer to resolving this issue, in part, due to three misconceptions that are addressed in this study. Misconception 1. The current standard of 1 V at cow contact is adequate to protect dairy cows; Misconception 2. Frequencies higher than 60 Hz do not need to be considered; and Misconception 3. All sources of ground current originate on the farm that has a ground current problem. This case study of a Wisconsin dairy farm documents, 1. how to establish permanent monitoring of ground current (step potential) on a dairy farm; 2. how to determine and remediate both on-farm and off-farm sources contributing to step potential; 3. which step-potential metrics relate to cow comfort and milk production; and 4. how these metrics relate to established standards. On-farm sources include lighting, variable speed frequency drives on motors, radio frequency identification system and off-farm sources are due to a poor primary neutral return on the utility side of the distribution system. A step-potential threshold of 1 V root mean square (RMS) at 60 Hz is inadequate to protect dairy cows as decreases of a few mV peak-peak at higher frequencies increases milk production, reduces milking time and improves cow comfort.

Open Architecture Standard for NASA's Software-Defined Space Telecommunications Radio Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reinhart, Richard C.; Johnson, Sandra K.; Kacpura, Thomas J.; Hall, Charles S.; Smith, Carl R.; Liebetreu, John

2008-01-01

NASA is developing an architecture standard for software-defined radios used in space- and ground-based platforms to enable commonality among radio developments to enhance capability and services while reducing mission and programmatic risk. Transceivers (or transponders) with functionality primarily defined in software (e.g., firmware) have the ability to change their functional behavior through software alone. This radio architecture standard offers value by employing common waveform software interfaces, method of instantiation, operation, and testing among different compliant hardware and software products. These common interfaces within the architecture abstract application software from the underlying hardware to enable technology insertion independently at either the software or hardware layer. This paper presents the initial Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) Architecture for NASA missions to provide the desired software abstraction and flexibility while minimizing the resources necessary to support the architecture.

46 CFR 129.370 - Equipment grounding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... and to a common ground by a conductor not normally carrying current. (b) Each metallic case of... grounding conductor must be sized to comply with section 250-95 of NEC (NFPA 70). (d) Each nonmetallic mast and topmast must have a lightning-ground conductor. ...

46 CFR 129.370 - Equipment grounding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... and to a common ground by a conductor not normally carrying current. (b) Each metallic case of... grounding conductor must be sized to comply with section 250-95 of NEC (NFPA 70). (d) Each nonmetallic mast and topmast must have a lightning-ground conductor. ...

A low-drift, low-noise, multichannel dc voltage source for segmented-electrode Paul traps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beev, Nikolai; Fenske, Julia-Aileen; Hannig, Stephan; Schmidt, Piet O.

2017-05-01

We present the design, construction, and characterization of a multichannel, low-drift, low-noise dc voltage source specially designed for biasing the electrodes of segmented linear Paul traps. The system produces 20 output voltage pairs having a common-mode range of 0 to +120 V with 3.7 mV/LSB (least significant bit) resolution and differential ranges of ±5 V with 150 μV/LSB or ±16 V with 610 μV/LSB resolution. All common-mode and differential voltages are independently controllable, and all pairs share the same ground reference. The measured drift of the voltages after warm-up is lower than 1 LSB peak-to-peak on the time scale of 2 h. The noise of an output voltage measured with respect to ground is <10 μVRMS within 10 Hz-100 kHz, with spectral density lower than 3 nV Hz-1/2 above 50 kHz. The performance of the system is limited by the external commercial multichannel DAC unit NI 9264, and in principle, it is possible to achieve higher stability and lower noise with the same voltage ranges. The system has a compact, modular, and scalable architecture, having all parts except for the DAC chassis housed within a single 19″ 3HE rack.

Introduction to Message-Bus Architectures for Space Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Dan; Gregory, Brian

2005-01-01

This course presents technical and programmatic information on the development of message-based architectures for space mission ground and flight software systems. Message-based architecture approaches provide many significant advantages over the more traditional socket-based one-of-a-kind integrated system development approaches. The course provides an overview of publish/subscribe concepts, the use of common isolation layer API's, approaches to message standardization, and other technical topics. Several examples of currently operational systems are discussed and possible changes to the system development process are presented. Benefits and lessons learned will be discussed and time for questions and answers will be provided.

Effects of seepage from fly-ash settling ponds and construction dewatering on ground-water levels in the Cowles unit, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana

USGS Publications Warehouse

Meyer, William R.; Tucci, Patrick

1979-01-01

Part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore shares a common boundary with the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO). This area is underlain by unconsolidated deposits approximately 180 feet thick. NIPSCO accumulates fly ash from the burning of coal in electric-power generating units in settling ponds. Seepage from the ponds has raised ground-water levels above natural levels approximately 15 feet under the ponds and more than 10 feet within the Lakeshore. NIPSCO is presently (1977) constructing a nuclear powerplant, and construction activities include pumping ground water to dewater the construction site. The company has installed a slurry wall around the site to prevent lowering of ground-water levels within the Lakeshore. Plans call for continuous pumping through at least December 1979. A multilayered digital flow model was constructed to simulate the ground-water system. The model was used to demonstrate the effects of seepage from the fly-ash ponds on ground-water levels. Also, the model indicated a decline of 3 feet or less in the upper sand unit and 5 feet or less in the lower sand unit within the Lakeshore.

Regional variations in water quality and relationships to soil and bedrock weathering in the southern Sacramento Valley, California, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wanty, R.B.; Goldhaber, M.B.; Morrison, J.M.; Lee, L.

2009-01-01

Regional patterns in ground- and surface-water chemistry of the southern Sacramento Valley in California were evaluated using publicly available geochemical data from the US Geological Survey's National Water Information System (NWIS). Within the boundaries of the study area, more than 2300 ground-water analyses and more than 20,000 surface-water analyses were available. Ground-waters from the west side of the Sacramento Valley contain greater concentrations of Na, Ca, Mg, B, Cl and SO4, while the east-side ground-waters contain greater concentrations of silica and K. These differences result from variations in surface-water chemistry as well as from chemical reactions between water and aquifer materials. Sediments that fill the Sacramento Valley were derived from highlands to the west (the Coast Ranges) and east (the Sierra Nevada Mountains), the former having an oceanic provenance and the latter continental. These geologic differences are at least in part responsible for the observed patterns in ground-water chemistry. Thermal springs that are common along the west side of the Sacramento Valley appear to have an effect on surface-water chemistry, which in turn may affect the ground-water chemistry.

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage does not impair the development and use of common ground in social interaction: Implications for cognitive theory of mind

PubMed Central

Gupta, Rupa; Tranel, Daniel; Duff, Melissa C.

2011-01-01

During conversation, interactants draw on their shared communicative context and history (“common ground”) to help decide what to say next, tailoring utterances based on their knowledge of what the listener knows. The use of common ground draws on an understanding of the thoughts and feelings of others to create and update a model of what is known by the other person, employing cognitive processes such as theory of mind. We tested the hypothesis that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), a neural region involved in processing and interpreting social and emotional information, would be critical for the development and use of common ground. We studied seven patients with bilateral vmPFC damage and seven age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy comparison participants, each interacting with a familiar partner. Across 24 trials, participants verbally directed their partners how to arrange a set of 12 abstract tangram cards. Our hypothesis was not supported: the vmPFC and healthy comparison groups showed similar development and use of common ground, evident in reduction in time and words used to describe the cards, similar increases in the use of definite references (e.g., the horse), and comparable use of verbal play (playful language) in their interactions. These results argue against the idea that the vmPFC is critical for the development and use of common ground in social interaction. We propose that a cognitive and neuroanatomical bifurcation in theory of mind processes may explain this outcome. The vmPFC may be important for affective theory of mind (the ability to understand another’s feelings); however, the development and use of common ground in social interaction may place higher demands on the ability to understand another’s knowledge, or cognitive theory of mind, which may not require the vmPFC. PMID:22120006

Peer Educators in Critical Campus Discourse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Voorhees, Rhondie; Petkas, Steven N.

2011-01-01

The Common Ground Multicultural Dialogue program in the Department of Resident Life at the University of Maryland is an innovative peer education program designed to teach skills for engagement through exploration of contemporary multicultural societal dilemmas. The Common Ground Dialogue Program was launched in 2000 to provide undergraduate…

Metrics for Nitrate Contamination of Ground Water at CAFO Land Application Site - Iowa Swine Study

EPA Science Inventory

Nitrate (NO3-) is the most common chemical contaminant found in ground water and there are increasing indications that agriculture contributes to this contamination. In the United States, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) are a common agricultural practice. CAFO lea...

Design and validation of inert homemade explosive simulants for ground penetrating radar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

VanderGaast, Brian W.; McFee, John E.; Russell, Kevin L.; Faust, Anthony A.

2015-05-01

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) identified a requirement for inert simulants to act as improvised, or homemade, explosives (IEs) when training on, or evaluating, ground penetrating radar (GPR) systems commonly used in the detection of buried landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). In response, Defence R and D Canada (DRDC) initiated a project to develop IE simulant formulations using commonly available inert materials. These simulants are intended to approximate the expected GPR response of common ammonium nitrate-based IEs, in particular ammonium nitrate/fuel oil (ANFO) and ammonium nitrate/aluminum (ANAl). The complex permittivity over the range of electromagnetic frequencies relevant to standard GPR systems was measured for bulk quantities of these three IEs that had been fabricated at DRDC Suffield Research Centre. Following these measurements, published literature was examined to find benign materials with both a similar complex permittivity, as well as other physical properties deemed desirable - such as low-toxicity, thermal stability, and commercial availability - in order to select candidates for subsequent simulant formulation. Suitable simulant formulations were identified for ANFO, with resulting complex permittivities measured to be within acceptable limits of target values. These IE formulations will now undergo end-user trials with CAF operators in order to confirm their utility. Investigations into ANAl simulants continues. This progress report outlines the development program, simulant design, and current validation results.

Ground water security and drought in Africa: linking availability, access, and demand.

PubMed

Calow, Roger C; Macdonald, Alan M; Nicol, Alan L; Robins, Nick S

2010-01-01

Drought in Africa has been extensively researched, particularly from meteorological, agricultural, and food security perspectives. However, the impact of drought on water security, particularly ground water dependent rural water supplies, has received much less attention. Policy responses have concentrated on food needs, and it has often been difficult to mobilize resources for water interventions, despite evidence that access to safe water is a serious and interrelated concern. Studies carried out in Ghana, Malawi, South Africa, and Ethiopia highlight how rural livelihoods are affected by seasonal stress and longer-term drought. Declining access to food and water is a common and interrelated problem. Although ground water plays a vital role in buffering the effects of rainfall variability, water shortages and difficulties in accessing water that is available can affect domestic and productive water uses, with knock-on effects on food consumption and production. Total depletion of available ground water resources is rarely the main concern. A more common scenario is a spiral of water insecurity as shallow water sources fail, additional demands are put on remaining sources, and mechanical failures increase. These problems can be planned for within normal development programs. Water security mapping can help identify vulnerable areas, and changes to monitoring systems can ensure early detection of problems. Above all, increasing the coverage of ground water-based rural water supplies, and ensuring that the design and siting of water points is informed by an understanding of hydrogeological conditions and user demand, can significantly increase the resilience of rural communities to climate variability.

Conductive surge testing of circuits and systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richman, P.

1980-01-01

Techniques are given for conductive surge testing of powered electronic equipment. The correct definitions of common and normal mode are presented. Testing requires not only spike-surge generators with a suitable range of open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current waveshapes, but also appropriate means, termed couplers, for connecting test surges to the equipment under test. Key among coupler design considerations is minimization of fail positives resulting from reduction in delivered surge energy due to the coupler. Back-filters and the lines on which they are necessary, are considered as well as ground-fault and ground potential rise. A method for monitoring delivered and resulting surge waves is mentioned.

Imaging-guided thoracoscopic resection of a ground-glass opacity lesion in a hybrid operating room equipped with a robotic C-arm CT system.

PubMed

Hsieh, Chen-Ping; Hsieh, Ming-Ju; Fang, Hsin-Yueh; Chao, Yin-Kai

2017-05-01

The intraoperative identification of small pulmonary nodules through video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery remains challenging. Although preoperative CT-guided nodule localization is commonly used to detect tumors during video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), this approach carries inherent risks. We report the case of a patient with stage I lung cancer presenting as an area of ground-glass opacity (GGO) in the right upper pulmonary lobe. He successfully underwent a single-stage, CT-guided localization and removal of the pulmonary nodule within a hybrid operating room (OR) equipped with a robotic C-arm.

Unattended wireless proximity sensor networks for counterterrorism, force protection, littoral environments, PHM, and tamper monitoring ground applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forcier, Bob

2003-09-01

This paper describes a digital-ultrasonic ground network, which forms an unique "unattended mote sensor system" for monitoring the environment, personnel, facilities, vehicles, power generation systems or aircraft in Counter-Terrorism, Force Protection, Prognostic Health Monitoring (PHM) and other ground applications. Unattended wireless smart sensor/tags continuously monitor the environment and provide alerts upon changes or disruptions to the environment. These wireless smart sensor/tags are networked utilizing ultrasonic wireless motes, hybrid RF/Ultrasonic Network Nodes and Base Stations. The network is monitored continuously with a 24/7 remote and secure monitoring system. This system utilizes physical objects such as a vehicle"s structure or a building to provide the media for two way secure communication of key metrics and sensor data and eliminates the "blind spots" that are common in RF solutions because of structural elements of buildings, etc. The digital-ultrasonic sensors have networking capability and a 32-bit identifier, which provide a platform for a robust data acquisition (DAQ) for a large amount of sensors. In addition, the network applies a unique "signature" of the environment by comparing sensor-to-sensor data to pick up on minute changes, which would signal an invasion of unknown elements or signal a potential tampering in equipment or facilities. The system accommodates satellite and other secure network uplinks in either RF or UWB protocols. The wireless sensors can be dispersed by ground or air maneuvers. In addition, the sensors can be incorporated into the structure or surfaces of vehicles, buildings, or clothing of field personnel.

In-ground optical fibre Bragg grating pressure switch for security applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allwood, Gary; Wild, Graham; Hinckley, Steven

2012-02-01

In this study, a fibre Bragg grating (FBG) was embedded beneath three common flooring materials acting as a pressure switch for in-ground intrusion detection. This is achieved using an intensiometric detection system, where a laser diode and FBG were optically mismatched so that there was a static dc offset from the transmitted and reflected optical power signals. As pressure was applied, in the form of a footstep, a strain induced wavelength shift occurred that could then be detected by converting the wavelength shift into an intensity change. The change in intensity caused a significant change in the DC offset which behaved as on optical switch. This switch could easily be configured to trigger an alarm if required. The intention is to use the FBG sensor as an in-ground intrusion detection pressure switch to detect an intruder walking within range of the sensor. This type of intrusion detection system can be applied to both external (in soil, etc) and internal (within the foundations or flooring of the home) security systems. The results show that a person's footstep can clearly be detected through solid wood flooring, laminate flooring, and ceramic floor tiles.

Space Environments Testbed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leucht, David K.; Koslosky, Marie J.; Kobe, David L.; Wu, Jya-Chang C.; Vavra, David A.

2011-01-01

The Space Environments Testbed (SET) is a flight controller data system for the Common Carrier Assembly. The SET-1 flight software provides the command, telemetry, and experiment control to ground operators for the SET-1 mission. Modes of operation (see dia gram) include: a) Boot Mode that is initiated at application of power to the processor card, and runs memory diagnostics. It may be entered via ground command or autonomously based upon fault detection. b) Maintenance Mode that allows for limited carrier health monitoring, including power telemetry monitoring on a non-interference basis. c) Safe Mode is a predefined, minimum power safehold configuration with power to experiments removed and carrier functionality minimized. It is used to troubleshoot problems that occur during flight. d) Operations Mode is used for normal experiment carrier operations. It may be entered only via ground command from Safe Mode.

Integrating intrinsic mobility into unmanned ground vehicle systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brosinsky, Chris A.; Penzes, Steven G.; Buehler, Martin G.; Steeves, Carl

2001-09-01

The ability of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) to successfully move about in its environment is enabled by the synergistic combination of perception, control and platform (mobility and utility). Vast effort is being expended on the former technologies but little demonstrable evidence has been produced to indicate that the latter (mobility/utility) has been considered as an integral part of the UGV systems level capability; a concept commonly referred to as intrinsic mobility. While past work described the rationale for hybrid locomotion, this paper aims to demonstrate that integrating intrinsic mobility into a UGV systems mobility element or 'vehicle' will be a key contributor to the magnitude of autonomy that the system can achieve. This paper serves to provide compelling evidence that 1) intrinsic mobility improvements provided by hybrid locomotion configurations offer the best generic mobility, that 2) strict attention must be placed on the optimization of both utility (inherent vehicle capabilities) and mobility and that 3) the establishment of measures of performance for unmanned vehicle mobility is an unmet and latent need.

2001 Bhuj, India, earthquake engineering seismoscope recordings and Eastern North America ground-motion attenuation relations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cramer, C.H.; Kumar, A.

2003-01-01

Engineering seismoscope data collected at distances less than 300 km for the M 7.7 Bhuj, India, mainshock are compatible with ground-motion attenuation in eastern North America (ENA). The mainshock ground-motion data have been corrected to a common geological site condition using the factors of Joyner and Boore (2000) and a classification scheme of Quaternary or Tertiary sediments or rock. We then compare these data to ENA ground-motion attenuation relations. Despite uncertainties in recording method, geological site corrections, common tectonic setting, and the amount of regional seismic attenuation, the corrected Bhuj dataset agrees with the collective predictions by ENA ground-motion attenuation relations within a factor of 2. This level of agreement is within the dataset uncertainties and the normal variance for recorded earthquake ground motions.

The control system of the 12-m medium-size telescope prototype: a test-ground for the CTA array control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oya, I.; Anguner, E. A.; Behera, B.; Birsin, E.; Fuessling, M.; Lindemann, R.; Melkumyan, D.; Schlenstedt, S.; Schmidt, T.; Schwanke, U.; Sternberger, R.; Wegner, P.; Wiesand, S.

2014-07-01

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation ground-based very-high energy -ray observatory. CTA will consist of two arrays: one in the Northern hemisphere composed of about 20 telescopes, and the other one in the Southern hemisphere composed of about 100 telescopes, both arrays containing telescopes of different sizes and types and in addition numerous auxiliary devices. In order to provide a test-ground for the CTA array control, the steering software of the 12-m medium size telescope (MST) prototype deployed in Berlin has been implemented using the tools and design concepts under consideration to be used for the control of the CTA array. The prototype control system is implemented based on the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Common Software (ACS) control middleware, with components implemented in Java, C++ and Python. The interfacing to the hardware is standardized via the Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control Unified Architecture (OPC UA). In order to access the OPC UA servers from the ACS framework in a common way, a library has been developed that allows to tie the OPC UA server nodes, methods and events to the equivalents in ACS components. The front-end of the archive system is able to identify the deployed components and to perform the sampling of the monitoring points of each component following time and value change triggers according to the selected configurations. The back-end of the archive system of the prototype is composed by two different databases: MySQL and MongoDB. MySQL has been selected as storage of the system configurations, while MongoDB is used to have an efficient storage of device monitoring data, CCD images, logging and alarm information. In this contribution, the details and conclusions on the implementation of the control software of the MST prototype are presented.

Working Together Toward a Common Goal: A Grounded Theory of Nurse-Physician Collaboration.

PubMed

Fewster-Thuente, Lori

2015-01-01

Working together toward a common goal is an empirically derived theory that can guide education and practice to improve patient outcomes while saving money and lives. Grounded theory was used to explore nurses' and physicians' experiences with collaboration in order to understand the process intrinsically.

On Common Ground: Prominent Women Talk about Work & Family.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zuckerman, Diana, Ed.

This publication presents interviews with 11 prominent women, representing different backgrounds, philosophies, and life experiences, in which they speak about their own experiences with work and family issues. The introduction, "On Common Ground: Prominent Women Talk about Work & Family" (Diana Zuckerman), provides an overview. The 11 interviews…

Common Ground: A Way of Life, Not a Checkoff Item.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ledell, Marjorie A.

1996-01-01

The common ground process is an ongoing effort for inviting, scrutinizing, debating, and selecting ideas or making decisions about improving schools. Superintendents should assign a full-time communications person to executive staff, create a communications team, conduct a full-scale communications audit, listen better, urge the silent majority to…

"This Is Still a Work in Progress": Common Ground, Littleton, New Hampshire.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Mair; Walker, Pam

This site-visit report describes Common Ground, a program located in New Hampshire that supports 52 people with developmental disabilities, including some with severe and multiple impairments, in a broad range of individualized, integrated daytime activities, including supported and competitive employment, self-employment, volunteer work, and the…

Adjusting Conceptual Pacts in Three-Party Conversation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoon, Si On; Brown-Schmidt, Sarah

2014-01-01

During conversation, partners develop representations of jointly known information--the common ground--and use this knowledge to guide subsequent linguistic exchanges. Extensive research on 2-party conversation has offered key insights into this process, in particular, its partner-specificity: Common ground that is shared with 1 partner is not…

Water-quality assessment of south-central Texas: Occurrence and distribution of volatile organic compounds in surface water and ground water, 1983-94, and implications for future monitoring

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ging, P.B.; Judd, L.J.; Wynn, K.H.

1997-01-01

The study area of the South-Central Texas study unit of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program comprises the Edwards aquifer in the San Antonio region and its catchment area. The first phase of the assessment includes evaluation of existing water-quality data for surface water and ground water, including volatile organic compounds, to determine the scope of planned monitoring. Most analyses of volatile organic compounds in surface water are from the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System sites in San Antonio, Texas. Nine volatile organic compounds were detected at the six sites. The three compounds with the most detections at National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System sites are 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, toluene, and xylene. Analysis of volatile organic compounds in ground water was limited to Edwards aquifer wells. Twenty-eight volatile organic compounds were detected in samples from 89 wells. The five most commonly detected compounds in samples from wells, in descending order, are tetrachloroethene, trichloroethene, bromoform, chloroform, and dibromochloromethane. Detections of volatile organic compounds in surface water and ground water within the South-Central Texas study area are limited to site-specific sources associated with development; therefore, planned monitoring for possible detections of volatile organic compounds as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program will emphasize areas of expanding population and development. Monitoring of volatile organic compounds is planned at National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System sites, at basic fixed surface-water sites, and in the ground-water study-unit surveys.

Laser Guidestar Satellite for Ground-based Adaptive Optics Imaging of Geosynchronous Satellites and Astronomical Targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marlow, W. A.; Cahoy, K.; Males, J.; Carlton, A.; Yoon, H.

2015-12-01

Real-time observation and monitoring of geostationary (GEO) satellites with ground-based imaging systems would be an attractive alternative to fielding high cost, long lead, space-based imagers, but ground-based observations are inherently limited by atmospheric turbulence. Adaptive optics (AO) systems are used to help ground telescopes achieve diffraction-limited seeing. AO systems have historically relied on the use of bright natural guide stars or laser guide stars projected on a layer of the upper atmosphere by ground laser systems. There are several challenges with this approach such as the sidereal motion of GEO objects relative to natural guide stars and limitations of ground-based laser guide stars; they cannot be used to correct tip-tilt, they are not point sources, and have finite angular sizes when detected at the receiver. There is a difference between the wavefront error measured using the guide star compared with the target due to cone effect, which also makes it difficult to use a distributed aperture system with a larger baseline to improve resolution. Inspired by previous concepts proposed by A.H. Greenaway, we present using a space-based laser guide starprojected from a satellite orbiting the Earth. We show that a nanosatellite-based guide star system meets the needs for imaging GEO objects using a low power laser even from 36,000 km altitude. Satellite guide star (SGS) systemswould be well above atmospheric turbulence and could provide a small angular size reference source. CubeSatsoffer inexpensive, frequent access to space at a fraction of the cost of traditional systems, and are now being deployed to geostationary orbits and on interplanetary trajectories. The fundamental CubeSat bus unit of 10 cm cubed can be combined in multiple units and offers a common form factor allowing for easy integration as secondary payloads on traditional launches and rapid testing of new technologies on-orbit. We describe a 6U CubeSat SGS measuring 10 cm x 20 cm x 30 cm with laser power on the order of milliwatts, and a commercial off the shelf based attitude determination and control system, among others. Different from standard 1U and 3U buses, the 6U form factor allows for a propulsion system for navigating around multiple targets in the GEO belt.

Robust Population Inversion by Polarization Selective Pulsed Excitation

PubMed Central

Mantei, D.; Förstner, J.; Gordon, S.; Leier, Y. A.; Rai, A. K.; Reuter, D.; Wieck, A. D.; Zrenner, A.

2015-01-01

The coherent state preparation and control of single quantum systems is an important prerequisite for the implementation of functional quantum devices. Prominent examples for such systems are semiconductor quantum dots, which exhibit a fine structure split single exciton state and a V-type three level structure, given by a common ground state and two distinguishable and separately excitable transitions. In this work we introduce a novel concept for the preparation of a robust inversion by the sequential excitation in a V-type system via distinguishable paths. PMID:26000910

Improvement in Context: Exploring Aims, Improvement Priorities, and Environmental Considerations in a National Sample of Programs Using "Small Data".

PubMed

Philibert, Ingrid; Beernink, John H; Bush, Barbara H; Caniano, Donna A; Chow, Andrea; Coyle, John J; Gilhooly, Joseph; Kraybill, Donald E; Larson, David; Moran, Sarah; Nace, Mary Catherine; Robertson, William W; Rubin, Judith D; Sanford, Theodore

2017-12-01

In 2013, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) transitioned into a new accreditation system to reduce burden, focus on outcomes, and promote innovation and improvement. One component is a self-study that includes aims, an environmental assessment, and setting improvement priorities. The ACGME initiated voluntary site visits following the self-study. We explored common themes in program aims and assessment of their environment. Using grounded theory, inductive and deductive qualitative methods, and truth grounding, we analyzed data from voluntary site visits of 396 core and subspecialty programs between June 2015 and September 2017, with a focus on common themes. We report common themes for aims and the dimensions of the environmental assessment. Themes for strengths include a collegial, supportive learning environment; responsive leaders; and experiences that prepare residents for unsupervised practice. Improvement priorities encompass low learner engagement and "content mismatch" in didactic education, balancing education and service at a time of growing clinical volumes, and improving the utility of assessment systems. Common opportunities encompass collaborations that improve education, involving alumni and harnessing technology to enrich education, while threats include an unsustainable effort for many program leaders, clinical pressures on faculty, and loss of external sites important for education. Linked dimensions of the environmental assessment suggest benefit in a growing focus on learners, and approaches to ensure a humanistic learning environment that allows for growth, self-determination, and inclusion. The findings highlight actionable themes for the environmental assessment. We discuss implications for programs, institutions, and the ACGME.

Occupational Health Screenings of the Virtual Warrior: Distributed Common Ground System Intelligence Operators Compared with Non-Combatant Support Personnel

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-01

long hours , shift work , relational conflict...reasons for an increase in medication. Such sleep problems were often explained in textual responses to be the result of long work hours , shift work ...to be operational in nature [1]. Specifically, long hours , shift work , organizational and leadership challenges, nature of work , additional

Monitoring forests at the speed of light.

Treesearch

Valerie Rapp

2005-01-01

Airborne laser scanning is a technology developed in the last 15 years. Commonly referred to as light detection and ranging, or LIDAR, these systems can map ground with up to a 6-inch elevation accuracy in open, flat terrain. LIDAR is being rapidly adopted for topographical and flood-plain mapping and the detection of earthquake faults hidden by vegetation, among other...

Pesticides in Surface and Ground Water of the San Joaquin-Tulare Basins, California: Analysis of Available Data, 1966 Through 1992

USGS Publications Warehouse

Domagalski, Joseph L.

1997-01-01

Available pesticide data (1966-92) for surface and ground water were analyzed for the San Joaquin-Tulare Basins, California, one of 60 large hydrologic systems being studied as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program of the U.S. Geological Survey. Most of the pesticide data were for the San Joaquin Valley, one of the most intensively farmed and irrigated areas of the United States. Data were obtained from the Storage and Retrieval data base of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the water-quality data base of the U.S. Geological Survey, and from data files of State agencies. Pesticides detected in surface water include organochlorine pesticides, organophosphate pesticides, carbamate pesticides, and triazine herbicides. Pesticides detected in ground water include triazine and other organonitrogen herbicides and soil fumi gants. Surface-water data indicate seasonal patterns for the detection of organophosphate and carbamate pesticides, which are attributed to their use on almond orchards and alfafa fields. Organochlorine pesticides were detected primarily in river-bed sediments. Concentrations detected in bed sediments of the San Joaquin River near Vernalis are among the highest of any major river system in the United States. Patterns and timing of pesticide use indicate that pesticides might be present in surface-water systems during most months of a year. The most commonly detected pesticide in ground water is the soil fumigant, dibromochloropropane. Dibromochloropropane, used primarily on vineyards and orchards, was detected in ground water near the city of Fresno. Triazine and other organonitrogen herbicides were detected near vineyards and orchards in the same general locations as the detections of dibromochloropropane. Pesticides were detected in ground water of the east side of the valley floor, where the soils are sandy or coarsegrained, and water-soluble pesticides with long environmental half-lives were used. In contrast, fewer pesticides were detected in ground water of the west side of the valley, where soils generally are finer grained.

