We report ALMA Cycle 2 observations of 230 GHz (1.3 mm) dust continuum emission, and (CO)-C-12, (CO)-C-13, and (CO)-O-18 J = 2-1 line emission, from the Upper Scorpius transitional disk [PZ99] J160421.7-213028, with an angular resolution of similar to 0''.25 (35 au). Armed with these data and existing H-band scattered light observations, we measure the size and depth of the disk's central cavity, and the sharpness of its outer edge, in three components: sub-mu m-sized "small" dust traced by scattered light, millimeter-sized "big" dust traced by the millimeter continuum, and gas traced by line emission. Both dust populations feature a cavity of radius similar to 70 au that is depleted by factors of at least 1000 relative to the dust density just outside. The millimeter continuum data are well explained by a cavity with a sharp edge. Scattered light observations can be fitted with a cavity in small dust that has either a sharp edge at 60 au, or an edge that transitions smoothly over an annular width of 10 au near 60 au. In gas, the data are consistent with a cavity that is smaller, about 15 au in radius, and whose surface density at 15 au is 10(3 +/- 1) times smaller than the surface density at 70 au; the gas density grades smoothly between these two radii. The CO isotopologue observations rule out a sharp drop in gas surface density at 30 au or a double-drop model, as found by previous modeling. Future observations are needed to assess the nature of these gas and dust cavities (e.g., whether they are opened by multiple as-yet-unseen planets or photoevaporation).

High-contrast imaging instruments such as GPI and SPHERE are discovering gap structures in protoplanetary disks at an ever faster pace. Some of these gaps may be opened by planets forming in the disks. In order to constrain planet formation models using disk observations, it is crucial to find a robust way to quantitatively back out the properties of the gap-opening planets, in particular their masses, from the observed gap properties, such as their depths and widths. Combining 2D and 3D hydrodynamics simulations with 3D radiative transfer simulations, we investigate the morphology of planet-opened gaps in near-infrared scattered-light images. Quantitatively, we obtain correlations that directly link intrinsic gap depths and widths in the gas surface density to observed depths and widths in images of disks at modest inclinations under finite angular resolution. Subsequently, the properties of the surface density gaps enable us to derive the disk scale height at the location of the gap h, and to constrain the quantity M-p(2)/alpha, where Mp is the mass of the gap-opening planet and a characterizes the viscosity in the gap. As examples, we examine the gaps recently imaged by VLT/SPHERE, Gemini/GPI, and Subaru/HiCIAO in HD 97048, TW Hya, HD 169142, LkCa. 15, and RX J1615.3-3255. Scale heights of the disks and possible masses of the gap-opening planets are derived assuming each gap is opened by a single planet. Assuming a = 10(-3), the derived planet masses in all cases are roughly between 0.1 and 1M(J).

