Optimal control concepts in design sensitivity analysis

A close link is established between open loop optimal control theory and optimal design by noting certain similarities in the gradient calculations. The resulting benefits include a unified approach, together with physical insights in design sensitivity analysis, and an efficient approach for simultaneous optimal control and design. Both matrix displacement and matrix force methods are considered, and results are presented for dynamic systems, structures, and elasticity problems

LAND TRANSFORMATION: A THREAT ON BANGALORE’S ECOLOGY - A CHALLENGE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Land constitutes the most important character for sustainable development in a region. Rapid urbanization has become an area of crucial concern against the bonanza of urban ecology. The land use pattern of any urban area hints not only its immediate current space requirements of the inheriting community but rather the cumulative requirements over a period of year. Thus, the way a land use changes into, reveals a physical transformation of its economic use that indirectly unveils the demand for built-up space and as a result, the urban ecology is in imbroglio. For much of human existence, the available land for human use has appeared limitless. Wherever population densities have risen too high, there is a decline noticed in resource base. People moved on to occupy new lands by extending the urban area into rural fringe. Land transformation as the word suggests, traces the change of form in the land use. Land use change is an inevitable phenomenon in an urban space. How the use of land changed from one to another is a problem that has interconnections with various entities and the interaction between them in spatio-temporal environment. Bangalore over the years has grown as a robust technology hub, and has been ever- growing in terms of urban space with its inhabits. How this growth has affected its ecological space is the thrust of the study. The ecology of this urban land constitutes of agricultural plantation, forest area and lakes which comprise the green and blue spots. The objectives are accomplished through Geoinformatics which is able to apprehend statistics of ecological to the urban environment.Environmental Degradation, GIS, Remote Sensing, Digital Image Processing, Urban Land Transformation Analysis.

Internet Access and Internet Purchasing Patterns of Farm Households

The Internet is becoming an increasingly important management tool in production agriculture. Using data from the 2004 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) and a double-hurdle estimation approach, we explore the adoption of computers with Internet access by and Internet purchasing patterns of farm households. Adoption of the Internet is positively related to age and education of the operator, off-farm work, presence of spouse, participation in government programs, farm size, and regional location of the farm. Internet purchasing patterns of farm households are positively related to the education of the operator and spouse, presence of teenagers, and regional location of the farm. Finally, farm businesses and their households are more likely to purchase a greater percentage of non-durable goods through the Internet as distances to markets increase.adoption of Internet, education, farm size, farm households, Internet, double-hurdle model, farm business, major household items, minor farm inputs, Agricultural Finance, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management,

An electrical probe of the phonon mean-free path spectrum

Most studies of the mean-free path accumulation function (MFPAF) rely on optical techniques to probe heat transfer at length scales on the order of the phonon mean-free path. In this paper, we propose and implement a purely electrical probe of the MFPAF that relies on photo-lithographically defined heater-thermometer separation to set the length scale. An important advantage of the proposed technique is its insensitivity to the thermal interfacial impedance and its compatibility with a large array of temperature-controlled chambers that lack optical ports. Detailed analysis of the experimental data based on the enhanced Fourier law (EFL) demonstrates that heat-carrying phonons in gallium arsenide have a much wider mean-free path spectrum than originally thought

Near infra-red spectroscopy of V838 Monocerotis

Near IR, multi-epoch, spectroscopic and photometric observations of the enigmatic, eruptive variable V838 Mon in JHK bands are reported. One of the unusual features is the detection of several strong neutral TiI lines in emission in the K band. From the strength of these lines, the mass of the ejected envelope is estimated to be in the range 10e-7 to 10e-5 M(sun). The spectra also show the strong presence of the first and second overtones of 12CO bands seen in the K and H bands. The CO bands show a complex evolution. Deep water bands at 1.4 and 1.9 micron are also seen later in the object's evolution. Blackbody fits to the JHK photometric data show that V838 Mon has evolved to temperatures between 2400 - 2600 K by approximately 130 days after outburst. The spectra at this stage have the general characteristics of a very cool M giant.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Astronomy and Astrophysic