The Energy Transfer Process in Planetary Flybys

We illustrate the energy transfer during planetary flybys as a function of time using a number of flight mission examples. The energy transfer process is rather more complicated than a monotonic increase (or decrease) of energy with time. It exhibits temporary maxima and minima with time which then partially moderate before the asymptotic condition is obtained. The energy transfer to angular momentum is exhibited by an approximate Jacobi constant for the system. We demonstrate this with flybys that have shown unexplained behaviors: i) the possible onset of the "Pioneer anomaly" with the gravity assist of Pioneer 11 by Saturn to hyperbolic orbit (as well as the Pioneer 10 hyperbolic gravity assist by Jupiter) and ii) the Earth flyby anomalies of small increases in energy {\it in the geocentric system} (Galileo-I, NEAR, and Rosetta, in additioon discussing the Cassini and Messenger flybys). Perhaps some small, as yet unrecognized effect in the energy-transfer process can shed light on these anomalies.Comment: 29 pages, 43 images combined into 13 figures. Additions to answer comments of refere

Investigating The Necessary Components of a Sarcastic Context

This research is designed to investigate the contextual components utilized to convey sarcastic verbal irony, testing whether theoretical components deemed as necessary for creating a sense of irony are, in fact, necessary. A novel task was employed: Given a set of statements that out-of-context were not rated as sarcastic, participants were instructed to either generate discourse context that would make the statements sarcastic or meaningful (without further specification). In a series of studies these generated contexts were shown to differ from one another along the dimensions presumed as necessary (failed expectation, pragmatic insincerity, negative tension and presence of a victim) and along stylistic components (as indexed by the LIWC). However, none of these components were found to be necessary. Indeed in each case the items rated as highest in sarcasm were often at the lowest levels on the putative “necessary” characteristic. The ratings were then used to develop an online reading task to investigate the effect of negative tension on the processing of sarcastic and literal statements. Three groups of items were taken from the previous studies to form high negative tension; low negative tension; and literal statements. Reading times for seven key areas were compared across the three groups and it was found that in two of the critical areas, the low negative items were processed significantly more slowly than the other two sets of items. The literal and high negative items however did not differ significantly in their processing times. These findings support the predictions of direct access models and contradict the predictions of the standard pragmatic model of language processing. The findings from the studies are seen as consistent with constraint satisfaction models of sarcasm processing in which various linguistic and extralinguistic information provide probabilistic (but not necessary) support for or against a sarcastic interpretation

Integrated support structure

This Major Qualifying Project is part of the Advanced Space Design Program at WPI. The goal is to design a support structure for a NASA GetAway Special experimental canister. The payload integration, weight, volume, and structural integrity of the canister as specified by NASA guidelines were studied. The end result is a complete set of design drawings with interface drawings and data to specify the design and leave a base on which the next group can concentrate

The rise and decline of the UK's provincial stock markets, 1869-1929

The London Stock Exchange was the largest capital market in the world at the beginning of the twentieth century, but Britain also had numerous other stock markets based in provincial cities and towns. This paper provides the first in-depth quantitative assessment of these markets. We find that they were an important source of financing for regional companies up until circa 1900 and our evidence suggests that their post-1900 decline was largely due to the changing characteristics of publicly-listed firms. We also find that the provincial and London markets became increasingly integrated over time

Higgs Boson Production in Weak Boson Fusion at Next-to-Leading Order

The weak boson fusion process for neutral Higgs boson production is investigated with particular attention to the accuracy with which the Higgs boson coupling to weak bosons can be determined at CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) energies in final states that contain a Higgs boson plus at least two jets. Using fully differential perturbative matrix elements for the weak boson fusion signal process and for the QCD background processes, we generate events in which a Higgs boson is produced along with two jets that carry large transverse momentum. The effectiveness of different prescriptions to enhance the signal to background ratio is studied, and the expected signal purities are calculated in each case. We find that a simple cut on the rapidity of one final-state jet works well. We determine that an accuracy of delta_g/g ~ 10% on the effective coupling g may be possible after ~ 200 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity is accumulated at the LHC.Comment: 34 pages. Some restructuring of the text, a few sentences and one figure added. Conclusions not altered. To be published in Physical Review

Imine Azaenolates: Synthesis, Reactivity, and Outlook

Azaenolates are, quite simply, the aza variant of enolates. Compared to their oxygen counterparts, additional control of the reactivity of azaenolates can be achieved by altering the substituent on the nitrogen atom as well as the metal counterion. Since the seminal examples reported in the early 1960s, azaenolates of various metals have been shown to react with a diverse set of electrophilic partners, including challenging electrophiles such as alkyl fluorides, epoxides, and oxetanes. This review describes in detail the current state of the art of the chemistry of azaenolates derived from imines, with a particular focus on the comparison of the reactivity exhibited with different metal counterions

Who Financed the Expansion of the Equity Market? Shareholder Clienteles in Victorian Britain

Who financed the great expansion of the Victorian equity market, and what attracted them to invest? Using data on 453 firm-years and over 172,000 shareholders, we find that the largest providers of capital were rentiers, men with no formal occupation who relied on investment income. We also see a substantial growth in women investors as time progressed. In terms of clientele effects, we find that rentiers invested in large firms, whilst businessmen were the venture capitalists of young, regional enterprises. Women and the middle classes preferred safe investments, whilst financiers and institutional investors were speculators in foreign companies. Our results may help to explain the growth of new types of assets catering for particular clienteles, and the development of managerial policies on dividends and share issues