Resilient bearing supports are gas controlled

Self-acting, partial-arc, pivoted-pad bearings in which the bearing-to-journal applied load is pneumatically controlled are used in the operation of a radial flow gas generator where shaft speeds are on the order of 38,500 rpm

Asymptotic expansions of Laplace integrals for quantum state tomography

Bayesian estimation of a mixed quantum state can be approximated via maximum likelihood (MaxLike) estimation when the likelihood function is sharp around its maximum. Such approximations rely on asymptotic expansions of multi-dimensional Laplace integrals. When this maximum is on the boundary of the integration domain, as it is the case when the MaxLike quantum state is not full rank, such expansions are not standard. We provide here such expansions, even when this maximum does not belong to the smooth part of the boundary, as it is the case when the rank deficiency exceeds two. These expansions provide, aside the MaxLike estimate of the quantum state, confidence intervals for any observable. They confirm the formula proposed and used without precise mathematical justifications by the authors in an article recently published in Physical Review A.Comment: 17 pages, submitte

Panako: a scalable acoustic fingerprinting system handling time-scale and pitch modification

In this paper a scalable granular acoustic fingerprinting system robust against time and pitch scale modification is presented. The aim of acoustic fingerprinting is to identify identical, or recognize similar, audio fragments in a large set using condensed representations of audio signals, i.e. fingerprints. A robust fingerprinting system generates similar fingerprints for perceptually similar audio signals. The new system, presented here, handles a variety of distortions well. It is designed to be robust against pitch shifting, time stretching and tempo changes, while remaining scalable. After a query, the system returns the start time in the reference audio, and the amount of pitch shift and tempo change that has been applied. The design of the system that offers this unique combination of features is the main contribution of this research. The fingerprint itself consists of a combination of key points in a Constant-Q spectrogram. The system is evaluated on commodity hardware using a freely available reference database with fingerprints of over 30.000 songs. The results show that the system responds quickly and reliably on queries, while handling time and pitch scale modifications of up to ten percent

Solar Brayton engine/alternator set

Work on the Mod O solar Brayton engine/alternator set is redirected to utilize solarized components of the automotive advanced gas turbine (AGT). The new configuration is referred to as the Mod I. Commercialization of solar Brayton engines thus should be enhanced not only by relating the design to an engine expected to reach the high quantity, low cost production rates associated with the automotive market, but also by the potential the AGT components provide for growth of efficiency and power rating. This growth would be achieved through use of ceramics in later versions making operation possible at temperatures up to 2500 F. The longer program duration and higher cost of the Mod I is considered

Towards the tangible: microtonal scale exploration in Central-African music

This proposal presents TARSOS, an easy-to-use platform for automated pitch analysis especially designed to explore non-Western music. Two considerations were the starting point of this research: i) thnomusicology is mainly performed from an anthropological and ethnographical approach, and ii) current Music Information Retrieval (MIR) applications are biased towards Western music and are thus not suitable to the particularities of other musical cultures. This research tries to develop an unbiased approach by a flexible interface for detection and representation of tone scales. No predispositions towards a certain music theory or pitch organization are made. Our goal is to document an aspect of the endangered musical heritage of African oral cultures, namely tone scale diversity

Ray tracing of Jovian low frequency radiation

The radio emission from Jupiter in the decametric range (2 to 40 MHz) has been studied for three decades. It is known that this emission is correlated with particular longitude regions on the planet and with the position of the satellite Io. The Planetary Radio Astronomy experiment on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft observed this emission, obtaining valuable new information. The objectives of this study are as follows: (1) calculate raypaths for decametric wavelength radiation in Jupiter's magnetosphere; (2) compare the model-dependent raypaths with the Voyager observations; and (3) deduce characteristics of the source regions and the influence of propagation effects

Platelet Biochemistry and Morphology after Cryopreservation

Platelet cryopreservation has been investigated for several decades as an alternative to room temperature storage of platelet concentrates. The use of dimethylsulfoxide as a cryoprotectant has improved platelet storage and cryopreserved concentrates can be kept at −80 °C for two years. Cryopreserved platelets can serve as emergency backup to support stock crises or to disburden difficult logistic areas like rural or military regions. Cryopreservation significantly influences platelet morphology, decreases platelet activation and severely abrogates platelet aggregation. Recent data indicate that cryopreserved platelets have a procoagulant phenotype because thrombin and fibrin formation kicks in earlier compared to room temperature stored platelets. This happens both in static and hydrodynamic conditions. In a clinical setting, low 1-h post transfusion recoveries of cryopreserved platelets represent fast clearance from circulation which may be explained by changes to the platelet GPIbα receptor. Cryopreservation splits the concentrate in two platelet subpopulations depending on GPIbα expression levels. Further research is needed to unravel its physiological importance. Proving clinical efficacy of cryopreserved platelets is difficult because of the heterogeneity of indications and the ambiguity of outcome measures. The procoagulant character of cryopreserved platelets has increased interest for use in trauma stressing the need for double-blinded randomized clinical trials in actively bleeding patients

A hybrid Brayton engine concept

A first generation open cycle Brayton engine concept for use in full scale solar module testing was defined. The concept extended to include solar/fossil hybrid capability. The combustion system defined for hybrid operation consists of a wide range combustor liner, a single airblast atomizer, an ignitor and a high-voltage ignition unit. Wide range combustor operation would be achieved through combining pilot and primary zones. The hybrid control mode and the solar only control mode are both based on the concept of maintaining constant turbine inlet temperature and varying the engine speed for part-power operation. In addition, the hybrid control concept will allow the operator to set a minimum thermal power input to the engine by setting a corresponding minimum engine speed. When the solar thermal power input falls below this minimum, fossil fuel would be utilized to augment the solar thermal power input