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At least 325 records · Page 18

Method for determining shear direction using liquid crystal coatings

A method is provided for determining shear direction wherein a beam of white light is directed onto the surface of a liquid crystal coating to cause the white light to be dispersed (reflected) from the surface in a spectrum having bands of different colors in a fixed spatial 2 (angular) sequence. The system is calibrated by locating an observer, e.g., a video and movie camera, such that a particular color band (preferably at or near the center of the reflected spectrum) is observed to thereby provide a reference color band. Because the application of shear causes either clockwise or counterclockwise rotation of the reflected spectrum dependent on the direction of the shear, a determination is then made of the reflected color band observed by the observer when the surface of the liquid crystal is subjected to shear to thereby determine the direction of the shear based on the directional (rotation) relation of the observed color band with respect to the reference color band in the spatial sequence of color bands.

Reda, Daniel C.↗

Use of computer graphics for visualization of flow fields

A high-performance graphics workstation has been combined with software developed for flow-field visualization to yield a highly effective tool for analysis of fluid-flow dynamics. After the flow fields are obtained from experimental measurements or computer simulations, the workstation permits one to interactively view the dynamics of the flow fields; e.g., the viewer can zoom into a region or rotate his viewing position about the region to study it in more detail. Several techniques for visualization of flow fields with this workstation are described in this paper and illustrated with a videotape available from the authors. The computer hardware and software required to create effective flow visualization displays are discussed. Additional software and hardware required to create videotapes or 16mm movies are also described. Limitations imposed by current workstation performance is addressed and future workstation performance is forecast.

Watson, Val↗

Miocrowave spectral imaging, H-alpha and hard X-ray observations of a solar limb flare

We compare the microwave, H-alpha, and hard X-ray observations for a west limb C7.3 flare that occurred at 17:10 UT, 1992 June 26. H-alpha movies were obtained at Big Bear Solar Observatory. Before the onset of the flare, overexposed H-alpha images show the complicated flux loop structure above the limb. Material was observed to descend along the loops toward the site where the flare occurred hours later. Using the five-antenna solar array at Owens Valley Radio Observatory, we obtain two-dimensional maps of flare emission from 1.4 to 14 GHz. In all three temporal peaks of the microwave bursts, the maps show the same characteristics. The peak low-frequency emission comes from the top of one bundle of the H-alpha loops and gradually shifts to the foot-point of the loops (the location of H-alpha flare) as the frequency increases. The location of the emission peak shifts 88 sec between 1 and 14 GHz. Seventy percent of the shift occurs between 1 and 5 GHz. The locus of the shift of the emission peak follows the shape of an H-alpha surge that occurred after the flare. For each point along the locus, we create the microwave brightness temperature spectrum and compare the radio-derived electron distribution with that derived from the high-resolution hard X-ray spectra measured with Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on board the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO). We find that the peak frequency changes from approximately 3 GHz at the loop top to approximately 7 GHz at the footprint, presumably due to the increase of the magnetic field from approximately 160 GHz at the loop top to approximately 300 G at the footpoint. The high-frequency slope of the microwave power-law spectrum decreases from approximately 10 at the loop top to approximately 5 at the footprint due to a change in the energy distribution of the dominant electrons. The microwave brightness temperature spectral index predicted by the BATSE power-law hard X-ray spectra agrees with the measured value only at the footpoint. At the loop top, the emission may be thermal gyrosynchrotron with a temperature of 3.5 x 10(exp 7) K, which is likely to correspond to the superhot component seen in the hard X-ray emission.

