Performance experiments with alternative advanced teleoperator control modes for a simulated solar maximum satellite repair

Experiments are described which were conducted at the JPL Advanced Teleoperator Lab to demonstrate and evaluate the effectiveness of various teleoperator control modes in the performance of a simulated Solar Max Satellite Repair (SMSR) task. THe SMSR was selected as a test because it is very rich in performance capability requirements and it actually has been performed by two EVA astronauts in the Space Shuttle Bay in 1984. The main subtasks are: thermal blanket removal; installation of a hinge attachment for electrical panel opening; opening of electrical panel; removal of electrical connectors; relining of cable bundles; replacement of electrical panel; securing parts and cables; re-mate electrical connectors; closing of electrical panel; and reinstating thermal blanket. The current performance experiments are limited to thermal blanket cutting, electrical panel unbolting and handling electrical bundles and connectors. In one formal experiment even different control modes were applied to the unbolting and reinsertion of electrical panel screws subtasks. The seven control modes are alternative combinations of manual position and rate control with force feedback and remote compliance referenced to force-torque sensor information. Force-torque sensor and end effector position data and task completion times were recorded for analysis and quantification of operator performance

Biochemical correlates of cardiac hypertrophy. III. Changes in DNA content. The relative contributions of polyploidy and mitotic activity

DNA concentration in the left ventricle of 3-month-old rats 3 to 12 days after aortic constriction was similar to the values obtained in sham-operated litter mates (1.38±0.03 µg/mg wet weight). The total DNA content of the heart was thus increased proportionally to its enlargement. In chronic hypertrophy (2 to 4 months after aortic constriction), the DNA content was increased to a significantly less extent than in short-term hypertrophy. The percentage of polyploid nuclei in 12- to 13-week-old rats increased 1 to 3 weeks after aortic constriction from a normal value of 1.8% to 4.2%. In 17- to 18-week-old rats, polyploidy was present in 3.9% of the nuclei 10 days after banding as compared with 1.6% in normal rats. Mitotic figures were localized almost exclusively outside muscle cells. Mitotic indices in hypertrophied hearts were ten times higher than in controls during the first 3 weeks after aortic constriction

Magnetic layers with periodic point perturbations

We study spectral properties of a spinless quantum particle confined to an infinite planar layer with hard walls which interacts with a periodic lattice of point perturbations and a homogeneous magnetic field perpendicular to the layer. It is supposed that the lattice cell contains a finite number of impurities and the flux through the cell is rational. Using the Landau-Zak transformation, we convert the problem into investigation of the corresponding fiber operators which is performed by means of Krein's formula. This yields an explicit description of the spectral bands which may be absolutely continuous or degenerate, depending on the parameters of the model.Comment: LaTeX 2e, 30 pages; with minor revisions, to appear in Rep. Math. Phy

A Poly-algorithmic Approach to Quantifier Elimination

Cylindrical Algebraic Decomposition (CAD) was the first practical means for doing real quantifier elimination (QE), and is still a major method, with many improvements since Collins' original method. Nevertheless, its complexity is inherently doubly exponential in the number of variables. Where applicable, virtual term substitution (VTS) is more effective, turning a QE problem in $n$ variables to one in $n-1$ variables in one application, and so on. Hence there is scope for hybrid methods: doing VTS where possible then using CAD. This paper describes such a poly-algorithmic implementation, based on the second author's Ph.D. thesis. The version of CAD used is based on a new implementation of Lazard's recently-justified method, with some improvements to handle equational constraints

Order parameter symmetry in ferromagnetic superconductors

We analyze the symmetry and the nodal structure of the superconducting order parameter in a cubic ferromagnet, such as ZrZn$_2$. We demonstrate how the order parameter symmetry evolves when the electromagnetic interaction of the conduction electrons with the internal magnetic induction and the spin-orbit coupling are taken into account. These interactions break the cubic symmetry and lift the degeneracy of the order parameter. It is shown that the order parameter which appears immediately below the critical temperature has two components, and its symmetry is described by {\em co-representations} of the magnetic point groups. This allows us to make predictions about the location of the gap nodes.Comment: 12 pages, ReVTeX, submitted to PR

