Study of loss in superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators

Superconducting coplanar waveguide (SCPW) resonators have a wide range of applications due to the combination of their planar geometry and high quality factors relative to normal metals. However, their performance is sensitive to both the details of their geometry and the materials and processes that are used in their fabrication. In this paper, we study the dependence of SCPW resonator performance on materials and geometry as a function of temperature and excitation power. We measure quality factors greater than $2\times10^6$ at high excitation power and $6\times10^5$ at a power comparable to that generated by a single microwave photon circulating in the resonator. We examine the limits to the high excitation power performance of the resonators and find it to be consistent with a model of radiation loss. We further observe that while in all cases the quality factors are degraded as the temperature and power are reduced due to dielectric loss, the size of this effect is dependent on resonator materials and geometry. Finally, we demonstrate that the dielectric loss can be controlled in principle using a separate excitation near the resonance frequencies of the resonator.Comment: Replacing original version. Changes made based on referee comments. Fixed typo in equation (3) and added appendi

Species richness and phylogenetic diversity of native and non-native species respond differently to area and environmental factors

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aim: To test whether native and non-native species have similar diversity–area relationships (species–area relationships [SARs] and phylogenetic diversity–area relationships [PDARs]) and whether they respond similarly to environmental variables. Location: United States. Methods: Using lists of native and non-native species as well as environmental variables for \u3e250 US national parks, we compared SARs and PDARs of native and non-native species to test whether they respond similarly to environmental conditions. We then used multiple regressions involving climate, land cover and anthropogenic variables to further explore underlying predictors of diversity for plants and birds in US national parks. Results: Native and non-native species had different slopes for SARs and PDARs, with significantly higher slopes for native species. Corroborating this pattern, multiple regressions showed that native and non-native diversity of plants and birds responded differently to a greater number of environmental variables than expected by chance. For native species richness, park area and longitude were the most important variables while the number of park visitors, temperature and the percentage of natural area were among the most important ones for non-native species richness. Interestingly, the most important predictor of native and non-native plant phylogenetic diversity, temperature, had positive effects on non-native plants but negative effects on natives. Main conclusions: SARs, PDARs and multiple regressions all suggest that native and non-native plants and birds responded differently to environmental factors that influence their diversity. The agreement between diversity–area relationships and multiple regressions with environmental variables suggests that SARs and PDARs can be both used as quick proxies of overall responses of species to environmental conditions. However, more importantly, our results suggest that global change will have different effects on native and non-native species, making it inappropriate to apply the large body of knowledge on native species to understand patterns of community assembly of non-native species

“He Was the One With the Gun!” Associative Memory for White and Black Faces Seen With Weapons

Much research has found that implicit associations between Black male faces and aggression afect dispositional judgments and decision-making, but there have been few investigations into downstream efects on explicit episodic memory. The current experiment tested whether such implicit associations interact with explicit recognition memory using an associative memory paradigm in younger and older adults. Participants studied image pairs featuring faces (of Black or White males) alongside handheld objects (uncategorized, kitchenware, or weapons) and later were tested on their recognition memory for faces, objects, and face/object pairings. Younger adults were further divided into full and divided attention encoding groups. All participants then took the race faces implicit association test. Memory for image pairs was poorer than memory for individual face or object images, particularly among older adults, extending the empirical support for the age-related associative memory deficit hypothesis (Naveh-Benjamin in J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cognit 26:1170–1187, 2000) to associations between racial faces and objects. Our primary hypothesis— that older adults’ associative memory deficit would be reduced under Black/weapon pairings due to their being schematically related stimuli—was not confirmed. Younger adults and especially older ones, who were predominantly White, exhibited an own-race recognition bias. In addition, older adults showed more negative implicit bias toward Black faces. Importantly, mixed linear analyses revealed that negative implicit associations for Black faces predicted increased explicit associative memory false alarm rates among older adults. Such a pattern may have implications for the criminal justice system, particularly when weighting eyewitness testimony from older adult

The Game Saturation Number of a Graph

Given a family F and a host graph H, a graph G ⊆ H is F-saturated relative to H if no subgraph of G lies in F but adding any edge from E(H) - E(G) to G creates such a subgraph. In the F-saturation game on H, players Max and Min alternately add edges of H to G, avoiding subgraphs in F, until G becomes F-saturated relative to H. They aim to maximize or minimize the length of the game, respectively; satg(F;H) denotes the length under optimal play (when Max starts). Let O denote the family of odd cycles and the family of n-vertex trees, and write F for when F = {F}. Our results include satg(O; Kn) = [n/2] [n/2], satg(Tn; Kn) = (n-2/2) + 1 for n ≥ 6, satg(K1,3; Kn) = 2[Tn/2] for n ≥ 8, and satg(P4; Kn) ∈ {[4n/f] , [4n/5]} for n ≥ 5. We also determine satg(P4; Km;n); with m ≥ n, it is n when n is even, m when n is odd and m is even, and m + [n/2] when mn is odd. Finally, we prove the lower bound satg(C4; Kn,n) ≥ 1/21n13/12 – O(n35/36). The results are very similar when Min plays first, except for the P4-saturation game on Km,n.

