Financial Performance of Entry Mode Decisions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boyd, Britta; Dyhr Ulrich, Anna Marie; Hollensen, Svend

2012-01-01

Based on a survey of 170 Danish SMEs the paper examines influences on entry mode choices and the financial outcome of these decisions. The main research objectives are divided into two steps: Step 1: To determine the factors influencing the choice of foreign entry modes by Danish companies. Step ...... and implications are provided for companies willing to invest more into foreign markets in order to achieve a higher degree of control and better financial results.......Based on a survey of 170 Danish SMEs the paper examines influences on entry mode choices and the financial outcome of these decisions. The main research objectives are divided into two steps: Step 1: To determine the factors influencing the choice of foreign entry modes by Danish companies. Step 2......: To determine the relationship between the choice of entry mode and export performance, measured in terms of financial outcome. Drawing from transaction cost theory the authors develop and test a model where different factors affect the level of control chosen by the parent company. This study contributes...

Energy Data Base corporate author entries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hendricks, P.L.

1984-04-01

The US Department of Energy is one of three agencies funding the major portion of government-supported research. One of the ways to locate the results of this research is to find reports in the Energy Data Base (EDB), the comprehensive data base of the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Technical Information Center, and in publications derived therefrom by referring to the corporate organization performing the research. This information field has been established as an index point retrievable in on-line searching and is included as an index in printed publications. To provide consistent citing of names in bibliographic entries, this authority has been created and maintained as a means of entry of corporate names into the EDB. To locate such information, one can (1) use the seven-digit code number assigned to the corporate entity of interest (enter, for example, IC=9506086) or (2) use one word at a time from the corporate name given (enter, for example, CS=Dominion)

Influence of World and Gravity Model Selection on Surface Interacting Vehicle Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Madden, Michael M.

2007-01-01

A vehicle simulation is surface-interacting if the state of the vehicle (position, velocity, and acceleration) relative to the surface is important. Surface-interacting simulations perform ascent, entry, descent, landing, surface travel, or atmospheric flight. Modeling of gravity is an influential environmental factor for surface-interacting simulations. Gravity is the free-fall acceleration observed from a world-fixed frame that rotates with the world. Thus, gravity is the sum of gravitation and the centrifugal acceleration due to the world s rotation. In surface-interacting simulations, the fidelity of gravity at heights above the surface is more significant than gravity fidelity at locations in inertial space. A surface-interacting simulation cannot treat the gravity model separately from the world model, which simulates the motion and shape of the world. The world model's simulation of the world's rotation, or lack thereof, produces the centrifugal acceleration component of gravity. The world model s reproduction of the world's shape will produce different positions relative to the world center for a given height above the surface. These differences produce variations in the gravitation component of gravity. This paper examines the actual performance of world and gravity/gravitation pairs in a simulation using the Earth.

Physics-Based Modeling of Meteor Entry and Breakup

Science.gov (United States)

Prabhu, Dinesh K.; Agrawal, Parul; Allen, Gary A., Jr.; Bauschlicher, Charles W., Jr.; Brandis, Aaron M.; Chen, Yih-Kang; Jaffe, Richard L.; Palmer, Grant E.; Saunders, David A.; Stern, Eric C.;

Energy Information Data Base: corporate author entries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1980-03-01

One of the controls for information entered into the data bases created and maintained by the DOE Technical Information Center is the standardized name for the corporate entity or the corporate author. The purpose of Energy Information Data Base: Corporate Author Entries (TID-4585-R1) and this supplemental list of authorized or standardized corporate entries is to provide a means for the consistent citing of the names of organizations in bibliographic records. In general, an entry in Corporate Author Entries consists of the seven-digit code number assigned to the particular corporate entity, the two-letter country code, the largest element of the corporate name, the location of the corporate entity, and the smallest element of the corporate name (if provided). This supplement [DOE/TIC-4585-R1(Suppl.5)] contains additions to the base document (TID-4585-R1) and is intended to be used with that publication

Entry Mode and Performance of Nordic Firms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wulff, Jesper

2015-01-01

including the proposed moderating effect, on average, yield higher post-entry performance. This study sheds light on inconsistent results found in previous research investigating the impact of international experience and has practical implications for managerial decision-making.......This study investigates whether the relationship between mode of international market entry and non-location bound international experience is weaker for firms that are large or have a high foreign to total sales ratio, labeled multinational experience. Empirical evidence based on 250 foreign...... market entries made by Norwegian, Danish and Swedish firms suggests that the association between equity mode choice and non-location bound international experience diminishes in the presence of higher levels of multinational experience. Furthermore, firms whose entry mode choice is predicted by the model...

Attitude Control Performance of IRVE-3

Science.gov (United States)

Dillman, Robert A.; Gsell, Valerie T.; Bowden, Ernest L.

2013-01-01

The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment 3 (IRVE-3) launched July 23, 2012, from NASA Wallops Flight Facility and successfully performed its mission, demonstrating both the survivability of a hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator in the reentry heating environment and the effect of an offset center of gravity on the aeroshell's flight L/D. The reentry vehicle separated from the launch vehicle, released and inflated its aeroshell, reoriented for atmospheric entry, and mechanically shifted its center of gravity before reaching atmospheric interface. Performance data from the entire mission was telemetered to the ground for analysis. This paper discusses the IRVE-3 mission scenario, reentry vehicle design, and as-flown performance of the attitude control system in the different phases of the mission.

Method and apparatus for indicating electric charge remaining in batteries based on electrode weight and center of gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Rouhani, S.Z.

1996-12-03

In most electrochemical batteries which generate electricity through the reaction of a battery electrode with an electrolyte solution, the chemical composition, and thus the weight and density, of the electrode changes as the battery discharges. The invention measures a parameter of the battery which changes as the weight of the electrode changes as the battery discharges and relates that parameter to the value of the parameter when the battery is fully charged and when the battery is functionally discharged to determine the state-of-charge of the battery at the time the parameter is measured. In one embodiment, the weight of a battery electrode or electrode unit is measured to determine the state-of-charge. In other embodiments, where a battery electrode is located away from the geometrical center of the battery, the position of the center of gravity of the battery or shift in the position of the center of gravity of the battery is measured (the position of the center of gravity changes with the change in weight of the electrode) and indicates the state-of-charge of the battery. 35 figs.

GRAPHIC-ANALYTICAL METHODS FOR CALCULATING THE GRAVITY CENTER OF A MODEL AIRPLANE

OpenAIRE

DIACONESCU Olivian

2012-01-01

This paper presents a stage of the realization of an airplane capable to work with low capacity motors between 2.5 cmc and 4 cmc, as it presents the gravity center calculation. Firstly for an airplane to fly properly we must calculate the gravity center, the top speed which is necessary for picking the servomotors that equip the airplane.

S2 like Star Orbits near the Galactic Center in Rn and Yukawa Gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Borka, Dusko; Jovanović, Predrag; Jovanović Vesna Borka; Zakharov, Alexander F.

2015-01-01

In this chapter we investigate the possibility to provide theoretical explanation for the observed deviations of S2 star orbit around the Galactic Center using gravitational potentials derived from extended gravity models, but in absence of dark matter. Extended Theories of Gravity are alternative theories of gravitational interaction developed from the exact starting points investigated first by Einstein and Hilbert and aimed from one side to extend the positive results of General Relativity and, on the other hand, to cure its shortcomings. One of the aims of these theories is to explain galactic and extragalactic dynamics without introduction of dark matter. They are based on straightforward generalizations of the Einstein theory where the gravitational action (the Hilbert-Einstein action) is assumed to be linear in the Ricci curvature scalar R. The f(R) gravity is a type of modified gravity which generalizes Einstein's General Relativity, i.e. the simplest case is just the General Relativity. It is actually a family of models, each one defined by a different function of the Ricci scalar. Here, we consider Rn (power-law fourth-order theories of gravity) and Yukawa-like modified gravities in the weak field limit and discuss the constrains on these theories. For that purpose we simulate the orbit of S2 star around the Galactic Center in Rn and Yukawa-like gravity potentials and compare it with New Technology Telescope/Very Large Telescope (NTT/VLT) as well as by Keck telescope observations. Our simulations result in strong constraints on the range of gravity interaction and showed that both Rn and Yukawa gravity could satisfactorily explain the observed orbits of S2 star. However, we concluded that parameters of Rn and Yukawa gravity theories must be very close to those corresponding to the Newtonian limit of the theory. Besides, in contrast to Newtonian gravity, these two modified theories induce orbital precession, even in the case of point-like central mass. The

[Shifting path of industrial pollution gravity centers and its driving mechanism in Pan-Yangtze River Delta].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Hai-Xia; Jiang, Xiao-Wei; Cui, Jian-Xin

2014-11-01

Shifting path of industrial pollution gravity centers is the response of environmental special formation during the industry transfer process, in order to prove the responding of industrial pollution gravity centers to industry transfer in economically developed areas, this paper calculates the gravity centers of industrial wastewater, gas and solid patterns and reveals the shifting path and its driving mechanism, using the data of industrial pollution in the Pan-Yangtze River Delta from 2000 to 2010. The results show that the gravity center of the industrial waste in Pan-Yangtze River Delta shifts for sure in the last 10 years, and gravity center of solid waste shifts the maximum distance within the three wastes, which was 180.18 km, and shifting distances for waste gas and waste water were 109.51 km and 85.92 km respectively. Moreover, the gravity center of the industrial waste in Pan-Yangtze River Delta shifts westwards, and gravity centers of waste water, gas and solid shift for 0.40 degrees, 0.17 degrees and 0.03 degrees respectively. The shifting of industrial pollution gravity centers is driven by many factors. The rapid development of the heavy industry in Anhui and Jiangxi provinces results in the westward shifting of the pollutions. The optimization and adjustment of industrial structures in Yangtze River Delta region benefit to alleviating industrial pollution, and high-polluting industries shifted to Anhui and Jiangxi provinces promotes pollution gravity center shifting to west. While the development of massive clean enterprise, strong environmental management efforts and better environmental monitoring system slow the shifting trend of industrial pollution to the east in Yangtze River Delta. The study of industrial pollution gravity shift and its driving mechanism provides a new angle of view to analyze the relationship between economic development and environmental pollution, and also provides academic basis for synthetical management and control of

Human manual control performance in hyper-gravity.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Torin K; Newman, Michael C; Merfeld, Daniel M; Oman, Charles M; Young, Laurence R

2015-05-01

Hyper-gravity provides a unique environment to study how misperceptions impact control of orientation relative to gravity. Previous studies have found that static and dynamic roll tilts are perceptually overestimated in hyper-gravity. The current investigation quantifies how this influences control of orientation. We utilized a long-radius centrifuge to study manual control performance in hyper-gravity. In the dark, subjects were tasked with nulling out a pseudo-random roll disturbance on the cab of the centrifuge using a rotational hand controller to command their roll rate in order to remain perceptually upright. The task was performed in 1, 1.5, and 2 G's of net gravito-inertial acceleration. Initial performance, in terms of root-mean-square deviation from upright, degraded in hyper-gravity relative to 1 G performance levels. In 1.5 G, initial performance degraded by 26 % and in 2 G, by 45 %. With practice, however, performance in hyper-gravity improved to near the 1 G performance level over several minutes. Finally, pre-exposure to one hyper-gravity level reduced initial performance decrements in a different, novel, hyper-gravity level. Perceptual overestimation of roll tilts in hyper-gravity leads to manual control performance errors, which are reduced both with practice and with pre-exposure to alternate hyper-gravity stimuli.

Center of Gravity - Still Relevant After All These Years

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Fowler, Christopher

2002-01-01

.... Individual service parochialism further confuses the issue. This paper initially investigates possible reasons why Clausewitz chose to label the source of enemy strength or the hub of all power with center of gravity...

Electronic Chemotherapy Order Entry: A Major Cancer Center's Implementation

OpenAIRE

Sklarin, Nancy T.; Granovsky, Svetlana; O'Reilly, Eileen M.; Zelenetz, Andrew D.

2011-01-01

Implementation of computerized provider order entry for complex chemotherapy regimens supported Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's strategic plan to successfully establish a distributive, networked health care delivery system.

Gravity, Magnetism, and "Down": Non-Physics College Students' Conceptions of Gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Asghar, Anila; Libarkin, Julie C.

2010-01-01

This study investigates how students enrolled in entry-level geology, most of whom would graduate from college without university-level physics courses, thought about and applied the concept of gravity while solving problems concerning gravity. The repercussions of students' gravity concepts are then considered in the context of non-physics…

A technique for the determination of center of gravity and rolling resistance for tilt-seat wheelchairs.

Science.gov (United States)

Lemaire, E D; Lamontagne, M; Barclay, H W; John, T; Martel, G

1991-01-01

A balance platform setup was defined for use in the determination of the center of gravity in the sagittal plane for a wheelchair and patient. Using the center of gravity information, measurements from the wheelchair and patient (weight, tire coefficients of friction), and various assumptions (constant speed, level-concrete surface, patient-wheelchair system is a rigid body), a method for estimating the rolling resistance for a wheelchair was outlined. The center of gravity and rolling resistance techniques were validated against criterion values (center of gravity error = 1 percent, rolling resistance root mean square error = 0.33 N, rolling resistance Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.995). Consistent results were also obtained from a test dummy and five subjects. Once the center of gravity is known, it is possible to evaluate the stability of a wheelchair (in terms of tipping over) and the interaction between the level of stability and rolling resistance. These quantitative measures are expected to be of use in the setup of wheelchairs with a variable seat angle and variable wheelbase length or when making comparisons between different wheelchairs.

A Transportable Gravity Gradiometer Based on Atom Interferometry

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Nan; Thompson, Robert J.; Kellogg, James R.; Aveline, David C.; Maleki, Lute; Kohel, James M.

2010-01-01

A transportable atom interferometer-based gravity gradiometer has been developed at JPL to carry out measurements of Earth's gravity field at ever finer spatial resolutions, and to facilitate high-resolution monitoring of temporal variations in the gravity field from ground- and flight-based platforms. Existing satellite-based gravity missions such as CHAMP and GRACE measure the gravity field via precise monitoring of the motion of the satellites; i.e. the satellites themselves function as test masses. JPL's quantum gravity gradiometer employs a quantum phase measurement technique, similar to that employed in atomic clocks, made possible by recent advances in laser cooling and manipulation of atoms. This measurement technique is based on atomwave interferometry, and individual laser-cooled atoms are used as drag-free test masses. The quantum gravity gradiometer employs two identical atom interferometers as precision accelerometers to measure the difference in gravitational acceleration between two points (Figure 1). By using the same lasers for the manipulation of atoms in both interferometers, the accelerometers have a common reference frame and non-inertial accelerations are effectively rejected as common mode noise in the differential measurement of the gravity gradient. As a result, the dual atom interferometer-based gravity gradiometer allows gravity measurements on a moving platform, while achieving the same long-term stability of the best atomic clocks. In the laboratory-based prototype (Figure 2), the cesium atoms used in each atom interferometer are initially collected and cooled in two separate magneto-optic traps (MOTs). Each MOT, consisting of three orthogonal pairs of counter-propagating laser beams centered on a quadrupole magnetic field, collects up to 10(exp 9) atoms. These atoms are then launched vertically as in an atom fountain by switching off the magnetic field and introducing a slight frequency shift between pairs of lasers to create a moving

Combination of monthly gravity field solutions from different processing centers

Science.gov (United States)

Jean, Yoomin; Meyer, Ulrich; Jäggi, Adrian

2015-04-01

Currently, the official GRACE Science Data System (SDS) monthly gravity field solutions are generated independently by the Centre for Space Research (CSR) and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). Additional GRACE SDS monthly fields are provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for validation and outside the SDS by a number of other institutions worldwide. Although the adopted background models and processing standards have been harmonized more and more by the various processing centers during the past years, notable differences still exist and the users are more or less left alone with a decision which model to choose for their individual applications. Combinations are well-established in the area of other space geodetic techniques, such as the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), and Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), where regular comparisons and combinations of space-geodetic products have tremendously increased the usefulness of the products in a wide range of disciplines and scientific applications. In the frame of the recently started Horizon 2020 project European Gravity Service for Improved Emergency Management (EGSIEM), a scientific combination service shall therefore be established to deliver the best gravity products for applications in Earth and environmental science research based on the unified knowledge of the European GRACE community. In a first step the large variety of available monthly GRACE gravity field solutions shall be mutually compared spatially and spectrally. We assess the noise of the raw as well as filtered solutions and compare the secular and seasonal periodic variations fitted to the monthly solutions. In a second step we will explore ways to generate combined solutions, e.g., based on a weighted average of the individual solutions using empirical weights derived from pair-wise comparisons. We will also assess the quality of such a combined solution and discuss the

An overview of artificial gravity. [effects on human performance and physiology

Science.gov (United States)

Stone, R. W., Jr.

1973-01-01

The unique characteristics of artificial gravity that affect human performance and physiology in an artificial gravity environment are reviewed. The rate at which these unique characteristics change decreases very rapidly with increasing radius of a rotating vehicle used to produce artificial gravity. Reducing their influence on human performance or physiology by increasing radius becomes a situation of very rapidly diminishing returns. A review of several elements of human performance has developed criteria relative to the sundry characteristics of artificial gravity. A compilation of these criteria indicates that the maximum acceptable rate of rotation, leg heaviness while walking, and material handling are the factors that define the minimum acceptable radius. The ratio of Coriolis force to artificial weight may also be significant. Based on current knowledge and assumptions for the various criteria, a minimum radius between 15.2 and 16.8 m seems desirable.

Gravity Plant Physiology Facility (GPPF) Team in the Spacelab Payload Operations Control Center (SL

Science.gov (United States)

1992-01-01

The primary payload for Space Shuttle Mission STS-42, launched January 22, 1992, was the International Microgravity Laboratory-1 (IML-1), a pressurized manned Spacelab module. The goal of IML-1 was to explore in depth the complex effects of weightlessness of living organisms and materials processing. Around-the-clock research was performed on the human nervous system's adaptation to low gravity and effects of microgravity on other life forms such as shrimp eggs, lentil seedlings, fruit fly eggs, and bacteria. Materials processing experiments were also conducted, including crystal growth from a variety of substances such as enzymes, mercury iodide, and a virus. The Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) Spacelab Payload Operations Control Center (SL POCC) at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) was the air/ground communication channel used between the astronauts and ground control teams during the Spacelab missions. Featured is the Gravity Plant Physiology Facility (GPPF) team in the SL POCC during the IML-1 mission.

Electronic Chemotherapy Order Entry: A Major Cancer Center's Implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sklarin, Nancy T; Granovsky, Svetlana; O'Reilly, Eileen M; Zelenetz, Andrew D

2011-07-01

Implementation of a computerized provider order entry system for complex chemotherapy regimens at a large cancer center required intense effort from a multidisciplinary team of clinical and systems experts with experience in all facets of the chemotherapy process. The online tools had to resemble the paper forms used at the time and parallel the successful established process as well as add new functionality. Close collaboration between the institution and the vendor was necessary. This article summarizes the institutional efforts, challenges, and collaborative processes that facilitated universal chemotherapy computerized electronic order entry across multiple sites during a period of several years.

Modeling of load lifting process with unknown center of gravity position

Science.gov (United States)

Kamanin, Y. N.; Zhukov, M. I.; Panichkin, A. V.; Redelin, R. A.

2018-03-01

The article proposes a new type of lifting beams that allows one to lift loads where the position of the center of gravity is unknown beforehand. The benefit of implementing this type of traverse is confirmed by the high demand for this product from the industrial enterprises and lack of their availability on the market. In conducted studies, the main kinematic and dynamic dependencies of the load lifting process with an unknown position of the center of gravity were described allowing for design and verification calculations of the traverse with flexible slings and an adjustable bail to be carried out. The obtained results can be useful to engineers and employees of enterprises engaged in the design and manufacturing of the lifting equipment and scientists doing research in “Carrying and lifting machines”.

Experimental Verification of a Simple Method for Accurate Center of Gravity Determination of Small Satellite Platforms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dario Modenini

2018-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a simple and relatively inexpensive method for determining the center of gravity (CoG of a small spacecraft. This method, which can be ascribed to the class of suspension techniques, is based on dual-axis inclinometer readings. By performing two consecutive suspensions from two different points, the CoG is determined, ideally, as the intersection between two lines which are uniquely defined by the respective rotations. We performed an experimental campaign to verify the method and assess its accuracy. Thanks to a quantitative error budget, we obtained an error distribution with simulations, which we verified through experimental tests. The retrieved experimental error distribution agrees well with the results predicted through simulations, which in turn lead to a CoG error norm smaller than 2 mm with 95% confidence level.

Portfolio Evaluation Based on Efficient Frontier Superiority Using Center of Gravity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omar Samat

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Investing in portfolio of assets is the best way to reduce the investment risk. The most desired portfolio can be obtained when investors chose to invest in the portfolios that lay on the portfolio’s efficient frontier. However, the superiorities of the portfolios are difficult to differentiate especially when the efficient frontier curves are overlapping. This paper proposed the portfolio’s efficient frontier center of gravity (CoG and Euclidean distance to identify its superiority. A sample of 49 stocks of large-cap and small-cap were used to construct two hypothetical portfolios and its efficient frontiers. The Euclidean distance showed that the large-cap portfolio is superior and having wider feasible solutions compared to the small-cap portfolio. The results of new tool introduced are consistent with the conventional methods. Here the theoretical and practical implications are provided in light of the findings.

Updating of visual orientation in a gravity-based reference frame.

Science.gov (United States)

Niehof, Nynke; Tramper, Julian J; Doeller, Christian F; Medendorp, W Pieter

2017-10-01

The brain can use multiple reference frames to code line orientation, including head-, object-, and gravity-centered references. If these frames change orientation, their representations must be updated to keep register with actual line orientation. We tested this internal updating during head rotation in roll, exploiting the rod-and-frame effect: The illusory tilt of a vertical line surrounded by a tilted visual frame. If line orientation is stored relative to gravity, these distortions should also affect the updating process. Alternatively, if coding is head- or frame-centered, updating errors should be related to the changes in their orientation. Ten subjects were instructed to memorize the orientation of a briefly flashed line, surrounded by a tilted visual frame, then rotate their head, and subsequently judge the orientation of a second line relative to the memorized first while the frame was upright. Results showed that updating errors were mostly related to the amount of subjective distortion of gravity at both the initial and final head orientation, rather than to the amount of intervening head rotation. In some subjects, a smaller part of the updating error was also related to the change of visual frame orientation. We conclude that the brain relies primarily on a gravity-based reference to remember line orientation during head roll.

Temporal gravity field modeling based on least square collocation with short-arc approach

Science.gov (United States)

ran, jiangjun; Zhong, Min; Xu, Houze; Liu, Chengshu; Tangdamrongsub, Natthachet

2014-05-01

After the launch of the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) in 2002, several research centers have attempted to produce the finest gravity model based on different approaches. In this study, we present an alternative approach to derive the Earth's gravity field, and two main objectives are discussed. Firstly, we seek the optimal method to estimate the accelerometer parameters, and secondly, we intend to recover the monthly gravity model based on least square collocation method. The method has been paid less attention compared to the least square adjustment method because of the massive computational resource's requirement. The positions of twin satellites are treated as pseudo-observations and unknown parameters at the same time. The variance covariance matrices of the pseudo-observations and the unknown parameters are valuable information to improve the accuracy of the estimated gravity solutions. Our analyses showed that introducing a drift parameter as an additional accelerometer parameter, compared to using only a bias parameter, leads to a significant improvement of our estimated monthly gravity field. The gravity errors outside the continents are significantly reduced based on the selected set of the accelerometer parameters. We introduced the improved gravity model namely the second version of Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGG-CAS 02). The accuracy of IGG-CAS 02 model is comparable to the gravity solutions computed from the Geoforschungszentrum (GFZ), the Center for Space Research (CSR) and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). In term of the equivalent water height, the correlation coefficients over the study regions (the Yangtze River valley, the Sahara desert, and the Amazon) among four gravity models are greater than 0.80.

Steady state performance evaluation of variable geometry twin-entry turbine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Romagnoli, A.; Martinez-Botas, R.F.; Rajoo, S.

2011-01-01

This paper presents the results from an experimental investigation conducted on different turbine designs for an automotive turbocharger. The design progression was based on a commercial nozzleless unit that was modified into a variable geometry single and twin-entry turbine. The main geometrical parameters were kept constant for all the configurations and the turbine was tested under steady flow conditions. A significant depreciation in efficiency was measured between the single and twin-entry configuration due to the mixing effects. The nozzleless unit provides the best compromise in terms of performance at different speeds. The twin-entry turbine was also tested under partial and unequal admissions. Based on the test results a method to determine the swallowing capacity under partial admission given the full admission map is presented. The test results also showed that the turbine swallowing capacity under unequal admission is linked to the full admission case.

a Web-Based Framework for Visualizing Industrial Spatiotemporal Distribution Using Standard Deviational Ellipse and Shifting Routes of Gravity Centers

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Y.; Gui, Z.; Wu, H.; Wei, Y.

2017-09-01

Analysing spatiotemporal distribution patterns and its dynamics of different industries can help us learn the macro-level developing trends of those industries, and in turn provides references for industrial spatial planning. However, the analysis process is challenging task which requires an easy-to-understand information presentation mechanism and a powerful computational technology to support the visual analytics of big data on the fly. Due to this reason, this research proposes a web-based framework to enable such a visual analytics requirement. The framework uses standard deviational ellipse (SDE) and shifting route of gravity centers to show the spatial distribution and yearly developing trends of different enterprise types according to their industry categories. The calculation of gravity centers and ellipses is paralleled using Apache Spark to accelerate the processing. In the experiments, we use the enterprise registration dataset in Mainland China from year 1960 to 2015 that contains fine-grain location information (i.e., coordinates of each individual enterprise) to demonstrate the feasibility of this framework. The experiment result shows that the developed visual analytics method is helpful to understand the multi-level patterns and developing trends of different industries in China. Moreover, the proposed framework can be used to analyse any nature and social spatiotemporal point process with large data volume, such as crime and disease.

A WEB-BASED FRAMEWORK FOR VISUALIZING INDUSTRIAL SPATIOTEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION USING STANDARD DEVIATIONAL ELLIPSE AND SHIFTING ROUTES OF GRAVITY CENTERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Song

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Analysing spatiotemporal distribution patterns and its dynamics of different industries can help us learn the macro-level developing trends of those industries, and in turn provides references for industrial spatial planning. However, the analysis process is challenging task which requires an easy-to-understand information presentation mechanism and a powerful computational technology to support the visual analytics of big data on the fly. Due to this reason, this research proposes a web-based framework to enable such a visual analytics requirement. The framework uses standard deviational ellipse (SDE and shifting route of gravity centers to show the spatial distribution and yearly developing trends of different enterprise types according to their industry categories. The calculation of gravity centers and ellipses is paralleled using Apache Spark to accelerate the processing. In the experiments, we use the enterprise registration dataset in Mainland China from year 1960 to 2015 that contains fine-grain location information (i.e., coordinates of each individual enterprise to demonstrate the feasibility of this framework. The experiment result shows that the developed visual analytics method is helpful to understand the multi-level patterns and developing trends of different industries in China. Moreover, the proposed framework can be used to analyse any nature and social spatiotemporal point process with large data volume, such as crime and disease.

Defective quiescence entry promotes the fermentation performance of bottom-fermenting brewer's yeast.

Science.gov (United States)

Oomuro, Mayu; Kato, Taku; Zhou, Yan; Watanabe, Daisuke; Motoyama, Yasuo; Yamagishi, Hiromi; Akao, Takeshi; Aizawa, Masayuki

2016-11-01

One of the key processes in making beer is fermentation. In the fermentation process, brewer's yeast plays an essential role in both the production of ethanol and the flavor profile of beer. Therefore, the mechanism of ethanol fermentation by of brewer's yeast is attracting much attention. The high ethanol productivity of sake yeast has provided a good basis from which to investigate the factors that regulate the fermentation rates of brewer's yeast. Recent studies found that the elevated fermentation rate of sake Saccharomyces cerevisiae species is closely related to a defective transition from vegetative growth to the quiescent (G 0 ) state. In the present study, to clarify the relationship between the fermentation rate of brewer's yeast and entry into G 0 , we constructed two types of mutant of the bottom-fermenting brewer's yeast Saccharomyces pastorianus Weihenstephan 34/70: a RIM15 gene disruptant that was defective in entry into G 0 ; and a CLN3ΔPEST mutant, in which the G 1 cyclin Cln3p accumulated at high levels. Both strains exhibited higher fermentation rates under high-maltose medium or high-gravity wort conditions (20° Plato) as compared with the wild-type strain. Furthermore, G 1 arrest and/or G 0 entry were defective in both the RIM15 disruptant and the CLN3ΔPEST mutant as compared with the wild-type strain. Taken together, these results indicate that regulation of the G 0 /G 1 transition might govern the fermentation rate of bottom-fermenting brewer's yeast in high-gravity wort. Copyright © 2016 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Joint Military Operations: Centers of Gravity and the War in Kosovo

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Milley, Mark

2000-01-01

... and not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Even in this age of networked warfare, precision strike munitions and real time intelligence, Clausewitz's discussions of centers of gravity still provide fundamental insight into the conduct of war...

Progress in the global standardization of gravity: an analysis of the Woollard and Rose international gravity values

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woollard, G.P.; Godley, V.M.

1980-12-01

The history of improvements in the global standarization of gravity values since the advent of high range gravimeters in 1948 is reviewed. In particular the gravity base values given in SEG special publication International Gravity Measurements (Woolard and Rose, 1963) are evaluated against the most recent set of standarized gravity base values, The International Gravity Standardization Net, 1971 (Morelli et al, 1974). Adjunct IGSN 71 values prepared by the US Defense Mapping Agency Aerospace Center (unpublished) are also used to give a more comprehensive worldwide comparison of values

Weight Estimate and Centers of Gravity for JT-11 Nuclear Conversion Study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manning, R. W.

1958-01-01

Weight estimates and centers of gravity for the JT-11 nuclear conversion study are tabulated. Included in the radiator section are: diffuser, shrouds, supports, radiator, liquid metal, shafting and casing.

Human Performance in Simulated Reduced Gravity Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Cowley, Matthew; Harvill, Lauren; Rajulu, Sudhakar

2014-01-01

NASA is currently designing a new space suit capable of working in deep space and on Mars. Designing a suit is very difficult and often requires trade-offs between performance, cost, mass, and system complexity. Our current understanding of human performance in reduced gravity in a planetary environment (the moon or Mars) is limited to lunar observations, studies from the Apollo program, and recent suit tests conducted at JSC using reduced gravity simulators. This study will look at our most recent reduced gravity simulations performed on the new Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS) compared to the C-9 reduced gravity plane. Methods: Subjects ambulated in reduced gravity analogs to obtain a baseline for human performance. Subjects were tested in lunar gravity (1.6 m/sq s) and Earth gravity (9.8 m/sq s) in shirt-sleeves. Subjects ambulated over ground at prescribed speeds on the ARGOS, but ambulated at a self-selected speed on the C-9 due to time limitations. Subjects on the ARGOS were given over 3 minutes to acclimate to the different conditions before data was collected. Nine healthy subjects were tested in the ARGOS (6 males, 3 females, 79.5 +/- 15.7 kg), while six subjects were tested on the C-9 (6 males, 78.8 +/- 11.2 kg). Data was collected with an optical motion capture system (Vicon, Oxford, UK) and was analyzed using customized analysis scripts in BodyBuilder (Vicon, Oxford, UK) and MATLAB (MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA). Results: In all offloaded conditions, variation between subjects increased compared to 1-g. Kinematics in the ARGOS at lunar gravity resembled earth gravity ambulation more closely than the C-9 ambulation. Toe-off occurred 10% earlier in both reduced gravity environments compared to earth gravity, shortening the stance phase. Likewise, ankle, knee, and hip angles remained consistently flexed and had reduced peaks compared to earth gravity. Ground reaction forces in lunar gravity (normalized to Earth body weight) were 0.4 +/- 0.2 on

Properties of the center of gravity as an algorithm for position measurements: Two-dimensional geometry

CERN Document Server

Landi, Gregorio

2003-01-01

The center of gravity as an algorithm for position measurements is analyzed for a two-dimensional geometry. Several mathematical consequences of discretization for various types of detector arrays are extracted. Arrays with rectangular, hexagonal, and triangular detectors are analytically studied, and tools are given to simulate their discretization properties. Special signal distributions free of discretized error are isolated. It is proved that some crosstalk spreads are able to eliminate the center of gravity discretization error for any signal distribution. Simulations, adapted to the CMS em-calorimeter and to a triangular detector array, are provided for energy and position reconstruction algorithms with a finite number of detectors.

Global detailed gravimetric geoid. [based on gravity model derived from satellite tracking and surface gravity data

Science.gov (United States)

Vincent, S.; Marsh, J. G.

1973-01-01

A global detailed gravimetric geoid has been computed by combining the Goddard Space Flight Center GEM-4 gravity model derived from satellite and surface gravity data and surface 1 deg-by-1 deg mean free air gravity anomaly data. The accuracy of the geoid is + or - 2 meters on continents, 5 to 7 meters in areas where surface gravity data are sparse, and 10 to 15 meters in areas where no surface gravity data are available. Comparisons have been made with the astrogeodetic data provided by Rice (United States), Bomford (Europe), and Mather (Australia). Comparisons have also been carried out with geoid heights derived from satellite solutions for geocentric station coordinates in North America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Australia.

