Neurological consequences of traumatic brain injuries in sports.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is common in boxing and other contact sports. The long term irreversible and progressive aftermath of TBI in boxers depicted as punch drunk syndrome was described almost a century ago and is now widely referred as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The short term sequelae of acute brain injury including subdural haematoma and catastrophic brain injury may lead to death, whereas mild TBI, or concussion, causes functional disturbance and axonal injury rather than gross structural brain damage. Following concussion, symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, reduced attention, amnesia and headache tend to develop acutely but usually resolve within a week or two. Severe concussion can also lead to loss of consciousness. Despite the transient nature of the clinical symptoms, functional neuroimaging, electrophysiological, neuropsychological and neurochemical assessments indicate that the disturbance of concussion takes over a month to return to baseline and neuropathological evaluation shows that concussion-induced axonopathy may persist for years. The developing brains in children and adolescents are more susceptible to concussion than adult brain. The mechanism by which acute TBI may lead to the neurodegenerative process of CTE associated with tau hyperphosphorylation and the development of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) remains speculative. Focal tau-positive NFTs and neurites in close proximity to focal axonal injury and foci of microhaemorrhage and the predilection of CTE-tau pathology for perivascular and subcortical regions suggest that acute TBI-related axonal injury, loss of microvascular integrity, breach of the blood brain barrier, resulting inflammatory cascade and microglia and astrocyte activation are likely to be the basis of the mechanistic link of TBI and CTE. This article provides an overview of the acute and long-term neurological consequences of TBI in sports. Clinical, neuropathological and the possible pathophysiological mechanisms are discussed. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Traumatic Brain Injury'

A safety margin and flight reference system and display for powered-lift aircraft

A study was conducted to explore the feasibility of a safety margin and flight reference system for those powered-lift aircraft which require a backside piloting technique. The main objective was to display multiple safety margin criteria as a single variable which could be tracked both manually and automatically and which could be monitored in order to derive safety margin status. The study involved a pilot-in-the-loop analysis of several system concepts and a simulator experiment to evaluate those concepts showing promise. A system was ultimately configured which yielded reasonable compromises in controllability, status information content, and the ability to regulate safety margins at some expense of the allowable low speed flight path envelope

Neutrino-electron processes in a strongly magnetized thermal plasma

We present a new method of calculating the rate of neutrino-electron interactions in a strong magnetic field based on finite temperature field theory. Using this method, in which the effect of the magnetic field on the electron states is taken into account exactly, we calculate the rates of all of the lowest order neutrino-electron interactions in a plasma. As an example of the use of this technique, we explicitly calculate the rate at which neutrinos and antineutrinos annihilate in a highly magnetized plasma, and compare that to the rate in an unmagnetized plasma. The most important channel for energy deposition is the gyromagnetic absorption of a neutrino-antineutrino pair on an electron or positron in the plasma ($\nu\bar{\nu} e^\pm\leftrightarrow e^\pm$). Our results show that the rate of annihilation increases with the magnetic field strength once it reaches a certain critical value, which is dependent on the incident neutrino energies and the ambient temperature of the plasma. It is also shown that the annihilation rates are strongly dependent on the angle between the incident particles and the direction of the magnetic field. If sufficiently strong fields exist in the regions surrounding the core of a type II supernovae or in the central engines of gamma ray bursts, these processes will lead to more efficient plasma heating mechanism than in an unmagnetized medium, and moreover, one which is intrinsically anisotropic.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, minor corrections, references added, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Algoritma Genetika dengan Pendekatan Model Pulau pada Permasalahan Travelling Salesman

Algoritma genetika telah banyak digunakan untuk menyelesaikan permasalahan-permasalahan susah (hard problem) atau permasalahan NP-Complete karena sifatnya yang heuristik dan mampu menghasilkan solusi yang optimal dalam waktu yang relatif cepat. Performansi dari algoritma genetika dalam menyelesaikan permasalahan tersebut dilihat dari seberapa cepat algoritma genetika mencapai solusi yang optimal atau seberapa luas penjelajahan algoritma genetika dalam ruang solusi yang luas (tingkat diversitas yang tinggi). Algoritma genetika dengan pendekatan model pulau merupakan pendekatan paralel dimana beberapa instan algoritma genetika dijalankan secara bersamaan untuk menjelajahi ruang solusi mencari solusi optimal. Dengan menggunakan model pulau, algoritma genetika bisa dikembangkan lebih lanjut dalam hal peningkatan diversitas individu dalam populasi. Diversitas yang tinggi bisa meningkatkan peluang algoritma genetika untuk mendapatkan solusi yang paling optimal atau global optimum. Di dalam penelitian ini digunakan studi kasus permasalahan travelling salesman untuk membandingkan algoritma genetika dengan konfigurasi jumlah pulau dan metode pertukaran informasi antar pulau yang berbeda. Kontribusi dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menghasilkan korelasi antara jumlah pulau yang digunakan dengan performansi algoritma genetika

Flight investigation of a four-dimensional terminal area guidance system for STOL aircraft

A series of flight tests and fast-time simulations were conducted, using the augmentor wing jet STOL research aircraft and the STOLAND 4D-RNAV system to add to the growing data base of 4D-RNAV system performance capabilities. To obtain statistically meaningful data a limited amount of flight data were supplemented by a statistically significant amount of data obtained from fast-time simulation. The results of these tests are reported. Included are comparisons of the 4D-RNAV estimated winds with actual winds encountered in flight, as well as data on along-track navigation and guidance errors, and time-of-arrival errors at the final approach waypoint. In addition, a slight improvement of the STOLAND 4D-RNAV system is proposed and demonstrated, using the fast-time simulation

The 4D area navigation system description and flight test results

A 4D area navigation system was designed to guide aircraft along a prespecified flight path (reference path) such that the aircraft would arrive at the approach gate at a time specified by the ATC controller. Key components to achieve this requirement were: (1) stored reference trajectories; (2) a continuously recomputed capture trajectory to a selected waypoint on the reference trajectory so as to achieve the desired time of arrival; (3) electronic situation displays; and (4) a control system to follow the overall trajectory in space and time. The system was implemented in a digital integrated avionics system (STOLAND) installed on a CV-340 airplane. Although the 4D system was designed primarily for automatic operation, it was flight tested in a flight director mode (the pilot follows the flight director commands), because the CV-340 autopilot servos were not tied to the avionics system. The flight test showed that, even in the flight director mode, the pilot did achieve the objectives of path tracking and time of arrival control with only moderate workload. The system also permitted controlled delay of the time of arrival by path stretching, which takes advantage of the continuously changing capture trajectory to predict the time of arrival. Simulations in the automatic and manual modes were used to complement the flight data

Flight experience with advanced controls and displays during piloted curved decelerating approaches in a powered-lift STOL aircraft

The control, display, and procedural features are described for a flight experiment conducted to assess the feasibility of piloted STOL approaches along predefined, steep, curved, and decelerating approach profiles. It was found to be particularly important to assist the pilot through use of the flight director computing capability with the lower frequency control-related tasks, such as those associated with monitoring and adjusting configuration trim as influenced by atmospheric effects, and preventing the system from exceeding powerplant and SAS authority limitations. Many of the technical and pilot related issues identified in the course of this flight investigation are representative of similarly demanding operational tasks that are thought to be possible only through the use of sophisticated control and display systems