Expert system decision support for low-cost launch vehicle operations

Progress in assessing the feasibility, benefits, and risks associated with AI expert systems applied to low cost expendable launch vehicle systems is described. Part one identified potential application areas in vehicle operations and on-board functions, assessed measures of cost benefit, and identified key technologies to aid in the implementation of decision support systems in this environment. Part two of the program began the development of prototypes to demonstrate real-time vehicle checkout with controller and diagnostic/analysis intelligent systems and to gather true measures of cost savings vs. conventional software, verification and validation requirements, and maintainability improvement. The main objective of the expert advanced development projects was to provide a robust intelligent system for control/analysis that must be performed within a specified real-time window in order to meet the demands of the given application. The efforts to develop the two prototypes are described. Prime emphasis was on a controller expert system to show real-time performance in a cryogenic propellant loading application and safety validation implementation of this system experimentally, using commercial-off-the-shelf software tools and object oriented programming techniques. This smart ground support equipment prototype is based in C with imbedded expert system rules written in the CLIPS protocol. The relational database, ORACLE, provides non-real-time data support. The second demonstration develops the vehicle/ground intelligent automation concept, from phase one, to show cooperation between multiple expert systems. This automated test conductor (ATC) prototype utilizes a knowledge-bus approach for intelligent information processing by use of virtual sensors and blackboards to solve complex problems. It incorporates distributed processing of real-time data and object-oriented techniques for command, configuration control, and auto-code generation

I wonder if the college archives have any more information on [Father Luke Dionne\u27s] legacy?

Abbot Pennings answers a question about Fr. Luke Dionne, a Norbertine connected with the College and his legacy in the college archives, archived from the SNC website

Book Review of A young writer\u27s world: Creating early childhood classrooms where authors abound.

A Young Writer’s World: Creating Early Childhood Classrooms Where Authors Abound (Giles, 2020) provides early childhood educators with the knowledge and resources in order to create an immersive learning environment conducive for developing pre-school and kindergarten’s writing development. This book review evaluates the layout and key components of the text in order to identify the potential implications it could provide within an early childhood classroom

Analysis of Thermal Properties of Permafrost, and Modeling

Permafrost thaw has a potentially large impact on the global climate system through release of carbon gas that has been stored as organic carbon for up to 400,000 years. System feedbacks between permafrost carbon content, microbial decomposition rates, ground temperature, and greenhouse gas radiative forcing make the permfrost system susceptible to rate induced tipping. Individual components of the permafrost system are examined to contribute to understanding of the timing and behavior of system tipping. A Permafrost Bomb model is created to evaluate the long term decomposition ground temperature feedback behavior. Results showed several system tippings with decreasing successive amplitude under a constant atmospheric temperature forcing. This resembles the global temperature behavior of the PETM hyperthermals, supporting evidence of permafrost thaw influence on paleoclimate events. Six years of ground temperature data from a Kapp Linne borehole was analyzed for the thermal diffusivity through time and depth. Increasing atmospheric temperature is associated with greater thermal diffusivity and more effects from latent heat transfer, which were observed far below the active layer. Considering the results directly from this study and previously published research, a more complete model for permafrost is proposed. This model considers ground and atmospheric conditions for temperature and carbon content. Overall, these findings are applicable in permafrost and climate modeling for the purpose of understanding how the permafrost system may change and impact the global climate on both the geologic time scale and human lifespan

An Adapative Treecode-accelerated Boundary Integral Solver for Computing the Electrostatics of a Biomolecule

