New airborne scanning lidar system: applications for atmospheric remote sensing

A new scanning airborne-aerosol lidar system that has the potential to be a valuable atmospheric remote-sensing tool has been developed. The system has the ability to scan both parallel and perpendicular to an aircraft's flight path, and this ability permits both the three-dimensional rendering of the aerosol structure below the aircraft and the measurement of aerosol extinction and optical depth. The system has been integrated into a NASA P-3 aircraft and during a recent flight was used to acquire excellent data with both scanning modes. The system design, the application of the across-track scanning data to the study of the atmospheric boundary layer, and the computation of optical depth derived from along-track scan data are reported.     

Optimum pole configuration of variable speed AC induction motors

Sometimes a user who is familiar with fixed speed AC induction motors may specify a variable speed AC requirement with a preconception of the number of motor poles. This is appropriate in the case of an application where the motor will be run “across-the-line”, and is expected to run at the same speed and load as provided on inverter operation. If, on the other hand, “bypass” operation is not required, a more optimal choice of motor designs might be available. For example, an application requiring 3000 or 3600 RPM operation would demand a two-pole motor design if bypass (at 50 or 60 Hz) must be provided. However, when bypass is not required, it is often the case that a smaller motor can be provided in a four-pole design (utilizing 100 or 120 Hz base frequency) compared to a two-pole configuration. Another aspect of applying adjustable frequency power supplies to AC induction motors is that it allows an essentially infinite number of possible “base speeds”, including base speeds in excess of 3600 RPM. In this paper the author discusses the number of poles required for fixed speed AC motors, DC motors, and adjustable frequency AC motors. Motor performance issues are also discussed     

Metabolic endoradiotherapy with P32 in skeletal metastases from breast neoplasms. Note I

22 patients suffering from breast neoplasia with particularly painful bone metastasis were treated with radiophosphorus. Only occasionally was an evident recalcification condition encountered and survival, although exceptional in some cases, did not deviate from normal. On the basis, also, of clinical and experimental observations reported in the literature, it is held that the use of 32P in metabolic radiotherapy of bone metastases is worthwhile and is justified because of the encouraging successes obtained, especially in pain remission.     

Observation of Raman scattering by cloud droplets in the atmosphere

In a recent field campaign, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scanning Raman lidar measured, in the water vapor channel, Raman scattering from low-level clouds well in excess of 100% relative humidity. The excess scattering has been interpreted to be spontaneous Raman scattering by liquid water in the cloud droplets. A review of research on Raman scattering by microspheres indicates that the technique may provide a remote method to observe cloud liquid water. The clouds studied appear, from Mie scattering, to have two distinct layers with only the upper layer showing significant Raman scattering from liquid water in the droplets.     

Upper tropospheric temperature measurements with the use of a Raman lidar

Upper tropospheric temperature profiles were measured with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scanning Raman lidar five months after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. To derive temperatures in regions of high aerosol content, the aerosol transmission is calculated for the Raman N(2) return signals under cloud-free conditions. The lidar-derived aerosol backscattering ratio and an estimate of the aerosol extinction-to-backscatter ratio were used to compute the aerosol transmission. With a model reference temperature at 25 km, temperature profiles with a root-mean-square difference between the lidar and radiosonde temperatures of <2 K were obtained over an altitude range of 5-10 km for a 10-min integrated measurement with 300-m resolution.     

The Role of Short-Chain Conjugated Poly-(R)-3-Hydroxybutyrate (cPHB) in Protein Folding

Poly-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), a linear polymer of R-3-hydroxybutyrate (R-3HB), is a fundamental constituent of biological cells. Certain prokaryotes accumulate PHB of very high molecular weight (10,000 to >1,000,000 residues), which is segregated within granular deposits in the cytoplasm; however, all prokaryotes and all eukaryotes synthesize PHB of medium-chain length (~100–200 residues) which resides within lipid bilayers or lipid vesicles, and PHB of short-chain length (<12 residues) which is conjugated to proteins (cPHB), primarily proteins in membranes and organelles. The physical properties of cPHB indicate it plays important roles in the targeting and folding of cPHB-proteins. Here we review the occurrence, physical properties and molecular characteristics of cPHB, and discuss its influence on the folding and structure of outer membrane protein A (OmpA) of Escherichia coli.     

