Steady state thermal radiometers

A radiometer is described operating in a vacuum under steady state conditions. The front element is an aluminum sheet painted on the outer side with black or other absorptive material of selected characteristics. A thermocouple is bonded to the inner side of the aluminum sheet. That is backed by highly insulative layers of glass fiber and crinkled, aluminized Mylar polyester. Those layers are backed with a sturdy, polyester sheet, and the entire lamination is laced together by nylon cords. The device is highly reliable in that it does not drift out of calibration, and is significantly inexpensive

Gemini Planet Imager Observational Calibrations II: Detector Performance and Calibration

The Gemini Planet Imager is a newly commissioned facility instrument designed to measure the near-infrared spectra of young extrasolar planets in the solar neighborhood and obtain imaging polarimetry of circumstellar disks. GPI's science instrument is an integral field spectrograph that utilizes a HAWAII-2RG detector with a SIDECAR ASIC readout system. This paper describes the detector characterization and calibrations performed by the GPI Data Reduction Pipeline to compensate for effects including bad/hot/cold pixels, persistence, non-linearity, vibration induced microphonics and correlated read noise.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Proceedings of the SPIE, 9147-28

Constitution and the Falling Elevator: The Continuing Incompatibility of Materialism and Resurrection Belief

Ontological dualism is energetically resisted by a range of Christian scholars including philosophers such as Baker and Corcoran who defend accounts of human persons based on material constitution. Whilst Baker’s view fails to account for diachronic identity, Corcoran’s account of life after death makes use of Zimmerman’s problematic “Falling Elevator Model.” It is argued that Zimmerman’s recent reassessment of the model overestimates its value for materialists. In fact, the model generates either a fatal encounter with the nature of identity, or absurdity. A lack of alternatives is illustrated by anticriterialist proposals. Thus it seems materialism and resurrection belief remain incompatible

A Reimagining of the Chacoan World

A new paradigm of the Chacoan world is presented, wherein Chaco Canyon is considered to be a mostly unoccupied architectural complex that functioned primarily as a pilgrimage destination. Chaco was the political, religious, and social focal point of people living in outlying regions. The resident population of the Canyon consisted of a small number of caretakers, charged with maintaining great house structures, food supplies, and their ceremonial contents. Chacoan chiefdoms were mostly located in large, well-watered, agriculturally-based communities situated at the base of mountains that ring the San Juan Basin, e.g., the Chuskas. Chiefly elites lived year-round in those areas, but during pilgrimages they occupied Canyon great houses associated with their respective dynasties, whereas their subjects occupied small houses situated on the Canyon floor. Not having 2000 people in the Canyon renders large-scale irrigated agriculture and massive importation of food unnecessary and provides an adequate explanation for the small number of burials found in the Canyon. Se presenta un nuevo paradigma del mundo chacoano, en el que el Cañón del Chaco es considerado como un complejo arquitectónico mayoritariamente desocupado que funcionaba principalmente como destino de peregrinación. Chaco fue el centro político, religioso y social de las personas que viven en regiones al aire libre. La población residente del Cañón consistía en un pequeño número de cuidadores, encargados de mantener grandes estructuras de casas, suministros de alimentos y su contenido ceremonial. Las jefaturas chacoanas se encontraban principalmente en grandes comunidades agrícolas bien regadas situadas en la base de montañas que anillan la cuenca de San Juan, por ejemplo, los Chuskas. Principalmente las élites vivían durante todo el año en esas áreas, pero durante las peregrinaciones ocuparon grandes casas del Cañón asociadas con sus respectivas dinastías, mientras que sus súbditos ocupaban pequeñas casas situadas en el suelo del Cañón. No tener 2000 personas en el Cañón hace que la agricultura de regadío a gran escala y la importación masiva de alimentos sean innecesarias y proporciona una explicación adecuada para el pequeño número de entierros encontrados en el Cañón

Effective Mechanisms of Multiple LED Photographic Curing

Multiple LED Photographic Curing (MPC) has proven capable of drawing cross sections of three-dimensional objects like printing a sheet of paper. Using raster scanning, however, simultaneously exposing a photopolymer with 1,024 beams of light involves various unknown issues. The aim of this research work was to examine the formation of individual strings and the connecting mechanisms between strings and layers. At light power ranging from 19.0 to 30.3flW and at various scan speeds, string formation perpendicular to scan direction differs greatly from that in scan direction. Curing of plane layers happens by curing strings side-by-side with a constant spacing of 62.5flm.Mechanical Engineerin

Bianchi's classification of 3-dimensional Lie algebras revisited

We present Bianchi's proof on the classification of real (and complex) $3$-dimensional Lie algebras in a coordinate free version from a strictly representation theoretic point of view. Nearby we also compute the automorphism groups and from this the orbit dimensions of the corresponding orbits in the algebraic variety $X\subseteq\Lambda^2V^*\otimes V$ describing all Lie brackets on a fixed vector space $V$ of dimension $3$. Moreover we clarify which orbits lie in the closure of a given orbit and therefore the topology on the orbit space $X/G$ with $G=\mathrm{Aut}(V)$

Die Ambivalenz des Authentischen : Juden, Holocaust und Antisemitismus im deutschen Film nach 1945

Die vergangenen fünfzehn Jahre haben in Deutschland einen tiefgreifenden Wandel in der Wahrnehmung des Holocaust gebracht. Wissen über den nationalsozialistischen Judenmord wird zunehmend über das filmische Medium transportiert. Der Beitrag untersucht vor diesem Hintergrund und anhand ausgewählter Beispiele das filmische Repertoire, mit dem nach 1945 Juden, der Holocaust und Antisemitismus präsentiert wurden, und geht dabei insbesondere auf die Ambivalenz ein, mit der die Verwendung dokumentarischer Aufnahmen nationalsozialistischer Provenienz stets verbunden ist.The last fifteen years brought a drastic change of perception of the Holocaust in Germany. Knowledge about the national socialist murder of Jews is increasingly transported through the medium film. Considering this background and certain examples the article analyses the movie repertoire, in which Jews, the Holocaust and anti-Semitism were presented and especially points out the ambivalence with which the use of documentary films has always been connected with the national socialist provenience

Application of highly portable MinION nanopore sequencing technology for the monitoring of nosocomial tuberculosis infection

Referral hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa concentrate large numbers of tuberculosis (TB) and multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) patients, failed by community TB services. We have previously shown, from enhanced screening and through autopsy studies, a significant burden of missed TB infections at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia, with many patients dying or being discharged without treatment. With minimal TB isolation facilities and minimal political will to invest in broader screening and isolation, the risk of nosocomial transmission is likely to be extremely high. Studies from other hospitals in low burden settings and in South Africa have shown that next generation sequencing (NGS) is a very powerful tool for rapidly sequencing whole TB genomes and comparing them to confirm or rule out nosocomial transmission. The established platforms for NGS analysis, such as Illumina, are very expensive, immobile, and require regular maintenance, making them a costly inclusion on a research proposal or programmatic intervention grant in Africa. MinION nanopore sequencing has changed the NGS landscape with cheap portable sequencers, rapid simple library preparation (15min), and automated real-time analysis tools. The application of highly portable MinION nanopore sequencing technology for the monitoring of nosocomial TB infection will be discussed. Preliminary data from our pediatric pneumonia study will demonstrate the detection of TB in induced sputum from children admitted to the University Teaching Hospital