Mathematical analysis study for radar data processing and enchancement. Part 2: Modeling of propagation path errors

A study is performed under NASA contract to evaluate data from an AN/FPS-16 radar installed for support of flight programs at Dryden Flight Research Facility of NASA Ames Research Center. The purpose of this study is to provide information necessary for improving post-flight data reduction and knowledge of accuracy of derived radar quantities. Tracking data from six flights are analyzed. Noise and bias errors in raw tracking data are determined for each of the flights. A discussion of an altitude bias error during all of the tracking missions is included. This bias error is defined by utilizing pressure altitude measurements made during survey flights. Four separate filtering methods, representative of the most widely used optimal estimation techniques for enhancement of radar tracking data, are analyzed for suitability in processing both real-time and post-mission data. Additional information regarding the radar and its measurements, including typical noise and bias errors in the range and angle measurements, is also presented. This report is in two parts. This is part 2, a discussion of the modeling of propagation path errors

Beta distributions: A computer program for probabilities and fractile points

A beta distribution is specified by range parameters a b, and two shape parameters alpha and beta 0. The computer program presented calculates any desired probability and/or fractile point for specified values of a, b, alpha, and beta. This program additionally computes gamma function values for integer and noninteger arguments

Extreme Mean and Its Applications

Extreme value statistics obtained from normally distributed data are considered. An extreme mean is defined as the mean of p-th probability truncated normal distribution. An unbiased estimate of this extreme mean and its large sample distribution are derived. The distribution of this estimate even for very large samples is found to be nonnormal. Further, as the sample size increases, the variance of the unbiased estimate converges to the Cramer-Rao lower bound. The computer program used to obtain the density and distribution functions of the standardized unbiased estimate, and the confidence intervals of the extreme mean for any data are included for ready application. An example is included to demonstrate the usefulness of extreme mean application

The power of parasocial learning: Nurses’ experiences of learning through entertainment-education in the online learning environment

Entertainment-education is a pedagogy commonly used in the sphere of public health to transmit educational messages via mass media such as TV and radio soap operas style dramas. In this context learners are perceived as the passive recipients of educational messages. In my work I explore the use of entertainment-education in the higher education setting with nurse learners using entertainment-education dramas in the online learning environment. By exploring nurse learners’ experience of online entertainment-education dramas I discovered that learning through entertainment-education is an active, emotional and transformative experience. I have called this process parasocial learning

Bivariate normal, conditional and rectangular probabilities: A computer program with applications

Some results for the bivariate normal distribution analysis are presented. Computer programs for conditional normal probabilities, marginal probabilities, as well as joint probabilities for rectangular regions are given: routines for computing fractile points and distribution functions are also presented. Some examples from a closed circuit television experiment are included

Mathematical analysis study for radar data processing and enhancement. Part 1: Radar data analysis

A study is performed under NASA contract to evaluate data from an AN/FPS-16 radar installed for support of flight programs at Dryden Flight Research Facility of NASA Ames Research Center. The purpose of this study is to provide information necessary for improving post-flight data reduction and knowledge of accuracy of derived radar quantities. Tracking data from six flights are analyzed. Noise and bias errors in raw tracking data are determined for each of the flights. A discussion of an altiude bias error during all of the tracking missions is included. This bias error is defined by utilizing pressure altitude measurements made during survey flights. Four separate filtering methods, representative of the most widely used optimal estimation techniques for enhancement of radar tracking data, are analyzed for suitability in processing both real-time and post-mission data. Additional information regarding the radar and its measurements, including typical noise and bias errors in the range and angle measurements, is also presented. This is in two parts. This is part 1, an analysis of radar data

Standing Mute at Arrest as Evidence of Guilt: The \u27Right to Silence\u27 Under Attack

It is commonly understood that an arrested person has a right to remain silent and that the government may not use his or her silence to prove guilt at trial. Three Circuit Courts of Appeal, however, reject this understanding. They allow the prosecution to use an arrested person\u27s pre-Miranda silence as direct evidence of guilt. This article argues that those Circuits are wrong. The article, first, demonstrates the historical antiquity of the Common Law principle that a detained person has the right to stand mute. Though the right was limited by statutory incursion and in tension, at times, with the evidentiary principle of tacit admissions an arrested person\u27s right to stand mute has never been so attenuated that a defendant\u27s mere silence upon arrest can give rise to an inference of guilt. Two of the Circuits that permit the use of post-arrest pre-Miranda silence to prove guilt neglect the distinction between the impeachment use of silence, which the Supreme Court has sanctioned, and the substantive use of silence. A third Circuit has confused the giving of Miranda warnings with the inception of the right to remain silent. Four other Circuits bar the prosecution from using post-arrest pre-Miranda silence to prove guilt. These courts correctly perceive that the right against self-incrimination protects a person at least from the moment he or she is detained

Parasocial Activity: Nurse Learner's Experience of Entertainment Education

This paper aims to disseminate the findings of my doctoral research study exploring student experience of an innovative pedagogy, entertainment-education in the online learning environment. In the light of recent reports that question nurses’ capacity to care and their ability to manage the emotional challenges of practice, pedagogical approaches that can influence nurses’ clinical knowledge and promote caring attitudes are needed. New pedagogical approaches within nurse education are beginning to emerge and stories, simulation and online learning are being adopted to ensure safe and supportive learning experiences for nurses and their patients. In this concurrent session, I will report on my doctoral study which explores the experiences of registered nurses learning through the innovative use of a pro-social pedagogy called entertainment-education in the online learning environment. I will identify how nurses learned from entertainment education characters as if they were real people: a process I have called parasocial learning. I will discuss the significance of the emotional response to characters and storylines within entertainment-education to the parasocial learning process. I will argue that rather than protecting students from difficult emotions in educational settings as some author’s recommend, entertainment-education can be used to help students acknowledge difficult emotions and work with them as part of their professional development. In my study I discovered that the parasocial relationships students built with entertainment-education characters occupied the same social space as real people. I will discussed how students used these parasocial relationships in to translate theory into practice and work towards enhancing the quality of personal practice and service delivery In concluding I will recommend that entertainment-education is an effective pedagogical approach for providing safe and supportive vicarious learning experiences for nurses that can help them to build relationships with patients, manage the emotional challenges of care and translate theory into practice at an individual and social level