Thermal integration of electric power and life support systems for manned space stations

Thermal integration of electric power and life support systems for manned space station

Optimal Trade-Off Between Economic Activity and Health During an Epidemic

This paper considers a simple model where a social planner can influence the spread-intensity of an infection wave, and, consequently, also the economic activity and population health, through a single parameter. Population health is assumed to only be negatively affected when the number of simultaneously infected exceeds health care capacity. The main finding is that if (i) the planner attaches a positive weight on economic activity and (ii) it is more harmful for the economy to be locked down for longer than shorter time periods, then the optimal policy is to (weakly) exceed health care capacity at some time.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

Study of onboard expert systems to augment space shuttle and space station autonomy

The feasibility of onboard crew activity planning was examined. The use of expert systems technology to aid crewmembers in locating stowed equipment was also investigated. The crew activity planning problem, along with a summary of past and current research efforts, was discussed in detail. The requirements and specifications used to develop the crew activity planning system was also defined. The guidelines used to create, develop, and operate the MFIVE Crew Scheduler and Logistics Clerk were discussed. Also discussed is the mathematical algorithm, used by the MFIVE Scheduler, which was developed to aid in optimal crew activity planning

Analog Neural Networks as Decoders

Analog neural networks with feedback can be used to implement l(Winner-Take-All (KWTA) networks. In turn, KWTA networks can be used as decoders of a class of nonlinear error-correcting codes. By interconnecting such KWTA networks, we can construct decoders capable of decoding more powerful codes. We consider several families of interconnected KWTA networks, analyze their performance in terms of coding theory metrics, and consider the feasibility of embedding such networks in VLSI technologies

Investigating one-to-one instrumental music lessons in relation to a training programme on Paul Harris’ simultaneous learning.

‘Simultaneous Learning’ (SL) is a pedagogical approach aimed at fostering enjoyable and proactive music teaching. Developed by the British educationalist Paul Harris, SL has been taught worldwide for the past two decades but has not yet been investigated by a scholarly publication. We thus focused our research on the first usage of SL in the context of one-to-one instrumental music lessons by training a selected group of teachers who had no prior experience with this approach. The data was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews, focus group interview and journals kept by the teachers. We then used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to understand the teachers’ and students’ experiences of instructing and being instructed according to the SL approach, respectively. Based on our results, we provide a structure to their lived experiences and explore the meanings they attached to them, among which positive experiences, challenges and the influence of SL on particular skills are identified. Furthermore, we offer implications that may benefit studio music tuition based on the insights provided by our analyses.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Spanish Research Agency (Agencia Estatal de Investigación, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), under grant to Project Musihabitus (ref. PID2020 -118002RB-I00)

Organizing time banks: Lessons from matching markets

A time bank is a group of people that set up a common platform to trade services among themselves. There are several well-known problems associated with this type of time banking, e.g., high overhead costs and difficulties to identify feasible trades. This paper constructs a non-manipulable mechanism that selects an individually rational and time-balanced allocation which maximizes exchanges among the members of the time bank (and those allocations are efficient). The mechanism works on a domain of preferences where agents classify services as unacceptable and acceptable (and for those services agents have specific upper quotas representing their maximum needs)

Organizing Time Exchanges: Lessons from Matching Markets

This paper considers time exchanges via a common platform (e.g., markets for exchanging time units, positions at education institutions, and tuition waivers). There are several problems associated with such markets, e.g., imbalanced outcomes, coordination problems, and inefficiencies. We model time exchanges as matching markets and construct a non-manipulable mechanism that selects an individually rational and balanced allocation which maximizes exchanges among the participating agents (and those allocations are efficient). This mechanism works on a preference domain whereby agents classify the goods provided by other participating agents as either unacceptable or acceptable, and for goods classified as acceptable agents have specific upper quotas representing their maximum needs