A probabilistic model checking approach to analysing reliability, availability, and maintainability of a single satellite system

Satellites now form a core component for space based systems such as GPS and GLONAS which provide location and timing information for a variety of uses. Such satellites are designed to operate in-orbit and have lifetimes of 10 years or more. Reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) analysis of these systems has been indispensable in the design phase of satellites in order to achieve minimum failures or to increase mean time between failures (MTBF) and thus to plan maintainability strategies, optimise reliability and maximise availability. In this paper, we present formal modelling of a single satellite and logical specification of its reliability, availability and maintainability properties. The probabilistic model checker PRISM has been used to perform automated quantitative analyses of these properties

An Invariance Principle of G-Brownian Motion for the Law of the Iterated Logarithm under G-expectation

The classical law of the iterated logarithm (LIL for short)as fundamental limit theorems in probability theory play an important role in the development of probability theory and its applications. Strassen (1964) extended LIL to large classes of functional random variables, it is well known as the invariance principle for LIL which provide an extremely powerful tool in probability and statistical inference. But recently many phenomena show that the linearity of probability is a limit for applications, for example in finance, statistics. As while a nonlinear expectation--- G-expectation has attracted extensive attentions of mathematicians and economists, more and more people began to study the nature of the G-expectation space. A natural question is: Can the classical invariance principle for LIL be generalized under G-expectation space? This paper gives a positive answer. We present the invariance principle of G-Brownian motion for the law of the iterated logarithm under G-expectation

Carbon supported CdSe nanocrystals

Insights to the mechanism of CdSe nanoparticle attachment to carbon nanotubes following the hot injection method are discussed. It was observed that the presence of water improves the nanotube coverage while Cl containing media are responsible for the shape transformation of the nanoparticles and further attachment to the carbon lattice. The experiments also show that the mechanism taking place involves the right balance of several factors, namely, low passivated nanoparticle surface, particles with well-defined crystallographic facets, and interaction with an organics-free sp2 carbon lattice. Furthermore, this procedure can be extended to cover graphene by quantum dots.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Formation and kinetics of transient metastable states in mixtures under coupled phase ordering and chemical demixing

We present theory and simulation of simultaneous chemical demixing and phase ordering in a polymer-liquid crystal mixture in conditions where isotropic- isotropic phase separation is metastable with respect to isotropic-nematic phase transition. It is found that mesophase formation proceeds by a transient metastable phase that surround the ordered phase, and whose lifetime is a function of the ratio of diffusional to orientational mobilities. It is shown that kinetic phase ordering in polymer-mesogen mixtures is analogous to kinetic crystallization in polymer solutions.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures accepted for publication in EP

Detection of Geometric Phases in Flux Qubits with Coherent Pulses

We propose a experimentally feasible scheme to demonstrate the geometric phase in flux qubits by means of detuning coherent microwave pulse techniques. Through measuring the probability of the persistent current state in flux qubits, one can detect the Berry phase that is acquired with system's Hamiltonian adiabatical circular evolution in the parameter space. Furthermore, we show that one should choose an appropriate amplitude of pulses in an experiment to obtain high readout resolution when detuning frequency of pulses is fixed and controlled phase shift gates can be implemented based on the geometric phases by inductance coupling two flux qubits.Comment: 4pages,3figure

Rugged Metropolis Sampling with Simultaneous Updating of Two Dynamical Variables

The Rugged Metropolis (RM) algorithm is a biased updating scheme, which aims at directly hitting the most likely configurations in a rugged free energy landscape. Details of the one-variable (RM$_1$) implementation of this algorithm are presented. This is followed by an extension to simultaneous updating of two dynamical variables (RM$_2$). In a test with Met-Enkephalin in vacuum RM$_2$ improves conventional Metropolis simulations by a factor of about four. Correlations between three or more dihedral angles appear to prevent larger improvements at low temperatures. We also investigate a multi-hit Metropolis scheme, which spends more CPU time on variables with large autocorrelation times.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Revisions after referee reports. Additional simulations for temperatures down to 220

