4,419 research outputs found
An integrated approach to rotorcraft human factors research
As the potential of civil and military helicopters has increased, more complex and demanding missions in increasingly hostile environments have been required. Users, designers, and manufacturers have an urgent need for information about human behavior and function to create systems that take advantage of human capabilities, without overloading them. Because there is a large gap between what is known about human behavior and the information needed to predict pilot workload and performance in the complex missions projected for pilots of advanced helicopters, Army and NASA scientists are actively engaged in Human Factors Research at Ames. The research ranges from laboratory experiments to computational modeling, simulation evaluation, and inflight testing. Information obtained in highly controlled but simpler environments generates predictions which can be tested in more realistic situations. These results are used, in turn, to refine theoretical models, provide the focus for subsequent research, and ensure operational relevance, while maintaining predictive advantages. The advantages and disadvantages of each type of research are described along with examples of experimental results
The initial conditions of the universe: how much isocurvature is allowed?
We investigate the constraints imposed by the current data on correlated
mixtures of adiabatic and non-adiabatic primordial perturbations. We discover
subtle flat directions in parameter space that tolerate large (~60%)
contributions of non-adiabatic fluctuations. In particular, larger values of
the baryon density and a spectral tilt are allowed. The cancellations in the
degenerate directions are explored and the role of priors elucidated.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to PR
Cosmological Perturbations Generated in the Colliding Bubble Braneworld Universe
We compute the cosmological perturbations generated in the colliding bubble
braneworld universe in which bubbles filled with five-dimensional anti-de
Sitter space (AdS5)expanding within a five dimensional de Sitter space (dS5) or
Minkowski space (M5) collide to form a (3+1) dimensional local brane on which
the cosmology is virtually identical to that of the Randall-Sundrum model. The
perturbation calculation presented here is valid to linear order but treats the
fluctuations of the expanding bubbles as (3+1) dimensional fields localized on
the bubble wall. We find that for bubbles expanding in dS5 the dominant
contribution to the power spectrum is `red' but very small except in certain
cases where the fifth dimension is not large or the bubbles have expanded to
far beyond the dS5 apparent horizon length. This paper supersedes a previous
version titled "Exactly Scale-Invariant Cosmological Perturbations From a
Colliding Bubble Braneworld Universe" in which we erroneously claimed that a
scale-invariant spectrum results for the case of bubbles expanding in M5. This
present paper corrects the errors of the previous version and extends the
analysis to the more interesting and general case of bubbles expanding in dS5.Comment: 29 pages Latex with eps figures. Major errors in the original version
of the paper corrected and analysis extended to bubbles expanding in dS
Constraints on isocurvature models from the WMAP first-year data
We investigate the constraints imposed by the first-year WMAP CMB data
extended to higher multipole by data from ACBAR, BOOMERANG, CBI and the VSA and
by the LSS data from the 2dF galaxy redshift survey on the possible amplitude
of primordial isocurvature modes. A flat universe with CDM and Lambda is
assumed, and the baryon, CDM (CI), and neutrino density (NID) and velocity
(NIV) isocurvature modes are considered. Constraints on the allowed
isocurvature contributions are established from the data for various
combinations of the adiabatic mode and one, two, and three isocurvature modes,
with intermode cross-correlations allowed. Since baryon and CDM isocurvature
are observationally virtually indistinguishable, these modes are not considered
separately. We find that when just a single isocurvature mode is added, the
present data allows an isocurvature fraction as large as 13+-6, 7+-4, and 13+-7
percent for adiabatic plus the CI, NID, and NIV modes, respectively. When two
isocurvature modes plus the adiabatic mode and cross-correlations are allowed,
these percentages rise to 47+-16, 34+-12, and 44+-12 for the combinations
CI+NID, CI+NIV, and NID+NIV, respectively. Finally, when all three isocurvature
modes and cross-correlations are allowed, the admissible isocurvature fraction
rises to 57+-9 per cent. The sensitivity of the results to the choice of prior
probability distribution is examined.Comment: 20 pages, 24 figures. Submitted to PR
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