17,921 research outputs found
POPCORN: a Supervisory Control Simulation for Workload and Performance Research
A multi-task simulation of a semi-automatic supervisory control system was developed to provide an environment in which training, operator strategy development, failure detection and resolution, levels of automation, and operator workload can be investigated. The goal was to develop a well-defined, but realistically complex, task that would lend itself to model-based analysis. The name of the task (POPCORN) reflects the visual display that depicts different task elements milling around waiting to be released and pop out to be performed. The operator's task was to complete each of 100 task elements that ere represented by different symbols, by selecting a target task and entering the desired a command. The simulated automatic system then completed the selected function automatically. Highly significant differences in performance, strategy, and rated workload were found as a function of all experimental manipulations (except reward/penalty)
Voltage controlling mechanisms in low resistivity silicon solar cells: A unified approach
An experimental technique capable of resolving the dark saturation current into its base and emitter components is used as the basis of an analysis in which the voltage limiting mechanisms were determined for a variety of high voltage, low resistivity silicon solar cells. The cells studied include the University of Florida hi-low emitter cell, the NASA and the COMSAT multi-step diffused cells, the Spire Corporation ion-implanted emitter cell, and the University of New South Wales MINMIS and MINP cells. The results proved to be, in general, at variance with prior expectations. Most surprising was the finding that the MINP and the MINMIS voltage improvements are due, to a considerable extent, to a previously unrecognized optimization of the base component of the saturation current. This result is substantiated by an independent analysis of the material used to fabricate these devices
Electronic Raman scattering in Magnetite, Spin vs. Charge gap
We report Raman scattering data of single crystals of magnetite (Fe3O4) with
Verwey transition temperatures (Tv) of 123 and 117K, respectively. Both single
crystals reveal broad electronic background extending up to 900 wavenumbers
(~110 meV). Redistribution of this background is observed when samples are
cooled below Tv. In particular, spectra of the low temperature phase show
diminished background below 300 wavenumbers followed by an enhancement of the
electronic background between 300 and 400 wavenumbers. To enhance the effect of
this background redistribution we divide the spectra just below the transition
by the spectra just above the transition. A resultant broad peak-like feature
is observed, centered at 370 wavenumbers (45 meV). The peak position of this
feature does not scale with the transition temperature. We discuss two
alternative assignments of this feature to a spin or charge gap in magnetite.Comment: 4 figures, 1 tabl
The Scottish Mental Survey 1932 linked to the Midspan studies: a prospective investigation of childhood intelligence and future health
The Scottish Mental Survey of 1932 (SMS1932) recorded mental ability test scores for nearly all of the age group of children born in 1921 and at school in Scotland on 1st June 1932. The Collaborative and Renfrew/Paisley studies, two of the Midspan studies, obtained health and social data by questionnaire and a physical examination in the 1970s. Some Midspan participants were born in 1921 and may have taken part in the SMS1932, so might have mental ability data available from childhood. The 1921-born Midspan participants were matched with the computerised SMS1932 database. The total numbers successfully matched were 1032 out of 1251 people (82.5%). Of those matched, 938 (90.9%) had a mental ability test score recorded. The mean score of the matched sample was 37.2 (standard deviation [SD] 13.9) out of a possible score of 76. The mean (SD) for the boys and girls respectively was 38.3 (14.2) and 35.7 (13.9). This compared with 38.6 (15.7) and 37.2 (14.3) for boys and girls in all of Scotland. Graded relationships were found between mental ability in childhood, and social class and deprivation category of residence in adulthood. Being in a higher social class or in a more affluent deprivation category was associated with higher childhood mental ability scores and the scores reduced with increasing deprivation. Future plans for the matched data include examining associations between childhood mental ability and other childhood and adult risk factors for disease in adulthood, and modelling childhood mental ability, alongside other factors available in the Midspan database, as a risk factor for specific illnesses, admission to hospital and mortality
Monopole clusters, Z(2) vortices and confinement in SU(2)
We extend our previous study of magnetic monopole currents in the maximally
Abelian gauge [hep-lat/9712003] to larger lattices at small lattice spacings
(20^4 at beta = 2.5 and 32^4 at beta = 2.5115). We confirm that at these weak
couplings there continues to be one monopole cluster that is very much longer
than the rest and that the string tension, K, is entirely due to it. The
remaining clusters are compact objects whose population as a function of radius
follows a power law that deviates from the scale invariant form, but much too
weakly to suggest a link with the analytically calculable size distribution of
small instantons. We also search for traces of Z(2) vortices in the Abelian
projected fields; either as closed loops of `magnetic' flux or through
