3,347 research outputs found
Automobile ride quality experiments correlated to iso-weighted criteria
As part of an overall study to evaluate the usefulness of ride quality criteria for the design of improved ground transportation systems an experiment was conducted involving subjective and objective measurement of ride vibrations found in an automobile riding over roadways of various roughness. Correlation of the results led to some very significant relationships between passenger rating and ride accelerations. The latter were collapsed using a frequency-weighted root mean square measure of the random vibration. The results suggest the form of a design criterion giving the relationship between ride vibration and acceptable automobile ride quality. Further the ride criterion is expressed in terms that relate to rides with which most people are familiar. The design of the experiment, the ride vibration data acquisition, the concept of frequency weighting and the correlations found between subjective and objective measurements are presented
Magnetic field tuning of coplanar waveguide resonators
We describe measurements on microwave coplanar resonators designed for
quantum bit experiments. Resonators have been patterned onto sapphire and
silicon substrates, and quality factors in excess of a million have been
observed. The resonant frequency shows a high sensitivity to magnetic field
applied perpendicular to the plane of the film, with a quadratic dependence for
the fundamental, second and third harmonics. Frequency shift of hundreds of
linewidths can be obtained.Comment: Accepted for publication in AP
On the properties of superconducting planar resonators at mK temperatures
Planar superconducting resonators are now being increasingly used at mK
temperatures in a number of novel applications. They are also interesting
devices in their own right since they allow us to probe the properties of both
the superconductor and its environment. We have experimentally investigated
three types of niobium resonators - including a lumped element design -
fabricated on sapphire and SiO_2/Si substrates. They all exhibit a non-trivial
temperature dependence of their centre frequency and quality factor. Our
results shed new light on the interaction between the electromagnetic waves in
the resonator and two-level fluctuators in the substrate.Comment: V2 includes some minor corrections/changes. Submitted to PR
Circuit QED with a Flux Qubit Strongly Coupled to a Coplanar Transmission Line Resonator
We propose a scheme for circuit quantum electrodynamics with a
superconducting flux-qubit coupled to a high-Q coplanar resonator. Assuming
realistic circuit parameters we predict that it is possible to reach the strong
coupling regime. Routes to metrological applications, such as single photon
generation and quantum non-demolition measurements are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Plant / Controller Optimization with applications to Integrated Surface Sizing and Feedback Controller Design for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)
This paper describes a solution to the following plant controller
optimization (PCO) problem: given an autonomous
underwater vehicle (AUV) - with a fixed baseline
body configuration - that is required to operate over
a finite number of representative trimming conditions in
the vertical plane, determine the optimal size of the bow
and stern control surfaces so that a weighted average J
of the power required at trimming is minimized, subject
to the conditions that: i) a given set of open loop
requirements are met, and ii) stabilizing feedback controllers
can be designed to meet desired time and frequency
closed loop performance requirements about each
trimming point. The solution proposed is rooted in the
theory of Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs) and leads
to efficient PCO algorithms that build on a recently released
LMI Toolbox.The work of C. Silvestre and A. Pascoal was partially supported by the Portuguese PRAXIS XXI Programme under the INFANTE project. The work of the first author was also supported by NATO Scholarship 17/A/94/PO The second author benefited from a NATO Fellowship during his 1996-98 sabbatical at the Naval Postgraduate School
Outbreak of acute hepatitis C following the use of anti-hepatitis C virus--screened intravenous immunoglobulin therapy
BACKGROUND and AIMS: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been associated with intravenous (IV) immunoglobulin (Ig), and plasma donations used to prepare IV Ig are now screened to prevent transmission. Thirty-six patients from the United Kingdom received infusions from a batch of anti-HCV antibody-screened intravenous Ig (Gammagard; Baxter Healthcare Ltd., Thetford, Norfolk, England) that was associated with reports of acute hepatitis C outbreak in Europe. The aim of this study was to document the epidemiology of this outbreak. METHODS: Forty-six patients from the United Kingdom treated with Gammagard (34 exposed and 12 unexposed to the batch) returned epidemiological questionnaires. RESULTS: Eighty-two percent of the exposed patients (28 of 34) became positive for HCV RNA. Eighteen percent of the patients (6 of 34) who had infusions with this batch tested negative for HCV RNA, but 2 of the patients had abnormal liver function and subsequently seroconverted to anti-HCV antibody positive. Twenty-seven percent of the patients (9 of 34) developed jaundice, and 79% (27 of 34) had abnormal liver transferase levels. Virus isolates (n=21), including an isolate from the implicated batch, were genotype 1a and virtually identical by sequence analysis of the NS5 region, consistent with transmission from a single source. CONCLUSIONS: Hepatitis C infection can be transmitted by anti-HCV-screened IV Ig. Careful documentation of IV Ig batch numbers and regular biochemical monitoring is recommended for all IV Ig recipients
J16021+3326: New Multi-Frequency Observations of a Complex Source
We present multifrequency Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of
J16021+3326. These observations, along with variability data obtained from the
Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) candidate gamma-ray blazar monitoring
program, clearly indicate this source is a blazar. The peculiar characteristic
of this blazar, which daunted previous classification attempts, is that we
appear to be observing down a precessing jet, the mean orientation of which is
aligned with us almost exactly.Comment: 16 pages, 7 Figures, 2 Tables, accepted to Ap
Characteristics of Gamma-Ray Loud Blazars in the VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey
The radio properties of blazars detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on
board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have been observed as part of the
VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey (VIPS). This large, flux-limited sample of
active galactic nuclei (AGN) provides insights into the mechanism that produces
strong gamma-ray emission. At lower flux levels, radio flux density does not
directly correlate with gamma-ray flux. We find that the LAT-detected BL Lacs
tend to be similar to the non-LAT BL Lacs, but that the LAT-detected FSRQs are
often significantly different from the non-LAT FSRQs. The differences between
the gamma-ray loud and quiet FSRQs can be explained by Doppler boosting; these
objects appear to require larger Doppler factors than those of the BL Lacs. It
is possible that the gamma-ray loud FSRQs are fundamentally different from the
gamma-ray quiet FSRQs. Strong polarization at the base of the jet appears to be
a signature for gamma-ray loud AGN.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Ap
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