Fuselage structure using advanced technology fiber reinforced composites

A fuselage structure is described in which the skin is comprised of layers of a matrix fiber reinforced composite, with the stringers reinforced with the same composite material. The high strength to weight ratio of the composite, particularly at elevated temperatures, and its high modulus of elasticity, makes it desirable for use in airplane structures

Gauss-Bonnet black holes with non-constant curvature horizons

We investigate static and dynamical n(\ge 6)-dimensional black holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity of which horizons have the isometries of an (n-2)-dimensional Einstein space with a condition on its Weyl tensor originally given by Dotti and Gleiser. Defining a generalized Misner-Sharp quasi-local mass that satisfies the unified first law, we show that most of the properties of the quasi-local mass and the trapping horizon are shared with the case with horizons of constant curvature. It is shown that the Dotti-Gleiser solution is the unique vacuum solution if the warp factor on the (n-2)-dimensional Einstein space is non-constant. The quasi-local mass becomes constant for the Dotti-Gleiser black hole and satisfies the first law of the black-hole thermodynamics with its Wald entropy. In the non-negative curvature case with positive Gauss-Bonnet constant and zero cosmological constant, it is shown that the Dotti-Gleiser black hole is thermodynamically unstable. Even if it becomes locally stable for the non-zero cosmological constant, it cannot be globally stable for the positive cosmological constant.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure; v2, discussion clarified and references added; v3, published version; v4, Eqs.(4.22)-(4.24) corrected, which do not change Eqs.(4.25)-(4.27

On solving trust-region and other regularised subproblems in optimization

The solution of trust-region and regularisation subproblems which arise in unconstrained optimization is considered. Building on the pioneering work of Gay, Mor´e and Sorensen, methods which obtain the solution of a sequence of parametrized linear systems by factorization are used. Enhancements using high-order polynomial approximation and inverse iteration ensure that the resulting method is both globally and asymptotically at least superlinearly convergent in all cases, including in the notorious hard case. Numerical experiments validate the effectiveness of our approach. The resulting software is available as packages TRS and RQS as part of the GALAHAD optimization library, and is especially designed for large-scale problems

Justice: 1850s San Francisco and the California Gold Rush

Using stories from the 1848-1851 California gold miners, the 1851 San Francisco vigilante committees, Nazi concentration camps of the 1940s, and wagon trains of American westward migration in the 1840s, the chapter illustrates that it is part of human nature to see doing justice as a value in itself—in people’s minds it is not dependent for justification on the practical benefits it brings. Having justice done is sufficiently important to people that they willingly suffer enormous costs to obtain it, even when they were neither hurt by the wrong nor in a position to benefit from punishing the wrongdoer.This is Chapter 4 from the general audience book Pirates, Prisoners, and Lepers: Lessons from Life Outside the Law (Potomac Books 2015). Included is a table of contents for the book and a summary of the line of argument of all of its chapters. (Chapter 3 of the book is also available on SSRN at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2413875)

Trigger Crimes & Social Progress: The Tragedy-Outrage-Reform Dynamic in America

Can a crime make our world better? Crimes are the worst of humanity’s wrongs but, oddly, they sometimes do more than anything else to improve our lives. It is often the outrageousness itself that does the work. Ordinary crimes are accepted as the background noise of everyday existence but some crimes make people stop and take notice – because they are so outrageous or so heart-wrenching. This brief essay explores the dynamic of tragedy, outrage, and reform, illustrating how certain kinds of crimes can trigger real social progress. Several dozen such “trigger crimes” are identified but four in particular are used as case studies to investigate the most interesting questions: Why do some tragedies produce broad outrage while others, often of a very similar nature, do not? Why do some outrages produce reform while others, often with greater claims to outrageousness, do not? The tragedy-outrage-reform dynamic is sometimes society responding to a new problem, sometimes society finding in new solution to an old problem, and sometimes the product of changing societal norms. As it happens, these three different contexts have some explanatory power in understanding why and when the dynamic operates as it does. Also examined is the period following the tragedy-outrage-reform dynamic, which often reveals a serious gap between legislative reform and real-world change. On the other hand, it is also common that reforms, especially those generated by the tragedy-outrage-reform dynamic, go too far and require further revision to undo the excesses

