Development of an electronically-scanned pressure module for operation at cryogenic temperatures

Pressure and temperature characteristics were measured for a number of multichannel electronically scanned pressure sensors. The tests were made on commercially available units designed to operate in a controlled temperature environment. Measurements of zero shift, sensitivity, and nonlinearity for each transducer were taken over a temperature range from 100 K to 340 K using a computer controlled data acquisition system. The units tested failed to meet accuracy specifications over the complete temperature range, which was expected. However, the sensors showed acceptable and predictable behavior over the temperature range from approximately -40 C (233 K) to 70 C (343 K). It was determined that a combination of local heating and accurate temperature monitoring can result in a device that can be compensated for temperature as well as its other physical properties. The design of a prototype for operation in a cryogenic environment is proposed, and a method for compensation is developed

The Everyday Wonders of Science

Rural communities are oftentimes neglected when it comes to science communication. This leaves individuals feeling excluded, negatively impacting their relationship with science. The aim of this project is to get more people, especially those in rural communities, to engage with science. For this project, I have created a podcast mini-series highlighting the ways that science impacts our daily lives. This podcast series discusses the scientific method with Dr. Bryan Phillips of the University of Iowa in the episode titled Why the Scientific Method Isn’t Just for Scientists. Water quality is also discussed in the podcast in the episode titled The Importance of Improving Water Quality with Dr. David Cwiertny of the University of Iowa.In order to cater this podcast to rural communities, I have partnered with various public libraries across the state of Iowa to establish content areas of interest and ways to reach their patrons. The podcasts consist of interviews with professionals and faculty at the University of Iowa that have extensive experience in the areas of interest. These short episodes are intended to be easily digestible in order to get people excited about science and how it works without us even knowing.&nbsp

Lessons for Legalizing Love: A Case Study of the Naz Foundation\u27s Campaign to Decriminalize Homosexuality in India

In 1860, British colonizers codified Section 377 into the Indian Penal Code. 377 is an anti-sodomy law based on Victorian/Judeo-Christian values which criminalizes homosexuality through judicial interpretation and the manipulation of ambiguous language. On August 15th, 2017, India celebrated 70 years of independence from British control, yet 377 still exerts oppressive control over the safety and freedom of Indian LGBTQI communities. Defining queerness as perversion has caused LGBTQI individuals to become victims of false accusations, blackmail, harassment, housing and workplace discrimination, familial rejection, forced “conversion therapy”, assault, rape, torture, and even murder because of this power imbalance and ensuing legitimization of cultural violence against queer peoples. In 2001, the Naz Foundation filed a petition with the Delhi High Court (DHC) arguing 377 violated Articles 14, 15, 19, and 21 of the Indian Constitution. On July 2, 2009, the DHC decided in favor of Naz’s petition and read down 377 to exclude private, consensual acts among adults. Gender and sexual minorities throughout India finally received a very special freedom. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, intersex, transgender, hijras, kothis, aravanis, and others who have been historically oppressed for their sexual orientation or gender identity were, for the first time in their lives, no longer criminals for simply expressing their most authentic self. Unfortunately, this freedom was short-lived. Four years later, the Supreme Court of India overturned the DHC’s ruling, reinstating the prior interpretation of Section 377. This resulted in a recriminalization of homosexuality and queerness in India and a continuation of Naz Foundation’s vigorous activism against 377. However, this capstone focuses on the initial campaign (2001-2009) which led to such an historical victory and outlines the advocacy of the Naz Foundation and its allies situated within the socio-political context of India. Their triumph in 2009 has been lauded for the campaign’s tenacity and effective utilization of issue framing, constituency building, and public education. The paper will analyze these strategies and resulting outcomes to identify relevant lessons for policy advocacy practice through conceptual frameworks covered in the Policy Analysis and Advocacy courses at SIT Graduate Institute. Key Words: Policy Advocacy, Section 377, Naz Foundation, Voices Against 377, Delhi High Court, Issue Framing, Constituency Building, Public Educatio

Competition and the Provision of Rail Passenger Services: A simulation exercise

This paper presents the results of simulating the effects of introducing competition on a long distance international rail passenger route where there is also a strong domestic market served by high speed trains. We are aware of a number of proposals to introduce new services in such circumstances. It has allowed for the fact that on such a service seat reservations are likely to be compulsory and yield management practiced, so that whatever is initially assumed about fares there will be further endogenous changes in average fares to maintain high load factors. It is found that on-track competition has benefits to consumers, in terms of fares and services, but that it would reduce the profitability of the incumbent and that it would be difficult for the new entrant to attain profitability unless its costs were significantly lower than those of the incumbent. A large part of the revenue of the entrant on this route would come from the domestic market, and if open access competition were permitted then the entrant might seek to run a frequent service offering head on competition on this part of the route. However, again it would appear that both operators would make heavy losses in this situation. One way of restoring profitability might be to reduce track access charges, but that would require additional government subsidy to the infrastructure manager, as the additional train kilometres run would not compensate for the lower charges. An alternative way of seeking to achieve the same result as on track competition in terms of reduced costs and innovation whilst preserving economies of density would be to award a monopoly franchise by means of competitive tendering. Franchising has generally succeeded in raising rail demand and reducing costs, although in the one example where inter-city services were franchised – Britain – costs have actually risen. Thus unless this is due to peculiarities of the British situation which would not exist elsewhere, on track competition may still have a role in reducing costs

Consumption inequality and income uncertainty

This paper places the debate over using consumption or income in studies of inequality growth in a formal intertemporal setting. It highlights the importance of permanent and transitory income uncertainty in the evaluation of growth in consumption inequality. We derive conditions under which the growth of variances and covariances of income and consumption can be used to separately identify the growth in the variance of permanent and transitory income shocks. Household data from Britain for the period 1968-1992 are used to show a strong growth in transitory inequality toward the end of this period, while younger cohorts are shown to face significantly higher levels of permanent inequality

Emperical Tests of Acceptance Sampling Plans

Acceptance sampling is a quality control procedure applied as an alternative to 100% inspection. A random sample of items is drawn from a lot to determine the fraction of items which have a required quality characteristic. Both the number of items to be inspected and the criterion for determining conformance of the lot to the requirement are given by an appropriate sampling plan with specified risks of Type I and Type II sampling errors. In this paper, we present the results of empirical tests of the accuracy of selected sampling plans reported in the literature. These plans are for measureable quality characteristics which are known have either binomial, exponential, normal, gamma, Weibull, inverse Gaussian, or Poisson distributions. In the main, results support the accepted wisdom that variables acceptance plans are superior to attributes (binomial) acceptance plans, in the sense that these provide comparable protection against risks at reduced sampling cost. For the Gaussian and Weibull plans, however, there are ranges of the shape parameters for which the required sample sizes are in fact larger than the corresponding attributes plans, dramatically so for instances of large skew. Tests further confirm that the published inverse-Gaussian (IG) plan is flawed, as reported by White and Johnson (2011)