2,925 research outputs found
Bearing restoration by grinding
A joint program was undertaken by the NASA Lewis Research Center and the Army Aviation Systems Command to restore by grinding those rolling-element bearings which are currently being discarded at aircraft engine and transmission overhaul. Three bearing types were selected from the UH-1 helicopter engine (T-53) and transmission for the pilot program. No bearing failures occurred related to the restoration by grinding process. The risk and cost of a bearing restoration by grinding programs was analyzed. A microeconomic impact analysis was performed
Flight tests of IFR landing approach systems for helicopters
Joint NASA/FAA helicopter flight tests were conducted to investigate airborne radar approaches (ARA) and microwave landing system (MLS) approaches. Flight-test results were utilized to prove NASA with a data base to be used as a performance measure for advanced guidance and navigation concepts, and to provide FAA with data for establishment of TERPS criteria. The first flight-test investigation consisted of helicopter IFR approaches to offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, using weather/mapping radar, operational pilots, and a Bell 212 helicopter. The second flight-test investigation consisted of IFR MLS approaches at Crows Landing (near Ames Research Center), with a Bell UH-1H helicopter, using NASA, FAA, and operational industry pilots. Tests are described and results discussed
QuizMap: Open social student modeling and adaptive navigation support with TreeMaps
In this paper, we present a novel approach to integrate social adaptive navigation support for self-assessment questions with an open student model using QuizMap, a TreeMap-based interface. By exposing student model in contrast to student peers and the whole class, QuizMap attempts to provide social guidance and increase student performance. The paper explains the nature of the QuizMap approach and its implementation in the context of self-assessment questions for Java programming. It also presents the design of a semester-long classroom study that we ran to evaluate QuizMap and reports the evaluation results. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Development and assessment of a higher-spatial-resolution (4.4 km) MISR aerosol optical depth product using AERONET-DRAGON data
Since early 2000, the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)
instrument on NASA's Terra satellite has been acquiring data that have been
used to produce aerosol optical depth (AOD) and particle property retrievals
at 17.6 km spatial resolution. Capitalizing on the capabilities provided by
multi-angle viewing, the current operational (Version 22) MISR algorithm
performs well, with about 75 % of MISR AOD retrievals globally falling
within 0.05 or 20 %  ×  AOD of paired validation data from the
ground-based Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). This paper describes the
development and assessment of a prototype version of a higher-spatial-resolution 4.4 km MISR aerosol optical depth product compared against
multiple AERONET Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observations Network
(DRAGON) deployments around the globe. In comparisons with AERONET-DRAGON
AODs, the 4.4 km resolution retrievals show improved correlation (r = 0. 9595), smaller RMSE (0.0768), reduced bias (−0.0208),
and a larger fraction within the expected error envelope (80.92 %)
relative to the Version 22 MISR retrievals
Learning Mazes with Aliasing States: An LCS Algorithm with Associative Perception
Learning classifier systems (LCSs) belong to a class of algorithms based on the principle of self-organization and have frequently been applied to the task of solving mazes, an important type of reinforcement learning (RL) problem. Maze problems represent a simplified virtual model of real environments that can be used for developing core algorithms of many real-world applications related to the problem of navigation. However, the best achievements of LCSs in maze problems are still mostly bounded to non-aliasing environments, while LCS complexity seems to obstruct a proper analysis of the reasons of failure. We construct a new LCS agent that has a simpler and more transparent performance mechanism, but that can still solve mazes better than existing algorithms. We use the structure of a predictive LCS model, strip out the evolutionary mechanism, simplify the reinforcement learning procedure and equip the agent with the ability of associative perception, adopted from psychology. To improve our understanding of the nature and structure of maze environments, we analyze mazes used in research for the last two decades, introduce a set of maze complexity characteristics, and develop a set of new maze environments. We then run our new LCS with associative perception through the old and new aliasing mazes, which represent partially observable Markov decision problems (POMDP) and demonstrate that it performs at least as well as, and in some cases better than, other published systems
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Evolutionary bi-stability in pathogen transmission mode
Many pathogens transmit to new hosts by both infection (horizontal transmission) and transfer to the
infected host's offspring (vertical transmission). These two transmission modes require speci®c adap-
tations of the pathogen that can be mutually exclusive, resulting in a trade-off between horizontal and
vertical transmission. We show that in mathematical models such trade-offs can lead to the simultaneous
existence of two evolutionary stable states (evolutionary bi-stability) of allocation of resources to the two
modes of transmission. We also show that jumping between evolutionary stable states can be induced by
gradual environmental changes. Using quantitative PCR-based estimates of abundance in seed and vege-
tative parts, we show that the pathogen of wheat, Phaeosphaeria nodorum, has jumped between two
distinct states of transmission mode twice in the past 160 years, which, based on published evidence,