Wang, H.↗

Opinion polls and the U.S. civil space program

The conclusions that can be drawn from public opinion polls depend a great deal on what usually does not appear on the newspaper page or television screen. Subtle biases can result from the population interviewed, the time of day individuals were called, how a particular question was asked, or how the answer was interpreted. Examples are the 1961 Gallop Poll, the survey done for Rockwell International by the firm of Yankelovich, Skelly and White/Clancy Shulman, and the one done by Jon D. Miller of the International Center for the Advancement of Scientific Literacy. There is more to learn from opinion polls than that a good proportion of adult Americans support the space program. We can learn that social and economic security are not competing goals with space, but interdependent goals. If we want to increase public support for space, we must increase the number of Americans who have the economic freedom to take an interest in something besides getting by, day after day. We can also learn that the majority of those who support the space program can distinguish between the bread and circuses of space travel. They are content to experience extraordinary adventures in the movie theaters; for their tax dollars they want real return in expended scientific knowledge and understanding. Finally, we can learn that we need to increase that return, not just for scientific careers, but for the ordinary people who pay our bills and for their children, our children. Ultimately, the space program is for them, as all investments in the future must be.

Kraemer, Sylvia K.↗

High-resolution observations of the Evershed effect in sunspots

High spatial resolution movies of sunspots taken at the Swedish Solar Observatory on La Palma reveal that the Evershed effect is time dependent. Outward proper motions are visible in both the continuum and Dopplergrams. These can be tracked over most of the width of the penumbra and overlap regions that show inward moving penubral grains. The radial spacing between the moving structures is about 2000 km, and they exhibit irregular repetitive behavior with a typical interval of 10 minutes. These are probably the cause of 10 minutes oscillations sometimes seen in a penumbral power spectra. Higher velocities are spatially correlated with the relatively darker regions between bright filaments. Regions with a strong variation in the Doppler signal show peak-to-peak modulations of 1 km/s on an average velocity of about 3-4 km/s. The proper motion velocity is approximately constant from the iner penumbra and generally larger than the Doppler velocity when both are interpreted as projections of horizontal motion. Regions where thay are consistent suggest a typical horizontal velocity of 3.5 km/s. Some proper motion velocites as high as 7 km/s are seen, but these are less certain. The temporal behavoir shows a correlation between increased Doppler signal and increased continuum intensity, the opposite of the spatial correlation. When spatially averaged across filaments and over time, the averaged Evershed effect has a peak horizontal component near the outer edge of the penumbra of 2.0 km/s with evidence for a 200-400 m/s upward component. The latter depends on an uncertain absolute velocity calibration. If real it could be an actual upward component or a penumbral analogue of the convective blueshift seen in the quiet Sun.

Shine, R. A.↗

Automated Selection Of Pictures In Sequences

Method of automated selection of film or video motion-picture frames for storage or examination developed. Beneficial in situations in which quantity of visual information available exceeds amount stored or examined by humans in reasonable amount of time, and/or necessary to reduce large number of motion-picture frames to few conveying significantly different information in manner intermediate between movie and comic book or storyboard. For example, computerized vision system monitoring industrial process programmed to sound alarm when changes in scene exceed normal limits.

Rorvig, Mark E.↗

Synthesis Of Realistic Animations Of A Person Speaking

Actors computer program implements automated process that synthesizes realistic animations of person speaking. Produces "newscaster" type video sequences. Uses images of person and, therefore, not limited to cartoons and cartoonlike movies. Potential applications also include use of process for automatically producing on-the-fly animations for human/computer interfaces and for reducing bandwidth needed to transmit video telephone signals.

Scott, Kenneth C.↗

STS-69 Flight Day 7 Video File

On the seventh day of the STS-69 mission, the astronauts, Cmdr. Dave Walker, Pilot Ken Cockrell, and Mission Specialists Jim Voss, Jim Newman, and Mike Gernhardt, were awakened by the theme song from the movie 'Patten.' Voss and Gernhardt performed a pre-EVA (Extravehicular Activity) checkout of the new thermal spacesuits that they will be wearing in two days. Solving problems with the Wake Shield Facility (WSF) occupied the other astronauts for most of this day. Earth views included tropical storm Marilyn in the Caribbean.

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STS-69 Flight Day 9 Video File

The song, 'He's A Tramp', from the Walt Disney cartoon movie, 'Lady and the Tramp', awakened the astronauts, Cmdr. Dave Walker, Pilot Ken Cockrell, and Mission Specialists Jim Voss, Jim Newman, and Mike Gernhardt, on the ninth day of the STS-69 mission. The Wake Shield Facility (WSF) was again unberthed from the shuttle cargo bay and , using the shuttle's robot arm, held over the side of the shuttle for five hours where it collected data on the electrical field build-up around the spacecraft as part of the Charging Hazards and Wake Studies Experiment (CHAWS). Voss and Gernhardt rehearsed their Extravehicular Activity (EVA) spacewalk, which was planned for the next day. Earth views included cloud cover, a hurricane, and its eye.

