Literary Influences on Dante\u27s Use of Fear in the Commedia

This presentation explores the literary influences that may have guided Dante\u27s use and development of fear reflected and directed by his use of the word paura. These influences include Aristotle, Cicero, St. Augustine, St. Benedict, and St. Thomas Aquinas. The presenter also suggests a distant echo of fear finding its way into John Milton\u27s Paradise Lost

The Response of Molecular Gases and Modulated Plasmas to Short Intense Laser Pulses

In this thesis we study the response of two systems to short, intense laser pulses. The first system is a gas of diatomic molecules whose ensemble-averaged alignment features rotational revivals. We analyze the effect of a background plasma on the revival peaks. Both the revivals and the plasma are the result of a laser pulse passing through the gas. The second system is a density-modulated plasma channel. We study the generation of electromagnetic radiation by a laser pulse passing through this structure. The molecules in the gas are modeled as rigid rotors that interact first with the cycle-averaged electric field of the laser pulse, and second with the fluctuating electric field of the background plasma. The laser pulse generates a broad superposition of angular momentum eigenstates, resulting in the transient alignment of the molecules. Because of the time evolution properties of the angular momentum states, the alignment re-occurs periodically in field-free conditions. The alignment is calculated using a density matrix, and the background plasma is modeled using dressed particles. The result is decoherence between the phases of the basis states of the wavefunction, which causes decay of subsequent alignment peaks. We find that field-induced decoherence is competitive with collisional decoherence for small ionization fractions. The corrugated plasma channel is modeled using linear plasma theory, and the laser pulse is non-evolving. Corrugated channels support EM modes that have a Floquet dispersion relation, and thus consist of many spatial harmonics with subluminal phase velocities. This allows phase matching between the pulse and the EM modes. Since the pulse bandwidth includes THz frequencies, significant THz generation is possible. Here we consider realistic density profiles to obtain predictions of the THz power output and mode structure. We then estimate pulse depletion effects. The fraction of laser energy converted to THz is independent of laser pulse energy in the linear regime, and we find it to be around one percent. Extrapolating to a pulse energy of 0.5 J gives a THz power output of 6 mJ, with a pulse depletion length of less than 20 cm

Design of a processor to support the teaching of computer systems

Teaching computer systems, including computer architecture, assembly language programming and operating system implementation, is a challenging occupation. At the University of Waikato this is made doubly true because we require all computer science and information systems students study this material at second year. The challenges of teaching difficult material to a wide range of students have driven us to find ways of making the material more accessible. The corner stone of our strategy for delivering this material is the design and implementation of a custom CPU that meets the needs of teaching. This paper describes our motivation and these needs. We present the CPU and board design and describe the implementation of the CPU in an FPGA. The paper also includes some reflections on the use of a real CPU rather than a simulation environment. We conclude with a discussion of how the CPU can be used for advanced classes in computer architecture and a description of the current status of the project

INTELLIGENT FAULT TOLERANT CONTROL SCHEMES FOR AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLES

The area of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is an increasingly important area of research, with AUVs being capable of handling a far wider range of missions than either an inhabited underwater vehicle or a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). One of the major drawbacks of such vehicles is the inability of their control systems to handle faults occurring within the vehicle during a mission. This study aims to develop enhancements to an existing control system in order to increase its fault tolerance to both sensor and actuator faults. Faults occurring within the sensors for both the yaw and roll channels of the AUV are considered. Novel fuzzy inference systems (FISs) are developed and tuned using both the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and simulated annealing tuning methods. These FISs allow the AUV to continue operating after a fault has occurred within the sensors. Faults occurring within the actuators which control the canards of the AUV and hence the yaw channel are also examined. Actuator recovery FISs capable of handling faults occurring within the actuators are developed using both the simulated annealing and tabu search methods of tuning FISs. The fault tolerance of the AUV is then further enhanced by the development of an error estimation FIS that is used to replace an error sensor. It concludes that the novel FISs designed and developed within the thesis provide an improved performance to both sensor and actuator faults in comparison to benchmark control systems. Therefore having these FISs embedded within the overall control scheme ensure the AUV is fault tolerant to a range of selected failures

Report of the Library Study Committee on the Mack Library: Lighting the Way for the Next Generation

