Transverse Coupling Impedance of the RHIC Abort Kicker

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On forward and inverse uncertainty quantification for models involving hysteresis operators

Parameters within hysteresis operators modeling real world objects have to be identified from measurements and are therefore subject to corresponding errors. To investigate the influence of these errors, the methods of Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) are applied. Results of forward UQ for a play operator with a stochastic yield limit are presented. Moreover, inverse UQ is performed to identify the parameters in the weight function in a Prandtl-Ishlinskiĭ operator and the uncertainties of these parameters

Handling multicollinearity in quantile regression through the use of principal component regression

In many fields of applications, linear regression is the most widely used statistical method to analyze the effect of a set of explanatory variables on a response variable of interest. Classical least squares regression focuses on the conditional mean of the response, while quantile regression extends the view to conditional quantiles. Quantile regression is very convenient, whereas classical parametric assumptions do not hold and/or when relevant information lies in the tails and therefore the interest is in modeling the conditional distribution of the response at locations different from the mean. A situation common to most regression applications is the presence of strong correlations between predictors. This leads to the well-known problem of collinearity. While the effects of collinearity on least squares estimates are well investigated, this is not the case for quantile regression estimates. This paper aims to explore the collinearity problem in quantile regression. First, a simulation study analyses the problem concerning different degrees of collinearity and various response distributions. Then the paper proposes using regression on latent components as a possible solution to collinearity in quantile regression. Finally, a case study shows the assessment of the quality of service in the presence of highly correlated predictors

First report of Tomato leaf curl Sinaloa virus infecting tomato crops in Panama

In April 2011 and September 2012, virus-like symptoms were observed in open field- and greenhouse-grown tomato crops (Solanum lycopersicum) in Chiriqu\ued, the westernmost province of Panama. Samples from symptom-bearing plants (127 in all) were collected and tested for the presence of begomoviruses by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays with sets of degenerated primers designed to amplify parts of the DNA-A and DNA-B components (Rojas et al., 1993; Table 1). Products of the expected sizes, obtained with both DNA-A- and DNA-B-specific primers for 49 samples, suggested infection with New World bipartite begomoviruses. This corresponds to an incidence of 26% (8 plants) in open field, and 43% (41 plants) in greenhouse crops. Primers specific for ten tomato-infecting begomoviruses found in Central America (Engel et al., 1998; Nakhla et al., 2005; Table 1) were used to typify the PCR-positive samples

Proof of principle of a fuel injector based on a magnetostrictive actuator

One of the goals of modern internal combustion engines is the NOx-soot trade-off, and this would be better achieved by a better control of the fuel injection. Moreover, this feature can be also useful for high-performance hydraulic systems. Actual fuel injection technology either allows only the control of the injection time or it is based on very complex mechanical-hydraulic systems, as in the case of piezo-actuators. This work describes the basic steps that brought the authors to the realization of a concept fuel injector based on a Terfenol-D magnetostrictive actuator that could overcome the previous issues, being both simple and controllable. The study provides the design, development, and a feasibility analysis of a magnetostrictive actuator for fuel injection, by providing a basic magneto-static analysis of the actuator, the adaptation of a suitable standard fuel injector, and its experimental testing in a lab environment, with different shapes and amplitude of the reference signal to follow

First report of Southern tomato virus in tomato crops in Italy

Twenty-five tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum) showing symptoms of viral disease were sampled from different greenhouses in the Ragusa province (Southern Italy) in summer 2015. Plants showed chlorosis on leaves and fruits and deformation and depressed spots of dark colour which later evolved into necrosis (Fig. 1). These symptoms were observed on the entire cluster of fruit making the product unsaleable. Based on these symptoms, samples were analysed for Cucumber mosaic virus, Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV), Potato virus Y (PVY), Tomato mosaic virus and Tomato spotted wilt virus by DAS-ELISA with polyclonal antibodies (Loewe Phytodiagnostica, Germany), and for the emerging Southern tomato virus (STV) by RT-PCR (Candresse et al., 2013). Three of the 25 samples analysed were positive only for PepMV whereas the rest of the samples had mixed infections: fifteen plants were co-infected with PepMV and PVY, and seven with STV, PepMV and PVY. The amplification product (894 bp) obtained from one STV-infected plant was purified using the UltraClean® PCR Clean-Up kit (Mo-Bio, USA) and the consensus nucleotide sequences were determined in both senses using an ABI 3130XL Genetic Analyzer (Life Technologies, USA) and deposited in GenBank under accession number KT948068. The nucleotide identity of the Italian STV isolate was greater than 99% with STV isolates Mexico1 (EF442780), BD-13 (KT634055), CN-12 (KT438549), MS7 (EU413670) and FR (KC333078) from Mexico, Bangladesh, China, USA and France, respectively