Radiation-Hardness of PIN/VCSEL Arrays for the ATLAS Pixel Detector

I report on irradiation tests of PIN/VCSEL candidates for the ATLAS Pixel Detector's optical data-link, conducted at CERN by OSU's ATLAS group in 2006-2008.No embarg

Education in Edinburgh in the eighteenth century

This study is an attempt to describe education in Edinburgh in the eighteenth century, a period which saw such a remarkable flowering of the intellectual life of the city that it is impossible for the student of literature or history not to feel curious about the circumstances that helped to produce it. One of the contributing factors was the educational system, and its special significance has not been studied in detail before. Fortunately information about the schools is in existence in official records, books, and newspapers.Many elements combined to create the circumstances in Edinburgh at the end of the century that were favourable to the development of genius. Historians and critics have pointed to the expansion of the city boundaries, the imaginative design of the New Town, the completion of public works like the North and South Bridges and the Royal Exchange, the quickening of interest in drama, art, and music, as all helping to produce an atmosphere congenial to the intellectual growth of men like Henry Mackenzie, Scott, Horner, Jeffrey, and Cockburn, and stimulating to the ordinary men of the day. In previous assessments-, the importance of the educational system of Edinburgh has not been stressed, which is unfortunate, not only because it was different from that of other Scottish and English cities, but also because at the very time when most of these men of genius were young in Edinburgh, 2. the University under the Principalship of William Robertson, one of the distinguished historians of the day, was attracting able men as teachers and students, and the High School, where the ablest boys were trained, was in the charge of a great teacher in its Rector, Alexander Adam..Books have been written on the University, the High School, George Heriot's Hospital, and other schools in Edinburgh, but no attempt has yet been made to give a complete picture of the various kinds of schools that existed in Edinburgh in the eighteenth century. It is the intention of this study to try to provide such a comprehensive view. It will include, for example, information about the Charity and English schoöls, where most of the children learned to read and write; the High Schools of Edinburgh, Canongate, and South Leith; the Hospitals of George Heriot and George Watson, and those for the Merchant Maidens and Trades Maidens associated with the name of Mary Erskine; and the great variety of private schools, private teachers, and boarding schools. There will also be some consideration of the books used in these schools, particularly those written by Edinburgh teachers.Before a detailed study of the schools can be begun, it is necessary to sketch, in outline, something of the background. Accordingly, in this first chapter there will be some consideration of the size and growth of the city in the period under review, and of the Town Council which was responsible for it. Secondly, since the place of the Church of Scotland is of prime importance in any study of Scottish education, some estimate must be given of the powers of the Church in general, and its position in Edinburgh in. particular. Thirdly, something must be said, however briefly, about the special and indeed peculiar place of the University in the city

A framework for the adoption and diffusion of Personal Learning Environments in commercial organisations: an exploratory study in the learning and development sector in the UK

This study presents an exploratory approach to identify the main factors of Personal Learning Environment (PLE) adoption and diffusion within commercial organisations. Utilising an inductive investigative approach via the use of Grounded Theory methodology, relevant adoption factors were identified and their resulting influence during various stages of the innovation diffusion process were proposed. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews followed by systematic analysis using a three-staged coding process. The results revealed 10 factors affecting the adoption of PLEs influencing the innovation diffusion process at various stages. Informed by the Technology Acceptance Model and Innovation Diffusion Theory, the proposed model could have important implications for key decision makers within commercial organisations, while adopting, rejecting and assimilating new technological innovations (e.g. PLE) for learning delivery

Abstracting Multidimensional Concepts for Multilevel Decision Making in Multirobot Systems