Reassessment of psychological distress and post-traumatic stress disorder in United States Air Force Distributed Common Ground System operators.

PubMed

Prince, Lillian; Chappelle, Wayne L; McDonald, Kent D; Goodman, Tanya; Cowper, Sara; Thompson, William

2015-03-01

The goal of this study was to assess for the main sources of occupational stress, as well as self-reported symptoms of distress and post-traumatic stress disorder among U.S. Air Force (USAF) Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) intelligence exploitation and support personnel. DCGS intelligence operators (n=1091) and nonintelligence personnel (n = 447) assigned to a USAF Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing responded to the web-based survey. The overall survey response rate was 31%. Study results revealed the most problematic stressors among DCGS intelligence personnel included high workload, low manning, as well as organizational leadership and shift work issues. Results also revealed 14.35% of DCGS intelligence operators' self-reported high levels of psychological distress (twice the rate of DCGS nonintelligence support personnel). Furthermore, 2.0% to 2.5% self-reported high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, with no significant difference between groups. The implications of these findings are discussed along with recommendations for USAF medical and mental health providers, as well as operational leadership. Reprint & Copyright © 2015 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

46 CFR 183.372 - Equipment and conductor grounding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Equipment and conductor grounding. 183.372 Section 183... conductor grounding. (a) All metallic enclosures and frames of electrical equipment must be permanently... equipment must be bonded together to a common ground by a normally non-current carrying conductor. Metallic...

46 CFR 183.372 - Equipment and conductor grounding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Equipment and conductor grounding. 183.372 Section 183... conductor grounding. (a) All metallic enclosures and frames of electrical equipment must be permanently... equipment must be bonded together to a common ground by a normally non-current carrying conductor. Metallic...

A Game-Theoretic Model of Grounding for Referential Communication Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, William

2009-01-01

Conversational grounding theory proposes that language use is a form of rational joint action, by which dialog participants systematically and collaboratively add to their common ground of shared knowledge and beliefs. Following recent work applying "game theory" to pragmatics, this thesis develops a game-theoretic model of grounding that…

46 CFR 105.30-5 - Grounding of electrical equipment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Grounding of electrical equipment. 105.30-5 Section 105... VESSELS COMMERCIAL FISHING VESSELS DISPENSING PETROLEUM PRODUCTS Electrical Requirements § 105.30-5 Grounding of electrical equipment. (a) All electrical equipment shall be grounded to the vessel's common...

46 CFR 105.30-5 - Grounding of electrical equipment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Grounding of electrical equipment. 105.30-5 Section 105... VESSELS COMMERCIAL FISHING VESSELS DISPENSING PETROLEUM PRODUCTS Electrical Requirements § 105.30-5 Grounding of electrical equipment. (a) All electrical equipment shall be grounded to the vessel's common...

46 CFR 105.30-5 - Grounding of electrical equipment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Grounding of electrical equipment. 105.30-5 Section 105... VESSELS COMMERCIAL FISHING VESSELS DISPENSING PETROLEUM PRODUCTS Electrical Requirements § 105.30-5 Grounding of electrical equipment. (a) All electrical equipment shall be grounded to the vessel's common...

46 CFR 105.30-5 - Grounding of electrical equipment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Grounding of electrical equipment. 105.30-5 Section 105... VESSELS COMMERCIAL FISHING VESSELS DISPENSING PETROLEUM PRODUCTS Electrical Requirements § 105.30-5 Grounding of electrical equipment. (a) All electrical equipment shall be grounded to the vessel's common...

46 CFR 105.30-5 - Grounding of electrical equipment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Grounding of electrical equipment. 105.30-5 Section 105... VESSELS COMMERCIAL FISHING VESSELS DISPENSING PETROLEUM PRODUCTS Electrical Requirements § 105.30-5 Grounding of electrical equipment. (a) All electrical equipment shall be grounded to the vessel's common...

Integrated Collision Avoidance System for Air Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Ching-Fang (Inventor)

2013-01-01

Collision with ground/water/terrain and midair obstacles is one of the common causes of severe aircraft accidents. The various data from the coremicro AHRS/INS/GPS Integration Unit, terrain data base, and object detection sensors are processed to produce collision warning audio/visual messages and collision detection and avoidance of terrain and obstacles through generation of guidance commands in a closed-loop system. The vision sensors provide more information for the Integrated System, such as, terrain recognition and ranging of terrain and obstacles, which plays an important role to the improvement of the Integrated Collision Avoidance System.

Managing Data From Signal-Propagation Experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kantak, A. V.

1989-01-01

Computer programs generate characteristic plots from amplitudes and phases. Software system enables minicomputer to process data on amplitudes and phases of signals received during experiments in ground-mobile/satellite radio propagation. Takes advantage of file-handling capabilities of UNIX operating system and C programming language. Interacts with user, under whose guidance programs in FORTRAN language generate plots of spectra or other curves of types commonly used to characterize signals. FORTRAN programs used to process file-handling outputs into any of several useful forms.

Common Aviation Command and Control System Increment 1 (CAC2S Inc 1)

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

Command and Control System Increment 1 ( CAC2S Inc 1) DoD Component Navy United States Marine Corps Responsible Office Program Manager References MAIS ...facilities for planning and execution of Marine Aviation missions within the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF). CAC2S Increment I will eliminate...approved by ASN (RDA), the MDA, in a Program Decision Memorandum (PDM), “ CAC2S Increment I,” May 05, 2009. As the result of the PDM, the independent

Transforming to Effects-Based Operations: Lessons from the United Kingdom Experience

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

acquisition of the Airborne Stand-off Radar ( ASTOR ) ground surveillance system which links into the American Joint Surveillance and Attack Radar System...Pumas and the navy’s Sea King HC4s are very old and struggling to cope with the climates in which they are now operating. SECTION 4 The ongoing...Vol. 80, No. 1, pp. 49-62. 21. Tom King , House of Commons Parliamentary Debates, Statement on Defence “Options for Change,” July 25, 1990, session

Ground potential rise characteristics of urban step-down substations fed by power cables - A practical example

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sobral, S.T.; Barbosa, J.O.; Numes, J.V.C.

1988-10-01

This paper shows some special ground potential rise characteristics of substations fed by power cables. These characteristics were detected during the study of the interconnected ground system of 14 step-down urban substations fed by the 138 kV underground cable network serving the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro city in Brazil. As this type of system is very common in large cities, the subject can be of general interest for the industry. It was verified that when a fault occurs at a ''cable substation'' (a substation fed exclusively by power cables), almost no ground potential effects were detected at themore » faulted substation or at the other ''cable substations'' of the 138 kV network. However, high values of ground potential occurred at the ''transition substations'' (substations in which the power cables are connected to overhead 138 kV transmission lines, with steel groundwires). That ground potential was enough to produce shocks and equipment damage in certain ''transition substations''. It was verified that this problem has no relation with potential transfer. The paper shows also that the utilization of overhead lines with ACSR groundwires on the initial spans closer to the ''transition substation'' would be enough to avoid the problem. Even if the ACSR conductor is used only at the initial section of one of the lines, a reduction of the problem would be obtained. The paper shows also that the utilization of ACSR ground-wires near the ''transition substations'' contributes to reduce the amount of the copper necessary to control step, touch and mess potentials in these substations. Additional mitigation procedures are also examined in the paper.« less

Defining Common Ground: A Grass Roots Model for University-Public School Collaboration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Starlings, Cable; Dybdahl, Claudia S.

1994-01-01

A collaborative, grass-roots partnership focusing on students at risk for educational failure has been developed by the University of Alaska Anchorage and the Anchorage (Alaska) School District. The effort is distinguished by a perception of common ground, a minimal administrative and financial structure, and a high degree of commitment from…

Exploring the Common Ground of Rhetoric and Logic.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lamb, Catherine E.

In teaching the principles of rational discourse in advanced expository writing, it is necessary to clarify the similarities and differences between the logic and rhetoric of Aristotle and to identify a common ground between the two. The study of logic within rhetoric focuses on the inductive standards used to support two kinds of argument: the…

Common Ground of Two Paradigms: Incorporating Critical Theory into Current Art Therapy Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nolan, Emily

2013-01-01

Clinical art therapy and studio-based community art therapy represent two major paradigms in art therapy practice. This viewpoint explores how critical theory can be incorporated into both paradigms and result in common ground between them. Critical theory encompasses an understanding of oppression in psychological, social, and cultural contexts…

Common Grounds for Modelling Mathematics in Educational Software

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neuper, Walther

2010-01-01

Two kinds of software, CAS and DGS, are starting to work towards mutual integration. This paper envisages common grounds for such integration based on principles of computer theorem proving (CTP). Presently, the CTP community seems to lack awareness as to which of their products' features might serve mathematics education from high-school to…

Facilitating Interdisciplinary Work: Using Quality Assessment to Create Common Ground

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oberg, Gunilla

2009-01-01

Newcomers often underestimate the challenges of interdisciplinary work and, as a rule, do not spend sufficient time to allow them to overcome differences and create common ground, which in turn leads to frustration, unresolved conflicts, and, in the worst case scenario, discontinued work. The key to successful collaboration is to facilitate the…

Common Ground for Action Software and Professional Development to Support Online Deliberation in Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christelle, Andrea; Dillard, Kara N.; Lindaman, Kara

2018-01-01

The Common Ground for Action (CGA) online deliberation platform is a dynamic tool designed to encourage diverse group members to identify collective responses to deeply controversial or "wicked" public problems that have no simple solution. The program promotes authentic deliberation, while minimizing the tactics of horse-trading and…

Environmental effects of solar-thermal-power systems. Systematic status of the Mojave ground squirrel, Spermophilus mohavensis (subgenus Xerospermophilus)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hafner, D.J.; Yates, T.L.

1982-06-01

The Mojave ground squirrel, Spermophilus mohavensis, is listed as a rare species by the California Fish and Game Commission. Its well-being has emerged as an environmental concern associated with deployment of solar thermal power systems in western parts of the Mojave Desert. The more common round-tailed ground squirrel, Spermophilus tereticaudus, also occurs in the Mojave Desert, and this species closely resembles S. mohavensis. In some areas it may be extremely difficult, on the basis of external characters, to identify the species present. The systematic status of the sibling species Spermophilus mohavensis and S. tereticaudus (subgenus Xerosphermophilus) was investigated throughout themore » range of the subgenus, based on allozymic and chromosomal data. Hybridization of the two species was detected only at a single disturbed site, while allelic introgression was confined to an estimated 60 km reach of the Mojave River wash. In the absence of an analysis of a zone of natural sympatry, the two taxa are retained as full biological species. The population of ground squirrels just east of Solar One, the 10 MWe pilot solar thermal power plant, is composed of individuals referable to S. tereticaudus based on both allozymic and chromosomal criteria.« less

Water-use analysis program for the Neshaminy Creek basin, Bucks and Montgomery counties, Pennsylvania

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schreffler, Curtis L.

1996-01-01

A water-use analysis computer program was developed for the Neshaminy Creek Basin to assist in managing and allocating water resources in the basin. The program was developed for IBM-compatible personal computers. Basin analysis and the methodologies developed for the Neshaminy Creek Basin can be transferred to other watersheds. The development and structure of the water-use analysis program is documented in this report. The report also serves as a user's guide. The program uses common relational database-management software that allows for water use-data input, editing, updating and output and can be used to generate a watershed water-use analysis report. The watershed-analysis report lists summations of public-supply well withdrawals; a combination of industrial, commercial, institutional, and ground-water irrigation well withdrawals; spray irrigation systems; a combination of public, industrial, and private surface-water withdrawals; wastewater-tratement-facility dishcarges; estimates of aggregate domestic ground-water withdrawals on an areal basin or subbasin basis; imports and exports of wastewater across basin or subbasin divides; imports and exports of public water supplies across basin or subbasin divides; estimates of evaporative loss and consumptive loss from produce incorporation; industrial septic-system discharges to ground water; and ground-water well-permit allocations.

Energy Conversion Alternatives Study (ECAS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

ECAS compared various advanced energy conversion systems that can use coal or coal-derived fuels for baseload electric power generation. It was conducted in two phases. Phase 1 consisted of parametric studies. From these results, 11 concepts were selected for further study in Phase 2. For each of the Phase 2 systems and a common set of ground rules, performance, cost, environmental intrusion, and natural resource requirements were estimated. In addition, the contractors defined the state of the associated technology, identified the advances required, prepared preliminary research and development plans, and assessed other factors that would affect the implementation of each type of powerplant. The systems studied in Phase 2 include steam systems with atmospheric- and pressurized-fluidized-bed boilers; combined cycle gas turbine/steam systems with integrated gasifiers or fired by a semiclean, coal derived fuel; a potassium/steam system with a pressurized-fluidized-bed boiler; a closed-cycle gas turbine/organic system with a high-temperature, atmospheric-fluidized-bed furnace; a direct-coal-fired, open- cycle magnetohydrodynamic/steam system; and a molten-carbonate fuel cell/steam system with an integrated gasifier. The sensitivity of the results to changes in the ground rules and the impact of uncertainties in capital cost estimates were also examined.

[Is "mental health" part of the common good? The sociopolitical framework of psychiatric ethics and the responsibility of health-care elites].

PubMed

Bohlken, Eike

2014-07-01

Psychiatric work can only be that ethical as the framework of a health-care system allows. Thus, the responsibility of the health-care elites to establish a sociopolitical framework that suits psychiatric ethics is discussed on the basis of a theory of the common good and of a philosophical and normative elite theory. "Mental health" is demonstrated to be part of a basic sphere of the common good which cannot be denied to any member of a society. The final section discusses which specific duties can be derived for health-care elites on the ground of the aforementioned conception of "mental health" as a part of the common good. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Risk factors in heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems for occupant symptoms in US office buildings: the US EPA BASE study.

PubMed

Mendell, M J; Lei-Gomez, Q; Mirer, A G; Seppänen, O; Brunner, G

2008-08-01

Building-related symptoms in office workers worldwide are common, but of uncertain etiology. One cause may be contaminants related to characteristics of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. We analyzed data from 97 representative air-conditioned US office buildings in the Building Assessment and Survey Evaluation (BASE) study. Using logistic regression models with generalized estimating equations, we estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals for associations between building-related symptom outcomes and HVAC characteristics. Outdoor air intakes less than 60 m above ground level were associated with significant increases in most symptoms: e.g. for upper respiratory symptoms, OR for intake heights 30 to 60 m, 0 to <30 m, and below ground level were 2.7, 2.0, and 2.1. Humidification systems with poor condition/maintenance were associated with significantly increased upper respiratory symptoms, eye symptoms, fatigue/difficulty concentrating, and skin symptoms, with OR = 1.5, 1.5, 1.7, and 1.6. Less frequent cleaning of cooling coils and drain pans was associated with significantly increased eye symptoms and headache, with OR = 1.7 and 1.6. Symptoms may be due to microbial exposures from poorly maintained ventilation systems and to greater levels of vehicular pollutants at air intakes nearer the ground level. Replication and explanation of these findings is needed. These findings support current beliefs that moisture-related HVAC components such as cooling coils and humidification systems, when poorly maintained, may be sources of contaminants that cause adverse health effects in occupants, even if we cannot yet identify or measure the causal exposures. While finding substantially elevated risks for poorly maintained humidification systems, relative to no humidification systems, the findings do not identify important (symptom) benefits from well-maintained humidification systems. Findings also provide an initial suggestion, needing corroboration, that outdoor air intakes lower than 18 stories in office buildings may be associated with substantial increases in many symptoms. If this is corroborated and linked to ground-level vehicle emissions, urban ventilation air intakes may need to be located as far above ground level as possible or to incorporate air cleaners that remove gaseous pollutants.

The ground truth about metadata and community detection in networks.

PubMed

Peel, Leto; Larremore, Daniel B; Clauset, Aaron

2017-05-01

Across many scientific domains, there is a common need to automatically extract a simplified view or coarse-graining of how a complex system's components interact. This general task is called community detection in networks and is analogous to searching for clusters in independent vector data. It is common to evaluate the performance of community detection algorithms by their ability to find so-called ground truth communities. This works well in synthetic networks with planted communities because these networks' links are formed explicitly based on those known communities. However, there are no planted communities in real-world networks. Instead, it is standard practice to treat some observed discrete-valued node attributes, or metadata, as ground truth. We show that metadata are not the same as ground truth and that treating them as such induces severe theoretical and practical problems. We prove that no algorithm can uniquely solve community detection, and we prove a general No Free Lunch theorem for community detection, which implies that there can be no algorithm that is optimal for all possible community detection tasks. However, community detection remains a powerful tool and node metadata still have value, so a careful exploration of their relationship with network structure can yield insights of genuine worth. We illustrate this point by introducing two statistical techniques that can quantify the relationship between metadata and community structure for a broad class of models. We demonstrate these techniques using both synthetic and real-world networks, and for multiple types of metadata and community structures.

Robotic acquisition programs: technical and performance challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thibadoux, Steven A.

2002-07-01

The Unmanned Ground Vehicles/ Systems Joint Project Office (UGV/S JPO) is developing and fielding a variety of tactical robotic systems for the Army and Marine Corps. The Standardized Robotic System (SRS) provides a family of common components that can be installed in existing military vehicles, to allow unmanned operation of the vehicle and its payloads. The Robotic Combat Support System (RCSS) will be a medium sized unmanned system with interchangeable attachments, allowing a remote operator to perform a variety of engineering tasks. The Gladiator Program is a USMC initiative for a small to medium sized, highly mobile UGV to conduct scout/ surveillance missions and to carry various lethal and non-lethal payloads. Acquisition plans for these programs require preplanned evolutionary block upgrades to add operational capability, as new technology becomes available. This paper discusses technical and performance issues that must be resolved and the enabling technologies needed for near term block upgrades of these first generation robotic systems. Additionally, two Joint Robotics Program (JRP) initiatives, Robotic Acquisition through Virtual Environments and Networked Simulations (RAVENS) and Joint Architecture for Unmanned Ground Systems (JAUGS), will be discussed. RAVENS and JAUGS will be used to efficiently evaluate and integrate new technologies to be incorporated in system upgrades.

Multisensor interoperability for persistent surveillance and FOB protection with multiple technologies during the TNT exercise at Camp Roberts, California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murarka, Naveen; Chambers, Jon

2012-06-01

Multiple sensors, providing actionable intelligence to the war fighter, often have difficulty interoperating with each other. Northrop Grumman (NG) is dedicated to solving these problems and providing complete solutions for persistent surveillance. In August, 2011, NG was invited to participate in the Tactical Network Topology (TNT) Capabilities Based Experimentation at Camp Roberts, CA to demonstrate integrated system capabilities providing Forward Operating Base (FOB) protection. This experiment was an opportunity to leverage previous efforts from NG's Rotorcraft Avionics Innovation Laboratory (RAIL) to integrate five prime systems with widely different capabilities. The five systems included a Hostile Fire and Missile Warning Sensor System, SCORPION II Unattended Ground Sensor system, Smart Integrated Vehicle Area Network (SiVAN), STARLite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)/Ground Moving Target Indications (GMTI) radar system, and a vehicle with Target Location Module (TLM) and Laser Designation Module (LDM). These systems were integrated with each other and a Tactical Operations Center (TOC) equipped with RaptorX and Falconview providing a Common Operational Picture (COP) via Cursor on Target (CoT) messages. This paper will discuss this exercise, and the lessons learned, by integrating these five prime systems for persistent surveillance and FOB protection.

OrganismTagger: detection, normalization and grounding of organism entities in biomedical documents.

PubMed

Naderi, Nona; Kappler, Thomas; Baker, Christopher J O; Witte, René

2011-10-01

Semantic tagging of organism mentions in full-text articles is an important part of literature mining and semantic enrichment solutions. Tagged organism mentions also play a pivotal role in disambiguating other entities in a text, such as proteins. A high-precision organism tagging system must be able to detect the numerous forms of organism mentions, including common names as well as the traditional taxonomic groups: genus, species and strains. In addition, such a system must resolve abbreviations and acronyms, assign the scientific name and if possible link the detected mention to the NCBI Taxonomy database for further semantic queries and literature navigation. We present the OrganismTagger, a hybrid rule-based/machine learning system to extract organism mentions from the literature. It includes tools for automatically generating lexical and ontological resources from a copy of the NCBI Taxonomy database, thereby facilitating system updates by end users. Its novel ontology-based resources can also be reused in other semantic mining and linked data tasks. Each detected organism mention is normalized to a canonical name through the resolution of acronyms and abbreviations and subsequently grounded with an NCBI Taxonomy database ID. In particular, our system combines a novel machine-learning approach with rule-based and lexical methods for detecting strain mentions in documents. On our manually annotated OT corpus, the OrganismTagger achieves a precision of 95%, a recall of 94% and a grounding accuracy of 97.5%. On the manually annotated corpus of Linnaeus-100, the results show a precision of 99%, recall of 97% and grounding accuracy of 97.4%. The OrganismTagger, including supporting tools, resources, training data and manual annotations, as well as end user and developer documentation, is freely available under an open-source license at http://www.semanticsoftware.info/organism-tagger. witte@semanticsoftware.info.

Quantifying Airborne Allergen Levels Before and After Rain Events Using TRMM/GPM and Ground-Sampled Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stewart, Randy M.

2006-01-01

Allergies affect millions of Americans, increasing health risks and also increasing absenteeism and reducing productivity in the workplace. Outdoor allergens, such as airborne pollens and mold spores, commonly trigger respiratory distress symptoms, but rainfall reduces the quantity of allergens in the air (EPA, 2003). The current NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission provides accurate information related to rain events. These capabilities will be further enhanced with the future Global Precipitation Measurement mission. This report examines the effectiveness of combining these NASA resources with established ground-based allergen/spore sampling systems to better understand the benefits that rain provides in removing allergens and spores from the air.

Reassessment of Self-Reported Behavioral Health Habits and Other Issues Among Distributed Common Ground System Intelligence Operators and Non-Combatant Support Personnel

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-10-28

9 4.2 Sleep and Physical Exercise Health Behaviors...excess caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol use, and a deficit in physical fitness activity can further contribute to reduction in overall health . Since...to address key physical and psychological health concerns and to promote resiliency among their designated remote warrior workforces. The purpose

Director, Operational Test and Evaluation FY 2014 Annual Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

Federal Departments and Agencies. Mitigation measures such as curtailment of wind turbine operations during test periods, identification of alternative...impact of wind turbines on ground-based and airborne radars, and this investment may help mitigate interference of wind turbines with test range...Frequency Active (SURTASS CLFA) Test Plan Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System Tactical Common Data Link (Shadow) FOT&E OTA Test Plan Tempest Wind 2014

Long-term agroecosystem research in the Central Mississippi River Basin: hydrogeologic controls and crop management influence on nitrates in loess and fractured glacial till

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Nitrogen (N) from agricultural activities has been suspected as a primary source of elevated ground water nitrate (NO3-N). The objective of this research was to assess the impact of common cropping systems on NO3-N levels for a glacial till aquifer underlying claypan soils in a predominantly agricul...

How To Avoid Crossfire and Seek Common Ground: A Journey for the Sake of Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ledell, Marjorie

A democracy must tolerate many points of view without becoming divided. Therefore, public educators and the communities they serve are challenged to help students understand political and religious issues without proselytizing. This handbook provides guidelines for beginning the journey toward common ground, for moving from a climate of antagonism…

The Art of Common Ground: Emergence of a Complex Pragmatic Language Skill in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Marchena, Ashley; Eigsti, Inge-Marie

2016-01-01

Deficits in pragmatic language are central to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here we investigate common ground, a pragmatic language skill in which speakers adjust the contents of their speech based on their interlocutor's perceived knowledge, in adolescents with ASD and typical development (TD), using an experimental narrative paradigm.…

On the Spiritual Dimension of Education: Finding a Common Ground

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dayton, Eric

2016-01-01

Questions about the place of spirituality in publicly funded schools are made difficult in a multicultural secular society. I discuss the work of Paulus Geheeb and Rabindranath Tagore, two great 20th century educational innovators, to offer, by way of an argument from analogy with the social importance of moral education, a common ground for…

Potential Impact of Rainfall on the Air-Surface Exchange of Total Gaseous Mercury from Two Common Urban Ground Surfaces

EPA Science Inventory

The impact of rainfall on total gaseous mercury (TGM) flux from pavement and street dirt surfaces was investigated in an effort to determine the influence of wet weather events on mercury transport in urban watersheds. Street dirt and pavement are common urban ground surfaces tha...

Distal Communication by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Evidence for Common Ground?

PubMed Central

Leavens, David A.; Reamer, Lisa A.; Mareno, Mary Catherine; Russell, Jamie L.; Wilson, Daniel; Schapiro, Steven J.; Hopkins, William D.

2015-01-01

van der Goot et al. (2014) proposed that distal, deictic communication indexed the appreciation of the psychological state of a common ground between a signaler and a receiver. In their study, great apes did not signal distally, which they construed as evidence for the human uniqueness of a sense of common ground. This study exposed 166 chimpanzees to food and an experimenter, at an angular displacement, to ask, “Do chimpanzees display distal communication?” Apes were categorized as (a) proximal or (b) distal signalers on each of four trials. The number of chimpanzees who communicated proximally did not statistically differ from the number who signaled distally. Therefore, contrary to the claim by van der Goot et al., apes do communicate distally. PMID:26292996

49 CFR 236.2 - Grounds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

..., single-break, signal control circuits using a grounded common, and alternating current power distribution... TRANSPORTATION RULES, STANDARDS, AND INSTRUCTIONS GOVERNING THE INSTALLATION, INSPECTION, MAINTENANCE, AND REPAIR... General § 236.2 Grounds. Each circuit, the functioning of which affects the safety of train operations...

Grasping Ideas with the Motor System: Semantic Somatotopy in Idiom Comprehension

PubMed Central

Hauk, Olaf; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

2009-01-01

Single words and sentences referring to bodily actions activate the motor cortex. However, this semantic grounding of concrete language does not address the critical question whether the sensory–motor system contributes to the processing of abstract meaning and thought. We examined functional magnetic resonance imaging activation to idioms and literal sentences including arm- and leg-related action words. A common left fronto-temporal network was engaged in sentence reading, with idioms yielding relatively stronger activity in (pre)frontal and middle temporal cortex. Crucially, somatotopic activation along the motor strip, in central and precentral cortex, was elicited by idiomatic and literal sentences, reflecting the body part reference of the words embedded in the sentences. Semantic somatotopy was most pronounced after sentence ending, thus reflecting sentence-level processing rather than that of single words. These results indicate that semantic representations grounded in the sensory–motor system play a role in the composition of sentence-level meaning, even in the case of idioms. PMID:19068489

A Software Defined Radio Based Airplane Communication Navigation Simulation System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, L.; Zhong, H. T.; Song, D.

2018-01-01

Radio communication and navigation system plays important role in ensuring the safety of civil airplane in flight. Function and performance should be tested before these systems are installed on-board. Conventionally, a set of transmitter and receiver are needed for each system, thus all the equipment occupy a lot of space and are high cost. In this paper, software defined radio technology is applied to design a common hardware communication and navigation ground simulation system, which can host multiple airplane systems with different operating frequency, such as HF, VHF, VOR, ILS, ADF, etc. We use a broadband analog frontend hardware platform, universal software radio peripheral (USRP), to transmit/receive signal of different frequency band. Software is compiled by LabVIEW on computer, which interfaces with USRP through Ethernet, and is responsible for communication and navigation signal processing and system control. An integrated testing system is established to perform functional test and performance verification of the simulation signal, which demonstrate the feasibility of our design. The system is a low-cost and common hardware platform for multiple airplane systems, which provide helpful reference for integrated avionics design.

Hubble Space Telescope: cost reduction by re-engineering telemetry processing and archiving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miebach, Manfred P.

1998-05-01

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the first of NASA's Great Observatories, was launched on April 24, 1990. The HST was designed for a minimum fifteen-year mission with on-orbit servicing by the Space Shuttle System planned at approximately three-year intervals. Major changes to the HST ground system are planned to be in place for the third servicing mission in December 1999. The primary objectives of the ground system reengineering effort, a project called 'vision December 1999. The primary objectives of the ground system re-engineering effort, a project called 'vision 2000 control center systems (CCS)', are to reduce both development and operating costs significantly for the remaining years of HST's lifetime. Development costs will be reduced by providing a modern hardware and software architecture and utilizing commercial of f the shelf (COTS) products wherever possible. Operating costs will be reduced by eliminating redundant legacy systems and processes and by providing an integrated ground system geared toward autonomous operation. Part of CCS is a Space Telescope Engineering Data Store, the design of which is based on current Data Warehouse technology. The purpose of this data store is to provide a common data source of telemetry data for all HST subsystems. This data store will become the engineering data archive and will include a queryable database for the user to analyze HST telemetry. The access to the engineering data in the Data Warehouse is platform- independent from an office environment using commercial standards. Latest internet technology is used to reach the HST engineering community. A WEB-based user interface allows easy access to the data archives. This paper will provide a high level overview of the CCS system and will illustrate some of the CCS telemetry capabilities. Samples of CCS user interface pages will be given. Vision 2000 is an ambitious project, but one that is well under way. It will allow the HST program to realize reduced operations costs for the Third Servicing Mission and beyond.

