High Kinetic Inductance NbN Nanowire Superinductors

We demonstrate that a high kinetic inductance disordered superconductor can realize a low microwave loss, non-dissipative circuit element with an impedance greater than the quantum resistance ($R_Q = h/4e^2 \simeq 6.5k\Omega$). This element, known as a superinductor, can produce a quantum circuit where charge fluctuations are suppressed. The superinductor consists of a 40 nm wide niobium nitride nanowire and exhibits a single photon quality factor of $2.5 \times 10^4$. Furthermore, by examining loss rates, we demonstrate that the dissipation of our nanowire devices can be fully understood in the framework of two-level system loss

Noise and loss of superconducting aluminium resonators at single photon energies

The loss and noise mechanisms of superconducting resonators are useful tools for understanding decoherence in superconducting circuits. While the loss mechanisms have been heavily studied, noise in superconducting resonators has only recently been investigated. In particular, there is an absence of literature on noise in the single photon limit. Here, we measure the loss and noise of an aluminium on silicon quarter-wavelength ($\lambda/4$) resonator in the single photon regime.Comment: LT28 Conference proceeding, to be published in IOP Conference Serie

Using Principle Component Analysis of Spectral Mixtures to Analyze Tertiary and Four End-member Mixtures Containing Carbonates and Olivine

CRISM images from Mars are expected to contain carbonates such as magnesite [1]. Prior research has been successfully able to determine the approximate percent composition of phyllosilicates in binary lab mixtures using Principle Component Analysis (PCA) [2]. In order to expand this model to work on CRISM images, one of preliminary steps is allowing the algorithm to work on mixtures with more than two components

SLIDES: The Environmentally Friendly Drilling Systems Program

Presenter: David Burnett, Texas A&M University and Houston Advanced Research Center 44 slide

SLIDES: The Environmentally Friendly Drilling Systems Program

Presenter: David Burnett, Texas A&M University and Houston Advanced Research Center 44 slide

Using Principle Component Analysis to Analyze Tertiary and Quaternary Spectral Mixtures

CRISM images from Mars are expected to contain carbonates such as magnesite. Prior research has been successfully able to determine the approximate percent composition of phyllosilicates in binary lab mixtures using Principle Component Analysis (PCA). In order to expand this model to work on CRISM images, one of preliminary steps is allowing the algorithm to work on mixtures with more than two components, which was the primary purpose of this research

Tough Targets: When Criminals Face Armed Resistance from Citizens

The ostensible purpose of gun control legislation is to reduce firearm deaths and injuries. The restriction of access to irearms will make criminals unable to use guns to shoot people. Gun control laws will also reduce the number of accidental shootings. Those are the desired effects, at least in theory. It is important, however, for conscientious policymakers to consider not only the stated goals of gun control regulations, but the actual results that they produce. What would be the effect of depriving ordinary, law-abiding citizens from keeping arms for self-defense? One result seems certain: the law-abiding would be at a distinct disadvantage should criminals acquire guns from underground markets. After all, it is simply not possible for police officers to get to every scene where they are urgently needed.Outside of criminology circles, relatively few people can reasonably estimate how often people use guns to fend off criminal attacks. If policymakers are truly interested in harm reduction, they should pause to consider how many crimes -- murders, rapes, assaults, robberies -- are thwarted each year by ordinary persons with guns. The estimates of defensive gun use range between the tens of thousands to as high as two million each year.This paper uses a collection of news reports of self-defense with guns over an eight-year period to survey the ircumstances and outcomes of defensive gun uses in America. Federal and state lawmakers often oppose repealing or amending laws governing the ownership or carrying of guns. That opposition is typically based on assumptions that the average citizen is incapable of successfully employing a gun in self-defense or that possession of a gun in public will tempt people to violence in "road rage" or other contentious situations. Those assumptions are false. The vast majority of gun owners are ethical and competent. That means tens of thousands of crimes are prevented each year by ordinary citizens with guns