Advanced flight control system study

A fly by wire flight control system architecture designed for high reliability includes spare sensor and computer elements to permit safe dispatch with failed elements, thereby reducing unscheduled maintenance. A methodology capable of demonstrating that the architecture does achieve the predicted performance characteristics consists of a hierarchy of activities ranging from analytical calculations of system reliability and formal methods of software verification to iron bird testing followed by flight evaluation. Interfacing this architecture to the Lockheed S-3A aircraft for flight test is discussed. This testbed vehicle can be expanded to support flight experiments in advanced aerodynamics, electromechanical actuators, secondary power systems, flight management, new displays, and air traffic control concepts

Computer recommendations for an automatic approach and landing system for V/STOL aircraft. Volume 2 - Equations

Automatic approach and landing system for V/STOL aircraf

Super-Kamiokande 0.07 eV Neutrinos in Cosmology: Hot Dark Matter and the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays

Relic neutrinos with mass in the range indicated by Super-Kamiokande results if neutrino masses are hierarchial (about 0.07 eV) are many times deemed too light to be cosmologically relevant. Here we remark that these neutrinos may significantly contribute to the dark matter of the Universe (with a large lepton asymmetry $L$) and that their existence might be revealed by the spectrum of ultra high energy cosmic rays (maybe even in the absence of a large $L$).Comment: Talk given at the ``4th International Symposium on Sources and Detection of Dark Matter in the Universe", February 23-25, 2000, Marina del Rey, CA (to appear in its proceedings) and at the ``Cosmic Genesis and Fundamental Physics" workshop, October 28-30, 1999, Sonoma State University, Santa Rosa, CA. (8 p. 1 fig.

Regulation of Diet-Induced Adipose Tissue and Systemic Inflammation by Salicylates and Pioglitazone

It is increasingly accepted that chronic inflammation participates in obesity-induced insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Salicylates and thiazolidinediones (TZDs) both have anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperglycemic properties. The present study compared the effects of these drugs on obesity-induced inflammation in adipose tissue (AT) and AT macrophages (ATMs), as well as the metabolic and immunological phenotypes of the animal models. Both drugs improved high fat diet (HFD)-induced insulin resistance. However, salicylates did not affect AT and ATM inflammation, whereas Pioglitazone improved these parameters. Interestingly, HFD and the drug treatments all modulated systemic inflammation as assessed by changes in circulating immune cell numbers and activation states. HFD increased the numbers of circulating white blood cells, neutrophils, and a pro-inflammatory monocyte subpopulation (Ly6Chi), whereas salicylates and Pioglitazone normalized these cell numbers. The drug treatments also decreased circulating lymphocyte numbers. These data suggest that obesity induces systemic inflammation by regulating circulating immune cell phenotypes and that anti-diabetic interventions suppress systemic inflammation by normalizing circulating immune phenotypes

Maternal hemodynamics in screen‐positive and screen‐negative women of the ASPRE trial

Objective To compare maternal hemodynamics and perinatal outcome, in pregnancies that do not develop pre‐eclampsia (PE) or deliver a small‐for‐gestational‐age (SGA) neonate, between those identified at 11–13 weeks' gestation as being screen positive or negative for preterm PE, by a combination of maternal factors, mean arterial pressure, uterine artery pulsatility index, serum placental growth factor and pregnancy associated plasma protein‐A. Methods This was a prospective longitudinal cohort study of maternal cardiovascular function, assessed using a bioreactance method, in women undergoing first‐trimester screening for PE. Maternal hemodynamics and perinatal outcome were compared between screen‐positive and screen‐negative women who did not have a medical comorbidity, did not develop PE or pregnancy‐induced hypertension and delivered at term a live neonate with birth weight between the 5th and 95th percentiles. A multilevel linear mixed‐effects model was used to compare the repeated measures of cardiac variables, controlling for maternal characteristics. Results The screen‐negative group (n = 926) had normal cardiac function changes across gestation, whereas the screen‐positive group (n = 170) demonstrated static or reduced cardiac output and stroke volume and higher mean arterial pressure and peripheral vascular resistance with advancing gestation. In the screen‐positive group, compared with screen‐negative women, birth‐weight Z‐score was shifted toward lower values, with prevalence of delivery of a neonate below the 35th, 30th or 25th percentile being about 70% higher, and the rate of operative delivery for fetal distress in labor also being higher. Conclusion Women who were screen positive for impaired placentation, even though they did not develop PE or deliver a SGA neonate, had pathological cardiac adaptation in pregnancy and increased risk of adverse perinatal outcome

Set Theory and its Place in the Foundations of Mathematics:a new look at an old question

This paper reviews the claims of several main-stream candidates to be the foundations of mathematics, including set theory. The review concludes that at this level of mathematical knowledge it would be very unreasonable to settle with any one of these foundations and that the only reasonable choice is a pluralist one

Mapping localized surface plasmons within silver nanocubes using cathodoluminescence hyperspectral imaging

Localized surface plasmons within silver nanocubes less than 50 nm in size are investigated using high resolution cathodoluminescence hyperspectral imaging. Multivariate statistical analysis of the multidimensional luminescence dataset allows both the identification of distinct spectral features in the emission and the mapping of their spatial distribution. These results show a 490 nm peak emitted from the cube faces, with shorter wavelength luminescence coming from the vertices and edges; this provides direct experimental confirmation of theoretical predictions

Reactive case-detection of malaria in Pailin Province, Western Cambodia: lessons from a year-long evaluation in a pre-elimination setting.

