Convergence Rates for Newton’s Method at Singular Points

If Newton’s method is employed to find a root of a map from a Banach space into itself and the derivative is singular at that root, the convergence of the Newton iterates to the root is linear rather than quadratic. In this paper we give a detailed analysis of the linear convergence rates for several types of singular problems. For some of these problems we describe modifications of Newton’s method which will restore quadratic convergence

An exploratory flight investigation of helicopter sling-load placements using a closed-circuit television as a pilot aid

Helicopter sling load operations have been limited during pick up and delivery of external cargo by the lack of precision achieved by the combination of pilot, helicopter, and sling load. Use of a closed circuit television as a pilot aid during sling load delivery and placement was documented along with additional cases representing procedures currently employed by military and commercial operators. Although an increase in pilot workload was noted when the television system was used, the results indicated a comparable level of performance for each test case

Buxtonella Sulcata A Ciliate Associated with Ulcerative Colitis in a Cow and Prevalence of Infection in Nebraska Cattle

The ciliated protozoan, Buxtonella sulcata, was found in 28% of a sample of Iowa cattle in 1927, and in 32% of a sample of Louisiana cattle in 1930. As far as we can ascertain it has not been reported in American cattle since. During the summer of 1962, B. sulcata was found associated with ulcerative colitis in a cow from northeast Nebraska. This finding prompted incidence of infection in the region

Demonstration of a Benchmarking Technique to Compare Graduate Education Level of Air Force Project Managers and Selected Benchmarking Partners

This thesis demonstrated a benchmarking technique to support determining graduate education requirements for officers in the Acquisition Program Management utilization field. The technique is also applicable to other Air Force career fields. The USAF currently uses the Graduate Education Management System GEMS to quantify officer graduate education requirements. Weaknesses in the GEMS-based process include the inability to address future technologies, vulnerability to inconsistency and change, and confusion of training with education. AFIT developed and recommended an alternative requirements determination approach that relies on benchmarking. This thesis reviewed literature on benchmarking principles. The research methodology developed and implemented benchmarking procedures to include identifying attributes to benchmark, determining measures, identifying suitable benchmark subjects, collecting benchmark data, and analyzing the data. Primary benchmark partners were project managers from the Project Management Institute PMI, a non-profit professional organization. Percentages of Air Force, PMI, and PMI defense/Aerospace sector project managers holding relevant graduate degrees were 53.21%, 12.41% and 18.67% respectively. Six limitations identified in the thesis prevented the determination of firm education requirements based solely on these results. Securing senior USAF support, developing rigorous best practices criteria, using trend data and developing numerical bridging factors were recommended to improve the benchmarking technique

Implementing Quantum Gates by Optimal Control with Doubly Exponential Convergence

We introduce a novel algorithm for the task of coherently controlling a quantum mechanical system to implement any chosen unitary dynamics. It performs faster than existing state of the art methods by one to three orders of magnitude (depending on which one we compare to), particularly for quantum information processing purposes. This substantially enhances the ability to both study the control capabilities of physical systems within their coherence times, and constrain solutions for control tasks to lie within experimentally feasible regions. Natural extensions of the algorithm are also discussed.Comment: 4+2 figures; to appear in PR

Large Scale Structure in CHILES

We demonstrate that the Discrete Persistent Source Extractor (DisPerSE) can be used with spectroscopic redshifts to define the cosmic web and its distance to galaxies in small area deepfields. Here we analyze the use of DisPerSE to identify structure in observational data. We apply DisPerSE to the distribution of galaxies in the COSMOS field and find the best parameters to identify filaments. We compile a catalog of 11500 spectroscopic redshifts from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) G10 data release. We analyze two-dimensional slices, extract filaments and calculate the distance for each galaxy to its nearest filament. We find that redder and more massive galaxies are closer to filaments. To study the growth of galaxies across cosmic time, and environment, we are carrying out an HI survey covering redshifts z = 0 - 0.45, the COSMOS HI Large Extragalactic Survey (CHILES). In addition we present the predicted HI mass fraction as a function of distance to filaments for the spectroscopically known galaxies in CHILES. Lastly, we discuss the cold gas morphology of a few individual galaxies and their positions with respect to the cosmic web. The identification of the cosmic web, and the ability of CHILES to study the resolved neutral hydrogen morphologies and kinematics of galaxies, will allow future studies of the properties of neutral hydrogen in different cosmic web environments across the redshift range z = 0.1 - 0.45.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal; 11 pages ; 8 figure

Satellite power system: Concept development and evaluation program. Volume 3: Power transmission and reception. Technical summary and assessment

Efforts in the DOE/NASA concept development and evaluation program are discussed for the solar power satellite power transmission and reception system. A technical summary is provided together with a summary of system assessment activities. System options and system definition drivers are described. Major system assessment activities were in support of the reference system definition, solid state system studies, critical technology supporting investigations, and various system and subsystem tradeoffs. These activities are described together with reference system updates and alternative concepts for each of the subsystem areas. Conclusions reached as a result of the numerous analytical and experimental evaluations are presented. Remaining issues for a possible follow-on program are identified

Optimal symmetric flight studies

Several topics in optimal symmetric flight of airbreathing vehicles are examined. In one study, an approximation scheme designed for onboard real-time energy management of climb-dash is developed and calculations for a high-performance aircraft presented. In another, a vehicle model intermediate in complexity between energy and point-mass models is explored and some quirks in optimal flight characteristics peculiar to the model uncovered. In yet another study, energy-modelling procedures are re-examined with a view to stretching the range of validity of zeroth-order approximation by special choice of state variables. In a final study, time-fuel tradeoffs in cruise-dash are examined for the consequences of nonconvexities appearing in the classical steady cruise-dash model. Two appendices provide retrospective looks at two early publications on energy modelling and related optimal control theory

K-causality and degenerate spacetimes

The causal relation $K^+$ was introduced by Sorkin and Woolgar to extend the standard causal analysis of $C^2$ spacetimes to those that are only $C^0$. Most of their results also hold true in the case of spacetimes with degeneracies. In this paper we seek to examine $K^+$ explicitly in the case of Lorentzian topology changing Morse spacetimes containing isolated degeneracies. We first demonstrate some interesting features of this relation in globally Lorentzian spacetimes. In particular, we show that $K^+$ is robust and that it coincides with the Seifert relation when the spacetime is stably causal. Moreover, the Hawking and Sachs characterisation of causal continuity translates into a natural expression in terms of $K^+$ for general spacetimes. We then examine $K^+$ in topology changing Morse spacetimes both with and without the degeneracies and find further characterisations of causal continuity.Comment: Latex, 23 pages, 4 figure