An interactive system for global ship monitoring

The US Navy has more than 300 ships equipped with over 500 PHALANX weapon systems. Ordalts (ordnance alterations) and casreps (casualty reports) are received frequently by Naval Ordnance. Ordalts are done when parts need replacing or a design is exchanged for an old. Casreps are an urgent request for parts or service. Information pertaining to ordalts and casreps is put into several databases, which are continually updated and used in reports among the PHALANX community. Ship locations are used for sending parts and/or assistance to the ship. The ordalt and casrep requests have been combined with the ship locations report to produce a more efficient manner in which to monitor ordalt requests, casrep requests and ship locations, using a sample database containing ordalt and casrep data and ship locations. The database is interfaced to a computer graphics program that monitors ship movement throughout the world and supplies information from the database whenever requested. The hardware and software used to implement the project are described     

Volatile metabolites of higher plant crops as a photosynthesizing life support system component under temperature stress at different light intensities.

The effect of elevated temperatures of 35 and 45 degrees C (at the intensities of photosynthetically active radiation 322, 690 and 1104 micromoles m-2 s-1) on the photosynthesis, respiration, and qualitative and quantitative composition of the volatiles emitted by wheat (Triticum aestuvi L., cultivar 232) crops was investigated in growth chambers. Identification and quantification of more than 20 volatile compounds (terpenoids--alpha-pinene, delta 3 carene, limonene, benzene, alpha- and trans-caryophyllene, alpha- and gamma-terpinene, their derivatives, aromatic hydrocarbons, etc.) were conducted by gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry. Under light intensity of 1104 micromoles m-2 s-1 heat resistance of photosynthesis and respiration increased at 35 degrees C and decreased at 45 degrees C. The action of elevated temperatures brought about variations in the rate and direction of the synthesis of volatile metabolites. The emission of volatile compounds was the greatest under a reduced irradiation of 322 micromoles m-2 s-1 and the smallest under 1104 micromoles m-2 s-1 at 35 degrees C. During the repair period, the contents and proportions of volatile compounds were different from their initial values, too. The degree of disruption and the following recovery of the functional state depended on the light intensity during the exposure to elevated temperatures. The investigation of the atmosphere of the growth chamber without plants has revealed the substances that were definitely technogenic in origin: tetramethylurea, dimethylsulfide, dibutylsulfide, dibutylphthalate, and a number of components of furan and silane nature.     

Coordinated Continual Planning Methods for Cooperating Rovers

Eight evaluation metrics are used to compare and contrast three coordination schemes for a system that continuously plans to control collections of rovers (or spacecraft) using collective mission goals instead of goals or command sequences for each spacecraft. These schemes use a central coordinator to either: 1) micromanage rovers one activity at a time; 2) assign mission goals to rovers; or 3) arbitrate mission goal auctions among rovers. A self-commanding collection of rovers would autonomously coordinate itself to satisfy high-level science and engineering goals in a changing partially understood environment - making the operation of tens or even a hundred spacecraft feasible     

Mean winds of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (60–110 km): A global distribution from radar systems (MF,Meteor, VHF)

During the last decade a large number of radars (～12) have been developed, which have produced substantial quantities of tidally-corrected mean winds data. The distribution of the radars is not global, but many areas are well covered: the Americas with Poker Flat (65°N), Saskatoon (52°N), Durham (43°N), Atlanta (34°N), Puerto Rico (18°N); Europe with Kiruna (68°), Garchy (47°N) and Monpazier (44°N); and Oceania with Christchurch (44°S), Adelaide (35°S), Townsville (20°S), and Kyoto (35°N). Zonal and meridional wind height-time cross-sections from $\text{60}\text{80}$ km (MF/Meteor Radar) to ～110 km have been prepared for the last 5–6 years. They are compared with cross-sections from CIRA-72 for zonal winds, and Groves (1969) for meridional winds.It is shown that while CIRA-72 is still a useful model for many purposes, significant differences exist between it and the new radar data. The latter demonstrate important seasonal, latitudinal, longitudinal and hemispheric variations. The new meridional cross-sections are of great value. The common features with Groves (1969) are the equatorward cells in summer near 85 km; however their strength (～10 ms^?1) and size are less. Systematic and somewhat different variations emerge at higher (?52°N) and middle (35–44°) latitudes.     

Study of the radiation environment on MIR space station with SILEYE-2 experiment.

In this work we present preliminary results of nuclear composition measurements on board space station MIR obtained with SILEYE-2 particle telescope. SILEYE-2 was placed on MIR in 1997 and has been working since then. It consists of an array of 6 active silicon strip detectors which allow nuclear and energetic identification of cosmic rays in the energy range between approximately 30 and 200 MeV/n. The device is attached to an helmet and connected to an eye mask which shields the cosmonaut eyes from light and allow studies of the Light Flashes (LF) phenomenon. In addition to the study of the causes of LF, the device is used to perform real time long term radiation environment monitoring inside the MIR, performing measurements in solar quiet and active days.     

