Practitioner Interview

Phone interview with Ron Anderson from LCRA by Paul Block and Ali Mirchi. Interview questions asked inquired about (i) practitioner’s professional background, (ii) practitioner’s personal experience with systems analysis techniques and software in their job, (iii) role, benefits, and challenges in using systems analysis concepts in the water resources engineering profession, and (iv) recommendations for improving education of environmental and water resources systems analysis in universities

Zeppelins over London

Hear the story of the first strategic bombing campaign in history. The target was the civilian populated areas of London in World War I. Come on board a giant Zeppelin of the Imperial German Navy Air Service and learn what these raids did, or did not accomplish, from Ron Anderson, local zeppelin historian

A Mouse That Ate an Elephant; The Russo Finnish War in the Air

Among the strangest stories of WW II, is the defeat of the Russian Air Force by Finland. Hear the fascinating, true story from Ron Anderson, a member of the Finnish WW II Historical Group. Learn how 114 Finnish aircraft fought 3880 Russian planes and won. They did lose some land which caused a Russian General to comment “We won just enough territory to bury all the men we lost.

Reusable rocket engine intelligent control system framework design, phase 2

Elements of an advanced functional framework for reusable rocket engine propulsion system control are presented for the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) demonstration case. Functional elements of the baseline functional framework are defined in detail. The SSME failure modes are evaluated and specific failure modes identified for inclusion in the advanced functional framework diagnostic system. Active control of the SSME start transient is investigated, leading to the identification of a promising approach to mitigating start transient excursions. Key elements of the functional framework are simulated and demonstration cases are provided. Finally, the advanced function framework for control of reusable rocket engines is presented

First passage time exponent for higher-order random walks:Using Levy flights

We present a heuristic derivation of the first passage time exponent for the integral of a random walk [Y. G. Sinai, Theor. Math. Phys. {\bf 90}, 219 (1992)]. Building on this derivation, we construct an estimation scheme to understand the first passage time exponent for the integral of the integral of a random walk, which is numerically observed to be $0.220\pm0.001$. We discuss the implications of this estimation scheme for the $n{\rm th}$ integral of a random walk. For completeness, we also address the $n=\infty$ case. Finally, we explore an application of these processes to an extended, elastic object being pulled through a random potential by a uniform applied force. In so doing, we demonstrate a time reparameterization freedom in the Langevin equation that maps nonlinear stochastic processes into linear ones.Comment: 4 figures, submitted to PR

Noxious weed survey of the U.S. Air Force Academy and Farish Outdoor Recreation Area

Prepared for: U.S. Air Force Academy, Dept. of Natural Resources.April 15, 2003.Includes bibliographical references

Noxious weed survey of Peterson Air Force Base

Includes bibliographical references.October 31, 2003.Prepared for: Peterson Air Force Base, Dept. of Natural Resources; prepared by: David G. Anderson, Amy Lavender and Ron Abbott