A five colour photometry and polarimetry of the zodiacal light - A preliminary report

Five color photometry and polarimetry of the zodiacal ligh

The X-ray properties of the merging galaxy pair NGC 4038/9 - the Antennae

We report the results of an X-ray spectral imaging observation of the Antennae with the ROSAT PSPC. 55% of the soft X-ray flux from the system is resolved into discrete sources, including components identified with the galactic nuclei and large HII regions, whilst the remainder appears to be predominantly genuinely diffuse emission from gas at a temperature ~4x10^6 K. The morphology of the emission is unusual, combining a halo which envelopes the galactic discs, with what appears to be a distorted, but well-collimated bipolar outflow. We derive physical parameters for the hot gas in both diffuse components, which are of some interest, given that the Antennae probably represents an elliptical galaxy in the making.Comment: 15 pages plus 9 figures, uuencoded encapsulated postscript file. Accepted for publication in MNRA

A unifying approach to reasoning by analogy

There has been, and still is, much interest in several disciplines in reasoning using analogy and similarity. Recent efforts in psychology and artificial intelligence have seen the development of general analogical reasoning mechanisms, which work on a variety of symbolic analogies from various domains. It is in the context of this work that this dissertation presents a unifying framework for analogy and similarity, which is designed to accomodate all current general theories and models of analogy. The approach places models of analogy into a unifying framework comprised of seven stages and four types of similarity. This framework allows current models to be assessed and compared, and deficiences observed. A new general model for analogy, which fits within this framework, is presented, overcoming many of the observed deficiences with other models. A computer program which embodies most of the key features of the new model is described, and the results of its application to several example analogies shown

The discovery of a highly polarized bipolar nebula

During a search for the optical counterparts of IRAS sources whose flux peaks at 25 microns, a small faint bipolar nebula was discovered in Monoceros at the position of IRAS 07131-0147. The CCD images display the object's considerable structure. The central star seems relatively free of closeby nebulosity: the two lobes have a bow-tie structure with those parts nearest to the star consisting of series of small knots. The outer parts of the lobes seem to be made up of filaments streaming away from knots. On the basis of its optical spectrum, the central star was classified as a M5-6 giant. In the IRAS color classification scheme of Van der Veen and Habing (1988), the central star is VIb which indicates that there are distinct hot and cold components of circumstellar dust and that the mass loss process may have temporarily abated. Therefore, it is proposed that the object is in the post main sequence stage of evolution and is a protoplanetary nebulae. Young protoplanetary nebulae have totally obscured central stars illuminating reflective lobes whereas older ones such as M2-9 have lobes seen in emission from gas ionized by the central hot star which is clearly visible. Since the central object of IRAS07131-0147 is a relatively unobscured late type star and the lobes are seen only by reflection, it is suggested that this nebula is a protoplanetary nebula in an evolutionary stage intermediate between that of CRL2688 and M2-9

Ultrasonic Air Leak Detection: An Investigation to Improve Accuracy of Leak Rate Estimation

A compressed air test rig was designed to develop new procedures and improve the reliability of results that are obtained when conducting a leak survey using an Ultrasonic leak detector such as the UE Systems Ultraprobe. A test rig was designed that allowed the pressure of air in a compressed air system to be controlled by a regulator. This allowed experiments to be conducted that were able to recreate leak situations in a controlled environment. The pressure of the air through the test rig was measured both at the supply end and at the proximity of the leak site, while the volume flow rate was measured at the supply end of the rig. A number of leak geometries were examined, with compressed air being passed through open ended tubing and also discs with different leak geometries, some round holes and some rectangular. Initial studies were also carried out on flange leaks and pinpricks and slits in lengths of tubing. These were omitted from the study at this stage to allow further experimentation to be conducted in both areas. The experimentation was carried out using an Ultraprobe 9000 leak detector which was positioned at a set distance from the leak at a series of angles to the flow. The ultrasound level was measured at each point and compared with the pressure and volume flow rate of the air in the system. The results showed that the ideal angle to ensure the maximum level of ultrasound is at 30 to the axis of the leak. While the optimum distance for ensuring a consistent level of ultrasound is 150mm from the leak. The length of any air lines branching from the main distribution network is shown to be an important factor when quantifying the volumetric flow rate of air from an open ended tube or tubing with a significant orifice in it. The pressure drop in a 1m length of tubing was shown to be approximately 50%, and if you consider that often the flow rate being used has been obtained using the outside diameter of the tubing rather than the inside diameter this can become a considerable over estimation of leak rate. The geometry of a regular shaped orifice, such as a round, or rectangular hole was shown to have little to no effect on the flow rate through it for a constant area. However a coefficient of discharge to account for imperfections in the flow was developed for round and rectangular geometries, these were 0.74 for a round hole and 0.79 for a rectangular hole. These correction factors in tandem with the length effect factor for tubing and the improvements to the measurement procedure, allow a higher degree of accuracy to be obtained when conducting a leak survey