appropriate correlations amongst the monopoles. We find, by direct calculation,
that there is no confining condensate of such flux loops. We also find, through
the calculation of doubly charged Wilson loops within the monopole fields, that
there is no suppression of the q=2 effective string tension out to at distances
of at least r ~ 1.6/sqrt{K}, suggesting that if there are any vortices they are
not encoded in the monopole fields.Comment: 26 pages of LaTeX and PostScript figure
QCD Heat Kernel in Covariant Gauge
We report the calculation of the fourth coefficient in an expansion of the
heat kernel of a non-minimal, non-abelian kinetic operator in an arbitrary
background gauge in arbitrary space-time dimension. The fourth coefficient is
shown to bring a nontrivial gauge dependence due to the contribution of the
lowest order off-shell gauge invariant structure.Comment: 6 pages + title page, standart LaTe
Study of geopotential error models used in orbit determination error analysis
The uncertainty in the geopotential model is currently one of the major error sources in the orbit determination of low-altitude Earth-orbiting spacecraft. The results of an investigation of different geopotential error models and modeling approaches currently used for operational orbit error analysis support at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) are presented, with emphasis placed on sequential orbit error analysis using a Kalman filtering algorithm. Several geopotential models, known as the Goddard Earth Models (GEMs), were developed and used at GSFC for orbit determination. The errors in the geopotential models arise from the truncation errors that result from the omission of higher order terms (omission errors) and the errors in the spherical harmonic coefficients themselves (commission errors). At GSFC, two error modeling approaches were operationally used to analyze the effects of geopotential uncertainties on the accuracy of spacecraft orbit determination - the lumped error modeling and uncorrelated error modeling. The lumped error modeling approach computes the orbit determination errors on the basis of either the calibrated standard deviations of a geopotential model's coefficients or the weighted difference between two independently derived geopotential models. The uncorrelated error modeling approach treats the errors in the individual spherical harmonic components as uncorrelated error sources and computes the aggregate effect using a combination of individual coefficient effects. This study assesses the reasonableness of the two error modeling approaches in terms of global error distribution characteristics and orbit error analysis results. Specifically, this study presents the global distribution of geopotential acceleration errors for several gravity error models and assesses the orbit determination errors resulting from these error models for three types of spacecraft - the Gamma Ray Observatory, the Ocean Topography Experiment, and the Cosmic Background Explorer
Shortest Path Computation with No Information Leakage
Shortest path computation is one of the most common queries in location-based
services (LBSs). Although particularly useful, such queries raise serious
privacy concerns. Exposing to a (potentially untrusted) LBS the client's
position and her destination may reveal personal information, such as social
habits, health condition, shopping preferences, lifestyle choices, etc. The
only existing method for privacy-preserving shortest path computation follows
the obfuscation paradigm; it prevents the LBS from inferring the source and
destination of the query with a probability higher than a threshold. This
implies, however, that the LBS still deduces some information (albeit not
exact) about the client's location and her destination. In this paper we aim at
strong privacy, where the adversary learns nothing about the shortest path
query. We achieve this via established private information retrieval
techniques, which we treat as black-box building blocks. Experiments on real,
large-scale road networks assess the practicality of our schemes.Comment: VLDB201
Three-photon detachment of electrons from the fluorine negative ion
Absolute three-photon detachment cross sections are calculated for the
fluorine negative ion within the lowest-order perturbation theory. The Dyson
equation of the atomic many-body theory is used to obtain the ground-state 2p
wavefunction with correct asymptotic behaviour, corresponding to the true
(experimental) binding energy. We show that in accordance with the adiabatic
theory (Gribakin and Kuchiev 1997 {Phys. Rev. A} {\bf 55} 3760) this is crucial
for obtaining absolute values of the multiphoton cross sections. Comparisons
with other calculations and experimental data are presented.Comment: 10 pages, two figures, Latex, IOP styl
A Gibbs approach to Chargaff's second parity rule
Chargaff's second parity rule (CSPR) asserts that the frequencies of short
polynucleotide chains are the same as those of the complementary reversed
chains. Up to now, this hypothesis has only been observed empirically and there
is currently no explanation for its presence in DNA strands. Here we argue that
CSPR is a probabilistic consequence of the reverse complementarity between
paired strands, because the Gibbs distribution associated with the chemical
energy between the bonds satisfies CSPR. We develop a statistical test to study
the validity of CSPR under the Gibbsian assumption and we apply it to a large
set of bacterial genomes taken from the GenBank repository.Comment: 16 page
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