Experiments Relevant to the Development of Laser Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors

The development of gravitational wave detectors has been in progress for approximately twenty-five years. As yet there has been no clear evidence for the successful detection of such propagating fluctuations in the curvature of spacetime, but the prospects seem good that detectors of sufficient sensitivity to detect gravitational waves of astrophysical origin can be constructed in the near future. The most promising form of detector is the long baseline laser interferometer, and prototypes are being developed at a number of sites around the world. A 10 metre prototype is currently being developed in Glasgow. This thesis is an account of work based on the Glasgow prototype. After an elementary introduction to the theoretical foundations of gravitational waves, various sources of gravitational radiation, the nature of their emitted signal and their strengths are considered. Suitable detectors and their possible sensitivities are reviewed. Noise sources which could limit the sensitivity of laser interferometer detectors and the constraints which these place on the design of the detector are discussed. Since the test masses in an interferometer detector must be freely suspended as pendulums, yet their orientation must be accurately controlled to maintain correct alignment of the optical cavities forming the interferometer, an active orientation control system was developed and installed on the Glasgow prototype. This system provides a high degree of positional and angular stabilisation at low frequencies while leaving the test mass essentially free at high frequencies. Some of the potential limitations and noise sources are noted and their magnitudes calculated. A digital recording system was designed and used to record data from the prototype detector at Glasgow. The effects of the detector's response are analysed and techniques to recover the gravitational wave signal from the recorded data are described. The analysis of some data recorded with this system is then reported. The pulse statistics of the interferometer are analysed and the implications for searches for millisecond pulses of gravitational waves are discussed. The results of a search for periodic signals in the detector output are presented. Various sources of contamination which may be present in the detector output are identified, limitations of the recorded data are noted, and techniques which may be used to reduce the importance of these effects are described

Lattice QCD Application Development within the US DOE Exascale Computing Project

In October, 2016, the US Department of Energy launched the Exascale Computing Project, which aims to deploy exascale computing resources for science and engineering in the early 2020's. The project brings together application teams, software developers, and hardware vendors in order to realize this goal. Lattice QCD is one of the applications. Members of the US lattice gauge theory community with significant collaborators abroad are developing algorithms and software for exascale lattice QCD calculations. We give a short description of the project, our activities, and our plans.Comment: 35th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2017

Restorative justice in colonial Saskatchewan : an analysis

This thesis is an examination of the place of restorative justice in the practice of criminal law in Canada generally and in Saskatchewan in particular. It takes as its focal point the fundamental tension between traditional Anglo-Canadian Law in this area, and the newly founded practices of restorative justice. This project accepts that retribution, vengeance and proportional justice are important components of current practice. It argues that these imperatives find their place not only in practice, but also in justice system structure. This space is made both culturally and legislatively. Earlier societies are examined to develop a sense of the connection between societal norms and punitive paradigms, and an argument is made that Canada is no different from earlier societies in the way its legal values reflect the social values of the dominant settler culture. Into this analysis is then added reflections concerning the effect of colonialism on aboriginal people generally and on Canada in particular. The thesis then goes on to situate this tension specifically in current criminal justice by analysing legislation, policy, courts and practice. It examines restorative justice, and demonstrates that it has significant potential to ameliorate the deleterious effects of the colonial project on aboriginal peoples. However, it remains a marginalised practice precisely because it is an anti-colonial force in a powerful colonial justice structure. It concludes that the forces that have the inclination to change this situation have not acted to do so, and the justice system actors with the power to effect change have proven themselves to be similarly disinclined

Sitting less at work : a qualitative study of barriers and enablers in organisations of different size and sector

Background: Prolonged sitting is associated with a range of chronic health conditions and working in office-based jobs is an important contributor to total daily sitting time. Consequently, interventions to reduce workplace sitting have been developed and tested; however, no single intervention strategy consistently produces reductions in workplace sitting time. Exploring barriers and enablers to sitting less at work has been shown to support the development of more effective interventions. In order to address these barriers and enablers during the development and implementation of sit less at work interventions, it is important to understand how they may differ in different types of organisation, an area which has not yet been explored. The main aim of this study was to determine whether barriers and enablers to sitting less at work varied between organisations of different size and sector. Methods: A qualitative study design was used. Four organisations of different sizes and sectors participated: a small business, a charity, a local authority and a large corporation. A total of ten focus groups comprising 40 volunteer employees were conducted. Focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were then thematically analysed using pre-defined themes, but analysis also allowed for emergence of additional themes. Results: Barriers and enablers which were consistently raised by participants across all four organisations primarily included: individual-level factors such as habits and routines, and personal motivations and preferences; and factors relating to the internal physical environment. Barriers and enablers that differed by organisation mainly related to: organisational-level factors such as organisational culture, organisation size, and ways of working; and factors relating to the broader social, economic and political context such as the idea of presenteeism, and the impact of wider economic and political issues. Conclusions: This study found that although some themes were consistently raised by participants from organisations of different size and sector, participants from these organisations also experienced some different barriers and enablers to sitting less at work. For future research or practice, the study findings highlight that organisation-specific barriers and enablers need to be identified and addressed during the development and implementation of sit less at work interventions

New partnership network helps to protect Australian mangroves and saltmarsh.

