Estimation of bias errors in measured airplane responses using maximum likelihood method

A maximum likelihood method is used for estimation of unknown bias errors in measured airplane responses. The mathematical model of an airplane is represented by six-degrees-of-freedom kinematic equations. In these equations the input variables are replaced by their measured values which are assumed to be without random errors. The resulting algorithm is verified with a simulation and flight test data. The maximum likelihood estimates from in-flight measured data are compared with those obtained by using a nonlinear-fixed-interval-smoother and an extended Kalmar filter

Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index and Bank Stock Prices in China: A Causality Analysis

This paper analyzes empirically the relationship between the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) Composite Index and the indexes of 10 Chinese listed banks to test whether the listing of these banks had played a role in leading the Chinese stock market. Using daily prices from 1 June 2006 to 15 November 2007, we applied the Granger causality test and found that a uni-directional causality relationship existed either way between most bank stock prices and the market index while the bi-directional relationship only identified among five of the ten banks. This research finding is in part consistent with previous studies showing that stock markets in great China region are integrated and are strongly influenced by the psychological factors of investors. In the following co-integration test, both AEG and Johansen’s methods concluded a long-run stable equilibrium relationship between majority of the banking stock prices and the SSE Composite Index.Shanghai Stock Exchange, VAR, Johansen co-integration tests, Granger causality tests

Impact of the US Credit Crunch and Housing Market Crisis on China

There are many similarities between the US, the UK and the Chinese housing markets, including the movements of interest rates and house prices. Some Chinese banks, especially the Bank of China, have been exposed to the US mortgage securitization market. These have triggered a serious concern as to whether the US credit crunch and housing market crisis may be replicated in China. This paper shows that there are some significant differences between China and the West, especially the US and the UK. Compared with the US and other western industrialized economies, the booming house market in China has been supported by fast economic growth, rapid urbanization and high domestic savings. In addition, Chinese banks are less exposed to mortgage defaults than their western counterparts because house buyers are mainly urban and high income residents who are required to have high down payments. These Sino-Western economic and social differences suggest that the US credit crunch and housing market crisis may have some negative impacts on Chinese commercial banks and the overall economy but are unlikely to cause a similar financial and housing crisis in China despite the current struggling Chinese stock markets and a slowdown of house price growth.US credit crunch, housing market crisis, China

Ptolemy: An instrument aboard the Rosetta lander Philae, to unlock the secrets of the solar system

Ptolemy is a miniature chemical analysis suite currently on board the ESA Rosetta comet lander Philae. This poster describes the operation of the instrument, and presents data generated thus far during a comprehensive ground testing programme

Pax3 Stimulates p53 Ubiquitination and Degradation Independent of Transcription

Background: Pax3 is a developmental transcription factor that is required for neural tube and neural crest development. We previously showed that inactivating the p53 tumor suppressor protein prevents neural tube and cardiac neural crest defects in Pax3-mutant mouse embryos. This demonstrates that Pax3 regulates these processes by blocking p53 function. Here we investigated the mechanism by which Pax3 blocks p53 function. Methodology/Principal Findings We employed murine embryonic stem cell (ESC)-derived neuronal precursors as a cell culture model of embryonic neuroepithelium or neural crest. Pax3 reduced p53 protein stability, but had no effect on p53 mRNA levels or the rate of p53 synthesis. Full length Pax3 as well as fragments that contained either the DNA-binding paired box or the homeodomain, expressed as GST or FLAG fusion proteins, physically associated with p53 and Mdm2 both in vitro and in vivo. In contrast, Splotch Pax3, which causes neural tube and neural crest defects in homozygous embryos, bound weakly, or not at all, to p53 or Mdm2. The paired domain and homeodomain each stimulated Mdm2-mediated ubiquitination of p53 and p53 degradation in the absence of the Pax3 transcription regulatory domains, whereas Splotch Pax3 did not stimulate p53 ubiquitination or degradation. Conclusions/Significance: Pax3 inactivates p53 function by stimulating its ubiquitination and degradation. This process utilizes the Pax3 paired domain and homeodomain but is independent of DNA-binding and transcription regulation. Because inactivating p53 is the only required Pax3 function during neural tube closure and cardiac neural crest development, and inactivating p53 does not require Pax3-dependent transcription regulation, this indicates that Pax3 is not required to function as a transcription factor during neural tube closure and cardiac neural crest development. These findings further suggest novel explanations for PAX3 functions in human diseases, such as in neural crest-derived cancers and Waardenburg syndrome types 1 and 3