Availability of ground water in the Branch River basin; Providence County, Rhode Island

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnston, H.E.; Dickerman, D.C.

1974-01-01

Stratified glacial drift consisting largely of sand and gravel constitutes the only aquifer capable of supporting continuous yields of 100 gpm (6.3 1/s) or more to individual wells. The aquifer covers about a third of the 79 mi 2 (205 km2) study area, occurring mainly in stream valleys that are less than a mi le wide. Its saturated thickness is commonly 40 to 60ft (12 to 18 m); its transmissivity is commonly 5,000 to 8,000 ft 2/day (460 to 740m2 /day). The aquifer is hydraulically connected to streams that cross it and much of the water from heavily pumped wells will consist of infiltration induced from them. Potential sustained yield from most parts of the aquifer is limited chiefly by the rate at which infiltration can be induced from streams or low streamflow, whichever is smaller. Ground-water withdrawals deplete streamflow; and if large-scale development of ground water is not carefully planned and managed, periods of no streamflow may result during dry weather. Potential sustained yield varies with the scheme of well development, and is evaluated for selected areas by mathematically simulating pumping from assumed schemes of well Is in models of the stream-aquifer system. Results indicate that sustained yields of 5.5, 3.4, 1.6, and 1.3 mgd (0.24, 0.15, 0.07, and 0.06 m3 /s) can be obtained from the stratified-drift aquifer near Slatersville, Oakland, Harrisville, and Chepachet, respectively. Pumping at these rates will not cause streams to go dry, if the water is returned to streams near points of withdrawal. A larger ground-water yield can be obtained, if periods of no streamflow along reaches of principal streams are acceptable. Inorganic chemical quality of water in the stream-aquifer system is suitable for most purposes; the water is soft, slightly acidic, and generally contains less than 100 milligrams per litre of dissolved sol ids. Continued good quality ground water depends on maintenance of good quality of water in streams, because much of the water pumped from wells will be infiltrated from streams.

Human Factors Considerations for Performance-Based Navigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barhydt, Richard; Adams, Catherine A.

2006-01-01

A transition toward a performance-based navigation system is currently underway in both the United States and around the world. Performance-based navigation incorporates Area Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedures that do not rely on the location of ground-based navigation aids. These procedures offer significant benefits to both operators and air traffic managers. Under sponsorship from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has undertaken a project to document human factors issues that have emerged during RNAV and RNP operations and propose areas for further consideration. Issues were found to include aspects of air traffic control and airline procedures, aircraft systems, and procedure design. Major findings suggest the need for human factors-specific instrument procedure design guidelines. Ongoing industry and government activities to address air-ground communication terminology, procedure design improvements, and chart-database commonality are strongly encouraged.

Entropy Constraints in the Ground State Formation of Magnetically Frustrated Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sereni, Julian G.

2018-01-01

A systematic modification of the entropy trajectory (S_m(T)) is observed at very low temperature in magnetically frustrated systems as a consequence of the constraint (S_mg 0) imposed by the Nernst postulate. The lack of magnetic order allows to explore and compare new thermodynamic properties by tracing the specific heat (C_m) behavior down to the sub-Kelvin range. Some of the most relevant findings are: (i) a common C_m/T|_{T→ 0} ≈ 7 J/mol K^2 `plateau' in at least five Yb-based very-heavy-fermions (VHF) compounds; (ii) quantitative and qualitative differences between VHF and standard non-Fermi-liquids; (iii) entropy bottlenecks governing the change of S_m(T) trajectories in a continuous transition into alternative ground states. A comparative analysis of S_m(T→ 0) dependencies is performed in compounds suitable for adiabatic demagnetization processes according to their partial ^2 S_m/partial T^2 derivatives.

Assessment of Delivery Accuracy in an Operational-Like Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sharma, Shivanjli; Wynnyk, Mitch

2016-01-01

In order to enable arrival management concepts and solutions in a Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) environment, ground-based sequencing and scheduling functions were developed to support metering operations in the National Airspace System. These sequencing and scheduling tools are designed to assist air traffic controllers in developing an overall arrival strategy, from enroute down to the terminal area boundary. NASA developed a ground system concept and protoype capability called Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSAS) to extend metering operations into the terminal area to the runway. To demonstrate the use of these scheduling and spacing tools in an operational-like environment, the FAA, NASA, and MITRE conducted an Operational Integration Assessment (OIA) of a prototype TSAS system at the FAA's William J. Hughes Technical Center (WJHTC). This paper presents an analysis of the arrival management strategies utilized and delivery accuracy achieved during the OIA. The analysis demonstrates how en route preconditioning, in various forms, and schedule disruptions impact delivery accuracy. As the simulation spanned both enroute and terminal airspace, the use of Ground Interval Management - Spacing (GIM-S) enroute speed advisories was investigated. Delivery accuracy was measured as the difference between the Scheduled Time of Arrival (STA) and the Actual Time of Arrival (ATA). The delivery accuracy was computed across all runs conducted during the OIA, which included deviations from nominal operations which are known to commonly occur in real operations, such as schedule changes and missed approaches. Overall, 83% of all flights were delivered into the terminal airspace within +/- 30 seconds of their STA and 94% of flights were delivered within +/- 60 seconds. The meter fix delivery accuracy standard deviation was found to be between 36 and 55 seconds across all arrival procedures. The data also showed when schedule disruptions were excluded, the percentage of aircraft delivered within +/- 30 seconds was between 85 and 90% across the various arrival procedures at the meter fix. This paper illustrates the ability to meet new delivery accuracy requirements in an operational-like environment using operational systems and NATCA controller participants, while also including common events that might cause disruptions to the schedule and overall system.

47 CFR 22.881 - Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service subject to competitive bidding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... competitive bidding. 22.881 Section 22.881 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air... exclusive initial applications for commercial Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service licenses are subject to...

Recirculating 1-K-Pot for Pulse-Tube Cryostats

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paine, Christopher T.; Naylor, Bret J.; Prouve, Thomas

2013-01-01

A paper describes a 1-K-pot that works with a commercial pulse tube cooler for astrophysics instrumentation testbeds that require temperatures <1.7 K. Pumped liquid helium-4 cryostats were commonly used to achieve this temperature. However, liquid helium-4 cryostats are being replaced with cryostats using pulse tube coolers. The closed-cycle 1K-pot system for the pulse tube cooler requires a heat exchanger on the pulse tube, a flow restriction, pump-out line, and pump system that recirculates helium-4. The heat exchanger precools and liquefies helium- 4 gas at the 2.5 to 3.5 K pulse tube cold head. This closed-cycle 1-K-pot system was designed to work with commercially available laboratory pulse tube coolers. It was built using common laboratory equipment such as stainless steel tubing and a mechanical pump. The system is self-contained and requires only common wall power to operate. The lift of 15 mW at 1.1 K and base temperature of 0.97 K are provided continuously. The system can be scaled to higher heat lifts of .30 to 50 mW if desired. Ground-based telescopes could use this innovation to improve the efficiency of existing cryo

Attractor learning in synchronized chaotic systems in the presence of unresolved scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiegerinck, W.; Selten, F. M.

2017-12-01

Recently, supermodels consisting of an ensemble of interacting models, synchronizing on a common solution, have been proposed as an alternative to the common non-interactive multi-model ensembles in order to improve climate predictions. The connection terms in the interacting ensemble are to be optimized based on the data. The supermodel approach has been successfully demonstrated in a number of simulation experiments with an assumed ground truth and a set of good, but imperfect models. The supermodels were optimized with respect to their short-term prediction error. Nevertheless, they produced long-term climatological behavior that was close to the long-term behavior of the assumed ground truth, even in cases where the long-term behavior of the imperfect models was very different. In these supermodel experiments, however, a perfect model class scenario was assumed, in which the ground truth and imperfect models belong to the same model class and only differ in parameter setting. In this paper, we consider the imperfect model class scenario, in which the ground truth model class is more complex than the model class of imperfect models due to unresolved scales. We perform two supermodel experiments in two toy problems. The first one consists of a chaotically driven Lorenz 63 oscillator ground truth and two Lorenz 63 oscillators with constant forcings as imperfect models. The second one is more realistic and consists of a global atmosphere model as ground truth and imperfect models that have perturbed parameters and reduced spatial resolution. In both problems, we find that supermodel optimization with respect to short-term prediction error can lead to a long-term climatological behavior that is worse than that of the imperfect models. However, we also show that attractor learning can remedy this problem, leading to supermodels with long-term behavior superior to the imperfect models.

Commons problems, common ground: Earth-surface dynamics and the social-physical interdisciplinary frontier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lazarus, E.

2015-12-01

In the archetypal "tragedy of the commons" narrative, local farmers pasture their cows on the town common. Soon the common becomes crowded with cows, who graze it bare, and the arrangement of open access to a shared resource ultimately fails. The "tragedy" involves social and physical processes, but the denouement depends on who is telling the story. An economist might argue that the system collapses because each farmer always has a rational incentive to graze one more cow. An ecologist might remark that the rate of grass growth is an inherent control on the common's carrying capacity. And a geomorphologist might point out that processes of soil degradation almost always outstrip processes of soil production. Interdisciplinary research into human-environmental systems still tends to favor disciplinary vantages. In the context of Anthropocene grand challenges - including fundamental insight into dynamics of landscape resilience, and what the dominance of human activities means for processes of change and evolution on the Earth's surface - two disciplines in particular have more to talk about than they might think. Here, I use three examples - (1) beach nourishment, (2) upstream/downstream fluvial asymmetry, and (3) current and historical "land grabbing" - to illustrate a range of interconnections between physical Earth-surface science and common-pool resource economics. In many systems, decision-making and social complexity exert stronger controls on landscape expression than do physical geomorphological processes. Conversely, human-environmental research keeps encountering multi-scale, emergent problems of resource use made 'common-pool' by water, nutrient and sediment transport dynamics. Just as Earth-surface research can benefit from decades of work on common-pool resource systems, quantitative Earth-surface science can make essential contributions to efforts addressing complex problems in environmental sustainability.

Environmental Setting and Effects on Water Quality in the Great and Little Miami River Basins, Ohio and Indiana

USGS Publications Warehouse

Debrewer, Linda M.; Rowe, Gary L.; Reutter, David C.; Moore, Rhett C.; Hambrook, Julie A.; Baker, Nancy T.

2000-01-01

The Great and Little Miami River Basins drain approximately 7,354 square miles in southwestern Ohio and southeastern Indiana and are included in the more than 50 major river basins and aquifer systems selected for water-quality assessment as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program. Principal streams include the Great and Little Miami Rivers in Ohio and the Whitewater River in Indiana. The Great and Little Miami River Basins are almost entirely within the Till Plains section of the Central Lowland physiographic province and have a humid continental climate, characterized by well-defined summer and winter seasons. With the exception of a few areas near the Ohio River, Pleistocene glacial deposits, which are predominantly till, overlie lower Paleozoic limestone, dolomite, and shale bedrock. The principal aquifer is a complex buried-valley system of sand and gravel aquifers capable of supporting sustained well yields exceeding 1,000 gallons per min-ute. Designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a sole-source aquifer, the Buried-Valley Aquifer System is the principal source of drinking water for 1.6 million people in the basins and is the dominant source of water for southwestern Ohio. Water use in the Great and Little Miami River Basins averaged 745 million gallons per day in 1995. Of this amount, 48 percent was supplied by surface water (including the Ohio River) and 52 percent was supplied by ground water. Land-use and waste-management practices influence the quality of water found in streams and aquifers in the Great and Little Miami River Basins. Land use is approximately 79 percent agriculture, 13 percent urban (residential, industrial, and commercial), and 7 percent forest. An estimated 2.8 million people live in the Great and Little Miami River Basins; major urban areas include Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio. Fertilizers and pesticides associated with agricultural activity, discharges from municipal and industrial wastewater- treatment and thermoelectric plants, urban runoff, and disposal of solid and hazardous wastes contribute contaminants to surface water and ground water throughout the study area. Surface water and ground water in the Great and Little Miami River Basins are classified as very hard, calcium-magnesium- bicarbonate waters. The major-ion composition and hardness of surface water and ground water reflect extensive contact with the carbonate-rich soils, glacial sediments, and limestone or dolomite bedrock. Dieldrin, endrin, endosulfan II, and lindane are the most commonly reported organochlorine pesticides in streams draining the Great and Little Miami River Basins. Peak concentrations of the her-bicides atrazine and metolachlor in streams commonly are associated with post-application runoff events. Nitrate concentrations in surface water average 3 to 4 mg/L (milligrams per liter) in the larger streams and also show strong seasonal variations related to application periods and runoff events. Ambient iron concentrations in ground water pumped from aquifers in the Great and Little Miami River Basins often exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level (300 micrograms per liter). Chloride concentrations are below aesthetic drinking-water guidelines (250 mg/L), except in ground water pumped from low-yielding Ordovician shale; chloride concentrations in sodium-chloride- rich ground water pumped from the shale bedrock can exceed 1,000 mg/L. Some of the highest average nitrate concentrations in ground water in Ohio and Indiana are found in wells completed in the buried-valley aquifer; these concentrations typically are found in those parts of the sand and gravel aquifer that are not overlain by clay-rich till. Atrazine was the most commonly detected herbicide in private wells. Concentrations of volatile organic compounds in ground water generally were below Federal drinking-water standards, except near areas of known or

Exploring America's Communities: In Quest of Common Ground. A National Conversation on American Pluralism and Identity Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eisenberg, Diane U.; Labib, Nadya

This monograph documents the work of 41 participating community colleges in Exploring America's Communities (EAC): In Quest of Common Ground, a project stimulating a national conversation about American pluralism and identity, addressing such issues as what it means to be American, what brings us together and what divides us. Developed by the…

Advancing Global Citizens: Afterschool and Out-of-School Time as Common Ground for Civil Society

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider-Munoz, Andrew; Politz, Bonnie

2007-01-01

The key importance of after-school and out-of-school time in a democratic society is the experience of activities and programs providing a common ground that extends the play of childhood into leadership opportunities for youthful learning and exploration of the world. The authors hypothesize that by focusing civic attention on the developmental…

Bridging Gaps in Common Ground: Speakers Design Their Gestures for Their Listeners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hilliard, Caitlin; Cook, Susan Wagner

2016-01-01

Communication is shaped both by what we are trying to say and by whom we are saying it to. We examined whether and how shared information influences the gestures speakers produce along with their speech. Unlike prior work examining effects of common ground on speech and gesture, we examined a situation in which some speakers have the same amount…

Students as Meaning-Makers and the Quest for the Common School: A Micro-ethnography of a U.S. History Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keedy, John L.; Fleming, Tracie G.; Wheat, Deborah L.; Gentry, Rita B.

1998-01-01

Examines an Advanced Placement U.S. history classroom as a miniature common school to assess students' abilities to develop historically-grounded perspectives and engage in a moral debate. Finds that (1) students with little historical-grounding lacked an inclination toward a collective, ethical critique; and (2) exchange of historically-grounded…

Modifications of the U.S. Geological Survey modular, finite-difference, ground-water flow model to read and write geographic information system files

USGS Publications Warehouse

Orzol, Leonard L.; McGrath, Timothy S.

1992-01-01

This report documents modifications to the U.S. Geological Survey modular, three-dimensional, finite-difference, ground-water flow model, commonly called MODFLOW, so that it can read and write files used by a geographic information system (GIS). The modified model program is called MODFLOWARC. Simulation programs such as MODFLOW generally require large amounts of input data and produce large amounts of output data. Viewing data graphically, generating head contours, and creating or editing model data arrays such as hydraulic conductivity are examples of tasks that currently are performed either by the use of independent software packages or by tedious manual editing, manipulating, and transferring data. Programs such as GIS programs are commonly used to facilitate preparation of the model input data and analyze model output data; however, auxiliary programs are frequently required to translate data between programs. Data translations are required when different programs use different data formats. Thus, the user might use GIS techniques to create model input data, run a translation program to convert input data into a format compatible with the ground-water flow model, run the model, run a translation program to convert the model output into the correct format for GIS, and use GIS to display and analyze this output. MODFLOWARC, avoids the two translation steps and transfers data directly to and from the ground-water-flow model. This report documents the design and use of MODFLOWARC and includes instructions for data input/output of the Basic, Block-centered flow, River, Recharge, Well, Drain, Evapotranspiration, General-head boundary, and Streamflow-routing packages. The modification to MODFLOW and the Streamflow-Routing package was minimized. Flow charts and computer-program code describe the modifications to the original computer codes for each of these packages. Appendix A contains a discussion on the operation of MODFLOWARC using a sample problem.

NASA HERMeS Hall Thruster Electrical Configuration Characterization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peterson, Peter; Kamhawi, Hani; Huang, Wensheng; Yim, John; Herman, Daniel; Williams, George; Gilland, James; Hofer, Richard

2016-01-01

NASAs Hall Effect Rocket with Magnetic Shielding (HERMeS) 12.5 kW Technology Demonstration Unit-1 (TDU-1) Hall thruster has been the subject of extensive technology maturation in preparation for development into a flight ready propulsion system. Part of the technology maturation was to test the TDU-1 thruster in several ground based electrical configurations to assess the thruster robustness and suitability to successful in-space operation. The ground based electrical configuration testing has recently been demonstrated as an important step in understanding and assessing how a Hall thruster may operate differently in space compared to ground based testing, and to determine the best configuration to conduct development and qualification testing. This presentation will cover the electrical configuration testing of the TDU-1 HERMeS Hall thruster in NASA Glenn Research Centers Vacuum Facility 5. The three electrical configurations examined are the thruster body tied to facility ground, thruster floating, and finally the thruster body electrically tied to cathode common. The TDU-1 HERMeS was configured with two different exit plane boundary conditions, dielectric and conducting, to examine the influence on the electrical configuration characterization.

NASA HERMeS Hall Thruster Electrical Configuration Characterization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peterson, Peter Y.; Kamhawi, Hani; Huang, Wensheng; Yim, John; Herman, Daniel; Williams, George; Gilland, James; Hofer, Richard

2015-01-01

The NASA Hall Effect Rocket with Magnetic Shielding (HERMeS) 12.5 kW Technology Demonstration Unit-1 (TDU-1) Hall thruster has been the subject of extensive technology maturation in preparation for development into a flight ready propulsion system. Part of the technology maturation was to test the TDU-1 thruster in several ground based electrical configurations to assess the thruster robustness and suitability to successful in-space operation. The ground based electrical configuration testing has recently been demonstrated as an important step in understanding and assessing how a Hall thruster may operate differently in-space compared to ground based testing, and to determine the best configuration to conduct development and qualification testing. This paper describes the electrical configuration testing of the HERMeS TDU-1 Hall thruster in NASA Glenn Research Center's Vacuum Facility 5. The three electrical configurations examined were 1) thruster body tied to facility ground, 2) thruster floating, and 3) thruster body electrically tied to cathode common. The HERMeS TDU-1 Hall thruster was also configured with two different exit plane boundary conditions, dielectric and conducting, to examine the influence on the electrical configuration characterization.

How flexibility and dynamic ground effect could improve bio-inspired propulsion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quinn, Daniel

2016-11-01

Swimming animals use complex fin motions to reach remarkable levels of efficiency, maneuverability, and stealth. Propulsion systems inspired by these motions could usher in a new generation of advanced underwater vehicles. Two aspects of bio-inspired propulsion are discussed here: flexibility and near-boundary swimming. Experimental work on flexible propulsors shows that swimming efficiency depends on wake vortex timing and boundary layer attachment, but also on fluid-structure resonance. As a result, flexible vehicles or animals could potentially improve their performance by tracking their resonance properties. Bio-inspired propulsors were also found to produce more thrust with no loss in efficiency when swimming near a solid boundary. Higher lift-to-drag ratios for near-ground fixed-wing gliders is commonly known as ground effect. This newly observed "dynamic ground effect" suggests that bio-inspired vehicles and animals could save energy by harnessing the performance gains associated with near-boundary swimming. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research (MURI N00014-08-1-0642, Program Director Dr. Bob Brizzolara) and the National Science Foundation (DBI-1062052, PI Lisa Fauci; EFRI-0938043, PI George Lauder).

Optimization Review: Ogallala Ground Water Contamination Superfund Site, Operable Unit 2 (Tip Top Cleaners), Ogallala, Nebraska

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Ogallala Ground Water Contamination Superfund site was identified in 1989 through municipal well sampling. Tetrachloroethene (PCE), a solvent commonly used in dry cleaner operations, was the primary ground water target chemical of concern (COC) that..

Comorbidities of COPD.

PubMed

Cavaillès, Arnaud; Brinchault-Rabin, Graziella; Dixmier, Adrien; Goupil, François; Gut-Gobert, Christophe; Marchand-Adam, Sylvain; Meurice, Jean-Claude; Morel, Hugues; Person-Tacnet, Christine; Leroyer, Christophe; Diot, Patrice

2013-12-01

By 2020, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will be the third cause of mortality. Extrapulmonary comorbidities influence the prognosis of patients with COPD. Tobacco smoking is a common risk factor for many comorbidities, including coronary heart disease, heart failure and lung cancer. Comorbidities such as pulmonary artery disease and malnutrition are directly caused by COPD, whereas others, such as systemic venous thromboembolism, anxiety, depression, osteoporosis, obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, sleep disturbance and anaemia, have no evident physiopathological relationship with COPD. The common ground between most of these extrapulmonary manifestations is chronic systemic inflammation. All of these diseases potentiate the morbidity of COPD, leading to increased hospitalisations and healthcare costs. They can frequently cause death, independently of respiratory failure. Comorbidities make the management of COPD difficult and need to be evaluated and treated adequately.

Potential of near-infrared hyperspectral reflectance imaging for screening of farm feed contamination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Wenbo; Paliwal, Jitendra

2005-09-01

With the outbreak of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) (commonly known as mad cow disease) in 1987 in the United Kingdom and a recent case discovered in Alberta, more and more emphasis is placed on food and farm feed quality and safety issues internationally. The disease is believed to be spread through farm feed contamination by animal byproducts in the form of meat-and-bone-meal (MBM). The paper reviewed the available techniques necessary to the enforcement of legislation concerning the feed safety issues. The standard microscopy method, although highly sensitive, is laborious and costly. A method to routinely screen farm feed contamination certainly helps to reduce the complexity of safety inspection. A hyperspectral imaging system working in the near-infrared wavelength region of 1100-1600 nm was used to study the possibility of detection of ground broiler feed contamination by ground pork. Hyperspectral images of raw broiler feed, ground broiler feed, ground pork, and contaminated feed samples were acquired. Raw broiler feed samples were found to possess comparatively large spectral variations due to light scattering effect. Ground feed adulterated with 1%, 3%, 5%, and 10% of ground pork was tested to identify feed contamination. Discriminant analysis using Mahalanobis distance showed that the model trained using pure ground feed samples and pure ground pork samples resulted in 100% false negative errors for all test replicates of contaminated samples. A discriminant model trained with pure ground feed samples and 10% contamination level samples resulted in 12.5% false positive error and 0% false negative error.

Nondestructive Evaluation of Concrete Bridge Decks with Automated Acoustic Scanning System and Ground Penetrating Radar.

PubMed

Sun, Hongbin; Pashoutani, Sepehr; Zhu, Jinying

2018-06-16

Delamanintions and reinforcement corrosion are two common problems in concrete bridge decks. No single nondestructive testing method (NDT) is able to provide comprehensive characterization of these defects. In this work, two NDT methods, acoustic scanning and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), were used to image a straight concrete bridge deck and a curved intersection ramp bridge. An acoustic scanning system has been developed for rapid delamination mapping. The system consists of metal-ball excitation sources, air-coupled sensors, and a GPS positioning system. The acoustic scanning results are presented as a two-dimensional image that is based on the energy map in the frequency range of 0.5⁻5 kHz. The GPR scanning results are expressed as the GPR signal attenuation map to characterize concrete deterioration and reinforcement corrosion. Signal processing algorithms for both methods are discussed. Delamination maps from the acoustic scanning are compared with deterioration maps from the GPR scanning on both bridges. The results demonstrate that combining the acoustic and GPR scanning results will provide a complementary and comprehensive evaluation of concrete bridge decks.

Improvements and Extensions for Joint Polar Satellite System Algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grant, K. D.

2016-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are jointly acquiring the next-generation civilian weather satellite system: the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). JPSS replaced the afternoon orbit component and ground processing of the old POES system managed by NOAA. JPSS satellites carry sensors designed to collect meteorological, oceanographic, climatological, and solar-geophysical observations of the earth, atmosphere, and space. The ground processing system for JPSS is the Common Ground System (CGS), and provides command, control, and communications (C3), data processing and product delivery. CGS's data processing capability provides environmental data products (Sensor Data Records (SDRs) and Environmental Data Records (EDRs)) to the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility. The first satellite in the JPSS constellation, S-NPP, was launched in October 2011. The second satellite, JPSS-1, is scheduled for launch in January 2017. During a satellite's calibration and validation (Cal/Val) campaign, numerous algorithm updates occur. Changes identified during Cal/Val become available for implementation into the operational system for both S-NPP and JPSS-1. In addition, new capabilities, such as higher spectral and spatial resolution, will be exercised on JPSS-1. This paper will describe changes to current algorithms and products as a result of S-NPP Cal/Val and related initiatives for improved capabilities. Improvements include Cross Track Infrared Sounder high spectral processing, extended spectral and spatial ranges for Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite ozone Total Column and Nadir Profiles, and updates to Vegetation Index, Snow Cover, Active Fires, Suspended Matter, and Ocean Color. Updates will include Sea Surface Temperature, Cloud Mask, Cloud Properties, and other improvements.

Lunar lander ground support system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The design of the Lunar Lander Ground Support System (LLGSS) is examined. The basic design time line is around 2010 to 2030 and is referred to as a second generation system, as lunar bases and equipment would have been present. Present plans for lunar colonization call for a phased return of personnel and materials to the moons's surface. During settlement of lunar bases, the lunar lander is stationary in a very hostile environment and would have to be in a state of readiness for use in case of an emergency. Cargo and personnel would have to be removed from the lander and transported to a safe environment at the lunar base. An integrated system is required to perform these functions. These needs are addressed which center around the design of a lunar lander servicing system. The servicing system could perform several servicing functions to the lander in addition to cargo servicing. The following were considered: (1) reliquify hydrogen boiloff; (2) supply power; and (3) remove or add heat as necessary. The final design incorporates both original designs and existing vehicles and equipment on the surface of the moon at the time considered. The importance of commonality is foremost in the design of any lunar machinery.

Systems Architecture for Fully Autonomous Space Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Esper, Jamie; Schnurr, R.; VanSteenberg, M.; Brumfield, Mark (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is working to develop a revolutionary new system architecture concept in support of fully autonomous missions. As part of GSFC's contribution to the New Millenium Program (NMP) Space Technology 7 Autonomy and on-Board Processing (ST7-A) Concept Definition Study, the system incorporates the latest commercial Internet and software development ideas and extends them into NASA ground and space segment architectures. The unique challenges facing the exploration of remote and inaccessible locales and the need to incorporate corresponding autonomy technologies within reasonable cost necessitate the re-thinking of traditional mission architectures. A measure of the resiliency of this architecture in its application to a broad range of future autonomy missions will depend on its effectiveness in leveraging from commercial tools developed for the personal computer and Internet markets. Specialized test stations and supporting software come to past as spacecraft take advantage of the extensive tools and research investments of billion-dollar commercial ventures. The projected improvements of the Internet and supporting infrastructure go hand-in-hand with market pressures that provide continuity in research. By taking advantage of consumer-oriented methods and processes, space-flight missions will continue to leverage on investments tailored to provide better services at reduced cost. The application of ground and space segment architectures each based on Local Area Networks (LAN), the use of personal computer-based operating systems, and the execution of activities and operations through a Wide Area Network (Internet) enable a revolution in spacecraft mission formulation, implementation, and flight operations. Hardware and software design, development, integration, test, and flight operations are all tied-in closely to a common thread that enables the smooth transitioning between program phases. The application of commercial software development techniques lays the foundation for delivery of product-oriented flight software modules and models. Software can then be readily applied to support the on-board autonomy required for mission self-management. An on-board intelligent system, based on advanced scripting languages, facilitates the mission autonomy required to offload ground system resources, and enables the spacecraft to manage itself safely through an efficient and effective process of reactive planning, science data acquisition, synthesis, and transmission to the ground. Autonomous ground systems in turn coordinate and support schedule contact times with the spacecraft. Specific autonomy software modules on-board include mission and science planners, instrument and subsystem control, and fault tolerance response software, all residing within a distributed computing environment supported through the flight LAN. Autonomy also requires the minimization of human intervention between users on the ground and the spacecraft, and hence calls for the elimination of the traditional operations control center as a funnel for data manipulation. Basic goal-oriented commands are sent directly from the user to the spacecraft through a distributed internet-based payload operations "center". The ensuing architecture calls for the use of spacecraft as point extensions on the Internet. This paper will detail the system architecture implementation chosen to enable cost-effective autonomous missions with applicability to a broad range of conditions. It will define the structure needed for implementation of such missions, including software and hardware infrastructures. The overall architecture is then laid out as a common thread in the mission life cycle from formulation through implementation and flight operations.

