Toward a new cosmic consciousness: Psychoeducational aspects of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations

This study presents a new approach to the concept of cosmic consciousness integrated in current neuroscience knowledge and discusses implications for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. It also examines different aspects related to consciousness and how it may play a key role in the understanding of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and life in the Universe and its implications. Subjects (n=116) were college students from Spain, the United States, and Italy. Subjects responded to a questionnaire comprising five different sections: (A) religious beliefs, (B) environment and general opinion, (C) astronomy, (D) contact, and (E) attention and perception. The results showed the importance of several modular aspects that affect Space awareness in humans. Preliminary results are discussed with regard to current neuroscience, factor analysis, and possible implications for the understanding of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The roles of education, new search strategies, and possible contact scenarios are also discussed.     

Design and analysis of a knowledge-aided radar detector for doppler processing

In this paper we discuss the combined use of a priori information and adaptive signal processing techniques for the design and the analysis of a knowledge-aided (KA) radar receiver for Doppler processing. To this end, resorting to the generalized likelihood function (GLF) criterion (both one-step and two-step), we design and assess data-adaptive procedures for the selection of training data. Then we introduce a KA radar detector composed of three elements: a geographic-map-based data selector, which exploits some a priori information concerning the topography of the observed scene, a data-adaptive training selector which removes dynamic outliers from the training data, and an adaptive radar detector which performs the final decision about the target presence. The performance of the KA algorithm is analyzed both on simulated as well as on real radar data collected by the McMaster University IPIX radar. The results show that the new KA system achieves a satisfactory performance level and can outperform some previously proposed adaptive detection schemes     

Detection of the high energy component of Jovian electrons in Low Earth Orbit with the PAMELA experiment

The PAMELA experiment is devoted to the study of cosmic rays in Low Earth Orbit with an apparatus optimized to perform a precise determination of the galactic antimatter component of c.r. It is constituted by a number of detectors built around a permanent magnet spectrometer. PAMELA was launched in space on June 15th 2006 on board the Russian Resurs-DK1 satellite for a mission duration of 3 years. The characteristics of the detectors, the long lifetime and the orbit of the satellite, will allow to address several aspects of cosmic-ray physics. In this work we discuss the observational capabilities of PAMELA to detect the electron component above 50 MeV. The magnetic spectrometer allows a detailed measurement of the energy spectrum of electrons of galactic and Jovian origin. Long term measurements and correlations with Earth–Jupiter 13 months synodic period will allow to separate these two contributions and to measure the primary electron Jovian component, dominant in the 50–70 MeV energy range. With this technique it will also be possible to study the contribution to the electron spectrum of Jovian e⁻ reaccelerated up to 2 GeV at the Solar Wind Termination Shock.     

Boundary layer aerosol retrieval from thermal infrared nadir sounding – Preliminary results

A non-empirical algorithm is presented to retrieve the optical depth in the 750–1250 cm⁻¹ spectral range, of aerosol located in the boundary layer over the ocean, from nadir high-resolution radiance spectra in the thermal infrared. The algorithm is based on a line-by-line radiative transfer forward model and used the Optimal Estimation Method for the retrieval. Its performance strongly depends on the quality of the a priori temperature and H₂O atmospheric profiles. To demonstrate the relevance of the algorithm, distributions of maritime aerosol parameters have been retrieved from IMG/ADEOS data for December 1996, using the algorithm with the LBLRTM radiative transfer code, and ERA40 (ECMWF) a priori atmospheric profiles and surface conditions.     

Transient effects of microgravity on early embryos of Xenopus laevis.

In order to study the role of gravity on the early development of the clawed toad Xenopus laevis, we performed an experiment on the Maser-6 sounding rocket launched from Kiruna (Sweden) on 4 Nov 1993. The aim was to find out whether a short period of microgravity during fertilization and the first few minutes of development does indeed result in abnormal axis formation as was suggested by a pilot experiment on the Maser 3 in 1989. On the Maser 6 we used two new technical additions in the Fokker CIS unit, viz. a 1-g control centrifuge and a video recording unit which both worked successfully. The 1-g control centrifuge was used to discriminate between the influences of flight perturbations and microgravity. After fertilization shortly before launch, one of the first indications of successful egg activation, the cortical contraction, was registered in microgravity and on earth. Analysis of the video tapes revealed that the cortical contraction in microgravity starts earlier than at 1 g on earth. After recovery of the eggs fertilized in microgravity and culture of the embryos on earth, the morphology of the blastocoel has some consistent differences from blastulae from eggs fertilized in the 1-g centrifuge of the rocket. However from the gastrula stage onward, the microgravity embryos apparently recover and resume normal development: the XBra gene is normally expressed, and histological examination shows normal axis formation.     

Results of evolutionary computations of primaries of close binaries with different initial composition

The present paper summarizes fundamental evolutionary parameters of primaries of close binaries with initial masses between 9 and 60 M_⊙ and initial composition appropriate for the Galaxy, the LMC and the SMC. The primary timescales and WR binary timescales are compared with corresponding recent single star predictions.     

Computer-Aided Design and Graphics Applied to the Study of Inductor-Energy -Storage Dc-to-Dc Electronic Power Converters

A series of nine programs are developed for the design of the inductors of single-winding flyback converters. Three converter types are considered: voltage step-up, current step-up, and voltage step-up/current step-up. For each of the converter types, three pulse modulators are considered: constant frequency, constant transistor on-time, and constant transistor off-time. Computer-graphics displays are used to assist in evaluating characteristics of the various converter-modulator combinations.