Gazing at Haw Par villa: Cultural Tourism in Singapore

Tourism is an important and growing industry in Singapore. Studies on Singapore cultural tourism have generally focused on three major sites: Chinatown, Little India and the Malay Village. The Haw Par Villa tourist site has not been examined in recent years. The case study of Haw Par Villa offered here demonstrates how changing times in Singapore have affected the popularity of tourist sites in an island nation. This article discusses the decline and potential rebirth of Singapore’s Haw Par Villa theme park in the context of cultural tourism, placing a special emphasis on Urry’s concept of the ‘tourist gaze’. Multiple methods were used in gathering data for this study: a survey conducted in Singapore of both local residents and foreign tourists; participant observations of Haw Par Villa; and a thematic content analysis of tour guide books and online documents pertaining to the site. Our analyses suggest that Haw Par Villa represents a treasured past of Singapore, although one in danger of fading away with the changing interests of newer generations of tourists

Radon Daughter Plate-out onto Teflon

Radiopure materials for detector components in rare event searches may be contaminated after manufacturing with long-lived $^{210}$Pb produced by the decay of atmospheric radon. Charged radon daughters deposited on the surface or implanted in the bulk of detector materials have the potential to cause noticeable backgrounds within dark matter regions of interest. Understanding the mechanics governing these background signals is therefore a paramount concern in dark matter experiments in order to distinguish a real signal from internal detector backgrounds. Teflon ($i.e.$ PTFE) is a specific material of interest because it makes up the walls of the inner detector of many liquid noble detectors such as the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment. The rate of radon daughter plate-out onto Teflon can be orders of magnitude larger than the plate-out rate onto other materials. Mitigation of plate-out onto Teflon and steel by proximity to other materials is demonstrated.Comment: Low Radioactivity Techniques (LRT) Workshop 2017, 4 Pages, 5 Figure

The Derivative of a Solution to a Second Order Parameter Dependent Boundary Value Problem with a Nonlocal Integral Boundary Condition

We discuss derivatives of the solution of the second order parameter dependent boundary value problem with an integral boundary condition y”=f(x,y,y′,λ),y(x1)=y1,y(x2)+∫dcry(x)dx=y2 y”=f(x,y,y′,λ),y(x1)=y1,y(x2)+∫cdry(x)dx=y2 and its relationship to a second order nonhomogeneous differential equation which corresponds to the traditional variational equation. Specifically, we show that given a solution y(x) of the boundary value problem, the derivative of the solution with respect to the parameter λ is itself a solution to the aforementioned nonhomogeneous equation with interesting boundary conditions

Breathing Life into Information Literacy Skills: Results of a Faculty-Librarian Collaboration

When an education professor and a reference librarian sought to improve the quality of undergraduate student research, their partnership led to a new focus on assessing the research process in addition to the product. In this study, we reflect on our collaborative experience introducing information literacy as the foundation for undergraduate teacher education research. We examine the outcomes of this collaboration, focusing on the assessment of the process. Using a mixed methods approach, we found that direct instruction supporting effective research strategies positively impacted student projects. Our data also suggest that undergraduate students benefit from not only sound research strategies, but also organization strategies

Assessing the Research Process Improves the Product: Results of a Faculty-­Librarian Collaboration

When an education professor and a reference librarian sought to improve the quality of undergraduate student research, their partnership led to a new focus on assessing the research process in addition to the product. In this study, we reflect on our collaborative experience introducing information literacy as the foundation for undergraduate teacher education research. We examine the outcomes of this collaboration, focusing on the assessment of the process. Using a mixed methods approach, we found that direct instruction supporting effective research strategies positively impacted student projects. Our data also suggest that undergraduate students benefit from not only sound research strategies, but also organization strategies

Ariel - Volume 4 Number 5

Editors David A. Jacoby Eugenia Miller Tom Williams Associate Editors Paul Bialas Terry Burt Michael Leo Gail Tenikat Editor Emeritus and Business Manager Richard J. Bonnano Movie Editor Robert Breckenridge Staff Richard. Blutstein Mary F. Buechler Alice M. Johnson J.D. Kanofskv Rocky Webe

Kingella kingae expresses type IV pili that mediate adherence to respiratory epithelial and synovial cells

