10,940 research outputs found
Engineering - what's that?
Engineering the Future (EtF) aims to develop a sustainable model of activities and interactions among researchers, policy makers and practitioners that develops pupils’ understanding of the nature of engineering, embeds experiences of engineering within the school classroom and curriculum and promotes engineering as a career.One barrier to young people entering engineering is inadequate awareness of the nature ofengineering and its diverse career paths. Many pupils in the participating schools had no awareness of engineering or very limited awareness. 65% had never considered engineering as a career choice.1st year electronic and electrial engineering students at the universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow identified family links as a key factor in encouraging them to study engineering. They also traced interest in engineering to particular school classroom experiences. Discussions with careers guidance staff revealed that careers guidance is almost entirely responsive to pupil requests: only occasionally will pupils who are good at science and mathematics be directed towards engineering.The current situation leaves almost all school pupils uninformed about the nature of engineering.The paper describes how the EtF project seeks to redress the situation by developing classroom engineering experiences, working to embed engineering formally in the curriculum and providing resources for active careers advice
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS FOR THE SCALAR FIELD IN THE PRESENCE OF SIGNATURE CHANGE
We show that, contrary to recent criticism, our previous work yields a
reasonable class of solutions for the massless scalar field in the presence of
signature change.Comment: 11 pages, Plain Tex, no figure
Quantum energy inequalities in two dimensions
Quantum energy inequalities (QEIs) were established by Flanagan for the
massless scalar field on two-dimensional Lorentzian spacetimes globally
conformal to Minkowski space. We extend his result to all two-dimensional
globally hyperbolic Lorentzian spacetimes and use it to show that flat
spacetime QEIs give a good approximation to the curved spacetime results on
sampling timescales short in comparison with natural geometric scales. This is
relevant to the application of QEIs to constrain exotic spacetime metrics.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX. This is an expanded version of a portion of
gr-qc/0409043. To appear in Phys Rev
Dynamic wormholes
A new framework is proposed for general dynamic wormholes, unifying them with
black holes. Both are generically defined locally by outer trapping horizons,
temporal for wormholes and spatial or null for black and white holes. Thus
wormhole horizons are two-way traversible, while black-hole and white-hole
horizons are only one-way traversible. It follows from the Einstein equation
that the null energy condition is violated everywhere on a generic wormhole
horizon. It is suggested that quantum inequalities constraining negative energy
break down at such horizons. Wormhole dynamics can be developed as for
black-hole dynamics, including a reversed second law and a first law involving
a definition of wormhole surface gravity. Since the causal nature of a horizon
can change, being spatial under positive energy and temporal under sufficient
negative energy, black holes and wormholes are interconvertible. In particular,
if a wormhole's negative-energy source fails, it may collapse into a black
hole. Conversely, irradiating a black-hole horizon with negative energy could
convert it into a wormhole horizon. This also suggests a possible final state
of black-hole evaporation: a stationary wormhole. The new framework allows a
fully dynamical description of the operation of a wormhole for practical
transport, including the back-reaction of the transported matter on the
wormhole. As an example of a matter model, a Klein-Gordon field with negative
gravitational coupling is a source for a static wormhole of Morris & Thorne.Comment: 5 revtex pages, 4 eps figures. Minor change which did not reach
publisher
Harmonic analysis of lossy piezoelectric composite transducers using the plane wave expansion method
Periodic composite ultrasonic transducers oer many advantages but the periodic pillar architecture can give rise to unwanted modes of vibration which interfere with the piston like motion of the fundamental thickness mode. In this paper, viscoelastic loss is incorporated into a three dimensional plane wave expansion model (PWE) of these transducers. A comparison with experimental and nite element data is conducted and a design to damp out these lateral modes is investigated. Scaling and regularisation techniques are introduced to the PWE method to reduceill-conditioning in the large matrices which can arise. The identication of the modes of vibration is aided by examining proles of the displacements, electrical potentialand Poynting vector. The dispersive behaviour of a 2-2 composite transducer with high shear attenuation in the passive phase is examined. The model shows thatthe use of a high shear attenuation ller material improves the frequency band gap surrounding the fundamental thickness mode
Construction and enlargement of traversable wormholes from Schwarzschild black holes
Analytic solutions are presented which describe the construction of a
traversable wormhole from a Schwarzschild black hole, and the enlargement of
such a wormhole, in Einstein gravity. The matter model is pure radiation which
may have negative energy density (phantom or ghost radiation) and the
idealization of impulsive radiation (infinitesimally thin null shells) is
employed.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure
Initial Value Problems and Signature Change
We make a rigorous study of classical field equations on a 2-dimensional
signature changing spacetime using the techniques of operator theory. Boundary
conditions at the surface of signature change are determined by forming
self-adjoint extensions of the Schr\"odinger Hamiltonian. We show that the
initial value problem for the Klein--Gordon equation on this spacetime is
ill-posed in the sense that its solutions are unstable. Furthermore, if the
initial data is smooth and compactly supported away from the surface of
signature change, the solution has divergent -norm after finite time.Comment: 33 pages, LaTeX The introduction has been altered, and new work
(relating our previous results to continuous signature change) has been
include
The Magnetization of Cu_2(C_5H_{12}N_2)_2Cl_4 : A Heisenberg Spin Ladder System
We study the magnetization of a Heisenberg spin ladder using exact
diagonalization techniques, finding three distinct magnetic phases. We consider
the results in relation to the experimental behaviour of the new copper
compound Cu_2(C_5H_{12}N_2)_2Cl_4 and deduce that the compound is well
described by such a model with a ratio of `chain' to `rung' bond strengths
(J/J^\prime) of the order of 0.2, consistent with results from the magnetic
susceptibility. The effects of temperature, spin impurities and additional
diagonal bonds are presented and we give evidence that these diagonal bonds are
indeed of a ferromagnetic nature.Comment: Latex file (4 pages), related figures (encapsulated postscript)
appende
Analysis of ultrasonic transducers with fractal architecture
Ultrasonic transducers composed of a periodic piezoelectric composite are generally accepted as the design of choice in many applications. Their architecture is normally very regular and this is due to manufacturing constraints rather than performance optimisation. Many of these manufacturing restrictions no longer hold due to new production methods such as computer controlled, laser cutting, and so there is now freedom to investigate new types of geometry. In this paper, the plane wave expansion model is utilised to investigate the behaviour of a transducer with a self-similar architecture. The Cantor set is utilised to design a 2-2 conguration, and a 1-3 conguration is investigated with a Sierpinski Carpet geometry
Screening and diagnostic assessment of neurodevelopmental disorders in a male prison
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify neurodevelopmental disorders and difficulties (NDD) in a male prison. The study used standardised tools to carry out screening and diagnostic assessment of the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID).
Design/methodology/approach
The ADHD self-report scale, 20-item autism quotient and the Learning Disability Screening Questionnaire were used to screen 240 male prisoners. Prisoners who screened positive on one or more of these scales or self-reported a diagnosis of ADHD, ASD or ID were further assessed using the diagnostic interview for ADHD in adults, adapted Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and the Quick Test.
Findings
Of the 87 prisoners who screened positive for NDD and were further assessed, 70 met the study’s diagnostic criteria for ADHD, ASD or ID. Most of those with NDD (51 per cent) had previously gone unrecognised and a high proportion (51 per cent) were identified through staff- or self-referral to the study.
Originality/value
The study demonstrated that improving awareness and providing access to skilled, standardised assessment within a male prison can result in increased recognition and identification of NDD
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