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One Giant Leap for Engineering Kind: How the Moon Landing Gave Rise to the IC – News – All About Circuits

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy set in motion one of humanity's greatest technological achievements when heextended a historic challengeto NASA, newly created in 1958 from the formerNational Advisory Committee for Aeronautics(NACA).

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

When Kennedy made his proclamation during a joint session of Congress, none of the mechanical hardware, electronics hardware, software, or infrastructure existed to achieve such a goal. At the time, only two human beings had ever been to space and returned safely. Yuri Gagarin, from the then Soviet Union, had completed one planetary orbit on April 12, 1961, and Alan Shepard, from the U.S., had taken a suborbital space flight on May 5 of the same year.

Kennedys speech may have brought the goal into the public consciousness, but institutions and companies like MIT, IBM, and Fairchild Semiconductor were already inventing and improving the electronics technology that would make the mission happen. One of the key innovations necessarythe integrated circuitwas quietly being readied to leave the lab at Fairchild, and the MIT Instrumentation Lab (MIT/IL) was preparing a proposal that would use those chips to develop and build the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC).

For the moon landing mission to succeed, NASA needed flight computers for the command module and lunar landing system. Nothing at the time was small, lightweight, or performant enough to take on the role of the flight computer. IBM created a design for the Saturn V rocket autopilot computer called the Launch Vehicle Digital Computer (LVDC). The LVDC used transistors and diodes fabricated in what IBM called a Unit Logic Device (ULD). The ULDs looked like ICs, but were much closer in design to a hybrid module; it included a transistor, two diodes, and two thick-film resistors mounted directly on a ceramic substrate.

MIL/IL did not believe a ULD-based design could meet the specifications for the command and lunar modules. They were convinced that an AGC built with the newly invented integrated circuits would be faster and more reliable than if built with discrete transistors or ULDs.

The first real integrated circuit came from Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments. In 1969, he demonstrated an oscillator circuit made from a single piece of transistor material. While hardly recognizable by todays standards, it was the first complete functional integrated circuit. Its major drawback was that the individual components in the silicona transistor, a capacitor, and two resistorshad to be manually connected with microscopic gold wires.

The IC didn't resemble what they typically look like today until Fairchild cofounder,Jean Hoerni, developed the planar process, in which a layer of silicon dioxide is deposited on the surface of the chip to act as an insulator. By using an insulating layer, conductive traces can then be chemically deposited to connect the components in the chip.

Fairchild's Bob Norman visited MIT/IL in 1961 to demonstrate the new integrated circuits to the AGC team. Suitably impressed, Eldon C. Hall, the assistant director for the Apollo program, directed engineer David Hanley to order 100 of the chips. Hanley demonstrated a 2.5xincrease in speed over discrete transistors. Hall then asked for and received approval from NASA to make the switch from transistors to ICs for the AGC design.

In the end, MIT/IL was given the task of designing and building the AGC while IBM supplied mainframes to be used on the groundin Houston, Texas. These mainframes were usedas the primary navigation system, with the in-flight AGC taking a secondary role. By the time MIT/IL was ready to start building, Fairchild had developed a complete family line of different digital logic ICs. To limit the number of items to prove out,Hall elected to use a single type of component, a three-input NOR gate. Philco then took on the task of manufacturing the chip at volume production.

MIT/IL developed the AGCas a general-purpose computer rather than as a mission-specific instrument. It was primarily built with the dual three-input NOR gate chips designed by Fairchild and is consideredthe first computer built using integrated circuits.

In 1965, the Block II AGC used about 4,100 updated Fairchild chips with dual three-input NOR gates in a flat-pack chip. The dual gate design yieldeda unit that used less power, offered more processing power, and cost less than the original Block I design. The Block II AGC was used successfully on all crewed Apollo missions.

As a multipurpose computer, AGC needed more advanced programmingthan was typical of the time. Software engineer Margaret Hamilton joined the team at MIT/IL to develop the mission software for the AGC. As director of the software engineering division, she oversaw a team designing and testing AGC's software.

Prior to the AGC project, software development was not considered a science or a branch of engineering. Hamilton coined the term software engineering and, in addition to the task at hand, developed core processes that would later define the field as a discipline.

Hamilton and her team developed a simple interrupt-driven, real-time operating system with batch job scheduling, cooperative multitasking, and error handling for the AGC. The error handling was given a trial by fireminutes before Apollo 11 touched down on the moon when events were being triggered faster than the computer could deal with them. Due to the error handling feature, astronaut Buzz Aldrin was able to recover the computer, and the landing went on successfully.

Integrated circuit technology advanced so fast that by the time the first humans boardedan Apollo flight, ICs containing hundreds of devices per chip were on the market. Meanwhile, the AGC was still using the original Fairchild design. It was during this time that Gordon Moore predicted Moores law,stating that the density of transistors in computer chips would double about every two years.

With the success of the lunar landings and the demonstrated reliability of integrated circuits in space, the technologys viability was well established. Key figures from Fairchild and other major semiconductor companies involved in the AGC project went on to create the foundation of what is now known as Silicon Valley.

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David Kolesar to Receive NAB’s Radio Engineering Achievement Award – Radio World

Winston Caldwell will receive the adjacent TV engineering award

The National Association of Broadcasters has announced the recipients of its 2024 NAB Engineering Achievement Awards, which honor radio and TV professionals. Established in 1959, the two awards are given to individuals who have made significant contributions to advancing broadcast engineering, according to the NAB.

This year, the radio engineering award will be presented to David Kolesar, who has worked in the broadcast engineering field for more than 30 years. Kolesar serves as a senior broadcast engineer for Hubbard Radio, where he has worked since 2006. He previously was an electronics engineer in the Information Technology Division of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

Kolesar is a broadcast engineering pioneer, having commissioned the first full-time all-digital AM radio station in the U.S. by converting, adapting and rehabilitating Hubbard station WWFD in Frederick, Md., serving as the chief engineer as well as the program director, said the NAB in a press release.

