Predicting Visibility of Aircraft

Visual detection of aircraft by human observers is an important element of aviation safety. To assess and ensure safety, it would be useful to be able to be able to predict the visibility, to a human observer, of an aircraft of specified size, shape, distance, and coloration. Examples include assuring safe separation among aircraft and between aircraft and unmanned vehicles, design of airport control towers, and efforts to enhance or suppress the visibility of military and rescue vehicles. We have recently developed a simple metric of pattern visibility, the Spatial Standard Observer (SSO). In this report we examine whether the SSO can predict visibility of simulated aircraft images. We constructed a set of aircraft images from three-dimensional computer graphic models, and measured the luminance contrast threshold for each image from three human observers. The data were well predicted by the SSO. Finally, we show how to use the SSO to predict visibility range for aircraft of arbitrary size, shape, distance, and coloration

The effects of temperature on nitrous oxide and oxygen mixture homogeneity and stability

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>For many long standing practices, the rationale for them is often lost as time passes. This is the situation with respect to the storage and handling of equimolar 50% nitrous oxide and 50% oxygen volume/volume (v/v) mixtures.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A review was undertaken of existing literature to examine the developmental history of nitrous oxide and oxygen mixtures for anesthesia and analgesia and to ascertain if sufficient bibliographic data was available to support the position that the contents of a cylinder of a 50%/50% volume/volume (v/v) mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen is in a homogenous single gas phase in a filled cylinder under normal conditions of handling and storage and if justification could be found for the standard instructions given for handling before use.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After ranking and removing duplicates, a total of fifteen articles were identified by the various search strategies and formed the basis of this literature review. Several studies were identified that confirmed that 50%/50% v/v mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen is in a homogenous single gas phase in a filled cylinder under normal conditions of handling and storage. The effect of temperature on the change of phase of the nitrous oxide in this mixture was further examined by several authors. These studies demonstrated that although it is possible to cause condensation and phase separation by cooling the cylinder, by allowing the cylinder to rewarm to room temperature for at least 48 hours, preferably in a horizontal orientation, and inverting it three times before use, the cylinder consistently delivered the proper proportions of the component gases as a homogenous mixture.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The contents of a cylinder of a 50%/50% volume/volume (v/v) mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen is in a homogenous single gas phase in a filled cylinder under normal conditions of handling and storage. The standard instructions given for handling before are justified based on previously conducted studies.</p

The Braincase and Neurosensory Anatomy of an Early Jurassic Marine Crocodylomorph: Implications for Crocodylian Sinus Evolution and Sensory Transitions

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Brusatte, S. L., Muir, A. , Young, M. T., Walsh, S. , Steel, L. and Witmer, L. M. (2016), The Braincase and Neurosensory Anatomy of an Early Jurassic Marine Crocodylomorph: Implications for Crocodylian Sinus Evolution and Sensory Transitions. Anat. Rec., 299: 1511-1530., which has been published in final form at doi:10.1002/ar.23462. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving." You are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it

Securitization in Chinese climate and energy politics

This article provides an overview of securitization in Chinese climate and energy debates. Scholars have debated the merits as well as the potentially problematic implications of securitization, or framing issues as ‘security,’ since the early 1990s. Early concern focused on the potential problems with linking environmental issues with ‘security,’ and the debate has since also turned specifically to the climate and energy. However, it is only recently that this debate has begun to pay attention to China. Energy and climate concerns are of increasing importance to China: the sheer scale of its energy consumption and air pollution struggles dwarf the challenges seen by other states, and its policy choices play a key role in shaping global climate and energy dynamics. Thus, while securitization in the Chinese context is rarely studied, how China frames its energy and climate policy matters. Both energy and climate are taken increasingly seriously, and security plays an increasing role in debates. This review surveys the increasing popularity of linking security with climate and energy issues both in the academic debate on China and in official discourse, and some of the potential implications

Interlaminar Fracture Toughness Evaluation in Glass/Epoxy Composites Using Acoustic Emission and Finite Element Methods

© 2014, ASM International. Delamination is one of the most common modes of failure in laminated composites and it leads to the loss of structural strength and stiffness. In this paper, mode I, mode II, and mixed of these pure modes were investigated using mechanical data, Finite Element Method (FEM) and Acoustic Emission (AE) signals. Experimental data were obtained from insitu monitoring of glass/epoxy laminated composites with different lay-ups when subjected to different modes of failure. The main objective was to investigate the behavior of delamination propagation and to evaluate the critical value of the strain energy which is required for onset of the delamination (GC). For the identification of interlaminar fracture toughness of the specimens, four methods were used: (a) ASTM standard methods, (b) FEM analysis, (c) AE method, and (d) sentry function method which is a function of mechanical and AE behaviors of the specimens. The results showed that the GC values obtained by the sentry function method and FEM analysis were in a close agreement with the results of nonlinearity methods which is recommended in the ASTM standards. It was also found that the specimens under different loading conditions and various lay-up have different GC values. These differences are related to different stress components distribution in the specimens which induce various damage mechanisms. Accordingly, stress components distribution obtained from FEM analyses were in agreement with SEM observations of the damaged surfaces of the specimens

Integration across time determines path deviation discrimination for moving objects.

