Patient's breath controls comfort devices

Patient assist system for totally disabled persons was developed which permits a person, so paralyzed as to be unable to move, to activate by breathing, a call system to summon assistance, turn the page of a book, ajust his bed, or do any one of a number of other things. System consists of patient assist control and breath actuated switch

Globally Optimal Crowdsourcing Quality Management

We study crowdsourcing quality management, that is, given worker responses to a set of tasks, our goal is to jointly estimate the true answers for the tasks, as well as the quality of the workers. Prior work on this problem relies primarily on applying Expectation-Maximization (EM) on the underlying maximum likelihood problem to estimate true answers as well as worker quality. Unfortunately, EM only provides a locally optimal solution rather than a globally optimal one. Other solutions to the problem (that do not leverage EM) fail to provide global optimality guarantees as well. In this paper, we focus on filtering, where tasks require the evaluation of a yes/no predicate, and rating, where tasks elicit integer scores from a finite domain. We design algorithms for finding the global optimal estimates of correct task answers and worker quality for the underlying maximum likelihood problem, and characterize the complexity of these algorithms. Our algorithms conceptually consider all mappings from tasks to true answers (typically a very large number), leveraging two key ideas to reduce, by several orders of magnitude, the number of mappings under consideration, while preserving optimality. We also demonstrate that these algorithms often find more accurate estimates than EM-based algorithms. This paper makes an important contribution towards understanding the inherent complexity of globally optimal crowdsourcing quality management

The synthesis of 15 mu infrared horizon radiance profiles from meteorological data inputs

Computational computer program for modeling infrared horizon radiance profile using pressure and temperature profile input

In-situ Measurement of Transducer Impedance using AFE Active Termination through Analysis of Ultrasound Echoes

Measurement of transducer impedance in ultrasound systems indicates both the performance of a transducer and the presence of damaged elements and cables. Load impedance analysis is typically performed with dedicated test equipment and is a time consuming and thus expensive process, especially for high channel count systems. This paper proposes a method for the measurement of channel source impedance (transducer, coaxial cable and T/R switch) through the use of an integrated receiver analogue front end with configurable termination resistance. The proposed method is first demonstrated using a pitch-catch configuration using a separate source transducer to excite the transducer under test. Subsequently the method is demonstrated the Ultrasound Array Research Platform (UARP) and a linear array transducer in a pulse echo mode where the transducer impedance is determined through the analysis of two ultrasound echoes. The proposed method is especially suited to rapid transducer testing in the field, such as in a hospital, or where access to the transducer is not possible as in many industrial processes

WISE Circumstellar Disks in the Young Sco-Cen Association

We present an analysis of the WISE photometric data for 829 stars in the Sco-Cen OB2 association, using the latest high-mass membership probabilities. We detect infrared excesses associated with 135 BAF-type stars, 99 of which are secure Sco-Cen members. There is a clear increase in excess fraction with membership probability, which can be fitted linearly. We infer that 41+-5% of Sco-Cen OB2 BAF stars to have excesses, while the field star excess fraction is consistent with zero. This is the first time that the probability of non-membership has been used in the calculation of excess fractions for young stars. We do not observe any significant change in excess fraction between the three subgroups. Within our sample, we have observed that B-type association members have a significantly smaller excess fraction than A and F-type association members.Comment: 5 Pages, 3 figure, 4 tables. Complete table 1 included. Accepted to MNRAS Letter

ALMA Observations of the Young Substellar Binary System 2M1207

We present ALMA observations of the 2M1207 system, a young binary made of a brown dwarf with a planetary-mass companion at a projected separation of about 40 au. We detect emission from dust continuum at 0.89 mm and from the $J = 3 - 2$ rotational transition of CO from a very compact disk around the young brown dwarf. The small radius found for this brown dwarf disk may be due to truncation from the tidal interaction with the planetary-mass companion. Under the assumption of optically thin dust emission, we estimated a dust mass of 0.1 $M_{\oplus}$ for the 2M1207A disk, and a 3$\sigma$ upper limit of $\sim 1~M_{\rm{Moon}}$ for dust surrounding 2M1207b, which is the tightest upper limit obtained so far for the mass of dust particles surrounding a young planetary-mass companion. We discuss the impact of this and other non-detections of young planetary-mass companions for models of planet formation, which predict the presence of circum-planetary material surrounding these objects.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A

Cubane Tetrameric Complexes of Copper(I) Chloride and Bromide with Triphenyl Phosphite

The crystal structures of tetra-/z3-chloro-tetrakis[(triphenyl phosphite-P)copper(I)], [CunC14(CI8HI503P)4], and tetra-#3-bromo-tetrakis [ (triphenyl phosphite-P) - copper(I)], [Cu4Br4(CI8H1503P)4], are described. Both have distorted \u27cubane\u27 CuaX4 cores. Distortion of the cubane structure is reflected in X--Cu--X angles \u3e 90 ° and Cu--X--Cu angles \u3c 90 °, and is more pronounced in the bromide complex

Next Generation Solar Array Technologies for Small Satellites

Recent advances in Shape Memory Alloy (SMA), Elastic Memory Composites (EMC), and ultra- light composites along with thin-film Copper-Indium- Diselinide (CIS) photovoltaics have offered the potential to provide solar array systems for small satellites that are significantly lighter than the current state of the practice. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and Lockheed Martin are jointly sponsoring an effort that will develop and, in partnership with AeroAstro, demonstrate advanced technologies for solar array applications. These technologies will result in advances that include cost, weight, risk, reliability, and power. Conventional state-of-the-practice solar arrays utilize rigid honeycomb panels to provide the structural support for the crystalline Silicon (Si) or Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) solar cells. Rigid composite panel structural and manufacturing methods have placed a practical producible limit on the power to weight efficiency of today’s solar panels. This limit is about 60 Watts per kilogram (W/kg). New technologies are needed to break this power to weight barrier and meet future DOD and NASA space power requirements. A potential solution to this problem, are the technologies that are being developed under the Lightweight Flexible Solar Array (LFSA) program. The LFSA will demonstrate key technologies on four space flights. The first space opportunity consisted of a flight experiment of a Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) deployment hinge that was demonstrated on the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-93) in July 1999. The second flight opportunity consisted of a sub-scale twopanel solar array that was demonstrated on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 spacecraft in November 2000. The third and fourth flight opportunities will transition thin-film solar arrays into SSC02-II-2 Fosness, Eugene 2 16th Annual/USU Conference on Small Satellites operational spacecraft systems, specifically on the AeroAstro/Astronautic Technology Sdn. Bhd. (ATSB) Small Payload ORbit Transfer (SPORT™) vehicle in 2003 and the Team Encounter solar sail in 2004. The synergistic merging of the new, innovative technologies into an advanced lightweight thin- film solar array will meet the requirements of the emerging next generation of small satellites. The implementation of these new techno logies directed at lightweight solar arrays will result in significant weight and volume reductions over current satellite systems. The SMA devices will provide a controlled shock-less deployment of the solar array and improved testability due to mechanism re-set capability. Additionally, the SMA actuators will eliminate or minimize deployment motors, mechanisms, and part count. The LFSA program is a pathfinder for next generation rollout arrays that increase specific power densities to \u3e200 W/kg