Change of the plane of oscillation of a Foucault pendulum from simple pictures

The change of the plane of oscillation of a Foucault pendulum is calculated without using equations of motion, the Gauss-Bonnet theorem, parallel transport, or assumptions that are difficult to explain.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Fault prediction in aircraft engines using Self-Organizing Maps

Aircraft engines are designed to be used during several tens of years. Their maintenance is a challenging and costly task, for obvious security reasons. The goal is to ensure a proper operation of the engines, in all conditions, with a zero probability of failure, while taking into account aging. The fact that the same engine is sometimes used on several aircrafts has to be taken into account too. The maintenance can be improved if an efficient procedure for the prediction of failures is implemented. The primary source of information on the health of the engines comes from measurement during flights. Several variables such as the core speed, the oil pressure and quantity, the fan speed, etc. are measured, together with environmental variables such as the outside temperature, altitude, aircraft speed, etc. In this paper, we describe the design of a procedure aiming at visualizing successive data measured on aircraft engines. The data are multi-dimensional measurements on the engines, which are projected on a self-organizing map in order to allow us to follow the trajectories of these data over time. The trajectories consist in a succession of points on the map, each of them corresponding to the two-dimensional projection of the multi-dimensional vector of engine measurements. Analyzing the trajectories aims at visualizing any deviation from a normal behavior, making it possible to anticipate an operation failure.Comment: Communication pr\'esent\'ee au 7th International Workshop WSOM 09, St Augustine, Floride, USA, June 200

Radio Emission from the Exoplanetary System ε Eridani

As part of a wider search for radio emission from nearby systems known or suspected to contain extrasolar planets, ε Eridani was observed by the Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in the 2–4 GHz and 4–8 GHz frequency bands. In addition, as part of a separate survey of thermal emission from solar-like stars, ε Eri was observed in the 8–12 GHz and the 12–18 GHz bands of the VLA. Quasi-steady continuum radio emission from ε Eri was detected in the three high-frequency bands at levels ranging from 67 to 83 μJy. No significant variability is seen in the quasi-steady emission. The emission in the 2–4 GHz emission, however, is shown to be the result of a circularly polarized (up to 50%) radio pulse or flare of a few minutes in duration that occurred at the beginning of the observation. We consider the astrometric position of the radio source in each frequency band relative to the expected position of the K2V star and the purported planet. The quasi-steady radio emission at frequencies ≥8 GHz is consistent with a stellar origin. The quality of the 4–8 GHz astrometry provides no meaningful constraint on the origin of the emission. The location of the 2–4 GHz radio pulse is >2.5σ from the star; however, based on the ephemeris of Benedict et al., it is not consistent with the expected location of the planet either. If the radio pulse has a planetary origin, then either the planetary ephemeris is incorrect or the emission originates from another planet

Map Collection - Accession 1535

The Map Collection consists of various maps from around the world and contains original maps and reproductions of historical maps. This collection focuses on maps from the Southern United States and South Carolina and North Carolina in particular, but also contain maps featuring Africa, Alabama, Arkansas, Asia, Central America, Europe, Florida, Georgia, Global, Holy Land, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North America, South America, Tennessee, United States, Virginia, and World War II as well.https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/manuscriptcollection_findingaids/2577/thumbnail.jp

Working With Administration: Getting and Keeping Support for Professional Development Programs

Outline Positioning Your Office: The Real Organization Chart Seven Competencies Required of Faculty Developers Seven Competencies Required of Administrator

'Little Story Books' and 'Small Pamphlets' in Edinburgh, 1680-1760:the Making of the Scottish Chapbook

