December 2016 Newsletter

Letter from the Executive Director -- Distinguished Lectures & Conferences -- Research & Publications -- Faculty & Student News.Newsletter of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law & Business, an interdisciplinary joint venture of the UT School of Law & the McCombs School of Business.The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Busines

Pontius Pilate and the Imperial Cult in Roman Judaea

While Pontius Pilate is often seen as agnostic, in modern terms, the material evidence of his coinage and the Pilate inscription from Caesarea indicate a prefect determined to promote a form of Roman religion in Judaea. Unlike his predecessors, in the coinage Pilate used peculiarly Roman iconographic elements appropriate to the imperial cult. In the inscription Pilate was evidently responsible for dedicating a Tiberieum to the Dis Augustis. This material evidence may be placed alongside the report in Philo Legatio ad Gaium (299–305) where Pilate sets up shields – likewise associated with the Roman imperial cult –honouring Tiberius in Jerusalem

Polarization diversity monopulse tracking receiver Patent

Polarization diversity monopulse tracking receiver design without radio frequency switche

Classification of Links Up to 0-Solvability

The $n$-solvable filtration of the $m$-component smooth (string) link concordance group, $$\dots \subset \mathcal{F}^m_{n+1} \subset \mathcal{F}^m_{n.5} \subset \mathcal{F}^m_n \dots \subset \mathcal{F}^m_1 \subset \mathcal{F}^m_{0.5} \subset \mathcal{F}^m_0 \subset \mathcal{F}^m_{-0.5} \subset \mathcal{C}^m,$$ as defined by Cochran, Orr, and Teichner, is a tool for studying smooth knot and link concordance that yields important results in low-dimensional topology. The focus of this paper is to give a characterization of the set of 0-solvable links. We introduce a new equivalence relation on links called 0-solve equivalence and establish both an algebraic and a geometric classification of $\mathbb{L}_0^m$, the set of links up to 0-solve equivalence. We show that $\mathbb{L}_0^m$ has a group structure isomorphic to the quotient $\mathcal{F}_{-0.5}/\mathcal{F}_0$ of concordance classes of string links and classify this group, showing that $$\mathbb{L}_0^m \cong \mathcal{F}_{-0.5}^m/\mathcal{F}_0^m \cong \mathbb{Z}_2^m \oplus \mathbb{Z}^{m \choose 3} \oplus \mathbb{Z}_2^{m \choose 2}.$$ Finally, using results of Conant, Schneiderman, and Teichner, we show that 0-solvable links are precisely the links that bound class 2 gropes and support order 2 Whitney towers in the 4-ball.Comment: 34 page

ASSESSING THE RELATIVE INFLUENCES OF ABIOTIC AND BIOTIC FACTORS ON A SPECIES’ DISTRIBUTION USING PSEUDO-ABSENCE AND FUNCTIONAL TRAIT DATA: A CASE STUDY WITH THE AMERICAN EEL (Anguilla rostrata)

Species’ distributions are influenced by abiotic and biotic factors but direct comparison of their relative importance is difficult, particularly when working with complex, multi-species datasets. Here, we present a flexible method to compare abiotic and biotic influences at common scales. First, data representing abiotic and biotic factors are collected using a combination of geographic information system, remotely sensed, and species’ functional trait data. Next, the relative influences of each predictor variable on the occurrence of a focal species are compared. Specifically, ‘sample’ data from sites of known occurrence are compared with ‘background’ data (i.e. pseudo-absence data collected at sites where occurrence is unknown, combined with sample data). Predictor variables that may have the strongest influence on the focal species are identified as those where sample data are clearly distinct from the corresponding background distribution. To demonstrate the method, effects of hydrology, physical habitat, and co-occurring fish functional traits are assessed relative to the contemporary (1950 – 1990) distribution of the American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) in six Mid-Atlantic (USA) rivers. We find that Eel distribution has likely been influenced by the functional characteristics of co-occurring fishes and by local dam density, but not by other physical habitat or hydrologic factors