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Interactive access and management for four-dimensional environmental data sets using McIDAS

This grant has fundamentally changed the way that meteorologists look at the output of their atmospheric models, through the development and wide distribution of the Vis5D system. The Vis5D system is also gaining acceptance among oceanographers and atmospheric chemists. Vis5D gives these scientists an interactive three-dimensional movie of their very large data sets that they can use to understand physical mechanisms and to trace problems to their sources. This grant has also helped to define the future direction of scientific visualization through the development of the VisAD system and its lattice data model. The VisAD system can be used to interactively steer and visualize scientific computations. A key element of this capability is the flexibility of the system's data model to adapt to a wide variety of scientific data, including the integration of several forms of scientific metadata.

Hibbard, William L.↗

Self-attitude awareness training: An aid to effective performance in microgravity and virtual environments

This paper describes ongoing development of training procedures to enhance self-attitude awareness in astronaut trainees. The procedures are based on observations regarding self-attitude (perceived self-orientation and self-motion) reported by astronauts. Self-attitude awareness training is implemented on a personal computer system and consists of lesson stacks programmed using Hypertalk with Macromind Director movie imports. Training evaluation will be accomplished by an active search task using the virtual Spacelab environment produced by the Device for Orientation and Motion Environments Preflight Adaptation Trainer (DOME-PAT) as well as by assessment of astronauts' performance and sense of well-being during orbital flight. The general purpose of self-attitude awareness training is to use as efficiently as possible the limited DOME-PAT training time available to astronauts prior to a space mission. We suggest that similar training procedures may enhance the performance of virtual environment operators.

Parker, Donald E.↗

STS-74 Flight Day 5

On this fifth day of the STS-74 mission, the flight crew, Cmdr. Kenneth Cameron, Pilot James Halsell, and Mission Specialists William McArthur, Jerry Ross, and Chris Hadfield, were awakened to the theme from the movie '2001: A Space Odyssey.' The Mir 20 cosmonauts, Cmdr. Yuri Gidzenko, Flight Engineer Sergei Avdeyev, and Cosmonaut-Researcher (ESA) Thomas Reiter, and shuttle astronauts are shown giving each other plaques and presents to commemorate their historic docking event and the start towards the development of the International Space Station. There is a press conference from Moscow by a one of the officers of the Russian Space Agency with both flight crews and an additional separate press interview of the crews by Canadian reporters. There is video footage of the two docked spacecraft taken from various angles.

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Data-Base Software For Tracking Technological Developments

Technology Tracking System (TechTracS) computer program developed for use in storing and retrieving information on technology and related patent information developed under auspices of NASA Headquarters and NASA's field centers. Contents of data base include multiple scanned still images and quick-time movies as well as text. TechTracS includes word-processing, report-editing, chart-and-graph-editing, and search-editing subprograms. Extensive keyword searching capabilities enable rapid location of technologies, innovators, and companies. System performs routine functions automatically and serves multiple users.

Aliberti, James A.↗

Observing large-scale solar surface flows with GONG: Investigation of a key element in solar activity buildup

The Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) solar telescope network has begun regular operations, and will provide continuous Doppler images of large-scale nearly-steady motions at the solar surface, primarily those due to supergranulation. Not only the Sun's well-known magnetic network, but also flux diffusion, dispersal, and concentration at the surface appear to be controlled by supergranulation. Through such magnetoconvective interactions, magnetic stresses develop, leading to solar activity. We show a Doppler movie made from a 45.5 hr time series obtained 1995 May 9-10 using data from three of the six GONG sites (Learmonth, Tenerife, Tucson), to demonstrate the capability of this system.