In addition to his efforts to make all-digital AM radio a reality, Kolesar has been an advocate for all-digital AM within the industry, sharing and documenting his work in numerous technical papers and at conferences, and continuing research on ways to improve all-digital AM performance.

Over the years, Kolesar has been recognized by other industry organizations for his contributions, including receiving the Radio World Excellence in Engineering Award in 2019 and the Society of Broadcast Engineers Chapter 37 Engineer of the Year award in 2020. He also submits occasional commentaries to Radio World.

The 2024 television engineering award will be presented to Winston Caldwell, who has more than 25 years of electrical engineering experience, specializing in network communications, security, spectrum management and standards development, according to the NAB.

Caldwell began his career at Fox Corporation in 2000, spending 23 years there in various engineering roles, including vice president of spectrum engineering. He then became an independent consultant in 2023 with Pearl TV, the ATSC 3.0 Security Authority (A3SA) and NAB among his clients.

He also managed engineering efforts for transitioning Fox stations to the ATSC 3.0 system, and served as chairman of the NAB Next Generation Broadcast Platform Task Force.

Caldwells technical analysis in contributions to development of spectrum policy have been utilized in regulatory matters, domestically at the FCC and internationally at the International Telecommunication Union, said NAB in the release.

Both Kolesar and Caldwell will be honored at the We Are Broadcasters Awards, held on the Main Stage of the 2024 NAB Show on April 16 at 9:30 a.m.

[For More News on the NAB Show See Our NAB Show News Page]

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Enhanced By Engineering – WES Annual Conference 2024 – Electronics Weekly

This years conference is heading to Birmingham. Running 17-18 April (Wednesday & Thursday) it will be located in the citys Eastside Rooms (B7 4BL).

This year the event and exhibition, which aims to showcase exceptional engineering stories, takes the theme of Enhanced By Engineering #EnhancedByEngineering

From pioneering developments in transportation to innovations in healthcare and technology, women engineers in the United Kingdom have significantly enhanced peoples lives and we celebrate those achievements at our 2 day events, write the organisers.

You can find out more information and register here.

Speakers at the conference will include:

The society will also be joined by STEMReturners and there will be sessions on Allyship and networking. They will also be joined by event sponsors including CNH Industrial, Ingersoll Rand, Amazon, and Leonardo.

Ticket prices, for both days, start from 149 for members of the society, For non-members, both days cost 175.

See also: Womens Engineering Society Annual Conference heads to Birmingham

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Carl Tarum Celebrated for Dedication to the Field of Engineering – 24-7 Press Release

Looking ahead, Mr. Tarum aims to collaborate with developers to get his software to a web-based solution and add additional, innovative features.

SAGINAW, MI, March 12, 2024 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Carl Tarum has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

A seasoned engineer, instructor, and businessman, Mr. Tarum leverages his considerable expertise in Weibull analysis software, lean manufacturing, and the automotive industry as the president of Bathtub Software, LLC, so named for the pattern of reliability known as the bathtub curve. Through the company, he provides software designed to predict a product's lifespan, safety, survivability, and risk, as well as training and consulting services. Likewise, Mr. Tarum consults on DFMEA, Microsoft Excel macros, and Weibull analysis with SuperSMITH software.

Before obtaining his role with Bathtub Software, Mr. Tarum worked as a senior safety engineer and senior statistical engineer at Nexteer Automotive, through which he specialized in safety analysis with a focus on compliance. During the early stages of his career, he gained valuable expertise in reliability analysis, product development, and more through various roles with Delphi Automotive Systems, General Motors, and John Deere. Throughout his career, Mr. Tarum has been awarded five patents, with two in production. One is regarding a device design that senses the steering wheel position on a vehicle, and another for estimating the position of the steering wheel by looking at ABS brake controller data.

An expert in his field, Mr. Tarum holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Montana State University, Bozeman, an MBA from the University of Michigan, Flint, a Six Sigma Black Belt and Design for Six Sigma Master Black Belt. To remain abreast of ongoing industry changes, he aligns himself with several organizations, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of Automotive Engineers.

While his career has been filled with standout moments, Mr. Tarum takes the most pride in developing models for Weibull mixtures. He also developed methods to estimate goodness of fit and techniques to estimate quantities of missing data. These are in the SuperSMITH software. Though hard work and dedication have brought him far in his career, he would not be where he is today without his father, who instilled in him a strong sense of responsibility and mechanical aptitude. At 10 years old, he received a lawnmower engine from his father, which he had to learn how to disassemble, reassemble, and utilize. This formative experience inspired him to pursue a career in engineering. Looking ahead, Mr. Tarum aims to collaborate with developers to get his software to a web-based solution and add additional, innovative features.

About Marquis Who's Who: Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America, Marquis Who's Who has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Marquis celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2023, and Who's Who in America remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who website at http://www.marquiswhoswho.com.

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US government wanted to reverse-engineer alien ships but never found any, Pentagon UFO report reveals – Livescience.com

The U.S. government is not hiding aliens or their spaceships although it did once propose a program to reverse-engineer any hypothetical alien technology it found, a Department of Defense (DOD) report reveals.

The Pentagon report, a highly anticipated review of classified documents from 1945 to 2023 that was submitted to Congress Friday (March 8), found no evidence that the U.S. government has encountered aliens or covered up their existence.

Instead, the report blames UFO sightings in the 1960s on top-secret flights of prototype American spy planes and spacecraft. And while the U.S. government did consider a program to reverse-engineer any captured alien ships in the 2010s, no craft were ever found and the proposal was rejected for "lacking merit," according to the report.

Related: How wealthy UFO fans helped fuel fringe beliefs

There is "no verifiable evidence for claims that the U.S. government and private companies have access to or have been reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology," Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement after the report's release. The report also found "no evidence that any U.S. government investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review panel has confirmed that any sighting of a UAP [unidentified aerial phenomenon] represented extraterrestrial technology."

"All investigative efforts, at all levels of classification, concluded that most sightings were ordinary objects and phenomena and the result of misidentification," Ryder added.

