Design, fabrication, and structural testing of a lightweight shadow shield for deep-space application

Two full-scale, lightweight, double-sheeted shadow shields were developed as the primary element of a deep-space thermal protection system for liquid-hydrogen propellant tankage. The thermal and mechanical considerations used in s, the method of fabrication, and the environmental testing results on a prototype shield are discussed. Testing consisted of a transient cooldown period, a prolonged cold soak, and a transient warmup. The mechanical and thermal analyses used in the shield design are sufficient to produce a lightweight rugged shadow shield assembly that is structurally adequate for its intended application

Fiber Based Multiple-Access Optical Frequency Dissemination

We demonstrate a fiber based multiple-access optical frequency dissemination scheme. Without using any additional laser sources, we reproduce the stable disseminated frequency at an arbitrary point of fiber link. Relative frequency stability of 3E10^{-16}/s and 4E10^{-18}/10^4s is obtained. A branching fiber network for highly-precision synchronization of optical frequency is made possible by this method and its applications are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

A Remark on Boundary Effects in Static Vacuum Initial Data sets

Let (M, g) be an asymptotically flat static vacuum initial data set with non-empty compact boundary. We prove that (M, g) is isometric to a spacelike slice of a Schwarzschild spacetime under the mere assumption that the boundary of (M, g) has zero mean curvature, hence generalizing a classic result of Bunting and Masood-ul-Alam. In the case that the boundary has constant positive mean curvature and satisfies a stability condition, we derive an upper bound of the ADM mass of (M, g) in terms of the area and mean curvature of the boundary. Our discussion is motivated by Bartnik's quasi-local mass definition.Comment: 10 pages, to be published in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Optical guiding in meter-scale plasma waveguides

We demonstrate a new highly tunable technique for generating meter-scale low density plasma waveguides. Such guides can enable electron acceleration to tens of GeV in a single stage. Plasma waveguides are imprinted in hydrogen gas by optical field ionization induced by two time-separated Bessel beam pulses: The first pulse, a J_0 beam, generates the core of the waveguide, while the delayed second pulse, here a J_8 or J_16 beam, generates the waveguide cladding. We demonstrate guiding of intense laser pulses over hundreds of Rayleigh lengths with on axis plasma densities as low as N_e0=5x10^16 cm^-3

Certifying and removing disparate impact

What does it mean for an algorithm to be biased? In U.S. law, unintentional bias is encoded via disparate impact, which occurs when a selection process has widely different outcomes for different groups, even as it appears to be neutral. This legal determination hinges on a definition of a protected class (ethnicity, gender, religious practice) and an explicit description of the process. When the process is implemented using computers, determining disparate impact (and hence bias) is harder. It might not be possible to disclose the process. In addition, even if the process is open, it might be hard to elucidate in a legal setting how the algorithm makes its decisions. Instead of requiring access to the algorithm, we propose making inferences based on the data the algorithm uses. We make four contributions to this problem. First, we link the legal notion of disparate impact to a measure of classification accuracy that while known, has received relatively little attention. Second, we propose a test for disparate impact based on analyzing the information leakage of the protected class from the other data attributes. Third, we describe methods by which data might be made unbiased. Finally, we present empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of our test for disparate impact and our approach for both masking bias and preserving relevant information in the data. Interestingly, our approach resembles some actual selection practices that have recently received legal scrutiny.Comment: Extended version of paper accepted at 2015 ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Minin

On nearly m-supplemented subgroups of finite groups

A subgroup H is called nearly ℳ-supplemented in a finite group G if there exists a normal subgroup K of G such that HK ⊴ G and TK < HK for every maximal subgroup T of H. We obtain some new results on supersoluble groups and their formation by using nearly ℳ-supplemented subgroups and study the structure of finite groups.Підгрупу H називаємо майже M-доповненою в скінчєнній групі G, якщо існує нормальна підгрупа K групи G така, що HK ⊴ G i TK < HK для кожної максимальної підгрупи T групи H. Отримано деякі нові результати про суперрозв'язні групи та їх утворення за допомогою майже ℳ-доповнених підгруп та досліджено структуру скінченних груп

Neural network-based intrinsic structure relationship of TC20 titanium alloy for medical applications

Isothermal constant strain rate compression experiments were carried out on TC20 titanium alloy using a Gleeble- 1500 thermal simulation tester to investigate its high temperature flow behaviour at deformation temperatures of 750 - 900 °C and strain rates of 0,001 - 1 s-1. The results show that the flow stress basically decreases with increasing deformation temperature and increases with increasing strain rate. The correlation coefficients and mean relative errors were 0,998 and 5,06 % respectively, proving that the BP neural network-based intrinsic structure model is effective in predicting the flow stress of the alloy