Doctoral Recital

List of performers and performances

Microstructurally based variations on the dwell fatgue life of titanium alloy IMI 834

An experimental study was undertaken to determine the role of microstructure on the fatigue life reduction observed in titanium alloy IMI 834 under dwell loading conditions. The wave forms compared were a trapezoid with 15 and 30 second hold times at the maximum test load and a baseline, 10 Hertz, haversine. The stress ratio for both loading wave forms was 0.10. The fatigue loading of each specimen was conducted in a vacuum within a scanning electron microscope chamber which minimized the possibility that the laboratory environment would adversely affect the material behavior. Two microstructural conditions were investigated in the experimental program. The first involved standard 'disk' material with equiaxed alpha in a transformed beta matrix. The second material was cut from the same disk forging as the first but was heat treated to obtain a martensitic alpha prime microstructure. Tensile tests were performed prior to the onset of the fatigue loading portion of the study, and it was determined that the yield strengths of the specimens from both material conditions were within ten percent. The maximum fatigue loads were chosen to be 72 percent of the average yield strength for both materials as determined from the tensile tests. It was found that the cycles to failure from the 10 Hertz loading wave form were reduced by a factor of approximately five when the loading was changed to the trapezoidal wave form for the standard 'disk' material. The fatigue life reduction for the martensitic structure under identical test conditions was approximately 1.75. The improvement observed with the martensitic structure also was accompanied by an increase in overall fatigue life for the wave forms tested. This paper will review the results and conclusions of this effort

The Distance to the Coma Cluster from Surface Brightness Fluctuations

We report on the first determination of the distance to the Coma Cluster based on surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) measurements obtained from Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 observations of the bright E0 galaxy NGC 4881 in the Coma Cluster and ground-based observations of the standard E1 galaxy NGC 3379 in the Leo-I group. Relative distances based on the I-band fluctuation magnitude, I(SBF), are strongly dependent on metallicity and age of the stellar population. However, the radial changes in the stellar populations of the two giant ellipticals, NGC 3379 and NGC 4881, are well described by published Mg_2 gradients, and the ground-based measurements of I(SBF) at several radial points in NGC 3379 are used to calibrate I(SBF) in terms of the Mg_2 index. The distance to NGC 3379, assumed to be identical to the average SBF distance of the Leo-I group, is combined with the new SBF measurements of NGC 4881 to obtain a Coma Cluster distance of 102+-14 Mpc. Combining this distance with the cosmic recession velocity of Coma (7186+-428 km/s), we find the Hubble constant to be H_0 = 71+-11 km/s/Mpc.Comment: 12 pages, LaTex, includes aaspp4.sty and 3 eps figures. To appear in ApJ Letter

Complete characterization of ultrashort pulse sources at 1550 nm

This paper reviews the use of frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) to characterize mode-locked lasers producing ultrashort pulses suitable for high-capacity optical communications systems at wavelengths around 1550 nm, Second harmonic generation (SHG) FROG is used to characterize pulses from a passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser, and both single-mode and dual-mode gain-switched semiconductor lasers. The compression of gain-switched pulses in dispersion compensating fiber is also studied using SHG-FROG, allowing optimal compression conditions to be determined without a priori assumptions about pulse characteristics. We also describe a fiber-based FROG geometry exploiting cross-phase modulation and show that it is ideally suited to pulse characterization at optical communications wavelengths. This technique has been used to characterize picosecond pulses with energy as low as 24 pJ, giving results in excellent agreement with SHG-FROG characterization, and without any temporal ambiguity in the retrieved puls

The Local-Time Variation of the Quiet Plasmasphere: Geosynchronous Observations and Kinetic Theory

The quiet-time structure of the plasmaspheric density was investigated using observations of the Los Alamos geosynchronous satellites, and these observations were compared with theoretical predictions of the quasi-static localtime variation by a kinetic model. It was found that the coupling to the ionosphere (via the local-time variation of the exobase) played a key role in determining the density structure at 6.6 RE. The kinetic model predicts that most of the local-time variation at geosynchronous orbit is due to the variation of the exobase parameters. During quiet times, when the convection electric field is dominated by the corotation field, the effects due to flux-tube convection are less prominent than those due to the exobase variation. In addition, the kinetic model predicts that the geosynchronous plasmaspheric density level is at most only 25% of saturation density, even when geomagnetic activity is low. The low night-time densities of the ionospheric footpoints, and the subsequent long trapping time scales, prevent the equatorial densities from reaching saturatio

Name That Tune

Tenor Mark Thomsen performs with leading opera and orchestral companies throughout North America and Europe. Having made his Metropollitan Opera debut in December of 2008 Mr. Thomsen has also performed with New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera, Vienna Volksoper, Vienna Staatsoper and Houston Grand Opera. Upcoming highlights for 2010-11 include Strauss\u27 Capriccio with The Metropolitan Opera, Puccini concerts in Italy (excerpts from La Boheme ,and Madame Butterfly), Handel\u27s, Messiah in Las Vegas and various gala popera concerts throughout the United States. Pianist Barbara Riske has played with several groups locally including the Las Vegas Philharmonic, the Nevada Chamber Symphony, Nevada Ballet Theater, Opera Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Flute Club, the Las Vegas Music Festival, the Las Vegas Woodwind Quintet and the Sierra Winds. She has also performed in chamber concerts throughout the U.S., and in March 2002, performed for the second time at Carnegie Hall in New York City

Understanding leadership in a world of shared problems: advancing network governance in large landscape conservation

Conservation of large landscapes requires three interconnected types of leadership: collaborative leadership, in which network members share leadership functions at different points in time; distributive leadership, in which network processes provide local opportunities for members to act proactively for the benefit of the network; and architectural leadership, in which the structure of the network is intentionally designed to allow network processes to occur. In network governance, each leadership approach is necessary to achieve sustained, successful outcomes. We discuss each of these approaches to leadership and offer specific practices for leaders of networks, including: shaping the network's identity and vision, attracting members, instilling leadership skills in members, and advancing common interests. These practices are then illustrated in case studies