Intercomparison of scanning probe microscopes

Comparison measurements on reference standards are reported in which 13 partners with different instruments took part. A set of prototype standards which had been produced and calibrated within a European project were used for the measurements. Here, results of measurements on a 240 nm step height standard and a two-dimensional lateral standard with a nominal pitch of 1 μm are reported.     

Remix Literacy and Fan Compositions

Although remixing has lately received increased scholarly attention in the rhetoric and composition community, studies commonly focus on examples of remixed objects rather than the compositional strategies used by remix composers themselves. In this study, I recount the voices of individuals who participate in online communities where videos, music, and texts from popular culture are remixed by fans: Lost Video Island, OverClocked ReMix, and Remix Redux. The aims and abilities these composers described to me constitute a developing area of digital literacy that I call remix literacy, a term that draws attention to the skills needed to create remixes that are deemed effective by communities. I find that the skills of a remix literate composer are fundamentally rhetorical, making this area of study important both for literacy scholars interested in understanding the self-sponsored activities of creative composers online and for composition instructors concerned with adapting their pedagogies to the skills I have found are needed for effective communication in fan communities.     

Alternative Polarisation Geometries in Tests of Bell Inequalities

Abstract

The unitary transformation induced by an optical element on polarisation vectors corresponds to a rotation of the associated vectors in polarisation space on the Poincaré sphere. The degree of violation of a Bell inequality, which is of central interest in discriminating between hidden variable and quantum theories, involves only scalar products in polarisation space, and so is invariant under joint transformation of the relevant polarisation vectors. Conventionally, the plane of polarisation of any analyser is switched by an angle ψ of, say, π/8. The same violation is predicted if, instead, the analyser switching is performed by adding a relative phase of 2ψ through field-dependent birefringence. As with recent optical demonstrations of the Berry phase, the doubling of the angle indicates the simplicity of a unified analysis of both types of switching in polarisation space.     

Design and initial operation of a 367-m2 rectangular ring laser

The design and operation of a proof-of-principle rectangular He-Ne ring laser resonator with a cavity perimeter of 77.0 m and an area of approximately 367 m2 are described. With unevacuated beam lines this device gave an Earth-induced Sagnac frequency of 1513 Hz, with a relative Allan deviation over 1000 s down to 3 parts per million. The Earth's rotation provided a bias that eliminated the lock-in susceptibility. The use of increased pressure in the plasma tube facilitated single-mode operation by increasing the homogeneous pressure-broadened linewidth.     

Linking learning goals and educational resources through interactive concept map visualizations

Concept browsing interfaces can help educators and learners to locate and use learning resources that are aligned with recognized learning goals. The Strand Map Service enables users to navigate interactive visualizations of related learning goals and to request digital library resources aligned with learning goals. These interfaces are created using a programmatic Web service interface that dynamically generates interactive visual components. Preliminary findings suggest that these library interfaces appear to help users stay focused on the scientific content of their information discovery task, as opposed to focusing on the mechanics of searching.     

Design and operation of a very large ring laser gyroscope

The design and initial operation of a vertical square He-Ne ring laser G0 with a perimeter of 14 m is discussed. This builds on earlier demonstrations of the feasibility of large ring lasers (perimeter approximately 4 m) for single-mode gyroscope operation and with lesser pulling than navigation gyroscopes. With servoing of the rf excitation to yield single-mode operation, G0 gave a quality factor 1 x 10(12) and a Sagnac line with a frequency of 287.8 +/- 1.0 Hz induced by Earth rotation Omega(E). This has confirmed some vital questions over the feasibility of very large gyroscopes for geodetic measurements at the level of 10(-9) Omega(E).     

Survey of non-APA-accredited internships and their interns.

We obtained information about the characteristics of internship programs not accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) and of their interns. Surveys were completed by directors of 74% of the programs and 51% of the interns in these programs. The most prominent reason why these programs did not seek accreditation was financial, though several of these programs had been in existence for several years, and 65% of them indicated that they would eventually seek accreditation. More than half of the interns in these programs were from APA-accredited graduate programs; their choice of internship was closely related to the location of the site. Interns did rate APA accreditation as important in ideal site selection, although four factors were rated even more important. Over 350 interns train in nonaccredited programs, which suggests their importance in the development of professional psychologists. Efforts being made by the Association of Psychology Internship Centers (APIC) to apply minimum criteria to these programs seem well warranted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internship directors' valuation of preinternship preparation in test-based assessment and psychotherapy.

What preparation in the major categories of psychological testing and psychotherapy do internship directors value? This study attempted to answer that question by having internship directors rate the importance of student preparation in the major categories of psychological testing and psychotherapy prior to internship. Results indicated that internship directors place varying levels of importance on preinternship preparation with the 5 categories of testing and 8 categories of psychotherapy under study. These findings have implications for student recruitment and practice during internship and, perhaps, for early clinical careers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of altitude on heavy-duty diesel truck on-road emissions

On-road measurements of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitric oxide from 5772 heavy-duty diesel trucks at five locations in the United States and Europe show slightly increasing emissions with increasing altitude. The result for nitric oxide showed a statistically significant increase of 4.1 +/- 1 gNO/kg of fuel consumed/km increase in altitude. The increases for CO and HC were also statistically significant.