Air Traffic Control: A Local Approach to the Trajectory Segmentation Issue

Proceedings of: 23rd International Conference on Industrial, Engineering & Other Applications of Applied Intelligent Systems (IEA-AIE 2010) Córdoba-Spain, June 04-06, 2010This paper presents a new approach for trajectory segmentation in the area of Air Traffic Control, as a basic tool for offline validation with recorded opportunity traffic data. Our approach uses local information to classify each measurement individually, constructing the final segments over these classified samples as the final solution of the process. This local classification is based on a domain transformation using motion models to identify the deviations at a local scale, as an alternative to other global approaches based on combinatorial analysis over the trajectory segmentation domain.This work was supported in part by Projects CICYT TIN2008-06742-C02-02/TSI, CICYT TEC2008-06732-C02-02/TEC, CAM CONTEXTS (S2009/TIC-1485) and DPS2008-07029-C02-02.Publicad

Effect of oral nitrate supplementation on pulmonary hemodynamics during exercise and time trial performance in normoxia and hypoxia: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Hypoxia-induced pulmonary vasoconstriction increases pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) and may impede right heart function and exercise performance. This study examined the effects of oral nitrate supplementation on right heart function and performance during exercise in normoxia and hypoxia. We tested the hypothesis that nitrate supplementation would attenuate the increase in PAP at rest and during exercise in hypoxia, thereby improving exercise performance. METHODS: Twelve trained male cyclists [age: 31 ± 7 year (mean ± SD)] performed 15 km time-trial cycling (TT) and steady-state submaximal cycling (50, 100, and 150 W) in normoxia and hypoxia (11% inspired O2) following 3-day oral supplementation with either placebo or sodium nitrate (0.1 mmol/kg/day). We measured TT time-to-completion, muscle tissue oxygenation during TT and systolic right ventricle to right atrium pressure gradient (RV-RA gradient: index of PAP) during steady state cycling. RESULTS: During steady state exercise, hypoxia elevated RV-RA gradient (p > 0.05), while oral nitrate supplementation did not alter RV-RA gradient (p > 0.05). During 15 km TT, hypoxia lowered muscle tissue oxygenation (p < 0.05). Nitrate supplementation further decreased muscle tissue oxygenation during 15 km TT in hypoxia (p < 0.05). Hypoxia impaired time-to-completion during TT (p < 0.05), while no improvements were observed with nitrate supplementation in normoxia or hypoxia (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that oral nitrate supplementation does not attenuate acute hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction nor improve performance during time trial cycling in normoxia and hypoxia

Towards a verified DNI map for South Africa

Paper presented to the 3rd Southern African Solar Energy Conference, South Africa, 11-13 May, 2015.In this project seven high accuracy DNI solar measurement stations, including meteorological equipment, were installed throughout South Africa. After at least one year of operation data from these stations as well as additional DNI data were used to update a satellite derived DNI and GHI map of South Africa. This paper focusses on the learning experience of installing and maintaining a network of DNI measurement stations. Prior to this project, the operational stations with DNI data available were located at four academic institutions at three different cities as well as nine stations operated by the national utility Eskom. Three solar developers have indicated their willingness to share data from their sites for this project. The paper discusses the methodology that was followed to select the locations of the seven stations. The new stations were to be geographically well distributed and any duplication with existing stations was to be avoided. On-site staff are required to clean the solar instruments at each station two to three times per week. An electronic log of the cleaning events enable remote monitoring of the cleaning frequency. All stations are visited every two to three months for routine maintenance and to supply the on-site staff with the required consumables e.g. cleaning cloths and desiccant and to perform ad-hoc training of the on-site staff. A satellite derived DNI and GHI map of South Africa will be provided by GeoModel Solar, the proprietors of the SolarGIS database. This map will be based on 20 years of DNI data and have a spatial resolution of 250m x 250m. The map will be updated by GeoModel based on the DNI and GHI measurements at the various locations. The updated map will be made public in GIS as well as KML (Google Earth) format. DNI and GHI poster maps of SA will also be provided. All data from the seven stations will be made available for free on a public website.cf201

Quantum games of asymmetric information

We investigate quantum games in which the information is asymmetrically distributed among the players, and find the possibility of the quantum game outperforming its classical counterpart depends strongly on not only the entanglement, but also the informational asymmetry. What is more interesting, when the information distribution is asymmetric, the contradictive impact of the quantum entanglement on the profits is observed, which is not reported in quantum games of symmetric information.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

The Local Velocity Anomaly

There is a velocity discontinuity at about 7 Mpc between the galaxies of the Local Sheet that are moving together with low internal velocity dispersion and the adjacent structures. The Local Sheet bounds the Local Void. The Local Sheet is determined to have a peculiar velocity of 260 km/s away from the center of the void. In order for this large velocity to be generated by an absence of gravity, the Local Void must be at least 45 Mpc in diameter and be very empty.Comment: Invited review, "Galaxies in the Local Volume", Sydney, 8-13 July, 2007. eds. B. Koribalski & H. Jerjen, Astrophys. & Space Sci. Proceed. 10 pages with 7 figure

An attempt to establish an inbred line of mice genetically resistant to Cowdria ruminantium

