Development of a reconfigurable protective system for multi-rotor UAS

The purpose of this study is to illustrate how the design and deployment of a minimal protective system for multi-rotorcraft can cater for changes in legislation and provide for greater use both in and outdoors. A methodology is presented to evaluate the design and development of a system which protects both single axial and co-axial rotorcraft. The key emphasis of the development presented is the scenario in which the multi-rotorcraft can fly with increased speed including the capability of flying through windows and doors without the fear of system failure due to rotor disruption. Discussed as well is the degree of autonomy the reconfigurable system should feature as well as the effects of drag and added component mass to the performance of the system

Muon Ionisation Cooling in Reduced RF

In Muon Ionisation Cooling, closely packed high-field RF cavities are interspersed with energy-absorbing material in order to reduce particle beam emittance. Transverse focussing of the muon beams is achieved by superconducting magnets. This results in the RF cavities sitting in intense magnetic fields. Recent studies have shown that this may limit the peak gradient that can be achieved in the RF cavities. In this paper, we study the effect that a reduced RF gradient may have on the cooling performance of the Neutrino Factory lattice and examine methods to mitigate the effect

A clerical error provides a unique opportunity to study the effect of previously seen exam questions on exam results

Due to a clerical error identical chemistry exam papers were set two years running. In the second year that the paper was used it was distributed as a ‘past paper’ for use as a revision aid, and lecturers worked through all the questions during classes. The students were also provided with model answers. Despite this, the cohort of students that had seen and reviewed the questions (n=50) performed no better than the previous year’s students (n=68) who had no prior knowledge of the questions. After the mistake was discovered the students were given a short survey to assess their reactions to the paper. Most thought the practice paper had helped them revise, furthermore they did not notice that they had already seen the exam paper. The students’ results and reactions shed doubt on the value of working through exam questions in lessons

Chinese users’ preference for web browser icons.

This paper compares the perspicacity, appropriateness and preference of web browser icons from leading software providers with those of a culture-specific design. The history and future direction of web browsers is outlined, together with the implications for the future growth of Chinese internet users. China, with its rapidly expanding young netizens has now overtaken the USA in terms of the number of internet users (253 million) and we predict it will reach saturation (≈70% internet penetration rate) by 2012. If correct, this will have a dramatic effect on the use of English as the ‘Lingua Franca’ of the Internet. This online study was conducted in Taiwan and involved 103 participants (mean age 21 years), who were given three sets of web browser icons to review, namely Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0, Macintosh Safari 3.0, and culturally specific icons created using the Culture-Centred Design methodology. The findings of the study show that all three sets have generally high recognition rates, but that some icon functions (e.g. Go/Visit and Favourite) in all three sets have poor recognition rates and are considered inappropriate. Furthermore, some significant differences were found when we analysed the level of user experience amongst several icons

Transport enhancement from incoherent coupling between one-dimensional quantum conductors

We study the non-equilibrium transport properties of a highly anisotropic two-dimensional lattice of spin-1/2 particles governed by a Heisenberg XXZ Hamiltonian. The anisotropy of the lattice allows us to approximate the system at finite temperature as an array of incoherently coupled one-dimensional chains. We show that in the regime of strong intrachain interactions, the weak interchain coupling considerably boosts spin transport in the driven system. Interestingly, we show that this enhancement increases with the length of the chains, which is related to superdiffusive spin transport. We describe the mechanism behind this effect, compare it to a similar phenomenon in single chains induced by dephasing, and explain why the former is much stronger