Gardner-Webb Yesterday and Today

In Back to the Future Part II (1989), Marty McFly and Emmett ‘Doc’ Brown travel 30 years forward in time to October 21, 2015. In honor of yesterday’s “Back to the Future Day,” we’re giving you a glimpse of what Gardner-Webb was like in 1955 and 1985, two of the other time periods featured in the iconic film trilogy.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/gwu-today/1226/thumbnail.jp

Spin-resolved spectroscopy of the intermediate polar DQ Her

We present high-speed spectroscopic observations of the intermediate polar (IP) DQ Herculis. Doppler tomography of two He I lines reveals a spiral density structure in the accretion disc around the white dwarf (WD) primary. The spirals look very similar to the spirals seen in dwarf novae during outburst. DQ Her is the first well-established IP in which spirals are seen, which are in addition likely persistent because of the system's high mass transfer rate. Spiral structures give an alternative explanation for sidebands of the WD spin frequency that are found in IP light curves. The Doppler tomogram of He II lambda 4686 indicates that a large part of the emission is not disc-like. Spin trails of spectra reveal a pulsation in the He II lambda 4686 emission that is believed to result from reprocessing of X-rays from the WD's magnetic poles in the accretion flow close to the WD. We confirm the previous finding that the pulsation is only visible in the redshifted part of the line when the beam points to the back side of the disc. The absence of reprocessed light from the front side of the disc can be explained by obscuration by the front rim of the disc, but the absence of extra emission from the blueshifted back side of the disc is puzzling. Reprocessing in accretion curtains can be an answer to the problem and can also explain the highly non-Keplerian velocity components that are found in the He II lambda 4686 line. Our spin trails can form a strong test for future accretion curtain models, with the possibility of distinguishing between a spin period of 71 or 142 s. Spin trails of data taken at selected orbital phases show little evidence for a significant contribution of the bright spot to the pulsations and allow us to exclude a recent suggestion that 71 s is the beat period and 70.8 s the spin period

Challenges of integration and globalization

There has been plenty of books and articles written about integration and globalisation, especially in English. However, these processes are characterised as being extremely dynamic. The researchers are eye-witnesses to a constantly changing reality and appearing new, often unexpected phenomena accompanying unification or even uniformisation of the modern world.Editors, Foreword -- Part I Globalization and Integration Processes in the Contemporary World -- George Gamkrelidze, How Globalization Affects Integration -- Grzegorz Piwnicki, The Future of the European Union. The Most Important Issues -- Jakub Potulski, The European Sociopolitical Sphere -- Wojciech Forysinski, Integration and Disintegration of International Law in the 21st Century: between Universality and Differentiation -- Stanisław Sipowicz, Globalization and Cyber Threats -- Part II National Experiences with Globalization and Integration Processes -- Andrzej Chodubski, The Importance of Universal Values in the Process of Polish Integration with Europe -- Dušan Leška, Struggle of the Slovak Republic to Join the European Union -- Lucia Mokrá, Approximation of Slovak Constitutional Order to EU Law – Case Study of Successful Accession -- Arkadiusz Modrzejewski, The Concepts of Eastern Borders of Europe and European Identity of Georgia -- Piotr Andrusieczko and Kateryna Shestakova, Challenges for Georgia and Ukraine in the Black Sea Region -- Olha Voznyuk, Ukraine: Back to Homo Sovieticus? -- Anna Szramkowska, Chinese Presence in Global Governance. New Ways or Old Problems for Developing Countries. Case Study of Sudan and Angola

Report from GI-Dagstuhl Seminar 16394: Software Performance Engineering in the DevOps World

This report documents the program and the outcomes of GI-Dagstuhl Seminar 16394 "Software Performance Engineering in the DevOps World". The seminar addressed the problem of performance-aware DevOps. Both, DevOps and performance engineering have been growing trends over the past one to two years, in no small part due to the rise in importance of identifying performance anomalies in the operations (Ops) of cloud and big data systems and feeding these back to the development (Dev). However, so far, the research community has treated software engineering, performance engineering, and cloud computing mostly as individual research areas. We aimed to identify cross-community collaboration, and to set the path for long-lasting collaborations towards performance-aware DevOps. The main goal of the seminar was to bring together young researchers (PhD students in a later stage of their PhD, as well as PostDocs or Junior Professors) in the areas of (i) software engineering, (ii) performance engineering, and (iii) cloud computing and big data to present their current research projects, to exchange experience and expertise, to discuss research challenges, and to develop ideas for future collaborations

