Publish or perish? Using iterative research techniques to trouble the research development narrative.

This collaborative paper presents a novel form of iterative journal writing to challenge dominant narratives around successful research development. Drawing on aspects of complexity theory (notably iteration) we show how narrative form can simultaneously critique, inform and support the development of academic writers on a personal level. After introducing ourselves and our rationale for undertaking this research, we present our iterative writing methodology. We show how a cyclical process of writing and response, with a focus on emotional responses to the demands and affordances of the pressure to publish, can inform and inspire critical self-reflexion as an indispensable part of our academic role as researchers and writers. This approach troubles a narrative in researcher development which sees the latter as a counterproductive exercise in human capital development, highlighting the extent to which the latter is gendered, individualistic and confrontational. Initial findings include the need to express and develop emotional engagement with writing for publication in pedagogical settings. As a precursor to writing; as a foundation for selfhood; and as a fertile area for research itself, this neglected aspect of learning is, we argue, crucial to successful engagement with the increasingly significant publication narrative

The Woman Thou Gavest Me

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/5375/thumbnail.jp

Ab Initio Liquid Hydrogen Muon Cooling Simulations with ELMS in ICOOL

This paper presents new theoretical results on the passage of muons through liquid hydrogen which have been confirmed in a recent experiment. These are used to demonstrate that muon bunches may be compressed by ionisation cooling more effectively than suggested by previous calculations. Muon cooling depends on the differential cross section for energy loss and scattering of muons. We have calculated this cross section for liquid H2 from first principles and atomic data, avoiding traditional assumptions. Thence, 2-D probability maps of energy loss and scattering in mm-scale thicknesses are derived by folding, and stored in a database. Large first-order correlations between energy loss and scattering are found for H2, which are absent in other simulations. This code is named ELMS, Energy Loss & Multiple Scattering. Single particle trajectories may then be tracked by Monte Carlo sampling from this database on a scale of 1 mm or less. This processor has been inserted into the cooling code ICOOL. Significant improvements in 6-D muon cooling are predicted compared with previous predictions based on GEANT. This is examined in various geometries. The large correlation effect is found to have only a small effect on cooling. The experimental scattering observed for liquid H2 in the MUSCAT experiment has recently been reported to be in good agreement with the ELMS prediction, but in poor agreement with GEANT simulation.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

FIRES: Fast Imaging and 3D Reconstruction of Archaeological Sherds

Sherds, as the most common artifacts uncovered during archaeologicalexcavations, carry rich information about past human societies so need to beaccurately reconstructed and recorded digitally for analysis and preservation.Often hundreds of fragments are uncovered in a day at an archaeologicalexcavation site, far beyond the scanning capacity of existing imaging systems.Hence, there is high demand for a desirable image acquisition system capable ofimaging hundreds of fragments per day. In response to this demand, we developeda new system, dubbed FIRES, for Fast Imaging and 3D REconstruction of Sherds.The FIRES system consists of two main components. The first is an optimallydesigned fast image acquisition device capable of capturing over 700 sherds perday (in 8 working hours) in actual tests at an excavation site, which is oneorder-of-magnitude faster than existing systems. The second component is anautomatic pipeline for 3D reconstruction of the sherds from the images capturedby the imaging acquisition system, achieving reconstruction accuracy of 0.16milimeters. The pipeline includes a novel batch matching algorithm that matchespartial 3D scans of the front and back sides of the sherds and a new ICP-typemethod that registers the front and back sides sharing very narrow overlappingregions. Extensive validation in labs and testing in excavation sitesdemonstrated that our FIRES system provides the first fast, accurate, portal,and cost-effective solution for the task of imaging and 3D reconstruction ofsherds in archaeological excavations.<br

Urban transportation: Perspectives on mobility and choice

A study of urban transportation systems are presented characterized by intensive scrutiny of many ideas, philosophies, and academic perspectives. This report is intended to communicate some dimensions of the urban transportation problem to the general public

GRB 050408: An Atypical Gamma-Ray Burst as a Probe of an Atypical Galactic Environment

