3,680 research outputs found
Performance Testing of APC Electric Fixed-Blade UAV Propellers
The increase in popularity of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been driven by their use in civilian, education, government, and military applications. However, limited on-board energy storage significantly limits flight time and ultimately usability. The propulsion system plays a critical part in the overall energy consumption of the UAV; therefore, it is necessary to determine the most optimal combination of possible propulsion system components for a given mission profile, i.e., propellers, motors, and electronic speed controllers (ESC). Hundreds of options are available for the different components with little performance specifications available for most of them. APC Thin Electric propellers were identified as the most commonly used type of commercial-off-the-shelf propeller. However, little performance data exist in the open literature for the APC Thin Electric propellers with larger diameters. This paper describes the performance testing of 17 APC Thin Electric 2-bladed, fixed propellers with diameters of 12 to 21 in with various pitch values. The propellers were tested at rotation rates of 1,000 to 7,000 RPM and advancing flows of 8 to 80 ft/s, depending on the propeller and testing equipment limitations. Results are presented for the 17 propellers tested under static and advancing flow conditions with several key observations being discussed. The data produced will be available for download on the UIUC Propeller Data Site and on the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Database
Injury severity and serum amyloid A correlate with plasma oxidation-reduction potential in multi-trauma patients: a retrospective analysis
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In critical injury, the occurrence of increased oxidative stress or a reduced antioxidant status has been observed. The purpose of this study was to correlate the degree of oxidative stress, by measuring the oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) of plasma in the critically injured, with injury severity and serum amyloid A (SAA) levels.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 140 subjects were included in this retrospective study comprising 3 groups: healthy volunteers (N = 21), mild to moderate trauma (ISS < 16, N = 41), and severe trauma (ISS ≥ 16, N = 78). For the trauma groups, plasma was collected on an almost daily basis during the course of hospitalization. ORP analysis was performed using a microelectrode, and ORP maxima were recorded for the trauma groups. SAA, a sensitive marker of inflammation in critical injury, was measured by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>ORP maxima were reached on day 3 (± 0.4 SEM) and day 5 (± 0.5 SEM) for the ISS < 16 and ISS ≥ 16 groups, respectively. ORP maxima were significantly higher in the ISS < 16 (-14.5 mV ± 2.5 SEM) and ISS ≥ 16 groups (-1.1 mV ± 2.3 SEM) compared to controls (-34.2 mV ± 2.6 SEM). Also, ORP maxima were significantly different between the trauma groups. SAA was significantly elevated in the ISS ≥ 16 group on the ORP maxima day compared to controls and the ISS < 16 group.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results suggest the presence of an oxidative environment in the plasma of the critically injured as measured by ORP. More importantly, ORP can differentiate the degree of oxidative stress based on the severity of the trauma and degree of inflammation.</p
Security of practical private randomness generation
Measurements on entangled quantum systems necessarily yield outcomes that are
intrinsically unpredictable if they violate a Bell inequality. This property
can be used to generate certified randomness in a device-independent way, i.e.,
without making detailed assumptions about the internal working of the quantum
devices used to generate the random numbers. Furthermore these numbers are also
private, i.e., they appear random not only to the user, but also to any
adversary that might possess a perfect description of the devices. Since this
process requires a small initial random seed, one usually speaks of
device-independent randomness expansion.
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we point out that in most real,
practical situations, where the concept of device-independence is used as a
protection against unintentional flaws or failures of the quantum apparatuses,
it is sufficient to show that the generated string is random with respect to an
adversary that holds only classical-side information, i.e., proving randomness
against quantum-side information is not necessary. Furthermore, the initial
random seed does not need to be private with respect to the adversary, provided
that it is generated in a way that is independent from the measured systems.
The devices, though, will generate cryptographically-secure randomness that
cannot be predicted by the adversary and thus one can, given access to free
public randomness, talk about private randomness generation.
The theoretical tools to quantify the generated randomness according to these
criteria were already introduced in [S. Pironio et al, Nature 464, 1021
(2010)], but the final results were improperly formulated. The second aim of
this paper is to correct this inaccurate formulation and therefore lay out a
precise theoretical framework for practical device-independent randomness
expansion.Comment: 18 pages. v3: important changes: the present version focuses on
security against classical side-information and a discussion about the
significance of these results has been added. v4: minor changes. v5: small
typos correcte
Phthalate esters used as plasticizers in packed red blood cell storage bags may lead to progressive toxin exposure and the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines
Phthalate esters (PE's) are plasticizers used to soften PVC-based medical devices. PE's are the most abundant man-made pollutants and increase the risk of developing an allergic respiratory disease or a malignancy. The leaching of PE's in donated packed red blood cells (PRBC) during storage was assessed. PRBC transfusion bags containing CPD/AS-1 (ADSOL) buffer were analyzed. Samples were collected on storage day 1 and day 42. Two PE's, di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), were measured by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LCMS). Interleukin-8 (IL-8) was measured by standard ELISA techniques. DEHP significantly increased from 34.3 µM (±20.0 SD) on day 1 to 433.2 µM (±131.2 SD) on day 42, a 12.6-fold increase. Similarly, MEHP significantly increased from 3.7 µM (±2.8 SD) on day 1 to 74.0 µM (±19.1 SD) on day 42, a 20.2-fold increase. Also, DEHP and MEHP increased the release of IL-8 from human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). The transfusion of older units of PRBC could lead to an accumulation of PE's possibly resulting in inflammation and other effects. This accumulation could be exacerbated due to the decreased metabolism of PE's since trauma patients have a lower esterase activity, the enzymes responsible for metabolizing PE's. The effect of oxidative stress caused by PE's is discussed as a potential mechanism for increases in inflammation caused by older units of PRBC
One-way quantum key distribution: Simple upper bound on the secret key rate
We present a simple method to obtain an upper bound on the achievable secret
key rate in quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols that use only
unidirectional classical communication during the public-discussion phase. This
method is based on a necessary precondition for one-way secret key
distillation; the legitimate users need to prove that there exists no quantum
state having a symmetric extension that is compatible with the available
measurements results. The main advantage of the obtained upper bound is that it
can be formulated as a semidefinite program, which can be efficiently solved.
