Solid fuel combustion experiments in microgravity using a continuous fuel dispenser and related numerical simulations

The conventional way of determining the flammability characteristics of a material involves a number of tedious single-sample tests to distinguish flammable from non-flammable conditions. A novel test device and fuel configuration has been developed that permits multiple successive tests for indefinite lengths of thin solid materials. In this device, a spreading flame can be established and held at a fixed location in front of optimized diagnostics while continuous variations of test parameters are made. This device is especially well-suited to conducting experiments in space (e.g. aboard the International Space Station) where the limited resources of stowage, volume, and crew time pose major constraints. A prototype version of this device was tested successfully in both a normal gravity laboratory and during low-gravity aircraft trials. As part of this ongoing study of material flammability behavior, a numerical model of concurrent-flow flame spread is used to simulate the flame. Two and three-dimensional steady-state forms of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations with chemical reactions and gas and solid radiation are solved. The model is used to assist in the design of the test apparatus and to interpret the results of microgravity experiments. This paper describes details of the fuel testing device and planned experiment diagnostics. A special fuel, developed to optimize use of the special testing device, is described. Some results of the numerical flame spread model are presented to explain the three-dimensional nature of flames spreading in concurrent flow and to show how the model is used as an experiment design tool.     

Computer-assisted assessment of depression and function in older primary care patients

We wanted to test the psychometric reliability and validity of self-reported information on psychological and functional status gathered by computer in a sample of primary care outpatients. Persons aged 65 years and older visiting a primary care medical practice in Baltimore (n=240) were approached. Complete baseline data were obtained for 54 patients and 34 patients completed 1-week retest follow-up. Standard instruments were administered by computer and also given as paper and pencil tests. Test-retest reliability estimates were calculated and comparisons across mode of administration were made. Separately, an interviewer administered a questionnaire to gauge patient attitudes and feelings after using the computer. Most participants (72%) reported no previous computer use. Nevertheless, inter-method reliability of the GDS15 at baseline (0.719, n=47), intra-method reliability of the computer in time (0.797, n=31), inter-method reliability of the CESDR20 at baseline (0.740, n=53), and the correlation between the CESDR20 computer version at baseline and follow-up (0.849, n=34) were all excellent. The inter-method reliability of the CESDR20 at follow-up (0.615, n=37) was lower but still acceptable. Although 28% were anxious prior to using the computer testing system, that percent decreased to 19% while using the system. The efficiency and reliability in comparison to the paper instruments were good or better. Even though most participants had not ever used a computer prior to participating in the study, they had generally favorable attitudes toward the use of computers, and also reported having favorable experience with the computer testing system.     

Integrating Guidance into Relational Reinforcement Learning

Reinforcement learning, and Q-learning in particular, encounter two major problems when dealing with large state spaces. First, learning the Q-function in tabular form may be infeasible because of the excessive amount of memory needed to store the table, and because the Q-function only converges after each state has been visited multiple times. Second, rewards in the state space may be so sparse that with random exploration they will only be discovered extremely slowly. The first problem is often solved by learning a generalization of the encountered examples (e.g., using a neural net or decision tree). Relational reinforcement learning (RRL) is such an approach; it makes Q-learning feasible in structural domains by incorporating a relational learner into Q-learning. The problem of sparse rewards has not been addressed for RRL. This paper presents a solution based on the use of reasonable policies to provide guidance. Different types of policies and different strategies to supply guidance through these policies are discussed and evaluated experimentally in several relational domains to show the merits of the approach.     

Structural relationships between measures based on heart beat intervals: potential for improved risk assessment

Decreased left ventricular ejection fraction is the most commonly used risk factor for identification of patients at high-risk for lethal ventricular arrhythmic events. Twenty-four-hour electrocardiographic (ECG) approaches to risk stratification include: counts of ventricular premature contractions (VPCs), measures of heart rate variability (HRV), and heart rate turbulence (HRT) which has two components, turbulence onset and turbulence slope (TS). Refinement of these ECG risk stratifiers could enhance their clinical utility. We explored the structural relationships between heart rate (HR) and HRV and HRT measures. Our goal was to separate out the component of these measures due to the underlying average heart rate (HR), thus potentially reducing the variability of the measures and increasing their power to stratify risk. We proposed re-scaling tachograms of heart-beat intervals so that the re-scaled tachogram has a HR of 75 (or equivalently an average interval of 800 ms) and calculating HRV and HRT from the rescaled time series. We also explored the relationship between the number of VPCs and HRT. We showed that TS is structurally related to the number of VPCs (and hence to the length of the ECG recording). We proposed an adjusted TS that is independent of the number of VPCs. We also addressed the ability of shorter ECG recording to estimate HRV and HRT measures. We evaluated standard and rescaled HRV and HRT measures using qualifying ambulatory ECG recordings from 744 patients in the Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial. We found that measures based on the rescaled tachogram had reduced variance (20% to 40%). Correlations between measures were also substantially reduced. We also found substantial circadian effects on some, but not all HRV indices, not explained by the circadian pattern in HR and possibly pointing to additional measures for risk prediction. In conclusion, we found that adjusting for HR and the number of VPCs in heart-beat related ambulatory ECG measures has the potential to significantly improve the power of these measures to risk stratify cardiac patients.     

