Recent Request Research Articles

Safety Topics

A final rule has been issued by the FAA which prohibits aircraft manufacturers and air carriers from increasing the distance between emergency exits to more than 60 feet. Existing regulations do not limit the distance and this rule is intended to ensure an opportunity for safe passenger evacuation during an emergency. The location of emergency eixts has been regulated by the FAA since 1967 by requiring the provision of an exit for every specified number of passengers and the exit being located where it would allow the most effective means of evacuation. The regulation also requires the exits to be distributed as uniformly as practicable and this has led to the underlying assumption that this results in a reasonable seat‐to‐exit and exit‐to‐exit distance. Some recent exit configurations do however, have distances that are greater than those originally envisaged. For example, the exit‐to‐exit distance that was originally 50 feet in an earlier version of the L—1011 increased to nearly 70 feet in a later model. Also, the exit‐to‐exit distance of 44 feet in the Boeing 747–100, –200 and –300 increases to nearly 70 feet in the 747–200 and 747–300 models with the No 3 exits deactivated. A recent certification request (which was refused by the FAA) proposed a derivative configuration of an aircraft with a distance substantially greater than 80 feet. These examples indicate the exit distribution requirement alone is ineffective in preventing increases in escape path distances.

Achieving Consistency in International Drug Labeling

This article will review the background for concerns regarding consistency in labeling for products marketed in several countries, the pharmaceutical industry's response to those concerns, and will briefly describe a recent Congressional request to the Office of Technology Assessment for a comprehensive study of this subject. Finally, a description will be given of methods used by several multinational companies in achieving labeling consistency on a worldwide basis.

$425 million for space station

The Space Station will funded at only about half of the $767 million requested in the 1988 budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and overall the agency will receive $8,856 billion for the current fiscal year (FY) in the deficit‐reduction package passed by Congress in late December. Despite an earlier complaint that reductions in the space station budget would kill the program and an apparent lack of support from the White House, NASA's official reaction was full of good cheer.NASA will be able to use the $425 million in two installments, $200 million now and $225 million in June. In October, NASA administrator James Fletcher stated in a letter to Senator Jake Garn (R‐Utah) that if the space station received no more than $440 million, he would “recommend termination” of the program. But after the budget was approved, NASA said that the $425 million “reflected the strong commitment of the President and the Congress to proceed with the development of a space station.” A recent request to President Reagan from congressional proponents of the station for a letter of support for the multibillion dollar project was declined.

Geometry Strikes Again

Last Sunday I was leisurely reading the May 1984 issue of MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE. Coming to the Philatelists take note item (on page 187) about the stamp issued by East Germany to mark the bicentennial of Euler's death, I remembered that the same stamp was used on a recent request for reprints I received from East Germany. So I retrieved that postcard and washed off the stamp. It turned out that I was lucky, and the stamp was much less marred by cancellation marks than the one reproduced in MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE. Contemplating the stamp I noticed that the drawing of the regular icosahedron shown in it (and I have no doubt that it was meant to show a regular icosahedron) is wrong. This is not a question of which kind of perspective or projection was used, it is just a logical error (repeated twice): if three of the five vertices of a plane pentagon project into one line, then the other two vertices must project into the same line. In FIGURE 1 the offending drawing is enlarged and the misaligned vertices are easily picked out. Recalling how highly precision draftsmanship used to be valued in European education, I could not help snickering at the low level to which the East Germans have fallen. Full of condescension I closed my issue of the MAGAZINE. But the heavier outer cover of the issue opened by itself, and revealed to my horrified and unbelieving eyes another fallacious rendition of the regular icosahedron, in the upper left corner of the title page, IN THE LOGO OF THE MATHEMATICAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA!!! Under any reasonable projection, parallel segments either remain parallel or lie on concurrent lines-but in the logo three easily discernible pairs (see FIGURE 2) of such segments do neither. Quickly grabbing the recent issue of Focus, and then the last issue of the Monthly, I saw that the drawing in the MAGAZINE is no isolated distortion. The official symbol of the Association, appearing on all its publications, proclaims louder than words that we have eyes and look but do not see, that those who shouted Down with Euclid achieved their goal much faster and much more thoroughly than they had any right to expect-that good old Geometry is dead! Thumbing through back issues of the Monthly, the time of death can be determined with precision. The previous logo was discarded after the December 1971 issue, and the defective new one has been

Fraxinus rotundifolia Mill., F. parvifolia Lam. or F. angustifolia Vahl?

A recent request to look into the question of the correct name for a species of Fraxinus (Oleaceae) naturalized in South Australia, because it appeared to bear different names in recent floristic treatments, led me into a deeper investigation than I had expected. Unfortunately for stability in nomenclature, I have been driven to the conclusion that Miller's name F. rotundifolia of 1768, which has been widely and long overlooked, or in some cases misinterpreted, must be taken into use for a widespread species of the Mediterranean region recently called F. angustifolia Vahl in both Flora Europaea and the Flora of Turkey-however inappropriate the epithet rotundifolia may be, based as it was on the atypical leaves of a plant cultivated in Britain. The investigation has led me to the following synonymy (I have not listed nor investigated the many other taxa or synonyms proposed for this complex throughout its range).

Seismic Stability Analysis of Hawkins Hydraulic Fill Dam

This 70-ft high hydraulic fill dam was constructed as a home-made do-it-yourself project on a ranch near Hollister, Calif. from 1912-1931. It is in one of the most seismically active zones in the state. Following a policy set for all hydraulic fill dams, as a result of the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, a recent request from the State Division of Dam Safety required it to be analyzed according to latest techniques for seismic safety. The paper describes the analysis which was carried out and the basis for the conclusions that the dam should be adequately stable against the maximum credible earthquake. The major reason for this unexpected result for an old hydraulic fill dam is that it was constructed slowly in lifts at about 0.5 m to 1 m per year for 19 yr, predominantly of clayey soil, and with ample time for desiccation drying and consequent strengthening of the soil during construction.

The Economic Consequences of Falling Dominoes

THE SO-CALLED in its crudest form was often used in the past to justify U.S. economic and military assistance to the countries of Southeast Asia. While all factions of political opinion are probably dissatisfied with the outcome in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, we should try to resist the temptation to write off more than is necessary at this time. From a more general point of view, dominoes propped tip via patron-client relationships are perhaps more likely to fall down than those standing on their own; the Thai government's recent request for the withdrawal of U.S. forces has a pragmatic benefit-the elimination of tempting military targets for local insurgents. With even the Philippines reassessing the costs and benefits of the U.S. presence, some may argue that the domino theory has already been validated, but that sort of reasoning seems overly simplistic. Though the halcyon days of a neo-colonialist military presence are certainly over, a redefined multi-faceted relationship can still be worked out along the lines of mutual interest and benefit. Realistically, neither Burma nor Laos make much difference to U.S. foreign policy, except for the resources squandered in the latter country.' More generally, however, Southeast Asia occupies a strategic geographic position, its current economic importance may be much smaller than its potential, and large investments have already been made there. Because of these considerations, it seems likely that any vacuum that may develop would soon be filled-perhaps with surprising rapidity.2

The College of Education and Its Students - Until Death Do Us Part

The response at a large university to a recent fund request to 10,000 Education alumni was answered by only 150, and one person sent a cryptic message by pledging 12 cents. What's the real meaning behind that message?