Fabrication techniques for organic electrolyte battery

Experiments in fabrication and testing of silver chloride electrodes for use in organic electrolyte batteries are discussed. Electrodes were fabricated by pelletizing, sintering, hot press binding, and paste binding silver chloride on expanded metal grids of nickel or silver. Each technique was investigated by statistically designed factorial experiment

Some aspects of the use of visual cues in directional training of homing pigeons

An investigation, aimed at determining how accurately homing pigeons can measure the position of a light source and what cues are used in making these measurements, is presented

Final report of work-with-IT: the JISC study into evolution of working practices

Technology is increasingly being used to underpin business processes across teaching and learning, research, knowledge exchange and business support activities in both HE and FE. The introduction of technology has a significant impact on the working practices of staff, often requiring them to work in a radically different way. Change in any situation can be unsettling and problematic and, where not effectively managed, can lead to poor service or functionality and disenfranchised staff. These issues can have a direct impact on institutional effectiveness, reputation and the resulting student experience. The Work-with-IT project, based at the University of Strathclyde, sought to examine changes to working practices across HE and FE, the impact on staff roles and relationships and the new skills sets that are required to meet these changes

Getting By With The Advice Of Their Friends: Ceos' Advice Networks And Firms' Strategic Responses To Poor Performance

This paper theorizes that relatively poor firm performance can prompt chief executive officers (CEOs) to seek more advice from executives of other firms who are their friends or similar to them and less advice from acquaintances or dissimilar others and suggests how and why this pattern of advice seeking could reduce firms' propensity to change corporate strategy in response to poor performance. We test our hypotheses with large-sample survey data on the identities of CEOs' advice contacts and archival data on firm performance and corporate strategy. The results confirm our hypotheses and show that executives' social network ties can influence firms' responses to economic adversity, in particular by inhibiting strategic change in response to relatively poor firm performance. Additional findings indicate that CEOs' advice seeking in response to low performance may ultimately have negative consequences for subsequent performance, suggesting how CEOs' social network ties could play an indirect role in organizational decline and downward spirals in firm performance.Business Administratio

An economical vent cover

Inexpensive formed-plastic vent cover has been developed that allows controlled purge of vent systems and also provides blowout protection. Cover can also be used in relief mode to allow normal system relief flows without disengaging from vent system. Cover consists of two parts made of plastics with varying densities to fit media used and desired pressures

Large deviations of a modified Jackson network: stability and rough asymptotics

Consider a modified, stable, two node Jackson network where server 2 helps server 1 when server 2 is idle. The probability of a large deviation of the number of customers at node one can be calculated using the flat boundary theory of Schwartz and Weiss [Large Deviations Performance Analysis (1994), Chapman and Hall, New York]. Surprisingly, however, these calculations show that the proportion of time spent on the boundary, where server 2 is idle, may be zero. This is in sharp contrast to the unmodified Jackson network which spends a nonzero proportion of time on this boundary.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/105051604000000666 in the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Review of the environmental and organisational implications of cloud computing: final report.

Cloud computing – where elastic computing resources are delivered over the Internet by external service providers – is generating significant interest within HE and FE. In the cloud computing business model, organisations or individuals contract with a cloud computing service provider on a pay-per-use basis to access data centres, application software or web services from any location. This provides an elasticity of provision which the customer can scale up or down to meet demand. This form of utility computing potentially opens up a new paradigm in the provision of IT to support administrative and educational functions within HE and FE. Further, the economies of scale and increasingly energy efficient data centre technologies which underpin cloud services means that cloud solutions may also have a positive impact on carbon footprints. In response to the growing interest in cloud computing within UK HE and FE, JISC commissioned the University of Strathclyde to undertake a Review of the Environmental and Organisational Implications of Cloud Computing in Higher and Further Education [19]

A review of Leptospermum scoparium (Myrtaceae) in New Zealand

Information about Leptospermum scoparium (Myrtaceae), the most widespread and important New Zealand indigenous shrub species, is reviewed. L. scoparium is a variable species, requiring more study of the genetically based differences between New Zealand populations and the affinity of these populations to Australian populations and other closely allied Australian species. Improved understanding of the species’ variation will assist both its conservation roles and economic uses, and the need to sustain genetically distinct varieties is emphasised. Ecologically, the species has a dominant role in infertile and poorly drained environments, and a wider occurrence as a seral shrub species in successions to forest where it may be regarded as a woody weed of pasture or a useful species for erosion control, carbon sesquestration, and vegetation restoration. The main economic products derived from the species are ornamental shrubs, essential oils, and honey. The species’ development as an ornamental plant and further definition of the pharmacologically active components are recommended as priority areas for research