The 2014 Library Study Committee report outlines the committee\u27s vision for a future library at Bridgewater College that can serve its core mission serving as a centerpiece for the academic community for the next generation. The committee developed its report based on its research and analysis of the existing building, its operation, current library space use and floor plan, campus program analysis and needs, the college\u27s relation to peer institutions, review of library construction projects including the University of Denver\u27s Anderson Academic Commons, the James Madison University\u27s Rose Library, Goucher College\u27s Athenaeum and Library, University of Mary Washington\u27s Information Technology Convergence Center, and Library University\u27s Jerry Falwell Library

Social Influence and Willingness to Pay for Massively Multiplayer Online Games: An Empirical Examination of Social Identity Theory

The development and sale of massively multiplayer online games has emerged as a significant part of the 21st century entertainment industry. Yet, firms competing in this sector of the videogame industry vary in their ability to generate revenue from their products. We contend that social influence constitutes one primary factor that determines which massively multiplayer online game individuals consume. Using social identity theory for our theoretical underpinning, we argue that the identity that membership in important social groups provides influences individuals. We investigate the effects that two identity-related constructs, consumer-brand identification and social identity complexity, have on satisfaction and willingness to pay a subscription fee for a massively multiplayer online game. Our results suggest that social influence has a complex relationship with an individual’s willingness to pay. Consumer-brand identification and social identity complexity had significant direct relationships with willingness to pay, while consumer-brand identification had a significant indirect relationship with willingness to pay through satisfaction. Additionally, social identity complexity significantly moderated the relationship between consumer-brand identification and willingness to pay. Overall, our results support social identity theory’s ability to explain how social influence occurs for individuals that play massively multiplayer online games

Proprioceptive perception of phase variability

Previous work has established that judgments of relative phase variability of 2 visually presented oscillators covary with mean relative phase. Ninety degrees is judged to be more variable than 0° or 180°, independently of the actual level of phase variability. Judged levels of variability also increase at 180°. This pattern of judgments matches the pattern of movement coordination results. Here, participants judged the phase variability of their own finger movements, which they generated by actively tracking a manipulandum moving at 0°, 90°, or 180°, and with 1 of 4 levels of Phase Variability. Judgments covaried as an inverted U-shaped function of mean relative phase. With an increase in frequency, 180° was judged more variable whereas 0° was not. Higher frequency also reduced discrimination of the levels of Phase Variability. This matching of the proprioceptive and visual results, and of both to movement results, supports the hypothesized role of online perception in the coupling of limb movements. Differences in the 2 cases are discussed as due primarily to the different sensitivities of the systems to the information

The effect of dietary intake, physical activity and posture on pepsin concentrations detected in the saliva of free-living, healthy individuals

Introduction: Diet and lifestyle are believed to be major causes of gastric reflux. The occurrence of reflux is associated with a number of respiratory, oesophageal and airways conditions. Previous studies have used oesophageal monitoring to assess the occurrence of reflux events. Such measurements may only measure "bulk" rather than "microreflux" events. Such technology is also likely to impact on both habitual dietary intake and physical activity due to the nature of the assessment. Aim: To assess the impact of meal intake and physical activity on pepsin concentrations in saliva collected from free-living individuals throughout the day. Methods: Fifty-one participants (aged 18+, non-smokers with no current chronic or acute respiratory conditions, bloodborne diseases, or diagnosis of reflux disease) provided saliva samples before (< 30 min) and after (< 1 h) meals and physical activity bouts or before and after sleep. Dietary intake and physical activity were monitored by diary over this time. Dietary intake was analyzed using Windiets® software, while physical activity output was calculated from pre-existing tables of energy expenditure. Saliva samples were analyzed for pepsin content using a previously described ELISA methodology. Wilcoxon matched pairs rank sign tests were performed on before- and after-meal/physical activity/sleep samples. Results: Fifty-seven paired pre-and post-meal,48 paired pre- and post-physical activity samples and 168 pre- and post-sleep samples were analyzed. Mean(standard deviation) pepsin concentrations in saliva were significantly higher (P=0.037) in the pre-meal samples (44.2(42.2)) than the post-meal samples (32.8(29.6)). Post-sleep pepsin concentrations (196.4(323.4)) were significantly higher (P< 0.001) than pre-sleep (102.3(152.8)). There was no significant difference (P=0.491) between pre-(45.2(56.8)) and post-(40.8(38.6)) physical activity saliva samples. Conclusions: Analysis of pepsin in saliva is a useful method to assess the impact of lifestyle on reflux event occurrence. Increased preprandial salivary pepsin concentrations may be due to microreflux events driven by the cephalic phase of digestion