text:
PBL References

← Go back to ID Page

Books
1. Bloom, B.S., Engelhart, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. H., & Krathwohl, D. R.(1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: the classification of educational goals; Handbook I: Cognitive Domain New York, Longmans, Green, 1956. 2. Johnson, D., Johnson, R.& Holubec, E. (1998). Cooperation in the classroom. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Journals
1. Chin, C. and Chia, L.G. (2006) Problem-Based Learning: Using Ill-Structured Problems in Biology Project Work. Science Education, 90, 44-67.

Websites
1. Lady Caitriona & looney_tunes.(2012). Quizzes - Architecture.Retrieved April,20,2012, from source Website: http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/humanities/architecture.html 2. Wikipedia.(2012). Ultraviolet-Subtypes.Retrieved April,20,2012, from source Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet#Subtypes 3. Wilder, P.(2012). Assessing Student Interests and Strengths. Retrieved April,18,2012, from source Website: http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/assessing-student-interests-strengths-30100.html?main-tab=1#main-tabs

Video Clips
1. BIEPBL. (2010, December 9). Project Based Learning: Explained. Retried April, 18, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMCZvGesRz8 2. DragonflyNoir10. (2009, December 9). Mona Lisa Smile Part 1/12. Retrieved April, 18, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w9QYDmV3MU 3. Facdent1981. (2011, September 30). Introduction to Problem-Based Learning at the HKU Faculty of Dentistry. Retried April, 18, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnAq0oX8zWs 4. Making Learning Real (2010, October, 26). Student Insights. Retrieved April, 18, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWkAVSRkDgo 5. Making Learning Real (2010, October, 26). Problem-Based Case Learning Why it Works. Retrieved April, 18, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT8_YEtSFQQ 6. 1234rockford (2011, August, 17). Geometry Meets Architecture - Applying Math in a Real World Project. Retrieved April, 19, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbeQpSkQUnw

title: PBL References


text: File:Risk planning worksheet.pdf

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: File:Risk planning worksheet.pdf


text:
Helicopter/Howard Community College/Spring2012/p3502JASS

Problem Statement
Build a helicopter to maneuver autonomously. To this end, create an aircraft structure, control multiple ESC's, balance the structure via a gimbal mechanism, design for a payload and power supply, and develop flight control software.

Team Members

 * Jromanch0088
 * Spark93
 * Shatton8111
 * Amirrezasaharkhiz

Summary
We're building an autonomous quadcopter. The quadcopter will be a kind of helicopter that is balanced by four equally powered motors. By giving it software to control its movements and act independently, we hope to give it "a mind of its own."

Story
During this project, we worked on different subcomponents as well as smaller projects that help with understanding the principles at work. Amir worked on designing and constructing a gimbal. Jromanch0088 worked on setting up and understanding the use of Bluetooth with the Arduino. Spark93 looked through previous teams' documentation of existing quadcopters in order to understand their mechanisms. Shatton8111 tried to balance the seesaw using PID controllers and an IMU.

Decision List
None

Material List
We used the following materials during the course of our project. For materials for which examples could not be found, facsimiles have been substituted.

In order to continue this project and progress to further goals, the following kind of materials are recommended. The specific items are just examples.

Software List

 * Arduino Software Development Kit
 * Processing Software Development Kit
 * WaveForms

Time
31.10 Hours

Tutorials
None

Next Steps
The next steps involve finishing balancing the seesaw with PID controllers; getting all four motors hooked up to a single arduino; constructing the actual frame with motors, batteries, ESCs, and the Arduino; and then testing the functional quadcopter.


text:
Practice of Cognitive Apprenticeship

Do you have a basic knowledge of cognitive apprenticeship now? Try the exercises below to check your understanding.

Exercises
Which of the following presents a feature of cognitive apprenticeship? (Check all that apply) + Learners are able to "see" the cognitive process of an expert. - Cognitive apprenticeship is a model of instruction that addresses learning in all the domains (cognitive, psychomotor, affective, & interpersonal). + Typical teaching methods include exploration, reflection, articulation, scaffolding, coaching, and modeling. - Learning activities or contents should go from details to the overarching conceptual model, so that students build up their knowledge from a solid foundation.
 * type="[]"}
 * Cognitive apprenticeship adapts the traditional apprenticeship to the teaching and learning of cognitive skills.
 * Cognitive apprenticeship framework advocates the learning sequence to allow students build a conceptual map before attending to the details.

{In which of the following instructional situation, cognitive apprenticeship approach is NOT effective? - Pre-service teachers learn to integrate motivation strategies into their design of instruction. - Elementary students learn to solve math problems. - Graduate students learn the inquiry methods and the process of doing research. + GRE test-takers memorize vocabulary.
 * type=""}
 * Cognitive apprenticeship is not an appropriate model of instruction for rote tasks.

{In reciprocal teaching of reading, the teacher helps students when they have questions, clarify students' difficulties, generate summaries, and make predictions. This represents the teaching method of - Modeling + Coaching - Scaffolding - Articulation
 * type=""}
 * Coaching provides students with much more help than any other methods. It includes offering hints, scaffolding, providing feedback, modeling, reminding, and many other things to bring students' performance closer to expert performance.

{The articulation method - encourages learner autonomy, not only in carrying out expert problem-solving processes but also in defining or formulating the problems to be solved. + helps students both to focus their observations of expert problem solving and to gain conscious access to (and control of) their own problem-solving strategies. - helps students acquire an integrated set of skills through observation and guided practice. - All the above.
 * type=""}
 * Articulation aims at helping students both to focus their observations of expert problem solving and to gain conscious access to (and control of) their own problem-solving strategies. See its definition on page Brief Introduction to Cognitive Apprenticeship.

