Departing Reflections

Latin American Studie

Solar energy modulator

A module is described with a receiver having a solar energy acceptance opening and supported by a mounting ring along the optic axis of a parabolic mirror in coaxial alignment for receiving solar energy from the mirror, and a solar flux modulator plate for varying the quantity of solar energy flux received by the acceptance opening of the module. The modulator plate is characterized by an annular, plate-like body, the internal diameter of which is equal to or slightly greater than the diameter of the solar energy acceptance opening of the receiver. Slave cylinders are connected to the modulator plate for supporting the plate for axial displacement along the axis of the mirror, therby shading the opening with respect to solar energy flux reflected from the surface of the mirror to the solar energy acceptance opening

A Sixth-Order Extension to the MATLAB Package bvp4c of J. Kierzenka and L. Shampine

A new two-point boundary value problem algorithm based upon the MATLAB bvp4c package of Kierzenka and Shampine is described. The algorithm, implemented in a new package bvp6c, uses the residual control framework of bvp4c (suitably modified for a more accurate finite difference approximation) to maintain a user specified accuracy. The new package is demonstrated to be as robust as the existing software, but more efficient for most problems, requiring fewer internal mesh points and evaluations to achieve the required accuracy

The bearable lightness of being

How are philosophical questions about what kinds of things there are to be understood and how are they to be answered? This paper defends broadly Fregean answers to these questions. Ontological categories-such as object, property, and relation-are explained in terms of a prior logical categorization of expressions, as singular terms, predicates of varying degree and level, etc. Questions about what kinds of object, property, etc., there are are, on this approach, reduce to questions about truth and logical form: for example, the question whether there are numbers is the question whether there are true atomic statements in which expressions function as singular terms which, if they have reference at all, stand for numbers, and the question whether there are properties of a given type is a question about whether there are meaningful predicates of an appropriate degree and level. This approach is defended against the objection that it must be wrong because makes what there depend on us or our language. Some problems confronting the Fregean approach-including Frege's notorious paradox of the concept horse-are addressed. It is argued that the approach results in a modest and sober deflationary understanding of ontological commitments

8Be Nuclear Data Evaluation

An R-matrix analysis of experimental nuclear data on the reactions 4He(alpha,alpha), 4He(alpha,p), 4He(alpha,d), 7Li(p,alpha), 7Li(p,p), 7Li(p,n), 7Be(n,p), 6Li(d,alpha), 6Li(d,p), 6Li(d,n) and 6Li(d,d), leading to the 8Be intermediate state, has been completed in the last two years. About 4700 data points from 69 experimental references are included. The excitation energy above the 8Be ground state is 25-26 MeV for all reactions except 4He(alpha,alpha) and 7Be(n,p). The data for the reactions 4He(alpha,alpha) and 6Li(d,d) do not fit well, but the other reactions fit with a chi^2/(point) of less than the overall value of 7.9. Most of the 19 resonances found in the R-matrix analysis correspond to resonances formerly known from experiment. Evaluated integrated 4He(alpha,p), 4He(alpha,d), 7Li(p,alpha), 7Li(p,n), 7Be(n,p), 6Li(d,alpha), 6Li(d,p) and 6Li(d,n) reaction cross-sections are presented. Evaluated cross-section and angular dependence files in ENDF format were prepared for the twelve reactions p 7Li, n 7Be, d 6Li -> alpha 4He, p 7Li, n 7Be, d 6Li. Maxwellian averaged temperature-dependent cross-sections in NDI format were prepared for the six reactions 7Li(p,alpha), 7Li(p,n), 7Be(n,p), 6Li(d,alpha), 6Li(d,p) and 6Li(d,n).Comment: Published in proceedings of International Conference on Nuclear Data for Science and Technology (ND2004), Santa Fe, NM, 26 September - 1 October 2004, LaTeX, 4 pages, 8 encapsulated postscript figure

Convection and heat transfer in layered sloping warm-water\ud aquifers

What convective flow is induced if a geologically-tratified groundwater aquifer is subject to a vertical temperature gradient? How strong is the flow? What is the nett heat transfer? Is the flow stable? How does the convection affect the subsequent species distribution if a pollutant finds its way into the aquifer? This paper begins to address such questions. Quantitative models for buoyancy-driven fluid flow in long, sloping warm-water aquifers with both smoothly- and discretely-layered structures are formulated. The steady-state profiles are calculated for the temperature and for the fluid specific volume flux (Darcy velocity) parallel to the boundaries in a sloping system subjected to a perpendicular temperature gradient, at low Rayleigh numbers. The conducted and advected heat fluxes are compared and it is shown that the system acts somewhat like a heat pipe. The maximum possible ratio of naturally advected-to-conducted heat transfer is determined, together with the corresponding permeability and thermal conductivity profiles

A Class of Functional Equations of Neutral Type

Class of functional integral equations in space of continuous function

Compensation for nonlinear effects due to high heat flux in thin-film thermometry

Compensation for nonlinear effects due to high heat flux in thin-film thermometr

Pricing European-type, early-exercise and discrete barrier options using an algorithm for the convolution of Legendre series

This paper applies an algorithm for the convolution of compactly supported Legendre series (the CONLeg method) (cf. Hale and Townsend, An algorithm for the convolution of Legendre series. SIAM J. Sci. Comput., 2014, 36, A1207–A1220), to pricing European-type, early-exercise and discrete-monitored barrier options under a Lévy process. The paper employs Chebfun (cf. Trefethen et al., Chebfun Guide, 2014 (Pafnuty Publications: Oxford), Available online at: http://www.chebfun.org/) in computational finance and provides a quadrature-free approach by applying the Chebyshev series in financial modelling. A significant advantage of using the CONLeg method is to formulate option pricing and option Greek curves rather than individual prices/values. Moreover, the CONLeg method can yield high accuracy in option pricing when the risk-free smooth probability density function (PDF) is smooth/non-smooth. Finally, we show that our method can accurately price options deep in/out of the money and with very long/short maturities. Compared with existing techniques, the CONLeg method performs either favourably or comparably in numerical experiments

'It made me think how I should treat others and how I should help people who need it': The complexities of exploring the impact of Holocaust education

It is generally agreed that learning about the Holocaust has some impact on students. However, discussions about the nature and magnitude of impact tend to be intuition-based rather than evidence-based. This is exacerbated by studies giving insight into how Holocaust education is related to salient variables rather than studies which demonstrate that teaching and learning about the Holocaust directly result in particular outcomes. Additionally, studies have drawn on small samples or presented findings which rely only on participants’ own perceptions of impact rather than actual impact measurement. These issues have contributed to a muddled and contestable narrative about impact in this field. This paper explores the complexities of studying the impact of Holocaust education, considers the feasibility of using randomised control trials, and appeals to those working in the field to be mindful of making and accepting spurious claims about impact