New technology for interactive CAL: The origami project

Origami is a three‐year EPSRC project that forms part of a general research programme on human‐computer interaction. The goal of this research is to investigate and implement new methods for human‐computer interaction, and to apply and evaluate their use. The research centres on the DigitalDesk, an ordinary desk augmented with a computer display using projection television and a video camera to monitor inputs. The DigitalDesk allows electronic and printed documents to be combined to give richer presentation and interaction possibilities than are possible with either separate medium. This paper examines the implications of such a system for CAL, and presents two prototype applications that demonstrate the possibilities

Active paper for active learning

Recent research into distance learning and the virtual campus has focused on the use of electronic documents and computer‐based demonstrations to replace or reinforce traditional learning material. We show how a computer‐augmented desk, the DigitalDesk, can provide the benefits of both paper and electronic documents using a natural interface based on real paper documents. Many electronic documents, particularly those created using the guidelines produced by the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), include detailed semantic and linguistic information that can be used to good effect in learning material. We discuss potential uses of TEI texts, and describe one simple application that allows a student's book to become an active part of a grammar lesson when placed on the DigitalDesk. The book is integrated into an interactive point‐and‐click interface, and feedback is related to the currently visible pages of the boo

NASA Turbulence Technologies In-Service Evaluation: Delta Air Lines Report-Out

Concluding an in-service evaluation of two new turbulence detection technologies developed in the Turbulence Prediction and Warning Systems (TPAWS) element of the NASA Aviation Safety and Security Program's Weather Accident Prevention Project (WxAP), this report documents Delta's experience working with the technologies, feedback gained from pilots and dispatchers concerning current turbulence techniques and procedures, and Delta's recommendations regarding directions for further efforts by the research community. Technologies evaluated included an automatic airborne turbulence encounter reporting technology called the Turbulence Auto PIREP System (TAPS), and a significant enhancement to the ability of modern airborne weather radars to predict and display turbulence of operational significance, called E-Turb radar

Dimensional scaling for impact cratering and perforation

This report summarizes the development of two physics-based scaling laws for describing crater depths and diameters caused by normal incidence impacts into aluminum and TFE Teflon. The report then describes equations for perforations in aluminum and TFE Teflon for normal impacts. Lastly, this report also studies the effects of non-normal incidence on cratering and perforation

Water Integration for Squamscott Exeter (WISE): Preliminary Integrated Plan, Final Technical Report

This document introduces the goals, background and primary elements of an Integrated Plan for the Lower Exeter and Squamscott River in the Great Bay estuary in southern New Hampshire. This Plan will support management of point (wastewater treatment plant) and nonpoint sources in the communities of Exeter, Stratham and Newfields. The Plan also identifies and quantifies the advantages of the use of green infrastructure as a critical tool for nitrogen management and describes how collaboration between those communities could form the basis for an integrated plan. The Plan will help communities meet new wastewater and proposed stormwater permit requirements. Critical next steps are need before this Plan will fulfill the 2018 Nitrogen Control Plan requirements for Exeter and proposed draft MS4 requirements for both Stratham and Exeter. These next steps include conducting a financial capability assessment, development of an implementation schedule and development of a detailed implementation plan. The collaborative process used to develop this Plan was designed to provide decision makers at the local, state and federal levels with the knowledge they need to trust the Plan’s findings and recommendations, and to enable discussions between stakeholders to continue the collaborative process. This Plan includes the following information to guide local response to new federal permit requirements for treating and discharging stormwater and wastewater: Sources of annual pollutant load quantified by type and community; Assessment and evaluation of different treatment control strategies for each type of pollutant load; Assessment and evaluation of nutrient control strategies designed to reduce specific types of pollutants; Evaluation of a range of point source controls at the wastewater treatment facility based on regulatory requirements; Costs associated with a range of potential control strategies to achieve reduction of nitrogen and other pollutants of concern; and A preliminary implementation schedule with milestones for target load reductions using specific practices for specific land uses at points in time; Recommendations on how to implement a tracking and accounting program to document implementation; Design tools such as BMP performance curves for crediting the use of structural practices to support nitrogen accounting requirements; and Next Steps for how to complete this Plan

On the public discourse of religion : an analysis of Christianity in the United Kingdom

Debates over the involvement of religion in the public sphere look set to be one of the defining themes of the 21st century. But while religious issues have attracted a large degree of scholarly attention, the public discourse of religion itself, in terms of the effort to assert and legitimize a role for faith in the public realm, has remained notably under-researched. This article marks an initial step to address this deficiency by deconstructing the public discourse of Christianity in the United Kingdom. It argues that, while appealing for representation on the grounds of liberal equality, the overall goal of this discourse is to establish a role for itself as a principal source of moral authority, and to exempt itself from the evidentially-based standards and criteria that govern public life

Acoustical measurement of nonlinear internal waves using the inverted echo sounder

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2009. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 26 (2009): 2228-2242, doi:10.1175/2009JTECHO652.1.The performance of pressure sensor–equipped inverted echo sounders for monitoring nonlinear internal waves is examined. The inverted echo sounder measures the round-trip acoustic travel time from the sea floor to the sea surface and thus acquires vertically integrated information on the thermal structure, from which the first baroclinic mode of thermocline motion may be inferred. This application of the technology differs from previous uses in that the wave period (30 min) is short, requiring a more rapid transmission rate and a different approach to the analysis. Sources of error affecting instrument performance include tidal effects, barotropic adjustment to internal waves, ambient acoustic noise, and sea surface roughness. The latter two effects are explored with a simulation that includes surface wave reconstruction, acoustic scattering based on the Kirchhoff approximation, wind-generated noise, sound propagation, and the instrument’s signal processing circuitry. Bias is introduced as a function of wind speed, but the simulation provides a basis for bias correction. The assumption that the waves do not significantly affect the mean stratification allows for a focus on the dynamic response. Model calculations are compared with observations in the South China Sea by using nearby temperature measurements to provide a test of instrument performance. After applying corrections for ambient noise and surface roughness effects, the inverted echo sounder exhibits an RMS variability of approximately 4 m in the estimated depth of the eigenfunction maximum in the wind speed range 0 ≤ U10 ≤ 10 m s−1. This uncertainty may be compared with isopycnal excursions for nonlinear internal waves of 100 m, showing that the observational approach is effective for measurements of nonlinear internal waves in this environment.This project was supported by the ONR Nonlinear Wave Program under Contract N0014-05-1-0286