The Seedling Sanctuary: Automated Cold Frame for Gardner Elementary

The purpose of this report is to provide the details of the Seedling Sanctuary, a mechanical engineering senior design project. The project in question is an automated cold frame designed specifically for Gardner Academy, a local elementary school in San Jose. A cold frame is a miniature greenhouse that opens like a chest and is made from clear plastic. Automated ventilation and watering systems create a microclimate within this greenhouse structure to create the ideal growing conditions for seeds. The main purposes of the cold frame are to lengthen the growing season, be maintenance free, and enhance garden education. From testing, the project goals were verified to have been achieved through several performance metrics. First, the system’s ability to lengthen the growing season is dependent on germinating seedlings that can be planted earlier in the season. The automated system maintained the seedlings at the proper soil moisture levels to grow. The system also implemented passive temperature control systems to maintain the plants in ideal conditions. With the ventilation and thermal mass, the system is able to be cooler at the hottest times of day and warmer at night than unprotected plants. The system has also successfully automated the care of the seedlings, achieving our goal of being maintenance free. Finally, the enhancement of garden education was incorporated through community engagement with the design and building of the cold frame, as well as the Bluetooth application which will be used in the school curriculum

On the effects of self- and cross-phase modulation on photon purity for four-wave mixing photon-pair sources

We consider the effect of self-phase modulation and cross-phase modulation on the joint spectral amplitude of photon pairs generated by spontaneous four-wave mixing. In particular, the purity of a heralded photon from a pair is considered, in the context of schemes that aim to maximise the purity and minimise correlation in the joint spectral amplitude using birefringent phase-matching and short pump pulses. We find that non-linear phase modulation effects will be detrimental, and will limit the quantum interference visibility that can be achieved at a given generation rate. An approximate expression for the joint spectral amplitude with phase modulation is found by considering the group velocity walk-off between each photon and the pump, but neglecting the group-velocity dispersion at each wavelength. The group-velocity dispersion can also be included with a numerical calculation, and it is shown that it only has a small effect on the purity for the realistic parameters considered.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

Monte Carlo Renormalization Group calculation in λϕ34\lambda\phi^4_3

We start by discussing some theoretical issues of renormalization group transformations and Monte Carlo renormalization group technique. A method to compute the anomalous dimension is proposed and investigated. As an application, we find excellent values for critical exponents in $\lambda \phi^4_3$. Some technical questions regarding the hybrid algorithm and strong coupling expansions, used to compute the critical couplings of the canonical surface, are also briefly discussed.Comment: 3 pages, 2 PostScript files. Parallel talk given at Lattice9

Resonance in PSR B1257+12 Planetary System

In this paper we present a new method that can be used for analysis of time of arrival of a pulsar pulses (TOAs). It is designated especially to detect quasi-periodic variations of TOAs. We apply our method to timing observations of PSR B1257+12 and demonstrate that using it it is possible to detect not only first harmonics of a periodic variations, but also the presence of a resonance effect. The resonance effect detected, independently of its physical origin, can appear only when there is a non-linear interaction between two periodic modes. The explanation of TOAs variations as an effect of the existence of planets is, till now, the only known and well justified. In this context, the existence of the resonance frequency in TOAs is the most significant signature of the gravitational interaction of planets.Comment: AASLaTeX + 5 figures (eps files), 15 pages; submitted to Ap

Exposure to innovation influences who becomes an inventor

Relatively little is known about the factors that induce people to become inventors

Engaging Communities in their Heritage: Collaboration between Higher Education and the Voluntary Sector in Wales and Ireland

