Examining the Society of Mind

This article examines Marvin Minsky's Society of Mind theory of human cognition. We describe some of the history behind the theory, review several of the specific mechanisms and representations that Minsky proposes, and consider related developments in artificial intelligence since the theory's publication

The Role Of Physical Therapy Interventions For An Elderly Patient Following Surgical Fixation Of A Fracture Of The Femoral Shaft: A Case Report

Background and Purpose: This case report contributes to and builds upon established knowledge about the importance of early weight bearing for patients who sustained a fracture and repair. The purpose of this case report is to document this patient’s response to skilled physical therapy in the inpatient setting, including functional mobility, gait training and therapeutic exercise to maximize the patient\u27s functional ability prior to discharge home. Case Description: This report follows an 88-year old female who underwent open reduction and internal fixation of her right femoral shaft after sustaining a non-traumatic fracture. The patient was seen in the acute care unit of the hospital for three days prior to transitioning to the inpatient skilled therapy. Her care included physical therapy five times a week for 11 days, before being discharged home with services to continue to maximize functional independence. Outcomes: After completing inpatient skilled physical therapy, the patient met all her physical therapy goals. She improved her gross lower extremity strength and muscle endurance. She also was independent with all functional mobility and ambulation with the use of a rolling walker. She improved her Tinetti Balance Assessment score (15/28 to 20/28). Discussion: In conclusion, this case report successfully demonstrates the important role of physical therapy in the inpatient setting for patients that have sustained this type of injury. This is particularly true for a patient such as the one in this case report who also presented with a multitude of co-morbidities, and barriers to overcome to return to prior level of function

New Innovation of Combustion Chamber by Rotating Components Using CFD Tool

Fuel conservation is very important and popular subject given today’s concern for the operating cost economics in the aviation industry. Several techniques based on energizing the performance, or using in-time modifications of the engine combustion chamber will be studied in this project. This second approach on new designing of combustion chamber by rotational component seems to be promising. Considering a commercial aircraft for example, enhancing the engine regime by using combustion chamber by new innovative ideas and thereby increasing air fuel mixing ratio would most likely lead to fuel economy. Then the various dimensions of the combustor are calculated based on different empirical formulas. The air mass flow is then distributed across the zones of the combustor. The whole combustion chamber is modeled using Gambit, a modeling software and presented. The model is then analyzed using various parameters at various stages and levels to determine the optimized design. The aerodynamic flow characteristics are simulated numerically by means of fluent software suite. This project focuses on the design of a structure for an experimental combustion chamber, which will be studied using the computational fluid dynamic analysis

Invariant elliptic curves as attractors in the projective plane

Let f be a rational self-map of P^2 which leaves invariant an elliptic curve C with strictly negative transverse Lyapunov exponent. We show that C is an attractor, i.e. it possesses a dense orbit and its basin is of strictly positive measure

The STREAMES project: linking heuristic and empirical knowledge into an expert system to assess stream managers

Contribution presented at iEMSs 2002 Integrated Assessment and Decision Support Conference held in Lugano, Switzerland, on 24-27 June 2002. More details at http://www.iemss.org/iemss2002/.The increase in stream nutrient loads from anthropogenic sources has become a serious problem, especially in developed regions. Humans affect streams by modifying the landscape in ways that increase the transport of nutrients to surface waters, by directly dumping urban or industrial sewage into the stream, or by modifying streams in ways that reduce their ability to respond to increased nutrient loads. In Mediterranean regions these problems are compounded by the scarcity of water. The decision-making processes involved in water quality management require extensive human expertise or extensive computation with large data sets. In this sense, the STREAMES project aims to develop a knowledge-based environmental decision support system (EDSS) to support and advice water managers in the management of human-altered streams. This EDSS will integrate an Expert System (ES), concretely a rule-based reasoning system (RBS), with a Geographical Information System to address spatial information for the appropriate stream management actions, and a numerical model to estimate point and non-point nutrient sources from middle size catchments. The RBS will be developed by integrating heuristic knowledge from experts in surface water management, as well as empirical knowledge from stream scientists, based both on previous studies and on data directly acquired from experimental sampling. This paper will present the objectives of the STREAMES project with emphasis in the knowledge acquisition and development of the RBS.Peer reviewe