Communicating bioastronautics research to students, families and the nation

The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) is supporting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) education mission through a comprehensive Education and Public Outreach Program (EPOP) that communicates the excitement and significance of space biology to schools, families, and lay audiences. The EPOP is comprised of eight academic institutions: Baylor College of Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Texas A&M University, University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston, Rice University, and the University of Washington. This paper describes the programs and products created by the EPOP to promote space life science education in schools and among the general public. To date, these activities have reached thousands of teachers and students around the US and have been rated very highly.     

靶场标准化及自动化计划第二阶段

一、靶场背景 美国主要的航天发射场,包括东靶场(位于弗罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角)和西靶场(位于加利福尼亚州范登堡空军基地)起源于50年代,在随后的几十年内进行了逐步扩展和改进。直到前不久移交给空军空间司令部时,这些靶场才更多地用作研究和开发单位,而不只是操作运行单位。逐步改造使它们具备了支持发射新型航天器、弹道导弹以及逐步发展起来的     

A viable microbial community in a subglacial volcanic crater lake, Iceland

We describe a viable microbial community in a subglacial lake within the Grímsv?tn volcanic caldera, Iceland. We used a hot water drill to penetrate the 300-m ice shelf and retrieved lake water and volcanic tephra sediments. We also acquired samples of borehole water before and after penetration to the lake, overlying glacial ice and snow, and water from a nearby subaerial geothermal lake for comparative analyses. Lake water is at the freezing point and fresh (total dissolved solids = 260 mg L(-1)). Detectable numbers of cells were found in samples of the lake water column and tephra sediments: 2 x 10(4) ml(-1) and 4 x 10(7) g(-1), respectively. Plate counts document abundant cold-adapted cultivable organisms in the lake water, but not in the borehole (before penetration) or glacial ice. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of 16S rRNA gene fragments amplified from genomic DNA extracted from Grímsv?tn samples indicates that the lake community is distinct from the assemblages of organisms in borehole water (before penetration) and the overlying ice and snow. Sequencing of selected DGGE bands revealed that many sequences are highly similar to known psychrophilic organisms or cloned DNA from other cold environments. Significant uptake of 14C-labeled bicarbonate occurred in dark, low-temperature incubations of lake water samples, indicating the presence of autotrophs. Acetylene reduction assays under similar incubation conditions showed no significant nitrogen fixation potential by lake water samples. This may be a consequence of the inhibition of diazotrophy by nitrogen in the lake.     

欧洲计算流体力学——个人观点

介绍了70年代初到20世纪末欧洲科学家对CFD发展的主要贡献,并重点关注了对国际流体力学数值方法会议(ICNMFD)和国际计算力学学术会议(ISCFD)的成功举办具有重大贡献的科学家。ICNMFD始于1969年(新西伯利亚),由参与了美国和苏联太空竞赛的两国科学家联合创办,而ISCFD则作为ICNMFD在亚太地区的同类会议初创于1995年(东京)。由Oshima教授和本人提议,得益于上述两个会议全体科学委员会成员的共同努力,ICNMFD和ISCFD自2000年开始,合并成为每两年举办一次的国际计算流体力学会议(ICCFD)。绝大部分本文讨论所涉及的学者通常都在受邀进行大会报告后,成为了前述三大国际会议中的一个或多个科学委员会的成员。作者对文中讨论所涉及的研究人员的圈定负有全权责任,上述人员的选择更多地基于应用而非理论计算流体力学,因此尚存在不完善之处。此外由于文中所讨论的学者大都是作者在40多年计算流体力学研究生涯中的私交好友,因此并没有将年轻一代的科学家考虑进来,但这并非由于他们的贡献不重要。另外值得注意的是欧洲的计算流体力学同美国的计算流体力学有非常紧密的联系,本文讨论所涉及的研究学者有些最早从欧洲开始涉足计算流体力学而现在则生活和工作于美国(例如Glowinski, Roe, Van Leer等人),而有些则是在美国取得了博士学位(例如Launder, Napolitano),他们都同美国的科学家进行过合作,因此很难清晰地对欧洲和美国的计算流体力学进行界定。对那些现已移居美国的欧洲科学家们,本文优先考虑了他们移居之前的贡献。最后但并非是最不重要的,作者通过电子邮件一一联系了文中所涉及的科学家,希望他们本人能够给出其自身贡献的评价草稿,从而帮助作者以最权威的视角在文中相应章节对其工作进行评述。本文向提供自述评价的诸位致以谢意,同时也希望其他同仁能够对本人不恰当的擅自评述给予谅解。     

Effects of repeated long duration +2Gz load on man's cardiovascular function

Usefulness of a short-arm human centrifuge is expected when it is used in space as a countermeasure against cardiovascular deconditioning, problem of bone-calcium metabolism, etc. However, nothing is solidly established regarding the most desirable program for artificial G application. Accordingly, this study was designed to analytically evaluate the effects of repeated long duration +Gz load on human cardiovascular function. Recently heart rate spectral analysis has been recognized as a powerful tool for quantitatively evaluating parasympathetic and sympathetic activity separately in human. It is reported that power of the high frequency component (HF-p) is mediated selectively by parasympathetic activity and the power ratio of low to high frequency components(LF/HF) is indicative of cardiac sympathetic activity or cardiac sympathovagal balance. Sequence method is developed to examine spontaneous baroreceptor reflex sensitivity (BRS). We studied cardiovascular control function by using these methods in 9 healthy men before and after 7 days of daily repeated 1hour +2Gz load. When compared with the data of pre-G load period, post-G load period, decrease of HR, increases of HF-p and BRS were statistically significant. SBP, DBP and LF/HF tended to decrease, however, these changes were not statistically significant. This results indicate that repeated +2Gz load increases parasympathetic activity and arterial baroreceptor-cardiac reflex sensitivity. In recent years, many investigators suggest that space flight and head-down bedrest leads to impaired baroreceptor-cardiac reflex responses and decrease of parasympathetic activity, which may contribute to orthostatic intolerance. So our results suggest that daily repeated 1hour +2Gz load would be useful in preventing post-flight orthostatic intolerance.     

论振荡型对流

振荡型对流亦称过稳定性对流(overstability convection),它是一个底部加热的旋转流体薄层中的一种振荡型不稳定。本文用欧拉分析和拉格朗日分析相结合的方法,从理论上研究了这种振荡型对流现象。结果表明,无论在两个自由边界面还是在一个自由边界面和一个刚性边界面的情况下,如果旋转速度适当大,而粘性消耗相当小,则可以出现振荡型对流。这种振荡型对流是热扩散本身的双重作用与强的旋转及小的粘性消耗共同作用的结果。热扩散一方面减小流体质点的浮力,而另一方面它还可以交替地过冷却和过加热流体质点,在Prandtl数比较小的情况下,动能消耗很小,从而在流体质点每次行程的终端都可产生一个过剩的加速度,引起一种能导致不稳定的正反馈过程。