Design, Development, and Testing of a Compound Wing V/TOL small UAS

This paper discusses the development and testing of an innovative small UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System). The design of the vehicle was driven by the need to both have long endurance yet still have the convenience of V/TOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) operation. The paper discusses some of the design considerations and configurations evaluated in searching for a configuration that met the demanding mission requirements. The paper also discusses some aspects of the compound wing and experimental testing conducted to discern the optimum parameters for the wing's design. The paper discusses the results of the preliminary flight testing and outlines further research to be conducted

Natural Selection on Thermal Performance in a Novel Thermal Environment

Tropical ectotherms are thought to be especially vulnerable to climate change because they are adapted to relatively stable temperature regimes, such that even small increases in environmental temperature may lead to large decreases in physiological performance. One way in which tropical organisms may mitigate the detrimental effects of warming is through evolutionary change in thermal physiology. The speed and magnitude of this response depend, in part, on the strength of climate-driven selection. However, many ectotherms use behavioral adjustments to maintain preferred body temperatures in the face of environmental variation. These behaviors may shelter individuals from natural selection, preventing evolutionary adaptation to changing conditions. Here, we mimic the effects of climate change by experimentally transplanting a population of Anolis sagrei lizards to a novel thermal environment. Transplanted lizards experienced warmer and more thermally variable conditions, which resulted in strong directional selection on thermal performance traits. These same traits were not under selection in a reference population studied in a less thermally stressful environment. Our results indicate that climate change can exert strong natural selection on tropical ectotherms, despite their ability to thermoregulate behaviorally. To the extent that thermal performance traits are heritable, populations may be capable of rapid adaptation to anthropogenic warming

Modeling Quantum Optical Components, Pulses and Fiber Channels Using OMNeT++

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is an innovative technology which exploits the laws of quantum mechanics to generate and distribute unconditionally secure cryptographic keys. While QKD offers the promise of unconditionally secure key distribution, real world systems are built from non-ideal components which necessitates the need to model and understand the impact these non-idealities have on system performance and security. OMNeT++ has been used as a basis to develop a simulation framework to support this endeavor. This framework, referred to as "qkdX" extends OMNeT++'s module and message abstractions to efficiently model optical components, optical pulses, operating protocols and processes. This paper presents the design of this framework including how OMNeT++'s abstractions have been utilized to model quantum optical components, optical pulses, fiber and free space channels. Furthermore, from our toolbox of created components, we present various notional and real QKD systems, which have been studied and analyzed.Comment: Published in: A. F\"orster, C. Minkenberg, G. R. Herrera, M. Kirsche (Eds.), Proc. of the 2nd OMNeT++ Community Summit, IBM Research - Zurich, Switzerland, September 3-4, 201

Small UAV Research and Evolution in Long Endurance Electric Powered Vehicles

This paper describes recent research into the advancement of small, electric powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capabilities. Specifically, topics include the improvements made in battery technology, design methodologies, avionics architectures and algorithms, materials and structural concepts, propulsion system performance prediction, and others. The results of prototype vehicle designs and flight tests are discussed in the context of their usefulness in defining and validating progress in the various technology areas. Further areas of research need are also identified. These include the need for more robust operating regimes (wind, gust, etc.), and continued improvement in payload fraction vs. endurance

Measuring Attitudes Toward the Rights of Indigenous People: An Index of Global Citizenship

Global citizenship has emerged as a key objective of liberal education.  Because the status of indigenous persons world-wide is inextricably linked to globalization and imperialism, mainstream culture students’ attitudes toward the rights of indigenous persons can be taken as an index of global citizenship.  The items comprising the Measure of Attitudes Toward the Rights of Indigenous Persons (MATRIP) draw directly from the United Nations’ 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  Twenty-three statements about indigenous peoples’ rights--as explicated in the UN Declaration--were transformed into Likert-type items measuring five dimensions: Preservation of Culture, Lands & Resources, Self-Governance, Restitution, and Services and Representation.  Questionnaires were administered to 226 undergraduates. MATRIP measurement properties were tested using confirmatory factor analysis. Results indicate that a final scale consisting of 20 items adequately measures the hypothesized dimensions. Potential uses for the scale are discussed in the context of education abroad

Collective excitation spectrum of a disordered Hubbard model

We study the collective excitation spectrum of a d=3 site-disordered Anderson-Hubbard model at half-filling, via a random-phase approximation (RPA) about broken-symmetry, inhomogeneous unrestricted Hartree-Fock (UHF) ground states. We focus in particular on the density and character of low-frequency collective excitations in the transverse spin channel. In the absence of disorder, these are found to be spin-wave-like for all but very weak interaction strengths, extending down to zero frequency and separated from a Stoner-like band, to which there is a gap. With disorder present, a prominent spin-wave-like band is found to persist over a wide region of the disorder-interaction phase plane in which the mean-field ground state is a disordered antiferromagnet, despite the closure of the UHF single-particle gap. Site resolution of the RPA excitations leads to a microscopic rationalization of the evolution of the spectrum with disorder and interaction strength, and enables the observed localization properties to be interpreted in terms of the fraction of strong local moments and their site-differential distribution.Comment: 25 pages (revtex), 9 postscript figure

Technology Challenges in Small UAV Development

Development of highly capable small UAVs present unique challenges for technology protagonists. Size constraints, the desire for ultra low cost and/or disposable platforms, lack of capable design and analysis tools, and unique mission requirements all add to the level of difficulty in creating state-of-the-art small UAVs. This paper presents the results of several small UAV developments, the difficulties encountered, and proposes a list of technology shortfalls that need to be addressed