Constant thrust programming for a multistage rocket flown in vacuum with a given initial/final thrust-to-weight ratio in an arbitrary stage

The burn time and burnout velocity of a multistage rocket flown vertically in vacuum with constant thrust tangential to the flight path and a prescribed initial/final thrust-to-weight ratio in an arbitrary stage have been determined. The present paper also deals with optimal staging under given conditions of flight.     

Flotation machine design: impeller—stator interaction

The separate contributions of impellers and stators to suction are studied by means of interaction models. From these, suction can be predicted when interchangeable components are used in any combination, and in either direction of impeller rotation. Methods are devised by which numerical values of the impeller and stator terms can be simply assigned. The resulting model provides good agreement with experiment. The influence of variability in component geometry is reflected in the model parameters. Possible applications of the model are suggested.     

Adaptive cell division for ray tracing

In ray tracing the two most commonly used data structures are the octree and uniform cell division. The octree structure allows efficient adaptive subdivision of space, while taking care of the spatial coherence of the objects in it; however, the tree structure locating the next node in the path of a ray is complex and time consuming. The cell structure, on the other hand, can be stored in a three-dimensional array, and each cell can be efficiently accessed by specifying three indices. However, such a uniform cell division does not take care of object coherence. The proposed data structure combines the positive features of the above data structures while minimising their disadvantages. The entire object space is implicitly assumed to be a three-dimensional grid of cells. Initially, the entire object space is a single voxel which later undergoes “adaptive cell division.” But, unlike in the octree structure, where each voxel is divided exactly at the middle of each dimension, in adaptive cell division, each voxel is divided at the nearest cell boundary. The result is that each voxel contains an integral number of cells along each axis. Corresponding to the implicit cell division we maintain a three-dimensional array, with each array element containing the voxel number which is used to index into the voxel array. The voxel array is used to store information about the structure of each voxel, in particular, the objects in each voxel. While a ray moves from one voxel to another we always keep track of the cell through which the ray is currently passing. Since only arrays are involved in accessing the next voxel in the path of the ray, the operation is very efficient.     

Combining multiple knowledge bases

Combining knowledge present in multiple knowledge base systems into a single knowledge base is discussed. A knowledge based system can be considered an extension of a deductive database in that it permits function symbols as part of the theory. Alternative knowledge bases that deal with the same subject matter are considered. The authors define the concept of combining knowledge present in a set of knowledge bases and present algorithms to maximally combine them so that the combination is consistent with respect to the integrity constraints associated with the knowledge bases. For this, the authors define the concept of maximality and prove that the algorithms presented combine the knowledge bases to generate a maximal theory. The authors also discuss the relationships between combining multiple knowledge bases and the view update problem     

Effects of seat slope and hip flexion on spinal angles in sitting

Lumbar and thoracic spinal angles of 25 male and 25 female subjects were measured in four sitting postures, with standing angles used as reference. Subjects sat with either 90 deg or 65 deg of hip flexion on either flat or forward-sloping seats. Lumbar kyphosis was greatest when the flat seat/90-deg posture was adopted and least when the sloping seat/65-deg posture was adopted. The opposite was observed for the thoracic angles, and intermediate results were observed for the other two sitting postures. No statistically significant interactions were observed among seat slope, hip flexion, and subject sex. The findings are discussed with reference to the anatomy of sitting and factors influencing pelvic tilt and the implications for the ergonomic design of chairs.     

Measurement of the delayed-neutron yields in the fission of233U,236U,237Np,240Pu,and241Pu by neutrons from the spectrum of a fast reactor

Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 66, No. 2, pp. 100–103, February, 1989.     

PCR-based procedures in detection and DNA-fingerprinting of Salmonella from samples of animal origin

The usefulness of selected PCR-protocols for the detection of Salmonella in 117 samples of animal origin (17 raw minced meat, 27 raw chicken meat, 8 raw sausages, and 25 egg samples, as well as 18 poultry faecal, and caecal swabs samples) and DNA-fingerprinting typing is shown. To establish an accurate PCR-procedure for Salmonella detection the following parameters were evaluated: two pre-PCR concentration procedures, centrifugation and immunomagnetic separation (IMS) using Dynabeads anti- Salmonella; the specificity and sensitivity of 10 sets of primers; and different conditions of the amplification reaction. In light of the results obtained from the use of PCR-based procedures alone or in combination with conventional methods, the following findings can be underlined: First, IMS is more efficient than centrifugation in the recovery of Salmonella. Second, the selected IMS/PCR-detection protocol is less time-consuming (45 h) than the IMS/culture procedure (90 h), and a good concordance between them was found when the Kappa coefficient was calculated (0·87). Third, PCR-ribotyping technique showed a very low discrimination power, being able to differentiate only three profiles. Fourth, RAPD technique using specific primers supports previous works in which it was proposed as a simple and useful tool for discriminating isolates between and within serotypes. Fifth, The efficiency, rapidity, and flexibility of the PCR-protocols applied were high, and they can be performed using two PCR-programs and the same basic equipment.