{A student developed an overview and set of expectations and questions about a text before reading line by line. It is an example of control strategies. - TRUE. + FALSE.
 * type=""}
 * It is an example of heuristic strategies.

{According to Collins et al.'s cognitive apprenticeship framework, it is appropriate to sequence the learning contents of sketching as follows: - TRUE. + FALSE.
 * 1) Learning to analyze and copy other's drawing
 * 2) Learning to draw lines in different styles
 * 3) Learning to use shadow
 * 4) Learning to draw simple shapes
 * 5) Learning to structure objects in a drawing
 * 6) Learning to portray a plaster model
 * 7) Learning to portray still objects
 * 8) Learning to portray a human model
 * type=""}
 * According to the sequencing principles of cognitive apprenticeship, a better sequence of learning to sketch is 2(lines) - 3(shadow) - 4(simple shapes) - 5(structure) - 1(copy) - 7(still objects) - 6(plaster model) - 8(human model). This sequence follows the principle of increasing complexity.

{The cognitive apprenticeship approach creates a learning environment in which the participants actively communicate about and engage in the skills involved in expertise. + TRUE. - FALSE.
 * type=""}
 * See the description of "community of practice" on page Brief Introduction to Cognitive Apprenticeship.

Are you ready to use it?

Discussion
Please think of a real-life context in which you may apply the cognitive apprenticeship approach, and describe it briefly. (Click "edit" for this section, and add your answer below. )

Click Articulation below to take a close look at the articulation method:

title: Practice of Cognitive Apprenticeship


text:
Goal Setting Process

← Go back to ID Page

What is goal setting?
Goal setting is simply an activity to establish specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-targeted objectives.

Why is goal setting important in learning?
First of all, goals and setting goals for learning has been noted as one of the central construct for learner motivation Setting goals can increase learner's cognitive and affective reactions to performance outcomes because goals specify the requirements for success. By setting goals, learners can also promote their monitoring and evaluating process for their performance or learning process in general. In sum, setting goals for learning has potential to increase learner motivation as well as their overall learning performance.

What are the types of goals?
In this lesson, we will focus on tasks goals and process goals.

You can see that process goals are the steps that you need to accomplish the task goals and they are mostly related to the strategies or resources to implement. Now you get an idea of what tasks and process goals are.

Tips for goal setting
There are some general tips for effective goal setting practice. It is called SMART. Goals need to be:

S: Specific, Goals need to be clear and specific about what is expected, why it is important, who needs to be involved and so on M: Measurable, Goals need to include criteria to measure its progress toward success A: Attainable, Goals need to be realistic and attainable R: Relevant, Goals need to be relevant. Is it necessary for you? At this moment? Are you the right person? T: Time-bound, Goals need to be time-bound so that you can work on accomplishing them within the time frame. This helps your commitment

Now let's look at the examples of goals again from the section above.

The task goal: Write an essay about the economic advantages of the World War II

The process goal: Conduct research on economic advantages of WWII both offline and online / Create an outline for the essay on MS Word and so on

Mini practice activity
Based on the tips for effective goal setting, above goals are not enough to meet those five criteria. Now for next one or two minutes, I want you to revise each goal to address the SMART criteria. Make sure you sign after your answer.

(In order to write your own answer, please click the "edit" link and go into the editing mode. When you are in the editing mode, you can type your answers in where now "Type your answer here" is. At the end of your answer, do not forget to add four tildes (~), which will create your signature for you. Once you type in your answer, do not forget to click "Save page" button underneath the editing box)

- Write an essay with minimum 500 words less than 5 pages about the economic advantages of the World War II in the U.S. by May 4th. Yeolhuh (talk) 01:00, 20 April 2012 (UTC) Type your answer here Type your answer here Type your answer here Type your answer here Type your answer here
 * [Revise] Write an essay about the economic advantages of the World War II
 * [Revise] Conduct research on economic advantages of WWII both offline and online

Type your answer here Type your answer here Type your answer here
 * [Revise] Create an outline for the essay on MS Word

Once you type your answers in the sections above, click this link to see the experts' exemplary answers.

title: Goal Setting Process


text: Template:ESL Lesson

title: Template:ESL Lesson


text: Category:Lessons in English as a Second Language


text: Academia

title: Academia


text:
User:Lammiaty

Welcome to my userpage.

ar:مستخدم:Lammiaty cs:Uživatel:Lammiaty de:Benutzer:Lammiaty el:Χρήστης:Lammiaty es:Usuario:Lammiaty fi:Käyttäjä:Lammiaty fr:Utilisateur:Lammiaty it:Utente:Lammiaty ja:利用者:Lammiaty pt:Utilizador:Lammiaty ru:Участник:Lammiaty sl:Uporabnik:Lammiaty sv:Användare:Lammiaty

title: User:Lammiaty


text:
Social psychology (psychology)/Tutorials/Cross-cultural training/Cultural identity

Cultural identity
Purpose: This exercise is designed to help individuals identify cultural influences on their personal identity.