Intraflagellar transport particle size scales inversely with flagellar length: revisiting the balance-point length control model

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii IFT particle trains, important for flagella maintenance and assembly, are observed to decrease in size as a function of cilia length

The development of a program analysis environment for Ada

A unit level, Ada software module testing system, called Query Utility Environment for Software Testing of Ada (QUEST/Ada), is described. The project calls for the design and development of a prototype system. QUEST/Ada design began with a definition of the overall system structure and a description of component dependencies. The project team was divided into three groups to resolve the preliminary designs of the parser/scanner: the test data generator, and the test coverage analyzer. The Phase 1 report is a working document from which the system documentation will evolve. It provides history, a guide to report sections, a literature review, the definition of the system structure and high level interfaces, descriptions of the prototype scope, the three major components, and the plan for the remainder of the project. The appendices include specifications, statistics, two papers derived from the current research, a preliminary users' manual, and the proposal and work plan for Phase 2

Plasma Leptin Levels and Incidence of Heart Failure, Cardiovascular Disease, and Total Mortality in Elderly Individuals

OBJECTIVE: Obesity predisposes individuals to congestive heart failure (CHF) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Leptin regulates energy homeostasis, is elevated in obesity, and influences ventricular and vascular remodeling. We tested the hypothesis that leptin levels are associated with greater risk of CHF, CVD, and mortality in elderly individuals. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We evaluated 818 elderly (mean age 79 years, 62% women) Framingham Study participants attending a routine examination at which plasma leptin was assayed. RESULTS: Leptin levels were higher in women and strongly correlated with BMI (P < 0.0001). On follow-up (mean 8.0 years), 129 (of 775 free of CHF) participants developed CHF, 187 (of 532 free of CVD) experienced a first CVD event, and 391 individuals died. In multivariable Cox regression models adjusting for established risk factors, log-leptin was positively associated with incidence of CHF and CVD (hazard ratio [HR] per SD increment 1.26 [95% CI 1.03–1.55] and 1.28 [1.09–1.50], respectively). Additional adjustment for BMI nullified the association with CHF (0.97 [0.75–1.24]) but only modestly attenuated the relation to CVD incidence (1.23 [1.00–1.51], P = 0.052). We observed a nonlinear, U-shaped relation between log-leptin and mortality (P = 0.005 for quadratic term) with greater risk of death evident at both low and high leptin levels. CONCLUSIONS: In our moderate-sized community-based elderly sample, higher circulating leptin levels were associated with a greater risk of CHF and CVD, but leptin did not provide incremental prognostic information beyond BMI. Additional investigations are warranted to elucidate the U-shaped relation of leptin to mortality.National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (N01-HC25195, N01-HV28178, K24-HL04334, R01-DK080739

Rural Georgia: To Be or Not to Be Zoned

A variety of public policies in Georgia can influence a community’s economic development potential. Zoning is one of these policies. In 1983, the Georgia State Constitution gave individual counties home rule power to conduct zoning and planning activities. The Georgia Planning Act of 1989 mandated that all communities in Georgia adopt a comprehensive plan, but did not require adoption of a zoning ordinance to enforce, or implement, the plan. As of 2001, 63 counties in Georgia, all rural, have not adopted a zoning ordinance. Community leaders of non-zoned counties often find it challenging to convince their citizens of real benefits to zoning. Opponents of zoning often consider such regulation an unnecessary governmental intrusion on their property rights. Zoning advocates often cite quality-of-life advantages, such as protecting homeowners from unwanted uses next door, but such advantages vary in the eye of the beholder and sometimes do not provide enough incentive to sway the opposition. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate whether there are economic development benefits related to zoning. Given that an unlimited number of factors affect a community’s economic development potential, it is not possible to state with certainty that just one factor is responsible for a community’s economic development progress. In other words, one factor, such as a specific public policy, cannot be the sole explanation for a community’s development. However, economic development patterns may be observed when comparing communities with one of these factors to communities without. This investigation sought to compare counties with a zoning policy to counties without one.Georgia Rural Economic Development Center (GREDC) at East Georgia Colleg

A Thesis Presented to the President and the Faculty of Marquette University for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

In the work covered by this thesis it is desired to examine an undeveloped water power for the purpose of producing electrical energy as a commercial comodity. Experience has taught that it is best to ascertain first where the product will find its market, and to follow up a satisfactory showing at that end by determining the power capacity of the source, the feasibility of harnessing the same, and the cost of accomplishing this. This program would be adopted in any commercial enterprise to insure a reliable conclusion, and will be followed as closely as possible in the work covered by this thesis. Reference was made to the following books; Mead Water Power ; Von Schom Hydro Electric Practice ; Bulletin No. XX of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural Survey, entitled Water Powers of Wisconsin. ; U.S. Weather Reports; Hughes and Saford Hydraulics ; and Gillette\u27s Cost Data