1,535 research outputs found
IT and the NHS: Investigating different perspectives of IT using soft systems methodology
The UK NHS National Programme for IT has been criticized for a lack of clinical engagement. This paper uses a soft systems methodology (SSM) analysis of a case study from the use of electronic systems within a National Health Service (NHS) Mental Health Trust in the United Kingdom (UK) to explore the legal and ethical implications of the failure to develop clinical systems which are fit for purpose. Soft systems methodology (SSM) was used as a theoretical model both to derive deeper insights into the survey data and suggest how communication between those producing information and those using it, could be improved. Multiple methods were employed which included a postal survey and participant interviews to triangulate the data The use of SSM reinforced the concept that the national IT programme is based on a 'hard' systems view and does not take local factors (which are related to 'soft systems' thinking) into account. The study found administrative staff to be a crucial link between clinicians and information departments and highlighted the need for a joint-up information strategy and integrated systems. The article concludes with a discussion of the legal and ethical implications of the findings and the lessons for the broader UK national programme. It argues that the failure to deliver systems that are fit for purpose is not value neutral but an ethical issue
Applications of higher harmonic control to hingeless rotor systems
A comprehensive analytical formulation was developed to predict the vibratory hub loads of a helicopter rotor system in forward flight. This analysis is used to calculate the optimal higher harmonic control inputs and associated actuator power required to minimize these hub loads. The present formulation is based on a finite element method in space and time. A nonlinear time domain, unsteady aerodynamic model is used to obtain the airloads, and the rotor induced inflow is calculated using a nonuniform inflow model. Predicted vibratory hub loads are correlated with experimental data from a scale model rotor. Results of a parametric study on a hindgeless rotor show that blade flap, lag and torsion vibration characteristics, offset of blade center of mass from elastic axis, offset of elastic axis from quarter-chord axis, and blade thrust greatly affect the higher harmonic control actuator power requirement
Guaranteed Rank Minimization via Singular Value Projection
Minimizing the rank of a matrix subject to affine constraints is a
fundamental problem with many important applications in machine learning and
statistics. In this paper we propose a simple and fast algorithm SVP (Singular
Value Projection) for rank minimization with affine constraints (ARMP) and show
that SVP recovers the minimum rank solution for affine constraints that satisfy
the "restricted isometry property" and show robustness of our method to noise.
Our results improve upon a recent breakthrough by Recht, Fazel and Parillo
(RFP07) and Lee and Bresler (LB09) in three significant ways:
1) our method (SVP) is significantly simpler to analyze and easier to
implement,
2) we give recovery guarantees under strictly weaker isometry assumptions
3) we give geometric convergence guarantees for SVP even in presense of noise
and, as demonstrated empirically, SVP is significantly faster on real-world and
synthetic problems.
In addition, we address the practically important problem of low-rank matrix
completion (MCP), which can be seen as a special case of ARMP. We empirically
demonstrate that our algorithm recovers low-rank incoherent matrices from an
almost optimal number of uniformly sampled entries. We make partial progress
towards proving exact recovery and provide some intuition for the strong
performance of SVP applied to matrix completion by showing a more restricted
isometry property. Our algorithm outperforms existing methods, such as those of
\cite{RFP07,CR08,CT09,CCS08,KOM09,LB09}, for ARMP and the matrix-completion
problem by an order of magnitude and is also significantly more robust to
noise.Comment: An earlier version of this paper was submitted to NIPS-2009 on June
5, 200
Flap-lag-torsion aeroelastic stability of a circulation control rotor in forward flight
The aeroelastic stability of a circulation control rotor blade undergoing three degrees of motion (flap, lag, and torsion) is investigated in forward flight. Quasi-steady strip theory is used to evaluate the aerodynamics forces; and the airfoil characteristics are from data tables. The propulsive and the auxiliary power trims are calculated from vehicle and rotor equilibrium equations through the numerical integration of element forces in azimuth as well as in radial directions. The nonlinear time dependent periodic blade response is calculated using an iterative procedure based on Floquet theory. The periodic perturbation equations are solved for stability using Floquet transition matrix theory. The effects of several parameters on blade stability are examined, including advance ratio, collective pitch, thrust level, shaft tilt, structural stiffnesses variation, and propulsive and auxiliary power trims
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