 * What is cultural identity?
 * Ask individuals to draw a concept map of their cultural identity e.g.,
 * indicate group memberships,
 * use size/colour to highlight the overlay between one's cultural groupings/shadings.
 * Cultural groupings may fall along ethnic/racial lines, but also encourage students to consider other cultures/sub-cultures which they may identify with, e.g.,
 * youth culture vs. older people's culture
 * online vs. offline culture
 * rural vs. city
 * skateboarding culture
 * church culture, etc.
 * Allow 5 to 10 minutes for individual concept mapping
 * In small groups (3 to 4), allow 10 to 15 minutes for participants to share, explain, and possibly modify their maps by sharing them with one another.
 * Optional: Ask students to consider what "saliency" is and how it influences cultural identity.
 * This should hopefully lead to discussion about fluidity/dynamic nature of cultural identity, i.e., that it changes with situational and cognitive circumstance.
 * Note: Relates to Blog 1 Social Self


text: Category:Social psychology (psychology)/Tutorials/Cross-cultural training


text:
Social psychology (psychology)/Tutorials/Cross-cultural training/Cultural map development

Cultural map development by students

 * 1) Ask students (in pairs) to prepare a cultural map for a skill in a culture with which they are familiar but with which others may be unfamiliar (Assume an audience who isn't familiar with the cultural scenario). (~20 minutes)
 * 2) Create a map on an overhead for projection or whiteboard or butcher's paper (~10 minutes)
 * 3) Develop a 2-3 minute role-play which explicitly and clearly demonstrates cultural competence in achieving a task in a novel cultural setting. (~10 minutes)


text:
Social psychology (psychology)/Tutorials/Cross-cultural training/Cultural map role-plays

Cultural map role-plays
Each pair (~10 minutes each):
 * Presents cultural map
 * Role-plays effective behaviour
 * Allow audience to ask questions and to offer feedback, e.g.,
 * Where the ABCD phases evident?
 * Was it easy to understand?


text:
User:Bobby18292

I have created this Wikiversity account as requested. Let me introduce myself. I am Preeti Srisawas ID:5380507, a student of MUIC university. I am now 19 years old. I live in Saphan Kwaii district, Bangkok. My hobbies are playing football, listening to music, reading car magazines, driving and playing computer games. I have been using computer since when I was about 10 years old. Therefore, I have a lot experience about computers. I have chosen Computer Essential class, because I would like to learning more about computer stuff that I do not know. My teacher of Computer Essential class is Mr. Brian J. Phillips. He is a good and very funny teacher.

title: User:Bobby18292


text: File:Cordic acc.20120418.pdf

title: File:Cordic acc.20120418.pdf


text:
Talk:Engineering Projects/Bridges/Howard Community College/spring2012/p2501msn

project grading 100


text:
Talk:Engineering Projects/Rube Goldberg/Howard Community College/Spring2012/p1501-ZEL

10 points project grading ... decision matrix is trivial

100 points p2 regrade .. need new team page for p3 1sfoerster (talk) 12:55, 8 May 2012 (UTC)


text:
Talk:Engineering Projects/Bridges/Howard Community College/spring2012/p2501jds

project 2 grading 100 points plus decision matrix .. 100 points 1sfoerster (talk) 13:52, 18 April 2012 (UTC)


text:
Talk:Engineering Projects/Car Hack/Howard Community College/Spring2012/p1501kmd 2

100 points project grading ... not aware you actually used the software referred to ...


text: File:Decisions Photo.JPG

title: File:Decisions Photo.JPG


text:
Talk:Engineering Projects/Robot end effector/Howard Community College/Spring2012/p1501mjj2

100 points plus 100 for decision matrix


text:
Talk:Wind Turbine/Howard Community College/Spring2012/p1501KP

90 points .. no poster 100 points


text:
Talk:Engineering Projects/Coanda/Howard Community College/Spring2012/p501acm2.0

0 points 1sfoerster (talk) 14:25, 18 April 2012 (UTC) 100 points regrade 1sfoerster (talk) 20:38, 30 April 2012 (UTC)


text:
Talk:Helicopter/Howard Community College/Spring2012/p2502JASS

project grading 100 great job


text:
User talk:Jromanch0088/enes100/My Work Project

week 4 grading
 * 0/10/0 .. good report, but nothing that pushes the project forward ... in verbal discussions I know you did a lot, but to get points need details ... code changes ... video of the effects ... as you have done in the past

Hey, I'm glad you were able to figure out the power supply issue. That was really annoying. Shatton8111 (talk) 16:56, 23 April 2012 (UTC)


text:
Talk:Engineering Projects/FanWing/Howard Community College/Spring 2012/689 Aeroxperts

100 project 2 grading ... good job


text:
User:Mbaig5753/enes100/My Work P3

Airplane Float

Write problem/project Goal
What is your wording of the overall problem/project goal?
 * To design and create and airplane float that floats the longest.

My First Task
What are you going to do for the team this first weekend?
 * Design and start creation of my airplane float.

Summary of actual work over first weekend
What I did over this weekend was go and buy materials to build an airplane out of basel wood, and I built an airplane. Due to weather conditions this airplane has not had proper flight yet weather bearing it will.

Week1 Narrative
I and my group member Erika went to Michael's and we bought supplies for the airplane which consisted of:
 * 2 Sheets of .3175 cm thick and 1 meter long Balsa wood.

 * Elmer's Wood Glue
 * X-Acto Knife (Pictured below)

 * Once the materials were bought I researched online designs that would be easy and efficient to make using Balsa wood. I found this design online Link. I decided to make this one because it was similar to what I had in mind. The first thing I did was make a thin frame for the airplane I did this by drawing a very narrow rectangle with a red-pencil and then cutting it with the X-ACTO knife. I then made lines for the main wing of the airplane

with a red pencil on the wood so I can trace the X-ACTO knife over for a clean cut. As you can see from the photo below I made a symmetrical rectangle for the wing of the airplane.

Then I drew in lines for a tail and made that also. Which is also pictured below, I made a small cut which is at an incline on the frame so the tail doesn't rest squarely on the frame and instead is on a 30 degree angle.

A technique I used for better stability is that i made small cuts into the fram with the X-ACTO so the wing and tail can rest on the frame instead of being glued to the sides.This entire procedure took about an hour or so. I finished the design of the airplane I just need to add a propeller and a rubberband to provide the airplane with energy via work of the propeller spinning. Here is a look at the finished airplane

 * Some takeaways from this week is that I need to pratice on my cutting skills with the X-ACTO knife, also make better indentions in the wood so the parts can have the most support from the frame.

My Second Task
I plan on having this airplane flying and also improving the design for maximal flight.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
I built another airplane over this weekend because the one I made last week broke when it was tested.

Week2 Narrative
Since the airplane i made last weekend broke I looked at what I did wrong. I realized that the center of gravity on the airplane was closer to the tail then it was to the wing. When I launched the airplane I noticed that te airplane did a 180 and took a nose - dive to the ground. The airplane broke into two pieces. Here is a pic of the aftermath

When I took the initiative to build the second airplane I decided on building an airplane that was sturdier then my last attempt. I looked up a design online and found this one. Link. What I noticed was that this design used the least amount of glue, and used the frame of the airplane as a base that the wing and tail are inserted in. This provides added support. Here is a photo of the design I made with the dimensions.
 * Airplane float design.png

Here is what differentiates this from my previous design The design is basically a frame with a slit in the middle where the wing goes through, then there is another slit at the end of the frame where the end of the tail squeezes in. Then the top of the tail is glued on to the frame at an angle. Notice that only the last part of the tail is on an angle.
 * Only one piece is glued
 * Frame is smaller
 * Has two slits in the frame
 * Sturdier
 * Wing and tail are slid through the slits
 * More stable
 * The wing isnt rectangular i cut the edges round

As you can see from the gallery there is the frame, wing, and the slit in the frame to house the wing. I slid the wing into the frame and it fit very snugly. I did something similar for the tail for the part that sits horizontally at the end of the frame i put a slit at the end of the frame and pushed the horizontal component of the tail into the frame. This also fit snug.

Lastly here is how the finished airplane looks here is a side view and top view.

My Third task
Hopefully this airplane flys well and doesnt break. I will analyze how it flies and what direction it sways too. I will also improve the design.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
This week after consulting with Mr. Foerester, we decided to give this project a different approach think outside the box. So instead of just relying on just balsa wood I decided to use styrofoam too in the assembly of my wing.

Week3 Narrative
What I did firstly was that since the pre-prepared airplane that you can buy at the hobby-store was successful I decided on building of that. Here is a video of my previous attempt at using the pre-made airplane from the hobby store.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTAAYDcb3vw&feature=youtu.be

I modified the airplane seen in the video by interchanging the wing with a Styrofoam wing instead. I did this because it would hopefully reduce weight and increase lift. Here is a picture of the wing assembly out of styrofoam as seen below.

I also had to adjust the slit in the frame of the airplane because the styrofoam wouldn't fit. I did this by using the X-Acto knife to increase the width of the slit, this allowed the styrofoam wing to fit in perfectly. Here is a picture of the completed airplane. It is half styrofoam/ half basal wood.

This airplane did have success flying it flew longer then my previous attempts here is a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPWfwJpldoA&feature=youtu.be

I tried something else which was taking something as basic as paper (EGNR. paper specifically) and adding a plastic bag to it. Basically to see if it would create lift and "float"

Here is a video of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJHpWAnLE4s&feature=youtu.be

I also tried different size wings. One of them one rectangular the other was spherical and the other was square. What i noticed was that the rectangular wing bent at at a 30 degree angle from the middle worked the best. So using the styrofoam as a part of he airplane was definitely helpful. Compared to my teammates airplanes having a combination of styrofoam and balsa wood is the best.

My Fourth task
Going to use parachute like material and create and airplane out of that. Also experiment with material that floats the longest and use this on an airplane but not limit myself necessarily to an airplane in terms of design. Will look at other things too such as a ballon like design.

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
What I did over this weekend was I improved upon my last airplane design by enlarging the wing, I also looked into paper gliders. See my summary for details.

Week4 Narrative
I took my previous design of the airplane that was a combination of balsa/foam, and improved on that. I did so by enlarging the size of the wing in the Z-axis. This kept the center of gravity the same too which helped. Here is a pic

I changed the size of the length to 14 inches and kept the width the same (2 inches). This had success it created more lift and kept the airplane in the air longer. The next approach i took was to make an airplane made completely out of paper. Material:
 * Paper (8x11.5)
 * Scissor

Here is a tutorial to how I made it. Tutorial

I used this design because it stayed in the air the longest.

Complete Team Page
Here is our Team Page

title: User:Mbaig5753/enes100/My Work P3


text:
Talk:Engineering Projects/Rubberband gun/Howard Community College/spring2012/p1501kmd 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDfuNlNIIbA&feature=related < semi auto rubberband gun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg3SDsYhxsI&feature=related < mini gun rubber band gun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeDXVN52cHI&feature=related < step farhter gattling gun

100 points p3 grading 1sfoerster (talk) 20:47, 15 May 2012 (UTC)


text:
Engineering Projects/Music projects/Howard Community College/spring2012/p1501KP

Problem Statement
To construct a BeatBearing musical sequencer.

Team Members

 * Patrick Marsden
 * Kyle Gallun

Summary
Our group began with the Beatbearing design in mind. We continued another group's work with the Arduino and programming. Once we had the Arduino communicating with the synthesizer, we began wiring and creating the board for the Beatbearing. We designed the board on Pro Engineer and planned to use a CNC machine to create the board out of plexiglass.

Story
Week 1 - in week one we determined what kind of music project we wanted to do so we made a decision list weighing the pros and cons of each one.

Week 2 - in week two we worked on constructing the midi shield for the Arduino. after doing that we learner how to control the keyboard with the Arduino.

Week 3 - in week 3 we begun to draw a CAD model of the board and collecting materials for the circuit.

Week 4 - The CAD model on the board was finalized and construction on the circuit began. Kyle's Work Weeks 1 through 4.

Decision List
After looking at pros and cons we decided to go with the beat bearing maker.

Material List

 * 3 Ribbon Cables
 * 32 Washers 7/8 (Outer Diameter) x 3/8 (Inner Diameter)
 * MIDI Shield and assembly components
 * Arduino UNO
 * Computer (to use Ardunio software)
 * Plexiglass board 15 x 7
 * MIDI Cable
 * Synthesizer (with MIDI input and output)
 * Soldering Iron
 * 63/37 Solder
 * The masterful minds of Pat M and Kyle G

Software List

 * Arduino software to hack the synthesizer. Also used for programming and processing our incoming data from the beatbearing. The program is similar to C++.

 * Pro Engineer is a CAD modeling software that we used to create a schematic for the beatbearing board.

Time
32.34 Hours Spent

Tutorials
How to: Solder MIDI Shield Components

How to solder ribbon cable to washer

cutting washers in half

Next Steps
Complete wiring and fabrication of the board. Program Arduino to interpret data from the board (the bearings and washers creating an electrical signal). Hack synthesizer to have multiple sound settings in separate regions of the keyboard.

Current problems include not having a CNC machine to carve the plexiglass board and not having wired the circuitry together. Both of these problems have prevented the realization of the concept.


text:
User:Pjmarsden/enes100/My work Music

''This is designed for a person working on a project for 4 weeks as part of a 3 credit class. Please copy this form to your user page. Then delete everything in italics when filling out this form.''

Write problem/project Goal
What is your wording of the overall problem/project goal?

My First Task
What are you going to do for the team this first weekend?

Summary of actual work over first weekend
In this week I wanted to determine what kind of music project I wanted to do. So the beat maker seemed to be a very interesting and I begun to do research.

Week1 Narrative
After researching there is a video of the project I want to make Ball bering beat maker

Along with this video there is a tutorial on Make magazine on how to build it Here are some pictures of what the project I want to do looks like.

My Second Task
For my second week task I plan on building the plastic board to hold the bearings.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
In this week I didn't get around to building the plastic board. Most of my time was working with the Arduino and midi shield to control a midi device.

Week2 Narrative
The first task was to connect the midi shield and solder the midi plugs and pins to connect to Arduino.

Before I show the process of soldering the midi shield here is a video of how to solder.

How to solder

The first thing I did was solder the midi connectors onto the midi shield. Shown below is the process of soldering the connections.

Now that the midi connectors are soldered on I needed to add the pins that allow the shield to connect to Arduino.

After the pins were soldered I connected the Arduino and midi together.

My Third task
My third task will be to construct the ball bearing board.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
In week three I planned on making the board, but I decided it would be more beneficial to learn how to use a CAD software and draw a 3D model of the board.

Week3 Narrative
In week three I thought it would be really cool to learn how to use a CAD software. So at work I have access to a program called Pro Engineer. It took me a very long time to learn the basics of the program, but once I did it was very fun and excited to create this 3D model.

My Fourth task
For my forth weeks task I plan on using my CAD model to have a board CNC machined at my office. I figure that this will help out the next group who decides to try and make the beat maker.

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
In week 4 I planned on drawing a complete detained CAD model to have CNC machined. I completed the CAD model but would have not been able to have it machined in time.

Week4 Narrative
in the beginning of week for I drew a complete detailed CAD model of the board that we wanted to make. Below is the step by step screen shots of the drawing.

Here is a link to the code that can be used to regenerate the CAD modelBeat_bearing_CAD_code

After drawing the board I begun to work on the wiring the consisted of soldering ribbon cable onto washers that had been cut in half. I cut 32 washers in half to fit the 4x8 grid that is molded in the CAD drawing. Then the ribbon cable was cut periodically shorter as it moves down the row. After that the washer needed to have a rough surface on them to help the solder adhere to the smooth surface. While cutting the washers and soldering them to the ribbon cable I made to video tutorials of how it was done.

Here are two video tutorials I made for this process.

How to solder ribbon cable to washer

cutting washers in half

Complete Team Page
Fill out the Team Form (should have already copied the form, created the team page, linked to it and started filling it out).

title: User:Pjmarsden/enes100/My work Music


text:
User:Emspangler/enes100/My Work P3

Write problem/project Goal
To build a small airplane that can float in the air as long as possible

My First Task
I want to look into already built models so i can the best ideas and incorporate them into my own design.

Summary of actual work over first weekend
Everything I planned on doing, I did. I found a bunch of different models with different specifications for different competitions.

Week1 Narrative
Over this weekend I wanted to focus on one question, how do airplanes fly and why. I came across two principles that i wanted to consider when designing my wings. The first principle I came across was the Bernoulli Principle. The Bernoulli Principle simply states that a difference in pressure; with low pressure on top and high pressure below the wing, gives the wing lift. Another principle that I came across was Newton's Third Law that simply states for every action in nature, there is a equal and opposite reaction. This means that as the wings push down on the air, the air will push up on the wings. When i design my wings, I want to take these two principles into consideration.

When I began looking at other models, I took a couple important things that I would want to incorporate into my design, the first would be to have a plane with wide wing span and stabling winglets. This allows my plane to be stable and fly far. Another important point I took from the other models would be to have a lightweight plane with respect to the wing span. So the plane could fly slower. The last point i took from the other models was the relationship between the center of gravity and rudder placement.

I went to michael's and bought some balsa wood. I also took some gray foam material that i wanted to use for the wings. When i cut out my wings and tried to glue them to the balsa wood, the material wouldn't absorb the rubber cement that i was using. I need to find another material to use as the wings or use a different type of glue.

My Second Task
This week, I want to build an airplane or at least the wings of the plane. Once I build my first model i will be able to modify it more easily.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
This weekend I did everything I planned on doing.

