Development of a mine hoist and ore pass research facility

"A hoisting and ore pass research facility was developed at the Spokane Research Center, Washington to assess methods for improving the safety of mine shaft and ore pass vertical movement operations. The technology available, including equipment used and sensor availability were assessed. The performance of hoist control equipment (hoist room controls, motors and gearboxes, and winders) and infrastructure (support frameworks, guides, wire ropes, and skips and cages), conveyance monitoring processes, and elevator control systems were also assessed. The information gathered contributed to the development of a new hoisting and ore pass testing facility, and improvements to the design of monitoring and data collection equipment. Critical hoist operating parameters such as conveyance position, conveyance speed and acceleration, load, rope tension, and shaft guide misalignment could be monitored and assessed. It was also possible to investigate the causes of ore pass blockages and to increase safety by detecting blockages and improving hang up removal methods." - NIOSHTIC-2Includes bibliographical references

Macaw Cam: Exploratory Camera Trap Techniques for Monitoring and Conservation of Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) Nests

In this study, we explored new, low-cost camera trap techniques to monitor Scarlet Macaws in one of their last two self-sustaining habitats in Costa Rica. Camera trap monitors have begun to produce new insights in avian research and we use them not only because Macaws are threatened, but their imagery can be used to enhance the public’s understanding of the connections between science and conservation efforts. We mounted camera units on two trees with nesting Macaws in Costa Rica’s Carara National Park and monitored one nest remotely for seven consecutive months

Enterocytozoon bieneusi as a cause of acute enteritis in an immunocompromised patient

43-godišnji bolesnik pod imunosupresivnom terapijom radi prije dvije godine presađenog srca, hospitaliziran je s kliničkom slikom akutnog enteritisa. Rutinskim mikrobiološkim analizama stolica nije dokazan uzročnik. Modificiranim Ziehl-Nielsenovim bojanjem kao i trikromnim bojanjem na mikrosporidije dokazane su spore mikrosporidija koje morfološki odgovaraju Enterocytozoon bieneusi. Na simptomatsku terapiju je bolesnik ozdravio.43-year-old patient receiving immunosuppressive therapy for two years after heart transplantation was admitted because of acute enteritis. Routine stool examinations did not reveal causative agent. Modified Ziehl-Nielsen stain and trichrome stain revealed microsporidia spores shaped as Enterocytozoon bieneusi. Patient recovered completely after symptomatic treatment

Formal change impact analyses for emulated control software

Processor emulators are a software tool for allowing legacy computer programs to be executed on a modern processor. In the past emulators have been used in trivial applications such as maintenance of video games. Now, however, processor emulation is being applied to safety-critical control systems, including military avionics. These applications demand utmost guarantees of correctness, but no verification techniques exist for proving that an emulated system preserves the original system’s functional and timing properties. Here we show how this can be done by combining concepts previously used for reasoning about real-time program compilation, coupled with an understanding of the new and old software architectures. In particular, we show how both the old and new systems can be given a common semantics, thus allowing their behaviours to be compared directly