The bright GRB 050408 was localized by HETE-II near local midnight, enabling an impressive ground-based followup effort as well as space-based followup from Swift. The Swift data from the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) and our own optical photometry and spectrum of the afterglow provide the cornerstone for our analysis. Under the traditional assumption that the visible waveband was above the peak synchrotron frequency and below the cooling frequency, the optical photometry from 0.03 to 5.03 days show an afterglow decay corresponding to an electron energy index of p_lc = 2.05 +/- 0.04, without a jet break as suggested by others. A break is seen in the X-ray data at early times (at ~12600 sec after the GRB). The spectral slope of the optical spectrum is consistent with p_lc assuming a host-galaxy extinction of A_V = 1.18 mag. The optical-NIR broadband spectrum is also consistent with p = 2.05, but prefers A_V = 0.57 mag. The X-ray afterglow shows a break at 1.26 x 10^4 sec, which may be the result of a refreshed shock. This burst stands out in that the optical and X-ray data suggest a large H I column density of N_HI ~ 10^22 cm^-2; it is very likely a damped Lyman alpha system and so the faintness of the host galaxy (M_V > -18 mag) is noteworthy. Moreover, we detect extraordinarily strong Ti II absorption lines with a column density through the GRB host that exceeds the largest values observed for the Milky Way by an order of magnitude. Furthermore, the Ti II equivalent width is in the top 1% of Mg II absorption-selected QSOs. This suggests that the large-scale environment of GRB 050408 has significantly lower Ti depletion than the Milky Way and a large velocity width (delta v > 200 km/s).Comment: ApJ submitte

Geographic variation in host selection in the spider wasps \u3ci\u3eEntypus unifasciatus\u3c/i\u3e (Say) and \u3ci\u3eTachypompilus ferrugineus\u3c/i\u3e (Say) (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae), II

This paper is the sequel to a 20 year-long (2002–2021) study of geographic variation in host selec­tion in the common American spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) Entypus unifasciatus (Say) (Pepsini) and Tachypompilus ferrugineus (Say) (Pompilini) (rusty spider wasp). Geography and host spider family are strongly linked in both species when 3387 host spider locality records from the years 1918–2021 are mapped. Entypus unifasciatus lycosid host records are plentiful from 43–44° N in the United States and southern Ontario to northern Mexico. Tachypompilus ferrugineus lycosid host records are abundant from southern Ontario and New England southward to Mexico east of the Rocky Mountains. The vast majority (~80%) of E. unifasciatus and T. ferrugineus pisaurid host records are from the southeastern United States. Trechaleid host records for E. unifasciatus and T. ferrugineus are predominant in southern Mexico and Central America, while ctenid host records for these spider wasps are prevalent in Central America and, especially, South America. All E. unifasciatus sparassid host records are from extreme southwestern United States and north­ern Mexico, whereas T. ferrugineus sparassid host records are scattered from Texas, Florida and Hispaniola/Puerto Rico southward to Panama and Brazil. Based on this study Lycosidae is the predominant host spider family in the Americas for E. unifasciatus (83.1%) and T. ferrugineus (64.0%) followed by Pisauridae (4.9%, 24.8%), Trechaleidae (4.2%, 6.0%), Ctenidae (4.3%, 2.7%), and Sparassidae (3.1%, 1.6%). Lycosidae and Pisauridae are overrepresented in this study as most host records (88.1%) are from the United States and On­tario, Canada where such species are abundant. Trechaleidae and Ctenidae are grossly underrepresented as host records from Mexico, Central America and South America are scarce (11.9%). Zoropsidae/Miturgidae 2 · March 31, 2022 Kurczewski et al. and Zoropsidae/Agelenidae/Selenopidae are atypical host spider families for E. unifasciatus (0.2%, 0.2%) and T. ferrugineus (0.7%, 0.2%, \u3c0.1%), respectively. Rabidosa rabida (Walckenaer) (Lycosidae) (rabid wolf spi­der) is the predominant host spider species for both E. unifasciatus (47.7%) and T. ferrugineus (48.0%) based mainly on United States host records

Computational studies of light acceptance and propagation in straight and curved multimodal active fibres

A Monte Carlo simulation has been performed to track light rays in cylindrical multimode fibres by ray optics. The trapping efficiencies for skew and meridional rays in active fibres and distributions of characteristic quantities for all trapped light rays have been calculated. The simulation provides new results for curved fibres, where the analytical expressions are too complex to be solved. The light losses due to sharp bending of fibres are presented as a function of the ratio of curvature to fibre radius and bending angle. It is shown that a radius of curvature to fibre radius ratio of greater than 65 results in a light loss of less than 10% with the loss occurring in a transition region at bending angles of pi/8 rad.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figure

Method for keeping RBOF waste within EPA pH limits for nonhazardous waste

A system to control corrosion, while reducing the amount of hazardous waste generated, is proposed for the RBOF receiving basin. Details of the chemistry, experimental setup, and methods for monitoring pH are included in this report