Research in and application of state variable feedback design of guidance control systems for aerospace vehicles Progress report

Weighted least squares parameter estimation, Kalman filter, and random search problems for aerospace guidance control system desig

Older people, regeneration and health and well-being. Case study of Salford Partnership Board for Older People

This study sat within a national project aimed at demonstrating that expert knowledge housed within universities can make a positive impact in urban communities around four themes: Community Cohesion, Crime, Enterprise and Health & Wellbeing. It involved the Universities of Salford, Northumbria, Central Lancashire, Manchester Metropolitan University and Bradford. The project aimed to address key urban regeneration challenges in the North of England through inter-disciplinary collaboration between partner universities and practitioner organisations. It also sought to build a long term strategic alliance between core university partners. Within each of the four project areas there were a number of smaller projects each focusing on the relationship between the theme and urban regeneration. This study sought to establish how partnership boards for older people address the health and well being needs of people over 50 years of age including how health and wellbeing are defined; strategies older people adopt to change service providers' actions; learning by service providers about the involvement of older people on Boards; and how this influences practice. The main activity within this study was to interview Salford Partnership Board members. The findings informed further development of the Board

Post-traumatic stress, personal risk and post-traumatic growth among UK journalists

Background: Journalists covering traumatic news events can develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, they may also experience perceived post-traumatic growth (PTG). The outcome may be affected by whether work-related traumatic stress has a degree of personal risk. Objective: To investigate the relationship between PTSD symptoms and PTG among journalists who experienced work-related trauma and to examine whether positive associations would exist between exposure to personal risk and PTG. Method: A web-based survey measuring post-traumatic stress symptoms and post-traumatic growth was completed by print and broadcast journalists (N = 69) working for UK-based media organizations. An open-ended question asked participants how media organizations can help to promote growth after work-related trauma. Results: The findings show a significant relationship between PTSD symptoms and PTG (p = 0.04). Journalists working in war-zones had significantly more PTSD symptoms (p < .001) and PTG scores (p < .001) than those who did not. Journalists who described their worst, work-related trauma as having a degree of personal, life-threatening risk, also reported higher levels of PTG than those who did not (p < .001). This was consistent across all PTG subscales. Conclusions: This study, the first to examine PTSD symptoms, personal risk and post-traumatic growth within journalists, suggests those working in conflict areas experience significantly higher levels of post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth, than those who do not. Those who experience personal risk also had high PTG levels. Media companies can help develop PTG by recognizing when personal risk plays a role in covering demanding assignments. Participants suggested organizations also needed to allow sufficient time for reflection and meaning-making for all those working in hostile environments

A Bayesian method for detecting stellar flares

We present a Bayesian-odds-ratio-based algorithm for detecting stellar flares in light curve data. We assume flares are described by a model in which there is a rapid rise with a half-Gaussian profile, followed by an exponential decay. Our signal model also contains a polynomial background model. This is required to fit underlying light curve variations that are expected in the data, which could otherwise partially mimic a flare. We characterise the false alarm probability and efficiency of this method and compare it with a simpler thresholding method based on that used in Walkowicz et al (2011). We find our method has a significant increase in detection efficiency for low signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) flares. For a conservative false alarm probability our method can detect 95% of flares with S/N less than ~20, as compared to S/N of ~25 for the simpler method. As an example we have applied our method to a selection of stars in Kepler Quarter 1 data. The method finds 687 flaring stars with a total of 1873 flares after vetos have been applied. For these flares we have characterised their durations and and signal-to-noise ratios.Comment: Accepted for MNRAS. The code used for the analysis can be found at https://github.com/BayesFlare/bayesflare/releases/tag/v1.0.

Petrology and geochemistry of nakhlite MIL 03346: A new Martian meteorite from Antarctica

MIL 03346 is the first nakhlite in the US Antarctic collection. We have performed detailed mineralogical and bulk-geochemical investigations to compare petrogenesis of this Martian meteorite with other nakhlites

Influences on science education: the use of Supplemental Instruction on academic success in introductory sciences courses at a two year community college

2014 Fall.This dissertation uses a mixed method design model to investigate the influences of Supplemental Instruction (SI) on student final grade outcomes in introductory science courses at the community college level. The literature states that student comprehension in the field of science is critical; however, educators are discovering that certain student demographics are falling behind in science comprehension. The research focuses on the issue of disparity among different demographics and analyzes whether the introduction of the academic intervention technique, Supplemental Instruction (SI), increases the academic success of students in introductory community college biology and chemistry courses. A series of Two Way ANOVA analyses revealed that the use of SI had a positive effect (i.e., increased final grade outcomes) on community college student demographics; however, in some sections, a negative final grade outcome was found. In this study, data indicate that SI supported biology classes had a greater effect (or positive direction) on Black Non-Hispanic overall final grades. However, White Non-Hispanic students enrolled in SI supported introductory biology courses showed a slight decrease (or negative direction) in marginal means (d = -0.180). Hispanic students enrolled in SI supported courses showed a very slight increase (or positive direction) in final grade outcomes (d = 0.11). Another analysis outlined in this study showed the impact of SI on student grades in introductory science courses and first-generation student status. The analysis indicates a positive direction between the use of SI in an introductory science course on overall student final grades and student first-generation status. The data indicate that with the use of SI in an introductory science course, student final grades in the first generation student population showed an effect size of d = 0.1897. These data indicate that SI supported science courses had a positive effect on First Generation student overall final grades. The research examined the impact of SI on the principle SI Student Leaders (SISL) and found that student participation in the program had positive influences on SISL discipline comprehension, engagement, overall course satisfaction

A system reliability analysis for stand-by spares with non-zero unpowered failure rates

Equations which define the reliability of n-fold parallel systems with stand-by spares, and triply redundant, majority-voting systems with stand-by spares have been derived. The stand-by spares have been assumed to have a non-zero failure rate while in the stand-by mode. A Monte Carlo system simulation has been generated and the results compared to the theoretical reliability predictions. A comparison of these two stand-by configurations is also presented for three through six total units