Carl Jung and Yehuda Halevi: Imagination, Symbols and the Loss of the Sacred

In this project, we offered an examination of the work of Yehuda Halevi and Carl Jung. The thesis for this project is that these two thinkers offer very similar perspectives on a number of ideas, central of which is the dichotomy between the use primacy of the intellect and the imaginative faculty of man. While other researchers in passing with one another frequently mention these two thinkers, a full examination of their works has not been offered before. This project will offer a unique exploration of the works of Jung and Halevi. While the examination of the dichotomy between the primacy of the intellect and the imaginative faculty plays a central, pivotal position in this examination, other topics will emerge as key ideas in establishing the affiliation between Halevi and Jung. These topics include symbolism and the relative situating of rational thought in each thinkers system of thought. This project will rely on the Halevi\u27s Kuzari, a number of Jung\u27s writings that compose this Collected Works and a recently published the Red Book. A number of secondary sources presented by other researchers will also be offered as commentary on the primary work of Halevi and Jung

Knowledge based and interactive control for the Superfluid Helium On-orbit Transfer Project

NASA's Superfluid Helium On-Orbit Transfer (SHOOT) project is a Shuttle-based experiment designed to acquire data on the properties of superfluid helium in micro-gravity. Aft Flight Deck Computer Software for the SHOOT experiment is comprised of several monitoring programs which give the astronaut crew visibility into SHOOT systems and a rule based system which will provide process control, diagnosis and error recovery for a helium transfer without ground intervention. Given present Shuttle manifests, this software will become the first expert system to be used in space. The SHOOT Command and Monitoring System (CMS) software will provide a near real time highly interactive interface for the SHOOT principal investigator to control the experiment and to analyze and display its telemetry. The CMS software is targeted for all phases of the SHOOT project: hardware development, pre-flight pad servicing, in-flight operations, and post-flight data analysis

Amphibian species richness and distribution in northwestern Ontario : the importance of hydroperiod

The preservation of biodiversity has become a fundamental ecological goal in recent years. If we wish to prevent or reverse worldwide amphibian declines it is imperative that we understand patterns of abundance and distribution and the causal factors. Virtually every aspect of the amphibian life cycle depends on water, and therefore wetland hydroperiod plays an important part in amphibian species richness and the distribution of individual species, particulary since two major perceived stresses on amphibians are desiccation stress and predation by fish. I used repeated surveys (breeding call and visual surveys) to investigate amphibian species richness and incidence of 93 wetlands (31 each of permanent, semi-permanent and temporary) in Northwestern Ontario in relation to hydroperiod and a number of other wetland characteristics. Amphibian species richness and incidence differed among hydroperiod categories. Species richness peaked in semi-permanent wetlands and was higher in permanent than temporary wetlands, despite presence of predatory fish. Some species, even those considered ‘temporary’ occurred equally among all wetland types while others were more likely to be found in one or two hydroperiod categories. Species that I found to be rare in the study region may be affected negatively by the amount of roads on the landscape. Salamanders appeared very susceptible to alterations of the landscape. Percent forest cover does not appear to be a factor in determining patterns of species richness or distribution, as it is in other areas. There may be a minimum 'threshold' of forest cover, below which amphibian species decline rapidly, that has not yet been reached in my study region. Permanent bodies of water offer suitable amphibian habitat, despite potential predation by fish. Amphibian species richness was equal among lakes with or without predatory fish present. The availability of refuge habitat significantly increased amphibian species richness in lakes. I suggest that lakes should not be overlooked as amphibian habitat and as conservation areas. Lakes are suitable habitat for wetland-dependent organisms like amphibians, and being permanent, are available for use even during times of drought when other less permanent wetlands are not

The role of informal learning spaces in enhancing student engagement with mathematical sciences

By helping create a shared, supportive, learning community, the creative use of custom-designed spaces outside the classroom has a major impact on student engagement. The intention is to create spaces that promote peer interaction within and across year groups, encourage closer working relationships between staff and students and support specific coursework activities – particularly group work. Such spaces make better use of time since students are motivated to stay and work during long gaps in their timetable, can provide a sense of ‘home’ within the institution and can lead to a cohesive community of practice. In this paper, we describe how this has been achieved and currently delivered in Mathematics at Sheffield Hallam University and provide some detailed analysis of the student usage of the space

Whole-genome sequence analysis shows that two endemic species of North American wolf are admixtures of the coyote and gray wolf.

