A user oriented microcomputer facility for designing linear quadratic Gaussian feedback compensators

A laboratory design facility for digital microprocessor implementation of linear-quadratic-Gaussian feedback compensators is described. Outputs from user interactive programs for solving infinite time horizon LQ regulator and Kalman filter problems were conditioned for implementation on the laboratory microcomputer system. The software consisted of two parts: an offline high-level program for solving the LQ Ricatti equations and generating associated feedback and filter gains and a cross compiler/macro assembler which generates object code for the target microprocessor system. A PDP 11/70 with a UNIX operating system was used for all high level program and data management, and the target microprocessor system is an Intel MDS (8080-based processor). Application to the control of a two dimensional inverted pendulum is presented and issues in expanding the design/prototyping system to other target machine architectures are discussed

Escape path complexity and its context dependency in Pacific blue-eyes (Pseudomugil signifer)

The escape trajectories animals take following a predatory attack appear to show high degrees of apparent 'randomness' - a property that has been described as 'protean behaviour'. Here we present a method of quantifying the escape trajectories of individual animals using a path complexity approach. When fish (Pseudomugil signifer) were attacked either on their own or in groups, we find that an individual's path rapidly increases in entropy (our measure of complexity) following the attack. For individuals on their own, this entropy remains elevated (indicating a more random path) for a sustained period (10 seconds) after the attack, whilst it falls more quickly for individuals in groups. The entropy of the path is context dependent. When attacks towards single fish come from greater distances, a fish's path shows less complexity compared to attacks that come from short range. This context dependency effect did not exist, however, when individuals were in groups. Nor did the path complexity of individuals in groups depend on a fish's local density of neighbours. We separate out the components of speed and direction changes to determine which of these components contributes to the overall increase in path complexity following an attack. We found that both speed and direction measures contribute similarly to an individual's path's complexity in absolute terms. Our work highlights the adaptive behavioural tactics that animals use to avoid predators and also provides a novel method for quantifying the escape trajectories of animals.Comment: 9 page

Development and evaluation of a prototype global volcano surveillance system utilizing the ERTS-1 satellite data collection system

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Private Transfer Fees: Developer Exploitation or Legitimate Financing Vehicle

A private transfer fee (PTF) is typically created when a developer or homeowner decides to attach a covenant to the title of the home. This covenant, the PTF covenant, attaches the PTF to the real property. These covenants require payment of a fee—typically stated as one percent of the property\u27s sale price—upon each resale or transfer of the property and often survive for a period of ninety-nine years. The recipients or owners of the PTF (PTF beneficiaries) can be almost anyone, including property developers, PTF developers, home owner associations (HOA), private investors, state governments, and non-profit charities. Usually, the PTF payment is designated to a trust in which a trustee retains a portion of the fee for expenses and pays the remainder of the fee to the PTF beneficiaries. Are PTFs a form of financial exploitation by developers or a reasonable financing vehicle? Proponents of PTF covenants argue that PTFs are financial instruments designed to spread out housing development costs and lower the costs of homeownership. Their opponents argue that PTFs lower housing values, surprise homebuyers with extra fees, create unreasonable restraints on alienation, and impair the marketability of tide.* PTFs can surprise potential homebuyers even when the PTF covenant is recorded and clearly identified;buyers often do not know that the property they are buying has a PTF convent until the closing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Villanova Law Review is the property of Villanova University School of Law and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder\u27s express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.

Origin and roles of a strong electron-phonon interaction in cuprate oxide superconductors

A strong electron-phonon interaction arises from the modulation of the superexchange interaction by phonons. As is studied in Phys. Rev. B 70, 184514 (2004), Cu-O bond stretching modes can be soft around (pm pi/a, 0) and (0, pm pi/a), with a the lattice constant of CuO_2 planes. In the critical region of SDW, where antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations are developed around nesting wave numbers Q of the Fermi surface, the stretching modes can also be soft around 2Q. Almost symmetric energy dependences of the 2Q component of the density of states, which are observed in the so called stripe and checker-board states, cannot be explained by CDW with 2Q following the complete softening of the 2Q modes, but they can be explained by a second-harmonic effect of SDW with Q. The strong electron-phonon interaction can play no or only a minor role in the occurrence of superconductivity.Comment: 5 pages, 1 fugur

Are Massive Elementary Particles Black Holes?

We use exact results in a new approach to quantum gravity to study the effect of quantum loop corrections on the behavior of the metric of space-time near the Schwarzschild radius of a massive point particle in the Standard Model. We show that the classical conclusion that such a system is a black hole is obviated. Phenomenological implications are discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure; improved tex