Variable light source with a million-to-one intensity ratio

A wide range, variable intensity light source of constant color characteristics has been developed for testing and calibrating photomultiplier tubes. A light attenuator first diffuses light from a constant source, then permits variable attenuation through a series of chambers and adjustable apertures

Guadalupe pluton–Mariposa Formation age relationships in the southern Sierran Foothills: Onset of Mesozoic subduction in northern California?

We report a new 153 ± 2 Ma SIMS U-Pb date for zircons from the hypabyssal Guadalupe pluton which crosscuts and contact metamorphoses upper crustal Mariposa slates in the southern Sierra. A ~950 m thick section of dark metashales lies below sandstones from which clastic zircons were analyzed at 152 ± 2 Ma. Assuming a compacted depositional rate of ~120 m/Myr, accumulation of Mariposa volcanogenic sediments, which overlie previously stranded Middle Jurassic and older ophiolite + chert-argillite belts in the Sierran Foothills, began no later than ~160 Ma. Correlative Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian strata of the Galice Formation occupy a similar position in the Klamath Mountains. We speculate that the Late Jurassic was a time of transition from (1) a mid-Paleozoic–Middle Jurassic interval of mainly but not exclusively strike-slip and episodic docking of oceanic terranes; (2) to transpressive plate underflow, producing calcalkaline igneous arc rocks ± outboard blueschists at ~170–150 Ma, whose erosion promoted accumulation of the Mariposa-Galice overlap strata; (3) continued transpressive underflow attending ~200 km left-lateral displacement of the Klamath salient relative to the Sierran arc at ~150–140 Ma and development of the apparent polar wander path cusps for North and South America; and (4) then nearly orthogonal mid and Late Cretaceous convergence commencing at ~125–120 Ma, during reversal in tangential motion of the Pacific plate. After ~120 Ma, nearly head-on subduction involving minor dextral transpression gave rise to voluminous continent-building juvenile and recycled magmas of the Sierran arc, providing the erosional debris to the Great Valley fore arc and Franciscan trench

Assessing the Unassessed: Incorporating Evaluation into the North Carolina State University Curriculum Integration Program

Curriculum Integration (CI) is the incorporation of study abroad into existing academic curricula through faculty and staff collaboration. The North Carolina State University (NCSU) CI program was initiated in 2008. Currently the NCSU Study Abroad Office (SAO) is working to update, define, and enhance the direction of this program. NCSU recently updated its strategic plans to include goals regarding campus internationalization and global engagement. The NCSU CI program is viewed as a means to accomplish these goals. However, four years after its inception, there is still no evaluation of any of the CI program initiatives. Assessment and evaluation are important practices to perform in order to determine the effectiveness and value of a program. To address the NCSU SAO need to develop a CI assessment plan, this paper outlines an evaluation plan for the current CI program, beginning with the history of CI at other universities. This evaluation plan focuses on three facets of the CI program: (1) student engagement, (2) program reach, and (3) curricular alignment. Student engagement encompasses the barriers preventing students from studying abroad. Program reach is the ability of CI efforts reach individuals across the NCSU campus. Curricular alignment addresses the quality of classes abroad compared to those offered at NCSU and the preparedness of returned study abroad participants for their next semester of classes at NCSU. This CI assessment plan is designed to determine the effectiveness and legitimacy of the NCSU SAO CI program efforts and to measure the value of the study abroad programs promoted through CI efforts for students in specific majors. The hope is that this evaluation design will be transferable to all NCSU academic departments and colleges that participate in the CI program as well as to other universities across the United States

Management of bank funds

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston Universit

Rotational CARS application to simultaneous and multiple-point temperature and concentration determination in a turbulent flow

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) from the pure rotational Raman lines of N2 is employed to measure the instantaneous (approximately 10 ns) rotational temperature of N2 gas at room temperature and below with good spatial resolution (0.2 x 0.2 x 3.0 cu mm). A broad bandwidth dye laser is used to obtain the entire rotational spectrum from a single laser pulse; the CARS signal is then dispersed by a spectrograph and recorded on an optical multichannel analyzer. A best fit temperature is found in several seconds with the aid of a computer for each experimental spectrum by a least squares comparison with calculated spectra. The model used to calculate the theoretical spectra incorporates the temperature and pressure dependence of the pressure-broadened rotational Raman lines, includes the nonresonant background susceptibility, and assumes that the pump laser has a finite linewidth. Temperatures are fit to experimental spectra recorded over the temperature range of 135 to 296 K, and over the pressure range of .13 to 15.3 atm

A rapid prototyping/artificial intelligence approach to space station-era information management and access

Applications of rapid prototyping and Artificial Intelligence techniques to problems associated with Space Station-era information management systems are described. In particular, the work is centered on issues related to: (1) intelligent man-machine interfaces applied to scientific data user support, and (2) the requirement that intelligent information management systems (IIMS) be able to efficiently process metadata updates concerning types of data handled. The advanced IIMS represents functional capabilities driven almost entirely by the needs of potential users. Space Station-era scientific data projected to be generated is likely to be significantly greater than data currently processed and analyzed. Information about scientific data must be presented clearly, concisely, and with support features to allow users at all levels of expertise efficient and cost-effective data access. Additionally, mechanisms for allowing more efficient IIMS metadata update processes must be addressed. The work reported covers the following IIMS design aspects: IIMS data and metadata modeling, including the automatic updating of IIMS-contained metadata, IIMS user-system interface considerations, including significant problems associated with remote access, user profiles, and on-line tutorial capabilities, and development of an IIMS query and browse facility, including the capability to deal with spatial information. A working prototype has been developed and is being enhanced

New Evidence of Early Spanish Activity on the Lower Ocmulgee River

In 2006, Fernbank Museum of Natural History launched an archaeological project along the lower Ocmulgee River of southeastern Georgia. The ongoing effort began with a straightforward objective: recover and interpret archaeological evidence of an early seventeenth-century mission named Santa Isabel de Utinahica. Interpretations of historical accounts put the mission in or near The Forks, a reference to the junction of the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers that creates the Altamaha River (Braley 1995; Snow 1990; Worth 1993, 1994, 1995a). Previous tantalizing discoveries of Spanish artifacts in the area offered solid targets for investigation and the project design was simply to investigate as many candidate mission sites as possible. Spanish artifacts have since been recovered from each of the four sites we have investigated but obvious evidence of Santa Isabel\u27s location still eludes us. We have confirmed instead a Spanish presence both pre-dating and post-dating the mission. From one site there are robust indications of much earlier Spanish contact during the sixteenth century, very possibly associated with the entrada of Hernando De Soto. From another site there is equally compelling evidence of Indian refugees who abandoned coastal mission communities in the late 1600s. And from others there is Spanish material we cannot yet precisely date