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At least 127 records · Page 7

A study of the United States coal resources

Geologically significant coal resources were identified. Statistically controlled tonnage estimates for each resource type were prepared. Particular emphasis was placed on the identification and description of coals in terms of seam thickness, inclination, depth of cover, discontinuities caused by faulting and igneous intrusion, and occurrence as isolated or multiseam deposits. The national resource was organized into six major coal provinces: the Appalachian Plateau, the Interior Basins, the Gulf Coastal Plain, the Rocky Mountain Basins, the High Plains, and North Alaska. Each basin within a province was blocked into subareas of homogeneous coal thickness. Total coal tonnage for a subarea was estimated from an analysis of the cumulative coal thickness derived from borehole or surface section records and subsequently categorized in terms of seam thickness, dip, overburden, multiseam proportions, coal quality, and tonnage impacted by severe faulting and igneous intrusions. Confidence intervals were calculated for both subarea and basin tonnage estimates.

Ferm, J. C.↗

Emergency Medical Service (EMS): Rotorcraft Technology Workshop

A lead organization on the national level should be designated to establish concepts, locations, and the number of shock trauma air medical services. Medical specialists desire a vehicle which incorporates advances in medical technology trends in health care. Key technology needs for the emergency medical services helicopter of the future include the riding quality of fixed wing aircraft (reduced noise and vibration), no tail rotor, small rotor, small rotor diameter, improved visibility, crashworthy vehicle, IFR capability, more affordability high reliability, fuel efficient, and specialized cabins to hold medical/diagnostic and communications equipment. Approaches to a national emergency medical service are discussed.

Bauchspies, J. S.↗

AgRISTARS documents tracking list report

A quarterly listing of documents issued and placed in the AgRISTARS tracking system is provided. The technical publications are arranged by type of documents. The reference AgRISTARS document number, title and date of publication, the issuing organization, and the National Technical Information Service reference number is given.

Hawkins, J. L.↗

Proceedings of a workshop: Multidisciplinary Use of the Very Long Baseline Array

The National Research Council organized a workshop to gather together experts in very long baseline interometry, astronomy, space navigation, general relativity and the earth sciences. The purpose of the workshop was to provide a forum for consideration of the various possible multi-disciplinary uses of the very long baseline array. Geophysical investigations received major attention. Geodesic uses of the very long baseline array were identified as were uses for fundamental astronomy investigations. Numerous specialized uses were identified.

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Activities of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1 January - 31 December 1983

There are many facets to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, for JPL is an organization of multiple responsibilities and broad scope, of diverse talents and great enterprise. The Laboratory's philosophy, mission, and goals have been shaped by its ties to the California Institute of Technology (JPL's parent organization) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (JPL's principal sponsor). JPL's activities for NASA in planetary, Earth, and space sciences currently account for almost 75 percent of the Laboratory's overall effort. JPL Research activities in the following areas are discussed: (1) deep space exploration; (2) telecommunications systems; (3) Earth observations; (4) advanced technology; (5) defense programs; and (6) energy and technology applications.

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White-collar productivity and quality issues; Proceedings of the Symposium on Productivity and Quality: Strategies for Improving Operations in Government and Industry, Washington, DC, September 25, 26, 1984

Techniques for improving the productivity of white-collar workers while maintaining high product quality are examined in reviews and reports. The emphasis is on the application of strategies developed in the private sector to government-agency and aerospace-industry operations. Topics discussed include international competition, organizational attitudes and orientation, management practices, education and training, renewing large organizations, encouraging innovation, national initiatives, employee involvement, management involvement, and applications of new technology.

Gerard, M.↗

Grille spectrometer (grille)

The Grille spectrometer was designed and flown on Spaceklab 1 by two organizations: The Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aerospatiales in France and the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy in Belgium. Its purpose is to study, on a global scale, atmospheric parameters between 15 and 150 km altitude. The investigation uses high-resolution (better than 0.1/cm) spectroscopic observations of the earth's limb in the wavelength range characteristic of the vibrational-rotational lines of the relevant atmospheric constituents. Characteristics and proposed modifications of the grille spectrometer are described. This instrument will be part of the atmospheric science research payload flown on the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS 1) NASA mission planned for late 1990.

