Generalised Design Models For EMS Maglev

The paper presents a generic modelling approach for electro-magnetic suspension (EMS) systems which brings together both fundamental principles and specific design factors to provide generalised models that can be adapted for any application. Key system parameters and typical electro-magnetic design factors are used to produce practical models for EMS controller design

Why Do Leaders Matter? The Role of Expert Knowledge

Why do some leaders succeed while others fail? This question is important, but its complexity makes it hard to study systematically. We draw on a setting where there are well-defined objectives, small teams of workers, and exact measures of leaders’ characteristics and organizational performance. We show that a strong predictor of a leader’s success in year T is that person’s own level of attainment, in the underlying activity, in approximately year T-20. Our data come from 15,000 professional basketball games and reveal that former star players make the best coaches. This ‘expert knowledge’ effect is large

Quantitative ultraviolet measurements on wetted thin-layer chromatography plates using a charge-coupled device camera

This paper presents the first study of the UV imaging of spots on thin-layer chromatographic plates whilst still wet with solvent. Imaging of spots of benzophenone during and after development was carried out using a charge-coupled device camera. Limits of detection were found to be 5 ng on a wetted plate and 3 ng for a dry plate and the relationship between peak area and sample loading was found to be linear in the low nanograrn range over an order of magnitude for both wet and dry modes with r(2) values > 0.99. It was found that UV measurements on wet glass-backed plates suffer from low sensitivity; however, the use of aluminium-backed plates gave increased sensitivity. The apparent absorption coefficient (epsilon(app)) of 10AU m(2) g(-1) at 254 nm is consistent with reflection of the light from the aluminium surface with a double pass through the sorbent layer, and suggests that use of aluminium-backed plates should enable monitoring of separations by UV absorbance during TLC development. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Substitution Between Managers and Subordinates: Evidence from British Football

We use data on British football managers and teams over the 1994-2007 period to study substitution and complementarity between leaders and subordinates. We find for the Premier League (the highest level of competition) that, other things being equal, managers who themselves played at a higher level raise the productivity of less-skilled teams by more than that of highly skilled teams. This is consistent with the hypothesis that one function of a top manager is to communicate to subordinates the skills needed to succeed, since less skilled players have more to learn. We also find that managers with more accumulated professional managing experience raise the productivity of talented players by more than that of less-talented players. This is consistent with the hypothesis that a further function of successful managers in high-performance workplaces is to manage the egos of elite workers. Such a function is likely more important the more accomplished the workers are -- as indicated, in our data, by teams with greater payrolls.Productivity, leadership

The Otherized Latino: Edward Said\u27s Orientalism Theory and Reforming Suspect Class Analysis

Despite Latinos’ growing political influence, discrimination against Latinos persists. W.E.B. DuBois wrote in 1903, “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line . . . .” Today, the color line has expanded beyond the white-black racial dichotomy, and Latinos stand at the forefront of our national discussion about race, politics, and society. In this discussion and amid evidence of prejudice, a central legal question arises: Does the Supreme Court’s current analytical framework for the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause adequately protect the Latino population from discriminatory laws and state action? This Comment concludes that the Court’s case law about the suspect class status of Latinos is unclear and unlikely to effectively protect Latinos from stigmatizing legislation. This Comment will provide a new analytical framework that can guide the Court in bringing clarity to the issue and ultimately protect Latinos’ civil rights. Part I begins by briefly examining the development of heightened scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause for laws that discriminate based on racial and national origin classifications. Part I finds that the classification of Latinos as a “suspect group” meriting such scrutiny in fact rests on uncertain legal ground due to the Court’s confusing case law, aggravating historical factors, and current demographic patterns. It reveals that while the legal conclusions remain muddled about whether Latinos are a suspect class, the public perception of Latinos as a distinct population group has grown. This Part also explains why the application of heightened scrutiny to classifications of various national origin groups, like Mexican Americans or Cuban Americans, is insufficient to adequately protect the civil rights of Latinos as a broader population group. Part I thus advocates that the Court solidify the constitutional status of the broader Latino classification as a suspect class. Part II examines how the Court, when determining which racial and ethnic categorizations merit suspect class analysis, often describes race as a purely biological concept. Part II argues, however, that race is not a biological concept, but is instead a social concept. It asserts that if the biological conception of race continues to prevail in suspect class determinations, then it is unlikely that Latinos, an incredibly diverse population, will fit within a coherent racial classification. As a result, the constitutional status of the Latino classification will remain in jeopardy. Part II thus urges the Court to embrace the scientific and anthropological research showing that race is in fact a socially constructed concept. It maintains that the Court must analyze race in a new and sensible way that reflects its social, instead of biological, foundations. A new framework will not only align the Court with modern science, but it will also subsequently better accommodate the Latino categorization. Part III introduces such a new analytical framework, relying on the work of anthropologist Edward Said in his seminal work Orientalism. Said explains how the Western world developed an “us” versus “them” political dichotomy when conceptualizing the Middle East, resulting in the creation of the foreign and inferior “Other.” Part III proposes that the Court borrow this “us” versus “them” framework to rework suspect class analysis to ask whether a group has become “otherized” by the dominant Anglo-American society to an extent that subsequently warrants suspect class analysis and heightened scrutiny. By asking this new question, the Court will develop an analysis that properly foregoes a biological discussion, adequately acknowledges the social construction of race, and ultimately reflects the social and political reality of the way that discrimination operates in the United States. This new “otherization” framework will also ensure that Latinos, a population group often described as outsiders who do not speak English and who do not share American values, are sufficiently protected through the Equal Protection Clause. Part III concludes by addressing questions and critiques about the framework’s implementation

