5,295 research outputs found
The Johnson Space Center Experimental Impact Lab: Contributions Toward Understanding the Evolution of the Solar System
Impact is the most common and only weathering phenomenon affecting all the planetary bodies (e.g., planets, satellites, asteroids, comets, etc.) in the solar system. NASA Johnson Space Center s Experimental Impact Laboratory (EIL) includes three accelerators that are used in support of research into the effects of impact on the formation and evolution of the solar system. They permit researchers to study a wide variety of phenomena associated with high-velocity impacts into a wide range of geologic targets and materials relevant to astrobiological studies. By studying these processes, researchers can investigate the histories and evolution of planetary bodies and the solar system as a whole. While the majority of research conducted in the EIL addresses questions involving planetary impacts, work involving spacecraft components has been performed on occasion. An example of this is the aerogel collector material flown on the Stardust spacecraft that traveled to Comet Wild-2. This capture medium was tested and flight qualified using the 5 mm Light-Gas Gun located in the EIL
Rolling of asymmetric disks on an inclined plane
In a recent papers, Turner and Turner (2010 {\em Am. J. Phys.} {\bf 78}
905-7) and Jensen (2011 {\em Eur. J. Phys.} {\bf 32} 389-397) analysed the
motion of asymmetric rolling rigid bodies on a horizontal plane. These papers
addressed the common misconception that the instantaneous point of contact of
the rolling body with the plane can be used to evaluate the angular momentum
and the torque in the equation of motion
. To obtain the correct equation of motion,
the "phantom torque" or various rules that depend on the motion of the point
about which and are evaluated were discussed. In
this paper, I consider asymmetric disks rolling down an inclined plane and
describe the most basic way of obtaining the correct equation of motion; that
is, to choose the point about which and are
evaluated that is stationary in an inertial frame
The Chagos Islands cases: the empire strikes back
Good governance requires the accommodation of multiple interests in the cause of decision making. However, undue regard for particular sectional interests can take their toll upon public faith in government administration. Historically, broad conceptions of the good of the commonwealth were employed to outweigh the interests of groups that resisted colonisation. In the decision making of the British Empire, the standard approach for justifying the marginalisation of the interests of colonised groups was that they were uncivilised and that particular hardships were the price to be paid for bringing to them the imperial dividend of industrial society. It is widely assumed that with the dismantling of the British Empire, such impulses and their accompanying jurisprudence became a thing of the past. Even as decolonisation proceeded apace after the Second World War, however, the United Kingdom maintained control of strategically important islands with a view towards sustaining its global role. In an infamous example from this twilight period of empire, in the 1960s imperial interests were used to justify the expulsion of the Chagos islanders from the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). Into the twenty-first century, this forced elision of the UKâs interests with the imperial âcommon goodâ continues to take centre stage in courtroom battles over the islandersâ rights, being cited before domestic and international tribunals in order to maintain the Chagossiansâ exclusion from their homeland. This article considers the new jurisprudence of imperialism which has emerged in a string of decisions which have continued to marginalise the Chagossiansâ interests
The ambivalent shadow of the pre-Wilsonian rise of international law
The generation of American international lawyers who founded the American Society of International Law in 1906 and nurtured the soil for what has been retrospectively called a âmoralistic legalistic approach to international relationsâ remains little studied. A survey of the rise of international legal literature in the U.S. from the mid-19th century to the eve of the Great War serves as a backdrop to the examination of the boosting effect on international law of the Spanish American War in 1898. An examination of the Insular Cases before the US Supreme Court is then accompanied by the analysis of a number of influential factors behind the pre-war rise of international law in the U.S. The work concludes with an examination of the rise of natural law doctrines in international law during the interwar period and the critiques addressed.by the realist founders of the field of âinternational relationsâ to the âmoralistic legalistic approach to international relation
A new orthogonalization procedure with an extremal property
Various methods of constructing an orthonomal set out of a given set of
linearly independent vectors are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the
Gram-Schmidt and the Schweinler-Wigner orthogonalization procedures. A new
orthogonalization procedure which, like the Schweinler- Wigner procedure, is
democratic and is endowed with an extremal property is suggested.Comment: 7 pages, latex, no figures, To appear in J. Phys
One-loop Beta Functions for the Orientable Non-commutative Gross-Neveu Model
We compute at the one-loop order the beta-functions for a renormalisable
non-commutative analog of the Gross Neveu model defined on the Moyal plane. The
calculation is performed within the so called x-space formalism. We find that
this non-commutative field theory exhibits asymptotic freedom for any number of
colors. The beta-function for the non-commutative counterpart of the Thirring
model is found to be non vanishing.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure
Cognition-Enhancing Drugs: Can We Say No?
Normative analysis of cognition-enhancing drugs frequently weighs the liberty interests of drug users against egalitarian commitments to a level playing field. Yet those who would refuse to engage in neuroenhancement may well find their liberty to do so limited in a society where such drugs are widespread. To the extent that unvarnished emotional responses are world-disclosive, neurocosmetic practices also threaten to provide a form of faulty data to their users. This essay examines underappreciated liberty-based and epistemic rationales for regulating cognition-enhancing drugs
Tests of Basic Quantum Mechanics in Oscillation Experiments
According to standard quantum theory, the time evolution operator of a
quantum system is independent of the state of the system. One can, however,
consider systems in which this is not the case: the evolution operator may
depend on the density operator itself. The presence of such modifications of
quantum theory can be tested in long baseline oscillation experiments.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX; no macros neede
Noether symmetries for two-dimensional charged particle motion
We find the Noether point symmetries for non-relativistic two-dimensional
charged particle motion. These symmetries are composed of a quasi-invariance
transformation, a time-dependent rotation and a time-dependent spatial
translation. The associated electromagnetic field satisfy a system of
first-order linear partial differential equations. This system is solved
exactly, yielding three classes of electromagnetic fields compatible with
Noether point symmetries. The corresponding Noether invariants are derived and
interpreted
Field trials and test results of portable DVB-T systems with transmit delay diversity
This paper describes work carried out by Brunel University and Broadreach Systems (UK) to quantify the advantages that can be achieved if Transmit Diversity is applied to systems employing the DVB standard. The techniques investigated can be applied to standard receiver equipment without modification. An extensive and carefully planned field trial was performed during the winter of 2007/2008 in Uxbridge (UK) to validate predictions from theoretical modeling and laboratory simulations. The transmissions were performed in the 730 MHz frequency band with a DVB-T transmitter and a mean power of 18.4dBW. Transmit delay diversity has been observed to deliver significant reception improvement in automotive and indoor- non line of sight situations
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