NAVARES: A Prototype Expert System For NAVASTAR Anomoly Resolution

The purpose of this research was to demonstrate the applicability of expert systems to the domain of satellite command and control, specifically, NAVSTAR Global Positioning System anomaly resolution. A prototype expert system was developed which successfully diagnoses many Attitude, Velocity and Control Subsystem and Electrical Power Subsystem anomalies. The project was sponsored by Air Force Space Command\u27s 2nd Space Wing and was developed at the Air Force Institute of Technology

Improving Patient Flow in America’s Safety Net Hospitals: An Ethical Obligation to the Nation’s Underserved Populations

Academic medical centers frequently serve as safety net hospitals, treating a large percentage of low income and uninsured patients. Emergency departments (ED) provide unscheduled care for these patients whose conditions range from non-urgent annoyances to life-threatening injuries. Most research has shown that only a fraction of these visits are truly emergencies. These visits contribute to ED overcrowding, often leading to delayed or denied admissions. A common misconception is that ED overcrowding is an ED problem. Rather, competing patient flows from ED and inpatient areas frequently converge to produce system-wide demand surges. During times of acute overcrowding, delays can frequently be attributed to lack of inpatient beds and resources, both of which are beyond the ED’s control. Multi-disciplinary collaboration and system-wide cooperation is critical for successful patient flow management. This article presents evidence that improving patient flow enhances access to care for underserved populations, leads to better patient outcomes, and improves revenue for the organization

Organizational Life Cycle and Innovation Among Entrepreneurial Enterprises

Organizational life cycle has been studied for several decades by management researchers. Most efforts, however, have focused on relationships between a specific life cycle stage and another construct, such as organizational effectiveness, management priorities, organizational behavior, or competitive strategy. This study categorizes 107 organizations located in six contiguous counties in the southeastern United States into life cycle stages. Respondents were also asked to identify the importance of innovation and change in their industries, their perceived satisfaction with performance, and their perceived level of threats from the environment. Support was found for four of the five proposed life cycle stages, with none of the respondents indicating that their organizations were in the decline stage. Firms in Stage 1 (existence) and Stage 4 (renewal) reported high scores for innovation and change in their industries and a high level of satisfaction with performance. Stage 1 firms also reported the highest amount of perceived threat from the environment, in contrast to firms in Stage 3 (success) who reported the lowest

Survival of Organic Materials in Hypervelocity Impacts of Ice on Sand, Ice, and Water in the Laboratory

The survival of organic molecules in shock impact events has been investigated in the laboratory. A frozen mixture of anthracene and stearic acid, solvated in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), was fired in a two-stage light gas gun at speeds of ?2 and ?4?km s?1 at targets that included water ice, water, and sand. This involved shock pressures in the range of 2–12 GPa. It was found that the projectile materials were present in elevated quantities in the targets after impact and in some cases in the crater ejecta as well. For DMSO impacting water at 1.9?km s?1 and 45° incidence, we quantify the surviving fraction after impact as 0.44±0.05. This demonstrates successful transfer of organic compounds from projectile to target in high-speed impacts. The range of impact speeds used covers that involved in impacts of terrestrial meteorites on the Moon, as well as impacts in the outer Solar System on icy bodies such as Pluto. The results provide laboratory evidence that suggests that exogenous delivery of complex organic molecules from icy impactors is a viable source of such material on target bodies

Biomechanical Variables Associated with Tibial and Third Metatarsal Stress Fractures in Royal Marines Recruits

Due to their prevalence and associated high rehabilitation costs, this thesis aimed to better understand factors influencing the risk of tibial (TSF) and third metatarsal (MT3SF) stress fractures in Royal Marine recruit training. In Study 1, the standard issue combat assault boot and neutral trainer were assessed during running. Running in the boot caused restricted ankle motion, greater forefoot loading, greater ankle stiffness and a more laterally applied horizontal force vector at the instant of peak braking, suggesting that the risk of incurring MT3SF was greater in this condition. In Study 2, bending stresses were modelled along the length of the third metatarsal of five participants, using individual bone geometry and dynamic gait data. Stresses were modelled for running when barefoot, and when shod in the standard issue footwear. Estimated peak bending stresses were significantly greater in the combat assault boot than the gym trainer, predominantly due to increased plantar loading. Individual bone geometry was however dominant in determining peak bending stresses. In Study 3, a large (n=1065) prospective study was conducted to identify differences in baseline characteristics between recruits sustaining a TSF or MT3SF and those who complete training uninjured. Ten TSF and 14 MT3SF cases were compared to 120 uninjured legs. Results suggest that risk of TSF is greater in those recruits with reduced ability to resist loading and attenuate impact during gait. Results for MT3SF suggest that ankle and foot position at touchdown, and the timing and magnitude of forefoot loading, are important factors influencing risk of this injury. The observation of lower age and BMI in both stress fracture groups was linked to lower bone strength and earlier fatigue mechanisms. This thesis has increased the understanding of MT3SF in particular, and provides information on specific factors which may be associated with MT3SF and TSF in RM recruits during basic training

The Role of Human Resources in the Success of New Businesses

Michael L. Menefee, Ph. D., is the Peterson Professor of Entrepreneurship, Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship and a Professor in the Department of Organizational Leadership & Supervision, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907. John A. Parnell, Ph.D., is the William Henry Helk Professor of Management, School of Business Administration, University of North Carolina- Pembroke, North Carolina 28372. Ed Powers, Ph.D., is a professor of management, School of Business Administration, University of North Carolina- Pembroke, Pembroke, North Carolina 28372. Chris Ziemnowcicz, Ph.D., is a professor of management, School of Business Administration, University of North Carolina- Pembroke, Pembroke, North Carolina 28372. Recipient, Best Paper Award, 27th Annual Southern Industrial Relations and Human Resource Conference (SIRHRC), Savannah, Ga 31401

Relating perturbation magnitude to temporal gene expression in biological systems

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Most transcriptional activity is a result of environmental variability. This cause (environment) and effect (gene expression) relationship is essential to survival in any changing environment. The specific relationship between environmental perturbation and gene expression – and stability of the response – has yet to be measured in detail. We describe a method to quantitatively relate perturbation magnitude to response at the level of gene expression. We test our method using <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>as a model organism and osmotic stress as an environmental stress.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Patterns of gene expression were measured in response to increasing sodium chloride concentrations (0, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, and 1.2 M) for sixty genes impacted by osmotic shock. Expression of these genes was quantified over five time points using reverse transcriptase real-time polymerase chain reaction. Magnitudes of cumulative response for specific pathways, and the set of all genes, were obtained by combining the temporal response envelopes for genes exhibiting significant changes in expression with time. A linear relationship between perturbation magnitude and response was observed for the range of concentrations studied.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study develops a quantitative approach to describe the stability of gene response and pathways to environmental perturbation and illustrates the utility of this approach. The approach should be applicable to quantitatively evaluate the response of organisms via the magnitude of response and stability of the transcriptome to environmental change.</p

Fungal transformation of selenium and tellurium located in a volcanogenic sulfide deposit

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