PUZZLE - A program for computer-aided design of printed circuit artwork

Program assists in solving spacing problems encountered in printed circuit /PC/ design. It is intended to have maximum use for two-sided PC boards carrying integrated circuits, and also aids design of discrete component circuits

Food Fight

The intent of this written component is to document my thesis exhibition, Food Fight.;Our lifestyles (whether intentional or not) tend to support a \u27convenience food culture\u27 and the increased consumption of foods high in fat, salt and sugar. Some factors that prolong dependence on these convenience foods are: rising incomes, longer working hours, more working mothers, time-poor/cash-rich parents, parents that have to work two jobs, and the basic lack of understanding of what proper nutrition is. In the United States we have fleets of trucks that travel across the country to deliver chips, candy bars and soda to our schools and market places. Frozen dinners and fast food meals from the drive through may be a constant for many Americans. Food is no longer a nutritional need, but a novelty that is designed to appeal towards our time restrictions and pocket books, not our health

Dante Praedicator: Sermons and Preaching Culture in the Commedia

Starting from the premise that Dante takes influence from the sermons and preaching culture of his time in his construction of a voice of authority, this dissertation tracks the poet's use of sermonic material and rhetoric, as well as more explicit discussions on preaching through his entire corpus. Chapter One, "Dante Praedicator? Introduction to an Understudied Rhetorical Mode in the Commedia," elaborates on the argument that Dante the poet oftentimes acts as a preacher, and shows how this claim opens up new lines of inquiry into the poet's textuality. The first part of this chapter shows how the Commedia's early reception practically takes for granted that the poem is a sort of sermon, and supporting evidence shows in detail how the poem and preaching share much of the same subject matter, and demonstrates how the poem and sermons answer generic and stylistic questions in much the same way. The second section of this chapter surveys the last hundred years of Dante studies, to trace the roots of the recent critical prejudice against non-poetic influences on the poet's work - ranging from liturgy, Christian doctrine and preaching - and hypothesizes its source in Benedetto Croce's seminal 1921 essay, "La poesia di Dante," which rejects the idea of a didactic and hortatory Dante in order to focus instead on the poet qua poet. This vision of a secularized and emphatically "poetic" Dante became the status quo in Dante scholarship (although not without a few dissenters). Finally, the chapter summarizes some of the more recent work discovering the predicatory in Dante, and hypothesizes new questions about this textual mode in the Commedia, which the following chapters of this dissertation will discuss. Chapter Two, "Prohibition and Permission (with a Consideration of the Bolgia of Hypocrisy and Fra Dolcino)," explores the preaching of Dante's time. This chapter explains the social and historical circumstances around the 1214 legislation of Lateran IV, which ordered the ordainment of new preachers, and then recounts the thirteenth century renaissance of preaching as a means to propagate orthodoxy at a time when heresy threatened the Church's unity and stability. Because of this threat that heretical preaching had caused, the Church attempted to regulate preaching through prohibitions and permissions. The chapter then explores Dante's response to these legislative issues in the Commedia - specifically in his treatment of the hypocrites in Inferno 23, and of the schismatics and sowers of discord in Inferno 28. The chapter concludes by arguing that Dante responds to the mandates of church legislation with a considerable degree of indifference. On the one hand he highlights the failure of officials within the Church hierarchy who ought to preach, and on the other refuses to criticize the preaching of zealots that the Church censures as heretics on the other. After the previous chapter's exploration of Dante's relationship to preaching legislation, Chapter Three, "Predicante Iustitiam: Dante the Self-Authorizing Poet," explores more deeply what the poet means when he talks about preaching. The first part of this tripartite chapter proceeds philologically, examining first how Dante's poem consistently refuses to associate anyone identified as a "cherco," "prete," "pastor" or "sacerdote" with preaching, choosing instead to generally highlight the misdeeds of such figures. In this way the poet clears the pulpit of competition, aiming to situate himself, eventually, in that same role. The second part follows philologically as well, to examining variations on the word "predicare" as it occurs in the literature of Dante's milieu and in his own writing, and revealing its unique power as a word used to declare objective truths, though not without unique rhetorical overtones. Finally, the third section shows how Dante's careful use of "predicare" in his letters establishes himself as a preaching figure par excellence, who draws from the apostolic precedents established in the New Testament, as well as the prophetic and apocalyptic Noahic precedent as theorized in II Peter 2:5-7. Chapter Four, "Dicitur predicatio quandoque prophetia," continues where the previous chapter left off, with the suggestion that preaching and prophecy are in many cases one and the same thing. Taking a step away from the common contemporary belief in Dante studies that prophecy is generally something oriented towards forecasting events, this chapter uses Scripture, Aquinas's theology and the artes praedicandi in circulation in Dante's time to show how prophecy and preaching were understood to go hand in hand, well into the Middle Ages. Once this theoretical framework is established, the chapter proceeds to re-evaluate some of Dante's discussions on prophets in Paradiso, namely Nathan of the Old Testament and the twelfth century prophet Joachim of Fiore, to show that what Dante values as "prophetic" in these figures is also closely linked to their status as interpreters and preachers of divine truth, rather than any particular skills at forecasting (i.e. prophecy in the strict sense, according to contemporary standards). Chapters Five and Six mark a transition to a more focused analysis of preaching in the Commedia, to investigate Dante's sustained, but more subtle, use of the rhetorical techniques of preaching. Chapter Five, "The Art of Preaching in the Sphere of the Sun," examines the sequence of canti in Paradiso 10-13, to show the influence of the artes praedicandi on the rhetoric of these canti, and particularly on the speech of Thomas Aquinas, as Dante represents him here. An in-depth discussion of a form of preaching gaining influence in the duecento, sermo modernus, explains what it is, its component parts, and the way that it was used in Dante's world, and how it propagates a certain logical modes of thinking. Finally, Aquinas's speech in Paradiso 10-13 is examined for traces of sermo modernus, demonstrating that the poet intended to inflect Aquinas's language with predicatory valences, in the pursuit of a moral and ethical message that can be considered "authoritative." Chapter Six, "Beyond Sermo Modernus: Street Preaching in the Primum Mobile," turns to Beatrice's discourse in Paradiso 29, which combines complex theological discussion with a scabrous criticism of vainglorious street preaching. With language oscillating wildly between high and low registers, Beatrice rails against both the pseudoscience and philosophical ornament bogging down contemporary sermons, as well as the jests and buffooneries that less erudite street preachers employ to amuse their audience and extract favors and monetary compensation from them. It will be shown that here too the poet freely employs the language of the street, in echo of popular preachers of the time, and his willingness to embrace the physical and grotesque proves that his predicatory language is ultimately grounded in things, in the real. I will turn to examples from the life of St. Francis of Assisi to illustrate here his that his emphasis on things is represented not only in the preacher's words but also in his body, his acts, his example

