Automatic lateral emergency collision avoidance for a passenger car

Longitudinal collision avoidance controllers are of limited benefit for preventing head-on collisions between road vehicles travelling at high speed or for preventing rear end collisions when there is insufficient separation between the vehicles. In these circumstances, aggressive lateral vehicle manoeuvres are more appropriate. This paper develops a controller architecture to perform an emergency lateral collision avoidance manoeuvre. Simulation results indicate significant improvements in collision avoidance at vehicle speeds up to 100 [km/hr] using integrated automatic steering and braking.     

Implantable data logging system for heart rate and body temperature: its application to the estimation of field metabolic rates in Antarctic predators

Mutations affecting the peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) gene are associated with inherited motor and sensory neuropathies in mouse (Trembler and Trembler-J) and human (Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A and Dejerine-Sottas syndrome). Although genetic studies have established a critical role of PMP22 in the formation and/or maintenance of myelin in the peripheral nervous system, the biological function of PMP22 in myelin and in non-myelin forming cells remains largely enigmatic. In this Mini-Review, we will summarize the current knowledge about PMP22 and discuss its hypothetical function(s) in a broad context.     

Residual stress craze and crack formation in poly(methyl methacrylate)

Samples of poly(methyl methacrylate) with a central circular hole are compressed, and crazes form on or after unloading, provided that the strain attains or exceeds a threshold value ?_t. Crazes induced in air are transformed rapidly to cracks, but environmental crazes are more stable. These residual stress crazes form at the diameter of the hole on a plane perpendicular to the applied stress direction. In contrast, during loading, crazes form on the vertical plane containing the hole axis. Unloading crazes are relatively insensitive to changes in strain rate, whereas loading erazes have a pronounced rate dependence. Environmental residual stress crazing exhibits an apparent rate sensitivity at constant time, but the critical applied strain ?_t is essentially constant, irrespective of rate, if the sample is in contact with the environment for a sufficiently long time to ensure that the minimum ?_t is obtained. Residual stress crazes appear to initiate at the equator of the hole, and the maximum tensile residual strain, indicated by a strain gauge, occurs in this position.     

Digital Doppler measurement with spacecraft

Digital and analog phase-locked loop (PLL) receivers were operated in parallel, each tracking the residual carrier from a spacecraft. The PLL tracked the downlink carrier and measured its instantaneous phase. This information, combined with a knowledge of the uplink carrier and the transponder ratio, permitted the computation of a Doppler observable. In this way, two separate Doppler measurements were obtained for one observation window. The two receivers agreed on the magnitude of the Doppler effect to within 1 mHz. There was less jitter on the data from the digital receiver. This was due to its smaller noise bandwidth. The demonstration and its results are described     

The contextual basis of behavior.

Summarizes highlights of 15 yr. of research, emphasizing the roles and mechanisms of context, particularly as these are understood in behaviorally relevant terms. Context is examined as empirical phenomenon, experimental paradigm, and systematic concept. Various influences on the context problem (i.e., relationalism, the organizational character of Gestalt psychology, and the functional and quantitative approach of American behaviorism) are regarded as part of an adaptation level theory. A case is made for adaptation level as a general theory of perception. This involves adapting the paradigm of the anchor experiment to selected perceptual settings. The interrelations of system function are examined through experiments of pooling and response latency. Results indicate that the norm for latency, consistent with adaptation level theory, is a mean derived through pooling. Context effects in reinforcement and the relation of context to the question of relevance are also discussed. (52 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Negro stereotype and perceptual accentuation.

3 hypotheses were tested: (1) There is no difference in the degree of personality stereotyping of Negro photographs varying widely in physiognomic Negroidness; (2) Anti-Negro judges exaggerate the personality stereotype of Negroes, whereas pro-Negro judges de-emphasize it; and (3) Both anti- and pro-Negro judges perceive the Negro as more Negroid in physiognomic traits than do neutral judges. The first 2 hypotheses were supported by the data. Although a comparison of the mean Negroidness scores for the 3 groups of judges supported the third hypothesis, the difference between the neutral group and the pro-Negro group was not statistically significant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A study of the sintering behaviour of magnesium diboride

It is well known that a substantial increase in critical current density can be achieved by the heat-treatment of ex situ magnesium diboride powder-in-tube wires. However, it is not clear whether this is due to a true sintering process involving the significant transport of material and densification, or due for instance to the removal of volatile impurities from particle interfaces, limited chemical reactions at particle boundaries, or simply contact formation between particles by thermally activated direct adhesion. We believe that the term sintering in the magnesium diboride literature may often be used loosely when neither neck formation nor densification occurs during heat-treatment, and have designed experiments to understand what is happening during this processing step. We have studied the effect of a range of heat-treatments on the microstructure of pellets produced from commercial MgB₂ powder using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Vickers hardness tests and by density measurements using Archimedes’ principle. The results are compared to those from a dense sample produced from the same powder by resistive sintering. No significant densification is observed in pellets produced by conventional pressure-less heat-treatment up to 1100 °C. However, a clear correlation between density and hardness is established by comparison with results for bulk MgB₂ produced by resistive sintering, which confirms that a classical sintering process has been induced in the latter samples.