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At least 343 records · Page 19

Modeling Reliability Growth

Reliability growth has been modelled as an exponential decline in the cumulative failure rate that continues indefinitely as long as testing continues. Contrary to this, most reliability growth data show a brief high initial failure rate due to infant mortality followed by a long period of constant low failure rate. A two part failure rate model with an initial exponential decline followed by a constant failure rate usually fits the data and provides a more realistic description of reliability growth. The reliability growth process consists of testing, experiencing failures, finding the failure causes, and redesigning the system to remove them. The cost of reliability growth increases with the number of inherent failure modes and the time needed for them to occur and be removed. The failure modes with the lower failure rates will tend to occur later, as their Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) is the inverse of the failure rate. Reliability growth testing has diminishing returns, since it takes longer to find and remove the less probable failures.This paper first discusses the reliability bathtub curve and then explains that reliability growth is produced by testing, identifying failure causes, and designing to remove them. A simple model of reliability growth is introduced, with a brief group of early failures followed by a constant failure rate. The cumulative failure rate n(t)/t can decline as rapidly as1/t or t-1butdeclines more slowly if additiona lfailures occur. The 56-failure Crow data seti s used to demonstrate the two-phase model of reliability growth followed by a constant failure rate. 13 additional data sets are modeled, with 9 of the 14 data sets showing reliability growth approximately as n(t)/t =1/t or t-1and substantial final failure rates. The model fits most of the data sets, but 4of the 14 show no reliability growth. The reliability growth period typically includes six failures and extends one-quarter or half the total test time. As reliability growth testing continues, the cumulative failure rate should be tracked to estimate the reliability growth exponent and the final failure rate.

reliability growth modeling↗

Proof-of-Concept for a Long-Term Health Metric to Quantify End of Mission Health Status in Astronauts

NASA has long used Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) when high-stakes decisions need to be made about complex systems. For spaceflight medical risk, the Human Research Program’s Medical Extensible Dynamic Probabilistic Risk Assessment Tool (MEDPRAT) is a significant step towards robustly quantifying the risk to crew health during exploration missions. However, there remains a significant gap in the ability to comprehensively characterize and assess risk across the disparate functionalities and capabilities which comprise the entire Crew Health and Performance (CHP) system. To fill this gap, the Crew Health and Performance – Probabilistic Risk Assessment (CHP-PRA) project aims to perform risk characterization for the CHP system by assessing performance risk in addition to medical risk. This effort also includes quantifying Long-Term Health (LTH) risk in addition to in-mission risk outcomes within the CHP-PRA results. LTH risk encompasses the timeframe from immediately post-flight, through the rest of an astronaut’s career, through retirement, and until death. A proof-of-concept LTH risk metric is based on medical condition end-state, as defined by the Evidence Library, capturing the spaceflight specific medical impacts persisting into post-flight[1]. Condition outcomes in the Evidence Library progress through three Clinical Phases (CP): the diagnostic phase (CP1), the treatment/convalescent phase (CP2), and the end-state phase (CP3) which represents the detrimental effects of the condition after the crew member has recovered to the maximal extent. Each CP has an associated Task Impairment (TI), defined as the degree of crew incapacity due to experiencing the condition, and is quantified with a 0-1 range. Conditions with an associated CP3 (e.g. Sepsis, Traumatic Hypovolemic Shock, Sudden Cardiac Arrest, etc.) typically have serious consequences that can cause an astronaut to be fully or partially debilitated throughout the remainder of the mission. Consequently, the Cumulative CP3 TI End-of-Mission Health Status Metric is developed by CHP-PRA to quantify the cumulative effects of all conditions which progressed to the CP3 state throughout the entirety of the mission. Hence, this End-of-Mission Health Status Metric attempts to serve as an indicator of an astronaut’s health state at the time of landing. The severity of the lingering effects of in-mission medical events are dependent on mission activities and the level of available in-mission medical care. This allows the associated cumulative TI metric to be used in comparison with the crew’s end of mission health status for different levels of in-mission resources. This presentation provides the strategy for using CP3 as an LTH metric component, as well as a proof-of-concept demonstration of LTH risk characterization using this component.

long term health↗

Effects of Low Dose Radiation and Radiation Countermeasures on Infection by Spaceflight Analogue Cultured Salmonella Using 3-D Biomimetic Human Tissue Models