BACKGROUND: As momentum towards malaria elimination grows, strategies are being developed for scale-up in elimination settings. One prominent strategy, reactive case detection (RACD), involves screening and treating individuals living in close proximity to passively detected, or "index" cases. This study aims to use RACD to quantify Plasmodium parasitaemia in households of index cases, and identify risk factors for infection; these data could inform reactive screening approaches and identify target risk groups. METHODS: This study was conducted in the Western Cambodian province of Pailin between May 2013 and March 2014 among 440 households. Index participants/index cases (n = 270) and surrounding households (n = 110) were screened for Plasmodium infection with rapid diagnostic tests (RDT), microscopy and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Participants were interviewed to identify risk factors. A comparison group of 60 randomly-selected households was also screened, to compare infection levels of RACD and non-RACD households. In order to identify potential risk factors that would inform screening approaches and identify risk groups, multivariate logistic regression models were applied. RESULTS: Nine infections were identified in households of index cases (RACD approach) through RDT screening of 1898 individuals (seven Plasmodium vivax, two Plasmodium falciparum); seven were afebrile. Seventeen infections were identified through PCR screening of 1596 individuals (15 P. vivax, and 22 % P. falciparum/P. vivax mixed infections). In the control group, 25 P. falciparum infections were identified through PCR screening of 237 individuals, and no P. vivax was found. Plasmodium falciparum infection was associated with fever (p = 0.013), being a member of a control household (p ≤ 0.001), having a history of malaria infection (p = 0.041), and sleeping without a mosquito net (p = 0.011). Significant predictors of P. vivax infection, as diagnosed by PCR, were fever (p = 0.058, borderline significant) and history of malaria infection (p ≤ 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study found that RACD identified very few secondary infections when targeting index and neighbouring households for screening. The results suggest RACD is not appropriate, where exposure to malaria occurs away from the community, and there is a high level of treatment-seeking from the private sector. Piloting RACD in a range of transmission settings would help to identify the ideal environment for feasible and effective reactive screening methods

What is the crisis of Western sciences?

© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. This article is an attempt to formulate a clear definition of the concept of crisis of Western sciences introduced by Husserl in his last work. The attempt will be based on a reading of the Krisis, which will stress its underlying continuity with Husserl’s life-long concerns about the theoretical insufficiency of positive sciences, and downplay the novelty of the idea of crisis itself within Husserl’s work. After insisting on the fact that, according to Husserl, only an account of the shortcomings of the scientificity of Western sciences can justify the claim that they are undergoing a crisis, it will be argued that the common definition of the crisis of the sciences as the loss of their significance for life rests on a misunderstanding. The crisis of Western sciences will be characterized, instead, as the repercussion of the crisis of the scientificity of philosophy (and, specifically, of metaphysics) on the scientificity of positive sciences. The loss of significance of scientific knowledge for our existence will in turn appear as a further, inevitable consequence of the uprooting of the sciences from the soil of a universal philosophy culminating in metaphysics, and thus, as a phenomenon deeply intertwined with the crisis of Western sciences, but not identical to it

Spasticity of the gastrosoleus muscle is related to the development of reduced passive dorsiflexion of the ankle in children with cerebral palsy: A registry analysis of 2,796 examinations in 355 children

Background and purpose Spasticity and muscle contracture are two common manifestations of cerebral palsy (CP). A spastic muscle may inhibit growth in length of the muscle, but the importance of this relationship is not known. In 1994, a register and a healthcare program for children with CP in southern Sweden were initiated. The child's muscle tone according to the Ashworth scale and the ankle range of motion (ROM) is measured annually during the entire growth period. We have used these data to analyze the relationship between spasticity and ROM of the gastrosoleus muscle. Patients and methods All measurements in the total population of children with CP aged 0-18 years during the period January 1995 through June 2008 were analyzed. The study was based on 2,796 examinations in 355 children. In the statistical analysis, the effect of muscle tone on ROM was estimated using a random effects model. Results The range of dorsiflexion of the ankle joint decreased in the total material by mean 19 (95% CI: 14-24) degrees during the first 18 years of life. There was a statistically significant association between the ROM and the child's level of spasticity during the year preceding the ROM measurement. Interpretation Spasticity is related to the development of muscle contracture. In the treatment of children with CP, the spasticity, contracture, and strength of the gastrosoleus muscle must be considered together