Biochemical correlates of cardiac hypertrophy. IV. Observations on the cellular organization of growth during myocardial hypertrophy in the rat

The mechanisms by which the DNA content of the heart increases following acutely induced cardiac hypertrophy were investigated in mature Sprague-Dawley rats. Special attention was given to the cellular organization of the growth process. Autoradiographic studies provided conclusive evidence that the uptake of tritiated thymidine is completely limited to nonmuscular cellular elements, chiefly connective tissue cells. The frequency of labeled nuclei was increased by sixfold during hypertrophy. The thymidine pool was not appreciably different in the hypertrophied hearts. Connective tissue nuclei formed a larger proportion of the total nuclear population in hypertrophied hearts, and their distribution was less uniform than in the normal heart. Quantitative histologic studies also showed that the total number of left ventricular muscle cell nuclei did not increase during hypertrophy but rather may have decreased slightly. Both the concentration and the total amount of hydroxyproline increased in parallel with the proliferative changes in the connective tissue and provide further supportive evidence to the autoradiographic and histologic studies

Elucidation of role of graphene in catalytic designs for electroreduction of oxygen

Graphene is, in principle, a promising material for consideration as component (support, active site) of electrocatalytic materials, particularly with respect to reduction of oxygen, an electrode reaction of importance to low-temperature fuel cell technology. Different concepts of utilization, including nanostructuring, doping, admixing, preconditioning, modification or functionalization of various graphene-based systems for catalytic electroreduction of oxygen are elucidated, as well as important strategies to enhance the systems' overall activity and stability are discussed

von Neumann Lattices in Finite Dimensions Hilbert Spaces

The prime number decomposition of a finite dimensional Hilbert space reflects itself in the representations that the space accommodates. The representations appear in conjugate pairs for factorization to two relative prime factors which can be viewed as two distinct degrees freedom. These, Schwinger's quantum degrees of freedom, are uniquely related to a von Neumann lattices in the phase space that characterizes the Hilbert space and specifies the simultaneous definitions of both (modular) positions and (modular) momenta. The area in phase space for each quantum state in each of these quantum degrees of freedom, is shown to be exactly $h$, Planck's constant.Comment: 16 page

Fractional Quantum Hall Effect and vortex lattices

It is demonstrated that all observed fractions at moderate Landau level fillings for the quantum Hall effect can be obtained without recourse to the phenomenological concept of composite fermions. The possibility to have the special topologically nontrivial many-electron wave functions is considered. Their group classification indicates the special values of of electron density in the ground states separated by a gap from excited states

Biochemical correlates of cardiac hypertrophy. I. Experimental model; changes in heart weight, RNA content, and nuclear RNA polymerase activity

Cardiac hypertrophy occurred in mature rats after producing supravalvular aortic stenosis with a specially designed silver clip. For 2 weeks following this procedure, heart weight, body weight, and RNA content of the myocardium were serially determined. Heart weight and RNA content increased within 24 hours of aortic banding, reaching a maximal level in 2 days and remaining elevated during the 2 weeks of observation. Nuclei were isolated and purified from heart muscle homogenates, and changes in RNA polymerase activity following aortic banding were determined. The nearest neighbor frequency of the bases of the RNA synthesized by the polymerase from nuclear preparations was identical in both the banded animals and the sham-operated controls. Both groups could thus be compared on the basis of the enzyme assay. RNA polymerase activity in nuclei from the hearts of banded rats rose rapidly when compared with the activity in sham-operated rats; peak values were reached on the second day, the earliest detectable change being around 12 hours. The increase in RNA polymerase activity represents one of the earliest biochemical events that take place in the myocardium following aortic banding