The slot car stig: Performance and consistency of a slot car driven by a heuristic algorithm in an embedded microcontroller

We present theory and measured performance of an autonomous slot car driven by a heuristic algorithm on a typical track. The hardware consists of a PIC 8-bit single-chip microcontroller with various sensors driving a standard permanent-magnet (PM) brushed dc (BDC) motor in a mechanically-standard Scalextric platform. We present some interesting results concerning the relative difficulty of apparently-balanced lanes on a track. The car achieves optimum lap times with high consistency. Measured performance agrees with theoretical expectation. The consistency of performance allows the impact of experimental changes to be reliably assessed

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

Measuring University Web Site Quality: A Development of a User-Perceived Instrument and its Initial Implementation to Web sites of Accounting Departments in New Zealand's Universities

The emergent popularity of Web technologies and their applications have created vast opportunities for organisations, including institutions of higher education, to stretch out for broader customers and create greater networking relationships. The global and far-reaching nature of the Web, its various interactive capabilities, and the rapid growth of the Web use worldwide have made university Web sites more essential for promotion and commercial purposes. However, it has been acknowledged that in order to gain the benefits from Web utilisation, a well-designed Web site is needed. Previous studies on quality of Web sites are not lacking, but most of them have been focussed mainly on business Web sites. Empirical research that focuses on the Web site quality of institutions of higher education has been scarce. In this study, an instrument for measuring university Web site quality was developed and validated by taking into account both the perspectives of the users and the importance of its informational content. The instrument was subsequently put to the test by implementing it for measuring and ranking the quality of Web sites of Accounting Departments in New Zealand's universities. The results from this initial application substantiated the validity and reliability of the instrument.University Web sites, Web site quality, Instrument development, Accounting Department Web sites ranking

Resonant Electro-Optic Frequency Comb

High speed optical telecommunication is enabled by wavelength division multiplexing, whereby hundreds of individually stabilized lasers encode the information within a single mode optical fiber. In the seek for larger bandwidth the optical power sent into the fiber is limited by optical non-linearities within the fiber and energy consumption of the light sources starts to become a significant cost factor. Optical frequency combs have been suggested to remedy this problem by generating multiple laser lines within a monolithic device, their current stability and coherence lets them operate only in small parameter ranges. Here we show that a broadband frequency comb realized through the electro-optic effect within a high quality whispering gallery mode resonator can operate at low microwave and optical powers. Contrary to the usual third order Kerr non-linear optical frequency combs we rely on the second order non-linear effect which is much more efficient. Our result uses a fixed microwave signal which is mixed with an optical pump signal to generate a coherent frequency comb with a precisely determined carrier separation. The resonant enhancement enables us to operate with microwave powers three order magnitude smaller than in commercially available devices. We can expect the implementation into the next generation long distance telecommunication which relies on coherent emission and detection schemes to allow for operation with higher optical powers and at reduced cost

Long spin coherence times in the ground state and an optically excited state of 167^{167}Er3+^{3+}:Y2_2SiO5_5 at zero magnetic field

Spins in solids are an ideal candidate to act as a memory and interface with superconducting qubits due to their long coherence times. We spectroscopically investigate erbium-167-doped yttrium orthosilicate as a possible microwave-addressed memory employing its microwave frequency transitions that occur without applying an external magnetic field. We obtain coherence times of 380 $\mu$s in a ground state spin transition and 1.48 ms in an excited state spin transition. This is 28 times longer compared to previous zero field measurements, as well as 200 times longer than a previous microwave memory demonstration in the same material. These long coherence times show that erbium-167-doped yttrium orthosilicate has potential as a microwave-addressed quantum memory.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. The paper has been expanded compared to the previous version on arXiv, and the title has change

Fostering innovation in a small open economy: The case of the New Zealand biotechnology sector

The New Zealand Biotechnology sector is worthy of study for several reasons. While there is a large and growing international literature on economic aspects of biotechnology innovation these studies concentrate on the United States and Europe. The New Zealand biotechnology sector may be expected to develop along a different trajectory as a consequence of a markedly different set of initial and framework conditions. Government has indicated a strong interest in fostering innovation and aims to concentrate on selected areas where New Zealand may be able to develop a new comparative advantage. One such area is biotechnology, which would build on New Zealand’s existing comparative advantage in the primary sector (dairy, forestry, meat, wool and horticulture). This paper describes the preliminary results of an ongoing study that aims to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge of innovation processes in New Zealand while using the international literature as a benchmark. The paper focuses on the drivers of innovation in the biotechnology sector; the role of networks and other linkages; the role of government and industry, the role of human and venture capital, and data from patenting

Extending Phenomenological Crystal-Field Methods to C1C_1 Point-Group Symmetry: Characterization of the Optically-Excited Hyperfine Structure of 167^{167}Er3+^{3+}:Y2_2SiO5_5

We show that crystal-field calculations for $C_1$ point-group symmetry are possible, and that such calculations can be performed with sufficient accuracy to have substantial utility for rare-earth based quantum information applications. In particular, we perform crystal-field fitting for a C$_1$-symmetry site in $^{167}$Er$^{3+}$:Y$_2$SiO$_5$. The calculation simultaneously includes site-selective spectroscopic data up to 20,000 cm$^{-1}$, rotational Zeeman data, and ground- and excited-state hyperfine structure determined from high-resolution Raman-heterodyne spectroscopy on the 1.5 $\mu$m telecom transition. We achieve an agreement of better than 50 MHz for assigned hyperfine transitions. The success of this analysis opens the possibility of systematically evaluating the coherence properties, as well as transition energies and intensities, of any rare-earth ion doped into Y$_2$SiO$_5$ .Comment: 6 pages, plus 5 pages in supplementary information, 4 figures tota

Development of innovative cross-disciplinary engineering showcase

The development of engineering education relies substantially on interactive showcases and practical knowledge. The cross-disciplinary engineering showcase is designed to be fully interactive by having user input, producing a tangible output, and to understand distinct elements from each of the engineering disciplines such as, civil, mechanical and electrical (CME). The showcase operates from the input of mechanical rotational energy by the user pedalling the exercycle. Mechanical energy is then transferred to the pump via a gear train, which converts the user input of 30 rpm to the optimal pump operating speed of 2900 rpm. Further, it is used to pump water from the lower eservoir to the upper reservoir via one of the three flow paths, which the user can select by opening or closing flow valves. Once the water reaches a given height, it then flows back to the lower reservoir via a micro-hydro generator. As a result, it generates electrical energy stored in a power bank that can be used by the user to charge a digital device. Also, the showcase has a QR code to digital media, which will provide an additional explanation/exposition of the presented engineering principles to the user/students. The aim of this project is to develop a cross- disciplinary engineering showcase to enhance student learnings by interpreting the CME engineering principles in schools, institutes, and universities