Tropopause analysis over the Iranian region using GPS radio occultation data

Near-tropopause phenomena like upper level fronts and cyclones, penetrative cumulus convection and mesoscale mechanisms of exchange make important contributions to the mixing processes in the atmosphere. Spatio-temporal monitoring of the tropopause height, temperature and pressure is an appropriate tool to show the running processes in the atmosphere. In this study, GPS radio occultation data is used to investigate the tropopause height fluctuations and the relation between the stratosphere–troposphere exchange and the aforementioned phenomena over the Iranian region. The paper shows how the position of the sub-tropical jet has changed with time, using GPS radio occultation observations. The tropopause height changes latitudinally, and three different bimodal probability distribution functions are observed. The results also show that the mixing region in the south of Iran is associated with the subtropical jet in winter. However, this region shifts north of Iran due to changes in the position of the subtropical jet during the summer. Consistency of the mixing region from the radio occultation data and the total ozone of TOMS over the Iranian region is also observed.     

InSight Mars Lander Robotics Instrument Deployment System

The InSight Mars Lander is equipped with an Instrument Deployment System (IDS) and science payload with accompanying auxiliary peripherals mounted on the Lander. The InSight science payload includes a seismometer (SEIS) and Wind and Thermal Shield (WTS), heat flow probe (Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package, HP³) and a precision tracking system (RISE) to measure the size and state of the core, mantle and crust of Mars. The InSight flight system is a close copy of the Mars Phoenix Lander and comprises a Lander, cruise stage, heatshield and backshell. The IDS comprises an Instrument Deployment Arm (IDA), scoop, five finger “claw” grapple, motor controller, arm-mounted Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC), lander-mounted Instrument Context Camera (ICC), and control software. IDS is responsible for the first precision robotic instrument placement and release of SEIS and HP³ on a planetary surface that will enable scientists to perform the first comprehensive surface-based geophysical investigation of Mars’ interior structure. This paper describes the design and operations of the Instrument Deployment Systems (IDS), a critical subsystem of the InSight Mars Lander necessary to achieve the primary scientific goals of the mission including robotic arm geology and physical properties (soil mechanics) investigations at the Landing site. In addition, we present test results of flight IDS Verification and Validation activities including thermal characterization and InSight 2017 Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations (ATLO), Deployment Scenario Test at Lockheed Martin, Denver, where all the flight payloads were successfully deployed with a balloon gravity offload fixture to compensate for Mars to Earth gravity.     

Security, Internet connectivity and aircraft data networks

Internet connectivity which was in experimental stages only a few years ago is a reality today. Current implementations allow passengers to access Internet for pleasure and in some cases secure VPN access is provided to corporate networks. Several researchers are looking at the possibility of the existence of a total of three networks: passenger network (PN); crew network (CRN); and the control network (CON). Researchers envision an architecture where these three networks will co-exist in an airplane. The available Internet connectivity can be utilized for transporting flight critical information like cockpit flight data recorder (CFDR) data, digital flight data recorder (DFDR) data, cockpit voice recorder (CVR) data, and controller pilot data link communication. In addition, the Internet connectivity could also be used for other safety mechanisms like video surveillance and remote control of the flight. Security is one of the major concerns that affect the successful deployment of aircraft data networks (ADN) and other safety features. Several studies have been carried out to secure the network using firewalls and intrusion detection system but so far no study has focused on securing the communication channel (between the aircraft and the ground station) and its impact on the ADN. The scope of this research is to determine the viability and need of a security mechanism. The research also focuses on the performance of different security architectures and determine their usability in the framework of an ADN.     

Effects of punch size,magnetic field,and magnetorheological elastomers medium on forming T-shaped thin-walled Inconel 718 tubes

This study aims at investigating the impact of using the Magnetorheological Elastomers(MREs) medium to improve the formability of T-shaped Inconel 718 tubes during the bulging process. Besides, the influence of the punch size and the intensity of the magnetic field on the branch height and wall thickness distribution of the T-shaped Inconel 718 tubes are also explored. The results showed that the parts formed by the punch with a length of 5 mm in the pressurization zone have better forming quali...     

