A flexible flight display research system using a ground-based interactive graphics terminal

Requirements and research areas for the air transportation system of the 1980 to 1990's were reviewed briefly to establish the need for a flexible flight display generation research tool. Specific display capabilities required by aeronautical researchers are listed and a conceptual system for providing these capabilities is described. The conceptual system uses a ground-based interactive graphics terminal driven by real-time radar and telemetry data to generate dynamic, experimental flight displays. These displays are scan converted to television format, processed, and transmitted to the cockpits of evaluation aircraft. The attendant advantages of a Flight Display Research System (FDRS) designed to employ this concept are presented. The detailed implementation of an FDRS is described. The basic characteristics of the interactive graphics terminal and supporting display electronic subsystems are presented and the resulting system capability is summarized. Finally, the system status and utilization are reviewed

Power Up: Exploring Gaming in LIS Curricula

Given their educational potential, increasing accessibility, and growing, diverse user base, games are fast becoming integral parts of library collections and programming. Previous research has found that few ALA-accredited programs offer courses specifically on gaming in libraries, potentially leaving pre-service librarians unprepared to implement games in their libraries. This research study will survey LIS educators to identify factors that promote or inhibit the inclusion or exclusion of content related to games and gaming in their courses and curricula. The findings will be used to provide recommendations for curricula and best practices to better prepare LIS educators and, ultimately, pre-service librarians to engage with games and other new interactive media as part of the transforming universe of LIS education

Can grey ravens fly? Beyond Frayling's categories

This paper analyses the effect of Christopher Frayling's (1993) categorisation of artistic research ‘research into art and design, research through art and design and research for art and design’ on the debate surrounding the efficacy of studio-based artistic research as being valid within the university. James Elkins (2009:128) describes this as ‘the incommensurability of studio art production and university life’. Through an exploration of the positive and negative responses to Frayling this paper seeks to explore the influence that these initial definitions have come to have on framing the scope of the debate. The paper presents a range of responses and analyses them and focuses especially on the alternative frameworks that have been suggested and examines why they have so far not created a coherent and uncontested frame-work for practice-led research in the art and design field especially in relation to fine art

Improving measurements of SF6 for the study of atmospheric transport and emissions

Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is a potent greenhouse gas and useful atmospheric tracer. Measurements of SF6 on global and regional scales are necessary to estimate emissions and to verify or examine the performance of atmospheric transport models. Typical precision for common gas chromatographic methods with electron capture detection (GC-ECD) is 1–2%. We have modified a common GC-ECD method to achieve measurement precision of 0.5% or better. Global mean SF6 measurements were used to examine changes in the growth rate of SF6 and corresponding SF6 emissions. Global emissions and mixing ratios from 2000–2008 are consistent with recently published work. More recent observations show a 10% decline in SF6 emissions in 2008–2009, which seems to coincide with a decrease in world economic output. This decline was short-lived, as the global SF6 growth rate has recently increased to near its 2007–2008 maximum value of 0.30±0.03 pmol mol−1 (ppt) yr−1 (95% C.L.)

Nitrous oxide in fresh water systems: An estimate for the yield of atmospheric N2O associated with disposal of human waste

The N2O content of waters in the Potomac and Merrimack Rivers was measured on a number of occasions over the period April to July 1977. The concentrations of dissolved N2O exceeded those which would apply in equilibrium with air by factors ranging from about 46 in the Potomac to 1.2 in the Merrimack. Highest concentrations of dissolved N2O were associated with sewage discharges from the vicinity of Washington, D. C., and analysis indicates a relatively high yield, 1.3 to 11%, for prompt conversion of waste nitrogen to N2O. Measurements of dissolved N2O in fresh water ponds near Boston demonstrated that aquatic systems provide both strong sources and sinks for atmospheric N2O

A Self-Consistent Model of the Circumstellar Debris Created by a Giant Hypervelocity Impact in the HD172555 System

Spectral modeling of the large infrared excess in the Spitzer IRS spectra of HD 172555 suggests that there is more than 10^19 kg of sub-micron dust in the system. Using physical arguments and constraints from observations, we rule out the possibility of the infrared excess being created by a magma ocean planet or a circumplanetary disk or torus. We show that the infrared excess is consistent with a circumstellar debris disk or torus, located at approximately 6 AU, that was created by a planetary scale hypervelocity impact. We find that radiation pressure should remove submicron dust from the debris disk in less than one year. However, the system's mid-infrared photometric flux, dominated by submicron grains, has been stable within 4 percent over the last 27 years, from IRAS (1983) to WISE (2010). Our new spectral modeling work and calculations of the radiation pressure on fine dust in HD 172555 provide a self-consistent explanation for this apparent contradiction. We also explore the unconfirmed claim that 10^47 molecules of SiO vapor are needed to explain an emission feature at 8 um in the Spitzer IRS spectrum of HD 172555. We find that unless there are 10^48 atoms or 0.05 Earth masses of atomic Si and O vapor in the system, SiO vapor should be destroyed by photo-dissociation in less than 0.2 years. We argue that a second plausible explanation for the 8 um feature can be emission from solid SiO, which naturally occurs in submicron silicate "smokes" created by quickly condensing vaporized silicate.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journa

Ozone loss derived from balloon-borne tracer measurements in the 1999/2000 Arctic winter

Balloon-borne measurements of CFC11 (from the DIRAC in situ gas chromatograph and the DESCARTES grab sampler), ClO and O3 were made during the 1999/2000 Arctic winter as part of the SOLVE-THESEO 2000 campaign, based in Kiruna (Sweden). Here we present the CFC11 data from nine flights and compare them first with data from other instruments which flew during the campaign and then with the vertical distributions calculated by the SLIMCAT 3D CTM. We calculate ozone loss inside the Arctic vortex between late January and early March using the relation between CFC11 and O3 measured on the flights. The peak ozone loss (~1200ppbv) occurs in the 440-470K region in early March in reasonable agreement with other published empirical estimates. There is also a good agreement between ozone losses derived from three balloon tracer data sets used here. The magnitude and vertical distribution of the loss derived from the measurements is in good agreement with the loss calculated from SLIMCAT over Kiruna for the same days

Making judgements about students making work : lecturers’ assessment practices in art and design.

This research study explores the assessment practices in two higher education art and design departments. The key aim of this research was to explore art and design studio assessment practices as lived by and experienced by art and design lecturers. This work draws on two bodies of pre existing research. Firstly this study adopted innovative methodological approaches that have been employed to good effect to explore assessment in text based subjects (think aloud) and moderation mark agreement (observation). Secondly the study builds on existing research into the assessment of creative practice. By applying thinking aloud methodologies into a creative practice assessment context the authors seek to illuminate the ‘in practice’ rather than espoused assessment approaches adopted. The analysis suggests that lecturers in the study employed three macro conceptions of quality to support the judgement process. These were; the demonstration of significant learning over time, the demonstration of effective studentship and the presentation of meaningful art/design work