Scotland’s international competitiveness within Western Europe

The paper measures regional competitiveness of Scotland in comparison to ten EU regions and small countries using the International Benchmarking Index Family (‘IB Index Family’) developed by BAK Basel Economics.1 The IB Index Family contains an index with three dimensions of competitiveness: Performance, Attractiveness and Structural Potential. The Performance Index measures recent economic success; the Attractiveness Index measures how well a region is an attractive location to companies and highly-qualified individuals; and the Structural Potential Index estimates future potential economic growth based on current economic structure. The application of the IB Index Family provides a first-step into a more in-depth benchmarking of the competitiveness of a region, which is necessary when working towards detailed policy conclusions. The paper explains these measurement tools and applies them in a short benchmarking analysis of Scotland and ten EU regions and small nations (e.g. Ireland, Norway, Western Sweden etc.)

Passive components used in power converters

In power converters, passive components play an important role, and have in general specific nature and properties. The goal of this tutorial is to give an overview, first on inductive components for power conversion, and second on dedicated power capacitors. In a third part, new components— supercapacitors—will be presented. Generally, inductors for power applications must be custom designed. In this tutorial, the most important effects encountered when realising inductive components will be presented in the first part, without entering into the detailed design of such components. For that purpose, the referenced documents that have served as a base for this tutorial must be consulted [1], [2], and mainly [3]. The second part of this tutorial (Capacitors used in power electronics) is dedicated to power capacitors. Unlike inductors, capacitors cannot be specifically designed, but must be selected from a manufacturer’s list of components. Here, the documentation corresponds to a subset of Ref. [4] that has been translated by Dr. Martin Veenstra. The third part of the tutorial (Supercapacitors and applications) presents supercapacitors, new components that have very high energy density and high power density. Modelling and design rules for several applications are presented. This part of the document uses as a base the study made by Dr. Philippe Barrade [5]. Finally, it must be noted that, even with a correct selection or design of passive elements, there can be parasitic effects caused by interactions between components of the same or different nature. As an example, by designing filters combining several passives like inductors and capacitors, the primary specification may be modified by the interaction of parasitics, typically a mutual coupling between the parasitic inductances of neighbouring capacitors. A good description of such effects can be found in Ref. [6]

Unibody Composite Pressurized Structure (UCPS) for In-Space Propulsion

Microcosm, Inc., in conjunction with the Scorpius Space Launch Company, is developing a UCPS (Unibody Composite Pressurized Structure )for in-space propulsion. This innovative approach constitutes a clean break from traditional spacecraft design by combining what were traditionally separate primary and secondary support structures and metal propellant tanks into a single unit

Unsteady Heat-Flux Measurements of Second-Mode Instability Waves in a Hypersonic Boundary Layer

In this paper we report on the application of the atomic layer thermopile (ALTP) heat- flux sensor to the measurement of laminar-to-turbulent transition in a hypersonic flat plate boundary layer. The centerline of the flat-plate model was instrumented with a streamwise array of ALTP sensors and the flat-plate model was exposed to a Mach 6 freestream over a range of unit Reynolds numbers. Here, we observed an unstable band of frequencies that are associated with second-mode instability waves in the laminar boundary layer that forms on the flat-plate surface. The measured frequencies, group velocities, phase speeds, and wavelengths of these instability waves are in agreement with data previously reported in the literature. Heat flux time series, and the Morlet-wavelet transforms of them, revealed the wave-packet nature of the second-mode instability waves. In addition, a laser-based radiative heating system was developed to measure the frequency response functions (FRF) of the ALTP sensors used in the wind tunnel test. These measurements were used to assess the stability of the sensor FRFs over time and to correct spectral estimates for any attenuation caused by the finite sensor bandwidth

Experimental Study of Second-Mode Instabilities on a 7-Degree Cone at Mach 6

Experiments have been carried out in the NASA Langley Research Center 20-Inch Mach 6 Air Tunnel to measure the second-mode boundary-layer instability on a 7deg half-angle cone using high-frequency pressure sensors. Data were obtained with both blunt and sharp nosetips installed on the cone. The second-mode wave amplitudes were observed to saturate and then begin to decrease in the Langley tunnels, indicating wave breakdown. Pressure fluctuation measurements and thermocouple data indicated the location of transition along the cone at the different conditions tested. Comparisons between the power density spectra obtained during the current test and previous data from the Langley 15-Inch Mach 6 High Temperature Tunnel and the Boeing/AFOSR Mach 6 Quiet tunnel illustrate the effect of tunnel noise on instability growth and transition

Facharztweiterbildung Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie: Problemorientiertes Lernen - Evaluation eines Modellprojekts

