Thermal Protection Materials and High Temperature Composites for Planetary Entry Systems

This presentation was part of the session : Poster SessionsSixth International Planetary Probe WorkshopThe Boeing Company has a long history in developing Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) and designing and constructing high temperature aerostructures. Many space projects ranging from the first manned Mercury and Gemini missions through Apollo and continuing on with the Space Shuttle have been enabled through advanced research and development efforts. Currently advanced materials and construction techniques are being developed for applications beyond earth manned missions to include missions to Mars, the outer planets and their moons. This poster will present an overview of the various TPS Materials and High Temperature Composite structures currently in development and what their intended mission design performance requirements are

Noise Infusion as a Confidentiality Protection Measure for Graph-Based Statistics

We use the bipartite graph representation of longitudinally linked employer-employee data, and the associated projections onto the employer and employee nodes, respectively, to characterize the set of potential statistical summaries that the trusted custodian might produce. We consider noise infusion as the primary confidentiality protection method. We show that a relatively straightforward extension of the dynamic noise-infusion method used in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Quarterly Workforce Indicators can be adapted to provide the same confidentiality guarantees for the graph-based statistics: all inputs have been modified by a minimum percentage deviation (i.e., no actual respondent data are used) and, as the number of entities contributing to a particular statistic increases, the accuracy of that statistic approaches the unprotected value. Our method also ensures that the protected statistics will be identical in all releases based on the same inputs

John McKinney to Professor Silver, 31 December 1956

Professional correspondenc

Earnings Inequality and Mobility Trends in the United States: Nationally Representative Estimates from Longitudinally Linked Employer-Employee Data

Using earnings data from the U.S. Census Bureau, this paper analyzes the role of the employer in explaining the rise in earnings inequality in the United States. We first establish a consistent frame of analysis appropriate for administrative data used to study earnings inequality. We show that the trends in earnings inequality in the administrative data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Program are inconsistent with other data sources when we do not correct for the presence of misused SSNs. After this correction to the worker frame, we analyze how the earnings distribution has changed in the last decade. We present a decomposition of the year-to-year changes in the earnings distribution from 2004-2013. Even when simplifying these flows to movements between the bottom 20%, the middle 60% and the top 20% of the earnings distribution, about 20.5 million workers undergo a transition each year. Another 19.9 million move between employment and nonemployment. To understand the role of the firm in these transitions, we estimate a model for log earnings with additive fixed worker and firm effects using all jobs held by eligible workers from 2004-2013. We construct a composite log earnings firm component across all jobs for a worker in a given year and a non-firm component. We also construct a skill-type index. We show that, while the difference between working at a low- or middle-paying firm are relatively small, the gains from working at a top-paying firm are large. Specifically, the benefits of working for a high-paying firm are not only realized today, through higher earnings paid to the worker, but also persist through an increase in the probability of upward mobility. High-paying firms facilitate moving workers to the top of the earnings distribution and keeping them there

Total Error and Variability Measures with Integrated Disclosure Limitation for Quarterly Workforce Indicators and LEHD Origin Destination Employment Statistics in OnThe Map

We report results from the first comprehensive total quality evaluation of five major indicators in the U.S. Census Bureau\u27s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Program Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI): total employment, beginning-of-quarter employment, full-quarter employment, total payroll, and average monthly earnings of full-quarter employees. Beginning-of-quarter employment is also the main tabulation variable in the LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) workplace reports as displayed in OnTheMap (OTM). The evaluation is conducted by generating multiple threads of the edit and imputation models used in the LEHD Infrastructure File System. These threads conform to the Rubin (1987) multiple imputation model, with each thread or implicate being the output of formal probability models that address coverage, edit, and imputation errors. Design-based sampling variability and finite population corrections are also included in the evaluation. We derive special formulas for the Rubin total variability and its components that are consistent with the disclosure avoidance system used for QWI and LODES/OTM workplace reports. These formulas allow us to publish the complete set of detailed total quality measures for QWI and LODES. The analysis reveals that the five publication variables under study are estimated very accurately for tabulations involving at least 10 jobs. Tabulations involving three to nine jobs have quality in the range generally deemed acceptable. Tabulations involving zero, one or two jobs, which are generally suppressed in the QWI and synthesized in LODES, have substantial total variability but their publication in LODES allows the formation of larger custom aggregations, which will in general have the accuracy estimated for tabulations in the QWI based on a similar number of workers

Modeling Endogenous Mobility in Earnings Determination

We evaluate the bias from endogenous job mobility in fixed-effects estimates of worker- and firm-specific earnings heterogeneity using longitudinally linked employer-employee data from the LEHD infrastructure file system of the U.S. Census Bureau. First, we propose two new residual diagnostic tests of the assumption that mobility is exogenous to unmodeled determinants of earnings. Both tests reject exogenous mobility. We relax the exogenous mobility assumptions by modeling the evolution of the matched data as an evolving bipartite graph using a Bayesian latent class framework. Our results suggest that endogenous mobility biases estimated firm effects toward zero. To assess validity, we match our estimates of the wage components to out-of-sample estimates of revenue per worker. The corrected estimates attribute much more of the variation in revenue per worker to variation in match quality and worker quality than the uncorrected estimates

