NCBI ROFL: The sexual histories of Catholic
priests.

post from Discoblog » NCBI ROFL on 24 August 2012 07:00:31 PM. © Discoblog » NCBI ROFL

Sexual and intimacy health of Roman Catholic priests.

“This study explores the sexual experiences and sexual health of Roman Catholic priests. The qualitative research design looked at priests’ responses to the question, “Please share one or more sexual experiences in your lifetime.” The qualitative responses were analyzed and categorized into seven groupings: (a) Childhood and adolescent homosexual experiences; (b) Childhood and adolescent heterosexual experiences; (c) Both homosexual and heterosexual childhood and adolescent experiences; (d) Adult sexual experiences before ordination to the priesthood; (e) Adult sexual experiences since ordination to the priesthood; (f) Masturbation; and (g) Other sexual experiences. The data were analyzed by frequency of responses and percentages within each of the seven categories. The results indicate the need for early intervention and education during seminary, ongoing education after ordination, and psychotherapy support for priests.”

Bonus table from the full text:

Photo: flickr/To Tuscany

NCBI ROFL. Real articles. ...

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Explaining the new black-and-white Mastcam and
MARDI raw images

post from Planetary Society Blog on 24 August 2012 06:05:05 PM. © Planetary Society Blog

If you've been obsessively checking the Curiosity raw images websites for new pictures from Mars, you might have noticed something weird: a bunch of Mastcam images and a few from MARDI that are black-and-white instead of color, and which have a peculiar checkerboard pattern.

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Quieting Supersonic Jet Engines

post from Physics Buzz on 24 August 2012 05:17:35 PM. © Physics Buzz

Image courtesy of NASATo practice landing supersonic jets on aircraft carriers in heavy seas, U.S. Navy pilots fly over land -- almost always in the early hours of the morning, when the screech of their engines on takeoff and landing disturbs the sleep of local residents.

But technology sponsored by the Navy promises to give the neighbors more peaceful nights. It works by interfering with the turbulence in jet engines that causes the noise.

The technology adds a new twist to a method recently introduced in civilian aircraft. That method involves shaping the rear end of jet engines -- the region through which the exhaust travels -- into a pattern of curves. The curves, called chevrons or cutouts, decrease the amount of turbulence in the exhaust. But they also reduce the engine's fuel efficiency slightly.

The new approach, under investigation by engineers from the University of Cincinnati and the Naval Research Laboratory, affects turbulence more actively.

A small airflow introduced into the engine ahead of the exhaust influences the turbulence in much the same way as the chevrons. Pilots can save fuel by turning off this "fluidic technology" once the plane is in the air, when noise suppression is no longer needed.

"We are in the business of trying to quiet planes without impacting their fuel efficiency," said Jeff Kastner from the University of Cincinnati.

Kastner highlighted his team's studies of chevrons and fluidic technology at the Internoise 2012 Congress Aug. 21 in New York City.

"The military is willing to pay to obtain quieter engines," said James Bridges, a jet-noise researcher at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland who did not participate in Kastner's investigation.

The exhaust emitted from jet engines creates noise through a frictional effect as it slows down.

"It's like the noise you get when you slam on the brakes in your car," Kastner explained. "The faster the exhaust, the louder the noise."

When supersonic jets take off and land, they do more than disturb people's sleep. The noise also stresses jet aircraft's components and helps potential enemies to identify the planes.

Chevrons reduce the noise by interfering with the direction of the turbulence in engines' exhaust.
"Engine exhaust tends to be unidirectional," Kastner said. "Chevrons disturb the flow. They make it more three-dimensional, at which point the process becomes less efficient. You may still have more turbulence, but it's not as effective at producing noise."

Manufacturers such as Boeing accept the small reduction in fuel efficiency that accompanies the chevrons they have introduced in their latest types of airliner. But because military jets consume far more fuel at supersonic speeds, the loss in efficiency presents a more serious problem. So far no military aircraft have been fitted with chevrons.

Fluidic technology offers a means of complementing chevrons in military aircraft while minimizing the loss in fuel efficiency.

"It's a bleed placed in an earlier part of the engine. You're basically blowing the fluidic air perpendicular to the main flow," Kastner said. "The number one thing is that you can turn it on and off."

Pilots could switch on the technology during takeoffs and landings, when the engine noise causes the greatest distress, and turn it off once in the air.

Alternatively, the technology could be pre-set like the cruise control system in automobiles.

"The plane could be programmed to turn off the fluidics at will," Kastner said. "But the pilot could override it."

Previous studies of fluidic technology have produced mixed results.

"We have seen some significant positive impacts, as well as some seriously negative ones," Bridges said. "The trick is in how you do it."

At the Internoise Congress, Kastner presented the results of studies on both noise-reducing technologies in a money-saving experimental set-up that uses engines one-tenth the size of those in military jets.

"Results show appreciable noise reduction by both fluidic injection and chevrons," Kastner reported.

If further results prove out the concepts, the military could soon insist on incorporating the technologies in their jet aircraft.

Bridges cautions that adding chevrons and fluidics to jet engines will require some skill.

"It's not just a matter of slap it on and go with it," Bridges said.

It's also possible that the military could opt for fluidic technology alone, given its advantage in fuel efficiency.

"It could replace chevrons," Kastner said. "But merging the two technologies could be more advantageous for military aircraft. When a plane goes supersonic it could be a little harder to control with fluidic flow alone."

-Peter Gwynne, Inside Science News Service

Peter Gwynne is a freelance science writer based on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the current North America correspondent of Physics World, and a former science editor of Newsweek.

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Houston: The Whimbrel has Landed

post from BSI Blog on 24 August 2012 01:16:40 PM. © BSI Blog

Just a quick update that Pingo has in fact landed in Brazil after the long, multi-day migration beginning in Maritime Canada. There was some guessing as to whether Pingo would end up in Brazil or the neighboring French Guiana. Pingo had to navigate[...]

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Hubbles Hidden Treasures: winners!

post from Bad Astronomy on 24 August 2012 12:25:34 PM. © Bad Astronomy

Earlier this year, the folks at the European Space Agency’s Hubble HQ announced a contest called Hubble’s Hidden Treasures: they wanted people to go through the massive archives of Hubble’s data and look for gorgeous objects that may[...]

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RBSP to explore decades-old radiation belt
mysteries

post from Planetary Society Blog on 24 August 2012 12:09:46 PM. © Planetary Society Blog

NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes will shed new light on the Van Allen Radiation Belts, a dangerous region of space in our planet's backyard.

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ecades-old.html

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Researchers Investigate Early Language
Acquisition in Robots

post from CR4 - Recent Blog Entries on 24 August 2012 11:31:44 AM. © CR4 - Recent Blog Entries

From Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories: (Phys.org)â€"Research into robotics continues to grow in Europe. And the introduction of humanoid robots has compelled scientists to investigate the acquisition of language. A case in point is a team of researchers in the

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Virtual Reality Lets Amputees Train With a
Prosthesis

From New Scientist - Online news: Wearing a VR headset and sensors, users can practise controlling a prosthetic limb without risking damage to themselves or their surroundings Read the whole article and watch the video

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Use Part Design View Representations in Autodesk
Inventor

From cadalyst: IMAGINiT Tricks Tutorial: Part representations can help you with assembly constraints and model documentation. Read the whole article

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-Autodesk-Inventor?from_rss=1

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What Aircraft Remover Will Do

Actually of course, it's what the industrial-grade paint stripper is supposed to do. But these pics demonstrate what a complete disaster it can be if the stuff gets flung onto your paint by accident or in an act of vandalism, as appears to have been the case for this unfortunate Suzuki Grand

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