The Allegheny Observatory search for planetary systems

The accomplishments of the observatory's search for planetary systems are summarized. Among these were the construction, implementation, and regular use of the Multichannel Astrometric Photometer (MAP), and the design, fabrication and use of the second largest refractor objective built since 1950. The MAP parallax and planetary observing programs are described. Various developments concerning alternate solid state photodetectors and telescope instrumentation are summarized. The extreme accuracy of the system is described in relation to a study of the position and velocity of the members of the open cluster Upgren 1. The binary star system stringently tests the theory of stellar evolution since it is composed of an evolved giant F5 III and a subgiant F5 IV star. A study that attempts to measure the luminosities, surface temperatures, and masses of these stars is discussed

Thin-film temperature sensor

Sensor measures rapid temperature changes in fluid streams. Sensor withstands contacts with various corrosive fluids, high fluid-flow rates, and turbulences caused by rapid changes in flow rates. Capacitor is part of resonant bridge circuit which produces ac voltage that is proportional to temperature

The Second Lubbock Lectures: Germany for Chrisy

https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/crs_books/1367/thumbnail.jp

REVERSING THE TROPE OF WHITE PATERNALISM OR MAKING MAMMIES?: BLACK DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN THE WORKS OF FAULKNER, CREWS, AND STOCKETT

William Faulkner in The Sound and the Fury, Harry Crews in A Feast of Snakes, and Kathryn Stockett in The Help each depict African Americans in roles as domestic servants. The differing historical situations of the novels play a large part in the disparity among the depictions. However, each novel clearly holds black domestic laborers in contrast to their white employers. These texts’ depictions of black domestic servants and the whites for whom they care are at different points strikingly similar and tellingly disparate. The overlaps and fissures between black domestic servants portrayed as mammy’s and uncles and black domestic servants characterized as powerful and morally upright human beings and what those overlaps and fissures demonstrate about the novels and the historical moments of their creations will be the focus of this study

Situational Assemblage

In this landscape-based studio, senior lecturer Jacqueline Margetts led a group of undergraduate architecture students in exploring ecological and public open space networks through the West End neighborhood in the City of St. Louis, focusing along the historic Hodiamont Tracks. The former streetcar line, which remains as a neglected service alley, will be converted to a Greenway by Great Rivers Greenway. The studio was sited in the West End neighborhood in part due to its high number of native bee species, a vital component in maintaining biodiverse ecosystems and key indicator of environmental health. Students were charged with transforming sites along the Hodiamont Tracks into biodiverse greenspace. These conceptual proposals were also required to address social conditions such as enhanced health outcomes, augmented property values, and business opportunities. Students worked in partnership with Cornerstone Corporation, a faith-based organization with a mission to provide affordable housing in the West End. Cornerstone Corporation is supported by a grant from Invest STL to implement a comprehensive neighborhood development plan. Cornerstone is also collaborating with Great Rivers Greenway, a public agency tasked with creating greenways in partnership with citizens, agencies, groups, and companies, to incorporate the Hodiamont Tracks Greenway into the neighborhood plan. Work produced by students as part of the design toolkit will be used to facilitate discussion with community members about the Hodiamont Tracks and neighborhood planning opportunities. Students employed mapping techniques to identify and analyze social, economic, and environmental patterns and systems to inform appropriate design interventions. These interventions were presented to Cornerstone Corporation, Great Rivers Greenway, and other community stakeholders including neighbors. This studio was meant to spur visions for the community and encourage residents to advocate for a greenway that enhances the health of both human and non-human communities.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/spring2019_margetts/1001/thumbnail.jp

How Lagging Financial Metrics Affect Next Year Hospital Patient Metrics

This paper analyzes a dataset of 231 California general acute hospitals from 2013-2018 to determine whether there are differences between how financial metrics affect following year patient metrics in non-profit versus investor-owned hospitals. The primary patient metric used in this paper is the average length of stay, excluding long-term care. The primary financial metrics used in this paper are lagged gross patient revenue. Secondary outcomes measured include how c-section births, inpatient operating room minutes, and total discharges are affected by financial metrics from non-profit and investor-owned hospitals. The main finding of this paper is that investor-owned hospitals decrease the average length of stay while non-profit hospitals increase the average length of stay as the previous year\u27s net income increases

Apparatus for processing electromagnetic radiation and method

Measuring apparatus including a ruled member having alternate transparent and opaque zones. An optical coupler connecting the ruled member with electromagnetic radiation-conversion apparatus. The conversion apparatus may include a photomultiplier and a discriminator. Radiation impinging on the ruled member will, in part, be converted to electrical pulses which correspond to the intensity of the radiation. A method of processing electromagnetic radiation includes providing a member having alternating dark and light zones, establishing movement of the member through the beam of electromagnetic radiation with the dark zones interrupting passage of radiation through the rule, providing an optical coupler to connect a portion of the radiation with a conversion station where the radiation portion is converted into an electrical pulse which is related to the intensity of the radiation received at the conversion station. The electrical pulses may be counted and the digitized signals stored or permanently recorded to produce positional information

Tectonics of the Northeastern Inner Piedmont, Northwestern NC, from Detailed Geologic Mapping, Geochronologic, Geochemical, and Petrologic Studies with Structural Analyses of Ductile Fault Zones