The Adiabatic Invariance of the Action Variable in Classical Dynamics

We consider one-dimensional classical time-dependent Hamiltonian systems with quasi-periodic orbits. It is well-known that such systems possess an adiabatic invariant which coincides with the action variable of the Hamiltonian formalism. We present a new proof of the adiabatic invariance of this quantity and illustrate our arguments by means of explicit calculations for the harmonic oscillator. The new proof makes essential use of the Hamiltonian formalism. The key step is the introduction of a slowly-varying quantity closely related to the action variable. This new quantity arises naturally within the Hamiltonian framework as follows: a canonical transformation is first performed to convert the system to action-angle coordinates; then the new quantity is constructed as an action integral (effectively a new action variable) using the new coordinates. The integration required for this construction provides, in a natural way, the averaging procedure introduced in other proofs, though here it is an average in phase space rather than over time.Comment: 8 page

The Otherized Latino: Edward Said\u27s Orientalism Theory and Reforming Suspect Class Analysis

Despite Latinos’ growing political influence, discrimination against Latinos persists. W.E.B. DuBois wrote in 1903, “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line . . . .” Today, the color line has expanded beyond the white-black racial dichotomy, and Latinos stand at the forefront of our national discussion about race, politics, and society. In this discussion and amid evidence of prejudice, a central legal question arises: Does the Supreme Court’s current analytical framework for the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause adequately protect the Latino population from discriminatory laws and state action? This Comment concludes that the Court’s case law about the suspect class status of Latinos is unclear and unlikely to effectively protect Latinos from stigmatizing legislation. This Comment will provide a new analytical framework that can guide the Court in bringing clarity to the issue and ultimately protect Latinos’ civil rights. Part I begins by briefly examining the development of heightened scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause for laws that discriminate based on racial and national origin classifications. Part I finds that the classification of Latinos as a “suspect group” meriting such scrutiny in fact rests on uncertain legal ground due to the Court’s confusing case law, aggravating historical factors, and current demographic patterns. It reveals that while the legal conclusions remain muddled about whether Latinos are a suspect class, the public perception of Latinos as a distinct population group has grown. This Part also explains why the application of heightened scrutiny to classifications of various national origin groups, like Mexican Americans or Cuban Americans, is insufficient to adequately protect the civil rights of Latinos as a broader population group. Part I thus advocates that the Court solidify the constitutional status of the broader Latino classification as a suspect class. Part II examines how the Court, when determining which racial and ethnic categorizations merit suspect class analysis, often describes race as a purely biological concept. Part II argues, however, that race is not a biological concept, but is instead a social concept. It asserts that if the biological conception of race continues to prevail in suspect class determinations, then it is unlikely that Latinos, an incredibly diverse population, will fit within a coherent racial classification. As a result, the constitutional status of the Latino classification will remain in jeopardy. Part II thus urges the Court to embrace the scientific and anthropological research showing that race is in fact a socially constructed concept. It maintains that the Court must analyze race in a new and sensible way that reflects its social, instead of biological, foundations. A new framework will not only align the Court with modern science, but it will also subsequently better accommodate the Latino categorization. Part III introduces such a new analytical framework, relying on the work of anthropologist Edward Said in his seminal work Orientalism. Said explains how the Western world developed an “us” versus “them” political dichotomy when conceptualizing the Middle East, resulting in the creation of the foreign and inferior “Other.” Part III proposes that the Court borrow this “us” versus “them” framework to rework suspect class analysis to ask whether a group has become “otherized” by the dominant Anglo-American society to an extent that subsequently warrants suspect class analysis and heightened scrutiny. By asking this new question, the Court will develop an analysis that properly foregoes a biological discussion, adequately acknowledges the social construction of race, and ultimately reflects the social and political reality of the way that discrimination operates in the United States. This new “otherization” framework will also ensure that Latinos, a population group often described as outsiders who do not speak English and who do not share American values, are sufficiently protected through the Equal Protection Clause. Part III concludes by addressing questions and critiques about the framework’s implementation

Why Do Leaders Matter? The Role of Expert Knowledge

Why do some leaders succeed while others fail? This question is important, but its complexity makes it hard to study systematically. We examine an industry in which there are well-defined objectives, small teams, and exact measures of leaders’ characteristics. We show that a strong predictor of a leader’s success in year T is that person’s own level of attainment, in the underlying activity, in approximately year T-20. Our data come from 15,000 professional basketball games. The effect on team performance of the coach’s ‘expert knowledge’ is large and is discernible in the data within 12 months of his being hired.organizational performance, firms, leadership, fixed-effects, productivity

A connectionist model for dynamic control

The application of a connectionist modeling method known as competition-based spreading activation to a camera tracking task is described. The potential is explored for automation of control and planning applications using connectionist technology. The emphasis is on applications suitable for use in the NASA Space Station and in related space activities. The results are quite general and could be applicable to control systems in general