Modeling Endogenous Mobility in Wage Determination

We evaluate the bias from endogenous job mobility in fixed-effects estimates of worker- and firm-specific earnings heterogeneity using longitudinally linked employer-employee data from the LEHD infrastructure file system of the U.S. Census Bureau. First, we propose two new residual diagnostic tests of the assumption that mobility is exogenous to unmodeled determinants of earnings. Both tests reject exogenous mobility. We relax the exogenous mobility assumptions by modeling the evolution of the matched data as an evolving bipartite graph using a Bayesian latent class framework. Our results suggest that endogenous mobility biases estimated firm effects toward zero. To assess validity, we match our estimates of the wage components to out-of-sample estimates of revenue per worker. The corrected estimates attribute much more of the variation in revenue per worker to variation in match quality and worker quality than the uncorrected estimates

Catholic schools in Scotland: mapping the contemporary debate and their continued existence in the 21st century

The faith school debate in Scotland focuses almost exclusively on Catholic schools because they are the predominant form of faith schooling. Historically, the Catholic schools have had strong links with the Catholic Church and the wider Catholic community – a post-Reformation Catholic community that has a variety of national–cultural expressions but, ultimately, has strongest roots in the critical mass of immigrants who were part of the Irish Famine Diaspora. This Scottish-Irish Catholic Church and community, in some periods of history, have been subjected to structural and attitudinal sectarianism and appear to continue to be viewed with some ambivalence, and some suspicion, in contemporary Scottish society. This ambivalence often extends to Catholic schools, despite recent (widely publicised) educational success and perceived ‘social and moral’ success. This thesis seeks to understand this unique situation from an academic perspective. The history of Catholic schools and the Catholic community are examined using a variety of conceptual tools (primarily ‘postmodern critique of historiography’, ‘insider stories’ and ‘immigrant typology’). The postmodern critique of historiography is used to construct smaller narratives which also help to clarify the strengths and limitations of previous research and scholarship. The identification of the insider status and insider stories of the academics engaged in this debate enables insight into the emergence of a variety of histories and stories of a historically marginalised group. The application of immigrant typology provides frameworks to explore both the generic and unique nature of the experience of the Catholic community in Scotland. The thesis contextualises contemporary Catholic schools in Scotland within two major academic discussions: (1) the faith school debate in England and Wales (arguing that the debate in Scotland lacks the scope and conceptual sophistication of the debate in England and Wales) and (2) the key Catholic Church teaching and Catholic academic insights into Catholic schools. Adopting the qualitative method of expert interviews, the thesis maps out the contemporary debate concerning Catholic schools in Scotland. The debate is re-conceptualised using a uniquely constructed spectrum of views and the projected future of Catholic schools in Scotland is discussed within this spectrum

An exploratory case study on the preparation of undergraduate civil engineering students at the University of Cape Town to contribute to an inclusive society for people with disabilities

Based on the experiences of the researcher who is a quadriplegic, people with disabilities still encounter many challenges within the built environment. As civil engineers play a central role, this study set out to address the question - How are undergraduate Civil Engineering students at the University of Cape Town (UCT) being prepared to contribute to an inclusive society that accommodates people with disabilities? Based on a conceptual theoretical framework that draws from a broader context of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, a production line analogy was adopted to explore the resources, approaches and experiences of key stakeholders involved in the preparation of the students. The adopted model recognised the students as the "raw materials", the graduates as the "products", UCT as the "factory", the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) as the "quality controller", the Engineering Industry "utilised and refined" the product, while people with disabilities were the "consumers". A qualitative, exploratory, multiple case design was utilised incorporating interviews with representatives of UCT, the Engineering Industry, and people with disabilities, while the contents of the website of ECSA was reviewed. ECSA has a transformation agenda that does not explicitly identify issues about disability. However, there were opportunities to incorporate the concept of Universal Design (UD) into the exit level outcomes of the undergraduate civil engineering programme. Furthermore, while UCT, Industry and people with disabilities identified legislation around disability as a major resource for the training of students, and UCT and Industry shared an open minded approach to the concept of UD, its inclusion in the education programme is still lacking. There was a conspicuous gap for collaboration between the stakeholders, which seem to hinder the adoption of a multidisciplinary approach in the preparation of the students. The study highlighted the need to formalise a platform that brings the key stakeholders together in the preparation of civil engineering students to contribute to the development of an inclusive society that accommodates people with disabilities