Assessing self-responsibility in employability competencies development among Australian engineering students: introductory report

Self-responsibility study initially outlined the importance of ‘self-directed Adult learning’ either as the method or the outcome of education. Attention was given to the different interest of individual’s in accepting responsibility for their professional development. In this regard, several sources reveal the need for learners to take their own responsibility for developing employability competencies development. However, the concern must be expressed at the incompleteness of research into the personal responsibility for competency development

Searching for Keynes: An Essay on the Political Economy of Fiscal Policy, with Application to Canada, 1870-2000 - revised version

Keynes' General Theory (1936) is arguably one of the most important books of the twentieth century. His ideas for stabilizing the aggregate economy have profoundly influenced economic theory as well as popular opinion about what governments can and should do with respect to the business cycle. On the other hand, whether Keynesian theory has substantially altered the course of public policy remains an open question. In this paper we identify the elements required for any investigation of the impact of Keynes' ideas on policy choices and then conduct our own 'search for Keynes', applying an intertemporal spatial voting framework to study the fiscal history of the Government of Canada from 1870 to 2000. The long time series allows the construction of a counterfactual – one of several essential elements - showing what governments would have planned to do ‘after Keynes’, if Keynes' ideas had not in fact been present. Our results suggest that textbook Keynesianism is identifiable in the Canadian data.Keynesianism, spatial voting, permanent versus transitory policy, political equilibrium, liquidity constraints

Aerodynamic design for improved manueverability by use of three-dimensional transonic theory

Improvements in transonic maneuver performance by the use of three-dimensional transonic theory and a transonic design procedure were examined. The FLO-27 code of Jameson and Caughey was used to design a new wing for a fighter configuration with lower drag at transonic maneuver conditions. The wing airfoil sections were altered to reduce the upper-surface shock strength by means of a design procedure which is based on the iterative application of the FLO-27 code. The plan form of the fighter configuration was fixed and had a leading edge sweep of 45 deg and an aspect ratio of 3.28. Wind-tunnel tests were conducted on this configuration at Mach numbers from 0.60 to 0.95 and angles of attack from -2 deg to 17 deg. The transonic maneuver performance of this configuration was evaluated by comparison with a wing designed by empirical methods and a wing designed primarily by two-dimensional transonic theory. The configuration designed by the use of FLO-27 had the same or lower drag than the empirical wing and, for some conditions, lower drag than the two-dimensional design. From some maneuver conditions, the drag of the two-dimensional design was somewhat lower

Asymmetric Gaussian steering: when Alice and Bob disagree

Asymmetric steering is an effect whereby an inseparable bipartite system can be found to be described by either quantum mechanics or local hidden variable theories depending on which one of Alice or Bob makes the required measurements. We show that, even with an inseparable bipartite system, situations can arise where Gaussian measurements on one half are not sufficient to answer the fundamental question of which theory gives an adequate description and the whole system must be considered. This phenomenon is possible because of an asymmetry in the definition of the original Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox and in this article we show theoretically that it may be demonstrated, at least in the case where Alice and Bob can only make Gaussian measurements, using the intracavity nonlinear coupler.Comment: 5 Pages, 4 Figure

A resilience measure to guide system design and management

This paper presents a measure of resilience which can guide system design and management. Systems design must incorporate resilience to provide stakeholders with the most appropriate solution for their life-cycle needs. Design of resilient systems demands a measure of the resilience afforded by a system proposal which can be used to compare design proposals. The measurement method should balance the interest in resilience with all other proposal evaluation criteria, and incorporate the effect of the sequence of unknown future events affecting the system. Ideally, the resilience measure should also be useful to guide management decisions re maintenance or upgrade during the system life. This paper presents a method to measure system resilience which can be applied to engineered systems in general, not just a specific class of systems, is threat type agnostic, and does not presuppose any ‘desirable’ outcome allowing a system specific determination of ‘desirable’ outcomes

Political Competition and Convergence to Fundamentals: With Application to the Political Business Cycle and the Size of Government