Analysis of the Cyclotron Facility calibration and aircraft dosimetry results from the LIULIN-3M instrument.

The LIULIN-3M instrument is a further development of the LIULIN dosimeter-radiometer, used on the MIR spacestation during the 1988-1994 time period. The LIULIN-3M is designed for continuous monitoring of the radiation environment during the BION-12 satellite flight in 1999. A semiconductor detector with 1 mm thickness and cm2 area is contained in the instrument. Pulse high analysis technique is used to determine the energy losses in the detector. The final data from the instrument are the flux and the dose rate for the exposure time and 256 channels of absorbed dose spectra based on the assumption that the particle flux is normal to the detector. The LIULIN-3M instrument was calibrated by proton fluxes with different energies at the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility in June 1997 and had been used for radiation measurements during commercial aircraft flights. The calibration procedure and some flight results are presented in this paper.     

A space radiation transport method development.

Improved spacecraft shield design requires early entry of radiation constraints into the design process to maximize performance and minimize costs. As a result, we have been investigating high-speed computational procedures to allow shield analysis from the preliminary design concepts to the final design. In particular, we will discuss the progress towards a full three-dimensional and computationally efficient deterministic code for which the current HZETRN evaluates the lowest-order asymptotic term. HZETRN is the first deterministic solution to the Boltzmann equation allowing field mapping within the International Space Station (ISS) in tens of minutes using standard finite element method (FEM) geometry common to engineering design practice enabling development of integrated multidisciplinary design optimization methods. A single ray trace in ISS FEM geometry requires 14 ms and severely limits application of Monte Carlo methods to such engineering models. A potential means of improving the Monte Carlo efficiency in coupling to spacecraft geometry is given in terms of re-configurable computing and could be utilized in the final design as verification of the deterministic method optimized design.     

DNA double strand break production and rejoining in V79 cells irradiated with light ions.

Low energy protons and other densely ionizing light ions are known to have RBE>1 for cellular end points relevant for stochastic and deterministic effects. The occurrence of a close relationship between them and induction of DNA dsb is still a matter of debate. We studied the production of DNA dsb in V79 cells irradiated with low energy protons having LET values ranging from 11 to 31 keV/micrometer, i.e. in the energy range characteristic of the Bragg peak, using the sedimentation technique. We found that the initial yield of dsb is quite insensitive to proton LET and not significantly higher than that observed with X-rays, in agreement with recent data on V79 cells irradiated with alpha particles of various LET up to 120 keV/micrometer. By contrast, RBE for cell inactivation and for mutation induction rises with the proton LET. In experiments aimed at evaluating the rejoining of dsb after proton irradiation we found that the amount of dsb left unrepaired after 120 min incubation is higher for protons than for sparsely ionizing radiation. These results indicate that dsb are not homogeneous with respect to repair and give support to the hypothesis that increasing LET leads to an increase in the complexity of DNA lesions with a consequent decrease in their repairability.     

Differential GPS in a real time land vehicle environment-satellitebased Van Carrier Location System

The handling of containers in terminals requires, in particular in the application of “chaotic storekeeping”, optimal logistic organization-supported by technical and innovative methods. In this manner, it is possible to guarantee that the existing resources are used at maximal cost and time efficiency. The satellite supported DGPS location system represents a substantial contribution to this problem, which determines the container location during the pick-up and set-down phases in the decimeter range and transmits this information via data telemetry link to the central control office. This allows the realization of a fully automatic administration of the container storage facility, as well as integration into the company's data radio link and terminal control     

Particle trajectories in seeds of Lactuca sativa and chromosome aberrations after exposure to cosmic heavy ions on Cosmos Biosatellites 8 and 9.

The potentially specific importance of the heavy ions of the galactic cosmic radiation for radiation protection in manned spaceflight continues to stimulate in situ, i.e., spaceflight experiments to investigate their radiobiological properties. Chromosome aberrations as an expression of a direct assault on the genome are of particular interest in view of cancerogenesis being the primary radiation risk for man in space. In such investigations the establishment of the geometrical correlation between heavy ions' trajectories and the location of radiation sensitive biological substructures is an essential task. The overall qualitative and quantitative precision achieved for the identification of particle trajectories in the order of approximately 10 micrometers as well as the contributing sources of uncertainties are discussed. We describe how this was achieved for seeds of Lactuca sativa as biological test organisms, whose location and orientation had to be derived from contact photographies displaying their outlines and those of the holder plates only. The incidence of chromosome aberrations in cells exposed during the COSMOS 1887 (Biosatellite 8) and the COSMOS 2044 (Biosatellite 9) mission was determined for seeds hit by cosmic heavy ions. In those seeds the incidence of both single and multiple chromosome aberrations was enhanced. The results of the Biosatellite 9 experiment, however, are confounded by spaceflight effects unrelated to the passage of heavy ions.