Does the motor system need intermittent control?

Explanation of motor control is dominated by continuous neurophysiological pathways (e.g. trans-cortical, spinal) and the continuous control paradigm. Using new theoretical development, methodology and evidence, we propose intermittent control, which incorporates a serial ballistic process within the main feedback loop, provides a more general and more accurate paradigm necessary to explain attributes highly advantageous for competitive survival and performance

Maximum-Likelihood Sequence Detector for Dynamic Mode High Density Probe Storage

There is an increasing need for high density data storage devices driven by the increased demand of consumer electronics. In this work, we consider a data storage system that operates by encoding information as topographic profiles on a polymer medium. A cantilever probe with a sharp tip (few nm radius) is used to create and sense the presence of topographic profiles, resulting in a density of few Tb per in.2. The prevalent mode of using the cantilever probe is the static mode that is harsh on the probe and the media. In this article, the high quality factor dynamic mode operation, that is less harsh on the media and the probe, is analyzed. The read operation is modeled as a communication channel which incorporates system memory due to inter-symbol interference and the cantilever state. We demonstrate an appropriate level of abstraction of this complex nanoscale system that obviates the need for an involved physical model. Next, a solution to the maximum likelihood sequence detection problem based on the Viterbi algorithm is devised. Experimental and simulation results demonstrate that the performance of this detector is several orders of magnitude better than the performance of other existing schemes.Comment: This paper is published in IEEE Trans. on communicatio

Adaptive intermittent control: A computational model explaining motor intermittency observed in human behavior

It is a fundamental question how our brain performs a given motor task in a real-time fashion with the slow sensorimotor system. Computational theory proposed an influential idea of feed-forward control, but it has mainly treated the case that the movement is ballistic (such as reaching) because the motor commands should be calculated in advance of movement execution. As a possible mechanism for operating feed-forward control in continuous motor tasks (such as target tracking), we propose a control model called "adaptive intermittent control" or "segmented control," that brain adaptively divides the continuous time axis into discrete segments and executes feed-forward control in each segment. The idea of intermittent control has been proposed in the fields of control theory, biological modeling and nonlinear dynamical system. Compared with these previous models, the key of the proposed model is that the system speculatively determines the segmentation based on the future prediction and its uncertainty. The result of computer simulation showed that the proposed model realized faithful visuo-manual tracking with realistic sensorimotor delays and with less computational costs (i.e., with fewer number of segments). Furthermore, it replicated "motor intermittency", that is, intermittent discontinuities commonly observed in human movement trajectories. We discuss that the temporally segmented control is an inevitable strategy for brain which has to achieve a given task with small computational (or cognitive) cost, using a slow control system in an uncertain variable environment, and the motor intermittency is the side-effect of this strategy

Prospects for multi-messenger extended emission from core-collapse supernovae in the Local Universe

Multi-messenger emissions from SN1987A and GW170817/GRB170817A suggest a Universe rife with multi-messenger transients associated with black holes and neutron stars. For LIGO-Virgo, soon to be joined by KAGRA, these observations promise unprecedented opportunities to probe the central engines of core-collapse supernovae (CC-SNe) and gamma-ray bursts. Compared to neutron stars, central engines powered by black hole-disk or torus systems may be of particular interest to multi-messenger observations by the relatively large energy reservoir $E_J$ of angular momentum, up to 29\% of total mass in the Kerr metric. These central engines are expected from relatively massive stellar progenitors and compact binary coalescence involving a neutron star. We review prospects of multi-messenger emission by catalytic conversion of $E_J$ by a non-axisymmetric disk or torus. Observational support for this radiation process is found in a recent identification of ${\cal E}\simeq (3.5\pm1)\%M_\odot c^2$ in Extended Emission to GW170817 at a significance of 4.2\,$\sigma$ concurrent with GRB170817A. A prospect on similar emissions from nearby CC-SNe justifies the need for all-sky blind searches of long duration bursts by heterogeneous computing.Comment: 96 pages, 20 figure

Gas Lift Optimization Of Bayan Wells Using PROSPER

This project aims to study the complete mechanism of gas lift optimization and application to help increase the oil and gas production in BAYAN wells. The BAYAN wells have been producing for several years now and the production rate have been declining over time and in need of well stimulation and gas lift optimization is the best option. Gas lift optimization is the most common artificial lift method widely used in oil production. It will help to increase the production by increasing the effective density of the oil and increasing the pressure inside the reservoir. The total gas used for oil production is constrained by daily availability limits and limits on maximum injection volume into each well. The oil produced from each well is known to be a nonlinear function of the gas injected into it and varies between wells. The problem is to identify and inject the optimal amount of gas into each well to maximize the total amount of oil production from the reservoir on a daily basis. The problem has long been of practical interest to all major oil exploration companies as it has a potential of deriving large financial benefits. Thus, it is hoped that this project will increase the production rate of BAYAN wells

A study of manual control methodology with annotated bibliography

Manual control methodology - study with annotated bibliograph

On Law and the Transition to Market: The Case of Egypt

On the eve of independence from European colonialism, Egypt, like most other developing countries, undertook the project of de-linking itself from colonial economy by initiating domestic industrialization. The economic project known as Import Substitution Industrialization (“ISI”) was designed to liberate Egypt from raw commodity production--specifically, agricultural and mineral--servicing its previous colonial master, Great Britain. The engine of development would be an expanding public sector with nationalization and socialism as leitmotifs. In re-orienting the economy towards industrial production, Egypt hoped that the terms of trade with the international economy would significantly improve, thereby leading to an improvement in the living standards of its population. And, like most other developing countries (with *352 the exception of the East Asian Tigers), Egypt failed. A symptom of its failure was a severe debt crisis that hurled Egypt into the brutal embrace of the International Financial Institutions (“IFIs”): the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”). To be rescued from its debt crisis, Egypt had to concede to the neo-liberal economic program of these institutions, otherwise known as the Washington Consensus. The program aimed to improve Egypt\u27s capacity to repay its debts to international creditors by: re-linking it to the global economy via trade liberalization and through the re-regulation of its domestic economy to be more market oriented with the private sector, henceforth, being the engine. And like most other debtor-countries, Egypt had to go through an austerity program to improve its savings