Circulation control propellers for general aviation, including a BASIC computer program

The feasibility of replacing variable pitch propeller mechanisms with circulation control (Coanada effect) propellers on general aviation airplanes was examined. The study used a specially developed computer program written in BASIC which could compare the aerodynamic performance of circulation control propellers with conventional propellers. The comparison of aerodynamic performance for circulation control, fixed pitch and variable pitch propellers is based upon the requirements for a 1600 kg (3600 lb) single engine general aviation aircraft. A circulation control propeller using a supercritical airfoil was shown feasible over a representative range of design conditions. At a design condition for high speed cruise, all three types of propellers showed approximately the same performance. At low speed, the performance of the circulation control propeller exceeded the performance for a fixed pitch propeller, but did not match the performance available from a variable pitch propeller. It appears feasible to consider circulation control propellers for single engine aircraft or multiengine aircraft which have their propellers on a common axis (tractor pusher). The economics of the replacement requires a study for each specific airplane application

Technology evaluation of man-rated acceleration test equipment for vestibular research

The considerations for eliminating acceleration noise cues in horizontal, linear, cyclic-motion sleds intended for both ground and shuttle-flight applications are addressed. the principal concerns are the acceleration transients associated with change in direction-of-motion for the carriage. The study presents a design limit for acceleration cues or transients based upon published measurements for thresholds of human perception to linear cyclic motion. The sources and levels for motion transients are presented based upon measurements obtained from existing sled systems. The approaches to a noise-free system recommends the use of air bearings for the carriage support and moving-coil linear induction motors operating at low frequency as the drive system. Metal belts running on air bearing pulleys provide an alternate approach to the driving system. The appendix presents a discussion of alternate testing techniques intended to provide preliminary type data by means of pendulums, linear motion devices and commercial air bearing tables

Improving Forage Production on Claypan Soils

Mechanical range improvement practices such as contour ripping and furrowing have been used to increase forage production on a variety of range sites in the northern Great Plains. These improvement practices seem to have particular promise on Claypan and Thin Claypan range sites in western South Dakota. Soils on these range sites have a sodium dispersed layer (claypan) at or near the surface. This layer severely reduces the rate of water infiltration, thus causing a greater amount of the precipitation to run off or pool up and evaporate from the soil surface than would happen on soils of similar texture without the claypan layer. Because more precipitation water is lost to runoff and evaporation, less water is available for plant growth. The compact nature of the claypan layer also tends to restrict root growth, further reducing plant growth. Thus, claypan soils are inherently lower in forage production potential than similar soils without the claypan layer. The difference between productivity of the claypan soils and normal soils represents the potential increase in forage production if the effects of the claypan layer could somehow be removed

Cool Season Grass Variety Comparisons in Jackson County

The purpose of the plant nursery trial in Jackson County, South Dakota, was to (1) provide information for landowners on planting a special use pasture for grazing or hay production, (2) assimilate longterm comparative yield and longevity data to support seeding reconmendations and (3) provide a visual comparison of sufficient size plantings for area residents, agency technicians and others to observe growth and survival characteristics of various grasses

An Information-Geometric Reconstruction of Quantum Theory, I: The Abstract Quantum Formalism

In this paper and a companion paper, we show how the framework of information geometry, a geometry of discrete probability distributions, can form the basis of a derivation of the quantum formalism. The derivation rests upon a few elementary features of quantum phenomena, such as the statistical nature of measurements, complementarity, and global gauge invariance. It is shown that these features can be traced to experimental observations characteristic of quantum phenomena and to general theoretical principles, and thus can reasonably be taken as a starting point of the derivation. When appropriately formulated within an information geometric framework, these features lead to (i) the abstract quantum formalism for finite-dimensional quantum systems, (ii) the result of Wigner's theorem, and (iii) the fundamental correspondence rules of quantum theory, such as the canonical commutation relationships. The formalism also comes naturally equipped with a metric (and associated measure) over the space of pure states which is unitarily- and anti-unitarily invariant. The derivation suggests that the information geometric framework is directly or indirectly responsible for many of the central structural features of the quantum formalism, such as the importance of square-roots of probability and the occurrence of sinusoidal functions of phases in a pure quantum state. Global gauge invariance is seen to play a crucial role in the emergence of the formalism in its complex form.Comment: 26 page

