FIESTA: An operational decision aid for space network fault isolation

The Fault Tolerance Expert System for Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) Applications (FIESTA) is a fault detection and fault diagnosis expert system being developed as a decision aid to support operations in the Network Control Center (NCC) for NASA's Space Network. The operational objectives which influenced FIESTA development are presented and an overview of the architecture used to achieve these goals are provided. The approach to the knowledge engineering effort and the methodology employed are also presented and illustrated with examples drawn from the FIESTA domain

Assessing the impact of typeface design in a text-rich automotive user interface

Text-rich driver–vehicle interfaces are increasingly common in new vehicles, yet the effects of different typeface characteristics on task performance in this brief off-road based glance context remains sparsely examined. Subjects completed menu selection tasks while in a driving simulator. Menu text was set either in a ‘humanist’ or ‘square grotesque’ typeface. Among men, use of the humanist typeface resulted in a 10.6% reduction in total glance time as compared to the square grotesque typeface. Total response time and number of glances showed similar reductions. The impact of typeface was either more modest or not apparent for women. Error rates for both males and females were 3.1% lower for the humanist typeface. This research suggests that optimised typefaces may mitigate some interface demands. Future work will need to assess whether other typeface characteristics can be optimised to further reduce demand, improve legibility, increase usability and help meet new governmental distraction guidelines

Long-term cost-effectiveness in the veterans affairs open vs endovascular repair study of aortic abdominal aneurysm: A randomized clinical trial

Copyright 2016 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. IMPORTANCE: Because of the similarity in clinical outcomes after elective open and endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), cost may be an important factor in choosing a procedure. OBJECTIVE: To compare total and AAA-related use of health care services, costs, and cost-effectiveness between groups randomized to open or endovascular repair. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This unblinded randomized clinical trial enrolled 881 patients undergoing planned elective repair of AAA who were candidates for open and endovascular repair procedures. Patients were randomized from October 15, 2002, to April 15, 2008, at 42 Veterans Affairs medical centers. Follow-up was completed on October 15, 2011, and data were analyzed from April 15, 2013, to April 15, 2016, based on intention to treat. MAINOUTCOMES ANDMEASURES: Mean total and AAA-related health care cost per life-year and per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY). RESULTS: A total of 881 patients (876 men [99.4%]; 5 women [0.6%]; mean [SD] age, 70 [7.8] years) were included in the analysis. After a mean of 5.2 years of follow-up, mean life-years were 4.89in the endovascular group and 4.84 in the open repair group (P =.68), and mean QALYs were 3.72 in the endovascular group and 3.70 in the open repair group (P =.82). Total mean health care costs did not differ significantly between the 2 groups (endovascular group, $142 745; open repair group,$153 533; difference, -$10 788; 95$29 796 to $5825; P =.25). Costs related to AAA, including the initial repair, constituted nearly 40$57 501; open repair group, $57 893; difference, -$393; 95% CI, -$12 071 to$7928; P =.94). Lower costs due to shorter hospitalization for initial endovascular repair were offset by increased costs from AAA-related secondary procedures and imaging studies. The probability of endovascular repair being less costly and more effective was 56.8% when effectiveness was measured in life-years and 55.4% when effectiveness was measured in QALYs for total costs and 31.3% and 34.3%, respectively, for AAA-related costs. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this multicenter randomized clinical trial with follow-up to 9 years, survival, quality of life, costs, and cost-effectiveness did not differ between elective open and endovascular repair of AAA

Nearinfrared spectral mapping of Titan's mountains and channels

Cassini studies of the surface of Titan are beginning to reveal its nature. In addition to hills, channels, and cobbles seen by the Huygens probe, the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) and RADAR instruments onboard the orbiter have seen sand dunes , channels , mountains [5, 6], and cryovolcanic candidates. Recently the RADAR team announced the discovery of possible lakes near Titan’s north pole