Adaption of evolutionary programming to the prediction of solar flares

Adapting evolutionary programming to prediction of solar flare

Demonstration of decomposition and optimization in the design of experimental space systems

Effective design strategies for a class of systems which may be termed Experimental Space Systems (ESS) are needed. These systems, which include large space antenna and observatories, space platforms, earth satellites and deep space explorers, have special characteristics which make them particularly difficult to design. It is argued here that these same characteristics encourage the use of advanced computer-aided optimization and planning techniques. The broad goal of this research is to develop optimization strategies for the design of ESS. These strategics would account for the possibly conflicting requirements of mission life, safety, scientific payoffs, initial system cost, launch limitations and maintenance costs. The strategies must also preserve the coupling between disciplines or between subsystems. Here, the specific purpose is to describe a computer-aided planning and scheduling technique. This technique provides the designer with a way to map the flow of data between multidisciplinary analyses. The technique is important because it enables the designer to decompose the system design problem into a number of smaller subproblems. The planning and scheduling technique is demonstrated by its application to a specific preliminary design problem

Predictability of biomass burning in response to climate changes

Climate is an important control on biomass burning, but the sensitivity of fire to changes in temperature and moisture balance has not been quantified. We analyze sedimentary charcoal records to show that the changes in fire regime over the past 21,000 yrs are predictable from changes in regional climates. Analyses of paleo- fire data show that fire increases monotonically with changes in temperature and peaks at intermediate moisture levels, and that temperature is quantitatively the most important driver of changes in biomass burning over the past 21,000 yrs. Given that a similar relationship between climate drivers and fire emerges from analyses of the interannual variability in biomass burning shown by remote-sensing observations of month-by-month burnt area between 1996 and 2008, our results signal a serious cause for concern in the face of continuing global warming

Toward autonomous spacecraft

Ways in which autonomous behavior of spacecraft can be extended to treat situations wherein a closed loop control by a human may not be appropriate or even possible are explored. Predictive models that minimize mean least squared error and arbitrary cost functions are discussed. A methodology for extracting cyclic components for an arbitrary environment with respect to usual and arbitrary criteria is developed. An approach to prediction and control based on evolutionary programming is outlined. A computer program capable of predicting time series is presented. A design of a control system for a robotic dense with partially unknown physical properties is presented

An Innovative Approach for Community Engagement: Using an Audience Response System

Community-based participatory research methods allow for community engagement in the effort to reduce cancer health disparities. Community engagement involves health professionals becoming a part of the community in order to build trust, learn from the community and empower them to reduce disparities through their own initiatives and ideas. Audience Response Systems (ARS) are an innovative and engaging way to involve the community and obtain data for research purposes using keypads to report results via power point. The use of ARS within communities is very limited and serves to widen the disparity gap by not delivering new advances in medical knowledge and technology among all population groups. ARS was implemented at a community town hall event sponsored by a National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities Exploratory Center of Excellence, the Center for Equal Health. Participants appreciated being able to see how everyone else answered and felt included in the research process. ARS is beneficial because the community can answer truthfully and provides instant research results. Additionally, researchers can collect large amounts of data quickly, in a non-threatening way while tracking individual responses anonymously. Audience Response Systems proved to be an effective tool for successfully accomplishing community-based participatory research

The young massive stellar cluster associated to RCW121

We report NIR broad and narrow band photometric observations in the direction of the IRAS17149-3916 source that reveal the presence of a young cluster of massive stars embedded in an HII region coincident with RCW121. These observations, together with published radio data, MSX and Spitzer images were used to determine some of the physical parameters of the region. We found 96 cluster member candidates in an area of about 1.5 x 2.0 square arcmin, 30% of them showing excess emission in the NIR. IRS 1, the strongest source in the cluster with an estimated spectral type of O5V-O6V ZAMS based on the color-magnitude diagram, is probably the main ionizing source of the HII region detected at radio wavelengths. Using the integrated Brgamma and the 5 GHz flux densities, we derived a mean visual extinction AV=5.49 magnitudes. From the observed size of the Brgamma extended emission, we calculated the emission measure E and the electron density ne, characteristic of compact HII regions.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication on AJ (February/2006

Weathering the storm: Generating intersectional urban design understandings for winter cities

