Three-axis adjustable loading structure

A three axis adjustable loading structure for testing the movable surfaces of aircraft by applying pressure, is described. The device has three electric drives where the wall angle, horizontal position, and vertical position of the test device can be rapidly and accurately positioned

Instant restore after a media failure

Media failures usually leave database systems unavailable for several hours until recovery is complete, especially in applications with large devices and high transaction volume. Previous work introduced a technique called single-pass restore, which increases restore bandwidth and thus substantially decreases time to repair. Instant restore goes further as it permits read/write access to any data on a device undergoing restore--even data not yet restored--by restoring individual data segments on demand. Thus, the restore process is guided primarily by the needs of applications, and the observed mean time to repair is effectively reduced from several hours to a few seconds. This paper presents an implementation and evaluation of instant restore. The technique is incrementally implemented on a system starting with the traditional ARIES design for logging and recovery. Experiments show that the transaction latency perceived after a media failure can be cut down to less than a second and that the overhead imposed by the technique on normal processing is minimal. The net effect is that a few "nines" of availability are added to the system using simple and low-overhead software techniques

Orbital Characteristics of the Subdwarf-B and F V Star Binary EC~20117-4014(=V4640 Sgr)

Among the competing evolution theories for subdwarf-B (sdB) stars is the binary evolution scenario. EC~20117-4014 (=V4640~Sgr) is a spectroscopic binary system consisting of a pulsating sdB star and a late F main-sequence companion (O'Donoghue et al. 1997), however the period and the orbit semi-major axes have not been precisely determined. This paper presents orbital characteristics of the EC 20117-4014 binary system using 20 years of photometric data. Periodic Observed minus Calculated (O-C) variations were detected in the two highest amplitude pulsations identified in the EC 20117-4014 power spectrum, indicating the binary system's precise orbital period (P = 792.3 days) and the light-travel time amplitude (A = 468.9 s). This binary shows no significant orbital eccentricity and the upper limit of the eccentricity is 0.025 (using 3 $\sigma$ as an upper limit). This upper limit of the eccentricity is the lowest among all wide sdB binaries with known orbital parameters. This analysis indicated that the sdB is likely to have lost its hydrogen envelope through stable Roche lobe overflow, thus supporting hypotheses for the origin of sdB stars. In addition to those results, the underlying pulsation period change obtained from the photometric data was $\dot{P}$ = 5.4 ($\pm$0.7) $\times$ $10^{-14}$ d d$^{-1}$, which shows that the sdB is just before the end of the core helium-burning phase

A Conceptual and Qualitative Study of Outsourcing Criteria and the Role of Emotions in Decision-Making: The Case of Equine Sports Transportation Outsourcing

For years, transportation outsourcing was considered a formal transaction-cost economics decision with little or no consideration for additional factors. This limiting perspective provides the stimulus for the current qualitative study, which examines additional factors affecting the transportation decision. For this article, the equine industry is studied in order to gain a better understanding of additional factors that go into decision- making. In-depthinterviewswithhorseownersandtrainersintheequineindustryrevealedthat,inaddition to a detailed cognitive assessment of transporter capabilities, the outsourcing decision involves a considerableemotionalcomponent. Thesefindingcouldbenoteworthyforanumberofindustries,suchas household goods, museums, fine art (paintings, statues, sculptures), antique furniture (including pianos), collectibles of all kinds, and other high involvement luxury items

GLBTIQ teachers in Australian education policy: protections, suspicions, and restrictions

Recognition of human rights on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status by the United Nations has led to the development of new policies concerning homophobia and transphobia in educational contexts. This paper examines new Australian education policies impacting gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) teachers. A policy review uncovered a range of protections for GLBTIQ teachers in contexts such as the State of Victoria, alongside restrictions. Experiences of policy discussed in pilot study data from surveys of 63 Victorian GLBTIQ teachers, and in-depth interviews with nine Victorian GLBTIQ teachers, revealed that GLBTIQ teachers were relatively unaware of the protections available to them, compared to their awareness of protections for students. Many teachers were out as lesbian or gay to some staff members but fewer had come out to students. Teachers in religious schools had more difficulties, causing some to leave the sector. Further promotion of protections and more research are recommended

Rebuttal to "Comment by V.M. Krasnov on 'Counterintuitive consequence of heating in strongly-driven intrinsic junctions of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d Mesas' "

In our article [1], we found that with increasing dissipation there is a clear, systematic shift and sharpening of the conductance peak along with the disappearance of the higher-bias dip/hump features (DHF), for a stack of intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs) of intercalated Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+{\delta} (Bi2212). Our work agrees with Zhu et al [2] on unintercalated, pristine Bi2212, as both studies show the same systematic changes with dissipation. The broader peaks found with reduced dissipation [1,2] are consistent with broad peaks in the density-of-states (DOS) found among scanning tunneling spectroscopy [3] (STS), mechanical contact tunneling [4] (MCT) and inferred from angle (momentum) resolved photoemission spectroscopy [5] (ARPES); results that could not be ignored. Thus, sharp peaks are extrinsic and cannot correspond to the superconducting DOS. We suggested that the commonality of the sharp peaks in our conductance data, which is demonstrably shown to be heating-dominated, and the peaks of previous intrinsic tunneling spectroscopy (ITS) data implies that these ITS reports might need reinterpretation.Comment: Rebuttal to Comment of Krasnov arXiv:1007.451

Heavy-Light Meson Semileptonic Decays with Staggered Light Quarks

We report on exploratory studies of heavy-light meson semileptonic decays using Asqtad light quarks, NRQCD heavy quarks and Symanzik improved glue on coarse quenched lattices. Oscillatory contributions to three-point correlators coming from the staggered light quarks are found to be handled well by Bayesian fitting methods. B meson decays to both the Goldstone pion and to one of the point-split non-Goldstone pions are investigated. One-loop perturbative matching of NRQCD/Asqtad heavy-light currents is incorporated.Comment: 3 pages, 3 postscript figures, Lattice2003(heavy

Microwave oven fabricated hybrid memristor devices for non-volatile memory storage

© 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd. Novel hybrid non-volatile memories made using an ultra-fast microwave heating method are reported for the first time. The devices, consisting of aligned ZnO nanorods embedded in poly (methyl methacrylate), require no forming step and exhibit reliable and reproducible bipolar resistive switching at low voltages and with low power usage. We attribute these properties to a combination of the high aspect ratio of the nanorods and the polymeric hybrid structure of the device. The extremely easy, fast and low-cost solution based method of fabrication makes possible the simple and quick production of cheap memory cells

Are multimedia resources effective in life science education? A meta-analysis.

Multimedia learning is widely used in life science education where the use of pictures and text can bring complex structures and processes to life. However the impact on academic performance and deeper understanding is not well documented. We therefore carried out a systematic review to evaluate the effectiveness of multimedia resources in tertiary level life science education. Comprehensive literature searches were conducted; studies were selected based on stringent pre-set criteria, and data were extracted for meta-analysis. In total, 17 studies were used in the meta-analyses with a total population of 2,290 students. The results show that, when used as a substitute for laboratory practicals, multimedia improved student learning gains assessed with an end-of-year examination, (mean difference 7.06, ±4.61). Although it did not improve short-term learning gains in this scenario, multimedia improved learning gains in 10 of the 16 sub-group comparisons made across all the studies. Overall, multimedia learning was more effective than many traditional educational methods although the numbers of studies included in the analysis were ultimately considered to be small due to many exclusions from the studies included in the analysis. Therefore, more good quality trials are required to evaluate a broader range of scenarios relevant to modern practices. Studies would benefit from being rigorous in design with good quality reporting of all aspects of methodology and study results.HEA Subject Centre for Bioscienc

Discovery of a Non-Thermal Galactic Center Filament (G358.85+0.47) Parallel to the Galactic Plane

We report the discovery of a new non-thermal filament, G358.85+0.47, the ``Pelican'', located ~225 pc in projection from SgrA, and oriented parallel to the Galactic plane. VLA continuum observations at 20 cm reveal that this 7' (17.5 pc) structure bends at its northern extension and is comprised of parallel strands, most apparent at its ends. Observations at 6 and 3.6 cm reveal that the Pelican is a synchrotron-emitting source and is strongly linearly polarized over much of its extent. The spectral index of the filament changes from alpha(20/6)=-0.8 to alpha(6/3.6)=-1.5. The rotation measures exhibit a smooth gradient, with values ranging from -1000 rad/m2 to +500 rad/m2. The intrinsic magnetic field is well-aligned along the length of the filament. Based on these properties, we classify the Pelican as one of the non-thermal filaments unique to the Galactic center. Since these filaments (most of which are oriented perpendicular to the Galactic plane) are believed to trace the overall magnetic field in the inner Galaxy, the Pelican is the first detection of a component of this field parallel to the plane. The Pelican may thus mark a transition region of the magnetic field orientation in the inner kiloparsec of the Galaxy.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, to appear in ApJ Letters; Figs. 2 & 3 are color .ps files and best viewed in colo