University Scholar Series: Craig B. Clements

Groundbreaking Research on Wildfire Weather On November 28, 2012 Craig B. Clements spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Craig Clements is an associate professor in the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science who received a $900,000 National Science Foundation CAREER grant for his work in tracking atmospheric conditions in and around wildfires. His work will better help predict wildfire behavior and conditions that could lead to increased wildfire danger.https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/uss/1016/thumbnail.jp

Independent Confirmation of the Pioneer 10 Anomalous Acceleration

I perform an independent analysis of radio Doppler tracking data from the Pioneer 10 spacecraft for the time period 1987-1994. All of the tracking data were taken from public archive sources, and the analysis tools were developed independently by myself. I confirm that an apparent anomalous acceleration is acting on the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, which is not accounted for by present physical models of spacecraft navigation. My best fit value for the acceleration, including corrections for systematic biases and uncertainties, is (8.60 +/- 1.34) x 10^{-8} cm s^{-2}, directed towards the Sun. This value compares favorably to previous results. I examine the robustness of my result to various perturbations of the analysis method, and find agreement to within +/- 5%. The anomalous acceleration is reasonably constant with time, with a characteristic variation time scale of > 70 yr. Such a variation timescale is still too short to rule out on-board thermal radiation effects, based on this particular Pioneer 10 data set.Comment: RevTeX, 29 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys Rev

Developing real-life driving simulations for novice driver education

This paper will describe the technological aspects of producing live-action videos of real traffic scenarios for a new driver education training CD-ROM (CD DRIVES) aimed at novice drivers in New Zealand. CD-DRIVES was created in order to help young drivers practise crucial higher level driving skills such as eye scanning, hazard detection and risk management. We will present a roadmap of the technological advances made through hardware, software and processes used in the production and post-production stages of CD-DRIVES

Critical properties of the Kitaev-Heisenberg model

We study critical properties of the Kitaev-Heisenberg model on the honeycomb lattice at finite temperatures which might describe the physics of the quasi two-dimensional compounds, Na$_2$IrO$_3$ and Li$_2$IrO$_3$. The model undergoes two phase transitions as a function of temperature. At low temperature, thermal fluctuations induce magnetic long-range order by order-by-disorder mechanism. Magnetically ordered state with the spontaneously broken $Z_6$ symmetry persists up to a certain critical temperature. We find that there is an intermediate phase between the low-temperature ordered phase and the high-temperature disordered phase. The finite-sized scaling analysis suggests that the intermediate phase is a critical Kosterlitz-Thouless phase with continuously variable exponents. We argue that the intermediate phase has been actually observed above the low-temperature magnetically ordered phase in Na$_2$IrO$_3$, and likely in Li$_2$IrO$_3$.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

A Computer-Based Interactive Multimedia Training CD-ROM for Novice Drivers in New Zealand

This paper will describe the psychological and educational rationales behind the development of a computer-based interactive multimedia training CD-ROM (‘CD-DRIVES’) that will be made available to all novice drivers in New Zealand at no cost to the individual. Novice drivers are lacking in crucial higher level driving skills such as eye scanning, hazard detection and risk management. More than 70 real-life traffic simulations allow these drivers to practice such skills from the safety of their own homes

Buying Time 2000: Television Advertising in the 2000 Federal Elections

Summarizes a study of political television advertising in the 2000 federal primaries and elections with a focus on the use of the issue ad loophole to evade campaign finance laws. Questions the standard used to differentiate issue ads from election ads