The Poisson-Boltzmann equation (PBE) is a widely-used model in the calculation of electrostatic potential for solvated biomolecules. PBE is an interface problem defined in the whole space with the interface being a molecular surface of a biomolecule, and has been solved numerically by finite difference, finite element, and boundary integral methods. Unlike the finite difference and finite element methods, the boundary integral method works directly over the whole space without approximating the whole space problem into an artificial boundary value problem. Hence, it is expected to solve PBE in higher accuracy. However, so far, it was only applied to a linear PBE model. Recently, a solution of PBE was split into three component functions. One of them, G, is a known function that collects all the singularity points of PBE so that the other two components become continuously twice differentiable within the protein and solvent regions. Such an approach has led to efficient PBE finite element solvers. This provided motivation to study the application of this solution decomposition to the development of a new boundary integral algorithm for solving PBE. Reformulating the interface problem of $\Psi$ into a boundary integral equation is nontrivial because the involved flux interface condition is discontinuous. Development of a fast numerical algorithm for solving the resulted boundary integral equation is an attractive research topic. In this masters thesis, we focus on one key step of our new boundary integral algorithm: how to solve for the second component function $\Psi$ of the PBE solution by a boundary integral method. This work becomes important by itself because the sum of $\Psi$ with $G$ gives the solution of the Poisson dielectric model for the case of a biomolecule in water. In this project, we obtain the new boundary integral equation and develop an adaptive treecode-accelerated boundary integral algorithm. We then program the new algorithm in Fortran and make various numerical tests to validate our new algorithm and program package. In particular, numerical tests performed against analytic models verify the effectiveness of the solver, and comparisons to experimental data verify its accuracy for real-world applications. In this way, it is demonstrated that this solver and solution decomposition can compute the electrostatics of a biomolecule in water with high numerical accuracy

Museum for fremtiden: Christian Lollike og Anders Thrue Djurslev, Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus Teater

Museum for fremtiden kunne opleves på Sort/Hvid 03.06 – 25.06 2022 og på Kunsthal Aarhus 01.09-24.09 2022.Med kunstværker af: Ferdinand Ahm Krag, Helene Nymann, Studio ThinkingHandTekst og iscenesættelse: Christian LollikeDramaturgi, kuratering, ph.d.-stipendiat ved Aarhus Universitet: Anders Thrue DjurslevScenografi og kostume: Franciska Zahle, Helle DamgårdLysdesign: Morten KolbakLyddesign: Asger KudahlFortæller/voice-over: Sicilia Gadborg Høeg

Exploring the Effects of Team-Based Learning in a Preservice Reading Methods Course

Teacher educators are tasked with preparing preservice teachers with both the content and pedagogical knowledge and skills to teach children to read. In this study we investigated the use of team-based learning (TBL) in a reading methods course as a framework for improving student learning outcomes. TBL is an instructional approach that has been used across a variety of fields in higher education but has only recently made its way into teacher preparation programs. Using mixed methods, we compared TBL to the traditional lecture to explore whether participation in TBL affected preservice elementary teachers’ level of preparation for class, achievement of learning outcomes, and perceptions of TBL. Results showed no statistically significant differences in preparation or learning outcomes. Overall, preservice teachers reported that they liked several TBL components. Further research is required to determine whether TBL has an impact on learning outcomes after a longer period of implementation, over time, and/or on teaching behaviors