The Woven Body: Embodying Text in Performance Art and the Writing Center

Science.gov (United States)

Rifenburg, J. Michael; Allgood, Lindsey

2015-01-01

Drawing on Lindsey Allgood's scripts, journal entries, and images of a specific participatory performance piece she executed, we argue for seeing performance art as a form of embodied text. Such an assertion is particularly pertinent for postsecondary writing center praxis as it allows for the mindful intersections of the body and writing during…

Guidance and Control Algorithms for the Mars Entry, Descent and Landing Systems Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Jody L.; CwyerCianciolo, Alicia M.; Powell, Richard W.; Shidner, Jeremy D.; Garcia-Llama, Eduardo

2010-01-01

The purpose of the Mars Entry, Descent and Landing Systems Analysis (EDL-SA) study was to identify feasible technologies that will enable human exploration of Mars, specifically to deliver large payloads to the Martian surface. This paper focuses on the methods used to guide and control two of the contending technologies, a mid- lift-to-drag (L/D) rigid aeroshell and a hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (HIAD), through the entry portion of the trajectory. The Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories II (POST2) is used to simulate and analyze the trajectories of the contending technologies and guidance and control algorithms. Three guidance algorithms are discussed in this paper: EDL theoretical guidance, Numerical Predictor-Corrector (NPC) guidance and Analytical Predictor-Corrector (APC) guidance. EDL-SA also considered two forms of control: bank angle control, similar to that used by Apollo and the Space Shuttle, and a center-of-gravity (CG) offset control. This paper presents the performance comparison of these guidance algorithms and summarizes the results as they impact the technology recommendations for future study.

Japanese subsidiaries in the European Union: Entry modes and performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Tanganelli

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Japanese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI in the European Union and its performance were analysed in this work. Three different FDI or entry modes used by Japanese companies to enter the European market were compared, and the presence of a relationship between the selected entry mode and the performance of the subsidiary was investigated. We found that more than half of the Japanese investments in Europe took the form of new ventures, approximately 40% were joint ventures and less than 6% were acquisitions. We found that no specific entry mode performed better than another.

Construction Land Expansion and Transfer of Gravity Center from 1984 to 2016 : A study on Beijing - Tianjin - Hebei Urban Agglomeration

Science.gov (United States)

Lv, Jinxia; Jiang, Weiguo

2017-04-01

With the economic development and technological innovation, urban planning and construction has already broken through the shackles of the natural conditions such as topography and geomorphology, and the social factors such as politics and location have been affected by the urbanization process in the process of urbanization. At the same time, the synergies between urban development and local economy, national policy, industrial distribution and so on are also paid more attention. As the third pole of Chinese economy after the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Metropolis Circle has attracted extensive attention on experts and scholars in its urban development and location. In recent years, studies on urban development have not only analyzed the spatial characteristics of urban or urban agglomerations, but also discussed the relationship between urban development and certain elements or phenomena. This paper presents a multi-threshold and multi-feature extraction method for building land using the optical characteristics of different landforms, based on Landsat remote sensing images from 1984 to 2016. The method selected Automated Water Extraction Index (AWEI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Soil Extraction Index (SOEI) and Normalized Difference Built-up Index (BUEI) to extract the construction land. It is an example study area of Beijing to extract the construction land in 30 years and to do a examine research. Using the ArcGIS software to calculate, we can get the coordinates of the city center of gravity in Beijing in various years. It can be seen that the center of gravity of built-up area and the movement of the center of gravity in Beijing. The results showed that the construction land in Beijing has an increasing tendency in recent 30 years. The main characteristic of expansion is the way of high-speed outward development. From 1984 to 1999, the center of gravity of the city shifted to the northeast, and

Clinical instructors' perceptions of behaviors that comprise entry-level clinical performance in physical therapist students: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Jette, Diane U; Bertoni, Alicia; Coots, Renee; Johnson, Heidi; McLaughlin, Catherine; Weisbach, Cody

2007-07-01

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore clinical instructors' (CIs) perceptions of students' behaviors that comprise entry-level clinical performance, as well as how those perceptions were integrated into their decision making. The participants were 21 physical therapists who were CIs for physical therapist students. Using a grounded theory approach, we conducted interviews, asking the question, "What is it about students' performance that makes you see them as entry-level therapists?" We determined common themes among the interviews and developed a schema to explain the decision-making process. Participants identified 7 attributes that, when demonstrated to a sufficient degree, illustrated to them students' ability to practice at the entry level. Those attributes were knowledge, clinical skills, safety, clinical decision making, self-directed learning, interpersonal communication, and professional demeanor. Participants viewed these attributes in concert to form a subjective "gut feeling" that a student demonstrated entry-level performance. A final theme emerged suggesting a definition of entry-level performance as "mentored independence." Participants reported evaluating students' performance based on attributes similar to those suggested by the American Physical Therapy Association's Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument and previous research. However, subjectivity also was involved in their decision about whether students were able to practice at the entry level. Participants also concluded that entry-level students need not be independent in all clinical situations.

Circulation-based Modeling of Gravity Currents

Science.gov (United States)

Meiburg, E. H.; Borden, Z.

2013-05-01

Atmospheric and oceanic flows driven by predominantly horizontal density differences, such as sea breezes, thunderstorm outflows, powder snow avalanches, and turbidity currents, are frequently modeled as gravity currents. Efforts to develop simplified models of such currents date back to von Karman (1940), who considered a two-dimensional gravity current in an inviscid, irrotational and infinitely deep ambient. Benjamin (1968) presented an alternative model, focusing on the inviscid, irrotational flow past a gravity current in a finite-depth channel. More recently, Shin et al. (2004) proposed a model for gravity currents generated by partial-depth lock releases, considering a control volume that encompasses both fronts. All of the above models, in addition to the conservation of mass and horizontal momentum, invoke Bernoulli's law along some specific streamline in the flow field, in order to obtain a closed system of equations that can be solved for the front velocity as function of the current height. More recent computational investigations based on the Navier-Stokes equations, on the other hand, reproduce the dynamics of gravity currents based on the conservation of mass and momentum alone. We propose that it should therefore be possible to formulate a fundamental gravity current model without invoking Bernoulli's law. The talk will show that the front velocity of gravity currents can indeed be predicted as a function of their height from mass and momentum considerations alone, by considering the evolution of interfacial vorticity. This approach does not require information on the pressure field and therefore avoids the need for an energy closure argument such as those invoked by the earlier models. Predictions by the new theory are shown to be in close agreement with direct numerical simulation results. References Von Karman, T. 1940 The engineer grapples with nonlinear problems, Bull. Am. Math Soc. 46, 615-683. Benjamin, T.B. 1968 Gravity currents and related

Performance of an Orifice Compensated Two-Lobe Hole-Entry Hybrid Journal Bearing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Sharana Basavaraja

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The work presented in this paper aims to study the performance of a two-lobe hole-entry hybrid journal bearing system compensated by orifice restrictors. The Reynolds equation governing the flow of lubricant in the clearance space between the journal and bearing together with the equation of flow through an orifice restrictor has been solved using FEM and Galerkin's method. The bearing performance characteristics results have been simulated for an orifice compensated nonrecessed two-lobe hole-entry hybrid journal bearing symmetric configuration for the various values of offset factor (, restrictor design parameter (2, and the value of external load (0. Further, a comparative study of the performance of a two-lobe hole-entry hybrid journal bearing system with a circular hole-entry symmetric hybrid journal bearing system has also been carried out so that a designer has a better flexibility in choosing a suitable bearing configuration. The simulated numerical results indicate that for the two-lobe symmetric hole-entry hybrid journal bearing system with an offset factor ( greater than one provides 30 to 50 percent larger values of direct stiffness and direct damping coefficients as compared to a circular symmetric hole-entry hybrid journal bearing system.

Entry-Item-Quantity-ABC Analysis-Based Multitype Cigarette Fast Sorting System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ying Zhao

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Numerous items, small order, and frequent delivery are the characteristics of many distribution centers. Such characteristics generally increase the operating costs of the distribution center. To remedy this problem, this study employs the Entry-Item-Quantity (EIQ method to identify the characteristic of the cigarette distribution center and further analyzes the importance degree of customers and the frequently ordered products by means of EQ/EN/IQ-B/IK statistic charts. Based on these analyses as well as the total replenishment cost optimization model, multipicking strategies and combined multitype picking equipment allocation is then formulated accordingly. With such design scheme, the cigarette picking costs of the distribution center are expected to reduce. Finally, the specific number of equipment is figured out in order to meet the capability demand of the case cigarette distribution center.

Mass Tracking with a MEMS-based Gravity Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Pike, W. T.; Mukherjee, A.; Warren, T.; Charalambous, C.; Calcutt, S. B.; Standley, I.

2017-12-01

We achieve the first demonstration of the dynamic location of a moving mass using a MEMS sensor to detect gravity. The sensor is based on a microseismometer developed for planetary geophysics. In an updated version of the original Cavendish experiment the noise floor of the sensor, at 0.25 µgal/rtHz, allows the determination of the dynamic gravitational field from the motion of the mass of an oscillating pendulum. Using the determined noise floor we show that this performance should be sufficient for practical subsurface gravity surveying, in particular detection of 50-cm diameter pipes up to 10 m below the surface. Beyond this specific application, this sensor with a mass of less than 250 g per axis represents a new technology that opens up the possibility of drone deloyments for gravity mapping.

Disturbance observer based model predictive control for accurate atmospheric entry of spacecraft

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Chao; Yang, Jun; Li, Shihua; Li, Qi; Guo, Lei

2018-05-01

Facing the complex aerodynamic environment of Mars atmosphere, a composite atmospheric entry trajectory tracking strategy is investigated in this paper. External disturbances, initial states uncertainties and aerodynamic parameters uncertainties are the main problems. The composite strategy is designed to solve these problems and improve the accuracy of Mars atmospheric entry. This strategy includes a model predictive control for optimized trajectory tracking performance, as well as a disturbance observer based feedforward compensation for external disturbances and uncertainties attenuation. 500-run Monte Carlo simulations show that the proposed composite control scheme achieves more precise Mars atmospheric entry (3.8 km parachute deployment point distribution error) than the baseline control scheme (8.4 km) and integral control scheme (5.8 km).

Impact of firm-level factors and market entry mode on performance: A study of service MNCs in an emerging economy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

George Acheampong

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The study examined the market entry strategies of multinational services companies into Ghana’s service sector and the linkages to firm level performance after entry. Literature was reviewed on market entry strategies, internationalisation, globalisation of service firms and resource-based theory. The study adopted a combination of both quantitative and qualitative research approaches in this study. The qualitative approach was for deeper enquiry and quantitative for empirical testing. The study found that firm specific factors affect the market entry strategy while the entry strategy also affects performance after it enters the market. Home country factors and the features of services are also seen to moderate on the effects mentioned. Respondents also indicated that the features of services were an industry wide issue not so much consideration is given to it.

Improving Realism in Reduced Gravity Simulators

Science.gov (United States)

Cowley, Matthew; Harvil, Lauren; Clowers, Kurt; Clark, Timothy; Rajulu, Sudhakar

2010-01-01

Since man was first determined to walk on the moon, simulating the lunar environment became a priority. Providing an accurate reduced gravity environment is crucial for astronaut training and hardware testing. This presentation will follow the development of reduced gravity simulators to a final comparison of environments between the currently used systems. During the Apollo program era, multiple systems were built and tested, with several NASA centers having their own unique device. These systems ranged from marionette-like suspension devices where the subject laid on his side, to pneumatically driven offloading harnesses, to parabolic flights. However, only token comparisons, if any, were made between systems. Parabolic flight allows the entire body to fall at the same rate, giving an excellent simulation of reduced gravity as far as the biomechanics and physical perceptions are concerned. While the effects are accurate, there is limited workspace, limited time, and high cost associated with these tests. With all mechanical offload systems only the parts of the body that are actively offloaded feel any reduced gravity effects. The rest of the body still feels the full effect of gravity. The Partial Gravity System (Pogo) is the current ground-based offload system used to training and testing at the NASA Johnson Space Center. The Pogo is a pneumatic type system that allows for offloaded motion in the z-axis and free movement in the x-axis, but has limited motion in the y-axis. The pneumatic system itself is limited by cylinder stroke length and response time. The Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS) is a next generation groundbased offload system, currently in development, that is based on modern robotic manufacturing lines. This system is projected to provide more z-axis travel and full freedom in both the x and y-axes. Current characterization tests are underway to determine how the ground-based offloading systems perform, how they compare to parabolic

A novel Gravity-FREAK feature extraction and Gravity-KLT tracking registration algorithm based on iPhone MEMS mobile sensor in mobile environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Zhiling; Lin, Fan; Xiao, Bin

2017-01-01

Based on the traditional Fast Retina Keypoint (FREAK) feature description algorithm, this paper proposed a Gravity-FREAK feature description algorithm based on Micro-electromechanical Systems (MEMS) sensor to overcome the limited computing performance and memory resources of mobile devices and further improve the reality interaction experience of clients through digital information added to the real world by augmented reality technology. The algorithm takes the gravity projection vector corresponding to the feature point as its feature orientation, which saved the time of calculating the neighborhood gray gradient of each feature point, reduced the cost of calculation and improved the accuracy of feature extraction. In the case of registration method of matching and tracking natural features, the adaptive and generic corner detection based on the Gravity-FREAK matching purification algorithm was used to eliminate abnormal matches, and Gravity Kaneda-Lucas Tracking (KLT) algorithm based on MEMS sensor can be used for the tracking registration of the targets and robustness improvement of tracking registration algorithm under mobile environment.

Airborne gravity tests in the Italian area to improve the geoid model of Italy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barzaghi, R; Borghi, A; Keller, K

2009-01-01

Airborne gravimetry is an important method for measuring gravity over large unsurveyed areas. This technology has been widely applied in Canada, Antarctica and Greenland to map the gravity fields of these regions and in recent years, in the oil industry. In 2005, two tests in the Italian area were...... performed by ENI in cooperation with the Politecnico di Milano and the Danish National Space Center. To the knowledge of the authors, these were the first experiments of this kind in Italy and were performed over the Ionian coasts of Calabria and the Maiella Mountains. The Calabria test field......, the collocation method applied to compare and merge ground-based and airborne data proved to be efficient and reliable. The standard deviation of the discrepancies between airborne data and collocation upward continued gravity is, in both cases, less than 8 mgal. In the Maiella test, the gravity field obtained...

Data reduction and tying in regional gravity surveys—results from a new gravity base station network and the Bouguer gravity anomaly map for northeastern Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Hurtado-Cardador, Manuel; Urrutia-Fucugauchi, Jaime

2006-12-01

Since 1947 Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has conducted oil exploration projects using potential field methods. Geophysical exploration companies under contracts with Pemex carried out gravity anomaly surveys that were referred to different floating data. Each survey comprises observations of gravity stations along highways, roads and trails at intervals of about 500 m. At present, 265 separate gravimeter surveys that cover 60% of the Mexican territory (mainly in the oil producing regions of Mexico) are available. This gravity database represents the largest, highest spatial resolution information, and consequently has been used in the geophysical data compilations for the Mexico and North America gravity anomaly maps. Regional integration of gravimeter surveys generates gradients and spurious anomalies in the Bouguer anomaly maps at the boundaries of the connected surveys due to the different gravity base stations utilized. The main objective of this study is to refer all gravimeter surveys from Pemex to a single new first-order gravity base station network, in order to eliminate problems of gradients and spurious anomalies. A second objective is to establish a network of permanent gravity base stations (BGP), referred to a single base from the World Gravity System. Four regional loops of BGP covering eight States of Mexico were established to support the tie of local gravity base stations from each of the gravimeter surveys located in the vicinity of these loops. The third objective is to add the gravity constants, measured and calculated, for each of the 265 gravimeter surveys to their corresponding files in the Pemex and Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo database. The gravity base used as the common datum is the station SILAG 9135-49 (Latin American System of Gravity) located in the National Observatory of Tacubaya in Mexico City. We present the results of the installation of a new gravity base network in northeastern Mexico, reference of the 43 gravimeter surveys

Results and Lessons Learned from Performance Testing of Humans in Spacesuits in Simulated Reduced Gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Chappell, Steven P.; Norcross, Jason R.; Gernhardt, Michael L.

2009-01-01

NASA's Constellation Program has plans to return to the Moon within the next 10 years. Although reaching the Moon during the Apollo Program was a remarkable human engineering achievement, fewer than 20 extravehicular activities (EVAs) were performed. Current projections indicate that the next lunar exploration program will require thousands of EVAs, which will require spacesuits that are better optimized for human performance. Limited mobility and dexterity, and the position of the center of gravity (CG) are a few of many features of the Apollo suit that required significant crew compensation to accomplish the objectives. Development of a new EVA suit system will ideally result in performance close to or better than that in shirtsleeves at 1 G, i.e., in "a suit that is a pleasure to work in, one that you would want to go out and explore in on your day off." Unlike the Shuttle program, in which only a fraction of the crew perform EVA, the Constellation program will require that all crewmembers be able to perform EVA. As a result, suits must be built to accommodate and optimize performance for a larger range of crew anthropometry, strength, and endurance. To address these concerns, NASA has begun a series of tests to better understand the factors affecting human performance and how to utilize various lunar gravity simulation environments available for testing.

Improved artificial bee colony algorithm based gravity matching navigation method.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Wei; Zhao, Bo; Zhou, Guang Tao; Wang, Qiu Ying; Yu, Chun Yang

2014-07-18

Gravity matching navigation algorithm is one of the key technologies for gravity aided inertial navigation systems. With the development of intelligent algorithms, the powerful search ability of the Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm makes it possible to be applied to the gravity matching navigation field. However, existing search mechanisms of basic ABC algorithms cannot meet the need for high accuracy in gravity aided navigation. Firstly, proper modifications are proposed to improve the performance of the basic ABC algorithm. Secondly, a new search mechanism is presented in this paper which is based on an improved ABC algorithm using external speed information. At last, modified Hausdorff distance is introduced to screen the possible matching results. Both simulations and ocean experiments verify the feasibility of the method, and results show that the matching rate of the method is high enough to obtain a precise matching position.

GOCE gravity field simulation based on actual mission scenario

Science.gov (United States)

Pail, R.; Goiginger, H.; Mayrhofer, R.; Höck, E.; Schuh, W.-D.; Brockmann, J. M.; Krasbutter, I.; Fecher, T.; Gruber, T.

2009-04-01

In the framework of the ESA-funded project "GOCE High-level Processing Facility", an operational hardware and software system for the scientific processing (Level 1B to Level 2) of GOCE data has been set up by the European GOCE Gravity Consortium EGG-C. One key component of this software system is the processing of a spherical harmonic Earth's gravity field model and the corresponding full variance-covariance matrix from the precise GOCE orbit and calibrated and corrected satellite gravity gradiometry (SGG) data. In the framework of the time-wise approach a combination of several processing strategies for the optimum exploitation of the information content of the GOCE data has been set up: The Quick-Look Gravity Field Analysis is applied to derive a fast diagnosis of the GOCE system performance and to monitor the quality of the input data. In the Core Solver processing a rigorous high-precision solution of the very large normal equation systems is derived by applying parallel processing techniques on a PC cluster. Before the availability of real GOCE data, by means of a realistic numerical case study, which is based on the actual GOCE orbit and mission scenario and simulation data stemming from the most recent ESA end-to-end simulation, the expected GOCE gravity field performance is evaluated. Results from this simulation as well as recently developed features of the software system are presented. Additionally some aspects on data combination with complementary data sources are addressed.

A novel Gravity-FREAK feature extraction and Gravity-KLT tracking registration algorithm based on iPhone MEMS mobile sensor in mobile environment.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhiling Hong

Full Text Available Based on the traditional Fast Retina Keypoint (FREAK feature description algorithm, this paper proposed a Gravity-FREAK feature description algorithm based on Micro-electromechanical Systems (MEMS sensor to overcome the limited computing performance and memory resources of mobile devices and further improve the reality interaction experience of clients through digital information added to the real world by augmented reality technology. The algorithm takes the gravity projection vector corresponding to the feature point as its feature orientation, which saved the time of calculating the neighborhood gray gradient of each feature point, reduced the cost of calculation and improved the accuracy of feature extraction. In the case of registration method of matching and tracking natural features, the adaptive and generic corner detection based on the Gravity-FREAK matching purification algorithm was used to eliminate abnormal matches, and Gravity Kaneda-Lucas Tracking (KLT algorithm based on MEMS sensor can be used for the tracking registration of the targets and robustness improvement of tracking registration algorithm under mobile environment.

30 CFR 15.22 - Tolerances for performance, wrapper, and specific gravity.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... specific gravity. 15.22 Section 15.22 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT... performance, wrapper, and specific gravity. (a) The rate of detonation of the explosive shall be within ±15... within ±2 grams of that specified in the approval. (c) The apparent specific gravity of the explosive...

Physics-based Entry, Descent and Landing Risk Model

Science.gov (United States)

Gee, Ken; Huynh, Loc C.; Manning, Ted

2014-01-01

A physics-based risk model was developed to assess the risk associated with thermal protection system failures during the entry, descent and landing phase of a manned spacecraft mission. In the model, entry trajectories were computed using a three-degree-of-freedom trajectory tool, the aerothermodynamic heating environment was computed using an engineering-level computational tool and the thermal response of the TPS material was modeled using a one-dimensional thermal response tool. The model was capable of modeling the effect of micrometeoroid and orbital debris impact damage on the TPS thermal response. A Monte Carlo analysis was used to determine the effects of uncertainties in the vehicle state at Entry Interface, aerothermodynamic heating and material properties on the performance of the TPS design. The failure criterion was set as a temperature limit at the bondline between the TPS and the underlying structure. Both direct computation and response surface approaches were used to compute the risk. The model was applied to a generic manned space capsule design. The effect of material property uncertainty and MMOD damage on risk of failure were analyzed. A comparison of the direct computation and response surface approach was undertaken.

New standards for reducing gravity data: The North American gravity database

Science.gov (United States)

Hinze, W. J.; Aiken, C.; Brozena, J.; Coakley, B.; Dater, D.; Flanagan, G.; Forsberg, R.; Hildenbrand, T.; Keller, Gordon R.; Kellogg, J.; Kucks, R.; Li, X.; Mainville, A.; Morin, R.; Pilkington, M.; Plouff, D.; Ravat, D.; Roman, D.; Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J.; Veronneau, M.; Webring, M.; Winester, D.

2005-01-01

The North American gravity database as well as databases from Canada, Mexico, and the United States are being revised to improve their coverage, versatility, and accuracy. An important part of this effort is revising procedures for calculating gravity anomalies, taking into account our enhanced computational power, improved terrain databases and datums, and increased interest in more accurately defining long-wavelength anomaly components. Users of the databases may note minor differences between previous and revised database values as a result of these procedures. Generally, the differences do not impact the interpretation of local anomalies but do improve regional anomaly studies. The most striking revision is the use of the internationally accepted terrestrial ellipsoid for the height datum of gravity stations rather than the conventionally used geoid or sea level. Principal facts of gravity observations and anomalies based on both revised and previous procedures together with germane metadata will be available on an interactive Web-based data system as well as from national agencies and data centers. The use of the revised procedures is encouraged for gravity data reduction because of the widespread use of the global positioning system in gravity fieldwork and the need for increased accuracy and precision of anomalies and consistency with North American and national databases. Anomalies based on the revised standards should be preceded by the adjective "ellipsoidal" to differentiate anomalies calculated using heights with respect to the ellipsoid from those based on conventional elevations referenced to the geoid. ?? 2005 Society of Exploration Geophysicists. All rights reserved.

Aerodynamic Interactions of Propulsive Deceleration and Reaction Control System Jets on Mars-Entry Aeroshells

Science.gov (United States)

Alkandry, Hicham

Future missions to Mars, including sample-return and human-exploration missions, may require alternative entry, descent, and landing technologies in order to perform pinpoint landing of heavy vehicles. Two such alternatives are propulsive deceleration (PD) and reaction control systems (RCS). PD can slow the vehicle during Mars atmospheric descent by directing thrusters into the incoming freestream. RCS can provide vehicle control and steering by inducing moments using thrusters on the hack of the entry capsule. The use of these PD and RCS jets, however, involves complex flow interactions that are still not well understood. The fluid interactions induced by PD and RCS jets for Mars-entry vehicles in hypersonic freestream conditions are investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The effects of central and peripheral PD configurations using both sonic and supersonic jets at various thrust conditions are examined in this dissertation. The RCS jet is directed either parallel or transverse to the freestream flow at different thrust conditions in order to examine the effects of the thruster orientation with respect to the center of gravity of the aeroshell. The physical accuracy of the computational method is also assessed by comparing the numerical results with available experimental data. The central PD configuration decreases the drag force acting on the entry capsule due to a shielding effect that prevents mass and momentum in the hypersonic freestream from reaching the aeroshell. The peripheral PD configuration also decreases the drag force by obstructing the flow around the aeroshell and creating low surface pressure regions downstream of the PD nozzles. The Mach number of the PD jets, however, does not have a significant effect on the induced fluid interactions. The reaction control system also alters the flowfield, surface, and aerodynamic properties of the aeroshell, while the jet orientation can have a significant effect on the control effectiveness

Atom-chip based quantum gravimetry for the precise determination of absolute local gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Abend, S.

2015-12-01

We present a novel technique for the precise measurement of absolute local gravity based on cold atom interferometry. Atom interferometry utilizes the interference of matter waves interrogated by laser light to read out inertial forces. Today's generation of these devices typically operate with test mass samples, that consists of ensembles of laser cooled atoms. Their performance is limited by the velocity spread and finite-size of the test masses that impose systematic uncertainties at the level of a few μGal. Rather than laser cooled atoms we employ quantum degenerate ensembles, so called Bose-Einstein condensates, as ultra-sensitive probes for gravity. These sources offer unique properties in temperature as well as in ensemble size that will allow to overcome the current limitations with the next generation of sensors. Furthermore, atom-chip technologies offer the possibility to generate Bose-Einstein condensates in a fast and reliable way. We show a lab-based prototype that uses the atom-chip itself to retro-reflect the interrogation laser and thus serving as inertial reference inside the vacuum. With this setup it is possible to demonstrate all necessary steps to measure gravity, including the preparation of the source, spanning an interferometer as well as the detection of the output signal, within an area of 1 cm3 right below the atom-chip and to analyze relevant systematic effects. In the framework of the center of excellence geoQ a next generation device is under construction at the Institut für Quantenoptik, that will allow for in-field measurements. This device will feature a state-of-the-art atom-chip source with a high-flux of ultra-cold atoms at a repetition rate of 1-2 Hz. In cooperation with the Müller group at the Institut für Erdmessung the sensor will be characterized in the laboratory first, to be ultimately employed in campaigns to measure the Fennoscandian uplift at the level of 1 μGal. The presented work is part of the center of

Evaluate Data Center Network Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pilimon, Artur

through a data center network, which is usually built with layer 2 switches and layer 3 routers. The topology of the data center network is crucial for latency in the data communication to and from the data center and between servers in the data center. Tests can be conducted to measure latency and other...... Engineering, scientists evaluate data center network topologies with an SDN-based (Software-Defined Networking) control framework measuring network performance – primarily latency. This can be used to plan data center scaling by testing how a new topology will function before changes are made. Data center...... performance parameters for different data center network topologies. It is however important that tests can be repeated and reproduced to have comparable information from the tests. There are, of course, many topologies that can be used for data center networks. At DTU Fotonik, Department of Photonics...

Overview of the Mars Sample Return Earth Entry Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Dillman, Robert; Corliss, James

2008-01-01

NASA's Mars Sample Return (MSR) project will bring Mars surface and atmosphere samples back to Earth for detailed examination. Langley Research Center's MSR Earth Entry Vehicle (EEV) is a core part of the mission, protecting the sample container during atmospheric entry, descent, and landing. Planetary protection requirements demand a higher reliability from the EEV than for any previous planetary entry vehicle. An overview of the EEV design and preliminary analysis is presented, with a follow-on discussion of recommended future design trade studies to be performed over the next several years in support of an MSR launch in 2018 or 2020. Planned topics include vehicle size for impact protection of a range of sample container sizes, outer mold line changes to achieve surface sterilization during re-entry, micrometeoroid protection, aerodynamic stability, thermal protection, and structural materials selection.

Performance Evaluation and Requirements Assessment for Gravity Gradient Referenced Navigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jisun Lee

2015-07-01

Full Text Available In this study, simulation tests for gravity gradient referenced navigation (GGRN are conducted to verify the effects of various factors such as database (DB and sensor errors, flight altitude, DB resolution, initial errors, and measurement update rates on the navigation performance. Based on the simulation results, requirements for GGRN are established for position determination with certain target accuracies. It is found that DB and sensor errors and flight altitude have strong effects on the navigation performance. In particular, a DB and sensor with accuracies of 0.1 E and 0.01 E, respectively, are required to determine the position more accurately than or at a level similar to the navigation performance of terrain referenced navigation (TRN. In most cases, the horizontal position error of GGRN is less than 100 m. However, the navigation performance of GGRN is similar to or worse than that of a pure inertial navigation system when the DB and sensor errors are 3 E or 5 E each and the flight altitude is 3000 m. Considering that the accuracy of currently available gradiometers is about 3 E or 5 E, GGRN does not show much advantage over TRN at present. However, GGRN is expected to exhibit much better performance in the near future when accurate DBs and gravity gradiometer are available.

The U.S. Army's Sioux Campaign of 1876: Identifying the Horse as the Center of Gravity of the Sioux

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Hoyt, Mark

2003-01-01

.... If the Army had a complete understanding of the Sioux they would have realized that the hub of all power or center of gravity of the Sioux was the horse, which every major aspect of Sioux life...

Ambulatory surgery center and general hospital competition: entry decisions and strategic choices.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Amin, Mona; Housman, Michael

2012-01-01

General hospitals are consistently under pressure to control cost and improve quality. In addition to mounting payers' demands, hospitals operate under evolving market conditions that might threaten their survival. While hospitals traditionally were concerned mainly with competition from other hospitals, today's reimbursement schemes and entrepreneurial activities encouraged the proliferation of outpatient facilities such as ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) that can jeopardize hospitals' survival. The purpose of this article was to examine the relationship between ASCs and general hospitals. More specifically, we apply the niche overlap theory to study the impact that competition between ASCs and general hospitals has on the survival chances of both of these organizational populations. Our analysis examined interpopulation competition in models of organizational mortality and market demand. We utilized Cox proportional hazard models to evaluate the impact of competition from each on ASC and hospital exit while controlling for market factors. We relied on two data sets collected and developed by Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration: outpatient facility licensure data and inpatient and outpatient surgical procedure data. Although ASCs do tend to exit markets in which there are high levels of ASC competition, we found no evidence to suggest that ASC exit rates are affected by hospital density. On the other hand, hospitals not only tend to exit markets with high levels of hospital competition but also experience high exit rates in markets with high ASC density. The implications from our study differ for ASCs and hospitals. When making decisions about market entry, ASCs should choose their markets according to the following: demand for outpatient surgery, number of physicians who would practice in the surgery center, and the number of surgery centers that already exist in the market. Hospitals, on the other hand, should account for competition from ASCs

Selecting Tasks for Evaluating Human Performance as a Function of Gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Norcross, Jason R.; Gernhardt, Michael L.

2011-01-01

A challenge in understanding human performance as a function of gravity is determining which tasks to research. Initial studies began with treadmill walking, which was easy to quantify and control. However, with the development of pressurized rovers, it is less important to optimize human performance for ambulation as pressurized rovers will likely perform gross translation for them. Future crews are likely to spend much of their extravehicular activity (EVA) performing geology, construction,a nd maintenance type tasks. With these types of tasks, people have different performance strategies, and it is often difficult to quantify the task and measure steady-state metabolic rates or perform biomechanical analysis. For many of these types of tasks, subjective feedback may be the only data that can be collected. However, subjective data may not fully support a rigorous scientific comparison of human performance across different gravity levels and suit factors. NASA would benefit from having a wide variety of quantifiable tasks that allow human performance comparison across different conditions. In order to determine which tasks will effectively support scientific studies, many different tasks and data analysis techniques will need to be employed. Many of these tasks and techniques will not be effective, but some will produce quantifiable results that are sensitive enough to show performance differences. One of the primary concerns related to EVA performance is metabolic rate. The higher the metabolic rate, the faster the astronaut will exhaust consumables. The focus of this poster will be on how different tasks affect metabolic rate across different gravity levels.

Performance Evaluation of Extension Education Centers in Universities Based on the Balanced Scorecard

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Hung-Yi; Lin, Yi-Kuei; Chang, Chi-Hsiang

2011-01-01

This study aims at developing a set of appropriate performance evaluation indices mainly based on balanced scorecard (BSC) for extension education centers in universities by utilizing multiple criteria decision making (MCDM). Through literature reviews and experts who have real practical experiences in extension education, adequate performance…

Gravity-gradient dynamics experiments performed in orbit utilizing the Radio Astronomy Explorer (RAE-1) spacecraft

Science.gov (United States)

Walden, H.

1973-01-01

Six dynamic experiments were performed in earth orbit utilizing the RAE spacecraft in order to test the accuracy of the mathematical model of RAE dynamics. The spacecraft consisted of four flexible antenna booms, mounted on a rigid cylindrical spacecraft hub at center, for measuring radio emissions from extraterrestrial sources. Attitude control of the gravity stabilized spacecraft was tested by using damper clamping, single lower leading boom operations, and double lower boom operations. Results and conclusions of the in-orbit dynamic experiments proved the accuracy of the analytic techniques used to model RAE dynamical behavior.

