Portable tool cleans pipes and tubing

Portable tool cleans and polishes the external surfaces of tubes and pipes without contaminating the interior areas with loose particles. The tool is driven by an electric drill and is connected to a vacuum source that removes debris resulting from the cleaning and polishing action

A high efficiency input/output coupler for small silicon photonic devices

Coupling light from an optical fibre to small optical waveguides is particularly problematic in semiconductors, since the refractive index of the silica fibre is very different from that of a semiconductor waveguide. There have been several published methods of achieving such coupling, but none are sufficiently efficient whilst being robust enough for commercial applications. In this paper experimental results of our approach called a Dual-Grating Assisted Directional Coupler, are presented. The principle of coupling by this novel method has been successfully demonstrated, and a coupling efficiency of 55% measured

Portable tool removes burrs from pipe and tubing

Portable tool cleanly removes burrs that remain on tubing when it is cut. It restores the cut end to its original configuration, and carries away all chips and pieces. This tool is used in places of limited access where a larger tool could not be used

On the Semantics and Ontology of Race: Constructivism against Realism

This paper is an essay in philosophical ontology tasked with defending a constructionist approach to race. Anthony Appiah, in his In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture , argues that the concept of race is an “empty concept” precisely because it is both a semantic and an ontological fiction. He advises us to segregate race to the realm of the vague and fuzzy because all racial discourse, which he claims must transcendentally presuppose a biological notion of race in order to be meaningful, seductively misleads us to the extent that such discourse presupposes that the term "race" names a natural kind. While identifying the concept of race as deficient, he challenges us to learn “to think beyond race.” His rebuke of race as a dysfunctional concept takes the form of casting race as a virus spreading the contagion of bad thinking, that is, delusional, even paranoid thinking. This paper argues that while Appiah's theoretical interrogation of the concept of race is mainly accurate, race, nevertheless, is meaningful from a socio-cultural perspective . Discourse about race need not require that races exist in the sense of being natural kinds. Race, I shall be arguing, is a construction, i. e., human agents with varied interests, purposes, and linguistic resources devise the conditions of meaningfulness for the term "race". The general structure of the paper is as follows. I first present a critical discussion of Appiah’s view on race by examining his realist view of meaning and reference. Next, I critically review his main arguments against the concept of race. In part two of the essay, I offer a discussion of constructionism. I describe this position, offer examples, and say why it more adequately accommodates a defense of the concept of race by treating it as a socio-historical construction rather than a scientific natural kind. It is obvious that I challenge Appiah’s realist view that a meaningful concept is one that is intelligible and that the deciding grounds of the intelligibility is a matter of a concept referring to something that has existence. Meaningful concepts refer to objects whereas meaningless concepts do not refer to anything that has being

A Quantitative Methodology for Measuring Airline Quality

In today\u27s competitive airline industry, it is crucial that an airline do all it can to attract and retain customers. One of the best ways to do this is by offering a quality service to consumers. Perceptions of service quality vary from person to person, but an enduring element of service quality is the consistent achievement of customer satisfaction. Satisfying customer service needs keeps present customers loyal and helps establish a base for new ones. An Airline Quality Rating scale is proposed that assesses the quality of the U.S. major airlines using comparable, objective, quantifiable, periodically published data that addresses customer satisfaction concerns. This data is not consumer opinion based, but has distinct performance characteristics that are specifically attuned to the consumer\u27s point of view. The AQR outlined here focuses on quantitative factors to provide a more reliable and objective result in assessing service quality levels across all major domestic airlines. Combining quantifiable and readily available data provides an objective starting point for monitoring the quality of service an individual airline might be providing. This unique method of measuring quality, without the burdensome task of surveying thousands of consumers, resulted in findings synonymous with findings of a major consumer survey of 4,400 frequent flyers (Zagat 1991)