This article considers the development of the ‘chapbook’ in Scotland between 1680 and 1760. Chapbook is here defined as a publication using a single sheet of paper, printed on both sides, and folded into octavo size or smaller. The discussion focuses on production in Edinburgh which at this time was the centre of the Scottish book trade. While very few works were produced in these small formats in the city before the last quarter of the seventeenth century, the three generations thereafter witnessed their emergence as an important part of the market. This chapbook literature included ‘penny godlies’ and ‘story books’, poems and songs, which had long been staples of the London trade. Indeed, much output north of the border comprised titles pirated from the south. It is suggested, however, that an independent repertoire of distinctively Scottish material also began to flourish during this period which paved the way for the heyday of the nation's chapbook in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The Edinburgh trade is shown to be much more extensive than has been appreciated hitherto. Discovery of the testament of Robert Drummond, the Edinburgh printer who died in 1752, reveals that he produced many such works that are no longer extant. It demonstrates not only that a number of classic English chapbooks were being reprinted in Scotland much earlier than otherwise known, but also that an indigenous Scottish output was well established before the reign of George III

Dynamic scaling for 2D superconductors, Josephson junction arrays and superfluids

The value of the dynamic critical exponent $z$ is studied for two-dimensional superconducting, superfluid, and Josephson Junction array systems in zero magnetic field via the Fisher-Fisher-Huse dynamic scaling. We find $z\simeq5.6\pm0.3$, a relatively large value indicative of non-diffusive dynamics. Universality of the scaling function is tested and confirmed for the thinnest samples. We discuss the validity of the dynamic scaling analysis as well as the previous studies of the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Berezinskii transition in these systems, the results of which seem to be consistent with simple diffusion ($z=2$). Further studies are discussed and encouraged.Comment: 19 pages in two-column RevTex, 8 embedded EPS figure

Understanding Copepod Life-history and Diversity Using a Next-generation Zooplankton Model

Evolution has shaped the physiology, life history, and behavior of a species to the physical conditions and to the communities of predators and prey within its range. Within a community, the number of species is determined by both physical properties such as temperature and biological properties like the magnitude and timing of primary productivity, and ecological interactions such as predation. Despite well-known correlations between diversity and properties such as temperature, the mechanisms that drive these correlations are not well-described, especially in the oceans. The investigators will conduct a model-based investigation of diversity patterns in marine ecosystems, focusing on calanoid copepods. Diversity changes on both sides of the Atlantic suggest three main hypotheses, relating copepod diversity to environmental stability, productivity, and size-based predation. To test these, the investigators will develop a novel model of copepod population dynamics. The model treats developmental stage and mass as continua, leading to a single partial differential equation for abundance as a function of stage and mass. This approach facilitates the use of algorithms from computational fluid mechanics to resolve numerical dispersion problems that characterize many copepod abundance models. This new modeling framework will be tested by building a model for the species Calanus finmarchicus and Pseudocalanus newmani to compare the results of the model with prior observations and models for two contrasting ecosystems, the Gulf of Maine and Gulf of St. Lawrence. The model formalizes trade-offs between temperature-dependent development, mass-dependent and temperature-dependent growth, and mass-dependent mortality. A series of 1-D simulations will be conducted, encompassing a range of environmental conditions. Each simulation will be initialized with many distinct species, where a species is described by a set of parameters specifying key physiological and life history parameters. These will be coupled to a nutrient-phytoplankton-microzooplankton model and integrated for many years. This procedure will produce a community of copepods adapted to conditions in each simulated environment. By studying how the modeled copepod communities respond to changes in physical conditions, productivity, and predation, mechanisms accounting for copepod diversity patterns will be tested.The project will lead to improved models for important copepod species that can be incorporated into ongoing and future ecosystem forecasts. The information on copepod biogeographic limits developed by this study could support estimates of copepod distributions under climate change. The model will be designed to work in a basin-scale model. By allowing adaption to physical and biological conditions, the emergent copepod communities should provide more realistic estimates of the impact of climate change. The project will support the professional development of one graduate student and one postdoctoral associate. It will also engage one undergraduate summer intern each year. Concepts related to this project will be communicated to the wider public on a blog at SeascapeModeling.org