While both microgravity and radiation are major biological stressors associated with the spaceflight environment, their cumulative impact on host-pathogen interactions and infectious disease risks are rarely considered. This is critical to address, since the cumulative effects of these stressors during spaceflight may result in unexpected negative impacts on crew health and performance that neither condition alone would predict, thus limiting the ability to develop effective countermeasures. Previously, we showed that both spaceflight and spaceflight analogue culture increased the virulence and pathogenesis-related characteristics of the foodborne pathogen, Salmonella Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium), which is responsible for disqualification of food destined for the International Space Station and Salmonella spp. have been found aboard NASA spacecraft. Recently, we demonstrated that spaceflight-analogue culture of S. Typhimurium increased its ability to infect 3-D biomimetic human intestinal tissue models. In a separate study, we showed low dose radiation damaged our 3-D intestinal models. The primary objective of this proposal is to evaluate the possibility that low dose radiation will exacerbate the already increased bacterial pathogenicity of S. Typhimurium observed following spaceflight analogue culture. In addition, we will determine the impact of a radiation countermeasure to provide protection against both radiation and pathogen-induced tissue damage and inflammation. Hypothesis: The already enhanced infection potential of spaceflight analogue cultured S. Typhimurium will be further exacerbated when used to infect host cells exposed to low dose radiation and this enhanced pathogenicity can be mitigated by a radioprotective compound. Aims: 1. Characterize the impact of spaceflight-analogue culture on the ability of S. Typhimurium to infect 3-D biomimetic intestinal tissue models before and after exposure to low dose radiation. 2. Evaluate the ability of the radioprotective compound, EC-18, to protect 3-D intestinal models from low dose radiation, S. Typhimurium infection, and the cumulative impact of these stressors. Significance: Current infectious disease risk assessments for spaceflight do not consider the potential for increased susceptibility to infection and disease resulting from exposure to low dose radiation, which is a critical consideration. This study will provide key evidence to determine if exposure to low dose radiation may be a factor in astronaut susceptibility to infection during long duration exploration missions and the impact of selected countermeasures to mitigate that risk to crew health. This study has been initiated and data collection is beginning.

Jennifer Barrila↗

Rapid transition from primary to secondary crust building on the Moon explained by mantle overturn

Geochronology indicates a rapid transition (tens of Myrs) from primary to secondary crust building on the Moon. The processes responsible for initiating secondary magmatism, however, remain in debate. Here we test the hypothesis that the earliest secondary crust (Mg-suite) formed as a direct consequence of density-driven mantle overturn, and advance 3D mantle convection models to quantify the resulting extent of lower mantle melting. Our modeling demonstrates that overturn of thin ilmenite-bearing cumulates ≤ 100 km triggers a rapid and short-lived episode of lower mantle melting which explains the key volume, geochronological, and spatial characteristics of early secondary crust building without contributions from other energy sources, namely KREEP (potassium, rare earth elements, phosphorus, radiogenic U, Th). Observations of globally distributed Mg-suite eliminate degree-1 overturn scenarios. We propose that gravitational instabilities in magma ocean cumulate piles are major driving forces for the onset of mantle convection and secondary crust building on differentiated bodies.

Moon↗

Viscosity and Flow Properties of the Seitah Olivine-Rich Lithology

One of the most surprising findings of the Perseverance rover was the discovery of olivine cumulate in the Séítah region [1]. The rover landed and traversed to the Séítah region and collected measurements at three workspaces: Bastide, Brac and Issole (Fig 1). Here we use the SuperCam VISIR and LIBS to investigate the properties of the lithology insitu and determine two things: 1) the olivine-clay-carbonate regional lithology is low in Al3+, which allows us to eliminate the possibility of clays which are high in Al3+, 2) the viscosity of the Séítah formation is extremely low, which is a reasonable explanation for the Séítah unit to both cumulate and thin-layered (Fig 1b).

Mars 2020↗

Mineralogy of Apollo 15415 ?genesis rock' - Source of anorthosite on moon.

Results of electron microprobe analyses of plagioclase points and pyroxene grains of Apollo 15415 ?genesis rock.' It is pointed out that no evidence of cumulate textures has yet appeared to support suggestions of extensive crystal-liquid differentiation producing an anorthositic crust or a lunar crust composed of a mixture of plagioclase-rich rock, basalts and minor ultramafic material, which require that plagioclase crystals float in a basaltic liquid. The plagioclase in 15415 does not show cumulate texture either. It is noted that it remains to be seen whether rock 15415 is correctly named the ?genesis rock.'

