Vector vortex coronagraph: first results in the visible

We report the status of JPL and JDSU ongoing technological developments and contrast results of the vector vortex coronagraph (VVC) made out of liquid crystal polymers (LCP). The first topological charge 4 VVC was tested on the high contrast imaging testbed (HCIT) around 800 nm, under vacuum and with active wavefront control (32x32 Xinetics deformable mirror). We measured the inner working angle or IWA (50% off-axis transmission) at ~ 1.8λ/d. A one-sided dark hole ranging from 3λ/d to 10λ/d was created in polarized light, showing a mean contrast of ~ 2 × 10^(-7) over a 10% bandwidth. This contrast was maintained very close in (3 λ/d) in a reduced 2% bandwidth. These tests begin to demonstrate the potential of the LCP technology in the most demanding application of a space-based telescope dedicated to extrasolar planet characterization. The main limitations were identified as coming from incoherent sources such as multiple reflections, and residual chromaticity. A second generation of improved masks tackling these issues is being manufactured and will be tested on the HCIT in the coming months

Mission analysis tool for turboelectric powered unmanned aircraft systems

This paper proposes an analytical model that calculates various flight parameters, such as peak maximum range for pre-determined configurations based on pre-built systems by the research group. The model serves as a tool to compare different turboelectric systems with respect to flight operability and assist in determining an optimal configuration for a select mission flight. This tool performs calculations with user inputs of leg type and altitudes, and battery specifications of capacity, voltage, and discharge rate. Calculations follow basic aerodynamic principles and relations to acquire other flight characteristics such as velocity, fuel burn, and rate of climb

Taking the vector vortex coronagraph to the next level for ground- and space-based exoplanet imaging instruments: review of technology developments in the USA, Japan, and Europe

The Vector Vortex Coronagraph (VVC) is one of the most attractive new-generation coronagraphs for ground- and space-based exoplanet imaging/characterization instruments, as recently demonstrated on sky at Palomar and in the laboratory at JPL, and Hokkaido University. Manufacturing technologies for devices covering wavelength ranges from the optical to the mid-infrared, have been maturing quickly. We will review the current status of technology developments supported by NASA in the USA (Jet Propulsion Laboratory-California Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, JDSU and BEAMCo), Europe (University of Li`ege, Observatoire de Paris- Meudon, University of Uppsala) and Japan (Hokkaido University, and Photonics Lattice Inc.), using liquid crystal polymers, subwavelength gratings, and photonics crystals, respectively. We will then browse concrete perspectives for the use of the VVC on upcoming ground-based facilities with or without (extreme) adaptive optics, extremely large ground-based telescopes, and space-based internal coronagraphs

A meta-analysis of outcome studies comparing bona fide psychotherapies: Empirically, “all must have prizes

This recta-analysis tested the Dodo bird conjecture, which states that when psychotherapies intended to be therapeutic are compared, the true differences among all such treatments are 0. Based on comparisons between treatments culled from 6 journals, it was found that the effect sizes were homogeneously distributed about 0, as was expected under the Dodo bird conjecture, and that under the most liberal assumptions, the upper bound of the true effect was about.20. Moreover, the effect sizes (a) were not related positively to publication date, indicating that improving research methods were not detecting effects, and (b) were not related to the similarity of the treatments, indicating that more dissimilar treatments did not produce larger effects, as would be expected if the Dodo bird conjecture was false. The evidence from these analyses supports the conjecture that the efficacy of bona fide treatments are roughly equivalent. In 1936, Rosenzweig proposed that common factors were responsible for the efficacy of psychotherapy and used the conclusion of the Dodo bird from Alice in Wonderland (Carroll, 1865/1962) to emphasize this point: "At last the Dodo said, 'Everybody has won, and all must have prizes ' " (p. 412). Later, Luborsky, Singer, and Luborsky ( 1975) reviewed the psychotherapy outcome literature, found that the psychotherapies reviewed were generally equivalent in terms of their outcomes, and decreed that the Dodo bird was correct. Since Luborsky et al.'s seminal review, the equivalence of outcome in psychotherapy has been called the Dodo bird effect. To many interested in the technical aspects of particular psychotherapies, the Dodo bird effect was distasteful and, on the face of it, unbelievable: If the indiscriminate distribution of prizes argument carried true conviction... we end up with the same advice for everyone--"Regardless of the nature of your problem seek any form of psychotherapy." This is absurd. We doubt whether even the strongest advocates of the Dodo bird argument dispense this advice. (Rachma

Grass-Root Enterprise Modeling: Issues and Potentials of Retrieving Models from Powerpoint

Part 2: Model DerivationInternational audienceEnterprise modeling (EM) is an established practice in many organizations, but the majority of stakeholders in organizations who produce content relevant for EM use drawing or presentation tools instead of formalized EM techniques. The model-like content of such drawings or presentations often is very valuable for enterprises which calls for a way of integrating it with “real” models and other structured knowledge sources in organizations. This paper investigates how the model-like content of Powerpoint presentations can be extracted and transformed to EM. The main contributions of the paper are (a) an approach for model extraction from Powerpoint, (b) identification of heterogeneities to be tackled during the extraction process and (c) a prototype implementation demonstrating the approach based on ADO.xx