A study on task difficulty and acceleration stress

The results of two experiments which relate to task difficulty and the effects of environmental stress on tracking performance are discussed and compared to subjective evaluations. The first experiment involved five different sum of sine tracking tasks which humans tracked both in a static condition and under a 5 Gz acceleration stress condition. The second experiment involved similar environmental stress conditions but in this case the tasks were constructed from deterministic functions with specially designed velocity and acceleration profiles. Phase Plane performance analysis was conducted to study potential measures of workload or tracking difficulty

Approximating cube roots of integers, after Heron's Metrica III.20

Heron, in Metrica III.20-22, is concerned with the the division of solid figures - pyramids, cones and frustra of cones - to which end there is a need to extract cube roots. We report here on some of our findings on the conjecture by Taisbak in C.M.Taisbak, Cube roots of integers. A conjecture about Heron's method in Metrika III.20. Historia Mathematica, 41 (2014), 103-104

The Battle to Define the Scope of Attorney-Client Privilege in the Context of Insurance Company Bad Faith: A Judicial War Zone

[Excerpt] The attorney-client privilege is the oldest of the privileges for confidential communications known to the common law. \u27 The privilege is [d]eeply rooted in public policy, and plays a \u27vital role\u27 in the administration of justice. As such, the privilege is traditionally deemed worthy of maximum legal protection \u27 and it remains one of the most carefully guarded privileges and is not readily to be whittled down. The privilege has come under assault in the insurance bad faith context in recent decades resulting in a whittling down of the privilege for insurance companies as a target party. Over the past couple of decades, various courts have rendered significant decisions regarding implied waiver of the privilege in the insurance bad faith context. These courts have seemingly set a minimal threshold for waiver that is the functional equivalent of a per se waiver rule, a rule which is inconsistent with the strength of the protection normally provided the attorney-client privilege in other contexts involving non-target parties. In contrast, Arizona, one of the jurisdictions which previously appeared to create such a per se rule, may be, with recent intermediate court decisions, redefining the battle for the scope of the attorney-client privilege in the insurance bad faith context. The Arizona decisions on this issue serve as a case study regarding the analytic gymnastics courts have engaged in to create implied waiver in the insurance bad faith context. However, these decisions may also set the stage for the judicial combatants. Will the battle result in a return to the more conservative protections of the privilege provided in other contexts or will it end with a broad per se implied waiver in the insurance context? In Part I of this article, the attorney-client privilege is discussed generally, as well as specifically, in the context of insurer bad faith. In Part I.A, a general overview of the attorney-client privilege is presented. In Part I.B, express and implied waiver of the attorney-client privilege are discussed. The courts have disagreed on the general contours of the test to be applied in determining whether an implied waiver of the attorney-client privilege has occurred, and what should be the precise formulation for that determination. The courts have also disagreed as to when a client may be deemed to have injected privileged attorney-client communications into a case, causing an implied waiver. There are three general approaches to determine whether a litigant has impliedly waived the attorney-client privilege. Each of these approaches is discussed. In Part I.C, the article discusses general principles regarding insurance bad faith and how the direct assertion of the advice-of counsel defense results in waiver of the attorney-client privilege in that context. The nature and scope of the advice-of-counsel defense is explored. In Part II, the battle over the changing boundaries of waiver by implication is examined by comparing the case authority supporting expansion versus the development of three published decisions from the courts of Arizona. The discussion starts in Part IIA, where the expansion of waiver by implication is discussed. Part II.B examines a decision from the Arizona Supreme Court which followed the trend of substantial expansion of the waiver-by-implication rule and then examines two subsequent decisions from the Arizona Court of Appeals which have applied the Arizona Supreme Court precedent to reach two very different and arguably contradictory results. The first of these appellate decisions arguably takes the expansion of implied waiver to the next level-a per se rule triggering automatic waiver as a result of defending a bad faith case on a subjective belief of acting in good faith. The second appellate decision, however, takes a step back from the ledge and seeks to limit the prior ruling to its facts rather than creating a per se rule in those circumstances. Part II.C seeks to synthesize and define the battle in Arizona over the scope of implied waiver, discussing the chilling effect continued expansion of implied waiver can have upon the advice that insurance companies seek from counsel and how the recent decision from Arizona may serve as a warm front to thaw the chill that has been in the air for the last two decades

