Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA): Assessment of the manned maneuvering unit

The results of the Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA) of the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Critical Items List (CIL) are presented. The IOA effort first completed an analysis of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) hardware, generating draft failure modes and potential critical items. To preserve independence, this analysis was accomplished without reliance upon the results contain within the NASA FMEA/CIL documentation. The IOA results were then compared to the proposed Martin Marietta FMEA/CIL Post 51-L updates. A discussion of each discrepancy from the comparison is provided through additional analysis as required. These discrepancies were flagged as issues, and recommendations were made based on the FMEA data available at the time. The results of this comparison for the Orbiter MMU hardware are documented. The IOA product for the MMU analysis consisted of 204 failure mode worksheets that resulted in 95 potential critical items being identified. Comparison was made to the NASA baseline which consisted of 179 FMEAs and 110 CIL items. This comparison produced agreement on all 121 FMEAs which caused differences in 92 CIL items

Corporate environmental assessment by a bank lender : a social constructionist perspective

Over the last decade evidence has emerged which suggests that lenders are considering environmental impact of corporate borrowers as part of their lending decisions. Environmental consideration by lenders may considerably influence the level of financial support available for economic growth and environmemntal management. The primary aim of this research project is to examine the development and use of corporate environmental assessment techniques by members of a commercial lending bank. The research will build upon previous findings that highlight the influences of culture upon bank members perception of environmental credit risks. Specific emphasis will be placed on evaluating the role of mechanisms for the communiaction of bank policy. These will be analysed to find out how and why corporate environmental performance considerations shape the lending process. Research will be undertaken in the form of a case study facilitated by Lloyds TSB Group plc. Analysis will centre on an evaluation of the rationalities for environmental assessment displayed by bank members and their justification for the application of specific environemnatal assessment techniques. The findings are expected to be of direct practical benefit to bank lending officers and others interested in lending processes and/or corporate environmental assessment techniques

Dorsal raphe dopamine neurons represent the experience of social isolation

The motivation to seek social contact may arise from either positive or negative emotional states, as social interaction can be rewarding and social isolation can be aversive. While ventral tegmental area dopamine (VTA DA) neurons may mediate social reward, a cellular substrate for the negative affective state of loneliness has remained elusive. Here, we identify a functional role for DA neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), in which we observe synaptic changes following acute social isolation. DRN DA neurons show increased activity upon social contact following isolation, revealed by in vivo calcium imaging. Optogenetic a ctivation of DRN DA neurons increases social preference, but causes place avoidance. Furthermore, these neurons are necessary for promoting rebound sociability following an acute period of isolation. Finally, the degree to which these neurons modulate behavior is predicted by social rank , together supporting a role for DRN dopamine neurons in mediating a loneliness-like state

Search for ttˉt\bar{t} resonances in semileptonic final states in pp collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 8 TeV

A search for the production of new heavy resonances produced in proton-proton collisions at the CMS Experiment that decay into top quark pairs is presented. Data was recorded at a center of mass energy of 8 TeV and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.6 fb$^{-1}$. Results are presented as a combination of two dedicated searches, the first optimized for kinematic threshold production of top quark pairs and the second optimized for a highly boosted regime. No excess is observed above the expected yield from SM processes. In the absence of any excess we set the following limits at 95% CL on the production of non-SM particles. Top color Z' bosons with relative widths of 1.2% and 10% are excluded for masses below 2.10 TeV and 2.68 TeV. Upper limits of 1.94 pb and 0.029 pb are set on the production cross section times branching fraction for narrow resonances with masses of 0.5 TeV and 2 TeV. Likewise, limits of 1.71 pb and 0.045 pb are set for wide resonances with masses of 0.5 TeV and 2 TeV. In addition, Kaluza-Klein excitations of a gluon with masses below 2.54 TeV in the Randall-Sundrum model are excluded and an upper limit of 0.101 pb is set for a resonance mass of 2 TeV.Comment: Presentation at the DPF 2013 Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Particles and Fields, Santa Cruz, California, August 13-17, 201

Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA): Analysis of the manned maneuvering unit

Results of the Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA) of the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Critical Items List (CIL) are presented. The IOA approach features a top-down analysis of the hardware to determine failure modes, criticality, and potential critical items (PCIs). To preserve indepedence, this analysis was accomplished without reliance upon the results contained within the NASA FMEA/CIL documentation. This report documents the independent analysis results corresponding to the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) hardware. The MMU is a propulsive backpack, operated through separate hand controllers that input the pilot's translational and rotational maneuvering commands to the control electronics and then to the thrusters. The IOA analysis process utilized available MMU hardware drawings and schematics for defining hardware subsystems, assemblies, components, and hardware items. Final levels of detail were evaluated and analyzed for possible failure modes and effects. Criticality was assigned based upon the worst case severity of the effect for each identified failure mode. The IOA analysis of the MMU found that the majority of the PCIs identified are resultant from the loss of either the propulsion or control functions, or are resultant from inability to perform an immediate or future mission. The five most severe criticalities identified are all resultant from failures imposed on the MMU hand controllers which have no redundancy within the MMU

IVOA Recommendation: Universal Worker Service Pattern Version 1.0

The Universal Worker Service (UWS) pattern defines how to manage asynchronous execution of jobs on a service. Any application of the pattern defines a family of related services with a common service contract. Possible uses of the pattern are also described

Real Time Global Tests of the ALICE High Level Trigger Data Transport Framework

The High Level Trigger (HLT) system of the ALICE experiment is an online event filter and trigger system designed for input bandwidths of up to 25 GB/s at event rates of up to 1 kHz. The system is designed as a scalable PC cluster, implementing several hundred nodes. The transport of data in the system is handled by an object-oriented data flow framework operating on the basis of the publisher-subscriber principle, being designed fully pipelined with lowest processing overhead and communication latency in the cluster. In this paper, we report the latest measurements where this framework has been operated on five different sites over a global north-south link extending more than 10,000 km, processing a ``real-time'' data flow.Comment: 8 pages 4 figure