Information technology: futurism, corporations and the state

The significance of information technology (IT)' lies in the breadth of its potential impact on society: on work, communications, political processes, education and entertainment. It offers not just the possibility, in the current economic crisis, of restructuring work in order to gain greater control over that process the better to increase productivity, but also the possibility of a new cycle of growth in both capital and consumer goods, facilitating the restructuring of modes of consumption and the strengthening and recomposition of capital over patterns of leisure, communication and entertainment

What You Do in High School Matters: The Effects of High School GPA on Educational Attainment and Labor Market Earnings in Adulthood

Using abstracted grades and other data from Add Health, we investigate the effects of cumulative high school GPA on educational attainment and labor market earnings among a sample of young adults (ages 24-34). We estimate several models with an extensive list of control variables and high school fixed effects. Results consistently show that high school GPA is a positive and statistically significant predictor of educational attainment and earnings in adulthood. Moreover, the effects are large and economically important for each gender. Interesting and somewhat unexpected findings emerge for race. Various sensitivity tests support the stability of the core findings.High school grades; Educational attainment; Earnings; Panel data

Remote Detection of Saline Intrusion in a Coastal Aquifer Using Borehole Measurements of Self-Potential

Funded by NERC CASE studentship . Grant Number: NE/I018417/1Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Tactile Interactions with a Humanoid Robot : Novel Play Scenario Implementations with Children with Autism

Acknowledgments: This work has been partially supported by the European Commission under contract number FP7-231500-ROBOSKIN. Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.The work presented in this paper was part of our investigation in the ROBOSKIN project. The project has developed new robot capabilities based on the tactile feedback provided by novel robotic skin, with the aim to provide cognitive mechanisms to improve human-robot interaction capabilities. This article presents two novel tactile play scenarios developed for robot-assisted play for children with autism. The play scenarios were developed against specific educational and therapeutic objectives that were discussed with teachers and therapists. These objectives were classified with reference to the ICF-CY, the International Classification of Functioning – version for Children and Youth. The article presents a detailed description of the play scenarios, and case study examples of their implementation in HRI studies with children with autism and the humanoid robot KASPAR.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Effect of emerging technology on a convertible, business/interceptor, supersonic-cruise jet

This study was initiated to assess the feasibility of an eight-passenger, supersonic-cruise long range business jet aircraft that could be converted into a military missile carrying interceptor. The baseline passenger version has a flight crew of two with cabin space for four rows of two passenger seats plus baggage and lavatory room in the aft cabin. The ramp weight is 61,600 pounds with an internal fuel capacity of 30,904 pounds. Utilizing an improved version of a current technology low-bypass ratio turbofan engine, range is 3,622 nautical miles at Mach 2.0 cruise and standard day operating conditions. Balanced field takeoff distance is 6,600 feet and landing distance is 5,170 feet at 44,737 pounds. The passenger section from aft of the flight crew station to the aft pressure bulkhead in the cabin was modified for the interceptor version. Bomb bay type doors were added and volume is sufficient for four advanced air-to-air missiles mounted on a rotary launcher. Missile volume was based on a Phoenix type missile with a weight of 910 pounds per missile for a total payload weight of 3,640 pounds. Structural and equipment weights were adjusted and result in a ramp weight of 63,246 pounds with a fuel load of 30,938 pounds. Based on a typical intercept mission flight profile, the resulting radius is 1,609 nautical miles at a cruise Mach number of 2.0

Supersonic aircraft Patent

Design of supersonic aircraft with novel fixed, swept wing planfor

Application of near-term technology to a Mach 2.0 variable-sweep-wing, supersonic-cruise executive jet

The impact of variable sweep wing technology with relaxed static stability requirements on a supersonic-cruise executive jet with transatlantic range was assessed. The baseline vehicle utilized modified, current-technology engines and titanium structures produced with superplastic forming and diffusion bonding; this vehicle meets study requirements for both supersonic-cruise and low-speed characteristics. The baseline concept has a ramp weight of 64,500 pounds with a crew of two and eight passengers. Its Mach 2.0 cruise range is nearly 3,500 nautical miles; its Mach 0.9 cruise range is over 5,000 nautical miles. Takeoff, landing, and balanced field length requirements were calculated for a composite variant and are all less than 5,000 feet

Robot-mediated interviews: : Do robots possess advantages over human interviewers when talking to children with special needs?

Wood L.J., Dautenhahn K., Lehmann H., Robins B., Rainer A., Syrdal D.S. (2013) 'Robot-Mediated Interviews: Do Robots Possess Advantages over Human Interviewers When Talking to Children with Special Needs?', In: Herrmann G., Pearson M.J., Lenz A., Bremner P., Spiers A., Leonards U. (eds) Social Robotics. ICSR 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8239. Springer, Cham Available online at doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-02675-6-6 © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013Children that have a disability are up to four times more likely to be a victim of abuse than typically developing children. However, the number of cases that result in prosecution is relatively low. One of the factors influencing this low prosecution rate is communication difficulties. Our previous research has shown that typically developing children respond to a robotic interviewer very similar compared to a human interviewer. In this paper we conduct a follow up study investigating the possibility of Robot-Mediated Interviews with children that have various special needs. In a case study we investigated how 5 children with special needs aged 9 to 11 responded to the humanoid robot KASPAR compared to a human in an interview scenario. The measures used in this study include duration analysis of responses, detailed analysis of transcribed data, questionnaire responses and data from engagement coding. The main questions in the interviews varied in difficulty and focused on the theme of animals and pets. The results from quantitative data analysis reveal that the children interacted with KASPAR in a very similar manner to how they interacted with the human interviewer, providing both interviewers with similar information and amounts of information regardless of question difficulty. However qualitative analysis suggests that some children may have been more engaged with the robotic interviewer

Human-centred design methods : developing scenarios for robot assisted play informed by user panels and field trials

Original article can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/ Copyright ElsevierThis article describes the user-centred development of play scenarios for robot assisted play, as part of the multidisciplinary IROMEC1 project that develops a novel robotic toy for children with special needs. The project investigates how robotic toys can become social mediators, encouraging children with special needs to discover a range of play styles, from solitary to collaborative play (with peers, carers/teachers, parents, etc.). This article explains the developmental process of constructing relevant play scenarios for children with different special needs. Results are presented from consultation with panel of experts (therapists, teachers, parents) who advised on the play needs for the various target user groups and who helped investigate how robotic toys could be used as a play tool to assist in the children’s development. Examples from experimental investigations are provided which have informed the development of scenarios throughout the design process. We conclude by pointing out the potential benefit of this work to a variety of research projects and applications involving human–robot interactions.Peer reviewe