Beck, John G.↗

Using and Distributing Spaceflight Data: The Johnson Space Center Life Sciences Data Archive

Life sciences data collected before, during and after spaceflight are valuable and often irreplaceable. The Johnson Space Center Life is hard to find, and much of the data (e.g. Sciences Data Archive has been designed to provide researchers, engineers, managers and educators interactive access to information about and data from human spaceflight experiments. The archive system consists of a Data Acquisition System, Database Management System, CD-ROM Mastering System and Catalog Information System (CIS). The catalog information system is the heart of the archive. The CIS provides detailed experiment descriptions (both written and as QuickTime movies), hardware descriptions, hardware images, documents, and data. An initial evaluation of the archive at a scientific meeting showed that 88% of those who evaluated the catalog want to use the system when completed. The majority of the evaluators found the archive flexible, satisfying and easy to use. We conclude that the data archive effectively provides key life sciences data to interested users.

Cardenas, J. A.↗

STS-79 Flight Day 6

On this sixth day of the STS-79 mission, the flight crew, Cmdr. William F. Readdy, Pilot Terrence W. Wilcutt, Mission Specialists, Thomas D. Akers, Shannon Lucid, Jay Apt, and Carl E. Walz, continue activities aboard Atlantis/Mir as the nine astronauts and cosmonauts work in their second full day of docked operations. The continuing transfer of logistical supplies and scientific hardware can be seen proceeding smoothly. Apt and Walz once again worked with the Active Rack Isolation System experiment to replace a broken pushrod. With that complete, Apt monitors the ARIS experiment as Readdy and Korzun fire small maneuvering jets on their spacecraft to test the ability of ARIS to damp out any disturbances created by the firings. Walz also is continuing his work with the Mechanics of Granular Materials experiment in Atlantis' double Spacehab module. The astronauts used the large format IMAX camera to conduct a photographic survey of Mir from the Shuttle's flight deck windows while Akers shot IMAX movie scenes of Readdy, Wilcutt, and Korzun in the Spektr module.

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Technology Applications Group Multimedia CD-ROM Project

To produce a multimedia CD-ROM for the Technology Applications Group which would present the Technology Opportunity Showcase (TOPS) exhibits and Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) projects to interested companies. The CD-ROM format is being used and developed especially for those companies who do not have Internet access, and cannot directly visit Langley through the World Wide Web. The CD-ROM will include text, pictures, sound, and movies. The information for the CD-ROM will be stored in a database from which the users can query and browse the information, and future CD's can be maintained and updated.

McRacken, Kristi D.↗

Interaction of Burning Metal Particles

Multiple particle/droplet flames are ubiquitous in practical combustion systems, and thus the flame interaction processes are of great practical importance. This explains the strong current interest in interactive combustion phenomena. This research is aimed at the investigation of combustion parameters of microgravity model aerosols: relatively large uniform metal particles aerosolized in microgravity environment. An experiment consisting of creation and ignition of a metal multiparticle system in microgravity and high-speed video-recording of the combustion events will produce visual records of the development of individual particle flames, their interactions and the particle motion they induce simultaneously with the observation of the entire aerosol combustion process. Frame by frame analysis of the video-images taken using a high-speed movie camera will allow one to determine particle brightness temperatures and the decrease in particle diameter during combustion. Analysis of the experimental results and comparison with the results of single metal particle combustion experiments, conducted under similar microgravity conditions in the framework of a parallel program, will establish the relationship between single and multiple particle burning rates and combustion temperatures, concentrations at which the flame substructure forms rather than individual particle flames, efficiency of radiative heat transfer in metal aerosol combustion, what is the role of electrostatic forces in structuring the flame and the effect of that structure on the flame propagation rate. Although some details of fine particle aerosol clouds, such as the kinetics limited burning rate, radiative heat transfer in a system with a high specific surface, particle induced turbulence, etc., will probably not be very well simulated in the planned experiments, they are relatively well understood and can be accounted for using an adequate individual particle combustion model. On the other hand, the unknown particle interaction phenomena to be studied in this research program are generic and can be readily projected onto a cloud combustion model which would also incorporate a correction for particle size.

Dreizin, Edward L.↗