Tributes & Remembrances

From a memorial service held in memory of Charles Price, Professor Emeritus of Art History, at Harkness Chapel, Connecticut College, April 13, 2004. With tributes written by Barbara Zabel, Christopher London, Brian Rogers, Cynthia Willauer, Maureen McCabe and John H. B. Knowlton. Illustrations by Charles Price

Fresnel concentrating collector

An advanced point focusing solar technology demonstrated potential for near term commercialization as a renewable energy technology. The design features combine to produce a highly efficient, low cost, safe, adaptable, durable system which is simple to manufacture, install and maintain

Absolute calibration of a wideband antenna and spectrometer for sky noise spectral index measurements

A new method of absolute calibration of sky noise temperature using a three-position switched spectrometer, measurements of antenna and low noise amplifier impedance with a vector network analyzer, and ancillary measurements of the amplifier noise waves is described. The details of the method and its application to accurate wideband measurements of the spectral index of the sky noise are described and compared with other methods.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, published in Radio Scienc

On the Tidal Dissipation of Obliquity

We investigate tidal dissipation of obliquity in hot Jupiters. Assuming an initial random orientation of obliquity and parameters relevant to the observed population, the obliquity of hot Jupiters does not evolve to purely aligned systems. In fact, the obliquity evolves to either prograde, retrograde or 90^{o} orbits where the torque due to tidal perturbations vanishes. This distribution is incompatible with observations which show that hot jupiters around cool stars are generally aligned. This calls into question the viability of tidal dissipation as the mechanism for obliquity alignment of hot Jupiters around cool stars.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted at ApJ

Coherent structures in a simulated turbulent mixing layer

A direct numerical simulation of a plane turbulent mixing layer has been performed. The simulation was initialized using two turbulent velocity fields obtained from direct numerical simulation of a turbulent boundary layer at momentum thickness Reynolds number 300 (Spalart, 1988). The mixing layer is allowed to evolve long enough for self-similar linear growth to occur, with the visual thickness Reynolds number reaching 14,000. The simulated flow is examined for evidence of the coherent structures expected in a mixing layer (rollers and rib vortices). Before the onset of self-similar growth, such structures are present with properties similar to the corresponding laminar or transitional structures. In the self-similar growth regime, however, only the rollers are present with no indication of rib vortices and no indication of conventional pairing. This results in a reduction of mixing and layer growth

Material Flow Analysis: Outcome Focus (MFA:OF) for Elucidating the Role of Infrastructure in the Development of a Liveable City

Engineered infrastructures (i.e., utilities, transport & digital) underpin modern society. Delivering services via these is especially challenging in cities where differing infrastructures form a web of interdependencies. There must be a step change in how infrastructures deliver services to cities, if those cities are to be liveable in the future (i.e., provide for citizen wellbeing, produce less CO2 & ensure the security of the resources they use). Material Flow Analysis (MFA) is a useful methodology for understanding how infrastructures transfer resources to, within and from cities and contribute to the city’s metabolism. Liveable Cities, a five-year research programme was established to identify & test radical engineering interventions leading to liveable cities of the future. In this paper, the authors propose an outcome-focussed variation on the MFA methodology (MFA: OF), evidenced through work on the resource flows of Birmingham, UK. These flows include water, energy, food & carbon-intensive materials (e.g., steel, paper, glass), as well as their associated waste. The contribution MFA: OF makes to elucidating the interactions & interdependencies between the flows is highlighted and suggestions are made for how it can contribute to the (radical) rethinking of the engineered infrastructure associated with such flow