Measured limits to contamination of optical surfaces by elastomers in vacuum

We have monitored the reflectivity of mirrors that were exposed to a fluoroelastomer (3M-Fluorel 2176) and a room-temperature vulcanizing silicone rubber (RTV-615) in vacuum. The 95% confidence limit on the decrease of mirror reflectivities was less than 0.35 ppm/week for Fluorel and <0.29 ppm@week for RTV-615

Validation of an expert system intended for research in distributed artificial intelligence

The expert system discussed in this paper is designed to function as a testbed for research on cooperating expert systems. Cooperating expert systems are members of an organization which dictates the manner in which the expert systems will interact when solving a problem. The Blackbox Expert described in this paper has been constructed using the C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS), C++, and X windowing environment. CLIPS is embedded in a C++ program which provides objects that are used to maintain the state of the Blackbox puzzle. These objects are accessed by CLIPS rules through user-defined functions calls. The performance of the Blackbox Expert is validated by experimentation. A group of people are asked to solve a set of test cases for the Blackbox puzzle. A metric has been devised which evaluates the 'correctness' of a solution proposed for a test case of Blackbox. Using this metric and the solutions proposed by the humans, each person receives a rating for their ability to solve the Blackbox puzzle. The Blackbox Expert solves the same set of test cases and is assigned a rating for its ability. Then the rating obtained by the Blackbox Expert is compared with the ratings of the people, thus establishing the skill level of our expert system

Shot Noise in Gravitational-Wave Detectors with Fabry-Perot Arms

Shot-noise-limited sensitivity is calculated for gravitational-wave interferometers with Fabry–Perot arms, similar to those being installed at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Italian–French Laser Interferometer Collaboration (VIRGO) facility. This calculation includes the effect of nonstationary shot noise that is due to phase modulation of the light. The resulting formula is experimentally verified by a test interferometer with suspended mirrors in the 40-m arms

A 233 km Tunnel for Lepton and Hadron Colliders

A decade ago, a cost analysis was conducted to bore a 233 km circumference Very Large Hadron Collider (VLHC) tunnel passing through Fermilab. Here we outline implementations of $e^+e^-$, $p \bar{p}$, and $\mu^+ \mu^-$ collider rings in this tunnel using recent technological innovations. The 240 and 500 GeV $e^+e^-$ colliders employ Crab Waist Crossings, ultra low emittance damped bunches, short vertical IP focal lengths, superconducting RF, and low coercivity, grain oriented silicon steel/concrete dipoles. Some details are also provided for a high luminosity 240 GeV $e^+ e^-$ collider and 1.75 TeV muon accelerator in a Fermilab site filler tunnel. The 40 TeV $p \bar{p}$ collider uses the high intensity Fermilab $\bar{p}$ source, exploits high cross sections for $p \bar{p}$ production of high mass states, and uses 2 Tesla ultra low carbon steel/YBCO superconducting magnets run with liquid neon. The 35 TeV muon ring ramps the 2 Tesla superconducting magnets at 9 Hz every 0.4 seconds, uses 250 GV of superconducting RF to accelerate muons from 1.75 to 17.5 TeV in 63 orbits with 71% survival, and mitigates neutrino radiation with phase shifting, roller coaster motion in a FODO lattice.Comment: LaTex, 6 pages, 1 figure, Advanced Accelerator Concepts Workshop, Austin, TX, 10-15 June 201

Minimum Hamiltonian Ascent Trajectory Evaluation (MASTRE) program (update to automatic flight trajectory design, performance prediction, and vehicle sizing for support of Shuttle and Shuttle derived vehicles) engineering manual

The Minimum Hamiltonian Ascent Trajectory Evaluation (MASTRE) program and its predecessors, the ROBOT and the RAGMOP programs, have had a long history of supporting MSFC in the simulation of space boosters for the purpose of performance evaluation. The ROBOT program was used in the simulation of the Saturn 1B and Saturn 5 vehicles in the 1960's and provided the first utilization of the minimum Hamiltonian (or min-H) methodology and the steepest ascent technique to solve the optimum trajectory problem. The advent of the Space Shuttle in the 1970's and its complex airplane design required a redesign of the trajectory simulation code since aerodynamic flight and controllability were required for proper simulation. The RAGMOP program was the first attempt to incorporate the complex equations of the Space Shuttle into an optimization tool by using an optimization method based on steepest ascent techniques (but without the min-H methodology). Development of the complex partial derivatives associated with the Space Shuttle configuration and using techniques from the RAGMOP program, the ROBOT program was redesigned to incorporate these additional complexities. This redesign created the MASTRE program, which was referred to as the Minimum Hamiltonian Ascent Shuttle TRajectory Evaluation program at that time. Unique to this program were first-stage (or booster) nonlinear aerodynamics, upper-stage linear aerodynamics, engine control via moment balance, liquid and solid thrust forces, variable liquid throttling to maintain constant acceleration limits, and a total upgrade of the equations used in the forward and backward integration segments of the program. This modification of the MASTRE code has been used to simulate the new space vehicles associated with the National Launch Systems (NLS). Although not as complicated as the Space Shuttle, the simulation and analysis of the NLS vehicles required additional modifications to the MASTRE program in the areas of providing additional flexibility in the use of the program, allowing additional optimization options, and providing special options for the NLS configuration

Moving beyond the OB markers: Rethinking the space of civil society in Singapore

In January 2004, prior to his appointment as Singapore’s third Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong gave a landmark speech to the Harvard Club of Singapore in which he outlined a new style of statesociety relations. Claiming that “I have no doubt that our society must open up further”, Lee emphasized that one of the important tasks facing the government was to “promote further civic participation, and continue to progressively widen the limits of openness” (Lee 2004). In his comments, Lee sought to signal a break between the ruling style of former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, and himself.1 In light of Lee Hsien Loong’s claims that under his leadership Singapore will experience greater ‘openness’, it is timely to reflect back on the nature of civil society under his predecessor. This collection of paper contributes to that understanding by bringing together a diverse number of case studies of civil society activism in Singapore during the latter years of Goh Chok Tong’s rule

Wong-Zakai approximation of solutions to reflecting stochastic differential equations on domains in Euclidean spaces II

The strong convergence of Wong-Zakai approximations of the solution to the reflecting stochastic differential equations was studied in [2]. We continue the study and prove the strong convergence under weaker assumptions on the domain.Comment: To appear in "Stochastic Analysis and Applications 2014-In Honour of Terry Lyons", Springer Proceedings in Mathematics and Statistic