Pilots' use of a traffic alert and collision-avoidance system (TCAS 2) in simulated air carrier operations. Volume 2: Appendices

Pilots' use of and responses to a traffic alert and collision-avoidance system (TCAS 2) in simulated air carrier line operations are discribed in Volume 1. TCAS 2 monitors the positions of nearby aircraft by means of transponder interrogation, and it commands a climb or descent which conflicting aircraft are projected to reach an unsafe closest point-of-approach within 20 to 25 seconds. A different level of information about the location of other air traffic was presented to each of three groups of flight crews during their execution of eight simulated air carrier flights. A fourth group of pilots flew the same segments without TCAS 2 equipment. Traffic conflicts were generated at intervals during the flights; many of the conflict aircraft were visible to the flight crews. The TCAS equipment successfully ameliorated the seriousness of all conflicts; three of four non-TCAS crews had hazardous encounters. Response times to TCAS maneuver commands did not differ as a function of the amount of information provided, nor did response accuracy. Differences in flight experience did not appear to contribute to the small performance differences observed. Pilots used the displays of conflicting traffic to maneuver to avoid unseen traffic before maneuver advisories were issued by the TCAS equipment. The results indicate: (1) that pilots utilize TCAS effectively within the response times allocated by the TCAS logic, and (2) that TCAS 2 is an effective collision avoidance device. Volume 2 contains the appendices referenced in Volume 1, providing details of the experiment and the results, and the text of two reports written in support of the program

Pilots' use of a traffic alert and collision-avoidance system (TCAS 2) in simulated air carrier operations. Volume 1: Methodology, summary and conclusions

Pilots' use of and responses to a traffic alert and collision-avoidance system (TCAS 2) in simulated air carrier line operations are described in Volume 1. TCAS 2 monitors the positions of nearby aircraft by means of transponder interrogation, and it commands a climb or descent when conflicting aircraft are projected to reach an unsafe closest point-of-approach within 20 to 25 seconds. A different level of information about the location of other air traffic was presented to each of three groups of flight crews during their execution of eight simulated air carrier flights. A fourth group of pilots flew the same segments without TCAS 2 equipment. Traffic conflicts were generated at intervals during the flights; many of the conflict aircraft were visible to the flight crews. The TCAS equipment successfully ameliorated the seriousness of all conflicts; three of four non-TCAS crews had hazardous encounters. Response times to TCAS maneuver commands did not differ as a function of the amount of information provided, nor did response accuracy. Differences in flight experience did not appear to contribute to the small performance differences observed. Pilots used the displays of conflicting traffic to maneuver to avoid unseen traffic before maneuver advisories were issued by the TCAS equipment. The results indicate: (1) that pilots utilize TCAS effectively within the response times allocated by the TCAS logic, and (2) that TCAS 2 is an effective collision avoidance device. Volume II contains the appendices referenced in Volume I, providing details of the experiment and the results, and the text of two reports written in support of the program

Back to the Future: Cicero\u27s Five Canons as an Assessment Framework

Responding to an external mandate to engage in program level assessment, an assessment ad hoc committee within a large and broadly focused communication studies department invokes the Five Canons as the framework for an imbedded assessment process. The article explores the challenges that the Five Canons helped resolve and the unique organizational and curricular advantages that the Five Canons offer

A Grand Unification of the Sciences, Arts & Consciousness: Rediscovering the Pythagorean Plato’s Golden Mean Number System

In this condensed paper, by combining the insights from E-Infinity theory, along with Plato‘s initiatory insights into the golden section imbedded in his Principles of the One and Indefinite Dyad, David Bohm‘s ontological framework of the superimplicate, implicate and explicate orders, and the pervasive presence throughout physics, chemistry, biology and cosmology of the golden ratio (often veiled in Fibonacci and Lucas numbers), a profound golden mean number system emerges underlying the cosmos, nature and consciousness. This ubiquitous presence is evident in quantum mechanics, including quark masses, the chaos border, fine structure constant and entanglement, entropy and thermodynamic equilibrium, the periodic table of elements, nanotechnology, crystallography, computing, digital information, cryptography, genetics, nucleotide arrangement, Homo sapiens and Neanderthal genomes, DNA structure, cardiac anatomy and physiology, biometric measurements of the human and mammalian skulls, weather turbulence, plantphyllotaxis, planetary orbits and sizes, black holes, dark energy, dark matter, and even cosmogenesis – the very origin and structure of the universe. This has been pragmatically extended through the most ingenious biomimicry, from robotics, artificial intelligence, engineering and urban design, to extensions throughout history in architecture, music and the arts. We propose herein a grand unification of the sciences, arts and consciousness, rooted in an ontological superstructure known to the ancients as the One and IndefiniteDyad, that gives rise to a golden mean number system which is the substructure of all existence

The Early Dissemination Defect Attributed to Disruption of Decorin-Binding Proteins is Abolished in Chronic Murine Lyme Borreliosis

