Optimal control and geodesic flows

In this paper we analyze and generalize, from the point of view of the maximum principle, a class of nonlinear optimal control problems originally introduced in Brockett (1994). The optimal control problems discussed here lie on the adjoint orbits of compact Lie groups or on Grassmann manifolds and the structure of the equations that arise depends on the metric used - the so-called normal metric. We consider some special cases of the general problem and their meaning from the point of view of Riemannian geometry and Hamiltonian mechanics.     

Protiviti 2015 IT Priorities Survey

Abstract

This article makes basic cost accounting understandable. It is an easy read. Nine business examples are provided to show the wide use of the concepts. These concepts can be applied to the business portions of government, colleges, and non-profit organizations.

Pricing a product or service for less can improve the bottom line in some situations. Businesses blend cost accounting and key business revenue drivers, along with the marketing loss leader concept. This blending can be especially important during slow business periods.

Many organizations improve their financial position for off peak periods by trying to maximize their contribution margin at off peak. They are willing to accept less profit or even a loss at off peak demand. They want to minimize their losses at off peak demand.     

Culture in the experience of landscape

The idea of culture as having no more than a 'common sense' influence on the way we experience nature and landscape has been overtaken by the critical evaluation of the way that different aspects of culture structure our everyday lives. A small project undertaken with the support of NERP suggests ways in which we can approach the important task of making critical connections between culture and the nature experience.     

Mass spectrometric analysis of integral membrane proteins at the subnanomolar level: application to recombinant photopigments.

Integral membrane proteins produced by eukaryotic expression systems are a subject of much current interest in biomedical investigation. Due to the low efficiency of their expression and the limited quantity of the expressed to the total amount of the membrane proteins, they have evaded mass spectrometric analysis. The methodology previously developed for mass spectrometric analysis of integral membrane proteins required proteins that were obtained relatively pure from their native membranes. The previously developed methodology has been modified and applied to the analysis of subnanomolar samples of rhodopsin. Bovine rhodopsin purified by affinity chromatography, from native membranes and from a eukaryotic expression system, was successfully analyzed, obtaining complete sequence coverage for the detection and localization of posttranslational modifications. The methodology presented here will enable mass spectrometric analysis of subnanomolar levels of photopigments or other integral membrane proteins either from their native membranes or as products of expression systems.     

Finding cyclic redundancy check polynomials for multilevel systems

This letter describes a technique for finding cyclic redundancy check polynomials for systems for transmission over symmetric channels which encode information in multiple voltage levels, so that the resulting redundancy check gives good error protection and is efficient to implement. The codes which we construct have a Hamming distance of 3 or 4. We discuss a way to reduce burst error in parallel transmissions and some tricks for efficient implementation of the shift register for these polynomials. We illustrate our techniques by discussing a particular example where the number of levels is 9, but they are applicable in general     

Exhibition review

Exhibition of work by Larry Wakefield, Bedales Gallery, Petersfield, Sussex, 8-28 September, 1996