Transforming floundering into success

We show how logic programs with "delays" can be transformed to programs without delays in a way which preserves information concerning floundering (also known as deadlock). This allows a declarative (model-theoretic), bottom-up or goal independent approach to be used for analysis and debugging of properties related to floundering. We rely on some previously introduced restrictions on delay primitives and a key observation which allows properties such as groundness to be analysed by approximating the (ground) success set. This paper is to appear in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP). Keywords: Floundering, delays, coroutining, program analysis, abstract interpretation, program transformation, declarative debuggingComment: Number of pages: 24 Number of figures: 9 Number of tables: non

Acquisition of control information in a wind shear

When an aircraft encounters a change of air mass it may experience a change in horizontal wind sufficient to cause appreciable change in airspeed and, therefore, in lift. It may also suffer a change in vertical wind and, therefore, in vertical speed. The adverse combination of these effects may result in a significant excursion below the correct vertical profile and this may be especially serious if it happens during the latter part of an approach. Appropriate action should then be taken very quickly to avoid a situation from which the aircraft can scarcely recover, implying that suitable information needs to be readily accessible to the pilot. The purpose of this paper is to explore circumstances in which it is difficult to meet this requirement in conventionally equipped aircraft, because of time factors affecting the flow of information

Head-up display in the non-precision approach

The problem of head-up guidance for an aircraft making an instrument approach without glide slope information is discussed. Requirements for path control are considered for each section of the approach profile and a head-up display is developed to meet these needs. The display is an unreferenced flight director which is modified by adding a ground referenced symbol as an alternative guidance component. The director is used for holding altitude in the first segment and for descent at a controlled rate in the second segment. It is used in the third segment to maintain the minimum decision altitude while assessing the approach situation. This is done by means of occasional brief changes to the referenced symbol. In the final segment a visual approach is made with the referenced symbol used continuously for path control. The display is investigated experimentally in simulated approaches made by three pilots. The results show a fair agreement between objective and subjective estimates of the quality of landing decisions

The work based learning of creative artists: the case of William Shakespeare

This thesis applies work based learning concepts to understanding Shakespeare's professional development and the relationship between his work roles and works. The purposes of this are to enhance understanding about Shakespeare, develop the argument for work based learning as a field of studies and investigate the relevance of the approach to historical and contemporary creative practitioners. To meet these objectives the following research question was formulated: as a creative artist, practising in an evolving occupational area in a period itself fraught with social change and questions about the nature of work, social status and the performing arts, what was the relationship between Shakespeare's work roles and the production of his works. What was the nature of his work based learning? In construing Shakespeare's career in this way the thesis explores previously researched issues in original and illuminating ways. In applying work based learning thinking to Role Theory methodology new instrumentation for collecting and analysing data has been invented; the Time Chart, Map of Role Sets and a three-dimensional analytical framework. This has been necessary to analyse work based learning holistically, acknowledging the importance of the social, historical and cultural context. Shakespeare's career is analysed against key work based learning questions providing new understanding of the work role of sharer and principal playwright. The thesis concludes that the methodology is of value because it can mediate between individual learning and an organisational environment that is specifically contextualised. A major conclusion is that understanding Shakespeare's work based learning as exemplary, through planned and opportunistic projects, in collaboration with his professional peers and supported by socially sophisticated patronage networks were fundamental to his unique success. The considerable implications for further research as a major means of identifying and analysing the work based learning of historical and contemporary creative artists are given

Pliocene-Pleistocene marine cyclothems, Wanganui Basin, New Zealand: a lithostratigraphic framework

