OER Evidence Report 2013-2014

The Open Educational Resources Research Hub (OER Research Hub) provides a focus for research, designed to give answers to the overall question ‘What is the impact of OER on learning and teaching practices?’ and identify the particular influence of openness. We do this by working in collaboration with projects across four education sectors (K12, college, higher education and informal) extending a network of research with shared methods and shared results. The project combines: – Targeted research collaboration with high profile OER projects – A programme of international fellowship – Global networking and expertise in OER implementation and evaluation – A hub for research data and excellence in practice This report is an interim review of evidence recorded against the key hypotheses that focus the research of the OER Research Hub project

Microearthquakes in and near Long Valley, California

This is the published version. Copyright 1976 American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.Sixteen portable seismograph stations were deployed in the vicinity of the Long Valley geothermal area, California, from April 27 to June 2, 1973. Only minor microearthquake activity was detected in the Long Valley caldera, but a high level of activity was detected to the south and east of the caldera. The abrupt spatial seismicity decrease at the southern boundary of the caldera suggests that the caldera is either structurally less competent than the surrounding crust or is at a junction of different regional tectonic deformation trends. No significant attenuation or delays occurred for either local P or S waves that traversed the caldera

Simulation of gain stability of THGEM gas-avalanche particle detectors

Charging-up processes affecting gain stability in Thick Gas Electron Multipliers (THGEM) were studied with a dedicated simulation toolkit. Integrated with Garfield++, it provides an effective platform for systematic phenomenological studies of charging-up processes in MPGD detectors. We describe the simulation tool and the fine-tuning of the step-size required for the algorithm convergence, in relation to physical parameters. Simulation results of gain stability over time in THGEM detectors are presented, exploring the role of electrode-thickness and applied voltage on its evolution. The results show that the total amount of irradiated charge through electrode's hole needed for reaching gain stabilization is in the range of tens to hundreds of pC, depending on the detector geometry and operational voltage. These results are in agreement with experimental observations presented previously

Evidence for a Single-Spin Azimuthal Asymmetry in Semi-inclusive Pion Electroproduction

Single-spin asymmetries for semi-inclusive pion production in deep-inelastic scattering have been measured for the first time. A significant target-spin asymmetry of the distribution in the azimuthal angle φ of the pion relative to the lepton scattering plane was formed for π^+ electroproduction on a longitudinally polarized hydrogen target. The corresponding analyzing power in the sinφ moment of the cross section is 0.022±0.005±0.003. This result can be interpreted as the effect of terms in the cross section involving chiral-odd spin distribution functions in combination with a chiral-odd fragmentation function that is sensitive to the transverse polarization of the fragmenting quark

Development and Validation of a Comprehensive Helicopter Flight Dynamics Code

A comprehensive helicopter flight dynamics code is developed based on the UH-60 helicopter and named Texas A\&M University Rotorcraft Analysis Code (TRAC). This is a complete software package, which could perform trim analysis to autonomous flight simulation and the capability to model any helicopter configuration. Different components of the helicopter such as the main rotor, tail rotor, fuselage, vertical tail, and horizontal tail are modeled individually as different modules in the code and integrated to develop a complete UH-60 model. Since the code is developed on a module basis, it can be easily modified to adopt another component or configure a different helicopter. TRAC can predict the dynamic responses of both the articulated rotor blades and the helicopter fuselage and yields the required pilot control inputs to achieve trim condition for different flight regimes such as hover, forward flight, coordinated turn, climb/descent, etc. These trim results are validated with the test data obtained from the UH-60 flight tests conducted by the US Army. Beyond trim analysis, TRAC can also generate linearized models at various flight conditions based on a first-order Taylor series expansion. The extracted linear models show realistic helicopter dynamic behavior and were used to simulate a fully autonomous flight that involves a UH-60 helicopter approaching a ship and landing on the deck by implementing a Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) optimal controller.Comment: For software package, contact author via [email protected]

Redesigning the diagnostic pathway for chest pain patients in emergency departments

This is the final version of the article. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Patients presenting with chest pain at an emergency department in the United Kingdom receive troponin tests to assess the likelihood of an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Until recently, serial testing with two blood samples separated by at least six hours was necessary in order to analyse the change in troponin levels over time. New high-sensitivity troponin tests, however, allow the inter-test time to be shortened from six to three hours. Recent evidence also suggests that the new generation of troponin tests can be used to rule out AMI on the basis of a single test if patients at low risk of AMI present with very low cardiac troponin levels more than three hours after onset of worst pain. This paper presents a discrete event simulation model to assess the likely impact on the number of hospital admissions if emergency departments adopt strategies for serial and single testing based on the use of high-sensitivity troponin. Data sets from acute trusts in the South West of England are used to quantify the resulting benefits.This publication is based on a project funded by the South West Academic Health Science Network (SW AHSN). The work of the authors is also funded by the National Institute for Health (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, the SW AHSN or the Department of Health