An Evaluation of a Battery of Functional and Structural Tests as Predictors of Likely Risk of Progression of Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Purpose: To evaluate the ability of visual function and structural tests to identify the likely risk of progression from early/intermediate to advanced AMD, using the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) simplified scale as a surrogate for risk of progression. The secondary aim was to determine the relationship between disease severity grade and the observed functional and structural deficits. Methods: A total of 100 participants whose AMD status varied from early to advanced were recruited. Visual function was assessed using cone dark adaptation, 14 Hz flicker and chromatic threshold tests and retinal structure was assessed by measuring drusen volume and macular thickness. The predictive value of the tests was estimated using ordinal regression analysis. Group comparisons were assessed using analysis of covariance. Results: Change in cone dark adaptation (cone τ) and yellow-blue (YB) chromatic sensitivity were independent predictors for AMD progression risk (cone τ, pseudo R2 = 0.35, P < 0.001; YB chromatic threshold, pseudo R2 = 0.16, P < 0.001). The only structural predictor was foveal thickness (R2 = 0.05, P = 0.047). Chromatic sensitivity and cone dark adaptation were also the best functional tests at distinguishing between severity groups. Drusen characteristics clearly differentiated between participants with early and advanced disease, but were not able to differentiate between those with early AMD and controls. Mean differences in retinal thickness existed between severity groups at the foveal (P = 0.040) and inner (P = 0.001) subfields. Conclusions: This study indicates that cone τ, YB chromatic threshold and foveal thickness are independent predictors of likely risk of AMD progression

Punishment: Drop City and the Utopian Communes

Using stories from the utopian non-punishment hippie communes of the late 1960\u27s, the essay challenges today’s anti-punishment movement by demonstrating that the benefits of cooperative action are available only with the adoption of a system for punishing violations of core rules. Rather than being an evil system anathema to right-thinking people, punishment is the lynchpin of the cooperative action that has created human success. This is Chapter 3 from the general audience book Pirates, Prisoners, and Lepers: Lessons from Life Outside the Law. Chapter 4 of the book is also available on SSRN at http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2416484)

TRAGEDY, OUTRAGE & REFORM Crimes That Changed Our World: 1911 – Triangle Factory Fire – Building Safety Codes

Can a crime make our world better? Crimes are the worst of humanity’s wrongs but, oddly, they sometimes do more than anything else to improve our lives. As it turns out, it is often the outrageousness itself that does the work. Ordinary crimes are accepted as the background noise of our everyday existence but some crimes make people stop and take notice – because they are so outrageous, or so curious, or so heart-wrenching. These “trigger crimes” are the cases that this book is about. They offer some incredible stories about how people, good and bad, change the world around them by energizing, or disgusting, the rest of us. The images are striking: a burning river, a hundred poisoned children, falling flaming bodies, four dead little girls in their Sunday best, collapsing skyscrapers, and indifferent police watching a wife get beaten. The stories show us how a single individual can make an enormous difference. The mother whose daughter is killed by a drunk driver ends up changing the way we think about drunk driving. The government attorney who figures out how to protect witnesses against the Mafia creates a flood of organized crime defections. A black minister who creates his own vigilante squad starts the war on drugs. The stories also show how far we have come even within the memory of people still living. We take for granted much of the world around us, but things were very different not long ago. Imagine a world where stores regularly sell contaminated food and adulterated drugs, where many buildings are veritable death traps, and where flagrant financial wrongdoing is accepted as a natural corollary to capitalism. This is our not-too-distant past. Perhaps most striking in these tales is what they reveal about the nature of progress. We would like to think it is orderly and rational, but in truth it is often chaotic and unpredictable. Who would have guessed that a single kidnapping would create the federalization of criminal law, that a particular sniper would lead to the creation of SWAT teams, or that an attack on a New York Street would inspire the national 9-1-1 system? At the same time, the stories are comforting in the apparent inevitability of American progress. Our progress may be messy but it is relentless. As a bonus, the stories, presented in chronological order, walk the reader through some of the most interesting parts of American social and political history: the Progressive era of the 1900s, Prohibition in the 1920s, the Depression in the 1930s, the inward focus of the post-World War II 1950s, the social revolution of the 1960s, the rise of global terrorism in the 1970s and militant Islam in the 1980s, and the expansion of the global economy in the 2000s. The book’s ultimate success is in presenting riveting accounts of human stories that taken together provide important insights into foundational issues like the nature of social progress. Presented here is the first chapter of the book: the story of the 1911 Triangle Factory fire, which was horrific in its effect and came at just the right time of political and social development so as to trigger a widespread outrage that ultimately led to a tectonic shift in how our society, and eventually the world, dealt with building safety