Morgan LIFECar

Humphries is an industrial designer working principally with Morgan Motor Company, an internationally iconic British manufacturer. Before the REF census period, Humphries was the first Head of Design for the company, which had previously been sustained only by engineering and craft skills. LIFECar was a concept car for the motor trade, balancing luxury and sustainability. The output was a full-size, working prototype for an environmentally clean vehicle. Other partners in the £1.7m project were Cranfield University, Riversimple, Oxford University, QinetiQ, OSCar and BOC Linde. The research team focused on reducing the quantity and density of material, together with novel power technologies. Humphries’s design research focused on reconciling luxury with use of lightweight materials. Research processes included (1) analysis of existing and historical embodiments of luxury in automotive design and in architecture, furniture, luxury goods and other fields; (2) close working with company engineers and craftspeople to draw out their tacit understanding of quality, especially in relation to materials and techniques. The result was to challenge current concepts of luxury based on over-use of materials, instead celebrating quality of making, honesty of materials, sympathy between materials and manufacturing processes, and British idiosyncrasy. The ‘new luxury’ concept developed is now a guiding principle of Morgan Motor Company’s continuing design strategy. LIFECar was shown at the Geneva Motor Show 2008 and the Cranfield/Royal Academy of Engineering exhibition (2009). It was discussed extensively in trade publications. International press included Corriere della Sera (Italy, 2008), Montreal Gazette (2013), Sydney Morning Herald (2009), The Sunday Age (Australia, 2008), Die Zeit (Germany, 2010). It also featured as a BBC Newsbeat article ‘Green cars get sexier’ (2008)

Morgan 3 Wheeler

Humphries’s research-led design approach has been to analyse the key concepts underpinning the perception of Morgan, maintaining existing markets while expanding the company’s base. Here the design question was how to evoke company achievements from the early 20th century, referencing British eccentricity and humour while avoiding pastiche. The resulting decision was to revisit the three-wheeled design popular from the late 1920s to the Second World War. Design inspirations also included the lightweight, stripped-down aesthetic of early aircraft. Humphries aimed for simplicity, honesty to materials, and user engagement. Reviews in the Telegraph and in Autocar awarded it five stars, with a highly complimentary review by BBC Top Gear (the world's most widely watched factual television programme, estimated to have around 350 million views per week in 170 countries). Reviewer responses aligned with the intentions of the design, including ‘the visceral link to the past is very tangible’ (Wired, 2011); ‘a superb reminder of what the thrill of driving is all about’ (Auto Express, 2011); ‘utterly beguiling’ (Autocar, 2011); ‘this is not just cynical plundering of a rose-tinted past’ (Financial Times, 2011); ‘its beautiful shape, crafted by designer Matt Humphries’ (Automobile, 2011); ‘Morgan has for some time earned its keep in finding the good in older ideas’ (New York Times, 2011); ‘Only Morgan could have done it and, thanks to Humphries and Reeves, they have.…Only the hardest of hearts will fail to love it’ (Telegraph, 2011). A BBC feature on benefits to the West Midlands supply chain from car exports highlighted Morgan Cars (2011). Feature articles overseas include those in Aftonbladet (Sweden, 2012), La Repubblica (Italy, 2012 and 2013), Die Zeit (Germany, 2012) and New York Times (USA, 2011)

Optimal Proposal Particle Filters for Detecting Anomalies and Manoeuvres from Two Line Element Data

Detecting anomalous behaviour of satellites is an important goal within the broader task of space situational awareness. The Two Line Element (TLE) data published by NORAD is the only widely-available, comprehensive source of data for satellite orbits. We present here a filtering approach for detecting anomalies in satellite orbits from TLE data. Optimal proposal particle filters are deployed to track the state of the satellites' orbits. New TLEs that are unlikely given our belief of the current orbital state are designated as anomalies. The change in the orbits over time is modelled using the SGP4 model with some adaptations. A model uncertainty is derived to handle the errors in SGP4 around singularities in the orbital elements. The proposed techniques are evaluated on a set of 15 satellites for which ground truth is available and the particle filters are shown to be superior at detecting the subtle in-track and cross-track manoeuvres in the simulated dataset, as well as providing a measure of uncertainty of detections

Fifty years of A-level mathematics: have standards changed?

Advanced-level (A-level) mathematics is a high-profile qualification taken by many school leavers in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and around the world as preparation for university study. Concern has been expressed in these countries that standards in A-level mathematics have declined over time, and that school leavers enter university or the workplace lacking the required mathematical knowledge and skills. The situation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland reflects more general international concerns about decreasing educational standards. However, evidence to support this concern has been of limited scope, rarely subjected to peer-review, and of questionable validity. Our study overcame the limitations of previous research into standards over time by applying a comparative judgement technique that enabled the direct comparison of mathematical performance across different examinations. Furthermore, unlike previous research, all examination questions were re-typeset and candidate responses rewritten to reduce bias arising from surface cues. Using this technique, mathematics experts judged A-level scripts from the 1960s, 1990s and the current decade. We report that the experts believed current A-level mathematics standards to have declined since the 1960s, although there was no evidence that they believed standards have declined since the 1990s. We contrast our findings with those from previous comparison studies and consider implications for future research into standards over time