The 63-page review was made by the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), which was established in 2022 to investigate and manage reports of UFO sightings from the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force. The review included classified and unclassified archical evidence, full access to all secretive government programs related to UFOs, and 30 interviews with intelligence personnel.

The U.S. government's renewed interest in UFOs came after a 2017 leak of three now-infamous video clips that appeared to show mysterious, wingless aircraft flying at hypersonic speeds past dumbfounded U.S. Navy pilots. In 2020, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence called for an inquiry into UFOs, and in June 2021, the Pentagon released a report on more than 140 UFO sightings by Navy pilots. That report concluded there was no evidence of alien activity in any of the instances.

Despite those findings, the government's interest in UFOs drove news outlets and social media sites into frenzies of speculation. The conspiracy theories reached their apex when, in July 2023, David Grusch, a former U.S. intelligence official and whistleblower, claimed that the government had been secretly investigating crashed UFOs. In his congressional hearing, Grusch told the House Committee on Oversight and Reform that not only had spaceships been recovered but that "nonhuman" beings had been found inside.

Despite bluntly contradicting many of Grusch's claims, the report does mention a brief period when the Pentagon considered a program to reverse-engineer alien technology. Called Kona Blue, it was proposed to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by individuals who suspected the U.S. government was hiding crashed UFOs.

"This proposal gained some initial traction at DHS to the point where a 35 Prospective Special Access Program (PSAP) was officially requested to stand up this program, but it was eventually rejected by DHS leadership for lacking merit," the report said. "It is critical to note that no extraterrestrial craft or bodies were ever collected this material was only assumed to exist by Kona Blue advocates and its anticipated contract performers."

The AARO said that later this year it will publish a second volume of the report covering sightings made between November 2023 and April 2024. The office also announced that the DOD is working on a portable sensor kit called the "Gremlin system" to investigate UFO sightings as they occur.

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Engineering the Trade – Engineering The Trade – tastylive

tastylive content is created, produced, and provided solely by tastylive, Inc. (tastylive) and is for informational and educational purposes only.It is not, nor is it intended to be, trading or investment advice or a recommendation that any security, futures contract, digital asset, other product, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any person. Trading securities, futures products, and digital assets involve risk and may result in a loss greater than the original amount invested.tastylive, through its content, financial programming or otherwise, does not provide investment or financial advice or make investment recommendations. Investment information provided may not be appropriate for all investors and is provided without respect to individual investor financial sophistication, financial situation, investing time horizon or risk tolerance. tastylive is not in the business of transacting securities trades, nor does it direct client commodity accounts or give commodity trading advice tailored to any particular clients situation or investment objectives. Supporting documentation for any claims (including claims made on behalf of options programs), comparisons, statistics, or other technical data, if applicable, will be supplied upon request.tastylive is not a licensed financial adviser, registered investment adviser, or a registered broker-dealer. Options, futures, and futures options are not suitable for all investors. Prior to trading securities, options, futures, or futures options, please read the applicable risk disclosures, including, but not limited to, the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options Disclosure and the Futures and Exchange-Traded Options Risk Disclosure found on tastytrade.com/disclosures.

tastytrade, Inc. ("tastytrade) is a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA, NFA, and SIPC.tastytrade was previously known as tastyworks, Inc. (tastyworks). tastytrade offers self-directed brokerage accounts to its customers. tastytrade does not give financial or trading advice, nor does it make investment recommendations.You alone are responsible for making your investment and trading decisions and for evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of tastytrades systems, services or products. tastytrade is a wholly-owned subsidiary of tastylive, Inc.

tastytrade has entered into a Marketing Agreement with tastylive (Marketing Agent) whereby tastytrade pays compensation to Marketing Agent to recommend tastytrades brokerage services. The existence of this Marketing Agreement should not be deemed as an endorsement or recommendation of Marketing Agent by tastytrade. tastytrade and Marketing Agent are separate entities with their own products and services. tastylive is the parent company of tastytrade.

tastycrypto is provided solely by tasty Software Solutions, LLC. tasty Software Solutions, LLC is a separate but affiliate company of tastylive, Inc. Neither tastylive nor any of its affiliates are responsible for the products or services provided by tasty Software Solutions, LLC. Cryptocurrency trading is not suitable for all investors due to the number of risks involved. The value of any cryptocurrency, including digital assets pegged to fiat currency, commodities, or any other asset, may go to zero.

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Did US reverse-engineer alien spacecraft? And other Pentagon report takeaways – The Hill

A long-awaited Pentagon report on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) concluded Friday that there is no evidence the U.S. has reverse-engineered alien spacecraft and rebutted claims that Washington is hiding off-world technology or extraterrestrial biological material.

The first volume of an investigation from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), called the Historical Record Report, debunks claims of alien or unexplainable UAP, more commonly known as UFOs.

It also attributes the persistence that the U.S. is hiding extraterrestrial material to a culture fascinated by aliens, a community trying to prove there is secret alien technology, the misidentification of common objects or other defense technology, and general distrust in the federal government.

But there were a few surprises in the report as well.

Here are the major takeaways.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) received a proposal for a program to investigate claims the U.S. has hidden off-world material.

The program, called “Kona Blue,” was pitched by supporters of the theory. It was never approved.

The AARO said the program began out of the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program and the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, both under the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and overseen by a private contractor to develop cutting-edge scientific technology.

Part of those programs was UAP research. When the DIA canceled the programs, supporters proposed a separate initiative codenamed “Kona Blue” to look into UAP, paranormal research and reverse engineering off-world tech.

“KONA BLUE’s advocates were convinced that the [government] was hiding UAP technologies,” the AARO said. “They believed that creating this program under DHS would allow all of the technology and knowledge of these alleged programs to be moved under the KONA BLUE program.”

While it gained initial traction at the DHS, “Kona Blue” was never approved.

The agency explained that the U.S. government-controlled access program was expanded to include reverse-engineering UAP but did not offer any further details.

