Origin of organic matter in the protosolar nebula and in comets.

Comet organics are traced to their origin in interstellar space. Possible sources of comet organics from solar nebula chemistry are briefly discussed. The infrared spectra of interstellar dust are compared with spectra of solar (space) irradiated laboratory organic residues and with meteorites. The spectra compare very favorably. The atomic composition of first generation laboratory organic residues compares favorably with that of comet Halley organics if divided into appropriate "volatile" (less refractory) and "refractory" (more refractory) complex organics.     

Evolution of coronal mass ejection/shock system in interplanetary space

The evolution of coronal mass ejection/shock system is investigated by numerically solving the usual set of two-dimensional single-fluid polytropic magnetohydrodynamic equations from 1 R_s to 1 AU in the meridian plane. The simulation result reveals that the coronal mass ejection/shock system formed near the sun evolves into the magnetic cloud/shock system near the earth’s orbit through the following three phases: the initial formation, the dominant latitudinal expansion and the similar expansion.     

Fusion of distributed extended forgetting factor RLS state estimators

For single-target multisensor systems, two fusion methods are presented for distributed recursive state estimation of dynamic systems without knowledge of noise covariances. The estimator at every local sensor embeds the dynamics and the forgetting factor into the recursive least squares (RLS) method to remedy the lack of knowledge of noise statistics, developed before as the extended forgetting factor recursive least squares (EFRLS) estimator. It is proved that the two fusion methods are equivalent to the centralized EFRLS that uses all measurements from local sensors directly and their good performance is shown by simulation examples.     

GPS based IPS for ERP vehicles

GPS is an innovative technique for an electronic road pricing (ERP) system. By using GPS technology, ERP systems will be extremely efficient and cost-effective. This paper describes the next generation of ERP in Singapore and proposes a GPS based multisensor positioning system for ERP vehicles. Multisensor fusion algorithms are presented for the integration system. The integrated positioning system (IPS) developed in this paper makes it possible to realize GPS based ERP with a simple composition and low cost     

X-ray redshifts with the International X-ray Observatory (IXO)

We explore the capabilities of the future space science mission IXO (International X-ray Observatory) for obtaining cosmological redshifts of distant Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) using the X-ray data only. We first find in which regions of the X-ray luminosity (L_X) versus redshift (z) plane the weak but ubiquitous Fe Kα narrow emission line can deliver an accurate redshift (δz < 5%) as a function of exposure time, using a CCD-based Wide Field Imager (IXO/WFI) as the one baselined for IXO. Down to a 2–10 keV X-ray flux of 10⁻¹⁴ erg cm⁻² s⁻¹ IXO/WFI exposures of 100 ks, 300 ks and 1 Ms will deliver 20%, 40% and 60% of the redshifts. This means that in a typical 18′ × 18′ IXO/WFI field of view, 4, 10 and 25 redshifts will be obtained for free from the X-ray data alone, spanning a wide range up to z ∼ 2–3 and fairly sampling the real distribution. Measuring redshifts of fainter sources will indeed need spectroscopy at other wavebands.     

The effects of simulated microgravity on cultured chicken embryonic chondrocytes.

Using the cultured chicken embryonic chondrocytes as a model, the effects of simulated microgravity on the microtubular system of the cellular skeleton, extracellular matrix, alkaline phosphatase activity, intracellular free calcium concentration and mitochondrial ATP synthase activity with its oligomycin inhibition rate were studied with a clinostat. The microtubular content was measured by a flow cytometer. The decrease of microtubular content showed the impairment of the cellular skeleton system. Observation on the extracellular matrix by the scanning electron microscopy showed that it decreased significantly after rotating, and the fibers in the extracellular matrix were more tiny and disorderly than that of the control group. It can be concluded that the simulated microgravity can affect the secreting and assembly of the extracellular matrix. In contrast to the control, there was a time course decrease in alkaline phosphatase activity of chondrocytes, a marker of matrix mineralization. Meanwhile a significant drop in the intracellular calcium concentration happened at the beginning of rotation. These results indicate that simulated microgravity can suppress matrix calcification of cultured chondrocytes, and intracellular free calcium may be involved in the regulation of matrix calcification as the second signal transmitter. No significant changes happened in the mitochondrial ATP synthase activity and its oligomycin inhibition rate. Perhaps the energy metabolism wasn't affected by the simulated microgravity. The possible mechanisms about them were discussed.     

Uniform versus nonuniform sampling when tracking in clutter

Many target tracking subsystems have the ability to schedule their own data rates; essentially they can "order" new information whenever they need it, and the cost is in terms of the sensor resource. But among the unmanaged schemes, uniform sampling, in which a new measurement is requested periodically and regularly, is the most commonly-used sampling scheme; deliberately nonuniform schemes are seldom given serious consideration. In this paper, however, we show that such schemes may have been discarded prematurely: a nonuniform sampling can have its benefits. Specifically, the nonuniform and uniform sampling schemes are compared for two kind of trackers: the probabilistic data association filter (PDAF), which updates its track based on a single scan of information at a time; and N-D assignment (an optimization-based implementation of the multi-hypothesis tracker (MHT)), in which the sliding window involves many scans of observations. We find that given the ground rule of maintenance of the same overall scan rate (i.e., the same sensor effort) uniform sampling is always optimal for the single-scan tracker in the sense of track life. However, nonuniform sampling can outperform uniform sampling if a more sophisticated multi-scan tracker is used, particularly when 1) the target has a high process noise, and/or 2) the false alarm density is high, and/or 3) the probability of detection is high.     

The accuracy of ionogram-derived N(h) profiles

At the Millstone Hill station the Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) and a Digisonde 256 are simultaneously operating. Some characteristic true heights determined by both instruments are compared with each other, possible reasons for observed difference are indicated.     

X-rays from the first massive black holes

X-ray studies of high-redshift (z > 4) active galaxies have advanced substantially over the past few years, largely due to results from the new generation of X-ray observatories. As of this writing X-ray emission has been detected from nearly 60 high-redshift active galaxies. This paper reviews the observational results and their implications for models of the first massive black holes, and it discusses future prospects for the field.