PACE 2: Pricing and Cost Estimating Handbook

An automatic data processing system to be used for the preparation of industrial engineering type manhour and material cost estimates has been established. This computer system has evolved into a highly versatile and highly flexible tool which significantly reduces computation time, eliminates computational errors, and reduces typing and reproduction time for estimators and pricers since all mathematical and clerical functions are automatic once basic inputs are derived

Affleck-Dine Baryogenesis after Thermal Inflation

We argue that an extension of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model that gives rise to viable thermal inflation, and so does not suffer from a Polonyi/moduli problem, should contain right-handed neutrinos which acquire their masses due to the vacuum expectation value of the flaton that drives thermal inflation. This strongly disfavours SO(10) Grand Unified Theories. The $\mu$-term of the MSSM should also arise due to the vev of the flaton. With the extra assumption that $m_L^2 - m_{H_u}^2 < 0$, but of course $m_L^2 - m_{H_u}^2 + |\mu|^2 > 0$, we show that a complicated Affleck-Dine type of baryogenesis employing an $LH_u$ $D$-flat direction can naturally generate the baryon asymmetry of the Universe.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, 4 postscript figures, version to be published in Phys. Rev. D, new figures, references added, minor changes in the tex

Verification of universal relations in a strongly interacting Fermi gas

Many-body fermion systems are important in many branches of physics, including condensed matter, nuclear, and now cold atom physics. In many cases, the interactions between fermions can be approximated by a contact interaction. A recent theoretical advance in the study of these systems is the derivation of a number of exact universal relations that are predicted to be valid for all interaction strengths, temperatures, and spin compositions. These equations, referred to as the Tan relations, relate a microscopic quantity, namely, the amplitude of the high-momentum tail of the fermion momentum distribution, to the thermodynamics of the many-body system. In this work, we provide experimental verification of the Tan relations in a strongly interacting gas of fermionic atoms. Specifically, we measure the fermion momentum distribution using two different techniques, as well as the rf excitation spectrum and determine the effect of interactions on these microscopic probes. We then measure the potential energy and release energy of the trapped gas and test the predicted universal relations.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

The Marysville, Montana Geothermal Project

Drilling the first geothermal well in Montana presented many challenges, not only in securing materials and planning strategies for drilling the wildcat well but also in addressing the environmental, legal, and institutional issues raised by the request for permission to explore a resource which lacked legal definition. The Marysville Geothermal Project was to investigate a dry hot rock heat anomaly. The well was drilled to a total depth of 6790 feet and many fractured water bearing zones were encountered below 1800 feet

A simplex-like search method for bi-objective optimization

We describe a new algorithm for bi-objective optimization, similar to the Nelder Mead simplex algorithm, widely used for single objective optimization. For diferentiable bi-objective functions on a continuous search space, internal Pareto optima occur where the two gradient vectors point in opposite directions. So such optima may be located by minimizing the cosine of the angle between these vectors. This requires a complex rather than a simplex, so we term the technique the \cosine seeking complex". An extra beneft of this approach is that a successful search identifes the direction of the effcient curve of Pareto points, expediting further searches. Results are presented for some standard test functions. The method presented is quite complicated and space considerations here preclude complete details. We hope to publish a fuller description in another place

Evolution of a localized thermal explosion in a reactive gas

Experimental observations of ignition in premixed gaseous reactants indicate that perfectly homogeneous initiation is practically unrealizable. Instead, combustion first sets in, as a rule, at small, discrete sites where inherent inhomogeneities cause chemical activity to proceed preferentially and lead to localized explosions. Combustion waves propagating away from these hot spots or reaction centers eventually envelop the remaining bulk. This study examines the spatial structure and temporal evolution of a hot spot for a model involving Arrhenius kinetics. The hot spot, characterized by peaks in pressure and temperature with little diminution in local density, is shown to have one of two possible self-similar structures. The analysis employs a combination of asymptotics and numerics, and terminates when pressure and temperature in the explosion have peaked

p-wave Feshbach molecules

We have produced and detected molecules using a p-wave Feshbach resonance between 40K atoms. We have measured the binding energy and lifetime for these molecules and we find that the binding energy scales approximately linearly with magnetic field near the resonance. The lifetime of bound p-wave molecules is measured to be 1.0 +/- 0.1 ms and 2.3 +/- 0.2 ms for the m_l = +/- 1 and m_l = 0 angular momentum projections, respectively. At magnetic fields above the resonance, we detect quasi-bound molecules whose lifetime is set by the tunneling rate through the centrifugal barrier

Impact-Induced Melting of Near-Surface Water Ice on Mars

All fresh and many older Martian craters with diameters greater than a few km are surrounded by ejecta blankets which appear fluidized, with morphologies believed to form by entrainment of liquid water. We present cratering simulations investigating the outcome of 10 km s–1 impacts onto models of the Martian crust, a mixture of basalt and ice at an average temperature of 200 K. Because of the strong impedance mismatch between basalt and ice, the peak shock pressure and the pressure decay profiles are sensitive to the mixture composition of the surface. For typical impact events, about 50% of the excavated ground ice is melted by the impact-induced shock. Pre-existing subsurface liquid water is not required to form observed fluidized ejecta morphologies, and the presence of rampart craters on different age terranes is a useful probe of ground ice on Mars over time