A route generator concept for aircraft onboard fault monitoring

Because of the increasingly complex environments in which the flight crews of commercial aviation aircraft must operate, a research effort is currently underway at NASA Langley Research Center to investigate the potential benefits of intelligent cockpit aids, and to establish guidelines for the application of artificial intelligence techniques to advanced flight management concepts. The segment of this research area that concentrates on automated fault monitoring and diagnosis requires that a reference frame exist, against which the current state of the aircraft may be compared to determine the existence of a fault. This paper describes a computer program which generates the position of that reference frame that specifies the horizontal flight route

Dark Energy Survey year 1 results: Cosmological constraints from galaxy clustering and weak lensing

We present cosmological results from a combined analysis of galaxy clustering and weak gravitational lensing, using 1321 deg^2 of griz imaging data from the first year of the Dark Energy Survey (DES Y1). We combine three two-point functions: (i) the cosmic shear correlation function of 26 million source galaxies in four redshift bins, (ii) the galaxy angular autocorrelation function of 650,000 luminous red galaxies in five redshift bins, and (iii) the galaxy-shear cross-correlation of luminous red galaxy positions and source galaxy shears. To demonstrate the robustness of these results, we use independent pairs of galaxy shape, photometric-redshift estimation and validation, and likelihood analysis pipelines. To prevent confirmation bias, the bulk of the analysis was carried out while “blind” to the true results; we describe an extensive suite of systematics checks performed and passed during this blinded phase. The data are modeled in flat ΛCDM and wCDM cosmologies, marginalizing over 20 nuisance parameters, varying 6 (for ΛCDM) or 7 (for wCDM) cosmological parameters including the neutrino mass density and including the 457×457 element analytic covariance matrix. We find consistent cosmological results from these three two-point functions and from their combination obtain S_8 ≡ σ_8(Ω_m/0.3)^(0.5) = 0.773^(+0.026)_(−0.020) and Ω_m = 0.267^(+0.030)_(−0.017) for ΛCDM; for wCDM, we find S_8 = 0.782^(+0.036)_(−0.024), Ω_m = 0.284^(+0.033)_(−0.030), and w = −0.82^(+0.21)_(−0.20) at 68% C.L. The precision of these DES Y1 constraints rivals that from the Planck cosmic microwave background measurements, allowing a comparison of structure in the very early and late Universe on equal terms. Although the DES Y1 best-fit values for S_8 and Ω_m are lower than the central values from Planck for both ΛCDM and wCDM, the Bayes factor indicates that the DES Y1 and Planck data sets are consistent with each other in the context of ΛCDM. Combining DES Y1 with Planck, baryonic acoustic oscillation measurements from SDSS, 6dF, and BOSS and type Ia supernovae from the Joint Lightcurve Analysis data set, we derive very tight constraints on cosmological parameters: S_8 = 0.802±0.012 and Ω_m=0.298±0.007 in ΛCDM and w = −1.00^(+0.05)_(−0.04) in wCDM. Upcoming Dark Energy Survey analyses will provide more stringent tests of the ΛCDM model and extensions such as a time-varying equation of state of dark energy or modified gravity

Dark Energy Survey year 1 results: Joint analysis of galaxy clustering, galaxy lensing, and CMB lensing two-point functions

We perform a joint analysis of the auto and cross-correlations between three cosmic fields: the galaxy density field, the galaxy weak lensing shear field, and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) weak lensing convergence field. These three fields are measured using roughly 1300 sq. deg. of overlapping optical imaging data from first year observations of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and millimeter-wave observations of the CMB from both the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel’dovich survey and Planck. We present cosmological constraints from the joint analysis of the two-point correlation functions between galaxy density and galaxy shear with CMB lensing. We test for consistency between these measurements and the DES-only two-point function measurements, finding no evidence for inconsistency in the context of flat ΛCDM cosmological models. Performing a joint analysis of five of the possible correlation functions between these fields (excluding only the CMB lensing autospectrum) yields S_8 ≡ σ_8√Ω_m/0.3 = 0.782^(+0.019)_(−0.025) and Ω_m = 0.260^(+0.029)_(−0.019). We test for consistency between these five correlation function measurements and the Planck-only measurement of the CMB lensing autospectrum, again finding no evidence for inconsistency in the context of flat ΛCDM models. Combining constraints from all six two-point functions yields S_8 = 0.776^(+0.014)_(−0.021) and Ω_m = 0.271^(+0.022)_(−0.016). These results provide a powerful test and confirmation of the results from the first year DES joint-probes analysis

Fisher-information condition for enhanced signal detection via stochastic resonance

Various situations where a signal is enhanced by noise through stochastic resonance are now known. This paper contributes to determining general conditions under which improvement by noise can be a priori decided as feasible or not. We focus on the detection of a known signal in additive white noise. Under the assumptions of a weak signal and a sufficiently large sample size, it is proved, with an inequality based on the Fisher information, that improvement by adding noise is never possible, generically, in these conditions. However, under less restrictive conditions, an example of signal detection is shown with favorable action of adding noise.Fabing Duan, François Chapeau-Blondeau, Derek Abbot

Prevention of postoperative pulmonary complications in the hypoxaemic patient - gathering the evidence for noninvasive respiratory support

This is the accepted manuscript of article published in European Journal of Anaesthesiology. The final published version is available online at doi: 10.1097/EJA.000000000000118

First Cosmology Results using Type Ia Supernovae from the Dark Energy Survey: Constraints on Cosmological Parameters

We present the first cosmological parameter constraints using measurements of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program (DES-SN). The analysis uses a subsample of 207 spectroscopically confirmed SNe Ia from the first three years of DES-SN, combined with a low-redshift sample of 122 SNe from the literature. Our "DES-SN3YR" result from these 329 SNe Ia is based on a series of companion analyses and improvements covering SN Ia discovery, spectroscopic selection, photometry, calibration, distance bias corrections, and evaluation of systematic uncertainties. For a flat ΛCDM model we find a matter density Ω_m = 0.331 ± 0.038. For a flat wCDM model, and combining our SN Ia constraints with those from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), we find a dark energy equation of state w = -0.978 ± 0.059, and Ω_m = 0.321 ± 0.018. For a flat w_0w_a CDM model, and combining probes from SN Ia, CMB and baryon acoustic oscillations, we find w_0 = -0.885 ± 0.114 and w_a = -0.387 ± 0.430. These results are in agreement with a cosmological constant and with previous constraints using SNe Ia (Pantheon, JLA)

Cosmological Constraints from Multiple Probes in the Dark Energy Survey

The combination of multiple observational probes has long been advocated as a powerful technique to constrain cosmological parameters, in particular dark energy. The Dark Energy Survey has measured 207 spectroscopically confirmed type Ia supernova light curves, the baryon acoustic oscillation feature, weak gravitational lensing, and galaxy clustering. Here we present combined results from these probes, deriving constraints on the equation of state, w, of dark energy and its energy density in the Universe. Independently of other experiments, such as those that measure the cosmic microwave background, the probes from this single photometric survey rule out a Universe with no dark energy, finding w = −0.80^(+0.09)_(−0.11). The geometry is shown to be consistent with a spatially flat Universe, and we obtain a constraint on the baryon density of Ω_b = 0.069^(+0.009)_(−0.012) that is independent of early Universe measurements. These results demonstrate the potential power of large multiprobe photometric surveys and pave the way for order of magnitude advances in our constraints on properties of dark energy and cosmology over the next decade

Prospects for Searching for Excited Leptons during RunII of the Fermilab Tevatron

This letter presents a study of prospects of searching for excited leptons during RunII of the Fermilab Tevatron. We concentrate on single and pair production of excited electrons in the photonic decay channel in one CDF/DO detector equivalent for 2 fb^{-1}. By the end of RunIIa, the limits should be easily extended beyond those set by LEP and HERA for excited leptons with mass above about 190 GeV.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figure

Search for Gravitational Radiation from Intermediate Mass Black Hole Binaries In Data from the Second LIGO-Virgo Joint Science Run

This paper reports on an unmodeled, all-sky search for gravitational waves from merging intermediate mass black hole binaries (IMBHB). The search was performed on data from the second joint science run of the LIGO and Virgo detectors (July 2009-October 2010) and was sensitive to IMBHBs with a range up to ∼200Mpc, averaged over the possible sky positions and inclinations of the binaries with respect to the line of sight. No significant candidate was found. Upper limits on the coalescence-rate density of nonspinning IMBHBs with total masses between 100 and 450M and mass ratios between 0.25 and 1 were placed by combining this analysis with an analogous search performed on data from the first LIGO-Virgo joint science run (November 2005-October 2007). The most stringent limit was set for systems consisting of two 88M black holes and is equal to 0.12Mpc-3Myr-1 at the 90% confidence level. This paper also presents the first estimate, for the case of an unmodeled analysis, of the impact on the search range of IMBHB spin configurations: the visible volume for IMBHBs with nonspinning components is roughly doubled for a population of IMBHBs with spins aligned with the binary\u27s orbital angular momentum and uniformly distributed in the dimensionless spin parameter up to 0.8, whereas an analogous population with antialigned spins decreases the visible volume by ∼20%