Affirmational and Transformational Values and Practices in the Tolkien Fanfiction Community

Fanfiction based on the legendarium of J.R.R. Tolkien has existed for at least six decades and has been, within the past two, one of the most consistently active online fanfiction communities. Despite this, the fandom has been relatively unstudied by fan studies scholars. This paper considers how Tolkien-based fanfiction corroborates and complicates current theories of fanfiction, focusing especially on a theory proposed by obsession_inc that proposes two types of fandoms: affirmational and transformational. Current thought places fanfiction at the transformational end of the continuum. Using quantitative survey data of authors and readers of Tolkien-based fanfiction, this paper offers evidence that Tolkien-based fanfiction contains significant affirmational components that are an intentional and valued part of many Tolkien fanfiction communities. Authors and readers regard authority, critical functions of fanfiction, and reparative purposes for fanfiction differently than the more commonly studied media fandoms. Yet one cannot say simply that authors of Tolkien-based fanfiction are more affirmational than other fanwriters; instead, evidence shows that authors and readers of Tolkien-based fanfiction navigate transformational and affirmational elements in complex ways, and community cultures often center upon members’ values and practices

Elicitation of structured engineering judgement to inform a focussed FMEA

The practical use of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) has been criticised because it is often implemented too late and in a manner that does not allow information to be fed-back to inform the product design. Lessons learnt from the use of elicitation methods to gather structured expert judgement about engineering concerns for a new product design has led to an enhancement of the approach for implementing design and process FMEA. We refer to this variant as a focussed FMEA since the goal is to enable relevant engineers to contribute to the analysis and to act upon the outcomes in such a way that all activities focus upon the design needs. The paper begins with a review of the proposed process to identify and quantify engineering concerns. The pros and cons of using elicitation methods, originally designed to support construction of a Bayesian prior, to inform a focussed FMEA are analysed and a comparison of the proposed process in relation to the existing standards is made. An industrial example is presented to illustrate customisation of the process and discuss the impact on the design process

Scalable photonic quantum computation through cavity-assisted interaction

We propose a scheme for scalable photonic quantum computation based on cavity assisted interaction between single-photon pulses. The prototypical quantum controlled phase-flip gate between the single-photon pulses is achieved by successively reflecting them from an optical cavity with a single-trapped atom. Our proposed protocol is shown to be robust to practical nose and experimental imperfections in current cavity-QED setups.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Distributing fully optomechanical quantum correlations

We present a scheme to prepare quantum correlated states of two mechanical systems based on the pouring of pre-available all-optical entanglement into the state of two micro-mirrors belonging to remote and non-interacting optomechanical cavities. We show that, under realistic experimental conditions, the protocol allows for the preparation of a genuine quantum state of a composite mesoscopic system whose non-classical features extend far beyond the occurrence of entanglement. We finally discuss a way to access such mechanical correlations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Physical Review

Spontaneous photon emission stimulated by two Bose condensates

We show that the phase difference of two overlapping ground state Bose-Einstein condensates can effect the optical spontaneous emission rate of excited atoms. Depending on the phase difference the atom stimulated spontaneous emission rate can vary between zero and the rate corresponding to all the ground state atoms in a single condensate. Besides giving control over spontaneous emission this provides an optical method for detecting the condensate phase difference. It differs from previous methods in that no light fields are applied. Instead the light is spontaneously emitted when excited atoms make a transition into either condensate.Comment: 14 pages, 2 postscript figures, Revtex. Corrections and significant additions in revisio

Implementation of controlled SWAP gates for quantum fingerprinting and photonic quantum computation

We propose a scheme to implement quantum controlled SWAP gates by directing single-photon pulses to a two-sided cavity with a single trapped atom. The resultant gates can be used to realize quantum fingerprinting and universal photonic quantum computation. The performance of the scheme is characterized under realistic experimental noise with the requirements well within the reach of the current technology.Comment: 4 page

Empirical Bayes methodology for estimating equipment failure rates with application to power generation plants

Many reliability databases pool event data for equipment across different plants. Pooling may occur both within and between organizations with the intention of sharing data across common items within similar operating environments to provide better estimates of reliability and availability. Frequentist estimation methods can be poor when few, or no, events occur even when equipment operate for long periods. An alternative approach based upon empirical Bayes estimation is proposed. The new method is applied to failure data analysis in power generation plants and found to provide credible insights. A statistical comparison between the proposed and frequentist methods shows that empirical Bayes is capable of generating more accurate estimates

Readout scheme of the fullerene-based quantum computer by a single electron transistor

The readout of the quantum spin state is a challenge for any spin-based quantum computing implementation. We propose a scheme, based on the achieved technique of single electron transistor (SET), to implement the readout of electronic spin state inside a doped $C_{60}$ fullerene by means of the magnetic dipole-dipole coupling and spin filters. In the presence of an external magnetic field, we show how to perform the spin state detection by transforming the information contained in the spin state into the tunneling current. The robustness of our scheme against sources of error is discussed.Comment: RevTex, 1 table and two figures. Latest versio