Petrology and In Situ Trace Element Chemistry of a Suite of R Chondrites

Rumuruti (R) chondrites are characterized by low chondrule/matrix modal ratios, high oxidation state, small mean chondrule size, abundant sulfides and low metal contents, and are of petrologic types 3 to 6 [1, 2]. LAP 04840 (R5, [3]) and MIL 11207 (R6), contain the high-T hydrous phases amphibole and mica [3, 4]; not all equilibrated R chondrites contain these [2]. R chondrites thus can provide evidence on whether there are compositional effects caused by high-T, high-fluid metamorphism of nebular materials. We are investigating a suite of R chondrites of diverse petrologic grades to further understand the nature of the metamorphic processes that engendered them [5]. We report on our petrological studies, plus preliminary in situ analyses of trace elements in amphibole-bearing R chondrites

Petrology and Cosmochemistry of a Suite of R Chondrites

Chondrites are among the most primitive surviving materials from the early solar system. They are divided into groups based on chemical types defined by mineralogy, bulk composition, and oxygen isotope compositions. Chondrites range in petrographic grade from type 1 to type 7. Type 3 chondrites are the most primitive and are little changed from the nebular solids accreted to form asteroids. They are composed of chondrules, fine-grained matrix, metal and sulfide, plus or minus Ca-Al-rich inclusions. With increasing aqueous alteration at low temperatures, members of some chondrite classes transformed from type 3 towards type 1. With increasing thermal metamorphism and low fluid content, members of other classes changed from type 3 towards type 7. Rumuruti (R) chondrites are a rare group (0.1% of falls) similar to ordinary chondrites in some properties but different in others. They are characterized by low chondrule/matrix modal abundance ratios, high oxidation state, small mean chondrule size, abundant sulfides and low metal contents. R chondrites vary in petrologic type from 3 to 6. They are important objects to study because some of them have undergone metamorphism at high temperatures in the presence of aqueous fluids. In contrast, CM and CI chondrites were heated to low temperatures in the presence of aqueous fluids leading to alteration; they contain low-T hydrous phases (phyllosilicates) and little or no remaining metal. Ordinary chondrites were heated to high temperatures in a low-fluid environment resulting in anhydrous metamorphic rocks. R6 chondrites are highly metamorphosed and some contain the high-T hydrous phases mica and amphibole. R chondrites are thus unique and give us an opportunity to examine whether there are compositional effects caused by high-T, highfluid metamorphism of nebular materials

Designing Bandwidth-Efficient Stabilizing Control Servers

Guaranteeing stability of control applications in embedded systems, or cyber-physical systems, is perhaps the alpha and omega of implementing such applications. However, as opposed to the classical real-time systems where often the acceptance criterion is meeting the deadline, control applications do not primarily enforce hard deadlines. In the case of control applications, stability is considered to be the main design criterion and can be expressed in terms of the amount of delay and jitter a control application can tolerate before instability. Therefore, new design and analysis techniques are required for embedded control systems. In this paper, the analysis and design of such systems considering server-based resource reservation mechanism are addressed. The benefits of employing servers are manifold: (1) providing a compositional framework, (2) protection against other tasks misbehaviors, and (3) systematic bandwidth assignment. We propose a methodology for designing bandwidth-efficient servers to stabilize control tasks

Additional Evidence for the Surface Origin of the Peculiar Angular-Dependent Magnetoresistance Oscillations Discovered in a Topological Insulator Bi_{1-x}Sb_{x}

We present detailed data on the unusual angular-dependent magnetoresistance oscillation phenomenon recently discovered in a topological insulator Bi_{0.91}Sb_{0.09}. Direct comparison of the data taken before and after etching the sample surface gives compelling evidence that this phenomenon is essentially originating from a surface state. The symmetry of the oscillations suggests that it probably comes from the (111) plane, and obviously a new mechanism, such as a coupling between the surface and the bulk states, is responsible for this intriguing phenomenon in topological insulators.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings manuscript for the 19th International Conference on the Application of High Magnetic Fields in Semiconductor Physics and Nanotechnology (HMF-19