We address the problem of how to investigate whether economics, or politics, or both, matter in the explanation of public policy. The problem is first posed in a particular context by uncovering a political business cycle (using Canadian data for 130 years) and by taking up the challenge to make this fact meaningful by finding a transmission mechanism through actual public choices. Since the cycle is in real growth, and it is reasonable to suppose that public expenditure would be involved, the central task then is to investigate the role of (partisan and opportunistic) political factors, as opposed to economic fundamentals, in the evolution of government size.We proceed by asking whether the data allow us to distinguish between the convergence and the nonconvergence hypotheses. Convergence means that political competition forces public spending to converge in the long run to a level dictated by endowments, tastes and technology. Nonconvergence is taken to mean that political factors other than the degree of political competition prevent convergence to that long run. The general idea here, one that may be applied in any situation where the key issue is the role of economics versus politics over time, is that an overtly political factor can be said to play a distinct role in the evolution of public choices if it can be shown to lead to departures from a dynamic path defined by the evolution of economic fundamentals in a competitive political system.public expenditure, size of government, long run versus short run, opportunism, partisanship, political competition, cointegration

A study of high-lift airfoils at high Reynolds numbers in the Langley low-turbulence pressure tunnel

An experimental study was conducted in the Langley Low Turbulence Pressure Tunnel to determine the effects of Reynolds number and Mach number on the two-dimensional aerodynamic performance of two supercritical type airfoils, one equipped with a conventional flap system and the other with an advanced high lift flap system. The conventional flap system consisted of a leading edge slat and a double slotted, trailing edge flap with a small chord vane and a large chord aft flap. The advanced flap system consisted of a leading edge slat and a double slotted, trailing edge flap with a large chord vane and a small chord aft flap. Both models were tested with all elements nested to form the cruise airfoil and with the leading edge slat and with a single or double slotted, trailing edge flap deflected to form the high lift airfoils. The experimental tests were conducted through a Reynolds number range from 2.8 to 20.9 x 1,000,000 and a Mach number range from 0.10 to 0.35. Lift and pitching moment data were obtained. Summaries of the test results obtained are presented and comparisons are made between the observed aerodynamic performance trends for both models. The results showing the effect of leading edge frost and glaze ice formation is given

SPAN: Ocean science

The Space Physics Analysis Network (SPAN) is a multi-mission, correlative data comparison network which links space and Earth science research and data analysis computers. It provides a common working environment for sharing computer resources, sharing computer peripherals, solving proprietary problems, and providing the potential for significant time and cost savings for correlative data analysis. This is one of a series of discipline-specific SPAN documents which are intended to complement the SPAN primer and SPAN Management documents. Their purpose is to provide the discipline scientists with a comprehensive set of documents to assist in the use of SPAN for discipline specific scientific research

Undergraduate students' engagement with systems thinking: results of a survey study

This paper describes the results obtained for the affective engagement of students with systems thinking. In prior work the authors have developed and validated a questionnaire instrument for measuring affective engagement of undergraduate engineering students with systems thinking. This paper presents results obtained when the questionnaire was used with undergraduate students. Two surveys with different versions of the questionnaire, one using positive grammar questions only and the other using a mix of positive and negative constructs, were used to measure the students’ engagement with systems thinking and its relationship with gender, age and work experience. Each questionnaire version was applied to a different sample, the first, 186 participants, completed the positive grammar version, and, the second group of 163 completed the mixed version. The results show that participants in both studies valued systems thinking in each of the three dimensions of the systems thinking construct. Statistical tests confirmed no significant gender differences in either study. Student engagement with the practical dimension of systems thinking was shown to vary, with statistical significance, with groups of age, years of work experience and country of the university

Systems thinking in systems engineering

Systems thinking (ST) offers a holistic approach rather than a reductionist approach, through appreciating all the interrelated dimensions of complex problems. It is important for understanding and interacting with all kinds of systems, in order to manage complex problems. However, the broad range of the ST‐related literature found in various disciplines, generates a great deal of disagreement about definitions and understanding of systems thinking. Despite the current ambiguities of ST definitions, its underlying philosophy has a long history. This paper aims to clarify what ST is in the modern day and why it is defined in so many different ways. It identifies a number of interpretations of systems thinking with the purpose of clarifying what it is and why it is variously understood. The main aims of this paper is to propose a new ST construct, and to define its role in the practice of Systems Engineering (SE). This paper then draws implications of the new ST construct for SE education