Common-Path Wavefront Sensing for Advanced Coronagraphs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wallace, J. Kent; Serabyn, Eugene; Mawet, Dimitri

2012-01-01

Imaging of faint companions around nearby stars is not limited by either intrinsic resolution of a coronagraph/telescope system, nor is it strictly photon limited. Typically, it is both the magnitude and temporal variation of small phase and amplitude errors imparted to the electric field by elements in the optical system which will limit ultimate performance. Adaptive optics systems, particularly those with multiple deformable mirrors, can remove these errors, but they need to be sensed in the final image plane. If the sensing system is before the final image plane, which is typical for most systems, then the non-common path optics between the wavefront sensor and science image plane will lead to un-sensed errors. However, a new generation of high-performance coronagraphs naturally lend themselves to wavefront sensing in the final image plane. These coronagraphs and the wavefront sensing will be discussed, as well as plans for demonstrating this with a high-contrast system on the ground. Such a system will be a key system-level proof for a future space-based coronagraph mission, which will also be discussed.

Tuned, driven, and active soft matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menzel, Andreas M.

2015-02-01

One characteristic feature of soft matter systems is their strong response to external stimuli. As a consequence they are comparatively easily driven out of their ground state and out of equilibrium, which leads to many of their fascinating properties. Here, we review illustrative examples. This review is structured by an increasing distance from the equilibrium ground state. On each level, examples of increasing degree of complexity are considered. In detail, we first consider systems that are quasi-statically tuned or switched to a new state by applying external fields. These are common liquid crystals, liquid crystalline elastomers, or ferrogels and magnetic elastomers. Next, we concentrate on systems steadily driven from outside e.g. by an imposed flow field. In our case, we review the reaction of nematic liquid crystals, of bulk-filling periodically modulated structures such as block copolymers, and of localized vesicular objects to an imposed shear flow. Finally, we focus on systems that are "active" and "self-driven". Here our range spans from idealized self-propelled point particles, via sterically interacting particles like granular hoppers, via microswimmers such as self-phoretically driven artificial Janus particles or biological microorganisms, via deformable self-propelled particles like droplets, up to the collective behavior of insects, fish, and birds. As we emphasize, similarities emerge in the features and behavior of systems that at first glance may not necessarily appear related. We thus hope that our overview will further stimulate the search for basic unifying principles underlying the physics of these soft materials out of their equilibrium ground state.

Introducing the VISAGE project - Visualization for Integrated Satellite, Airborne, and Ground-based data Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gatlin, P. N.; Conover, H.; Berendes, T.; Maskey, M.; Naeger, A. R.; Wingo, S. M.

2017-12-01

A key component of NASA's Earth observation system is its field experiments, for intensive observation of particular weather phenomena, or for ground validation of satellite observations. These experiments collect data from a wide variety of airborne and ground-based instruments, on different spatial and temporal scales, often in unique formats. The field data are often used with high volume satellite observations that have very different spatial and temporal coverage. The challenges inherent in working with such diverse datasets make it difficult for scientists to rapidly collect and analyze the data for physical process studies and validation of satellite algorithms. The newly-funded VISAGE project will address these issues by combining and extending nascent efforts to provide on-line data fusion, exploration, analysis and delivery capabilities. A key building block is the Field Campaign Explorer (FCX), which allows users to examine data collected during field campaigns and simplifies data acquisition for event-based research. VISAGE will extend FCX's capabilities beyond interactive visualization and exploration of coincident datasets, to provide interrogation of data values and basic analyses such as ratios and differences between data fields. The project will also incorporate new, higher level fused and aggregated analysis products from the System for Integrating Multi-platform data to Build the Atmospheric column (SIMBA), which combines satellite and ground-based observations into a common gridded atmospheric column data product; and the Validation Network (VN), which compiles a nationwide database of coincident ground- and satellite-based radar measurements of precipitation for larger scale scientific analysis. The VISAGE proof-of-concept will target "golden cases" from Global Precipitation Measurement Ground Validation campaigns. This presentation will introduce the VISAGE project, initial accomplishments and near term plans.

Engaging Plant Anatomy and Local Knowledge on the Buriti Palm ("Mauritia flexuosa" L.f.: Arecaceae): The Microscopic World Meets the Golden Grass Artisan's Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Viana, Rebeca V. R.; Scatena, Vera L.; Eichemberg, Mayra T.; Sano, Paulo T.

2018-01-01

Considering that both Western Science and Local Knowledge Systems share a common ground--observations of the natural world--the dialogue between them should not only be possible, but fruitful. Local communities whose livelihoods depend on traditional uses of the local biodiversity not only develop knowledge about nature, making several uses of…

Simulated effects of ground-water withdrawals and artificial recharge on discharge to streams, springs, and riparian vegetation in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed of the Upper San Pedro Basin, southeastern Arizona

USGS Publications Warehouse

Leake, Stanley A.; Pool, Donald R.; Leenhouts, James M.

2008-01-01

In the context of ground-water resources, “capture” or “streamflow depletion” refers to withdrawal-induced changes in inflow to or outflow from an aquifer. These concepts are helpful in understanding the effects of long-term development of ground-water resources. For the Upper San Pedro Basin in Arizona, USA and Sonora, Mexico, a recently developed ground-water flow model is available to help quantify capture of water from the river and riparian system. A common method of analysis is to compute curves of capture and aquifer-storage change for a range of time at select points of interest. This study, however, presents results of a method to show spatial distributions of total change in inflow and outflow from withdrawal or injection for select times of interest. The mapped areal distributions show the effect of a single well in terms of the ratio of the change in boundary flow rate to rate of withdrawal or injection by the well. To the extent that the system responds linearly to ground-water withdrawal or injection, fractional responses in the mapped distributions can be used to quantify response for any withdrawal or injection rate. Capture distributions calculated using the Upper San Pedro model include response to (1) withdrawal in the lower basin-fill aquifer for times of 10 and 50 years following the initiation of pumping from predevelopment conditions and (2) artificial recharge to the water table in the area underlain by the lower basin-fill aquifer after 10 and 50 years. The mapped distributions show that response to withdrawals and injections is greatest near the river/riparian system. Presence of clay layers in the vertical interval between withdrawal locations and the river/riparian system, however, can delay the response.

GROUND WATER ISSUE - PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS OF PUMP-AND-TREAT REMEDIATIONS

EPA Science Inventory

One of the most commonly used ground-water remediation technologies is to pump contaminated water to the surface for treatment. Evaluating the effectiveness of pump-and-treat remediations at Superfund sites is an issue identified by the Regional Superfund Ground Water Forum as a ...

Ground water and the rural homeowner

USGS Publications Warehouse

Waller, Roger M.

1988-01-01

As the salesmen sang in the musical The Music Man, "You gotta know the territory." This saying is also true when planning to buy or build a house. Learn as much as possible about the land, the water supply, and the septic system of the house before buying or building. Do not just look at the construction aspects or the beauty of the home and surroundings. Be sure to consider the environmental conditions around and beneath the site as well. Try to visit the site under adverse conditions, such as during heavy rain or meltwater runoff, to observe the drainage characteristics, particularly the condition of the basement. Many of the conditions discussed in this book, such as lowered well-water levels, flooded basements, and contamination from septic systems, are so common that rural families often have to deal with one or more of them. The purpose of this book is to awaken an interest in ground water and an awareness of where it is available, how it moves, how people can adjust to its patterns to avoid problems, and how it can be protected and used wisely. This booklet provides both present and prospective rural homeowners, particularly those in the glaciated northern parts of the United States, with a basic but comprehensive description of ground water. It also presents problems one may expect to encounter with ground water and some solutions or suggestions for help with these problems.

Ground water and the rural homeowner

USGS Publications Warehouse

Waller, Roger M.

1994-01-01

As the salesmen sang in the musical The Music Man, "You gotta know the territory." This saying is also true when planning to buy or build a house. Learn as much as possible about the land, the water supply, and the septic system of the house before buying or building. Do not just look at the construction aspects or the beauty of the home and surroundings. Be sure to consider the environmental conditions around and beneath the site as well. Try to visit the site under adverse conditions, such as during heavy rain or meltwater runoff, to observe the drainage characteristics, particularly the condition of the basement. Many of the conditions discussed in this book, such as lowered well-water levels, flooded basements, and contamination from septic systems, are so common that rural families often have to deal with one or more of them. The purpose of this book is to awaken an interest in ground water and an awareness of where it is available, how it moves, how people can adjust to its patterns to avoid problems, and how it can be protected and used wisely. This booklet provides both present and prospective rural homeowners, particularly those in the glaciated northern parts of the United States, with a basic but comprehensive description of ground water. It also presents problems one may expect to encounter with ground water and some solutions or suggestions for help with these problems.

Space weather effects on ground based technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clark, T.

Space weather can affect a variety of forms of ground-based technology, usually as a result of either the direct effects of the varying geomagnetic field, or as a result of the induced electric field that accompanies such variations. Technologies affected directly by geomagnetic variations include magnetic measurements made d ringu geophysical surveys, and navigation relying on the geomagnetic field as a direction reference, a method that is particularly common in the surveying of well-bores in the oil industry. The most obvious technology affected by induced electric fields during magnetic storms is electric power transmission, where the example of the blackout in Quebec during the March 1989 magnetic storm is widely known. Additionally, space weather effects must be taken into account in the design of active cathodic protection systems on pipelines to protect them against corrosion. Long-distance telecommunication cables may also have to be designed to cope with space weather related effects. This paper reviews the effects of space weather in these different areas of ground-based technology, and provides examples of how mitigation against hazards may be achieved. (The paper does not include the effects of space weather on radio communication or satellite navigation systems).

The role of permafrost and seasonal frost in the hydrology of northern wetlands in North America

USGS Publications Warehouse

Woo, M.-K.; Winter, Thomas C.

1993-01-01

Wetlands are a common landscape feature in the Arctic, Subarctic, and north Temperate zones of North America. In all three-zones, the occurrnce of seasonal frost results in similar surface-water processes in the early spring. For example, surface ice and snow generally melt before the soil frost thaws, causing melt water to flow into depressions, over the land surface and at times, across low topographic divides. However, evapotranspiration and ground-water movement differ among the three climatic zones because they are more affected by permafrost than seasonal frost. The water source for plants in the Arctic is restricted to the small volume of subsurface water lying above the permafrost. Although this is also true in the Subarctic where permafrost exists, where it does not, plants may receive and possibly reflect, more regional ground-water sources. Where permafrost exists, the interaction of wetlands with subsurface water is largely restricted to shallow local flow systems. But where permafrost is absent in parts of the Subarctic and all of the Temperature zone, wetlands may have a complex interaction with ground-water-flow systems of all magnitudes.

Physical environment and hydrologic characteristics of coal-mining areas in Missouri

USGS Publications Warehouse

Vaill, J.E.; Barks, James H.

1980-01-01

Hydrologic information for the north-central and western coal-mining regions of Missouri is needed to define the hydrologic system in these areas of major historic and planned coal development. This report describes the physical setting, climate, coal-mining practices, general hydrologic system, and the current (1980) hydrologie data base in these two coal-mining regions. Streamflow in both mining regions is poorly sustained. Stream water quality generally varies with location and the magnitude of coal-mining activity in a watershed. Streams in non coal-mining areas generally have dissolved-solids concentrations less than 400 milligrams per liter. Acid-mine drainage has seriously affected some streams by reducing the pH to less than 4.0 and increasing the dissolved-solids concentrations to greater than 1,000 milligrams per liter. This has resulted in fish kills in some instances. Ground-water movement is impeded both laterally and vertically in both mining regions, especially in western Missouri, because of the low hydraulic conductivity of the rocks of Pennsylvanian age. The quality of ground water varies widely depending on location and depth. Ground water commonly contains high concentrations of iron and sulfate, and dissolved-solids concentrations generally are greater than 1,000 milligrams per liter.

Analysis of Historical Materiel Return Program (MRP) Credits at the 1st Marine Logistics Group Reparable Issue Point (RIP)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-11-05

45  2.  Ground Common vs. Low Density and Excess (FTE) vs. Carcass ( FTA ...47  a.  Ground Common vs. Low Density ............................. 47  b.  Excess (FTE) vs. Carcass ( FTA ...48  Figure 16.  Excess (FTE) and Carcass ( FTA ) Dollar Amounts and Percentages . 49  Figure 17.  MRP

Competing antiferromagnetism in a quasi-2D itinerant ferromagnet: Fe 3GeTe 2

DOE PAGES

Yi, Jieyu; Zhuang, Houlong; Zou, Qiang; ...

2016-11-15

Fe 3GeTe 2 is known as an air-stable layered metal with itinerant ferromagnetism with a transition temperature of about 220 K. From extensive dc and ac magnetic measurements, we have determined that the ferromagnetic layers of Fe 3GeTe 2 order antiferromagnetically along the c-axis blow 152 K. The antiferromagnetic state was further substantiated by theoretical calculation to be the ground state. A magnetic structure model was proposed to describe the antiferromagnetic ground state as well as competition between antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic states. Furthermore, Fe 3GeTe 2 shares many common features with pnictide superconductors and may be a promising system inmore » which to search for unconventional superconductivity.« less

Power plant fault detection using artificial neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thanakodi, Suresh; Nazar, Nazatul Shiema Moh; Joini, Nur Fazriana; Hidzir, Hidzrin Dayana Mohd; Awira, Mohammad Zulfikar Khairul

2018-02-01

The fault that commonly occurs in power plants is due to various factors that affect the system outage. There are many types of faults in power plants such as single line to ground fault, double line to ground fault, and line to line fault. The primary aim of this paper is to diagnose the fault in 14 buses power plants by using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The Multilayered Perceptron Network (MLP) that detection trained utilized the offline training methods such as Gradient Descent Backpropagation (GDBP), Levenberg-Marquardt (LM), and Bayesian Regularization (BR). The best method is used to build the Graphical User Interface (GUI). The modelling of 14 buses power plant, network training, and GUI used the MATLAB software.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-07-10

TEMPUS, an electromagnetic levitation facility that allows containerless processing of metallic samples in microgravity, first flew on the IML-2 Spacelab mission. The principle of electromagnetic levitation is used commonly in ground-based experiments to melt and then cool metallic melts below their freezing points without solidification occurring. The TEMPUS operation is controlled by its own microprocessor system; although commands may be sent remotely from the ground and real time adjustments may be made by the crew. Two video cameras, a two-color pyrometer for measuring sample temperatures, and a fast infrared detector for monitoring solidification spikes, will be mounted to the process chamber to facilitate observation and analysis. In addition, a dedicated high-resolution video camera can be attached to the TEMPUS to measure the sample volume precisely.

40 CFR 265.91 - Ground-water monitoring system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Ground-water monitoring system. 265.91... DISPOSAL FACILITIES Ground-Water Monitoring § 265.91 Ground-water monitoring system. (a) A ground-water monitoring system must be capable of yielding ground-water samples for analysis and must consist of: (1...

40 CFR 265.91 - Ground-water monitoring system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Ground-water monitoring system. 265.91... DISPOSAL FACILITIES Ground-Water Monitoring § 265.91 Ground-water monitoring system. (a) A ground-water monitoring system must be capable of yielding ground-water samples for analysis and must consist of: (1...

40 CFR 265.91 - Ground-water monitoring system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Ground-water monitoring system. 265.91... DISPOSAL FACILITIES Ground-Water Monitoring § 265.91 Ground-water monitoring system. (a) A ground-water monitoring system must be capable of yielding ground-water samples for analysis and must consist of: (1...

40 CFR 265.91 - Ground-water monitoring system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Ground-water monitoring system. 265.91... DISPOSAL FACILITIES Ground-Water Monitoring § 265.91 Ground-water monitoring system. (a) A ground-water monitoring system must be capable of yielding ground-water samples for analysis and must consist of: (1...

Creative Analytics of Mission Ops Event Messages

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Dan

2017-01-01

Historically, tremendous effort has been put into processing and displaying mission health and safety telemetry data; and relatively little attention has been paid to extracting information from missions time-tagged event log messages. Todays missions may log tens of thousands of messages per day and the numbers are expected to dramatically increase as satellite fleets and constellations are launched, as security monitoring continues to evolve, and as the overall complexity of ground system operations increases. The logs may contain information about orbital events, scheduled and actual observations, device status and anomalies, when operators were logged on, when commands were resent, when there were data drop outs or system failures, and much much more. When dealing with distributed space missions or operational fleets, it becomes even more important to systematically analyze this data. Several advanced information systems technologies make it appropriate to now develop analytic capabilities which can increase mission situational awareness, reduce mission risk, enable better event-driven automation and cross-mission collaborations, and lead to improved operations strategies: Industry Standard for Log Messages. The Object Management Group (OMG) Space Domain Task Force (SDTF) standards organization is in the process of creating a formal standard for industry for event log messages. The format is based on work at NASA GSFC. Open System Architectures. The DoD, NASA, and others are moving towards common open system architectures for mission ground data systems based on work at NASA GSFC with the full support of the commercial product industry and major integration contractors. Text Analytics. A specific area of data analytics which applies statistical, linguistic, and structural techniques to extract and classify information from textual sources. This presentation describes work now underway at NASA to increase situational awareness through the collection of non-telemetry mission operations information into a common log format and then providing display and analytics tools to provide in-depth assessment of the log contents. The work includes: Common interface formats for acquiring time-tagged text messages Conversion of common files for schedules, orbital events, and stored commands to the common log format Innovative displays to depict thousands of messages on a single display Structured English text queries against the log message data store, extensible to a more mature natural language query capability Goal of speech-to-text and text-to-speech additions to create a personal mission operations assistant to aid on-console operations. A wide variety of planned uses identified by the mission operations teams will be discussed.

49 CFR 234.213 - Grounds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... current power distribution circuits that are grounded in the interest of safety; and common return wires... Maintenance Standards § 234.213 Grounds. Each circuit that affects the proper functioning of a highway-rail... permit a current flow of 75 percent or more of the release value of any relay or electromagnetic device...

Some Fundamental Issues in Ground-State Density Functional Theory: A Guide for the Perplexed.

PubMed

Perdew, John P; Ruzsinszky, Adrienn; Constantin, Lucian A; Sun, Jianwei; Csonka, Gábor I

2009-04-14

Some fundamental issues in ground-state density functional theory are discussed without equations: (1) The standard Hohenberg-Kohn and Kohn-Sham theorems were proven for a Hamiltonian that is not quite exact for real atoms, molecules, and solids. (2) The density functional for the exchange-correlation energy, which must be approximated, arises from the tendency of electrons to avoid one another as they move through the electron density. (3) In the absence of a magnetic field, either spin densities or total electron density can be used, although the former choice is better for approximations. (4) "Spin contamination" of the determinant of Kohn-Sham orbitals for an open-shell system is not wrong but right. (5) Only to the extent that symmetries of the interacting wave function are reflected in the spin densities should those symmetries be respected by the Kohn-Sham noninteracting or determinantal wave function. Functionals below the highest level of approximations should however sometimes break even those symmetries, for good physical reasons. (6) Simple and commonly used semilocal (lower-level) approximations for the exchange-correlation energy as a functional of the density can be accurate for closed systems near equilibrium and yet fail for open systems of fluctuating electron number. (7) The exact Kohn-Sham noninteracting state need not be a single determinant, but common approximations can fail when it is not. (8) Over an open system of fluctuating electron number, connected to another such system by stretched bonds, semilocal approximations make the exchange-correlation energy and hole-density sum rule too negative. (9) The gap in the exact Kohn-Sham band structure of a crystal underestimates the real fundamental gap but may approximate the first exciton energy in the large-gap limit. (10) Density functional theory is not really a mean-field theory, although it looks like one. The exact functional includes strong correlation, and semilocal approximations often overestimate the strength of static correlation through their semilocal exchange contributions. (11) Only under rare conditions can excited states arise directly from a ground-state theory.

Ground-water quality in selected areas of Wisconsin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hindall, S.M.

1979-01-01

Analysis of 2,071 ground-water samples from 970 wells throughout Wisconsin indicate large variations in ground-water quality. Ground water in Wisconsin is generally suitable for most uses, but in some areas concentrations of chemical constituents exceed recommended drinking-water standards. Iron, manganese, and nitrate commonly exceed recommended drinking-water standards and dissolved solids, sulfate, heavy metals, and phenolic materials may present local problems. (USGS)

Hydrogeology and simulation of ground-water flow at the Gettysburg Elevator Plant Superfund Site, Adams County, Pennsylvania

USGS Publications Warehouse

Low, Dennis J.; Goode, Daniel J.; Risser, Dennis W.

2000-01-01

Ground water in Triassic-age sedimentary fractured-rock aquifers in the area of Gettysburg, Pa., is used as drinking water and for industrial and commercial supply. In 1983, ground water at the Gettysburg Elevator Plant was found by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources to be contaminated with trichloroethene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, and other synthetic organic compounds. As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency?s Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 1980 process, a Remedial Investigation was completed in July 1991, a method of site remediation was issued in the Record of Decision dated June 1992, and a Final Design Report was completed in May 1997. In cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the hydrogeologic assessment of the site remediation, the U.S. Geological Survey began a study in 1997 to determine the effects of the onsite and offsite extraction wells on ground-water flow and contaminant migration from the Gettysburg Elevator Plant. This determination is based on hydrologic and geophysical data collected from 1991 to 1998 and on results of numerical model simulations of the local ground-water flow-system. The Gettysburg Elevator Site is underlain by red, green, gray, and black shales of the Heidlersburg Member of the Gettysburg Formation. Correlation of natural-gamma logs indicates the sedimentary rock strike about N. 23 degrees E. and dip about 23 degrees NW. Depth to bedrock onsite commonly is about 6 feet but offsite may be as deep as 40 feet. The ground-water system consists of two zones?a thin, shallow zone composed of soil, clay, and highly weathered bedrock and a thicker, nonweathered or fractured bedrock zone. The shallow zone overlies the bedrock zone and truncates the dipping beds parallel to land surface. Diabase dikes are barriers to ground-water flow in the bedrock zone. The ground-water system is generally confined or semi-confined, even at shallow depths. Depth to water can range from flowing at land surface to more than 71 feet below land surface. Potentiometric maps based on measured water levels at the Gettysburg Elevator Plant indicate ground water flows from west to east, towards Rock Creek. Multiple-well aquifer tests indicate the system is heterogeneous and flow is primarily in dipping beds that contain discrete secondary openings separated by less permeable beds. Water levels in wells open to the pumped bed, as projected along the dipping stratigraphy, are drawn down more than water levels in wells not open to the pumped bed. Ground-water flow was simulated for steady-state conditions prior to pumping and long-term average pumping conditions. The three-dimensional numerical flow model (MODFLOW) was calibrated by use of a parameter estimation program (MODFLOWP). Steady-state conditions were assumed for the calibration period of 1996. An effective areal recharge rate of 7 inches was used in model calibration. The calibrated flow model was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the current onsite and offsite extraction well system. The simulation results generally indicate that the extraction system effectively captures much of the ground-water recharge at the Gettysburg Elevator Plant and, hence, contaminated ground-water migrating from the site. Some of the extraction wells pump at low rates and have very small contributing areas. Results indicate some areal recharge onsite will move to offsite extraction wells.

Discourse comprehension in autism spectrum disorder: Effects of working memory load and common ground.

PubMed

Schuh, Jillian M; Eigsti, Inge-Marie; Mirman, Daniel

2016-12-01

Pragmatic language impairments are nearly universal in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Discourse requires that we monitor information that is shared or mutually known, called "common ground." While many studies have examined the role of Theory of Mind (ToM) in such impairments, few have examined working memory (WM). Common ground impairments in ASD could reflect limitations in both WM and ToM. This study explored common ground use in youth ages 8-17 years with high-functioning ASD (n = 13) and typical development (n = 22); groups did not differ on age, gender, IQ, or standardized language. We tracked participants' eye movements while they performed a discourse task in which some information was known only to the participant (e.g., was privileged; a manipulation of ToM). In addition, the amount of privileged information varied (a manipulation of WM). All participants were slower to fixate the target when considering privileged information, and this effect was greatest during high WM load trials. Further, the ASD group was more likely to fixate competing (non-target) shapes. Predictors of fixation patterns included ASD symptomatology, language ability, ToM, and WM. Groups did not differ in ToM. Individuals with better WM fixated the target more rapidly, suggesting an association between WM capacity and efficient discourse. In addition to ToM knowledge, WM capacity constrains common ground representation and impacts pragmatic skills in ASD. Social impairments in ASD are thus associated with WM capacity, such that deficits in domain-general, nonsocial processes such as WM exert an influence during complex social interactions. Autism Res 2016, 9: 1340-1352. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Common ground for biodiversity and ecosystem services: the “partial protection” challenge

PubMed Central

Faith, Daniel P

2012-01-01

New global initiatives require clarity about similarities and differences between biodiversity and ecosystem services. One argument is that ecosystem services capture utilitarian values, while biodiversity captures intrinsic values. However, the concept of biodiversity equally emerges from anthropogenic use values. Measures of biodiversity indicate broad option values, and so provide different information about future uses and benefits. Such differences nevertheless can be the basis for “common ground” for biodiversity and ecosystem services. Systematic conservation planning and related frameworks acknowledge such differences through effective trade-offs and synergies among different values of society. The early work on regional biodiversity trade-offs includes a little-explored aspect that could enhance this common ground. Regional planning here takes into account the “partial protection” of biodiversity provided by some land uses. Common-ground will be promoted by better integrating the ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation offered by ecosystems at the “natural end of the spectrum” with the partial protection and other benefits/services provided by more intensively-transformed places. PMID:24358821

Exposure Through Runoff and Ground Water Contamination Differentially Impact Behavior and Physiology of Crustaceans in Fluvial Systems.

PubMed

Steele, Alexandra N; Belanger, Rachelle M; Moore, Paul A

2018-06-19

Chemical pollutants enter aquatic systems through numerous pathways (e.g., surface runoff and ground water contamination), thus associating these contaminant sources with varying hydrodynamic environments. The hydrodynamic environment shapes the temporal and spatial distribution of chemical contaminants through turbulent mixing. The differential dispersal of contaminants is not commonly addressed in ecotoxicological studies and may have varying implications for organism health. The purpose of this study is to understand how differing routes of exposure to atrazine alter social behaviors and physiological responses of aquatic organisms. This study used agonistic encounters in crayfish Orconectes virilis as a behavioral assay to investigate impact of sublethal concentrations of atrazine (0, 40, 80, and 160 µg/L) delivered by methods mimicking ground water and surface runoff influx into flow-through exposure arenas for a total of 23 h. Each experimental animal participated in a dyadic fight trial with an unexposed opponent. Fight duration and intensity were analyzed. Experimental crayfish hepatopancreas and abdominal muscle tissue samples were analyzed for cytochrome P450 and acetylcholinesterase levels to discern mechanism of detoxification and mode of action of atrazine. Atrazine delivered via runoff decreased crayfish overall fight intensity and contrastingly ground water delivery increased overall fight intensity. The behavioral differences were mirrored by increases in cytochrome P450 activity, whereas no differences were found in acetylcholinesterase activity. This study demonstrates that method of delivery into fluvial systems has differential effects on both behavior and physiology of organisms and emphasizes the need for the consideration of delivery pathway in ecotoxicological studies and water-impairment standards.

Development and Testing of a Two-UAV Communication Relay System.

PubMed

Li, Boyang; Jiang, Yifan; Sun, Jingxuan; Cai, Lingfeng; Wen, Chih-Yung

2016-10-13

In the development of beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems, communication between the UAVs and the ground control station (GCS) is of critical importance. The commonly used economical wireless modules are restricted by the short communication range and are easily blocked by obstacles. The use of a communication relay system provides a practical way to solve these problems, improving the performance of UAV communication in BLOS and cross-obstacle operations. In this study, a communication relay system, in which a quadrotor was used to relay radio communication for another quadrotor was developed and tested. First, the UAVs used as the airborne platform were constructed, and the hardware for the communication relay system was selected and built up. Second, a set of software programs and protocol for autonomous mission control, communication relay control, and ground control were developed. Finally, the system was fully integrated into the airborne platform and tested both indoor and in-flight. The Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) and noise value in two typical application scenarios were recorded. The test results demonstrated the ability of this system to extend the communication range and build communication over obstacles. This system also shows the feasibility to coordinate multiple UAVs' communication with the same relay structure.

