Parrondo's games with chaotic switching

This paper investigates the different effects of chaotic switching on Parrondo's games, as compared to random and periodic switching. The rate of winning of Parrondo's games with chaotic switching depends on coefficient(s) defining the chaotic generator, initial conditions of the chaotic sequence and the proportion of Game A played. Maximum rate of winning can be obtained with all the above mentioned factors properly set, and this occurs when chaotic switching approaches periodic behavior.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Helicopter simulation validation using flight data

A joint NASA/Army effort to perform a systematic ground-based piloted simulation validation assessment is described. The best available mathematical model for the subject helicopter (UH-60A Black Hawk) was programmed for real-time operation. Flight data were obtained to validate the math model, and to develop models for the pilot control strategy while performing mission-type tasks. The validated math model is to be combined with motion and visual systems to perform ground based simulation. Comparisons of the control strategy obtained in flight with that obtained on the simulator are to be used as the basis for assessing the fidelity of the results obtained in the simulator

Report on the first binary black hole inspiral search in LIGO data

The LIGO Scientific Collaboration is currently engaged in the first search for binary black hole inspiral signals in real data. We are using the data from the second LIGO science run and we focus on inspiral signals coming from binary systems with component masses between 3 and 20 solar masses. We describe the analysis methods used and report on preliminary estimates for the sensitivities of the LIGO instruments during the second science run.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures. Added references for section 2, corrected figure 1. To appear in CQG, in a special issue on the proceedings of the 9th Annual Gravitational Wave Data Analysis Workshop (GWDAW), Annecy, France, Dec. 200

An evaluation of the NASA Tech House, including live-in test results, volume 1

The NASA Tech House was designed and constructed at the NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, to demonstrate and evaluate new technology potentially applicable for conservation of energy and resources and for improvements in safety and security in a single-family residence. All technology items, including solar-energy systems and a waste-water-reuse system, were evaluated under actual living conditions for a 1 year period with a family of four living in the house in their normal lifestyle. Results are presented which show overall savings in energy and resources compared with requirements for a defined similar conventional house under the same conditions. General operational experience and performance data are also included for all the various items and systems of technology incorporated into the house design

Black Ships and Balance Sheets: The Japanese Market and U.S.-Japan Relations

In this Article, Professors Abbott and Totman address the widespread Western belief that the Japanese economy is unfairly closed to foreign trade and investment. The authors identify several levels of barriers to penetration of the Japanese market. They contend that considerable progress has been made in reducing direct official restraints and official non-tariff barriers. Further progress in resolving the closed market issue, the authors predict, will be more difficult. Some of the remaining problems are rooted in Japanese society and culture; others in Western attitudes toward Japan. All reflect the historical pattern of Japan\u27s relations with the West. The authors conclude with recommendations for Japanese and American policy aimed at resolving the closed market issue while maintaining amicable relations

Black Ships and Balance Sheets: The Japanese Market and U.S.-Japan Relations

In this Article, Professors Abbott and Totman address the widespread Western belief that the Japanese economy is unfairly closed to foreign trade and investment. The authors identify several levels of barriers to penetration of the Japanese market. They contend that considerable progress has been made in reducing direct official restraints and official non-tariff barriers. Further progress in resolving the closed market issue, the authors predict, will be more difficult. Some of the remaining problems are rooted in Japanese society and culture; others in Western attitudes toward Japan. All reflect the historical pattern of Japan\u27s relations with the West. The authors conclude with recommendations for Japanese and American policy aimed at resolving the closed market issue while maintaining amicable relations

Classification of osteosarcoma T-ray responses using adaptive and rational wavelets for feature extraction

Copyright 2007 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. This paper was published in Complex Systems II, edited by Derek Abbott, Tomaso Aste, Murray Batchelor, Robert Dewar, Tiziana Di Matteo, Tony Guttmann, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6802, 680211 and is made available as an electronic reprint with permission of SPIE. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic or multiple reproduction, distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.In this work we investigate new feature extraction algorithms on the T-ray response of normal human bone cells and human osteosarcoma cells. One of the most promising feature extraction methods is the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). However, the classification accuracy is dependant on the specific wavelet base chosen. Adaptive wavelets circumvent this problem by gradually adapting to the signal to retain optimum discriminatory information, while removing redundant information. Using adaptive wavelets, classification accuracy, using a quadratic Bayesian classifier, of 96.88% is obtained based on 25 features. In addition, the potential of using rational wavelets rather than the standard dyadic wavelets in classification is explored. The advantage it has over dyadic wavelets is that it allows a better adaptation of the scale factor according to the signal. An accuracy of 91.15% is obtained through rational wavelets with 12 coefficients using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) as the classifier. These results highlight adaptive and rational wavelets as an efficient feature extraction method and the enormous potential of T-rays in cancer detection.Desmond Ng, Wong Fu Tian, Withawat Withayachumnankul, David Findlay, Bradley Ferguson and Derek Abbot

User type certification for advanced flight control systems

Advanced avionics through flight management systems (FMS) coupled with autopilots can now precisely control aircraft from takeoff to landing. Clearly, this has been the most important improvement in aircraft since the jet engine. Regardless of the eventual capabilities of this technology, it is doubtful that society will soon accept pilotless airliners with the same aplomb they accept driverless passenger trains. Flight crews are still needed to deal with inputing clearances, taxiing, in-flight rerouting, unexpected weather decisions, and emergencies; yet it is well known that the contribution of human errors far exceed those of current hardware or software systems. Thus human errors remain, and are even increasing in percentage as the largest contributor to total system error. Currently, the flight crew is regulated by a layered system of certification: by operation, e.g., airline transport pilot versus private pilot; by category, e.g., airplane versus helicopter; by class, e.g., single engine land versus multi-engine land; and by type (for larger aircraft and jet powered aircraft), e.g., Boeing 767 or Airbus A320. Nothing in the certification process now requires an in-depth proficiency with specific types of avionics systems despite their prominent role in aircraft control and guidance

QED in external fields, a functional point of view

A functional partial differential equation is set for the proper graphs generating functional of QED in external electromagnetic fields. This equation leads to the evolution of the proper graphs with the external field amplitude and the external field gauge dependence of the complete fermion propagator and vertex is derived non-perturbativally.Comment: 8 pages, published versio

Covariant Pauli-Villars Regularization of Quantum Gravity at the One Loop Order

We study a regularization of the Pauli-Villars kind of the one loop gravitational divergences in any dimension. The Pauli-Villars fields are massive particles coupled to gravity in a covariant and nonminimal way, namely one real tensor and one complex vector. The gauge is fixed by means of the unusual gauge-fixing that gives the same effective action as in the context of the background field method. Indeed, with the background field method it is simple to see that the regularization effectively works. On the other hand, we show that in the usual formalism (non background) the regularization cannot work with each gauge-fixing.In particular, it does not work with the usual one. Moreover, we show that, under a suitable choice of the Pauli-Villars coefficients, the terms divergent in the Pauli-Villars masses can be corrected by the Pauli-Villars fields themselves. In dimension four, there is no need to add counterterms quadratic in the curvature tensor to the Einstein action (which would be equivalent to the introduction of new coupling constants). The technique also works when matter is coupled to gravity. We discuss the possible consequences of this approach, in particular the renormalization of Newton's coupling constant and the appearance of two parameters in the effective action, that seem to have physical implications.Comment: 26 pages, LaTeX, SISSA/ISAS 73/93/E