We illustrate our results by analysing two well-known qubit-based QKD
protocols: the four-state protocol and the six-state protocol. Recent results
by Renner et al., Phys. Rev. A 72, 012332 (2005), also show that the given
precondition is only necessary but not sufficient for unidirectional secret key
distillation.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
Tricolored Lattice Gauge Theory with Randomness: Fault-Tolerance in Topological Color Codes
We compute the error threshold of color codes, a class of topological quantum
codes that allow a direct implementation of quantum Clifford gates, when both
qubit and measurement errors are present. By mapping the problem onto a
statistical-mechanical three-dimensional disordered Ising lattice gauge theory,
we estimate via large-scale Monte Carlo simulations that color codes are stable
against 4.5(2)% errors. Furthermore, by evaluating the skewness of the Wilson
loop distributions, we introduce a very sensitive probe to locate first-order
phase transitions in lattice gauge theories.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl
Spectrum radial velocity analyser (SERVAL). High-precision radial velocities and two alternative spectral indicators
Context: The CARMENES survey is a high-precision radial velocity (RV)
programme that aims to detect Earth-like planets orbiting low-mass stars.
Aims: We develop least-squares fitting algorithms to derive the RVs and
additional spectral diagnostics implemented in the SpEctrum Radial Velocity
Analyser (SERVAL), a publicly available python code.
Methods: We measured the RVs using high signal-to-noise templates created by
coadding all available spectra of each star.We define the chromatic index as
the RV gradient as a function of wavelength with the RVs measured in the
echelle orders. Additionally, we computed the differential line width by
correlating the fit residuals with the second derivative of the template to
track variations in the stellar line width.
Results: Using HARPS data, our SERVAL code achieves a RV precision at the
level of 1m/s. Applying the chromatic index to CARMENES data of the active star
YZ CMi, we identify apparent RV variations induced by stellar activity. The
differential line width is found to be an alternative indicator to the commonly
used full width half maximum.
Conclusions: We find that at the red optical wavelengths (700--900 nm)
obtained by the visual channel of CARMENES, the chromatic index is an excellent
tool to investigate stellar active regions and to identify and perhaps even
correct for activity-induced RV variations.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures. A&A in press. Code is available at
https://github.com/mzechmeister/serva
Reduced order models for control of fluids using the Eigensystem Realization Algorithm
In feedback flow control, one of the challenges is to develop mathematical
models that describe the fluid physics relevant to the task at hand, while
neglecting irrelevant details of the flow in order to remain computationally
tractable. A number of techniques are presently used to develop such
reduced-order models, such as proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), and
approximate snapshot-based balanced truncation, also known as balanced POD.
Each method has its strengths and weaknesses: for instance, POD models can
behave unpredictably and perform poorly, but they can be computed directly from
experimental data; approximate balanced truncation often produces vastly
superior models to POD, but requires data from adjoint simulations, and thus
cannot be applied to experimental data.
In this paper, we show that using the Eigensystem Realization Algorithm (ERA)
\citep{JuPa-85}, one can theoretically obtain exactly the same reduced order
models as by balanced POD. Moreover, the models can be obtained directly from
experimental data, without the use of adjoint information. The algorithm can
also substantially improve computational efficiency when forming reduced-order
models from simulation data. If adjoint information is available, then balanced
POD has some advantages over ERA: for instance, it produces modes that are
useful for multiple purposes, and the method has been generalized to unstable
systems. We also present a modified ERA procedure that produces modes without
adjoint information, but for this procedure, the resulting models are not
balanced, and do not perform as well in examples. We present a detailed
comparison of the methods, and illustrate them on an example of the flow past
an inclined flat plate at a low Reynolds number.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure
The generalized 3-edge-connectivity of lexicographic product graphs
The generalized -edge-connectivity of a graph is a
generalization of the concept of edge-connectivity. The lexicographic product
of two graphs and , denoted by , is an important graph
product. In this paper, we mainly study the generalized 3-edge-connectivity of
, and get upper and lower bounds of .
Moreover, all bounds are sharp.Comment: 14 page
CARMENES input catalogue of M dwarfs IV. New rotation periods from photometric time series
Aims. The main goal of this work is to measure rotation periods of the M-type
dwarf stars being observed by the CARMENES exoplanet survey to help distinguish
radial-velocity signals produced by magnetic activity from those produced by
exoplanets. Rotation periods are also fundamental for a detailed study of the
relation between activity and rotation in late-type stars. Methods. We look for
significant periodic signals in 622 photometric time series of 337 bright,
nearby M dwarfs obtained by long-time baseline, automated surveys (MEarth,
ASAS, SuperWASP, NSVS, Catalina, ASAS-SN, K2, and HATNet) and for 20 stars
which we obtained with four 0.2-0.8 m telescopes at high geographical
latitudes. Results. We present 142 rotation periods (73 new) from 0.12 d to 133
d and ten long-term activity cycles (six new) from 3.0 a to 11.5 a. We compare
our determinations with those in the existing literature; we investigate the
distribution of P rot in the CARMENES input catalogue,the amplitude of
photometric variability, and their relation to vsin i and pEW(Halfa); and we
identify three very active stars with new rotation periods between 0.34 d and
23.6 d.Comment: 34 pages, 43 figures, 2 appendix table
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