Development and Testing of a Two-UAV Communication Relay System

PubMed Central

Li, Boyang; Jiang, Yifan; Sun, Jingxuan; Cai, Lingfeng; Wen, Chih-Yung

2016-01-01

In the development of beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems, communication between the UAVs and the ground control station (GCS) is of critical importance. The commonly used economical wireless modules are restricted by the short communication range and are easily blocked by obstacles. The use of a communication relay system provides a practical way to solve these problems, improving the performance of UAV communication in BLOS and cross-obstacle operations. In this study, a communication relay system, in which a quadrotor was used to relay radio communication for another quadrotor was developed and tested. First, the UAVs used as the airborne platform were constructed, and the hardware for the communication relay system was selected and built up. Second, a set of software programs and protocol for autonomous mission control, communication relay control, and ground control were developed. Finally, the system was fully integrated into the airborne platform and tested both indoor and in-flight. The Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) and noise value in two typical application scenarios were recorded. The test results demonstrated the ability of this system to extend the communication range and build communication over obstacles. This system also shows the feasibility to coordinate multiple UAVs’ communication with the same relay structure. PMID:27754369

Sustainability at the community level: Searching for common ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC) research program is intended to support resource sustainability and decision making at the community level. Sustainability is defined as the ability of a community to meet present needs without compromising the ability of society and the environment to meet the economic, social, and environmental needs of future generations. The USEPA and its partners seek a national strategy that maximizes impacts by identifying common ground among communities that can inform the decision process. In this report, communities are compared based on four distinct metrics (community type; human well-being index; stakeholder priorities; and availability of ecosystem goods and services) with the purpose of seeking common ground for defining and measuring sustainability at the local scale. Overlying this comparison is the question of the usefulness of a community classification system (CCS) for generalizing the findings to new communities. Community type was found to be informative regarding the relative importance of elements of well-being. Two major delineations of community type are considered here. First is geographic, or simply asking if place defines how communities measure well-being. The second was the CCS described in report Section 2. We then examine whether values of a specific measure of well-being, the human well-being index (HWBI), differ either geographically or by community type. Stakeholder priorities are then examined in

AI and simulation: What can they learn from each other

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colombano, Silvano P.

1988-01-01

Simulation and Artificial Intelligence share a fertile common ground both from a practical and from a conceptual point of view. Strengths and weaknesses of both Knowledge Based System and Modeling and Simulation are examined and three types of systems that combine the strengths of both technologies are discussed. These types of systems are a practical starting point, however, the real strengths of both technologies will be exploited only when they are combined in a common knowledge representation paradigm. From an even deeper conceptual point of view, one might even argue that the ability to reason from a set of facts (i.e., Expert System) is less representative of human reasoning than the ability to make a model of the world, change it as required, and derive conclusions about the expected behavior of world entities. This is a fundamental problem in AI, and Modeling Theory can contribute to its solution. The application of Knowledge Engineering technology to a Distributed Processing Network Simulator (DPNS) is discussed.

Distal Communication by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Evidence for Common Ground?

PubMed

Leavens, David A; Reamer, Lisa A; Mareno, Mary Catherine; Russell, Jamie L; Wilson, Daniel; Schapiro, Steven J; Hopkins, William D

2015-01-01

van der Goot et al. (2014) proposed that distal, deictic communication indexed the appreciation of the psychological state of a common ground between a signaler and a receiver. In their study, great apes did not signal distally, which they construed as evidence for the human uniqueness of a sense of common ground. This study exposed 166 chimpanzees to food and an experimenter, at an angular displacement, to ask, "Do chimpanzees display distal communication?" Apes were categorized as (a) proximal or (b) distal signalers on each of four trials. The number of chimpanzees who communicated proximally did not statistically differ from the number who signaled distally. Therefore, contrary to the claim by van der Goot et al., apes do communicate distally. © 2015 The Authors. Child Development © 2015 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

46 CFR 111.05-21 - Ground detection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Ground detection. 111.05-21 Section 111.05-21 Shipping... REQUIREMENTS Equipment Ground, Ground Detection, and Grounded Systems § 111.05-21 Ground detection. There must be ground detection for each: (a) Electric propulsion system; (b) Ship's service power system; (c...

46 CFR 111.05-21 - Ground detection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Ground detection. 111.05-21 Section 111.05-21 Shipping... REQUIREMENTS Equipment Ground, Ground Detection, and Grounded Systems § 111.05-21 Ground detection. There must be ground detection for each: (a) Electric propulsion system; (b) Ship's service power system; (c...

Determining position, velocity and acceleration of free-ranging animals with a low-cost unmanned aerial system.

PubMed

Harvey, Richard J; Roskilly, Kyle; Buse, Chris; Evans, Hannah K; Hubel, Tatjana Y; Wilson, Alan M

2016-09-01

Unmanned aerial systems (UASs), frequently referred to as 'drones', have become more common and affordable and are a promising tool for collecting data on free-ranging wild animals. We used a Phantom-2 UAS equipped with a gimbal-mounted camera to estimate position, velocity and acceleration of a subject on the ground moving through a grid of GPS surveyed ground control points (area ∼1200 m(2)). We validated the accuracy of the system against a dual frequency survey grade GPS system attached to the subject. When compared with GPS survey data, the estimations of position, velocity and acceleration had a root mean square error of 0.13 m, 0.11 m s(-1) and 2.31 m s(-2), respectively. The system can be used to collect locomotion and localisation data on multiple free-ranging animals simultaneously. It does not require specialist skills to operate, is easily transported to field locations, and is rapidly and easily deployed. It is therefore a useful addition to the range of methods available for field data collection on free-ranging animal locomotion. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Facility Systems, Ground Support Systems, and Ground Support Equipment General Design Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thaxton, Eric A.; Mathews, Roger E.

2014-01-01

This standard establishes requirements and guidance for design and fabrication of ground systems (GS) that includes: ground support equipment (GSE), ground support systems (GSS), and facility ground support systems (F GSS) to provide uniform methods and processes for design and development of robust, safe, reliable, maintainable, supportable, and cost-effective GS in support of space flight and institutional programs and projects.

Location and site characteristics of the ambient ground-water-quality-monitoring network in West Virginia

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kozar, M.D.; Brown, D.P.

1995-01-01

Ground-water-quality-monitoring sites have been established in compliance with the 1991 West Virginia "Groundwater Protection Act." One of the provisions of the "Groundwater Protection Act" is to conduct ground-water sampling, data collection, analyses, and evaluation with sufficient frequency so as to ascertain the characteristics and quality of ground water and the sufficiency of the ground- water protection programs established pursuant to the act (Chapter 20 of the code of West Virginia, 1991, Article 5-M). Information for 26 monitoring sites (wells and springs) which comprise the Statewide ambient ground-water-quality-monitoring network is presented. Areas in which monitoring sites were needed were determined by the West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection, Office of Water Resources in consultation with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Initial sites were chosen on the basis of recent hydrogeologic investigations conducted by the USGS and from data stored in the USGS Ground Water Site Inventory database. Land use, aquifer setting, and areal coverage of the State are three of the more important criteria used in site selection. A field reconnaissance was conducted to locate and evaluate the adequacy of selected wells and springs. Descriptive information consisting of site, geologic, well construction, and aquifer-test data has been compiled. The 26 sites will be sampled periodically for iron, manganese, most common ions (for example, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfate, chloride, bicarbonate), volatile and semivolatile organic compounds (for example, pesticides and industrial solvents), and fecal coliform and fecal streptococcus bacteria. Background information explaining ground-water systems and water quality within the State has been included.

Grounded running in quails: simulations indicate benefits of observed fixed aperture angle between legs before touch-down.

PubMed

Andrada, Emanuel; Rode, Christian; Blickhan, Reinhard

2013-10-21

Many birds use grounded running (running without aerial phases) in a wide range of speeds. Contrary to walking and running, numerical investigations of this gait based on the BSLIP (bipedal spring loaded inverted pendulum) template are rare. To obtain template related parameters of quails (e.g. leg stiffness) we used x-ray cinematography combined with ground reaction force measurements of quail grounded running. Interestingly, with speed the quails did not adjust the swing leg's angle of attack with respect to the ground but adapted the angle between legs (which we termed aperture angle), and fixed it about 30ms before touchdown. In simulations with the BSLIP we compared this swing leg alignment policy with the fixed angle of attack with respect to the ground typically used in the literature. We found symmetric periodic grounded running in a simply connected subset comprising one third of the investigated parameter space. The fixed aperture angle strategy revealed improved local stability and surprising tolerance with respect to large perturbations. Starting with the periodic solutions, after step-down step-up or step-up step-down perturbations of 10% leg rest length, in the vast majority of cases the bipedal SLIP could accomplish at least 50 steps to fall. The fixed angle of attack strategy was not feasible. We propose that, in small animals in particular, grounded running may be a common gait that allows highly compliant systems to exploit energy storage without the necessity of quick changes in the locomotor program when facing perturbations. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

NATO initial common operational picture capability project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fanti, Laura; Beach, David

2002-08-01

The Common Operational Picture (COP) capability can be defined as the ability to display on a single screen integrated views of the Recognized Maritime, Air and Ground Pictures, enriched by other tactical data, such as theater plans, assets, intelligence and logistics information. The purpose of the COP capability is to provide military forces a comprehensive view of the battle space, thereby enhancing situational awareness and the decision-making process across the military command and control spectrum. The availability of a COP capability throughout the command structure is a high priority operational requirement in NATO. A COP capability for NATO is being procured and implemented in an incremental way within the NATO Automated Information System (Bi-SC AIS) Functional Services programme under the coordination of the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A) Integrated Programme Team 5 (IPT5). The NATO Initial COP (iCOP) capability project, first step of this evolutionary procurement, will provide an initial COP capability to NATO in a highly pragmatic and low-risk fashion, by using existing operational communications infrastructure and NATO systems, i.e. the NATO-Wide Integrated Command and Control Software for Air Operations (ICC), the Maritime Command and Control Information System (MCCIS), and the Joint Operations and Intelligence Information System (JOIIS), which will provide respectively the Recognized Air, Maritime and Ground Pictures. This paper gives an overview of the NATO Initial COP capability project, including its evolutionary implementation approach, and describes the technical solution selected to satisfy the urgent operational requirement in a timely and cost effective manner.

Common Ground: Education & the Military Meeting the Needs of Students. The Report of the NASBE Study Group on Education and the Military

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Association of State Boards of Education, 2010

2010-01-01

Community, higher education, and business partnerships are often touted as critical links to helping students graduate from high school and making sure that they are college- and career-ready when they do. Now a panel of state board of education members from across the country has found common ground for partnerships with the country's single…

A common ground in clinical discussion groups: Intersubjective resonance and implicit operational theories.

PubMed

Bernardi, Ricardo

2017-10-01

Clinical discussion groups based on the Three-Level Model for Observing Patient Transformations (3-LM) enable us to reflect on the clinical common ground shared by psychoanalysts who have different theoretical frameworks. The very existence of this common ground is controversial. While analysts such as Wallerstein support it, others, like Green, think it is just a myth. In their 2005 controversy Wallerstein and Green proposed an observation procedure that might clarify this matter. This procedure bears great similarity to the one used by clinical discussion groups that apply the 3-LM. The study of numerous theoretically heterogeneous groups that use this model shows that communication is possible in crucial areas. We may thus conclude that a partial and dynamic common ground exists. At a phenomenological level, certain fragments of material produce a shared resonance that enriches clinical understanding for the whole group. Communication is also possible with regard to the conceptualization of patient changes, although some controversial issues persist at this level. Finally, at the level of theoretical explanations, divergences concerning abstract theories do not prevent a fertile interaction among 'in vivo' personal implicit theories. The latter give rise to the actual operational frameworks underlying participants' approach to clinical problems. Copyright © 2017 Institute of Psychoanalysis.

Response of pendulums to complex input ground motion

USGS Publications Warehouse

Graizer, V.; Kalkan, E.

2008-01-01

Dynamic response of most seismological instruments and many engineering structures to ground shaking can be represented via response of a pendulum (single-degree-of-freedom oscillator). In most studies, pendulum response is simplified by considering the input from uni-axial translational motion alone. Complete ground motion however, includes not only translational components but also rotations (tilt and torsion). In this paper, complete equations of motion for three following types of pendulum are described: (i) conventional (mass-on-rod), (ii) mass-on-spring type, and (iii) inverted (astatic), then their response sensitivities to each component of complex ground motion are examined. The results of this study show that a horizontal pendulum similar to an accelerometer used in strong motion measurements is practically sensitive to translational motion and tilt only, while inverted pendulum commonly utilized to idealize multi-degree-of-freedom systems is sensitive not only to translational components, but also to angular accelerations and tilt. For better understanding of the inverted pendulum's dynamic behavior under complex ground excitation, relative contribution of each component of motion on response variants is carefully isolated. The systematically applied loading protocols indicate that vertical component of motion may create time-dependent variations on pendulum's oscillation period; yet most dramatic impact on response is produced by the tilting (rocking) component. ?? 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantization and symmetry in periodic coverage patterns with applications to earth observation. [for satellite ground tracks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

King, J. C.

1975-01-01

The general orbit-coverage problem in a simplified physical model is investigated by application of numerical approaches derived from basic number theory. A system of basic and general properties is defined by which idealized periodic coverage patterns may be characterized, classified, and delineated. The principal common features of these coverage patterns are their longitudinal quantization, determined by the revolution number R, and their overall symmetry.

Common Ground: An Interactive Visual Exploration and Discovery for Complex Health Data

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-04-01

annotate other ontologies for the visual interface client. Finally, we are actively working on software development of both a backend server and the...the following infrastructure and resources. For the development and management of the ontologies, we installed a framework consisting of a server...that is being developed by Google. Using these 9 technologies, we developed an HTML5 client that runs on Windows, Mac OSX, Linux and mobile systems

Low-Cost SIRTF Flight Operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deutsch, M.-J.; Ebersole, M.; Nichols, J.

1997-12-01

The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) , the fourth of the Great Observatories, will be placed in a unique solar orbit trailing the Earth, in 2001. SIRTF will acquire both imaging and spectral data using large infrared detector arrays from 3.5mm to 160mm. The primary science objectives are (1) search for and study of brown dwarfs and super planets, (2) discovery and study of protoplanetary debris disks, (3) study of ultraluminous galaxies and active galactic nuclei, and (4) study of the early Universe. Driven by the limited cryogenic lifetime of 2.5 years, with a goal of 5 years, and the severely cost-capped development, a Mission Planning and Operations system is being designed that will result in high on-board efficiency (>90%) and low-cost operation, yet will accommodate rapid response science requirements . SIRTF is designing an architecture for an operations system that will be shared between science and flight operations. Crucial to this effort is the philosophy of an integrated science and engineering plan, co-location, cross-training of teams and common planning tools. The common tool set will enable the automatic generation of an integrated and conflict free planned schedule accommodating 20 000 observations and engineering activities a year. The shared tool set will help generate standard observations , (sometimes non-standard) engineering activities and manage the ground and flight resources and constraints appropriately. The ground software will allow the development from the ground of robust event driven sequences. Flexibility will be provided to incorporate newly discovered science opportunities or health issues late in the process and via quick links. This shared science and flight operations process if used from observation selection through sequence and command generation, will provide a low-cost operations system. Though SIRTF is a 'Great Observatory', its annual mission operations costs will more closely resemble those of an Explorer class mission.

Guidelines for Coding and Entering Ground-Water Data into the Ground-Water Site Inventory Data Base, Version 4.6, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington Water Science Center

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

collected, code both. Code Type of Analysis Code Type of Analysis A Physical properties I Common ions/trace elements B Common ions J Sanitary analysis and...1) A ground-water site is coded as if it is a single point, not a geographic area or property . (2) Latitude and longitude should be determined at a...terrace from an adjacent upland on one side, and a lowland coast or valley on the other. Due to the effects of erosion, the terrace surface may not be as

First-Time Migration in Juvenile Common Cuckoos Documented by Satellite Tracking

PubMed Central

Willemoes, Mikkel; Thomson, Robert L.; Tolvanen, Jere; Rutila, Jarkko; Samaš, Peter; Strandberg, Roine; Grim, Tomáš; Fossøy, Frode; Stokke, Bård Gunnar; Thorup, Kasper

2016-01-01

Being an obligate parasite, juvenile common cuckoos Cuculus canorus are thought to reach their African wintering grounds from Palearctic breeding grounds without guidance from experienced conspecifics but this has not been documented. We used satellite tracking to study naïve migrating common cuckoos. Juvenile cuckoos left breeding sites in Finland moving slowly and less consistently directed than adult cuckoos. Migration of the juveniles (N = 5) was initiated later than adults (N = 20), was directed toward the southwest–significantly different from the initial southeast direction of adults–and included strikingly long Baltic Sea crossings (N = 3). After initial migration of juvenile cuckoos toward Poland, the migration direction changed and proceeded due south, directly toward the winter grounds, as revealed by a single tag transmitting until arrival in Northwest Angola where northern adult cuckoos regularly winter. Compared to adults, the juvenile travelled straighter and faster, potentially correcting for wind drift along the route. That both migration route and timing differed from adults indicates that juvenile cuckoos are able to reach proper wintering grounds independently, guided only by their innate migration programme. PMID:28005960

Metrics for Nitrate Contamination of Ground Water at CAFO Land Application Site - Arkansas Dairy Study

EPA Science Inventory

Nitrate is the most common chemical contaminant found in ground water. Recent research by U.S. EPA has shown that land application of manure can cause nitrate contamination of ground water above the maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) of 10 mg NO3-N/ L at significant depths. This...

46 CFR 111.05-13 - Grounding connection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ELECTRIC SYSTEMS-GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Equipment Ground, Ground Detection, and Grounded Systems § 111.05-13 Grounding... power sources operating in parallel in the system. ...

Intelligent Launch and Range Operations Virtual Test Bed (ILRO-VTB)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bardina, Jorge; Rajkumar, T.

2003-01-01

Intelligent Launch and Range Operations Virtual Test Bed (ILRO-VTB) is a real-time web-based command and control, communication, and intelligent simulation environment of ground-vehicle, launch and range operation activities. ILRO-VTB consists of a variety of simulation models combined with commercial and indigenous software developments (NASA Ames). It creates a hybrid software/hardware environment suitable for testing various integrated control system components of launch and range. The dynamic interactions of the integrated simulated control systems are not well understood. Insight into such systems can only be achieved through simulation/emulation. For that reason, NASA has established a VTB where we can learn the actual control and dynamics of designs for future space programs, including testing and performance evaluation. The current implementation of the VTB simulates the operations of a sub-orbital vehicle of mission, control, ground-vehicle engineering, launch and range operations. The present development of the test bed simulates the operations of Space Shuttle Vehicle (SSV) at NASA Kennedy Space Center. The test bed supports a wide variety of shuttle missions with ancillary modeling capabilities like weather forecasting, lightning tracker, toxic gas dispersion model, debris dispersion model, telemetry, trajectory modeling, ground operations, payload models and etc. To achieve the simulations, all models are linked using Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). The test bed provides opportunities for government, universities, researchers and industries to do a real time of shuttle launch in cyber space.

Intelligent launch and range operations virtual testbed (ILRO-VTB)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bardina, Jorge; Rajkumar, Thirumalainambi

2003-09-01

Intelligent Launch and Range Operations Virtual Test Bed (ILRO-VTB) is a real-time web-based command and control, communication, and intelligent simulation environment of ground-vehicle, launch and range operation activities. ILRO-VTB consists of a variety of simulation models combined with commercial and indigenous software developments (NASA Ames). It creates a hybrid software/hardware environment suitable for testing various integrated control system components of launch and range. The dynamic interactions of the integrated simulated control systems are not well understood. Insight into such systems can only be achieved through simulation/emulation. For that reason, NASA has established a VTB where we can learn the actual control and dynamics of designs for future space programs, including testing and performance evaluation. The current implementation of the VTB simulates the operations of a sub-orbital vehicle of mission, control, ground-vehicle engineering, launch and range operations. The present development of the test bed simulates the operations of Space Shuttle Vehicle (SSV) at NASA Kennedy Space Center. The test bed supports a wide variety of shuttle missions with ancillary modeling capabilities like weather forecasting, lightning tracker, toxic gas dispersion model, debris dispersion model, telemetry, trajectory modeling, ground operations, payload models and etc. To achieve the simulations, all models are linked using Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). The test bed provides opportunities for government, universities, researchers and industries to do a real time of shuttle launch in cyber space.

Conflicting Epistemologies and Inference in Coupled Human and Natural Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia, M. E.

2017-12-01

Last year, I presented a model that projects per capita water consumption based on changes in price, population, building codes, and water stress salience. This model applied methods from hydrological science and engineering to relationships both within and beyond their traditional scope. Epistemologically, the development of mathematical models of natural or engineered systems is objectivist while research examining relationships between observations, perceptions and action is commonly constructivist or subjectivist. Drawing on multiple epistemologies is common in, and perhaps central to, the growing fields of coupled human and natural systems, and socio-hydrology. Critically, these philosophical perspectives vary in their view of the nature of the system as mechanistic, adaptive or constructed, and the split between aleatory and epistemic uncertainty. Interdisciplinary research is commonly cited as a way to address the critical and domain crossing challenge of sustainability as synthesis across perspectives can offer a more comprehensive view of system dynamics. However, combining methods and concepts from multiple ontologies and epistemologies can introduce contradictions into the logic of inference. These contractions challenge the evaluation of research products and the implications for practical application of research findings are not fully understood. Reflections on the evaluation, application, and generalization of the water consumption model described above are used to ground these broader questions and offer thoughts on the way forward.

46 CFR 129.375 - System grounding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Power Sources and Distribution Systems § 129.375 System grounding. (a) If a grounded distribution system is provided, there must be only one connection to ground, regardless of the number of power sources. This connection must be at the main switchboard. (b) On each metallic vessel, a grounded distribution...

46 CFR 129.375 - System grounding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Power Sources and Distribution Systems § 129.375 System grounding. (a) If a grounded distribution system is provided, there must be only one connection to ground, regardless of the number of power sources. This connection must be at the main switchboard. (b) On each metallic vessel, a grounded distribution...

46 CFR 129.375 - System grounding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... Power Sources and Distribution Systems § 129.375 System grounding. (a) If a grounded distribution system is provided, there must be only one connection to ground, regardless of the number of power sources. This connection must be at the main switchboard. (b) On each metallic vessel, a grounded distribution...

46 CFR 111.05-27 - Grounded neutral alternating current systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... the ground connection, is able to withstand the maximum available fault current without damage, and... 46 Shipping 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Grounded neutral alternating current systems. 111.05-27... Grounded neutral alternating current systems. Grounded neutral and high-impedance grounded neutral...

46 CFR 111.05-27 - Grounded neutral alternating current systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... the ground connection, is able to withstand the maximum available fault current without damage, and... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Grounded neutral alternating current systems. 111.05-27... Grounded neutral alternating current systems. Grounded neutral and high-impedance grounded neutral...

Comparison of Airborne and Ground-Based Function Allocation Concepts for NextGen Using Human-In-The-Loop Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wing, David J.; Prevot, Thomas; Murdoch, Jennifer L.; Cabrall, Christopher D.; Homola, Jeffrey R.; Martin, Lynne H.; Mercer, Joey S.; Hoadley, Sherwood T.; Wilson, Sara R.; Hubbs, Clay E.;

GPS net­work operations for the International GPS Geodynamics Service

USGS Publications Warehouse

Neilan, Ruth E.

1993-01-01

As GPS technology comes of age in the 1990’s, it is evident that an internationally sponsored GPS tracking system is called for to provide consistent, timely ground tracking data and data products to the geophysical community. The planning group for the International GPS Geodynamics Service (IGS), sponsored by the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), is addressing all elements of the end-to-end tracking system, ranging from data collection to data analysis and distribution of products (Mueller, 1992). Part of the planning process is to formulate how these various elements work together to create the common infrastructure needed to support a wide variety of GPS investigations. A key element for any permanent satellite tracking system is certainly the acquisition segment; the reliability and robustness of the ground network operations directly determine the fates and limitations of final products. The IGS planning group therefore included a committee tasked to develop and establish standards governing data acquisition and site-specific characteristics deemed necessary to ensure the collection of a high quality, continuous data set.

47 CFR 22.873 - Construction requirements for commercial aviation air-ground systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... aviation air-ground systems. 22.873 Section 22.873 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION... Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.873 Construction requirements for commercial aviation air-ground systems. Licensees authorized to use more than one megahertz (1 MHz) of the 800 MHz commercial aviation air-ground...

47 CFR 22.873 - Construction requirements for commercial aviation air-ground systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... aviation air-ground systems. 22.873 Section 22.873 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION... Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.873 Construction requirements for commercial aviation air-ground systems. Licensees authorized to use more than one megahertz (1 MHz) of the 800 MHz commercial aviation air-ground...

47 CFR 22.873 - Construction requirements for commercial aviation air-ground systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... aviation air-ground systems. 22.873 Section 22.873 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION... Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.873 Construction requirements for commercial aviation air-ground systems. Licensees authorized to use more than one megahertz (1 MHz) of the 800 MHz commercial aviation air-ground...

47 CFR 22.873 - Construction requirements for commercial aviation air-ground systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... aviation air-ground systems. 22.873 Section 22.873 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION... Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.873 Construction requirements for commercial aviation air-ground systems. Licensees authorized to use more than one megahertz (1 MHz) of the 800 MHz commercial aviation air-ground...

30 CFR 75.705-11 - Use of grounded messenger wires; ungrounded systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Use of grounded messenger wires; ungrounded....705-11 Use of grounded messenger wires; ungrounded systems. Solely for purposes of grounding ungrounded high-voltage power systems, grounded messenger wires used to suspend the cables of such systems...

30 CFR 75.705-11 - Use of grounded messenger wires; ungrounded systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Use of grounded messenger wires; ungrounded....705-11 Use of grounded messenger wires; ungrounded systems. Solely for purposes of grounding ungrounded high-voltage power systems, grounded messenger wires used to suspend the cables of such systems...

40 CFR 258.51 - Ground-water monitoring systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 25 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Ground-water monitoring systems. 258... CRITERIA FOR MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILLS Ground-Water Monitoring and Corrective Action § 258.51 Ground-water monitoring systems. (a) A ground-water monitoring system must be installed that consists of a...

40 CFR 258.51 - Ground-water monitoring systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2012-07-01 2011-07-01 true Ground-water monitoring systems. 258.51... FOR MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILLS Ground-Water Monitoring and Corrective Action § 258.51 Ground-water monitoring systems. (a) A ground-water monitoring system must be installed that consists of a...

40 CFR 257.22 - Ground-water monitoring systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 25 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Ground-water monitoring systems. 257... Waste Disposal Units Ground-Water Monitoring and Corrective Action § 257.22 Ground-water monitoring systems. (a) A ground-water monitoring system must be installed that consists of a sufficient number of...

40 CFR 258.51 - Ground-water monitoring systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 25 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Ground-water monitoring systems. 258... CRITERIA FOR MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILLS Ground-Water Monitoring and Corrective Action § 258.51 Ground-water monitoring systems. (a) A ground-water monitoring system must be installed that consists of a...

40 CFR 257.22 - Ground-water monitoring systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 25 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Ground-water monitoring systems. 257... Waste Disposal Units Ground-Water Monitoring and Corrective Action § 257.22 Ground-water monitoring systems. (a) A ground-water monitoring system must be installed that consists of a sufficient number of...

A waste of time: the problem of common morality in Principles of Biomedical Ethics.

PubMed

Karlsen, Jan Reinert; Solbakk, Jan Helge

2011-10-01

From the 5th edition of Beauchamp and Childress' Principles of Biomedical Ethics, the problem of common morality has been given a more prominent role and emphasis. With the publication of the 6th and latest edition, the authors not only attempt to ground their theory in common morality, but there is also an increased tendency to identify the former with the latter. While this stratagem may give the impression of a more robust, and hence stable, foundation for their theoretical construct, we fear that it comes with a cost, namely the need to keep any theory in medical ethics open to, and thereby aware of, the challenges arising from biomedical research and clinical practice, as well as healthcare systems. By too readily identifying the moral life of common morality with rule-following behaviour, Beauchamp and Childress may even be wrong about the nature of common morality as such, thereby founding their, by now, classic theory on quicksand instead of solid rock.

30 CFR 77.704-11 - Use of grounded messenger wires; ungrounded systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Use of grounded messenger wires; ungrounded... AREAS OF UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Grounding § 77.704-11 Use of grounded messenger wires; ungrounded systems. Solely for purposes of grounding ungrounded high-voltage power systems, grounded messenger wires...

30 CFR 77.704-11 - Use of grounded messenger wires; ungrounded systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Use of grounded messenger wires; ungrounded... AREAS OF UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Grounding § 77.704-11 Use of grounded messenger wires; ungrounded systems. Solely for purposes of grounding ungrounded high-voltage power systems, grounded messenger wires...

JPSS Common Ground System Multimission Support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jamilkowski, M. L.; Miller, S. W.; Grant, K. D.