Steele, I. M.↗

Size frequency distribution of Martian craters and relative age of light and dark terrains.

Light and dark terrains in and around Meridiani Sinus, mapped on the imagery from Mariner 6 and Mariner 7, were found to have significantly different cumulative size frequency distributions of craters. The light terrain on a mosaic of frames 6N11, 6N13, and 6N19 has a greater proportion of large craters and a lesser proportion of smaller craters than the dark terrain on the same frames. The light terrain is interpreted to be generally older than the dark terrain. The filling or partial filling of the smaller craters on the light terrain by surface detritus is suggested. Several wide-angle frames have remarkably similar cumulative crater size frequency distributions that may be representative of a large portion of the Martian surface.

Woronow, A.↗

Probability of stress-corrosion fracture under random loading

Mathematical formulation is based on cumulative-damage hypothesis and experimentally-determined stress-corrosion characteristics. Under both stationary random loadings, mean value and variance of cumulative damage are obtained. Probability of stress-corrosion fracture is then evaluated, using principle of maximum entropy.

Yang, J. N.↗

The effect of yield strength and ductility to fatigue damage

The cumulative damage of aluminium alloys with different yield strength and various ductility due to seismic loads was studied. The responses of an idealized beam with a centered mass at one end and fixed at the other end to El Centro's and Taft's earthquakes are computed by assuming that the alloys are perfectly elastoplastic materials and by using numerical technique. Consequently, the corresponding residual plastic strain can be obtained from the stress-strain relationship. The revised Palmgren-Miner cumulative damage theorem is utilized to calculate the fatigue damage. The numerical results show that in certain cases, the high ductility materials are more resistant to seismic loads than the high yield strength materials. The results also show that if a structure collapse during the earthquake, the collapse always occurs in the very early stage.

Yeh, H. Y.↗

An Analysis of Airline Costs. Lecture Notes for MIT Courses. 16.73 Airline Management and Marketing

The cost analyst must understand the operations of the airline and how the activities of the airline are measured, as well as how the costs are incurred and recorded. The data source is usually a cost accounting process. This provides data on the cumulated expenses in various categories over a time period like a quarter, or year, and must be correlated by the analyst with cumulated measures of airline activity which seem to be causing this expense.

Simpson, R. W.↗

Spinel troctolite and anorthosite in Apollo 16 samples.

Review of the examination results on two Apollo 16 rocks recovered from the lunar highlands which probably represent contrasting types of 'primitive' lunar cumulates. One is a microbreccia containing a large lithic fragment of spinel troctolite, while the other is a shock-brecciated anorthosite. The reviewed results suggest that, if the two rock groups formed from the same parent magma type, the spinel troctolite must have formed early in the differentiation sequence as the result of crystal settling in the melt, whereas the anorthosite must have formed as a later cumulate, possibly by flotation.

Prinz, M.↗

Microcraters on lunar rocks.

Microcrater frequency distributions have been obtained for nine Apollo rocks and an exterior chip of an Apollo 12 rock. The frequency distributions indicate that five of the Apollo 14 rocks were tumbled more than once exposing different rock faces whereas four were not tumbled and represent a single exposure interval. The cumulative frequency of craters per square centimeter was extended below optical resolution limits using a SEM scan of an exterior chip of breccia 12073. No craters with central pit diameters less than 15 microns were seen in a total area of 0.44 sq cm. A detailed SEM scan of crystal faces and glassy crater liners revealed no microcraters equal to or larger than the resolution limit of 5 microns. An upper limit of 170 craters per sq cm with central pit diameters larger than 5 microns was set. The slope of the cumulative frequency curve for craters with central pit diameters less than about 75 microns is less than that obtained by other workers.

Morrison, D. A.↗

Far field effects of weak spatially periodic inhomogeneities.

Small variations in the properties of an acoustic medium produce cumulative effects that significantly alter wave forms propagating over long distances. To investigate some aspects of these effects, without statistical models, the one-dimensional wave equation with a weak spatially periodic variation in the sound speed is treated. An approximation is developed valid for such weak inhomogeneities over large distances based upon the approximate treatment of a linear differential equation with a periodic coefficient. It is applied to the propagation of an initial step wave and identifies the dispersive nature of the medium which accounts for the cumulative effects.