Chained and Engrained:Breaking the Powerpoint Dependency Cycle in English Education

This paper investigates the over-dependency on PowerPoint within English education. Taking an action research approach with a group of first year students, the authors taught one unit of an initial teacher training programme employing a range of teaching strategies excluding PowerPoint. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews at the end of the taught unit. The findings suggest that teachers were aware of the limitations of PowerPoint as a teaching tool yet still chose to use it. The justification for this was that it provided structure for the lesson and was what students and in some cases, employers, had come to expect. Despite being positive towards the teaching strategies employed in this research, the majority of participants were mindful of the need to meet the expectations of others and as a result were reluctant to change their approach

Mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders in Turner Syndrome: New approaches to psycho-social management

Turner Syndrome (45,X; TS) is one of the most common sex chromosome aneuploidies. It is associated with physical morbidities affecting nearly every body system, but there has been little research into the psychological wellbeing of girls, adolescents and young women with TS (Chapter 1). We conducted a large online mental health survey with TS participants aged 4 to 25. This showed they had elevated rates of mental health disorder and social skills difficulties compared to typically developing females (Chapter 2). 33% of participants met criteria for at least one DSM-5 mental health diagnosis. Of these, 23% met criteria for an autism spectrum disorder, 11% had anxiety disorders and 13% had an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Nearly two-thirds (59%) had autistic-like social communication difficulties of clinical significance. We hypothesized that those social communication difficulties could be improved with a social skills intervention. First, we reviewed the published evidence for the effectiveness of appropriate treatment procedures. A subsequent meta-analysis identified PEERS as the best evidenced intervention (Chapter 3 and 4). Second, we conducted semi-structured interviews with young women with TS and their parents to assess the feasibility and acceptability of piloting PEERS. TS is rare and participants resided across the British Isles, therefore PEERS was not considered to be feasible in its original weekly face-to-face format (Chapter 5). Accordingly, the protocol was adapted to incorporate a novel online component which substituted for face-to-face meetings. This modification proved to be feasible and it was acceptable to families. Parents reported that their daughters had shown significant improvements in their social knowledge and performance after the two month intervention period. This improvement was sustained during a three month follow-up (Chapter 6)

Breaking supercontinents; no need to choose between passive or active

Much debate has centred on whether continental break-up is predominantly caused by active upwelling in the mantle (e.g. plumes) or by long-range extensional stresses in the lithosphere.We propose the hypothesis that global supercontinent break-up events should always involve both. The fundamental principle involved is the conservation of mass within the spherical shell of the mantle, which requires a return flow for any major upwelling beneath a supercontinent. This shallow horizontal return flow away from the locus of upwelling produces extensional stress. We demonstrate this principle with numerical models, which simultaneously exhibit both upwellings and significant lateral flow in the upper mantle. For non-global break-up the impact of the finite geometry of the mantle will be less pronounced, weakening this process. This observation should motivate future studies of continental break-up to explicitly consider the global perspective, even when observations or models are of regional extent

'Chained and Engrained' – Breaking the PowerPoint Dependency Cycle in English Education

This paper investigates the over-dependency on PowerPoint within English education. Taking an action research approach with a group of first year students, the authors taught one unit of an initial teacher training programme employing a range of teaching strategies excluding PowerPoint. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews at the end of the taught unit. The findings suggest that teachers were aware of the limitations of PowerPoint as a teaching tool yet still chose to use it. The justification for this was that it provided structure for the lesson and was what students and in some cases, employers, had come to expect. Despite being positive towards the teaching strategies employed in this research, the majority of participants were mindful of the need to meet the expectations of others and as a result were reluctant to change their approach

Populous: A tool for populating ontology templates

We present Populous, a tool for gathering content with which to populate an ontology. Domain experts need to add content, that is often repetitive in its form, but without having to tackle the underlying ontological representation. Populous presents users with a table based form in which columns are constrained to take values from particular ontologies; the user can select a concept from an ontology via its meaningful label to give a value for a given entity attribute. Populated tables are mapped to patterns that can then be used to automatically generate the ontology's content. Populous's contribution is in the knowledge gathering stage of ontology development. It separates knowledge gathering from the conceptualisation and also separates the user from the standard ontology authoring environments. As a result, Populous can allow knowledge to be gathered in a straight-forward manner that can then be used to do mass production of ontology content.Comment: in Adrian Paschke, Albert Burger begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting, Andrea Splendiani, M. Scott Marshall, Paolo Romano: Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Semantic Web Applications and Tools for the Life Sciences, Berlin,Germany, December 8-10, 201