Dictators and their capital cities: Moscow and Berlin in the 1930s

Stalin and Hitler planned major changes in the townscapes of their capital cities. These plans were part of their effort to install highly mobilized despotic regimes that needed a wide-ranging set of symbols to focus allegiance and to impress awe. These plans remained to some extent paper exercises but part of it left significant traces in the contemporary cities, particularly in Moscow. The intended changes showed similarities in their megalomania expressed in plans for a gigantic dome surrounded by a huge public square in the core of the city. There were also differences as regards the type of symbols used due to both dictotors' different roles within their regimes, the degree of didactic intent due to the nature of the commanding ideologies and the level of modernization of both countries, and the diverging versions of antimodernist building style (which they shared with many others elsewhere at the time).     

Photometry of Venus: III. Interpretation of brightness distributions over the disk

A series of solar brightness distributions observed over the Venus disk at several wavelengths is analyzed. A single absorption mechanism is assumed, the main localization of which is varied within the clouds, in different models. An attempt is made to retrieve all of the observations from one or more of the models. From the ultraviolet observations, models in which the absorption is highly localized give a better fit although better measurements are needed before a definite conclusion may be drawn. Isophote maps in visible light disagree with the theoretical predictions of all the models, suggesting that a second absorption mechanism (perhaps the ground) ought to be called for in this spectral region.     

Transformed equations of motion for underwater vehicles

A method for dynamics investigation and coupling detection between velocities of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is presented in this paper. The method is based on transformation of equations of motion, which are usually used for an underwater vehicle, into equations with a diagonal mass matrix. The obtained equations contain quasi-velocities and allow one to give a further insight into the AUV dynamics especially for an underactuated system. Some advantages of the proposed approach are discussed, too. An analytical example for a 3-DOF AUV shows possible application of the transformed equations. Moreover, the given approach is validated via simulation on a 6-DOF vehicle.