Vision-aided Monitoring and Control of Thermal Spray, Spray Forming, and Welding Processes

Vision is one of the most powerful forms of non-contact sensing for monitoring and control of manufacturing processes. However, processes involving an arc plasma or flame such as welding or thermal spraying pose particularly challenging problems to conventional vision sensing and processing techniques. The arc or plasma is not typically limited to a single spectral region and thus cannot be easily filtered out optically. This paper presents an innovative vision sensing system that uses intense stroboscopic illumination to overpower the arc light and produce a video image that is free of arc light or glare and dedicated image processing and analysis schemes that can enhance the video images or extract features of interest and produce quantitative process measures which can be used for process monitoring and control. Results of two SBIR programs sponsored by NASA and DOE and focusing on the application of this innovative vision sensing and processing technology to thermal spraying and welding process monitoring and control are discussed

A multigrid continuation method for elliptic problems with folds

We introduce a new multigrid continuation method for computing solutions of nonlinear elliptic eigenvalue problems which contain limit points (also called turning points or folds). Our method combines the frozen tau technique of Brandt with pseudo-arc length continuation and correction of the parameter on the coarsest grid. This produces considerable storage savings over direct continuation methods,as well as better initial coarse grid approximations, and avoids complicated algorithms for determining the parameter on finer grids. We provide numerical results for second, fourth and sixth order approximations to the two-parameter, two-dimensional stationary reaction-diffusion problem: Δu+λ exp(u/(1+au)) = 0. For the higher order interpolations we use bicubic and biquintic splines. The convergence rate is observed to be independent of the occurrence of limit points

Measuring New Zealand students' international capabilities: an exploratory study

Executive summary: This exploratory study considers the feasibility of measuring New Zealand senior secondary (Years 12/13) students’ \u27international capabilities\u27. Building on background work undertaken by the Ministry’s International Division, the methodology had three components. An analysis of New Zealand and international literature pertinent to assessment of international capabilities was undertaken. Small-group workshops were conducted with 13 secondary school staff, 21 senior secondary students, and 10 adults with relevant expertise and perspectives about expression of international capabilities in post-school life. The third component was a visit to the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to discuss similar assessment challenges in their work. What are international capabilities and why measure them? Broadly speaking, international capabilities can be described as the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that enable people to live, work, and learn across international and intercultural contexts. These capabilities, or aspects of them, are described by a range of terms in the literature, including international knowledge and skills, global competence, global/international citizenship, global/international mindedness, and intercultural competence. The Ministry’s background work suggests international capabilities can be seen as “the international and intercultural facet of the key competencies”. Focusing on development of New Zealand students’ international capabilities could, among other things: help make more explicit what the key competencies look like when they’re applied in intercultural or international situations provide a way to open a conversation with schools about internationalisation of education support New Zealand schools to better understand, analyse, and talk about the intercultural/internationalising learning activities they already do  open conversations about cultural diversity in New Zealand schools and communities and the opportunities this can provide for intercultural learning  create an opportunity for schools to revisit parts of The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) vision, including the notion of students being “international citizens”  encourage schools to connect with businesses and the wider community to develop learning opportunities that help students to develop innovation and entrepreneurial capabilities and connect these capabilities with intercultural and international contexts. Measuring New Zealand students’ international capabilities could help us to better understand how the schooling system helps to “increase New Zealanders’ knowledge and skills to operate effectively across cultures.” It could feed into ongoing developments within educational policy and practice to better align curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy with the high-level goals of The New Zealand Curriculum. Looking further into the future, knowledge about how our schools support the development of students’ international capabilities could assist with longer-term redesign of educational policy, curriculum, assessment, and qualifications to keep pace as demands and pressures on learning and schooling continue to change through the 21st century

The Impact of Race and Ethnicity on Sexual Violence: A Case Study on Underserved Populations in Minnesota

Sexual violence in Minnesota impacts hundreds of thousands of lives and costs billions of dollars each year. This qualitative case study describes how victims that are people of color experience sexual violence at disproportionately high rates and face additional barriers when seeking legal, medical, and mental health and crisis advocacy services in Minnesota. The methodology employed includes secondary data collection using books, scholarly articles, and archival data. Individual interviews and a focus group interview were used to collect primary research. The voluntary interview participants were advocates that provide services for victims of sexual violence in Minnesota. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed with participant consent. Statements from the transcriptions were coded into themes with the assistance of two graduate students to check for reliability and validity. The major themes described from the interviews include: the anti-sexual violence movement, barriers in the medical system, barriers in the legal system, sexual assault advocacy organizations and culture, white privilege and power dynamics, and oppression, historical trauma, racism, and marginalization. It was concluded that given the history with historical trauma and oppression, people of color often experience additional barriers as victims of sexual violence. Minnesotans need to have more conversations about sexual violence, oppression, and racism. Victims that are people of color must have the power in their own healing journeys, as well as power in the future of the anti-sexual violence movement