Gravity data from the San Pedro River Basin, Cochise County, Arizona

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, Jeffrey R.; Winester, Daniel

2011-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona Water Science Center in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Geodetic Survey has collected relative and absolute gravity data at 321 stations in the San Pedro River Basin of southeastern Arizona since 2000. Data are of three types: observed gravity values and associated free-air, simple Bouguer, and complete Bouguer anomaly values, useful for subsurface-density modeling; high-precision relative-gravity surveys repeated over time, useful for aquifer-storage-change monitoring; and absolute-gravity values, useful as base stations for relative-gravity surveys and for monitoring gravity change over time. The data are compiled, without interpretation, in three spreadsheet files. Gravity values, GPS locations, and driving directions for absolute-gravity base stations are presented as National Geodetic Survey site descriptions.

The Impact of the Syrian Refugee Crisis on Firm Entry and Performance in Turkey

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Akgunduz, Yusuf Emre; van den Berg, M.R.; Hassink, W.H.J.

We analyze how the Syrian refugee inflows into Turkey affected firm entry and performance. To estimate the causal effects, we use instrumental variables, difference-in-differences, and synthetic control methodologies. The results suggest that hosting refugees is favorable for firms. Total firm entry

Robust entry guidance using linear covariance-based model predictive control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianjun Luo

2017-02-01

Full Text Available For atmospheric entry vehicles, guidance design can be accomplished by solving an optimal issue using optimal control theories. However, traditional design methods generally focus on the nominal performance and do not include considerations of the robustness in the design process. This paper proposes a linear covariance-based model predictive control method for robust entry guidance design. Firstly, linear covariance analysis is employed to directly incorporate the robustness into the guidance design. The closed-loop covariance with the feedback updated control command is initially formulated to provide the expected errors of the nominal state variables in the presence of uncertainties. Then, the closed-loop covariance is innovatively used as a component of the cost function to guarantee the robustness to reduce its sensitivity to uncertainties. After that, the models predictive control is used to solve the optimal problem, and the control commands (bank angles are calculated. Finally, a series of simulations for different missions have been completed to demonstrate the high performance in precision and the robustness with respect to initial perturbations as well as uncertainties in the entry process. The 3σ confidence region results in the presence of uncertainties which show that the robustness of the guidance has been improved, and the errors of the state variables are decreased by approximately 35%.

Double entry bookkeeping vs single entry bookkeeping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ileana Andreica

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract: A financial management eficiently begin, primarily, with an accounting record kept in the best possible conditions, this being conditioned on the adoption of a uniform forms, rational, clear and simple accounting. Throughout history, there have been known two forms of accounting: the simple and double entry. Romanian society after 1990 underwent a substantial change in social structure, the sector on which put a great emphasis being private, that of small manufacturers, peddler, freelance, who work independently and authorized or as associative form (family enterprises, various associations (owners, tenants, etc., liberal professions, etc.. They are obliged to keep a simple bookkeeping, because they have no juridical personality. Companies with legal personality are required to keep double entry bookkeeping; therefore, knowledge and border demarcation between the two forms of organisation of accounting is an essential. The material used for this work is mainly represented by the financial and accounting documents, by the analysis of the economic, by legislative updated sources, and as the method was used the comparison method, using hypothetical data, in case of an authorized individual and a legal entity. Based on the chosen material, an authorized individual (who perform single entry accounting system and a juridical entity (who perform double entry accounting system were selected comparative case studies, using hypothetical data, were analysed advantages and disadvantages in term of fiscal, if using two accounting systems, then were highlighted some conclusion that result.

Effects of wall roughness and entry length on void profile in vertical bubbly flow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takamasa, Tomoji

1988-01-01

An experimental study of upward air-water bubbly two-phase flow in an entry region was performed with various rough wall test tubes. The objective of the work is to clarify the effects of wall roughness and entry length on void profile. The fluid flows in the vertical circular test tube of 25 mm I.D. under nearly atmospheric pressure, at room temperature. The void profile changes from a pattern similar in appearance to the saddle shape which has local void peaks near the wall, into the power law shape whose curve is approximated by a power law formula, with increasing wall roughness and/or entry length. That is, wall roughness and entry length have a similar effect upon void profile. There are two patterns in the power law shape, a pattern with sharp center peak and a pattern with obtuse center peak. As wall roughness and/or entry length increase, the void profile changes from the former pattern to the latter pattern. At enough long entry length (L/D ≅ 150), every void profile has almost the same power law shape independent of wall roughness. Some void profiles are asymmetric to the axis. (author)

The Gravity Law of Marketing - a Major Reason for Change to a Better Performance

OpenAIRE

Victor DANCIU

2010-01-01

Companies develop marketing strategies only for success. But, sooner or later, even the most successful strategies begin to wear out and lose their impact on the performances of the company. The mutual attraction between the marketing strategy and the performance of the company is known as the law of marketing gravity. Once a marketing strategy loses impact on the marketing performance as a result of the law of marketing gravity a fundamental change is needed. This change mu...

Experimental Study on the Thermal Start-Up Performance of the Graphene/Water Nanofluid-Enhanced Solar Gravity Heat Pipe.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Shanguo; Xu, Guoying; Wang, Ning; Zhang, Xiaosong

2018-01-28

The solar gravity heat pipe has been widely used for solar thermal water heating because of its high efficient heat transfer and thermal diode characteristics. Operated on fluctuant and low intensity solar radiation conditions, a solar gravity heat pipe may frequently start up. This severely affects its solar collection performance. To enhance the thermal performance of the solar gravity heat pipe, this study proposes using graphene/water nanofluid as the working fluid instead of deionized water. The stability of the prepared graphene/water nanofluid added with PVP was firstly investigated to obtain the optimum mass ratios of the added dispersant. Thermophysical properties-including the thermal conductivity and viscosity-of nanofluid with various graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) concentrations were measured at different temperatures for further analysis. Furthermore, based on the operational evaluation on a single heat pipe's start-up process, the performance of nanofluid-enhanced solar gravity heat pipes using different concentrations of GNPs were compared by using water heating experiments. Results indicated that the use of 0.05 wt % graphene/water nanofluid instead of water could achieve a 15.1% and 10.7% reduction in start-up time under 30 and 60 W input heating conditions, respectively. Consequently, a higher thermal efficiency for solar collection could be expected.

Experimental Study on the Thermal Start-Up Performance of the Graphene/Water Nanofluid-Enhanced Solar Gravity Heat Pipe

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Shanguo; Xu, Guoying; Wang, Ning; Zhang, Xiaosong

2018-01-01

The solar gravity heat pipe has been widely used for solar thermal water heating because of its high efficient heat transfer and thermal diode characteristics. Operated on fluctuant and low intensity solar radiation conditions, a solar gravity heat pipe may frequently start up. This severely affects its solar collection performance. To enhance the thermal performance of the solar gravity heat pipe, this study proposes using graphene/water nanofluid as the working fluid instead of deionized water. The stability of the prepared graphene/water nanofluid added with PVP was firstly investigated to obtain the optimum mass ratios of the added dispersant. Thermophysical properties—including the thermal conductivity and viscosity—of nanofluid with various graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) concentrations were measured at different temperatures for further analysis. Furthermore, based on the operational evaluation on a single heat pipe’s start-up process, the performance of nanofluid-enhanced solar gravity heat pipes using different concentrations of GNPs were compared by using water heating experiments. Results indicated that the use of 0.05 wt % graphene/water nanofluid instead of water could achieve a 15.1% and 10.7% reduction in start-up time under 30 and 60 W input heating conditions, respectively. Consequently, a higher thermal efficiency for solar collection could be expected. PMID:29382094

Experimental Study on the Thermal Start-Up Performance of the Graphene/Water Nanofluid-Enhanced Solar Gravity Heat Pipe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shanguo Zhao

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The solar gravity heat pipe has been widely used for solar thermal water heating because of its high efficient heat transfer and thermal diode characteristics. Operated on fluctuant and low intensity solar radiation conditions, a solar gravity heat pipe may frequently start up. This severely affects its solar collection performance. To enhance the thermal performance of the solar gravity heat pipe, this study proposes using graphene/water nanofluid as the working fluid instead of deionized water. The stability of the prepared graphene/water nanofluid added with PVP was firstly investigated to obtain the optimum mass ratios of the added dispersant. Thermophysical properties—including the thermal conductivity and viscosity—of nanofluid with various graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs concentrations were measured at different temperatures for further analysis. Furthermore, based on the operational evaluation on a single heat pipe’s start-up process, the performance of nanofluid-enhanced solar gravity heat pipes using different concentrations of GNPs were compared by using water heating experiments. Results indicated that the use of 0.05 wt % graphene/water nanofluid instead of water could achieve a 15.1% and 10.7% reduction in start-up time under 30 and 60 W input heating conditions, respectively. Consequently, a higher thermal efficiency for solar collection could be expected.

Explanation of observable secular variations of gravity and alternative methods of determination of drift of the center of mass of the Earth

Science.gov (United States)

Barkin, Yury

2010-05-01

The summary. On the basis of geodynamic model of the forced relative displacement of the centers of mass of the core and the mantle of the Earth the secular variations of a gravity and heights of some gravimetry stations on a surface of the Earth have ben studied. At the account of secular drift of the center of mass of the Earth which on our geodynamic model is caused by the unidirectional drift of the core of the Earth relatively to the mantle, the full explanation is given to observable secular variations of a gravity at stations Ny-Alesund (Norway), Churchill (Canada), Medicine (Italy), Sayowa (Antarctica), Strastburg (France), Membach (Belgium), Wuhan (China) and Metsahovi (Finland). Two new methods of determination of secular drift of the center of mass of the Earth, alternative to classical method of a space geodesy are offered: 1) on the basis of gravimetry data about secular trends of a gravity at the stations located on all basic regions of the Earth; 2) on the basis of the comparative analysis of altimetry and coastal data about secular changes of sea level also in basic regions of ocean. 1. Secular drift of the center of mass of the core and the center of mass of the Earth. A secular drift of the center of mass of the Earth to the North relatively to special center O on an axis of rotation of the Earth for which the coefficient of third zonal harmonic J3' = 0, has been predicted in the author work [1]. A drift in a direction to a geographical point (pole P) 70°0 N and 104°3 E has been established for the first time theoretically - as a result of the analysis of the global directed redistribution of masses of the Earth, explaining the observed secular drift of the pole of an axis of rotation of the Earth and not tidal acceleration of its axial rotation [2]. In [1] velocity of drift it has been estimated in 1-2 cm/yr. For specified center O the figure of a planet is as though deprived of pure-shaped form (J3' = 0). And in this sense the point O can be

Thermal stress analysis of gravity support system for ITER based on ANSYS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liang Shangming; Yan Xijiang; Huang Yufeng; Wang Xianzhou; Hou Binglin; Li Pengyuan; Jian Guangde; Liu Dequan; Zhou Caipin

2009-01-01

A method for building the finite element model of the gravity support system for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) was proposed according to the characteristics of the gravity support system with the cyclic symmetry. A mesh dividing method, which has high precision and an acceptable calculating scale, was used, and a three dimensional finite element model for the toroidal 20 degree sector of the gravity support system was built by using ANSYS. Meantime, the steady-state thermal analysis and thermal-structural coupling analysis of the gravity support system were performed. The thermal stress distributions and the maximal thermal stress values of all parts of the gravity support system were obtained, and the stress intensity of parts of the gravity support system was analyzed. The results of thermal stress analysis lay the solid foundation for design and improvement for gravity supports system for ITER. (authors)

Comparison of graduate-entry and direct school leaver student performance on an applied dental knowledge test.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, K; Zahra, D; Tredwin, C

2017-11-01

To compare the academic performance of graduate-entry and direct school leavers in an undergraduate dental programme. This study examined the results of students in applied dental knowledge (ADK) progress tests conducted during two academic years. A mixed model analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to compare the performance of graduate-entry and direct school leavers. ADK was treated as a repeated measures variable, and the outcome variable of interest was percentage score on the ADK. The results show statistically significant main effects for ADK [F (1,113) = 61.58, P < 0.001, η 2 p = 0.35], Cohort [F (1,113) = 88.57, P < 0.001, η 2 p = 0.44] and Entry [F (1,113) = 11.31, P = 0.001, η 2 p = 0.09]. That is, students do better on each subsequent test (main effect of ADK), students in later years of the programme perform better than those in earlier years (main effect of cohort), and graduate-entry students outperform direct school leavers. This is the first study to explore the differences in the academic performance of graduate-entry and direct school leavers in an undergraduate dental programme. The results show that the academic performance of graduate students was better than the direct school leavers in years 2 and 3. Further research is required to compare the performance of students longitudinally across the entire duration of undergraduate dental programmes and evaluate whether this difference persists throughout. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

An improved gravity compensation method for high-precision free-INS based on MEC–BP–AdaBoost

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Xiao; Yang, Gongliu; Wang, Jing; Li, Jing

2016-01-01

In recent years, with the rapid improvement of inertial sensors (accelerometers and gyroscopes), gravity compensation has become more important for improving navigation accuracy in inertial navigation systems (INS), especially for high-precision INS. This paper proposes a mind evolutionary computation (MEC) back propagation (BP) AdaBoost algorithm neural-network-based gravity compensation method that estimates the gravity disturbance on the track based on measured gravity data. A MEC–BP–AdaBoost network-based gravity compensation algorithm used in the training process to establish the prediction model takes the carrier position (longitude and latitude) provided by INS as the input data and the gravity disturbance as the output data, and then compensates the obtained gravity disturbance into the INS’s error equations to restrain the position error propagation. The MEC–BP–AdaBoost algorithm can not only effectively avoid BP neural networks being trapped in local extrema, but also perfectly solve the nonlinearity between the input and output data that cannot be solved by traditional interpolation methods, such as least-square collocation (LSC) interpolation. The accuracy and feasibility of the proposed interpolation method are verified through numerical tests. A comparison of several other compensation methods applied in field experiments, including LSC interpolation and traditional BP interpolation, highlights the superior performance of the proposed method. The field experiment results show that the maximum value of the position error can reduce by 28% with the proposed gravity compensation method. (paper)

State-space dynamic model for estimation of radon entry rate, based on Kalman filtering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brabec, Marek; Jilek, Karel

2007-01-01

To predict the radon concentration in a house environment and to understand the role of all factors affecting its behavior, it is necessary to recognize time variation in both air exchange rate and radon entry rate into a house. This paper describes a new approach to the separation of their effects, which effectively allows continuous estimation of both radon entry rate and air exchange rate from simultaneous tracer gas (carbon monoxide) and radon gas measurement data. It is based on a state-space statistical model which permits quick and efficient calculations. Underlying computations are based on (extended) Kalman filtering, whose practical software implementation is easy. Key property is the model's flexibility, so that it can be easily adjusted to handle various artificial regimens of both radon gas and CO gas level manipulation. After introducing the statistical model formally, its performance will be demonstrated on real data from measurements conducted in our experimental, naturally ventilated and unoccupied room. To verify our method, radon entry rate calculated via proposed statistical model was compared with its known reference value. The results from several days of measurement indicated fairly good agreement (up to 5% between reference value radon entry rate and its value calculated continuously via proposed method, in average). Measured radon concentration moved around the level approximately 600 Bq m -3 , whereas the range of air exchange rate was 0.3-0.8 (h -1 )

Centrifuge in Free Fall: Combustion at Partial Gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Ferkul, Paul

2017-01-01

A centrifuge apparatus is developed to study the effect of variable acceleration levels in a drop tower environment. It consists of a large rotating chamber, within which the experiment is conducted. NASA Glenn Research Center 5.18-second Zero-Gravity Facility drop tests were successfully conducted at rotation rates up to 1 RPS with no measurable effect on the overall Zero-Gravity drop bus. Arbitrary simulated gravity levels from zero to 1-g (at a radius of rotation 30 cm) were produced. A simple combustion experiment was used to exercise the capabilities of the centrifuge. A total of 23 drops burning a simulated candle with heptane and ethanol fuel were performed. The effect of gravity level (rotation rate) and Coriolis force on the flames was observed. Flames became longer, narrower, and brighter as gravity increased. The Coriolis force tended to tilt the flames to one side, as expected, especially as the rotation rate was increased. The Zero-Gravity Centrifuge can be a useful tool for other researchers interested in the effects of arbitrary partial gravity on experiments, especially as NASA embarks on future missions which may be conducted in non-Earth gravity.

Building Predictive Human Performance Models of Skill Acquisition in a Data Entry Task

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Fu, Wai-Tat; Gonzalez, Cleotilde; Healy, Alice F; Kole, James A; Bourne, Jr., Lyle E

2006-01-01

.... Since data entry is a central component in most human-machine interaction, a predictive model of performance will provide useful information that informs interface design and effectiveness of training...

Pivot/Remote: a distributed database for remote data entry in multi-center clinical trials.

Science.gov (United States)

Higgins, S B; Jiang, K; Plummer, W D; Edens, T R; Stroud, M J; Swindell, B B; Wheeler, A P; Bernard, G R

1995-01-01

1. INTRODUCTION. Data collection is a critical component of multi-center clinical trials. Clinical trials conducted in intensive care units (ICU) are even more difficult because the acute nature of illnesses in ICU settings requires that masses of data be collected in a short time. More than a thousand data points are routinely collected for each study patient. The majority of clinical trials are still "paper-based," even if a remote data entry (RDE) system is utilized. The typical RDE system consists of a computer housed in the CC office and connected by modem to a centralized data coordinating center (DCC). Study data must first be recorded on a paper case report form (CRF), transcribed into the RDE system, and transmitted to the DCC. This approach requires additional monitoring since both the paper CRF and study database must be verified. The paper-based RDE system cannot take full advantage of automatic data checking routines. Much of the effort (and expense) of a clinical trial is ensuring that study data matches the original patient data. 2. METHODS. We have developed an RDE system, Pivot/Remote, that eliminates the need for paper-based CRFs. It creates an innovative, distributed database. The database resides partially at the study clinical centers (CC) and at the DCC. Pivot/Remote is descended from technology introduced with Pivot [1]. Study data is collected at the bedside with laptop computers. A graphical user interface (GUI) allows the display of electronic CRFs that closely mimic the normal paper-based forms. Data entry time is the same as for paper CRFs. Pull-down menus, displaying the possible responses, simplify the process of entering data. Edit checks are performed on most data items. For example, entered dates must conform to some temporal logic imposed by the study. Data must conform to some acceptable range of values. Calculations, such as computing the subject's age or the APACHE II score, are automatically made as the data is entered. Data

PPN-limit of Fourth Order Gravity inspired by Scalar-Tensor Gravity

OpenAIRE

Capozziello, S.; Troisi, A.

2005-01-01

Based on the {\\it dynamical} equivalence between higher order gravity and scalar-tensor gravity the PPN-limit of fourth order gravity is discussed. We exploit this analogy developing a fourth order gravity version of the Eddington PPN-parameters. As a result, Solar System experiments can be reconciled with higher order gravity, if physical constraints descending from experiments are fulfilled.

Gravity study of the Middle Aterno Valley

Science.gov (United States)

di Nezza, Maria; di Filippo, Michele; Cesi, Claudio; Ferri, Fernando

2010-05-01

A gravity study was carried out to identify the geological and structural features of the Middle Aterno Valley, and intramontane depression in the central Appennines, which was targeted to assess the seismic hazard of the city of L'Aquila and surrounding areas, after the Abruzzo 2009 earthquake. Gravity anomalies have been used for the construction of a 3D model of the area, and gravity data for the construction of Bouguer and residual anomaly maps. These data, together with geological surface data allowed for the understanding of the Plio-quaternary tectonic setting of the basins. The study area has been differentiated into different domains with respect to structural and morphological features of different styles of faults. Geology and gravity data show that the local amplification phenomena are due to the fact that the historical center of L'Aquila was built on a coarse breccias (debris-flow deposits with decameter scale limestone blocks) overlying sandy and clayey lacustrine sediments. As these sediments have a low density, gravity prospecting very easily identifies them. Residual anomalies, showing a relative gravity low corresponding to the historical center of L'Aquila, and surrounding areas, indicated that these sediments are up to 250 m-thick. Gravity prospecting also revealed the uprooting of the reliefs which outcrop in the area of Coppito. These reliefs, practically outcrop in the middle of the basin. Here, the gravity anomalies are negative and not positive as would be expected from outcropping geological bedrock.

Performance evaluation of data center service localization based on virtual resource migration in software defined elastic optical network.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hui; Zhang, Jie; Ji, Yuefeng; Tan, Yuanlong; Lin, Yi; Han, Jianrui; Lee, Young

2015-09-07

Data center interconnection with elastic optical network is a promising scenario to meet the high burstiness and high-bandwidth requirements of data center services. In our previous work, we implemented cross stratum optimization of optical network and application stratums resources that allows to accommodate data center services. In view of this, this study extends the data center resources to user side to enhance the end-to-end quality of service. We propose a novel data center service localization (DCSL) architecture based on virtual resource migration in software defined elastic data center optical network. A migration evaluation scheme (MES) is introduced for DCSL based on the proposed architecture. The DCSL can enhance the responsiveness to the dynamic end-to-end data center demands, and effectively reduce the blocking probability to globally optimize optical network and application resources. The overall feasibility and efficiency of the proposed architecture are experimentally verified on the control plane of our OpenFlow-based enhanced SDN testbed. The performance of MES scheme under heavy traffic load scenario is also quantitatively evaluated based on DCSL architecture in terms of path blocking probability, provisioning latency and resource utilization, compared with other provisioning scheme.

Design of a Template for Handwriting Based Hindi Text Entry in Handheld Devices

Science.gov (United States)

Gangopadhyay, Diya; Vasal, Ityam; Yammiyavar, Pradeep

Mobile phones, in the recent times, have become affordable and accessible to a wider range of users including the hitherto technologically and economically under-represented segments. Indian users are a gigantic consumer base for mobile phones. With Hindi being one of the most widely spoken languages in the country and the primary tool of communication for about a third of its population, an effective solution for Hindi text entry in mobile devices is expected to be immensely useful to the non English speaking users. This paper proposes a mobile phone handwriting based text entry solution for Hindi language, which allows for an easy text entry method, while facilitating better recognition accuracy.

The Gravity Law of Marketing - a Major Reason for Change to a Better Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor DANCIU

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Companies develop marketing strategies only for success. But, sooner or later, even the most successful strategies begin to wear out and lose their impact on the performances of the company. The mutual attraction between the marketing strategy and the performance of the company is known as the law of marketing gravity. Once a marketing strategy loses impact on the marketing performance as a result of the law of marketing gravity a fundamental change is needed. This change must be made according to a new marketing thinking during a cyclic process for development of the new marketing strategy. This paper is aiming to point out that companies must recognize the limited viability of their marketing strategies, identify the causes of the strategic wear out and implications of the law of the marketing gravity. All these should be a solid ground for marketing strategic change which must be included in the general plans of change of the company and implemented with the particular tools of the strategic management of change.

Recovery of the Earth's Gravity Field Based on Spaceborne Atom-interferometry and Its Accuracy Estimation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ZHU Zhu

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The electrostatic gravity gradiometer has been successfully applied as a core sensor in satellite gravity gradiometric mission GOCE, and its observations are used to recover the Earth's static gravity field with a degree and order above 200. The lifetime of GOCE has been over, and the next generation satellite gravity gradiometry with higher resolution is urgently required in order to recover the global steady-state gravity field with a degree and order of 200~360. High potential precision can be obtained in space by atom-interferometry gravity gradiometer due to its long interference time, and thus the atom-interferometry-based satellite gravity gradiometry has been proposed as one of the candidate techniques for the next satellite gravity gradiometric mission. In order to achieve the science goal for high resolution gravity field measurement in the future, a feasible scheme of atom-interferometry gravity gradiometry in micro-gravity environment is given in this paper, and the gravity gradient measurement can be achieved with a noise of 0.85mE/Hz1/2. Comparison and estimation of the Earth's gravity field recovery precision for different types of satellite gravity gradiometry is discussed, and the results show that the satellite gravity gradiometry based on atom-interferometry is expected to provide the global gravity field model with an improved accuracy of 7~8cm in terms of geoid height and 3×10-5 m/s2 in terms of gravity anomaly respectively at a degree and order of 252~290.

Load Management of Data Centers as Regulation Capacity in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clausen, Anders; Ghatikar, Girish; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

2014-01-01

are of special interest as they account for 500 GWh of consumption in Denmark or nearly 2% of the total electricity consumption. This paper performs an analysis on load management capabilities of data centers in Denmark based on the experiences in the U.S. We characterize the load management capabilities...... for transmission system operators and distribution system operators and balance errors in forecasts made by balance responsible parties. By enabling the demand-side to adapt consumption to match power generation, we can address this in a cost-effective and environmental sound way. In this context, data centers...... of the data centers based on their types, technology, and their application as grid management resources. Further, we identify demand-side entry barriers towards market participation. Our findings suggest that groups of data centers can offer dynamic load flexibility as virtual power plants, and thereby...

Transaction cost determinants and ownership-based entry mode choice: a meta-analytical review

OpenAIRE

Hongxin Zhao; Yadong Luo; Taewon Suh

2004-01-01

Entry mode choice is a critical ingredient of international entry strategies, and has been voluminously examined in the field. The findings, however, are very mixed, especially with respect to transaction-cost-related factors in determining the ownership-based entry mode choice. This study conducted a meta-analysis to quantitatively summarize the literature and empirically generalize more conclusive findings. Based on the 106 effect sizes of 38 empirical studies, the meta-analysis shows that ...

Investigation of fuel savings for an aircraft due to optimization of the center of gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yitao; Yang, Zhenbo; Deng, Junxiang; Zhu, Junjie

2018-03-01

The aircraft’s center of gravity (CG) has a significant influence on the safety and efficiency, which are determined to a large degree by keeping the CG position within the forward and aft limits. Improper loading reduces the aerodynamics efficiency of an aircraft, resulting in higher flight drag. This paper focuses on the theoretical analysis of the influence of variable CG parameter on the fuel consumption. A new model is developed to predict the fuel consumption rate for an aircraft with it’s CG at different position. The numerical result indicates that a more aft CG position produces less drag and, in turn, requires less fuel consumption.

Growth of New Firms: Which Factors Influence Post-Entry Performance? An Empirical Analysis Based on Swiss Firm Data

OpenAIRE

David Marmet

2004-01-01

The aim of this study is to shed light on the factors which determine the post-entry performance of new firms. It is often argued that new firms are the driving force of structural changes and sometimes they are even characterized as an “engine” of economic growth. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence is mixed. Taking into account the high exit rate of new firms, a specific founding cohort does not contribute substantially to new jobs. In this paper, we analyse the contribution of new firms c...

PERFORMANCE BASED PAY AS A DETERMINANT OF JOB SATISFACTION: A STUDY IN MALAYSIA GIATMARA CENTERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Azman ISMAIL

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Compensation management literature highlights that performance based payhas two major characteristics: participation in pay systems and adequacy ofpay. The ability of management to properly implement such pay systems maylead to increased job satisfaction in organizations. Though, the nature of thisrelationship is interesting, little is known about the influence of performancebased pay on job satisfaction in compensation management literature.Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the relationship between payfor performance and job satisfaction in Malaysian GIATMARA centers. Theresults of exploratory factor analysis confirmed that measurement scalesused in this study satisfactorily met the standards of validity and reliabilityanalyses. An outcome of stepwise regression analysis shows thatdeterminant of job satisfaction is performance based pay. Further, this resultconfirms that pay for performance is an important antecedent for jobsatisfaction in the studied organizations.

Assessing performance of gravity models in the Arctic and the implications for polar oceanography

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, S. F.; McAdoo, D. C.; Farrell, S. L.; Brozena, J. M.; Childers, V. A.; Ziebart, M. K.; Shepherd, A.

2014-12-01

The circulation of the Arctic Ocean is of great interest to both the oceanographic and cryospheric communities. Understanding both the steady state and variations of this circulation is essential to building our knowledge of Arctic climate. With the advent of high inclination altimeter missions such as CryoSat and ICESat, it is now feasible to produce Mean Dynamic Topography (MDT) products for the region, which allow a comprehensive investigation of geostrophic currents. However, the accuracy of these products is largely limited by our knowledge of the marine geoid in the Arctic. There are a number of publicly available gravity models commonly used to derive the geoid. These use different combinations of available data (satellite gravimetry, altimetry, laser ranging, and in-situ) and are calculated using different mathematical techniques. However, the effect of these differences on the real world performance of these models when used for oceanographic studies in the Arctic is not well known. Given the unique problems for gravimetry in the region (especially data gaps) and their potential impact on MDT products, it is especially important that the relative performance of these models be assessed We consider the needs of the "end user" satellite oceanographer in the Arctic with respect to gravimetry, and the relationship between the precision of gravity data and the accuracy of a final MDT/current velocity product. Using high-precision aerogravity data collected over 3 years of campaigns by NASA's Operation IceBridge we inter-compare 10 of the leading gravity models and assess their performance in the Arctic. We also use historical data from campaigns flown by the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to demonstrate the impact of gravity errors on MDT products. We describe how gravity models for the region might be improved in the future, in an effort to maximize the level at which Arctic currents may be resolved.

Integrating stations from the North America Gravity Database into a local GPS-based land gravity survey

Science.gov (United States)

Shoberg, Thomas G.; Stoddard, Paul R.

2013-01-01

The ability to augment local gravity surveys with additional gravity stations from easily accessible national databases can greatly increase the areal coverage and spatial resolution of a survey. It is, however, necessary to integrate such data seamlessly with the local survey. One challenge to overcome in integrating data from national databases is that these data are typically of unknown quality. This study presents a procedure for the evaluation and seamless integration of gravity data of unknown quality from a national database with data from a local Global Positioning System (GPS)-based survey. The starting components include the latitude, longitude, elevation and observed gravity at each station location. Interpolated surfaces of the complete Bouguer anomaly are used as a means of quality control and comparison. The result is an integrated dataset of varying quality with many stations having GPS accuracy and other reliable stations of unknown origin, yielding a wider coverage and greater spatial resolution than either survey alone.

An Entry Flight Controls Analysis for a Reusable Launch Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Calhoun, Philip

2000-01-01

The NASA Langley Research Center has been performing studies to address the feasibility of various single-stage to orbit concepts for use by NASA and the commercial launch industry to provide a lower cost access to space. Some work on the conceptual design of a typical lifting body concept vehicle, designated VentureStar(sup TM) has been conducted in cooperation with the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. This paper will address the results of a preliminary flight controls assessment of this vehicle concept during the atmospheric entry phase of flight. The work includes control analysis from hypersonic flight at the atmospheric entry through supersonic speeds to final approach and landing at subsonic conditions. The requirements of the flight control effectors are determined over the full range of entry vehicle Mach number conditions. The analysis was performed for a typical maximum crossrange entry trajectory utilizing angle of attack to limit entry heating and providing for energy management, and bank angle to modulation of the lift vector to provide downrange and crossrange capability to fly the vehicle to a specified landing site. Sensitivity of the vehicle open and closed loop characteristics to CG location, control surface mixing strategy and wind gusts are included in the results. An alternative control surface mixing strategy utilizing a reverse aileron technique demonstrated a significant reduction in RCS torque and fuel required to perform bank maneuvers during entry. The results of the control analysis revealed challenges for an early vehicle configuration in the areas of hypersonic pitch trim and subsonic longitudinal controllability.

Effects of Froude number and geometry on water entry of a 2-D ellipse

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xu; Liu, Pei-qing; Qu, Qiu-lin; Wang, Rui; Agarwal, Ramesh K.

2018-05-01

By using the finite volume method with volume of fluid model and global dynamic mesh technique, the effects of Froude number and geometry on the water entry process of a 2-D ellipse are investigated numerically. For the time history of the vertical force, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results match the experimental data much better than the classical potential-flow theories due to the consideration of the viscosity, turbulence, surface tension, gravity, and compressibility. The results show that the position of peak pressure on ellipse shifts from the spray root to the bottom of ellipse at a critical time. The critical time changes with the geometry and Froude number. By studying the vertical force, the ellipse water entry process can be divided into the initial and late stages based on the critical dimensionless time of about 0.1. The geometry of the ellipse plays a dominant role in the initial stage, while the Froude number is more important in the late stage of entry. The classical Wagner theory is extended to the ellipse water entry, and the predicted maximum value of vertical force coefficient in the initial stage is 4πa/b that matches the CFD results very well, where a and b are the horizontal axis and vertical axis of the ellipse parallel and perpendicular to the initial calm water surface, respectively.

Improved MPSP Method-based Cooperative Re-entry Guidance for Hypersonic Gliding Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chu Haiyan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A computationally sufficient technique is used to solve the 3-D cooperative re-entry guidance problem for hypersonic gliding vehicles. Due to the poor surrounding adaptive ability of the traditional cooperative guidance methods, a novel methodology, named as model predictive static programming (MPSP, is used to solve a class of finite-horizon optimal control problems with hard terminal constraints. The main feature of this guidance law is that it is capable of hitting the target with high accuracy for each one of the cooperative vehicles at the same time. In addition, it accurately satisfies variable constraints. Performance of the proposed MPSP-based guidance is demonstrated in 3-D nonlinear dynamics scenario. The numerical simulation results show that the proposed cooperative re-entry guidance methodology has the advantage of computational efficiency and better robustness against the perturbations.

