Why do speakers mix perspectives?

Although considerations of discourse coherence and cognitive processing suggest that communicators should adopt consistent perspectives when describing spatial scenes, in many cases they switch perspectives. Ongoing research examining cognitive costs indicates that these are small and exacted in establishing a mental model of a scene but not in retrieving information from a well-known scene. A perspective entails a point of view, a referent object, and terms of reference. These may change within a perspective, exacting cognitive costs, so that the costs of switching perspective may not be greater than the costs of maintaining the same perspective. Another project investigating perspective choice for self and other demonstrates effects of salience of referent object and ease of terms of reference. Perspective is mixed not just in verbal communications but also in pictorial ones, suggesting that at times, switching perspective is more effective than maintaining a consistent one.     

Plant molecular biology in the space station era: utilization of KSC fixation tubes with RNAlater

Spaceflight experiments involving biological specimens face unique challenges with regard to the on orbit harvest and preservation of material for later ground-based analyses. Preserving plant material for gene expression analyses requires that the tissue be prepared and stored in a manner that maintains the integrity of RNA. The liquid preservative RNAlater (Ambion) provides an effective alternative to conventional freezing strategies, which are limited or unavailable in current spaceflight experiment scenarios. The spaceflight use of RNAlater is enabled by the Kennedy space center fixation tube (KFT), hardware designed to provide the necessary containment of fixatives during the harvest and stowage of biological samples in space. Pairing RNAlater with the KFT system provides a safe and effective strategy for preserving plant material for subsequent molecular analyses, a strategy that has proven effective in several spaceflight experiments. Possible spaceflight scenarios for the use of RNAlater and KFTs are explored and discussed.     

Semiconductor Surface Thermocouples for Determining Heat-Transfer Rates

Possible methods of increasing the sensitivity capabilities for determining heat-transfer rates associated with wind tunnel testing have been investigated. Techniques utilizing surface thermocouples of conventional thermocouple materials do not provide the necessary temperature sensitivity to low heat-transfer rates. This need for increased sensitivity has resulted in development and evaluation of surface thermocouples fabricated from semiconductor materials. Calibration of the semiconductor surface thermocouple has disclosed temperature sensitivity on the order of 35 times that of chromel-constantan thermocouples. This increased sensitivity has established confidence in the potential value of this concept and further investigation and evaluation are presently being conducted.     

Tailored analyses of 24 Galactic WN stars

The fundamental properties of 24 Galactic WN stars are determined from analyses of their optical, UV and IR spectra using sophisticated model atmosphere codes (Hillier, 1987, 1990). Terminal velocities, stellar luminosities, temperatures, mass loss rates and abundances of hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen are determined. Stellar parameters are derived using diagnostic lines and interstellar reddenings found from fitting theoretical continua to observed energy distributions.Our results confirm that the parameters of WN stars span a large range in temperature (T_*=30–90,000 K), luminosity (log L_*/L=4.8–5.9), mass loss (M=0.9–12×10^–5 M yr^–1) and terminal velocity (v =630–3300 km s^–1). Hydrogen abundances are determined, and found to be low in WNEw and WNEs stars (<15% by mass) and considerable in most WNL stars (1–50%). Metal abundances are also determined with the nitrogen content found to lie in the range N/He=1–5×10^–3 (by number) for all subtypes, and C/N 0.02 in broad agreement with the predictions of Maeder (1991). Enhanced O/N and O/C is found for HD 104994 (WN3p) suggesting a peculiar evolutionary history. Our results suggest that single WNL+abs stars may represent an evolutionary stage immediately after the Of phase. Since some WNE stars exist with non-negligible hydrogen contents (e.g. WR136) evolution may proceed directly from WNL+abs to WNE in some cases, circumventing the luminous blue variable (LBV) or red supergiant (RSG) stage.     

Smart sensor Web: tactical battlefield visualization using sensor fusion

Smart sensor Web (SSW) is a recent DUSD (S&T) initiative inspired by extraordinary technological advances in sensors and microelectronics and by the emergence of the Internet as a real-time communication tool. The overall vision for SSW is an intelligent, Web-centric distribution and fusion of sensor information that provides greatly enhanced situational awareness, on demand, to warfighters at lower echelons. Emphasis is on multi-sensor fusion of large arrays of local sensors, joined with other assets, to provide real-time imagery, weather, targeting information, mission planning, and simulations for military operations on land, sea, and air. This paper gives an overview of this new initiative, highlights some of the technology challenges in sensor/information fusion, and presents a program approach for near-term demonstrations and long-term solutions, involving the DoD, National Labs, commercial industry, and academia.     

SIGMA/GRANAT observations of hard X-ray emission from type I X-ray bursters

Unlike black hole candidate systems, accreting neutron stars seem to encounter appreciable difficulties in emitting strong hard X-ray fluxes. However, in the catalogue of the hard X-ray sources detected by SIGMA, three sources are associated with type I X-ray bursters. In this paper, we review the present status of the SIGMA observations of these three X-ray burst sources, namely X 1724-308 in the globular cluster Terzan II, KS 1731-260, and GX 354+0.     

Looking at The World Through a Nastyglass Window

The concept and physics of a most peculiar glass (called NASTYGLASS) suffering from the video equivalent of audio cross-over distortion are discussed, and a simple mathematical model developed. The model is used as the basis for a computer simulation of how things would look when viewed through a NASTYGLASS window. Some computer-generated, TV-displayed images of `Einstein-in-NASTYGLASS' are included. Finally, future research is proposed, research that just might lead to a Nobel prize in medicine or physiology!