You Made Me This Way: Systems of Oppression in Joseph Heller's Something Happened

"The purpose my paper is to examine Joseph Heller's novel Something Happened in regards to issues of gender, identity, and sex. Using a psychoanalytic framework, I examine the main character, Bob Slocum, and his relationship with the exterior world and the his memory. Among the topics Slocum maintains focus on is his own sexual history and the sexuality of those around him. Slocum interprets the world in gendered terms but in such a way where his body is sexualized and he is reduced to his sexual parts. I argue that Slocum's interpretation contributes to the unresolved and inverted Oedipal drama that runs throughout the novel and can only be resolved in the novel's conclusion. I argue that it is from a mixture of the need to resolve the Oedipal conflict in his life, his own sexual inadequacy and his latent narcissism that leads to Slocum killing his own son.-- I wish to examine the connection between political protest and body images. My principle topics will be center around images taken from various artists of the past decades and images used by anti-abortion activists. Using a number of theorists, I aim to show that protests related to the body often rely on an understanding of passive participation. I aim to show that activists wish to appeal to this sense of passive participation and force audiences to act. Artists and protesters rely on a recognition of pain by the audience and attempt to incorporate pain and trauma into their pieces via their own bodies or through symbolic bodies."--Abstract from author supplied metadata

Novel synthesis of porous aluminium and its application in hydrogen storage

A novel approach for confining LiBH4 within a porous aluminium scaffold was applied in order to enhance its hydrogen storage properties, relative to conventional techniques for confining complex hydrides. The porous aluminium scaffold was fabricated by sintering NaAlH4, which was in the form of a dense pellet, under dynamic vacuum. The final product was a porous aluminium scaffold with the Na and H2 having been removed from the initial pellet. This technique contributed to achieving highly dispersed LiBH4 particles that were also destabilised by the presence of the aluminium scaffold. In this study, the effectiveness of this novel fabrication method of confined/destabilised LiBH4 was extensively investigated, which aimed to simultaneously improve the hydrogen release at lower temperature and the kinetics of the system. These properties were compared with the properties of other confined LiBH4 samples found in the literature. As-synthesised samples were characterised using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Nitrogen Adsorption measurements. The hydrogen storage capacity of all samples was analysed using temperature programmed desorption in order to provide a comprehensive survey of their hydrogen desorption properties. The porous aluminium scaffold has a wide pore size distribution with most of the porosity due to pores larger than 50 nm. Despite this the onset hydrogen desorption temperature (Tdes) of the LiBH4 infiltrated into the porous aluminium scaffold was 200 °C lower than that of bulk LiBH4 and 100 °C lower than that of nanosized LiBH4. Partial cycling could be achieved below the melting point of LiBH4 but the kinetics of hydrogen release decreased with cycle number

Kinship, dear enemies, and costly combat:The effects of relatedness on territorial overlap and aggression in a cooperative breeder

Many species maintain territories, but the degree of overlap between territories and the level of aggression displayed in territorial conflicts can vary widely, even within species. Greater territorial overlap may occur when neighboring territory holders are close relatives. Animals may also differentiate neighbors from strangers, with more familiar neighbors eliciting less‐aggressive responses during territorial conflicts (the “dear enemy” effect). However, research is lacking in how both kinship and overlap affect territorial conflicts, especially in group‐living species. Here, we investigate kinship, territorial overlap, and territorial conflict in a habituated wild population of group‐living cooperatively breeding birds, the southern pied babbler Turdoides bicolor. We find that close kin neighbors are beneficial. Territories overlap more when neighboring groups are close kin, and these larger overlaps with kin confer larger territories (an effect not seen for overlaps with unrelated groups). Overall, territorial conflict is costly, causing significant decreases in body mass, but conflicts with kin are shorter than those conducted with nonkin. Conflicts with more familiar unrelated neighbors are also shorter, indicating these neighbors are “dear enemies.” However, kinship modulates the “dear enemy” effect; even when kin are encountered less frequently, kin elicit less‐aggressive responses, similar to the “dear enemy” effect. Kin selection appears to be a main influence on territorial behavior in this species. Groups derive kin‐selected benefits from decreased conflicts and maintain larger territories when overlapping with kin, though not when overlapping with nonkin. More generally, it is possible that kinship extends the “dear enemy” effect in animal societies

Decoding the type 2 diabetes epidemic in rural India

Efforts to prevent further rises in diabetes prevalence require examination of cultural and sociopolitical factors in diabetes onset and management, including structural inequalities. To analyze the role of anthropological factors, in-depth interviews and focus groups were organized within a rural community of Tamil Nadu. The objectives of the study were to understand sources and extent of health knowledge, diabetes explanatory models, and the impact of illness on individual, social, and familial roles. Large-scale changes in political and socioeconomic processes may be required to alleviate the risks factors of diabetes in rural regions of India