The Temporal Logic of the Tower Chief System

The purpose is to describe the logic used in the reasoning scheme employed in the Tower Chief system, a runway configuration management system. First, a review of classical logic is given. Defensible logics, truth maintenance, default logic, temporally dependent propositions, and resource allocation and planning are discussed

The Fundamental Multi-Baseline Mode-Mixing Foreground in 21 cm EoR Observations

The primary challenge for experiments measuring the neutral hydrogen power spectrum from the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) are mode-mixing effects where foregrounds from very bright astrophysical sources interact with the instrument to contaminate the EoR signal. In this paper we identify a new type of mode-mixing that occurs when measurements from non-identical baselines are combined for increased power spectrum sensitivity. This multi-baseline effect dominates the mode-mixing power in our simulations and can contaminate the EoR window, an area in Fourier space previously identified to be relatively free of foreground power.Comment: Submitted to Ap

Puncture discharges in surface dielectrics as contaminant sources in spacecraft environments

Spacecraft in geosynchronous orbits are known to become charged to large negative potentials during the local midnight region of the satellite orbit. Such discharges have been studied by the electron beam irradiation of dielectric samples in a vacuum environment. In addition to static measurements and photographic examination of the puncture discharges in Teflon samples, the transient characteristics of the electrical discharges are determined from oscillographs of voltage and current and by charged particle measurements employing a biased Faraday cup and a retarding potential analyzer. Using these latter techniques, studies of angular and energy distributions of charged particles have indicated an initial burst of high energy electrons (5 x 10 to the 13th power per discharge at energies greater than 300 eV) followed by a less intense burst of lower energy negative particles. Positive ions are emitted from the discharge site in an initial high velocity burst followed by a lower velocity burst tentatively identified as carbon

Calibration Requirements for Detecting the 21 cm Epoch of Reionization Power Spectrum and Implications for the SKA

21 cm Epoch of Reionization observations promise to transform our understanding of galaxy formation, but these observations are impossible without unprecedented levels of instrument calibration. We present end-to-end simulations of a full EoR power spectrum analysis including all of the major components of a real data processing pipeline: models of astrophysical foregrounds and EoR signal, frequency-dependent instrument effects, sky-based antenna calibration, and the full PS analysis. This study reveals that traditional sky-based per-frequency antenna calibration can only be implemented in EoR measurement analyses if the calibration model is unrealistically accurate. For reasonable levels of catalog completeness, the calibration introduces contamination in otherwise foreground-free power spectrum modes, precluding a PS measurement. We explore the origin of this contamination and potential mitigation techniques. We show that there is a strong joint constraint on the precision of the calibration catalog and the inherent spectral smoothness of antennae, and that this has significant implications for the instrumental design of the SKA and other future EoR observatories.Comment: New figure added for final comparison. Accepted by MNRA

The Dynamics and equilibria of day-to-day traffic assignment models

Traffic network modelling is a field that has developed over a number of decades, largely from the economics of predicting equilibria across route travel choices, in consideration of the congestion levels on those routes. More recently, there has been a growing influence from the psychological and social science fields, leading to a greater interest in understanding behavioural mechanisms that underlie such travel choice decisions. The purpose of the present paper is to describe mathematical models which aim to reflect day-to-day dynamic adjustments in route choice behaviour in response to previous travel experiences. Particularly, the aim is to set these approaches in a common framework with the conventional economic equilibrium models. Starting from the analysis of economic equilibria under perturbations, the presentation moves onto deterministic dynamical system models and stochastic processes. Simple illustrative examples are used to introduce the modelling approaches. It is argued that while such dynamical approaches have appeal, in terms of the range of adaptive behavioural processes that can be incorporated, their estimation may not be trivial. In particular, the obvious solution technique (namely, explicit simulation of the dynamics) can lead to a rather complex problem of interpretation for the model-user, and that more “analytical” approximation techniques may be a better way forward

sparr: Analyzing Spatial Relative Risk Using Fixed and Adaptive Kernel Density Estimation in R

The estimation of kernel-smoothed relative risk functions is a useful approach to examining the spatial variation of disease risk. Though there exist several options for performing kernel density estimation in statistical software packages, there have been very few contributions to date that have focused on estimation of a relative risk function per se . Use of a variable or adaptive smoothing parameter for estimation of the individual densities has been shown to provide additional benefits in estimating relative risk and specific computational tools for this approach are essentially absent. Furthermore, little attention has been given to providing methods in available software for any kind of subsequent analysis with respect to an estimated risk function. To facilitate analyses in the field, the R package sparr is introduced, providing the ability to construct both fixed and adaptive kernel-smoothed densities and risk functions, identify statistically significant fluctuations in an estimated risk function through the use of asymptotic tolerance contours, and visualize these objects in flexible and attractive ways.