Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) and Maintenance and Diagnostic System (MDS): A maintenance and diagnostic system for Space Station Freedom

The Maintenance and Diagnostic System (MDS) that is being developed at Honeywell to enhance the Fault Detection Isolation and Recovery system (FDIR) for the Attitude Determination and Control System on Space Station Freedom is described. The MDS demonstrates ways that AI-based techniques can be used to improve the maintainability and safety of the Station by helping to resolve fault anomalies that cannot be fully determined by built-in-test, by providing predictive maintenance capabilities, and by providing expert maintenance assistance. The MDS will address the problems associated with reasoning about dynamic, continuous information versus only about static data, the concerns of porting software based on AI techniques to embedded targets, and the difficulties associated with real-time response. An initial prototype was built of the MDS. The prototype executes on Sun and IBM PS/2 hardware and is implemented in the Common Lisp; further work will evaluate its functionality and develop mechanisms to port the code to Ada

Using expert systems to analyze ATE data

The proliferation of automatic test equipment (ATE) is resulting in the generation of large amounts of component data. Some of this component data is not accurate due to the presence of noise. Analyzing this data requires the use of new techniques. This paper describes the process of developing an expert system to analyze ATE data and provides an example rule in the CLIPS language for analyzing trip thresholds for high gain/high speed comparators

Long-range quantum entanglement in noisy cluster states

We describe a phase transition for long-range entanglement in a three-dimensional cluster state affected by noise. The partially decohered state is modeled by the thermal state of a suitable Hamiltonian. We find that the temperature at which the entanglement length changes from infinite to finite is nonzero. We give an upper and lower bound to this transition temperature.Comment: 7 page

Risk factors associated with myopia in schoolchildren in Ireland

Aim To examine the demographic and social factors associated with myopia in schoolchildren in Ireland. Methods Thirty-seven schools participated, representing a mix of urban and rural schools and schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged areas in Ireland. Examination included cyclopleged autorefraction (1% cyclopentolate hydrochloride). Height and weight of participants were measured. Parents filled in a participant’s lifestyle questionnaire, including questions on daily screen time use and daylight exposure. Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent ≤−0.50 D. Results Data from 1626 participants (881 boys, 745 girls) in two age groups, 6–7 years (728) and 12–13 years (898), were examined. Myopia prevalence was significantly higher in children aged 12–13 years old (OR=7.7, 95%CI 5.1 to 11.6, p\u3c0.001) and significantly associated with non-white ethnicity (OR=3.7, 95% CI 2.5 to 5.3, p\u3c0.001). Controlling for age group and ethnicity, myopia prevalence was also significantly linked with height (p\u3c0.001) and higher in participants in the following groups: using screens \u3e3 hours per day (OR=3.7, 95% CI 2.1 to 6.3, p\u3c0.001), obesity (OR=2.7, 95% CI 1.9 to 3.9, p\u3c0.001), sedentary lifestyle (OR=2.9, 95% CI 1.9 to 4.4, p\u3c0.001), frequently reading/writing (OR=2.2, 95% CI 1.4 to 3.5, p=0.001), less daylight exposure during summer time (OR=5.00, 95% CI 2.4 to 10.3, p\u3c0.001), spring season births (OR=1.9, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.3, p=0.02), paternal history of myopia (OR=2.4, 95% CI 1.8 to 3.3, p\u3c0.001) and bottle fed for the first three months of life (OR=1.7, 95% CI 1.3 to 2.5, p=0.02). Conclusions The associations found between myopia prevalence in schoolchildren in Ireland and demographic and lifestyle factors suggest that longitudinal research investigating the associations between myopia prevalence and these factors may be beneficial in advising preventative public health programmes

Risk factors associated with myopia in schoolchildren in Ireland

Aim To examine the demographic and social factors associated with myopia in schoolchildren in Ireland. Methods Thirty-seven schools participated, representing a mix of urban and rural schools and schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged areas in Ireland. Examination included cyclopleged autorefraction (1% cyclopentolate hydrochloride). Height and weight of participants were measured. Parents filled in a participant’s lifestyle questionnaire, including questions on daily screen time use and daylight exposure. Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent ≤−0.50 D. Results Data from 1626 participants (881 boys, 745 girls) in two age groups, 6–7 years (728) and 12–13 years (898), were examined. Myopia prevalence was significantly higher in children aged 12–13 years old (OR=7.7, 95%CI 5.1 to 11.6, p\u3c0.001) and significantly associated with non-white ethnicity (OR=3.7, 95% CI 2.5 to 5.3, p\u3c0.001). Controlling for age group and ethnicity, myopia prevalence was also significantly linked with height (p\u3c0.001) and higher in participants in the following groups: using screens \u3e3 hours per day (OR=3.7, 95% CI 2.1 to 6.3, p\u3c0.001), obesity (OR=2.7, 95% CI 1.9 to 3.9, p\u3c0.001), sedentary lifestyle (OR=2.9, 95% CI 1.9 to 4.4, p\u3c0.001), frequently reading/writing (OR=2.2, 95% CI 1.4 to 3.5, p=0.001), less daylight exposure during summer time (OR=5.00, 95% CI 2.4 to 10.3, p\u3c0.001), spring season births (OR=1.9, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.3, p=0.02), paternal history of myopia (OR=2.4, 95% CI 1.8 to 3.3, p\u3c0.001) and bottle fed for the first three months of life (OR=1.7, 95% CI 1.3 to 2.5, p=0.02). Conclusions The associations found between myopia prevalence in schoolchildren in Ireland and demographic and lifestyle factors suggest that longitudinal research investigating the associations between myopia prevalence and these factors may be beneficial in advising preventative public health programmes

The Importance of Different On-Farm Feeding and Management Practices on Milk Protein Concentration and Yield

End of Project ReportThe objective of this project was to identify the most important factors which influence milk protein concentrations and yields on farms. Data collected on approximately 300 DairyMis farms were subjected to statistical evaluation by regression analysis, analysis of variance and factor analysis. The range in protein concentrations was 12% of the mean value compared to a variation in protein yield of 86% of the mean. The range in milk yield was 90% of the mean value. Initially data from 1995 were analysed. The regression model used only accounted for 4% of the variation between farms in milk protein concentration but for over 97% of the variation in milk protein yield. Milk protein yield was highly correlated with milk yield. Confining the analysis to Spring-calving herds only in 1995 (n=128) gave similar results but including genetic data in the regression model, for those spring-calving herds for which it was available (n = 36), explained approximately 25% of the variation in protein concentration. Analysis of variance on the spring-calving herd data (for 1994, 1995 and 1996) divided into quartiles on the basis of protein concentration indicated that higher protein concentration was associated with later calving, a higher proportion of milk produced on pasture and lower milk yield per cow. Factor analysis on all herds in 1994, 1995 and 1996 indicated that higher protein concentration was associated with Spring-calving herds, larger herds and with grass based milk production. These three factors accounted for 8% of the observed variation in milk protein concentration

Localized closed timelike curves can perfectly distinguish quantum states

We show that qubits traveling along closed timelike curves are a resource that a party can exploit to distinguish perfectly any set of quantum states. As a result, an adversary with access to closed timelike curves can break any prepare-and-measure quantum key distribution protocol. Our result also implies that a party with access to closed timelike curves can violate the Holevo bound. © 2009 The American Physical Society