Integrated controls/structures study of advanced space systems

A cost tradeoff is postulated for a stiff structure utilizing minimal controls (and control expense) to point and stabilize the vehicle. Extra costs for a stiff structure are caused by weight, packaging size, etc. Likewise, a more flexible vehicle should result in reduced structural costs but increased costs associated with additional control hardware and data processing required for vibration control of the structure. This tradeoff occurs as the ratio of the control bandwidth required for the mission to the lowest (significant) bending mode of the vehicle. The cost of controlling a spacecraft for a specific mission and the same basic configuration but varying the flexibility is established

EXPLAINING DIFFERENCES IN PRICES RECEIVED BY FARMERS: TESTING THEORY BASED ON ACTUAL FARMER TRANSACTIONS

There has been considerable normative research about how farmers should make marketing decisions, but little positive research on what farmers really do. Regressions of gender, total volume, timing, and frequency of sales on the average weighted price received are used to test hypotheses regarding gender differences, myopic loss aversion, economies of size, and market efficiency.Marketing,

Development of the cancer-related loneliness assessment tool:Using the findings of a qualitative analysis to generate questionnaire items

The aim of this research was to develop a tool to identify and assess the qualities of cancer-related loneliness in adult cancer survivors who have completed treatment. In addition to reporting the development of the tool, we explicate the process of using the findings of a qualitative analysis to generate questionnaire items, as currently little guidance exists on this topic. The findings of our qualitative research exploring the experience of loneliness in adult cancer survivors who had completed treatment, together with the findings of our concept analysis of loneliness, were used to develop an assessment tool for cancer-related loneliness following treatment completion. Cognitive testing was undertaken to assess fidelity of comprehension and feasibility in administration. The Cancer-Related Loneliness Assessment Tool is a 10-item self-report questionnaire capturing the essential elements of cancer-related loneliness following treatment completion. Experts believed the questionnaire to be face-valid and usable in clinical practice, and preliminary cognitive testing indicated that the items generate the information intended and individuals have little trouble completing the tool. Following further development work, the tool could be employed to identify cancer-related loneliness following treatment completion. It could also aid with the development/adaptation and evaluation of person-centred interventions to address such loneliness.</p

NLC-2 graph recognition and isomorphism

NLC-width is a variant of clique-width with many application in graph algorithmic. This paper is devoted to graphs of NLC-width two. After giving new structural properties of the class, we propose a $O(n^2 m)$-time algorithm, improving Johansson's algorithm \cite{Johansson00}. Moreover, our alogrithm is simple to understand. The above properties and algorithm allow us to propose a robust $O(n^2 m)$-time isomorphism algorithm for NLC-2 graphs. As far as we know, it is the first polynomial-time algorithm.Comment: soumis \`{a} WG 2007; 12

Bidirectional Scatter Measurements of a Guided-mode Resonant Filter Photonic Crystal Structure

This work investigates the Bidirectional Scatter Distribution Function (BSDF) at incident angles other than normal and at 544-nm wavelength of a Guided Mode Resonance Filter (GMRF) Photonic Crystal (PC) structure designed for normally incident light at 532 nm. Strong out-coupling of PC diffraction orders into both the transmitted and reflected hemispheres was observed specifically at a 25.7° incidence angle, which we attribute to this incident angle/wavelength pair being a good match to the ( ± 1, 0) PC grating mode. BSDF measurements at incident angles of 15° and 35° also displayed some out-coupled diffraction, though much lower in magnitude, and are also attributed to being a weaker match to the ( ± 1, 0) PC grating mode. Three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain Maxwell\u27s equation simulations demonstrate that since this GMRF was designed for complete destructive interference of the transmitted light upon normal incidence, stronger out-coupling of the diffraction is expected for modal solutions as the angle of incidence increases. © 2012 Optical Society of America