The laboratory mouse model of Lyme disease has revealed that Borrelia burgdorferi differentially expresses numerous outer surface proteins that influence different stages of infection (tick-borne transmission, tissue colonization, dissemination, persistence, and tick acquisition). Deletion of two such outer surface proteins, decorin-binding proteins A and B (DbpA/B), has been documented to decrease infectivity, impede early dissemination, and, possibly, prevent persistence. In this study, DbpA/B-deficient spirochetes were confirmed to exhibit an early dissemination defect in immunocompetent, but not immunodeficient, mice, and the defect was found to resolve with chronicity. Development of disease (arthritis and carditis) was attenuated only in the early stage of infection with DbpA/B-deficient spirochetes in both types of mice. Persistence of the DbpA/B-deficient spirochetes occurred in both immunocompetent and immunodeficient mice in a manner indistinguishable from that of wild-type spirochetes. Dissemination through the lymphatic system was evaluated as an underlying mechanism for the early dissemination defect. At 12 h, 3 days, 7 days, and 14 days postinoculation, DbpA/B-deficient spirochetes were significantly less prevalent and in lower numbers in lymph nodes than wild-type spirochetes. However, in immunodeficient mice, deficiency of DbpA/B did not significantly decrease the prevalence or spirochete numbers in lymph nodes. Complementation of DbpA/B restored a wild-type phenotype. Thus, the results indicated that deficiency of DbpA/B allows the acquired immune response to restrict early dissemination of spirochetes, which appears to be at least partially mediated through the lymphatic system

The Lag Model Applied to High Speed Flows

The Lag model has shown great promise in prediction of low speed and transonic separations. The predictions of the model, along with other models (Spalart-Allmaras and Menter SST) are assessed for various high speed flowfields. In addition to skin friction and separation predictions, the prediction of heat transfer are compared among these models, and some fundamental building block flowfields, are investigated

Promising Tools in Prostate Cancer Research:Selective Non-Steroidal Cytochrome P450 17A1 Inhibitors

Cytochrome P450 17A1 (CYP17A1) is an important target in the treatment of prostate cancer because it produces androgens required for tumour growth. The FDA has approved only one CYP17A1 inhibitor, abiraterone, which contains a steroidal scaffold similar to the endogenous CYP17A1 substrates. Abiraterone is structurally similar to the substrates of other cytochrome P450 enzymes involved in steroidogenesis, and interference can pose a liability in terms of side effects. Using non-steroidal scaffolds is expected to enable the design of compounds that interact more selectively with CYP17A1. Therefore, we combined a structure-based virtual screening approach with density functional theory (DFT) calculations to suggest non-steroidal compounds selective for CYP17A1. In vitro assays demonstrated that two such compounds selectively inhibited CYP17A1 17α-hydroxylase and 17,20-lyase activities with IC(50) values in the nanomolar range, without affinity for the major drug-metabolizing CYP2D6 and CYP3A4 enzymes and CYP21A2, with the latter result confirmed in human H295R cells

Recurrent Selection to Alter Grain Methionine Concentration and Improve Nutritional Value of Maize

Methionine is an essential amino acid that is limiting in maize- (Zea mays L.) based diets. The objective of this work was to determine whether we could alter grain methionine concentration in random-mated maize populations by mass selection for methionine concentration using a microbial assay. In one study, we developed two populations by selecting for high or low methionine concentration (HM or LM, respectively) for three generations starting from the random-mated population BS11. Grain from these populations was used to formulate diets for a feeding trial in which 15 rats were fed HM grain and 15 rats were fed LM grain. Rats on the HM diet had a 0.018 higher feed efficiency (g gain/g feed) than rats on the LM diet. In a second study, we performed three cycles of selection for high or low methionine concentration starting with two random-mated populations, BS11 and BS31. We evaluated each cycle of selection in a field trial with two replications in each of two years. Methionine concentration was significantly correlated with the cycle of selection, changing on average 0.004 g methionine/100 g grain per cycle. Kernel mass, %N, oil, protein, starch, tryptophan, and lysine concentration did not exhibit significant correlations with cycle of selection. We conclude that recurrent selection for grain methionine concentration using a microbial assay is an effective method to alter methionine content

Nonclassical statistics of intracavity coupled χ(2)\chi^{(2)} waveguides: the quantum optical dimer

A model is proposed where two $\chi^{(2)}$ nonlinear waveguides are contained in a cavity suited for second-harmonic generation. The evanescent wave coupling between the waveguides is considered as weak, and the interplay between this coupling and the nonlinear interaction within the waveguides gives rise to quantum violations of the classical limit. These violations are particularly strong when two instabilities are competing, where twin-beam behavior is found as almost complete noise suppression in the difference of the fundamental intensities. Moreover, close to bistable transitions perfect twin-beam correlations are seen in the sum of the fundamental intensities, and also the self-pulsing instability as well as the transition from symmetric to asymmetric states display nonclassical twin-beam correlations of both fundamental and second-harmonic intensities. The results are based on the full quantum Langevin equations derived from the Hamiltonian and including cavity damping effects. The intensity correlations of the output fields are calculated semi-analytically using a linearized version of the Langevin equations derived through the positive-P representation. Confirmation of the analytical results are obtained by numerical simulations of the nonlinear Langevin equations derived using the truncated Wigner representation.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.