Le contrôle non destructif (CND) par émission acoustique (EA) est utilisé dans un grand nombre de domaines tels l’énergie nucléaire, le secteur pétrolier et gazier, le génie civil ou l’industrie mécanique afin de vérifier l’intégrité des structures sous contrainte. Selon le rapport entre la longueur d’onde et l’épaisseur de la structure, l’énergie libérée par un défaut sous contrainte peut se propager sous forme d’ondes guidées (cas des structures minces) ou sous forme d’onde de Rayleigh (cas des structures épaisses). L’analyse des signaux issus de cette méthode ultrasonore « passive » présente des difficultés liées principalement à la complexité des signaux typiquement mesurés. L’objectif de la thèse est de développer des modèles permettant la simulation d’expériences de CND par EA dans le cas des structures épaisses ou minces. Les modèles développés sont basés sur un couplage entre un modèle de source d’EA, un modèle de propagation des ondes et un modèle de capteur d’EA. Dans le cas des structures épaisses, deux modèles 2D (concernant le contrôle de pièces de surface plane et cylindrique) et un modèle 3D (surface plane) ont été développés afin de prédire le signal correspondant à l’onde de Rayleigh émise par un défaut sous contraintes. Concernant les structures minces, un modèle 2D a été développée permettant de prédire le signal correspondant aux modes guidés émis par une fissure sous contrainte. Plusieurs études paramétriques ont été menées afin de définir l’influence des différentes données d’entrée des modèles sur les signaux d’EA et ainsi aider à l’interprétation des contrôles par EA. / AE Non-destructive testing is used in many fields such as nuclear energy, oil and gas, civil engineering or mechanical engineering to check the integrity of structures under stress. Depending on the ratio of structure thickness to wavelength, the energy released by a crack under stress can propagate either as guided waves (in thin structures) or as Rayleigh wave (in thick structures). The analysis of signals resulting from this ultrasonic "passive" method is particularly difficult due to the complexity of typically measured signals. The objective of this thesis is to develop models to enable the simulation of AE testing experiments in the case of thick or thin structure. The developed models rely on the coupling between an AE source model, wave propagation models and an AE Sensor model. In the case of thick structures two 2D models (for plane and cylindrical surfaces) and a 3D model (for plane surface) have been developed to predict the signal corresponding to the Rayleigh wave emitted by a crack under stress. In the case of thin structures, a 2D model has been developed to predict the signal corresponding to the guided modes emitted by a crack under stress. Several parametric studies have been conducted to determine the influence of the different model input data on the AE signals and thus help to interpret AE testing results.

Safety and reliability are prime concerns in aircraft performance due to the involved costs and risk to lives. Despite the best efforts in design methodology, quality evaluation in production and structural integrity assessment in-service, attainment of one hundred percent safety through development and use of a suitable in-flight health monitoring system is still a farfetched goal. And, evolution of such a system requires, first, identification of an appropriate Technique and next its adoption to meet the challenges posed by newer materials (advanced composites), complex structures and the flight environment. In fact, a quick survey of the available Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) techniques suggests Acoustic Emission (AE) as the only available method. High merit in itself could be a weakness - Noise is the worst enemy of AE. So, while difficulties are posed due to the insufficient understanding of the basic behavior of composites, growth and interaction of defects and damage under a specified load condition, high in-flight noise further complicates the issue making the developmental task apparently formidable and challenging. Development of an in-flight monitoring system based on AE to function as an early warning system needs addressing three aspects, viz., the first, discrimination of AE signals from noise data, the second, extraction of required information from AE signals for identification of sources (source characterization) and quantification of its growth, and the third, automation of the entire process. And, a quick assessment of the aspects involved suggests that Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are ideally suited for solving such a complex problem. A review of the available open literature while indicates a number of investigations carried out using noise elimination and source characterization methods such as frequency filtering and statistical pattern recognition but shows only sporadic attempts using ANN. This may probably be due to the complex nature of the problem involving investigation of a large number of influencing parameters, amount of effort and time to be invested, and facilities required and multi-disciplinary nature of the problem. Hence as stated in the foregoing, the need for such a study cannot be over emphasized. Thus, this thesis is an attempt addressing the issue of analysis and automation of complex sets of AE data such as AE signals mixed with in-flight noise thus forming the first step towards in-flight monitoring using AE. An ANN can in fact replace the traditional algorithmic approaches used in the past. ANN in general are model free estimators and derive their computational efficiency due to large connectivity, massive parallelism, non-linear analog response and learning capabilities. They are better suited than the conventional methods (statistical pattern recognition methods) due to their characteristics such as classification, pattern matching, learning, generalization, fault tolerance and distributed memory and their ability to process unstructured data sets which may be carrying incomplete information at times and hence chosen as the tool. Further, in the current context, the set of investigations undertaken were in the absence of sufficient a priori information and hence clustering of signals generated by AE sources through self-organizing maps is more appropriate. Thus, in the investigations carried out under the scope of this thesis, at first a hybrid network named "NAEDA" (Neural network for Acoustic Emission Data Analysis) using Kohonen self-organizing feature map (KSOM) and multi-layer perceptron (MLP) that learns on back propagation learning rule was specifically developed with innovative data processing techniques built into the network. However, for accurate pattern recognition, multi-layer back propagation NN needed to be trained with source and noise clusters as input data. Thus, in addition to optimizing the network architecture and training parameters, preprocessing of input data to the network and multi-class clustering and classification proved to be the corner stones in obtaining excellent identification accuracy. Next, in-flight noise environment of an aircraft was generated off line through carefully designed simulation experiments carried out in the laboratory (Ex: EMI, friction, fretting and other mechanical and hydraulic phenomena) based on the in-flight noise survey carried out by earlier investigators. From these experiments data was acquired and classified into their respective classes through MLP. Further, these noises were mixed together and clustered through KSOM and then classified into their respective clusters through MLP resulting in an accuracy of 95%- 100% Subsequently, to evaluate the utility of NAEDA for source classification and characterization, carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) specimens were subjected to spectrum loading simulating typical in-flight load and AE signals were acquired continuously up to a maximum of three designed lives and in some cases up to failure. Further, AE signals with similar characteristics were grouped into individual clusters through self-organizing map and labeled as belonging to appropriate failure modes, there by generating the class configuration. Then MLP was trained with this class information, which resulted in automatic identification and classification of failure modes with an accuracy of 95% - 100%. In addition, extraneous noise generated during the experiments was acquired and classified so as to evaluate the presence or absence of such data in the AE data acquired from the CFRP specimens. In the next stage, noise and signals were mixed together at random and were reclassified into their respective classes through supervised training of multi-layer back propagation NN. Initially only noise was discriminated from the AE signals from CFRP failure modes and subsequently both noise discrimination and failure mode identification and classification was carried out resulting in an accuracy of 95% - 100% in most of the cases. Further, extraneous signals mentioned above were classified which indicated the presence of such signals in the AE signals obtained from the CFRP specimen. Thus, having established the basis for noise identification and AE source classification and characterization, two specific examples were considered to evaluate the utility and efficiency of NAEDA. In the first, with the postulation that different basic failure modes in composites have unique AE signatures, the difference in damage generation and progression can be clearly characterized under different loading conditions. To examine this, static compression tests were conducted on a different set of CFRP specimens till failure with continuous AE monitoring and the resulting AE signals were classified through already trained NAEDA. The results obtained shows that the total number of signals obtained were very less when compared to fatigue tests and the specimens failed with hardly any damage growth. Further, NAEDA was able to discriminate the"noise and failure modes in CFRP specimen with the same degree of accuracy with which it has classified such signals obtained from fatigue tests. In the second example, with the same postulate of unique AE signatures for different failure modes, the differences in the complexion of the damage growth and progression should become clearly evident when one considers specimens with different lay up sequences. To examine this, the data was reclassified on the basis of differences in lay up sequences from specimens subjected to fatigue. The results obtained clearly confirmed the postulation. As can be seen from the summary of the work presented in the foregoing paragraphs, the investigations undertaken within the scope of this thesis involve elaborate experimentation, development of tools, acquisition of extensive data and analysis. Never the less, the results obtained were commensurate with the efforts and have been fruitful. Of the useful results that have been obtained, to state in specific, the first is, discrimination of simulated noise sources achieved with significant success but for some overlapping which is not of major concern as far as noises are concerned. Therefore they are grouped into required number of clusters so as to achieve better classification through supervised NN. This proved to be an innovative measure in supervised classification through back propagation NN. The second is the damage characterization in CFRP specimens, which involved imaginative data processing techniques that proved their worth in terms of optimization of various training parameters and resulted in accurate identification through clustering. Labeling of clusters is made possible by marking each signal starting from clustering to final classification through supervised neural network and is achieved through phenomenological correlation combined with ultrasonic imaging. Most rewarding of all is the identification of failure modes (AE signals) mixed in noise into their respective classes. This is a direct consequence of innovative data processing, multi-class clustering and flexibility of grouping various noise signals into suitable number of clusters. Thus, the results obtained and presented in this thesis on NN approach to AE signal analysis clearly establishes the fact that methods and procedures developed can automate detection and identification of failure modes in CFRP composites under hostile environment, which could lead to the development of an in-flight monitoring system.

Investigations on the determination of 137Cs sources in the Ignalina NPP environment air and the evaluation of changes of the long-term trend of 137Cs activity concentrations in the Ignalina NPP ground-level air were carried out in this dissertation. Radionuclide activity concentrations in the air and deposition were measured in the Ignalina NPP impact zone in 2004-2009. Results show, that in recent years annual 137Cs activity concentrations in the ground-level air in the Ignalina NPP region change with the half-time of 30 years. Observed episodic increases in 137Cs activity concentrations in the air correlate well with air mass transport trajectories that intersect territories, polluted with 137Cs after the accident at the Chernobyl NPP. The growth of radioactive aerosol particles in the oversaturated water vapour of the operating RBMK reactor has been investigated. In the one contour nuclear power plant coolant water steam, noble gas radionuclides decay into alkaline and earth-alkali metals, which become condensation nuclei and due to the absorption of water molecules in several minutes grow into radioactive aerosol particles. The classical method of the radionuclide activity determination in aerosol particle samples, collected on filters, was supplemented with experiments on the leaching of aerosol particles using the distilled water and measurements of radionuclide activities in samples before and after the experiment. Results show that the quantity of 137Cs and 60Сo in... [to full text] / Disertacijoje nustatyti 137Cs patekimo į Ignalinos AE aplinkos orą šaltiniai ir įvertinti ilgamečiai 137Cs aktyvumo koncentracijų ore pokyčiai. Radionuklidų aktyvumo koncentracijos ore ir iškritose matuotos nuo 2004 iki 2009 metų Ignalinos AE poveikio zonoje. Gauta, kad metinės 137Cs aktyvumo koncentracijos pažemio ore pastaraisiais metais kinta su 30 metų mažėjimo pusiau trukme. Stebėta, kad šuoliški 137Cs aktyvumo koncentracijų pažemio ore padidėjimai koreliuoja su oro masių pernašos trajektorijomis, kertančiomis teritorijas, užterštas po avarijos Černobylio AE. Nustatytas radioaktyvių aerozolio dalelių augimas prisotintuose vandens garuose veikiančio RBMK reaktoriaus kondensatoriuje. Vieno kontūro atominės elektrinės aušinamame vandens gare inertinių dujų radionuklidai, skildami virsta šarminių ir žemės šarminių metalų elementais, tampa aerozolio gamybos centrais, absorbuoja vandens molekules ir per keliolika minučių ant jų, kaip kondensacijos branduolių, išauga radioaktyvios aerozolio dalelės. Klasikinis radionuklidų aktyvumo aerozolio dalelių, surinktų filtrais, bandiniuose nustatymas papildytas išplovimo distiliuotu vandeniu eksperimentais, matuojant radionuklidų aktyvumą bandiniuose iki ir po eksperimento. Gauta, kad 137Cs ir 60Сo dalis aerozolio dalelių, surinktų veikiančio reaktoriaus ventiliaciniame ore, tirpioje frakcijoje buvo 74 17 %, atitinkamai, o neveikiančio reaktoriaus ventiliaciniame ore 22 % ir 67  5 %. 60Co aktyvumo koncentracijos AE fakele... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Disertacijoje nustatyti 137Cs patekimo į Ignalinos AE aplinkos orą šaltiniai ir įvertinti ilgamečiai 137Cs aktyvumo koncentracijų ore pokyčiai. Radionuklidų aktyvumo koncentracijos ore ir iškritose matuotos nuo 2004 iki 2009 metų Ignalinos AE poveikio zonoje. Gauta, kad metinės 137Cs aktyvumo koncentracijos pažemio ore pastaraisiais metais kinta su 30 metų mažėjimo pusiau trukme. Stebėta, kad šuoliški 137Cs aktyvumo koncentracijų pažemio ore padidėjimai koreliuoja su oro masių pernašos trajektorijomis, kertančiomis teritorijas, užterštas po avarijos Černobylio AE. Nustatytas radioaktyvių aerozolio dalelių augimas prisotintuose vandens garuose veikiančio RBMK reaktoriaus kondensatoriuje. Vieno kontūro atominės elektrinės aušinamame vandens gare inertinių dujų radionuklidai, skildami virsta šarminių ir žemės šarminių metalų elementais, tampa aerozolio gamybos centrais, absorbuoja vandens molekules ir per keliolika minučių ant jų, kaip kondensacijos branduolių, išauga radioaktyvios aerozolio dalelės. Klasikinis radionuklidų aktyvumo aerozolio dalelių, surinktų filtrais, bandiniuose nustatymas papildytas išplovimo distiliuotu vandeniu eksperimentais, matuojant radionuklidų aktyvumą bandiniuose iki ir po eksperimento. Gauta, kad 137Cs ir 60Сo dalis aerozolio dalelių, surinktų veikiančio reaktoriaus ventiliaciniame ore, tirpioje frakcijoje buvo 74  22 % ir 67  17 %, atitinkamai, o neveikiančio reaktoriaus ventiliaciniame ore – 24  5 % ir 20  5 %. 60Co aktyvumo koncentracijos AE... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Investigations on the determination of 137Cs sources in the Ignalina NPP environment air and the evaluation of changes of the long-term trend of 137Cs activity concentrations in the Ignalina NPP ground-level air were carried out in this dissertation. Radionuclide activity concentrations in the air and deposition were measured in the Ignalina NPP impact zone in 2004-2009. Results show, that in recent years annual 137Cs activity concentrations in the ground-level air in the Ignalina NPP region change with the half-time of 30 years. Observed episodic increases in 137Cs activity concentrations in the air correlate well with air mass transport trajectories that intersect territories, polluted with 137Cs after the accident at the Chernobyl NPP. The growth of radioactive aerosol particles in the oversaturated water vapour of the operating RBMK reactor has been investigated. In the one contour nuclear power plant coolant water steam, noble gas radionuclides decay into alkaline and earth-alkali metals, which become condensation nuclei and due to the absorption of water molecules in several minutes grow into radioactive aerosol particles. The classical method of the radionuclide activity determination in aerosol particle samples, collected on filters, was supplemented with experiments on the leaching of aerosol particles using the distilled water and measurements of radionuclide activities in samples before and after the experiment. Results show that the quantity of 137Cs and 60Сo in... [to full text]

A software GPS receiver is a functional GPS receiver in software. It has several advantages compared to its hardware counterparts. For instance, improvements in receiver architecture as well as GPS system structure can be easily adapted to it. Furthermore, interaction between nearby sensors can be coordinated easily. In this thesis, a SGR (software GPS receiver) is presented from a practical point of view. Major components of the SGR are implemented in Matlab environment. Furthermore, some alternative algorithms are implemented. SGR implementation is considered in two main sections namely a signal processing section and a navigation section. Signal processing section is driven by the raw GPS signal samples obtained from a GPS front-end of NordNavTM R-25 instrument. The conventional and the block adjustment of synchronizing signal (BAAS) processing methods are implemented and their performances are compared in terms of their speed and outputs. Signal processing section outputs raw GPS measurements and navigation data bits. Since the output data length is insufficient in our case, navigation section input is fed from AshtechTM GPS receiver for a moving platform and TrimbleTM GPS Receiver for a stationary platform. Satellite position computation, pseudorange corrections, Kalman filter and LSE (least squares estimation) are implemented in the navigation section. Kalman filter and LSE methods are compared in terms of positioning accuracy for a moving as well as a stationary platform. Results are compared with the commercial GPS outputs. This comparison shows that the software navigation section is equivalent to the commercial GPS in terms of positioning accuracy.

The topic of this thesis are mask based one-pass authenticated encryption schemes with associated data. Formal security requirements (AUTH and PRIV), scheme requirements as well as mask system requirements are specified. The- orems regarding fulfillment of security requirements are proven given specified scheme assumptions. The proof utilizes the game-hopping technique. The the- sis contains enumeration of masking systems as well as a selection of schemes with verification that requirements are fulfilled. Last but not least, this thesis presents an attack on the OPP scheme. Recommendation on fixing this scheme is also provided. 1

The dependence of the mass accretion rate on the stellar properties is a key constraint for star formation and disk evolution studies. Here we present a study of a sample of stars in the Chamaeleon I star-forming region carried out using spectra taken with the ESO VLT/X-shooter spectrograph. The sample is nearly complete down to stellar masses (M-star) similar to 0.1 M-circle dot for the young stars still harboring a disk in this region. We derive the stellar and accretion parameters using a self-consistent method to fit the broadband flux-calibrated medium resolution spectrum. The correlation between accretion luminosity to stellar luminosity, and of mass accretion rate to stellar mass in the logarithmic plane yields slopes of 1.9 +/- 0.1 and 2.3 +/- 0.3, respectively. These slopes and the accretion rates are consistent with previous results in various star-forming regions and with different theoretical frameworks. However, we find that a broken power-law fit, with a steeper slope for stellar luminosity lower than similar to 0.45 L-circle dot and for stellar masses lower than similar to 0.3 M-circle dot is slightly preferred according to different statistical tests, but the single power-law model is not excluded. The steeper relation for lower mass stars can be interpreted as a faster evolution in the past for accretion in disks around these objects, or as different accretion regimes in different stellar mass ranges. Finally, we find two regions on the mass accretion versus stellar mass plane that are empty of objects: one region at high mass accretion rates and low stellar masses, which is related to the steeper dependence of the two parameters we derived. The second region is located just above the observational limits imposed by chromospheric emission, at M-star similar to 0.3-0.4 M-circle dot. These are typical masses where photoevaporation is known to be effective. The mass accretion rates of this region are similar to 10(-10) M-circle dot/yr, which is compatible with the value expected for photoevaporation to rapidly dissipate the inner disk.

HD 141569 A is a pre-main sequence B9.5 Ve star surrounded by a prominent and complex circumstellar disk, likely still in a transition stage from protoplanetary to debris disk phase. Here, we present a new image of the third inner disk component of HD 141569 A made in the L' band (3.8 mu m) during the commissioning of the vector vortex coronagraph that has recently been installed in the near-infrared imager and spectrograph NIRC2 behind the W.M. Keck Observatory Keck II adaptive optics system. We used reference point-spread function subtraction, which reveals the innermost disk component from the inner working distance of similar or equal to 23 au and up to similar or equal to 70 au. The spatial scale of our detection roughly corresponds to the optical and near-infrared scattered light, thermal Q, N, and 8.6 mu m PAH emission reported earlier. We also see an outward progression in dust location from the L' band to the H band (Very Large Telescope/SPHERE image) to the visible (Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/STIS image), which is likely indicative of dust blowout. The warm disk component is nested deep inside the two outer belts imaged by HST-NICMOS in 1999 (at 406 and 245 au, respectively). We fit our new L'-band image and spectral energy distribution of HD 141569 A with the radiative transfer code MCFOST. Our best-fit models favor pure olivine grains and are consistent with the composition of the outer belts. While our image shows a putative very faint point-like clump or source embedded in the inner disk, we did not detect any true companion within the gap between the inner disk and the first outer ring, at a sensitivity of a few Jupiter masses.