2018 Census of California Water Transit Services

The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics conducts a nationwide census of ferry boat operators for the U.S. Department of Transportation and the collected information is used for statistical purposes. The Caltrans Division of Local Assistance has been asked by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to gather data regarding ferry operations under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). MAP-21 includes a new formula program for ferry boats and ferry terminal facilities eligible under 23 USC 129(c) which authorizes federal participation in toll roads, bridges, tunnels, and ferries. FHWA has asked that Caltrans assure the ferry boat data is current for MAP-21.The Mineta Transportation Institute was initially contacted by Caltrans to conduct this census in 2012 and a report was delivered later that year. Now the census has been completed with updates through November 2018. The research team collected information from 25 water transportation operators throughout California and produced 42 accompanying maps that depict routes and terminals where the operators provide service. Tabular information for each operator catalogs their number of vessels, passenger counts, fares, seating capacity, route lengths and other data points. Note that a number of operators, despite repeated contact via phone and email, chose not to reply.This report organizes water transportation operations into three sections based on California geography: northern California, the Sacramento Delta region; and southern California. A fourth section documents four operators who did not fall within those three geographic regions.The report concludes with a listing of recreational voyage operators (e.g. cruises, fishing trips) that the authors felt did not constitute “water transportation” for the purposes of the detailed census yet may be of interest to those applying a broader definition of water transport

Physical Mechanism of the d->d+is Transition

We discuss the basic physical mechanism of the d->d+is transition, which is the currently accepted explanation for the results of tunneling experiments into $ab$ planes. Using the first-order perturbation theory, we show that the zero-bias states drive the transition. We present various order-of-magnitude estimates and consistency checks that support this picture.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Graphical User Interface and Microprocessor Control Enhancement of a Pseudorandom Code Generator

Modern digital communication techniques often require the generation of pseudorandom numbers or sequences. The ability to quickly and easily produce various codes such as maximal length codes, Gold codes, Jet Propulsion Laboratory ranging codes, syncopated codes, and non-linear codes in a laboratory environment is essential. This thesis addresses the issue of providing automated computer control to previously built, manually controlled hardware incorporating the Stanford Telecom STEL-1032 Pseudo-Random Number (PRN) Coder. By incorporating a microcontroller into existing hardware, the STEL-1032 can now be conveniently controlled from a MATLAB Graphical User Interface (GUI). The user can quickly create, save, and recall various setups for the STEL-1032 in an easy to use GUI environment. In addition to having complete control of the STEL-1032\u27s internal actions, the microcontroller adds an extra measure of control possibilities by using various signals as possible interrupt sources. The microcontroller can sample the STEL-1032\u27s various outputs at a rate up to 320 kHz and the data can be imported directly into MATLAB for further analysis

2012 Census of California Water Transit Services ,MTI Report 12-02

The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics conducts a nationwide census of ferry boat operators for the U.S. Department of Transportation and the collected information is used for statistical purposes. The Caltrans Division of Local Assistance has been asked by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to gather data regarding ferry operations under MAP-21, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act. MAP-21 includes a new formula program for ferry boats and ferry terminal facilities eligible under 23 USC 129(c) which authorizes federal participation in toll roads, bridges, tunnels, and ferries. FHWA has asked that Caltrans assure the ferry boat data is current for MAP-21. The Mineta Transportation Institute was contacted by Caltrans to conduct this research. The research team compiled a spreadsheet and accompanying maps that include ferry boats, routes, and operators along with a number of related characteristics including ownership (public or private), daily trip counts, regulation of fares, terminal locations (street address and coordinates), boarding statistics, and route segment lengths. The spreadsheet contains fields that will allow it to be linked in a Geographic Information System to Caltrans Earth software for further analysis. Additionally, where relevant, the report includes a brief description of expansion plans for certain ferry service providers

Different regimes of Forster energy transfer between an epitaxial quantum well and a proximal monolayer of semiconductor nanocrystals

We calculate the rate of non-radiative, Forster-type energy transfer (ET) from an excited epitaxial quantum well (QW) to a proximal monolayer of semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots (QDs). Different electron-hole configurations in the QW are considered as a function of temperature and excited electron-hole density. A comparison of the theoretically determined ET rate and QW radiative recombination rate shows that, depending on the specific conditions, the ET rate is comparable to or even greater than the radiative recombination rate. Such efficient Forster ET is promising for the implementation of ET-pumped, nanocrystal QD-based light emitting devices.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure