Conference Report: Hierarchical Design Stressed at Design Automation Conference

Until recently the general attitude of engineers to design automation was confused–they questioned its value yet deplored its limited availability. To increase the amount of DA knowledge in the public domain, the 15th in the series of Annual Design Automation Conferences was held June 19-21 at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas. Due either to this enlightened choice of venue or to spreading paranoia over handling VLSI designs, this year's conference was extremely well attended–650 delegates, an increase of 50 percent over last year. However, for those expecting ing to learn of new tools for survival in technologies governed by Moore's Laws, this conference may have been somewhat disappointing. It was largely more of the same–PWB layout, testing, IC layout, design languages, logic design, simulation, CAM, and graphics

Aerospace medicine and biology. A continuing bibliography (supplement 231)

This bibliography lists 284 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in March 1982

MESHR: A Modular, Economical Skin Graft Hand Roller

In South Africa and around the world, the rates of severe burns are a significant health issue. Skin grafts are used to improve the function and appearance of the burned area and reduce the amount of time a patient is in the hospital. To minimize the amount of skin needed and maximize the coverage of the graft, the harvested sample is meshed in a lattice pattern so it can expand and graft a much larger surface area. Unfortunately, the current methods and devices used in both high and low-income countries have been optimized for hospitals with larger budgets and more readily available resources. In this project, we developed a frugal skin graft expansion device for low resource settings in developing countries. After identifying the needs of low-resource countries, we prototyped possible solutions and tested them, achieving both the meshing pattern and graft expansion. We then created further iterations of our design to more fully meet the needs of developing countries. We believe our frugal device will fill a need in the current field of burn care devices in developing countries and significantly increase the number of burn patients successfully treated in low resource settings, allowing them to reintegrate into society and live healthy and productive lives

Comparative analysis of the effect of a closed-loop irrigation system on crop yield

M.S.Leslie G. Callahan, Jr

A synoptic description of coal basins via image processing

An existing image processing system is adapted to describe the geologic attributes of a regional coal basin. This scheme handles a map as if it were a matrix, in contrast to more conventional approaches which represent map information in terms of linked polygons. The utility of the image processing approach is demonstrated by a multiattribute analysis of the Herrin No. 6 coal seam in Illinois. Findings include the location of a resource and estimation of tonnage corresponding to constraints on seam thickness, overburden, and Btu value, which are illustrative of the need for new mining technology

Wellington-Blackwood land resources survey

This report presents descriptions to accompany land resource maps of the Wellington- Blackwood district, east of Bunbury in the south-west of Western Australia. The maps cover an area of about 760,000 hectares and are presented as two map sheets at a scale of 1:100,000. Four different physiographic zones cover the survey area: • The Western Darling Range Zone occupies the major portion of the area and consists of a deeply dissected lateritic plateau overlying crystalline rocks. Three soil-landscape systems containing 24 subsystems have been identified and mapped within this zone. • The Eastern Darling Range Zone is in the south-east corner and consists of valley systems and lateritic plateau remnants overlying crystalline rocks and Eocene sedimentary deposits. Two soil-landscape systems containing nine subsystems have been identified and mapped. • The Donnybrook Sunkland Zone lies in the south-west of the survey area and consists of a low lying lateritic plateau overlying sedimentary rocks. Three soil-landscape systems containing 14 subsystems have been identified and mapped within this zone. • The Warren-Denmark Southland Zone occupies only a small portion to the south where it takes the form of a lateritic plateau overlying crystalline rocks. One system containing six subsystems has been identified and mapped. As well as the mapping units, 54 soil series have been identified and described. The land capability of each subsystem has been assessed for the following uses: • grazing • broadscale cropping • vegetable growing • orchards and vineyards • farm forestry • rural residential development. This report is intended as a source of land resource information and aid for land use planning. Note: The user needs to be aware that the maps have been prepared for use at the published scale (1:100,000) only. Any attempts to enlarge the line work to use the maps at more detailed scales may result in inaccuracies and misinterpretations. The land capability interpretations may be updated as knowledge of the land resources of the district and land use requirements improves

Solar sustained plasma/absorber conceptual design

A space power system concept was evaluated which uses concentrated solar energy to heat a working fluid to temperatures as high as 4000 K. The high temperature working fluid could be used for efficient electric power production in advanced thermal or magnetohydrodynamic conversion cycles. Energy absorber configurations utilizing particles or cesium vapor absorber material were investigaed. Results of detailed radiant heat transfer calculations indicated approximately 86 percent of the incident solar energy could be absorbed within a 12-cm-dia flowing stream of gas borne carbon particles. Calculated total energy absorption in the cesium vapor seeded absorber configuration ranged from 34 percent to 64 percent of the incident solar energy. Solar flux concentration ratios of between approximately 3000 and 10,000 will be required to sustain absorber temperatures in the range from 3000 K to 4000 K

Space Construction Automated Fabrication Experiment Definition Study (SCAFEDS), part 3. Volume 3: Requirements

The performance, design and verification requirements for the space Construction Automated Fabrication Experiment (SCAFE) are defined. The SCAFE program defines, develops, and demonstrates the techniques, processes, and equipment required for the automatic fabrication of structural elements in space and for the assembly of such elements into a large, lightweight structure. The program defines a large structural platform to be constructed in orbit using the space shuttle as a launch vehicle and construction base

Safe Experimentation Dynamics Algorithm for Identification of Cupping Suction Based on the Nonlinear Hammerstein Model

The use of cupping therapy for various health benefits has increased in popularity recently. Potential advantages of cupping therapy include pain reduction, increased circulation, relaxation, and skin health. The increased blood flow makes it easier to supply nutrients and oxygen to the tissues, promoting healing. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of this technique greatly depends on the negative pressure's ability to create the desired suction effect on the skin. This research paper suggests a method to detect the cupping suction model by employing the Hammerstein model and utilizing the Safe Experimentation Dynamics (SED) algorithm. The problem is that the cupping suction system experiences pressure leaks and is difficult to control. Although, stabilizing the suction pressure and developing an effective controller requires an accurate model. The research contribution lies in utilizing the SED algorithm to tune the parameters of the Hammerstein model specifically for the cupping suction system and figure out the real system with a continuous-time transfer function. The experimental data collected for cupping therapy exhibited nonlinearity attributed to the complex dynamics of the system, presenting challenges in developing a Hammerstein model. This work used a nonlinear model to study the cupping suction system. Input and output data were collected from the differential pressure sensor for 20 minutes, sampling every 0.1 seconds. The single-agent method SED has limited exploration capabilities for finding optimum value but excels in exploitation. To address this limitation, incorporating initial values leads to improved performance and a better match with the real experimental observations. Experimentation was conducted to find the best model parameters for the desired suction pressure. The therapy can be administered with greater precision and efficacy by accurately identifying the suction pressure. Overall, this research represents a promising development in cupping therapy. In particular, it has been demonstrated that the proposed nonlinear Hammerstein models improve accuracy by 84.34% through the tuning SED algorithm