Friedman, M. B.↗

Automated nystagmus analysis

Several methods have recently been used for on-line analysis of nystagmus: A digital computer program has been developed to accept sampled records of eye position, detect fast phase components, and output cumulative slow phase position, continuous slow phase velocity, instantaneous fast phase frequency, and other parameters. The slow phase velocity is obtained by differentiation of the calculated cumulative position rather than the original eye movement record. Also, a prototype analog device has been devised which calculates the velocity of the slow phase component during caloric testing. Examples of clinical and research eye movement records analyzed with these devices are shown.

Oman, C. M.↗

Mission Analysis Program for Solar Electric Propulsion (MAPSEP). Volume 2: User's manual for earth orbital MAPSEP

The trajectory simulation mode (SIMSEP) requires the namelist SIMSEP to follow TRAJ. The SIMSEP contains parameters which describe the scope of the simulation, expected dynamic errors, and cumulative statistics from previous SIMSEP runs. Following SIMSEP are a set of GUID namelists, one for each guidance correction maneuver. The GUID describes the strategy, knowledge or estimation uncertainties and cumulative statistics for that particular maneuver. The trajectory display mode (REFSEP) requires only the namelist TRAJ followed by scheduling cards, similar to those used in GODSEP. The fixed field schedule cards define: types of data displayed, span of interest, and frequency of printout. For those users who can vary the amount of blank common storage in their runs, a guideline to estimate the total MAPSEP core requirements is given. Blank common length is related directly to the dimension of the dynamic state (NDIM) used in transition matrix (STM) computation, and, the total augmented (knowledge) state (NAUG). The values of program and blank common must be added to compute the total decimal core for a CDC 6500. Other operating systems must scale these requirements appropriately.

Source record↗

MITNYS-II - A digital program for on-line analysis of nystagmus

A digital computer program, MITNYS-II, has been developed for on-line analysis of nystagmus which results from visual, vestibular or caloric stimulation. The program accepts sampled records of eye position and yields cumulative slow phase position, slow phase velocity, instantaneous fast phase frequency and other parameters in 25 ms. In this paper the algorithms by which fast phases are detected, and by which slow phase cumulative eye position is extrapolated across the fast phase interval are described. Extensive tests with vestibular, optokinetic and caloric nystagmus yield reliability figures of the order of 2% for false identification of fast phases and missed fast phases. MITNYS-II has been successfully employed to interpret clinical EOG records, examples of which are presented.

Allum, J. H. J.↗

Igneous rocks from Apollo 16 rake samples

Results are reported for a study of seven holocrystalline feldspathic rocks (including a spinel troctolite and six melt rocks) and one mare basalt clast from the Apollo-16 rake samples. The composition and grain structure of each rock is described in detail. Only the spinel troctolite is considered a good candidate for a primary igneous cumulate formed during the original differentiation of the lunar crust. It is shown that the melt rocks probably resulted from shock melting followed by rapid crystallization of heterogeneous highland material and that compositional variations are probably due to mixing of various amounts of heterogeneous cumulates and KREEP components. It is suggested that the mare basalt clast may have been derived from Mare Fecunditatis, although the nearest mare to the Apollo-16 site is Nectaris.

Dowty, E.↗

Origin of titaniferous lunar basalts

Delineation of low pressure phase equilibria in the composition space relevant to titaniferous lunar basalts demonstrates a significant degree of control by those equilibria on the compositions of the basalts. The existence of two distinct chemical groups of basalts (high and low K) which cannot be related one to the other by fractional crystallization at any pressure, suggests that melting is responsible for the two groups. Consideration of the pressure shift required to produce the differences between groups constrains magma segregation to have occurred in the outer 150 km of the moon. It is difficult to relate low-Ti and high-Ti basalts to the same source region. The preferred source region of high-Ti basalts, based on phase equilibrium considerations, is a late ilmenite-rich cumulate produced from the residual liquid of the primordial differentiation of the outer portions of the moon. This ilmenite-rich layer is sandwiched between the lunar feldspathic crust and a complementary mafic cumulate.

Walker, D.↗