2013-12-01

NOAA & NASA jointly acquire the next-generation civilian operational weather satellite: Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). JPSS contributes the afternoon orbit & restructured NPOESS ground system (GS) to replace the current Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) system run by NOAA. JPSS sensors will collect meteorological, oceanographic, climatological & solar-geophysical observations of the earth, atmosphere & space. The JPSS GS is the Common Ground System (CGS), consisting of Command, Control, & Communications (C3S) and Interface Data Processing (IDPS) segments, both developed by Raytheon Intelligence, Information & Services (IIS). CGS now flies the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite, transfers its mission data between ground facilities and processes its data into Environmental Data Records for NOAA & Defense (DoD) weather centers. CGS will expand to support JPSS-1 in 2017. The JPSS CGS currently does data processing (DP) for S-NPP, creating multiple TBs/day across over two dozen environmental data products (EDPs). The workload doubles after JPSS-1 launch. But CGS goes well beyond S-NPP & JPSS mission management & DP by providing data routing support to operational centers & missions worldwide. The CGS supports several other missions: It also provides raw data acquisition, routing & some DP for GCOM-W1. The CGS does data routing for numerous other missions & systems, including USN's Coriolis/Windsat, NASA's SCaN network (including EOS), NSF's McMurdo Station communications, Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), and NOAA's POES & EUMETSAT's MetOp satellites. Each of these satellite systems orbits the Earth 14 times/day, downlinking data once or twice/orbit at up to 100s of MBs/second, to support the creation of 10s of TBs of data/day across 100s of EDPs. Raytheon and the US government invested much in Raytheon's mission-management, command & control and data-processing products & capabilities. CGS's flexible, multimission capabilities offer major chances for cost reduction & improved information integration across missions. Raytheon has a unique ability to provide complex, highly-secure, multi-mission GSs. As disaggregation, hosted CGS multimission payloads, and other space-architecture trades are implemented and new sensors come on line that collect orders of magnitude more data, the importance of a flexible, expandable and virtualized modern GS architecture increases. The CGS offers that solution support. JPSS CGS supports 5 global ground stations that can receive S-NPP & JPSS-1 mission data. These, linked with high-bandwidth commercial fiber, quickly transport data to the IDPS for EDP creation & delivery. CGS will process & deliver JPSS-1 data to US operational users in < 80 minutes from time of collection. And CGS leverages this fiber network to provide added data routing for a wide array of global missions. The JPSS CGS is a mature, tested solution for support to operational weather forecasting for civil, military and international partners and climate research. It features a flexible design handling order-of-magnitude increases in data over legacy satellite GSs and meets demanding science accuracy needs. The Raytheon-built JPSS CGS gives the full GS capability, from design & development through operations & sustainment. This lays the foundation for CGS future evolution to support additional missions like Polar Free Flyers.

Estimates of residence time and related variations in quality of ground water beneath Submarine Base Bangor and vicinity, Kitsap County, Washington

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cox, S.E.

2003-01-01

Estimates of residence time of ground water beneath Submarine Base Bangor and vicinity ranged from less than 50 to 4,550 years before present, based on analysis of the environmental tracers tritium, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and carbon-14 (14C), in 33 ground-water samples collected from wells tapping the ground-water system. The concentrations of multiple environmental tracers tritium, CFCs, and 14C were used to classify ground water as modern (recharged after 1953), pre-modern (recharged prior to 1953), or indeterminate. Estimates of the residence time of pre-modern ground water were based on evaluation of 14C of dissolved inorganic carbon present in ground water using geochemical mass-transfer modeling to account for the interactions of the carbon in ground water with carbon of the aquifer sediments. Ground-water samples were obtained from two extensive aquifers and from permeable interbeds within the thick confining unit separating the sampled aquifers. Estimates of ground-water residence time for all ground-water samples from the shallow aquifer were less than 45 years and were classified as modern. Estimates of the residence time of ground water in the permeable interbeds within the confining unit ranged from modern to 4,200 years and varied spatially. Near the recharge area, residence times in the permeable interbeds typically were less than 800 years, whereas near the discharge area residence times were in excess of several thousand years. In the deeper aquifers, estimates of ground-water residence times typically were several thousand years but ranged from modern to 4,550 years. These estimates of ground-water residence time based on 14C were often larger than estimates of ground-water residence time developed by particle-tracking analysis using a ground-water flow model. There were large uncertainties?on the order of 1,000-2,000 years?in the estimates based on 14C. Modern ground-water tracers found in some samples from large-capacity production wells screened in the deeper aquifer may be the result of preferential ground-water pathways or induced downward flow caused by pumping stress. Spatial variations in water quality were used to develop a conceptual model of chemical evolution of ground water. Stable isotope ratios of deuterium and oxygen-18 in the 33 ground-water samples were similar, indicating similar climatic conditions and source of precipitation recharge for all of the sampled ground water. Oxidation of organic matter and mineral dissolution increased the concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon and common ions in downgradient ground waters. However, the largest concentrations were not found near areas of ground-water discharge, but at intermediate locations where organic carbon concentrations were greatest. Dissolved methane, derived from microbial methanogenesis, was present in some ground waters. Methanogenesis resulted in substantial alteration of the carbon isotopic composition of ground water. The NETPATH geochemical model code was used to model mass-transfers of carbon affecting the 14C estimate of ground-water residence time. Carbon sources in ground water include dispersed particulate organic matter present in the confining unit separating the two aquifers and methane present in some ground water. Carbonate minerals were not observed in the lithologic material of the ground-water system but may be present, because they have been found in the bedrock of stream drainages that contribute sediment to the study area.

Slit Effect of Common Ground Patterns in Affecting Cross-Talk Noise between Two Parallel Signal Traces on Printed Circuit Boards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maeno, Tsuyoshi; Sakurai, Yukihiko; Unou, Takanori; Ichikawa, Kouji; Fujiwara, Osamu

It is well-known that electromagnetic (EM) disturbances in vehicle-mounted radios are mainly caused by conducted noise currents flowing through wiring-harnesses from vehicle-mounted printed circuit boards (PCBs) with common ground patterns with slits. To evaluate the noise current outflows from the PCBs of this kind, we previously measured noise current outflows from four types of simple three-layer PCBs having two perpendicular signal traces and different ground patterns with/without slits, and showed that slits on a ground pattern allow conducted noise currents to flow out from PCBs, while the levels for the symmetric slits ground type are smaller compared to the case for two asymmetric slits ground types. In the present study, to further investigate the above finding, we fabricated six types of simple two-layer PCBs having two parallel signal traces and different ground patterns with/without slits, and measured the cross-talk noise between the traces. As a result, we found that the ground patterns with the slits perpendicular to the traces increase the cross-talk noise levels, which are larger by 19-42 dB than those for the ground pattern with no slits, while the ground patterns with the slits in parallel with the traces can suppress the noise levels, which are slightly smaller by 2.5-4.5 dB compared to the case for the no-slit ground pattern. These results were confirmed by the FDTD simulation, and were also qualitatively explained from an equivalent bridge circuit model we previously proposed.

Geology and ground water in north-central Santa Cruz County, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnson, Michael J.

1980-01-01

North-central Santa Cruz County is underlain mainly by folded sedimentary rocks of Tertiary and Cretaceous age that have been highly fractured by movements in the San Andreas fault system. Ground water is stored in fractures within shale and mudstone formations and in intergranular pore spaces within fine- to very fine-grained sandstone and siltstone formations. Fewer than 10% of the wells yield more than 15 gallons of water per minute. The water in most wells is moderately hard to very hard, is generally of a sodium bicarbonate or calcium bicarbonate type, and commonly has excessive concentrations of iron or manganese. Of the many geologic units in the study area, only the Purisima Formation of Pliocene age has the potential to sustain well yields greater than 100 gallons per minute. (USGS)

Homogeneity study of fixed-point continuous marine environmental and meteorological data: a review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Jinkun; Yang, Yang; Miao, Qingsheng; Dong, Mingmei; Wan, Fangfang

2018-02-01

The principle of inhomogeneity and the classification of homogeneity test methods are briefly described, and several common inhomogeneity methods and relative merits are described in detail. Then based on the applications of the different homogeneity methods to the ground meteorological data and marine environment data, the present status and the progress are reviewed. At present, the homogeneity research of radiosonde and ground meteorological data is mature at home and abroad, and the research and application in the marine environmental data should also be given full attention. To carry out a variety of test and correction methods combined with the use of multi-mode test system, will make the results more reasonable and scientific, and also can be used to provide accurate first-hand information for the coastal climate change researches.

Forest habitat associations of the golden-mantled ground squirrel: Implications for fuels management

Treesearch

Katharine R. Shick; Dean E. Pearson; Leonard F. Ruggiero

2006-01-01

Golden-mantled ground squirrels are commonly associated with high-elevation habitats near or above upper timberline. This species also occurs in fire-adapted, low-elevation forests that are targeted for forest health restoration (FHR) treatments intended to remove encroaching understory trees and thin overstory trees. Hence, the golden-mantled ground squirrel...

40 CFR 141.404 - Treatment technique violations for ground water systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

....404 Treatment technique violations for ground water systems. (a) A ground water system with a... ground water system is in violation of the treatment technique requirement if, within 120 days (or...) before or at the first customer for a ground water source is in violation of the treatment technique...

46 CFR 111.05-25 - Ungrounded systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... REQUIREMENTS Equipment Ground, Ground Detection, and Grounded Systems § 111.05-25 Ungrounded systems. Each ungrounded system must be provided with a suitably sensitive ground detection system located at the... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Ungrounded systems. 111.05-25 Section 111.05-25 Shipping...

TESAT laser communication terminal performance results on 5.6Gbit coherent inter satellite and satellite to ground links

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gregory, M.; Heine, F.; Kämpfner, H.; Meyer, R.; Fields, R.; Lunde, C.

2017-11-01

The increasing demand on high speed communication networks has stimulated the development of optical free space data transmission during the last years. TESAT has developed a laser communication terminal (LCT) that fulfills the need of a power efficient system whose capability has been successfully demonstrated at bidirectional space-to-space links and bidirectional space-to-ground links (SGLs) at a data rate of 5.625 GBit/s with a homodyne detection scheme and a BPSK modulation format. In comparison to a direct detection system, the homodyne detection scheme works as a bandpass filter. The transmission is immune to false light and even data transmission with the sun in the receiver field of view (FOV) is possible. Compared to common RF transmission which is implemented on spacecrafts for data transmission, optical transmission provides not only higher transmission rates (factor 10) but also shows excellent security features since the laser beams directivity making it immune to interception.

Environmentally Friendly Corrosion Preventative Compounds for Ground Support Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Montgomery Eliza L.; Calle, Luz, Marina; Curran, Jerome P.; Kolody, Mark R.

2013-01-01

The need to use environmentally friendly technologies throughout future space-related launch programs prompted a study aimed at replacing current petroleum and solvent-based Corrosion Preventive Compounds (CPCs) with environmentally friendly alternatives. The work in this paper focused on the identification and evaluation of environmentally friendly CPCs for use in protecting flight hardware and ground support equipment from atmospheric corrosion. CPCs are used as temporary protective coatings and must survive in the aggressive coastal marine environment that exists throughout the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The different protection behaviors of fifteen different oily film CPCs, both common petroleum-based and newer environmentally friendly types, were evaluated on various steel and aluminum substrates. CPC and substrate systems were subjected to atmospheric testing at the Kennedy Space Center's Beachside Atmospheric Corrosion Test Site, as well as cyclic accelerated corrosion testing. Each CPC also underwent physical characterization and launch-related compatibility testing. The results for the fifteen CPC systems are presented in this paper.

Environmentally friendly corrosion preventive compounds for ground support structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montgomery, Eliza; Curran, Jerome; Calle, Luz Marina; Kolody, Mark

The need to use environmentally friendly technologies throughout future space-related launch programs prompted a study aimed at replacing current petroleum and solvent-based corrosion preventive compounds (CPCs) with environmentally friendly alternatives. The work in this paper focused on the identification and evaluation of environmentally friendly CPCs for use in protecting flight hardware and ground support equipment from atmospheric corrosion. CPCs are used as temporary protective coatings and must survive in the aggressive coastal marine environment that exists throughout the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The different protection behaviors of fifteen different oily film CPCs, both common petroleum-based and newer environmentally friendly types, were evaluated on various steel and aluminum substrates. CPC and substrate systems were subjected to atmospheric testing at the Kennedy Space Center's Beachside Atmospheric Corrosion Test Site, as well as cyclic accelerated corrosion testing. Each CPC also underwent physical characterization and launch-related compatibility testing. The results for the fifteen CPC systems are presented in this paper.

Neurobiological roots of language in primate audition: common computational properties.

PubMed

Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina; Schlesewsky, Matthias; Small, Steven L; Rauschecker, Josef P

2015-03-01

Here, we present a new perspective on an old question: how does the neurobiology of human language relate to brain systems in nonhuman primates? We argue that higher-order language combinatorics, including sentence and discourse processing, can be situated in a unified, cross-species dorsal-ventral streams architecture for higher auditory processing, and that the functions of the dorsal and ventral streams in higher-order language processing can be grounded in their respective computational properties in primate audition. This view challenges an assumption, common in the cognitive sciences, that a nonhuman primate model forms an inherently inadequate basis for modeling higher-level language functions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Non-Toxic Orbiter Maneuvering System (OMS) and Reaction Control System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hurlbert, Eric A.; Nicholson, Leonard S. (Technical Monitor)

1999-01-01

NASA is pursuing the technology and advanced development of a non-toxic (NT) orbital maneuvering system (OMS) and reaction control system (RCS) for shuttle upgrades, RLV, and reusable first stages. The primary objectives of the shuttle upgrades program are improved safety, improved reliability, reduced operations time and cost, improved performance or capabilities, and commonality with future space exploration needs. Non-Toxic OMS/RCS offers advantages in each of these categories. A non-toxic OMS/RCS eliminates the ground hazards and the flight safety hazards of the toxic and corrosive propellants. The cost savings for ground operations are over $24M per year for 7 flights, and the savings increase with increasing flight rate up to $44M per year. The OMS/RCS serial processing time is reduced from 65 days to 13 days. The payload capability can be increased up to 5100 Ibms. The non-toxic OMS/RCS also provides improved space station reboost capability up to 20 nautical miles over the current toxic system of 14 nautical miles. A NT OMS/RCS represents a clear advancement in the SOA over MMH/NTO. Liquid oxygen and ethanol are clean burning, high-density propellants that provide a high degree of commonality with other spacecraft subsystems including life support, power, and thermal control, and with future human exploration and development of space missions. The simple and reliable pressure-fed design uses sub-cooled liquid oxygen at 250 to 350 psia, which allows a propellant to remain cryogenic for longer periods of time. The key technologies are thermal insulation and conditioning techniques are used to maintain the sub-cooling. Phase I successfully defined the system architecture, designed an integrated OMS/RCS propellant tank, analyzed the feed system, built and tested the 870 lbf RCS thrusters, and tested the 6000 lbf OMS engine. Phase 11 is currently being planned for the development and test of full-scale prototype of the system in 1999 and 2000

Overview of Intelligent Power Controller Development for Human Deep Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soeder, James F.; Dever, Timothy P.; McNelis, Anne M.; Beach, Raymond F.; Trase, Larry M.; May, Ryan D.

2014-01-01

Intelligent or autonomous control of an entire spacecraft is a major technology that must be developed to enable NASA to meet its human exploration goals. NASA's current long term human space platform, the International Space Station, is in low Earth orbit with almost continuous communication with the ground based mission control. This permits the near real-time control by the ground of all of the core systems including power. As NASA moves beyond low Earth orbit, the issues of communication time-lag and lack of communication bandwidth beyond geosynchronous orbit does not permit this type of operation. This paper presents the work currently ongoing at NASA to develop an architecture for an autonomous power control system as well as the effort to assemble that controller into the framework of the vehicle mission manager and other subsystem controllers to enable autonomous control of the complete spacecraft. Due to the common problems faced in both space power systems and terrestrial power system, the potential for spin-off applications of this technology for use in micro-grids located at the edge or user end of terrestrial power grids for peak power accommodation and reliability are described.

Overview of Intelligent Power Controller Development for Human Deep Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soeder, James F.; Dever, Timothy P.; McNelis, Anne M.; Beach, Raymond F.; Trase, Larry M.; May, Ryan D.

2014-01-01

Intelligent or autonomous control of an entire spacecraft is a major technology that must be developed to enable NASA to meet its human exploration goals. NASA's current long term human space platform, the International Space Station, is in low earth orbit with almost continuous communication with the ground based mission control. This permits the near real-time control by the ground of all of the core systems including power. As NASA moves beyond Low Earth Orbit, the issues of communication time-lag and lack of communication bandwidth beyond geosynchronous orbit does not permit this type of operation. This paper presents the work currently ongoing at NASA to develop an architecture for an autonomous power control system as well as the effort to assemble that controller into the framework of the vehicle mission manager and other subsystem controllers to enable autonomous control of the complete spacecraft. Due to the common problems faced in both space power systems and terrestrial power system, the potential for spin-off applications of this technology for use in micro-grids located at the edge or user end of terrestrial power grids for peak power accommodation and reliability are described.

Overview of Intelligent Power Controller Development for Human Deep Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soeder, James F.; Dever, Timothy P.; McNelis, Anne M.; Beach, Raymond F.; Trase, Larry M.; May, Ryan

2014-01-01

Intelligent or autonomous control of an entire spacecraft is a major technology that must be developed to enable NASA to meet its human exploration goals. NASAs current long term human space platform, the International Space Station, is in low earth orbit with almost continuous communication with the ground based mission control. This permits the near real-time control by the ground of all of the core systems including power. As NASA moves beyond Low Earth Orbit, the issues of communication time-lag and lack of communication bandwidth beyond geosynchronous orbit does not permit this type of operation. This paper presents the work currently ongoing at NASA to develop an architecture for an autonomous power control system as well as the effort to assemble that controller into the framework of the vehicle mission manager and other subsystem controllers to enable autonomous control of the complete spacecraft. Due to the common problems faced in both space power systems and terrestrial power system, the potential for spin-off applications of this technology for use in micro-grids located at the edge or user end of terrestrial power grids for peak power accommodation and reliability are described.

Occupational Burnout and Retention of Air Force Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) Intelligence Personnel

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

Leiter, 2001) emotional exhaustion “is the central quality of burnout and the most obvious manifestation of this complex syndrome .” Because...2012 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2012 to 00-00-2012 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Occupational Burnout and Retention of Air Force Distributed...supervised, reviewed, and approved by the graduate fellow’s faculty committee. PARDEE RAND GRADUATE SCHOOL Occupational Burnout and Retention of Air Force

Experimental Magnetohydrodynamic Energy Extraction from a Pulsed Detonation

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-01

experimental data taken in this thesis will follow voltage profiles similar to Fig. 2. Notice the initial section in Fig. 2 shows exponential decay consistent...equal that time constant. The exponential curves in Fig. 2 show how changing the time constant can change the charge and/or discharge rate of the...see Fig. 1), at a sampling rate of 1 MHz. Shielded wire and a common ground were used throughout the DAQ system to avoid capacitive issues in the

Distributed Common Ground System Army Increment 1 (DCGS-A Inc 1)

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

Acquisition Executive DoD - Department of Defense DoDAF - DoD Architecture Framework FD - Full Deployment FDD - Full Deployment Decision FY - Fiscal...updated prior to the FDD ITAB in December 2012 and provided additional COA analysis/validation referenced in the FDD ADM (December 14, 2012) and FDD ...required by 10 U.S.C. 2334(a)(6). The Army Cost Review Board developed the FDD Army Cost Position (ACP), dated October 19, 2012, through the update of

Field measurements and analyses of environmental vibrations induced by high-speed Maglev.

PubMed

Li, Guo-Qiang; Wang, Zhi-Lu; Chen, Suwen; Xu, You-Lin

2016-10-15

Maglev, offers competitive journey-times compared to the railway and subway systems in markets for which distance between the stations is 100-1600km owing to its high acceleration and speed; however, such systems may have excessive vibration. Field measurements of Maglev train-induced vibrations were therefore performed on the world's first commercial Maglev line in Shanghai, China. Seven test sections along the line were selected according to the operating conditions, covering speeds from 150 to 430km/h. Acceleration responses of bridge pier and nearby ground were measured in three directions and analyzed in both the time and frequency domain. The effects of Maglev train speed on vibrations of the bridge pier and ground were studied in terms of their peak accelerations. Attenuation of ground vibration was investigated up to 30m from the track centerline. Effects of guideway configuration were also analyzed based on the measurements through two different test sections with same train speed of 300km/h. The results showed that peak accelerations exhibited a strong correlation with both train speed and distance off the track. Guideway configuration had a significant effect on transverse vibration, but a weak impact on vertical and longitudinal vibrations of both bridge pier and ground. Statistics indicated that, contrary to the commonly accepted theory and experience, vertical vibration is not always dominant: transverse and longitudinal vibrations should also be considered, particularly near turns in the track. Moreover, measurements of ground vibration induced by traditional high-speed railway train were carried out with the same testing devices in Bengbu in the Anhui Province. Results showed that the Maglev train generates significantly different vibration signatures as compared to the traditional high-speed train. The results obtained from this paper can provide good insights on the impact of Maglev system on the urban environment and the quality of human life nearby. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Space station common module network topology and hardware development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, P.; Braunagel, L.; Chwirka, S.; Fishman, M.; Freeman, K.; Eason, D.; Landis, D.; Lech, L.; Martin, J.; Mccorkle, J.

1990-01-01

Conceptual space station common module power management and distribution (SSM/PMAD) network layouts and detailed network evaluations were developed. Individual pieces of hardware to be developed for the SSM/PMAD test bed were identified. A technology assessment was developed to identify pieces of equipment requiring development effort. Equipment lists were developed from the previously selected network schematics. Additionally, functional requirements for the network equipment as well as other requirements which affected the suitability of specific items for use on the Space Station Program were identified. Assembly requirements were derived based on the SSM/PMAD developed requirements and on the selected SSM/PMAD network concepts. Basic requirements and simplified design block diagrams are included. DC remote power controllers were successfully integrated into the DC Marshall Space Flight Center breadboard. Two DC remote power controller (RPC) boards experienced mechanical failure of UES 706 stud-mounted diodes during mechanical installation of the boards into the system. These broken diodes caused input to output shorting of the RPC's. The UES 706 diodes were replaced on these RPC's which eliminated the problem. The DC RPC's as existing in the present breadboard configuration do not provide ground fault protection because the RPC was designed to only switch the hot side current. If ground fault protection were to be implemented, it would be necessary to design the system so the RPC switched both the hot and the return sides of power.

46 CFR 120.376 - Grounded distribution systems (Neutral grounded).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... (Neutral grounded). (a) If a grounded distribution system is provided, there must be only one connection to ground, regardless of the number of power sources. This ground connection must be at the switchboard or... ground connection accessible for checking insulation resistance of the generator to ground before the...

46 CFR 120.376 - Grounded distribution systems (Neutral grounded).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... (Neutral grounded). (a) If a grounded distribution system is provided, there must be only one connection to ground, regardless of the number of power sources. This ground connection must be at the switchboard or... ground connection accessible for checking insulation resistance of the generator to ground before the...

Heat, chloride, and specific conductance as ground water tracers near streams

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cox, M.H.; Su, G.W.; Constantz, J.

2007-01-01

Commonly measured water quality parameters were compared to heat as tracers of stream water exchange with ground water. Temperature, specific conductance, and chloride were sampled at various frequencies in the stream and adjacent wells over a 2-year period. Strong seasonal variations in stream water were observed for temperature and specific conductance. In observation wells where the temperature response correlated to stream water, chloride and specific conductance values were similar to stream water values as well, indicating significant stream water exchange with ground water. At sites where ground water temperature fluctuations were negligible, chloride and/or specific conductance values did not correlate to stream water values, indicating that ground water was not significantly influenced by exchange with stream water. Best-fit simulation modeling was performed at two sites to derive temperature-based estimates of hydraulic conductivities of the alluvial sediments between the stream and wells. These estimates were used in solute transport simulations for a comparison of measured and simulated values for chloride and specific conductance. Simulation results showed that hydraulic conductivities vary seasonally and annually. This variability was a result of seasonal changes in temperature-dependent hydraulic conductivity and scouring or clogging of the streambed. Specific conductance fits were good, while chloride data were difficult to fit due to the infrequent (quarterly) stream water chloride measurements during the study period. Combined analyses of temperature, chloride, and specific conductance led to improved quantification of the spatial and temporal variability of stream water exchange with shallow ground water in an alluvial system. ?? 2007 National Ground Water Association.

Two-dimensional advective transport in ground-water flow parameter estimation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Anderman, E.R.; Hill, M.C.; Poeter, E.P.

1996-01-01

Nonlinear regression is useful in ground-water flow parameter estimation, but problems of parameter insensitivity and correlation often exist given commonly available hydraulic-head and head-dependent flow (for example, stream and lake gain or loss) observations. To address this problem, advective-transport observations are added to the ground-water flow, parameter-estimation model MODFLOWP using particle-tracking methods. The resulting model is used to investigate the importance of advective-transport observations relative to head-dependent flow observations when either or both are used in conjunction with hydraulic-head observations in a simulation of the sewage-discharge plume at Otis Air Force Base, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. The analysis procedure for evaluating the probable effect of new observations on the regression results consists of two steps: (1) parameter sensitivities and correlations calculated at initial parameter values are used to assess the model parameterization and expected relative contributions of different types of observations to the regression; and (2) optimal parameter values are estimated by nonlinear regression and evaluated. In the Cape Cod parameter-estimation model, advective-transport observations did not significantly increase the overall parameter sensitivity; however: (1) inclusion of advective-transport observations decreased parameter correlation enough for more unique parameter values to be estimated by the regression; (2) realistic uncertainties in advective-transport observations had a small effect on parameter estimates relative to the precision with which the parameters were estimated; and (3) the regression results and sensitivity analysis provided insight into the dynamics of the ground-water flow system, especially the importance of accurate boundary conditions. In this work, advective-transport observations improved the calibration of the model and the estimation of ground-water flow parameters, and use of regression and related techniques produced significant insight into the physical system.

Effects of land use on ground-water quality in central Florida; preliminary results, US Geological Survey Toxic Waste-Ground Water Contamination Program

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rutledge, A.T.

1987-01-01

Groundwater is the principal source of drinking water in central Florida. The most important hydrogeologic unit is the Floridan aquifer system, consisting of fractured limestone and dolomite limestone. Activities of man in areas of recharge to the Floridian aquifer system that may be affecting groundwater quality include: (1) the use of drainage wells for stormwater disposal in urban areas, (2) the use of pesticides and fertilizers in citrus groves, and (3) the mining and processing of phosphate ore in mining areas. Preliminary findings about the impacts of these land uses on ground-water quality by comparison with a fourth land use representing the absence of human activity in another area of recharge are presented. Drainage wells convey excess urban stormwater directly to the Upper Floridian aquifer. The volatile organic compounds are the most common contaminants in ground water. Trace elements such as chromium and lead are entering the aquifer but their movement is apparently attenuated by precipitation reactions associated with high pH or by cation-exchange reactions. Among the trace elements and organic chemicals, most ground-water contamination in citrus production areas is caused by pesticides, which include the organic compounds simazine, ametryne, chlordane, DDE , bromacil, aldicarb, EDB, trifluralin, and diazinon, and the trace elements zinc and copper; other contaminants include benzene, toluene, napthalene, and indene compounds. In the phosphate mining area, constituents of concern are arsenic, selenium, and mercury, and secondarily lead, chromium, cadmium, and others. Organic compounds such as fluorene, naphthalene, di-n-butyl phthalate, alkylated benzenes and naphthalenes, and indene compounds also are entering groundwater. (Author 's abstract)

MODFLOW-2005 : the U.S. Geological Survey modular ground-water model--the ground-water flow process

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harbaugh, Arlen W.

2005-01-01

This report presents MODFLOW-2005, which is a new version of the finite-difference ground-water model commonly called MODFLOW. Ground-water flow is simulated using a block-centered finite-difference approach. Layers can be simulated as confined or unconfined. Flow associated with external stresses, such as wells, areal recharge, evapotranspiration, drains, and rivers, also can be simulated. The report includes detailed explanations of physical and mathematical concepts on which the model is based, an explanation of how those concepts are incorporated in the modular structure of the computer program, instructions for using the model, and details of the computer code. The modular structure consists of a MAIN Program and a series of highly independent subroutines. The subroutines are grouped into 'packages.' Each package deals with a specific feature of the hydrologic system that is to be simulated, such as flow from rivers or flow into drains, or with a specific method of solving the set of simultaneous equations resulting from the finite-difference method. Several solution methods are incorporated, including the Preconditioned Conjugate-Gradient method. The division of the program into packages permits the user to examine specific hydrologic features of the model independently. This also facilitates development of additional capabilities because new packages can be added to the program without modifying the existing packages. The input and output systems of the computer program also are designed to permit maximum flexibility. The program is designed to allow other capabilities, such as transport and optimization, to be incorporated, but this report is limited to describing the ground-water flow capability. The program is written in Fortran 90 and will run without modification on most computers that have a Fortran 90 compiler.

Sources of Water to Wells for Transient Cyclic Systems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Reilly, T.E.; Pollock, D.W.

1996-01-01

Many state agencies are currently (1995) developing wellhead protection programs. The thrust of some of these programs is to protect water supplies by determining the areas contributing recharge to water-supply wells and by specifying regulations to minimize the opportunity for contamination of the recharge water by activities at the land surface. The area contributing recharge to a discharging well is the surface area at the water table through which the water flowing to the well entered the ground-water system. In the analyses of ground-water flow systems, steady-state average conditions are commonly used to simplify the problem and make a solution tractable. However, recharge is usually cyclic in nature, with seasonal cycles and longer term climatic cycles. The effect of these cyclic stresses on the area contributing recharge to wells is quantitatively analyzed for a hypothetical alluvial valley aquifer system that is representative of a large class of ground-water systems that are extensively developed for water supply. The analysis shows that, in many cases, these cyclic changes in the recharge rates do not significantly affect the location and size of the areas contributing recharge to wells. The ratio of the mean travel time to the length of the cyclic stress period appears to be an indicator of whether the transient effects of the cyclic stress must be explicitly represented in the analysis of contributing areas to wells. For the cases examined, if the ratio of the mean travel time to the period of the cyclic stress was much greater than one, then the transient area contributing recharge to wells was similar to the area calculated using an average steady-state condition. However, cyclic stresses on systems with ratios less than one do have an effect on the location and size of the areas contributing recharge to wells.