An attempt to establish an inbred line of mice resistant to Cowdria ruminantium failed. First generation couples were constituted from those mice out of 100 males and 100 females that had survived infection with the Kümm stock of C. ruminantium and that were serologically negative to the indirect fluorescent antibody test. An attempt to establish 10 separate inbred lines by constituting next generation brother and sister matings from predominantly seronegative survivor mice from the preceding generation, was unsuccessful because too few mice survived the challenge. The percentage seronegative survivors increased to 94% over the first 6 generations, but then declined sharply during the next.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.mn201

Genetic Variation in Heat Tolerance of the Coral Platygyra Daedalea Indicates Potential for Adaptation to Ocean Warming

Ocean warming represents the greatest threat to the persistence of reef ecosystems. Most coral populations are projected to experience temperatures above their current bleaching thresholds annually by 2050. Adaptation to higher temperatures is necessary if corals are to persist in a warming future. While many aspects of heat stress have been well studied, few data are available for predicting the capacity for adaptive cross-generational responses in corals. Consistent sets of heat tolerant genomic markers that reliably predict thermal tolerance have yet to be identified. To address this knowledge gap, we quantified the heritability and genetic variation associated with heat tolerance in Platygyra daedalea from the Great Barrier Reef. We tracked the survival of ten quantitative genetic crosses of larvae produced form six parental colonies in a heat tolerance selection experiment. We also identified allelic shifts in heat-selected (35°C) survivors compared with paired, non-selected controls (27°C). The narrow-sense heritability of survival under heat stress was 0.66 and a total of 1,069 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were associated with different survival probabilities. While 148 SNPs were shared between several experimental crosses, no common SNPs were identified for all crosses, which suggests that specific combinations of many markers are responsible for heat tolerance. However, we found two regions that overlap with previously identified loci associated with heat tolerance in Persian Gulf populations of P. daedalea, which reinforces the importance of these markers for heat tolerance. These results illustrate the importance of high heritability and the complexity of the genomic architecture underpinning host heat tolerance. These findings suggest that this P. daedalea population has the genetic prerequisites for adaptation to increasing temperatures. This study also provides knowledge for the development of high throughput genomic tools which may screen for variation within and across populations to enhance adaptation through assisted gene flow and assisted migration

Transplantation of cultured jaagsiekte (sheep pulmonary adenomatosis) cells into athymic nude mice

Epithelial cells of the 15 .4 line, which were originally established from the adenomatous lung of a jaagsiekte case and which had been cultured in vitro for 22 generations, were injected subcutaneously into athymic nude mice. A slow-growing tumour which soon became cystic was established in each case. The cysts rapidly increased in size as a result of the accumulation of a slightly turbid secretion containing aggregates of tumour cells which rapidly refilled the cysts after the fluid had been withdrawn. Cultures were readily re-established from these cells and a chromosomal analysis proved that the tumour consisted of sheep cells. An epithelial cell lining, very similar to that found in the adenomatous lung alveoli of typical jaagsiekte, could be demonstrated histologically.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 300dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format

Accuracy-enhanced solar resource maps of South Africa

Paper presented to the 3rd Southern African Solar Energy Conference, South Africa, 11-13 May, 2015.SolarGIS is a global database of solar resource and meteorological parameters, developed and operated by GeoModel Solar. This database is updated daily by real-time satellite, atmospheric and meteorological data inputs. The aim of presented work was accuracy enhancement of solar resource data for South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. This was achieved by regional adaptation of SolarGIS solar model with data measured at fourteen high-standard solar measuring stations sourced by Eskom, GeoSUN Africa, SAURAN, STERG and Ripasso Energy. The accuracy-enhancement procedure is based on correlation of the ground measurements with the satellite-based SolarGIS model and determination of correction coefficients for model inputs. Use of these coefficients reduced systematic deviation of the input aerosol data, which is key factor determining the model accuracy in Southern Africa. The user uncertainty of the longterm estimate based on adapted data is in the range of ±5% to ±7.5% for DNI, and ±3% to ±4% for GHI. The model now delivers more accurate high-resolution solar resource time series, which helps reducing financial risk and improving engineering quality of the solar power plants. The presented maps show longterm yearly averages of Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI) and Global Horizontal Irradiation (GHI) with 1-km spatial resolution. They are calculated by aggregation of sub-hourly modeled time series, representing a period 1994 to 2013. The maps are accessible from http://www.sauran.net/. High resolution data can be accessed from http://solargis.info.cf201

An overview of real-world data sources for oncology and considerations for research

Generating evidence on the use, effectiveness, and safety of new cancer therapies is a priority for researchers, health care providers, payers, and regulators given the rapid pace of change in cancer diagnosis and treatments. The use of real-world data (RWD) is integral to understanding the utilization patterns and outcomes of these new treatments among patients with cancer who are treated in clinical practice and community settings. An initial step in the use of RWD is careful study design to assess the suitability of an RWD source. This pivotal process can be guided by using a conceptual model that encourages predesign conceptualization. The primary types of RWD included are electronic health records, administrative claims data, cancer registries, and specialty data providers and networks. Careful consideration of each data type is necessary because they are collected for a specific purpose, capturing a set of data elements within a certain population for that purpose, and they vary by population coverage and longitudinality. In this review, the authors provide a high-level assessment of the strengths and limitations of each data category to inform data source selection appropriate to the study question. Overall, the development and accessibility of RWD sources for cancer research are rapidly increasing, and the use of these data requires careful consideration of composition and utility to assess important questions in understanding the use and effectiveness of new therapies