“This program was expanded despite the lack of any evidence or mission need to justify the expansion,” the AARO said, noting it was eventually shut down and never recovered any UAP.

The AARO is still investigating a number of UAP sightings around America’s nuclear missile sites.

That includes claims of nuclear missiles or test reentry vehicles being shot down by UAP.

The AARO interviewed five former U.S. Air Force members who served around intercontinental ballistic missile silos at Malmstrom, Ellsworth, Vandenberg, and Minot military bases between 1966 and 1977 to look into the accounts.

The former Air Force service members documented experiences in which launch control facilities mysteriously lost power during flights, and a UAP destroyed a missile loaded with a dummy warhead in midflight.

In 1964, a ballistic missile reentry vehicle was allegedly shot down by a UAP and caught on film, but the AARO was not able to find the original footage. Still, the office was able to correlate an antiballistic missile test at the time.

The AARO said it is continuing to look into those accounts and U.S. programs at the time that may explain the mysterious incidents.

The report reviewed the lengthy history of U.S. government programs that investigated UAP sightings and determined none of them ever found alien life or technology.

One of the first projects was “Project Saucer” from 1947-48, which looked into claims from a pilot named Kenneth Arnold flying near Mount Rainier, Wash.

Arnold said he saw nine circular objects flying at high speeds. The investigation never found any credible evidence of alien technology.

A successor to that program called “Project Sign” looked into 243 UAP sightings but determined they were nearly all common objects. Another successor called “Project Grudge” achieved similar results.

A more well-known investigation is “Project Blue Book,” which the U.S. Air Force director of intelligence established in 1952. The program lasted until 1969 and looked into balloons, astronomical sightings and aircraft.

The AARO reviewed more than 7,000 files from Project Blue Book and found that officials never found evidence of alien life or technology. Of the more than 12,000 sightings under the program, 701 remained unresolved, the office said.

The AARO report also mentions the famous Roswell incident in New Mexico in 1947, in which a crashed military balloon spurred conspiracies the U.S. was hiding alien bodies.

The U.S. has long debunked those claims, explaining it was from a balloon program at the time and the alleged alien bodies reported by some were dummies — and the AARO agreed.

The AARO report documented several instances in which a CIA officer or CIA task group was involved with UAP.

The CIA opened an investigation into UAP in 1952 through a special study group, but found 90 percent of the sightings were explainable and 10 percent amounted to “incredible” claims, though they rejected alien or Soviet Union origin, according to the AARO.

Another investigation was briefly opened under the agency in 1964, with similar results.

In another instance, interviewees claimed that a former CIA official was involved with a reverse-engineering program from 2009-10. The AARO interviewed the former CIA official, who denied any knowledge of those claims.

The bulk of the report is spent on refuting multiple witness statements and claims that the U.S. has reverse-engineered alien spacecraft or hidden extraterrestrial material.

The AARO looked into records as far back as 1945 in the first volume of its report and determined most UAP are normal objects, and those still a mystery remain so only because of a lack of data.

Witnesses who have claimed otherwise have often made mistakes in identification, the AARO said in the report, saying they may have been confused by emerging technology in the 20th century such as rockets, or even with newer programs and systems today.

“The interviewees and others who have mistakenly associated authentic sensitive

In one instance, a witness claimed that a former U.S. military service member came into contact with a UAP, but the situation was denied by the service member, who mentioned they likely touched a stealth fighter jet.

Another claim said a private organization had collected a sample of alien technology, but the AARO determined it was of earthly origin.

And yet another interviewee claimed to possess 12 alien spacecraft, but the AARO found no evidence of the claims.

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Late great engineers: Percy Pilcher – unsung hero of early aviation – The Engineer

Convinced powered flight was possible, British engineer Percy Pilcher perished trying to prove his point. If it wasnt for a gliding accident he might have become the greatest name in aviation. Written by Nick Smith

Amy Johnson, Chuck Jaeger, Neil Armstrong and the Wright brothers. Just a few of the iconic names of aviation history that spring to mind and seem destined for immortality. But what of Percy Pilcher, British shipyard engineer whose engine-powered triplane should have propelled him into the limelight, who was meant to be the first to achieve sustained powered flight in the twilight years of the nineteenth century? But for a broken crankshaft, he would never have taken to the air in his substitute glider Hawk. But for the crowd of spectators and sponsors eager to see a display of aviation, on that fateful day of 30th September 1899 Pilcher might have cancelled the event entirely and rescheduled his triplanes record attempt. And then disaster struck when Hawks tail snapped, and Pilcher plunged to the earth sustaining fatal injuries. Four years later in 1903 at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, the Wright Flyer made its 12-second flight, and Pilcher was all but forgotten.

As the Fortnightly Review observed in November 1899, inventors of flying machines must look mainly to posthumous glory as the reward for their labours. And yet, as Pilchers obituarist W.E. Garret Fisher goes on to write: students of aeronautics were less startled by Mr Pilchers partial success than grieved by his fate. Having traced the idea of human flight back to the Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus the latter of which perished in Ovids account because he flew too close to the sun Garret Fisher strongly implies that due to the works of Mr. Maxim, Professor Langley and Mr. Hargrave, of Otto Lilienthal, Mr. Pilcher and Mr. Chanute, solving the greatest scientific challenge of the age was inevitable through long and numerous experiments with these light one-man soaring apparatus. Pilchers name, though perhaps not recognised by what Garrett Fisher describes as the man in the street, was already rubbing shoulders with the aviation engineers that mattered.

Percy Sinclair Pilcher was born in Bath in 1867, and while little is known of his youth an obituary (possibly from one of the earliest editions of Autocar) describes how Mr. Pilcher was a young man of exceeding promise; formerly he was an ofcer in the Royal Navy, and attained, we believe, the rank of sublieutenant. The article goes on to say that due to his ambition to become a modern scientic seaman Pilcher required engineering qualifications and was dispatched to Glasgow University (as well as briefly to University College, London) to study naval architecture and marine engineering, where for his knowledge and experience was selected by the American-born British powered-flight innovator Hiram Maxim to assist with his scientic experiments at Baldwyns Park. As well as being an officer in the Royal Navy, at the age of 20 Pilcher had also been an apprentice in the engineering department of shipbuilders Randolph, Elder and Co, where a colleague described him as a pale serious fellow, with a great bent for invention, and a brain that was razor keen.

