PURCHASE OF STAR The semimonthly issues and the cumulative index issues are available postpaid on subscription and in single copy from the Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 20402, United States of America. Semimonthly issues... Annual subscription rates: $76.50 domestic: $95.65 foreign. Price per single copy: $3.25 domestic: $4.10 foreign. Cumulative index issues... Annual subscription rates: $25.55 domestic; $31.95 foreign. Price per single copy varies according to the number of pages. Domestic subscription rates... Apply to the United States, Canada, Mexico, and all Central and South American countries, except as noted below. Foreign subscription rates... Apply to Argentina, Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, British Honduras, and all other countries throughout the world. Payment should be by check, money order, or document coupons, and must accompany order. Remittances from foreign countries should be made by international money order or draft on an American bank, payable to the Superintendent of Documents, or by UNESCO book coupons. PUBLISHED BY: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION OFFICE Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports, Volume 12. is prepared by the NASA The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has determined that the publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the public business required by law of this Agency. Use of funds for printing this periodical has been approved by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget through June 30, 1977. A COMPREHENSIVE INFORMATION SERVICE The National Aeronautics and Space Administration makes the results of worldwide research and development activities in aeronautics, space, and supporting disciplines promptly available to participants in its programs. NASA's scientific and technical information system now contains nearly a million documents, which are abstracted, indexed, and obtainable through retrieval and dissemination services. These services, which include this abstract journal, Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports (STAR), are described in a bulletin, The NASA Scientific and Technical Information System ... and How to Use It, available at no charge from the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Facility, P.O. Box 33, College Park, Maryland 20740. STAR A REPORT ABSTRACTING SERVICE STAR is a comprehensive abstracting and indexing journal covering current worldwide report literature on the science and technology of space and aeronautics. Publications abstracted in STAR include scientific and technical reports issued by NASA and its contractors, other U.S. Government agencies, corporations, universities, and research organizations throughout the world. Pertinent theses, translations, NASA-owned patents and patent applications, and other separate documents are also abstracted. Citations and abstracts in STAR are grouped in 34 subject categories, although accession numbers run in unbroken sequence through the STAR issues, without regard to category assignment. Certain publications abstracted in STAR are given analytic treatment, with citations and abstracts of daughter items following immediately after the parent document. When the subject content of a daughter differs from that of its parent, a cross-reference citation is printed at the end of the category to which the daughter would normally have been assigned. Five indexes are included in each issue: subject, personal author, corporate source, contract number, and report/accession number. Cumulative index volumes are published semiannually and annually. STAR, issued on the 8th and 23rd of each month, is available to the public on subscription from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, as noted on the inside cover. STAR is sent without charge to qualified organizations registered with NASA as described in the paragraph Eligibility and Registration for NASA Information Products and Services. ABSTRACTS OF NONREPORT LITERATURE By arrangement between NASA and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the AIAA publication International Aerospace Abstracts (IAA) provides parallel coverage of scientific and trade journals, books, and conference papers in the same subject areas as STAR. STAR and IAA are categorized and abstracted in basically identical ways, and documents in both are indexed by terms from the NASA Thesaurus. Both journals appear twice monthly, /AA being issued on the 1st and 15th of each month. IAA is available on subscription from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Technical Information Service, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, at the following annual rates, postpaid: Semimonthly issues: United States and possessions. $160; all other countries. $175. Cumulated (semiannual and annual) indexes: United States and possessions, $100; all other countries. $115. Combined subscription to issues and indexes: United States and possessions, $240; all other countries, $270. Subscribers with combined subscriptions may order additional subscriptions to the semimonthly issues at: United States and possessions, $150; all other countries, $165. ANNOUNCEMENT OF NASA PUBLICATIONS IN STAR Scientific and technical reports produced by NASA and its contractors and grantees, or in conjunction with other Government agencies, and other selected documents released by NASA are identified by an asterisk (*) following the accession numbers (e.g., N74-10132*) Prior to their announcement in STAR, these NASA publications are assigned a specific NASA report number, which is shown on the last line of the STAR citation. The nature of NASA publications is