Zusammenfassung: Die Betonung individueller Lernbedürfnisse, der Fähigkeit zur Lösung komplexer klinischer Probleme sowie einer von interkollegialer Kommunikation geprägten professionellen Grundhaltung durch das problemorientierte Lernen (POL) spricht für dessen Eignung als didaktisches Format in der Facharztweiterbildung. Dennoch wurde es bisher selten hierfür eingesetzt. Im Rahmen dieses Modellprojektes wurde das POL in das Kurrikulum der strukturierten Facharztweiterbildung Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie aufgenommen und über einen Zeitraum von 12Monaten mittels strukturierter Fragebögen evaluiert. Es fanden im Evaluationszeitraum 41POL-Kurse statt, an denen insgesamt 447 Assistenzärzte teilnahmen. Die Teilnehmer und die Tutoren bewerteten 19 von 21 erfragten Aspekten der POL-Kurse als gut bis sehr gut (Mittelwert auf einer 5-stufigen Likert-Skala >4). Insgesamt wurde das POL als besonders geeignet für die Weiterbildung eingeschätzt (Teilnehmer 4,5±0,8; Tutoren 5,0±0,2). Die Ergebnisse dieses Modellprojekts sprechen für die Eignung des POL als Teil eines vielfältigen Weiterbildungsangebots, um den Praxisbezug und die Anwendbarkeit des Wissens im klinischen Alltag zu stärke

Dissociation and symptom dimensions of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A replication study

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a phenotypically very heterogeneous disease with high rates of comorbid psychiatric pathology. Previous studies have indicated that OCD is associated with higher levels of dissociation. The aims of the present study were to replicate and extend previous findings of a significant link between certain OCD symptom dimensions and dissociation. Methods: The study sample comprised 50 patients with OCD, as confirmed by the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview,who had a score of at least 16 on the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale. All patients were assessed with the short version of the Hamburg Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory and the Dissociative Experience Scale (DES). Correlation analyses and multiple regression analyses were performed to evaluate the relationship between OCD symptom dimensions and dissociation. Results: The checking dimension was most strongly related to dissociation, followed by the symmetry/ordering and obsessive thoughts dimensions. In contrast, no significant relationship was found between dissociation and the washing/cleaning, counting/touching, and aggressive impulses/fantasies dimensions. Multiple regression analyses revealed that: (1) only the checking dimension showed an independent positive correlation with dissociation, and (2) only higher scores on the DES subscale "amnestic dissociation" were associated with higher scores for checking compulsions. Conclusions: Our results suggest that there might be a specific link between checking behavior and dissociation in OCD. Moreover, checking compulsions seem to be particularly associated with amnestic dissociation. Further studies focusing on amnestic dissociation as a potentially important determinant of checking compulsions are warrante

Imaging for Hypersonic Experimental Aeroheating Testing (IHEAT) Version 4.0: User Manual

The IHEAT v4.0 software is a data reduction code for global thermography data acquired in the NASA Langley Aerothermodynamics Laboratory (LAL) hypersonic wind tunnels. IHEAT uses red and green color-intensity data from two-dimensional images of wind tunnel models to compute temperatures and heat-transfer rates using a semi-infinite, one-dimensional heat transfer approximation at each image pixel. Multiple automated tools in IHEAT v4.0 decrease the time required to reduce the data from a phosphor thermography wind tunnel run. Data at one or all of the image pixel locations can be exported to computer files for further analysis. The prior version of IHEAT, v3.2, was written in PV-WAVE (now owned by Rogue Wave Software) in 1994 and was limited in functionality to fit within the memory constraints of the available computers at the time. IHEAT v4.0 is written in MATLAB by MathWorks and contains several new features that leverage the increase in available memory of the current computers. A Piecewise tool permits the user to extract data along a segmented line cut that can follow interesting features in the image better than the single, straight line cuts that were possible with the legacy Length and Profile tools. The new Load Run and Batch tools facilitate batch processing by loading in all of the input files and images for a run at the same time. Load Run permits the user to process the available run images manually, while Batch automatically saves heat transfer data from all of the images based on the analysis previously performed on a single frame. IHEAT v4.0 also can automatically calculate the temporal collapse of reference line cuts from the time history heating data for a run to indicate the appropriate frame to reduce for each run. The IHEAT v4.0 source code was compiled into a standalone executable file that can be accessed remotely from several computers with different operating systems, simultaneously. The software is run through the MATLAB Compiler Runtime engine, and therefore, IHEAT does not require a software license to run. Any software commands executed in the IHEAT v4.0 code will not affect other similar applications running on the same machine. Similarly, changes to the parent software do not affect a compiled code. These features of IHEAT v4.0 are improvements over the legacy v3.2 code, which required regular maintenance to avoid losing functionality as the PVWAVE programming language was upgraded