Using Adobe Flash Lite on mobile phones for psychological research: reaction time measurement reliability and inter-device variability

Mobile telephones have significant potential for use in psychological research, possessing unique characteristics—not least their ubiquity—that may make them useful tools for psychologists. We examined whether it is possible to measure reaction times (RTs) accurately using Adobe Flash Lite on mobile phones. We ran simple and choice RT experiments on two widely available mobile phones, a Nokia 6110 Navigator and a Sony Ericsson W810i, using a wireless application protocol (WAP) connection to access the Internet from the devices. RTs were compared within subjects with those obtained using a Linux-based millisecond-accurate measurement system. Results show that measured RTs were significantly longer on mobile devices, and that overall RTs and distribution of RTs varied across device

Metamodelling of multivariable engine models for real-time flight simulation.

Sophisticated real-time distributed flight simulation environments may be constructed from a wide range of modelling and simulation tools. In this way accuracy, detail and model flexibility may be incorporated into the simulator. Distributed components may be constructed by a wide range of methods, from high level environments such as Matlab, through coded environments such as C or Fortran to hardware-in-the- loop. In this paper the Response Surface Methodology is combined with a hyper-heuristic (evolutionary algorithm) and applied to the representation of computationally intensive non-linear multivariable engine modelling. The paper investigates the potential for metamodelling (models of models) dynamic models which were previously too slow to be included in multi-component, high resolution real-time simulation environments. A multi-dimensional gas turbine model with five primary control inputs, six environmental inputs and eleven outputs is considered. An investigation has been conducted to ascertain to what extent these systems can be approximated by response surfaces with experiments which have been designed by hyper-heuristics as a first step towards automatic modelling methodology

On the arcmin structure of the X-ray Universe

We present the angular correlation function of the X-ray population of 1063 XMM-Newton observations at high Galactic latitudes, comprising up to ~30000 sources over a sky area of ~125 sq. degrees in the energy bands: soft (0.5-2 keV) and hard (2-10 keV). This is the largest sample of serendipitous X-ray sources ever used for clustering analysis purposes to date and the results have been determined with unprecedented accuracy. We detect significant clustering signals in the soft and hard bands (~10 sigma and ~5 sigma, respectively). We deproject the angular correlation function via Limber's equation and calculate the typical spatial lengths. We infer that AGN at redshifts ~1 are embedded in dark matter halos with typical masses of log M ~ 12.6/h Msol and lifetimes in the range ~3-5 x 10^8 years, which indicates that AGN activity is a transient phase in the life of galaxies.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Proc. of the conference "X-ray Astronomy 2009: Present status, multiwavelength approach and future perspectives", September 2009, Bologna. To appear in AIP Conf. Proc. (editors: A. Comastri, M. Cappi, L. Angelini)

The developing role of evidence based environmental health: perceptions, experiences and understandings from the front line

There has been renewed recognition that proactive strategies and interventions can address the social determinants of health, and the environmental health profession is well placed to effect positive change in many of these determinants. This qualitative research has revealed differences in the perceptions, experiences, and understandings of evidence-based practice among public health professionals from different backgrounds across different services in health care and local government in England. The absence of a strong tradition of evidence-based practice in environmental health appears to be a disadvantage in securing funding and playing a full role, as it has become the expectation in the new public health system. This has, at times, resulted in tensions between professionals with different backgrounds and frustration on the part of environmental health practitioners, who have a tradition of responding quickly to new challenges and “getting on with the job.” There is generally a willingness to develop evidence-based practice in environmental health; however, this will take time and investment

Affordable warmth: Housing strategies for older people

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consolidate policy, research, evidence and good practice around strategies tackling fuel poverty and affordable warmth for older people aged over 60 to support the development of more effective services for this life course stage and to tackle physical and mental health inequalities. Design/methodology/approach We consolidate current policy, research, evidence and examples of good practice in exploring effective interprofessional approaches that contribute to affordable warmth for older people through ‘desktop analysis’. We support this with qualitative data from Health and Wellbeing Boards, health inequalities and environmental health from research comprising 4 longitudinal case studies in the Midlands and North of England over 18 months and semi structured interviews with members and support officers. A total of 50 interviews were undertaken and 55 hours of Health and Wellbeing Board meetings observed. Findings There are numerous older people living in fuel poverty. The depth of fuel poverty increases with age particularly the over 75s and physical and mental ill health are affected. There are an increasing number of tools to help estimate health care costs around the cost effectiveness of interventions and there is a real need for more local evidence about what is working well, how and why. However there is no mandatory requirement for fuel poverty strategies and more creative local strategies are required taking organisational and interprofessional relationships into account. The emphasis in integrated care provides new impetus and scope to encourage preventative services but these new partnerships need to be effective in what is a complex policy environment. There is still a long way to go in places. The challenges of ageing are numerous, complex and not fully understood and sit across multiple policy areas. Originality/value Fuel poverty strategies tend to be delivered on a geographical or income bases rather than by life course approach and a focus on older people. We need to focus more specifically on older people, a rapidly growing population and to better understand thermal properties of our ageing housing stock and how best to intervene to protect and improve health and safety. Emerging approaches need to overcome artificial statutory and non statutory divides and move toward sustainable, evidence based affordable warmth strategies for older people to protect and improve health

p-wave Feshbach molecules

We have produced and detected molecules using a p-wave Feshbach resonance between 40K atoms. We have measured the binding energy and lifetime for these molecules and we find that the binding energy scales approximately linearly with magnetic field near the resonance. The lifetime of bound p-wave molecules is measured to be 1.0 +/- 0.1 ms and 2.3 +/- 0.2 ms for the m_l = +/- 1 and m_l = 0 angular momentum projections, respectively. At magnetic fields above the resonance, we detect quasi-bound molecules whose lifetime is set by the tunneling rate through the centrifugal barrier

Robust model-based controller synthesis for the SCOLE configuration

The design of a robust compensator is considered for the SCOLE configuration using a frequency-response shaping technique based on the LQG/LTR algorithm. Results indicate that a tenth-order compensator can be used to meet stability-performance-robustness conditions for a 26th-order SCOLE model without destabilizing spillover effects. Since the SCOLE configuration is representative of many proposed spaceflight experiments, the results and design techniques employed potentially should be applicable to a wide range of large space structure control problems