Kingella kingae is a gram-negative bacterium that colonizes the respiratory tract and is a common cause of septic arthritis and osteomyelitis. Despite the increasing frequency of K. kingae disease, little is known about the mechanism by which this organism adheres to respiratory epithelium and seeds joints and bones. Previous work showed that K. kingae expresses long surface fibers that vary in surface density. In the current study, we found that these fibers are type IV pili and are necessary for efficient adherence to respiratory epithelial and synovial cells and that the number of pili expressed by the bacterium correlates with the level of adherence to synovial cells but not with the level of adherence to respiratory cells. In addition, we established that the major pilin subunit is encoded by a pilA homolog in a conserved region of the chromosome that also contains a second pilin gene and a type IV pilus accessory gene, both of which are dispensable for pilus assembly and pilus-mediated adherence. Upon examination of the K. kingae genome, we identified two genes in physically separate locations on the chromosome that encode homologs of the Neisseria PilC proteins and that have only a low level homology to each other. Examination of mutant strains revealed that both of the K. kingae PilC homologs are essential for a wild-type level of adherence to both respiratory epithelial and synovial cells. Taken together, these results demonstrate that type IV pili and the two PilC homologs play important roles in mediating K. kingae adherence

Laboratory and theoretical studies of baroclinic processes

An understanding is being developed for processes which may be important in the atmosphere, and the definition and analysis of baroclinic experiments utilizing the geophysical fluid flow cells (GFFC) apparatus in microgravity space flights. Included are studies using numerical codes, theoretical models, and terrestrial laboratory experiments. The numerical modeling is performed in three stages: calculation of steady axisymmetric flow, calculation of fastest-growing linear eigenmodes, and nonlinear effects (first, wave-mean flow interactions, then wave-wave interactions). The code can accommodate cylindrical, spherical, or channel geometry. It uses finite differences in the vertical and meridional directions, and is spectral in the azimuthal. The theoretical work was mostly in the area of effects of topography upon the baroclinic instability problem. The laboratory experiments are performed in a cylindrical annulus which has a temperture gradient imposed upon the lower surface and an approximately isothermal outer wall, with the upper and inner surfaces being nominally thermally insulating

Fluent temporal logic for discrete-time event-based models

Fluent model checking is an automated technique for verifying that an event-based operational model satisfies some state-based declarative properties. The link between the event-based and state-based formalisms is defined through fluents which are state predicates whose value are determined by the occurrences of initiating and terminating events that make the fluents values become true or false, respectively. The existing fluent temporal logic is convenient for reasoning about untimed event-based models but difficult to use for timed models. The paper extends fluent temporal logic with temporal operators for modelling timed properties of discrete-time event-based models. It presents two approaches that differ on whether the properties model the system state after the occurrence of each event or at a fixed time rate. Model checking of timed properties is made possible by translating them into the existing untimed framework. Copyright 2005 ACM

Green Propellant Landing Demonstration at U.S. Range

The Green Propellant Loading Demonstration (GPLD) was conducted December 2015 at Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), leveraging work performed over recent years to bring lower toxicity hydrazine replacement green propellants to flight missions. The objective of this collaboration between NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), WFF, the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB), and Ecological Advanced Propulsion Systems (ECAPS) was to successfully accept LMP-103S propellant at a U.S. Range, store the propellant, and perform a simulated flight vehicle propellant loading. NASA GSFC Propulsion (Code 597) managed all aspects of the operation, handling logistics, preparing the procedures, and implementing the demonstration. In addition to the partnership described above, Moog Inc. developed an LMP-103S propellant-compatible titanium rolling diaphragm flight development tank and loaned it to GSFC to act as the GPLD flight vessel. The flight development tank offered the GPLD an additional level of flight-like propellant handling process and procedures. Moog Inc. also provided a compatible latching isolation valve for remote propellant expulsion. The GPLD operation, in concert with Moog Inc. executed a flight development tank expulsion efficiency performance test using LMP-103S propellant. As part of the demonstration work, GSFC and WFF documented Range safety analyses and practices including all elements of shipping, storage, handling, operations, decontamination, and disposal. LMP-103S has not been previously handled at a U.S. Launch Range. Requisite for this activity was an LMP-103S Risk Analysis Report and Ground Safety Plan. GSFC and WFF safety offices jointly developed safety documentation for application into the GPLD operation. The GPLD along with the GSFC Propulsion historical hydrazine loading experiences offer direct comparison between handling green propellant versus safety intensive, highly toxic hydrazine propellant. These described motives initiated the GPLD operation in order to investigate the handling and process safety variances in project resources between LMP-103S and typical in-space propellants. The GPLD risk reduction operation proved successful for many reasons including handling the green propellant at a U.S. Range, loading and pressurizing a flight-like tank, expelling the propellant, measuring the tank expulsion efficiency, and most significantly, GSFC propulsion personnel's new insight into the LMP-103S propellant handling details