New field and laboratory data collected for the northeastern Inner Piedmont (IP) reveal the structure and composition of a portion of the southern Appalachian crystalline core, delimited the timing of orogenesis, and provide new insight into the nature of deep crustal processes during orogenesis. Previously recognized lithologies are continuous throughout the study area and comprise two distinct crystalline thrust sheets: the Marion and Brindle Creek thrust sheets, or eastern Tugaloo and western Cat Square terranes, respectively. Western IP Precambrian- Cambrian(?) metasedimentary lithologies and Ordovician metaigneous lithologies make up the Marion thrust sheet northwest of a Neoacadian suture, the Brindle Creek fault zone (BCFZ). To the southeast, the Brindle Creek thrust sheet contains Siluro-Devonian metasedimentary lithologies, which were intruded by Devonian anatectic metaigneous units. Rocks in the study area preserve a polyphase thermal, metamorphic, and deformational history. Textural evidence suggests that two high-temperature events, followed by a retrograde event affected these lithologies. Peak metamorphic conditions of 745°C and 7.1 kbar are estimated for eastern IP assemblages using garnet core compositional data. Garnet rim compositional data indicate a clockwise P-T path for eastern IP lithologies. This is supported by textural observations of sillimanite replacing kyanite, further suggesting prograde conditions during metamorphism. Northeastern IP lithologies retain evidence of six deformation events. The Mill Spring fault zone is recognized as a late dextral strike-slip fault that splayed from the Alleghanian Brevard fault zone. Map and outcrop-scale truncations of structures and lithologies of known ages provide relative and absolute timing constraints for IP orogenic pulses. Western IP D1 structures were produced by a pre-Neoacadian event, likely related to the 480-460 Ma Taconic orogeny. Eastern IP D1 structures are the product of initial subduction of Cat Square terrane lithologies beneath the Carolina terrane before BCFZ emplacement. D2 and D3 are responsible for regional structural trends, developed during the Neoacadian orogeny. SWvergent D4 dextral shear fabrics are related to dextral movement along the Alleghanian Brevard fault zone. Subsequent deformation features are brittle and result from Alleghanian uplift, and Mesozoic and Cenozoic extensional and rifting events. The presence of two ductile fault zones in the study area, the Tumblebug Creek fault zone (TCFZ) and the BCFZ, provides a unique opportunity to study the development of two crustal-scale structures in an orogenic core. Here, the relationships between mineral reactions, deformation mechanisms, fluid flow, volume loss, and mylonitization are investigated for two granitic mylonites. Fluid flow paths are interpreted from SW-trending regional linear fabrics. Shear zone formation is characterized by the breakdown of quartz and feldspar, coeval with the formation of myrmekite and biotite. Crystal-plastic mechanisms operating at temperatures \u3e400°C were responsible for the deformation during shear-zone development. Silica and alkalis were lost during deformation, while immobile major and trace element concentrations remained constant. Volume losses of 41 and 48% occurred for the TCFZ and BCFZ, respectively. Zircon geochronologic data for northeastern IP lithologies provide new limits on the timing of orogenesis in the IP, and have produced a new developmental model for the Paleozoic development of the southern Appalachian crystalline core. Western IP Ordovician granitoids record the development of a volcanic arc system off of the Laurentian margin ~490 Ma. Taconic (480-460 Ma) arc accretion affected western IP lithologies, causing deformation, metamorphism, and magmatism. Eastern IP detrital zircon data indicate that the Cat Square terrane was being deposited after 430 Ma. Initial subduction of Cat Square sediments by the Carolina superterrane began by ~415 Ma. The Cat Square and Carolina terranes were accreted to the Laurentian margin together during the 360-340 Ma Neoacadian orogeny, causing the first shared thermal events between eastern and western IP terranes. Penetrative structures and dominant IP fabrics were developed during this event. Subsequent deformation occurred during dextral strike-slip motion along the Alleghanian Brevard fault zone

High school teacher’s acceptance of technology and privacy concerns in the 1:1 Initiative Laptop Program

Prior research has shown teachers’ attitudes, teachers’ preparation for using technology, and the availability of technology had significant positive associations with technology integration. However, research has shown that teachers do not fully utilize technology, they fail to implement it thoroughly due to a lack of time needed for planning the implementation of technology into the curriculum, and they do not have adequate training which contributes to underutilization of technology. Due to a lack of research from the teachers’ perspective of technology acceptance, the purpose of this study was to examine high school teachers’ acceptance and use of technology and determine the relationships between Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Facilitating Conditions and Privacy Concerns. To investigate the current status of adopting and implementing laptops in high schools, this study adopted the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model with an addition of Privacy Concerns. The online survey was sent in the fall semester of 2018 to teachers who taught in a North Mississippi School District that has implemented a 1:1 initiative laptop program. A total of 121 high school teachers made up the population and sample in the study, and 112 teachers replied with a 92% return rate. Overall, this study found that Performance Expectancy and Social Influence had the highest mean score at 5.6 (agree), and Privacy Concerns had the lowest mean score 3.8 (neutral), on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 for ‘strongly disagree’ to 7 for ‘strongly agree.’ The average mean score for Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Facilitating Conditions, and Privacy Concerns was 5 (somewhat agree), indicating that teachers perceived all 5 variables somewhat affect high school teachers’ intention to accept and use of technology. When analyzing whether Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Facilitating Conditions, and Privacy Concerns predict high school teachers’ behavioral intention to accept technology, Effort Expectancy was the only variable that predicted teachers’ behavior intention to accept technology. The findings of this study will provide valuable information with the current status of adopting and implementing technology in the context of 1:1 initiative programs in high schools