The Rangitikei River valley between Mangaweka and Vinegar Hill and the surrounding Ohingaiti region in eastern Wanganui Basin contains a late Pliocene to early Pleistocene (c. 2.6-1.7 Ma), c. 1100 m thick, southward-dipping (4-9deg.), marine cyclothemic succession. Twenty sedimentary cycles occur within the succession, each of which contains coarse-grained (siliciclastic sandstone and coquina) and fine-grained (siliciclastic siltstone) units. Nineteen of the cycles are assigned to the Rangitikei Group (new). Six new formations are defined within the Rangitikei Group, and their distribution in the Ohingaiti region is represented in a new geologic map. The new formations are named: Mangarere, Tikapu, Makohine, Orangipongo, Mangaonoho, and Vinegar Hill. Each formation comprises one or more cyclothems and includes a previously described and named distinctive basal horizon. Discrete sandstones, siltstones, and coquinas within formations are assigned member status and correspond to systems tracts in sequence stratigraphic nomenclature. The members provide the link between the new formational lithostratigraphy and the sequence stratigraphy of the Rangitikei Group. Base of cycle coquina members accumulated during episodes of sediment starvation associated with stratigraphic condensation on an open marine shelf during sea-level transgressions. Siltstone members accumulated in mid-shelf environments (50-100 m water depth) during sea-level highstands, whereas the overlying sandstone members are ascribed to inner shelf and shoreface environments (0-50 m water depth) and accumulated during falling eustatic sea-level conditions. Repetitive changes in water depth of 50-100 m magnitude are consistent with a glacio-eustatic origin for the cyclothems, which correspond to an interval of Earth history when successive glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere are known to have occurred. Moreover, the chronology of the Rangitikei River section indicates that Rangitikei Group cyclothems accumulated during short duration, 41 ka cycles in continental ice volume attributed to the dominance of the Milankovitch obliquity orbital parameter. The Ohingaiti region has simple postdepositional structure. The late Pliocene formations dip generally to the SSW between 4deg. and 9deg.. Discernible discordances of c. 1deg. between successively younger formations are attributed to synsedimentary tilting of the shelf concomitant with migration of the tectonic hingeline southward into the basin. The outcrop distribution of the Rangitikei Group is strongly influenced by this regional tilt and also by three major northeast-southwest oriented, high-angle reverse faults (Rauoterangi, Pakihikura, and Rangitikei Faults)

Logic Programming and the INTERNET

Editorial for Theory and Practice of Logic Programming's special issue on 'Logic Programming and the INTERNET'

An analysis of New South Wales electronic vote counting

We re-examine the 2012 local government elections in New South Wales, Australia. The count was conducted electronically using a randomised form of the Single Transferable Vote (STV). It was already well known that randomness does make a difference to outcomes in some seats. We describe how the process could be amended to include a demonstration that the randomness was chosen fairly. Second, and more significantly, we found an error in the official counting software, which caused a mistake in the count in the council of Griffith, where candidate Rina Mercuri narrowly missed out on a seat. We believe the software error incorrectly decreased Mercuri's winning probability to about 10%---according to our count she should have won with 91% probability. The NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC) corrected their code when we pointed out the error, and made their own announcement. We have since investigated the 2016 local government election (held after correcting the error above) and found two new errors. We notified the NSWEC about these errors a few days after they posted the results

An experimental evaluation of head-up display formats

Three types of head-up display format are investigated. Type 1 is an unreferenced (conventional) flight director, type 2 is a ground referenced flight path display, and type 3 is a ground referenced director. Formats are generated by computer and presented by reflecting collimation against a simulated forward view in flight. Pilots, holding commercial licenses, fly approaches in the instrument flight mode and in a combined instrument and visual flight mode. The approaches are in wind shear with varied conditions of visibility, offset, and turbulence. The displays are equivalent in pure tracking but there is a slight advantage for the unreferenced director in poor conditions. Flight path displays are better for tracking in the combined flight mode, possibly because of poor director control laws and the division of attention between superimposed fields. Workloads is better for the type 2 displays. The flight path and referenced director displays are criticized for effects of symbol motion and field limiting. In the subjective judgment of pilots familiar with the director displays, they are rated clearly better than path displays, with a preference for the unreferenced director. There is a fair division of attention between superimposed fields

Towards an understanding of thermodynamic and kinetic controls on the formation of clay minerals from volcanic glass under various environmental conditions

lmogolite is the kinetically and thermodynamically favoured weathering product from rhyolitic volcanic glass in the soil-forming environment. However, on thermodynamic grounds imogolite would also appear to be the favoured alteration product of rhyolitic glass deposited in the nearshore marine environment. On the basis that the rate of conversion of glass to clay minerals is a function of the solubility of the clay mineral, smectite is expected to be formed under mildly diagenetic conditions, and formed more rapidly than imogolite in soil. The derived activation energies for formation of imogolite from glass in soils are appropriate for a diffusion controlled reaction, and appear consistent with the diffusion of the tetrahedrally co-ordinated species Al[iv](OH)₂(H2Q)⁺. In the marine environment, however the mechanism for all reactions appear to be surface reaction control