PROFILE user's guide

User information for program PROFILE, an aerodynamics design utility for refining, plotting, and tabulating airfoil profiles is provided. The theory and implementation details for two of the more complex options are also presented. These are the REFINE option, for smoothing curvature in selected regions while retaining or seeking some specified thickness ratio, and the OPTIMIZE option, which seeks a specified curvature distribution. REFINE uses linear techniques to manipulate ordinates via the central difference approximation to second derivatives, while OPTIMIZE works directly with curvature using nonlinear least squares techniques. Use of programs QPLOT and BPLOT is also described, since all of the plots provided by PROFILE (airfoil coordinates, curvature distributions) are achieved via the general purpose QPLOT utility. BPLOT illustrates (again, via QPLOT) the shape functions used by two of PROFILE's options. The programs were designed and implemented for the Applied Aerodynamics Branch at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, and written in FORTRAN and run on a VAX-11/780 under VMS

Professional judgement and decision making in adventure sports coaching: The role of interaction

This qualitative study presents the view that coaching practice places demands on the coach’s adaptability and flexibility. These requirements for being adaptive and flexible are met through a careful process of professional judgement and decision making based on context-appropriate bodies of knowledge. Adventure sports coaches were selected for study on the basis that adventure sports create a hyper-dynamic environment in which these features can be examined. Thematic analysis revealed that coaches were generally well-informed and practiced with respect to the technical aspects of their sporting disciplines. Less positively, however, they often relied on ad-hoc contextualization of generalised theories of coaching practice to respond to the hyper-dynamic environments encountered in adventure sports. We propose that coaching practice reflects the demands of the environment, individual learning needs of the students, and the task at hand. Together, these factors outwardly resemble a constraints led approach but, we suggest, actually reflect manipulation of these parameters from a cognitive rather than an ecological perspective. This process is facilitated by a refined judgement and decision-making process, sophisticated epistemology and an explicit interaction of coaching components

Test instrumentation evaluates electrostatic hazards in fluid system

RJ-1 fuel surface potential is measured with a probe to determine the degree of hazard originating from static electricity buildup in the hydraulic fluid. The probe is mounted in contact with the fluid surface and connected to an electrostatic voltmeter

The foci of in-action professional judgement and decision-making in high-level adventure sports coaching practice

This paper continues a theme of previous investigations by the authors and examined the focus of in-action reflection as a component of professional judgement and decision making (PJDM) processes in high level adventure sports coaching. We utilised a thematic analysis approach to investigate the decision-making practices of a sample of high level adventure sports coaches over a series of sessions. It was discovered that adventure sports coaches utilise a combination of questioning and observation to collect and constantly verify the information that forms the basis of their PJDM. Each coach responds to matters of immediate security, collecting information until a best fit decision can be made regarding changes to environment, task, or individual. Implications for professional training, accreditation, and development are presented against these data, offering a template for a more expertise-focused progression in the adventure sports coaching profession

The epistemological chain in high-level adventure sports coaches

This paper considers the personal epistemology of adventure sports coaches, the existence of the epistemological chain and its impact on professional judgment and decision-making. The epistemological chain’s role and operationalization in other fields is considered, offering clues to how it may manifest itself in the adventure sports coach context. High-level adventure sports coaches were interviewed and an interpretive phenomenological analysis approach was adopted for the interview transcripts. Based on these data, we suggest that the epistemological chain provides the criteria by which adventure sports coaches measure the success of their coaching practice in the field and, further, that this epistemological chain also underpins the professional judgment and decision-making process

An Analysis of Leading Congressional Health Care Bills, 2007-2008: Part I, Insurance Coverage

Compares coverage and cost estimates of bills to improve health coverage through private-public approaches, universal public insurance, tax changes, increased coverage for children and the disabled, expanded health savings accounts, and other strategies

Metacognition and professional judgment and decision making in coaching: Importance, application and evaluation

Previous research has emphasised the dynamic nature of coaching practice and the need to consider both individual performer needs and necessary contextual trade-offs in providing optimum solutions. In this regard, a Professional Judgment and Decision Making framework has been suggested to facilitate an optimum blend of actions against these complex and dynamic demands. Accordingly, we extend this work and address recent calls for greater focus on expertise-oriented assessments, by postulating on the aspirant/developing coach’s capacity for and development of metacognition (i.e., active control over cognitive processes) as a ‘tool’ within the reflective process. Specifically, we propose that metacognition enables essential active cognitive processing for deep learning and impactful application, together with construction and refinement of useable knowledge to inform coaching decisions. Metacognition, therefore, helps to contextualise knowledge provided in training, further optimising the experience, particularly before certification. Finally, we exemplify how metacognition can be developed in coaches through the use of cognitive apprenticeships and decision training tools; and evaluated via a series of observed coaching episodes, with reasoning articulated through pre and postsession interview. Despite challenging traditional competency-based approaches to coach education, we believe that a considered mixed approach represents a vital next step in further professionalising sports coaching

The 2008 Presidential Candidates' Health Reform Proposals: Choices for America

Looks at key differences in the 2008 presidential candidates' health insurance reforms and evaluates them against the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System's principles. Estimates each plan's impact on the number of uninsured

JaxoDraw: A graphical user interface for drawing Feynman diagrams. Version 2.0 release notes

A new version of the Feynman graph plotting tool JaxoDraw is presented. Version 2.0 is a fundamental re-write of most of the JaxoDraw core and some functionalities, in particular importing graphs, are not backward-compatible with the 1.x branch. The most prominent new features include: drawing of Bezier curves for all particle modes, on-the-fly update of edited objects, multiple undo/redo functionality, the addition of a plugin infrastructure, and a general improved memory performance. A new LaTeX style file is presented that has been written specifically on top of the original axodraw.sty to meet the needs of this this new version.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figur

A finite element-boundary integral method for scattering and radiation by two- and three-dimensional structures

A review of a hybrid finite element-boundary integral formulation for scattering and radiation by two- and three-dimensional composite structures is presented. In contrast to other hybrid techniques involving the finite element method, the proposed one is in principle exact and can be implemented using a low O(N) storage. This is of particular importance for large scale applications and is a characteristic of the boundary chosen to terminate the finite element mesh, usually as close to the structure as possible. A certain class of these boundaries lead to convolutional boundary integrals which can be evaluated via the fast Fourier transform (FFT) without a need to generate a matrix; thus, retaining the O(N) storage requirement. The paper begins with a general description of the method. A number of two- and three-dimensional applications are then given, including numerical computations which demonstrate the method's accuracy, efficiency, and capability