The LDCM actuator for vibration suppression

A linear dc motor (LDCM) has been proposed as an actuator for the COFS I mast and the COFS program ground test Mini-Mast. The basic principles of operation of the LDCM as an actuator for vibration suppression in large flexible structures are reviewed. Because of force and stroke limitations, control loops are required to stabilize the actuator, which results in a non-standard actuator-plant configuration. A simulation model that includes LDCM actuator control loops and a finite element model of the Mast is described, with simulation results showing the excitation capability of the actuator

PowerAqua: fishing the semantic web

The Semantic Web (SW) offers an opportunity to develop novel, sophisticated forms of question answering (QA). Specifically, the availability of distributed semantic markup on a large scale opens the way to QA systems which can make use of such semantic information to provide precise, formally derived answers to questions. At the same time the distributed, heterogeneous, large-scale nature of the semantic information introduces significant challenges. In this paper we describe the design of a QA system, PowerAqua, designed to exploit semantic markup on the web to provide answers to questions posed in natural language. PowerAqua does not assume that the user has any prior information about the semantic resources. The system takes as input a natural language query, translates it into a set of logical queries, which are then answered by consulting and aggregating information derived from multiple heterogeneous semantic sources

Academic Procrastination and Self-Control in Thesis Writing Students of Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Surabaya

Procrastination has long been regarded as reflection of low self-control. The emergence of temporal motivation theory (TMT) as a theoretical framework to explain procrastination also supports the role of self-control in bringing forth procrastination. This study aimed to test the suitability of TMT in explaining correlational pattern of self-control and procrastination, both in general and in thesis completion. Subjects were 157 psychology students working on their thesis. The results show that self-control has a negative correlation with general procrastination (r = -0.663) and thesis (r=-0.504). The role of TMT’s elements as mediators has been proven when the negative correlations weakened significantly after controlling for TMT elements. Nevertheless, a greater attenuation was actually found when self-control was used as the mediator variable. Alleged causes and implications of the findings are discussed. Keywords: general procrastination, self-control, temporal motivation theory, undergraduate thesis procrastinatio

Document mark-up for different users and purposes

Semantic enhancement of texts aids their use by researchers. However, mark-up of large bodies of text is slow and requires precious expert resources. The task could be automated if there were marked-up texts to train and test mark-up tools. This paper looks at the re-purposing of texts originally marked-up to support taxonomists to provide computer scientists with training and test data for their mark-up tools. The re-purposing highlighted some key differences in the requirements of taxonomists and computer scientists and their approaches to mark-up

Argument Evaluation Test for Critical Thinking Ability Assessment: A Preliminary Study

Critical thinking is a highly valued learning outcome in all educational levels. This study explores students ability to evaluate arguments as one manifestation of critical thinking. Using a newly developed instument (the Argument Evaluation Test), we describe high school graduates’ (N = 2201) ability to distinguish between sound and fallacious arguments, without explicit instruction. The results indicate that about half of the participants were able to spontaneously evaluate arguments and identify logical fallacies. This is significant considering that argumentation and logical fallacies are not part of the school curriculum in Indonesia. Thus, the ability to identify at least some types of logical fallacies could be obtained through informal learning and therefore the knowledge underlying this ability is likely to be implicit. Another finding was that the ability to evaluate arguments seem to vary depending on the type of fallacy, with ad hominem arguments easier to be identified as fallacious compared to ad populum arguments, as well as demographic variables such as gender and ethnicity

Aged garlic extract therapy for sickle cell anemia patients

BACKGROUND: Sickle cell anemia is one of the most prevalent hereditary disorders with prominent morbidity and mortality. With this disorder oxidative, phenomena play a significant role in its pathophysiology. One of the garlic (Allium sativum L.) formulations, aged garlic extract (AGE), has been reported to exert an anti-oxidant effect in vitro, we have evaluated the anti-oxidant effect of AGE on sickle red blood cells (RBC). METHODS: Five patients (two men and three women, mean age 40 ± 15 years, range 24–58 years) with sickle cell anemia participated in the study. AGE was administered at a dose of 5 ml a day. Whole blood samples were obtained at baseline and at 4 weeks for primarily Heinz body analysis. RESULTS: The data were consistent with our hypothesis. In all patients, the number of Heinz bodies decreased over the 4 week period (58.9 ± 20.0% at baseline to 29.8 ± 15.3% at follow-up, p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that there is a significant anti-oxidant activity of AGE on sickle RBC. AGE may be further evaluated as a potential therapeutic agent to ameliorate complications of sickle cell anemia

Discrete scale invariance, and its logarithmic extension

It is known that discrete scale invariance leads to log-periodic corrections to scaling. We investigate the correlations of a system with discrete scale symmetry, discuss in detail possible extension of this symmetry such as translation and inversion, and find general forms for correlation functions.Comment: 12 pages, LaTe