An integrated aerodynamic/propulsion study for generic aero-space planes based on waverider concepts

The design of a unified aero-space plane based on waverider technology is analyzed. The overall aerodynamic design and performance of an aero-space plane are discussed in terms of the forebody, scramjet, and afterbody. Other subjects considered in the study are combustion/nozzle optimization, the idealized tip-to-tail waverider model, and the two-dimensional minimum length nozzle. Charts and graphs are provided to show the results of the preliminary investigations

A Novel Cardiac Pacing Paradigm for Atrial Fibrillation and Heart Failure Patients

It has been estimated that 4.6 million persons have heart failure, and 400,000 to 700,000 new cases develop each year and the U.S. Hospital discharges for HF rose from 399,000 in 1979 to 1,099,000 in 2004 according to the National Hospital Discharge Survey. Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia in the United States. Recent studies have demonstrated that ventricular rate control is a viable treatment strategy for patients in atrial fibrillation. In a number of cases, despite the electrical resynchronization of the ventricles using biventricular pacing (cardiac resynchronization therapy), heart failure patients in sinus rhythm do not respond to cardiac resynchronization therapy as with other heart failure patients. These non-responders may respond to our pacing paradigm which is the combined use of cardiac resynchronization therapy which is commonly designated as CRT and coupled pacing (CP) which will be referred to as CRT+CP. Using a custom Y -lead adapter, an unmodified dual chamber clinical pacemaker can be used to achieve almost any combination of an experimental stimulation paradigm. And by using the asynchronous mode of a dual chamber pacemaker, the ventricles can be paced at rates sufficient to produce heart failure (180 to 240 beats per minute) which had been successfully accomplished as part of the research protocol in our coupled pacing paradigm studies. These specially designed Y connectors facilitated our coupled pacing and biventricular pacing paradigm studies, i.e. allowed us to induce AF and apply CP under experimental conditions. My research on this novel pacing paradigm (CRT+CP) has shown that it slowed the contractile rate by half (116┬▒16 cycles per minute vs. 259┬▒15 cycles per minute). And CRT+CP as compared with CRT at a similar contractile rate (CRT-vagal stimulation at 103┬▒14 cycles per minute) also dramatically increased both the diastolic period (48┬▒6 vs. 27┬▒3 , p=0.02) and the left ventricular ejection fraction (51┬▒10 vs. 25┬▒4

Involving Citizens in Watershed Management: the Arizona Master Steward Watershed Program

Arizona faces many complicated water resource issues including: groundwater overdraft; nonpoint source pollution; population growth; and water use conflicts. The Arizona Master Watershed Steward (MWS) Program is designed to prepare, educate and train volunteers who can provide knowledge, leadership, and service in the protection and monitoring of local watersheds. The first MWS training course was presented in Prescott, Arizona in fall of 2001, and expanded in 2002 and 2003. The training course has 10 four-hour sessions and two daylong field trips. Topics covered are: hydrology; climate; geologic processes; ecology; human impacts; water quality; land uses; geospatial tools; water law, and water resources management. Principles are taught using lecture/discussion format with hands-on activities that reinforce subject matter. Instructors typically include: Extension specialists, agents, and staff; agency professionals, and other authorities. MWS trainees become certified after contributing 40 hours of volunteer service. In 2003, Arizona MWS received $350,000 from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to develop a statewide curriculum guide and establish a statewide Arizona MWS program. A statewide MWS Coordinator was hired and the curriculum guide was published in August 2005. As of 2005-06, MWS courses have been offered in Benson, Cottonwood, Phoenix, Prescott, Safford, Flagstaff, Tucson, Bullhead City, and Sierra Vista. A total of 202 volunteers have completed the course and contributed 2,500 hours of volunteer service. Volunteer projects have included: organization of local water conferences and watershed groups, water quality monitoring, noxious weed management, rangeland monitoring, well water testing, and restoration projects

