MScMS-II: an innovative IR-based indoor coordinate measuring system for large-scale metrology applications

According to the current great interest concerning large-scale metrology applications in many different fields of manufacturing industry, technologies and techniques for dimensional measurement have recently shown a substantial improvement. Ease-of-use, logistic and economic issues, as well as metrological performance are assuming a more and more important role among system requirements. This paper describes the architecture and the working principles of a novel infrared (IR) optical-based system, designed to perform low-cost and easy indoor coordinate measurements of large-size objects. The system consists of a distributed network-based layout, whose modularity allows fitting differently sized and shaped working volumes by adequately increasing the number of sensing units. Differently from existing spatially distributed metrological instruments, the remote sensor devices are intended to provide embedded data elaboration capabilities, in order to share the overall computational load. The overall system functionalities, including distributed layout configuration, network self-calibration, 3D point localization, and measurement data elaboration, are discussed. A preliminary metrological characterization of system performance, based on experimental testing, is also presente

Design and analysis of fractional factorial experiments from the viewpoint of computational algebraic statistics

We give an expository review of applications of computational algebraic statistics to design and analysis of fractional factorial experiments based on our recent works. For the purpose of design, the techniques of Gr\"obner bases and indicator functions allow us to treat fractional factorial designs without distinction between regular designs and non-regular designs. For the purpose of analysis of data from fractional factorial designs, the techniques of Markov bases allow us to handle discrete observations. Thus the approach of computational algebraic statistics greatly enlarges the scope of fractional factorial designs.Comment: 16 page

SLAC's polarized electron source laser system for the E-158 parity violation experiment

SLAC E158 is an experiment to make the first measurement of parity violation in Moller scattering. The left-right cross-section asymmetry in the elastic scattering of a 45-GeV polarized electron beam off unpolarized electrons in a liquid hydrogen target will be measured to an accuracy of better than 10-8, with the expected Standard Model asymmetry being approximately 10-7. An intense circularly polarized laser beam for the polarized electron source is required with the ability to quickly switch between left and right polarization states with minimal left-right asymmetries in the parameters of the electron beam. This laser beam is produced by a unique SLAC-designed, flash-lamp pumped, Ti:Sapphire laser. We present this laser system design and initial results from recent commissioning runs

SLAC's polarized electron source laser system for the E-158 parity violation experiment

SLAC E158 is an experiment to make the first measurement of parity violation in Moller scattering. The left-right cross-section asymmetry in the elastic scattering of a 45-GeV polarized electron beam off unpolarized electrons in a liquid hydrogen target will be measured to an accuracy of better than 10-8, with the expected Standard Model asymmetry being approximately 10-7. An intense circularly polarized laser beam for the polarized electron source is required with the ability to quickly switch between left and right polarization states with minimal left-right asymmetries in the parameters of the electron beam. This laser beam is produced by a unique SLAC-designed, flash-lamp pumped, Ti:Sapphire laser. We present this laser system design and initial results from recent commissioning runs

Nectar palatability can selectively filter bird and insect visitors to coral tree flowers

Secondary compounds in nectar may play a decisive role in determining the spectrum of floral visitors on plants. Flowers of the African coral tree Erythrina caffra are visited mainly by generalist passerine nectarivores, such as weavers and bulbuls. As the nectar of this species tastes very bitter to humans, it was hypothesized that secondary compounds may repel sunbirds and honeybees which are common in the same habitats yet seldom consume the nectar. We conducted choice tests using fresh nectar and both sucrose and hexose (glucose/fructose) solutions of the same concentration as the nectar. Whitebellied Sunbirds (Cinnyris talatala) were repelled by nectar of both E. caffra and a related species Erythrina lysistemon, but Dark-capped Bulbuls (Pycnonotus tricolor) did not discriminate between the Erythrina nectar and control sugar solution in terms of amounts consumed. Honeybees (Apis mellifera scutellata) probed exposed droplets of E. caffra nectar and a control sugar solution at the same rate, suggesting that there is no volatile deterrent, but they immediately withdrew their proboscis far more often from the droplets of Erythrina nectar than they did from the sugar solution, suggesting that they find Erythrina nectar distasteful. These results contribute to a growing awareness that non-sugar components of nectar can play important functional roles in plant pollination systems.South African National Research Foundation (NRF)http://link.springer.com/journal/106822016-03-31hb201