Experimental investigation of flow over a backward facing step-progress report

The sizes and arrangement of the wind tunnel used for the experimentation are described. The specifications for the cold-wire anemometers, hot-wire anemometers, cold-wire rakes, and miniature 3-wire probe are proveded. The results of the experiment are briefly discussed

Communications satellite systems capacity analysis

Analog and digital modulation techniques are compared with regard to efficient use of the geostationary orbit by communications satellites. Included is the definition of the baseline systems (both space and ground segments), determination of interference susceptibility, calculation of orbit spacing, and evaluation of relative costs. It is assumed that voice or TV is communicated at 14/11 GHz using either FM or QPSK modulation. Both the Fixed-Satellite Service and the Broadcasting-Satellite Service are considered. For most of the cases examined the digital approach requires a satellite spacing less than or equal to that required by the analog approach

GALEX ultraviolet observations of stellar variability in the Hyades and Pleiades clusters

We present GALEX near ultraviolet (NUV:1750 - 2750A) and far ultraviolet (FUV: 1350 - 1750A) imaging observations of two 1.2 degree diameter fields in the Hyades and Pleiades open clusters in order to detect possible UV variability of the member stars. We have performed a detailed software search for short-term UV flux variability during these observations of the approx 400 sources detected in each of the Hyades and Pleiades fields to identify flare-like (dMe) stellar objects. This search resulted in the detection of 16 UV variable sources, of which 13 can be directly associated with probable M-type stars. The other UV sources are G-type stars and one newly discovered RR Lyrae star, USNOB1.0 1069-0046050, of period 0.624 day and distance 4.5-7.0 kpc. Light curves of photon flux versus time are shown for 7 flare events recorded on six probable dMe stars. UV energies for these flares span the range 2E27 to 5E29 erg, with a corresponding NUV variability change of 1.82 mag. Only one of these flare events (on the star Cl* Melotte 25 LH129) can definitely be associated with an origin on a member the Hyades cluster itself. Finally, many of our M-type candidates show long periods of enhanced UV activity but without the associated rapid increase in flux that is normally associated with a flare event. However, the total UV energy output during such periods of increased activity is greater than that of many short-term UV flares. These intervals of enhanced low-level UV activity concur with the idea that, even in quiescence, the UV emission from dMe stars may be related to a superposition of many small flare events possessing a wide range of energies.Comment: PASP Submitte

Tile Pattern KL-Divergence for Analysing and Evolving Game Levels

This paper provides a detailed investigation of using the Kullback-Leibler (KL) Divergence as a way to compare and analyse game-levels, and hence to use the measure as the objective function of an evolutionary algorithm to evolve new levels. We describe the benefits of its asymmetry for level analysis and demonstrate how (not surprisingly) the quality of the results depends on the features used. Here we use tile-patterns of various sizes as features. When using the measure for evolution-based level generation, we demonstrate that the choice of variation operator is critical in order to provide an efficient search process, and introduce a novel convolutional mutation operator to facilitate this. We compare the results with alternative generators, including evolving in the latent space of generative adversarial networks, and Wave Function Collapse. The results clearly show the proposed method to provide competitive performance, providing reasonable quality results with very fast training and reasonably fast generation.Comment: 8 pages plus references. Proceedings of GECCO 201

Evidence against correlations between nuclear decay rates and Earth-Sun distance

We have reexamined our previously published data to search for evidence of correlations between the rates for the alpha, beta-minus, beta-plus, and electron-capture decays of 22Na, 44Ti, 108Agm, 121Snm, 133Ba, and 241Am and the Earth-Sun distance. We find no evidence for such correlations and set limits on the possible amplitudes of such correlations substantially smaller than those observed in previous experiments

Methodist Sunday Schools After a Hundred Years

A history of the Sunday School movement in the Methodist Church, with a focus on the South and South Carolina