we interpret as adaptation to environmental change. The ®nding of evolutionary bi-stability has impli-
cations for human, animal and other plant diseases. An ill-judged change in a disease control
programme could cause the pathogen to evolve a new, and possibly more damaging, combination of
transmission modes. Similarly, environmental changes can shift the balance between transmission
modes, with adverse effects on human, animal and plant health
Influence of lattice distortion on the Curie temperature and spin-phonon coupling in LaMnCoO
Two distinct ferromagnetic phases of LaMnCoO having
monoclinic structure with distinct physical properties have been studied. The
ferromagnetic ordering temperature is found to be different
for both the phases. The origin of such contrasting characteristics is assigned
to the changes in the distance(s) and angle(s) between Mn - O - Co resulting
from distortions observed from neutron diffraction studies. Investigations on
the temperature dependent Raman spectroscopy provide evidence for such
structural characteristics, which affects the exchange interaction. The
difference in B-site ordering which is evident from the neutron diffraction is
also responsible for the difference in . Raman scattering
suggests the presence of spin-phonon coupling for both the phases around the
. Electrical transport properties of both the phases have been
investigated based on the lattice distortion.Comment: 9 figure
Itinerancy and Hidden Order in
We argue that key characteristics of the enigmatic transition at in indicate that the hidden order is a density wave formed within
a band of composite quasiparticles, whose detailed structure is determined by
local physics. We expand on our proposal (with J.A. Mydosh) of the hidden order
as incommnesurate orbital antiferromagnetism and present experimental
predictions to test our ideas. We then turn towards a microscopic description
of orbital antiferromagnetism, exploring possible particle-hole pairings within
the context of a simple one-band model. We end with a discussion of recent
high-field and thermal transport experiment, and discuss their implications for
the nature of the hidden order.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures. v2 contains added referenc
TESTING OPTIMALITY WITH EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION: LYSIS TIME IN A BACTERIOPHAGE
Optimality models collapse the vagaries of genetics into simple trade-offs to calculate phenotypes expected to evolve by natural selection. Optimality approaches are commonly criticized for this neglect of genetic details, but resolution of this disagreement has been difficult. The importance of genetic details may be tested by experimental evolution of a trait for which an optimality model exists and in which genetic details can be studied. Here we evolved lysis time in bacteriophage T7, a virus of Escherichia coli. Lysis time is equivalent to the age of reproduction in an organism that reproduces once and then dies. Delaying lysis increases the number of offspring but slows generation time, and this trade-off renders the optimum sensitive to environmental conditions: earlier lysis is favored when bacterial hosts are dense, later lysis is favored when hosts are sparse. In experimental adaptations, T7 evolved close to the optimum in conditions favoring early lysis but not in conditions favoring late lysis. One of the late lysis adaptations exhibited no detectable phenotypic evolution despite genetic evolution; the other evolved only partly toward the expected optimum. Overall, the lysis time of the adapted phages remained closer to their starting values than predicted by the model. From the perspective of the optimality model, the experimental conditions were expected to select changes only along the postulated trade-off, but a trait outside the trade-off evolved as well. Evidence suggests that the model's failure ultimately stems from a violation of the trade-off, rather than a paucity of mutations
Resolving the fine-scale velocity structure of continental hyperextension at the Deep Galicia Margin using full-waveform inversion
Continental hyperextension during magma-poor rifting at the Deep Galicia Margin is characterised by a complex pattern of faulting, thin continental fault blocks, and the serpentinisation, with local exhumation, of mantle peridotites along the S-reflector, interpreted as a detachment surface. In order to understand fully the evolution of these features, it is important to image seismically the structure and to model the velocity structure to the greatest resolution possible. Travel-time tomography models have revealed the long-wavelength velocity structure of this hyperextended domain, but are often insufficient to match accurately the short-wavelength structure observed in reflection seismic imaging. Here we demonstrate the application of two-dimensional (2D) time-domain acoustic full-waveform inversion to deep water seismic data collected at the Deep Galicia Margin, in order to attain a high resolution velocity model of continental hyperextension. We have used several quality assurance procedures to assess the velocity model, including comparison of the observed and modelled waveforms, checkerboard tests, testing of parameter and inversion strategy, and comparison with the migrated reflection image. Our final model exhibits an increase in the resolution of subsurface velocities, with particular improvement observed in the westernmost continental fault blocks, with a clear rotation of the velocity field to match steeply dipping reflectors. Across the S-reflector there is a sharpening in the velocity contrast, with lower velocities beneath S indicative of preferential mantle serpentinisation. This study supports the hypothesis that normal faulting acts to hydrate the upper mantle peridotite, observed as a systematic decrease in seismic velocities, consistent with increased serpentinisation. Our results confirm the feasibility of applying the full-waveform inversion method to sparse, deep water crustal datasets
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