Synchronized External Pulsation for Improved Tolerance to Acceleration Stress: Model Studies and Preliminary Experiments

Synchronized external pulsation is proposed as a method to improve tolerance to acceleration stress. This technique uses a modified anti-G suit which is pressurized and depressurized synchronously with the heart cycle. The feasibility of the procedure has been studied using a computer model of the cardiovascular system which includes the effects of Gz stress, and contains simulations of baroreceptor control of heart rate and venous tone. Model predictions indicate that for unprotected subjects, carotid pressure at eye level (ophthalmic artery pressure) decreases to 20 mmHg (beginning of central light loss) at approximately +3.6 Gz. Applying standard anti-G suit pressure to the model increases this level to 5.3 Gz. When synchronized external pulsation of 2 psi is superimposed on the standard anti-G suit pressure, the tolerance to acceleration stress is further augmented by at least 0.9 G above the protection afforded by the standard anti-G suit alone. A set of preliminary experiments on human subjects to test the feasibility of using the technique in the high-G environment has also been carried out. The results under various protection modes compare favorably to the model predictions. Our results suggest that the computer model presented here is a useful tool for studying cardiovascular responses under +GZ stress. It also indicates that using synchronized external pulsation pressure superimposed on the standard anti-G suit pressure may offer extra protection to acceleration stress.     

Domestic crude oil resource appraisal

This paper endeavours to estimate the cummulative level of discovery and production of crude oil in the United States where the importance of price and technological change is considered. Two separate functional specifications for the cumulative level are hypothesized and estimated. The results suggest that between 170 and 180 billion barrels will be ultimately recoverable of which 117 billion barrels have been produced through the end of 1989.     

Box-threshold graphs

A graph is called box-threshold when all pairs of vertices with incomparable neighborhoods have the same degree. Several properties of box-threshold graphs, generalizing properties of threshold graphs, are proved. A transportation model with priority constraints is used to characterize their degree sequences. Further characterizations are given using the concept of the frame of a graph.     

Universal radius of injectivity for locally quasiconformal mappings

Ifn>2 and iff is a locally quasiconformal mapping from the ballB ⁿ= {x∈R ⁿ:⋎x⋎<1} intoR ⁿ ∪ {∞} thenf is injective inB ⁿ (r)={x∈R ⁿ:⋎x⋎ <r} wherer>0 depends only onn and the maximal dilatation off. Supported in part by the Samuel Neaman Fund, Special Year in Complex Analysis, Technion, I.I.T., Haifa, Israel, 1975/76.     

Global Implications of the Information Society

"As with life itself, the prognosis for an information society is mixed, the remedy inconclusive."