Week2 Narrative

Over the weekend, i made alot of changes to my original ideas. First I made new 10 by 5 inch wings that are attached as one piece. Last week i was having trouble getting the two individual wings to attach so I was suggested to keep the wing as one piece which is what i did this weekend. I attached the wing to the balsa wood with rubber cement and let it dry for 24 hours with weight on top to insure a good seal. This weekend I also made a 2.5 inch rounded rudder for my airplane. Using the same idea from my wings, i made the horizontal piece just one piece and only had to glue the vertical piece which also dried for 24 hours.

I threw the balsa wood with just the wings attached and noticed when the wings are further back on the balsa wood, the plane nose dives. When i threw the plane with the wings more in front, the plane actually glided. Something i wanted to keep in mind was that the plane needed to be balanced. Since i don't have a propeller yet, i didn't attach my rudder to the airplane because i don't know close or far i need to attach it the wings for the plane to be balanced.

Video of plane doing a nose dive. Video of plane gliding

My Third task
This week i want to find a propeller for my plane and attach it along with my rudder. Then my plane will be ready for testing.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
How is what you did different than what you planned?

I bought a propeller for a glider kit and decided to use it in my own airplane. However when i added this extra weight to my airplane, the center of gravity was off. I encountered a lot of problems with keeping everything balanced so my plane could fly.

Week3 Narrative
Tell a detailed story describing what you did for your team over the weekend.

I decided to modify my airplane by adjusting the body. At first I had my original body on top of the glider kit one. The plane was too heavy in the front. I wanted to fit my original body into the plastic propeller, the wood I added didn't give me get a perfect fit like i had wanted. I took my wings and my rudder off my original body and put it directly on the glider kit body, so there would be a perfect fit into the plastic propeller. The plane was still unbalanced so i added drops of hot glue to the back of my plane to even the weight out. Whenever I would throw the plane, it would shoot up and do a flip. Since all the components of my plane were so close together, i felt like my rudder needed to be larger to help support the large wing, or that the wing needed to be further back. However whenever I dropped the airplane, it would glide down nicely. My problem was getting the airplane to that point where the plane would be comfortable in the air and just glide down. I remember that Zech in class had mentioned to Mirza about adding another smaller wing in front of the main large one to help the plane even out in the launch. I went back to using my original body and added the smaller front wing with a larger rudder. I was just thinking that i could hot glue my original body into the plastic rudder and then use a staple to attach the other end of the rubber band. I haven't done this yet but i will. i keep changing the body, making it longer and shorter, adding a front wing, making the rudder wider and nothing seems to be working. I'm starting to get frustrated because after all my modifications nothing seems to be working.

dropped video

My Fourth task
Record what you are planning on doing for the team during the final weekend of project work

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
I planned on just finishing up my plane and that's basically what i did this weekend.

Week4 Narrative

After using the body from the glider kit, i decided to go back to using my original body because it was longer, lighter and i could place my wings in any location. Since i couldn't get my original body to fit into the plastic propeller, i decided to hot glue it in. This was actually a really bad idea because the balance of my plane was totally off, the balsa wood body started to arch because the propeller was so heavy. I used the end of my scissor to to scrap the glue out of the propeller piece. Since i noticed the body didn't seem that strong, i decided to reinforce it with another strip of balsa wood. I decided that i would try to use the rubber cement glue to glue the body into the plastic propeller and when i started adding more balsa wood to the bottom, i realized that i must have stretched the plastic propeller when i used the scissors to ply to hot glue out. Now i could do what i had tried earlier in week three and just stuff the plastic propeller with balsa wood pieces and use no glue. I was looking at my plane and i thought it looked kind of funny that the wing was so big and the body was so long but the rudder was so little, so i decided to use the front wing that had left the plane unbalanced as a new larger rudder. I was almost done with my plane, all that was left was to attach the rubber band and then i was ready for testing.At first i only stapled half the staple in and left the other end out as a hook so i could hook the rubber band in and out but the staple was too flimsy, so i just permanently staple the rubber band the airplane. Then i was ready to test my airplane, and these were my best results at each angle.

Short video of the airplane being thrown forward at 180 degrees. Short video of the airplane being thrown straight up at 90 degrees. Short video of the airplane being thrown at 45 degrees.

From my results, i can conclude that throwing my airplane at 180 degrees will give me the most amount of air time. To improve my airplane, i would want to construct my own propeller so i could dictate the weight of it. One of my main problems during this project was the weight balance of my plane. As you can see in the video, the front of my plane is too heavy, however the material i used for my wings was light enough and large enough to keep the plane lifted. With a balanced plane, i think my plane has potential to stay lifted for a long amount of time.

Complete Team Page
Team Done Page

title: User:Emspangler/enes100/My Work P3


text:
User:MundaneUser/enes100/My Work Beatmaker

Beatmaker (Music Project)

Write problem/project Goal
To design and construct a music maker using infrared sensors, a printer scanner, an Arduino, and computer software.

My First Task
To research and devise a list of materials necessary for the construction of our project.

Summary of actual work over first weekend
How is what you did different than what you planned?

Week1 Narrative
Tell a detailed story describing what you did for your team over the weekend.

My Second Task
Assemble MIDI-Shield component to attach to an Arduino-UNO. Control synthesizer using Arduino + MIDI shield.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
I successfully completed both of my goals. I was able to assemble the components on a MIDI shield, attach it to an Arduino, and program the Arduino to control the synthesizer through a MIDI cable.