Ackerman, M.↗

Distribution of volatile organic chemicals in outdoor and indoor air

The EPA volatile organic chemistry (VOC) national ambient data base (Shah, 1988) is discussed. The 320 chemicals included in the VOC data base are listed. The methods used to obtain the data are reviewed and the availability, accessibility, and operation of the data base are examined. Tables of the daily outdoor concentrations for 66 chemicals and the daily indoor concentrations for 35 chemicals are presented.

Shah, Jitendra J.↗

Experiences in teleoperation of land vehicles

Teleoperation of land vehicles allows the removal of the operator from the vehicle to a remote location. This can greatly increase operator safety and comfort in applications such as security patrol or military combat. The cost includes system complexity and reduced system performance. All feedback on vehicle performance and on environmental conditions must pass through sensors, a communications channel, and displays. In particular, this requires vision to be transmitted by close-circuit television with a consequent degradation of information content. Vehicular teleoperation, as a result, places severe demands on the operator. Teleoperated land vehicles have been built and tested by many organizations, including Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The SNL fleet presently includes eight vehicles of varying capability. These vehicles have been operated using different types of controls, displays, and visual systems. Experimentation studying the effects of vision system characteristics on off-road, remote driving was performed for conditions of fixed camera versus steering-coupled camera and of color versus black and white video display. Additionally, much experience was gained through system demonstrations and hardware development trials. The preliminary experimental findings and the results of the accumulated operational experience are discussed.

Mcgovern, Douglas E.↗

Specification of parameters for development of a spatial database for drought monitoring and famine early warning in the African Sahel

Parameters were described for spatial database to facilitate drought monitoring and famine early warning in the African Sahel. The proposed system, referred to as the African Drought and Famine Information System (ADFIS) is ultimately recommended for implementation with the NASA/FEMA Spatial Analysis and Modeling System (SAMS), a GIS/Dymanic Modeling software package, currently under development. SAMS is derived from FEMA'S Integration Emergency Management Information System (IEMIS) and the Pacific Northwest Laborotory's/Engineering Topographic Laboratory's Airland Battlefield Environment (ALBE) GIS. SAMS is primarily intended for disaster planning and resource management applications with the developing countries. Sources of data for the system would include the Developing Economics Branch of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, the World Bank, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine's Famine Early Warning Systems (FEWS) Project, the USAID's Foreign Disaster Assistance Section, the World Resources Institute, the World Meterological Institute, the USGS, the UNFAO, UNICEF, and the United Nations Disaster Relief Organization (UNDRO). Satellite imagery would include decadal AVHRR imagery and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values from 1981 to the present for the African continent and selected Landsat scenes for the Sudan pilot study. The system is initially conceived for the MicroVAX 2/GPX, running VMS. To facilitate comparative analysis, a global time-series database (1950 to 1987) is included for a basic set of 125 socio-economic variables per country per year. A more detailed database for the Sahelian countries includes soil type, water resources, agricultural production, agricultural import and export, food aid, and consumption. A pilot dataset for the Sudan with over 2,500 variables from the World Bank's ANDREX system, also includes epidemiological data on incidence of kwashiorkor, marasmus, other nutritional deficiencies, and synergistically-related infectious diseases.

