An airborne remote sensing system for urban air quality

Several NASA sponsored remote sensors and possible airborne platforms were evaluated. Outputs of dispersion models for SO2 and CO pollution in the Washington, D.C. area were used with ground station data to establish the expected performance and limitations of the remote sensors. Aircraft/sensor support requirements are discussed. A method of optimum flight plan determination was made. Cost trade offs were performed. Conclusions about the implementation of various instrument packages as parts of a comprehensive air quality monitoring system in Washington are presented

Covariant Uniform Acceleration

We show that standard Relativistic Dynamics Equation F=dp/d\tau is only partially covariant. To achieve full Lorentz covariance, we replace the four-force F by a rank 2 antisymmetric tensor acting on the four-velocity. By taking this tensor to be constant, we obtain a covariant definition of uniformly accelerated motion. We compute explicit solutions for uniformly accelerated motion which are divided into four types: null, linear, rotational, and general. For null acceleration, the worldline is cubic in the time. Linear acceleration covariantly extends 1D hyperbolic motion, while rotational acceleration covariantly extends pure rotational motion. We use Generalized Fermi-Walker transport to construct a uniformly accelerated family of inertial frames which are instantaneously comoving to a uniformly accelerated observer. We explain the connection between our approach and that of Mashhoon. We show that our solutions of uniformly accelerated motion have constant acceleration in the comoving frame. Assuming the Weak Hypothesis of Locality, we obtain local spacetime transformations from a uniformly accelerated frame K' to an inertial frame K. The spacetime transformations between two uniformly accelerated frames with the same acceleration are Lorentz. We compute the metric at an arbitrary point of a uniformly accelerated frame. We obtain velocity and acceleration transformations from a uniformly accelerated system K' to an inertial frame K. We derive the general formula for the time dilation between accelerated clocks. We obtain a formula for the angular velocity of a uniformly accelerated object. Every rest point of K' is uniformly accelerated, and its acceleration is a function of the observer's acceleration and its position. We obtain an interpretation of the Lorentz-Abraham-Dirac equation as an acceleration transformation from K' to K.Comment: 36 page

Bagging ensemble selection for regression

Bagging ensemble selection (BES) is a relatively new ensemble learning strategy. The strategy can be seen as an ensemble of the ensemble selection from libraries of models (ES) strategy. Previous experimental results on binary classification problems have shown that using random trees as base classifiers, BES-OOB (the most successful variant of BES) is competitive with (and in many cases, superior to) other ensemble learning strategies, for instance, the original ES algorithm, stacking with linear regression, random forests or boosting. Motivated by the promising results in classification, this paper examines the predictive performance of the BES-OOB strategy for regression problems. Our results show that the BES-OOB strategy outperforms Stochastic Gradient Boosting and Bagging when using regression trees as the base learners. Our results also suggest that the advantage of using a diverse model library becomes clear when the model library size is relatively large. We also present encouraging results indicating that the non negative least squares algorithm is a viable approach for pruning an ensemble of ensembles

Testing Einstein's time dilation under acceleration using M\"ossbauer spectroscopy

The Einstein time dilation formula was tested in several experiments. Many trials have been made to measure the transverse second order Doppler shift by M\"{o}ssbauer spectroscopy using a rotating absorber, to test the validity of this formula. Such experiments are also able to test if the time dilation depends only on the velocity of the absorber, as assumed by Einstein's clock hypothesis, or the present centripetal acceleration contributes to the time dilation. We show here that the fact that the experiment requires $\gamma$-ray emission and detection slits of finite size, the absorption line is broadened; by geometric longitudinal first order Doppler shifts immensely. Moreover, the absorption line is non-Lorenzian. We obtain an explicit expression for the absorption line for any angular velocity of the absorber. The analysis of the experimental results, in all previous experiments which did not observe the full absorption line itself, were wrong and the conclusions doubtful. The only proper experiment was done by K\"{u}ndig (Phys. Rev. 129 (1963) 2371), who observed the broadening, but associated it to random vibrations of the absorber. We establish necessary conditions for the successful measurement of a transverse second order Doppler shift by M\"{o}ssbauer spectroscopy. We indicate how the results of such an experiment can be used to verify the existence of a Doppler shift due to acceleration and to test the validity of Einstein's clock hypothesis.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Stochastic methods for solving high-dimensional partial differential equations

We propose algorithms for solving high-dimensional Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) that combine a probabilistic interpretation of PDEs, through Feynman-Kac representation, with sparse interpolation. Monte-Carlo methods and time-integration schemes are used to estimate pointwise evaluations of the solution of a PDE. We use a sequential control variates algorithm, where control variates are constructed based on successive approximations of the solution of the PDE. Two different algorithms are proposed, combining in different ways the sequential control variates algorithm and adaptive sparse interpolation. Numerical examples will illustrate the behavior of these algorithms

Collisionless shocks in plasmas

Collisionless shocks in plasmas, dissipation and dispersion in determining shock structur

Realistic calculations of nuclear disappearance lifetimes induced by neutron-antineutron oscillations

Realistic calculations of nuclear disappearance lifetimes induced by neutron-antineutron oscillations are reported for oxygen and iron, using antineutron nuclear potentials derived from a recent comprehensive analysis of antiproton atomic X-ray and radiochemical data. A lower limit of 3.3 x 10E8 s on the neutron-antineutron oscillation time is derived from the Super-Kamiokande I new lower limit of 1.77 x 10E32 yr on the neutron lifetime in oxygen. Antineutron scattering lengths in carbon and nickel, needed in trap experiments using ultracold neutrons, are calculated from updated antinucleon optical potentials at threshold, with results shown to be largely model independent.Comment: version matching PRD publication, typos and references correcte