I am glad to say my experiments threw a good deal of light on some difficult points

Having been taken on by Glasgow University as an assistant lecturer, Pilcher experimented in hull shape design for the shipbuilding industry. Meanwhile, his interest in aviation was starting to take shape, and he would spend his spare time building and testing gliders at his lodgings which he shared with his sister Ella (in her own right an aviation pioneer who would become the first woman to fly a glider in the UK). Objections from their landlady forced the Pilcher siblings to relocate experiments to a large room in the university where they built their version of a hang glider that had been invented in 1853 by British aviation pioneer George Cayley called the Bat, which had its maiden flight in 1885.

According to Graces Guide To British Industrial History, Bats airframe was mostly Riga pine, and the wing fabric was nainsook, sewn by his sister Ella, who was a staunch supporter of his experiments. The Bat had a double use of the triangle control frame (TCF) (or A-frame for hang gliders, trikes, and ultralights) as both a piloting device as well as an airframe part. Later that year Pilcher met Germanys legendary flying man Otto Lilienthal the first person to make documented, repeated and successful heavier-than-air glider flights under whose influence he was to build two more gliders the Beetle and the Gull. For these early aircraft Pilcher adopted the technique for launching them via a towline. As aviation historian Philip Jarrett writes in Percy Pilcher and the Challenge of Flight, this was to become Pilchers preferred launch method, and towed flights of half a minute or more were achieved in this manner. Two photographs taken during these early towed flights are the earliest known photographs of a heavier-than-air aircraft airborne in the British Isles.

Inspired to try and copy, and to try and proceed further with what he had done, Pilchers subsequent work based on Lilienthals ideas resulted in the 1898-6 Hawk, with which he broke the world distance record when he ew 820 feet at Stanford Hall in Leicestershire. Around this time Pilcher shifted his focus to powered flight, developing an aircraft that was to be powered by a 4 hp internal combustion engine and bury him under a mountain of debt. Collaborating with Irish mechanical engineer Walter Wilson, the two men founded the Wilson-Picher company that set about designing a flat twin air cooled aero-engine to power the aircraft. But there were problems. With his gliders, Pilcher had mastered the concept of lift. But a powered plane would need to lift the internal combustion engine too. As the Guardian succinctly puts it: More lift required more wingspan. But more wingspan would require wings so vast that they couldnt be supported by the planes fuselage in the rst place a vicious circle. Pilcher was stuck. But then he received a letter from French American aviation expert Octave Chanute explaining how stacking wings one on top of the other could increase lift without placing unbearable strain on the fuselage.

Graces Guide takes up the story: Having completed his triplane, he had intended to demonstrate it to a group of onlookers and potential sponsors in a eld near Stanford Hall. Days before, the engine crankshaft had broken and, so as not to disappoint his guests, he decided to y the Hawk instead. After the crash that caused Pilchers death, the Morning Post reported that an inquest was held last evening on the body of Mr. Percy Pilcher, who was killed while experimenting with an aerial machine on Saturday. The article explains how despite the advice of Lord Braye, Pilcher was anxious to go ahead with the flight demonstration partly due to the fact there were influential people (including Sir John Henniker Heaton MP) in the audience. A further report in the Yorkshire Gazette elaborated that the machine appeared to sail well, and to soar to about 50 feet elevation, when suddenly it turned unexpectedly over and came down heavily in the park with a crash that could be heard some hundreds of yards. Lieutenant Pilcher sustained severe concussion of the brain and compound fracture of the thigh, and died early Monday morning without having recovered consciousness.

Pilcher was cut down in his prime at the age of 32. His papers went missing for many decades until Philip Jarretts research unearthed fragments of Pilchers correspondence in two American collections in the 1970s, and who would later publish lost diagrams of Pilchers triplane. Thanks to Jarrett, Pilchers name regained its rightful place on the timeline of early aviation and, as the centenary of the Wright brothers historic flight approached, interest in Pilchers work grew. In 2003 the BBC2 television programme Horizon commissioned research at Cranfield Universitys School of Aeronautics to assess the feasibility of Pilchers triplane. This led to the conclusion that had Pilcher succeeded in developing his aero-engine, it is possible he would have succeeded in being the first to fly a heavier-than-air powered aircraft with some degree of control. If Pilchers Stanford Hill demonstration had gone according to plan, the history of aviation would be radically different.

Cranfield University went on to build a full-size working replica (that included speculative modifications based on contemporary innovations by Chanute and the Wright brothers). The machine was flight-tested by aircraft designer Bill Brookes, who kept the aircraft aloft for 1 minute and 25 seconds under dead calm conditions (compared with the Wright brothers best flight at Kitty Hawk of 59 seconds). Brookes describes the moment he took to the air in Pilchers triplane as magical.

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AI-powered social engineering attacks are seeing a huge rise – and that’s a major problem – TechRadar

Hackers have fully adopted generative AI tools into their latest attacks, with unfortunately successful results, new research has claimed.

Data from cybersecurity experts Darktrace demonstrates that phishing surged with the general adoption of Chat-GPT, and that these emails have gotten a lot better and sophisticated, as well.

First, between January and February 2023, the number of phishing email attacks rose by 135%, aligning perfectly with the rising popularity of the chatbot. Darktrace customers alone have received almost three million phishing emails in December 2023 alone, representing a 14% jump compared to September the same year.

Then, the number of polished phishing emails - those with sophisticated language and improved punctuation - increased by 35% between September and December 2023. Darktrace bases this data on data coming in from its customers.

In the pre-Chat-GPT era, cybersecurity researchers suggested users proofread emails they deem suspicious. Many hackers are not from English-speaking communities, dont have high English language skills, or simply cant be bothered to edit their emails. Hence, their emails often carry spelling and grammar errors, something companies theyre trying to impersonate cant afford.

