An avionics sensitivity study. Volume 1: Operational considerations

Equipment and operational concepts affecting aircraft in the terminal area are reported. Curved approach applications and modified climb and descent procedures for minimum fuel consumption are considered. The curved approach study involves the application of MLS guidance to enable execution of the current visual approach to Washington National Airport under instrument flight conditions. The operational significance and the flight path control requirements involved in the application of curved approach paths to this situation are considered. Alternative flight path control regimes are considered to achieve minimum fuel consumption subject to constraints related to air traffic control requirements, flight crew and passenger reactions, and airframe and powerplant limitations

SBND: Status of the Fermilab Short-Baseline Near Detector

SBND (Short-Baseline Near Detector) will be a 112 ton liquid argon TPC neutrino detector located 110m from the target of the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam. SBND, together with the MicroBooNE and ICARUS-T600 detectors at 470m and 600m, respectively, make up the Fermilab Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program. SBN will search for new physics in the neutrino sector by testing the sterile neutrino hypothesis in the 1 eV 2 mass-squared region with unrivaled sensitivity. SBND will measure the un-oscillated beam flavor composition to enable precision searches for neutrino oscillations via both electron neutrino appearance and muon neutrino disappearance in the far detectors. With a data sample of millions of neutrino interactions (both electron and muon neutrinos), SBND will also perform detailed studies of the physics of neutrino-argon interactions, even in rare channels. In addition, SBND plays an important role in an on-going R & D effort within neutrino physics to develop the LArTPC technology toward many-kiloton-scale detectors for next generation long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. The design details and current status of the detector is presented here

The Quantum Socket: Three-Dimensional Wiring for Extensible Quantum Computing

Quantum computing architectures are on the verge of scalability, a key requirement for the implementation of a universal quantum computer. The next stage in this quest is the realization of quantum error correction codes, which will mitigate the impact of faulty quantum information on a quantum computer. Architectures with ten or more quantum bits (qubits) have been realized using trapped ions and superconducting circuits. While these implementations are potentially scalable, true scalability will require systems engineering to combine quantum and classical hardware. One technology demanding imminent efforts is the realization of a suitable wiring method for the control and measurement of a large number of qubits. In this work, we introduce an interconnect solution for solid-state qubits: The quantum socket. The quantum socket fully exploits the third dimension to connect classical electronics to qubits with higher density and better performance than two-dimensional methods based on wire bonding. The quantum socket is based on spring-mounted micro wires the three-dimensional wires that push directly on a micro-fabricated chip, making electrical contact. A small wire cross section (~1 mmm), nearly non-magnetic components, and functionality at low temperatures make the quantum socket ideal to operate solid-state qubits. The wires have a coaxial geometry and operate over a frequency range from DC to 8 GHz, with a contact resistance of ~150 mohm, an impedance mismatch of ~10 ohm, and minimal crosstalk. As a proof of principle, we fabricated and used a quantum socket to measure superconducting resonators at a temperature of ~10 mK.Comment: Main: 31 pages, 19 figs., 8 tables, 8 apps.; suppl.: 4 pages, 5 figs. (HiRes figs. and movies on request). Submitte

An audit on virological efficacy of anti-retroviral therapy in a specialist infectious disease clinic.

We have assessed the efficacy of anti retroviral therapy (ART) using undetectable viral load (VL) (/ml) as a marker of virological success, in patients who have Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) attending the Department of Infectious Disease. A cross-sectional review of patients\u27 case notes was used to obtain their demographics and treatment details. 79% (253) of the hospital case notes of clinic population was available for analysis, which represents 90% of those receiving ART in the clinic. 166/253 of the cohort were receiving treatment at the time of this study and 95% (157/166) of these were on treatment for greater than 6 months. The total virological success rate is 93%, which is comparable to other centres and are as good as those from published clinical trials. 56% of those on therapy who have virological failure were Intravenous Drug Users (IVDUs). Case by case investigation for those with treatment failure is warranted

Communicating the Impacts of Potential Future Climate Change on the Expected Frequency of Extreme Rainfall Events in Cook County, Illinois

