Crisis action planning and replanning using SIPE-2

Rome Laboratory and DARPA are jointly sponsoring an initiative to develop the next generation of AI planning and scheduling technology focused on military operations planning, especially for crisis situations. SRI International has demonstrated their knowledge-based planning technology in this domain with a system called SOCAP, System for Operations Crisis Action Planning. SOCAP's underlying power comes from SIPE-2, a hierarchical, domain-independent, nonlinear AI planner also developed at SRI. This paper discusses the features of SIPE-2 that made it an ideal choice for military operations planning and which contributed greatly to SOCAP's success

Micromagnetic Domain Structures in Cylindrical Nickel Dots

The magnetic domain structures of cylindrical nickel dots (diameters from 40 nm to 1700 nm) with anisotropy parallel to the cylinder axis is predicted by the ratio of the dot diameter to the stripe period of unpatterned films with the same perpendicular anisotropy. The dominant domain structure for a given ratio increases in complexity as the ratio increases. We present evidence for the full micromagnetic domain structure for the simplest cases

The AIIB in the Liberal International Order

The rise of China raises fundamental questions about the future of the liberal international order (LIO) at a time when it is under ever more strain. Although China’s focus for some years was on joining and participating in existing multilateral institutions, today China is increasingly building its own. Prominent among them is the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), launched in late 2014. Against the background of contending theoretical expectations, this article examines the extent to which the AIIB either reinforces or challenges the LIO and highlights what this tells us about China’s broader relationship with the LIO. We provide a definition of the LIO that is based on its social purpose rather than on its formal characteristics. State-centric approaches offer insights into China’s decision to engage in new institution building via the AIIB, but we argue that a focus on social purpose is necessary to assess the AIIB’s broader implications for the LIO. We find that, while conforming in large measure to existing institutional models, the AIIB promotes China’s integration into global social networks, strengthens state-led development pathways, and is associated with the Chinese norm of non-interference. The AIIB, thus, foreshadows the possibility of an institutionalised international order indifferent to liberalism. In sum, the AIIB reflects the tensions between the socialising effects of the LIO and China’s growing externalisation of its own non-liberal, state-led model of political economy

Orbital assembly and maintenance study

The requirements, conceptual design, tradeoffs, procedures, and techniques for orbital assembly of the support structure of the microwave power transmission system and the radio astronomy telescope are described. Thermal and stress analyses, packaging, alignment, and subsystems requirements are included along with manned vs. automated and transportation tradeoffs. Technical and operational concepts for the manned and automated maintenance of satellites were investigated and further developed results are presented

Acceptability and Feasibility of Virtual Reality to Promote Health Literacy in Primary Care from the Health Professional’s view: A Qualitative Study

ObjectiveThe development of health literacy is important in the management of chronic pain and virtual reality may be an effective medium for its development. This study aims to understand the usability and acceptability of a virtual reality-based pain education system for the facilitation of health literacy.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with health professionals who had used a VR-based pain education system within their clinical practice, to explore perceptions of feasibility. Data collection and analyses were informed by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and the Integrated Model of Health Literacy.ResultsFrom 10 participants, the VR-based system was considered feasible in providing immersive experiential learning which addressed patient understanding and health-related communication.ConclusionVR appears to be perceived as an acceptable and feasible technology to support the development of health literacy in people with chronic pain. Its largest perceived benefit was its capacity to provide an immersive and entertaining alternative to conventional methods of pain education.Practice ImplicationsVirtual reality is considered as a feasible method of facilitating patient understanding and health-related communication related to chronic pain. Feasibility of such a tool relies clinically on time available, social expectations of VR, and the role of immersive and experiential learning within the management of chronic pain

Orbital assembly and maintenance study. Executive summary

A sound, practical approach for the assembly and maintenance of very large structures in space is presented. The methods and approaches for assembling two large structures are examined. The maintenance objectives include the investigation of methods to maintain five geosynchronous satellites. The two assembly examples are a 200-meter-diameter radio astronomy telescope and a 1,000-meter-diameter microwave power transmission system. The radio astronomy telescope operates at an 8,000-mile altitude and receives RF signals from space. The microwave power transmission system is part of a solar power satellite that will be used to transmit converted solar energy to microwave ground receivers. Illustrations are included

Discovery of 15-second oscillations in Hubble Space Telescope observations of WZ Sagittae following the 2001 outburst

We report the discovery of 15-s oscillations in ultraviolet observations of WZ Sge obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope approximately one month after the peak of the 2001 outburst. This is the earliest detection of oscillations in WZ Sge following an outburst and the first time that a signal near 15 s has been seen to be dominant. The oscillations are quite strong (amplitude about 5%), but not particularly coherent. In one instance, the oscillation period changed by 0.7 s between successive observations separated by less than 1 hour. We have also found evidence for weaker signals with periods near 6.5 s in some of our data. We discuss the implications of our results for the models that have been proposed to account for the 28-s oscillations seen in quiescence. If the periods of the 15-s oscillations can be identified with the periods of revolution of material rotating about the white dwarf, the mass of the white dwarf must satisfy M_WD > 0.71 M_sun. The corresponding limit for the 6.5-s signals is M_WD > 1.03 M_sun.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ Letters; 13 pages, 4 postscript figures; new version corrects a few typos and matches version that will appear in ApJ

A SEASON-LONG COMPARISON OF SOCCER REFEREE MATCH DEMANDS BETWEEN THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE AND CHAMPIONSHIP

Conference Poste

The Impact of Changes in Religion on Health Among Sexual Minority Mormons

The current study presents data from the first longitudinal examination of sexual minority (SM) Mormons (n = 132). Over the course of 2 years, SM Mormons reported decreased psychological (e.g., orthodox beliefs), behavioral (e.g., service attendance), and social (interpersonal religious commitment) religiousness. Analyses revealed that, at baseline, service attendance was related to lower levels of meaning in life and higher levels of depression at time 2, while interpersonal religious commitment at baseline was related to higher levels of meaning in life and lower levels of depression. Latent change scores of religiousness suggested that decreases in interpersonal religious commitment over the 2 years predicted higher levels of depression and lower levels meaning in life at time 2. We suggest that these results highlight the inherent difficulty in holding both a Mormon and SM identity, with trends implying that SM Mormons tend to disengage from their religious identity