Protection of populations comprising admixed genomes is a challenge under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which is regarded as the most powerful species protection legislation ever passed in the United States but lacks specific provisions for hybrids. The eastern wolf is a newly recognized wolf-like species that is highly admixed and inhabits the Great Lakes and eastern United States, a region previously thought to be included in the geographic range of only the gray wolf. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has argued that the presence of the eastern wolf, rather than the gray wolf, in this area is grounds for removing ESA protection (delisting) from the gray wolf across its geographic range. In contrast, the red wolf from the southeastern United States was one of the first species protected under the ESA and was protected despite admixture with coyotes. We use whole-genome sequence data to demonstrate a lack of unique ancestry in eastern and red wolves that would not be expected if they represented long divergent North American lineages. These results suggest that arguments for delisting the gray wolf are not valid. Our findings demonstrate how a strict designation of a species under the ESA that does not consider admixture can threaten the protection of endangered entities. We argue for a more balanced approach that focuses on the ecological context of admixture and allows for evolutionary processes to potentially restore historical patterns of genetic variation

Mapping Datasets to Object Storage System

Access libraries such as ROOT and HDF5 allow users to interact with datasets using high level abstractions, like coordinate systems and associated slicing operations. Unfortunately, the implementations of access libraries are based on outdated assumptions about storage systems interfaces and are generally unable to fully benefit from modern fast storage devices. The situation is getting worse with rapidly evolving storage devices such as non-volatile memory and ever larger datasets. This project explores distributed dataset mapping infrastructures that can integrate and scale out existing access libraries using Ceph's extensible object model, avoiding re-implementation or even modifications of these access libraries as much as possible. These programmable storage extensions coupled with our distributed dataset mapping techniques enable: 1) access library operations to be offloaded to storage system servers, 2) the independent evolution of access libraries and storage systems and 3) fully leveraging of the existing load balancing, elasticity, and failure management of distributed storage systems like Ceph. They also create more opportunities to conduct storage server-local optimizations specific to storage servers. For example, storage servers might include local key/value stores combined with chunk stores that require different optimizations than a local file system. As storage servers evolve to support new storage devices like non-volatile memory, these server-local optimizations can be implemented while minimizing disruptions to applications. We will report progress on the means by which distributed dataset mapping can be abstracted over particular access libraries, including access libraries for ROOT data, and how we address some of the challenges revolving around data partitioning and composability of access operations

Model-based information navigation for engineering documents

Engineering and the manner in which engineers think is largely visual and functional, and yet engineers are typically provided with search engines that are text-based. While software based on a visual and functional ethos exist (CAD for example), when searching for information engineers are still required to enter a text query into a search box. This process holds potential incompatibilities both with the nature of the data (i.e. 3D models) and with the way in which engineers think and work. Consequentially, the proposition tested in this paper is that a model-based approach to information access, i.e. a representation of an organisations information around a model of an artefact i.e. CAD model, can improve engineering information retrieval. In an A-B test with a traditional text-based search engine, and using study questions derived from real-world information seeking scenarios based on the activities of a world-leading aircraft manufacturer, the results presented in this paper suggest that there is merit to such an approach.Specifically, this paper shows that there is no significant difference in time to complete a search between a model-based and text-based interfaces in spite of the addition of a new stage in the search process (navigating a 3D model); that the system structure of the model-based interface allows for non-text based documents to be indexed, making up for the inherent limitations in traditional text-based search; and that participants enjoy using the model-based interface and find it intuitive, easy and simple to use. Further, this paper also finds that those with more experience/familiar with the product structure and those in managerial positions are more likely to find information using a model-based interface that those who are not, who perform better using a text-based interface

TBCC TSTO Design for the NASA-AFRL Joint System Study

NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory are involved in a Joint System Study (JSS) on Two-Stage-to-Orbit (TSTO) vehicles. The JSS will examine the performance, operability and uncertainty of unmanned, fully reusable, airbreathing-based TSTO launch vehicle concepts. NASA is providing a concept using turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) propulsion on the booster stage and an all-rocket orbiter. The Air Force supplied two vehicle concepts, both utilizing an all-rocket booster; one with an all-rocket orbiter, the other using a rocket-based combined cycle orbiter. For NASA, this study is being used for tool assessment and development, and to identify generic technology gaps, not to choose vehicle types or concepts. This presentation starts with an overview of the major JSS ground rules and assumptions. Second, the NASA TSTO concept, Reusable Airbreathing Launch Vehicle - iteration B (RALV-B) is introduced, including its mission profile and, the vehicle (booster and orbiter) layout and packaging. The high speed propulsion concept is then briefly discussed, including the work performed and lessons learned. The low speed TBCC propulsion system is covered next in some detail. An overview for the low speed system is given; then its development is discussed (starting with initial layout and leading to more detailed analyses performed and results). The low speed system portion is wrapped up with lessons learned and summary. Finally, an overall summary and lessons learned so far for the JSS are given as well as work planned to complete the study