Seamless and Secure VR: Adapting and Evaluating Established Authentication Systems for Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) headsets are enabling a wide range of new opportunities for the user. For example, in the near future users may be able to visit virtual shopping malls and virtually join international conferences. These and many other scenarios pose new questions with regards to privacy and security, in particular authentication of users within the virtual environment. As a first step towards seamless VR authentication, this paper investigates the direct transfer of well-established concepts (PIN, Android unlock patterns) into VR. In a pilot study (N = 5) and a lab study (N = 25), we adapted existing mechanisms and evaluated their usability and security for VR. The results indicate that both PINs and patterns are well suited for authentication in VR. We found that the usability of both methods matched the performance known from the physical world. In addition, the private visual channel makes authentication harder to observe, indicating that authentication in VR using traditional concepts already achieves a good balance in the trade-off between usability and security. The paper contributes to a better understanding of authentication within VR environments, by providing the first investigation of established authentication methods within VR, and presents the base layer for the design of future authentication schemes, which are used in VR environments only

Positing the problem : enhancing classification of extremist web content through textual analysis

Webpages with terrorist and extremist content are key factors in the recruitment and radicalization of disaffected young adults who may then engage in terrorist activities at home or fight alongside terrorist groups abroad. This paper reports on advances in techniques for classifying data collected by the Terrorism and Extremism Network Extractor (TENE) web-crawler, a custom-written program that browses the World Wide Web, collecting vast amounts of data, retrieving the pages it visits, analyzing them, and recursively following the links out of those pages. The textual content is subjected to enhanced classification through software analysis, using the Posit textual analysis toolset, generating a detailed frequency analysis of the syntax, including multi-word units and associated part-of-speech components. Results are then deployed in a knowledge extraction process using knowledge extraction algorithms, e.g., from the WEKA system. Indications are that the use of the data enrichment through application of Posit analysis affords a greater degree of match between automatic and manual classification than previously attained. Furthermore, the incorporation and deployment of these technologies promises to provide public safety officials with techniques that can help to detect terrorist webpages, gauge the intensity of their content, discriminate between webpages that do or do not require a concerted response, and take appropriate action where warranted

Antibodies to rubella virus in Maltese women of child bearing age

Circulating antibody to Rubella virus is present in about 85% of women of child bearing age in England (PHLS, 1970) and in most large developed countries (Rawls et al., 1967). However, the population of Jamaica and Trinidad show much lower protection rates. This may be inherent in island populations or may be a chance finding. With this in mind sera from women in Malta were examined for evidence of previous exposure to Rubella virus. Four hundred and six sera were tested and the results show that antibody to rubella was present in 369 (91%). With a total population of about 300,000 the degree of protection demonstrated in this study can be accepted within the range plus or minus 3%.peer-reviewe

Intensity of Oestrus Signalling Is the Most Relevant Indicator for Animal Well-Being in High-Producing Dairy Cows

Full signalling of oestrous behaviour is vital for proper timing of AI and good reproductive performance, currently jeopardized by shorter observations of oestrus behaviour. Alternative indicators including progesterone (P4) recordings on-farm are tested. Oestrous intensity of 37 heifers (H) and 30 1st-parity dairy cows (C1) either Swedish Red (32) or Swedish Holstein (35) with high genetic potential for milk production, was studied in relation to AI. P4-levels in blood or milk were monitored on-farm at 0, 7, and 20 d post-AI with a portable ELISA reader (eProCheck800). Avoidance distance and body condition were scored at day 7, and pregnancy diagnosed by P4 (day 20) and trans-rectal palpation (day 50). More heifers (46%) than C1-cows (10%) showed standing oestrus (strongest intensity, P < 0.05), leading to higher pregnancy rate at d50 (72% versus 37% for C1, P < 0.01) and calving rate (H: 64%, C1: 33%, P < 0.05). Avoidance distances were short (<1 m), reflecting good human-animal interaction. Visually-recorded standing oestrus yielded 4.8 fold higher odds of pregnancy, respectively 4.6-fold higher odds of calving. On-farm P4-recordings had complementary value yet less accuracy. Intensity of oestrus signalling relates to animal well-being, reflected in pregnancy-to-term being a good indicator for optimal welfare in high-producing dairy cattle