IAI Arava

The Israeli Aircraft Industries Arava (Hebrew: עֲרָבָה, "Willow" or "Steppe" of "Desert", named after the Aravah of the Jordan Rift Valley) is a light STOL utility transport aircraft built in Israel by IAI in the late 1960s.

The Arava was IAI's first major aircraft design to enter production. It was intended both for the military and civil market, but the aircraft was only built in relatively small numbers. The customers were found mainly in third world countries, especially in Central and South America as well as Swaziland and Thailand.

Design and development

The design work on the Arava began in 1965, and the design objectives included STOL performance, the ability to operate from rough strips and carry 20 passengers or bulky payloads. To achieve this, the Arava design was of a relatively unusual configuration.

The Arava's fuselage was barrel-like, short but wide, and the rear of the fuselage was hinged and could swing open for easy loading and unloading. Its wingspan was long and the twin tails were mounted on booms that ran from the engine nacelles. It was fitted with a fixed nosewheel undercarriage to save weight, while the chosen powerplant was two 715 eshp (533 kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-27 turboprops.

Iaido

Iaido (居合道, Iaidō), abbreviated with iai (居合), is a modern Japanese martial art/sport.

Iaido is associated with the smooth, controlled movements of drawing the sword from its scabbard or saya, striking or cutting an opponent, removing blood from the blade, and then replacing the sword in the scabbard. While beginning practitioners of iaido may start learning with a wooden sword (bokken) depending on the teaching style of a particular instructor, most of the practitioners use the blunt edged sword, called iaitō. Few, more experienced, iaido practitioners use a sharp edged sword (shinken).

Practitioners of iaido are often referred to as iaidoka.

Origins of the name

The term 'iaido' appear in 1932 and consists of the kanji characters 居 (i), 合 (ai), and 道 (dō). The origin of the first two characters, iai (居合), is believed to come from saying Tsune ni ite, kyū ni awasu (常に居て、急に合わす), that can be roughly translated as “being constantly (prepared), match/meet (the opposition) immediately”. Thus the primary emphasis in 'iai' is on the psychological state of being present (居). The secondary emphasis is on drawing the sword and responding to the sudden attack as quickly as possible (合).

5-IAI

5-Iodo-2-aminoindane (5-IAI) is a drug which acts as a releasing agent of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. It was developed in the 1990s by a team led by David E. Nichols at Purdue University. 5-IAI fully substitutes for MDMA in rodents and is a putative entactogen in humans. Unlike related aminoindane derivatives like MDAI and MMAI, 5-IAI causes some serotonergic neurotoxicity in rats, but is substantially less toxic than its corresponding amphetamine homologue pIA, with the damage observed barely reaching statistical significance.

See also

References

IAI

IAI is an acronym for: