Investigations of high altitude geomagnetic phenomena using rubidium vapour systems

Imperial Users onl

Evaluation of Field-based Learning in a New Online Sustainability Course

Sustainability is a relatively new field simultaneously addressing economic health, environmental amenities, and social issues. Sustainable Community Assessment and Planning (SUS 350) is a new course in the Sustainable Community Development major, minor, and undergraduate certificate at Stephen F. Austin State University. It is designed to introduce students to: a) varied methods of data collection; b) complex community planning issues; c) synthesis of economic, environmental, and social issues. Distance (online) education is not typically associated with field-based learning. However, field work in sustainability can be encouraged through activities such as: monitoring energy/cost saving; measuring biological status; and citizen social surveys. Student online journal notes/discussions related to these field exercises were assessed using a rubric for evaluation of information, creative thinking, problem solving, and communication of content. The rubric has a scale of 1-4 (4 is highest). Most all scores were 2 or 3, with an overall average of 2.3. Higher scores (averaging 2.5 and 2.7) were found in field activities that most synthesized economy and environment on campus, such as a campus energy monitoring workshop, a campus food waste audit, and discussions centered around a future campus green fund. Despite moderate scores, students did show capability for higher-order thinking, especially in synthesizing economy and environment on campus. Future course offerings will better link content related to off-campus community development with field-based learning, through use of a community development text and better linking of community and student schedules

Which heuristics can aid financial-decision-making?

© 2015 Elsevier Inc. We evaluate the contribution of Nobel Prize-winner Daniel Kahneman, often in association with his late co-author Amos Tversky, to the development of our understanding of financial decision-making and the evolution of behavioural finance as a school of thought within Finance. Whilst a general evaluation of the work of Kahneman would be a massive task, we constrain ourselves to a more narrow discussion of his vision of financial-decision making compared to a possible alternative advanced by Gerd Gigerenzer along with numerous co-authors. Both Kahneman and Gigerenzer agree on the centrality of heuristics in decision making. However, for Kahneman heuristics often appear as a fall back when the standard von-Neumann-Morgenstern axioms of rational decision-making do not describe investors' choices. In contrast, for Gigerenzer heuristics are simply a more effective way of evaluating choices in the rich and changing decision making environment investors must face. Gigerenzer challenges Kahneman to move beyond substantiating the presence of heuristics towards a more tangible, testable, description of their use and disposal within the ever changing decision-making environment financial agents inhabit. Here we see the emphasis placed by Gigerenzer on how context and cognition interact to form new schemata for fast and frugal reasoning as offering a productive vein of new research. We illustrate how the interaction between cognition and context already characterises much empirical research and it appears the fast and frugal reasoning perspective of Gigerenzer can provide a framework to enhance our understanding of how financial decisions are made

Low level remote sensing: The Doppler Radar wind profiler

Mesoscale phenomena such as thunderstorm and sea breeze frontal circulations are being investigated using a 50 MHz Doppler wind profiler at the Kennedy Space Center. The profiler installation will begin October 1, 1988 and will be completed by February 17, 1989. The focus of current research and plans for next year include: examination of vertical velocities associated with local thunderstorm activity and sea breeze frontal circulations and compare the vertical velocities to conceptual mesoscale models; implementation of space-time conversion analysis techniques to blend profiler data with National Meteorological Center's model output and other wind data such as jimsphere, windsonde and rawinsonde for mesoscale analysis; development of suggestions for use of wind profiler data in mesoscale analysis and forecasting at Kennedy Space Center; and problems detection in the quality of the profiler data during this research project. Researchers will work closely with MSFC to identify and solve the data quality problems

The growth of the debt of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityDuring the twelve years following World War II the debt of Massachusetts has grown from about fifteen milllion dollars to more than a billion dollars. This rise in debt has caused widespread apprehension both as to the credit of the Commonwealth and as to the effect on industry, through the burden of increased taxation. Massachusetts is peculiarly dependent on manufacturin for its economic well-being, inasmuch as the area is lacking in most of the natural resources necessary for the primary types of economic activity such as agriculture and mining. It is also geographically situated in the corner of the nation, with a result that the transfer costs of raw materials into the state and of finished products out of the state constitute a substantial financial cost. Massachusetts is in competition with other states both for sale of its products and for inducement to new industries to add to its income and employment. Consequently any trend of government fiscal policy which results in an extra burden of taxation on industry presents a problem which calls for analysis and appraisal. A seventy-fold increase in debt in twelve years seemed to present such a problem and appeared to be worthy of analytical study. Yet, on searching for source material, this writer discovered that no study of this particular nature had been made. Having established the need for such a study, we then proceeded to secure the essential facts necessary for objective analysis and appraisal. This involved first a comprehensive collection of the data, the history of the debt policy of the Commonwealth, the post-war growth of the debt, the comparison of the debt with the debt of other states, the nature and structure of the debt and the problem of servicing the debt. This constitutes Part I of the thesis. In it we find that Massachusetts has for some two hundred tears exercised its borrowing power with discretion and responsibility, adapting its debt policy to the needs of the times, expanding and contracting its outlays often counter to the practice of other states

Biostratigraphic Trip Across Northeastern Maine

Guidebook to the geology of Northeastern Maine and neighboring New Brunswick: The 72nd annual meeting of the New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference, Presque Isle, Maine, October 10-13, 1980: Trip C-

Optimisation and modelling of the spiral jet mill

D Eng ThesisThe spiral jet mill is a widely applied and robust apparatus for reduction of mean particle size to less than 10 microns. Despite the spiral jet mill being a well established technology, there are no proven scale up methodologies and many commercial mill designs are not optimised for energy efficiency. Within this thesis a novel analytical derivation is presented for spiral jet mill cut size as a function of micronisation settings, gas thermodynamic properties and empirically derived constants for the material and mill. The derivation is corroborated by experimental evidence for a number of products owned by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and previously reported data in the academic literature. This equation provides an insight into the interaction between aerodynamic particle classification and fine grinding for the spiral jet mill, and brings great advancement to the level of understanding in the academic literature on the control of particle size with a spiral jet mill. The constants within the equation can be determined empirically for a given material and mill, leading to a better prediction across a design space than standard empirical models. A scale up methodology is proposed for a high value material by using a small scale mill to determine the material specific constants of the high value material and a cheaper surrogate material to determine mill specific parameters at increased scale. In addition to a novel analytical derivation, this thesis presents the first ever Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based optimisation of a combined spiral jet mill and cyclone. Some combined spiral jet mill and cyclone designs have poor cyclonic separation yields, and this thesis presents the CFD and experimental investigation which led to an optimised mill and cyclone that significantly improved yield while maintaining similarity of particle size

W. F. Stearns to William Cowper Nelson (7 August 1857)

Outlines the advantages of William going to the University of Mississippi instead of Yale; Forbes mentions sectional differences.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/ciwar_corresp/1618/thumbnail.jp

A feasibility study towards ultra-thin PV solar cell devices by MOCDV based on a p-i-n structure incorporating pyrite

FeSx layers were deposited onto aluminosilicate glass substrates over a temperature range of 180°C to 500°C using a horizontal AP-MOCVD reactor. Fe(CO)5 was used as the Fe source in combination with t-Bu2S2 or t-BuSH as S precursor to control the rate of reaction and film stoichiometry. The Fe and S partial pressures were kept at 7.5 x 103 and 3.0 mbar, giving a gas phase S/Fe ratio of 400. Reactions followed a non-Arrhenius relationship at higher temperatures. XRD revealed mixed FeSx phases in the layers, which consisted mainly of FeS and Fe1-xS. Post growth annealing of the FeSx films using S powder in a static argon atmosphere and temperatures ranging from 250°C to 400°C was carried out using a 30 minute soak time. Characterisation by XRD confirmed a transitional phase change to FeS2 for the S anneal at 400°C. These films were highly absorbing in the visible region of the solar spectrum, which extended into the NIR. Devices with a p-i-n structure were produced using either a sulphurised or non-sulphurised FeSx i-layer, and compared to p-n devices without an i-layer. A non-sulphurised p-i-n device had the best I-V results, which was attributed to reduced lateral inhomogeneity across the device relative to the thinner p-n device structures. Devices with sulphurised FeSx i-layers performed least efficiently which is suspected to be due to a less defined FeSx/CdS junction caused by severe conditions during the S annealing process

The Perceptual Northwest

Our goal is to survey cultural perceptions defining the U.S. Northwest region. As geographers, we should concern ourselves with mental constructs of regions, as they can easily impede or facilitate communication. Assumptions of others’ regional boundaries and images may be erroneous. Over the past several decades, a handful of geographers have begun to examine these perceptual (or vernacular) maps and regions. Students at 21 colleges and universities were asked to identify: (1) boundaries of the U.S. Northwest region; (2) Northwest regional characteristics and symbols; and (3) what cities or other places best represent the Northwest. Nationally, student respondents largely followed the “official” area of the region regarding state boundaries, with Washington, Oregon, and Idaho as the core area. Student perception of characteristic cities and places followed this pattern, with referenced population centers spread across the threestate landscape. Regarding descriptive words and symbols, more emphasis is placed on Garreau’s coastal perception of the Northwest through terms such as rainy, trees, and mountainous. Regional differences showed up in perception of area, descriptive words, and symbols of the Northwest. Proximity led to different perceptions. Northwest students showed the smallest perception of the Northwest in geographic area, while those farthest away (Southeast students) mapped the largest Northwest. Difference from the home region also led to different perceptions. Students from less-forested regions emphasized trees more than students from more forested regions, who emphasized open and vast characteristics of the Northwest