Living in space, book 2, levels D, E, F

In June 1984, President Reagan announced a new NASA program, Operation Liftoff. For more than 25 years NASA has pioneered on the cutting edge of science and technology and has stimulated our young people to strive for excellence in all they do. This program is designed to encourage pupils in the nation's elementary schools to take a greater interest in mathematics and science. Areas addressed include: food, clothing, health, housing, communication, and working in space

Evaluating Camera Mouse as a computer access system for augmentative and alternative communication in cerebral palsy: a case study

PUPRPOSE: Individuals with disabilities, who do not have reliable motor control to manipulate a standard computer mouse, require alternate access methods for complete computer access and for communication as well. The Camera Mouse system visually tracks the movement of selected facial features using a camera to directly control the mouse pointer of a computer. Current research suggests that this system can successfully provide a means of computer access and communication for individuals with motor impairments. However, there are no existing data on the efficacy of the software’s communication output capabilities. The goal of this case study is to provide a comprehensive evaluation of Camera Mouse as a computer access method for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) for an individual with cerebral palsy, who prefers to use her unintelligible dysarthric speech to communicate her desires and thoughts despite having access to a traditional AAC system. METHOD: The current study compared the Camera Mouse system, the Tobii PCEye Mini (a popular commercially available eye tracking device) paired with speech generating technology, and natural speech using a variety of tasks in a single dysarthric speaker. Tasks consisted of two questionnaires designed to measure psychosocial impact and satisfaction with assistive technology, two sentence intelligibility tasks that were judged by 4 unfamiliar listeners, and two language samples designed to measure expressive language. Each task was completed three times—once for each communication modality in question: natural speech, Camera Mouse-to-speech system, and Tobii eye tracker-to- speech system. Participant responses were recorded and transcribed. RESULTS: Data were analyzed in terms of psychosocial effects, user satisfaction, communication efficiency (using intelligibility and rate), and various measures of expressive output ability, to determine which modality offered the highest communicative aptitude. Measures showed that when paired with an orthographic selection interface and speech-generating device, the Camera Mouse and Tobii eye tracker resulted in greatly increased intelligibility. However, natural speech was superior to assistive technology options in all other measures, including psychosocial impact, satisfaction, communication efficiency, and several expressive language components. Though results indicate that use of the Tobii eye tracker resulted in a slightly higher rate and intelligibility, the participant reported increased satisfaction and psychosocial impact when using the novel Camera Mouse access system. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to provide quantitative information regarding the efficiency, psychosocial impact, user satisfaction, and expressive language capabilities of Camera Mouse as a computer access system for AAC. This study shows promising results for Camera Mouse as a functional access system for individuals with disabilities and for future AAC applications as well.2018-08-28T00:00:00

Spartan Daily, September 20, 1993

Volume 101, Issue 15https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/8443/thumbnail.jp

Electrical properties of concrete

Incl. 5 reprints in appendicesAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D69380/86 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Ambiente de simulação para o sistema de exploração robótica subaquática UNEXMIN

Underwater mines exploration is a valued, complex, expensive and time-consuming task. The unstable nature of the underwater environment with lack of visibility and the existence of obstructions create the need for complex navigation software which requires numerous missions and hardware/software validations. When testing and verifying control algorithms for such an operation, a simulation environment can be a very helpful tool. This also includes tools for the development of unmanned vehicle software, algorithm benchmarking and system preliminary validation. The objective in this thesis was to start the development of a simulation platform that can be used when developing and testing control systems for AUV operations. The simulator will include a dynamic model of an AUV in addition to complex world and sensor models such as DVL, IMU, Multibeam, Mechanical Scanning Imaging Sonar (MSIS), cameras, SLS and others. The simulated world includes water graphics, mine meshes, underwater visibility, currents, and hydrodynamics. Control of the robot in simulation is performed by keyboard or joystick over thrusters. The platform must be universal, such that users can implement their own algorithms easily and get immediate simulation results without needing to implement a complete control system. There should also be an easy transition between testing the control system on the simulated AUV and applying it to the real AUV. Robot Operating System (ROS) and Gazebo were used in the development of the platform. The platform with sensors and navigation was validated with real-world tests comparison.A exploração de minas subaquáticas ´e uma tarefa valiosa, complexa, dispendiosa e demorada. A natureza instável do ambiente subaquático, com falta de visibilidade e a existência de obstruções, cria a necessidade de software de navegação complexo, qual requer inúmeras missões e validações de hardware/software. Ao testar e verificar os algoritmos de controle para tal operação, um ambiente de simulação pode ser uma ferramenta muito útil. Isto também inclui ferramentas para o desenvolvimento de software de veículos não tripulados, benchmarking de algoritmos e validação preliminar do sistema. O objetivo desta tese foi iniciar o desenvolvimento de uma plataforma de simulação que possa ser usada no desenvolvimento e teste de sistemas de controle para operações de AUV. O simulador incluirá um modelo dinâmico de um AUV, além de modelos complexos do mundo e sensores, como DVL, IMU, Multibeam, MSIS, câmaras, SLS e outros. O mundo simulado inclui gráficos de ´agua, malhas de minas, visibilidade subaquática, correntes e hidrodinâmica. O controle do robô ´e realizado por teclado ou joystick sob as dinâmicas de propulsão. O simulador deve ser universal, de modo que os usuários possam implementar seus próprios algoritmos facilmente e obter resultados imediatos de simulação sem a necessidade de implementar um sistema de controle completo. Também deve haver uma transição fácil entre testar o sistema de controle no AUV simulado e aplicá-lo ao AUV real. ROS e Gazebo foram usados no desenvolvimento da plataforma. A plataforma com sensores e navegação foi validada com comparação de testes reais

The 727 approach energy management system avionics specification (preliminary)

Hardware and software requirements for an Approach Energy Management System (AEMS) consisting of an airborne digital computer and cockpit displays are presented. The displays provide the pilot with a visual indication of when to manually operate the gear, flaps, and throttles during a delayed flap approach so as to reduce approach time, fuel consumption, and community noise. The AEMS is an independent system that does not interact with other navigation or control systems, and is compatible with manually flown or autopilot coupled approaches. Operational use of the AEMS requires a DME ground station colocated with the flight path reference

EvoBot: An Open-Source, Modular, Liquid Handling Robot for Scientific Experiments

Commercial liquid handling robots are rarely appropriate when tasks change often, which is the case in the early stages of biochemical research. In order to address it, we have developed EvoBot, a liquid handling robot, which is open-source and employs a modular design. The combination of an open-source and a modular design is particularly powerful because functionality is divided into modules with simple, well-defined interfaces, hence customisation of modules is possible without detailed knowledge of the entire system. Furthermore, the modular design allows end-users to only produce and assemble the modules that are relevant for their specific application. Hence, time and money are not wasted on functionality that is not needed. Finally, modules can easily be reused. In this paper, we describe the EvoBot modular design and through scientific experiments such as basic liquid handling, nurturing of microbial fuel cells, and droplet chemotaxis experiments document how functionality is increased one module at a time with a significant amount of reuse. In addition to providing wet-labs with an extendible, open-source liquid handling robot, we also think that modularity is a key concept that is likely to be useful in other robots developed for scientific purposes