A local area computer network expert system framework

Over the past years an expert system called LANES designed to detect and isolate faults in the Goddard-wide Hybrid Local Area Computer Network (LACN) was developed. As a result, the need for developing a more generic LACN fault isolation expert system has become apparent. An object oriented approach was explored to create a set of generic classes, objects, rules, and methods that would be necessary to meet this need. The object classes provide a convenient mechanism for separating high level information from low level network specific information. This approach yeilds a framework which can be applied to different network configurations and be easily expanded to meet new needs

Relationships between coping strategies and mood states in caregivers of people with dementia in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University

Alzheimer's dementia is a worldwide concern, as is the growing aging population and demands on services by many elderly people. Caregiving for people with dementia is recognised as one of the most distressing events in any family's life cycle. Many adverse effects among caregivers have been identified, such as increased depression and anxiety, however many questions remain unanswered. New Zealand, in particular, lacks accurate information on caregivers of people with dementia, obviously affecting the programmatic and clinical decisions made about this group. This study investigates the role of helping attitudes and coping strategies on the mood states (positive and negative affect) of caregivers of people with dementia. A regional sample, recruited through the membership lists of Age Concern and the Alzheimer's Society, consisted of 158 caregivers. A self-report questionnaire was developed for the study using three instruments: Helping Attitude Scale (HAS), Revised Ways of Coping Checklist (RWCCL), Positive and Negative Affect Scales (PANAS). A range of demographic information was also included in the questionnaire. The results provide a description of the characteristics of New Zealand caregivers and found that helping attitudes and coping strategies each contribute in different ways to positive and negative mood states, and differentially predict affective outcomes in caregivers of people with dementia. The results may assist practitioners to identify caregivers who may be at risk for developing mood difficulties and allow for the implementation of appropriate psychological intervention and prevention strategies

Dynamic Homotopy and Landscape Dynamical Set Topology in Quantum Control

We examine the topology of the subset of controls taking a given initial state to a given final state in quantum control, where "state" may mean a pure state |\psi>, an ensemble density matrix \rho, or a unitary propagator U(0,T). The analysis consists in showing that the endpoint map acting on control space is a Hurewicz fibration for a large class of affine control systems with vector controls. Exploiting the resulting fibration sequence and the long exact sequence of basepoint-preserving homotopy classes of maps, we show that the indicated subset of controls is homotopy equivalent to the loopspace of the state manifold. This not only allows us to understand the connectedness of "dynamical sets" realized as preimages of subsets of the state space through this endpoint map, but also provides a wealth of additional topological information about such subsets of control space.Comment: Minor clarifications, and added new appendix addressing scalar control of 2-level quantum system

Geometallurgical Study of a Gravity Recoverable Gold Orebody

Sheeted vein gold deposits are often characterised by multiple sub-parallel veins and free-milling coarse gold. Inherent mineralisation heterogeneity results in grade and process parameter variability, which increases project risk if not quantified. Measured grade variability is often exacerbated by poorly designed sampling and testwork protocols. Protocols that are optimised within the framework of the Theory of Sampling (TOS) to suit the ore type, together with quality assurance/quality control systems, will reduce variability and provide fit for-purpose results. Geometallurgy can be broadly split into two key approaches: strategic and tactical (or operational). The strategic approach focuses on the whole orebody and long-term life-of-mine view, whereas tactical geometallurgy relates to a more short- to medium term view during mining. The geometallurgical approach requires spatially distributed samples within a deposit to support variability modelling. Diverse attributes from core logging, mineralogical/textural determination and small-scale tests are used to measure variability. This contribution presents a case study that emphasises an early-stage strategic geometallurgical programme applied to a gravity recoverable gold (GRG) dominated deposit. It exemplifies how data can be acquired from a well-designed and planned programme to support resource estimation, a pre-feasibility study, trial mining and fast-track to production. A tactical geometallurgical programme is embedded into the mine operation

Characterization of the Critical Sets of Quantum Unitary Control Landscapes

This work considers various families of quantum control landscapes (i.e. objective functions for optimal control) for obtaining target unitary transformations as the general solution of the controlled Schr\"odinger equation. We examine the critical point structure of the kinematic landscapes J_F (U) = ||(U-W)A||^2 and J_P (U) = ||A||^4 - |Tr(AA'W'U)|^2 defined on the unitary group U(H) of a finite-dimensional Hilbert space H. The parameter operator A in B(H) is allowed to be completely arbitrary, yielding an objective function that measures the difference in the actions of U and the target W on a subspace of state space, namely the column space of A. The analysis of this function includes a description of the structure of the critical sets of these kinematic landscapes and characterization of the critical points as maxima, minima, and saddles. In addition, we consider the question of whether these landscapes are Morse-Bott functions on U(H). Landscapes based on the intrinsic (geodesic) distance on U(H) and the projective unitary group PU(H) are also considered. These results are then used to deduce properties of the critical set of the corresponding dynamical landscapes.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure