Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Thompson, R. R..
A dedicated program of measuring angular sizes of Mira variables using the Palomar Testbed Interferometer has resulted in more than 13,000 measurements of over 60 stars.
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We present angular size measurements of 22 oxygen-rich Mira variable stars.
Interferometrically determined angular diameters obtained at the Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI) for 80 giant and supergiant stars are presented in this paper.
We present new interferometric observations for 74 luminous red stars, made in the near infrared. We show that our 2.2 mue diameters agree with other near-infrared diameter determinations for stars measured in common with ours.
Concept for erectable space construction fixture described in report. Fixture combines all equipment required for construction of framework for space platform into single compact work station. Almost all aspects of assembly and farication automated. Design goals for fixture include platform assembly in shortest possible time and minimizing fuel and power requirements of support spacecraft.
A first order critical tracking task is evaluated for its potential to discriminate between sober and intoxicated performances. Mean differences between predrink and postdrink performances as a function of BAC are analyzed. Quantification of the results shows that intoxicated failure rates of 50% for blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at or above 0.1%, and 75% for BACs at or above 0.14%, can be attained with no sober failure rates. A high initial rate of learning is observed, perhaps due to the very nature of the task whereby the operator is always pushed to his limit, and the scores approach a stable asymptote after approximately 50 trials. Finally, the implementation of the task as an ignition interlock system in the automobile environment is discussed. It is pointed out that lower critical performance limits are anticipated for the mechanized automotive units because of the introduction of larger hardware and neuromuscular lags. Whether such degradation in performance would reduce the effectiveness of the device or not will be determined in a continuing program involving a broader based sample of the driving population and performance correlations with both BACs and driving proficiency.
This paper is concerned with the computer costs for both the steady-state and transient thermal responses of large-scale integrated circuits (LSI) when metal is present within the substrate. For the more cost-sensitive transient case, an extrapolation technique for computer time savings is compared with the accuracy loss in this study. This approach could be useful for design-cost planning.