On the genericity of spacetime singularities

We consider here the genericity aspects of spacetime singularities that occur in cosmology and in gravitational collapse. The singularity theorems (that predict the occurrence of singularities in general relativity) allow the singularities of gravitational collapse to be either visible to external observers or covered by an event horizon of gravity. It is shown that the visible singularities that develop as final states of spherical collapse are generic. Some consequences of this fact are discussed.Comment: 19 pages, To be published in the Raychaudhuri Volume, eds. Naresh Dadhich, Pankaj Joshi and Probir Ro

Gravitational collapse of an isentropic perfect fluid with a linear equation of state

We investigate here the gravitational collapse end states for a spherically symmetric perfect fluid with an equation of state $p=k\rho$. It is shown that given a regular initial data in terms of the density and pressure profiles at the initial epoch from which the collapse develops, the black hole or naked singularity outcomes depend on the choice of rest of the free functions available, such as the velocities of the collapsing shells, and the dynamical evolutions as allowed by Einstein equations. This clarifies the role that equation of state and initial data play towards determining the final fate of gravitational collapse.Comment: 7 Pages, Revtex4, To appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Finite element structural model of a large, thin, completely free, flat plate

A finite element structural model of a 30.48 m x 30.48 m x 2.54 mm completely free aluminum plate is described and modal frequencies and mode shape data for the first 44 modes are presented. An explanation of the procedure for using the data is also presented. The model should prove useful for the investigation of controller design approaches for large flexible space structures

Robust model-based controller synthesis for the SCOLE configuration

The design of a robust compensator is considered for the SCOLE configuration using a frequency-response shaping technique based on the LQG/LTR algorithm. Results indicate that a tenth-order compensator can be used to meet stability-performance-robustness conditions for a 26th-order SCOLE model without destabilizing spillover effects. Since the SCOLE configuration is representative of many proposed spaceflight experiments, the results and design techniques employed potentially should be applicable to a wide range of large space structure control problems

Sub-Nanosecond Time of Flight on Commercial Wi-Fi Cards

Time-of-flight, i.e., the time incurred by a signal to travel from transmitter to receiver, is perhaps the most intuitive way to measure distances using wireless signals. It is used in major positioning systems such as GPS, RADAR, and SONAR. However, attempts at using time-of-flight for indoor localization have failed to deliver acceptable accuracy due to fundamental limitations in measuring time on Wi-Fi and other RF consumer technologies. While the research community has developed alternatives for RF-based indoor localization that do not require time-of-flight, those approaches have their own limitations that hamper their use in practice. In particular, many existing approaches need receivers with large antenna arrays while commercial Wi-Fi nodes have two or three antennas. Other systems require fingerprinting the environment to create signal maps. More fundamentally, none of these methods support indoor positioning between a pair of Wi-Fi devices without~third~party~support. In this paper, we present a set of algorithms that measure the time-of-flight to sub-nanosecond accuracy on commercial Wi-Fi cards. We implement these algorithms and demonstrate a system that achieves accurate device-to-device localization, i.e. enables a pair of Wi-Fi devices to locate each other without any support from the infrastructure, not even the location of the access points.Comment: 14 page

Probing large distance higher dimensional gravity from lensing data

The modifications induced in the standard weak-lensing formula if Newtonian gravity differs from inverse square law at large distances are studied. The possibility of putting bounds on the mass of gravitons from lensing data is explored. A bound on graviton mass, esitmated to be about 100 Mpc$^{-1}$ is obtained from analysis of some recent data on gravitational lensing.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, added reference

The study of gravitational collapse model in higher dimensional space-time

We investigate the end state of the gravitational collapse of an inhomogeneous dust cloud in higher dimensional space-time. The naked singularities are shown to be developing as the final outcome of non-marginally bound collapse. The naked singularities are found to be gravitationally strong in the sense of Tipler .Comment: 6 Latex pages, No figure, Revtex styl

Study of Histamine Forming Bacteria in Commercial fish samples of Kalyan city

Histamine food poisoning is found to be associated with consumption of scombroid fish containing unusually high levels of histamine. Fish belonging to non-scombroid group may also cause histamine poisoning. In this study, histamine forming bacteria in the commercial fish samples of local markets of Kalyan region were investigated. Among 54 isolates 24 were found to be prominent histamine producers. A simple and rapid colorimetric method for the quantification of histamine in fish was used. Histamine level in fresh mackerel samples was found to be around 20 mg/100 g, which was much above the defect action level (5 mg/100 g) given by FDA indicating potential risk for histamine poisoning. The study suggest that practice of more hygienic and sanitary conditions during handling and processing of fish are required to minimize the contamination of such histamine producing bacteri