10,879 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Kinematic structure for robust mechanical architectures in robotic planetary exploration
This paper describes new research into the kinematic structure of autonomous robotic systems, and into the associated design processes. The approach aims to develop novel insights and applicable tools and techniques for designing advanced mechanical architectures for planetary exploration systems. These should provide enhanced functionality for tackling complex autonomous operations, and improved levels of robustness in the face of the inevitable system faults
Prioritizing Invasive Species Threats Under Uncertainty
Prioritizing exotic or invasive pest threats in terms of agricultural, environmental, or human health damages is an important resource allocation issue for programs charged with preventing or responding to the entry of such organisms. Under extreme uncertainty, program managers may decide to research the severity of threats, develop prevention or control actions, and estimate cost-effectiveness in order to provide better information and more options when making decisions to choose strategies for specific pests. We examine decision rules based on the minimax and relative cost criteria in order to express a cautious approach for decisions regarding severe, irreversible consequences, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these rules, examine the roles of simple rules and sophisticated analyses in decision making, and apply a simple rule to develop a list of priority plant pests.invasive species, decision criteria, uncertainty, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
Hypervelocity scramjet combustor-nozzle analysis and design
The progress report for the grant entitled 'Hypervelocity of Scramjet Combustor-Nozzle Analysis and Design' is presented. The three main tasks in the program are combustor modeling study, development of anaylsis capabilities for hypersonic scramjet nozzles, and development of optimum design methods for hypersonic scramjet nozzles. The research performed was documented in a series of technical publications and presentations at various conferences. A brief description of the research in each of the above three areas and a list of the resulting technical publications are included
Kernel Approximation on Manifolds I: Bounding the Lebesgue Constant
The purpose of this paper is to establish that for any compact, connected
C^{\infty} Riemannian manifold there exists a robust family of kernels of
increasing smoothness that are well suited for interpolation. They generate
Lagrange functions that are uniformly bounded and decay away from their center
at an exponential rate. An immediate corollary is that the corresponding
Lebesgue constant will be uniformly bounded with a constant whose only
dependence on the set of data sites is reflected in the mesh ratio, which
measures the uniformity of the data.
The analysis needed for these results was inspired by some fundamental work
of Matveev where the Sobolev decay of Lagrange functions associated with
certain kernels on \Omega \subset R^d was obtained. With a bit more work, one
establishes the following: Lebesgue constants associated with surface splines
and Sobolev splines are uniformly bounded on R^d provided the data sites \Xi
are quasi-uniformly distributed. The non-Euclidean case is more involved as the
geometry of the underlying surface comes into play. In addition to establishing
bounded Lebesgue constants in this setting, a "zeros lemma" for compact
Riemannian manifolds is established.Comment: 33 pages, 2 figures, new title, accepted for publication in SIAM J.
on Math. Ana
Observations on North Dakota Sponges (Haplosclerina: Spongillidae) and Sisyrids (Neuroptera: Sisyridae)
Factors influencing occurrence, distribution, and ecology of sponges and sisyrids are discussed, with emphasis on northeastern North Dakota. New state records for North Dakota sponges, Eunapius Jraguis Leidy and Ephydatia fluviatilis L. and the sisyrids, Sisyra vicaria (Hagen) and Climacia areolaris (Hagen), and new county records for C. areolaris in northwestern Minnesota and Eunapius fragilis in northeastern North Dakota are reported. A rare association of the parasite, S. vicaria with the host, Ephydatia fluviatilis is also reported. Some physicochcmical relations of Eunapius fragilis found in the Forest River, North Dakota, are discussed
- …