Momentum Transfer by Laser Ablation of Irregularly Shaped Space Debris

Proposals for ground-based laser remediation of space debris rely on the creation of appropriately directed ablation-driven impulses to either divert the fragment or drive it into an orbit with a perigee allowing atmospheric capture. For a spherical fragment, the ablation impulse is a function of the orbital parameters and the laser engagement angle. If, however, the target is irregularly shaped and arbitrarily oriented, new impulse effects come into play. Here we present an analysis of some of these effects.Comment: 8 pages, Proceedings of the 2010 International High-Power Laser Ablation Conferenc

Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter: Experiment summary after the first year of global mapping of Mars

The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), an instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, has measured the topography, surface roughness, and 1.064-μm reflectivity of Mars and the heights of volatile and dust clouds. This paper discusses the function of the MOLA instrument and the acquisition, processing, and correction of observations to produce global data sets. The altimeter measurements have been converted to both gridded and spherical harmonic models for the topography and shape of Mars that have vertical and radial accuracies of ~1 m with respect to the planet's center of mass. The current global topographic grid has a resolution of 1/64° in latitude × 1/32° in longitude (1 × 2 km^2 at the equator). Reconstruction of the locations of incident laser pulses on the Martian surface appears to be at the 100-m spatial accuracy level and results in 2 orders of magnitude improvement in the global geodetic grid of Mars. Global maps of optical pulse width indicative of 100-m-scale surface roughness and 1.064-μm reflectivity with an accuracy of 5% have also been obtained

Charter and Party Boat Operators in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico: A Social Structure Perspective

To better address the charter and party boat fishery needs in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, fishery managers must understand the linkages between the industry and other groups and organizations that affect its success. Gulf state charter and party boat operators were interviewed to ascertain the extent of their social network linkages, membership in community organizations, business community relationships, and linkages to information sources. Approximately one-third to one-half of the charter and party boat operators did not belong to local community organizations that could assist their business through tourism promotion or natural resource protection. Despite their limited integration in the community, the vast majority of operators gave and received referrals from other businesses. Of four major information sources, the National Weather Service and the County Marine Extension agents were rated highest and lowest, respectively, in mean importance to charter and party boat operators. Results suggest that business success can be enhanced by strengthening network ties between operators and local businesses, chambers of commerce, and tourism organizations. For this to occur, individual operators and charter/party boat organizations need to become more effective in representing industry interests. Informational linkages between industry and govemment agencies also need improvement

Hierarchical Menu Structures As Teaching/Learning Environments

Student-centered learning requires innovative pedagogical approaches for presenting ideas and materials that challenge learners to expand their depth of understanding. Hierarchical menu structures provide a self-contained pedagogical framework for focusing student attention on the subject matter of a course. Students can identify, clarify, and expand the course content quite easily within this frame of reference. The key to this approach is providing the student with a web interface that keeps them in the course environment as they navigate the specific lectures, assignments and projects. &nbsp

Holding Company Presence and Changes in Deposit Concentration in Local Banking Markets

Duane B. Graddy is an Associate Professor of Economics and Finance at Middle Tennessee State University

Executive Compensation and Managerial Motivations in Bank Holding Companies

Duane B. Graddy is Professor of Economics and Finance at Middle Tennessee State University

On the Triviality of Textbook Quantum Electrodynamics

By adding a small, irrelevant four fermi interaction to the action of lattice Quantum Electrodynamics (QED), the theory can be simulated with massless quarks in a vacuum free of lattice monopoles. This allows an ab initio high precision, controlled study of the existence of "textbook" Quantum Electrodynamics with several species of fermions. The lattice theory possesses a second order chiral phase transition which we show is logarithmically trivial. The logarithms of triviality, which modify mean field scaling laws, are pinpointed in several observables. The result supports Landau's contention that perturbative QED suffers from complete screening and would have a vanishing fine structure constant in the absence of a cutoff.Comment: reference to Phys. Rev. Lett.80, 4119(1998) adde