YesBackground: Human vision is vital in determining our interaction with the outside world. In this study we characterize our ability to judge changes in the direction of motion of objects-a common task which can allow us either to intercept moving objects, or else avoid them if they pose a threat. Methodology/Principal Findings: Observers were presented with objects which moved across a computer monitor on a linear path until the midline, at which point they changed their direction of motion, and observers were required to judge the direction of change. In keeping with the variety of objects we encounter in the real world, we varied characteristics of the moving stimuli such as velocity, extent of motion path and the object size. Furthermore, we compared performance for moving objects with the ability of observers to detect a deviation in a line which formed the static trace of the motion path, since it has been suggested that a form of static memory trace may form the basis for these types of judgment. The static line judgments were well described by a 'scale invariant' model in which any two stimuli which possess the same two-dimensional geometry (length/width) result in the same level of performance. Performance for the moving objects was entirely different. Irrespective of the path length, object size or velocity of motion, path deviation thresholds depended simply upon the duration of the motion path in seconds. Conclusions/Significance: Human vision has long been known to integrate information across space in order to solve spatial tasks such as judgment of orientation or position. Here we demonstrate an intriguing mechanism which integrates direction information across time in order to optimize the judgment of path deviation for moving objects.Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust, NI

Patterns of default mode network deactivation in obsessive compulsive disorder

The objective of the present study was to research the patterns of Default Mode Network (DMN) deactivation in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in the transition between a resting and a non-rest emotional condition. Twenty-seven participants, 15 diagnosed with OCD and 12 healthy controls (HC), underwent a functional neuroimaging paradigm in which DMN brain activation in a resting condition was contrasted with activity during a non-rest condition consisting in the presentation of emotionally pleasant and unpleasant images. Results showed that HC, when compared with OCD, had a significant deactivation in two anterior nodes of the DMN (medial frontal and superior frontal) in the non-rest pleasant stimuli condition. Additional analysis for the whole brain, contrasting the resting condition with all the non-rest conditions grouped together, showed that, compared with OCD, HC had a significantly deactivation of a widespread brain network (superior frontal, insula, middle and superior temporal, putamen, lingual, cuneus, and cerebellum). Concluding, the present study found that OCD patients had difficulties with the deactivation of DMN even when the non-rest condition includes the presentation of emotional provoking stimuli, particularly evident for images with pleasant content.The first author was funded by the Brazilian National Counsel for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) as a Special Visiting Researcher of the Science Without Borders program (grant number: 401143/20147). This study was partially conducted at the Neuropsychophysiology Lab from the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145FEDER-007653).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Resistance to MPTP-Neurotoxicity in α-Synuclein Knockout Mice Is Complemented by Human α-Synuclein and Associated with Increased β-Synuclein and Akt Activation

Genetic and biochemical abnormalities of α-synuclein are associated with the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. In the present study we investigated the in vivo interaction of mouse and human α-synuclein with the potent parkinsonian neurotoxin, MPTP. We find that while lack of mouse α-synuclein in mice is associated with reduced vulnerability to MPTP, increased levels of human α-synuclein expression is not associated with obvious changes in the vulnerability of dopaminergic neurons to MPTP. However, expressing human α-synuclein variants (human wild type or A53T) in the α-synuclein null mice completely restores the vulnerability of nigral dopaminergic neurons to MPTP. These results indicate that human α-synuclein can functionally replace mouse α-synuclein in regard to vulnerability of dopaminergic neurons to MPTP-toxicity. Significantly, α-synuclein null mice and wild type mice were equally sensitive to neurodegeneration induced by 2′NH2-MPTP, a MPTP analog that is selective for serotoninergic and noradrenergic neurons. These results suggest that effects of α-synuclein on MPTP like compounds are selective for nigral dopaminergic neurons. Immunoblot analysis of β-synuclein and Akt levels in the mice reveals selective increases in β-synuclein and phosphorylated Akt levels in ventral midbrain, but not in other brain regions, of α-synuclein null mice, implicating the α-synuclein-level dependent regulation of β-synuclein expression in modulation of MPTP-toxicity by α-synuclein. Together these findings provide new mechanistic insights on the role α-synuclein in modulating neurodegenerative phenotypes by regulation of Akt-mediated cell survival signaling in vivo