Implementation Essays on Decision Support Systems

The "Task Force Meeting on Decision Support Systems (DSS)" held at IIASA in June 1980 has stimulated some new thinking in this area of research in the MMT group (Management and Technology Research Area). The discussion pointed out the important role that DSS can play in assisting decision makers. DSS should be seen as a complicated socio-technical system for solving relevant problems in the wider social context. This paper is oriented towards technical aspects of DSS, but human factors have been taken into account as well. It contains some points of view of implementation; it reviews some basic functions which are to be performed by DSS and techniques which can simplify DSS design. A possible implementation structure based on computer network theory is presented, and in addition, some of the problems involved are discussed The author Jan Janecek participated in the IIASA Young Scientists Summer Program 1980. He was attached to the MMT Research Area for three months. This report is one of the results of his work during that period

POLICING IRANIAN SANCTIONS: TRADE, IDENTITY, AND SMUGGLING NETWORKS IN THE ARABIAN GULF

There are continual debates regarding the effectiveness of United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) 1803 and 1929 as tools for limiting the Islamic Republic of Irans goals for a nuclear program. This thesis examines the enforceability of the maritime sections of both resolutions at the police level in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Arab nations along the Arabian Gulf have had long-standing maritime trade relations with Iran and the greater Indian Ocean that extend generations into history. This relationship led to the extensive merging of Arab and Persian cultures in the GCC, as well as the growth of an immigrant workforce from South Asia. With this influx of identities and nationalities, challenges were developed in enforcing both resolutions, specifically as it relates to the inspection of Iranian maritime cargo. Alongside this merging of cultures, is the growth of successful maritime drug-smuggling networks that weapons proliferators could exploit to intentionally violate UNSCR 1803 and 1929. Based on the challenges of maritime trade, cultural and national identity, as well as criminal activity, it is argued that both resolutions are an unnatural fit in the Arabian Gulf, and are therefore questionable as policy choices in the GCC countries.http://archive.org/details/policingiranians1094532840U.S. Special AgentApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Simple friction model of the guiding device of a mechanical system: mass, spring and damper

The paper presents a simple friction model containing two parts: dry and viscous friction. Friction model is built inside the model of the guiding device of a mechanical system consisting of a mass, linear spring and damper. System is excited by the movement of the base. Main idea of the presented algorithm is to split up the solution into several parts, which follow one after another in time, and to combine their results subsequently

Defects in High Entropy Alloy HfNbTaTiZr Prepared by High Pressure Torsion

High entropy alloy HfNbTaTiZr was successfully processed by severe plastic deformation using high pressure torsion (HPT) and ultrafine grained microstructure was achieved. The microstructure of HPT-deformed HfNbTaTiZr alloy was characterized by X-ray diffraction and compared with conventionally cast ingots. The lattice defects introduced by HPT processing were characterized by positron annihilation spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction profiles of HTP-deformed samples were extremely broadened due to small sizes of coherently diffracting domains and a high microstrain introduced by severe plastic deformation.11Ysciescopu

Single-molecule force spectroscopy quantification of adhesive forces in cucurbit[8]uril host-guest ternary complexes.

Cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]) heteroternary complexes display certain characteristics making them well-suited for molecular level adhesives. In particular, the ability to control adhesion through careful choice of host-guest binding pairs enables specific, fully reversible adhesion. Understanding the effect of the environment on the adhesive system is also critical when developing new molecular level adhesives. Here we explore the binding forces involved in the methyl viologen · CB[8] · napthol heteroternary complex using single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) under a variety of conditions. From SMFS, the interaction of a single ternary complex was found to be in the region of 140 pN. Additionally, a number of surface interactions could be readily differentiated using the SMFS technique allowing for a deeper understanding of the dynamic heteroternary CB[8] system on the single-molecule scale.This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Walters-Kundert Charitable Trust and an ERC Starting Investigator grant (ASPiRe, 240629). ZWK, ERJ, YL thank the Royal Society of Chemistry for a grant allowing travel to Tsinghua University to carry out this research. YY would like to acknowledge financial support from the Young Scientists of the National Science Foundation of China (21304052). YL thanks the Chinese Overseas Scholarship Trust for financial support. JdB thanks the Marie Curie Actions program for financial support. PEW thanks the Atomic Weapons and Energy Commission and the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis for financial support

Astroclimatic Characterization of Vallecitos: A candidate site for the Cherenkov Telescope Array at San Pedro Martir

We conducted an 18 month long study of the weather conditions of the Vallecitos, a proposed site in Mexico to harbor the northern array of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). It is located in Sierra de San Pedro Martir (SPM) a few kilometers away from Observatorio Astron\'omico Nacional. The study is based on data collected by the ATMOSCOPE, a multi-sensor instrument measuring the weather and sky conditions, which was commissioned and built by the CTA Consortium. Additionally, we compare the weather conditions of the optical observatory at SPM to the Vallecitos regarding temperature, humidity, and wind distributions. It appears that the excellent conditions at the optical observatory benefit from the presence of microclimate established in the Vallecitos.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, Publication of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, accepte

Single-molecule force spectroscopy quantification of adhesive forces in cucurbit[8]uril host-guest ternary complexes.

Cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]) heteroternary complexes display certain characteristics making them well-suited for molecular level adhesives. In particular, the ability to control adhesion through careful choice of host-guest binding pairs enables specific, fully reversible adhesion. Understanding the effect of the environment on the adhesive system is also critical when developing new molecular level adhesives. Here we explore the binding forces involved in the methyl viologen · CB[8] · napthol heteroternary complex using single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) under a variety of conditions. From SMFS, the interaction of a single ternary complex was found to be in the region of 140 pN. Additionally, a number of surface interactions could be readily differentiated using the SMFS technique allowing for a deeper understanding of the dynamic heteroternary CB[8] system on the single-molecule scale.This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Walters-Kundert Charitable Trust and an ERC Starting Investigator grant (ASPiRe, 240629). ZWK, ERJ, YL thank the Royal Society of Chemistry for a grant allowing travel to Tsinghua University to carry out this research. YY would like to acknowledge financial support from the Young Scientists of the National Science Foundation of China (21304052). YL thanks the Chinese Overseas Scholarship Trust for financial support. JdB thanks the Marie Curie Actions program for financial support. PEW thanks the Atomic Weapons and Energy Commission and the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis for financial support

Site 1220

Site 1220 (10°10.600´N, 142°45.503´W; 5218 meters below sea level (mbsl); Fig. F1) forms a southerly component of the 56-Ma transect drilled during Leg 199. It is situated about midway between the Clipperton and Clarion Fracture Zones in typical abyssal hill topography. On the basis of regional magnetic anomalies, we anticipated basement age at Site 1220 to be equivalent to Chron C25n (~56 Ma; Cande et al., 1989), slightly older than at Site 1219. At the outset of drilling at Site 1220, our estimate for total sediment depth was ~225 meters below seafloor (mbsf) (Fig. F2). Based upon a fixed hotspot model (Gripp and Gordon, 1990, for 0- to 5-Ma Pacific hotspot rotation pole; Engebretson et al., 1985, for older poles), Site 1220 should have been located ~3° south of the equator at 56 Ma and in an equatorial position at 40 Ma. Thus, Site 1220 should have been situated underneath the South Equatorial Current in the early Eocene. A nearby piston core (EW9709-13PC) taken during the site survey cruise recovered >16 m of red clay, with the base of the core dated as middle-early Miocene on the basis of radiolarian biostratigraphy (Lyle, 2000). Site 1220 will be used to study equatorial ocean circulation from the late Paleocene through the late Eocene during the early Cenozoic thermal maximum. Sediment records from this site will help to define the calcite compensation depth (CCD) and lysocline during the Paleocene-Eocene and Eocene-Oligocene transitions. In this and other respects, Site 1220 will act as an interesting analog to Site 1218. Both sites are thought to have been located on the equator at ~40 Ma, but the older crustal age anticipated at Site 1220 dictates a greater paleowater depth than for contemporaneous sediments accumulating at Site 1218

Site 1216

Site 1216 (21°27.16´N, 139°28.79´W; 5152 meters below sea level [mbsl]; Fig. F1) is situated in abyssal hill topography south of the Molokai Fracture Zone and two small associated unnamed parasitic fracture zones (Fig. F2). Based on magnetic lineations, Site 1216 appears to be situated on normal ocean crust formed during the C25r magnetic anomaly (~57 Ma; Atwater and Severinghaus, 1989). Site 1216 was chosen for drilling because it is near the thickest section of lower Eocene sediments along the 56-Ma transect, which was based upon the seismic stratigraphy of seismic reflection data acquired on site survey cruise EW9709 during transits between the proposed drill sites (Lyle et al., this volume; Moore et al., 2002). The Cenozoic history of sedimentation in this region was poorly constrained prior to Leg 199, being largely based on two Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) drill sites (40 and 41) and piston core data (EW9709-3PC) from ~1.5° in latitude to the south. Based on data from these drill sites, we expected the sedimentary sequence at Site 1216 to comprise red clays (a mixture of wind-blown dust and authigenic precipitates) overlying a biogenic sediment section composed of an upper middle Eocene radiolarian ooze and lower carbonate ooze deposited when the site was near the ridge crest in the late Paleocene and early Eocene. The broad paleoceanographic objectives of drilling the sedimentary sequence anticipated at Site 1216 are as follows: (1) to help define the shift in the Intertropical Convergence Zone through the Paleogene by following the change in eolian-dust composition and flux through time (red clays) and (2) to help define the latitudinal extent, composition, and mass accumulation of plankton communities in the north equatorial Pacific region thereby constraining ocean circulation patterns and the extent of the equatorial high-productivity belt in the Eocene ocean. Results from Site 1216 will also provide important information to test whether there was significant motion of the Hawaiian hotspot with respect to the Earth's spin axis during the early Cenozoic. At 56 Ma, the backtracked location of Site 1216 based upon a hotspot reference frame (Gripp and Gordon, 1990, for 0- to 5-Ma Pacific hotspot rotation pole; Engebretson et al., 1985, for older poles) is about 9°N, 108°W. If significant hotspot motion or true polar wander occurred since 57 Ma (Petronotis et al., 1994), this drill site could have been much nearer to the equator