Kinematisch bedingte Auswanderungserscheinungen bei periodisch schwingenden Waagen

Zusammenfassung W?gungen auf Hebelwaagen sind statische Messungen. Der Schwerkraft der zu w?genden Masse wird von der Waage eine konstante Me?kraft entgegengesetzt. Da sich jedoch innerhalb des selbstanzeigenden Bereichs die Me?kraft unter ?nderung des Ausschlags der Hebelkette selbst?ndig einstellt, bilden Waagen schwingungsf?hige Systeme, und zwar im allgemeinen nichtlineare Schwinger mit entsprechenden Eigenschaften. Unter diesen nimmt das Auswandern der Anzeige eine besondere Stellung ein, weil sich dabei die Mittellage der Schwingung gegenüber der statischen Gleichgewichtslage verschiebt. Diese Verschiebung kann von einem W?ger oder einem Me?wertgeber grunds?tzlich nicht erkannt werden und geht voll als Fehler in die W?gung ein.     

A data model for managing drug therapy within a patient data management system for intensive care units

The major intent of this article was to describe the design principles of the drug-therapy documentation module of the Patient Data Management System (PDMS) ICUData, in routine use at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospital of Giessen, Germany, since February 1999. The new drug management system has been in routine use since March 2000. Until 8 January 2001, 1140 patients have been documented using this approach. It could be demonstrated that it was possible to transform the formerly unstructured text-based documentation into a detailed and structured model. The mediated benefit resulted in the automatic calculation of fluid balance. Further, detailed statistical analyses of therapeutic behavior in drug administration are now possible.     

FA and tocopherol composition of Vietnamese oilseeds

Seeds of 40 oilseed species from 23 different plant families (Brassicaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae, Sapindaceae, Malvaceae, Gnetaceae, Clusiaceae, Bruseraceae, Ranunculaceae, Convolvulaceae, Amaranthaceae, Tiliaceae, Basellaceae, Solanaceae, Umbelliferae, Labiatae, Compositae, Theaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Caesalpiniaceae, Sapotaceae, Anacardiaceae, and Connaraceae) grown in Vietnam were analyzed for oilseed oil content, FA, and vitamin E. The seed oil content varied between 0.2 g/100 g for Mangifera indica and 75.7 g/100 g for Calophyllum inophyllum, whereas only nine seeds contained more than 40% oil. The tocopherol content ranged from 26 (Sapindus mukorossi) to 9361 mg/kg (Litchi chinensis). In nine seed oils unusual FA such as conjugated, cyclopropenoic, or epoxy FA were found.     

Compact spot-size converters with fiber-matched antiresonant reflecting optical waveguides

We propose a concept for InGaAsP-InP 1.55-microm lasers integrated with spot-size converters based on modal interference between the modes of the structure formed by an active waveguide and an underlying fiber-matched antiresonant reflecting optical waveguide. Simulation results show that the spot-size converters exhibit low transformation loss, and narrowed far-field emission patterns (10 degrees x 20 degrees) and reduce the coupling loss to standard single-mode fibers from 8 to 2.6 dB over lengths approximately 200 microm shorter than the adiabatic concept. A tolerant design to fabrication variations is also proposed, which could be realized by standard processing techniques.     

The Hydrogeochemistry of Arsenic in the Clara Mine,Germany

Abstract.   The oxidative dissolution of primary arsenic-bearing sulfide minerals in barite-fluorite veins is a potential source of arsenic in the Clara Mine. Geological structures, especially the mineral veins, provide potential pathways for the water. The highest arsenic concentrations are found in ground water within the eastern part of the mine. Arsenic and major ions are positively correlated and provide evidence that arsenic is likely derived locally from the water-vein/water-rock interaction. Geochemical modeling with PHREEQC shows all the arsenate mineral phases to be significantly undersaturated, although secondary arsenate minerals are common in the oxidized part of the deposit. The mine waters plot near the boundary of Fe(OH)₃ and Fe²⁺ in the pH-Eh diagram for the As-Fe-S-H₂O-system. Arsenic occurs as the 5-valent species and . Statistical analysis illustrates a strong association between As, Fe, pH, and HCO₃. Oxidation of the primary As-bearing minerals, such as pyrite and arsenopyrite, and the subsequent behavior of the oxyanion, arsenate, generally controls the distribution and speciation of arsenic. The low concentrations of dissolved As is due to co-precipitation and adsorption of arsenate by Fe, Al, and Mn (oxy)hydroxides.