The Application of Paperless Processes to Improve Data Management within Small to Medium Businesses

Businesses are creating new value by implementing new processes built on modern tools. Small businesses, though, with much fewer resources than the most significant competitors, cannot follow the same path. How can these businesses use standard, widely available tools and techniques to improve their processes and create value within their business? This paper discusses the implementation of paperless processes using the electronic form technology, Google Forms, within the Honors Program at Georgia Southern University over two years. Action research methods were used to guide the research and implementation of new processes. Through the introduction of cloud-based electronic forms and process automation, process steps relying on paper and manual entry of data were reduced, increasing overall process quality

CCD time-series photometry of the globular cluster NGC 5053: RR Lyrae, Blue Stragglers and SX Phoenicis stars revisited

We report the results of CCD $V$, $r$ and $I$ time-series photometry of the globular cluster NGC 5053. New times of maximum light are given for the eight known RR Lyrae stars in the field of our images and their periods are revised. Their $V$ light curves were Fourier decomposed to estimate their physical parameters. A discussion on the accuracy of the Fourier-based iron abundances, temperatures, masses and radii is given. New periods are found for the 5 known SX Phe stars and a critical discussion of their secular period changes is offered. The mean iron abundance for the RR Lyrae stars is found to be [Fe/H] $\sim -1.97 \pm 0.16$ and lower values are not supported by the present analysis. The absolute magnitude calibrations of the RR Lyrae stars yield an average true distance modulus of $16.12 \pm 0.04$ or a distance of $16.7 \pm 0.3$ kpc. Comparison of the observational CMD with theoretical isochrones indicates an age of $12.5 \pm 2.0$ Gyrs for the cluster. A careful identification of all reported Blue Stragglers (BS) and their $V,I$ magnitudes leads to the conclusion that BS12, BS22, BS23 and BS24 are not BS. On the other hand, three new BS are reported. Variability was found in seven BS, very likely of the SX Phe type in five of them, and in one red giant star. The new SX Phe stars follow established $PL$ relationships and indicate a distance in agreement with the distance from the RR Lyrae stars.Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures, 11 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Laser-induced Precession of Magnetization in GaMnAs

We report on the photo-induced precession of the ferromagnetically coupled Mn spins in (Ga,Mn)As, which is observed even with no external magnetic field applied. We concentrate on various experimental aspects of the time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (TR-MOKE) technique that can be used to clarify the origin of the detected signals. We show that the measured data typically consist of several different contributions, among which only the oscillatory signal is directly connected with the ferromagnetic order in the sample.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Femoral Neck Anteversion: Values, Development, Measurement, Common Problems

The femoral neck anteversion angle is an important factor for hip stability and normal walking. It is multifactoral result of evolution, heredity, fetal development, intrauterine position, and mechanical forces. Abnormal FNA sometimes can be associated with many clinical problems ranging from harmless intoeing gait in the early childhood, to disabling osteoarthritis of the hip and the knee in the adults. In most cases is associated with minor functional problems in children during growth, but cause a concern in parents for children future. The child must be examined carefully and an accurate diagnosis must be established. The most important part of care is observation of the children. If abnormal femoral neck anteversion produces severe functional disability, derotational osteotomy should be done, but delayed until late childhoo

Dwarf Cepheids in the Carina Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

We have discovered 20 dwarf Cepheids (DC) in the Carina dSph galaxy from the analysis of individual CCD images obtained for a deep photometric study of the system. These short-period pulsating variable stars are by far the most distant (~100 kpc) and faintest (V ~ 23.0) DCs known. The Carina DCs obey a well-defined period-luminosity relation, allowing us to readily distinguish between overtone and fundamental pulsators in nearly every case. Unlike RR Lyr stars, the pulsation mode turns out to be uncorrelated with light-curve shape, nor do the overtone pulsators tend towards shorter periods compared to the fundamental pulsators. Using the period-luminosity (PL) relations from Nemec et al. (1994 AJ, 108, 222) and McNamara (1995, AJ, 109, 1751), we derive (m-M)_0 = 20.06 +/- 0.12, for E(B-V) = 0.025 and [Fe/H] = -2.0, in good agreement with recent, independent estimates of the distance/reddening of Carina. The error reflects the uncertainties in the DC distance scale, and in the metallicity and reddening of Carina. The frequency of DCs among upper main sequence stars in Carina is approximately 3%. The ratio of dwarf Cepheids to RR Lyr stars in Carina is 0.13 +/- 0.10, though this result is highly sensitive to the star-formation history of Carina and the evolution of the Horizontal Branch. We discuss how DCs may be useful to search effectively for substructure in the Galactic halo out to Galactocentric distances of ~100 kpc.Comment: 20 pages of text, 7 figure

Stellar impact on disequilibrium chemistry and on observed spectra of hot Jupiter atmospheres

In this work we study the effect of disequilibrium processes on mixing ratio profiles of neutral species and on the simulated spectra of a hot Jupiter exoplanet that orbits stars of different spectral types. We also address the impact of stellar activity that should be present to a different degree in all stars with convective envelopes. We used the VULCAN chemical kinetic code to compute number densities of species. The temperature-pressure profile of the atmosphere was computed with the HELIOS code. We also utilized the $\tau$-ReX forward model to predict the spectra of planets in primary and secondary eclipses. In order to account for the stellar activity we made use of the observed solar XUV spectrum taken from Virtual Planetary Laboratory (VPL) as a proxy for an active sun-like star. We find large changes in mixing ratios of most chemical species in planets orbiting A-type stars that radiate strong XUV flux inducing a very effective photodissociation. For some species, these changes can propagate very deep into the planetary atmosphere to pressures of around 1 bar. To observe disequilibrium chemistry we favor hot Jupiters with temperatures Teq=1000 K and ultra-hot Jupiters with Teq=3000$ K that also have temperature inversion in their atmospheres. On the other hand, disequilibrium calculations predict little changes in spectra of planets with intermediate temperatures. We also show that stellar activity similar to the one of the modern Sun drives important changes in mixing ratio profiles of atmospheric species. However, these changes take place at very high atmospheric altitudes and thus do not affect predicted spectra. We estimate that the effect of disequilibrium chemistry in planets orbiting nearby bright stars could be robustly detected and studied with future missions with spectroscopic capabilities in infrared such as, e.g., JWST and ARIEL.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure

The Star Formation History of the Carina Dwarf Galaxy

We have analyzed deep B and V photometry of the Carina dwarf spheroidal reaching below the old main-sequence turnoff to about V = 25. Using simulated color-magnitude diagrams to model a range of star formation scenarios, we have extracted a detailed, global star formation history. Carina experienced three significant episodes of star formation at about 15 Gyr, 7 Gyr, and 3 Gyr. Contrary to the generic picture of galaxy evolution, however, the bulk of star formation, at least 50%, occured during the episode 7 Gyr ago, which may have lasted as long as 2 Gyr. For unknown reasons, Carina formed only 10-20% of its stars at an ancient epoch and then remained quiescent for more than 4 Gyr. The remainder (~30%) formed relatively recently, only 3 Gyr ago. Interest in the local population of dwarf galaxies has increased lately due to their potential importance in the understanding of faint galaxy counts. We surmise that objects like Carina, which exhibits the most extreme episodic behavior of any of the dwarf spheroidal companions to the Galaxy, are capable of contributing to the observed excess of blue galaxies at B = 24 only if the star formation occurred instantaneously.Comment: 23 pages of text, 20 figures, 8 tables. AJ, in pres