双柔性杆多次撞击力分析

柔性构件的多次弹性撞击现象在工程中普遍存在,其中撞击力的求解一直是关键问题.利用瞬态波函数特征值展开法,给出多次撞击过程和分离过程的杆中瞬态波传播的理论解,提出计算双柔性杆多次撞击力的瞬态波效应法,该方法避免求解具有未知奇异载荷项的强非线性方程.实现了对多次撞击问题的精确的数值分析,研究了初始撞击速度对撞击力和撞击发生时间的影响,表明瞬态波效应法可以计算多次撞击力时间历程.初始撞击速度越大,撞击力幅值越大,而且撞击力的峰值在前三次撞击过程中是逐次增加的,后趋于稳定,并可以研究"次撞击"现象.为进一步研究复杂柔性结构系统多次撞击问题以及重复撞击引起的长期系统动力学行为提供了可借鉴的有效研究方法.      

Wake structure and similar behavior of wake profiles downstream of a plunging airfoil

Very limited attention has already been paid to the velocity behavior in the wake region in unsteady aerodynamic problems.A series of tests has been performed on a flapping airfoil in a subsonic wind tunnel to study the wake structure for different sets of mean angle of attack,plunging amplitude and reduced frequency.In this study,the velocity profiles in the wake for various oscillation parameters have been measured using a wide shoulder rake,especially designed for the present experiments.The airfoil under consideration was a critical section of a 660 kW wind turbine.The results show that for a flapping airfoil the wake structure can be of drag producing type,thrust producing or neutral,depending on the mean angle of attack,oscillation amplitude and reduced frequency.In a thrust producing wake,a high-momentum high-velocity jet flow is formed in the core region of the wake instead of the conventional low-momentum flow.As a result,the drag force normally experienced by the body due to the momentum deficit would be replaced by a thrust force.According to the results,the momentum loss in the wake decreases as the reduced frequency increases.The thrust producing wake pattern for the flapping airfoil has been observed for suffi ciently low angles of attack in the absence of the viscous effects.This phenomenon has also been observed for either high oscillation amplitudes or high reduced frequencies.According to the results,for different reduced frequencies and plunging amplitudes,such that the product of them be a constant,the velocity profiles exhibit similar behavior and coalesce on each other.This simi larity parameter works excellently at small angles of attack.However,at near stall boundaries,the similarity is not as evident as before.     

The automated prediction of solar flares from SDO images using deep learning

In the last few years, there has been growing interest in near-real-time solar data processing, especially for space weather applications. This is due to space weather impacts on both space-borne and ground-based systems, and industries, which subsequently impacts our lives. In the current study, the deep learning approach is used to establish an automated hybrid computer system for a short-term forecast; it is achieved by using the complexity level of the sunspot group on SDO/HMI Intensitygram images. Furthermore, this suggested system can generate the forecast for solar flare occurrences within the following 24 h. The input data for the proposed system are SDO/HMI full-disk Intensitygram images and SDO/HMI full-disk magnetogram images. System outputs are the “Flare or Non-Flare” of daily flare occurrences (C, M, and X classes). This system integrates an image processing system to automatically detect sunspot groups on SDO/HMI Intensitygram images using active-region data extracted from SDO/HMI magnetogram images (presented by Colak and Qahwaji, 2008) and deep learning to generate these forecasts. Our deep learning-based system is designed to analyze sunspot groups on the solar disk to predict whether this sunspot group is capable of releasing a significant flare or not. Our system introduced in this work is called ASAP_Deep. The deep learning model used in our system is based on the integration of the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Softmax classifier to extract special features from the sunspot group images detected from SDO/HMI (Intensitygram and magnetogram) images. Furthermore, a CNN training scheme based on the integration of a back-propagation algorithm and a mini-batch AdaGrad optimization method is suggested for weight updates and to modify learning rates, respectively. The images of the sunspot regions are cropped automatically by the imaging system and processed using deep learning rules to provide near real-time predictions. The major results of this study are as follows. Firstly, the ASAP_Deep system builds on the ASAP system introduced in Colak and Qahwaji (2009) but improves the system with an updated deep learning-based prediction capability. Secondly, we successfully apply CNN to the sunspot group image without any pre-processing or feature extraction. Thirdly, our system results are considerably better, especially for the false alarm ratio (FAR); this reduces the losses resulting from the protection measures applied by companies. Also, the proposed system achieves a relatively high scores for True Skill Statistics (TSS) and Heidke Skill Score (HSS).     