specified by the report number series, identified by a prefix to the report number: TR-R, TN-D, TM-X, TT-F, CR, or SP. These series refer respectively to NASA Technical Reports, which contain significant and complete contributions to scientific and technical knowledge: Technical Notes, reports of similar quality but lesser scope: Technical Memorandums, reports containing preliminary data or of specialized utility: Technical Translations, information published in a foreign language and considered to merit NASA distribution in English: Contractor Reports, information generated under NASA-sponsored contracts. grants, or interagency agreements; and Special Publications, which include conference proceedings, monographs, data compilations, sourcebooks, special bibliographies, and other publications derived from or of value to NASA activities. Reports in these series that are printed by NASA are often referred to as "low-numbered" or "low series" publications, because the report number is always below 50.000 (8,000 for Technical Translations). Some TM-X and CR reports are numbered above 50,000. These, and TT-F translations above 8,000. are referred to as "high-numbered" or "high series" publications, and are generally available only in microfiche' or facsimile reproductions. DISTRIBUTION OF NASA PUBLICATIONS NASA distributes its publications to qualified recipients who have registered as describeo in the next paragraph. (Public availability of NASA reports and other publications announced in STAR is discussed separately in this Introduction.) Automatic distribution of low series NASA reports can be made in either paper (printed) copy or microfiche. High series NASA reports are given automatic distribution only as microfiche. The automatic distribution of a NASA report, in paper copy and/or microfiche, is made under the same subject category in which it is announced in STAR. A printed low series report usually is disseminated four to six weeks prior to its announcement in STAR. Microfiche of both low and high series reports are disseminated concurrently with STAR announcement. Automatic distribution of NASA documents is supplemented by a secondary request service, usually for microfiche copy only. which NASA may provide to qualified registrants. ELIGIBILITY AND REGISTRATION FOR NASA INFORMATION PRODUCTS AND SERVICES A variety of services, in addition to the distribution of NASA scientific and technical reports and of STAR and its cumulative indexes, is available to organizations of the following types that have registered with NASA to receive specific services or products: 1. NASA offices, research centers, contractors, subcontractors, grantees, and consult ants: 2. Other U.S. Government agencies and their contractors; 3. Libraries in the United States that have arrangements with NASA to maintain collections of NASA documents for public reference; 4. Other organizations in the United States having a need for NASA documents in work (1) A microfiche is a transparent sheet of film. 105 by 148 mm in size, containing as many as 60 to 5. Organizations abroad that have established reciprocal document exchange arrangements with NASA. Only the central service points or central points of document acquisition and control within Domestic organizations that may be eligible to receive various classes of NASA publications Attn: Registration Activity P.O. Box 33 College Park, MD 20740 Organizations abroad should direct requests to the same address, but to the attention of: PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF DOCUMENTS ANNOUNCED IN STAR The source of documents announced in STAR varies, depending upon the organization which has issued a document and the form in which the document can be provided. Those documents that can be obtained on microfiche are indicated in STAR by the # symbol following the NASA accession number. All documents for which microfiche can be obtained are also available as facsimile. Documents that cannot be microfiched but for which one-to-one facsimile can be provided are indicated by a plus (+) instead of the # sign. Documents for which neither the + nor # symbol is shown, and for which no availability other than the issuing activity is given, may present unusual problems of reproducibility. The originator of such a document should be consulted as to its availability. A source from which a document announced in STAR is available to the public is ordinarily given on the last line of the citation. The NASA accession number is sufficient when ordering NASA and NASA-sponsored documents (indicated by an asterisk) from the National Technical Information Service. When ordering non-NASA documents (no asterisk) from the issuing agency or other sources, particularly NTIS, it is essential that additional bibliographic information, including the report number, be given. The following are the most commonly indicated sources: (Full addresses of these organizations are listed at the end of this introduction.) Avail NTIS. Sold by the National Technical Information Service at the price shown in the Microfiche. Microfiche is available from NTIS at a standard price of $1.45 Deposit Accounts and Customers Outside U.S. NTIS encourages its customers NTIS customers outside the United States are reminded that they should add the Avail: NASA Scientific and Technical Information Office. Documents with this avail- ability are usually news releases or informational leaflets available without charge in Avail AEC Depository Libraries. Organizations in U.S. cities and abroad that maintain col- Avail Univ. Microfilms. Documents so indicated are dissertations selected from Disser- Avail USGS Originals of many reports from the U.S. Geological Survey, which may con- IV |