Gravity related research with fishes--perspectives in regard to the upcoming International Space Station, ISS.

During the entire evolution of life on Earth, the development of all organisms took place under constant gravity conditions, against which they achieved specific countermeasures for compensation and adaptation. On this background, it is still an open question to which extent altered gravity such as hypergravity (centrifuge) or microgravity (spaceflight) affects the normal individual development, either on the systemic level of the whole organism or on the level of individual organs or even single cells. The present review provides information on these questions, comprising gravistimulated effects on invertebrates and vertebrates (with the exception of mammals, since respective biomedically oriented reviews abound), focusing on developing fish as model systems, with special emphasis on the effect of altered gravity on the developing brain and vestibular system, comprising investigations on behaviour and plastic reactivities of the brain and inner ear. Clues and insights into the possible basic causes of space motion sickness-phenomena (SMS; a kinetosis) are provided as well as perspectives in regard to future work to be done including studies on the ISS concerning the analysis of gravistimulated effects on developmental issues (imprinting phase for graviperception?).     

Balloon observation of the 1983 solar eclipse in Indonesia

A balloon observation of the total solar eclipse on 11 June 1983 was carried out as a cooperative work between Japanese and Indonesian teams. The observation was a photo-polarimetry of the F corona in both visual and near-infrared regions.The balloon of 15,000-m³ with a payload of 150-kg was launched at 7^h13^m on 11 June from Watukosek Balloon Base in East Java. Observation at an altitude of 30.5-km was successfully made during the totality (11^h28～32^m) at a position of ～40-km east-south-east from Jogjakarta.As a preliminary result, an excess in infrared brightness has been found near the position of 3.8R_⊙ west from the sun, which may be due to thermal emission from a high-temperature dust cloud located around the sun.     

Particle simulation models for low frequency microinstabilities in a magnetic field

Several numerical plasma simulation models using particles are described which are appropriate for low frequency electrostatic and electromagnetic microinstabilities in a strong magnetic field. The model makes use of the guiding center drift approximations for the electrons while the ions are represented either as particles obeying the equation of motion with the full Lorentz force or a fluid which includes finite-Larmor-radius effects. These models are particularly useful for studying low frequency microinstabilities (ω ≲ ω_pi, Ω_i) propagating nearly perpendicular to an external magnetic field (k_⊥ ≫ k_∥).     

ROSAT observations of X-ray sources in globular clusters

We review the first observations of globular clusters obtained with the X-ray telescope on board of the ROSAT satellite. In the All-Sky Survey, all known bright sources and two new transient sources were detected. In addition a super-soft source was found in NGC5272. Concerning the dim sources, the survey suggests that those outside the core of ω Cen are not related to the cluster. The survey further improved by one or two magnitudes on many upper limits previously obtained by the HEAO-1 satellite. Pointed observations have improved the positional accuracy of a number of sources, and added to the number of known dim sources. In 47 Tuc, the known central source is resolved into 4 separate sources, which we argue are all soft X-ray transients. A comparison with observations of the old open cluster M67 leads us to suggest that some of the dim sources may be conglomerates of a large number of RS Can Ven type binaries.     

Neural [correction of Neutral] networks for control, identification and diagnosis.

Advances in the theory and technology of artificial neural networks provide the potential for new approaches to the problems of control, identification, and diagnosis for large, complex systems. However, these approaches must be validated for specific applications before they can be exploited effectively. Because of the unique capabilities they offer, neural networks should play an important role in space exploration systems operations. After a brief introduction to neural networks is presented, some applications of neural networks to identification and control of space systems are described and discussed. They span the spectrum of relatively straightforward to rather complex applications. An explanation of how neural networks can be applied to such important tasks as fault diagnosis and accommodation is presented. Neural networks are shown to be part of the hierarchy of intelligent control where a higher order decision element monitors and supervises lower order elements for sensing and actuation.     

Impacts of solar and auroral storms on power line systems

A sensitive search for pulsars inside a sample of gamma-ray source error boxes has been carried out using the Arecibo and Parkes radiotelescopes. The paper describes the motivation of this search and the characteristics of the experiments used. As a preliminary result, new pulsars have been discovered and some of them are possibly candidates to be the counterparts of the gamma-ray sources.     

Application of numerical Fourier transformation on measurements made on board rotating spacecrafts

Signals obtained on board rocket payloads or satellites are often “spin modulated”. The relevant information is then found within the envelope and the phase of the signal. The most efficient method of extracting this information is the numerical Fourier analysis.     

On management and control of turbulent shear flows

Concepts of turbulent flow control have become of growing importance during the last few years, following increased interest in the detailed structural scenario of turbulence—in particular our improved understanding of coherent structures on the one hand (the prerequisite), and a need for improvement of technological processes on the other (the goal). These considerations have mainly been followed by engineers and physicists concerned with problems in aerodynamics. It is our aim to draw the attention of a wider group of engineers to turbulent flow control in order to speed up the transfer of knowledge from aerodynamics to applications in other fields of engineering.

In this paper an attempt is made to compile a major body of the available knowledge on flow control in separated and wall bounded turbulent flows. After a brief introduction of the basics of control theory (Section 2) and of the major flow structures and their stability characteristics (Section 3) free and wall bounded turbulent shear flows are discussed (Sections 4 and 5). This discussion summarizes the main relationships between structure and flow behaviour and shows possibilities of influencing properties of these flows such as increasing mixing or avoiding separation.     

Phase and Frequency Transfer Analysis of N Mutually Synchronized Oscillators

A mathematical model and a theory for the phase and frequency transfer between N mutually synchronized oscillators is presented. Mathematical equations are given for evaluating the phase and frequency transfer accuracy achievable. The Fokker-Planck technique is applied and an approximation solution is obtained for the phase difference process between a pair of network oscillators. The case of the three-nodal network is analyzed and it is shown that path delays and network coupling give mean bias error variations and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) fluctuations in the phase difference process. The analysis is then extended to an N-nodal network to show that the SNR fluctuations tend to stabilize while the mean bias error variations are averaged between nodes as N becomes larger.     

Causal probabilistic model for evaluating future transoceanicairline separations

With the advent of automatic dependent surveillance (ADS), a detailed probability model of aircraft cross-track deviations is required to determine the impact of ADS. A suitable causal probability model is presented where normal navigation, degradation, pilot blunder, and failure are each modeled by Gaussian density functions with mean and standard deviations defined by the physics of the event. The overall model is a weighted sum of the Gaussian error probabilities and is thus amenable to extrapolation. Overlap and encroachment probabilities are derived,and the effect of ADS on this is model determined. It is shown that by using a simple form of ADS separation standards can be reduced, and transmitting a figure of merit (FOM) providing information on failures and degradations can further reduce separation standards. The results suggest an improvement by a factor of two from current separation standards