Multirobot control architectures often require robotic tasks to be well defined before allocation. In complex missions, it is often difficult to decompose an objective into a set of well defined tasks; human operators generate a simplified representation based on experience and estimation. The result is a set of robot roles, which are not best suited to accomplishing those objectives. This thesis presents an alternative approach to generating multirobot control algorithms using task abstraction. By carefully analysing data recorded from similar systems a multidimensional and multilevel representation of the mission can be abstracted, which can be subsequently converted into a robotic controller. This work, which focuses on the control of a team of robots to play the complex game of football, is divided into three sections: In the first section we investigate the use of spatial structures in team games. Experimental results show that cooperative teams beat groups of individuals when competing for space and that controlling space is important in the game of robot football. In the second section, we generate a multilevel representation of robot football based on spatial structures measured in recorded matches. By differentiating between spatial configurations appearing in desirable and undesirable situations, we can abstract a strategy composed of the more desirable structures. In the third section, five partial strategies are generated, based on the abstracted structures, and a suitable controller is devised. A set of experiments shows the success of the method in reproducing those key structures in a multirobot system. Finally, we compile our methods into a formal architecture for task abstraction and control. The thesis concludes that generating multirobot control algorithms using task abstraction is appropriate for problems which are complex, weakly-defined, multilevel, dynamic, competitive, unpredictable, and which display emergent properties

A Rank-Based Sequential Test of Independence

We consider the problem of independence testing for two univariate random variables in a sequential setting. By leveraging recent developments on safe, anytime-valid inference, we propose a test with time-uniform type-I error control and derive explicit bounds on the finite sample performance of the test and the expected stopping time. We demonstrate the empirical performance of the procedure in comparison to existing sequential and non-sequential independence tests. Furthermore, since the proposed test is distribution free under the null hypothesis, we empirically simulate the gap due to Ville's inequality, the supermartingale analogue of Markov's inequality, that is commonly applied to control type I error in anytime-valid inference, and apply this to construct a truncated sequential test

CO2 on the International Space Station: An Operations Update

PROBLEM STATEMENT: We describe CO2 symptoms that have been reported recently by crewmembers on the International Space Station and our continuing efforts to control CO2 to lower levels than historically accepted. BACKGROUND: Throughout the International Space Station (ISS) program, anecdotal reports have suggested that crewmembers develop CO2-related symptoms at lower CO2 levels than would be expected terrestrially. Since 2010, operational limits have controlled the 24-hour average CO2 to 4.0 mm Hg, or below as driven by crew symptomatology. In recent years, largely due to increasing awareness by crew and ground team, there have been increased reports of crew symptoms. The aim of this presentation is to discuss recent observations and operational impacts to lower CO2 levels on the ISS. CASE PRESENTATION: Crewmembers are routinely asked about CO2 symptoms in their weekly private medical conferences with their crew surgeons. In recent ISS expeditions, crewmembers have noted symptoms attributable to CO2 starting at 2.3 mmHg. Between 2.3 - 2.7 mm Hg, fatigue and full-headedness have been reported. Between 2.7 - 3.0 mm Hg, there have been self-reports of procedure missed steps or procedures going long. Above 3.0 - 3.4 mm Hg, headaches have been reported. A wide range of inter- and intra-individual variability in sensitivity to CO2 have been noted. OPERATIONAL / CLINICAL RELEVANCE: These preliminary data provide semi-quantitative ranges that have been used to inform a new operational limit of 3.0 mmHg as a compromise between systems capabilities and the recognition that there are human health and performance impacts at recent ISS CO2 levels. Current evidence would suggest that an operational limit between 0.5 and 2.0 mm Hg may maintain health and performance. Future work is needed to establish long-term ISS and future vehicle operational limits

Low-frequency electronic noise in superlattice and random-packed thin films of colloidal quantum dots

We report measurements of low-frequency electronic noise in ordered superlattice, weakly-ordered and random-packed thin films of 6.5 nm PbSe quantum dots prepared using several different ligand chemistries. For all samples, the normalized noise spectral density of the dark current revealed a Lorentzian component, reminiscent of the generation-recombination noise, superimposed on the 1/f background (f is the frequency). An activation energy of 0.3 eV was extracted from the temperature dependence of the noise spectra. The noise level in the ordered films was lower than that in the weakly-ordered and random-packed films. A large variation in the magnitude of the noise spectral density was also observed in samples with different ligand treatments. The obtained results are important for application of colloidal quantum dot films in photodetectors.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures and supplemental inf

Rededication Ceremony

Program from the rededication ceremony for the Alexander Campbell King Law Library which had been extensively remodeled and refurbished