Dark Matter Halos from the Inside Out

The balance of evidence indicates that individual galaxies and groups or clusters of galaxies are embedded in enormous distributions of cold, weakly interacting dark matter. These dark matter 'halos' provide the scaffolding for all luminous structure in the universe, and their properties comprise an essential part of the current cosmological model. I review the internal properties of dark matter halos, focussing on the simple, universal trends predicted by numerical simulations of structure formation. Simulations indicate that halos should all have roughly the same spherically-averaged density profile and kinematic structure, and predict simple distributions of shape, formation history and substructure in density and kinematics, over an enormous range of halo mass and for all common variants of the concordance cosmology. I describe observational progress towards testing these predictions by measuring masses, shapes, profiles and substructure in real halos, using baryonic tracers or gravitational lensing. An important property of simulated halos (possibly the most important property) is their dynamical 'age', or degree of internal relaxation. The age of a halo may have almost as much effect as its mass in determining the state of its baryonic contents, so halo ages are also worth trying to measure observationally. I review recent gravitational lensing studies of galaxy clusters which should measure substructure and relaxation in a large sample of individual cluster halos, producing quantitative measures of age that are well-matched to theoretical predictions. The age distributions inferred from these studies will lead to second-generation tests of the cosmological model, as well as an improved understanding of cluster assembly and the evolution of galaxies within clusters.Comment: v2: additional references and minor corrections to match the published versio

Slot configuration for axial-flow turbomachinery blades

Machining of slot in turbine blades of axial flow turbines to provide flow path between pressure and suction surfaces is discussed. Slot configuration and improvements in blade performance are described. Diagram of blade slot to show geometry of modification is included

Radial Scaling in Inclusive Jet Production at Hadron Colliders

Inclusive jet production in p-p and pbar-p collisions shows many of the same kinematic systematics as observed in single particle inclusive production at much lower energies. In an earlier study (1974) a phenomenology, called radial scaling, was developed for the single particle inclusive cross sections that attempted to capture the essential underlying physics of point-like parton scattering and the fragmentation of partons into hadrons suppressed by the kinematic boundary. The phenomenology was successful in emphasizing the underlying systematics of the inclusive particle productions. Here we demonstrate that inclusive jet production at the LHC in high-energy p-p collisions and at the Tevatron in pbar-p inelastic scattering show similar behavior. The ATLAS inclusive jet production plotted as a function of this scaling variable is studied for sqrt(s) of 2.76, 7 and 13 TeV and is compared to pbar-p inclusive jet production at 1.96 TeV measured at the CDF and D0 at the Tevatron and p-Pb inclusive jet production at the LHC ATLAS at sqrt(sNN) = 5.02 TeV. Inclusive single particle production at FNAL fixed target and ISR energies are compared to inclusive J/Psi production at the LHC measured in ATLAS, CMS and LHCb. Striking common features of the data are discussed.Comment: 47 pages, 22 figures, 6 tables. Version 2 - more data added, references enhance

Off the record?: Arrestee concerns about the manipulation, modification, and misrepresentation of police body-worn camera footage

Police body-worn cameras (BWC) have become the latest technological device introduced to policing on a wave of panacean promises. Recent research has reported the perspectives of police officers, police management, and the general public, but there have been no studies examining the views of police arrestees. Remedying this significant omission, this article presents findings generated from interviews with 907 individuals shortly after their arrest. Overall, we report a strong in principle support for police body-worn cameras amongst this cohort, particularly if the cameras can be operated impartially. The findings are organised into a trilogy of prominent and interrelated concerns voiced by the police detainees, namely the potential for the manipulation, modification, and misrepresentation of events captured by police body-worn cameras. The findings are discussed in a broader context of the “new visibility” of police encounters and contribute much needed findings to understand the culturally specific ways in which different publics experience and respond to visual surveillance