Driver behaviour with adaptive cruise control

This paper reports on the evaluation of adaptive cruise control (ACC) from a psychological perspective. It was anticipated that ACC would have an effect upon the psychology of driving, i.e. make the driver feel like they have less control, reduce the level of trust in the vehicle, make drivers less situationally aware, but workload might be reduced and driving might be less stressful. Drivers were asked to drive in a driving simulator under manual and ACC conditions. Analysis of variance techniques were used to determine the effects of workload (i.e. amount of traffic) and feedback (i.e. degree of information from the ACC system) on the psychological variables measured (i.e. locus of control, trust, workload, stress, mental models and situation awareness). The results showed that: locus of control and trust were unaffected by ACC, whereas situation awareness, workload and stress were reduced by ACC. Ways of improving situation awareness could include cues to help the driver predict vehicle trajectory and identify conflicts

Consequence of superfluidity on the expansion of a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate

We study the time evolution of a rotating condensate, that expands after being suddenly released from the confining trap, by solving the hydrodynamic equations of irrotational superfluids. For slow initial rotation speeds, $\Omega_{0}$, we find that the condensate's angular velocity increases rapidly to a maximum value and this is accompanied by a minimum in the deformation of the condensate in the rotating plane. During the expansion the sample makes a global rotation of approximately $\pi/2$, where the exact value depends on $\Omega_{0}$. This minimum deformation can serve as an easily detectable signature of superfluidity in a Bose--Einstein condensate.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PR

Prospectus, October 17, 1984

SPORTS FEATURE LADY COBRAS TAKE IV INVITATIONAL; Assistance available; many services offered; Speech team takes honors; Goal is to overthrow the \u27masculine mind\u27; PC Happenings; Parkland hosts Foley exhibit; TV for Parents and Kids debuts; Workshop focuses on sexual abuse of young children; Career restructuring focus of workshop; Hearing topic for retirees; International students enrich us all; Did You Know...; Creative Corner...Especially for you!!; Paper Dolls Souls; History; Depression; Alone; Being & Becoming; So Much; Breakable Item; Thumbism; Diary; \u27Doom Story\u27-the terror escalates; Excerpts from Some Late Evening Thoughts While Anticipating That First Great Thunderstorm of a Dry Month; Midnight; Strength or weakness; The Ultimate Weapon; Photographer captures essence of traditional, contemporary Latin America; Celebrate the Arts Week; WPCD DJ likes job, Parkland; TV programs for parents scheduled; Classifieds; Peter Pan syndrome causes relationship problems; Experience Blues Explosion; Two comedians better than one; 1978 was cruel summer for Sullivan; 1984 is proving to be a sweet fall; Drive on to educate-issues important; Powell wins invitational; Stewart places 4th; Peterson prefers to use an eight-ironhttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1984/1008/thumbnail.jp

On the experimental verification of quantum complexity in linear optics

The first quantum technologies to solve computational problems that are beyond the capabilities of classical computers are likely to be devices that exploit characteristics inherent to a particular physical system, to tackle a bespoke problem suited to those characteristics. Evidence implies that the detection of ensembles of photons, which have propagated through a linear optical circuit, is equivalent to sampling from a probability distribution that is intractable to classical simulation. However, it is probable that the complexity of this type of sampling problem means that its solution is classically unverifiable within a feasible number of trials, and the task of establishing correct operation becomes one of gathering sufficiently convincing circumstantial evidence. Here, we develop scalable methods to experimentally establish correct operation for this class of sampling algorithm, which we implement with two different types of optical circuits for 3, 4, and 5 photons, on Hilbert spaces of up to 50,000 dimensions. With only a small number of trials, we establish a confidence >99% that we are not sampling from a uniform distribution or a classical distribution, and we demonstrate a unitary specific witness that functions robustly for small amounts of data. Like the algorithmic operations they endorse, our methods exploit the characteristics native to the quantum system in question. Here we observe and make an application of a "bosonic clouding" phenomenon, interesting in its own right, where photons are found in local groups of modes superposed across two locations. Our broad approach is likely to be practical for all architectures for quantum technologies where formal verification methods for quantum algorithms are either intractable or unknown.Comment: Comments welcom

Attention and automation: New perspectives on mental underload and performance

There is considerable evidence in the ergonomics literature that automation can significantly reduce operator mental workload. Furthermore, reducing mental workload is not necessarily a good thing, particularly in cases where the level is already manageable. This raises the issue of mental underload, which can be at least as detrimental to performance as overload. However, although it is widely recognized that mental underload is detrimental to performance, there are very few attempts to explain why this may be the case. It is argued in this paper that, until the need for a human operator is completely eliminated, automation has psychological implications relevant in both theoretical and applied domains. The present paper reviews theories of attention, as well as the literature on mental workload and automation, to synthesize a new explanation for the effects of mental underload on performance. Malleable attentional resources theory proposes that attentional capacity shrinks to accommodate reductions in mental workload, and that this shrinkage is responsible for the underload effect. The theory is discussed with respect to the applied implications for ergonomics research

