9,775 research outputs found
An update on the correlation between the cosmic radiation intensity and the geomagnetic AA index
A statistical study between the cosmic ray intensity, as observed by a neutron monitor, and of the geomagnetic aa index, as representative of perturbations in the plasma and interplanetary magnetic field in the heliosphere, has been updated to specifically exclude time periods around the reversal of the solar magnetic field. The results of this study show a strong negative correlation for the period 1960 through 1968 with a correlation coefficient of approximately -0.86. However, there is essentially no correlation between the cosmic ray intensity and the aa index for the period 1972-1979 (i.e. correlation coefficient less than 0.16). These results would appear to support the theory of preferential particle propagation into the heliosphere vis the ecliptic during the period 1960-1968 and via the solar polar regions during 1972-1979
Averting Robot Eyes
Home robots will cause privacy harms. At the same time, they can provide beneficial services—as long as consumers trust them. This Essay evaluates potential technological solutions that could help home robots keep their promises, avert their eyes, and otherwise mitigate privacy harms. Our goals are to inform regulators of robot-related privacy harms and the available technological tools for mitigating them, and to spur technologists to employ existing tools and develop new ones by articulating principles for avoiding privacy harms.
We posit that home robots will raise privacy problems of three basic types: (1) data privacy problems; (2) boundary management problems; and (3) social/relational problems. Technological design can ward off, if not fully prevent, a number of these harms. We propose five principles for home robots and privacy design: data minimization, purpose specifications, use limitations, honest anthropomorphism, and dynamic feedback and participation. We review current research into privacy-sensitive robotics, evaluating what technological solutions are feasible and where the harder problems lie. We close by contemplating legal frameworks that might encourage the implementation of such design, while also recognizing the potential costs of regulation at these early stages of the technology
The use of the McIlwain L-parameter to estimate cosmic ray vertical cutoff rigidities for different epochs of the geomagnetic field
Secular changes in the geomagnetic field between 1955 and 1980 have been large enough to produce significant differences in both the verical cutoff rigidities and in the L-value for a specified position. A useful relationship employing the McIlwain L-parameter to estimate vertical cutoff rigidities has been derived for the twenty-five year period
Empirical model for the Earth's cosmic ray shadow at 400 KM: Prohibited cosmic ray access
The possibility to construct a unit sphere of access that describes the cosmic radiation allowed to an Earth-orbiting spacecraft is discussed. It is found that it is possible to model the occluded portion of the cosmic ray sphere of access as a circular projection with a diameter bounded by the satellite-Earth horizon. Maintaining tangency at the eastern edge of the spacecraft-Earth horizon, this optically occluded area is projected downward by an angle beta which is a function of the magnetic field inclination and cosmic ray arrival direction. This projected plane, corresponding to the forbidden area of cosmic ray access, is bounded by the spacecraft-Earth horizon in easterly directions, and is rotated around the vertical axis by an angle alpha from the eastern direction, where the angle alpha is a function of the offset dipole latitude of the spacecraft
Response of pteropods and foraminifera to changing pCO2 and pH: Examples from the Mediterranean Sea
Quantum Hall Ferrimagnetism in lateral quantum dot molecules
We demonstrate the existance of ferrimagnetic and ferromagnetic phases in a
spin phase diagram of coupled lateral quantum dot molecules in the quantum Hall
regime. The spin phase diagram is determined from Hartree-Fock Configuration
Interaction method as a function of electron numbers N, magnetic field B,
Zeeman energy, and tunneling barrier height. The quantum Hall ferrimagnetic
phase corresponds to spatially imbalanced spin droplets resulting from strong
inter-dot coupling of identical dots. The quantum Hall ferromagnetic phases
correspond to ferromagnetic coupling of spin polarization at filling factors
between and .Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Control of a Robotic Arm Using Low-Dimensional EMG and ECoG Biofeedback
In this dissertation we describe a system that uses a low dimensional input derived from electromyography and electrocorticography data to control a robot. The work involves creating a system that allows signals recorded directly from a human body to allow control of a small robot arm. We compare direct joystick control with electromyogram (EMG) input to determine if one input system is superior, or if the quality of control between them is comparable. We also verify the system that is used to record the electromyogram signals is adaptable to other forms of biosignal input; in particular, direct connection to a human brain via electrocorticography (ECoG). Because of the current limitations in sensing and interpreting biological signals, the dimensionality of the data available through these signals is low. Our system is designed to use these low dimensional data and map specific patterns to resulting actions of a robot arm
Unusual light spectra from a two-level atom in squeezed vacuum
We investigate the interaction of an atom with a multi-channel squeezed
vacuum. It turns out that the light coming out in a particular channel can have
anomalous spectral properties, among them asymmetry of the spectrum, absence of
the central peak as well as central hole burning for particular parameters. As
an example plane-wave squeezing is considered. In this case the above phenomena
can occur for the light spectra in certain directions. In the total spectrum
these phenomena are washed out.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures (included via epsf
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