However, since the emergence of Chat-GPT and similar generative AI tools, hackers got a free, advanced content writer and spellchecker, resulting in more believable emails.

As a result, almost all (89%) of IT security experts believe AI-augmented cyber threats will have a significant impact on their organization within the next two years, while 60% still remain unprepared for this inevitability. For the 1,700+ IT pros surveyed for the report, their two greatest concerns are increased volume and sophistication of malware attacks delivered via phishing, and employees leaking sensitive data by using generative AI tools.

To tackle the growing threat of AI-powered attacks, IT teams are advised to integrate AI in their defenses, too.

AI can help organizations to address novel threats across their entire technology footprint, commented Darktraces CEO, Poppy Gustafsson.

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AI-powered social engineering attacks are seeing a huge rise - and that's a major problem - TechRadar

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Application of machine learning algorithms for accurate determination of bilirubin level on in vitro engineered tissue … – Nature.com

Colour space channel sensitivity analysis

An absorbance spectral scan was performed on freshly prepared bilirubin samples using a microplate reader and compared against reported spectral profiles to ensure the absence of biliverdin. The solutions were shown to strongly absorb light in the blue colour region (Fig.1a), with an absorbance peak at 450nm29. We then sought to confirm the spectral behaviour of our prepared bilirubin samples by verifying the linearity of the optical density (OD) at three wavelengthsred (R, 650nm), green (G, 532nm) and blue (B, 456nm)with varying bilirubin concentrations. These three wavelengths also correspond to the RGB colour filters of the mobile phone digital camera sensor30. As shown in Fig.1b, a strong linear correlation (R2=0.996) and relatively higher sensitivity (slope=0.198) were observed in the blue wavelength, indicating that the blue wavelength has demonstrated the strongest bilirubin signal and it is more sensitive to the changes in the bilirubin concentration. Similarly, the green wavelength also displayed a strong correlation (R2=0.983), but a much lower sensitivity (slope=0.017) as compared to the blue wavelength. The red wavelength had the lowest correlation (R2=0.735) and sensitivity (slope=0.002) among all three wavelengths, suggesting the red channel might not respond sensitively to the changes in the bilirubin concentration.

Spectral characterization of bilirubin solutions with different concentrations. (a) Spectral characterization of bilirubin solution at different days. Red curve represents the freshly made bilirubin. A peak shift towards left has been observed for stored bilirubin due to conversion of bilirubin to biliverdin. (b) Scatter plot of absorbance of bilirubin solution in different colour wavelengths; Statistical differences (P<0.01) in both correlation and sensitivity were observed among all three wavelengths.

In vitro evaluation and characterization of the ML-based bilirubin measurement were conducted using an elastomeric tissue phantom mimicking neonatal skin with varying concentrations of bilirubin. Parametric studies of the various biological and external factors were conducted to evaluate the isolated effect of each biological and external factor through tight control of the in vitro fabrication parameters and environmental conditions. First, Polydimethylsiloxane-Titanium dioxide (PDMS-TiO2) tissue phantom samples with varying thicknesses were evaluated (Fig.2a). Relatively strong correlations between blue channel pixel value and different bilirubin concentrations were observed in all 1mm (R2=0.722, slope=2.775), 2mm (R2=0.921, slope=2.630) and 3mm (R2=0.972, slope=2.033) samples. However, a statistically significant difference (P<0.05) in sensitivity was observed between 1mm samples and 3mm samples, as well as between 2mm samples and 3mm samples, demonstrating that the images from the 3mm samples were less responsive to the changes in the bilirubin concentration.

Parametric study of important biological and external features. (a) Scatter plot of the pixel value of bilirubin concentrations in PMDS-TiO2 tissue phantom samples with different thicknesses; A statistically significant difference (P<0.05 in 1mm, P<0.001 in 2mm and P<0.001 in 3mm) was observed in the sensitivity slope but not in correlation among different thicknesses. (b) Scatter plot of the pixel value of bilirubin concentrations in samples with different light scattering ratios (PDMS to TiO2 ratio); Significant statistical difference was observed in both correlation and sensitivity between 0.01 and 0.02 PDMS-TiO2 ratio (P<0.005), as well as between 0.015 and 0.02 PDMS-TiO2 ratio (P<0.005). (c) Scatter plot of the pixel value of bilirubin concentrations in samples with different WB. Significant statistical difference was observed in both correlation and sensitivity among 2000K (P<0.05), 5000K (P<0.005) and 8000K (P<0.01). (d) Scatter plot of the pixel value of bilirubin concentrations in samples with different ISOs; ISO200 and ISO500 (P<0.05), ISO200 and ISO700 (P<0.05), as well as ISO500 and ISO700 (P<0.05) datasets are statistically different from each other in correlation. At the 0.05 significance level, a significant statistical difference was also observed in sensitivity between the ISO200 and ISO500 datasets (P<0.05), as well as between the ISO200 and ISO700 datasets (P<0.05). (e) Scatter plot of the pixel value of bilirubin concentrations in samples with different illumination tones; A significant statistical difference was observed in correlation among all channels (P<0.05). (f) Scatter plot of the pixel value of bilirubin concentrations in sample images with different light intensities; Different light intensities have demonstrated a considerable statistical significance in both sensitivity and correlation (P<0.05).

Next, images of PDMS-TiO2 tissue phantom samples with different extents of light scattering (varying ratios of PDMS to TiO2 light scattering agent) were used to represent skin containing varying amounts of scattering agents such as collagen and adipose tissue31. As shown in Fig.2b, strong correlations between blue channel pixel values and different bilirubin concentrations were observed in samples with a ratio of 0.01 (R2=0.921, slope=2.630) and samples with a ratio of 0.015 (R2=0.936, slope=2.359) respectively. However, no statistically significant linear regression relationship (R2=0.482, slope=1.065, P>0.05) was observed between blue channel pixel values and different bilirubin concentrations in PDMS-TiO2 tissue phantom images with a TiO2 ratio of 0.02.