Rochon, Gilbert L.↗

Architecture for Survivable System Processing (ASSP)

The Architecture for Survivable System Processing (ASSP) Program is a multi-phase effort to implement Department of Defense (DOD) and commercially developed high-tech hardware, software, and architectures for reliable space avionics and ground based systems. System configuration options provide processing capabilities to address Time Dependent Processing (TDP), Object Dependent Processing (ODP), and Mission Dependent Processing (MDP) requirements through Open System Architecture (OSA) alternatives that allow for the enhancement, incorporation, and capitalization of a broad range of development assets. High technology developments in hardware, software, and networking models, address technology challenges of long processor life times, fault tolerance, reliability, throughput, memories, radiation hardening, size, weight, power (SWAP) and security. Hardware and software design, development, and implementation focus on the interconnectivity/interoperability of an open system architecture and is being developed to apply new technology into practical OSA components. To insure for widely acceptable architecture capable of interfacing with various commercial and military components, this program provides for regular interactions with standardization working groups (e.g.) the International Standards Organization (ISO), American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). Selection of a viable open architecture is based on the widely accepted standards that implement the ISO/OSI Reference Model.

Wood, Richard J.↗

A comprehensive mission to planet Earth: Woods Hole Space Science and Applications Advisory Committee Planning Workshop

The NASA program Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE) is described in this set of visuals presented in Massachusetts on July 29, 1991. The problem presented in this document is that the earth system is changing and that human activity accelerates the rate of change resulting in increased greenhouse gases, decreasing levels of stratospheric ozone, acid rain, deforestation, decreasing biodiversity, and overpopulation. Various national and international organizations are coordinating global change research. The complementary space observations for this activity are sun-synchronous polar orbits, low-inclination, low altitude orbits, geostationary orbits, and ground measurements. The Geostationary Earth Observatory is the major proposed mission of MTPE. Other proposed missions are EOS Synthetic Aperture Radar, ARISTOTELES Magnetic Field Experiment, and the Global Topography Mission. Use of the NASA DC-8 aircraft is outlined as carrying out the Airborne Science and Applications Program. Approved Earth Probes Program include the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS). Other packages for earth observation are described.

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NASA Aeronautics: Research and Technology Program Highlights

This report contains numerous color illustrations to describe the NASA programs in aeronautics. The basic ideas involved are explained in brief paragraphs. The seven chapters deal with Subsonic aircraft, High-speed transport, High-performance military aircraft, Hypersonic/Transatmospheric vehicles, Critical disciplines, National facilities and Organizations & installations. Some individual aircraft discussed are : the SR-71 aircraft, aerospace planes, the high-speed civil transport (HSCT), the X-29 forward-swept wing research aircraft, and the X-31 aircraft. Critical disciplines discussed are numerical aerodynamic simulation, computational fluid dynamics, computational structural dynamics and new experimental testing techniques.

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Satellite altimetry

Since altimetry data are not really old enough to use the term data archaeology, Mr. Cheney referred to the stewardship of these data. He noted that it is very important to document the basis for an altimetry data set as the algorithms and corrections used to arrive at the Geophysical Data Record (GDR) have been improving and are continuing to improve the precision of sea level data derived from altimetry. He noted that the GEOSAT Exact Repeat Mission (ERM) data set has recently been reprocessed by his organization in the National Ocean Service of NOAA and made available to the scientific community on CD/ROM disks by the National Oceanographic Data Center of the U.S. (NODC). The new data set contains a satellite orbit more precise by an order of magnitude together with an improved water vapor correction. A new, comprehensive GDR Handbook has also been prepared.

Cheney, Robert E.↗

Aerodynamic Characteristics of Twenty-Four Airfoils at High Speeds

The aerodynamic characteristics of 24 airfoils are given for speeds of 0.5, 0.65, 0.8, 0.95, and 1.08 times the speed of sound, as measured in an open-jet air stream 2 inches in diameter, using models of 1-inch chord. The 24 airfoils belong to four general groups. The first is the standard R. A. F. family in general use by the Army and Navy for propeller design, the members of the family differing only in thickness. This family is represented by nine members ranging in thickness from 0.04 to 0.20 inch. The second group consists of five members of the Clark Y family, the members of the family again differing only in thickness. The third group, comprising six members, is a second R. A. F. Family in which the position of the maximum ordinate is varied. Combined with two members of the first R.A.F. family, this group represents a variation of maximum ordinate position from 30 to 60 percent of the chord in two camber ratios, 0.08 and 0.16. The fourth group consists of three geometrical forms, a flat plate, a wedge, and a segment of a right circular cylinder. In addition one section used in the reed metal propeller was included. These measurements form a part of a general program outlined at a Conference on Propeller Research organized by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and the work was carried out with the financial assistance of the committee (author)