Using Net Groundwater Extractions for Farm Level Groundwater Sustainability Monitoring

The Cal Poly Irrigation Training and Research Center (ITRC) has developed a method for computing net groundwater extraction and recharge at the farm level for district management and regulation of sustainable/safe yields. This method is called Net To/From Groundwater (NTFGW). Net groundwater extraction is preferred for assessing sustainable yield in unconfined aquifer systems over direct metering of gross groundwater pumping. A recent pilot project with the Lower Tule River and Pixley Irrigation Districts’ Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) compared actual metered groundwater pumping, surface deliveries, and evapotranspiration to the NTFGW outputs on 19 farms within the GSAs over a 3-year period (2014-2016). In nearly all cases gross metered pumping was greater than net groundwater use, as it should be. In the few instances where this was not the case, intensive investigations identified the issues, which will be presented. The average difference between gross and net groundwater extractions was approximately 14”. The variation of this difference was substantial between farms, indicating the difficulty in using gross pumping from flow/volume metering of actual pumping for sustainability. The NTFGW can incorporate seepage and recharge basin operation on a GSA level. It is also capable of tracking banked groundwater supplies on a farm level

Unsteady Flow Interactions Between the LH2 Feed Line and SSME LPFP Inducer

An extensive computational effort has been performed in order to investigate the nature of unsteady flow in the fuel line supplying the three Space Shuttle Main Engines during flight. Evidence of high cycle fatigue (HCF) in the flow liner one diameter upstream of the Low Pressure Fuel Pump inducer has been observed in several locations. The analysis presented in this report has the objective of determining the driving mechanisms inducing HCF and the associated fluid flow phenomena. The simulations have been performed using two different computational codes, the NASA MSFC PHANTOM code and the Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne ENIGMA code. The fuel flow through the flow liner and the pump inducer have been modeled in full three-dimensional geometry, and the results of the computations compared with test data taken during hot fire tests at NASA Stennis Space Center, and cold-flow water flow test data obtained at NASA MSFC. The numerical results indicate that unsteady pressure fluctuations at specific frequencies develop in the duct at the flow-liner location. Detailed frequency analysis of the flow disturbances is presented. The unsteadiness is believed to be an important source for fluctuating pressures generating high cycle fatigue

The theory of comparative capitalisms and the possibilities for local variation

Globalization is placing European societies under pressure to change. In the 1990s, researchers identified particular national models of capitalism. These were argued to consist of integrated and reinforcing institutions that created specific rules of the game for economic actors. These rules favoured the development of globally competitive firms in particular sectors where the institutional characteristics of the home society facilitated the building of distinctive types of capabilities. In this view, a global division of labour was developing based on institutional differences. Thus, national policy makers needed to reinforce institutional advantage and institutional specialisation by incremental adaptations to globalization. Reforms needed to be consistent with the underlying model of capitalism. This paper challenges such a view. It argues that firms are highly innovative and use institutions not as constraints but as resources that enable them to build new capabilities. It further argues that institutions are more diverse, malleable and multi-levelled than the national models perspective recognizes. Thus, options for change are much broader than predicted by the path-dependent national models framework. Indeed, the main issue for European societies in response to globalization is to ensure diversity and experimentation rather than simply seeking to reproduce a dominant logic

Lorentz and CPT Invariance Violation In High-Energy Neutrinos

High-energy neutrino astronomy will be capable of observing particles at both extremely high energies and over extremely long baselines. These features make such experiments highly sensitive to the effects of CPT and Lorentz violation. In this article, we review the theoretical foundation and motivation for CPT and Lorentz violating effects, and then go on to discuss the related phenomenology within the neutrino sector. We describe several signatures which might be used to identify the presence of CPT or Lorentz violation in next generation neutrino telescopes and cosmic ray experiments. In many cases, high-energy neutrino experiments can test for CPT and Lorentz violation effects with much greater precision than other techniques.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figure