The paper focuses on an Interreg funded pilot project entitled ‘Heritage and Culture for Learning, Empowerment and Sustainable Tourism’.  The project was a collaborative development between a Higher Education Institution in Wales and a Voluntary Sector Organisation in Ireland and adopted an innovative approach to engaging communities in their heritage.  The central aim of the project was to develop and promote joint opportunities for the creation of sustainable tourism products which build on the natural assets (people and landscape), built assets, culture and heritage of the Wales Ireland cross border region.  In practice this was achieved through an innovative approach combining research, lifelong learning, higher level skills development, networking, marketing and business development through active engagement of local communities. The pilot project ended in July 2013, and the focus of this presentation is an evaluation of the project outcomes and experiences.Le document met l'accent sur un projet pilote financé par Interreg intitulé «Patrimoine et Culture pour l'apprentissage, autonomisation et tourisme durable ». Le projet a été l’aboutissement d’un travail collaboratif entre un établissement d'enseignement supérieur au Pays de Galles et un organisme du secteur bénévole en Irlande et a adopté une approche novatrice de l'engagement des communautés dans leur patrimoine. L'objectif central du projet était de développer et de promouvoir les possibilités communes de collaboration pour la création de produits de tourisme durable qui s'appuient sur les ressources naturelles (personnes et paysage), de patrimoine bâti, de la culture et du patrimoine de la région transfrontalière du Pays de Galles-Irlande. Dans la pratique, cela a été réalisé grâce à une approche innovante combinant la recherche, la formation continue, le développement des compétences de plus haut niveau, le réseautage, le marketing et le développement des entreprises grâce à l'engagement actif des communautés locales. Le projet pilote a pris fin en Juillet 2013, et la mise au point de cette présentation est une évaluation des résultats et des expériences du projet.يركز هذا البحث على مشروع تجريبي مموَّل من طرف برنامج التعاون الأوروبي العابر للحدود (Interreg) بعنوان: "التراث والثقافة من أجل التعلم، التمكين و السياحة المستدامة." اعتمد المشروع على عمل تعاوني بين معهد التعليم العالي ببلاد الغال و منظمة تابعة للقطاع التطوُّعي بإيرلندا معتمدين على مقاربة مجددة لإشراك المجتمعات في تراثها.كان الهدف الرئيسي من المشروع هو تطوير وتعزيز الفرص المشتركة لخلق منتجات سياحية مستدامة، والتي تعتمد على الثروات الطبيعية (أشخاص ومناظر طبيعية)، التراث المعماري بالإضافة إلى الثقافة والتراث في المنطقة الحدودية بين بلاد الغال وإيرلندا. عمليا، تحقق ذلك من خلال مقاربة مبتكرة جمعت بين البحث، والتعلم المتواصل، وتنمية المهارات على أعلى مستوى، والربط الشبكي، والتسويق وتطوير الأعمال من خلال المشاركة الفعالة للمجتمعات المحلية. انتهى المشروع التجريبي في جويلية2013، ويركز هذا العرض على تقييم نتائجه والخبرات المستفادة منه

The effect of ambient temperature on cold start urban traffic emissions for a real world SI car

The influence of ambient temperature on exhaust emissions for an instrumented Euro 1 SI car was determined. A real world test cycle was used, based on an urban drive cycle that was similar to the ECE urban drive cycle. It was based on four laps of a street circuit and an emissions sample bag was taken for each lap. The bag for the first lap was for the cold start emissions. An in-vehicle direct exhaust dual bag sampling technique was used to simultaneously collect exhaust samples upstream and downstream of the three-way catalyst (TWC). The cold start tests were conducted over a year, with ambient temperatures ranging from – 2°C to 32°C. The exhaust system was instrumented with thermocouples so that the catalyst light off temperature could be determined. The results showed that CO emissions for the cold start were reduced by a factor of 8 downstream of catalyst when ambient temperature rose from -2°C to 32°C, the corresponding hydrocarbon emissions were reduced by a factor of 4. There was no clear relationship between NOx emissions and ambient temperature. For subsequent laps of the test circuit the reduction of CO and HC emissions as a function of ambient temperature was lower. The time for catalyst light off increased by 50% as the ambient temperature was reduced. The results show that the vehicle used is unlikely to meet the new – 7oC cold start CO emission regulations

Global oceanic emission of ammonia: constraints from seawater and atmospheric observations

Current global inventories of ammonia emissions identify the ocean as the largest natural source. This source depends on seawater pH, temperature, and the concentration of total seawater ammonia (NHx(sw)), which reflects a balance between remineralization of organic matter, uptake by plankton, and nitrification. Here we compare [NHx(sw)] from two global ocean biogeochemical models (BEC and COBALT) against extensive ocean observations. Simulated [NHx(sw)] are generally biased high. Improved simulation can be achieved in COBALT by increasing the plankton affinity for NHx within observed ranges. The resulting global ocean emissions is 2.5 TgN a−1, much lower than current literature values (7–23 TgN a−1), including the widely used Global Emissions InitiAtive (GEIA) inventory (8 TgN a−1). Such a weak ocean source implies that continental sources contribute more than half of atmospheric NHx over most of the ocean in the Northern Hemisphere. Ammonia emitted from oceanic sources is insufficient to neutralize sulfate aerosol acidity, consistent with observations. There is evidence over the Equatorial Pacific for a missing source of atmospheric ammonia that could be due to photolysis of marine organic nitrogen at the ocean surface or in the atmosphere. Accommodating this possible missing source yields a global ocean emission of ammonia in the range 2–5 TgN a−1, comparable in magnitude to other natural sources from open fires and soils