4,866 research outputs found
System analysis approach to deriving design criteria (loads) for Space Shuttle and its payloads. Volume 1: General statement of approach
Space shuttle, the most complex transportation system designed to date, illustrates the requirement for an analysis approach that considers all major disciplines simultaneously. Its unique cross coupling and high sensitivity to aerodynamic uncertainties and high performance requirements dictated a less conservative approach than those taken in programs. Analyses performed for the space shuttle and certain payloads, Space Telescope and Spacelab, are used a examples. These illustrate the requirements for system analysis approaches and criteria, including dynamic modeling requirements, test requirements control requirements and the resulting design verification approaches. A survey of the problem, potential approaches available as solutions, implications for future systems, and projected technology development areas are addressed
System analysis approach to deriving design criteria (Loads) for Space Shuttle and its payloads. Volume 2: Typical examples
The achievement of an optimized design from the system standpoint under the low cost, high risk constraints of the present day environment was analyzed. Space Shuttle illustrates the requirement for an analysis approach that considers all major disciplines (coupling between structures control, propulsion, thermal, aeroelastic, and performance), simultaneously. The Space Shuttle and certain payloads, Space Telescope and Spacelab, are examined. The requirements for system analysis approaches and criteria, including dynamic modeling requirements, test requirements, control requirements, and the resulting design verification approaches are illustrated. A survey of the problem, potential approaches available as solutions, implications for future systems, and projected technology development areas are addressed
Efficient decomposition of quantum gates
Optimal implementation of quantum gates is crucial for designing a quantum
computer. We consider the matrix representation of an arbitrary multiqubit
gate. By ordering the basis vectors using the Gray code, we construct the
quantum circuit which is optimal in the sense of fully controlled single-qubit
gates and yet is equivalent with the multiqubit gate. In the second step of the
optimization, superfluous control bits are eliminated, which eventually results
in a smaller total number of the elementary gates. In our scheme the number of
controlled NOT gates is which coincides with the theoretical lower
bound.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Crisis management during anaesthesia: problems associated with drug administration during anaesthesia
© 2005 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.BACKGROUND: Modern anaesthetic practice relies upon the administration of a wide range of potent drugs given by a variety of routes, at times in haste or under conditions of stress. Problems associated with drug administration make up the largest group of incidents reported during anaesthesia, with outcomes including major morbidity and death. It was decided to examine the role of a structured approach to the diagnosis and management of drug problems under anaesthesia. OBJECTIVES: To examine the role of a previously described core algorithm "COVER ABCD–A SWIFT CHECK", supplemented by a specific sub-algorithm for drug problems, in the detection and management of drug problems occurring in association with anaesthesia. METHODS: The potential performance of this structured approach for the relevant incidents among the first 4000 incidents reported to the Australian Incident Monitoring Study (AIMS) was compared with the actual performances as reported by the anaesthetists involved. RESULTS: Among the first 4000 reports received by AIMS there were 1199 reports which detailed 1361 incidents involving the use of drugs. Contributing factors named included errors of judgement (20%), lack of attention (17%), and drugs deemed to have been given in haste. Major morbidity or prolonged stay ensued in over one quarter of reports and 15 patients (1.25%) died. Drug overdose, side effects, and allergic reactions accounted for the majority of serious outcomes. CONCLUSION: It was judged that the use of the COVER–ABCD algorithm during the course of an anaesthetic, properly applied, would prevent many drug related incidents from occurring. The sub-algorithm presented here provides a systematic framework for detecting the causes of drug related incidents.A D Paix, M F Bullock, W B Runciman and J A Williamso
Redefining the Missing Satellites Problem
Numerical simulations of Milky-Way size Cold Dark Matter (CDM) halos predict
a steeply rising mass function of small dark matter subhalos and a substructure
count that greatly outnumbers the observed satellites of the Milky Way. Several
proposed explanations exist, but detailed comparison between theory and
observation in terms of the maximum circular velocity (Vmax) of the subhalos is
hampered by the fact that Vmax for satellite halos is poorly constrained. We
present comprehensive mass models for the well-known Milky Way dwarf
satellites, and derive likelihood functions to show that their masses within
0.6 kpc (M_0.6) are strongly constrained by the present data. We show that the
M_0.6 mass function of luminous satellite halos is flat between ~ 10^7 and 10^8
M_\odot. We use the ``Via Lactea'' N-body simulation to show that the M_0.6
mass function of CDM subhalos is steeply rising over this range. We rule out
the hypothesis that the 11 well-known satellites of the Milky Way are hosted by
the 11 most massive subhalos. We show that models where the brightest
satellites correspond to the earliest forming subhalos or the most massive
accreted objects both reproduce the observed mass function. A similar analysis
with the newly-discovered dwarf satellites will further test these scenarios
and provide powerful constraints on the CDM small-scale power spectrum and warm
