Progress Towards an Opposed Piston Two Stroke Gasoline Aviation Engine

Opposed Piston Engine Technology is not new, but its application to small two-stroke gasoline engines is unexplored. This presentation explores the potential advantages of such an engine as well as progress towards a workable design

2Fly with RPi - Evaluating the Raspberry Pi for Glass Cockpit Applications

Evaluating the capabilities of Raspberry Pi computers to be used in embedded glass cockpit applications for experimental aircraft. This includes details of what is required for these applications as well as how well the Raspberry Pi 3B can perform in this role

2Fly with RPi - Evaluating Suitability of the Raspberry Pi3 B Single Board Computer for Experimental Glass Cockpit Embedded Applications

Computer based cockpits typically interact with the pilot through glass covered displays, and are called glass cockpits. Glass cockpits came first to military aircraft and then to commercial aircraft. Most recently, they have become available for general aviation aircraft. However, price remains a significant barrier for low cost aircraft. At the same time, the price of computers suitable for embedded applications has dropped precipitously. The Raspberry Pi 3B is an example of just such a computer, and can be purchased for $35 to$40. This paper seeks to evaluate the suitability of this single board computer for use in an experimental glass cockpit solution. The required functionality of such a solution is detailed – both in term of functionality and in terms of internal workings. The Raspberry Pi 3B computer is then evaluated for potential suitability to drive such a solution. This evaluation is based on mathematical analysis and on the experiences of the world’s hacking community – which has embraced the Raspberry Pi with open arms. Finally, the paper discuses programming techniques and software that the author has evaluated for creating such an experimental glass cockpit. It is the author’s hope that this solution can be implemented in the near future, and that 2Fly with RPi becomes a fully functional open source experimental aircraft situational awareness aid

On Demand Streaming Video in Self Paced Lab Environments

This is a quasi-experimental study which investigates the effectiveness of streaming video as an educational medium in self-paced lab environments. This study investigates student mastery of the subject as well as student attitudes and perceptions towards their performance and the usefulness of streaming video as an educational tool

An Extended Star Formation History for the Galactic Center from Hubble Space Telescope/NICMOS Observations

We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Near-Infrared Camera and Multiobject Spectrometer (NICMOS) observations as evidence that continuous star formation has created much of the central stellar cusp of the Galaxy. The data are the deepest ever obtained for a Galactic Center (GC) population, being $>$50% complete for \mnk$<19.3$, or initial stellar masses $\gtrsim$2 \Msun. We use Geneva and Padova stellar evolution models to produce synthetic luminosity functions for burst and continuous star formation scenarios, finding that the observations are fit best by continuous star formation at a rate that is consistent with the recent star formation activity that produced the three massive young clusters in the central 50 \pc. Further, it is not possible to fit the observations with ancient burst models, such as would be appropriate for an old population like that in Baade's Window or NGC6528

HST/NICMOS Observations of Massive Stellar Clusters Near the Galactic Center

We report Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Near-infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer (NICMOS) observations of the Arches and Quintuplet clusters, two extraordinary young clusters near the Galactic Center. For the first time, we have identified main sequence stars in the Galactic Center with initial masses well below 10 Msun. We present the first determination of the initial mass function (IMF) for any population in the Galactic Center, finding an IMF slope which is significantly more positive (Gamma approx -0.65) than the average for young clusters elsewhere in the Galaxy (Gamma approx -1.4). The apparent turnoffs in the color-magnitude diagrams suggest cluster ages which are consistent with the ages implied by the mixture of spectral types in the clusters; we find tau(age) approx 2+/-1 Myr for the Arches cluster, and tau(age) approx 4+/-1 Myr for the Quintuplet. We estimate total cluster masses by adding the masses of observed stars down to the 50% completeness limit, and then extrapolating down to a lower mass cutoff of 1 Msun. Using this method, we find > 10^4 Msun for the total mass of the Arches cluster. Such a determination for the Quintuplet cluster is complicated by the double-valued mass-magnitude relationship for clusters with ages > 3 Myr. We find a lower limit of 6300 Msun for the total cluster mass, and suggest a best estimate of twice this value which accounts for the outlying members of the cluster. Both clusters have masses which place them as the two most massive clusters in the Galaxy.Comment: accepted by ApJ higher resolution versions of figures 1 and 2 can be found at: ftp://quintup.astro.ucla.edu/nicmos1

An Optical Implementation of Adaptive Resonance Utilizing Phase Conjugation

A novel adaptive resonance theory (ART) device has been conceived that is fully optical in the input-output processing path. This device is based on holographic information processing in a phase-conjugating crystal. This sets up an associative pattern retrieval in a resonating loop utilizing angle-multiplexed reference beams for pattern classification. A reset mechanism is used to reject any given beam, allowing an ART search strategy. The design is similar to that of an existing nonlearning optical associative memory, but is does allow learning and makes use of information the other device discards. This new device is expected to offer higher information storage density that alternative ART implementation

An Optical Adaptive Resonance Neural Network Utilizing Phase Conjugation

An adaptive resonance (ART) device has been conceived that is fully optical in the input-output processing path. It is based on holographic information processing in a phase-conjugating crystal. This sets up an associative pattern retrieval in a resonating loop utilizing angle-multiplexed reference beams for pattern classification. A reset mechanism is used to reject any given beam, allowing an ART search strategy. The design is similar to an existing nonlearning optical associative memory, but it does allow learning and makes use of information the other device discards. This device is expected to offer higher information storage density than alternative ART implementations

Expression of RUNX1 correlates with poor patient prognosis in triple negative breast cancer

The RUNX1 transcription factor is widely recognised for its tumour suppressor effects in leukaemia. Recently a putative link to breast cancer has started to emerge, however the function of RUNX1 in breast cancer is still unknown. To investigate if RUNX1 expression was important to clinical outcome in primary breast tumours a tissue microarray (TMA) containing biopsies from 483 patients with primary operable invasive ductal breast cancer was stained by immunohistochemistry. RUNX1 was associated with progesterone receptor (PR)-positive tumours (P&#60;0.05), more tumour CD4+(P&#60;0.05) and CD8+(P&#60;0.01) T-lymphocytic infiltrate, increased tumour CD138+plasma cell (P&#60;0.01) and more CD68+macrophage infiltrate (P&#60;0.001). RUNX1 expression did not influence outcome of oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive or HER2-positive disease, however on univariate analysis a high RUNX1 protein was significantly associated with poorer cancer-specific survival in patients with ER-negative (P&#60;0.05) and with triple negative (TN) invasive breast cancer (P&#60;0.05). Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis of cancer-specific survival showed a trend towards significance in ER-negative patients (P&#60;0.1) and was significant in triple negative patients (P&#60;0.05). Of relevance, triple negative breast cancer currently lacks good biomarkers and patients with this subtype do not benefit from the option of targeted therapy unlike patients with ER-positive or HER2-positive disease. Using multivariate analysis RUNX1 was identified as an independent prognostic marker in the triple negative subgroup. Overall, our study identifies RUNX1 as a new prognostic indicator correlating with poor prognosis specifically in the triple negative subtype of human breast cancer