Ballast barge concept for underwater structures

Ballast barge for underwater structure consists of a reinforced concrete structure partitioned into watertight compartments. The barge structure includes a 3-way venting valve, a compressed air manifold, a master valve for connecting the manifold to an air line, and an open port in each compartment for admitting and expelling sea water

Promoting green issues and sustainability in UK higher education libraries

Climate change affects us all. Individually and collectively, we must reduce our carbon footprint to protect the future of the planet. But how can higher education libraries contribute? In April of 2007, a request was made to SCONUL libraries – via LIS-SCONUL – for information on library green initiatives that they were taking forward. The responses highlighted that there is growing interest in the issue and that sustainability issues are beginning to be taken very seriously. This is partially driven by the greater awareness of the need to reduce carbon emissions throughout society. Specifically within higher education, it is also a result of encouragement by funding bodies, such as the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) (see http://www.hefce. ac.uk/lgm/sustain/), through pressure from groups such as People and Planet and their ‘green league’ of higher education institutions (http:// peopleandplanet.org/gogreen/greenleague2007), and through rewards for excellence such as the Times Higher Education and Higher Education Academy Awards for an outstanding contribution by a higher education institution to sustainable development. Library staff are often active in wider institutional sustainability initiatives and can act as ‘champions’ for environmental issues and initiatives. Most of the libraries that responded to the request for information have aligned their green initiatives/ policies with those of their host organisation. Some libraries have participated in a wider institutional initiative to apply for the environmental management standard, ISO 14001. However, there are many specific ways that libraries can become more environmentally friendly and can make a difference

The critical currents in superconducting tin films

The nonlinear current-voltage curves exhibited by tin films in the flux flow state have made studies of the amount of heating present in the sample necessary. The samples in this work consisted of an evaporated tin film on one side of a 2 mm thick crystal quartz substrate and a carbon film of the same configuration as the tin film on the back of the substrate. The carbon film was used as a thermometer to measure the temperature rise of the tin film above the bath temperature. The heating results indicate negligible effects in the samples. Temperature ratios as small as 0.80 for the tin samples have been investigated and the current-voltage characteristics are still nonlinear, indicating that the source of the nonlinearity is not Joule heating in the samples

Credit rating changes’ impact on banks: evidence from the US banking industry

This study examines the impact of credit rating upgrades and downgrades on six comprehensive banks’ asset classes, profitability, leverage and size using data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s call reports and Bloomberg over the period 1989-2008. In summary, the results suggest that a downgrade has a lasting and relatively more severe impact on banks than an upgrade; however, downgraded banks do not seem to effectively reduce their appetite for risk over a longer horizon. It seems that the role of credit rating agencies as an integral part of banks’ prudential supervision through market discipline is, in a longer horizon, overstated.Credit rating changes; banks; market discipline

The craft of musical performance: Skilled practice in collaboration

This article examines the nature of skilled practice within two settings of musical performance, the rehearsal and the compositional workshop. Drawing primarily on the work of Richard Sennett and Tim Ingold, I suggest that a characterisation of musical performance as a craft practice attends to the development of skill and expertise through the performer’s physical and everyday encounters with the world and provokes a reconsideration of the dimensions of performance that might otherwise be taken for granted. The first case study addresses rhythmic coordination during a rehearsal of Four Duets for clarinet and piano (2012), composed by Edmund Finnis for Mark Simpson and Víkingur Ólafsson, and the second traces the development of instrumental techniques by composer Evan Johnson and performer Carl Rosman as they collaborate on a new work for historical basset clarinet, ‘indolentiae ars’, a medium to be kept (2015). The article makes the case for skilled practice as an improvisatory interplay between performers and the meshwork of people, objects, histories and processes which they inhabit

Development and fabrication of radiation resistant high efficiency solar cells Final periodic report, 24 Aug. 1966 - 24 Feb. 1967

Diffusion process for lithium doping of solar cells, and electrical characteristics and radiation resistance of solar cell

Radio Continuum Study of Supernova Remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud - SNR J0519-6926

We present the results of new high resolution ATCA observations of SNR J0519-6926. We found that this SNR exhibits a typical "horseshoe" appearance with alpha = -0.55 +- 0.08 and D=28+-1 pc. No polarization (or magnetic fields) are detected to a level of 1%. This is probably due to a relatively poor sampling of the uv plane caused be observing in "snap-shot" mode.Comment: 6 pages 4 figures, to be published in Serbian Astronomical Journa

Repurposing the past? The historical basset clarinet in creative collaboration

In this article I examine the role of the instrument in Evan Johnson and Carl Rosman’s collaboration on a new work for eighteenth-century basset clarinet, ‘indolentiae ars’, a medium to be kept (2015). Drawing on material collected over 30 months – including interviews; audio-visual footage; and correspondence containing sketches, fingering charts, and recordings – I consider the latent practices that lie within the instrument, and their role in the creative process. From the aesthetic discourses that pervaded the musicians’ discussions, to the transitional and sometimes ‘accidental’ moments of instrumental interaction during workshops, I trace the micro-processes within the broader creative trajectory, in order to understand how the instrument’s historical, social, and ergonomic affordances were enmeshed within the here-and-now of the collaboration. The article illustrates the dynamic character of collaborative work, shaped not solely by the knowledge of individuals, but through a close reciprocity between perception, action, and the discursive and material conditions of their surroundings

How to Collect your Water Sample and Interpret the Results for the Poultry Analytical Package

Rapidly growing birds may consume up to twice as much water as feed (Scantling and Watkins 2013), which means a plentiful supply of clean water is crucial for poultry health and productivity. To determine the quality of your poultry’s water resources, periodic sampling and analysis is needed. Analyzing water supplies can also be a crucial tool in identifying existing or potential challenges. The Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC) in cooperation with the UA Cooperative Extension Service offers several analytical packages to assess the quality of your water resources. This document is intended to provide guidance to poultry producers on collecting water samples for analysis and understanding the “Poultry Water Report Form” provided by the AWRC’s Water Quality Laboratory (Lab). The information contained within this fact sheet should be used as general guidance, and the reader is encouraged to seek advice from Extension specialists regarding the interpretation of individual reports and water testing results that may be of concern

Spectroscopy of drums and quantum billiards: perturbative and non-perturbative results

We develop powerful numerical and analytical techniques for the solution of the Helmholtz equation on general domains. We prove two theorems: the first theorem provides an exact formula for the ground state of an arbirtrary membrane, while the second theorem generalizes this result to any excited state of the membrane. We also develop a systematic perturbative scheme which can be used to study the small deformations of a membrane of circular or square shapes. We discuss several applications, obtaining numerical and analytical results.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures, 7 tabl