Submitted by bjtravis on Tue, 02/21/2012 - 9:52am.
Mar 2 2012 - 4:00pm
Speaker:
Gino Fallone
Location:
SB 144
The physics and design of the world’s first operational linac-MR system is presented. SignifIcant mutual interference issues are resolved to deliver real-time guidance by exquisite MR imaging for radiation therapy. The potential is great for significant improvement in clinical outcome using this technique.
Submitted by bjtravis on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 8:29am.
Feb 28 2012 - 4:00pm
Feb 28 2012 - 5:30pm
Speaker:
Dr. Michael Williams, University of Calgary
Location:
ENA 201
While Turing is best known for his abstract concept of a "Turing Machine," he did design (but not build) several other machines - particularly ones involved with code breaking and early computers. While Turing was a fine mathematician, he could not be trusted to actually try and construct the machines he designed - he would almost always break some delicate piece of equipment if he tried to do anything practical.
The early code-breaking machines (known as "bombes" - the Polish word for bomb, because of their loud ticking noise) were not designed by Turing but he had a hand in several later machines known as "Robinsons" and eventually the Colossus machines.
After the War he worked on an electronic computer design for the National Physical Laboratory - an innovative design unlike the other computing machines being considered at the time. He left the NPL before the machine was operational but made other contributions to early computers such as those being constructed at Manchester University.
This talk will describe some of his ideas behind these machines.
Submitted by lesholme on Tue, 02/07/2012 - 11:21am.
Astronauts on the Internatioal Space Station are planning to take the images from orbit over the next six weeks in co-ordination with the AuroraMAX online observatory in Yellowknife, N.W.T.
Submitted by bjtravis on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 9:37am.
Feb 10 2012 - 4:00pm
Feb 10 2012 - 5:00pm
Speaker:
Jean-Pierre St-Maurice, University of Saskatchewan
Location:
SB 144
Radars are an important part of the array of tools currently in use to probe the ionosphere and through it, the plasma physical processes associated among other things with dynamos triggered by high altitude winds and by the solar wind interaction with the earth. The two types of radars that we use are the so-called "incoherent" and "coherent" scatter radars. I will show that while the two types of radars rely on identical scattering processes, they use very different power levels to examine the medium. The power level is so high in incoherent scatter radars that they are able to scrutinize low amplitude plasma waves that are in thermodynamic equilibrium with the medium. By contrast, coherent scatter radars depend on the presence of large amplitude plasma irregularities for their echoes. The power level requirements can be so low in the latter case that coherent radars are relatively inexpensive to build and operate, which has allowed researchers to build large networks of such radars over time. In this talk I will illustrate how the use of these powerful radar tools has evolved and how it keeps evolving partly through technological improvements and partly through an improved understanding of the scattering processes achieved through coupled theoretical and data studies. I will illustrate this progress with several examples from recent studies which will also make manifest the usefulness of using a large complement of tools, including simultaneous data from both types of radars and data from optical cameras, magnetometers and satellite instrumentation, just to name a few.