MangroveWatch and the new Australian Mangrove and Saltmarsh Network are helping to link communities and promote information sharing to improve monitoring and management of coastal habitats

Abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear ‘ghost nets’ are increasing through time in Northern Australia

The remote Gulf of Carpentaria (GoC) represents 10% of Australia’s coastline. This large, shallow sea supports high value fishing activities and habitat for threatened species, and is a sink for abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) ‘ghost nets’, most originating from fishing activities outside of Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone. With growing concerns about the plastic waste along the world’s coastlines, we retrospectively analyzed ghost net sighting information from four aerial surveys across 15 years, to investigate whether densities of ghost nets are changing through time or in space. We found an increase in ghost nets, despite more than a decade of illegal fishing countermeasure and clean-up efforts in the broader region. This demonstrates that the input of ALDFG into the system currently overwhelms the substantial net removal activities. We make recommendations for improving monitoring and consider the underlying drivers of nets being lost to improve ghost gear management on land and at sea

Anomalous Behavior of the Upper Critical Field in Extreme Type-II Superconductors at Low Temperatures

We present a detailed numerical calculation of the upper critical field $H_{c2}(T)$ for a bulk extreme type-II superconductor. Particular emphasis is placed on the high-field, low-temperature regime of the HT-phase diagram. In this regime it is necessary to go beyond the standard semi-classical theory and include the effects of Landau quantization of the electronic motion on the superconducting state. The presence of Landau level quantization induces an upward curvature in $H_{c2}(T)$ at $\sim 10$ of $T_{c0}$ for those superconducting systems in which the slope of $H_{c2}(T)$ at $T_{c0}$ is $\geq$ 0.2 Tesla/Kelvin. We construct a simple analytical model that can account for this behavior based on the renormalization of the BCS coupling constant by the off-diagonal pairing of electrons on Landau levels.Comment: 13 pages, Revtex, 3 ps figures, to appear in Physica

"There is no place for sluggards in this game": mobile interactive technologies in teaching Russian as a foreignand native language

Статья посвящена презентации проекта "Лапта: мобильные интерактивные игры с русским образовательным содержанием", выполненного в рамках реализации отдельных мероприятий государственной программы Российской Федерации "Развитие образования"

Using co-production to develop “sit less at work” interventions in a range of organisations

Prolonged periods of sitting are associated with negative health outcomes, so the increase in sedentary jobs is a public health concern. Evaluation of interventions to reduce workplace sitting have suggested that participatory approaches may be more effective. This paper describes the use of co-production in four diverse organisations. Workshops with staff in each organisation were conducted to develop an organisation-specific strategy. The first workshop involved creative activities to encourage participants to develop innovative suggestions. The second workshop then developed a feasible and acceptable action plan. An ecological approach was used to consider behaviour change determinants at a range of different levels including intrapersonal, interpersonal, organisational, and environmental-level factors. 41 staff volunteered for workshops (seven in a small business, 16 in a charity, 15 in a local authority, and three in a large corporation). Of those, 27 were able to attend the first workshops and 16 were able to attend the second. Whilst there were some similarities across organisations, the smaller organisations developed a more tailored and innovative strategy than large organisations where there were more barriers to change and a more diverse workforce. Co-production resulted in bespoke interventions, tailored for different organisational contexts, maximising their potential feasibility and acceptability

Understanding the implementation of “sit less at work” interventions in three organisations: a mixed methods process evaluation

Long periods of workplace sitting are associated with poor health outcomes. Interventions to reduce workplace sitting time have had variable impacts, the reasons for which require further investigation. In this paper, we report on a process evaluation aiming to determine the intervention fidelity of three “sit less at work” interventions and to explore barriers and enablers to implementation, using a mixed methods “before and after” intervention study design. Convenience samples of staff were recruited from three diverse organisations to participate in pre- and post-intervention online questionnaires, objective measures of sitting time (using activPAL3™ devices) and post-intervention focus groups. Intervention implementers and key personnel were also recruited to participate in post-intervention focus groups and interviews. The process evaluation found that none of the interventions were implemented as intended, with no consistent reductions in sitting time. Contextual and organisational cultural barriers included workload pressures and the social norms of sitting, competing priorities, lack of management buy-in, and perceptions of where the responsibility for behaviour change should come from. To ensure effective implementation of future initiatives, deeper organisational-level change, requiring buy-in from all levels of management and staff, may be needed to shift organisational culture and associated social norms