Pilot decision making in a computer-aided flight management situation

An experimental representation of a computer-aided multi-task flight management situation has been developed. A computer aiding program was implemented to serve as a back-up decision maker. An experiment was conducted with a balanced design of several subject runs for different workload levels. This was achieved using three levels of subsystem event arrival rates, three levels of control task involvement, and three levels of availability of computer aiding. Experimental results compared quite favorably with those from a computer simulation which employed a queueing model. It was shown that the aiding had enhanced system performance as well as subjective ratings, and that the adaptive aiding policy further reduced subsystem delay

CDL description of a memory buffer organization

Computer design language description of memory buffer organizatio

A microprogrammed allocating-loader

Microprogrammed allocating loade

Building Blocks for Large-scale Integration of Logic Circuits

Large scale integration of logic circuit

Large Magneto-Dielectric Effects in Orthorhombic HoMnO3 and YMnO3

We have found a remarkable increase (up to 60 %) of the dielectric constant with the onset of magnetic order at 42 K in the metastable orthorhombic structures of YMnO3 and HoMnO3 that proves the existence of a strong magneto-dielectric coupling in the compounds. Magnetic, dielectric, and thermodynamic properties show distinct anomalies at the onset of the incommensurate magnetic order and thermal hysteresis effects are observed around the lock-in transition temperature at which the incommensurate magnetic order locks into a temperature independent wave vector. The orders of Mn3+ spins and Ho3+ moments both contribute to the magneto-dielectric coupling. A large magneto-dielectric effect was observed in HoMnO3 at low temperature where the dielectric constant can be tuned by an external magnetic field resulting in a decrease of up to 8 % at 7 Tesla. By comparing data for YMnO3 and HoMnO3 the contributions to the coupling between the dielectric response and Mn and Ho magnetic orders are separated.Comment: revised manuscrip

Children as Refrigerators: When Would Backward Altruism Appear?

Existing economic theories of the evolution of altruism between kinship members usually emphasize the role that altruism can play in facilitating coordination among kin to achieve an otherwise unachievable efficient (in terms of fitness) equilibrium. In this paper, we explore the background environment against which backward altruism was likely to appear. The instinct of sustaining one’s own life drives one to save for one’s old age. However, since social mechanisms were not sophisticated in a primitive society, the rate of return on savings was not high. As a consequence, the resources that remain for the children might be limited. Suppose a cultural menchanism or a mutation caused an individual to become backward-altruistic. She would then expect her children to adopt the same attitude as herself, and take care of her in her old age. With this expectation in mind, she would avoid inefficient savings voluntarily so that her children could obtain more resources. Thus, backward altruism in our model does not play a role of coordination, but helps parents to avoid inefficient resource disposition. We analyze the possible appearance of backward altruism as the rate of return on savings changes.

A decision-theoretic approach to reliable message delivery

We argue that the tools of decision theory need to be taken more seriously in the specification and analysis of systems. We illustrate this by considering a simple problem involving reliable communication, showing how considerations of utility and probability can be used to decide when it is worth sending heartbeat messages and, if they are sent, how often they should be sent.Comment: This is the full version of a paper that appears in the Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Distributed Computing, 1998, pp. 89-1