A novel methodology for determining future rainfall frequency is described in this report. Isohyetal maps illustrate how heavy precipitation may change in the future, but the results have a high level of uncertainty expressed as very wide confidence limits. Uncertainty in possible future conditions is much greater than the uncertainty identified for current commonly used precipitation analyses. The resulting isohyetal maps do not replace existing sources, such as Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) Bulletin 70 (Huff and Angel, 1989) or National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Atlas 14 (Bonnin et al., 2006). Presently, the ISWS is updating Bulletin 70 (Huff and Angel, 1989) for subregions of Illinois. Some of these updates will include projected rainfall frequency. The key objectives of this study are to i) design a framework to translate future climate scenarios into a product that engineers and planners can use to quantify the impact of climate change, and ii) demonstrate how climate model output can be used to inform and plan adaptive strategies for stormwater and floodplain management. The framework in this study is illustrated using the observed and projected rainfall data in Cook County, Illinois, providing a road map to evaluate climate change impacts on urban flooding and a plan for adaptation. Numerous studies attempt to identify the implications of climate change with respect to hydrologic extremes (e.g., IPCC, 2007; CCSP, 2008; Milly et al., 2008). These studies project future climate conditions with more frequent extreme precipitation events in many regions around the world, including parts of the United States. In particular, it has been projected that northeastern Illinois, including the Chicago metropolitan area, will experience more frequent and more intense rainfall events in the future (Markus et al., 2012), which will lead to more intense and more frequent urban flooding events and to increased human, environmental, and economic risks. Thus, various planning and management measures need to be considered by urban communities which are responsible for administering ordinances governing the construction and maintenance of stormwater management systems, and for floodplain management to address public safety concerns, property damage, and economic interruption from intense precipitation. In these efforts, effective communication of climate change impacts on urban watersheds/sewer sheds is needed. Data should be delivered at the watershed level in a form that can be incorporated in watershed planning at the community level. Delivery of useful climate change information is critical for community planning and adaptation to changing climate conditions. It is common practice that future climate projections, which are based on global circulation models (GCM), are downscaled to finer temporal and spatial scales using statistical or dynamical downscaling models. However, watershed-scale climate data generated by climate models still do not provide precipitation data in a format useful for community engineers and planners to prepare, mitigate, and adapt to future conditions. Furthermore, city managers and decision makers need quantifiable future risk to demonstrate the need for adaptive actions, such as retrofitting storm sewers and other water conveyance structures or adopting higher regulatory design standards within the community. This is not offered by the present climate modeling outputs. In this research, a method is designed to analyze and express climate data in a format that can be readily used to assess future extreme precipitation events in models commonly used for sizing stormwater infrastructure and identifying flooding potential. In this method, future conditions climate data are analyzed to prepare precipitation maps for selected design storm frequencies which can be used to model future climate conditions of stormwater runoff and flood risk. This report presents a newly designed research framework to determine future conditions rainfall frequency maps, illustrating it in Cook County, Illinois, for the 24-hour duration rainfall event and for a range of recurrence intervals (also called return periods). Engineers commonly use these maps to determine the appropriate return period rainfall amount by interpolating between the isohyetals to evaluate options for storm and flood water management. Impacts of future climate conditions can then be convincingly demonstrated using conventional engineering to show changes in flooding frequency and extent, as well as damage comparisons associated with changing intense precipitation. Using standard and familiar models with future conditions precipitation scenarios facilitates communication of quantifiable future risk and supports community decision makers so they can plan, mitigate, and adapt to future conditions. This directly supports climate adaptation and mitigation by providing an understandable method for community engineers and planners to demonstrate the impact of climate change at the local level and develop specific adaptation strategies that will reduce future risk.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewedOpe

Electron impact excitation cross sections for allowed transitions in atoms

We present a semiempirical Gaunt factor for widely used Van Regemorter formula [Astrophys. J. 136, 906 (1962)] for the case of allowed transitions in atoms with the LS coupling scheme. Cross sections calculated using this Gaunt factor agree with measured cross sections to within the experimental error.Comment: RevTeX, 3 pages, 10 PS figures, 2 PS tables, submitted to Phys. Rev.