Polyhedral shape model for terrain correction of gravity and gravity gradient data based on an adaptive mesh

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Zhikui; Chen, Chao; Tao, Chunhui

2016-04-01

Since 2007, there are four China Da yang cruises (CDCs), which have been carried out to investigate polymetallic sulfides in the southwest Indian ridge (SWIR) and have acquired both gravity data and bathymetry data on the corresponding survey lines(Tao et al., 2014). Sandwell et al. (2014) published a new global marine gravity model including the free air gravity data and its first order vertical gradient (Vzz). Gravity data and its gradient can be used to extract unknown density structure information(e.g. crust thickness) under surface of the earth, but they contain all the mass effect under the observation point. Therefore, how to get accurate gravity and its gradient effect of the existing density structure (e.g. terrain) has been a key issue. Using the bathymetry data or ETOPO1 (http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/global/global.html) model at a full resolution to calculate the terrain effect could spend too much computation time. We expect to develop an effective method that takes less time but can still yield the desired accuracy. In this study, a constant-density polyhedral model is used to calculate the gravity field and its vertical gradient, which is based on the work of Tsoulis (2012). According to gravity field attenuation with distance and variance of bathymetry, we present an adaptive mesh refinement and coarsening strategies to merge both global topography data and multi-beam bathymetry data. The local coarsening or size of mesh depends on user-defined accuracy and terrain variation (Davis et al., 2011). To depict terrain better, triangular surface element and rectangular surface element are used in fine and coarse mesh respectively. This strategy can also be applied to spherical coordinate in large region and global scale. Finally, we applied this method to calculate Bouguer gravity anomaly (BGA), mantle Bouguer anomaly(MBA) and their vertical gradient in SWIR. Further, we compared the result with previous results in the literature. Both synthetic model

Sea surface temperature as a proxy for convective gravity wave excitation: a study based on global gravity wave observations in the middle atmosphere

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Y. Jia

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Absolute values of gravity wave momentum flux (GWMF deduced from satellite measurements by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER instrument and the High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS are correlated with sea surface temperature (SST with the aim of identifying those oceanic regions for which convection is a major source of gravity waves (GWs. Our study identifies those latitude bands where high correlation coefficients indicate convective excitation with confidence. This is based on a global ray-tracing simulation, which is used to delineate the source and wind-filtering effects. Convective GWs are identified at the eastern coasts of the continents and over the warm water regions formed by the warm ocean currents, in particular the Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio. Potential contributions of tropical cyclones to the excitation of the GWs are discussed. Convective excitation can be identified well into the mid-mesosphere. In propagating upward, the centers of GWMF formed by convection shift poleward. Some indications of the main forcing regions are even shown for the upper mesosphere/lower thermosphere (MLT.

Tests of gravity with future space-based experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Sakstein, Jeremy

2018-03-01

Future space-based tests of relativistic gravitation—laser ranging to Phobos, accelerometers in orbit, and optical networks surrounding Earth—will constrain the theory of gravity with unprecedented precision by testing the inverse-square law, the strong and weak equivalence principles, and the deflection and time delay of light by massive bodies. In this paper, we estimate the bounds that could be obtained on alternative gravity theories that use screening mechanisms to suppress deviations from general relativity in the Solar System: chameleon, symmetron, and Galileon models. We find that space-based tests of the parametrized post-Newtonian parameter γ will constrain chameleon and symmetron theories to new levels, and that tests of the inverse-square law using laser ranging to Phobos will provide the most stringent constraints on Galileon theories to date. We end by discussing the potential for constraining these theories using upcoming tests of the weak equivalence principle, and conclude that further theoretical modeling is required in order to fully utilize the data.

High energy QCD scattering, the shape of gravity on an IR brane, and the Froissart bound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giddings, Steven B.

2003-01-01

High-energy scattering in nonconformal gauge theories is investigated using the AdS/conformal field theory (CFT) dual string-gravity theory. It is argued that strong-gravity processes, such as black hole formation, play an important role in the dual dynamics. Further information about this dynamics is found by performing a linearized analysis of gravity for a mass near an infrared brane; this gives the far field approximation to black hole or other strong-gravity effects, and in particular allows us to estimate their shape. From this shape, one can infer a total scattering cross section that grows with center of mass energy as ln 2 E, saturating the Froissart bound

Predictors of student success in entry-level science courses

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Mamta K.

Although the educational evaluation process is useful and valuable and is supported by the Higher Education Act, a strong research base for program evaluation of college entry-level science courses is still lacking. Studies in science disciplines such as, biology, chemistry, and physics have addressed various affective and demographic factors and their relationships to student achievement. However, the literature contains little information that specifically addresses student biology content knowledge skills (basics and higher order thinking skills) and identifies factors that affect students' success in entry-level college science courses. These gate-keeping courses require detailed evaluation if the goal of an institution is to increase students' performance and success in these courses. These factors are, in fact, a stepping stone for increasing the number of graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors. The present study measured students' biology content knowledge and investigated students' performance and success in college biology, chemistry, and physics entry-level courses. Seven variables---gender, ethnicity, high school Grade Point Average (GPA), high school science, college major, school financial aid support, and work hours were used as independent variables and course final performance as a dichotomous dependent variable. The sample comprised voluntary student participants in entry-level science courses. The study attempted to explore eight research questions. Content knowledge assessments, demographic information analysis, multiple regression analysis, and binary logistic regression analysis were used to address research questions. The results suggested that high school GPA was a consistently good predictor of students' performance and success in entry-level science courses. Additionally, high school chemistry was a significant predictor variable for student success in entry-level biology and chemistry courses

Temperature control with high performance gravity-assist heat pipes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kemme, J.E.; Deverall, J.E.; Keddy, E.S.; Phillips, J.R.; Ranken, W.A.

1975-01-01

The development of high performance heat pipes for controlling the temperature of irradiation experiments in the Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR-II) is described. Because this application involves vertical operation in a gravity-assist mode with the evaporator down, several tests were made with sodium and potassium heat pipes in this position to establish their performance limits as a function of operating temperature. Best performance was achieved with a new wick structure consisting of a fine porous liner next to the heat-pipe wall and four helical channels next to the vapor passage. Also, a new modification of heat-pipe theory was discovered for determining performance limits for this type of wick. In its most rudimentary form, this modification says that the dynamic pressure gradient in the vapor stream cannot exceed the gravity gradient causing return of liquid. Once this modification was expressed in the form of a limiting equation, and a term was added to account for the slight capillary force developed in the channels, good agreement was obtained between calculated limits and those measured in several tests with both sodium and potassium. These tests showed rather conclusively that only half of the liquid head in the evaporator section was causing return of condensate, whereas existing theory predicts that the full head of liquid in the heat pipe is available for condensate return. (U.S.)

Adaptive Text Entry for Mobile Devices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Proschowsky, Morten Smidt

The reduced size of many mobile devices makes it difficult to enter text with them. The text entry methods are often slow or complicated to use. This affects the performance and user experience of all applications and services on the device. This work introduces new easy-to-use text entry methods...... for mobile devices and a framework for adaptive context-aware language models. Based on analysis of current text entry methods, the requirements to the new text entry methods are established. Transparent User guided Prediction (TUP) is a text entry method for devices with one dimensional touch input. It can...... be touch sensitive wheels, sliders or similar input devices. The interaction design of TUP is done with a combination of high level task models and low level models of human motor behaviour. Three prototypes of TUP are designed and evaluated by more than 30 users. Observations from the evaluations are used...

Center of gravity estimation using a reaction board instrumented with fiber Bragg gratings

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveira, Rui; Roriz, Paulo; Marques, Manuel B.; Frazão, Orlando

2018-03-01

The purpose of the present work is to construct a reaction board based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) that could be used for estimation of the 2D coordinates of the projection of center of gravity (CG) of an object. The apparatus is consisted of a rigid equilateral triangular board mounted on three supports at the vertices, two of which have cantilevers instrumented with FBGs. When an object of known weight is placed on the board, the bending strain of the cantilevers is measured by a proportional wavelength shift of the FBGs. Applying the equilibrium conditions of a rigid body and proper calibration procedures, the wavelength shift is used to estimate the vertical reaction forces and moments of force at the supports and the coordinates of the object's CG projection on the board. This method can be used on a regular basis to estimate the CG of the human body or objects with complex geometry and density distribution. An example is provided for the estimation of the CG projection coordinates of two orthopaedic femur bone models, one intact, and the other with a hip stem implant encased. The clinical implications of changing the normal CG location by means of a prosthesis have been discussed.

Reliability-based trajectory optimization using nonintrusive polynomial chaos for Mars entry mission

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yuechen; Li, Haiyang

2018-06-01

This paper presents the reliability-based sequential optimization (RBSO) method to settle the trajectory optimization problem with parametric uncertainties in entry dynamics for Mars entry mission. First, the deterministic entry trajectory optimization model is reviewed, and then the reliability-based optimization model is formulated. In addition, the modified sequential optimization method, in which the nonintrusive polynomial chaos expansion (PCE) method and the most probable point (MPP) searching method are employed, is proposed to solve the reliability-based optimization problem efficiently. The nonintrusive PCE method contributes to the transformation between the stochastic optimization (SO) and the deterministic optimization (DO) and to the approximation of trajectory solution efficiently. The MPP method, which is used for assessing the reliability of constraints satisfaction only up to the necessary level, is employed to further improve the computational efficiency. The cycle including SO, reliability assessment and constraints update is repeated in the RBSO until the reliability requirements of constraints satisfaction are satisfied. Finally, the RBSO is compared with the traditional DO and the traditional sequential optimization based on Monte Carlo (MC) simulation in a specific Mars entry mission to demonstrate the effectiveness and the efficiency of the proposed method.

Influence of gravity on transport and retention of representative engineered nanoparticles in quartz sand.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Li; Zhu, Jinghan; Hou, Yanglong; Tong, Meiping; Kim, Hyunjung

2015-10-01

Four types of NPs: carbon nanotubes and graphene oxide (carbon-based NPs), titanium dioxide and zinc oxide metal-oxide NPs, were utilized to systematically determine the influence of gravity on the transport of NPs in porous media. Packed column experiments for two types of carbon-based NPs were performed under unfavorable conditions in both up-flow (gravity-negative) and down-flow (gravity-positive) orientations, while for two types of metal-oxide NPs, experiments were performed under both unfavorable and favorable conditions in both up-flow and down-flow orientations. Both breakthrough curves and retained profiles of two types of carbon-based NPs in up-flow orientation were equivalent to those in down-flow orientation, indicating that gravity had negligible effect on the transport and retention of carbon-based NPs under unfavorable conditions. In contrast, under both unfavorable and favorable conditions, the breakthrough curves for two types of metal-oxide NPs in down-flow orientation were lower relative to those in up-flow orientation, indicating that gravity could decrease the transport of metal-oxide NPs in porous media. The distinct effect of gravity on the transport and retention of carbon-based and metal-oxide NPs was mainly attributed to the contribution of gravity to the force balance on the NPs in quartz sand. The contribution of gravity was determined by the interplay of the density and sizes of NP aggregates under examined solution conditions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of a new generation gravity map of Antarctica: ADGRAV Antarctic Digital Gravity Synthesis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. A. Arko

1999-06-01

Full Text Available The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF has agreed to support the development of a new generation gravity map of Antarctica (ADGRAV - Antarctic Digital Gravity Synthesis, funding the development of a web based access tool. The goal of this project is the creation of an on-line Antarctic gravity database which will facilitate access to improved high resolution satellite gravity models, in conjunction with shipboard, airborne, and land based gravity measurements for the continental regions. This database will complement parallel projects underway to develop new continental bedrock (BEDMAP and magnetic (ADMAP maps of Antarctica.

Cardiac re-entry dynamics and self-termination in DT-MRI based model of Human Foetal Heart

Science.gov (United States)

Biktasheva, Irina V.; Anderson, Richard A.; Holden, Arun V.; Pervolaraki, Eleftheria; Wen, Fen Cai

2018-02-01

The effect of human foetal heart geometry and anisotropy on anatomy induced drift and self-termination of cardiac re-entry is studied here in MRI based 2D slice and 3D whole heart computer simulations. Isotropic and anisotropic models of 20 weeks of gestational age human foetal heart obtained from 100μm voxel diffusion tensor MRI data sets were used in the computer simulations. The fiber orientation angles of the heart were obtained from the orientation of the DT-MRI primary eigenvectors. In a spatially homogeneous electrophysiological monodomain model with the DT-MRI based heart geometries, cardiac re-entry was initiated at a prescribed location in a 2D slice, and in the 3D whole heart anatomy models. Excitation was described by simplified FitzHugh-Nagumo kinetics. In a slice of the heart, with propagation velocity twice as fast along the fibres than across the fibers, DT-MRI based fiber anisotropy changes the re-entry dynamics from pinned to an anatomical re-entry. In the 3D whole heart models, the fiber anisotropy changes cardiac re-entry dynamics from a persistent re-entry to the re-entry self-termination. The self-termination time depends on the re-entry’s initial position. In all the simulations with the DT-MRI based cardiac geometry, the anisotropy of the myocardial tissue shortens the time to re-entry self-termination several folds. The numerical simulations depend on the validity of the DT-MRI data set used. The ventricular wall showed the characteristic transmural rotation of the helix angle of the developed mammalian heart, while the fiber orientation in the atria was irregular.

GRACILE: a comprehensive climatology of atmospheric gravity wave parameters based on satellite limb soundings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Ern

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Gravity waves are one of the main drivers of atmospheric dynamics. The spatial resolution of most global atmospheric models, however, is too coarse to properly resolve the small scales of gravity waves, which range from tens to a few thousand kilometers horizontally, and from below 1 km to tens of kilometers vertically. Gravity wave source processes involve even smaller scales. Therefore, general circulation models (GCMs and chemistry climate models (CCMs usually parametrize the effect of gravity waves on the global circulation. These parametrizations are very simplified. For this reason, comparisons with global observations of gravity waves are needed for an improvement of parametrizations and an alleviation of model biases. We present a gravity wave climatology based on atmospheric infrared limb emissions observed by satellite (GRACILE. GRACILE is a global data set of gravity wave distributions observed in the stratosphere and the mesosphere by the infrared limb sounding satellite instruments High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS and Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER. Typical distributions (zonal averages and global maps of gravity wave vertical wavelengths and along-track horizontal wavenumbers are provided, as well as gravity wave temperature variances, potential energies and absolute momentum fluxes. This global data set captures the typical seasonal variations of these parameters, as well as their spatial variations. The GRACILE data set is suitable for scientific studies, and it can serve for comparison with other instruments (ground-based, airborne, or other satellite instruments and for comparison with gravity wave distributions, both resolved and parametrized, in GCMs and CCMs. The GRACILE data set is available as supplementary data at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.879658.

Aperture-based antihydrogen gravity experiment: Parallel plate geometry

Science.gov (United States)

Rocha, J. R.; Hedlof, R. M.; Ordonez, C. A.

2013-10-01

An analytical model and a Monte Carlo simulation are presented of an experiment that could be used to determine the direction of the acceleration of antihydrogen due to gravity. The experiment would rely on methods developed by existing antihydrogen research collaborations. The configuration consists of two circular, parallel plates that have an axis of symmetry directed away from the center of the earth. The plates are separated by a small vertical distance, and include one or more pairs of circular barriers that protrude from the upper and lower plates, thereby forming an aperture between the plates. Antihydrogen annihilations that occur just beyond each barrier, within a "shadow" region, are asymmetric on the upper plate relative to the lower plate. The probability for such annihilations is determined for a point, line and spheroidal source of antihydrogen. The production of 100,000 antiatoms is predicted to be necessary for the aperture-based experiment to indicate the direction of free fall acceleration of antimatter, provided that antihydrogen is produced within a sufficiently small antiproton plasma at a temperature of 4 K.

Aperture-based antihydrogen gravity experiment: Parallel plate geometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rocha, J. R.; Hedlof, R. M.; Ordonez, C. A. [Department of Physics, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas 76203 (United States)

2013-10-15

An analytical model and a Monte Carlo simulation are presented of an experiment that could be used to determine the direction of the acceleration of antihydrogen due to gravity. The experiment would rely on methods developed by existing antihydrogen research collaborations. The configuration consists of two circular, parallel plates that have an axis of symmetry directed away from the center of the earth. The plates are separated by a small vertical distance, and include one or more pairs of circular barriers that protrude from the upper and lower plates, thereby forming an aperture between the plates. Antihydrogen annihilations that occur just beyond each barrier, within a “shadow” region, are asymmetric on the upper plate relative to the lower plate. The probability for such annihilations is determined for a point, line and spheroidal source of antihydrogen. The production of 100,000 antiatoms is predicted to be necessary for the aperture-based experiment to indicate the direction of free fall acceleration of antimatter, provided that antihydrogen is produced within a sufficiently small antiproton plasma at a temperature of 4 K.

Aperture-based antihydrogen gravity experiment: Parallel plate geometry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. R. Rocha

2013-10-01

Full Text Available An analytical model and a Monte Carlo simulation are presented of an experiment that could be used to determine the direction of the acceleration of antihydrogen due to gravity. The experiment would rely on methods developed by existing antihydrogen research collaborations. The configuration consists of two circular, parallel plates that have an axis of symmetry directed away from the center of the earth. The plates are separated by a small vertical distance, and include one or more pairs of circular barriers that protrude from the upper and lower plates, thereby forming an aperture between the plates. Antihydrogen annihilations that occur just beyond each barrier, within a “shadow” region, are asymmetric on the upper plate relative to the lower plate. The probability for such annihilations is determined for a point, line and spheroidal source of antihydrogen. The production of 100,000 antiatoms is predicted to be necessary for the aperture-based experiment to indicate the direction of free fall acceleration of antimatter, provided that antihydrogen is produced within a sufficiently small antiproton plasma at a temperature of 4 K.

Collection of Observed Gravity Values, Absolute Gravity Measurements, Grids and Other Derived Summary Data

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) of NOAA, in cooperation with the National Geodetic Survey of NOAA, have published a Gravity CD-ROM containing observed...

Atmospheric Entry Studies for Venus Missions: 45 Sphere-Cone Rigid Aeroshells and Ballistic Entries

Science.gov (United States)

Prabhu, Dinesh K.; Spilker, Thomas R.; Allen, Gary A., Jr.; Hwang, Helen H.; Cappuccio, Gelsomina; Moses, Robert W.

2013-01-01

The present study considers direct ballistic entries into the atmosphere of Venus using a 45deg sphere-cone rigid aeroshell, a legacy shape that has been used successfully in the past in the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe Mission. For a number of entry mass and heatshield diameter combinations (i.e., various ballistic coefficients) and entry velocities, the trajectory space in terms of entry flight path angles between skip out and -30deg is explored with a 3DoF trajectory code, TRAJ. From these trajectories, the viable entry flight path angle space is determined through the use of mechanical and thermal performance limits on the thermal protection material and science payload; the thermal protection material of choice is entry-grade carbon phenolic, for which a material thermal response model is available. For mechanical performance, a 200 g limit is placed on the peak deceleration load experienced by the science instruments, and 10 bar is assumed as the pressure limit for entry-grade carbon-phenolic material. For thermal performance, inflection points in the total heat load distribution are used as cut off criteria. Analysis of the results shows the existence of a range of critical ballistic coefficients beyond which the steepest possible entries are determined by the pressure limit of the material rather than the deceleration load limit.

Coherence of structural visual cues and pictorial gravity paves the way for interceptive actions.

Science.gov (United States)

Zago, Myrka; La Scaleia, Barbara; Miller, William L; Lacquaniti, Francesco

2011-09-20

Dealing with upside-down objects is difficult and takes time. Among the cues that are critical for defining object orientation, the visible influence of gravity on the object's motion has received limited attention. Here, we manipulated the alignment of visible gravity and structural visual cues between each other and relative to the orientation of the observer and physical gravity. Participants pressed a button triggering a hitter to intercept a target accelerated by a virtual gravity. A factorial design assessed the effects of scene orientation (normal or inverted) and target gravity (normal or inverted). We found that interception was significantly more successful when scene direction was concordant with target gravity direction, irrespective of whether both were upright or inverted. This was so independent of the hitter type and when performance feedback to the participants was either available (Experiment 1) or unavailable (Experiment 2). These results show that the combined influence of visible gravity and structural visual cues can outweigh both physical gravity and viewer-centered cues, leading to rely instead on the congruence of the apparent physical forces acting on people and objects in the scene.

GRACILE: a comprehensive climatology of atmospheric gravity wave parameters based on satellite limb soundings

Science.gov (United States)

Ern, Manfred; Trinh, Quang Thai; Preusse, Peter; Gille, John C.; Mlynczak, Martin G.; Russell, James M., III; Riese, Martin

2018-04-01

Gravity waves are one of the main drivers of atmospheric dynamics. The spatial resolution of most global atmospheric models, however, is too coarse to properly resolve the small scales of gravity waves, which range from tens to a few thousand kilometers horizontally, and from below 1 km to tens of kilometers vertically. Gravity wave source processes involve even smaller scales. Therefore, general circulation models (GCMs) and chemistry climate models (CCMs) usually parametrize the effect of gravity waves on the global circulation. These parametrizations are very simplified. For this reason, comparisons with global observations of gravity waves are needed for an improvement of parametrizations and an alleviation of model biases. We present a gravity wave climatology based on atmospheric infrared limb emissions observed by satellite (GRACILE). GRACILE is a global data set of gravity wave distributions observed in the stratosphere and the mesosphere by the infrared limb sounding satellite instruments High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) and Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER). Typical distributions (zonal averages and global maps) of gravity wave vertical wavelengths and along-track horizontal wavenumbers are provided, as well as gravity wave temperature variances, potential energies and absolute momentum fluxes. This global data set captures the typical seasonal variations of these parameters, as well as their spatial variations. The GRACILE data set is suitable for scientific studies, and it can serve for comparison with other instruments (ground-based, airborne, or other satellite instruments) and for comparison with gravity wave distributions, both resolved and parametrized, in GCMs and CCMs. The GRACILE data set is available as supplementary data at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.879658" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.879658.

Colossal creations of gravity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skielboe, Andreas

Gravity governs the evolution of the universe on the largest scales, and powers some of the most extreme objects at the centers of galaxies. Determining the masses and kinematics of galaxy clusters provides essential constraints on the large-scale structure of the universe, and act as direct probes...

Pengenalan Bahasa Isyarat dengan Metode Segmentasi Warna Kulit dan Center of Gravity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wawan Kurniawan

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Abstrak Bahasa isyarat (sign language merupakan bahasa yang menggunakan gerakan tangan dan gerak bibir untuk menjelaskan sebuah arti. Untuk itu perlu adanya dibuat suatu sistem yang dapat menghubungkan penderita cacat tunarungu dengan manusia normal. Penelitian aplikasi pengenalan bahasa isyarat secara real-time banyak mengalami kendala, faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi antara lain, besarnya tingkat kemiripan data citra latih, proses pelacakan (tracking terutama pada segmentasi objek dengan latar belakang (background sehingga hasil capture tidak terinterprestasikan maksimal. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode pelacakan (tracking yakni segmentasi warna kulit dan center of gravity (COG berhasil melacak (tracking gerakan tangan dari setiap frame, serta metode deteksi tepi dan PCA sebagai ekstraksi ciri, dan pengenalannya menggunakan pendekatan jaringan syaraf tiruan  back propagation. Hasil dari pengujian sistem ini dapat mengenali 26 huruf isyarat, tingkat akurasi pengenalan isyarat tangan 83,43%. Pada berbagai kondisi pencahayan dan jarak objek ke kamera, system ini mengalami perubahan tingkat pengenalan sehingga diperlukan jarak ideal dan tingkat penerangan yang baik. Aplikasi ini perlu adanya pengembangan lebih lanjut terutama pada proses pelacakan dan identifikasi. Kata kunci—Pelacakan, Ekstraksi ciri, Pengenalan isyarat tangan   Abstract Sign language is a language that uses hand gestures and lip movements to explain the meaning. For that there needs to be created a system that can connect the disabled with normal human hearing impairment. The study of sign language recognition applications in real-time experience any problems, the factors that affect, among others, high level of similarity of training image data, the process of tracking, especially on the segmentation of objects with the background so the results do not capture the maximum interpretation. This research uses the tracking method the skin color segmentation and center of

A Combined Gravity Compensation Method for INS Using the Simplified Gravity Model and Gravity Database.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Xiao; Yang, Gongliu; Wang, Jing; Wen, Zeyang

2018-05-14

In recent decades, gravity compensation has become an important way to reduce the position error of an inertial navigation system (INS), especially for a high-precision INS, because of the extensive application of high precision inertial sensors (accelerometers and gyros). This paper first deducts the INS's solution error considering gravity disturbance and simulates the results. Meanwhile, this paper proposes a combined gravity compensation method using a simplified gravity model and gravity database. This new combined method consists of two steps all together. Step 1 subtracts the normal gravity using a simplified gravity model. Step 2 first obtains the gravity disturbance on the trajectory of the carrier with the help of ELM training based on the measured gravity data (provided by Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics; Chinese Academy of sciences), and then compensates it into the error equations of the INS, considering the gravity disturbance, to further improve the navigation accuracy. The effectiveness and feasibility of this new gravity compensation method for the INS are verified through vehicle tests in two different regions; one is in flat terrain with mild gravity variation and the other is in complex terrain with fierce gravity variation. During 2 h vehicle tests, the positioning accuracy of two tests can improve by 20% and 38% respectively, after the gravity is compensated by the proposed method.

High performance modeling of atmospheric re-entry vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, Alexandre; Scalabrin, Leonardo C; Boyd, Iain D

2012-01-01

Re-entry vehicles designed for space exploration are usually equipped with thermal protection systems made of ablative material. In order to properly model and predict the aerothermal environment of the vehicle, it is imperative to account for the gases produced by ablation processes. In the case of charring ablators, where an inner resin is pyrolyzed at a relatively low temperature, the composition of the gas expelled into the boundary layer is complex and may lead to thermal chemical reactions that cannot be captured with simple flow chemistry models. In order to obtain better predictions, an appropriate gas flow chemistry model needs to be included in the CFD calculations. Using a recently developed chemistry model for ablating carbon-phenolic-in-air species, a CFD calculation of the Stardust re-entry at 71 km is presented. The code used for that purpose has been designed to take advantage of the nature of the problem and therefore remains very efficient when a high number of chemical species are involved. The CFD result demonstrates the need for such chemistry model when modeling the flow field around an ablative material. Modeling of the nonequilibrium radiation spectra is also presented, and compared to the experimental data obtained during Stardust re-entry by the Echelle instrument. The predicted emission from the CN lines compares quite well with the experimental results, demonstrating the validity of the current approach.

Engineering graphics data entry for space station data base

Science.gov (United States)

Lacovara, R. C.

1986-01-01

The entry of graphical engineering data into the Space Station Data Base was examined. Discussed were: representation of graphics objects; representation of connectivity data; graphics capture hardware; graphics display hardware; site-wide distribution of graphics, and consolidation of tools and hardware. A fundamental assumption was that existing equipment such as IBM based graphics capture software and VAX networked facilities would be exploited. Defensible conclusions reached after study and simulations of use of these systems at the engineering level are: (1) existing IBM based graphics capture software is an adequate and economical means of entry of schematic and block diagram data for present and anticipated electronic systems for Space Station; (2) connectivity data from the aforementioned system may be incorporated into the envisioned Space Station Data Base with modest effort; (3) graphics and connectivity data captured on the IBM based system may be exported to the VAX network in a simple and direct fashion; (4) graphics data may be displayed site-wide on VT-125 terminals and lookalikes; (5) graphics hard-copy may be produced site-wide on various dot-matrix printers; and (6) the system may provide integrated engineering services at both the engineering and engineering management level.

Gravity Effects on Information Filtering and Network Evolving

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jin-Hu; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Chen, Lingjiao; Liu, Chuang; Yang, Chengcheng; Wang, Xueqi

2014-01-01

In this paper, based on the gravity principle of classical physics, we propose a tunable gravity-based model, which considers tag usage pattern to weigh both the mass and distance of network nodes. We then apply this model in solving the problems of information filtering and network evolving. Experimental results on two real-world data sets, Del.icio.us and MovieLens, show that it can not only enhance the algorithmic performance, but can also better characterize the properties of real networks. This work may shed some light on the in-depth understanding of the effect of gravity model. PMID:24622162

Simulation of the ATV Re-Entry Obsrvations

Science.gov (United States)

Bastida Virgili, B.; Krag, H.; Lips, T.; De Pasquale, E.

2010-09-01

The first ATV was launched on 9th March 2008 and, after a successful mission, the last phase was a controlled destructive re-entry on 29th September 2008, shortly after 13:30 UTC, in which the remains of the ATV and its load fell into the South Pacific Ocean. In order to better understand the re-entry processes, an insitu optical observation campaign was launched to record and analyze the ATV controlled re-entry with several instruments on board of two airplanes and also from the ISS. This observation campaign was successful and triggered several different still-ongoing studies on the extraction and analysis of data to draw conclusions on the adequacy of the re-entry break-up and explosion models used for the safety analysis of the ATV re-entry. This paper addresses the validation process for ESA’s model for re-entry survivability and on-ground risk assessment for explosive re-entry events using the observation data. The underlying rationale is to improve the models for the benefit of planning and execution of future controlled re-entries and in risk calculation in case of uncontrolled ones. The re-entry trajectory of the ATV, the explosive event and the trajectories of the fragments are simulated with the existing ESA tools and the EVOLVE explosion model. Additional software has been developed to simulate airborne sensor field of view(FOV) crossings based on the aircraft trajectories, attitude profile, sensor mounts and FOVs. Sensor performance and object radiation are modeled in order to generate synthetic images for the different sensors in the ISS and the two airplanes. These synthetic images and synthetic videos are compared with the available reentry observations of the ATV. This paper will present the software and techniques to generate synthetic imagery. It will give results of the comparison between the simulated and the real trajectories and fragmentation and explain the subsequent validation process of the ESA re-entry tools and the potential

Multilayer Densities Using a Wavelet-based Gravity Method and Their Tectonic Implications beneath the Tibetan Plateau

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Chuang; Luo, Zhicai; Sun, Rong; Zhou, Hao; Wu, Yihao

2018-03-01

Determining density structure of the Tibetan Plateau is helpful in better understanding tectonic structure and development. Seismic method, as traditional approach obtaining a large number of achievements of density structure in the Tibetan Plateau except in the center and west, is primarily inhibited by the poor seismic station coverage. As the implementation of satellite gravity missions, gravity method is more competitive because of global homogeneous gravity coverage. In this paper, a novel wavelet-based gravity method with high computation efficiency and excellent local identification capability is developed to determine multilayer densities beneath the Tibetan Plateau. The inverted 6-layer densities from 0 km to 150 km depth can reveal rich tectonic structure and development of study area: (1) The densities present a clockwise pattern, nearly east-west high-low alternating pattern in the west and nearly south-north high-low alternating pattern in the east, which is almost perpendicular to surface movement direction relative to the stable Eurasia from the Global Positioning System velocity field; (2) Apparent fold structure approximately from 10 km to 110 km depth can be inferred from the multilayer densities, the deformational direction of which is nearly south-north in the west and east-west in the east; (3) Possible channel flows approximately from 30 km to 110 km depth can be also observed clearly during the multilayer densities. Moreover, the inverted multilayer densities are in agreement with previous studies, which verify the correctness and effectiveness of our method.

influence of gravity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Animesh Mukherjee

1991-01-01

Full Text Available Based upon Biot's [1965] theory of initial stresses of hydrostatic nature produced by the effect of gravity, a study is made of surface waves in higher order visco-elastic media under the influence of gravity. The equation for the wave velocity of Stonely waves in the presence of viscous and gravitational effects is obtained. This is followed by particular cases of surface waves including Rayleigh waves and Love waves in the presence of viscous and gravity effects. In all cases the wave-velocity equations are found to be in perfect agreement with the corresponding classical results when the effects of gravity and viscosity are neglected.

Lovelock gravities from Born-Infeld gravity theory

Science.gov (United States)

Concha, P. K.; Merino, N.; Rodríguez, E. K.

2017-02-01

We present a Born-Infeld gravity theory based on generalizations of Maxwell symmetries denoted as Cm. We analyze different configuration limits allowing to recover diverse Lovelock gravity actions in six dimensions. Further, the generalization to higher even dimensions is also considered.

Do Services differ from Manufacturing? The Post-Entry Performance of Firms in Dutch Services

NARCIS (Netherlands)

D.B. Audretsch (David); L. Klomp (Luuk); A.R. Thurik (Roy)

1998-01-01

textabstractA large literature has emerged focusing on the post-entry performance of firms and, in particular, on the links between firm growth, survival, size and age. While these studies have resulted in findings that are sufficiently consistent as to constitute Stylized Facts, virtually all of

The Effect of Variable Gravity on the Cooling Performance of a 16-Nozzle Spray Array

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Elston, Levi J; Yerkes, Kirk L; Thomas, Scott K; McQuillen, John

2008-01-01

The objective of this thesis was to investigate the cooling performance of a 16-nozzle spray array, using FC-72 as the working fluid, in variable gravity conditions with additional emphasis on fluid...

Artificial gravity - The evolution of variable gravity research

Science.gov (United States)

Fuller, Charles A.; Sulzman, Frank M.; Keefe, J. Richard

1987-01-01

The development of a space life science research program based on the use of rotational facilities is described. In-flight and ground centrifuges can be used as artificial gravity environments to study the following: nongravitational biological factors; the effects of 0, 1, and hyper G on man; counter measures for deconditioning astronauts in weightlessness; and the development of suitable artificial gravity for long-term residence in space. The use of inertial fields as a substitute for gravity, and the relations between the radius of the centrifuge and rotation rate and specimen height and rotation radius are examined. An example of a centrifuge study involving squirrel monkeys is presented.

