An improved approach for flight readiness assessment

An improved methodology for quantitatively evaluating failure risk for a spaceflight system in order to assess flight readiness is presented. This methodology is of particular value when information relevant to failure prediction, including test experience and knowledge of parameters used in engineering analyses of failure phenomena, is limited. In this approach, engineering analysis models that characterize specific failure modes based on the physics and mechanics of the failure phenomena are used in a prescribed probabilistic structure to generate a failure probability distribution that is modified by test and flight experience in a Bayesian statistical procedure. The probabilistic structure and statistical methodology are generally applicable to any failure mode for which quantitative engineering analysis can be employed to characterize the failure phenomenon and are particularly well suited for use under the constraints on information availability that are typical of such spaceflight systems as the Space Shuttle and planetary spacecraft

Benefit of "Push-pull" Locomotion for Planetary Rover Mobility

As NASAs exploration missions on planetary terrains become more aggressive, a focus on alternative modes of locomotion for rovers is necessary. In addition to climbing steep slopes, the terrain in these extreme environments is often unknown and can be extremely hard to traverse, increasing the likelihood of a vehicle or robot becoming damaged or immobilized. The conventional driving mode in which all wheels are either driven or free-rolling is very efficient on flat hard ground, but does not always provide enough traction to propel the vehicle through soft or steep terrain. This paper presents an alternative mode of travel and investigates the fundamental differences between these locomotion modes. The methods of push-pull locomotion discussed can be used with articulated wheeled vehicles and are identified as walking or inchinginch-worming. In both cases, the braked non-rolling wheels provide increased thrust. An in-depth study of how soil reacts under a rolling wheel vs. a braked wheel was performed by visually observing the motion of particles beneath the surface. This novel technique consists of driving or dragging a wheel in a soil bin against a transparent wall while high resolution, high-rate photographs are taken. Optical flow software was then used to determine shearing patterns in the soil. Different failure modes were observed for the rolling and braked wheel cases. A quantitative comparison of inching vs. conventional driving was also performed on a full-scale vehicle through a series of drawbar pull tests in the Lunar terrain strength simulant, GRC-1. The effect of tire stiffness was also compared; typically compliant tires provide better traction when driving in soft soil, however its been observed that rigid wheels may provide better thrust when non-rolling. Initial tests indicate up to a possible 40 increase in pull force capability at high slip when inching vs. rolling

Effect of angiotensin receptor blockade on insulin sensitivity and endothelial function in abdominally obese hypertensive patients with impaired fasting glucose

AngII (angiotensin II) may contribute to cardiovascular risk in obesity via adverse effects on insulin sensitivity and endothelial function. In the present study, we examined the effects of ARB (angiotensin receptor blocker) therapy (losartan, 100 mg/day) on insulin sensitivity and endothelial function in 53 subjects with stage I hypertension, abdominal obesity and impaired fasting glucose. The study design was a randomized double-blinded parallel design placebo-controlled multi-centre trial of 8 weeks duration. We used the hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamp technique to measure insulin sensitivity (expressed as the 'M/I' value) and RH-PAT (reactive hyperaemia-peripheral arterial tonometry) to measure endothelial function. Additional measures included HOMA (homoeostasis model assessment)-B, an index of pancreatic β-cell function, and markers of inflammation [e.g. CRP (C-reactive protein)] and oxidative stress (e.g. F2-isoprostanes). ARB therapy did not alter insulin sensitivity [5.2 (2.7) pre-treatment and 4.6 (1.6) post-treatment] compared with placebo therapy [6.1 (2.9) pre-treatment and 5.3 (2.7) post-treatment; P value not significant], but did improve the HOMA-B compared with placebo therapy (P=0.05). ARB therapy also did not change endothelial function [RH-PAT, 2.15 (0.7) pre-treatment and 2.11 (0.7) post-treatment] compared with placebo therapy [RH-PAT, 1.81 (0.5) pre-treatment and 1.76 (0.7) post-treatment; P value not significant]. Markers of inflammation and oxidative stress were not significantly changed by ARB therapy. In conclusion, ARB therapy did not alter peripheral insulin sensitivity or endothelial function in this cohort of patients with essential hypertension, abdominal obesity and impaired fasting glucose, but did improve pancreatic β-cell function

Robot life: simulation and participation in the study of evolution and social behavior.

This paper explores the case of using robots to simulate evolution, in particular the case of Hamilton's Law. The uses of robots raises several questions that this paper seeks to address. The first concerns the role of the robots in biological research: do they simulate something (life, evolution, sociality) or do they participate in something? The second question concerns the physicality of the robots: what difference does embodiment make to the role of the robot in these experiments. Thirdly, how do life, embodiment and social behavior relate in contemporary biology and why is it possible for robots to illuminate this relation? These questions are provoked by a strange similarity that has not been noted before: between the problem of simulation in philosophy of science, and Deleuze's reading of Plato on the relationship of ideas, copies and simulacra

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Masonry dams : analysis of the historical profiles of Sazilly, Delocre and Rankine

The significant advances in masonry dam design that took place in the second half of the 19th century are analyzed and discussed within the context of the historical development of dam construction. Particular reference is made to the gravity dam profiles proposed by Sazilly, Delocre and Rankine, who pioneered the application of engineering concepts to dam design, basing the dam profile on the allowable stresses for the conditions of empty and full reservoir. These historical profiles are analyzed taking into consideration the present safety assessment procedures, by means of a numerical application developed for this purpose, based on limit analysis equilibrium methods, which considers the sliding failure mechanisms, the most critical for these structures. The study underlines the key role of uplift pressures, which was only addressed by Lévy after the accident of Bouzey dam, and provides a critical understanding of the original design concepts, which is essential for the rehabilitation of these historical structures.This work has been funded by FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) through the PhD grant SFRH/BD/43585/2008, for which the first author is grateful

Heat Transfer to Bodies in a High-speed Rarified-Gas Stream

Report presents the results of an investigation to determine the equilibrium temperature and heat-transfer coefficients for transverse cylinders in a high-speed stream of rarefied gas measured over a range of Knudsen numbers (ratio of molecular-mean-free path to cylinder diameter) from 0.025 to 11.8 and for Mach numbers from 2.0 to 3.3. The range of free-stream Reynolds numbers was from 0.28 to 203. The models tested were 0.0010-, 0.0050-, 0.030-, 0.051-, 0.080-, and 0.126-inch -diameter cylinders held normal to the stream