Cooperative analysis expert situation assessment research

For the past few decades, Rome Air Development Center (RADC) has been conducting research in Artificial Intelligence (AI). When the recent advances in hardware technology made many AI techniques practical, the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Directorate of RADC initiated an applications program entitled Knowledge Based Intelligence Systems (KBIS). The goal of the program is the development of a generic Intelligent Analyst System, an open machine with the framework for intelligence analysis, natural language processing, and man-machine interface techniques, needing only the specific problem domain knowledge to be operationally useful. The development of KBIS is described

Structural latches for modular assembly of spacecraft and space mechanisms

Latching techniques are changing from early approaches due to the advent of berthing technology. Latch selection for a given interface may be conducted by evaluating candidate capabilities which meet functional interface requirements. A judgment criteria system is presented along with an example of its use in choosing the Rollerscrew Structural Latch (RSL) for the NASA Flat Plate Interface Prototype (FPIP). Details are given on Rollerscrew operation, design, and development difficulties. A test plan is also outlined for the RSL and FPIP

Practical experiences with worm gearing for spacecraft power transmission applications

Experiences of several organizations using worm gearing for spacecraft are discussed. Practical aspects and subtleties of using worm gearing for design and operation is included. Knowledge gained from these applications is analyzed, and guidelines for usage are proposed

On the Change in Archivability of Websites Over Time

As web technologies evolve, web archivists work to keep up so that our digital history is preserved. Recent advances in web technologies have introduced client-side executed scripts that load data without a referential identifier or that require user interaction (e.g., content loading when the page has scrolled). These advances have made automating methods for capturing web pages more difficult. Because of the evolving schemes of publishing web pages along with the progressive capability of web preservation tools, the archivability of pages on the web has varied over time. In this paper we show that the archivability of a web page can be deduced from the type of page being archived, which aligns with that page's accessibility in respect to dynamic content. We show concrete examples of when these technologies were introduced by referencing mementos of pages that have persisted through a long evolution of available technologies. Identifying these reasons for the inability of these web pages to be archived in the past in respect to accessibility serves as a guide for ensuring that content that has longevity is published using good practice methods that make it available for preservation.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries (TPDL) 2013, Valletta, Malt

Gradients of meteorological parameters in convective and nonconvective areas

Horizontal gradients of geopotential height, temperature, and wind speed were computed at the 850-, 700-, 500-, and 200-mb levels. Mixing ratio gradients also were computed, but only for the 850-, 700-, and 500-mb levels. Rawinsonde data was provided at 3- to 6-h intervals. Cumulative frequency distributions and statistical parameters showed that the variability and magnitude of the gradients decreased as the gradients were computed over progressively longer distances. Most frequency distributions were positively skewed, and the standard deviations of the gradient distributions were roughly half as large as the means. An examination of the differences of gradients observed in convective and nonconvective areas was made after convective areas were determined objectively using Manually Digitized Radar data. The gradients of height, wind speed, and mixing ratio at 850 mb were larger in convective than nonconvective areas. No general relationship held for the meteorological variables at other levels. Intensive examination of the gradients observed near squall lines revealed typical gradient patterns and trends in the magnitudes of the gradients associated with convective systems

Dynamic Web File Format Transformations with Grace

Web accessible content stored in obscure, unpopular or obsolete formats represents a significant problem for digital preservation. The file formats that encode web content represent the implicit and explicit choices of web site maintainers at a particular point in time. Older file formats that have fallen out of favor are obviously a problem, but so are new file formats that have not yet been fully supported by browsers. Often browsers use plug-in software for displaying old and new formats, but plug-ins can be difficult to find, install and replicate across all environments that one may use. We introduce Grace, an http proxy server that transparently converts browser-incompatible and obsolete web content into web content that a browser is able to display without the use of plug-ins. Grace is configurable on a per user basis and can be expanded to provide an array of conversion services. We illustrate how the Grace prototype transforms several image formats (XBM, PNG with various alpha channels, and JPEG 2000) so they are viewable in Internet Explorer.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure