Description of a subset of single events from the BATSE gamma ray burst data

About 15 percent of the gamma ray bursts in the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) data exhibit a simple light curve consisting mainly of a single pulse without fine substructures. In 12 of the burst profiles, the pulse shapes show a linear rise and decay. Three events have a distinct sharp rise followed by a long, almost exponential decay. Searches based on only a sharp rise selection criterion resulted in five more grbs with different profile complexities. In one case, we identify an envelope of fast oscillations with a long, softer tail lasting about 100 seconds. The majority of events were detectable at energies above 300 keV, with tentative estimates for fluences that vary between 4.0 x 10(exp -8) and 5.4 x 10(exp -6) ergs/sq cm. We describe here their general characteristics (durations, rise-decay times) and their hardness ratios

DPAC 2013: Dixon Learning Center

The University of New Mexico\u27s Design and Planning Assistance Center (DPAC) was engaged to investigate the site of the Embudo Valley Library and explore alternative designs for its development. In an eight-week planning and design effort the architecture and landscape architecture student teams embraced the challenge and devised five distinct possible visions for the site and its buildings.https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/dpac_projects/1012/thumbnail.jp

Friendly Fire in a Simulated Firearms Task

Factors such as poor visibility, lack of situation awareness and bad communication have been shown to contribute to friendly fire incidents. However, to the authors’ knowledge, an individual’s ability to inhibit their motor response of shooting when a non-target is presented has not been investigated. This phenomenon has been modeled empirically using the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART; Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley, & Yiend, 1997) computer task. The SART is generally a high Go/low No-Go detection task whereby participants respond to numerous neutral stimuli and withhold to rare targets. In the current investigation, we further investigate the SART using a simulated small arms scenario to test whether lack of motor response inhibition can be modeled in a more ecologically valid environment. Additionally, we were interested in how error rates were impacted in low Go/high No-Go versions of the task. Thirteen university students completed a computer and simulated small arms scenario in a SART and low Go condition. Both the computer and small arms scenario revealed similar speed-accuracy trade-offs indicating participants’ inability to halt their pre-potent responses to targets even in a more ecologically valid environment. The SART may be used in future studies to model friendly fire scenarios

Monitoring Cen X-3 with BATSE

The eight uncollimated BATSE Large Area Detectors (LAD's) provide the ability to monitor pulsed hard x ray sources on a nearly continuous basis. Using data from the LAD's, the pulse timing and pulsed flux of the 4.8 second period binary x ray pulsar Centaurus X-3 was analyzed over a two month period. The methods and initial results of this analysis, which includes both data folded onboard GRO and 1.024 second resolution discriminator rates folded on the ground, are presented

Spider Stimuli Improve Response Inhibition

Anxiety can have positive effects on some aspects of cognition and negative effects on others. The current study investigated whether task-relevant anxiety could improve peo- ple’s ability to withhold responses in a response inhibition task. Sixty-seven university stu- dents completed a modified and an unmodified version of the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART; Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley, & Yiend, 1997) and provided subjective measures of arousal and thoughts. Anxiety appeared to improve participants’ ability to withhold responses. Further, participants’ performance was consistent with a motor response inhibition perspective rather than a mind-wandering perspective of SART commission error performance. Errors of commission were associated with response times (speed-accuracy trade-off) as opposed to task-unrelated thoughts. Task-related thoughts were associated with the speed-accuracy trade-off. Conversely task-unrelated thoughts showed an association with errors of omission, suggesting this SART metric could be an indicator of sustained attention. Further investigation of the role of thoughts in the SART is warranted

Methanotrophic Bacteria for Nutrient Removal from Wastewater: Attached Film System

It was hypothesized that nutrient removal from wastewater could be achieved by using methane oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs). Because methane is inexpensive. it can be used as an energy source to encourage bacterial growth to assimilate nitrogen and phosphorus and other trace elements. This initial feasibility study used synthetic nutrient mixtures and secondary sewage effluent as feed to a laboratory-scale methanotrophic attached-film expanded bed (MAFEB) reactor operated at 35°C and 20°C. The MAFEB system operated successfully at low nutrient concentrations under a variety of nutrient-limited conditions. Using a synthetic nutrient mixture with a nitrogen:phosphorus feed ratio (w/w) of 9:1, phosphate concentrations were reduced from 1.3 mg P/ L to below 0.1 mg P/ L, and ammonia was reduced from 12 mg N/L to approximately 1 mg N/L on a continuous flow basis, with a bed hydraulic retention time of 4.8 hours. The average nutrient uptake rates from synthetic nutrient mixtures were 100 mg nitrogen and 10 mg phosphorus/L of expanded bed/d. Nutrient assimilation rates increased with increasing growth rate and with increasing temperature. Nitrogen/phosphorus uptake ratios varied from 8 to 13, and the observed yield varied from 0.11 to 0.16 g volatile solids (VS)/g chemical oxygen demand (COD). Nutrient removal from secondary sewage effluent was successfully demonstrated using sewage effluent from two local treatment plants. Nutrient concentrations of 10-15 mg N/L and 1.0-1.8 mg P/L were reduced consistently below 1 mg N/L and 0.1 mg P/L. No supplemental nutrients were added to the sewage to attain these removal efficiencies since the nutrient mass ratios were similar to that required by the methanotrophs. Removal rates were lower at 20°C than at 35°C, but high removal efficiencies were maintained at both temperatures. Effluent suspended solids concentrations ranged from 8 to 30 mg volatile suspended solids (VSS)/L, and the effluent soluble COD concentration averaged 30 mg/L

Human Factors Issues in Using Micro-Uninhabited Vehicles in Urban Disasters

Technical advances in remotely operated vehicles (drones) have seen an increase in their use in a variety of work settings, including remote searches and damage assessment. In the case of disaster response and management, uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) could be extremely useful. For example in floods UAVs could be used to search for people trapped on roofs or floating on debris, in bushfires they could be used to improve the view of the fire and provided response managers with improved situational awareness, in marine environments UAVs could be used to search for lost people, and finally, in earthquakes UAVs could be used, if small enough, to search within buildings for damage assessment and searches. In the later case, this has already been attempted in response to the Christchurch February 22nd earthquakes, in which a Parrot A.R quadrocopter drone (commercial off-the-shelf drone) was flown into the Christchurch Cathedral in order to assess for damage. This idea radically reduces the risk to search and damage assessment personnel. However, actually flying the micro-UAV presents a significant challenge in these kinds of environments. In the present talk, we will discuss recent research at the University of Canterbury on human factors issues of using micro-UAVs in urban disaster scenarios. One of the challenges in flying micro-UAVs is that the pilot has limited sensory information. The pilot is flying with a limited field of view, a 2-d camera image instead of a 3-d naturalistic scene (out of a cockpit window), and the pilot receives no tactile or vestibular cues regarding the UAV’s orientation. One significant challenge in using micro-UAVs, therefore, in urban settings is operating the drone in constrained environments, for example, inside buildings. The turbulence and tight spacing of these environments presents a significant challenge to the pilot. We have been examining the issues involved in using micro-UAVs in these constrained environments. We will discuss training programs for pilots, motor control aspects of the piloting task, the relative costs and benefits of different control interfaces, and assessments of the cognitive workload of the piloting task. In the later research we have added a secondary mental workload to the pilot. This technique is called dual-tasking and it enables a sensitive assessment of the actual mental workload of a primary task. We had pilots engage in a piloting task and a secondary communication-like task. The secondary task represented communication with a co-worker and required the pilot to recall verbally transmitted words presented to the pilot during the flight operation. The pilots navigated and controlled the drone in simulated search operations (flying an obstacle course). We used the secondary task to assess the cognitive load of the flight task. In comparison to other simple motor tasks such as using a joystick to select targets on a computer screen the UAV piloting task is extremely demanding. We will also discuss future planned research

Human factors issues with the use of text-speak communication

Advances in communication technology have significantly changed how individuals communicate (Crystal, 2008). Individuals not only have auditory communication at the their disposal, but also text based communication available through cell phones or computers. Emergency response agencies have begun to utilize text messaging to warn people of impending natural disasters (Samarajiva & Waidvanatha, 2009). These early warning systems can likely save lives by allowing people to prepare accordingly. Text messaging may also be useful in actual emergency management operations, such as disaster response. In these settings, text based communication could be more beneficial than auditory communication in that it allows an individual to reread a message a later time; text messages serve as an augmentation to human memory which is fallible. For example, civil defense personnel could receive a text message in which details are critical (e.g., survivors on third floor of bank near stairway). Once the message is received, one can reread the message and extract key information that could potentially save lives. One potential problem with text messaging is the limited amount of space available and time it takes to write. To overcome limited amount of space the time limits, individuals incorporate shortening techniques (i.e., text-speak) that allows an individual to convey a word or phrase in a shorter amount of time and decreased amount of space (e.g., srvvrs on 3rd flor of bnk near th strwy, survivors on the third floor of the bank near the stairway). Although text-speak allows one to create a message faster and in a shorter amount of space, processing text-speak could exact a cognitive cost to the reader (Head, et al., 2012). It is likely that civil defense workers responding to natural disasters could be subject to processing text-speak while text messaging. For example, it is common for civil defense to use shortening techniques such as acronyms (e.g., EQC-earthquake commission, GEOC-Group Emergency Operations Centre and MoH-Ministry of Health)