Survey of timing/synchronization of operating wideband digital communications networks

In order to benefit from experience gained from the synchronization of operational wideband digital networks, a survey was made of three such systems: Data Transmission Company, Western Union Telegraph Company, and the Computer Communications Group of the Trans-Canada Telephone System. The focus of the survey was on deployment and operational experience from a practical (as opposed to theoretical) viewpoint. The objective was to provide a report on the results of deployment how the systems performed, and wherein the performance differed from that predicted or intended in the design. It also attempted to determine how the various system designers would use the benefit of hindsight if they could design those same systems today

How Jurors Evaluate Fingerprint Evidence: The Relative Importance of Match Language, Method Information, and Error Acknowledgment

Fingerprint examiners use a variety of terms and phrases to describe a finding of a match between a defendant\u27s fingerprints and fingerprint impressions collected from a crime scene. Despite the importance and ubiquity of fingerprint evidence in criminal cases, no prior studies examine how jurors evaluate such evidence. We present two studies examining the impact of different match phrases, method descriptions, and statements about possible examiner error on the weight given to fingerprint identification evidence by laypersons. In both studies, the particular phrase chosen to describe the finding of a match-whether simple and imprecise or detailed and claiming near certainty-had little effect on participants\u27 judgments about the guilt of a suspect. In contrast, the examiner admitting the possibility of error reduced the weight given to the fingerprint evidence-regardless of whether the admission was made during direct or cross-examination. In addition, the examiner providing information about the method used to make fingerprint comparisons reduced the impact of admitting the possibility of error. We found few individual differences in reactions to the fingerprint evidence across a wide range of participant variables, and we found widespread agreement regarding the uniqueness of fingerprints and the reliability of fingerprint identifications. Our results suggest that information about the reliability of fingerprint identifications will have a greater impact on lay interpretations of fingerprint evidence than the specific qualitative or quantitative terms chosen to describe a fingerprint match

How Jurors Evaluate Fingerprint Evidence: The Relative Importance of Match Language, Method Information, and Error Acknowledgment

Fingerprint examiners use a variety of terms and phrases to describe a finding of a match between a defendant\u27s fingerprints and fingerprint impressions collected from a crime scene. Despite the importance and ubiquity of fingerprint evidence in criminal cases, no prior studies examine how jurors evaluate such evidence. We present two studies examining the impact of different match phrases, method descriptions, and statements about possible examiner error on the weight given to fingerprint identification evidence by laypersons. In both studies, the particular phrase chosen to describe the finding of a match-whether simple and imprecise or detailed and claiming near certainty-had little effect on participants\u27 judgments about the guilt of a suspect. In contrast, the examiner admitting the possibility of error reduced the weight given to the fingerprint evidence-regardless of whether the admission was made during direct or cross-examination. In addition, the examiner providing information about the method used to make fingerprint comparisons reduced the impact of admitting the possibility of error. We found few individual differences in reactions to the fingerprint evidence across a wide range of participant variables, and we found widespread agreement regarding the uniqueness of fingerprints and the reliability of fingerprint identifications. Our results suggest that information about the reliability of fingerprint identifications will have a greater impact on lay interpretations of fingerprint evidence than the specific qualitative or quantitative terms chosen to describe a fingerprint match

Thermodynamics of Solitonic Matter Waves in a Toroidal Trap

We investigate the thermodynamic properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate with negative scattering length confined in a toroidal trapping potential. By numerically solving the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii and Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations, we study the phase transition from the uniform state to the symmetry-breaking state characterized by a bright-soliton condensate and a localized thermal cloud. In the localized regime three states with a finite condensate fraction are present: the thermodynamically stable localized state, a metastable localized state and also a metastable uniform state. Remarkably, the presence of the stable localized state strongly increases the critical temperature of Bose-Einstein condensation.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Physical Review A as a Rapid Communication. Related papers can be found at http://www.padova.infm.it/salasnich/tdqg.htm

Current Status of the Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) in Arkansas

The secretive Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) is believed to be much more widespread during fall and winter than previously thought. Of the few places in the southern United States conducting research on this species, all have been successful at capturing birds. A total of 12 historic records existed for Arkansas until our work began in fall of 2014. The first confirmed record was in 1959 and the most recent, prior to this research, was in 2010. Over the course of two field seasons, we captured and banded 24 Northern Saw-whet Owls in rural Madison County. All birds were mist-netted along a trail, in woodland composed of pine and cedar with fairly dense undergrowth. Two were captured during our 2014 season after a late start and 22 were captured in 2015, likely the result of an earlier start. Comparing our data to that of several other banding operations in the south, it would appear that the peak of migration in Arkansas is late October through early November, with capture rates dropping by early December. Of the birds captured, all but one was female, the most common sex this far south. A variety of age classes were identified, with a fairly even distribution of hatch-year, second-year, and after-second-year birds. Exactly from where the saw-whets are migrating is unknown, although several foreign recoveries in Missouri and four recoveries in Arkansas suggest they are coming from the western Great Lakes region. Once considered a vagrant, based on this research, the saw-whet appears to be a fall migrant to the state of Arkansas

Modeling radiation in particle clouds: On the importance of inter-particle radiation for pulverized solid fuel combustion

The importance of inter-particle radiation for clusters of gray and diffuse particles is investigated. The radiative cooling of each individual particle is found to vary strongly with its position in the cluster, and a mean radiative particle cooling term is proposed for single particle simulations of particle clusters or for high detail simulation, like Direct Numerical Simulations of small sub-volumes of large clusters of particles. Radiative cooling is shown to be important both for furnaces for coal gasification and coal combustion. Broadening the particle size distribution is found to have just a minor effect on the radiative particle cooling. This is particularly the case for large and dense particle clusters where there is essentially no effect of size distribution broadening at all. For smaller and more dilute particle clusters, the effect of distribution broadening is clear but still not dominant