Spatially distinct, temporally stable microbial populations mediate biogeochemical cycling at and below the seafloor in hydrothermal vent fluids

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Environmental Microbiology 20 (2018): 769–784, doi:10.1111/1462-2920.14011.At deep-sea hydrothermal vents, microbial communities thrive across geochemical gradients above, at, and below the seafloor. In this study, we determined the gene content and transcription patterns of microbial communities and specific populations to understand the taxonomy and metabolism both spatially and temporally across geochemically different diffuse fluid hydrothermal vents. Vent fluids were examined via metagenomic, metatranscriptomic, genomic binning, and geochemical analyses from Axial Seamount, an active submarine volcano on the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the NE Pacific Ocean, from 2013 to 2015 at three different vents: Anemone, Marker 33, and Marker 113. Results showed that individual vent sites maintained microbial communities and specific populations over time, but with spatially distinct taxonomic, metabolic potential, and gene transcription profiles. The geochemistry and physical structure of each vent both played important roles in shaping the dominant organisms and metabolisms present at each site. Genomic binning identified key populations of SUP05, Aquificales and methanogenic archaea carrying out important transformations of carbon, sulfur, hydrogen, and nitrogen, with groups that appear unique to individual sites. This work highlights the connection between microbial metabolic processes, fluid chemistry, and microbial population dynamics at and below the seafloor and increases understanding of the role of hydrothermal vent microbial communities in deep ocean biogeochemical cycles.Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Grant Number: GBMF3297; NSF Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations Grant Number: OCE—0939564; Schmidt Ocean Institut

Causation, Measurement Relevance and No-conspiracy in EPR

In this paper I assess the adequacy of no-conspiracy conditions employed in the usual derivations of the Bell inequality in the context of EPR correlations. First, I look at the EPR correlations from a purely phenomenological point of view and claim that common cause explanations of these cannot be ruled out. I argue that an appropriate common cause explanation requires that no-conspiracy conditions are re-interpreted as mere common cause-measurement independence conditions. In the right circumstances then, violations of measurement independence need not entail any kind of conspiracy (nor backwards in time causation). To the contrary, if measurement operations in the EPR context are taken to be causally relevant in a specific way to the experiment outcomes, their explicit causal role provides the grounds for a common cause explanation of the corresponding correlations.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figur

Cool Season Grass Variety Comparisons in Harding County

The purpose of the plant nursery trial in northwestern South Dakota was to (1) proivde information for landowners on planting a special use pasture for grazing or hay production; (2) assimilate long term comparative yield and longevity data to support seeding recommendations; and (3) provide a visual comparison of sufficient size plantings for area residents, agency technicians, and others to observe growth and survival characteristics of various grasses

A topos for algebraic quantum theory

The aim of this paper is to relate algebraic quantum mechanics to topos theory, so as to construct new foundations for quantum logic and quantum spaces. Motivated by Bohr's idea that the empirical content of quantum physics is accessible only through classical physics, we show how a C*-algebra of observables A induces a topos T(A) in which the amalgamation of all of its commutative subalgebras comprises a single commutative C*-algebra. According to the constructive Gelfand duality theorem of Banaschewski and Mulvey, the latter has an internal spectrum S(A) in T(A), which in our approach plays the role of a quantum phase space of the system. Thus we associate a locale (which is the topos-theoretical notion of a space and which intrinsically carries the intuitionistic logical structure of a Heyting algebra) to a C*-algebra (which is the noncommutative notion of a space). In this setting, states on A become probability measures (more precisely, valuations) on S(A), and self-adjoint elements of A define continuous functions (more precisely, locale maps) from S(A) to Scott's interval domain. Noting that open subsets of S(A) correspond to propositions about the system, the pairing map that assigns a (generalized) truth value to a state and a proposition assumes an extremely simple categorical form. Formulated in this way, the quantum theory defined by A is essentially turned into a classical theory, internal to the topos T(A).Comment: 52 pages, final version, to appear in Communications in Mathematical Physic

Saltation transport on Mars

We present the first calculation of saltation transport and dune formation on Mars and compare it to real dunes. We find that the rate at which grains are entrained into saltation on Mars is one order of magnitude higher than on Earth. With this fundamental novel ingredient, we reproduce the size and different shapes of Mars dunes, and give an estimate for the wind velocity on Mars.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure