Bi r th weight is in large extent influenced by gestational age. In addi tion genetic and envi ronmental factors determine intrauter ine growth and bi r th weight. The contr ibutions of these factors may be influenced by maternal smoking dur ing pregnancy. We examined bi r th weight and maternal smoking in a sample of 2930 twin pai rs from the Nether lands Twin Register using structural equatio...

A multiaxis thrust-vectoring nozzle designed to have equal ow-turning capability in pitch and yaw was conceived and experimentally tested for internal static performance at Langley Research Center. The cruciform-shaped, convergent-divergent nozzle turned the ow for thrust vectoring by deeecting the divergent surfaces of the nozzle, called aps. Methods for eliminating physical interference betwe...

Unmanned aerial vehicles are being utilized by numerous groups around the world for various missions. Most of the smaller vehicles that have been developed use commercially-offthe-shelf parts, and little information about the performance characteristics of the propulsion systems is available in the archival literature. In light of this, the aim of the present research was to determine the perfo...

This paper reports the results of initial efforts to apply the System Sensitivity Analysis (SSA) optimization method to the conceptual design of a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) launch vehicle. SSA is an efficient, calculus-based MDO technique for generating sensitivity derivatives in a highly multidisciplinary design environment. The method has been successfully applied to conceptual aircraft de...

Angular maneuvering scheme along with standard flight operations such as taking-off, landing and hovering is proposed for a quadcopter with indoor or outdoor flying capabilities. This is achieved by simultaneously controlling the speed of the four rotors in order for the quadcopter to attain the correct orientation. The total thrust is determined using the inputs of altitude, pitch and roll ang...

[1] Mars Orbiter Laser Altimetry (MOLA) data have been used to characterize lobate scarps along the dichotomy boundary in the eastern hemisphere of Mars. These structures are the surface expression of thrust faulting of the southern highlands. Displacement on the thrust faults is generally less than 1 km except in the case of the Amenthes Rupes thrust fault, where the maximum displacement is on...

In wireless two-way (TW) relay channels, denoise-and-forward (DNF) network coding (NC) is a promising technique to achieve spectral efficiency. However, unsuccessful detection at relay severely deteriorates the diversity gain, as well as end-to-end pairwise error probability (PEP). To handle this issue, a novel joint cyclic redundancy code (CRC) check method (JCRC) is proposed in this paper by ...

The objective of this longitudinal retrospective study was to evaluate differences of the fetal growth and fetal organ growth among singleton small for gestational age (S-SGA), singleton appropriate for gestational age (S-AGA), twin (Tw-AGA), and triplet (Tri-AGA) infants. Ultrasonographic examinations were performed on 35 S-AGA, 18 S-SGA, 52 Tw-AGA and 12 Tri-AGA fetuses. Circumferences of hea...