Addressing the digital divide - IT Management practices in rural NGHSOs

Non Government Human Service Organisations (NGHSOs) are owned by the community they serve. Staffed by a committee of volunteers representing its membership their primary mission is to serve those experiencing some form of social disadvantage. In the emerging information intensive climate, NGHSOs are increasingly under pressure to use information technology (IT) to underpin and transform traditional methods of service delivery, particularly given the advent of the NBN. There has been little research into the IT management practices of small NGHSOs, and more particularly those that operate in regional, rural and remote communities. This paper describes research that examines the key factors which shape the way small NGHSOs based in the Mid West region of Western Australia manage their IT

Baseline design of the filters for the LAD detector on board LOFT

The Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT) was one of the M3 missions selected for the phase A study in the ESA's Cosmic Vision program. LOFT is designed to perform high-time-resolution X-ray observations of black holes and neutron stars. The main instrument on the LOFT payload is the Large Area Detector (LAD), a collimated experiment with a nominal effective area of ~10 m 2 @ 8 keV, and a spectral resolution of ~240 eV in the energy band 2-30 keV. These performances are achieved covering a large collecting area with more than 2000 large-area Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) each one coupled to a collimator based on lead-glass micro-channel plates. In order to reduce the thermal load onto the detectors, which are open to Sky, and to protect them from out of band radiation, optical-thermal filter will be mounted in front of the SDDs. Different options have been considered for the LAD filters for best compromise between high quantum efficiency and high mechanical robustness. We present the baseline design of the optical-thermal filters, show the nominal performances, and present preliminary test results performed during the phase A study.Comment: Proc. SPIE 9144, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 91446