Analysis of sensitivity of simulated recharge to selected parameters for seven watersheds modeled using the precipitation-runoff modeling system

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ely, D. Matthew

2006-01-01

Recharge is a vital component of the ground-water budget and methods for estimating it range from extremely complex to relatively simple. The most commonly used techniques, however, are limited by the scale of application. One method that can be used to estimate ground-water recharge includes process-based models that compute distributed water budgets on a watershed scale. These models should be evaluated to determine which model parameters are the dominant controls in determining ground-water recharge. Seven existing watershed models from different humid regions of the United States were chosen to analyze the sensitivity of simulated recharge to model parameters. Parameter sensitivities were determined using a nonlinear regression computer program to generate a suite of diagnostic statistics. The statistics identify model parameters that have the greatest effect on simulated ground-water recharge and that compare and contrast the hydrologic system responses to those parameters. Simulated recharge in the Lost River and Big Creek watersheds in Washington State was sensitive to small changes in air temperature. The Hamden watershed model in west-central Minnesota was developed to investigate the relations that wetlands and other landscape features have with runoff processes. Excess soil moisture in the Hamden watershed simulation was preferentially routed to wetlands, instead of to the ground-water system, resulting in little sensitivity of any parameters to recharge. Simulated recharge in the North Fork Pheasant Branch watershed, Wisconsin, demonstrated the greatest sensitivity to parameters related to evapotranspiration. Three watersheds were simulated as part of the Model Parameter Estimation Experiment (MOPEX). Parameter sensitivities for the MOPEX watersheds, Amite River, Louisiana and Mississippi, English River, Iowa, and South Branch Potomac River, West Virginia, were similar and most sensitive to small changes in air temperature and a user-defined flow routing parameter. Although the primary objective of this study was to identify, by geographic region, the importance of the parameter value to the simulation of ground-water recharge, the secondary objectives proved valuable for future modeling efforts. The value of a rigorous sensitivity analysis can (1) make the calibration process more efficient, (2) guide additional data collection, (3) identify model limitations, and (4) explain simulated results.

47 CFR 22.859 - Incumbent commercial aviation air-ground systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Incumbent commercial aviation air-ground... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.859 Incumbent commercial aviation air-ground systems. This section contains rules concerning...

47 CFR 22.859 - Incumbent commercial aviation air-ground systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Incumbent commercial aviation air-ground... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.859 Incumbent commercial aviation air-ground systems. This section contains rules concerning...

47 CFR 22.859 - Incumbent commercial aviation air-ground systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Incumbent commercial aviation air-ground... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.859 Incumbent commercial aviation air-ground systems. This section contains rules concerning...

47 CFR 22.859 - Incumbent commercial aviation air-ground systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Incumbent commercial aviation air-ground... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.859 Incumbent commercial aviation air-ground systems. This section contains rules concerning...

Integration of a satellite ground support system based on analysis of the satellite ground support domain

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pendley, R. D.; Scheidker, E. J.; Levitt, D. S.; Myers, C. R.; Werking, R. D.

1994-01-01

This analysis defines a complete set of ground support functions based on those practiced in real space flight operations during the on-orbit phase of a mission. These functions are mapped against ground support functions currently in use by NASA and DOD. Software components to provide these functions can be hosted on RISC-based work stations and integrated to provide a modular, integrated ground support system. Such modular systems can be configured to provide as much ground support functionality as desired. This approach to ground systems has been widely proposed and prototyped both by government institutions and commercial vendors. The combined set of ground support functions we describe can be used as a standard to evaluate candidate ground systems. This approach has also been used to develop a prototype of a modular, loosely-integrated ground support system, which is discussed briefly. A crucial benefit to a potential user is that all the components are flight-qualified, thus giving high confidence in their accuracy and reliability.

Integration of a satellite ground support system based on analysis of the satellite ground support domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pendley, R. D.; Scheidker, E. J.; Levitt, D. S.; Myers, C. R.; Werking, R. D.

1994-11-01

This analysis defines a complete set of ground support functions based on those practiced in real space flight operations during the on-orbit phase of a mission. These functions are mapped against ground support functions currently in use by NASA and DOD. Software components to provide these functions can be hosted on RISC-based work stations and integrated to provide a modular, integrated ground support system. Such modular systems can be configured to provide as much ground support functionality as desired. This approach to ground systems has been widely proposed and prototyped both by government institutions and commercial vendors. The combined set of ground support functions we describe can be used as a standard to evaluate candidate ground systems. This approach has also been used to develop a prototype of a modular, loosely-integrated ground support system, which is discussed briefly. A crucial benefit to a potential user is that all the components are flight-qualified, thus giving high confidence in their accuracy and reliability.

Seismic fragility analysis of typical pre-1990 bridges due to near- and far-field ground motions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mosleh, Araliya; Razzaghi, Mehran S.; Jara, José; Varum, Humberto

2016-03-01

Bridge damages during the past earthquakes caused several physical and economic impacts to transportation systems. Many of the existing bridges in earthquake prone areas are pre-1990 bridges and were designed with out of date regulation codes. The occurrences of strong motions in different parts of the world show every year the vulnerability of these structures. Nonlinear dynamic time history analyses were conducted to assess the seismic vulnerability of typical pre-1990 bridges. A family of existing concrete bridge representative of the most common bridges in the highway system in Iran is studied. The seismic demand consists in a set of far-field and near-field strong motions to evaluate the likelihood of exceeding the seismic capacity of the mentioned bridges. The peak ground accelerations (PGAs) were scaled and applied incrementally to the 3D models to evaluate the seismic performance of the bridges. The superstructure was assumed to remain elastic and the nonlinear behavior in piers was modeled by assigning plastic hinges in columns. In this study the displacement ductility and the PGA are selected as a seismic performance indicator and intensity measure, respectively. The results show that pre-1990 bridges subjected to near-fault ground motions reach minor and moderate damage states.

An adaptable, low cost test-bed for unmanned vehicle systems research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goppert, James M.

2011-12-01

An unmanned vehicle systems test-bed has been developed. The test-bed has been designed to accommodate hardware changes and various vehicle types and algorithms. The creation of this test-bed allows research teams to focus on algorithm development and employ a common well-tested experimental framework. The ArduPilotOne autopilot was developed to provide the necessary level of abstraction for multiple vehicle types. The autopilot was also designed to be highly integrated with the Mavlink protocol for Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) communication. Mavlink is the native protocol for QGroundControl, a MAV ground control program. Features were added to QGroundControl to accommodate outdoor usage. Next, the Mavsim toolbox was developed for Scicoslab to allow hardware-in-the-loop testing, control design and analysis, and estimation algorithm testing and verification. In order to obtain linear models of aircraft dynamics, the JSBSim flight dynamics engine was extended to use a probabilistic Nelder-Mead simplex method. The JSBSim aircraft dynamics were compared with wind-tunnel data collected. Finally, a structured methodology for successive loop closure control design is proposed. This methodology is demonstrated along with the rest of the test-bed tools on a quadrotor, a fixed wing RC plane, and a ground vehicle. Test results for the ground vehicle are presented.

The changes of lumbar muscle flexion-relaxation phenomenon due to antero-posteriorly slanted ground surfaces.

PubMed

Hu, Boyi; Ning, Xiaopeng; Dai, Fei; Almuhaidib, Ibrahim

2016-09-01

Uneven ground surface is a common occupational injury risk factor in industries such as agriculture, fishing, transportation and construction. Studies have shown that antero-posteriorly slanted ground surfaces could reduce spinal stability and increase the risk of falling. In this study, the influence of antero-posteriorly slanted ground surfaces on lumbar flexion-relaxation responses was investigated. Fourteen healthy participants performed sagittally symmetric and asymmetric trunk bending motions on one flat and two antero-posteriorly slanted surfaces (-15° (uphill facing) and 15° (downhill facing)), while lumbar muscle electromyography and trunk kinematics were recorded. Results showed that standing on a downhill facing slanted surface delays the onset of lumbar muscle flexion-relaxation phenomenon (FRP), while standing on an uphill facing ground causes lumbar muscle FRP to occur earlier. In addition, compared to symmetric bending, when performing asymmetric bending, FRP occurred earlier on the contralateral side of lumbar muscles and significantly smaller maximum lumbar flexion and trunk inclination angles were observed. Practitioner Summary: Uneven ground surface is a common risk factor among a number of industries. In this study, we investigated the influence of antero-posteriorly slanted ground surface on trunk biomechanics during trunk bending. Results showed the slanted surface alters the lumbar tissue load-sharing mechanism in both sagittally symmetric and asymmetric bending.

Proven Innovations and New Initiatives in Ground System Development: Reducing Costs in the Ground System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gunn, Jody M.

2006-01-01

The state-of-the-practice for engineering and development of Ground Systems has evolved significantly over the past half decade. Missions that challenge ground system developers with significantly reduced budgets in spite of requirements for greater and previously unimagined functionality are now the norm. Making the right trades early in the mission lifecycle is one of the key factors to minimizing ground system costs. The Mission Operations Strategic Leadership Team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has spent the last year collecting and working through successes and failures in ground systems for application to future missions.

Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Common Ground System (CGS) Overview and Architectural Tenets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, S. W.; Grant, K. D.; Jamilkowski, M. L.

2013-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are jointly acquiring the next-generation civilian weather and environmental satellite system: the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). The Joint Polar Satellite System will replace the afternoon orbit component and ground processing system of the current Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) managed by NOAA. The JPSS satellites will carry a suite of sensors designed to collect meteorological, oceanographic, climatological and geophysical observations of the Earth. The ground processing system for JPSS is known as the JPSS Common Ground System (JPSS CGS). Developed and maintained by Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems (IIS), the CGS is a multi-mission enterprise system serving NOAA, NASA and their national and international partners. The CGS provides a wide range of support to a number of missions: 1) Command and control and mission management for the Suomi National Polar Partnership (S-NPP) mission today, expanding this support to the JPSS-1 satellite and the Polar Free Flyer mission in 2017 2) Data acquisition via a Polar Receptor Network (PRN) for S-NPP, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Global Change Observation Mission - Water (GCOM-W1), POES, and the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and Coriolis/WindSat for the Department of Defense (DoD) 3) Data routing over a global fiber Wide Area Network (WAN) for S-NPP, JPSS-1, Polar Free Flyer, GCOM-W1, POES, DMSP, Coriolis/WindSat, the NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN, which includes several Earth Observing System [EOS] missions), MetOp for the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) 4) Environmental data processing and distribution for S-NPP, GCOM-W1 and JPSS-1 The CGS architecture will receive a technology refresh in 2015 to satisfy several key objectives: 1) 'Operationalizing' Suomi NPP, which had originally been intended as a risk reduction mission 2) Leveraging lessons learned to date in multi-mission support 3) Taking advantage of newer, more reliable and efficient technologies 4) Satisfying new requirements and constraints due to the continually evolving budgetary environment To meet these needs, we are upgrading the CGS in the following ways: 1) Performing a system-wide technology refresh for enhanced performance and security 2) Establishing a new front end architecture and augmenting the PRN for mission data transport 3) Standardizing data protocols to accommodate an even wider variety of missions 4) Enhancing flexibility and modularity in IDPS for new and evolving algorithms 5) Achieving comprehensive situational awareness 6) Deploying a full backup capability for Continuity of Operations (COOP) 7) Providing an enclave in compliance with the latest security standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-53 This paper will provide an overview of the CGS as it is deployed and operating today, along with a summary of the architectural tenets that will facilitate even easier incorporation of new missions and applications in 2015.

46 CFR 111.05-17 - Generation and distribution system grounding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Section 111.05-17 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ELECTRIC SYSTEMS-GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Equipment Ground, Ground Detection, and Grounded Systems § 111.05-17... must: (a) Be grounded at the generator switchboard, except the neutral of an emergency power generation...

46 CFR 111.05-17 - Generation and distribution system grounding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Section 111.05-17 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ELECTRIC SYSTEMS-GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Equipment Ground, Ground Detection, and Grounded Systems § 111.05-17... must: (a) Be grounded at the generator switchboard, except the neutral of an emergency power generation...

46 CFR 111.05-17 - Generation and distribution system grounding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... Section 111.05-17 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ELECTRIC SYSTEMS-GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Equipment Ground, Ground Detection, and Grounded Systems § 111.05-17... must: (a) Be grounded at the generator switchboard, except the neutral of an emergency power generation...

Modernization of the Cassini Ground System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Razo, Gus; Fujii, Tammy J.

2014-01-01

The Cassini Spacecraft and its ground system have been operational for over 16 years. Modernization presents several challenges due to the personnel, processes, and tools already invested and embedded into the current ground system structure. Every mission's ground system has its own unique complexities and challenges, involving various organizational units. As any mission from its inception to its execution, schedules are always tight. This forces GDS engineers to implement a working ground system that is not necessarily fully optimized. Ground system challenges increase as technology evolves and cyber threats become more sophisticated. Cassini's main challenges were due to its ground system existing before many security requirements were levied on the multi-mission tools and networks. This caused a domino effect on Cassini GDS tools that relied on outdated technological features. In the aerospace industry reliable and established technology is preferred over innovative yet less proven technology. Loss of data for a spacecraft mission can be catastrophic; therefore, there is a reluctance to make changes and updates to the ground system. Nevertheless, all missions and associated teams face the need to modernize their processes and tools. Systems development methods from well-known system analysis and design principles can be applied to many missions' ground systems. Modernization should always be considered, but should be done in such a way that it does not affect flexibility nor interfere with established practices. Cassini has accomplished a secure and efficient ground data system through periodic updates. The obstacles faced while performing the modernization of the Cassini ground system will be outlined, as well as the advantages and challenges that were encountered.

Updates to SCORPION persistent surveillance system with universal gateway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coster, Michael; Chambers, Jon; Winters, Michael; Brunck, Al

2008-10-01

This paper addresses benefits derived from the universal gateway utilized in Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation's (NGSC) SCORPION, a persistent surveillance and target recognition system produced by the Xetron campus in Cincinnati, Ohio. SCORPION is currently deployed in Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF). The SCORPION universal gateway is a flexible, field programmable system that provides integration of over forty Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) types from a variety of manufacturers, multiple visible and thermal electro-optical (EO) imagers, and numerous long haul satellite and terrestrial communications links, including the Army Research Lab (ARL) Blue Radio. Xetron has been integrating best in class sensors with this universal gateway to provide encrypted data exfiltration to Common Operational Picture (COP) systems and remote sensor command and control since 1998. In addition to being fed to COP systems, SCORPION data can be visualized in the Common sensor Status (CStat) graphical user interface that allows for viewing and analysis of images and sensor data from up to seven hundred SCORPION system gateways on single or multiple displays. This user friendly visualization enables a large amount of sensor data and imagery to be used as actionable intelligence by a minimum number of analysts.

46 CFR 169.680 - Installation of wiring for power and lighting circuits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... and lighting circuits. (a) Wiring must be run as high as practicable above the bilges. (b) Each cable...; and (2) Grounded at each end of the run to— (i) The metal hull; or (ii) The common ground required by paragraph (e) of this section on nonmetallic vessels. (h) In lieu of being grounded at each end of the run...

46 CFR 169.680 - Installation of wiring for power and lighting circuits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... and lighting circuits. (a) Wiring must be run as high as practicable above the bilges. (b) Each cable...; and (2) Grounded at each end of the run to— (i) The metal hull; or (ii) The common ground required by paragraph (e) of this section on nonmetallic vessels. (h) In lieu of being grounded at each end of the run...

46 CFR 169.680 - Installation of wiring for power and lighting circuits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... and lighting circuits. (a) Wiring must be run as high as practicable above the bilges. (b) Each cable...; and (2) Grounded at each end of the run to— (i) The metal hull; or (ii) The common ground required by paragraph (e) of this section on nonmetallic vessels. (h) In lieu of being grounded at each end of the run...

46 CFR 169.680 - Installation of wiring for power and lighting circuits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... and lighting circuits. (a) Wiring must be run as high as practicable above the bilges. (b) Each cable...; and (2) Grounded at each end of the run to— (i) The metal hull; or (ii) The common ground required by paragraph (e) of this section on nonmetallic vessels. (h) In lieu of being grounded at each end of the run...

46 CFR 169.680 - Installation of wiring for power and lighting circuits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... and lighting circuits. (a) Wiring must be run as high as practicable above the bilges. (b) Each cable...; and (2) Grounded at each end of the run to— (i) The metal hull; or (ii) The common ground required by paragraph (e) of this section on nonmetallic vessels. (h) In lieu of being grounded at each end of the run...

Autumn Leaves and Old Photographs: A Developmental Study of Metaphor Preferences. Technical Report No. 14.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silberstein, Lisa R.; And Others

A multiple choice Metaphor Preferences Test was administered to 138 preschool through college subjects to determine the role of a metaphor's ground in determining a metaphor's appeal, and to document the evolution of preferences for different types of grounds. Ground is the common property that links the two terms of a metaphor (topic and…

46 CFR 111.05-33 - Equipment safety grounding (bonding) conductors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Equipment safety grounding (bonding) conductors. 111.05... ENGINEERING ELECTRIC SYSTEMS-GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Equipment Ground, Ground Detection, and Grounded Systems § 111.05-33 Equipment safety grounding (bonding) conductors. (a) Each equipment-grounding conductor must...

46 CFR 111.05-33 - Equipment safety grounding (bonding) conductors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Equipment safety grounding (bonding) conductors. 111.05... ENGINEERING ELECTRIC SYSTEMS-GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Equipment Ground, Ground Detection, and Grounded Systems § 111.05-33 Equipment safety grounding (bonding) conductors. (a) Each equipment-grounding conductor must...

46 CFR 111.05-33 - Equipment safety grounding (bonding) conductors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Equipment safety grounding (bonding) conductors. 111.05... ENGINEERING ELECTRIC SYSTEMS-GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Equipment Ground, Ground Detection, and Grounded Systems § 111.05-33 Equipment safety grounding (bonding) conductors. (a) Each equipment-grounding conductor must...

JPSS CGS Evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, S. W.; Grant, K. D.; Jamilkowski, M. L.

2012-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are jointly acquiring the next-generation civilian weather and environmental satellite system: the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). JPSS will contribute the afternoon orbit component and ground processing system. As such, the Joint Polar Satellite System replaces the current Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) managed by NOAA. It also replaces the ground processing component of both Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites, as well as components of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) replacement, previously known as the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS), managed by the Department of Defense (DoD). The JPSS satellites will carry a suite of sensors designed to collect meteorological, oceanographic, climatological and solar-geophysical observations of the earth, atmosphere and space. The ground processing system for JPSS is known as the JPSS Common Ground System (JPSS CGS), which consists of a Command, Control and Communications Segment (C3S) and an Interface Data Processing Segment (IDPS). Both segments are developed by Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems (IIS). The C3S is currently flying the Suomi National Polar Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite and transfers mission data from Suomi NPP and between the ground facilities. The IDPS processes Suomi NPP satellite data to provide Environmental Data Records (EDRs) to NOAA and DoD processing centers operated by the United States government. When the JPSS-1 satellite is launched in early 2017, the responsibilities of the C3S and the IDPS will be expanded to support both Suomi NPP and JPSS-1. The CGS also employs its ground stations at Svalbard, Norway and McMurdo Station, Antarctica, along with a global fiber communications network, to provide data acquisition and routing for multiple additional missions. These include POES, DMSP, NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN, which includes the Earth Observing System [EOS]), Metop for the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), Coriolis/WindSat for the DoD, as well as research activities of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The CGS architecture is evolving over the next few years for several key reasons: 1. "Operationalizing" Suomi NPP, which had originally been intended as a risk reduction mission 2. Leveraging lessons learned to date in multi-mission support 3. Taking advantage of newer, more reliable and efficient technologies 4. Satisfying new requirements and constraints due to the continually evolving budgetary environment Three key aspects of the CGS architecture are being prototyped as part of the path to improve operations in the 2015 timeframe. First, the front end architecture for mission data transport is being re-architected to improve reliability and address the incorporation of new ground stations. Second, the IDPS is undergoing a decoupling process to enhance its flexibility and modularity for supporting an array of potential new missions beyond those listed above. Finally, a solution for complete situational awareness across the CGS is being developed, to facilitate quicker and more efficient identification and resolution of system anomalies. This paper discusses the evolution of the CGS architecture to address these future mission needs.

An intelligent position-specific training system for mission operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schneider, M. P.

1992-01-01

Marshall Space Flight Center's (MSFC's) payload ground controller training program provides very good generic training; however, ground controller position-specific training can be improved by including position-specific training systems in the training program. This report explains why MSFC needs to improve payload ground controller position-specific training. The report describes a generic syllabus for position-specific training systems, a range of system designs for position-specific training systems, and a generic development process for developing position-specific training systems. The report also describes a position-specific training system prototype that was developed for the crew interface coordinator payload operations control center ground controller position. The report concludes that MSFC can improve the payload ground controller training program by incorporating position-specific training systems for each ground controller position; however, MSFC should not develop position-specific training systems unless payload ground controller position experts will be available to participate in the development process.

40 CFR 141.401 - Sanitary surveys for ground water systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Sanitary surveys for ground water...) WATER PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) NATIONAL PRIMARY DRINKING WATER REGULATIONS Ground Water Rule § 141.401 Sanitary surveys for ground water systems. (a) Ground water systems must provide the State, at the State's...

Vibration response of buildings to rail transit groundborne vibration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phillips, James

2005-09-01

The FTA guidelines for detailed analysis and prediction of groundborne noise and vibration generated by rail transit systems are based on established empirical methods. The procedures for the measurement of vehicle/track system source strength and the attenuation of vibration as it propagates with distance through the ground are generally accepted practice at this time. However, characterization of the building response is open to debate, due in part to the wide array of building construction encountered adjacent to transit systems. Numerous measurements that have been obtained in a variety of building construction types are presented and preliminary conclusions are drawn regarding the responses of several common building types to rail transit groundborne vibration.

Commentary: the role of mentored internships for systems engineering in improving health care delivery.

PubMed

Day, T Eugene; Goldlust, Eric J; True, William R

2010-09-01

The authors advise the adoption of mentored internships in systems engineering, conducted at academic hospitals, directed by physicians, epidemiologists, and health administrators and overseen by faculty at attendant schools of engineering. Such internships are anticipated to directly address the immediate objectives of administrators and clinicians. Additionally, this affords future generations of health care engineers the opportunity to learn the language and methodology of the medical sciences to provide a common ground for the analysis and understanding of medical systems. In turn, this should foster collaboration between the principal stakeholders in health care delivery--practitioners, administrators, engineers, and researchers--in the collective efforts to improve the quality of services provided.

Power enhancement of heat engines via correlated thermalization in a three-level "working fluid".

PubMed

Gelbwaser-Klimovsky, David; Niedenzu, Wolfgang; Brumer, Paul; Kurizki, Gershon

2015-09-23

We explore means of maximizing the power output of a heat engine based on a periodically-driven quantum system that is constantly coupled to hot and cold baths. It is shown that the maximal power output of such a heat engine whose "working fluid" is a degenerate V-type three-level system is that generated by two independent two-level systems. Hence, level degeneracy is a thermodynamic resource that may effectively double the power output. The efficiency, however, is not affected. We find that coherence is not an essential asset in such multilevel-based heat engines. The existence of two thermalization pathways sharing a common ground state suffices for power enhancement.

A comparison between modified Alvarado score and RIPASA score in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis.

PubMed

Singla, Anand; Singla, Satpaul; Singh, Mohinder; Singla, Deeksha

2016-12-01

Acute appendicitis is a common but elusive surgical condition and remains a diagnostic dilemma. It has many clinical mimickers and diagnosis is primarily made on clinical grounds, leading to the evolution of clinical scoring systems for pin pointing the right diagnosis. The modified Alvarado and RIPASA scoring systems are two important scoring systems, for diagnosis of acute appendicitis. We prospectively compared the two scoring systems for diagnosing acute appendicitis in 50 patients presenting with right iliac fossa pain. The RIPASA score correctly classified 88 % of patients with histologically confirmed acute appendicitis compared with 48.0 % with modified Alvarado score, indicating that RIPASA score is more superior to Modified Alvarado score in our clinical settings.

A controlled experiment in ground water flow model calibration

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hill, M.C.; Cooley, R.L.; Pollock, D.W.

1998-01-01

Nonlinear regression was introduced to ground water modeling in the 1970s, but has been used very little to calibrate numerical models of complicated ground water systems. Apparently, nonlinear regression is thought by many to be incapable of addressing such complex problems. With what we believe to be the most complicated synthetic test case used for such a study, this work investigates using nonlinear regression in ground water model calibration. Results of the study fall into two categories. First, the study demonstrates how systematic use of a well designed nonlinear regression method can indicate the importance of different types of data and can lead to successive improvement of models and their parameterizations. Our method differs from previous methods presented in the ground water literature in that (1) weighting is more closely related to expected data errors than is usually the case; (2) defined diagnostic statistics allow for more effective evaluation of the available data, the model, and their interaction; and (3) prior information is used more cautiously. Second, our results challenge some commonly held beliefs about model calibration. For the test case considered, we show that (1) field measured values of hydraulic conductivity are not as directly applicable to models as their use in some geostatistical methods imply; (2) a unique model does not necessarily need to be identified to obtain accurate predictions; and (3) in the absence of obvious model bias, model error was normally distributed. The complexity of the test case involved implies that the methods used and conclusions drawn are likely to be powerful in practice.Nonlinear regression was introduced to ground water modeling in the 1970s, but has been used very little to calibrate numerical models of complicated ground water systems. Apparently, nonlinear regression is thought by many to be incapable of addressing such complex problems. With what we believe to be the most complicated synthetic test case used for such a study, this work investigates using nonlinear regression in ground water model calibration. Results of the study fall into two categories. First, the study demonstrates how systematic use of a well designed nonlinear regression method can indicate the importance of different types of data and can lead to successive improvement of models and their parameterizations. Our method differs from previous methods presented in the ground water literature in that (1) weighting is more closely related to expected data errors than is usually the case; (2) defined diagnostic statistics allow for more effective evaluation of the available data, the model, and their interaction; and (3) prior information is used more cautiously. Second, our results challenge some commonly held beliefs about model calibration. For the test case considered, we show that (1) field measured values of hydraulic conductivity are not as directly applicable to models as their use in some geostatistical methods imply; (2) a unique model does not necessarily need to be identified to obtain accurate predictions; and (3) in the absence of obvious model bias, model error was normally distributed. The complexity of the test case involved implies that the methods used and conclusions drawn are likely to be powerful in practice.

14 CFR 135.153 - Ground proximity warning system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Ground proximity warning system. 135.153... Equipment § 135.153 Ground proximity warning system. (a) No person may operate a turbine-powered airplane... equipped with an approved ground proximity warning system. (b) [Reserved] (c) For a system required by this...

14 CFR 135.153 - Ground proximity warning system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Ground proximity warning system. 135.153... Equipment § 135.153 Ground proximity warning system. (a) No person may operate a turbine-powered airplane... equipped with an approved ground proximity warning system. (b) [Reserved] (c) For a system required by this...

Hydrologic information for land-use planning; Fairbanks vicinity, Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nelson, Gordon L.

1978-01-01

The flood plain on the Chena and Tanana Rivers near Fairbanks, Alaska, has abundant water in rivers and in an unconfined alluvial aquifer. The principal source of ground water is the Tanana River, from which ground water flows northwesterly to the Chena River. Transmissivity of the aquifer commonly exceed 100 ,000 sq ft. The shallow water table (less than 15 ft below land surface), high hydraulic conductivity of the sediments and cold soil give the flood plain a high susceptibility to pollution by onsite sewerage systems. The Environmental Protection Agency recommended maximum concentrations for drinking water may be exceeded in surface water for manganese and bacteria and in ground water for iron, manganese, and bacteria. Residents of the uplands obtain water principally from a widely-distributed fractured schist aquifer. The aquifer is recharged by local infiltration of precipitation and is drained by springs on the lower slopes and by ground-water flow to alluvial aquifers of the valleys. The annual base flow from basins in the uplands ranged from 3,000 to 100,000 gallons per acre; the smallest base flows occur in basins nearest the city of Fairbanks. The thick silt cover and great depth to the water table give much of the uplands a low susceptibility to pollution by onsite sewage disposal. Ground water is locally high in nitrate, arsenic, iron , and manganese. (Woodard-USGS)

James Webb Space Telescope XML Database: From the Beginning to Today

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gal-Edd, Jonathan; Fatig, Curtis C.