Airborne Radar for sUAS Sense and Avoid

A primary challenge for the safe integration of small UAS operations into the National Airspace System (NAS) is traffic deconfliction, both from manned and unmanned aircraft. The UAS Traffic Management (UTM) project being conducted at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) considers a layered approach to separation provision, ranging from segregation of operations through airspace volumes (geofences) to autonomous sense and avoid (SAA) technologies for higher risk, densely occupied airspace. Cooperative SAA systems, such as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and/or vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems provide significant additional risk mitigation but they fail to adequately mitigate collision risks for non-cooperative (non-transponder equipped) airborne aircraft. The RAAVIN (Radar on Autonomous Aircraft to Verify ICAROUS Navigation) flight test being conducted by NASA and the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) was designed to investigate the applicability and performance of a prototype, commercially available sUAS radar to detect and track non-cooperative airborne traffic, both manned and unmanned. The radar selected for this research was a Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar with 120 degree azimuth and 80 degree elevation field of view operating at 24.55GHz center frequency with a 200 MHz bandwidth. The radar transmits 2 watts of power thru a Metamaterial Electronically Scanning Array antenna in horizontal polarization. When the radar is transmitting, personnel must be at least 1 meter away from the active array to limit nonionizing radiation exposure. The radar physical dimensions are 18.7cm by 12.1cm by 4.1cm and it weighs less than 820 grams making it well suited for installation on small UASs. The onboard, SAA capability, known as ICAROUS, (Independent Configurable Architecture for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems), developed by NASA to support sUAS operations, will provide autonomous guidance using the traffic radar tracks from the onboard radar. The RAAVIN set of studies will be conducted in three phases. The first phase included outdoor, ground-based radar evaluations performed at the Virginia Techs Kentland Farm testing range in Blacksburg, VA. The test was designed to measure how well the radar could detect and track a small UAS flying in the radars field of view. The radar was used to monitor 5 test flights consisting of outbound, inbound and crossing routes at different ranges and altitudes. The UAS flown during the ground test was the Inspire 2, a quad copter weighing less than 4250 grams (10 pounds) at maximum payload. The radar was set up to scan and track targets over its full azimuthal field of view from 0 to 40 degrees in elevation. The radar was configured to eliminate tracks generated from any targets located beyond 2000 meters from the radar and moving at velocities under 1.45 meters per second. For subsequent phases of the study the radar will be integrated with a sUAS platform to evaluate its performance in flight for SAA applications ranging from sUAS to manned GA aircraft detections and tracking. Preliminary data analysis from the first outdoor ground tests showed the radar performed well at tracking the vehicle as it flew outbound and repeatedly maintained a track out to 1000 meters (maximum 1387 meters) until the vehicle slowed to a stop to reverse direction to fly inbound. As the Inspire flew inbound tracks from beyond 800 meters, a reacquisition time delay was consistently observed between when the Inspire exceeds a speed of 1.45 meters per second and when the radar indicated an inbound target was present and maintained its track. The time delay varied between 6 seconds to over 37 seconds for the inbound flights examined, and typically resulted in about a 200 meter closure distance before the Inspire track was maintained. The radar performed well at both acquiring and tracking the vehicle as it flew crossing routes out past 400 meters across the azimuthal field of view. The radar and ICAROUS software will be integrated and flown on a BFD-1400-SE8-E UAS during the next phase of the RAAVIN project. The main goal at the conclusion of this effort is to determine if this radar technology can reliably support minimum requirements for SAA applications of sUAS. In particular, the study will measure the range of vehicle detections, lateral and vertical angular errors, false and missed/late detections, and estimated distance at closest point of approach after an avoidance maneuver is executed. This last metric is directly impacted by sensor performance and indicates its suitability for the task

What are the main sources of smoking cessation support used by adolescent smokers in England?: a cross-sectional study

Background Adolescent smoking is a worldwide public health concern. Whilst various support measures are available to help young smokers quit, their utilization of cessation support remains unknown. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the 2012 Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People survey to quantify the use of seven different types of cessation support by adolescents aged 11-16 in England who reported current smoking and having tried to quit, or ex-smoking. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios and 95 % confidence intervals for the associations between participant characteristics and reported use of cessation support. Results Amongst 617 current and ex-smokers, 67.3 % (95 % CI 63.0-71.2) reported use of at least one cessation support measure. Not spending time with friends who smoke was the most commonly-used measure, reported by 45.4 % of participants (95 % CI 41.1-49.8), followed by seeking smoking cessation advice from family or friends (27.4 %, 95 % CI 23.7-31.5) and using nicotine products (15.4 %, 95 % CI 12.6-18.7). Support services provided by the National Health Service (NHS) were infrequently utilized. Having received lessons on smoking was significantly associated with reported use of cessation support (adjusted OR 1.55, 95 % CI 1.02-2.34) and not spending time with friends who smoked (adjusted OR 1.98, 95 % CI 1.33-2.95). Students with family members who smoked were more likely to report asking family or friends for help to quit (adjusted OR 1.74, 95 % CI 1.07-2.81). Respondents who smoked fewer cigarettes per week were generally less likely to report use of cessation support measures. Conclusion The majority of young smokers reported supported attempts to quit, though the support they used tended to be informal rather than formal. Evidence is needed to quantify the effectiveness of cessation support mechanisms which are acceptable to and used by young smokers