Diamond growth in premixed propylene-oxygen flames

Diamond film growth in low-pressure premixed propylene/oxygen flames is demonstrated. Well-faceted films are grown at a pressure of 180 Torr and a fuel/oxygen ratio of 0.47. Using propylene as the fuel may greatly improve the economics of flame synthesis of diamond, since propylene is an order of magnitude cheaper than acetylene

Test Set Diameter: Quantifying the Diversity of Sets of Test Cases

A common and natural intuition among software testers is that test cases need to differ if a software system is to be tested properly and its quality ensured. Consequently, much research has gone into formulating distance measures for how test cases, their inputs and/or their outputs differ. However, common to these proposals is that they are data type specific and/or calculate the diversity only between pairs of test inputs, traces or outputs. We propose a new metric to measure the diversity of sets of tests: the test set diameter (TSDm). It extends our earlier, pairwise test diversity metrics based on recent advances in information theory regarding the calculation of the normalized compression distance (NCD) for multisets. An advantage is that TSDm can be applied regardless of data type and on any test-related information, not only the test inputs. A downside is the increased computational time compared to competing approaches. Our experiments on four different systems show that the test set diameter can help select test sets with higher structural and fault coverage than random selection even when only applied to test inputs. This can enable early test design and selection, prior to even having a software system to test, and complement other types of test automation and analysis. We argue that this quantification of test set diversity creates a number of opportunities to better understand software quality and provides practical ways to increase it.Comment: In submissio

Diamond films from combustion of methyl acetylene and propadiene

To date diamond films grown with the combustion technique have used either acetylene or, rarely, ethylene as the fuel. However, there are barriers to large scale commercialization of the combustion technique using either fuel. For example, acetylene is relatively expensive and difficult to handle, while the use of ethylene gives relatively low growth rates. In this letter we propose replacing acetylene with MAPPTM gas, a commercial mixture of methyl acetylene and propadiene in liquefied petroleum gas (primarily propylene). MAPP gas is considerably cheaper, safer, and easier to handle than acetylene. Furthermore, the experiments described here suggest that MAPP gas flames are only slightly less efficient than acetylene flames at converting fuel carbon atoms into diamond

A People's History Of Recent Urban Transportation Innovation

Who are the people leading the charge in urban transportation? As our report explains, the short answer is that it takes leaders from three different sectors of urban society to make change happen quickly.First, there needs to be a robust civic vanguard, the more diverse their range of skills and participation, the better. Second, mayors, commissioners and other city leaders need to create the mandate and champion the change. The third sector is the agency staff. When these three sectors align, relatively quick transformation is possible. Several cities, including New York and Pittsburgh, recently experienced this alignment of a healthy civic community, a visionary and bold mayor and transportation head, and internal agency champions. Our report also highlighted the potential of other cities, such as Charlotte, where the civic sector continues to build on and widen their base

Applying Biblical Principles Towards a Model of Theological Dialogue at the Hillside O\u27Malley Church

Problem Based on feedback from members of the Hillside O’Malley Church through personal conversations, theological polarization threatened to paralyze the local church and keep it from fulfilling its mission of ministering to its members and reaching out to the community with the gospel message. The theological polarization stemmed from divergences on the presuppositional, macro-hermeneutical level that are revealed visibly in how members interpret the biblical text. Method The methodology that was employed was to derive biblical principles from an exegesis of the book of Acts specifically related to theological reason, which included an understanding of how presuppositions worked in the minds of individuals described in the book of Acts. The principles were applied towards a dialogical model at the Hillside O’Malley Church. The literature review examined seminal and contemporary Christian thinkers concerning theological reason; the dialogical model was informed but not determined by the literature review as the foundational principles were intended to come from Scripture. The participants in the dialogical model were members of the Hillside O’Malley Church and engaged in a preparation process prior to dialogue through intellectual and heart preparation, which was an application of principles derived from an exegesis of the book of Acts. The participants engaged in a series of three dialogues, which were applications of the principles derived from the book of Acts. The dialogues were preceded by an initial interview and followed by a final interview. The interviews were examined qualitatively to see whether the dialogue had lowered negative interpersonal feelings in the minds of the participants stemming from theological polarization and whether the participants sensed possible shifts on a presuppositional level as a result of the dialogue. Results Eight participants took part in the implementation process. All of the participants expressed that the dialogue implementation had slightly improved the relational dynamics between the participants; however, after the dialogue, half of the participants still expressed anxiety about the potential issues stemming from theological polarization as they looked towards the future. Seven out of the eight participants conveyed that they perceived that there was no change in the ideological frameworks of the participants as a result of the dialogue. Those participants sensed that everyone was set in their theological positions, which indicated that there was no notable change in the participant’s presuppositions as a result of the dialogue implementation. Conclusion Although there was minimal change in the relational dynamics between the participants, the dialogue implementation did not cause ideological shifts that affected theological polarization. The theological reflection of the book of Acts revealed that individual human volition surrender to Scripture and the Holy Spirit’s illumination, and that conversion is the determiner of whether there are changes at a presuppositional level. Although methodology can potentially provide the environment for the Holy Spirit to work and the opportunity for engagement with Scripture, there is no human formula or method that can change the mind of others

Measuring producer welfare under output price uncertainty and risk non-neutrality

Procedures to measure the producer welfare effects of changes in an output price distribution under uncertainty are reviewed. Theory and numerical integration methods are combined to show how for any form of Marshallian risk-responsive supply, compensating variation of a change in higher moments of an output price distribution can be derived numerically. The numerical procedure enables measurement of producer welfare effects in the many circumstances in which risk and uncertainty are important elements. The practical ease and potential usefulness of the procedure is illustrated by measuring the producer welfare effects of USA rice policy.price uncertainty, risk non-neutrality, welfare economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty,

TOWARDS MEASURING PRODUCER WELFARE UNDER OUTPUT PRICE UNCERTAINTY AND RISK NON-NEUTRALITY

We combine theory with numerical integration methods to show that for any form of uncompensated supply, compensating variation of a change in higher moments of an output price distribution can be numerically derived.Producer welfare, price uncertainty, risk, Demand and Price Analysis, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Risk and Uncertainty,