3,774 research outputs found
Eddy current inspection of graphite fiber components
The recognition of defects in materials properties still presents a number of problems for nondestructive testing in aerospace systems. This project attempts to utilize current capabilities in eddy current instrumentation, artificial intelligence, and robotics in order to provide insight into defining geometrical aspects of flaws in composite materials which are capable of being evaluated using eddy current inspection techniques. The unique capabilities of E-probes and horseshoe probes for inspecting probes for inspecting graphite fiber materials were evaluated and appear to hold great promise once the technology development matures. The initial results are described of modeling eddy current interactions with certain flaws in graphite fiber samples
A Transiting Jupiter Analog
Decadal-long radial velocity surveys have recently started to discover
analogs to the most influential planet of our solar system, Jupiter. Detecting
and characterizing these worlds is expected to shape our understanding of our
uniqueness in the cosmos. Despite the great successes of recent transit
surveys, Jupiter analogs represent a terra incognita, owing to the strong
intrinsic bias of this method against long orbital periods. We here report on
the first validated transiting Jupiter analog, Kepler-167e (KOI-490.02),
discovered using Kepler archival photometry orbiting the K4-dwarf KIC-3239945.
With a radius of , a low orbital eccentricity
() and an equilibrium temperature of K,
Kepler-167e bears many of the basic hallmarks of Jupiter. Kepler-167e is
accompanied by three Super-Earths on compact orbits, which we also validate,
leaving a large cavity of transiting worlds around the habitable-zone. With two
transits and continuous photometric coverage, we are able to uniquely and
precisely measure the orbital period of this post snow-line planet
( d), paving the way for follow-up of this mag
target.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures. Accepted to ApJ. Posteriors available at
https://github.com/CoolWorlds/Kepler-167-Posterior
The Kepler Pixel Response Function
Kepler seeks to detect sequences of transits of Earth-size exoplanets
orbiting Solar-like stars. Such transit signals are on the order of 100 ppm.
The high photometric precision demanded by Kepler requires detailed knowledge
of how the Kepler pixels respond to starlight during a nominal observation.
This information is provided by the Kepler pixel response function (PRF),
defined as the composite of Kepler's optical point spread function, integrated
spacecraft pointing jitter during a nominal cadence and other systematic
effects. To provide sub-pixel resolution, the PRF is represented as a
piecewise-continuous polynomial on a sub-pixel mesh. This continuous
representation allows the prediction of a star's flux value on any pixel given
the star's pixel position. The advantages and difficulties of this polynomial
representation are discussed, including characterization of spatial variation
in the PRF and the smoothing of discontinuities between sub-pixel polynomial
patches. On-orbit super-resolution measurements of the PRF across the Kepler
field of view are described. Two uses of the PRF are presented: the selection
of pixels for each star that maximizes the photometric signal to noise ratio
for that star, and PRF-fitted centroids which provide robust and accurate
stellar positions on the CCD, primarily used for attitude and plate scale
tracking. Good knowledge of the PRF has been a critical component for the
successful collection of high-precision photometry by Kepler.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted by ApJ Letters. Version accepted for
publication
Open Space – a collaborative process for facilitating Tourism IT partnerships
The success of IT projects depends on the success of the partnerships on which they are based. However past research by the author has identified a significant rate of failure in these partnerships, predominantly due to an overly technical mindset, leading to the question: “how do we ensure that, as technological solutions are implemented within tourism, due consideration is given to human-centred issues?” The tourism partnership literature is explored for additional insights revealing that issues connected with power, participation and normative positions play a major role. The method, Open Space, is investigated for its ability to engage stakeholders in free and open debate. This paper reports on a one-day Open Space event sponsored by two major intermediaries in the UK travel industry who wanted to consult their business partners. Both the running of the event and its results reveal how Open Space has the potential to address some of the weaknesses associated with tourism partnerships
Fast Ensemble Smoothing
Smoothing is essential to many oceanographic, meteorological and hydrological
applications. The interval smoothing problem updates all desired states within
a time interval using all available observations. The fixed-lag smoothing
problem updates only a fixed number of states prior to the observation at
current time. The fixed-lag smoothing problem is, in general, thought to be
computationally faster than a fixed-interval smoother, and can be an
appropriate approximation for long interval-smoothing problems. In this paper,
we use an ensemble-based approach to fixed-interval and fixed-lag smoothing,
and synthesize two algorithms. The first algorithm produces a linear time
solution to the interval smoothing problem with a fixed factor, and the second
one produces a fixed-lag solution that is independent of the lag length.
Identical-twin experiments conducted with the Lorenz-95 model show that for lag
lengths approximately equal to the error doubling time, or for long intervals
the proposed methods can provide significant computational savings. These
results suggest that ensemble methods yield both fixed-interval and fixed-lag
smoothing solutions that cost little additional effort over filtering and model
propagation, in the sense that in practical ensemble application the additional
increment is a small fraction of either filtering or model propagation costs.
We also show that fixed-interval smoothing can perform as fast as fixed-lag
smoothing and may be advantageous when memory is not an issue
Detection of gravity modes in the massive binary V380 Cyg from Kepler spacebased photometry and high-resolution spectroscopy
We report the discovery of low-amplitude gravity-mode oscillations in the
massive binary star V380 Cyg, from 180 d of Kepler custom-aperture space
photometry and 5 months of high-resolution high signal-to-noise spectroscopy.
The new data are of unprecedented quality and allowed to improve the orbital
and fundamental parameters for this binary. The orbital solution was subtracted
from the photometric data and led to the detection of periodic intrinsic
variability with frequencies of which some are multiples of the orbital
frequency and others are not. Spectral disentangling allowed the detection of
line-profile variability in the primary. With our discovery of intrinsic
variability interpreted as gravity mode oscillations, V380 Cyg becomes an
important laboratory for future seismic tuning of the near-core physics in
massive B-type stars.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS
Letter
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Predictive impact of rare genomic copy number variations in siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorders.
Identification of genetic biomarkers associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) could improve recurrence prediction for families with a child with ASD. Here, we describe clinical microarray findings for 253 longitudinally phenotyped ASD families from the Baby Siblings Research Consortium (BSRC), encompassing 288 infant siblings. By age 3, 103 siblings (35.8%) were diagnosed with ASD and 54 (18.8%) were developing atypically. Thirteen siblings have copy number variants (CNVs) involving ASD-relevant genes: 6 with ASD, 5 atypically developing, and 2 typically developing. Within these families, an ASD-related CNV in a sibling has a positive predictive value (PPV) for ASD or atypical development of 0.83; the Simons Simplex Collection of ASD families shows similar PPVs. Polygenic risk analyses suggest that common genetic variants may also contribute to ASD. CNV findings would have been pre-symptomatically predictive of ASD or atypical development in 11 (7%) of the 157 BSRC siblings who were eventually diagnosed clinically
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