Brigg, L J↗

An overview of the Defence Research Agency photovoltaic programme

The Defense Research Agency (DRA) has been active in the photovoltaic field since the early 1960's, then as the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE). The early work was aimed at developing silicon cells, solar panels, and light-weight flexible arrays in support of the 'UK' and 'X' series of British scientific and technology satellites, for which the RAE was either the design authority or technical advisor. The X3 satellite - Prospero, launched in 1971 test flew 50 micron wrap-round silicon cells. The X4 satellite - Miranda, launched in 1974 test flew a deployable flexible silicon array which was developed at the DRA. During this period an extensive range of test equipment was developed which was maintained, modernized, and extended to date. Following a period of reduced activity in the late 1970's and early 1980's the current program evolved. The programs that have been undertaken since 1983 are briefly summarized. These range from various cell developments, new types of coverglasses, flight experiments, radiation testing, primary cell calibration, and environmental testing. The current photovoltaic program is mainly funded by the UK Ministry of Defence and by the Department of Trade and Industry through the British National Space Center (BNSC). The program is aimed at research and development, both internally and with industry, to meet the customer's technical objectives and requirements and to provide them with technical advice. The facilities are also being used on contract work for various national and international organizations.

Goodbody, C.↗

Commercializing Defense Technologies and Helping Defense Firms Succeed in Commercial Markets: A Report on the Objectives, Activities, and Accomplishments of the TAP-IN Program

Technology Access for Product Innovation (TAP-IN), the largest technology deployment project funded by TRP, was competitively selected through a national solicitation for proposals. TAP-IN was created to help companies access and apply defense technologies and help defense-dependent companies enter new commercial markets. Defense technologies included technologies developed by DoD, DOE, NASA, and their contractors. TAP-IN was structured to provide region-based technology access services that were able to draw on technology resources nationwide. TAP-IN provided expert assistance in all stages of the commercialization process from concept through prototype design to capital sourcing and marketing strategy. TAP-IN helped companies locate new technology, identify business partners, secure financing, develop ideas for new products, identify new markets, license technology, solve technical problems, and develop company-specific applications of federal technology. TAP-IN leveraged NASA's existing commercial technology network to create an integrated national network of organizations that assisted companies in every state. In addition to NASA's six regional technology transfer centers (RTTCs), TAP-IN included business and technology development organizations in every state, the Industrial Designers Society of America, and the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC).

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Center for Advanced Computational Technology

The Center for Advanced Computational Technology (ACT) was established to serve as a focal point for diverse research activities pertaining to application of advanced computational technology to future aerospace systems. These activities include the use of numerical simulations, artificial intelligence methods, multimedia and synthetic environments, and computational intelligence, in the modeling, analysis, sensitivity studies, optimization, design and operation of future aerospace systems. The Center is located at NASA Langley and is an integral part of the School of Engineering and Applied Science of the University of Virginia. The Center has four specific objectives: 1) conduct innovative research on applications of advanced computational technology to aerospace systems; 2) act as pathfinder by demonstrating to the research community what can be done (high-potential, high-risk research); 3) help in identifying future directions of research in support of the aeronautical and space missions of the twenty-first century; and 4) help in the rapid transfer of research results to industry and in broadening awareness among researchers and engineers of the state-of-the-art in applications of advanced computational technology to the analysis, design prototyping and operations of aerospace and other high-performance engineering systems. In addition to research, Center activities include helping in the planning and coordination of the activities of a multi-center team of NASA and JPL researchers who are developing an intelligent synthesis environment for future aerospace systems; organizing workshops and national symposia; as well as writing state-of-the-art monographs and NASA special publications on timely topics.

Noor, Ahmed K.↗