Modeling Elasticity in Crystal Growth

A new model of crystal growth is presented that describes the phenomena on atomic length and diffusive time scales. The former incorporates elastic and plastic deformation in a natural manner, and the latter enables access to times scales much larger than conventional atomic methods. The model is shown to be consistent with the predictions of Read and Shockley for grain boundary energy, and Matthews and Blakeslee for misfit dislocations in epitaxial growth.Comment: 4 pages, 10 figure

The Samurai Project: verifying the consistency of black-hole-binary waveforms for gravitational-wave detection

We quantify the consistency of numerical-relativity black-hole-binary waveforms for use in gravitational-wave (GW) searches with current and planned ground-based detectors. We compare previously published results for the $(\ell=2,| m | =2)$ mode of the gravitational waves from an equal-mass nonspinning binary, calculated by five numerical codes. We focus on the 1000M (about six orbits, or 12 GW cycles) before the peak of the GW amplitude and the subsequent ringdown. We find that the phase and amplitude agree within each code's uncertainty estimates. The mismatch between the $(\ell=2,| m| =2)$ modes is better than $10^{-3}$ for binary masses above $60 M_{\odot}$ with respect to the Enhanced LIGO detector noise curve, and for masses above $180 M_{\odot}$ with respect to Advanced LIGO, Virgo and Advanced Virgo. Between the waveforms with the best agreement, the mismatch is below $2 \times 10^{-4}$. We find that the waveforms would be indistinguishable in all ground-based detectors (and for the masses we consider) if detected with a signal-to-noise ratio of less than $\approx14$, or less than $\approx25$ in the best cases.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures. Version accepted by PR

An Unbiased Survey of 500 Nearby Stars for Debris Disks: A JCMT Legacy Program

We present the scientific motivation and observing plan for an upcoming detection survey for debris disks using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. The SCUBA-2 Unbiased Nearby Stars (SUNS) Survey will observe 500 nearby main sequence and sub-giant stars (100 of each of the A, F, G, K and M spectral classes) to the 850 micron extragalactic confusion limit to search for evidence of submillimeter excess, an indication of circumstellar material. The survey distance boundaries are 8.6, 16.5, 22, 25 and 45 pc for M, K, G, F and A stars, respectively, and all targets lie between the declinations of -40 deg to 80 deg. In this survey, no star will be rejected based on its inherent properties: binarity, presence of planetary companions, spectral type or age. This will be the first unbiased survey for debris disks since IRAS. We expect to detect ~125 debris disks, including ~50 cold disks not detectable in current shorter wavelength surveys. A substantial amount of complementary data will be required to constrain the temperatures and masses of discovered disks. High resolution studies will likely be required to resolve many of the disks. Therefore, these systems will be the focus of future observational studies using a variety of observatories to characterize their physical properties. For non-detected systems, this survey will set constraints (upper limits) on the amount of circumstellar dust, of typically 200 times the Kuiper Belt mass, but as low as 10 times the Kuiper Belt mass for the nearest stars in the sample (approximately 2 pc).Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures (3 color), accepted by the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacifi

Comparison of prestellar core elongations and large-scale molecular cloud structures in the Lupus 1 region

Turbulence and magnetic fields are expected to be important for regulating molecular cloud formation and evolution. However, their effects on sub-parsec to 100 parsec scales, leading to the formation of starless cores, are not well understood. We investigate the prestellar core structure morphologies obtained from analysis of the Herschel-SPIRE 350 mum maps of the Lupus I cloud. This distribution is first compared on a statistical basis to the large-scale shape of the main filament. We find the distribution of the elongation position angle of the cores to be consistent with a random distribution, which means no specific orientation of the morphology of the cores is observed with respect to the mean orientation of the large-scale filament in Lupus I, nor relative to a large-scale bent filament model. This distribution is also compared to the mean orientation of the large-scale magnetic fields probed at 350 mum with the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Telescope for Polarimetry during its 2010 campaign. Here again we do not find any correlation between the core morphology distribution and the average orientation of the magnetic fields on parsec scales. Our main conclusion is that the local filament dynamics---including secondary filaments that often run orthogonally to the primary filament---and possibly small-scale variations in the local magnetic field direction, could be the dominant factors for explaining the final orientation of each core

The balloon-borne large-aperture submillimeter telescope for polarimetry: BLAST-Pol

The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLAST-Pol) is a suborbital mapping experiment designed to study the role played by magnetic fields in the star formation process. BLAST-Pol is the reconstructed BLAST telescope, with the addition of linear polarization capability. Using a 1.8 m Cassegrain telescope, BLAST-Pol images the sky onto a focal plane that consists of 280 bolometric detectors in three arrays, observing simultaneously at 250, 350, and 500 um. The diffraction-limited optical system provides a resolution of 30'' at 250 um. The polarimeter consists of photolithographic polarizing grids mounted in front of each bolometer/detector array. A rotating 4 K achromatic half-wave plate provides additional polarization modulation. With its unprecedented mapping speed and resolution, BLAST-Pol will produce three-color polarization maps for a large number of molecular clouds. The instrument provides a much needed bridge in spatial coverage between larger-scale, coarse resolution surveys and narrow field of view, and high resolution observations of substructure within molecular cloud cores. The first science flight will be from McMurdo Station, Antarctica in December 2010.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures Submitted to SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation Conference 201