Week2 Narrative
The first goal was to solder the necessary components on an empty MIDI shield. I started with the MIDI-In and MIDI-Out ports which required 7 through hole solder connections (shown to the right). Referencing the bottom-view picture, I also had to solder rows on pin connectors on both the right and left side of the board to allow the MIDI Shield to be connected directly into the corresponding pins on the Arduino chip. During all of the connection points, be sure to keep each solder connection separate, if the pins are soldered together the MIDI Shield will malfunction due to shorting within the circuitry. Once I had the MIDI ports connected and the pins soldered I was able to stack the MIDI shield on to the Arduino and begin testing a previous student's programs:
 * I attempted to upload the code while the MIDI shield was attached and I repeatedly got sync errors during the end of the upload phase. I tried multiple Arduinos and the errors persisted. I tried uploading the program to the Arduino while the MIDI Shield was disconnected. Once I attached the MIDI shield and ran the MIDI cable from the MIDI-Out on the shield to MIDI-In on the synthesizer, the program was successful. This specific program plays every note on the Synthesizer in ascending order with a 100 millisecond delay. Next I uploaded another program into the Arduino:

Following the same process during the upload phase, the program functioned. I began playing around with the variables, changing notes and timing to learn what, specifically, each line of code does.

My Third task
Find out how to control synthesizer settings through the Arduino. Construct the BeatBearing assembly.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
I was not able to control the synthesizer settings with the Arduino. I am still attempting to do so but I will require more research. Instead, I researched potential building materials for the base of the Beatmaker and dissected the wire diagrams. I also continued the previous groups work to understand how to program the Arduino to be controlling the synthesizer in real time instead of looping a program.

Week3 Narrative
Continuing with Dom's work, I tried uploading a program to the Arduino that would change the input based on a sensor value attached to the Arduino. Using the analogRead function.

The analogRead can pick up very random values, based on a massive amount of conditions - the one that I noticed was the closeness of one's hand. I loaded the Analog Input test code that will blink a light for a length of time based on the analogRead (the lower the voltage, the faster it blinks, the higher the voltage, the slower).

The light was not behaving consistently and I do not know why. I will be revisiting this issue once we have the board built and I can begin controlling the Arduino and Synthesizer with simple switches.

Next, I analyzed the wiring diagrams provided by Makezine and sketched out a simple wiring setup that fits our material list. Hopefully the schematics work through an Arduino, otherwise I will have to hard-wire a separate circuit to control the input from the main board.

Finally, Patrick Marsden, a member of my team, drew a CAD model of our main board that I will be mounting the circuitry on to. I've decided that PMMA will be the safest and most workable material.

My Fourth task
To construct the main board of the Beatbearing. To edit synthesizer settings using Arduino. To create each bearing circuit, using washers and wire, then mount the wiring on to the board.

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
I spent the week splitting washers and wiring them to the ribbon cable. I was unable to hack the synthesizer or mount the ribbon cables on to the board.

Week4 Narrative
I began connecting the washers to the ribbon cables. In order to do so, I followed the steps below to prepare the ribbon cable and attach the washers, assuming that the washers are already cut in half. The precision of the split in the washers is not important.
 * Step 1: Remove pin connector from one side of the ribbon cable

 * Step 2: Pull the red wire apart from the ribbon cable, this will be your ground wire. Be sure not to remove the wire completely from the cable.

 * Step 3: Split ribbon cable in half, similar to how the red wire was detached. I used my fingernail to split them and then pulled them apart by hand. The reason behind splitting the ribbon cable is so that each half will be utilized under each track of the Beatbearing. So, because I have four tracks included on the Beatbearing, I must use 2 split ribbon cables.
 * Step 4: Use a dremel or power sander to remove coating on washer to allow solder to stick.
 * Step 5: Once the coating is removed from the washers, strip 1/4 inch of insulation off the end of each cable in the ribbon.

 * Step 6: Solder wire to washer. If the solder begins to bead on the washer more heat must be applied so heat the washer to allow the solder to attach.
 * Step 7: Repeat step 6 until all the washers are attached to separate wires within the ribbon.
 * Step 8: Repeat steps 1-7 in order to have duplicate wiring for the other 2 tracks on the Beatbearing. If there are only two tracks then one ribbon cable is sufficient.


text:
Engineering Projects/Attendance/perl counting program

First download strawberry perl if on windows machine, otherwise download activestate perl.

To test if the installation is correct, cut and paste this into notepad print "hello world/n"; $age = <>;

For Windows: Write perl programs in notepad. Click "Save To". Set the "Save as type:" to "all files" rather than the default. Name the program with the extension *.pl so the file name looks something like this "test.pl".

Save it to the desktop or another known folder.

Execute it by double clicking on the program. It will display a black screen with the words "hello world" in it and then wait for you to press enter on the keyboard. Then the black window will close.


text: File:TestPerl.jpg

title: File:TestPerl.jpg


text:
Engineering Projects/Attendance/perl

This is a tutorial focusing on testing the perl commands necessary to support the creation of a perl program to turn a list of file names into an attendance cvs (comma separated variable) spreadsheet. This is focused on a windows machine.

 * /Installation/ and testing of installation
 * /Directory/ listing of files in a folder

title: Engineering Projects/Attendance/perl


text:
Engineering Projects/Attendance/perl/Installation

First download strawberry perl if on windows machine, otherwise download activestate perl.

To test if the installation is correct, cut and paste this into notepad print "hello world/n"; $pause = <>;

For Windows: Write perl programs in notepad. Click "Save To". Set the "Save as type:" to "all files" rather than the default. Name the program with the extension *.pl so the file name looks something like this "test.pl".

Save it to the desktop or another known folder.

Execute it by double clicking on the program. It will display a black screen with the words "hello world" in it and then wait for you to press enter on the keyboard. Then the black window will close.


text:
User:Garcia123/ENES100/My Work 3

[|Link To Rubberband Project]

Write problem/project Goal
Design and make rubber band gun

My First Task
Make a decision matrix and let class or team pick out model/structure of rubber band gun and start the process of  building it.

Summary of actual work over first weekend
I cut the pieces out for the rubberband gun my team is making.

