Of Bookworms & Busybodies

The virtues of liberal education -- and why it is worth pursuing

Report from the MPP Working Group to the NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications

NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA) gave a select group of scientists the opportunity to test and implement their computational algorithms on the Massively Parallel Processor (MPP) located at Goddard Space Flight Center, beginning in late 1985. One year later, the Working Group presented its report, which addressed the following: algorithms, programming languages, architecture, programming environments, the way theory relates, and performance measured. The findings point to a number of demonstrated computational techniques for which the MPP architecture is ideally suited. For example, besides executing much faster on the MPP than on conventional computers, systolic VLSI simulation (where distances are short), lattice simulation, neural network simulation, and image problems were found to be easier to program on the MPP's architecture than on a CYBER 205 or even a VAX. The report also makes technical recommendations covering all aspects of MPP use, and recommendations concerning the future of the MPP and machines based on similar architectures, expansion of the Working Group, and study of the role of future parallel processors for space station, EOS, and the Great Observatories era

Fluid source code views for just in-time comprehension

non-peer-reviewedThe use of modern programming paradigms and technologies,such as object orientation, inheritance, polymorphism and aspect orientation, facilitate a number of important software engineeringbenefits. Concerns can be better separated, software is more modular and reusable, and evolution is a simpler and less invasive process. However these advances in programming technology also negatively impact the ability of software engineers to read, navigate and comprehend source code. The definition and execution flow of program operations is more fragmented and relationships between software units are often implicit and difficult to determine. In this paper we propose and present some initial work on a new direction in source code document presentation called fluid source code views. Fluid source code views enable programmers working on a primary source code document to fluidly shift attention to related supporting material in a contextual manner. This reduces the need for programmers to navigate and presents code in a manner more efficient and fitting in terms of comprehension. We very briefly discuss the motivation behind fluid source code views, present the approach and discuss both the potential advantages and disadvantages of this technology

UNSWIRF: A Tunable Imaging Spectrometer for the Near-Infrared

We describe the specifications, characteristics, calibration, and analysis of data from the University of New South Wales Infrared Fabry-Perot (UNSWIRF) etalon. UNSWIRF is a near-infrared tunable imaging spectrometer, used primarily in conjunction with IRIS on the AAT, but suitable for use as a visitor instrument at other telescopes. The etalon delivers a resolving power in excess of 4000 (corresponding to a velocity resolution ~75 km/s), and allows imaging of fields up to 100" in diameter on the AAT at any wavelength between 1.5 and 2.4 microns for which suitable blocking filters are available.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, uses psfig.sty and html.sty (included). To appear in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australi

Statistical modelling of air quality impacts from individual forest fires in New South Wales, Australia

Wildfires and hazard reduction burns produce smoke that contains pollutants including particulate matter. Particulate matter less than 2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5) is harmful to human health, potentially causing cardiovascular and respiratory issues that can lead to premature deaths. PM2.5 levels depend on environmental conditions, fire behaviour and smoke dispersal patterns. Fire management agencies need to understand and predict PM2.5 levels associated with a particular fire so that pollution warnings can be sent to communities and/or hazard reduction burns can be timed to avoid the worst conditions for PM2.5 pollution. We modelled PM2.5, measured at air quality stations in New South Wales (Australia) from ∼ 1400 d when individual fires were burning near air quality stations, as a function of fire and weather variables. Using Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satellite hotspots, we identified days when one fire was burning within 150 km of at least 1 of 48 air quality stations. We extracted ERA5 gridded weather data and daily active fire area estimates from the hotspots for our modelling. We created random forest models for afternoon, night and morning PM2.5 levels to understand drivers of and predict PM2.5. Fire area and boundary layer height were important predictors across the models, with temperature, wind speed and relative humidity also being important. There was a strong increase in PM2.5 with decreasing distance, with a sharp increase when the fire was within 20 km. The models improve our understanding of the drivers of PM2.5 from individual fires and demonstrate a promising approach to PM2.5 model development. However, although the models predicted well overall, there were several large under-predictions of PM2.5 that mean further model development would be required for the models to be deployed operationally.</p

Gender Stereotypes and Discriminatory Behaviors Toward Female Attorneys: The North Carolina Case

This article presents the results generated from the North Carolina Survey of Attorneys. The focus of this article is on attorneys\u27 perceptions of professional activity levels, career choices, and gender stereotypes, as well as observations of discriminatory behavior toward female attorneys in court or chambers as perceived and reported by the lawyers in our sample

Gender Stereotypes and Discriminatory Behaviors Toward Female Attorneys: The North Carolina Case

This article presents the results generated from the North Carolina Survey of Attorneys. The focus of this article is on attorneys\u27 perceptions of professional activity levels, career choices, and gender stereotypes, as well as observations of discriminatory behavior toward female attorneys in court or chambers as perceived and reported by the lawyers in our sample