Future Contingents and the Logic of Temporal Omniscience

At least since Aristotle’s famous 'sea-battle' passages in On Interpretation 9, some substantial minority of philosophers has been attracted to the doctrine of the open future--the doctrine that future contingent statements are not true. But, prima facie, such views seem inconsistent with the following intuition: if something has happened, then (looking back) it was the case that it would happen. How can it be that, looking forwards, it isn’t true that there will be a sea battle, while also being true that, looking backwards, it was the case that there would be a sea battle? This tension forms, in large part, what might be called the problem of future contingents. A dominant trend in temporal logic and semantic theorizing about future contingents seeks to validate both intuitions. Theorists in this tradition--including some interpretations of Aristotle, but paradigmatically, Thomason (1970), as well as more recent developments in Belnap, et. al (2001) and MacFarlane (2003, 2014)--have argued that the apparent tension between the intuitions is in fact merely apparent. In short, such theorists seek to maintain both of the following two theses: (i) the open future: Future contingents are not true, and (ii) retro-closure: From the fact that something is true, it follows that it was the case that it would be true. It is well-known that reflection on the problem of future contingents has in many ways been inspired by importantly parallel issues regarding divine foreknowledge and indeterminism. In this paper, we take up this perspective, and ask what accepting both the open future and retro-closure predicts about omniscience. When we theorize about a perfect knower, we are theorizing about what an ideal agent ought to believe. Our contention is that there isn’t an acceptable view of ideally rational belief given the assumptions of the open future and retro-closure, and thus this casts doubt on the conjunction of those assumptions

China\u27s Reform of Aviation: A Signal of the Siginificance of Competition under Law

What will China be like at the millenium\u27s close? China may be the most changing nation on Earth, with few definite landmarks to guide analysis of political and economic developments. One\u27s perspective is important: up too close, one sees the eddies of intrigue which occasionally topple someone in high office; too far back, one can miss the extraordinary significance of what is happening in China at this point in history. This discussion has limited goals. Under examination is the strikingly anamolous introduction of competitive economic forces into a high-technology service sector: aviation. The approach of this examination is to inquire into the development of legal systems regulating that competition. Part I establishes the theoretical principles of the recent economic reforms in China. Part II describes the manifold changes in China\u27s aviation industry. Part III offers some restrained comments regarding what these changes may, in light of the past, signify for China\u27s future

China\u27s Reform of Aviation: A Signal of the Siginificance of Competition under Law

What will China be like at the millenium\u27s close? China may be the most changing nation on Earth, with few definite landmarks to guide analysis of political and economic developments. One\u27s perspective is important: up too close, one sees the eddies of intrigue which occasionally topple someone in high office; too far back, one can miss the extraordinary significance of what is happening in China at this point in history. This discussion has limited goals. Under examination is the strikingly anamolous introduction of competitive economic forces into a high-technology service sector: aviation. The approach of this examination is to inquire into the development of legal systems regulating that competition. Part I establishes the theoretical principles of the recent economic reforms in China. Part II describes the manifold changes in China\u27s aviation industry. Part III offers some restrained comments regarding what these changes may, in light of the past, signify for China\u27s future

Null Preemption

This Article proceeds as follows. In Part I, I introduce the concept of null preemption. I discuss in greater detail the case of regulation of motor vehicle tailpipe greenhouse-gas emissions as a case study of null preemption. In Part II, I explore the contours of null preemption, and then describe, and distinguish among, several paradigmatic settings in which null preemption may arise. In Part III, I consider the normative case for null preemption. I conclude that the case is narrow. I also consider concerns of institutional choice and argue that even those who generally defend agency preemption of state law should be wary of “back door” assertions of null preemption by agencies, and should therefore support some congressional constraints on regulatory freedom. In Part IV, I consider how concerns of political economy may explain why null preemption has historically been uncommon, but may become more common in the future. Finally, in Part V, I offer suggestions as to how Congress might constrain regulators from invoking null preemption, and also for courts called upon to review claimed occurrences of null preemption

The Promise of Higher Education

This book is a collection of short essays, accessible through open access, which takes the interested reader on a tour across the global higher education landscape. It addresses pertinent themes and challenges in higher education. To mark the 70th anniversary of the International Association of Universities (IAU) and its role in higher education since 1950, experts from around the world share their insights into higher education’s recent past, present and future. The book is divided into six parts: Part I – “70 years of Higher Education Cooperation and Advocacy” looks back at key events in IAU’s history, its mission and significant activities over time, and remarks on the current global context informing its quest to promote academic partnerships and solidarity on a global scale. Part II – “Facilitating International Cooperation” provides for different perspectives on the transformation of the internationalisation of higher education and the contribution of higher education to international cooperation. Part III – “Coding the Values” debates the values upon which higher education was, is and will have to be built to provide for a democratic and inclusive society. Part IV – “The Changing Landscape” analyses various aspects of the transformation of higher education in an evolving context across the globe. Part V – “The Promise of Education” reflects on the role of higher education, its ideals and shortfalls and what it must do to stay true to its promise to help shape our societies. Part VI – “Opening up – The Future of Higher Education” focuses on future scenarios of higher education and call on the reader to envision a different kind of higher education and reimagine the contribution of higher education to society, as well as future roles for the IAU. The book will be of interest to higher education policy makers and academics. It is also of interest to the general public, as it provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges higher education institutions currently face and suggests scenarios of what the future of education might look like