Two hardware parameters that are commonly adjusted for image quality control were evaluated. Firstly, PDMS-TiO2 tissue phantom images were captured under different white balance (WB) conditions (Fig.2c). When WB is much lower (2000K) than the actual colour temperatures, weaker correlation and sensitivity (R2=0.774 slope=0.425) were observed, suggesting a strong confounding effect on the bilirubin concentration prediction. However, as the WB approached 5000K, which is close to the actual colour temperature in the image collection environment, a much stronger correlation and sensitivity (R2=0.963, slope=1.940) were observed in the scatter plot. As the WB increased higher (8000K), while the sensitivity remained unchanged (slope=2.097, P>0.05), a weaker correlation (R2=0.848) was observed. Secondly, camera sensor light sensitivity (ISO) was varied to establish its impact on the bilirubin estimation. Despite yielding moderately high sensitivities, it was observed that at low and high ISO values, a relatively weaker correlation was observed (ISO100, R2=0.898, slope=1.944; ISO1000, R2=0.868, slope=2.022) compared to the medium ISO (ISO500, R2=0.921, slope=2.630) in response to the changes in bilirubin concentrations. As expected in Fig.2d, the pixel intensity values increased with increasing ISO values. By extrapolation, it is expected that the pixel value of the diluted bilirubin can be saturated under brighter or darker lighting conditions. This suggests that an appropriate ISO setting needs to be selected to control the image brightness and prevent signal saturation at the lower and higher bilirubin.

The effect of ambient lighting conditions (light intensity and illumination tone) was also investigated (Fig.2e). Statistically significant differences in the correlation and sensitivities were calculated between the low, moderate and high light intensity conditions. It was observed that images with low light intensity generated a weak correlation (R2=0.717) but high sensitivity (slope=3.678). The correlation was observed to increase when the light intensity increased from moderate (R2=0.934) to high intensity (R2=0.942) while the sensitivity slope decreased from 2.531 to 1.793. These results suggest that high but appropriate amount of light intensity would aid the camera pixels in response to collect the colour information from the PDMS-TiO2 tissue phantom images.

Lastly, different illumination tones were supplied and tested using a diffused light source (Fig.2f). A relatively strong linear correlation was observed in all three illumination toneswhite light (R2=0.894, slope=2.106), off-white light (R2=0.860, slope=1.953) and yellow light (R2=0.878, slope=2.000). All three conditions demonstrated satisfactory (~0.9) correlation and sensitivity in response to the changes of bilirubin concentrations in the PDMS-TiO2 tissue phantom images. However, as compared to the pixel value in the images with white light, it is observed that the pixel values are generally lower in images with off-white light and are much lower in images with yellow light. This is expected as the spectral characterization (see Supplementary Fig.1) of illumination tones demonstrated the strongest blue light scattering signal (~450nm) in white light, followed by off-white light and yellow light.

The last factor tested (capture distance away from the subject) did not demonstrate any statistical significance in correlation and sensitivity (P>0.05), suggesting that distance does not affect the image information of the PDMS-TiO2 tissue phantom images (see Supplementary Fig.2).

We have shown that the bilirubin level prediction from images is strongly dependent on the colour representation. This necessitates the correction of the WB to achieve higher colour rendering. We applied different colour constancy algorithms (GW, MSGP, MaxRGB, and CH) and compared the WB-corrected images against the corresponding ground truth images captured with a light temperature of 5600K. The relative performances of the various WB correction methods are shown in Table 1. The different WB correction methods produce considerable differences, and the angular error results showed that the Gray World (GW) method performed the best at 3000K (mean angular error: 0.44) for the PDMS-TiO2 tissue phantom images. We also conducted additional tests to assess the GW accuracy in correcting raw images captured at different colour temperatures (Table 2). The results indicated that the GW method consistently produced a low angular error (<0.5) for all groups, demonstrating the stability and effectiveness of the GW method in correcting the WB variations of tissue phantom images.

Similar to the WB correction, we evaluated several colour spaces for their correlation with the bilirubin concentration using the tissue phantom images taken in a controlled image collection environment. As shown in Fig.3a, like the spectrophotometric characterization presented in Fig.1a, a strong linear correlation and high sensitivity (R2=0.958, slope=1.995) were observed between the blue channel pixel values and bilirubin concentrations in PDMS-TiO2 tissue phantom images. A relatively lower correlation and sensitivity were observed in the green channel pixel value (R2=0.871, slope=0.542), corresponding to a lower accuracy and sensitivity as compared to the blue channel. The pixel value acquired from the red channel did not demonstrate a statistically significant linear relationship (R2=0.014, slope=0.034, P<0.05) with the bilirubin solutions, suggesting an insensitive response to the changes in bilirubin concentration.

Linear regression and evaluation of important feature channels from colour spacesRGB, CMYK, L*a*b*, HSV, YCbCr and LUV. (a) Scatter plot of pixel values of bilirubin concentrations of PDMS-TiO2 tissue phantom samples in the RGB channels respectively; Significant statistical difference in correlation was observed between the B and R channel (P<0.05), as well as between the B and G channel (P<0.005). (b) Scatter plot of pixel values of bilirubin concentrations of samples in the CMY(K) channels respectively; A significant statistical difference in both correlation and sensitivity was observed among all channels (P<0.05). (c) Scatter plot of pixel values of bilirubin concentrations of samples in the CIELAB channels respectively. A statistically significant correlation (P<0.05) was observed in correlation among all channels. Sensitivity also demonstrated a significant statistical difference between the L channel and the a* channel, as well as between the L channel and the b* channel (P<0.05). (d) Scatter plot of pixel values of bilirubin concentrations of samples in the HSV channels respectively. A significant statistical difference in both sensitivity and correlation was observed among all channels (P<0.05). (e) Scatter plot of pixel values of bilirubin concentrations of samples in the YCbCr channels respectively. A significant statistical difference (P<0.05) was observed in both correlation and sensitivity among all different channels. (f) Scatter plot of pixel values of bilirubin concentrations of samples in the LUV channels respectively. A significant statistical difference (P<0.05) was observed in both correlation and sensitivity among all different channels.

