Parabolic Dish Concentrator (PDC-1)

The design, construction, and installation of the Parabolic Dish Concentrator, Type 1 (PDC-1) has been one of the most significant JPL concentrator projects because of the knowledge gained about this type of concentrator and the development of design, testing, and analysis procedures which are applicable to all solar concentrator projects. The need for these procedures was more clearly understood during the testing period which started with the prototype panel evaluation and ended with the performance characterization of the completed concentrator. For each phase of the test program, practical test procedures were required and these procedures defined the mathematical analysis which was essential for successful concentrator development. The concentrator performance appears to be limited only by the distortions resulting from thermal gradients through the reflecting panels. Simple optical testing can be extremely effective, but comprehensive mechanical and optical analysis is essential for cost effective solar concentrator development

Frustration of the isotropic-columnar phase transition of colloidal hard platelets by a transient cubatic phase

Using simulations and theory, we show that the cubatic phase is metastable for three model hard platelets. The locally favored structures of perpendicular particle stacks in the fluid prevent the formation of the columnar phase through geometric frustration resulting in vitrification. Also, we find a direct link between structure and dynamic heterogeneities in the cooperative rotation of particle stacks, which is crucial for the devitrification process. Finally, we show that the life time of the glassy cubatic phase can be tuned by surprisingly small differences in particle shape.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Alien Registration- Dennison, Josephine M. (Limerick, York County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/3449/thumbnail.jp

Rebuilding the Appalachian Economy From the Ground Up: Towards A Holistic Organizational Framework for Community and Economic Development in Rural Extractive Areas

Central Appalachia specifically and rural extractive areas more generally face some of the most challenging socio-economic realities in North America. Community-based organizations (CBOs) are an important tool for addressing these challenges. As governments intensify efforts to mitigate climate change, and as fossil-fuel industries contract, extracted communities are experiencing economic, cultural, and environmental upheaval. Many leaders call for a “just transition” away from fossil-fuels, which would make local extraction communities whole. However, achieving a truly just transition away from fossil fuels is extraordinarily challenging, and many extracted communities were never whole to begin with. I argue CBOs are the crucial vehicle through which effective community and economic development (CED) outcomes can materialize for distressed rural communities. Yet CBOs do not receive nearly enough funding, policy-focus, or high-level partnership. Technical assistance provided to CBOs is often ineffective, especially in rural settings. Evaluation systems for measuring rural CBO effectiveness are inadequate. My research is primarily geared toward practitioners and aspiring practitioners. Findings, program designs and evaluative structures put forward herein are based on experience with Coalfield Development, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization I founded in southern West Virginia in 2010. Coalfield Development has essentially served as my research field lab. This dissertation provides four sections detailing organizational capabilities which local CBOs can develop and implement towards the goal of a just transition and improved quality of life for their unique rural place. In doing so, support is needed from funders and policy-makers in order to succeed. Much better evaluative systems are needed, as well, which could improve resource allocation decisions in these greatly under-invested communities and could also improve organizational effectiveness. The four capabilities and corresponding sections of this dissertation are: capacity building for rural CBOs incubating and investing in employment social enterprises human development for people facing barriers to employment and community-based real-estate revitalization In this dissertation, I use mixed-methods to draw insights and best-practices from more than a decade of interventions through Coalfield Development including case studies, focus groups, surveys, cost-benefit-analyses, program designs and program evaluations. My research illustrates and articulates the value of all four capabilities, finding them each as essential components for CBOs working in extracted local economies. While this research is based in central Appalachia it is intended to be useful to practitioners, policymakers, funders, local leaders and researchers in other rural fossil-fuel communities throughout the world

