2,864 research outputs found
Toward autonomous spacecraft
Ways in which autonomous behavior of spacecraft can be extended to treat situations wherein a closed loop control by a human may not be appropriate or even possible are explored. Predictive models that minimize mean least squared error and arbitrary cost functions are discussed. A methodology for extracting cyclic components for an arbitrary environment with respect to usual and arbitrary criteria is developed. An approach to prediction and control based on evolutionary programming is outlined. A computer program capable of predicting time series is presented. A design of a control system for a robotic dense with partially unknown physical properties is presented
Kink stability, propagation, and length scale competition in the periodically modulated sine-Gordon equation
We have examined the dynamical behavior of the kink solutions of the
one-dimensional sine-Gordon equation in the presence of a spatially periodic
parametric perturbation. Our study clarifies and extends the currently
available knowledge on this and related nonlinear problems in four directions.
First, we present the results of a numerical simulation program which are not
compatible with the existence of a radiative threshold, predicted by earlier
calculations. Second, we carry out a perturbative calculation which helps
interpret those previous predictions, enabling us to understand in depth our
numerical results. Third, we apply the collective coordinate formalism to this
system and demonstrate numerically that it accurately reproduces the observed
kink dynamics. Fourth, we report on a novel occurrence of length scale
competition in this system and show how it can be understood by means of linear
stability analysis. Finally, we conclude by summarizing the general physical
framework that arises from our study.Comment: 19 pages, REVTeX 3.0, 24 figures available from A S o
Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships by Evolved Neural Networks for the Inhibition of Dihydrofolate Reductase by Pyrimidines
Abstract Evolutionary computation provides a useful method for training neural networks in the face of multiple local optima. This paper begins with a description of methods for quantitative structure activity relationships (QSAR). An overview of artificial neural networks for pattern recognition problems such as QSAR is presented and extended with the description of how evolutionary computation can be used to evolve neural networks. Experiments are conducted to examine QSAR for the inhibition of dihydrofolate reductase by pyrimidines using evolved neural networks. Results indicate the utility of evolutionary algorithms and neural networks for the predictive task at hand. Furthermore, results that are comparable or perhaps better than those published previously were obtained using only a small fraction of the previously required degrees of freedom
An adaptive maneuvering logic computer program for the simulation of one-on-one air-to-air combat. Volume 1: General description
A technique for computer simulation of air combat is described. Volume 1 decribes the computer program and its development in general terms. Two versions of the program exist. Both incorporate a logic for selecting and executing air combat maneuvers with performance models of specific fighter aircraft. In the batch processing version the flight paths of two aircraft engaged in interactive aerial combat and controlled by the same logic are computed. The realtime version permits human pilots to fly air-to-air combat against the adaptive maneuvering logic (AML) in Langley Differential Maneuvering Simulator (DMS). Volume 2 consists of a detailed description of the computer programs
Detecting human impacts on the flora, fauna, and summer monsoon of Pleistocene Australia
International audienceAll of Australia's largest mammalian vertebrates became extinct 50 to 45 ka (thousand years ago), shortly after human colonization. Between 60 and 40 ka Australian climate was similar to present and not changing rapidly. Consequently, attention has turned toward plausible human mechanisms for the extinction, with proponents for over-hunting, ecosystem change, and introduced disease. To differentiate between these options we utilize isotopic tracers of diet preserved in eggshells of two large, flightless birds to track the status of ecosystems before and after human colonization. ?13C preserved in their eggshells monitor a bird's dietary intake in the weeks to months before egg-laying. More than 500 dated eggshells from central Australia of the Australian emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae), an opportunistic, dominantly herbivorous feeder, provide a continuous 140 kyr dietary ? 13C reconstruction. More than 350 dated eggshells from the same region of the heavier, extinct, giant bird Genyornis newtoni define its dietary intake from 140 ka until its extinction about 50 ka. Additional dietary records for both species were developed from two distant regions. Dromaius eggshell dietary ?13C reveals an unprecedented reduction in the bird's food resources about 50 ka, coeval in all three regions, suggesting conversion at that time of a tree/shrub savannah with occasionally rich grasslands to the modern desert scrub. We speculate that ecosystem collapse across the arid and semi-arid zones is a consequence of systematic burning by early humans. Genyornis diet everywhere is more restricted than in co-existing Dromaius, implying a more specialized feeding strategy. These data suggest that generalist feeders, such as Dromaius, were able to adapt to a changed vegetation regime, whereas more specialized feeders, such as Genyornis, became extinct. The altered vegetation may have also impacted Australian climate. Changes in the strength of climate feedbacks linked to vegetation and soil type (moisture recycling, surface roughness, albedo) may have weakened the penetration of monsoon moisture into the continental interior under the new ecosystem. Climate modeling suggests such a shift may have reduced monsoon rain in the interior by as much as 50%
Indigenous amino acids in primitive CR meteorites
CR meteorites are among the most primitive meteorites. In this paper, we
report the first measurements of amino acids in Antarctic CR meteorites, two of
which show the highest amino acid concentrations ever found in a chondrite.
EET92042, GRA95229 and GRO95577 were analyzed for their amino acid content
using high performance liquid chromatography with UV fluorescence detection
(HPLC-FD) and gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GC-MS). Our data show that
EET92042 and GRA95229 are the most amino acid-rich chondrites ever analyzed,
with total amino acid concentrations ranging from 180 parts-per-million (ppm)
to 249 ppm. GRO95577, however, is depleted in amino acids. The most abundant
amino acids present in the EET92042 and GRA95229 meteorites are the alpha-amino
acids glycine, isovaline, alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (alpha-AIB), and alanine,
with delta13C values ranging from +31.6per mil to +50.5per mil. The carbon
isotope results together with racemic enantiomeric ratios determined for most
amino acids strongly indicate an extraterrestrial origin of these compounds. In
addition, the relative abundances of alpha-AIB and beta-alanine in the
Antarctic CR meteorites analyzed appear to correspond to the degree of aqueous
alteration on their respective parent body.Comment: In press; To appear in the December 2007 issue of Meteoritics and
Planetary Science, released March 200
Strain-induced partially flat band, helical snake states, and interface superconductivity in topological crystalline insulators
Topological crystalline insulators in IV-VI compounds host novel topological
surface states consisting of multi-valley massless Dirac fermions at low
energy. Here we show that strain generically acts as an effective gauge field
on these Dirac fermions and creates pseudo-Landau orbitals without breaking
time-reversal symmetry. We predict the realization of this phenomenon in IV-VI
semiconductor heterostructures, due to a naturally occurring misfit dislocation
array at the interface that produces a periodically varying strain field.
Remarkably, the zero-energy Landau orbitals form a flat band in the vicinity of
the Dirac point, and coexist with a network of snake states at higher energy.
We propose that the high density of states of this flat band gives rise to
interface superconductivity observed in IV-VI semiconductor multilayers at
unusually high temperatures, with non-BCS behavior. Our work demonstrates a new
route to altering macroscopic electronic properties to achieve a partially flat
band, and paves the way for realizing novel correlated states of matter.Comment: Accepted by Nature Physic
Renormalization Group Theory for a Perturbed KdV Equation
We show that renormalization group(RG) theory can be used to give an analytic
description of the evolution of a perturbed KdV equation. The equations
describing the deformation of its shape as the effect of perturbation are RG
equations. The RG approach may be simpler than inverse scattering theory(IST)
and another approaches, because it dose not rely on any knowledge of IST and it
is very concise and easy to understand. To the best of our knowledge, this is
the first time that RG has been used in this way for the perturbed soliton
dynamics.Comment: 4 pages, no figure, revte
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