Mapping of the RGB values to the CMY(K) colour space was also evaluated (Fig.3b). Among all channels, the pixel values obtained from the Y channel were observed to show the strongest linear correlation (R2=0.986) and the highest sensitivity (slope=1.812) whereas the C channel showed a weaker correlation (R2=0.782) and a less sensitive response (slope=1.086) to the changes in bilirubin concentrations. The M channel showed the weakest correlation (R2=0.122) with bilirubin level.

In the CIELAB (L*a*b*) colour space (Fig.3c), values acquired from the b* channel displayed a strong linear correlation (R2=0.971) and relatively high sensitivity (slope=0.902) to the changes in bilirubin concentrations. The value in the a* channel had a comparably weaker correlation (R2=0.749) and a lower sensitivity (slope=0.203). Notably, the pixel value obtained from the L channel did not show a statistically significant linear relationship (R2=0.3019, slope=0.08, P>0.05) with varying bilirubin concentrations.

Meanwhile, Fig.3d indicated the linear relationship between bilirubin level and the channels in Hue-Saturation-Value (HSV) colour space respectively. In the S channel, a strong linear correlation, which an R2 value is 0.917, was observed between the bilirubin concentration and the S channel value. Sensitivity was also observed to be relatively strong (slope=0.0061) as compared to other channels in the HSV colour space, showing strong capability in response to the change of bilirubin concentrations.

The YCbCr channel colour space demonstrated a relatively linear relationship between the 3 channels and the bilirubin concentration, albeit with an evidently lower sensitivity (Fig.3e). A very strong linear correlation and moderate sensitivity were observed in the Cb channel with an R2 value of 0.970 and a slope of 0.892. Compared to the other channels which demonstrated relatively less strong linear correlation and sensitivity (Y Channel: R2=0.769, slope=0.270; Cr Channel: R2=0.381, slope=0.275), the Cb channel displayed superior sensitivity to changes in bilirubin concentration.

The final colour space mapping evaluated was the CIELUV (L*u*v*) colour space (Fig.3f). As compared to the L (slope=0.080) and u* (slope=0.240) channels, which have either low or statistically insignificant sensitivity (P>0.05) to the changes of bilirubin value, the v* channel does not only have a strong linear correlation (R2=0.969), but also a relatively higher sensitivity (slope=1.308) to changes in bilirubin concentration.

Five machine learning modelsdecision tree (DT), K-nearest neighbour (KNN), random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), and LightGBMwere evaluated for their accuracy in performing binary classification of jaundice based on the PDMS-TiO2 tissue phantom image data (Fig.4a). The mean accuracy was 0.672 in DT, 0.737 in KNN, 0.774 in RF, 0.827 in LightGBM and 0.848 in SVM. Statistically significant differences (P<0.05) in accuracy were also observed among the models. The pairwise comparison also showed that among all models tested, SVM performed the best in the bilirubin binary classification task, followed by the LightGBM, RF and KNN, with DT performing the worst. The corresponding receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) curves and the respective area-under-curve (AUC) scores further validated this observation (Fig.4b). The AUC scores obtained for each model were as follows: 0.74 (DT), 0.82 (KNN), 0.86 (RF), 0.91 (LightGBM), and 0.93 (SVM). The results were consistent with the performance comparison based on the cross-validated accuracy, suggesting that the SVM model has the best predictive capability among all other models tested.

Model performances. (a) Accuracy performance among DT, KNN, RF, SVM and LightGBM models in the classification task; A significant statistical difference in accuracy was observed among models (P<0.05). All models demonstrated a significant statistical difference in pairwise comparison except for the comparison between SVM and LightGBM model (P>0.05). (b) ROC performance of the five different models. The inlet graph shows the AUC performance, which represents the capability of the model to distinguish between the tissue phantom images with normal bilirubin levels and those images with abnormal bilirubin concentrations. The AUC demonstrated a significant statistical difference among all models (P<0.05). (c) R2 value among different models in the regression task with a different number of features as training labels. A significant statistical difference (P<0.05) was observed in R2 between 6 and 17 features among all models. Five models are statistically different from each other except the RF, SVM and LightGBM in pairwise comparison. (d) MSE value among different models in the regression task with a different number of features as training labels. A significant statistical difference (P<0.05) was observed in MSE between 6 and 17 features among all models. Asterisk (*) indicates P<0.05.

In addition, as shown in Fig.4c, d, we also tested the model capability in performing the regression task, evaluating the performance of each regression model (DT, RF, KNN, SVR, and LightGBM) in predicting the exact bilirubin concentration in the PDMS-TiO2 tissue phantoms. When the models were trained with limited features, a relatively large mean square error, MSE, was observed in all models (DT: 16.157; KNN: 19.749; RF: 11.499; SVM: 17.651 and LightGBM: 13.830). A low R2 score (DT: 0.555; KNN: 0.465; RF: 0.684; SVM: 0.524 and LightGBM: 0.624) was observed at the same time. However, the results showed significant improvements (P<0.05) in the model performances (R2 score) when additional features were included for all five models (DT: 0.734; KNN: 0.742; RF: 0.812; SVM: 0.806 and LightGBM: 0.808). The corresponding MSE was also greatly reduced across all models (DT: 9.635; KNN: 9.366; RF: 6.816; SVM: 7.054 and LightGBM: 6.946). Similar to the classification task, LightGBM, SVM and RF models performed the best in predicting bilirubin concentrations. The acquired low MSE value, akin to the square of bilirubin level variance, additionally indicates a minor disparity in relation to the true bilirubin levels. A variance ranging from2.61mg/dl to3.10mg/dl was achieved across all evaluated models, thus illustrating the predictive capacity of machine learning models in determining precise bilirubin levels.

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Application of machine learning algorithms for accurate determination of bilirubin level on in vitro engineered tissue ... - Nature.com

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