Team-oriented process programming

Team-oriented process programming promises to provide significant support for the planning, directing, and controlling of software engineering projects. In this paper we apply process programming to software engineering teams and show how this can provide powerful new capabilities for the management of software projects. We identify key issues which must be addressed to apply process programming to teams, and present our vision for team-oriented process programming

Tidal End States of Binary Asteroid Systems with a Nonspherical Component

We derive the locations of the fully synchronous end states of tidal evolution for binary asteroid systems having one spherical component and one oblate- or prolate-spheroid component. Departures from a spherical shape, at levels observed among binary asteroids, can result in the lack of a stable tidal end state for particular combinations of the system mass fraction and angular momentum, in which case the binary must collapse to contact. We illustrate our analytical results with near-Earth asteroids (8567) 1996 HW1, (66391) 1999 KW4, and 69230 Hermes.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, published in Icaru

Book Review: Art in Focus

Book review for Art In Focus, Gene Mittler, Glencoe Publishing Company, Peoria, IL, 1986

Supercritical CO2 geothermal energy system analysis

There has been considerable interest in the possibility of using supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2) as a geothermal heat mining fluid instead of water. Some favourable fluid transport properties may prove to give an advantage in some circumstances. The low viscosity to density ratio suggests higher mass flow rates and better suitability to low permeability to low permeability reservoirs may be possible. Higher frictional losses in the wellbores may degrade that advantage. It has been shown that SCCO2 has the potential to utilise buoyancy effects such that a thermosiphon circulates the geothermal fluid without the need for a pump. In addition, it has been proposed that SCCO2 could be used to drive a turbine directly rather than a conventional binary heat exchange system. This could dramatically reduce surface plant complexity and cost. This study details the creation of a Matlab model of the subsurface circuit of geothermal fluid. After establishing a reference case to study general fluid and system behaviour, the model is used to test and compare the effects of wellbore diameter variation, reservoir depth, permeability and temperature on the net exergy and thermal efficiency using each of water and SCCO2. For the specific test cases, SCCO2 was shown to perform significantly better than water with increased well bore diameter, low permeability and low temperature reservoirs. The performance was found to degrade with shallower reservoirs; although this leads to observations that the SCCO2 system operates on a narrow band of efficiency which could make the system less robust than comparable water based system

Smart labs and social practice: social tools for pervasive laboratory workspaces: a position paper

The emergence of pervasive and ubiquitous computing stimulates a view of future work environments where sharing of information, data and knowledge is easy and commonplace, particularly in highly interactive settings. Much of the work in this area focuses on tool development to support activities such as data collection, data recording and sharing, and so on. We are interested in this kind of technical development, which is both challenging and essential for science communities. But we are also interested in a broader interpretation of knowledge sharing and the human/social side of tools we develop to support this. We are keen to know more about how groups of different kinds of scientists can make their work understandable and shareable with each other in a multidisciplinary setting. This is a complex task because boundaries and barriers can emerge between disciplines engendered by differences in discourses and practices, which may not easily translate into other discipline areas. In the worst case, there may be some hostility between disciplines, or at least doubt and scepticism. Nevertheless, sharing approaches to research, research expertise, data and methods across disciplines can be a very fruitful exercise, and encouragement to engage in this activity is particularly pertinent in the digital era. Issues of privacy and security are also key aspects – knowing when and how to release data or information to other groups is crucial to providing a safe environment for people to work, and there are several sensitivities to be explored here. In this paper we describe an evolving situation that captures many of these issues, which we aim to track longitudinally

Asteroid Systems: Binaries, Triples, and Pairs

In the past decade, the number of known binary near-Earth asteroids has more than quadrupled and the number of known large main belt asteroids with satellites has doubled. Half a dozen triple asteroids have been discovered, and the previously unrecognized populations of asteroid pairs and small main belt binaries have been identified. The current observational evidence confirms that small (<20 km) binaries form by rotational fission and establishes that the YORP effect powers the spin-up process. A unifying paradigm based on rotational fission and post-fission dynamics can explain the formation of small binaries, triples, and pairs. Large (>20 km) binaries with small satellites are most likely created during large collisions.Comment: 31 pages, 12 figures. Chapter in the book ASTEROIDS IV (in press

Multi-layer light-weight protective coating and method for application

A thin, light-weight, multi-layer coating is provided for protecting metals and their alloys from environmental attack at high temperatures. A reaction barrier is applied to the metal substrate and a diffusion barrier is then applied to the reaction barrier. A sealant layer may also be applied to the diffusion barrier if desired. The reaction barrier is either non-reactive or passivating with respect to the metal substrate and the diffusion barrier. The diffusion barrier is either non-reactive or passivating with respect to the reaction barrier and the sealant layer. The sealant layer is immiscible with the diffusion barrier and has a softening point below the expected use temperature of the metal