2005-01-01

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Project has been defining, developing, and exercising the use of a common eXtensible Markup Language (XML) for the command and telemetry (C&T) database structure. JWST is the first large NASA space mission to use XML for databases. The JWST project started developing the concepts for the C&T database in 2002. The database will need to last at least 20 years since it will be used beginning with flight software development, continuing through Observatory integration and test (I&T) and through operations. Also, a database tool kit has been provided to the 18 various flight software development laboratories located in the United States, Europe, and Canada that allows the local users to create their own databases. Recently the JWST Project has been working with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Object Management Group (OMG) XML Telemetry and Command Exchange (XTCE) personnel to provide all the information needed by JWST and JPL for exchanging database information using a XML standard structure. The lack of standardization requires custom ingest scripts for each ground system segment, increasing the cost of the total system. Providing a non-proprietary standard of the telemetry and command database definition formation will allow dissimilar systems to communicate without the need for expensive mission specific database tools and testing of the systems after the database translation. The various ground system components that would benefit from a standardized database are the telemetry and command systems, archives, simulators, and trending tools. JWST has exchanged the XML database with the Eclipse, EPOCH, ASIST ground systems, Portable spacecraft simulator (PSS), a front-end system, and Integrated Trending and Plotting System (ITPS) successfully. This paper will discuss how JWST decided to use XML, the barriers to a new concept, experiences utilizing the XML structure, exchanging databases with other users, and issues that have been experienced in creating databases for the C&T system.

Fostering better policy adoption and inter-disciplinary communication in healthcare: A qualitative analysis of practicing physicians’ common interests

PubMed Central

Crowley-Matoka, Megan; Collins, Jeremy D.; Chrisman, Howard B.; Milad, Magdy P.; Vogelzang, Robert L.

2017-01-01

Purpose In response to limited physician adoption of various healthcare initiatives, we sought to propose and assess a novel approach to policy development where one first characterizes diverse physician groups’ common interests, using a medical student and constructivist grounded theory. Methods In 6 months, a medical student completed 36 semi-structured interviews with interventional radiologists, gynecologists, and vascular surgeons that were systematically analyzed according to constructivist grounded theory to identifying common themes. Common drivers of clinical decision making and professional values across 3 distinct specialty groups were derived from physicians’ descriptions of their clinical decision making, stories, and concerns. Results Common drivers of clinical decision making included patient preference/benefit, experience, reimbursement, busyness/volume, and referral networks. Common values included honesty, trustworthiness, loyalty, humble service, compassion and perseverance, and practical wisdom. Although personal gains were perceived as important interests, such values were easily sacrificed for the good of patients or other non-financial interests. This balance was largely dependent on the incentives and security provided by physicians’ environments. Conclusions Using a medical student interviewer and constructivist grounded theory is a feasible means of collecting rich qualitative data to guide policy development. Healthcare administrators and medical educators should consider incorporating this methodology early in policy development to anticipate how value differences between physician groups will influence their acceptance of policies and other broad healthcare initiatives. PMID:28235088

Hydrogeology of the surficial aquifer system, Dade County, Florida

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fish, J.E.; Stewart, M.T.

1991-01-01

An investigation of the surficial aquifer system in Dade County, begun in 1983, is part of a regional study of the aquifer system in southeastern Florida. Test drilling for lithologic samples, flow measurements during drilling, aquifer testing, and analyses of earlier data permitted delineation of the hydraulic conductivity distribution (on hydrogeologic sections), the aquifers in the system, the generalized transmissivity distribution, and interpretation of the ground-water flow system. The surficial aquifer system, in which an unconfined ground-water flow system exists, is composed of the sediments from land surface downward to the top of a regionally extensive zone of sediments of low permeability called the intermediate confining unit. The aquifer system units, which vary in composition from clay-size sediments to cavernous limestone, are hydro stratigraphically divided into the Biscayne aquifer at the top; an intervening semiconfining unit that consists principally of clayey sand; a predominantly gray limestone aquifer in the Tamiami Formation in western and west-central Dade County; and sand or clayey sand near the base of the surficial aquifer system. The base of the surficial aquifer system ranges from a depth of about 175 to 210 feet below land surface in westernmost Dade County to greater than 270 feet in northeastern Dade County. Test drilling and aquifer-test data indicate a complex hydraulic conductivity distribution. Hydraulic conductivities of the very highly permeable zone of the Biscayne aquifer commonly exceed 10,000 feet per day; in the gray limestone aquifer, they range from 210 to 780 feet per day. Transmissivities of the surficial aquifer system vary locally but have a recognizable areal trend. Estimated values generally are about 300,000 feet squared per day or greater in nearly all of central and eastern Dade County. Transmissivity is lower to the west, decreasing to less than 75,000 feet squared per day in western Dade County. High transmissivity usually is associated with thick sections of the Fort Thompson Formation within the Biscayne aquifer. The gray limestone aquifer of the Tamiami Formation has transmissivities that range from 5,800 to 39,000 feet squared per day in western Dade County. The transition from high transmissivity to relatively low transmissivity is often only a few miles wide and coincides with the decrease in thickness of the very highly permeable Fort Thompson Formation, which marks the western boundary of the Biscayne aquifer. More effective drainage as a result of extensive canal systems and large-scale pumping from municipal well fields has greatly altered the predevelopment flow system in eastern Dade County by: (1) eliminating or greatly reducing a seasonal and coastal ground-water ridge; (2) reducing deep circulation; (3) reducing or eliminating seasonal westward movement of ground water; (4) causing accelerated stormwater runoff and short ground-water flow paths; and (5) generally lowering the water table and inducing saltwater intrusion. Under predevelopment conditions in western Dade County, water entered the gray limestone aquifer by lateral movement from Broward and Collier Counties, and by downward seepage from The Everglades and the Biscayne aquifer, and moved southward and southeastward into Dade County to coastal discharge areas. Circulation in the Biscayne aquifer inland also was primarily to the south and southeast. In eastern Dade County, the seasonal ground-water ridge that formed under predevelopment conditions supported both easterly and westerly ground-water flow away from the ridge axis. This seasonal flow created a zone of lower dissolved solids.

Finding Common Ground Between Earth Scientists and Evangelical Christians

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grant Ludwig, L.

2015-12-01

In recent decades there has been some tension between earth scientists and evangelical Christians in the U.S., and this tension has spilled over into the political arena and policymaking on important issues such as climate change. From my personal and professional experience engaging with both groups, I find there is much common ground for increasing understanding and communicating the societal relevance of earth science. Fruitful discussions can arise from shared values and principles, and common approaches to understanding the world. For example, scientists and Christians are engaged in the pursuit of truth, and they value moral/ethical decision-making based on established principles. Scientists emphasize the benefits of research "for the common good" while Christians emphasize the value of doing "good works". Both groups maintain a longterm perspective: Christians talk about "the eternal" and geologists discuss "deep time". Both groups understand the importance of placing new observations in context of prior understanding: scientists diligently reference "the literature" while Christians quote "chapter and verse". And members of each group engage with each other in "fellowship" or "meetings" to create a sense of community and reinforce shared values. From my perspective, earth scientists can learn to communicate the importance and relevance of science more effectively by engaging with Christians in areas of common ground, rather than by trying to win arguments or debates.

47 CFR 22.857 - Channel plan for commercial aviation air-ground systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Channel plan for commercial aviation air-ground... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.857 Channel plan for commercial aviation air-ground systems. The 849-851 MHz and 894-896 MHz...

47 CFR 22.857 - Channel plan for commercial aviation air-ground systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Channel plan for commercial aviation air-ground... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.857 Channel plan for commercial aviation air-ground systems. The 849-851 MHz and 894-896 MHz...

47 CFR 22.857 - Channel plan for commercial aviation air-ground systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Channel plan for commercial aviation air-ground... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.857 Channel plan for commercial aviation air-ground systems. The 849-851 MHz and 894-896 MHz...

47 CFR 22.857 - Channel plan for commercial aviation air-ground systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Channel plan for commercial aviation air-ground... CARRIER SERVICES PUBLIC MOBILE SERVICES Air-Ground Radiotelephone Service Commercial Aviation Air-Ground Systems § 22.857 Channel plan for commercial aviation air-ground systems. The 849-851 MHz and 894-896 MHz...

Distributed intelligence for supervisory control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolfe, W. J.; Raney, S. D.

1987-01-01

Supervisory control systems must deal with various types of intelligence distributed throughout the layers of control. Typical layers are real-time servo control, off-line planning and reasoning subsystems and finally, the human operator. Design methodologies must account for the fact that the majority of the intelligence will reside with the human operator. Hierarchical decompositions and feedback loops as conceptual building blocks that provide a common ground for man-machine interaction are discussed. Examples of types of parallelism and parallel implementation on several classes of computer architecture are also discussed.

Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST). Common Ground: Toward a Standards-Based Training System for the U.S. Machine Tool and Metal Related Industries. Volume 13: Laser Machining, of a 15-Volume Set of Skill Standards and Curriculum Training Materials for the Precision Manufacturing Industry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Technical Coll., Waco.

This document is intended to help education and training institutions deliver the Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST) curriculum to a variety of individuals and organizations. MAST consists of industry-specific skill standards and model curricula for 15 occupational specialty areas within the U.S. machine tool and metals-related…

An Analysis of Communication Between Program Managers and Contracting Officers and Its Effect on the Performance of the Defense Acquisition System

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

problem or defect must first be present. The qualitative interview data along with reduction and analysis provided the bulk of this research . The...problem and to provide grounds for the purpose of this research . Common themes extracted from interview data will comprise the qualitative data set...communication, we used mixed methods’ research to examine current statistics and to conduct in-person interviews . With this research , we found a link

Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST). Common Ground: Toward a Standards-Based Training System for the U.S. Machine Tool and Metal Related Industries. Volume 6: Welding, of a 15-Volume Set of Skill Standards and Curriculum Training Materials for the Precision Manufacturing Industry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Technical Coll., Waco.

This document is intended to help education and training institutions deliver the Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST) curriculum to a variety of individuals and organizations. MAST consists of industry-specific skill standards and model curricula for 15 occupational specialty areas within the U.S. machine tool and metals-related…

Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST). Common Ground: Toward a Standards-Based Training System for the U.S. Machine Tool and Metal Related Industries. Volume 12: Instrumentation, of a 15-Volume Set of Skill Standards and Curriculum Training Materials for the Precision Manufacturing Industry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Technical Coll., Waco.

This document is intended to help education and training institutions deliver the Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST) curriculum to a variety of individuals and organizations. MAST consists of industry-specific skill standards and model curricula for 15 occupational specialty areas within the U.S. machine tool and metals-related…

Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST). Common Ground: Toward a Standards-Based Training System for the U.S. Machine Tool and Metal Related Industries. Volume 1: Executive Summary, of a 15-Volume Set of Skills Standards and Curriculum Training Materials for the Precision Manufacturing Industry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Technical Coll., Waco.

The Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST) consortium was formed to address the shortage of skilled workers for the machine tools and metals-related industries. Featuring six of the nation's leading advanced technology centers, the MAST consortium developed, tested, and disseminated industry-specific skill standards and model curricula for…

Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST). Common Ground: Toward a Standards-Based Training System for the U.S. Machine Tool and Metal Related Industries. Volume 15: Administrative Information, of a 15-Volume Set of Skill Standards and Curriculum Training Materials for the Precision Manufacturing Industry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Technical Coll., Waco.

This volume developed by the Machine Tool Advanced Skill Technology (MAST) program contains key administrative documents and provides additional sources for machine tool and precision manufacturing information and important points of contact in the industry. The document contains the following sections: a foreword; grant award letter; timeline for…

Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST). Common Ground: Toward a Standards-Based Training System for the U.S. Machine Tool and Metal Related Industries. Volume 5: Mold Making, of a 15-Volume Set of Skill Standards and Curriculum Training Materials for the Precision Manufacturing Industry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Technical Coll., Waco.

This document is intended to help education and training institutions deliver the Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST) curriculum to a variety of individuals and organizations. MAST consists of industry-specific skill standards and model curricula for 15 occupational speciality areas within the U.S. machine tool and metals-related…

Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST). Common Ground: Toward a Standards-Based Training System for the U.S. Machine Tool and Metal Related Industries. Volume 3: Machining, of a 15-Volume Set of Skill Standards and Curriculum Training Materials for the Precision Manufacturing Industry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Technical Coll., Waco.

This document is intended to help education and training institutions deliver the Machine Tool Advanced Skills Technology (MAST) curriculum to a variety of individuals and organizations. MAST consists of industry-specific skill standards and model curricula for 15 occupational specialty areas within the U.S. machine tool and metals-related…

Dynamical response of the Galileo Galilei on the ground rotor to test the equivalence principle: Theory, simulation, and experiment. II. The rejection of common mode forces

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Comandi, G.L.; Toncelli, R.; Chiofalo, M.L.

'Galileo Galilei on the ground' (GGG) is a fast rotating differential accelerometer designed to test the equivalence principle (EP). Its sensitivity to differential effects, such as the effect of an EP violation, depends crucially on the capability of the accelerometer to reject all effects acting in common mode. By applying the theoretical and simulation methods reported in Part I of this work, and tested therein against experimental data, we predict the occurrence of an enhanced common mode rejection of the GGG accelerometer. We demonstrate that the best rejection of common mode disturbances can be tuned in a controlled way bymore » varying the spin frequency of the GGG rotor.« less

46 CFR 111.05-31 - Grounding conductors for systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Grounding conductors for systems. 111.05-31 Section 111... Grounding conductors for systems. (a) A conductor for grounding a direct-current system must be the larger of: (1) The largest conductor supplying the system; or (2) No. 8 AWG (8.4mm2). (b) A conductor for...

46 CFR 111.05-31 - Grounding conductors for systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Grounding conductors for systems. 111.05-31 Section 111... Grounding conductors for systems. (a) A conductor for grounding a direct-current system must be the larger of: (1) The largest conductor supplying the system; or (2) No. 8 AWG (8.4mm2). (b) A conductor for...

46 CFR 183.376 - Grounded distribution systems (neutral grounded).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... VESSELS (UNDER 100 GROSS TONS) ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION Power Sources and Distribution Systems § 183.376... propulsion, power, lighting, or distribution system having a neutral bus or conductor must have the neutral... 46 Shipping 7 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Grounded distribution systems (neutral grounded). 183...

40 CFR 141.404 - Treatment technique violations for ground water systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 22 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Treatment technique violations for ground water systems. 141.404 Section 141.404 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY....404 Treatment technique violations for ground water systems. (a) A ground water system with a...

NASA/MSFC ground experiment for large space structure control verification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waites, H. B.; Seltzer, S. M.; Tollison, D. K.

1984-01-01

Marshall Space Flight Center has developed a facility in which closed loop control of Large Space Structures (LSS) can be demonstrated and verified. The main objective of the facility is to verify LSS control system techniques so that on orbit performance can be ensured. The facility consists of an LSS test article which is connected to a payload mounting system that provides control torque commands. It is attached to a base excitation system which will simulate disturbances most likely to occur for Orbiter and DOD payloads. A control computer will contain the calibration software, the reference system, the alignment procedures, the telemetry software, and the control algorithms. The total system will be suspended in such a fashion that LSS test article has the characteristics common to all LSS.

Using object-oriented analysis to design a multi-mission ground data system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shames, Peter

1995-01-01

This paper describes an analytical approach and descriptive methodology that is adapted from Object-Oriented Analysis (OOA) techniques. The technique is described and then used to communicate key issues of system logical architecture. The essence of the approach is to limit the analysis to only service objects, with the idea of providing a direct mapping from the design to a client-server implementation. Key perspectives on the system, such as user interaction, data flow and management, service interfaces, hardware configuration, and system and data integrity are covered. A significant advantage of this service-oriented approach is that it permits mapping all of these different perspectives on the system onto a single common substrate. This services substrate is readily represented diagramatically, thus making details of the overall design much more accessible.

JPSS-1 Algorithm Updates and upgrades

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weinrich, J. A.

2017-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is acquiring the next-generation weather and environmental satellite system, named the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite was launched on 28 October, 2011, and is a pathfinder for JPSS and provides continuity for the NASA Earth Observation System and the NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) system. JPSS-1 is scheduled to launch in 2017. NASA is developing the Common Ground System which will process JPSS data and has the flexibility to process data from other satellites. This presentation will review the JPSS readiness from a Calibration/Validation perspective. Examples of JPSS Readiness will be presented including algorithm and table updates. The outcomes will show the Cal/Val planning as we going into Launch in 2017.

Efficient reconstruction method for ground layer adaptive optics with mixed natural and laser guide stars.

PubMed

Wagner, Roland; Helin, Tapio; Obereder, Andreas; Ramlau, Ronny

2016-02-20

The imaging quality of modern ground-based telescopes such as the planned European Extremely Large Telescope is affected by atmospheric turbulence. In consequence, they heavily depend on stable and high-performance adaptive optics (AO) systems. Using measurements of incoming light from guide stars, an AO system compensates for the effects of turbulence by adjusting so-called deformable mirror(s) (DMs) in real time. In this paper, we introduce a novel reconstruction method for ground layer adaptive optics. In the literature, a common approach to this problem is to use Bayesian inference in order to model the specific noise structure appearing due to spot elongation. This approach leads to large coupled systems with high computational effort. Recently, fast solvers of linear order, i.e., with computational complexity O(n), where n is the number of DM actuators, have emerged. However, the quality of such methods typically degrades in low flux conditions. Our key contribution is to achieve the high quality of the standard Bayesian approach while at the same time maintaining the linear order speed of the recent solvers. Our method is based on performing a separate preprocessing step before applying the cumulative reconstructor (CuReD). The efficiency and performance of the new reconstructor are demonstrated using the OCTOPUS, the official end-to-end simulation environment of the ESO for extremely large telescopes. For more specific simulations we also use the MOST toolbox.

SCORPION II persistent surveillance system update

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coster, Michael; Chambers, Jon

2010-04-01

This paper updates the improvements and benefits demonstrated in the next generation Northrop Grumman SCORPION II family of persistent surveillance and target recognition systems produced by the Xetron Campus in Cincinnati, Ohio. SCORPION II reduces the size, weight, and cost of all SCORPION components in a flexible, field programmable system that is easier to conceal and enables integration of over fifty different Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) and camera types from a variety of manufacturers, with a modular approach to supporting multiple Line of Sight (LOS) and Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) communications interfaces. Since 1998 Northrop Grumman has been integrating best in class sensors with its proven universal modular Gateway to provide encrypted data exfiltration to Common Operational Picture (COP) systems and remote sensor command and control. In addition to feeding COP systems, SCORPION and SCORPION II data can be directly processed using a common sensor status graphical user interface (GUI) that allows for viewing and analysis of images and sensor data from up to seven hundred SCORPION system gateways on single or multiple displays. This GUI enables a large amount of sensor data and imagery to be used for actionable intelligence as well as remote sensor command and control by a minimum number of analysts.

Space-to-Ground: A Learning Doubleheader: 04/06/2018

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-05

The SpaceX Dragon arrives at the space station, more Lettuce leaves are growing onboard, and what do baseball and astronauts have in common? NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

Collaboration and Conflict Resolution in Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Melamed, James C.; Reiman, John W.

2000-01-01

Presents guidelines for resolving conflicts between educators and parents. Participants should seek different perspectives, not "truths," consider the common ground, define an effective problem-solving procedure, adopt ground rules for discussion, address issues, identify interests and positive intentions, develop options, select arrangements, and…

In-flight observation of long duration gamma-ray glows by aircraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kochkin, Pavlo; (Lex) van Deursen, A. P. J.; de Boer, Alte; Bardet, Michiel; Allasia, Cedric; Boissin, Jean Francois; Ostgaard, Nikolai

2017-04-01

The Gamma-Ray Glow is a long-lasting (several seconds to minutes) X- and gamma radiation presumably originated from high-electric field of thunderclouds. Such glows were previously observed by aircraft, balloons, and from the ground. When detected on ground with other particles, i.e. electrons and neutrons, they are usually called Thunderstorm Ground Enhancements (TGEs). Their measured spectra are often consistent with Relativistic Runaway Electron Avalanche (RREA) mechanism. That is why RREA is a commonly accepted explanation for their existence. The gamma-ray glows are observed to be interrupted by lightning discharge, which terminates the high-electric field region. In January 2016 an Airbus A340 factory test aircraft was performing intentional flights through thunderstorms over Northern Australia. The aircraft was equipped with a dedicated in-flight lightning detection system called ILDAS (http://ildas.nlr.nl). The system also contained two scintillation detectors each with 38x38 mm cylinder LaBr3 crystals. While being at 12 km altitude the system detected a gamma-ray flux enhancement 30 times the background counts. It lasted for 20 seconds and was abruptly terminated by a lightning flash. The flash hit the aircraft and its parameters were recorded with 10 ns sampling time including gamma radiation. Ground-based lightning detection network WWLLN detected 4 strikes in the nearby region, all in association with the same flash. The ILDAS system recorded the time-resolved spectrum of the glow. In 6 minutes, after making a U-turn, the aircraft passed the same glow region. Smaller gamma-ray enhancement was again detected. In this presentation we will show the mapped event timeline including airplane, gamma-ray glow, WWLLN, and cloud data. We will discuss the glow's properties, i.e. intensity and differential spectrum, and its possible origin. This result will also be compared to previously reported observations.

Overview of investigations into mercury in ground water, soils, and septage, New Jersey coastal plain

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barringer, J.L.; Szabo, Z.

2006-01-01

Since the early 1980s, investigations by health departments of eight counties in southern New Jersey, by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), and subsequently by the US Geological Survey (USGS), have shown that Hg concentrations in water tapped by about 600 domestic wells exceed the maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 2 ??g/L. The wells are finished in the areally extensive unconfined Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system of New Jersey's Coastal Plain; background concentrations of Hg in water from this system are < 0.01 ??g/L. Evidence of contributions from point sources of Hg, such as landfills or commercial and industrial hazardous-waste sites, is lacking. During 1996-2003, the USGS collected water samples from 203 domestic, irrigation, observation, and production wells using ultraclean techniques; septage, leach-field effluent, soils, and aquifer sediments also were sampled. Elevated concentrations of NH4, B, Cl, NO3, and Na and presence of surfactants in domestic-well water indicate that septic-system effluent can affect water quality in unsewered residential areas, but neither septage nor effluent appears to be a major Hg source. Detections of hydrogen sulfide in ground water at a residential area indicate localized reducing conditions; undetectable SO4 concentrations in water from other residential areas indicate that reducing conditions, which could be conducive to Hg methylation, may be common locally. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), mostly chlorinated solvents, also are found in ground water at the affected areas, but statistically significant associations between presence of Hg and VOCs were absent for most areas evaluated. Hg concentrations are lower in some filtered water samples than in paired unfiltered samples, likely indicating that some Hg is associated with particles or colloids. The source of colloids may be soils, which, when undisturbed, contain higher concentrations of Hg than do disturbed soils and aquifer sediments. Soil disturbance during residential development and inputs from septic systems are hypothesized to mobilize Hg from soils to ground water. ?? Springer 2006.

New shielding configurations for a simultaneous PET/MRI scanner at 7T

PubMed Central

Peng, Bo J.; Wu, Yibao; Cherry, Simon R.; Walton, Jeffrey H.

2014-01-01

Understanding sources of electromagnetic interference are important in designing any electronic system. This is especially true when combining positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a multimodality system as coupling between the subsystems can degrade the performance of either modality. For this reason, eliminating radio frequency (RF) interference and gradient-induced eddy currents have been major challenges in building simultaneous hybrid PET/MRI systems. MRI requires negligible RF interference at the Larmor resonance frequency, while RF interference at almost any frequency may corrupt PET data. Moreover, any scheme that minimizes these interactions would, ideally, not compromise the performance of either subsystem. This paper lays out a plan to resolve these problems. A carbon fiber composite material is found to be a good RF shield at the Larmor frequency (300 MHz in this work) while introducing negligible gradient eddy currents. This carbon fiber composite also provides excellent structural support for the PET detector components. Low frequency electromagnetic radiation (81 kHz here) from the switching power supplies of the gradient amplifiers was also found to interfere with the PET detector. Placing the PET detector module between two carbon fiber tubes and grounding the inner carbon fiber tube to the PET detector module ground reduced this interference. Further reductions were achieved by adding thin copper (Cu) foil on the outer carbon fiber case and electrically grounding the PET detector module so that all 3 components had a common ground, i.e. with the PET detector in an electrostatic cage. Finally, gradient switching typical in MRI sequences can result in count losses in the particular PET detector design studied. Moreover, the magnitude of this effect depends on the location of the detector within the magnet bore and which MRI gradient is being switched. These findings have a bearing on future designs of PET/MRI systems. PMID:24380812

Competence across Europe: Highest Common Factor or Lowest Common Denominator?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winterton, Jonathan

2009-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to explore diversity in competence models across Europe and consider the extent to which there is sufficient common ground for a common European approach to underpin the European Qualifications Framework. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses a literature review and interviews with policy makers.…

Multispectral Resource Sampler - An experimental satellite sensor for the mid-1980s

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schnetzler, C. C.; Thompson, L. L.

1979-01-01

An experimental pushbroom scan sensor, the Multispectral Resource Sampler (MRS), being developed by NASA for a future earth orbiting flight is presented. This sensor will provide new earth survey capabilities beyond those of current sensor systems, with a ground resolution of 15 m over a swath width of 15 km in four bands. The four arrays are aligned on a common focal surface requiring no beamsplitters, thus causing a spatial separation on the ground which requires computer processing to register the bands. Along track pointing permits stereo coverage at variable base/height ratios and atmospheric correction experiments, while across track pointing will provide repeat coverage, from a Landsat-type orbit, of every 1 to 3 days. The MRS can be used for experiments in crop discrimination and status, rock discrimination, land use classification, and forestry.

Results and evaluation of the first study of organochlorine contaminants (PCDDs, PCDFs, PCBs and DDTs), heavy metals and metalloids in birds from Baja California, México.

PubMed

Jiménez, Begoña; Rodríguez-Estrella, Ricardo; Merino, Rubén; Gómez, Gema; Rivera, Laura; José González, María; Abad, Esteban; Rivera, Josep

2005-01-01

Organochlorine compounds (OCs) including polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethylene (p-p'-DDE), heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu), and arsenic were measured in house sparrows (Passer domesticus) and common ground doves (Columbina passerina) from Baja California Sur, México. Concentrations of PCDD/Fs were low, with 21 pg/g for house sparrows, and 7.7 pg/g for common ground doves. Non-ortho-PCB concentrations in house sparrow and common ground doves were 58 and 254 pg/g, respectively, and are within the highest concentrations reported in species that are in the low levels of food webs. The major differences in organochlorine levels between species were found for ortho-PCBs and DDTs. ortho-PCB levels were higher in the seedeater species, whereas DDT levels were higher in the omnivorous species. Heavy metal levels were far below those associated with negative effects.

Inflight Medical Events in the Shuttle Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baisden, Denise L.; Effenhauser, R. K.; Wear, Mary L.

1999-01-01

Since the first launch of the Space Shuttle in 1981, the astronauts and their flight surgeons have dealt with a variety of inflight medical issues. A review will be provided of these issues as well as medications used in the treatment of these medical problems. Detailed medical debriefs are conducted by the flight ,surgeon with the individual crewmembers three days after landing. These debriefs were review for Shuttle flights from 1988 through 1999 to determine the frequency of inflight medical events. Medical events were grouped by ICD category and the frequency of medical events within those categories were reviewed. The ICD category of Symptoms, Signs and Ill-defined Conditions had the most medical events. Facial fullness and headache were the most common complaints within this category. The ICD category of Respiratory System had the next most common medical events with sinus congestion being the most common complaint. This was followed by Digestive System complaints and Nervous System/Sense Organ complaints. A variety of inflight medical events have occurred throughout the Shuttle program. Fortunately, the majority of these problems have been minor and have been well within the capability of the medical equipment flown and the skills of the Crew Medical Officers. Medical ,problems/procedures that are routine on the ground often present unique problems in the space flight environment. It is important that the flight surgeon understand the common medical problems encountered.

Sensing systems efficiency evaluation and comparison for homeland security and homeland defense

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pakhomov, Alexander A.

2010-04-01

Designers and consumers of various security, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems as well as various unattended ground sensors pay most attention to their commonly used performance characteristics such as probability of a target detection and probability of a false alarm. These characteristics are used for systems comparison and evaluation. However, it is not enough for end-users of these systems as well as for their total/final effectiveness assessment. This article presents and discusses a system approach to an efficiency estimation of the security and ISR systems. Presented approach aims at final result of the system's function and use. It allows setting up reasonable technical and structural requirements for the security and ISR systems, to make trustworthy comparison and practical application planning of such systems. It also allows finding forward-looking, perspective ways of systems development. Presented results can be guidance to both designers and consumers.

Bichromatic laser cooling in a three-level system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, R.; Xie, C.; Padua, S.; Batelaan, H.; Metcalf, H.

1993-11-01

We report a 1D study of optical forces on atoms in a two-frequency laser field. The light couples two ground state hyperfine structure levels to a common excited state of 85Rb, thus forming a Λ system. We observe a new type of sub-Doppler coupling with blue-tuned light that uses neither polarization gradients nor magnetic fields, efficient heating with red tuning, and the spatial phase dependence of these. We observed deflection from a rectified dipole force and determined its velocity dependence and capture range. We report velocity selective resonances associated with Raman transitions. A simplified semiclassical calculation agrees qualitatively with our measurements.