Spelling is Just a Click Away - A User-Centered Brain-Computer Interface Including Auto-Calibration and Predictive Text Entry.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaufmann, Tobias; Völker, Stefan; Gunesch, Laura; Kübler, Andrea

2012-01-01

Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) based on event-related potentials (ERP) allow for selection of characters from a visually presented character-matrix and thus provide a communication channel for users with neurodegenerative disease. Although they have been topic of research for more than 20 years and were multiply proven to be a reliable communication method, BCIs are almost exclusively used in experimental settings, handled by qualified experts. This study investigates if ERP-BCIs can be handled independently by laymen without expert support, which is inevitable for establishing BCIs in end-user's daily life situations. Furthermore we compared the classic character-by-character text entry against a predictive text entry (PTE) that directly incorporates predictive text into the character-matrix. N = 19 BCI novices handled a user-centered ERP-BCI application on their own without expert support. The software individually adjusted classifier weights and control parameters in the background, invisible to the user (auto-calibration). All participants were able to operate the software on their own and to twice correctly spell a sentence with the auto-calibrated classifier (once with PTE, once without). Our PTE increased spelling speed and, importantly, did not reduce accuracy. In sum, this study demonstrates feasibility of auto-calibrating ERP-BCI use, independently by laymen and the strong benefit of integrating predictive text directly into the character-matrix.

ASTEROSEISMIC-BASED ESTIMATION OF THE SURFACE GRAVITY FOR THE LAMOST GIANT STARS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Chao; Wu, Yue; Deng, Li-Cai; Wang, Liang; Wang, Wei; Li, Guang-Wei; Fang, Min; Fu, Jian-Ning; Hou, Yong-Hui; Zhang, Yong

2015-01-01

Asteroseismology is one of the most accurate approaches to estimate the surface gravity of a star. However, most of the data from the current spectroscopic surveys do not have asteroseismic measurements, which is very expensive and time consuming. In order to improve the spectroscopic surface gravity estimates for a large amount of survey data with the help of the small subset of the data with seismic measurements, we set up a support vector regression (SVR) model for the estimation of the surface gravity supervised by 1374 Large Sky Area Multi-object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) giant stars with Kepler seismic surface gravity. The new approach can reduce the uncertainty of the estimates down to about 0.1 dex, which is better than the LAMOST pipeline by at least a factor of 2, for the spectra with signal-to-noise ratio higher than 20. Compared with the log g estimated from the LAMOST pipeline, the revised log g values provide a significantly improved match to the expected distribution of red clump and red giant branch stars from stellar isochrones. Moreover, even the red bump stars, which extend to only about 0.1 dex in log g, can be discriminated from the new estimated surface gravity. The method is then applied to about 350,000 LAMOST metal-rich giant stars to provide improved surface gravity estimates. In general, the uncertainty of the distance estimate based on the SVR surface gravity can be reduced to about 12% for the LAMOST data

ASTEROSEISMIC-BASED ESTIMATION OF THE SURFACE GRAVITY FOR THE LAMOST GIANT STARS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Chao; Wu, Yue; Deng, Li-Cai; Wang, Liang; Wang, Wei; Li, Guang-Wei [Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20 A Datun Road, Beijing 100012 (China); Fang, Min [Departamento de Física Teórica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autonóma de Madrid, E-28049 Cantoblanco, Madrid (Spain); Fu, Jian-Ning [Department of Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, 19 Avenue Xinjiekouwai, Beijing 100875 (China); Hou, Yong-Hui; Zhang, Yong, E-mail: liuchao@nao.cas.cn [Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics and Technology, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210042 (China)

2015-07-01

Asteroseismology is one of the most accurate approaches to estimate the surface gravity of a star. However, most of the data from the current spectroscopic surveys do not have asteroseismic measurements, which is very expensive and time consuming. In order to improve the spectroscopic surface gravity estimates for a large amount of survey data with the help of the small subset of the data with seismic measurements, we set up a support vector regression (SVR) model for the estimation of the surface gravity supervised by 1374 Large Sky Area Multi-object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) giant stars with Kepler seismic surface gravity. The new approach can reduce the uncertainty of the estimates down to about 0.1 dex, which is better than the LAMOST pipeline by at least a factor of 2, for the spectra with signal-to-noise ratio higher than 20. Compared with the log g estimated from the LAMOST pipeline, the revised log g values provide a significantly improved match to the expected distribution of red clump and red giant branch stars from stellar isochrones. Moreover, even the red bump stars, which extend to only about 0.1 dex in log g, can be discriminated from the new estimated surface gravity. The method is then applied to about 350,000 LAMOST metal-rich giant stars to provide improved surface gravity estimates. In general, the uncertainty of the distance estimate based on the SVR surface gravity can be reduced to about 12% for the LAMOST data.

A Test Run of the EGSIEM Near Real-Time Service Based on GRACE Mission Data

Science.gov (United States)

Kvas, A.; Gruber, C.; Gouweleeuw, B.; Guntner, A.; Mayer-Gürr, T.; Flechtner, F. M.

2017-12-01

To enable the use of GRACE and GRACE-FO data for rapid monitoring applications, the EGSIEM (European Gravity Service for Improved Emergency Management) project, funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Program for Research and Innovation of the European Union, has implemented a demonstrator for a near real-time (NRT) gravity field service. The goal of this service is to provide daily gravity field solutions with a maximum latency of five days. For this purpose, two independent approaches were developed at the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) and Graz University of Technology (TUG). Based on these daily gravity field solutions, statistical flood and drought indicators are derived by the EGSIEM Hydrological Service, developed at GFZ. The NRT products are subsequently provided to the Center for Satellite based Crisis Information (ZKI) at the German Aerospace Center as well as the Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) at the Joint Research Center of the European Commission. In the first part of this contribution, the performance of the service based on a statistical analysis of historical flood events during the GRACE period is evaluated. Then, results from the six month long operational test run of the service which started on April 1st 2017 are presented and a comparison between historical and operational gravity products and flood indicators is made.

Lovelock gravities from Born–Infeld gravity theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P.K. Concha

2017-02-01

Full Text Available We present a Born–Infeld gravity theory based on generalizations of Maxwell symmetries denoted as Cm. We analyze different configuration limits allowing to recover diverse Lovelock gravity actions in six dimensions. Further, the generalization to higher even dimensions is also considered.

The inner workings of performance management in danish job centers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pihl-Thingvad, Signe

2016-01-01

The paper discusses how a central Performance Management system in the Danish job centers affects the employees’ perception of accountability, autonomy, common goals and dialogue. Dysfunctional behavioral effects are explored in qualitative analyses based on 4 case studies. Results indicate...... that the expected positive effects of performance management do not materialize at the Danish job centers because focus in the implementation process gradually shifts from results to process goals. This is related to a series of dysfunctional behavioral effects which instead of creating commitment frustrate...

Petroleum system of Northwest Java basin based on gravity data analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Widianto, E.

2018-01-01

Energy management in the upstream oil and gas sector becomes very important for the country’s energy security. The renewal of energy resources and reserves becomes necessary and is a must. In the oil and gas industry, gravity data is usually used only for regional surveys, but with the development of instrumentation technology and gravity software development, this method can be used for assessing oil and gas survey stages from exploration to production. This study was conducted to evaluate aspects of petroleum system and exploration play concept in the part of Northwest Java Basin, covering source rock deposition regions (source kitchen area, migration direction), development of reservoirs, structural and stratigraphic trap, based on gravity data. This study uses data from Bouguer gravity anomaly map by filtering process to produce a residual map depicting sedimentation basin configuration. The mapping generated 20 sedimentary basins in Java Island with the total hydrocarbon resources of 113 BBOE (Billion Barrel of Oil Equivalent). The petroleum system analysis was conducted in the Northwest Basin section. The final map produced illustrates the condition of petroleum system and play concept that can be used as exploration direction, expectedly reducing the risk of drilling failure.

Geometric Liouville gravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

La, H.

1992-01-01

A new geometric formulation of Liouville gravity based on the area preserving diffeo-morphism is given and a possible alternative to reinterpret Liouville gravity is suggested, namely, a scalar field coupled to two-dimensional gravity with a curvature constraint

Gravity and Heater Size Effects on Pool Boiling Heat Transfer

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jungho; Raj, Rishi

2014-01-01

The current work is based on observations of boiling heat transfer over a continuous range of gravity levels between 0g to 1.8g and varying heater sizes with a fluorinert as the test liquid (FC-72/n-perfluorohexane). Variable gravity pool boiling heat transfer measurements over a wide range of gravity levels were made during parabolic flight campaigns as well as onboard the International Space Station. For large heaters and-or higher gravity conditions, buoyancy dominated boiling and heat transfer results were heater size independent. The power law coefficient for gravity in the heat transfer equation was found to be a function of wall temperature under these conditions. Under low gravity conditions and-or for smaller heaters, surface tension forces dominated and heat transfer results were heater size dependent. A pool boiling regime map differentiating buoyancy and surface tension dominated regimes was developed along with a unified framework that allowed for scaling of pool boiling over a wide range of gravity levels and heater sizes. The scaling laws developed in this study are expected to allow performance quantification of phase change based technologies under variable gravity environments eventually leading to their implementation in space based applications.

Atmospheric Entry Studies for Venus Missions: 45 deg Sphere-Cone Rigid Aeroshells and Ballistic Entries

Science.gov (United States)

Prabu, Dinesh K.; Allen, Gary A., Jr.; Cappuccio, Gelsomina; Spilker, Thomas R.; Hwang, Helen H.; Moses, Robert W.

2013-01-01

The present study considers ballistic entries into the atmosphere of Venus using a 45deg sphere-cone rigid aeroshell, a legacy shape that has been used successfully in the past in the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe Mission. For a number of entry mass and capsule diameter combinations (i.e., various ballistic coefficients) and entry velocities, the trajectory space in terms of entry flight path angles between skip out and -30 is explored with a 3DOF trajectory code, TRAJ. Assuming that the thermal protection material of choice is carbon phenolic of flight heritage, the entry flight path angle space is constrained a posteriori by the mechanical and thermal performance parameters of the material. For mechanical performance, a 200 g limit is placed on the peak deceleration load and 10 bar is assumed as the limit for heritage carbon-phenolic material. It is shown that both constraints cannot be active simultaneously. For thermal performance, a heat flux 2.5 kW/sq cm is utilized as a threshold below which the heritage carbon phenolic is considered mass inefficient. Using these constraints, viable entry flight path angle corridors are determined. Analysis of the results also hints at the existence of a range of "critical" ballistic coefficients beyond which the steepest possible entries are determined by the pressure limit of 10 bar. The results are verified against known performance of the various probes used in the Pioneer Venus mission. It is anticipated that the results presented here will serve as a baseline in the development of a new class of ablative materials for future Venus missions.

Tree-based solvers for adaptive mesh refinement code FLASH - I: gravity and optical depths

Science.gov (United States)

Wünsch, R.; Walch, S.; Dinnbier, F.; Whitworth, A.

2018-04-01

We describe an OctTree algorithm for the MPI parallel, adaptive mesh refinement code FLASH, which can be used to calculate the gas self-gravity, and also the angle-averaged local optical depth, for treating ambient diffuse radiation. The algorithm communicates to the different processors only those parts of the tree that are needed to perform the tree-walk locally. The advantage of this approach is a relatively low memory requirement, important in particular for the optical depth calculation, which needs to process information from many different directions. This feature also enables a general tree-based radiation transport algorithm that will be described in a subsequent paper, and delivers excellent scaling up to at least 1500 cores. Boundary conditions for gravity can be either isolated or periodic, and they can be specified in each direction independently, using a newly developed generalization of the Ewald method. The gravity calculation can be accelerated with the adaptive block update technique by partially re-using the solution from the previous time-step. Comparison with the FLASH internal multigrid gravity solver shows that tree-based methods provide a competitive alternative, particularly for problems with isolated or mixed boundary conditions. We evaluate several multipole acceptance criteria (MACs) and identify a relatively simple approximate partial error MAC which provides high accuracy at low computational cost. The optical depth estimates are found to agree very well with those of the RADMC-3D radiation transport code, with the tree-solver being much faster. Our algorithm is available in the standard release of the FLASH code in version 4.0 and later.

Atom-chip-based quantum gravimetry for the precise determination of absolute gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Abend, Sven; Schubert, Christian; Ertmer, Wolfgang; Rasel, Ernst

2017-04-01

We present a novel technique for the precise measurement of absolute local gravity with a quantum gravimeter based on an atom chip. Atom interferometry utilizes the interference of matter waves interrogated by laser light to read out inertial forces. Today's generation of these devices typically operate with test mass samples, that consists of ensembles of laser cooled atoms. Their performance is limited by the velocity spread and finite-size of the test masses that impose systematic uncertainties at the level of a few μGal [1]. Rather than laser cooled atoms we employ quantum degenerate ensembles, so called Bose-Einstein condensates [2], as ultra-sensitive probes for gravity. These sources offer unique properties that will allow to overcome the current limitations in the next generation of sensors. Furthermore, atom-chip technology offers the possibility to generate Bose-Einstein condensates in a fast and reliable way. We present a lab-based prototype that uses the atom chip itself to retro-reflect the interrogation laser and thus serves as inertial reference inside the vacuum [3]. With this setup, it is possible to demonstrate all necessary steps to measure gravity, including the preparation of the source, spanning an interferometer as well as the detection of the output signal. All steps are pursued on a baseline of 1 cm right below the atom chip and to analyze relevant systematic effects. In the framework of the center of excellence geoQ a next generation device is under construction at the Institut für Quantenoptik, that will target for in-field measurements. This device will feature a state-of-the-art atom-chip source with a high-flux of ultra-cold atoms at a repetition rate of 1-2 Hz [4]. The device will be characterized in cooperation with the Müller group at the Institut für Erdmessung the sensor and finally employed in a campaign to measure the Fennoscandian uplift at the level of 1 μGal. The presented work is supported by the CRC 1227 DQ-mat, the

Mixed results in the safety performance of computerized physician order entry.

Science.gov (United States)

Metzger, Jane; Welebob, Emily; Bates, David W; Lipsitz, Stuart; Classen, David C

2010-04-01

Computerized physician order entry is a required feature for hospitals seeking to demonstrate meaningful use of electronic medical record systems and qualify for federal financial incentives. A national sample of sixty-two hospitals voluntarily used a simulation tool designed to assess how well safety decision support worked when applied to medication orders in computerized order entry. The simulation detected only 53 percent of the medication orders that would have resulted in fatalities and 10-82 percent of the test orders that would have caused serious adverse drug events. It is important to ascertain whether actual implementations of computerized physician order entry are achieving goals such as improved patient safety.

Entry Threat and Entry Deterrence: The Timing of Broadband Rollout

OpenAIRE

Mo Xiao; Peter F. Orazem

2007-01-01

Past empirical literature provides strong evidence that competition increases when new firms enter a market. However, rarely have economists been able to examine how competition changes with the threat of entry. This paper uses the evolution of the zip code level market structure of facilities-based broadband providers from 1999 to 2004 to investigate how a firm adjusts its entry strategy when facing the threat of additional entrants. We identify the potential entrant into a local market as t...

Advanced entry guidance algorithm with landing footprint computation

Science.gov (United States)

Leavitt, James Aaron

The design and performance evaluation of an entry guidance algorithm for future space transportation vehicles is presented. The algorithm performs two functions: on-board trajectory planning and trajectory tracking. The planned longitudinal path is followed by tracking drag acceleration, as is done by the Space Shuttle entry guidance. Unlike the Shuttle entry guidance, lateral path curvature is also planned and followed. A new trajectory planning function for the guidance algorithm is developed that is suitable for suborbital entry and that significantly enhances the overall performance of the algorithm for both orbital and suborbital entry. In comparison with the previous trajectory planner, the new planner produces trajectories that are easier to track, especially near the upper and lower drag boundaries and for suborbital entry. The new planner accomplishes this by matching the vehicle's initial flight path angle and bank angle, and by enforcing the full three-degree-of-freedom equations of motion with control derivative limits. Insights gained from trajectory optimization results contribute to the design of the new planner, giving it near-optimal downrange and crossrange capabilities. Planned trajectories and guidance simulation results are presented that demonstrate the improved performance. Based on the new planner, a method is developed for approximating the landing footprint for entry vehicles in near real-time, as would be needed for an on-board flight management system. The boundary of the footprint is constructed from the endpoints of extreme downrange and crossrange trajectories generated by the new trajectory planner. The footprint algorithm inherently possesses many of the qualities of the new planner, including quick execution, the ability to accurately approximate the vehicle's glide capabilities, and applicability to a wide range of entry conditions. Footprints can be generated for orbital and suborbital entry conditions using a pre

Gravity inversion code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burkhard, N.R.

1979-01-01

The gravity inversion code applies stabilized linear inverse theory to determine the topography of a subsurface density anomaly from Bouguer gravity data. The gravity inversion program consists of four source codes: SEARCH, TREND, INVERT, and AVERAGE. TREND and INVERT are used iteratively to converge on a solution. SEARCH forms the input gravity data files for Nevada Test Site data. AVERAGE performs a covariance analysis on the solution. This document describes the necessary input files and the proper operation of the code. 2 figures, 2 tables

Exploring spatial change and gravity center movement for ecosystem services value using a spatially explicit ecosystem services value index and gravity model.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Yingbin; Chen, Youqi; Tang, Huajun; Yao, Yanmin; Yang, Peng; Chen, Zhongxin

2011-04-01

Spatially explicit ecosystem services valuation and change is a newly developing area of research in the field of ecology. Using the Beijing region as a study area, the authors have developed a spatially explicit ecosystem services value index and implemented this to quantify and spatially differentiate ecosystem services value at 1-km grid resolution. A gravity model was developed to trace spatial change in the total ecosystem services value of the Beijing study area from a holistic point of view. Study results show that the total value of ecosystem services for the study area decreased by 19.75% during the period 1996-2006 (3,226.2739 US$×10(6) in 1996, 2,589.0321 US$×10(6) in 2006). However, 27.63% of the total area of the Beijing study area increased in ecosystem services value. Spatial differences in ecosystem services values for both 1996 and 2006 are very clear. The center of gravity of total ecosystem services value for the study area moved 32.28 km northwestward over the 10 years due to intensive human intervention taking place in southeast Beijing. The authors suggest that policy-makers should pay greater attention to ecological protection under conditions of rapid socio-economic development and increase the area of green belt in the southeastern part of Beijing.

The effect of alternative work schedules (AWS) on performance during acquisition based testing at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center

OpenAIRE

Thomas, Alicia J.

2014-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited This project analyzed the effects of an alternate work schedule (AWS) on the performance of acquisition based testing conducted at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC), a subordinate test center to the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command. The literature review uncovered how an AWS improved employee work and life balance and performance at three separate external companies. Other potential AWS success factors such as employee abse...

High Performance Clocks and Gravity Field Determination

Science.gov (United States)

Müller, J.; Dirkx, D.; Kopeikin, S. M.; Lion, G.; Panet, I.; Petit, G.; Visser, P. N. A. M.

2018-02-01

Time measured by an ideal clock crucially depends on the gravitational potential and velocity of the clock according to general relativity. Technological advances in manufacturing high-precision atomic clocks have rapidly improved their accuracy and stability over the last decade that approached the level of 10^{-18}. This notable achievement along with the direct sensitivity of clocks to the strength of the gravitational field make them practically important for various geodetic applications that are addressed in the present paper. Based on a fully relativistic description of the background gravitational physics, we discuss the impact of those highly-precise clocks on the realization of reference frames and time scales used in geodesy. We discuss the current definitions of basic geodetic concepts and come to the conclusion that the advances in clocks and other metrological technologies will soon require the re-definition of time scales or, at least, clarification to ensure their continuity and consistent use in practice. The relative frequency shift between two clocks is directly related to the difference in the values of the gravity potential at the points of clock's localization. According to general relativity the relative accuracy of clocks in 10^{-18} is equivalent to measuring the gravitational red shift effect between two clocks with the height difference amounting to 1 cm. This makes the clocks an indispensable tool in high-precision geodesy in addition to laser ranging and space geodetic techniques. We show how clock measurements can provide geopotential numbers for the realization of gravity-field-related height systems and can resolve discrepancies in classically-determined height systems as well as between national height systems. Another application of clocks is the direct use of observed potential differences for the improved recovery of regional gravity field solutions. Finally, clock measurements for space-borne gravimetry are analyzed along with

Cloud's Center of Gravity – a compact approach to analyze convective cloud development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Koren

2009-01-01

Full Text Available As cloud resolving models become more detailed, with higher resolution outputs, it is often complicated to isolate the physical processes that control the cloud attributes. Moreover, due to the high dimensionality and complexity of the model output, the analysis and interpretation of the results can be very complicated. Here we suggest a novel approach to convective cloud analysis that yields more insight into the physical and temporal evolution of clouds, and is compact and efficient. The different (3-D cloud attributes are weighted and projected onto a single point in space and in time, that has properties of, or similar to, the Center Of Gravity (COG. The location, magnitude and spread of this variable are followed in time. The implications of the COG approach are demonstrated for a study of aerosol effects on a warm convective cloud. We show that in addition to reducing dramatically the dimensionality of the output, such an approach often enhances the signal, adds more information, and makes the physical description of cloud evolution clearer, allowing unambiguous comparison of clouds evolving in different environmental conditions. This approach may also be useful for analysis of cloud data retrieved from surface or space-based cloud radars.

LISA Pathfinder E2E performance simulation: optical and self-gravity stability analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Brandt, N.; Fichter, W.; Kersten, M.; Lucarelli, S.; Montemurro, F.

2005-05-01

End-to-end (E2E) modelling and simulation, i.e. verifying the science performance of LISA Pathfinder (spacecraft and payload), is mandatory in order to minimize mission risks. In this paper, focus is on two particular applications of the E2E performance simulator currently being developed at EADS Astrium GmbH: the opto-dynamical stability and the self-gravity disturbance stability analysis. The E2E models applied here comprise the opto-dynamical modelling of the optical metrology systems (OMS) laser interferometry, the thermo-elastic distortion modelling of the OMS optical elements and the self-gravity disturbance model accounting for structural distortions. Preliminary analysis results are presented in detail, identifying shortcomings of the current LISA technology package (LTP) mounting baseline. As a consequence, the design is now being revised.

LISA Pathfinder E2E performance simulation: optical and self-gravity stability analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brandt, N; Fichter, W; Kersten, M; Lucarelli, S; Montemurro, F

2005-01-01

End-to-end (E2E) modelling and simulation, i.e. verifying the science performance of LISA Pathfinder (spacecraft and payload), is mandatory in order to minimize mission risks. In this paper, focus is on two particular applications of the E2E performance simulator currently being developed at EADS Astrium GmbH: the opto-dynamical stability and the self-gravity disturbance stability analysis. The E2E models applied here comprise the opto-dynamical modelling of the optical metrology systems (OMS) laser interferometry, the thermo-elastic distortion modelling of the OMS optical elements and the self-gravity disturbance model accounting for structural distortions. Preliminary analysis results are presented in detail, identifying shortcomings of the current LISA technology package (LTP) mounting baseline. As a consequence, the design is now being revised

Centrifuges for Microgravity Simulation. The Reduced Gravity Paradigm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loon, Jack J. W. A. van

2016-01-01

Due to the cumbersome nature of performing real microgravity—spaceflight research scientists have been searching for alternatives to perform simulated microgravity or partial gravity experiments on Earth. For more than a century one uses the slow rotating clinostat as developed by von Sachs at the end of the nineteenth century. Since then, the fast rotating clinostat, the 3D clinostat or the random positioning machine, the rotating wall vessels, tail suspension and bed rest head down tilt and lately the levitating magnets have been introduced. Several of these simulation systems provide some similarities of the responses and phenotypes as seen in real microgravity experiments. However, one should always realize that we cannot reduce gravity on Earth, other than the relative short duration free fall studies in e.g., drop towers or parabolic aircraft. In this paper we want to explore the possibility to apply centrifuges to simulate microgravity or maybe better to simulate hypo-gravity. This Reduced Gravity Paradigm, RGP is based on the premise that adaptations seen going from a hypergravity level to a lower gravity are similar as changes seen going from unit gravity to microgravity.

Centrifuges for Microgravity Simulation. The Reduced Gravity Paradigm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Loon, Jack J. W. A. van, E-mail: j.vanloon@vumc.nl [Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery / Oral Pathology, Dutch Experiment Support Center, VU University Medical Center and Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam, Amsterdam (Netherlands); TEC-MMG LIS Lab, European Space Agency Technology Center, Noordwijk (Netherlands)

2016-07-19

Due to the cumbersome nature of performing real microgravity—spaceflight research scientists have been searching for alternatives to perform simulated microgravity or partial gravity experiments on Earth. For more than a century one uses the slow rotating clinostat as developed by von Sachs at the end of the nineteenth century. Since then, the fast rotating clinostat, the 3D clinostat or the random positioning machine, the rotating wall vessels, tail suspension and bed rest head down tilt and lately the levitating magnets have been introduced. Several of these simulation systems provide some similarities of the responses and phenotypes as seen in real microgravity experiments. However, one should always realize that we cannot reduce gravity on Earth, other than the relative short duration free fall studies in e.g., drop towers or parabolic aircraft. In this paper we want to explore the possibility to apply centrifuges to simulate microgravity or maybe better to simulate hypo-gravity. This Reduced Gravity Paradigm, RGP is based on the premise that adaptations seen going from a hypergravity level to a lower gravity are similar as changes seen going from unit gravity to microgravity.

Features of the Gravity Probe B Space Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Reeve, William; Green, Gaylord

2007-04-01

Space vehicle performance enabled successful relativity data collection throughout the Gravity Probe B mission. Precision pointing and drag-free translation control was maintained using proportional helium micro-thrusters. Electrical power was provided by rigid, double sided solar arrays. The 1.8 kelvin science instrument temperature was maintained using the largest cryogenic liquid helium dewar ever flown in space. The flight software successfully performed autonomous operations and safemode protection. Features of the Gravity Probe B Space Vehicle mechanisms include: 1) sixteen helium micro-thrusters, the first proportional thrusters flown in space, and large-orifice thruster isolation valves, 2) seven precision and high-authority mass trim mechanisms, 3) four non-pyrotechnic, highly reliable solar array deployment and release mechanism sets. Early incremental prototyping was used extensively to reduce spacecraft development risk. All spacecraft systems were redundant and provided multiple failure tolerance in critical systems. Lockheed Martin performed the spacecraft design, systems engineering, hardware and software integration, environmental testing and launch base operations, as well as on-orbit operations support for the Gravity Probe B space science experiment.

Center of buoyancy definition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandberg, V.

1988-12-01

The center of buoyancy of an arbitrary shaped body is defined in analogy to the center of gravity. The definitions of the buoyant force and center of buoyancy in terms of integrals over the area of the body are converted to volume integrals and shown to have simple intuitive interpretations

'Bimodal' Nuclear Thermal Rocket (BNTR) propulsion for an artificial gravity HOPE mission to Callisto

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borowski, Stanley K.; McGuire, Melissa L.; Mason, Lee M.; Gilland, James H.; Packard, Thomas W.

2003-01-01

This paper summarizes the results of a year long, multi-center NASA study which examined the viability of nuclear fission propulsion systems for Human Outer Planet Exploration (HOPE). The HOPE mission assumes a crew of six is sent to Callisto. Jupiter's outermost large moon, to establish a surface base and propellant production facility. The Asgard asteroid formation, a region potentially rich in water-ice, is selected as the landing site. High thrust BNTR propulsion is used to transport the crew from the Earth-Moon L1 staging node to Callisto then back to Earth in less than 5 years. Cargo and LH2 'return' propellant for the piloted Callisto transfer vehicle (PCTV) is pre-deployed at the moon (before the crew's departure) using low thrust, high power, nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) cargo and tanker vehicles powered by hydrogen magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thrusters. The PCTV is powered by three 25 klbf BNTR engines which also produce 50 kWe of power for crew life support and spacecraft operational needs. To counter the debilitating effects of long duration space flight (∼855 days out and ∼836 days back) under '0-gE' conditions, the PCTV generates an artificial gravity environment of '1-gE' via rotation of the vehicle about its center-of-mass at a rate of ∼4 rpm. After ∼123 days at Callisto, the 'refueled' PCTV leaves orbit for the trip home. Direct capsule re-entry of the crew at mission end is assumed. Dynamic Brayton power conversion and high temperature uranium dioxide (UO2) in tungsten metal ''cermet'' fuel is used in both the BNTR and NEP vehicles to maximize hardware commonality. Technology performance levels and vehicle characteristics are presented, and requirements for PCTV reusability are also discussed

The East Bay Center for the Performing Arts: A Model for Community-Based Multicultural Arts Education

Science.gov (United States)

Engdahl, Eric

2012-01-01

This article highlights the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts in Richmond, California, which is one successful model of a community-based arts education organization whose central mission is to provide these deep art-rich experiences for students from low socio-economic status (SES) communities, who in this instance are predominately African…

Actin-based gravity-sensing mechanisms in unicellular plant model systems

Science.gov (United States)

Braun, Markus; Limbach, Christoph

2005-08-01

Considerable progress has been made in the understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying gravity sensing and gravity-oriented polarized growth in single-celled rhizoids and protonemata of the characean algae. It is well known that the actin cytoskeleton plays a key role in these processes. Numerous actin-binding proteins control apical actin polymerization and the dynamic remodeling of the actin arrangement. An actomyosin-based system mediates the delivery and incorporation of secretory vesicles at the growing tip and coordinates the tip-high gradient of cytoplasmic free calcium which is required for local exocytosis. Additionally, the actomyosin system precisely controls the position of statoliths and, upon a change in orientation relative to the gravity vector, directs sedimenting statoliths to the confined graviperception sites of the plasma membrane where gravitropic signalling is initiated. The upward growth response of protonemata is preceded by an actin-dependent relocalization of the Ca2+-gradient to the upper flank. The downward growth response of rhizoids, however, is caused by differential growth of the opposite flankes due to a local reduction of cytoplasmic free calcium limited to the plasma membrane area where statoliths are sedimented. Thus, constant actin polymerization in the growing tip and the spatiotemporal control of actin remodeling are essential for gravity sensing and gravity-oriented polarized growth of characean rhizoids and protonemata.

A new concept of assistive virtual keyboards based on a systematic review of text entry optimization techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renato de Sousa Gomide

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction: Due to the increasing popularization of computers and the internet expansion, Alternative and Augmentative Communication technologies have been employed to restore the ability to communicate of people with aphasia and tetraplegia. Virtual keyboards are one of the most primitive mechanisms for alternatively entering text and play a very important role in accomplishing this task. However, the text entry for this kind of keyboard is much slower than entering information through their physical counterparts. Many techniques and layouts have been proposed to improve the typing performance of virtual keyboards, each one concerning a different issue or solving a specific problem. However, not all of them are suitable to assist seriously people with motor impairment. Methods: In order to develop an assistive virtual keyboard with improved typing performance, we performed a systematic review on scientific databases. Results: We found 250 related papers and 52 of them were selected to compose. After that, we identified eight essentials virtual keyboard features, five methods to optimize data entry performance and five metrics to assess typing performance. Conclusion: Based on this review, we introduce a concept of an assistive, optimized, compact and adaptive virtual keyboard that gathers a set of suitable techniques such as: a new ambiguous keyboard layout, disambiguation algorithms, dynamic scan techniques, static text prediction of letters and words and, finally, the use of phonetic and similarity algorithms to reduce the user's typing error rate.

Lithosphere mantle density of the North China Craton based on gravity data

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, B.; Artemieva, I. M.; Thybo, H.

2017-12-01

Based on gravity, seismic and thermal data we constrained the lithospheric mantle density at in-situ and STP condition. The gravity effect of topography, sedimentary cover, Moho and Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary variation were removed from free-air gravity anomaly model. The sedimentary covers with density range from 1.80 g/cm3 with soft sediments to 2.40 g/cm3 with sandstone and limestone sediments. The average crustal density with values of 2.70 - 2.78 g/cm3 which corresponds the thickness and density of the sedimentary cover. Based on the new thermal model, the surface heat flow in original the North China Craton including western block is > 60 mW/m2. Moho temperature ranges from 450 - 600 OC in the eastern block and in the western block is 550 - 650 OC. The thermal lithosphere is 100 -140 km thick where have the surface heat flow of 60 - 70 mW/m2. The gravity effect of surface topography, sedimentary cover, Moho depth are 0 to +150 mGal, - 20 to -120 mGal and +50 to -200 mGal, respectively. By driving the thermal lithosphere, the gravity effect of the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary ranges from 20 mGal to +200 mGal which shows strong correction with the thickness of the lithosphere. The relationship between the gravity effect of the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary and the lithosphere thickness also for the seismic lithosphere, and the value of gravity effect is 0 to +220 mGal. The lithospheric mantle residual gravity which caused by lithospheric density variation range from -200 to +50 mGal by using the thermal lithosphere and from -250 to +100 mGal by driving the seismic lithosphere. For thermal lithosphere, the lithospheric mantle density with values of 3.21- 3.26 g/cm3 at in-situ condition and 3.33 - 3.38 g/cm3 at STP condition. Using seismic lithosphere, density of lithosphere ranges from 3.20 - 3.26 g/cm3 at in-situ condition and 3.31 - 3.41 g/cm3 at STP condition. The subcontinental lithosphere of the North China Craton is highly heterogeneous

A multicenter study of outcome in systemic lupus erythematosus. I. Entry variables as predictors of prognosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Ginzler, E M; Diamond, H S; Weiner, M; Schlesinger, M; Fries, J F; Wasner, C; Medsger, T A; Ziegler, G; Klippel, J H; Hadler, N M; Albert, D A; Hess, E V; Spencer-Green, G; Grayzel, A; Worth, D; Hahn, B H; Barnett, E V

1982-06-01

A retrospective study of factors influencing survival in 1,103 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) was carried out at 9 university centers diverse in geographic, socioeconomic, and racial characteristics. The mortality and disease characteristics of the patients at study entry varied widely among centers. The survival rates from the time patients with a diagnosis of SLE were first evaluated at the participating center was 90% at 1 year, 77% at 5 years, and 71% at 10 years. Patients with a serum creatinine greater than 3 mg/dl at study entry had the lowest survival rates: 48%, 29%, and 12% at 1, 5, and 10 years, respectively. Survival rate also correlated independently with the entry hematocrit, degree of proteinuria, number of preliminary American Rheumatism Association criteria for SLE satisfied, and source of funding of medical care. When data were corrected for socioeconomic status, race/ethnic origin did not significantly influence survival. Survival rates varied widely at different participating institutions, generally due to differences in disease severity. Place of treatment was independently associated with survival only in the second year after study entry. Disease duration before study entry did not account for the differences in disease severity.