dark matter models.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Triton's surface age and impactor population revisited in light of Kuiper Belt fluxes: Evidence for small Kuiper Belt objects and recent geological activity
Neptune's largest satellite, Triton, is one of the most fascinating and
enigmatic bodies in the solar system. Among its numerous interesting traits,
Triton appears to have far fewer craters than would be expected if its surface
was primordial. Here we combine the best available crater count data for Triton
with improved estimates of impact rates by including the Kuiper Belt as a
source of impactors. We find that the population of impactors creating the
smallest observed craters on Triton must be sub-km in scale, and that this
small-impactor population can be best fit by a differential power-law size
index near -3. Such results provide interesting, indirect probes of the unseen
small body population of the Kuiper Belt. Based on the modern, Kuiper Belt and
Oort Cloud impactor flux estimates, we also recalculate estimated ages for
several regions of Triton's surface imaged by Voyager 2, and find that Triton
was probably active on a time scale no greater than 0.1-0.3 Gyr ago (indicating
Triton was still active after some 90% to 98% of the age of the solar system),
and perhaps even more recently. The time-averaged volumetric resurfacing rate
on Triton implied by these results, 0.01 km yr or more, is likely
second only to Io and Europa in the outer solar system, and is within an order
of magnitude of estimates for Venus and for the Earth's intraplate zones. This
finding indicates that Triton likely remains a highly geologically active world
at present, some 4.5 Gyr after its formation. We briefly speculate on how such
a situation might obtain.Comment: 14 pages (TeX), plus 2 postscript figures Stern & McKinnon, 2000, AJ,
in pres
Time-optimal synthesis of unitary transformations in coupled fast and slow qubit system
In this paper, we study time-optimal control problems related to system of
two coupled qubits where the time scales involved in performing unitary
transformations on each qubit are significantly different. In particular, we
address the case where unitary transformations produced by evolutions of the
coupling take much longer time as compared to the time required to produce
unitary transformations on the first qubit but much shorter time as compared to
the time to produce unitary transformations on the second qubit. We present a
canonical decomposition of SU(4) in terms of the subgroup SU(2)xSU(2)xU(1),
which is natural in understanding the time-optimal control problem of such a
coupled qubit system with significantly different time scales. A typical
setting involves dynamics of a coupled electron-nuclear spin system in pulsed
electron paramagnetic resonance experiments at high fields. Using the proposed
canonical decomposition, we give time-optimal control algorithms to synthesize
various unitary transformations of interest in coherent spectroscopy and
quantum information processing.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Quantum circuits with uniformly controlled one-qubit gates
Uniformly controlled one-qubit gates are quantum gates which can be
represented as direct sums of two-dimensional unitary operators acting on a
single qubit. We present a quantum gate array which implements any n-qubit gate
of this type using at most 2^{n-1} - 1 controlled-NOT gates, 2^{n-1} one-qubit
gates and a single diagonal n-qubit gate. The circuit is based on the so-called
quantum multiplexor, for which we provide a modified construction. We
illustrate the versatility of these gates by applying them to the decomposition
of a general n-qubit gate and a local state preparation procedure. Moreover, we
study their implementation using only nearest-neighbor gates. We give upper
bounds for the one-qubit and controlled-NOT gate counts for all the
aforementioned applications. In all four cases, the proposed circuit topologies
either improve on or achieve the previously reported upper bounds for the gate
counts. Thus, they provide the most efficient method for general gate
decompositions currently known.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures. v2 has simpler notation and sharpens some
result
Eutectic Colony Formation: A Stability Analysis
Experiments have widely shown that a steady-state lamellar eutectic
solidification front is destabilized on a scale much larger than the lamellar
spacing by the rejection of a dilute ternary impurity and forms two-phase cells
commonly referred to as `eutectic colonies'. We extend the stability analysis
of Datye and Langer for a binary eutectic to include the effect of a ternary
impurity. We find that the expressions for the critical onset velocity and
morphological instability wavelength are analogous to those for the classic
Mullins-Sekerka instability of a monophase planar interface, albeit with an
effective surface tension that depends on the geometry of the lamellar
interface and, non-trivially, on interlamellar diffusion. A qualitatively new
aspect of this instability is the occurence of oscillatory modes due to the
interplay between the destabilizing effect of the ternary impurity and the
dynamical feedback of the local change in lamellar spacing on the front motion.
In a transient regime, these modes lead to the formation of large scale
oscillatory microstructures for which there is recent experimental evidence in
a transparent organic system. Moreover, it is shown that the eutectic front
dynamics on a scale larger than the lamellar spacing can be formulated as an
effective monophase interface free boundary problem with a modified
Gibbs-Thomson condition that is coupled to a slow evolution equation for the
lamellar spacing. This formulation provides additional physical insights into
the nature of the instability and a simple means to calculate an approximate
stability spectrum. Finally, we investigate the influence of the ternary
impurity on a short wavelength oscillatory instability that is already present
at off-eutectic compositions in binary eutectics.Comment: 26 pages RevTex, 14 figures (28 EPS files); some minor changes;
references adde
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