The University of Montana: Institutional Mythology and Historical Reality

This unedited draft manuscript is Volume 1 of University of Montana President and Professor Emeritus George M. Dennison’s history of The University of Montana. Dennison\u27s tenure as President of the University of Montana was the longest in the institution\u27s history. In office from 1990 until 2010, his connection to UM began well before he served in any executive capacity. As a student he earned both his B.A. and M.A. degrees in history from the university in 1962 and 1963 respectively. After retiring, Dennison returned to his roots as a historian. Focusing on the institution that played such a pivotal role in his life, Dennison began researching and writing a comprehensive history of the University of Montana. He produced a partial manuscript prior to his death in 2017. As indicated by its title, The University of Montana: Institutional Mythology and Historical Reality, Dennison\u27s manuscript seeks to explore how mythology and reality intertwine in the historical narrative of the school. He wrote much of it against the backdrop of the U.S. Presidential election of 2016, and states in his preface that his belief in the imperative for historical truth informed his approach to this research. Dennison breaks the history of the university into seven distinct periods, which span from its founding in 1893 to present day. Delving into each of the university\u27s presidential administrations, Dennison analyzes how major developments in UM history unfolded within the larger context of Montana state politics and, at times, national and international events. Taking a particular lens to the advent of the land-grant college, Dennison contends that dueling beliefs about the fundamental purpose of higher education set the institution, in its infancy, on a long and meandering path to its eventual mature university status. While charting the course, Dennison explores the role of enduring campus myths alongside the actual strategies, accomplishments, and failures of the people who built the University of Montana over the last century. Dennison considered this manuscript Volume 1 of his institutional history. In it he refers to Chapters 4, 5 and 6 and an Epilogue that are not present in this draft.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/theuniversityofmontana/1000/thumbnail.jp

Developing Ecological Literacy for Citizen Action

Public attention has recently focused upon the relevance of the education we provide to the roughly 14 million students enrolled at colleges and universities in the United States

The nature of emotional support and counselling provision for people with sight loss in the United Kingdom

People with sight loss in the United Kingdom are known to have lower levels of emotional wellbeing and to be at higher risk of depression. Consequently ‘having someone to talk to’ is an important priority for people with visual impairment. An on-line survey of the provision of emotional support and counselling for people affected by sight loss across the UK was undertaken. The survey was distributed widely and received 182 responses. There were more services offering ‘emotional support’, in the form of listening and information and advice giving, than offered ‘counselling’. Services were delivered by providers with differing qualifications in a variety of formats. Waiting times were fairly short and clients presented with a wide range of issues. Funding came from a range of sources, but many felt their funding was vulnerable. Conclusions have been drawn about the need for a national standardised framework for the provision of emotional support and counselling services for blind and partially sighted people in the U

Статус інституту прокуратури в системі органів державної влади України

У статті розглядається проблема місця та ролі органів прокуратури в механізмі державної влади. На основі аналізу та класифікації різних моделей інституціональної взаємодії прокуратури з іншими гілками влади автор виділяє окрему гілку влади - контрольно-наглядову. Ключові слова: інституційна взаємодія, інтеграція прокуратури, контрольно-наглядова гілка влади.В статье рассматривается проблема места и роли органов прокуратуры в механизме государственной власти. На основе анализа и классификации разных моделей институционального взаимодействия прокуратуры с другими ветвями власти автор выделяет отдельную ветвь власти - контрольно-наблюдательную. Ключевые слова: институциональное взаимодействие, интеграция прокуратуры, контрольно-наблюдательная ветвь власти.The problem of the role and the place of procuratorship in the state mechanism is covered in the article. According to the analyzing and classificating different modals of institutional interactions with other branches of government the author points out separate branch of government . supervising one. Key words: institutional interaction, integration of procuratorship, supervising branch of government

Critical behaviour in the nonlinear elastic response of hydrogels

In this paper we study the elastic response of synthetic hydrogels to an applied shear stress. The hydrogels studied here have previously been shown to mimic the behaviour of biopolymer networks when they are sufficiently far above the gel point. We show that near the gel point they exhibit an elastic response that is consistent with the predicted critical behaviour of networks near or below the isostatic point of marginal stability. This point separates rigid and floppy states, distinguished by the presence or absence of finite linear elastic moduli. Recent theoretical work has also focused on the response of such networks to finite or large deformations, both near and below the isostatic point. Despite this interest, experimental evidence for the existence of criticality in such networks has been lacking. Using computer simulations, we identify critical signatures in the mechanical response of sub-isostatic networks as a function of applied shear stress. We also present experimental evidence consistent with these predictions. Furthermore, our results show the existence of two distinct critical regimes, one of which arises from the nonlinear stretch response of semi-flexible polymers.