5,372 research outputs found
The DSN programming system
The Deep Space Network programming system is described by a heuristic model. Interaction with two elements of that system, anomaly reporting and the MBASIC (trademark) language, is described in detail. Feedback from anomaly reporting indicates that the methodology resulted in a low anomaly rate and thereby also provided positive feedback. The need to reduce operating costs prompted the implementation of the MBASIC (trademark) language as a compiler
Standard practices for the implementation of computer software
A standard approach to the development of computer program is provided that covers the file cycle of software development from the planning and requirements phase through the software acceptance testing phase. All documents necessary to provide the required visibility into the software life cycle process are discussed in detail
Aggregates of two-dimensional vesicles: Rouleaux and sheets
Using both numerical and variational minimization of the bending and adhesion
energy of two-dimensional lipid vesicles, we study their aggregation, and we
find that the stable aggregates include an infinite number of vesicles and that
they arrange either in a columnar or in a sheet-like structure. We calculate
the stability diagram and we discuss the modes of transformation between the
two types of aggregates, showing that they include disintegration as well as
intercalation.Comment: 4 figure
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Ice supersaturation and the potential for contrail formation in a changing climate
Ice supersaturation (ISS) in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere is important for the formation
of cirrus clouds and long-lived contrails. Cold ISS (CISS) regions (taken here to be ice-supersaturated
regions with temperature below 233 K) are most relevant for contrail formation.We analyse projected changes to
the 250 hPa distribution and frequency of CISS regions over the 21st century using data from the Representative
Concentration Pathway 8.5 simulations for a selection of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 models.
The models show a global-mean, annual-mean decrease in CISS frequency by about one-third, from 11 to
7% by the end of the 21st century, relative to the present-day period 1979–2005. Changes are analysed in further
detail for three subregions where air traffic is already high and increasing (Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes)
or expected to increase (tropics and Northern Hemisphere polar regions). The largest change is seen in the tropics,
where a reduction of around 9 percentage points in CISS frequency by the end of the century is driven by
the strong warming of the upper troposphere. In the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes the multi-model-mean
change is an increase in CISS frequency of 1 percentage point; however the sign of the change is dependent not
only on the model but also on latitude and season. In the Northern Hemisphere polar regions there is an increase
in CISS frequency of 5 percentage points in the annual mean. These results suggest that, over the 21st century,
climate change may have large impacts on the potential for contrail formation; actual changes to contrail cover
will also depend on changes to the volume of air traffic, aircraft technology and flight routing
Spin gating electrical current
We use an aluminium single electron transistor with a magnetic gate to
directly quantify the chemical potential anisotropy of GaMnAs materials.
Uniaxial and cubic contributions to the chemical potential anisotropy are
determined from field rotation experiments. In performing magnetic field sweeps
we observe additional isotropic magnetic field dependence of the chemical
potential which shows a non-monotonic behavior. The observed effects are
explained by calculations based on the kinetic
exchange model of ferromagnetism in GaMnAs. Our device inverts the conventional
approach for constructing spin transistors: instead of spin-transport
controlled by ordinary gates we spin-gate ordinary charge transport.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Projected free energies for polydisperse phase equilibria
A `polydisperse' system has an infinite number of conserved densities. We
give a rational procedure for projecting its infinite-dimensional free energy
surface onto a subspace comprising a finite number of linear combinations of
densities (`moments'), in which the phase behavior is then found as usual. If
the excess free energy of the system depends only on the moments used, exact
cloud, shadow and spinodal curves result; two- and multi-phase regions are
approximate, but refinable indefinitely by adding extra moments. The approach
is computationally robust and gives new geometrical insights into the
thermodynamics of polydispersity.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX, uses multicol.sty and epsf.sty, 1 postscript figure
include
Reconfigurable Boolean Logic using Magnetic Single-Electron Transistors
We propose a novel hybrid single-electron device for reprogrammable low-power
logic operations, the magnetic single-electron transistor (MSET). The device
consists of an aluminium single-electron transistors with a GaMnAs magnetic
back-gate. Changing between different logic gate functions is realized by
reorienting the magnetic moments of the magnetic layer which induce a voltage
shift on the Coulomb blockade oscillations of the MSET. We show that we can
arbitrarily reprogram the function of the device from an n-type SET for
in-plane magnetization of the GaMnAs layer to p-type SET for out-of-plane
magnetization orientation. Moreover, we demonstrate a set of reprogrammable
Boolean gates and its logical complement at the single device level. Finally,
we propose two sets of reconfigurable binary gates using combinations of two
MSETs in a pull-down network
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A Lagrangian analysis of ice-supersaturated air over the North Atlantic
Understanding the nature of air parcels that exhibit ice-supersaturation is important because they are the regions of potential formation of both cirrus and aircraft contrails, which affect the radiation balance. Ice-supersaturated air parcels in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over the North Atlantic are investigated using Lagrangian trajectories. The trajectory calculations use ERA-Interim data for three winter and three summer seasons, resulting in approximately 200,000 trajectories with ice-supersaturation for each season. For both summer and winter, the median duration of ice-supersaturation along a trajectory is less than 6 hours. 5% of air which becomes ice-supersaturated in the troposphere, and 23% of air which becomes ice-supersaturated in the stratosphere will remain ice-supersaturated for at least 24 hours. Weighting the ice-supersaturation duration with the observed frequency indicates the likely overall importance of the longer duration ice-supersaturated trajectories. Ice-supersaturated air parcels typically experience a decrease in moisture content while ice-supersaturated, suggesting that cirrus clouds eventually form in the majority of such air. A comparison is made between short-lived (less than 24 h) and long-lived (greater than 24 h) ice-supersaturated air flows. For both air flows, ice-supersaturation occurs around the northernmost part of the trajectory. Short-lived ice-supersaturated air flows show no significant differences in speed or direction of movement to subsaturated air parcels. However, long-lived ice-supersaturated air occurs in slower moving air flows, which implies that they are not associated with the fastest moving air through a jet stream
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The dependence of minimum-time routes over the North Atlantic on cruise altitude
North Atlantic air traffic is broadly organised into a track system; daily sets of tracks are defined by air traffic control which are vertically stacked, such that the same set of tracks is used for all flight levels, regardless of any vertical variations in wind. This work uses minimum-time routes, previously shown to be a good proxy for the location of the North Atlantic track system, to understand whether vertical variations in wind speed and direction significantly affect minimum-time routes optimised at different altitudes; this is to examine whether (all other factors assumed equal) there is potential for improvements in fuel efficiency. The optimum cruise altitude over the North Atlantic is determined, focusing on the New York – London route. It is found that eastbound routes, which take advantage of the jet stream, are on average faster at 250 hPa (flight level (FL) 340) than at 300 hPa (FL300) or 200 hPa (FL390) by approximately 2 minutes (compared to the annual-mean route time of about 330 minutes, assuming a true air speed of 250 m s-1). For westbound routes, the route time increases with height: aircraft flying at 300 hPa are on average 3 minutes faster than at higher levels (the annual-mean optimum time being about 400 minutes). These estimates are compared with the time penalty which arises from flying a route optimized at 250 hPa at the other two altitudes. The time penalty is generally less than a minute, compared to the minimum-time routes calculated at those altitudes
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