Effects of Transport Delays of Manual Control System Performance

Throughput or transport delays in manual control systems can cause degraded performance and lead to potentially unstable operation. With the expanding use of digital processors, throughput delays can occur in manual control systems in a variety of ways such as in digital flight control systems in real aircraft, and in equation of motion computers and computer generated images in simulators. Research has shown the degrading effect of throughput delays on subjective opinion and system performance and dynamic response. A generic manual control system model is used to provide a relatively simple analysis of and explanation for the effects of various types of delays. The consequence of throughput delays of some simple system architectures is also discussed

The effects of bedrest on crew performance during simulated shuttle reentry. Volume 2: Control task performance

A simplified space shuttle reentry simulation performed on the NASA Ames Research Center Centrifuge is described. Anticipating potentially deleterious effects of physiological deconditioning from orbital living (simulated here by 10 days of enforced bedrest) upon a shuttle pilot's ability to manually control his aircraft (should that be necessary in an emergency) a comprehensive battery of measurements was made roughly every 1/2 minute on eight military pilot subjects, over two 20-minute reentry Gz vs. time profiles, one peaking at 2 Gz and the other at 3 Gz. Alternate runs were made without and with g-suits to test the help or interference offered by such protective devices to manual control performance. A very demanding two-axis control task was employed, with a subcritical instability in the pitch axis to force a high attentional demand and a severe loss-of-control penalty. The results show that pilots experienced in high Gz flying can easily handle the shuttle manual control task during 2 Gz or 3 Gz reentry profiles, provided the degree of physiological deconditioning is no more than induced by these 10 days of enforced bedrest

Analyses of shuttle orbiter approach and landing conditions

A study of one shuttle orbiter approach and landing conditions are summarized. Causes of observed PIO like flight deficiencies are identified and potential cures are examined. Closed loop pilot/vehicle analyses are described and path/attitude stability boundaries defined. The latter novel technique proved of great value in delineating and illustrating the basic causes of this multiloop pilot control problem. The analytical results are shown to be consistent with flight test and fixed base simulation. Conclusions are drawn relating to possible improvements of the shuttle orbiter/digital flight control system

Weak decay processes in pre-supernova core evolution within the gross theory

The beta decay and electron capture rates are of fundamental importance in the evolution of massive stars in a pre-supernova core. The beta decay process gives its contribution by emitting electrons in the plasma of the stellar core, thereby increasing pressure, which in turn increases the temperature. From the other side, the electron capture removes free electrons from the plasma of the star core contributing to the reduction of pressure and temperature. In this work we calculate the beta decay and electron capture rates in stellar conditions for 63 nuclei of relevance in the pre-supernova stage, employing Gross Theory as the nuclear model. We use the abundances calculated with the Saha equations in the hypothesis of nuclear statistical equilibrium to evaluate the time derivative of the fraction of electrons. Our results are compared with other evaluations available in the literature. They have shown to be one order less or equal than the calculated within other models. Our results indicate that these differences may influence the evolution of the star in the later stages of pre-supernova. © 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..Fil: Ferreira, R. C.. Universidade Estadual Do Sudoeste Da Bahía; BrasilFil: Dimarco, A. J.. Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Bahía, Brasil; BrasilFil: Samana, Arturo Rodolfo. Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Bahía, Brasil; BrasilFil: Barbero, César Alberto. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física La Plata; Argentin

The Moment Guided Monte Carlo method for the Boltzmann equation

In this work we propose a generalization of the Moment Guided Monte Carlo method developed in [11]. This approach permits to reduce the variance of the particle methods through a matching with a set of suitable macroscopic moment equations. In order to guarantee that the moment equations provide the correct solutions, they are coupled to the kinetic equation through a non equilibrium term. Here, at the contrary to the previous work in which we considered the simplified BGK operator, we deal with the full Boltzmann operator. Moreover, we introduce an hybrid setting which permits to entirely remove the resolution of the kinetic equation in the limit of infinite number of collisions and to consider only the solution of the compressible Euler equation. This modification additionally reduce the statistical error with respect to our previous work and permits to perform simulations of non equilibrium gases using only a few number of particles. We show at the end of the paper several numerical tests which prove the efficiency and the low level of numerical noise of the method.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0908.026

Weak decay processes in pre-supernova core evolution within the gross theory

The beta decay and electron capture rates are of fundamental importance in the evolution of massive stars in a pre-supernova core. The beta decay process gives its contribution by emitting electrons in the plasma of the stellar core, thereby increasing pressure, which in turn increases the temperature. From the other side, the electron capture removes free electrons from the plasma of the star core contributing to the reduction of pressure and temperature. In this work we calculate the beta decay and electron capture rates in stellar conditions for 63 nuclei of relevance in the pre-supernova stage, employing Gross Theory as the nuclear model. We use the abundances calculated with the Saha equations in the hypothesis of nuclear statistical equilibrium to evaluate the time derivative of the fraction of electrons. Our results are compared with other evaluations available in the literature. They have shown to be one order less or equal than the calculated within other models. Our results indicate that these differences may influence the evolution of the star in the later stages of pre-supernova.Facultad de Ciencias ExactasInstituto de Física La Plat

Dispersion of a tracer in the deep Gulf of Mexico

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2016. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 121 (2016): 1110–1132, doi:10.1002/2015JC011405.A 25 km streak of CF3SF5 was released on an isopycnal surface approximately 1100 m deep, and 150 m above the bottom, along the continental slope of the northern Gulf of Mexico, to study stirring and mixing of a passive tracer. The location and depth of the release were near those of the deep hydrocarbon plume resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil well rupture. The tracer was sampled between 5 and 12 days after release, and again 4 and 12 months after release. The tracer moved along the slope at first but gradually moved into the interior of the Gulf. Diapycnal spreading of the patch during the first 4 months was much faster than it was between 4 and 12 months, indicating that mixing was greatly enhanced over the slope. The rate of lateral homogenization of the tracer was much greater than observed in similar experiments in the open ocean, again possibly enhanced near the slope. Maximum concentrations found in the surveys had fallen by factors of 104, 107, and 108, at 1 week, 4 months, and 12 months, respectively, compared with those estimated for the initial tracer streak. A regional ocean model was used to simulate the tracer field and help interpret its dispersion and temporal evolution. Model-data comparisons show that the model simulation was able to replicate statistics of the observed tracer distribution that would be important in assessing the impact of oil releases in the middepth Gulf.This research was made possible by a grant from The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.2016-08-0

The gross theory model for neutrino-nucleus cross-section

The nuclear gross theory, originally formulated by Takahashi and Yamada (1969 Prog. Theor. Phys. 41 1470) for the β-decay, is applied to the electronic-neutrino nucleus reactions, employing a more realistic description of the energetics of the Gamow-Teller resonances. The model parameters are gauged from the most recent experimental data, both for βand electron capture, separately for even-even, even-odd, odd-odd and odd-even nuclei. The numerical estimates for neutrino-nucleus cross-sections agree fairly well with previous evaluations done within the framework of microscopic models. The formalism presented here can be extended to the heavy nuclei mass region, where weak processes are quite relevant, which is of astrophysical interest because of its applications in supernova explosive nucleosynthesis.Facultad de Ciencias ExactasFacultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y GeofísicasInstituto de Física La Plat