Validity and Sensitivity of a Brief Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT-B) to Total and Partial Sleep Deprivation

The Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) objectively assesses fatigue-related changes in alertness associated with sleep loss, extended wakefulness, circadian misalignment, and time on task. The standard 10-min PVT is often considered impractical in applied contexts. To address this limitation, we developed a modified brief 3-min version of the PVT (PVT-B). The PVT-B was validated in controlled laboratory studies with 74 healthy subjects (34 female, aged 22-45 years) that participated either in a total sleep deprivation (TSD) study involving 33 hours awake (N=31 subjects) or in a partial sleep deprivation (PSD) protocol involving 5 consecutive nights of 4 hours time in bed (N=43 subjects). PVT and PVT-B were performed regularly during wakefulness. Effect sizes of 5 key PVT outcomes were larger for TSD than PSD and larger for PVT than for PVT-B for all outcomes. Effect size was largest for response speed (reciprocal response time) for both the PVT-B and the PVT in both TSD and PSD. According to Cohen's criteria, effect sizes for the PVT-B were still large (TSD) or medium to large (PSD, except for fastest 10% RT). Compared to the 70% decrease in test duration the 22.7% (range 6.9%-67.8%) average decrease in effect size was deemed an acceptable trade-off between duration and sensitivity. Overall, PVT-B performance had faster response times, more false starts and fewer lapses than PVT performance (all p<0.01). After reducing the lapse threshold from 500 ms to 355 ms for PVT-B, mixed model ANOVAs indicated no differential sensitivity to sleep loss between PVT-B and PVT for all outcome variables (all P>0.15) but the fastest 10% response times during PSD (P<0.001), and effect sizes increased from 1.38 to 1.49 (TSD) and 0.65 to 0.76 (PSD), respectively. In conclusion, PVT-B tracked standard 10-min PVT performance throughout both TSD and PSD, and yielded medium to large effect sizes. PVT-B may be a useful tool for assessing behavioral alertness in settings where the duration of the 10-min PVT is considered impractical, although further validation in applied settings is needed.     

微型机械音叉陀螺的测试结果

德雷珠实验室与洛克威尔公司正联合采用微加工技术开发一种机动车上用的体积小、成本低的单晶体音叉陀螺。这种陀螺坚固耐用，本身具有平衡性，且容易生产。     

运用数字信号处理技术的转动速率检测和补偿

光纤陀螺研制的头十年重点主要放在光学元件的性能上；现在越来越多的注意力已转移到生产、装配过程，在恶劣环境下的性能，以及很重要的成本上。受温度、噪声和其他因素影响的模拟电路被较复杂的数字线路板所取代，原因是数字线路板有较高的性能、较小的空间和较低的成本。线路板还能进行温度效应的补偿并能满足用户的特殊要求，例如除角度速率外，还要求对角速率进行积分求得角度。     

多载波跳频TDMA系统中信道再分配算法

本文阐述了一种多载波跳频ＴＤＭＡ系统信道再分配的有效方法。在ＭＣＨ－ＴＤＭＡ系统中，信道由两个自由参数确定；载波频率和时隙。本文引入了呼叫重叠链的新概念。在重叠逻中，来自同一发站和去向同一收站的有关呼叫编成领接的呼叫流。     

苏联第一代洲际弹道导弹的终结

13日开始研制的P-16洲际导弹（SS-7）的第一次试验发射。当时,技术人员正在发射塔架上有条不紊地进行着发射前通常的准备工作,导弹燃料加注后没有迹象显示有任何不寻常之处。     

The definition of life: a brief history of an elusive scientific endeavor

In spite of the spectacular developments in our understanding of the molecular basis that underlies biological phenomena, we still lack a generally agreed-upon definition of life, but this is not for want of trying. Life is an empirical concept; and, as suggested by the many unsuccessful efforts to define it, this task is likely to remain, at best, a work in progress. Although phenomenological characterizations of life are feasible, a precise definition of life remains an elusive intellectual endeavor. This is not surprising: as Nietszche once wrote, there are concepts that can be defined, whereas others only have a history. The purpose of this essay is to discuss some of the manifold (and often unsatisfactory) definitions of life that have been attempted from different intellectual and scientific perspectives and reflect, at least in part, the key role that historical frameworks play. Although some efforts have been more fruitful, the lack of an all-embracing, generally agreed-upon definition of life sometimes gives the impression that what is meant by life's origin is defined in somewhat imprecise terms and that several entirely different questions are often confused. The many attempts made to reduce the nature of living systems to a single living compound imply that life can be so well defined that the exact point at which it started can be established with the sudden appearance of the first replicating molecule. On the other hand, if the emergence of life is seen as the stepwise (but not necessarily slow) evolutionary transition between the non-living and the living, then it may be meaningless to draw a strict line between them.     

重力跳动对多相流体系统的影响

研究了重力跳动对液桥表面及内部流体流动的影响, 以期明确重力跳动对多相流体系统的作用效果. 理论研究表明, 当重力跳动作用于液桥时, 液桥反响频率的大小取决于液桥尺寸和物性参数; 实验研究显示重力跳动引入的液桥表面振动、液桥内部流动与温度振动之间存在着三角耦合关系; 数值模拟结果揭示了重力跳动作用于液桥时液桥内部流体的流动结构. 另外, 对理论、实验与数值模拟结果进行了对比验证, 得到了吻合一致的结果.