Virtually homosexual: Technoromanticism,demarginalisation and identity formation among homosexual males

‘Coming out’ is a key stage in the identity formation process for the homosexual male when the individual discloses his homosexual status to himself and others. Although previous research has indicated that homosexual men often use the Internet and computer-mediated communication (CMC) during the identity formation process to discover and develop their sexual and self-identities, studies to date have focused on their use of text-based CMC with scant attention paid to experiences within virtual worlds. This study explored whether homosexual males use virtual worlds in the sexual identity formation process and, specifically, the applicability of technoromanticism within this context. Qualitative retrospective biographical interviews were undertaken with 12 self-selected individuals who had engaged with virtual worlds before or during their sexual identity development. The CASE model (Community, Anonymity, Sexual experimentation, and Escape) was developed to characterise the key themes emerging from the data and illustrate the enactment of technoromanticism by homosexual males within virtual worlds. It is concluded that technoromanticism in virtual worlds can only have a profound impact on individuals if the individual’s personal development online is transferred offline as there is a potential to become toxically immersed and thus stall or halt the identity development process altogether.     

Fault detection in continuous processes using multivariate statistical methods

The approach to process monitoring known as multivariate statistical process control (MSPC) has developed as a distinct technology, closely related to the field of fault detection and isolation. A body of technical research and industrial applications indicate a unique applicability to complex large-scale processes, but has paid relatively little attention to generic live process issues. In this paper, the impact of various classes of generic abnormality in the operation of continuous process plants on MSPC monitoring is investigated. It is shown how the effectiveness of the MSPC approach may be understood in terms of model and signal-based fault detection methods, and how the multivariate tools may be configured to maximize their effectiveness. A brief review of MSPC for the process industries is also presented, indicating the current state of the art.     

Variations in microbial populations in soils with different methane uptake rates

The rate of methane oxidation has been measured from under a variety of land uses and management practices on Rothamsted Experimental Station. All these sites have their management histories well documented, in many cases over centuries, and experience the same atmospheric inputs. We have found consistent patterns in methane oxidation rates associated with land use, where the rate of methane oxidation in unfertilized arable soil (c. 30 μg CH₄ m^-2 d^-1) is only 15 % that in undisturbed grassland and woodland soils (c. 200 μg CH₄ m^-2 d^-1). Investigation of the mechanisms regulating these differences have shown that they are microbially mediated. The microbial basis for differences in methane uptake rates are unclear, but probably involve three groups of microorganism, methanogens, methanotrophs and ammonia oxidisers. Using traditional enumeration techniques we show that soils under grassland and woodland have similar numbers of bacteria and also similar numbers of putative methane oxidisers (organisms of unknown identity, that can oxidise methane), but that an unfertilized arable soil has significant lower total bacterial numbers and also putative methane oxidisers. This study is extended to compare the capacities of the soils under the different land uses to metabolise multi-carbon compounds in addition to methane. Using a modification of the Biolog<reg> technique we demonstrate that the microbial populations in the soil under the woodland and grassland can metabolise a greater range of carbon compounds compared to the arable soil, as well as having higher methane oxidising capabilities. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

BlackHorse: creating smart test cases from brittle recorded tests

Testing software that has a GUI is difficult. Manual testing is costly and error-prone, but recorded test cases frequently “break” due to changes in the GUI. Test cases intended to test business logic must therefore be converted to a less “brittle” form to lengthen their useful lifespan. In this paper, we describe BlackHorse, an approach to doing this that converts a recorded test case to Java code that bypasses the GUI. The approach was implemented within the testing environment of Research In Motion. We describe the design of the toolset and discuss lessons learned during the course of the project.     

Fertilization defects in sperm from mice lacking fertilin beta

Fertilin, a member of the ADAM family, is found on the plasma membrane of mammalian sperm. Sperm from mice lacking fertilin beta were shown to be deficient in sperm-egg membrane adhesion, sperm-egg fusion, migration from the uterus into the oviduct, and binding to the egg zona pellucida. Egg activation was unaffected. The results are consistent with a direct role of fertilin in sperm-egg plasma membrane interaction. Fertilin could also have a direct role in sperm-zona binding or oviduct migration; alternatively, the effects on these functions could result from the absence of fertilin activity during spermatogenesis.     

Origin and Control of the Dominant Impurities in High-Purity Germanium

Techniques have been developed to consistently purify germanium to the 1010 atoms/cm3 range. The major impurities are the acceptors boron and aluminum and the donor phosphorous. Formation of nonsegregating compounds of boron and aluminum make these elements difficult to remove by conventional zone refining whereas phosphorous and all other electrically-active impurities segregate normally and are therefore removed in the zone refining process. The only significant impurity introduced in our Czochralski crystal puller is phosphorous whose source has been traced to the quartz crucible. To reliably reduce impurity concentrations to acceptable levels it has been necessary to develop techniques for determining the types and concentrations of impurities in both the final single crystals and in the polycrystalline zone-refined ingots and to relate these results to the use of various boat and crucible materials. Photothermal Ionization Spectroscopy and electrical measurements have been used to identify and measure the impurities.