The estimation of pointing angle and normalized surface scattering cross section from GEOS-3 radar altimeter measurements

The statistical error of the pointing angle estimation technique is determined as a function of the effective receiver signal to noise ratio. Other sources of error are addressed and evaluated with inadequate calibration being of major concern. The impact of pointing error on the computation of normalized surface scattering cross section (sigma) from radar and the waveform attitude induced altitude bias is considered and quantitative results are presented. Pointing angle and sigma processing algorithms are presented along with some initial data. The intensive mode clean vs. clutter AGC calibration problem is analytically resolved. The use clutter AGC data in the intensive mode is confirmed as the correct calibration set for the sigma computations

Space shuttle orbiter leading-edge flight performance compared to design goals

Thermo-structural performance of the Space Shuttle orbiter Columbia's leading-edge structural subsystem for the first five (5) flights is compared with the design goals. Lessons learned from thse initial flights of the first reusable manned spacecraft are discussed in order to assess design maturity, deficiencies, and modifications required to rectify the design deficiencies. Flight data and post-flight inspections support the conclusion that the leading-edge structural subsystem hardware performance was outstanding for the initial five (5) flights

SBS System Description

Satellite Business Systems (SBS) recently initiated customer services, consisting of private, switched networks for integrated voice, digital and image transmission using satellite links among earth stations located on customer premises (Customer Network Service type A (CNSA)). Later, SBS plans to evolve system operation to allow the introduction of shared services for customers with more modest transmission needs. The paper relates the essential engineering features of the SBS system to the resulting operational capabilities. The system description includes the satellite, earth station, TT&C and control configuration, as well as the Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) burst architecture

Do Submental Deoxycholic Acid Injections Reduce Submental Fat in Adult Patients Enough to Create a Significant Increase in Patient Satisfaction?

Objective: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not “Submental deoxycholic acid injections reduce submental fat in adult patients enough to create a significant increase in patient satisfaction” Study Design: Review of 3 double blind, randomized control trials that were selected based on their relevance to the clinical question. Data Sources: All three peer-reviewed articles were found using PubMed and Cochrane Database. The keywords “ATX-101”, “submental fat”, and “deoxycholic acid” were used. Outcomes Measured: Satisfaction with appearance in association with face and chin evaluated by a patient reported subject self-rating scale (PR-SSRS), a numeric scale with values from 0-6. Results: All three trials recorded significant improvement in subject satisfaction compared to placebo with a p-value Conclusion: Deoxycholic acid injections to the submental region resulted in a consistent improvement in patients’ satisfaction with the appearance of their submental region. The NNT values are low proving these injections to be effective in improving satisfaction

A coprocessor design for the architectural support of non-numeric operations

Computer Science is concerned with the electronic manipulation of information. Continually increasing amounts of computer time are being expended on information that is not numeric. This is represented in part by modem computing requirements such as the block moves associated with context switching and virtual memory management, peripheral device communication, compilers, editors, word processors, databases, and text retrieval. This dissertation examines the traditional support of non-numeric information from a software, firmware, and hardware perspective and presents a coprocessor design to improve the performance of a set of non-numeric operations. Simple micro-coding of operations can provide a degree of performance improvement through parallel execution of instructions and control store access speeds. New special purpose parallel hardware algorithms can yield complexity improvements. This dissertation presents a parallel hardware regular expression searching algorithm which requires linear time and quadratic space compared to software uniprocessor algorithms which require exponential time and space. A very large scale integration (VLSD implementation of a version of this algorithm was designed, fabricated, and tested. The hardware. searching algorithm is then combined with other special purpose hardware to implement a set of operations. Simulation is then used to quantify the performance improvement of the operations when compared to software solutions. A coprocessor approach allows the optional addition of hardware to accelerate a set of operations. This is appropriate from a complex instruction set computer (CISC) perspective since hardware acceleration is being utilized. It is also appropriate from a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) perspective since the operations are distributed away from the central processing unit (CPU)

Psycho-social factors in cardiac disabilities

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston Universit