The spatio-spectral localization approach to modeling VTEC over the western part of the USA using GPS observations

The precise ionosphere modeling is crucial and remains a challenge for GPS positioning and navigation, as well as many other Earth observation systems. In this research, two approaches have been proposed to model the vertical total electron content (VTEC) of the ionosphere using spherical slepian function. For the two-dimensional case, VTEC has been modeled in a sun-fixed reference frame and the three-dimensional approach based on the system of the three-dimensional base functions has been defined as the tensor product of the spherical slepian function for the longitude and latitude in an Earth-fixed reference frame, and the polynomial B-spline function for time. Rather than the spherical harmonics, the spherical slepian functions can be employed to produce the locally and globally orthogonal bases to optimally represent the data in any arbitrary region up to a given degree. The spherical slepian functions have been applied to the real data obtained from the ground-based GPS observation across the western part of the USA.     

Microbial life in a liquid asphalt desert

Pitch Lake in Trinidad and Tobago is a natural asphalt reservoir nourished by pitch seepage, a form of petroleum that consists of mostly asphaltines, from the surrounding oil-rich region. During upward seepage, pitch mixes with mud and gases under high pressure, and the lighter portion evaporates or is volatilized, which produces a liquid asphalt residue characterized by low water activity, recalcitrant carbon substrates, and noxious chemical compounds. An active microbial community of archaea and bacteria, many of them novel strains (particularly from the new Tar ARC groups), totaling a biomass of up to 10(7) cells per gram, was found to inhabit the liquid hydrocarbon matrix of Pitch Lake. Geochemical and molecular taxonomic approaches revealed diverse, novel, and deeply branching microbial lineages with the potential to mediate anaerobic hydrocarbon degradation processes in different parts of the asphalt column. In addition, we found markers for archaeal methane metabolism and specific gene sequences affiliated with facultative and obligate anaerobic sulfur- and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. The microbial diversity at Pitch Lake was found to be unique when compared to microbial communities analyzed at other hydrocarbon-rich environments, which included Rancho Le Brea, a natural asphalt environment in California, USA, and an oil well and a mud volcano in Trinidad and Tobago, among other sites. These results open a window into the microbial ecology and biogeochemistry of recalcitrant hydrocarbon matrices and establish the site as a terrestrial analogue for modeling the biotic potential of hydrocarbon lakes such as those found on Saturn's largest moon Titan.     

Predicting the visibility of LEO satellites

We present a simple algorithm to determine the visibility-time function of a circular low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite at a terminal on the Earth's surface. The simplicity of the algorithm is based on approximating the ground trace of the satellite (which is not a great circle due to Earth's rotation) during a time interval of the order of in-view period, by a great-circle are. This enables us to use spherical geometry to compute the location and time epoch of the observation of the closest approach of the satellite's ground trace to the terminal. This is also the epoch of the observation of the maximum elevation angle from the terminal to the satellite. Applying a result derived relating the maximum elevation angle to the in-view period, we obtain the visibility-time function of the satellite at the terminal. Numerical results illustrate the accuracy of the algorithm for a wide range of LEO orbit altitudes