Taking an intersectional approach, this research explicates the unique manner in which spatial injustice is experienced in a winter city when an individual possesses the multiple disadvantaged identities of disability, gender, age, and class. Employing case study methodology and go-along interview methods, this research answers the question: how can the lived experience of an older, formerly homeless woman with mobility and mental health disabilities inform intersectional design recommendations for winter cities? The findings identify three priority areas for intersectional design in winter cities to facilitate inclusion, wellness, and resilience among those disadvantaged by disability, gender, age, and class. These areas are: components of the built environment requiring intersectional understanding of accessibility (sidewalks, public transit-access routes, building entrances, and public transit pick-up zones); the urban context of senior and affordable housing; and public transportation. This paper contributes to the literature by demonstrating that intersectional understandings of urban winter environments are potent knowledge towards transforming cities from ones that disable and marginalize, to ones that enable and empower.En adoptant une approche intersectionnelle, cette recherche explique la manière unique dont l’oppression socio-spatiale est vécue dans une ville d’hiver lorsqu’un individu possède les multiples identités défavorisées du handicap, du sexe, de l’âge et de la classe. En utilisant une méthodologie d’étude de cas et des méthodes d’entrevues, cette recherche répond à la question: comment l’expérience vécue d’une femme âgée, anciennement sans-abri, à mobilité réduite et souffrant de troubles mentaux, peut-elle éclairer les recommandations de conception inclusive pour les villes d’hiver? Les résultats suggèrent trois domaines prioritaires pour une conception inclusive dans les villes d’hiver: les zones cibles de l’environnement bâti nécessitant une attention accrue sur l’accessibilité (trottoirs, voies d’accès aux transports en commun, entrées des bâtiments et zones de ramassage des transports en commun); l’emplacement urbain des logements pour personnes âgées et abordables; et les transports publics. Cet article contribue à la littérature en démontrant que la compréhension intersectionnelle des environnements hivernaux urbains est une connaissance puissante pour transformer les villes de celles qui désactivent et marginalisent, à celles qui permettent et autonomisent

The cohort of the atomic bomb survivors: major basis of radiation safety regulations

Since 1950 about 87 000 A-bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been monitored within the framework of the Life Span Study, to quantify radiation-induced late effects. In terms of incidence and mortality, a statistically significant excess was found for leukemia and solid tumors. In another major international effort, neutron and gamma radiation doses were estimated, for those survivors (Dosimetry System DS02). Both studies combined allow the deduction of risk coefficients that serve as a basis for international safety regulations. As an example, current results on all solid tumors combined suggest an excess relative risk of 0.47 per Sievert for an attained age of 70 years, for those who were exposed at an age of 30 years. After exposure to an effective dose of one Sievert the solid tumor mortality would thus be about 50% larger than that expected for a similar cohort not exposed to any ionizing radiation from the bombs

The effect of expectation on facilitation of colour/form conjunction tasks by TMS over area V5

In an earlier paper, we reported task-specific impairments and improvements caused by applying TMS over cortical visual area V5 [Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 265 (1998) 537]. The phenomenon is further investigated in the present study using two of the previous tasks: a motion/form conjunction in which TMS impaired performance and a colour/form conjunction in which performance was enhanced with TMS. In the earlier experiment, subjects were presented with blocks of trials of one task type perhaps allowing some of the observed effects to arise from knowing the type of stimulus to be discriminated. When blocks of trials consisted of randomly mixed moving/form and colour/form conjunction tasks, TMS over V5 still impaired target-present responses for the moving/form conjunction, but the facilitation seen for colour/form conjunction target-present responses disappeared. We suggest that the competitive inhibition postulated between visual movement areas and colour areas in the brain, in our previous paper, are subject to expectation or knowledge of forthcoming stimulus type

Avian cerebellar floccular fossa size is not a proxy for flying ability in birds

Extinct animal behavior has often been inferred from qualitative assessments of relative brain region size in fossil endocranial casts. For instance, flight capability in pterosaurs and early birds has been inferred from the relative size of the cerebellar flocculus, which in life protrudes from the lateral surface of the cerebellum. A primary role of the flocculus is to integrate sensory information about head rotation and translation to stabilize visual gaze via the vestibulo-occular reflex (VOR). Because gaze stabilization is a critical aspect of flight, some authors have suggested that the flocculus is enlarged in flying species. Whether this can be further extended to a floccular expansion in highly maneuverable flying species or floccular reduction in flightless species is unknown. Here, we used micro computed-tomography to reconstruct “virtual” endocranial casts of 60 extant bird species, to extract the same level of anatomical information offered by fossils. Volumes of the floccular fossa and entire brain cavity were measured and these values correlated with four indices of flying behavior. Although a weak positive relationship was found between floccular fossa size and brachial index, no significant relationship was found between floccular fossa size and any other flight mode classification. These findings could be the result of the bony endocranium inaccurately reflecting the size of the neural flocculus, but might also reflect the importance of the flocculus for all modes of locomotion in birds. We therefore conclude that the relative size of the flocculus of endocranial casts is an unreliable predictor of locomotor behavior in extinct birds, and probably also pterosaurs and non-avian dinosaurs