187,006 research outputs found
Low cost, formable, high T(sub c) superconducting wire
A ceramic superconductivity part such as a wire is produced through the partial oxidation of a specially formulated copper alloy in the core. The alloys contain low level quantities of rare earth and alkaline earth dopant elements. Upon oxidation at high temperature, superconducting oxide phases are formed as a thin film
Bayesian Updating, Model Class Selection and Robust Stochastic Predictions of Structural Response
A fundamental issue when predicting structural response by using mathematical models is how to treat both modeling and excitation uncertainty. A general framework for this is presented which uses probability as a multi-valued
conditional logic for quantitative plausible reasoning in the presence of uncertainty due to incomplete information. The
fundamental probability models that represent the structure’s uncertain behavior are specified by the choice of a stochastic
system model class: a set of input-output probability models for the structure and a prior probability distribution over this set
that quantifies the relative plausibility of each model. A model class can be constructed from a parameterized deterministic
structural model by stochastic embedding utilizing Jaynes’ Principle of Maximum Information Entropy. Robust predictive
analyses use the entire model class with the probabilistic predictions of each model being weighted by its prior probability, or if
structural response data is available, by its posterior probability from Bayes’ Theorem for the model class. Additional robustness
to modeling uncertainty comes from combining the robust predictions of each model class in a set of competing candidates
weighted by the prior or posterior probability of the model class, the latter being computed from Bayes’ Theorem. This higherlevel application of Bayes’ Theorem automatically applies a quantitative Ockham razor that penalizes the data-fit of more
complex model classes that extract more information from the data. Robust predictive analyses involve integrals over highdimensional spaces that usually must be evaluated numerically. Published applications have used Laplace's method of
asymptotic approximation or Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms
The Rationalist Tradition At Trial
Analysis of Evidence: How to Do Things With Facts Based On Wigmore\u27s Science of Judicial Proof, By Terrence Anderson and William Twining (with an Appendix on Probablity and Proof by Philip Dawid). Little, Brown and Company, and London: George Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Ltd., 1991. Pp. 457. $22.00. (Teacher\u27s Manual. Pp. 181
The Invisible Forest: Conservation Easement Databases and the End of the Clandestine Conservation of Natural Lands
Olmsted talks about invisible forest refers to forest lands -- and, for that matter, any other land types -- protected by a perpetual conservation easement, the existence and location of which are concealed from the public, whether deliberately or because of the opaque nature of the easement process. Because easements, like other forms of deeds, must be recorded at the local land registry or recorder\u27s office, they can never be made undiscoverable. But, despite the efforts of some states and conservation organizations to compile conservation easement data for public consumption, there are few functional systems that comprehensively track and provide easy access to conservation easement data
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