Annular wing

An annular wing particularly suited for use in supporting in flight an aircraft characterized by the absence of directional stabilizing surfaces is described. The wing comprises a rigid annular body of a substantially uniformly symmetrical configuration characterized by an annular positive lifting surface and cord line coincident with the segment of a line radiating along the surface of an inverted truncated cone. A decalage is established for the leading and trailing semicircular portions of the body, relative to instantaneous line of flight, and a dihedral for the laterally opposed semicircular portions of the body, relative to the line of flight. The direction of flight and climb angle or glide slope angle are established by selectively positioning the center of gravity of the wing ahead of the aerodynamic center along the radius coincident with an axis for a selected line of flight

Unusual relative strengths of the diffuse interstellar bands in some interstellar dust clouds

Some of the diffuse interstellar features (DIBs) in the spectra of certain stars at high galactic latitudes (1 is greater than 15 degrees) are unusually weak or absent while others have the strength expected for their color excess. In some cases the stars are probably reddened by single interstellar clouds. There appear to be three families of DIBs. The effects of these families are examined. The existance of the three families implies that at least three agents cause the DIBs and that the proportions of the agents or the physical conditions giving rise to the DIBs can vary from cloud to cloud

Feedback Control of Quantum Transport

The current through nanostructures like quantum dots can be stabilized by a feedback loop that continuously adjusts system parameters as a function of the number of tunnelled particles $n$. At large times, the feedback loop freezes the fluctuations of $n$ which leads to highly accurate, continuous single particle transfers. For the simplest case of feedback acting simultaneously on all system parameters, we show how to reconstruct the original full counting statistics from the frozen distribution.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Phase space shifts in command structures in networked systems

This paper presents the rationale behind an important enhancement to the NATO SAS-050 approach space, combined with empirical results which take advantage of these enhancements. In Part 1 a new theoretical legacy for the NATO model is presented. This legacy inspires a number of developments which allow live data to be plotted into it, and we demonstrate that the model is well able to discriminate between alternative C2 structures. Part 2 illustrates this feature with multinational data from the ELICIT community. It is surprising to see that teams in both C2 and Edge conditions operate in broadly the same area of the phase space cube. The structure of the pre-ordained ELICIT ‘classic C2’ hierarchy and the deterministic nature of the shared task are put forward as explanations for this, and as future enhancements to the ELICIT paradigm

National counter-terrorism (C-T) policies and challenges to human rights and civil liberties: Case study of United Kingdom

In the UK the rise post-2005 in “home-grown” terrorism, relying to a significant extent on strikes on soft targets by “self-starters,” means that the search for effective preventive measures remains a continuing concern. Below a number of the preventive counter-terror measures adopted post-9/11, and incrementally strengthened in response to the current threat, are found to fall into three categories and represent interventions at the stages in the path toward attacks. This chapter focuses on selected examples of these preventive measures. In terms of three key stages, firstly, there is the attempt to prevent radicalization, under the “Prevent” strategy. A second strategy relies on taking certain measures to control the activities of those considered likely – on the balance of probabilities – to engage in terrorist-related activity. A third preventive strategy relies on the special terrorism offences under the Terrorism Acts 2000 and 2006, as amended, intended to allow for intervention at a very early stage in terrorist plots and in preparing or instigating terrorist acts (“precursor” offences)

Ultrasound by emergency physicians to detect abdominal aortic aneurysms: a UK case series

Early identification of abdominal aortic aneurysms in some patients can be difficult and the diagnosis is missed in up to 30% of patients. Ultrasound cannot be used to identify a leak, but the presence of an aneurysm in an unstable patient is conclusive. With minimal training emergency physicians can easily identify the aorta and thus in the early phase of resuscitation an aneurysm can be confidently excluded. The purpose of the examination is not to delineate the extent of the aneurysm, but to identify those patients that will need emergency surgery. A series of patients presented to the department in an unstable condition with equivocal abdominal signs. An ultrasound scan in the resuscitation room by members of the emergency department revealed an aneurysm, which was enough to convince the vascular surgeons to take the patient straight to theatre with good results. In patients who are stable, computed tomography will continue to be used to evaluate the extent of the aneurysm and identify a leak

Evaluation of the InDUCKtion project at UCL

Executive summary: There is evidence that a good induction to university life can help with student retention; however, there is also a danger of overwhelming students during the intense period of fresher’s week. Under the auspices of a small grant from the Higher Education Academy’s ‘Changing the Learning Landscape’ funding stream, staff at two universities (University College London and Southampton Solent University) collaborated to produce an innovative and engaging induction project entitled ‘InDUCKtion’, based on the idea of an induction duck being a fun character for students to interact with. At UCL, the InDUCKtion duck existed in the form of a physical plastic duck included in international postgraduate student induction packs, and they were encouraged to take photos of themselves in and around UCL and London as part of a photo challenge using social media. It was anticipated that this would enable students to familiarise themselves with the locale, make friends and have fun at the same time. The InDUCKtion duck was also evident on flyers and posters with QR codes advertising an online tour to enable students to gain an accelerated familiarisation with the campus and its facilities. Within UCL, the project was a collaborative, cross-departmental venture instigated by members of UCL’s E-Learning Environments (ELE) working in partnership with the Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching (CALT) and Student Support and Wellbeing (SSW). The logistics of the project meant that the team members also had to liaise with a number of other individuals and departments around UCL, to help promote and implement the project. Despite a rapid following on Twitter in a relatively short period, a reasonable hit rate on the QR code for the main page of the online tour resource, and some engagement with the photo challenges using social media, participation in the project was lower than anticipated. Lessons learned from an evaluation perspective revealed that adding another activity to an already overwhelming fresher’s week was problematic, despite its innovative and interactive nature. The use of QR codes was problematic for a number of reasons, and the project needed more buy-in from student representatives and academics to provide institutional endorsement. Recommendations for future instances of the project include securing student representation and academic endorsement, integrating the activity with parallel induction activities – particularly with academic departments, replacing QR codes with an alternative technology-enhanced learning approach and optimising the learning design to better motivate students and promote groupwork