The Disingenuousness of the Jesus Legend in Popular Media

In America today, a major source of contention among theologians involves the Resurrection, a controversy that has ensued since historical times (1 Cor 15: 12-19 [KJV]). This essay will seek to develop a plausible response to the legend theory, a prevalent inconspicuous attack on the resurrection of Jesus and thus the foundation of Christianity, by addressing the question “Is Jesus like Santa Clause?” Thereby, providing evidence, which reveals the disingenuousness of the Jesus legend as portrayed in popular media by investigating the reality of the historical Jesus. In doing so, an examination of the miracle-claim will be presented through an a posteriori critique of the Resurrection. Pursuing to demonstrate credible witness to the resurrection of Jesus that supports the historicity of the miracle-claim and thus invalidates the legend theory and provide an appropriate response to the facade that Jesus is like Santa Clause as portrayed in popular media

Supporting community engagement through teaching, student projects and research

The Education Acts statutory obligations for ITPs are not supported by the Crown funding model. Part of the statutory role of an ITP is “... promotes community learning and by research, particularly applied and technological research ...” [The education act 1989]. In relation to this a 2017 TEC report highlighted impaired business models and an excessive administrative burden as restrictive and impeding success. Further restrictions are seen when considering ITPs attract < 3 % of the available TEC funding for research, and ~ 20 % available TEC funding for teaching, despite having overall student efts of ~ 26 % nationally. An attempt to improve performance and engage through collaboration (community, industry, tertiary) at our institution is proving successful. The cross-disciplinary approach provides students high level experience and the technical stretch needed to be successful engineers, technologists and technicians. This study presents one of the methods we use to collaborate externally through teaching, student projects and research

Platinum thin film anodes for solid acid fuel cells

Hydrogen electro-oxidation kinetics at the Pt | CsH_2PO_4 interface have been evaluated. Thin films of nanocrystalline platinum 7.5–375 nm thick and 1–19 mm in diameter were sputtered atop polycrystalline discs of the proton-conducting electrolyte, CsH_2PO_4, by shadow-masking. The resulting Pt | CsH_2PO_4 | Pt symmetric cells were studied under uniform H_2-H_2O-Ar atmospheres at temperatures of 225–250 °C using AC impedance spectroscopy. For thick platinum films (>50 nm), electro-oxidation of hydrogen was found to be limited by diffusion of hydrogen through the film, whereas for thinner films, diffusion limitations are relaxed and interfacial effects become increasingly dominant. Extrapolation to vanishing film thickness implies an ultimate interfacial resistivity of 2.2 Ω cm^2, likely reflecting a process at the Pt | H_(2(g)) interface. Films 7.5 nm in thickness displayed a total electro-oxidation resistivity, R, of 3.1 Ω cm^2, approaching that of Pt-based composite anodes for solid acid fuel cells (1–2 Ω cm^2). In contrast, the Pt utilization (R^(−1)/Pt loading), 19 S mg^(−1), significantly exceeds that of composite electrodes, indicating that the thin film approach is a promising route for achieving high performance in combination with low platinum loadings

A double-edged sword: Use of computer algebra systems in first-year Engineering Mathematics and Mechanics courses

Many secondary-level mathematics students have experience with graphical calculators from high school. For the purposes of this paper we define graphical calculators as those able to perform rudimentary symbolic manipulation and solve complicated equations requiring very modest user knowledge. The use of more advanced computer algebra systems e.g. Maple, Mathematica, Mathcad, Matlab/MuPad is becoming more prevalent in tertiary-level courses. This paper explores our students’ experience using one such system (MuPad) in first-year tertiary Engineering Mathematics and Mechanics courses. The effectiveness of graphical calculators and computer algebra systems in mathematical pedagogy has been investigated by a multitude of educational researchers (e.g. Ravaglia et al. 1998). Most of these studies found very small or no correlation between student use of graphical calculators or exposure to computer algebra systems with future achievement in mathematics courses (Buteau et al. 2010). In this paper we focus instead on students’ attitude towards a more advanced standalone computer algebra system (MuPad), and whether students’ inclination to use the system is indicative of their mathematical understanding. Paper describing some preliminary research into use of computer algebra systems for teaching engineering mathematics

Making Massless Dirac Fermions from Patterned Two-Dimensional Electron Gases

Analysis of the electronic structure of an ordinary two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) under an appropriate external periodic potential of hexagonal symmetry reveals that massless Dirac fermions are generated near the corners of the supercell Brillouin zone. The required potential parameters are found to be achievable under or close to laboratory conditions. Moreover, the group velocity is tunable by changing either the effective mass of the 2DEG or the lattice parameter of the external potential, and it is insensitive to the potential amplitude. The finding should provide a new class of systems other than graphene for investigating and exploiting massless Dirac fermions using 2DEGs in semiconductors.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, significant revision of abstract, text, and figure

An experimental and analytical evaluation of the tapered tension-torsion strap concept

A new free-tip rotor moment controller designed to increase torque output (a restoring moment) was proposed. The controller would be used as a retention device for the freely pitching tip of a helicopter rotor. The new design featured a tapered tension-torsion strap instead of the previously used parellel strap. A tapered strap has a larger separation between the tension wires at the retention end than at the oscillating end; separation is equal at both ends for a parallel strap. A simple dynamic analysis was developed and an experiment performed to evaluate this tapered strap concept. The test results indicated that the torsional spring stiffness of the strap, represented by a torsional pendulum, increased with the amount of taper. The predicted dynamic characteristics of the pendulum also confirmed this observation and correlated reasonably well with the experimental results. It could be concluded from the experimental and analytical results that the tapered strap accomplished increased torque output when compared to the parellel strap