Southern Africa Gravity Data

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data base (14,559 records) was received in January 1986. Principal gravity parameters include elevation and observed gravity. The observed gravity values are...

Dynamics of Superfluid Helium in Low-Gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, David J.

1997-01-01

sensitive to quasi-steady changes in the mass distribution of the liquid. The CFD codes were used to model the fluid's dynamic motion. Tests in one-g were performed with the main emphasis on being able to compute the actual damping of the fluid. A series of flights on the NASA Lewis reduced gravity DC-9 aircraft were performed with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Low Temperature Flight Facility and a superfluid Test Cell. The data at approximately 0.04g, lg and 2g were used to determine if correct fundamental frequencies can be predicted based on the acceleration field. Tests in zero gravity were performed to evaluate zero gravity motion.

The materials processing research base of the Materials Processing Center

Science.gov (United States)

Latanision, R. M.

1986-01-01

An annual report of the research activities of the Materials Processing Center of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is given. Research on dielectrophoresis in the microgravity environment, phase separation kinetics in immiscible liquids, transport properties of droplet clusters in gravity-free fields, probes and monitors for the study of solidification of molten semiconductors, fluid mechanics and mass transfer in melt crystal growth, and heat flow control and segregation in directional solidification are discussed.

Performance evaluation of Al-Zahra academic medical center based on Iran balanced scorecard model.

Science.gov (United States)

Raeisi, Ahmad Reza; Yarmohammadian, Mohammad Hossein; Bakhsh, Roghayeh Mohammadi; Gangi, Hamid

2012-01-01

Growth and development in any country's national health system, without an efficient evaluation system, lacks the basic concepts and tools necessary for fulfilling the system's goals. The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a technique widely used to measure the performance of an organization. The basic core of the BSC is guided by the organization's vision and strategies, which are the bases for the formation of four perspectives of BSC. The goal of this research is the performance evaluation of Al-Zahra Academic Medical Center in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, based on Iran BSC model. This is a combination (quantitative-qualitative) research which was done at Al-Zahra Academic Medical Center in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2011. The research populations were hospital managers at different levels. Sampling method was purposive sampling in which the key informed personnel participated in determining the performance indicators of hospital as the BSC team members in focused discussion groups. After determining the conceptual elements in focused discussion groups, the performance objectives (targets) and indicators of hospital were determined and sorted in perspectives by the group discussion participants. Following that, the performance indicators were calculated by the experts according to the predetermined objectives; then, the score of each indicator and the mean score of each perspective were calculated. Research findings included development of the organizational mission, vision, values, objectives, and strategies. The strategies agreed upon by the participants in the focus discussion group included five strategies, which were customer satisfaction, continuous quality improvement, development of human resources, supporting innovation, expansion of services and improving the productivity. Research participants also agreed upon four perspectives for the Al-Zahra hospital BSC. In the patients and community perspective (customer), two objectives and

Preterm birth, age at school entry and educational performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Odd, David; Evans, David; Emond, Alan

2013-01-01

To investigate if the lack of gestational age correction may explain some of the school failure seen in ex-preterm infants. A cohort study based on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). The primary outcome was a low Key Stage 1 score (KS1) score at age 7 or having special educational needs (SEN). Exposure groups were defined as preterm (birth (DOB), expected date of delivery (EDD) or expected date of delivery and year of school entry. Multiple imputation was used to account for missing covariate data. When matching for DOB, infants born preterm had an increased odds of a low KS1 score (OR 1.73 (1.45-2.06)) and this association persisted after adjusting for potential confounders (OR 1.57 (1.25-1.97)). The association persisted in the analysis matching for EDD (fully adjusted OR 1.53 (1.21-1.94)) but attenuated substantially after additionally restricting to those infants who entered school at the same time as the control infants (fully adjusted OR 1.25 (0.98-1.60)). A compatible reduction in the population attributable risk fraction was seen from 4.60% to 2.12%, and year of school entry appeared to modify the association between gestational age and the risk of a poor KS1 score (p = 0.029). This study provides evidence that the school year placement and assessment of ex-preterm infants based on their actual birthday (rather than their EDD) may increase their risk of learning difficulties with corresponding school failure.

Combined Influence of Visual Scene and Body Tilt on Arm Pointing Movements: Gravity Matters!

Science.gov (United States)

Scotto Di Cesare, Cécile; Sarlegna, Fabrice R.; Bourdin, Christophe; Mestre, Daniel R.; Bringoux, Lionel

2014-01-01

Performing accurate actions such as goal-directed arm movements requires taking into account visual and body orientation cues to localize the target in space and produce appropriate reaching motor commands. We experimentally tilted the body and/or the visual scene to investigate how visual and body orientation cues are combined for the control of unseen arm movements. Subjects were asked to point toward a visual target using an upward movement during slow body and/or visual scene tilts. When the scene was tilted, final pointing errors varied as a function of the direction of the scene tilt (forward or backward). Actual forward body tilt resulted in systematic target undershoots, suggesting that the brain may have overcompensated for the biomechanical movement facilitation arising from body tilt. Combined body and visual scene tilts also affected final pointing errors according to the orientation of the visual scene. The data were further analysed using either a body-centered or a gravity-centered reference frame to encode visual scene orientation with simple additive models (i.e., ‘combined’ tilts equal to the sum of ‘single’ tilts). We found that the body-centered model could account only for some of the data regarding kinematic parameters and final errors. In contrast, the gravity-centered modeling in which the body and visual scene orientations were referred to vertical could explain all of these data. Therefore, our findings suggest that the brain uses gravity, thanks to its invariant properties, as a reference for the combination of visual and non-visual cues. PMID:24925371

Density Relaxation of Liquid-Vapor Critical Fluids Examined in Earth's Gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkinson, R. Allen

2000-01-01

This work shows quantitatively the pronounced differences between the density equilibration of very compressible dense fluids in Earth's gravity and those in microgravity. The work was performed onsite at the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field and is complete. Full details are given in references 1 and 2. Liquid-vapor critical fluids (e.g., water) at their critical temperature and pressure, are very compressible. They collapse under their own weight in Earth's gravity, allowing only a thin meniscus-like layer with the critical pressure to survive. This critical layer, however, greatly slows down the equilibration process of the entire sample. A complicating feature is the buoyancy-driven slow flows of layers of heavier and lighter fluid. This work highlights the incomplete understanding of the hydrodynamics involved in these fluids.

Performance evaluation of multi-stratum resources integration based on network function virtualization in software defined elastic data center optical interconnect.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hui; Zhang, Jie; Ji, Yuefeng; Tian, Rui; Han, Jianrui; Lee, Young

2015-11-30

Data center interconnect with elastic optical network is a promising scenario to meet the high burstiness and high-bandwidth requirements of data center services. In our previous work, we implemented multi-stratum resilience between IP and elastic optical networks that allows to accommodate data center services. In view of this, this study extends to consider the resource integration by breaking the limit of network device, which can enhance the resource utilization. We propose a novel multi-stratum resources integration (MSRI) architecture based on network function virtualization in software defined elastic data center optical interconnect. A resource integrated mapping (RIM) scheme for MSRI is introduced in the proposed architecture. The MSRI can accommodate the data center services with resources integration when the single function or resource is relatively scarce to provision the services, and enhance globally integrated optimization of optical network and application resources. The overall feasibility and efficiency of the proposed architecture are experimentally verified on the control plane of OpenFlow-based enhanced software defined networking (eSDN) testbed. The performance of RIM scheme under heavy traffic load scenario is also quantitatively evaluated based on MSRI architecture in terms of path blocking probability, provisioning latency and resource utilization, compared with other provisioning schemes.

Existence of relativistic stars in f(R) gravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Upadhye, Amol; Hu, Wayne

2009-01-01

We refute recent claims in the literature that stars with relativistically deep potentials cannot exist in f(R) gravity. Numerical examples of stable stars, including relativistic (GM * /r * ∼0.1), constant density stars, are studied. As a star is made larger, nonlinear 'chameleon' effects screen much of the star's mass, stabilizing gravity at the stellar center. Furthermore, we show that the onset of this chameleon screening is unrelated to strong gravity. At large central pressures P>ρ/3, f(R) gravity, like general relativity, does have a maximum gravitational potential, but at a slightly smaller value: GM * /r * | max =0.345<4/9 for constant density and one choice of parameters. This difference is associated with negative central curvature R under general relativity not being accessed in the f(R) model, but does not apply to any known astrophysical object.

Predicting the Diversity of Foreign Entry Modes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hashai, Niron; Geisler Asmussen, Christian; Benito, Gabriel

2007-01-01

diversity across value chain activities and host markets. Analyzing a sample of Israeli based firms we show that larger firms exhibit a higher degree of entry mode diversity both across value chain activities and across host markets. Higher levels of knowledge intensity are also associated with more......This paper expands entry mode literature by referring to multiple modes exerted in different value chain activities within and across host markets, rather than to a single entry mode at the host market level. Scale of operations and knowledge intensity are argued to affect firms' entry mode...... diversity in firms' entry modes across both dimensions....

Performance analysis of a GPS Interferometric attitude determination system for a gravity gradient stabilized spacecraft. M.S. Thesis

Science.gov (United States)

Stoll, John C.

1995-01-01

The performance of an unaided attitude determination system based on GPS interferometry is examined using linear covariance analysis. The modelled system includes four GPS antennae onboard a gravity gradient stabilized spacecraft, specifically the Air Force's RADCAL satellite. The principal error sources are identified and modelled. The optimal system's sensitivities to these error sources are examined through an error budget and by varying system parameters. The effects of two satellite selection algorithms, Geometric and Attitude Dilution of Precision (GDOP and ADOP, respectively) are examined. The attitude performance of two optimal-suboptimal filters is also presented. Based on this analysis, the limiting factors in attitude accuracy are the knowledge of the relative antenna locations, the electrical path lengths from the antennae to the receiver, and the multipath environment. The performance of the system is found to be fairly insensitive to torque errors, orbital inclination, and the two satellite geometry figures-of-merit tested.

Heterogeneity of the North Atlantic oceanic lithosphere based on integrated analysis of GOCE satellite gravity and geological data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barantseva, Olga; Artemieva, Irina; Thybo, Hans

2015-01-01

harmonics caused by deep density structure of the Earth (the core and the lower mantle). The gravity effect of the upper mantle is calculated after the subtracting gravity effect of the crust for two crustal models, including seismic and borehole data on sediments. We use a recent regional seismic model......We present the results of modeling of the gravity and density structure of the upper mantle for the off-shore area of the North Atlantic region. The crust and upper mantle of the region is expected to be anomalous: a part of the region affected by the Icelandic plume has an anomalously shallow...... the gravity and density structure of the upper mantle from satellite gravity data. The calculations are based on interpretation of GOCE gravity satellite data for the North Atlantics. To separate gravity signal, responsible for density anomalies within the crust and upper mantle, we subtract the lower...

The behavior of surface tension on steady-state rotating fluids in the low gravity environments

Science.gov (United States)

Hung, R. J.; Leslie, Fred W.

1987-01-01

The effect of surface tension on steady-state rotating fluids in a low gravity environment is studied. All the values of the physical parameters used in these calculations, except in the low gravity environments, are based on the measurements carried out by Leslie (1985) in the low gravity environment of a free-falling aircraft. The profile of the interface of two fluids is derived from Laplace's equation relating the pressure drop across an interface to the radii of curvature which has been applied to a low gravity rotating bubble that contacts the container boundary. The interface shape depends on the ratio of gravity to surface tension forces, the ratio of centrifugal to surface tension forces, the contact radius of the interface to the boundary, and the contact angle. The shape of the bubble is symmetric about its equator in a zero-gravity environment. This symmetry disappears and gradually shifts to parabolic profiles as the gravity environment becomes non-zero. The location of the maximum radius of the bubble moves upward from the center of the depth toward the top boundary of the cylinder as gravity increases. The contact radius of interface to the boundary r0 at the top side of cylinder increases and r0 at the bottom side of the cylinder decreases as the gravity environment increases from zero to 1 g.

Dynamic performances analysis of a real vehicle driving

Science.gov (United States)

Abdullah, M. A.; Jamil, J. F.; Salim, M. A.

2015-12-01

Vehicle dynamic is the effects of movement of a vehicle generated from the acceleration, braking, ride and handling activities. The dynamic behaviours are determined by the forces from tire, gravity and aerodynamic which acting on the vehicle. This paper emphasizes the analysis of vehicle dynamic performance of a real vehicle. Real driving experiment on the vehicle is conducted to determine the effect of vehicle based on roll, pitch, and yaw, longitudinal, lateral and vertical acceleration. The experiment is done using the accelerometer to record the reading of the vehicle dynamic performance when the vehicle is driven on the road. The experiment starts with weighing a car model to get the center of gravity (COG) to place the accelerometer sensor for data acquisition (DAQ). The COG of the vehicle is determined by using the weight of the vehicle. A rural route is set to launch the experiment and the road conditions are determined for the test. The dynamic performance of the vehicle are depends on the road conditions and driving maneuver. The stability of a vehicle can be controlled by the dynamic performance analysis.

Congenital Heart Surgery Case Mix Across North American Centers and Impact on Performance Assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Pasquali, Sara K; Wallace, Amelia S; Gaynor, J William; Jacobs, Marshall L; O'Brien, Sean M; Hill, Kevin D; Gaies, Michael G; Romano, Jennifer C; Shahian, David M; Mayer, John E; Jacobs, Jeffrey P

2016-11-01

Performance assessment in congenital heart surgery is challenging due to the wide heterogeneity of disease. We describe current case mix across centers, evaluate methodology inclusive of all cardiac operations versus the more homogeneous subset of Society of Thoracic Surgeons benchmark operations, and describe implications regarding performance assessment. Centers (n = 119) participating in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery Database (2010 through 2014) were included. Index operation type and frequency across centers were described. Center performance (risk-adjusted operative mortality) was evaluated and classified when including the benchmark versus all eligible operations. Overall, 207 types of operations were performed during the study period (112,140 total cases). Few operations were performed across all centers; only 25% were performed at least once by 75% or more of centers. There was 7.9-fold variation across centers in the proportion of total cases comprising high-complexity cases (STAT 5). In contrast, the benchmark operations made up 36% of cases, and all but 2 were performed by at least 90% of centers. When evaluating performance based on benchmark versus all operations, 15% of centers changed performance classification; 85% remained unchanged. Benchmark versus all operation methodology was associated with lower power, with 35% versus 78% of centers meeting sample size thresholds. There is wide variation in congenital heart surgery case mix across centers. Metrics based on benchmark versus all operations are associated with strengths (less heterogeneity) and weaknesses (lower power), and lead to differing performance classification for some centers. These findings have implications for ongoing efforts to optimize performance assessment, including choice of target population and appropriate interpretation of reported metrics. Copyright © 2016 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Application of Cauchy-type integrals in developing effective methods for depth-to-basement inversion of gravity and gravity gradiometry data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cai, Hongzhu; Zhdanov, Michael

2015-01-01

to be discretized for the calculation of gravity field. This was especially significant in the modeling and inversion of gravity data for determining the depth to the basement. Another important result was developing a novel method of inversion of gravity data to recover the depth to basement, based on the 3D...... Cauchy-type integral representation. Our numerical studies determined that the new method is much faster than conventional volume discretization method to compute the gravity response. Our synthetic model studies also showed that the developed inversion algorithm based on Cauchy-type integral is capable......One of the most important applications of gravity surveys in regional geophysical studies is determining the depth to basement. Conventional methods of solving this problem are based on the spectrum and/or Euler deconvolution analysis of the gravity field and on parameterization of the earth...

Center-of-gravity effects in the perception of high front vowels

Science.gov (United States)

Jacewicz, Ewa; Feth, Lawrence L.

2002-05-01

When two formant peaks are close in frequency, changing their amplitude ratio can shift the perceived vowel quality. This center-of-gravity effect (COG) was studied particularly in back vowels whose F1 and F2 are close in frequency. Chistovich and Lublinskaja (1979) show that the effect occurs when the frequency separation between the formants does not exceed 3.5 bark. The COG and critical distance effects were manifested when a two-formant reference signal was matched by a single-formant target of variable frequency. This study investigates whether the COG effect extends to closely spaced higher formants as in English /i/ and /I/. In /i/, the frequency separation between F2, F3, and F4 does not exceed 3.5 bark, suggesting the existence of one COG which may affect all three closely spaced formants (F2=2030, F3=2970, F4=3400 Hz). In /I/, each of the F2-F3 and F3-F4 separations is less than 3.5 bark but the F2-F4 separation exceeds the critical distance, indicating two COGs (F2=1780, F3=2578, F4=3400 Hz). We examine the COG effects using matching of four-formant reference signals, in which we change the amplitude ratios, by two-formant targets with variable frequency of F2. The double-staircase adaptive procedure is used. [Work supported by an INRS award from NIH to R. Fox.

On High-Frequency Topography-Implied Gravity Signals for a Height System Unification Using GOCE-Based Global Geopotential Models

Science.gov (United States)

Grombein, Thomas; Seitz, Kurt; Heck, Bernhard

2017-03-01

National height reference systems have conventionally been linked to the local mean sea level, observed at individual tide gauges. Due to variations in the sea surface topography, the reference levels of these systems are inconsistent, causing height datum offsets of up to ±1-2 m. For the unification of height systems, a satellite-based method is presented that utilizes global geopotential models (GGMs) derived from ESA's satellite mission Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE). In this context, height datum offsets are estimated within a least squares adjustment by comparing the GGM information with measured GNSS/leveling data. While the GNSS/leveling data comprises the full spectral information, GOCE GGMs are restricted to long wavelengths according to the maximum degree of their spherical harmonic representation. To provide accurate height datum offsets, it is indispensable to account for the remaining signal above this maximum degree, known as the omission error of the GGM. Therefore, a combination of the GOCE information with the high-resolution Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM2008) is performed. The main contribution of this paper is to analyze the benefit, when high-frequency topography-implied gravity signals are additionally used to reduce the remaining omission error of EGM2008. In terms of a spectral extension, a new method is proposed that does not rely on an assumed spectral consistency of topographic heights and implied gravity as is the case for the residual terrain modeling (RTM) technique. In the first step of this new approach, gravity forward modeling based on tesseroid mass bodies is performed according to the Rock-Water-Ice (RWI) approach. In a second step, the resulting full spectral RWI-based topographic potential values are reduced by the effect of the topographic gravity field model RWI_TOPO_2015, thus, removing the long to medium wavelengths. By using the latest GOCE GGMs, the impact of topography

Effectiveness of nutrition centers in Ceará state, northeastern Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monte Cristina Maria Gomes do

1998-01-01

Full Text Available Childhood malnutrition has been a major, long-standing health concern in northeastern Brazil. In response, during 1992_1994, the state government of Ceará, with financial support from the World Bank, established 34 new nutrition centers. During 1996 an evaluation of the centers was conducted to determine their effectiveness in treating children with malnutrition and to identify weaknesses in the system and possible solutions. Also evaluated were the adequacy of resources, admission and discharge criteria, staff training, and community satisfaction. Effectiveness was found to be low. Treatment procedures did not conform with World Health Organization recommendations. Rates of weight gain were inadequate, and the mean duration of rehabilitation-8.7 months-was too long. Case fatality in two centers was unacceptably high, 40% and more. Entry and exit criteria for rehabilitation were ill defined, resulting in some nonmalnourished children being enrolled. Few staff were adequately trained; knowledge was weak, especially about case management; and mothers were not effectively instructed. Recommendations include setting objectives for the centers, improving referral systems, standardizing entry criteria, improving case management, and establishing performance indicators.

Topological aspects of classical and quantum (2+1)-dimensional gravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soda, Jiro.

1990-03-01

In order to understand (3+1)-dimensional gravity, (2+1)-dimensional gravity is studied as a toy model. Our emphasis is on its topological aspects, because (2+1)-dimensional gravity without matter fields has no local dynamical degrees of freedom. Starting from a review of the canonical ADM formalism and York's formalism for the initial value problem, we will solve the evolution equations of (2+1)-dimensional gravity with a cosmological constant in the case of g=0 and g=1, where g is the genus of Riemann surface. The dynamics of it is understood as the geodesic motion in the moduli space. This remarkable fact is the same with the case of (2+1)-dimensional pure gravity and seen more apparently from the action level. Indeed we will show the phase space reduction of (2+1)-dimensional gravity in the case of g=1. For g ≥ 2, unfortunately we are not able to explicitly perform the phase space reduction of (2+1)-dimensional gravity due to the complexity of the Hamiltonian constraint equation. Based on this result, we will attempt to incorporate matter fields into (2+1)-dimensional pure gravity. The linearization and mini-superspace methods are used for this purpose. By using the linearization method, we conclude that the transverse-traceless part of the energy-momentum tensor affects the geodesic motion. In the case of the Einstein-Maxwell theory, we observe that the Wilson lines interact with the geometry to bend the geodesic motion. We analyze the mini-superspace model of (2+1)-dimensional gravity with the matter fields in the case of g=0 and g=1. For g=0, a wormhole solution is found but for g=1 we can not find an analogous solution. Quantum gravity is also considered and we succeed to perform the phase space reduction of (2+1)-dimensional gravity in the case of g=1 at the quantum level. From this analysis we argue that the conformal rotation is not necessary in the sense that the Euclidean quantum gravity is inappropriate for the full gravity. (author)

Home-based versus center-based aerobic exercise on cardiopulmonary performance, physical function, quality of life and quality of sleep of overweight patients with chronic kidney disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Aoike, Danilo Takashi; Baria, Flavia; Kamimura, Maria Ayako; Ammirati, Adriano; Cuppari, Lilian

2018-02-01

The association between chronic kidney disease (CKD) and obesity can decrease the patients' cardiopulmonary capacity, physical functioning and quality of life. The search for effective and practical alternative methods of exercise to engage patients in training programs is of great importance. Therefore, we aimed to compare the effects of home-based versus center-based aerobic exercise on the cardiopulmonary and functional capacities, quality of life and quality of sleep of overweight non-dialysis-dependent patients with CKD (NDD-CKD). Forty sedentary overweight patients CKD stages 3 and 4 were randomly assigned to an exercise group [home-based group (n = 12) or center-based exercise group (n = 13)] or to a control group (n = 15) that did not perform any exercise. Cardiopulmonary exercise test, functional capacity tests, quality of life, quality of sleep and clinical parameters were assessed at baseline, 12 and 24 weeks. The VO 2peak and all cardiopulmonary parameters evaluated were similarly improved (p functional capacity tests improved during the follow-up in the home-based group (p training was as effective as center-based training in improving the physical and functional capabilities, quality of life and sleep in overweight NDD-CKD patients.

Models of radon entry: A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gadgil, A.J.

1991-08-01

This paper reviews existing models of radon entry into houses. The primary mechanism of radon entry in houses with high indoor concentrations is, in most cases, convective entry of radon bearing soil-gas from the surrounding soil. The driving force for this convective entry is the small indoor-outdoor pressure difference arising from the stack effect and other causes. Entry points for the soil-gas generally are the cracks or gaps in the building substructure, or though other parts of the building shell in direct contact with the soil, although entry may also occur by flow though permeable concrete or cinder block walls of the substructure. Models using analytical solutions to idealized geometrical configurations with simplified boundary conditions obtain analytical tractability of equations to be solved at the cost of severe approximations; their strength is in the insights they offer with their solutions. Models based on lumped parameters attempt to characterize the significant physical behavioral characteristics of the soil-gas and radon flow. When realistic approximations are desired for the boundary conditions and terms in the governing equations, numerical models must be used; these are usually based on finite difference or finite element solutions to the governing equations. Limited data are now available for experimental verification of model predictions. The models are briefly reviewed and their strengths and limitations are discussed

Evaluating trauma center structural performance: The experience of a Canadian provincial trauma system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lynne Moore

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Indicators of structure, process, and outcome are required to evaluate the performance of trauma centers to improve the quality and efficiency of care. While periodic external accreditation visits are part of most trauma systems, a quantitative indicator of structural performance has yet to be proposed. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a trauma center structural performance indicator using accreditation report data. Materials and Methods: Analyses were based on accreditation reports completed during on-site visits in the Quebec trauma system (1994-2005. Qualitative report data was retrospectively transposed onto an evaluation grid and the weighted average of grid items was used to quantify performance. The indicator of structural performance was evaluated in terms of test-retest reliability (kappa statistic, discrimination between centers (coefficient of variation, content validity (correlation with accreditation decision, designation level, and patient volume and forecasting (correlation between visits performed in 1994-1999 and 1998-2005. Results: Kappa statistics were >0.8 for 66 of the 73 (90% grid items. Mean structural performance score over 59 trauma centers was 47.4 (95% CI: 43.6-51.1. Two centers were flagged as outliers and the coefficient of variation was 31.2% (95% CI: 25.5% to 37.6%, showing good discrimination. Correlation coefficients of associations with accreditation decision, designation level, and volume were all statistically significant (r = 0.61, -0.40, and 0.24, respectively. No correlation was observed over time (r = 0.03. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the feasibility of quantifying trauma center structural performance using accreditation reports. The proposed performance indicator shows good test-retest reliability, between-center discrimination, and construct validity. The observed variability in structural performance across centers and over-time underlines the importance of

The Two-Phase Flow Separator Experiment Breadboard Model: Reduced Gravity Aircraft Results

Science.gov (United States)

Rame, E; Sharp, L. M.; Chahine, G.; Kamotani, Y.; Gotti, D.; Owens, J.; Gilkey, K.; Pham, N.

2015-01-01

Life support systems in space depend on the ability to effectively separate gas from liquid. Passive cyclonic phase separators use the centripetal acceleration of a rotating gas-liquid mixture to carry out phase separation. The gas migrates to the center, while gas-free liquid may be withdrawn from one of the end plates. We have designed, constructed and tested a breadboard that accommodates the test sections of two independent principal investigators and satisfies their respective requirements, including flow rates, pressure and video diagnostics. The breadboard was flown in the NASA low-gravity airplane in order to test the system performance and design under reduced gravity conditions.

The Microgravity Research Experiments (MICREX) Data Base

Science.gov (United States)

Winter, C. A.; Jones, J. C.

1996-01-01

An electronic data base identifying over 800 fluids and materials processing experiments performed in a low-gravity environment has been created at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The compilation, called MICREX (MICrogravity Research Experiments) was designed to document all such experimental efforts performed (1) on U.S. manned space vehicles, (2) on payloads deployed from U.S. manned space vehicles, and (3) on all domestic and international sounding rockets (excluding those of China and the former U.S.S.R.). Data available on most experiments include (1) principal and co-investigator (2) low-gravity mission, (3) processing facility, (4) experimental objectives and results, (5) identifying key words, (6) sample materials, (7) applications of the processed materials/research area, (8) experiment descriptive publications, and (9) contacts for more information concerning the experiment. This technical memorandum (1) summarizes the historical interest in reduced-gravity fluid dynamics, (2) describes the importance of a low-gravity fluids and materials processing data base, (4) describes thE MICREX data base format and computational World Wide Web access procedures, and (5) documents (in hard-copy form) the descriptions of the first 600 fluids and materials processing experiments entered into MICREX.

A Cost–Effective Computer-Based, Hybrid Motorised and Gravity ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A Cost–Effective Computer-Based, Hybrid Motorised and Gravity-Driven Material Handling System for the Mauritian Apparel Industry. ... Thus, many companies are investing significantly in a Research & Development department in order to design new techniques to improve worker's efficiency, and to decrease the amount ...

A Model of Gravity Vector Measurement Noise for Estimating Accelerometer Bias in Gravity Disturbance Compensation.

Science.gov (United States)

Tie, Junbo; Cao, Juliang; Chang, Lubing; Cai, Shaokun; Wu, Meiping; Lian, Junxiang

2018-03-16

Compensation of gravity disturbance can improve the precision of inertial navigation, but the effect of compensation will decrease due to the accelerometer bias, and estimation of the accelerometer bias is a crucial issue in gravity disturbance compensation. This paper first investigates the effect of accelerometer bias on gravity disturbance compensation, and the situation in which the accelerometer bias should be estimated is established. The accelerometer bias is estimated from the gravity vector measurement, and a model of measurement noise in gravity vector measurement is built. Based on this model, accelerometer bias is separated from the gravity vector measurement error by the method of least squares. Horizontal gravity disturbances are calculated through EGM2008 spherical harmonic model to build the simulation scene, and the simulation results indicate that precise estimations of the accelerometer bias can be obtained with the proposed method.

A Model of Gravity Vector Measurement Noise for Estimating Accelerometer Bias in Gravity Disturbance Compensation

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Juliang; Cai, Shaokun; Wu, Meiping; Lian, Junxiang

2018-01-01

Compensation of gravity disturbance can improve the precision of inertial navigation, but the effect of compensation will decrease due to the accelerometer bias, and estimation of the accelerometer bias is a crucial issue in gravity disturbance compensation. This paper first investigates the effect of accelerometer bias on gravity disturbance compensation, and the situation in which the accelerometer bias should be estimated is established. The accelerometer bias is estimated from the gravity vector measurement, and a model of measurement noise in gravity vector measurement is built. Based on this model, accelerometer bias is separated from the gravity vector measurement error by the method of least squares. Horizontal gravity disturbances are calculated through EGM2008 spherical harmonic model to build the simulation scene, and the simulation results indicate that precise estimations of the accelerometer bias can be obtained with the proposed method. PMID:29547552

Modular Extended-Stay HyperGravity Facility Design Concept: An Artificial-Gravity Space-Settlement Ground Analogue

Science.gov (United States)

Dorais, Gregory A.

2015-01-01

This document defines the design concept for a ground-based, extended-stay hypergravity facility as a precursor for space-based artificial-gravity facilities that extend the permanent presence of both human and non-human life beyond Earth in artificial-gravity settlements. Since the Earth's current human population is stressing the environment and the resources off-Earth are relatively unlimited, by as soon as 2040 more than one thousand people could be living in Earthorbiting artificial-gravity habitats. Eventually, the majority of humanity may live in artificialgravity habitats throughout this solar system as well as others, but little is known about the longterm (multi-generational) effects of artificial-gravity habitats on people, animals, and plants. In order to extend life permanently beyond Earth, it would be useful to create an orbiting space facility that generates 1g as well as other gravity levels to rigorously address the numerous challenges of such an endeavor. Before doing so, developing a ground-based artificial-gravity facility is a reasonable next step. Just as the International Space Station is a microgravity research facility, at a small fraction of the cost and risk a ground-based artificial-gravity facility can begin to address a wide-variety of the artificial-gravity life-science questions and engineering challenges requiring long-term research to enable people, animals, and plants to live off-Earth indefinitely.

Impact Of GOCE On The Nordic Gravity Field Modelling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yidiz, Hasan; Forsberg, René; Tscherning, C. C.

2011-01-01

GOCE level-2 Tzz and Txx gravity gradients at satellite altitude are used in combination as input data to predict surface free air gravity anomalies over the Nordic region using Least Square Collocation. We test the performance of using covariance functions created separately from Tzz gradients a...... Surface model, both the NKG-2004 quasi-geoid model of the Nordic and Baltic Area and the one obtained using second generation GOCE spherical harmonic coefficients based on time-wise method can successfully reproduce the higher level of the Baltic Sea relative to the Atlantic Ocean....

Dynamic modeling and experiment of a new type of parallel servo press considering gravity counterbalance

Science.gov (United States)

He, Jun; Gao, Feng; Bai, Yongjun; Wu, Shengfu

2013-11-01

The large capacity servo press is traditionally realized by means of redundant actuation, however there exist the over-constraint problem and interference among actuators, which increases the control difficulty and the product cost. A new type of press mechanism with parallel topology is presented to develop the mechanical servo press with high stamping capacity. The dynamic model considering gravity counterbalance is proposed based on the virtual work principle, and then the effect of counterbalance cylinder on the dynamic performance of the servo press is studied. It is found that the motor torque required to operate the press is a lot less than the others when the ratio of the counterbalance force to the gravity of ram is in the vicinity of 1.0. The stamping force of the real press prototype can reach up to 25 MN on the position of 13 mm away from the bottom dead center. The typical deep-drawing process with 1 200 mm stroke at 8 strokes per minute is proposed by means of five order polynomial. On this process condition, the driving torques are calculated based on the above dynamic model and the torque measuring test is also carried out on the prototype. It is shown that the curve trend of calculation torque is consistent to the measured result and that the average error is less than 15%. The parallel mechanism is introduced into the development of large capacity servo press to avoid the over-constraint and interference of traditional redundant actuation, and its dynamic characteristics with gravity counterbalance are presented.

Nonlocal gravity

CERN Document Server

Mashhoon, Bahram

2017-01-01

Relativity theory is based on a postulate of locality, which means that the past history of the observer is not directly taken into account. This book argues that the past history should be taken into account. In this way, nonlocality---in the sense of history dependence---is introduced into relativity theory. The deep connection between inertia and gravitation suggests that gravity could be nonlocal, and in nonlocal gravity the fading gravitational memory of past events must then be taken into account. Along this line of thought, a classical nonlocal generalization of Einstein's theory of gravitation has recently been developed. A significant consequence of this theory is that the nonlocal aspect of gravity appears to simulate dark matter. According to nonlocal gravity theory, what astronomers attribute to dark matter should instead be due to the nonlocality of gravitation. Nonlocality dominates on the scale of galaxies and beyond. Memory fades with time; therefore, the nonlocal aspect of gravity becomes wea...

Prediction and Validation of Mars Pathfinder Hypersonic Aerodynamic Data Base

Science.gov (United States)

Gnoffo, Peter A.; Braun, Robert D.; Weilmuenster, K. James; Mitcheltree, Robert A.; Engelund, Walter C.; Powell, Richard W.

1998-01-01

Postflight analysis of the Mars Pathfinder hypersonic, continuum aerodynamic data base is presented. Measured data include accelerations along the body axis and axis normal directions. Comparisons of preflight simulation and measurements show good agreement. The prediction of two static instabilities associated with movement of the sonic line from the shoulder to the nose and back was confirmed by measured normal accelerations. Reconstruction of atmospheric density during entry has an uncertainty directly proportional to the uncertainty in the predicted axial coefficient. The sensitivity of the moment coefficient to freestream density, kinetic models and center-of-gravity location are examined to provide additional consistency checks of the simulation with flight data. The atmospheric density as derived from axial coefficient and measured axial accelerations falls within the range required for sonic line shift and static stability transition as independently determined from normal accelerations.

High-resolution gravity model of Venus

Science.gov (United States)

Reasenberg, R. D.; Goldberg, Z. M.

1992-01-01

The anomalous gravity field of Venus shows high correlation with surface features revealed by radar. We extract gravity models from the Doppler tracking data from the Pioneer Venus Orbiter by means of a two-step process. In the first step, we solve the nonlinear spacecraft state estimation problem using a Kalman filter-smoother. The Kalman filter has been evaluated through simulations. This evaluation and some unusual features of the filter are discussed. In the second step, we perform a geophysical inversion using a linear Bayesian estimator. To allow an unbiased comparison between gravity and topography, we use a simulation technique to smooth and distort the radar topographic data so as to yield maps having the same characteristics as our gravity maps. The maps presented cover 2/3 of the surface of Venus and display the strong topography-gravity correlation previously reported. The topography-gravity scatter plots show two distinct trends.

Influence of socioeconomic status on trauma center performance evaluations in a Canadian trauma system.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Lynne; Turgeon, Alexis F; Sirois, Marie-Josée; Murat, Valérie; Lavoie, André

2011-09-01

Trauma center performance evaluations generally include adjustment for injury severity, age, and comorbidity. However, disparities across trauma centers may be due to other differences in source populations that are not accounted for, such as socioeconomic status (SES). We aimed to evaluate whether SES influences trauma center performance evaluations in an inclusive trauma system with universal access to health care. The study was based on data collected between 1999 and 2006 in a Canadian trauma system. Patient SES was quantified using an ecologic index of social and material deprivation. Performance evaluations were based on mortality adjusted using the Trauma Risk Adjustment Model. Agreement between performance results with and without additional adjustment for SES was evaluated with correlation coefficients. The study sample comprised a total of 71,784 patients from 48 trauma centers, including 3,828 deaths within 30 days (4.5%) and 5,549 deaths within 6 months (7.7%). The proportion of patients in the highest quintile of social and material deprivation varied from 3% to 43% and from 11% to 90% across hospitals, respectively. The correlation between performance results with or without adjustment for SES was almost perfect (r = 0.997; 95% CI 0.995-0.998) and the same hospital outliers were identified. We observed an important variation in SES across trauma centers but no change in risk-adjusted mortality estimates when SES was added to adjustment models. Results suggest that after adjustment for injury severity, age, comorbidity, and transfer status, disparities in SES across trauma center source populations do not influence trauma center performance evaluations in a system offering universal health coverage. Copyright © 2011 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Two-phase alkali-metal experiments in reduced gravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Antoniak, Z.I.

1986-06-01

Future space missions envision the use of large nuclear reactors utilizing either a single or a two-phase alkali-metal working fluid. The design and analysis of such reactors require state-of-the-art computer codes that can properly treat alkali-metal flow and heat transfer in a reduced-gravity environment. A literature search of relevant experiments in reduced gravity is reported on here, and reveals a paucity of data for such correlations. The few ongoing experiments in reduced gravity are noted. General plans are put forth for the reduced-gravity experiments which will have to be performed, at NASA facilities, with benign fluids. A similar situation exists regarding two-phase alkali-metal flow and heat transfer, even in normal gravity. Existing data are conflicting and indequate for the task of modeling a space reactor using a two-phase alkali-metal coolant. The major features of past experiments are described here. Data from the reduced-gravity experiments with innocuous fluids are to be combined with normal gravity data from the two-phase alkali-metal experiments. Analyses undertaken here give every expectation that the correlations developed from this data base will provide a valid representation of alkali-metal heat transfer and pressure drop in reduced gravity

Determining Physical Fitness Criteria for Entry into Army Basic Combat Training: Can these Criteria Be Based on Injury Risk?

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Canham-Chervak, M

2000-01-01

In October 1998, The U.S. Army Physical Fitness School Coordinated with the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine Epidemiology Program to evaluate the current standards for entry into the Fitness Training Unit at Ft...

Teleparallel equivalent of Lovelock gravity

Science.gov (United States)

González, P. A.; Vásquez, Yerko

2015-12-01

There is a growing interest in modified gravity theories based on torsion, as these theories exhibit interesting cosmological implications. In this work inspired by the teleparallel formulation of general relativity, we present its extension to Lovelock gravity known as the most natural extension of general relativity in higher-dimensional space-times. First, we review the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity and Gauss-Bonnet gravity, and then we construct the teleparallel equivalent of Lovelock gravity. In order to achieve this goal, we use the vielbein and the connection without imposing the Weitzenböck connection. Then, we extract the teleparallel formulation of the theory by setting the curvature to null.

Medical student satisfaction, coping and burnout in direct-entry versus graduate-entry programmes.

Science.gov (United States)

DeWitt, Dawn; Canny, Benedict J; Nitzberg, Michael; Choudri, Jennifer; Porter, Sarah

2016-06-01

There is ongoing debate regarding the optimal length of medical training, with concern about the cost of prolonged training. Two simultaneous tracks currently exist in Australia: direct entry from high school and graduate entry for students with a bachelor degree. Medical schools are switching to graduate entry based on maturity, academic preparedness and career-choice surety. We tested the assumption that graduate entry is better by exploring student preferences, coping, burnout, empathy and alcohol use. From a potential pool of 2188 participants, enrolled at five Australian medical schools, a convenience sample of 688 (31%) first and second year students completed a survey in the middle of the academic year. Participants answered questions about demographics, satisfaction and coping and completed three validated instruments. Over 90% of students preferred their own entry-type, though more graduate-entry students were satisfied with their programme (82.4% versus 65.3%, p students in self-reported coping or in the proportion of students meeting criteria for burnout (50.7% versus 51.2%). Direct-entry students rated significantly higher for empathy (concern, p = 0.022; personal distress, p = 0.031). Graduate-entry students reported significantly more alcohol use and hazardous drinking (30.0% versus 22.8%; p = 0.017). Our multi-institution data confirm that students are generally satisfied with their choice of entry pathway and do not confirm significant psychosocial benefits of graduate entry. Overall, our data suggest that direct-entry students cope with the workload and psychosocial challenges of medical school, in the first 2 years, as well as graduate-entry students. Burnout and alcohol use should be addressed in both pathways. Despite studies showing similar academic outcomes, and higher total costs, more programmes in Australia are becoming graduate entry. Further research on non-cognitive issues and outcomes is needed so that universities, government

ENTRY 2003: The international workshop on reliable performance assessment through laboratory experiments and ground surface investigations. 10th anniversary of ENTRY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishikawa, Hirohisa; Yui, Mikazu; Uchida, Masahiro; Kamei, Gento

2004-03-01

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the ENTRY, a laboratory in JNC Tokai for R and D in the field of geological disposal of radioactive waste, an international workshop was held in JNC Tokai, during the term of Sept 22 to 24, 2003. A technical tour for the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory site was also done before the workshop, on October 20 to 21, to deepen understanding the background of discussion in the workshop. The workshop contained two sessions. The topic of each session was 1. long-term transition of the near-field and 2. cooperation among the performance assessment, in-situ experiment, and laboratory experiment, respectively. In the session 1, we mainly discussed the thermal-hydrological-mechanical-chemical (THMC) coupled processes for the near-field performance assessment, especially focusing on chemical degradation effects by cement materials and the status of mechanistic understanding radionuclide migration. Silicate dissolution kinetic model, including smectite dissolution in a hyper alkaline solution, was also discussed. Then, we discussed a relevant linkage among laboratory experiments, model (simulation experiment) and database development, in-situ experiment and natural analogue. In the session 2, we discussed 1) methodology for understanding the site based on the surface and boreholes investigations, 2) identification of remained uncertainty after the surface and boreholes investigations, 3) the critical measurement at the surface and boreholes investigations, 4) feedback items from performance assessment to site characterization and 5) required data besides the site investigation. This report contains the minutes of discussion in the workshop. Presented materials were also appended with permission from the speakers. (author)

A Dual Microscopy-Based Assay To Assess Listeria monocytogenes Cellular Entry and Vacuolar Escape.

Science.gov (United States)

Quereda, Juan J; Pizarro-Cerdá, Javier; Balestrino, Damien; Bobard, Alexandre; Danckaert, Anne; Aulner, Nathalie; Shorte, Spencer; Enninga, Jost; Cossart, Pascale

2016-01-01

Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive bacterium and a facultative intracellular pathogen that invades mammalian cells, disrupts its internalization vacuole, and proliferates in the host cell cytoplasm. Here, we describe a novel image-based microscopy assay that allows discrimination between cellular entry and vacuolar escape, enabling high-content screening to identify factors specifically involved in these two steps. We first generated L. monocytogenes and Listeria innocua strains expressing a β-lactamase covalently attached to the bacterial cell wall. These strains were then incubated with HeLa cells containing the Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) probe CCF4 in their cytoplasm. The CCF4 probe was cleaved by the bacterial surface β-lactamase only in cells inoculated with L. monocytogenes but not those inoculated with L. innocua, thereby demonstrating bacterial access to the host cytoplasm. Subsequently, we performed differential immunofluorescence staining to distinguish extracellular versus total bacterial populations in samples that were also analyzed by the FRET-based assay. With this two-step analysis, bacterial entry can be distinguished from vacuolar rupture in a single experiment. Our novel approach represents a powerful tool for identifying factors that determine the intracellular niche of L. monocytogenes. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

SME international entry mode choice and performance : A transaction cost perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brouthers, K.D.; Nakos, G.

2004-01-01

Although small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) account for a significant portion of international trade, little is know about how they make international entry mode decisions. Transaction cost theory has been widely used to study entry mode selection for large firms. Here we apply the theory to

Heterogeneity of the North Atlantic oceanic lithosphere based on integrated analysis of GOCE satellite gravity and geological data

Science.gov (United States)

Barantseva, Olga; Artemieva, Irina; Thybo, Hans; Herceg, Matija

2015-04-01

We present the results from modelling the gravity and density structure of the upper mantle for the off-shore area of the North Atlantic region. The crust and upper mantle of the region is expected to be anomalous: Part of the region affected by the Icelandic plume has an anomalously shallow bathymetry, whereas the northern part of the region is characterized by ultraslow spreading. In order to understand the links between deep geodynamical processes that control the spreading rate, on one hand, and their manifestations such as oceanic floor bathymetry and heat flow, on the other hand, we model the gravity and density structure of the upper mantle from satellite gravity data. The calculations are based on interpretation of GOCE gravity satellite data for the North Atlantics. To separate the gravity signal responsible for density anomalies within the crust and upper mantle, we subtract the lower harmonics caused by deep density structure of the Earth (the core and the lower mantle). The gravity effect of the upper mantle is calculated by subtracting the gravity effect of the crust for two crustal models. We use a recent regional seismic model for the crustal structure (Artemieva and Thybo, 2013) based om seismic data together with borehole data for sediments. For comparison, similar results are presented for the global CRUST 1.0 model as well (Laske, 2013). The conversion of seismic velocity data for the crustal structure to crustal density structure is crucial for the final results. We use a combination of Vp-to-density conversion based on published laboratory measurements for the crystalline basement (Ludwig, Nafe, Drake, 1970; Christensen and Mooney, 1995) and for oceanic sediments and oceanic crust based on laboratory measurements for serpentinites and gabbros from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (Kelemen et al., 2004). Also, to overcome the high degree of uncertainty in Vp-to-density conversion, we account for regional tectonic variations in the Northern Atlantics as

Discretization of 3d gravity in different polarizations

Science.gov (United States)

Dupuis, Maïté; Freidel, Laurent; Girelli, Florian

2017-10-01

We study the discretization of three-dimensional gravity with Λ =0 following the loop quantum gravity framework. In the process, we realize that different choices of polarization are possible. This allows us to introduce a new discretization based on the triad as opposed to the connection as in the standard loop quantum gravity framework. We also identify the classical nontrivial symmetries of discrete gravity, namely the Drinfeld double, given in terms of momentum maps. Another choice of polarization is given by the Chern-Simons formulation of gravity. Our framework also provides a new discretization scheme of Chern-Simons, which keeps track of the link between the continuum variables and the discrete ones. We show how the Poisson bracket we recover between the Chern-Simons holonomies allows us to recover the Goldman bracket. There is also a transparent link between the discrete Chern-Simons formulation and the discretization of gravity based on the connection (loop gravity) or triad variables (dual loop gravity).

Stakeholders' perceptions on competency and assessment program of entry-level pharmacists in developing countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Asante, Isaac; Andoh, Irene; Muijtjens, Arno M M; Donkers, Jeroen

2017-05-01

To assess the stakeholders' perceptions on the competency of entry-level pharmacists and the use of written licensure examination as the primary assessment for licensure decisions on entry-level pharmacists who have completed the Pharmacy Internship Program 1 (PIP) in developing countries. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among stakeholders in which they completed a web-based 21-item pre-tested questionnaire to determine their views regarding the competency outcomes and assessment program for entry-level pharmacist. The stakeholders rated the entry-level pharmacists to possess all competencies except research skills. Stakeholders suggested improvement of the program by defining the competency framework and training preceptors. However, stakeholders disagree on using written examination as the primary assessment for licensure decision and suggested the incorporation of other performance-based assessments like preceptor's assessment reports. Stakeholders are uncertain on entry-level pharmacists in developing countries possessing adequate research competencies and think their assessment program for licensure need more than written examination to assess all required competencies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Available hardware for automated entry control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holmes, J.P.

1990-01-01

Automated entry control has become an increasingly important issue at facilities where budget constraints are limiting options for manned entry control points. Ongoing work at Sandia National Laboratories is attempting to establish a data base for use by facility security managers working the problem of how to maintain security on a limited budget. Sandia National Laboratories conducted a performance test of the following biometric verifiers: (1) voice verifier by Alpha Microsystems of Santa Ana, California; (2) signature dynamics verifier by Autosig Systems of Irving, Texas; (3) voice verifier by Ecco Industries of Danvers, Massachusetts (now International Electronics); (4) retinal pattern verifier by EyeDentify of Portland, Oregon; (5) fingerprint verifier by Identix of Sunnyvale, California; and (6) hand geometry verifier by Recognition Systems of San Jose, California

Terminal altitude maximization for Mars entry considering uncertainties

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Pingyuan; Zhao, Zeduan; Yu, Zhengshi; Dai, Juan

2018-04-01

Uncertainties present in the Mars atmospheric entry process may cause state deviations from the nominal designed values, which will lead to unexpected performance degradation if the trajectory is designed merely based on the deterministic dynamic model. In this paper, a linear covariance based entry trajectory optimization method is proposed considering the uncertainties presenting in the initial states and parameters. By extending the elements of the state covariance matrix as augmented states, the statistical behavior of the trajectory is captured to reformulate the performance metrics and path constraints. The optimization problem is solved by the GPOPS-II toolbox in MATLAB environment. Monte Carlo simulations are also conducted to demonstrate the capability of the proposed method. Primary trading performances between the nominal deployment altitude and its dispersion can be observed by modulating the weights on the dispersion penalty, and a compromised result referring to maximizing the 3σ lower bound of the terminal altitude is achieved. The resulting path constraints also show better satisfaction in a disturbed environment compared with the nominal situation.

Entry regulations, welfare and determinants of market structure

OpenAIRE

Maican, Florin; Orth, Matilda

2015-01-01

We use a dynamic oligopoly model of entry and exit with store-type differentiation to evaluate how entry regulations affect profitability, market structure and welfare. Based on unique data for all retail food stores in Sweden, we estimate demand, recover variable profits, and estimate entry costs and fixed costs by store type. Counterfactual policy experiments show that welfare increases when competition is enhanced by lower entry costs. Protecting small stores by imposing licensing fees on ...

DOE Centers of Excellence Performance Portability Meeting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neely, J. R. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2016-04-21

Performance portability is a phrase often used, but not well understood. The DOE is deploying systems at all of the major facilities across ASCR and ASC that are forcing application developers to confront head-on the challenges of running applications across these diverse systems. With GPU-based systems at the OLCF and LLNL, and Phi-based systems landing at NERSC, ACES (LANL/SNL), and the ALCF – the issue of performance portability is confronting the DOE mission like never before. A new best practice in the DOE is to include “Centers of Excellence” with each major procurement, with a goal of focusing efforts on preparing key applications to be ready for the systems coming to each site, and engaging the vendors directly in a “shared fate” approach to ensuring success. While each COE is necessarily focused on a particular deployment, applications almost invariably must be able to run effectively across the entire DOE HPC ecosystem. This tension between optimizing performance for a particular platform, while still being able to run with acceptable performance wherever the resources are available, is the crux of the challenge we call “performance portability”. This meeting was an opportunity to bring application developers, software providers, and vendors together to discuss this challenge and begin to chart a path forward.

The Microgravity Research Experiments (MICREX) Data Base. Volume 1

Science.gov (United States)

Winter, C. A.; Jones, J.C.

1996-01-01

An electronic data base identifying over 800 fluids and materials processing experiments performed in a low-gravity environment has been created at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The compilation, called MICREX (MICrogravity Research Experiments), was designed to document all such experimental efforts performed (1) on U.S. manned space vehicles, (2) on payloads deployed from U.S. manned space vehicles, and (3) on all domestic and international sounding rockets (excluding those of China and the former U.S.S.R.). Data available on most experiments include (1) principal and co-investigators, (2) low-gravity mission, (3) processing facility, (4) experimental objectives and results, (5) identifying key words, (6) sample materials, (7) applications of the processed materials/research area, (8) experiment descriptive publications, and (9) contacts for more information concerning the experiment. This technical memorandum (1) summarizes the historical interest in reduced-gravity fluid dynamics, (2) describes the experimental facilities employed to examine reduced gravity fluid flow, (3) discusses the importance of a low-gravity fluids and materials processing data base, (4) describes the MICREX data base format and computational World Wide Web access procedures, and (5) documents (in hard-copy form) the descriptions of the first 600 fluids and materials processing experiments entered into MICREX.

Competitive Dynamics of Market Entry: Scale and Survival

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John W. UPSON

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Market entry is the essence of strategy and is largely viewed as a dichotomous event: entry or no entry. What has not been acknowledged is the uniqueness of each market entry. Our study highlights the scale of market entry in the context of multipoint competition. We assert that entry scale varies based on the risk of market incumbent retaliation. Theory suggests that when risk associated with retaliation are low, firms enter with large scale and when associated risks are high, firms enter with low scale. Further, survival is viewed as dependent on following theory. We argue and find supporting evidence that firms behave in the opposite manner and do so to their own benefit, thereby revealing a unique discrepancy between theory and practice among 75 product market entries by 27 firms.

Cross-correlation between EMG and center of gravity during quiet stance: theory and simulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Kohn, André Fabio

2005-11-01

Several signal processing tools have been employed in the experimental study of the postural control system in humans. Among them, the cross-correlation function has been used to analyze the time relationship between signals such as the electromyogram and the horizontal projection of the center of gravity. The common finding is that the electromyogram precedes the biomechanical signal, a result that has been interpreted in different ways, for example, the existence of feedforward control or the preponderance of a velocity feedback. It is shown here, analytically and by simulation, that the cross-correlation function is dependent in a complicated way on system parameters and on noise spectra. Results similar to those found experimentally, e.g., electromyogram preceding the biomechanical signal may be obtained in a postural control model without any feedforward control and without any velocity feedback. Therefore, correct interpretations of experimentally obtained cross-correlation functions may require additional information about the system. The results extend to other biomedical applications where two signals from a closed loop system are cross-correlated.

A cell-based high-throughput protocol to screen entry inhibitors of highly pathogenic viruses with Traditional Chinese Medicines.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yong; Cheng, Han; Yan, Hui; Wang, Peng-Zhan; Rong, Rong; Zhang, Ying-Ying; Zhang, Cheng-Bo; Du, Rui-Kun; Rong, Li-Jun

2017-05-01

Emerging viruses such as Ebola virus (EBOV), Lassa virus (LASV), and avian influenza virus H5N1 (AIV) are global health concerns. Since there is very limited options (either vaccine or specific therapy) approved for humans against these viruses, there is an urgent need to develop prophylactic and therapeutic treatments. Previously we reported a high-throughput screening (HTS) protocol to identify entry inhibitors for three highly pathogenic viruses (EBOV, LASV, and AIV) using a human immunodeficiency virus-based pseudotyping platform which allows us to perform the screening in a BSL-2 facility. In this report, we have adopted this screening protocol to evaluate traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs) in an effort to discover entry inhibitors against these viruses. Here we show that extracts of the following Chinese medicinal herbs exhibit potent anti-Ebola viral activities: Gardenia jasminoides Ellis, Citrus aurantium L., Viola yedoensis Makino, Prunella vulgaris L., Coix lacryma-jobi L. var. mayuen (Roman.) Stapf, Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit., and Morus alba L. This study represents a proof-of-principle investigation supporting the suitability of this assay for rapid screening TCMs and identifying putative entry inhibitors for these viruses. J. Med. Virol. 89:908-916, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Former Soviet Union (FSU) Gravity Data

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Gridded gravity anomaly data for the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and Eastern Europe has been received by the National Geophysical Data Center(NGDC). The data file...

Massive gravity from bimetric gravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baccetti, Valentina; Martín-Moruno, Prado; Visser, Matt

2013-01-01

We discuss the subtle relationship between massive gravity and bimetric gravity, focusing particularly on the manner in which massive gravity may be viewed as a suitable limit of bimetric gravity. The limiting procedure is more delicate than currently appreciated. Specifically, this limiting procedure should not unnecessarily constrain the background metric, which must be externally specified by the theory of massive gravity itself. The fact that in bimetric theories one always has two sets of metric equations of motion continues to have an effect even in the massive gravity limit, leading to additional constraints besides the one set of equations of motion naively expected. Thus, since solutions of bimetric gravity in the limit of vanishing kinetic term are also solutions of massive gravity, but the contrary statement is not necessarily true, there is no complete continuity in the parameter space of the theory. In particular, we study the massive cosmological solutions which are continuous in the parameter space, showing that many interesting cosmologies belong to this class. (paper)

Clinical quality performance in U.S. health centers.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Leiyu; Lebrun, Lydie A; Zhu, Jinsheng; Hayashi, Arthur S; Sharma, Ravi; Daly, Charles A; Sripipatana, Alek; Ngo-Metzger, Quyen

2012-12-01

To describe current clinical quality among the nation's community health centers and to examine health center characteristics associated with performance excellence. National data from the 2009 Uniform Data System. Health centers reviewed patient records and reported aggregate data to the Uniform Data System. Six measures were examined: first-trimester prenatal care, childhood immunization completion, Pap tests, low birth weight, controlled hypertension, and controlled diabetes. The top 25 percent performing centers were compared with lower performing (bottom 75 percent) centers on these measures. Logistic regressions were utilized to assess the impact of patient, provider, and institutional characteristics on health center performance. Clinical care and outcomes among health centers were generally comparable to national averages. For instance, 67 percent of pregnant patients received timely prenatal care (national = 68 percent), 69 percent of children achieved immunization completion (national = 67 percent), and 63 percent of hypertensive patients had blood pressure under control (national = 48 percent). Depending on the measure, centers with more uninsured patients were less likely to do well, while centers with more physicians and enabling service providers were more likely to do well. Health centers provide quality care at rates comparable to national averages. Performance may be improved by increasing insurance coverage among patients and increasing the ratios of physicians and enabling service providers to patients. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Gravity influences the visual representation of object tilt in parietal cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenberg, Ari; Angelaki, Dora E

2014-10-22

Sensory systems encode the environment in egocentric (e.g., eye, head, or body) reference frames, creating inherently unstable representations that shift and rotate as we move. However, it is widely speculated that the brain transforms these signals into an allocentric, gravity-centered representation of the world that is stable and independent of the observer's spatial pose. Where and how this representation may be achieved is currently unknown. Here we demonstrate that a subpopulation of neurons in the macaque caudal intraparietal area (CIP) visually encodes object tilt in nonegocentric coordinates defined relative to the gravitational vector. Neuronal responses to the tilt of a visually presented planar surface were measured with the monkey in different spatial orientations (upright and rolled left/right ear down) and then compared. This revealed a continuum of representations in which planar tilt was encoded in a gravity-centered reference frame in approximately one-tenth of the comparisons, intermediate reference frames ranging between gravity-centered and egocentric in approximately two-tenths of the comparisons, and in an egocentric reference frame in less than half of the comparisons. Altogether, almost half of the comparisons revealed a shift in the preferred tilt and/or a gain change consistent with encoding object orientation in nonegocentric coordinates. Through neural network modeling, we further show that a purely gravity-centered representation of object tilt can be achieved directly from the population activity of CIP-like units. These results suggest that area CIP may play a key role in creating a stable, allocentric representation of the environment defined relative to an "earth-vertical" direction. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/3414170-11$15.00/0.

Gravity Effects in Microgap Flow Boiling

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Franklin; Bar-Cohen, Avram

2017-01-01

Increasing integration density of electronic components has exacerbated the thermal management challenges facing electronic system developers. The high power, heat flux, and volumetric heat generation of emerging devices are driving the transition from remote cooling, which relies on conduction and spreading, to embedded cooling, which facilitates direct contact between the heat-generating device and coolant flow. Microgap coolers employ the forced flow of dielectric fluids undergoing phase change in a heated channel between devices. While two phase microcoolers are used routinely in ground-based systems, the lack of acceptable models and correlations for microgravity operation has limited their use for spacecraft thermal management. Previous research has revealed that gravitational acceleration plays a diminishing role as the channel diameter shrinks, but there is considerable variation among the proposed gravity-insensitive channel dimensions and minimal research on rectangular ducts. Reliable criteria for achieving gravity-insensitive flow boiling performance would enable spaceflight systems to exploit this powerful thermal management technique and reduce development time and costs through reliance on ground-based testing. In the present effort, the authors have studied the effect of evaporator orientation on flow boiling performance of HFE7100 in a 218 m tall by 13.0 mm wide microgap cooler. Similar heat transfer coefficients and critical heat flux were achieved across five evaporator orientations, indicating that the effect of gravity was negligible.

Gravity Data for portions of Ohio

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The gravity station data (1,037 records) were compiled by Doctor Stierman. This data base was received in June 1992. Principal gravity parameters include Free-Air...

Dualities and emergent gravity: Gauge/gravity duality

Science.gov (United States)

de Haro, Sebastian

2017-08-01

In this paper I develop a framework for relating dualities and emergence: two notions that are close to each other but also exclude one another. I adopt the conception of duality as 'isomorphism', from the physics literature, cashing it out in terms of three conditions. These three conditions prompt two conceptually different ways in which a duality can be modified to make room for emergence; and I argue that this exhausts the possibilities for combining dualities and emergence (via coarse-graining). I apply this framework to gauge/gravity dualities, considering in detail three examples: AdS/CFT, Verlinde's scheme, and black holes. My main point about gauge/gravity dualities is that the theories involved, qua theories of gravity, must be background-independent. I distinguish two senses of background-independence: (i) minimalistic and (ii) extended. I argue that the former is sufficiently strong to allow for a consistent theory of quantum gravity; and that AdS/CFT is background-independent on this account; while Verlinde's scheme best fits the extended sense of background-independence. I argue that this extended sense should be applied with some caution: on pain of throwing the baby (general relativity) out with the bath-water (extended background-independence). Nevertheless, it is an interesting and potentially fruitful heuristic principle for quantum gravity theory construction. It suggests some directions for possible generalisations of gauge/gravity dualities. The interpretation of dualities is discussed; and the so-called 'internal' vs. 'external' viewpoints are articulated in terms of: (i) epistemic and metaphysical commitments; (ii) parts vs. wholes. I then analyse the emergence of gravity in gauge/gravity dualities in terms of the two available conceptualisations of emergence; and I show how emergence in AdS/CFT and in Verlinde's scenario differ from each other. Finally, I give a novel derivation of the Bekenstein-Hawking black hole entropy formula based on

Temporal variation of gravity field prior to the Ludian Ms6.5 and Kangding Ms6.3 earthquakes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hongtao Hao

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Using mobile gravity data from the central area of Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, the relationship between gravity variation and earthquakes was studied based on the Ludian Ms6.5 earthquake that occurred on August 3rd, 2014, and the Kangding Ms6.3 earthquake that occurred on November 22nd, 2014; the mechanism of gravity variation was also explored. The results are as follows: (1 Prior to both earthquakes, gravity variation exhibited similar characteristics as those observed before both the Tangshan and Wenchuan earthquakes, in which typical precursor anomalies were positive gravity variation near the epicenter and the occurrence of a high-gravity-gradient zone across the epicenter prior to the earthquake. (2 A relatively accurate prediction of the occurrence locations of the two earthquakes was made by the Gravity Network Center of China (GNCC based on these precursor anomalies. In the gravity study report on the 2014 earthquake trends submitted at the end of 2013, the Daofu-Shimian section at the junction of the Xianshuihe and Longmenshan fault zones was noted as an earthquake-risk region with a predicted magnitude of 6.5, which covered the epicenter of the Kangding Ms6.3 earthquake. In another report on earthquake trends in southwestern China submitted in mid-2014, the Lianfeng, Zhaotong fault zone was also classified as an earthquake-risk region with a magnitude of 6.0, and the central area of this region basically overlapped with the epicenter of the Ludian Ms6.5 earthquake. (3 The gravity variation characteristics are reasonably consistent with crustal movements, and deep material migration is likely the primary cause of gravity variation.

Northern Oklahoma Gravity Data

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The gravity station data (710 records) were compiled by Professor Ahern. This data base was received in June 1992. Principal gravity parameters include latitude,...

Vaidya spacetime in massive gravity's rainbow

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yaghoub Heydarzade

2017-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we will analyze the energy dependent deformation of massive gravity using the formalism of massive gravity's rainbow. So, we will use the Vainshtein mechanism and the dRGT mechanism for the energy dependent massive gravity, and thus analyze a ghost free theory of massive gravity's rainbow. We study the energy dependence of a time-dependent geometry, by analyzing the radiating Vaidya solution in this theory of massive gravity's rainbow. The energy dependent deformation of this Vaidya metric will be performed using suitable rainbow functions.

A novel patient-centered "intention-to-treat" metric of U.S. lung transplant center performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Maldonado, Dawn A; RoyChoudhury, Arindam; Lederer, David J

2018-01-01

Despite the importance of pretransplantation outcomes, 1-year posttransplantation survival is typically considered the primary metric of lung transplant center performance in the United States. We designed a novel lung transplant center performance metric that incorporates both pre- and posttransplantation survival time. We performed an ecologic study of 12 187 lung transplant candidates listed at 56 U.S. lung transplant centers between 2006 and 2012. We calculated an "intention-to-treat" survival (ITTS) metric as the percentage of waiting list candidates surviving at least 1 year after transplantation. The median center-level 1-year posttransplantation survival rate was 84.1%, and the median center-level ITTS was 66.9% (mean absolute difference 19.6%, 95% limits of agreement 4.3 to 35.1%). All but 10 centers had ITTS values that were significantly lower than 1-year posttransplantation survival rates. Observed ITTS was significantly lower than expected ITTS for 7 centers. These data show that one third of lung transplant candidates do not survive 1 year after transplantation, and that 12% of centers have lower than expected ITTS. An "intention-to-treat" survival metric may provide a more realistic expectation of patient outcomes at transplant centers and may be of value to transplant centers and policymakers. © 2017 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

Towards the map of quantum gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Mielczarek, Jakub; Trześniewski, Tomasz

2018-06-01

In this paper we point out some possible links between different approaches to quantum gravity and theories of the Planck scale physics. In particular, connections between loop quantum gravity, causal dynamical triangulations, Hořava-Lifshitz gravity, asymptotic safety scenario, Quantum Graphity, deformations of relativistic symmetries and nonlinear phase space models are discussed. The main focus is on quantum deformations of the Hypersurface Deformations Algebra and Poincaré algebra, nonlinear structure of phase space, the running dimension of spacetime and nontrivial phase diagram of quantum gravity. We present an attempt to arrange the observed relations in the form of a graph, highlighting different aspects of quantum gravity. The analysis is performed in the spirit of a mind map, which represents the architectural approach to the studied theory, being a natural way to describe the properties of a complex system. We hope that the constructed graphs (maps) will turn out to be helpful in uncovering the global picture of quantum gravity as a particular complex system and serve as a useful guide for the researchers.

Guidance and Control Architecture Design and Demonstration for Low Ballistic Coefficient Atmospheric Entry

Science.gov (United States)

Swei, Sean

2014-01-01

We propose to develop a robust guidance and control system for the ADEPT (Adaptable Deployable Entry and Placement Technology) entry vehicle. A control-centric model of ADEPT will be developed to quantify the performance of candidate guidance and control architectures for both aerocapture and precision landing missions. The evaluation will be based on recent breakthroughs in constrained controllability/reachability analysis of control systems and constrained-based energy-minimum trajectory optimization for guidance development operating in complex environments.

Emergency Flight Control Using Only Engine Thrust and Lateral Center-of-Gravity Offset: A First Look

Science.gov (United States)

Burcham, Frank W., Jr.; Burken, John; Maine, Trindel A.; Bull, John

1997-01-01

Normally, the damage that results in a total loss of the primary flight controls of a jet transport airplane, including all engines on one side, would be catastrophic. In response, NASA Dryden has conceived an emergency flight control system that uses only the thrust of a wing-mounted engine along with a lateral center-of-gravity (CGY) offset from fuel transfer. Initial analysis and simulation studies indicate that such a system works, and recent high-fidelity simulation tests on the MD-11 and B-747 suggest that the system provides enough control for a survivable landing. This paper discusses principles of flight control using only a wing engine thrust and CGY offset, along with the amount of CGY offset capability of some transport airplanes. The paper also presents simulation results of the throttle-only control capability and closed-loop control of ground track using computer-controlled thrust.

Zero Gravity Flights as the Most Effective Embryonic Operation for Planned Commercial Spaceport

Science.gov (United States)

Abu Samah, Shamsul Kamar; Ridzuan Zakaria, Norul; Nasrun, Nasri; Abu, Jalaluddin; Muszaphar Shukor, Dato'Sheikh

2013-09-01

From the experience gained by the management team of Spaceport Malaysia, a popular service that can be provided by a planned commercial spaceport in a country without existing space travel infrastructure are zero gravity flights. Zero gravity flights range from parabolic flights using aerobatic airplane to suborbital flights using rockets, and in the near future using suborbital rocketplanes. Therefore, zero gravity flights can be operated from a certified runway or planned for operation at a future commercial spaceport. With such range of operation, zero gravity flights provide a natural link between a low cost operation of small airplane to exclusive high profile operation of suborbital rocketplane, and this attracts the attention of individuals and organizations that are planning for the establishment of a commercial spaceport. This is the approach chosen by the planners and developers of Spaceport Malaysia. A significant factor in zero gravity flight is the zero gravity time, the period where the payload onboard the airplane or rocketplane will experience zero gravity. Based on the momentum of the airplane or rocketplane, the zero gravity time may vary from few seconds to few minutes and that determines the quality of the zero gravity flight. To achieve zero gravity, the airplane or rocketplane will fly with a steady velocity for a significant time as a gravity control flight, accelerate upwards with an angle producing hypergravity and perform parabolic flight with natural momentum producing zero gravity and followed by dive that will result in another hypergravity flight. 2 zero gravity platforms being considered for operation at and by Spaceport Malaysia are F-5E Tiger II and Airbus A300, since both platforms have been successfully used by a partner of Spaceport Malaysia in performing zero gravity flights. An F-5E fighter jet owned by Royal Malaysian Air Force is being planned to be converted into a zero gravity platform to be operated at and by Spaceport

Idaho State Gravity Data

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The gravity station data (24,284 records) were compiled by the U. S. Geological Survey. This data base was received on February 23, 1993. Principal gravity...

Adaptation effects in static postural control by providing simultaneous visual feedback of center of pressure and center of gravity.

Science.gov (United States)

Takeda, Kenta; Mani, Hiroki; Hasegawa, Naoya; Sato, Yuki; Tanaka, Shintaro; Maejima, Hiroshi; Asaka, Tadayoshi

2017-07-19

The benefit of visual feedback of the center of pressure (COP) on quiet standing is still debatable. This study aimed to investigate the adaptation effects of visual feedback training using both the COP and center of gravity (COG) during quiet standing. Thirty-four healthy young adults were divided into three groups randomly (COP + COG, COP, and control groups). A force plate was used to calculate the coordinates of the COP in the anteroposterior (COP AP ) and mediolateral (COP ML ) directions. A motion analysis system was used to calculate the coordinates of the center of mass (COM) in both directions (COM AP and COM ML ). The coordinates of the COG in the AP direction (COG AP ) were obtained from the force plate signals. Augmented visual feedback was presented on a screen in the form of fluctuation circles in the vertical direction that moved upward as the COP AP and/or COG AP moved forward and vice versa. The COP + COG group received the real-time COP AP and COG AP feedback simultaneously, whereas the COP group received the real-time COP AP feedback only. The control group received no visual feedback. In the training session, the COP + COG group was required to maintain an even distance between the COP AP and COG AP and reduce the COG AP fluctuation, whereas the COP group was required to reduce the COP AP fluctuation while standing on a foam pad. In test sessions, participants were instructed to keep their standing posture as quiet as possible on the foam pad before (pre-session) and after (post-session) the training sessions. In the post-session, the velocity and root mean square of COM AP in the COP + COG group were lower than those in the control group. In addition, the absolute value of the sum of the COP - COM distances in the COP + COG group was lower than that in the COP group. Furthermore, positive correlations were found between the COM AP velocity and COP - COM parameters. The results suggest that the novel visual feedback

Self Completeness of Einstein Gravity

CERN Document Server

Dvali, Gia

2010-01-01

We argue, that in Einsteinian gravity the Planck length is the shortest length of nature, and any attempt of resolving trans-Planckian physics bounces back to macroscopic distances due to black hole formation. In Einstein gravity trans-Planckian propagating quantum degrees of freedom cannot exist, instead they are equivalent to the classical black holes that are fully described by lighter infra-red degrees of freedom and give exponentially-soft contribution into the virtual processes. Based on this property we argue that pure-Einstein (super)gravity and its high-dimensional generalizations are self-complete in deep-UV, but not in standard Wilsonian sense. We suggest that certain strong-coupling limit of string theory is built-in in pure Einstein gravity, whereas the role of weakly-coupled string theory limit is to consistently couple gravity to other particle species, with their number being set by the inverse string coupling. We also discuss some speculative ideas generalizing the notion of non-Wilsonian sel...

Andes 1997 Gravity Data

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Central Andes gravity data (6,151 records) were compiled by Professor Gotze and the MIGRA Group. This data base was received in April, 1997. Principal gravity...

Gravity Scaling of a Power Reactor Water Shield

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reid, Robert S.; Pearson, J. Boise

2008-01-01

Water based reactor shielding is being considered as an affordable option for potential use on initial lunar surface reactor power systems. Heat dissipation in the shield from nuclear sources must be rejected by an auxillary thermal hydraulic cooling system. The mechanism for transferring heat through the shield is natural convection between the core surface and an array of thermosyphon radiator elements. Natural convection in a 100 kWt lunar surface reactor shield design has been previously evaluated at lower power levels (Pearson, 2006). The current baseline assumes that 5.5 kW are dissipated in the water shield, the preponderance on the core surface, but with some volumetric heating in the naturally circulating water as well. This power is rejected by a radiator located above the shield with a surface temperature of 370 K. A similarity analysis on a water-based reactor shield is presented examining the effect of gravity on free convection between a radiation shield inner vessel and a radiation shield outer vessel boundaries. Two approaches established similarity: 1) direct scaling of Rayleigh number equates gravity-surface heat flux products, 2) temperature difference between the wall and thermal boundary layer held constant on Earth and the Moon. Nussult number for natural convection (laminar and turbulent) is assumed of form Nu = CRa n . These combined results estimate similarity conditions under Earth and Lunar gravities. The influence of reduced gravity on the performance of thermosyphon heat pipes is also examined

The dynamical simulation of transient three-dimensional cryogenic liquid sloshing oscillations under low-gravity and microgravity

Science.gov (United States)

Chi, Yong Mann

A numerical simulation model has been developed for the dynamical behavior of spacecraft propellant, both during the draining and the closing of the tank outlet at the onset of suction dip affected by the asymmetric combined gravity gradient and gravity jitter accelerations. In particular the effect of the surface tension of the fluids in the partially filled dewar (applicable to the Gravity Probe-B spacecraft dewar tank and fuel tanks for a liquid rocket) with rotation has been simulated and investigated. Two different cases of accelerations, one with gravity jitter dominated and the other equally weighted between gravity gradient and gravity jitter accelerations, are studied. In the development of this numerical simulation model, the NASA-VOF3D has been used as a supplement to the numerical program of this dissertation. The NASA-VOF3D code has been used for performing the three-dimensional incompressible flows with free surface. This is also used for controlling liquid sloshing inside the tank when the spacecraft is orbiting. To keep track of the location of the liquid, the fractional volume of fluid (VOF) technique was used. The VOF is based on the indicator function of the region occupied by the liquid with an Eulerian approach to solve the free surface phenomena between liquid and gas phases. For the calculation of surface tension force, the VOF model is also used. The newly developed simulation model is used to investigate the characteristics of liquid hydrogen draining in terms of the residual amount of trapped liquid at the onset of the suction dip and residual liquid volume at the time the dip of the liquid-vapor interface formed. This investigation simulates the characteristics of liquid oscillations due to liquid container outlet shut-off at the onset of suction dip. These phenomena checked how these mechanisms affected the excitation of slosh waves during the course of liquid draining and after shut-off tank outlet. In the present study, the dynamical

New 3D Gravity Model of the Lithosphere and new Approach of the Gravity Field Transformation in the Western Carpathian-Pannonian Region

Science.gov (United States)

Bielik, M.; Tasarova, Z. A.; Goetze, H.; Mikuska, J.; Pasteka, R.

2007-12-01

The 3-D forward modeling was performed for the Western Carpathians and the Pannonian Basin system. The density model includes 31 cross-sections, extends to depth of 220 km. By means of the combined 3-D modeling, new estimates of the density distribution of the crust and upper mantle, as well as depths of the Moho were derived. These data allowed to perform gravity stripping, which in the area of the Pannonian Basin is crucial for the signal analysis of the gravity field. In this region, namely, two pronounced features (i.e. the deep sedimentary basins and shallow Moho) with opposite gravity effects make it impossible to analyze the Bouguer anomaly by field separation or filtering. The results revealed a significantly different nature of the Western Carpathian- Pannonian region (ALACAPA and Tisza-Dacia microplates) from the European Platform lithosphere (i.e. these microplates to be much less dense than the surrounding European Platform lithosphere). The calculation of the transformed gravity maps by means of new method provided the additional information on the lithospheric structure. The use of existing elevation information represents an independent approach to the problem of transformation of gravity maps. Instead of standard separation and transformation methods both in wave-number and spatial domains, this method is based on the estimating of really existing linear trends within the values of complete Bouguer anomalies (CBA), which are understood as a function defined in 3D space. An important assumption that the points with known input values of CBA lie on a horizontal plane is therefore not required. Instead, the points with known CBA and elevation values are treated in their original positions, i.e. on the Earth surface.

Data Entry Skills in a Computer-based Spread Sheet Amongst Postgraduate Medical Students: A Simulation Based Descriptive Assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Amir Maroof; Shah, Dheeraj; Chatterjee, Pranab

2014-07-01

In India, research work in the form of a thesis is a mandatory requirement for the postgraduate (PG) medical students. Data entry in a computer-based spread sheet is one of the important basic skills for research, which has not yet been studied. This study was conducted to assess the data entry skills of the 2(nd) year PG medical students of a medical college of North India. A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted among 111 second year PG students by using four simulated filled case record forms and a computer-based spread sheet in which data entry was to be carried out. On a scale of 0-10, only 17.1% of the students scored more than seven. The specific sub-skills that were found to be lacking in more than half of the respondents were as follows: Inappropriate coding (93.7%), long variable names (51.4%), coding not being done for all the variables (76.6%), missing values entered in a non-uniform manner (84.7%) and two variables entered in the same column in the case of blood pressure reading (80.2%). PG medical students were not found to be proficient in data entry skill and this can act as a barrier to do research. This being a first of its kind study in India, more research is needed to understand this issue and then include this yet neglected aspect in teaching research methodology to the medical students.

Seasonal variation and sources of atmospheric gravity waves in the Antarctic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kaoru Sato

2010-12-01

Full Text Available In the last recent ten years, our knowledge of gravity waves in the Antarctic has been significantly improved through numerous studies using balloon and satellite observations and high-resolution model simulations. In this report, we introduce results from two studies which were performed as a part of the NIPR project "Integrated analysis of the material circulation in the Antarctic atmosphere-cryosphere-ocean" (2004-2009, i.e., Yoshiki et al. (2004 and Sato and Yoshiki (2008. These two studies focused on the seasonal variation and sources of the gravity waves in the Antarctic, because horizontal wavelengths and phase velocities depend largely on the wave sources. The former study used original high-resolution data from operational radiosonde observations at Syowa Station. In the lowermost stratosphere, gravity waves do not exhibit characteristic seasonal variation; instead, the wave energy is intensified when lower latitude air intrudes into the area near Syowa Station in the upper troposphere. This intrusion is associated with blocking events or developed synoptic-scale waves. In the lower and middle stratosphere, the gravity wave energy is maximized in spring and particularly intensified when the axis of the polar night jet approaches Syowa Station. The latter study is based on intensive radiosonde observation campaigns that were performed in 2002 at Syowa Station as an activity of JARE-43. Gravity wave propagation was statistically examined using two dimensional (i.e., vertical wavenumber versus frequency spectra in each season. It was shown that the gravity waves are radiated upward and downward from an unbalanced region of the polar night jet. This feature is consistent with the gravity-wave resolving GCM simulation.

An Analysis of the Feasible Entry Mode for Tottenham Hotspur’s Entry into China

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Lei

2013-01-01

An increasing number of European football clubs has developed global strategies with an emphasis on the Chinese market, which seems to be a shortcut to their global success. In order to achieve an effective expansion, the selection of appropriate entry modes should be conducted cautiously. This paper aims to select feasible entry modes for Tottenham Hotspur F.C., an emerging power in the Premier League, to enter into the Chinese market. A framework that combines different theories based ...

Gsolve, a Python computer program with a graphical user interface to transform relative gravity survey measurements to absolute gravity values and gravity anomalies

Science.gov (United States)

McCubbine, Jack; Tontini, Fabio Caratori; Stagpoole, Vaughan; Smith, Euan; O'Brien, Grant

2018-01-01

A Python program (Gsolve) with a graphical user interface has been developed to assist with routine data processing of relative gravity measurements. Gsolve calculates the gravity at each measurement site of a relative gravity survey, which is referenced to at least one known gravity value. The tidal effects of the sun and moon, gravimeter drift and tares in the data are all accounted for during the processing of the survey measurements. The calculation is based on a least squares formulation where the difference between the absolute gravity at each surveyed location and parameters relating to the dynamics of the gravimeter are minimized with respect to the relative gravity observations, and some supplied gravity reference site values. The program additionally allows the user to compute free air gravity anomalies, with respect to the GRS80 and GRS67 reference ellipsoids, from the determined gravity values and calculate terrain corrections at each of the surveyed sites using a prism formula and a user supplied digital elevation model. This paper reviews the mathematical framework used to reduce relative gravimeter survey observations to gravity values. It then goes on to detail how the processing steps can be implemented using the software.

A Theory of Gravity and General Relativity based on Quantum Electromagnetism

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng-Johansson, J. X.

2018-02-01

Based on first principles solutions in a unified framework of quantum mechanics and electromagnetism we predict the presence of a universal attractive depolarisation radiation (DR) Lorentz force (F) between quantum entities, each being either an IED matter particle or light quantum, in a polarisable dielectric vacuum. Given two quantum entities i = 1, 2 of either kind, of characteristic frequencies ν _i^0, masses m_i0 = hν _i^0/{c^2} and separated at a distance r 0, the solution for F is F = - G}m_1^0m_2^0/{≤ft( {{r^2}} \\right)^2}, where G} = χ _0^2{e^4}/12{π ^2} \\in _0^2{ρ _λ };{χ _0} is the susceptibility and π λ is the reduced linear mass density of the vacuum. This force F resembles in all respects Newton’s gravity and is accurate at the weak F limit; hence ℊ equals the gravitational constant G. The DR wave fields and hence the gravity are each propagated in the dielectric vacuum at the speed of light c; these can not be shielded by matter. A test particle µ of mass m 0 therefore interacts gravitationally with all of the building particles of a given large mass M at r 0 apart, by a total gravitational force F = -GMm 0/(r 0)2 and potential V = -∂F/∂r 0. For a finite V and hence a total Hamiltonian H = m 0 c 2 + V, solution for the eigenvalue equation of µ presents a red-shift in the eigen frequency ν = ν 0(1 - GM/r 0 c 2) and hence in other wave variables. The quantum solutions combined with the wave nature of the gravity further lead to dilated gravito optical distance r = r 0/(1 - GM/r 0 c 2) and time t = t 0/(1 - GM/r 0 c 2), and modified Newton’s gravity and Einstein’s mass energy relation. Applications of these give predictions of the general relativistic effects manifested in the four classical test experiments of Einstein’s general relativity (GR), in direct agreement with the experiments and the predictions given based on GR.

Cadiz, California Gravity Data

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The gravity station data (32 records) were gathered by Mr. Seth I. Gutman for AridTech Inc., Denver, Colorado using a Worden Prospector gravity meter. This data base...

Does attention speed up processing? Decreases and increases of processing rates in visual prior entry.

Science.gov (United States)

Tünnermann, Jan; Petersen, Anders; Scharlau, Ingrid

2015-03-02

Selective visual attention improves performance in many tasks. Among others, it leads to "prior entry"--earlier perception of an attended compared to an unattended stimulus. Whether this phenomenon is purely based on an increase of the processing rate of the attended stimulus or if a decrease in the processing rate of the unattended stimulus also contributes to the effect is, up to now, unanswered. Here we describe a novel approach to this question based on Bundesen's Theory of Visual Attention, which we use to overcome the limitations of earlier prior-entry assessment with temporal order judgments (TOJs) that only allow relative statements regarding the processing speed of attended and unattended stimuli. Prevalent models of prior entry in TOJs either indirectly predict a pure acceleration or cannot model the difference between acceleration and deceleration. In a paradigm that combines a letter-identification task with TOJs, we show that indeed acceleration of the attended and deceleration of the unattended stimuli conjointly cause prior entry. © 2015 ARVO.

The gravity field and GGOS

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Forsberg, René; Sideris, M.G.; Shum, C.K.

2005-01-01

The gravity field of the earth is a natural element of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS). Gravity field quantities are like spatial geodetic observations of potential very high accuracy, with measurements, currently at part-per-billion (ppb) accuracy, but gravity field quantities are also...... unique as they can be globally represented by harmonic functions (long-wavelength geopotential model primarily from satellite gravity field missions), or based on point sampling (airborne and in situ absolute and superconducting gravimetry). From a GGOS global perspective, one of the main challenges...... is to ensure the consistency of the global and regional geopotential and geoid models, and the temporal changes of the gravity field at large spatial scales. The International Gravity Field Service, an umbrella "level-2" IAG service (incorporating the International Gravity Bureau, International Geoid Service...

Inviscid evolution of large amplitude filaments in a uniform gravity field

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Angus, J. R. [Plasma Physics Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States); Krasheninnikov, S. I. [University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093 (United States); National Research Nuclear University “MEPhl” Kashirskoe sh., 31, 115563 Moscow (Russian Federation)

2014-11-15

The inviscid evolution of localized density stratifications under the influence of a uniform gravity field in a homogeneous, ambient background is studied. The fluid is assumed to be incompressible, and the stratification, or filament, is assumed to be initially isotropic and at rest. It is shown that the center of mass energy can be related to the center of mass position in a form analogous to that of a solid object in a gravity field g by introducing an effective gravity field g{sub eff}, which is less than g due to energy that goes into the background and into non-center of mass motion of the filament. During the early stages of the evolution, g{sub eff} is constant in time and can be determined from the solution of a 1D differential equation that depends on the initial, radially varying density profile of the filament. For small amplitude filaments such that ρ{sub 0} ≪ 1, where ρ{sub 0} is the relative amplitude of the filament to the background, the early stage g{sub eff} scales linearly with ρ{sub 0}, but as ρ{sub 0}→∞, g{sub eff}→g and is thus independent of ρ{sub 0}. Fully nonlinear simulations are performed for the evolution of Gaussian filaments, and it is found that the time t{sub max}, which is defined as the time for the center of mass velocity to reach its maximum value U{sub max}, occurs very soon after the constant acceleration phase and so U{sub max}≈g{sub eff}(t=0)t{sub max}. The simulation results show that U{sub max}∼1/t{sub max}∼√(ρ{sub 0}) for ρ{sub 0} ≪ 1, in agreement with theory and results from previous authors, but that U{sub max} and t{sub max} both scale approximately with √(ρ{sub 0}) for ρ{sub 0} ≫ 1. The fact that U{sub max} and t{sub max} have the same scaling with ρ{sub 0} for large amplitude filaments is in agreement with the theory presented in this paper.

Lattice gravity and strings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jevicki, A.; Ninomiya, M.

1985-01-01

We are concerned with applications of the simplicial discretization method (Regge calculus) to two-dimensional quantum gravity with emphasis on the physically relevant string model. Beginning with the discretization of gravity and matter we exhibit a discrete version of the conformal trace anomaly. Proceeding to the string problem we show how the direct approach of (finite difference) discretization based on Nambu action corresponds to unsatisfactory treatment of gravitational degrees. Based on the Regge approach we then propose a discretization corresponding to the Polyakov string. In this context we are led to a natural geometric version of the associated Liouville model and two-dimensional gravity. (orig.)

Research notes and commentaries managing knowledge in foreign entry strategies: A resource-based analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

K.E. Meyer (Klaus); D.M. Wright (Mike); S. Pruthi (Sarika)

2009-01-01

textabstractInternational strategies vary in their potential to exploit and augment a firm's resources, especially its knowledge base. Resource-based analysis suggests clustering the diverse entry modes in terms of their exploitation and augmentation characteristics. We thus introduce a new

The International Gravity Field Service (IGFS): Present Day Activities And Future Plans

Science.gov (United States)

Barzaghi, R.; Vergos, G. S.

2016-12-01

IGFS is a unified "umbrella" IAG service that coordinates the servicing of the geodetic and geophysical community with gravity field related data, software and information. The combined data of the IGFS entities will include global geopotential models, terrestrial, airborne, satellite and marine gravity observations, Earth tide data, GPS/levelling data, digital models of terrain and bathymetry, as well as ocean gravity field and geoid from satellite altimetry. The IGFS structure is based on the Gravity Services, the "operating arms" of IGFS. These Services related to IGFS are: BGI (Bureau Gravimetrique International), Toulouse, France ISG (International Service for the Geoid), Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy IGETS (International Geodynamics and Earth Tides Service), EOST, Strasbourg, France ICGEM (International Center for Global Earth Models), GFZ, Potsdam, Germany IDEMS (International Digital Elevation Model Service), ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA The Central Bureau, hosted at the Aristotle Thessaloniki University, is in charge for all the interactions among the services and the other IAG bodies, particularly GGOS. In this respect, connections with the GGOS Bureaus of Products and Standards and of Networks and Observations have been recently strengthened in order to align the Gravity services to the GGOS standards. IGFS is also strongly involved in the most relevant projects related to the gravity field such as the establishment of the new Global Absolute Gravity Reference System and of the International Height Reference System. These projects, along with the organization of Geoid Schools devoted to methods for gravity and geoid estimate, will play a central role in the IGFS future actions in the framework of GGOS.

Superconducting gravity gradiometer for sensitive gravity measurements. II. Experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chan, H.A.; Moody, M.V.; Paik, H.J.

1987-01-01

A sensitive superconducting gravity gradiometer has been constructed and tested. Coupling to gravity signals is obtained by having two superconducting proof masses modulate magnetic fields produced by persistent currents. The induced electrical currents are differenced by a passive superconducting circuit coupled to a superconducting quantum interference device. The experimental behavior of this device has been shown to follow the theoretical model closely in both signal transfer and noise characteristics. While its intrinsic noise level is shown to be 0.07 E Hz/sup -1/2/ (1 Eequivalent10/sup -9/ sec/sup -2/), the actual performance of the gravity gradiometer on a passive platform has been limited to 0.3--0.7 E Hz/sup -1/2/ due to its coupling to the environmental noise. The detailed structure of this excess noise is understood in terms of an analytical error model of the instrument. The calibration of the gradiometer has been obtained by two independent methods: by applying a linear acceleration and a gravity signal in two different operational modes of the instrument. This device has been successfully operated as a detector in a new null experiment for the gravitational inverse-square law. In this paper we report the design, fabrication, and detailed test results of the superconducting gravity gradiometer. We also present additional theoretical analyses which predict the specific dynamic behavior of the gradiometer and of the test

Analytic Development of a Reference Profile for the First Entry in a Skip Atmospheric Entry

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia-Llama, Eduardo

2010-01-01

This note shows that a feasible reference drag profile for the first entry portion of a skip entry can be generated as a polynomial expression of the velocity. The coefficients of that polynomial are found through the resolution of a system composed of m + 1 equations, where m is the degree of the drag polynomial. It has been shown that a minimum of five equations (m = 4) are required to establish the range and the initial and final conditions on velocity and flight path angle. It has been shown that at least one constraint on the trajectory can be imposed through the addition of one extra equation in the system, which must be accompanied by the increase in the degree of the drag polynomial. In order to simplify the resolution of the system of equations, the drag was considered as being a probability density function of the velocity, with the velocity as a distribution function of the drag. Combining this notion with the introduction of empirically derived constants, it has been shown that the system of equations required to generate the drag profile can be successfully reduced to a system of linear algebraic equations. For completeness, the resulting drag profiles have been flown using the feedback linearization method of differential geometric control as a guidance law with the error dynamics of a second order homogeneous equation in the form of a damped oscillator. Satisfactory results were achieved when the gains in the error dynamics were changed at a certain point along the trajectory that is dependent on the velocity and the curvature of the drag as a function of the velocity. Future work should study the capacity to update the drag profile in flight when dispersions are introduced. Also, future studies should attempt to link the first entry, as presented and controlled in this note, with a more standard control concept for the second entry, such as the Apollo entry guidance, to try to assess the overall skip entry performance. A guidance law that includes

Entry Regulations, Product Differentiation and Determinants of Market Structure

OpenAIRE

Maican, Florin; Orth, ´Matilda

2013-01-01

We use a dynamic oligopoly model of entry and exit to evaluate how entry regulations affect profitability and market structure in retail. The model incorporates demand and store-level heterogeneity. Based on unique data for all retail food stores in Sweden, we find that the average entry costs for small and large stores are 10 and 18 percent lower, respectively, in markets with liberal compared with restrictive regulations. Counterfactual simulations show that lower entry costs in restrictive...

Scales of gravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dvali, Gia; Kolanovic, Marko; Nitti, Francesco; Gabadadze, Gregory

2002-01-01

We propose a framework in which the quantum gravity scale can be as low as 10 -3 eV. The key assumption is that the standard model ultraviolet cutoff is much higher than the quantum gravity scale. This ensures that we observe conventional weak gravity. We construct an explicit brane-world model in which the brane-localized standard model is coupled to strong 5D gravity of infinite-volume flat extra space. Because of the high ultraviolet scale, the standard model fields generate a large graviton kinetic term on the brane. This kinetic term 'shields' the standard model from the strong bulk gravity. As a result, an observer on the brane sees weak 4D gravity up to astronomically large distances beyond which gravity becomes five dimensional. Modeling quantum gravity above its scale by the closed string spectrum we show that the shielding phenomenon protects the standard model from an apparent phenomenological catastrophe due to the exponentially large number of light string states. The collider experiments, astrophysics, cosmology and gravity measurements independently point to the same lower bound on the quantum gravity scale, 10 -3 eV. For this value the model has experimental signatures both for colliders and for submillimeter gravity measurements. Black holes reveal certain interesting properties in this framework

It's all relative: The role of object weight in toddlers' gravity bias.

Science.gov (United States)

Hast, Michael

2018-02-01

Work over the past 20 years has demonstrated a gravity bias in toddlers; when an object is dropped into a curved tube, they will frequently search at a point immediately beneath the entry of the tube rather than in the object's actual location. The current study tested 2- to 3½-year-olds' (N = 88) gravity bias under consideration of object weight. They were tested with either a heavy or light ball, and they had information about either one of the balls only or both balls. Evaluating their first search behavior showed that participants generally displayed the same age trends as other studies had demonstrated, with older toddlers passing more advanced task levels by being able to locate objects in the correct location. Object weight appeared to have no particular impact on the direction of these trends. However, where weight was accessible as relative information, toddlers were younger at passing levels and older at failing levels, although significantly so only from around 3 years of age onward. When they failed levels, toddlers made significantly more gravity errors with the heavy ball when they had information about both balls and made more correct choices with the light ball. As a whole, the findings suggest that nonvisual object variables, such as weight, affect young children's search behaviors in the gravity task, but only if these variables are presented in relation to other objects. This relational information has the potential to enhance or diminish the gravity bias. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Measuring and Modeling the Earth's Gravity - Introduction to Ground-Based Gravity Surveys and Analysis of Local Gravity Data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rowe, Charlotte Anne [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2017-11-21

We can measure changes in gravity from place to place on the earth. These measurements require careful recording of location, elevation and time for each reading. These readings must be adjusted for known effects (such as elevation, latitude, tides) that can bias our data and mask the signal of interest. After making corrections to our data, we can remove regional trends to obtain local Bouguer anomalies. The Bouguer anomalies arise from variations in the subsurface density structure. We can build models to explain our observations, but these models must be consistent with what is known about the local geology. Combining gravity models with other information – geologic, seismic, electromagnetic, will improve confidence in the results.

Parsing glucose entry into the brain: novel findings obtained with enzyme-based glucose biosensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiyatkin, Eugene A; Wakabayashi, Ken T

2015-01-21

Extracellular levels of glucose in brain tissue reflect dynamic balance between its gradient-dependent entry from arterial blood and its use for cellular metabolism. In this work, we present several sets of previously published and unpublished data obtained by using enzyme-based glucose biosensors coupled with constant-potential high-speed amperometry in freely moving rats. First, we consider basic methodological issues related to the reliability of electrochemical measurements of extracellular glucose levels in rats under physiologically relevant conditions. Second, we present data on glucose responses induced in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) by salient environmental stimuli and discuss the relationships between local neuronal activation and rapid glucose entry into brain tissue. Third, by presenting data on changes in NAc glucose induced by intravenous and intragastric glucose delivery, we discuss other mechanisms of glucose entry into the extracellular domain following changes in glucose blood concentrations. Lastly, by showing the pattern of NAc glucose fluctuations during glucose-drinking behavior, we discuss the relationships between "active" and "passive" glucose entry to the brain, its connection to behavior-related metabolic activation, and the possible functional significance of these changes in behavioral regulation. These data provide solid experimental support for the "neuronal" hypothesis of neurovascular coupling, which postulates the critical role of neuronal activity in rapid regulation of vascular tone, local blood flow, and entry of glucose and oxygen to brain tissue to maintain active cellular metabolism.

Measuring gravity change caused by water storage variations: Performance assessment under controlled conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Lars; Lund, Sanne; Andersen, Ole Baltazar

2011-01-01

Subsurface water content is an important state variable in hydrological systems. Established methods to measure subsurface water content have a small support scale which causes scaling problems in many applications. Time-lapse relative gravimetry can give an integrated measure of soil water storage...... changes over tens to hundreds of cubic meters. The use of time-lapse gravimetry in hydrology has until recent years been limited by the large efforts required to obtain precise and accurate gravity data at the 1μGal (10−8ms−2) scale. A typical modern relative gravimeter, the Scintrex CG-5, has...... lead to a loss of accuracy. As a performance test of a CG-5 for applications of time-lapse gravity in hydrology, we have measured the change in water storage in an indoor basin. The experiment was designed to resemble a field application, e.g. a pumping test, a forced infiltration experiment...

On the practice of ignoring center-patient interactions in evaluating hospital performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Varewyck, Machteld; Vansteelandt, Stijn; Eriksson, Marie; Goetghebeur, Els

2016-01-30

We evaluate the performance of medical centers based on a continuous or binary patient outcome (e.g., 30-day mortality). Common practice adjusts for differences in patient mix through outcome regression models, which include patient-specific baseline covariates (e.g., age and disease stage) besides center effects. Because a large number of centers may need to be evaluated, the typical model postulates that the effect of a center on outcome is constant over patient characteristics. This may be violated, for example, when some centers are specialized in children or geriatric patients. Including interactions between certain patient characteristics and the many fixed center effects in the model increases the risk for overfitting, however, and could imply a loss of power for detecting centers with deviating mortality. Therefore, we assess how the common practice of ignoring such interactions impacts the bias and precision of directly and indirectly standardized risks. The reassuring conclusion is that the common practice of working with the main effects of a center has minor impact on hospital evaluation, unless some centers actually perform substantially better on a specific group of patients and there is strong confounding through the corresponding patient characteristic. The bias is then driven by an interplay of the relative center size, the overlap between covariate distributions, and the magnitude of the interaction effect. Interestingly, the bias on indirectly standardized risks is smaller than on directly standardized risks. We illustrate our findings by simulation and in an analysis of 30-day mortality on Riksstroke. © 2015 The Authors. Statistics in Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.