Automatic cross-sectioning and monitoring system locates defects in electronic devices

System consists of motorized grinding and lapping apparatus, sample holder, and electronic control circuit. Low power microscope examines device to pinpoint location of circuit defect, and monitor displays output signal when defect is located exactly

Aligning operational and corporate goals: a case study in cultivating a whole-of-business approach using a supply chain simulation game

This paper outlines the development and use of an interactive computer-based supply chain game to facilitate the alignment of disconnected operational and corporate goals. A multi-enterprise internal cattle supply chain was simulated targeting the operational property managers and the overall impacts of their decision making on corporate goals A three stage multidisciplinary approach was used. A case study based financial analysis was undertaken across the internal cattle supply chain, a participative action research component (developing the game to simulate the flow of product and associated decisions and financial transactions through the internal supply chain of the company for different operational scenarios using measurable and familiar operational and financial criteria as tracking tools), and a qualitative analysis of organisational learning through player debriefing following playing the game. Evaluation of the managers' learning around the need for a change in general practice to address goal incongruence was positive evidenced by changes in practice and the game regarded by the users as a useful form of organisational training. The game provided property managers with practical insights into the strategic implications of their enterprise level decisions on the internal supply chain and on overall corporate performance. The game is unique and is a tool that can be used to help address an endemic problem across multi-enterprise industries in the agrifood sector in Australia

The Underrepresentation of Minority Faculty in Higher Education: Panel Discussion

[Excerpt] The 3 July 2002 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education described the matter we are discussing today in these words: Taken together. African-Americans and persons of Hispanic origin represent only 8 percent of full-time faculty nation-wide, and while 5 percent are African-American, half of them work at historically black institutions. The proportion of black faculty members at white institutions is 2.3 percent, virtually the same as it was 20 years ago. We are privileged to have the opportunity to explore this issue from two different perspectives. The first contends that unless major changes occur, the number of minority students interested in and prepared for faculty positions will remain dreadfully insufficient and that, furthermore, affirmative action has been a culprit in this process and leads many of these students into higher educational environments in which they do not perform well enough to even seriously consider or be considered for careers in academe. The other position says that, although the supply of minority faculty candidates is admittedly small, the relatively low level of commitment from higher educational institutions to recruit, hire, and promote minority candidates and the salary disparity between academe and industry lead to a problem of demand that must be appreciated and addressed. Furthermore, it argues, affirmative action has been beneficial in increasing minority faculty presence

Q^2-evolution of nucleon-to-resonance transition form factors in a QCD-inspired vector-meson-dominance model

We adopt the vector-meson-dominance approach to investigate Q^2-evolution of N-R transition form factors (N denotes nucleon and R an excited resonance) in the first and second resonance regions. The developed model is based upon conventional NR\gamma-interaction Lagrangians, introducing three form factors for spin-3/2 resonances and two form factors for spin-1/2 nucleon excitations. Lagrangian form factors are expressed as dispersionlike expansions with four or five poles corresponding to the lowest excitations of the mesons \rho(770) and \omega(782). Correct high-Q^2 form factor behavior predicted by perturbative QCD is due to phenomenological logarithmic renormalization of electromagnetic coupling constants and linear superconvergence relations between the parameters of the meson spectrum. The model is found to be in good agreement with all the experimental data on Q^2-dependence of the transitions N-\Delta(1232), N-N(1440), N-N(1520), N-N(1535). We present fit results and model predictions for high-energy experiments proposed by JLab. Besides, we make special emphasis on the transition to perturbative domain of N-\Delta(1232) form factors.Comment: 22 pages, 22 PS figures, REVTeX 4; v2: +3 refs, minor editorial change

Strategies for investment in the Australian macadamia industry: Development and evaluation of an objective investment appraisal software model

This paper describes the development and application of a dynamic financial appraisal software model, known as the Financial Planner for Macadamia. This whole farm financial model for macadamia farming integrates both the investment and financing decisions of project appraisal into a single software package. This enables the viability of potential investments to be evaluated in terms of net present value and internal rate of return, as well as the most appropriate financing options to ensure sufficient cash flows over the life of a project. Investment scenarios can also be directly compared and sensitivity analyses undertaken to provide further insights into the robustness of potential business scenarios over time. The Financial Planner for Macadamia was developed in response to the limited tools available to assist farmers, investors and financiers to make objective investment decisions in the Australian Macadamia Industry

Some factors affecting turkey growers' attitude toward the proposed turkey marketing order

Digitized 2007 AES.Includes bibliographical references

Earth orbital teleoperator systems evaluation

The mechanical extension of the human operator to remote and specialized environments poses a series of complex operational questions. A technical and scientific team was organized to investigate these questions through conducting specific laboratory and analytical studies. The intent of the studies was to determine the human operator requirements for remotely manned systems and to determine the particular effects that various system parameters have on human operator performance. In so doing, certain design criteria based on empirically derived data concerning the ultimate control system, the human operator, were added to the Teleoperator Development Program

Ultrafast Dynamics of Excited Electronic States in Nitrobenzene Measured by Ultrafast Transient Polarization Spectroscopy.

We investigate ultrafast dynamics of the lowest singlet excited electronic state in liquid nitrobenzene using ultrafast transient polarization spectroscopy, extending the well-known technique of optical Kerr effect spectroscopy to excited electronic states. The third-order nonlinear response of the excited molecular ensemble is measured using a pair of femtosecond pulses following a third femtosecond pulse that populates the S1 excited state. By measuring this response, which is highly sensitive to details of the excited state character and structure, as a function of time delays between the three pulses involved, we extract the dephasing time of the wave packet on the excited state. The dephasing time, measured as a function of time delay after pump excitation, shows oscillations indicating oscillatory wave packet dynamics on the excited state. From the experimental measurements and supporting theoretical calculations, we deduce that the wave packet completely leaves the S1 state potential energy surface after three traversals of the intersystem crossing between the singlet S1 and triplet T2 states