Improving Photometry and Astrophotography by Eliminating Dark Frames and Flat Fields

I report on the efforts to improve the dark frames and flat fielding procedure for the charged-coupled device (CCD) camera for the Celestron C14 telescope at the UNH observatory. Dark frames are images taken while the shutter of the camera is closed so that only electronic and dark noise and other internal inconsistencies are recorded. These are important because they allow astronomers to subtract out interference from dark current. Additionally, flat fields are images of the entire field of the telescope so that the brightness in the pixels of the telescope’s field of view is uniform. Flat fields are vital since they provide a consistent illumination for all photos taken from the camera. With the combination of these two features, I was able to optimize the clarity of the telescope’s pictures and show through photometry how the new calibrated images appear in comparison to images prior to the calibration. Overall, these enhanced photographs will assist in achieving better results for future astronomy labs at UNH

Information Content of Polarization Measurements

Information entropy is applied to the state of knowledge of reaction amplitudes in pseudoscalar meson photoproduction, and a scheme is developed that quantifies the information content of a measured set of polarization observables. It is shown that this definition of information is a more practical measure of the quality of a set of measured observables than whether the combination is a mathematically complete set. It is also shown that when experimental uncertainty is introduced, complete sets of measurements do not necessarily remove ambiguities, and that experiments should strive to measure as many observables as practical in order to extract amplitudes.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures; figures updated, minor textual correction

Papermaking in Maine: Economic Trends from 1894 to 2000

This essay reviews the major economic trends in Maine’s paper industry since the late nineteenth century. It sets the context at national and regional levels, offers a broad statistical picture of the industry’s production in Maine, and concludes with a focus on Maine’s “mill towns.” Paper production is a branch of a larger industry that converts primary fiber — logs, chips, wastepaper, rags, or market pulp — into paper

Selection of an alternative production part approval process to improve weapon systems production readiness

This thesis conducted an examination related to the Department of Defense (DOD) weapons systems production approval practices. Current practices result in poor weapons system production outcomes that reduce fleet readiness in DOD weapons systems acquisition. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reported concerns related to a lack of manufacturing knowledge at production start as causal to poor production outcomes. A comparison of DOD practices against non-DOD industrial production approval processes addressing causality and improvement opportunity provided new insight not found in acquisition research. An analysis of alternatives identified best practices to improve production capability and readiness. Key findings revealed that the automotive production approval process followed industry best practices that fully addressed problems identified by the GAO. Non-DOD industries used a more prescriptive Quality Management System (QMS) that enabled a more disciplined manufacturing development and demonstration of production capability prior to production commitment. Commercial surveys in the literature confirmed the benefits of the automotive prescriptive QMS. The more successful QMS approach can be applied to DOD acquisition practices reducing costs and improving fleet readiness.http://archive.org/details/selectionofnlter1094556139Civilian, Department of the NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited