A digital computer propulsion control facility: Description of capabilities and summary of experimental program results

Flight weight digital computers are being used today to carry out many of the propulsion system control functions previously delegated exclusively to hydromechanical controllers. An operational digital computer facility for propulsion control mode studies has been used successfully in several experimental programs. This paper describes the system and some of the results concerned with engine control, inlet control, and inlet engine integrated control. Analytical designs for the digital propulsion control modes include both classical and modern/optimal techniques

KINEMATIC PROFILE OF THE ELITE HANDCYCLIST

A handcycle is a relatively new sports equipment that is a combination of the traditional race wheelchair and a hand operated bicycle crank (Abel, Schneider, Platen, & Struder, 2006). The high mechanical efficiency of this geared fixed-frame racing cycle in comparison to a manual wheelchair can potentially increase the distance a person with a loss of lower limb function can travel. To guide the optimal setup for the handcyclist the influence of crank length (Goosey-Tolfrey, Alfano, & Fowler, 2008; Kramer, Hilker, & Bohm, 2009) and crank configuration (Faupin, Gorce, Meyer, & Thevenon, 2008a; Mossberg, Willman, Topor, Crook, & Patak, 1999) have been investigated. Actual neither research has been done on the upper body kinematics of elite athletes nor on relations between kinematics and performance. The aim of this study was to provide first sport specific information in this area with regards to athletes competing at an international level

Measurement of the two-photon absorption cross-section of liquid argon with a time projection chamber

This paper reports on laser-induced multiphoton ionization at 266 nm of liquid argon in a time projection chamber (LAr TPC) detector. The electron signal produced by the laser beam is a formidable tool for the calibration and monitoring of next-generation large-mass LAr TPCs. The detector that we designed and tested allowed us to measure the two-photon absorption cross-section of LAr with unprecedented accuracy and precision: sigma_ex=(1.24\pm 0.10stat \pm 0.30syst) 10^{-56} cm^4s{-1}.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

Fishery biomass trends of exploited fish populations in marine ecoregions, climatic zones and ocean basins

Highlights: • 1st global long-term fishery biomass trends evaluation of 1300 exploited marine populations. • Decline in average fishery biomass observed across oceans and climate zones. • Systemic wide-spread overfishing of the world's coastal and continental shelf water. Abstract: This contribution presents time series of the ‘fishery biomass’ of fish populations, defined as the weight (whole-body, wet weight) of the in-water part of a fishable population, i.e., that part of a population (also called ‘stock’) that is exposed to a certain fishing gear. Detailed data of this type are only available for a limited number of species that are targets of the fisheries in the waters of economically developed regions, such as Europe, the USA, Canada or Australia. However, similar fishery biomass assessments are generally lacking for developing countries, even for many of their most heavily fished species. Here, an estimation of the long-term fishery biomass trends of 1320 fish and invertebrate populations for 483 species exploited by fisheries in the 232 coastal Marine Ecoregions (MEs) around the world was undertaken. Fishery biomass trends were derived using the Bayesian CMSY stock assessment method applied to the global fisheries catch database for 1950–2014 as reconstructed by the Sea Around Us for every maritime fishing country in the world. Overall, the results suggest a consistent decline in the fishery biomass of exploited populations, in virtually all climatic zones and ocean basins in the world. The only zone with currently higher fishery biomass than in 1950 is the northern Pacific polar-boreal zone, likely due to environmental changes that occurred in the region positively affecting fish populations, combined with prudent management of the fisheries. For populations in MEs that are known to have highly questionable catch statistics, the results suggested smaller declines in fishery biomass than likely occurred in reality, implying that these results do not exaggerate declining trends in fishery biomass. This study used informative Bayesian priors to improve the trend analyses in areas where systematic stock assessments were conducted. The use of these independent assessments reduced the uncertainty associated with the findings of this study

A Letter of Intent to Build a MiniBooNE Near Detector: BooNE

There is accumulating evidence for a difference between neutrino and antineutrino oscillations at the $\sim 1$ eV$^2$ scale. The MiniBooNE experiment observes an unexplained excess of electron-like events at low energies in neutrino mode, which may be due, for example, to either a neutral current radiative interaction, sterile neutrino decay, or to neutrino oscillations involving sterile neutrinos and which may be related to the LSND signal. No excess of electron-like events ($-0.5 \pm 7.8 \pm 8.7$), however, is observed so far at low energies in antineutrino mode. Furthermore, global 3+1 and 3+2 sterile neutrino fits to the world neutrino and antineutrino data suggest a difference between neutrinos and antineutrinos with significant ($\sin^22\theta_{\mu \mu} \sim 35$) $\bar \nu_\mu$ disappearance. In order to test whether the low-energy excess is due to neutrino oscillations and whether there is a difference between $\nu_\mu$ and $\bar \nu_\mu$ disappearance, we propose building a second MiniBooNE detector at (or moving the existing MiniBooNE detector to) a distance of $\sim 200$ m from the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) production target. With identical detectors at different distances, most of the systematic errors will cancel when taking a ratio of events in the two detectors, as the neutrino flux varies as $1/r^2$ to a calculable approximation. This will allow sensitive tests of oscillations for both $\nu_e$ and $\bar \nu_e$ appearance and $\nu_\mu$ and $\bar \nu_\mu$ disappearance. Furthermore, a comparison between oscillations in neutrino mode and antineutrino mode will allow a sensitive search for CP and CPT violation in the lepton sector at short baseline ($\Delta m^2 > 0.1$ eV$^2$).Comment: 43 pages, 40 figure

Initial report from the ICFA Neutrino Panel

In July 2013 ICFA established the Neutrino Panel with the mandate "To promote international cooperation in the development of the accelerator-based neutrino-oscillation program and to promote international collaboration in the development a neutrino factory as a future intense source of neutrinos for particle physics experiments". This, the Panel's Initial Report, presents the conclusions drawn by the Panel from three regional "Town Meetings" that took place between November 2013 and February 2014. After a brief introduction and a short summary of the status of the knowledge of the oscillation parameters, the report summarises the approved programme and identifies opportunities for the development of the field. In its conclusions, the Panel recognises that to maximise the discovery potential of the accelerator-based neutrino-oscillation programme it will be essential to exploit the infrastructures that exist at CERN, FNAL and J-PARC and the expertise and resources that reside in laboratories and institutes around the world. Therefore, in its second year, the Panel will consult with the accelerator-based neutrino-oscillation community and its stakeholders to: develop a road-map for the future accelerator-based neutrino-oscillation programme that exploits the ambitions articulated at CERN, FNAL and J-PARC and includes the programme of measurement and test-beam exposure necessary to ensure the programme is able to realise its potential; develop a proposal for a coordinated "Neutrino RD" programme, the accelerator and detector R&D programme required to underpin the next generation of experiments; and to explore the opportunities for the international collaboration necessary to realise the Neutrino Factory.Comment: ICFA Neutrino Panel 2014(01

On the complementarity of Hyper-K and LBNF

The next generation of long-baseline experiments is being designed to make a substantial step in the precision of measurements of neutrino-oscillation probabilities. Two qualitatively different proposals, Hyper-K and LBNF, are being considered for approval. This document outlines the complimentarity between Hyper-K and LBNF.Comment: 5 pager