Hypersonic vehicle simulation model: Winged-cone configuration

Aerodynamic, propulsion, and mass models for a generic, horizontal-takeoff, single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) configuration are presented which are suitable for use in point mass as well as batch and real-time six degree-of-freedom simulations. The simulations can be used to investigate ascent performance issues and to allow research, refinement, and evaluation of integrated guidance/flight/propulsion/thermal control systems, design concepts, and methodologies for SSTO missions. Aerodynamic force and moment coefficients are given as functions of angle of attack, Mach number, and control surface deflections. The model data were estimated by using a subsonic/supersonic panel code and a hypersonic local surface inclination code. Thrust coefficient and engine specific impulse were estimated using a two-dimensional forebody, inlet, nozzle code and a one-dimensional combustor code and are given as functions of Mach number, dynamic pressure, and fuel equivalence ratio. Rigid-body mass moments of inertia and center of gravity location are functions of vehicle weight which is in turn a function of fuel flow

A Comment on "A note on polarized light from Magnetars: QED effects and axion-like particles" by L.M. Capparelli, L. Maiani and A.D. Polosa

The recent detection of a large polarization degree in the optical emission of an isolated neutron star led to the suggestion that this has been the first evidence of vacuum polarization in a strong magnetic field, an effect predicted by quantum electrodynamics but never observed before. This claim was challanged in a paper by Capparelli, Maiani & Polosa (2017), according to whom a much higher polarization degree would be necessary to positively identify vacuum polarization. Here we show that their conclusions are biased by several inadequate assumptions and have no impact on the original claim.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Evidence of vacuum birefringence from the polarisation of the optical emission from an Isolated Neutron Star

Isolated Neutron Stars are some of the most exciting stellar objects known to astronomers: they have the most extreme magnetic fields, with values up to $10^{15}$ G, and, with the exception of stellar-mass black holes, they are the most dense stars, with densities of $\approx 10^{14}$ g cm$^{-3}$. As such, they are perfect laboratories to test theories of electromagnetism and nuclear physics under conditions of magnetic field and density unattainable on Earth. In particular, the interaction of radiation with strong magnetic fields is the cause of the {\em vacuum birefringence}, an effect predicted by quantum electrodynamics in 1936 but that lacked an observational evidence until now. Here, we show how the study of the polarisation of the optical radiation from the surface of an isolated neutron star yielded such an observational evidence, opening exciting perspectives for similar studies at other wavelengths.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, Contributed to the 13th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs, Thessaloniki, May 15 to 19, 201

GrailQuest: hunting for atoms of space and time hidden in the wrinkle of Space-Time

GrailQuest (Gamma Ray Astronomy International Laboratory for QUantum Exploration of Space-Time) is a mission concept based on a constellation (hundreds/thousands) of nano/micro/small-satellites in low (or near) Earth orbits. Each satellite hosts a non-collimated array of scintillator crystals coupled with Silicon Drift Detectors with broad energy band coverage (keV-MeV range) and excellent temporal resolution (≤ 100 nanoseconds) each with effective area ∼100cm2. This simple and robust design allows for mass-production of the satellites of the fleet. This revolutionary approach implies a huge reduction of costs, flexibility in the segmented launching strategy, and an incremental long-term plan to increase the number of detectors and their performance; this will result in a living observatory for next-generation, space-based astronomical facilities. GrailQuest is conceived as an all-sky monitor for fast localisation of high signal-to-noise ratio transients in the X-/gamma-ray band, e.g. the elusive electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events. Robust temporal triangulation techniques will allow unprecedented localisation capabilities, in the keV-MeV band, of a few arcseconds or below, depending on the temporal structure of the transient event. The ambitious ultimate goal of this mission is to perform the first experiment, in quantum gravity, to directly probe space-time structure down to the minuscule Planck scale, by constraining or measuring a first-order dispersion relation for light in vacuo. This is obtained by detecting delays between photons of different energies in the prompt emission of Gamma-Ray Bursts