Feeding the World Today and Tomorrow: The Importance of Food Science and Technology

by Philip E. Nelson, 2007 World Food Prize Laureate; Professor Emeritus, Food Science Dept., Purdue Univ. Just as society has evolved over time, our food system has also evolved over centuries into a global system of immense size and complexity. The commitment of food science and technology professionals to advancing the science of food, ensuring a safe and abundant food supply, and contributing to healthier people everywhere is integral to that evolution. Food scientists and technologists are versatile, interdisciplinary, and collaborative practitioners in a profession at the crossroads of scientific and technological developments. As the food system has drastically changed, from one centered around family food production on individual farms and home food preservation to the modern system of today, most people are not connected to their food nor are they familiar with agricultural production and food manufacturing designed for better food safety and quality. The Institute of Food Technologists—a nonprofit scientific society of individual members engaged in food science, food technology, and related professions in industry, academia, and government—has the mission to advance the science of food and the long‐range vision to ensure a safe and abundant food supply contributing to healthier people everywhere. IFT convened a task force and called on contributing authors to develop this scientific review to inform the general public about the importance and benefits of food science and technology in IFT's efforts to feed a growing world. The main objective of this review is to serve as a foundational resource for public outreach and education and to address misperceptions and misinformation about processed foods. The intended audience includes those who desire to know more about the application of science and technology to meet society's food needs and those involved in public education and outreach. It is IFT's hope that the reader will gain a better understanding of the goals or purposes for various applications of science and technology in the food system, and an appreciation for the complexity of the modern food supply. Abstract: This Institute of Food Technologists scientific review describes the scientific and technological achievements that made possible the modern production‐to‐consumption food system capable of feeding nearly 7 billion people, and it also discusses the promising potential of ongoing technological advancements to enhance the food supply even further and to increase the health and wellness of the growing global population. This review begins with a historical perspective that summarizes the parallel developments of agriculture and food technology, from the beginnings of modern society to the present. A section on food manufacturing explains why food is processed and details various food processing methods that ensure food safety and preserve the quality of products. A section about potential solutions to future challenges briefly discusses ways in which scientists, the food industry, and policy makers are striving to improve the food supply for a healthier population and feed the future. Applications of science and technology within the food system have allowed production of foods in adequate quantities to meet the needs of society, as it has evolved. Today, our production‐to‐consumption food system is complex, and our food is largely safe, tasty, nutritious, abundant, diverse, convenient, and less costly and more readily accessible than ever before. Scientific and technological advancements must be accelerated and applied in developed and developing nations alike, if we are to feed a growing world population.     

Effect of surge voltage risetime on the insulation of low-voltagemachines fed by PWM converters

This paper investigates the repetitive surge-voltage withstand of low-voltage mush-wound machines operated on adjustable-speed drives (ASDs) using insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) semiconductor technology. Historical work on surge testing of motor insulation has focused on one or more of the following aspects: (1) large horsepower motors; (2) medium-voltage form-wound motors; (3) single-shot impulse-type transients; or (4) low-voltage machines with surge risetimes >200 ns. IGBT drives can have risetimes of 50-200 ns. Thus, a new study on electrical stress of insulation systems due to the nonlinear voltage distribution of mush-wound motors when subjected to repetitive steep dV/dt square-pulse waveforms (rather than impulse wave testing) is presented. Magnitude and risetime of the repetitive ASD surge-voltage transient induced on the machine terminals is reviewed first. Next, surge propagation into the winding was investigated to identify maximum voltage stress points on the conductor insulation. Potential failure mechanisms observed at these points are then discussed. The significance of decreasing surge risetime and increasing cable lengths on internal nonlinear voltage distribution is studied with experimental results from a 7.5-hp motor with a tapped stator winding