Week1 Narrative
I drew the pieces we need to build the Rubberband Gun on the wooden board I got from class. I had to draw some of the parts twice so I can glue them together to get the right thickness. Then I cut out the pieces using a saw.

My Second Task
Start building the rubberband gun.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
How is what you did different than what you planned?

Week2 Narrative
Tell a detailed story describing what you did for your team over the weekend.

My Third task
Record what you are planning on doing for the team during the third weekend.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
How is what you did different than what you planned?

Week3 Narrative
Tell a detailed story describing what you did for your team over the weekend.

My Fourth task
''Record what you are planning on doing for the team during the final weekend of project work. ''

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
How is what you did different than what you planned?

Week4 Narrative
Tell a detailed story describing what you did for your team over the weekend.

Complete Team Page
Fill out the Team Form (should have already copied the form, created the team page, linked to it and started filling it out).

title: User:Garcia123/ENES100/My Work 3


text:
Engineering Projects/Attendance/perl/Directory

Listing the files in a directory is most easily done using a glob:

@files = <*>; foreach $file (@files) { print "$file\n"; }

$pause = <>;

The * in <*> represents the current directory. The output on a windows machine looks like this:

There problems with this are:
 * can not tell file from directory explicitly
 * can not tell the type of file explicitly because file names can have spaces in them
 * no size information
 * no date information

Need to make these assumptions:
 * all files will have an extension which is after the period
 * names with out extensions are folders

Need to define a directory structure that is going to need to be crawled through looking for students.


text: File:GlobPerl.jpg

title: File:GlobPerl.jpg


text:
Template:Oeislink

See also: Template:Oeis

gives A190939

title: Template:Oeislink


text:
User:Micjuslin~enwikiversity

Lover of knowledge from the Central Valley of California, USA.

title: User:Micjuslin~enwikiversity


text: Category:University of Canberra/Critical Care Nursing


text:
Stars/Active regions

A stellar active region is a localized, transient volume of a stellar atmosphere in which plages, starspots, faculae, flares, etc., may be observed. Active regions are the result of enhanced magnetic fields; they are bipolar and may be complex if the region contains two or more bipolar groups.

A stellar active region on a star's surface can form a bright spot which intensifies and grows. An active region may have a coronal portion.

Most stellar flares and coronal mass ejections originate in magnetically active regions around visible sunspot groupings. Similar phenomena indirectly observed on stars are commonly called starspots and both light and dark spots have been measured.

Theory of stellar active regions
"MOST current literature on solar activity assumes that the planets do not affect it, and that conditions internal to the Sun are primarily responsible for the solar cycle. Bigg1, however, has shown that the period of Mercury's orbit appears in the sunspot data, and that the influence of Mercury depends on the phases of Venus, Earth, and Jupiter."

"The tidal forces hypothesis for solar cycles has been proposed by Wood (1972) and others. Table 2 below shows the relative tidal forces of the planets on the sun. Jupiter, Venus, Earth and Mercury are called the "tidal planets" because they are the most significant. According to Wood, the especially good alignments of J-V-E with the sun which occur about every 11 years are the cause of the sunspot cycle. He has shown that the sunspot cycle is synchronous with the alignments, and J. Schove's data for 1500 year of sunspot maxima supports the 11.07 year J-V-E period average."

"Both the 11.86 year Jupiter tropical period (time between perihelion's or closest approaches to the sun and the 9.93 year J-S alignment periods are found in sunspot spectral analysis. Unfortunately direct calculations of the tidal forces of all planets does not support the occurrence of the dominant 11.07 year cycle. Instead, the 11.86 year period of Jupiter's perihelion dominates the results. This has caused problems for several researchers in this field."

Variations in the electron and ion currents to and from the Sun may have a greater effect on active regions than any other.

Spicules
A spicule is a dynamic jet of about 500 km diameter in the chromosphere of a star. It moves upwards at about 20 km/s from the photosphere. Spicules last for about 15 minutes; at [a star's limb] they appear elongated (if seen on the disk, they are known as "mottles" or "fibrils"). They are usually associated with regions of high magnetic flux; their mass flux is about 100 times that of the [stellar wind]. They rise at a rate of 20 km/s (or 72,000 km/h) and can reach several thousand kilometers in height before collapsing and fading away.

"Tendrils of plasma near the surface of the sun emerge from realignments of magnetic fields and [apparently] pump heat into the corona, the sun’s tenuous outer atmosphere."

"Spicules undulate like a wind-whipped field of wheat in the chromosphere, the layer of hot gas atop the sun’s surface. These plasma filaments stretch for thousands of kilometers and last for just minutes, shuttling ionized gas into the corona."

Thickets "of spicules frequently emerged within minutes after pockets of the local magnetic field reversed course and pointed in the opposite direction from the prevailing field in the area."

"Counterpointing magnetic fields create a tension that gets resolved when the fields break and realign".

"The magnetic field energy is converted to kinetic and thermal energy. The kinetic energy is in the form of fast plasma motion — jets, or spicules."

A "glow from charged iron atoms [occurred in images from NASA’s orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory] directly over the spicules. That glow [...] means the plasma reached roughly 1 million degrees Celsius."

Faculae
Def. a bright spot or patch between starspots is called a facula.

Bright spots also occur at the magnetic poles of magnetic stars.

"Faculae and flares arise in the chromosphere. Faculae are bright luminous hydrogen clouds which form above regions where [starspots] are about to form."

Coronal loops
The population of coronal loops can be directly linked with the solar cycle; it is for this reason coronal loops are often found with sunspots at their footpoints. Coronal loops project through the chromosphere and transition region, extending high into the corona.

Coronal loops have a wide variety of temperatures along their lengths. Loops existing at temperatures below 1 MK are generally known as cool loops, those existing at around 1 MK are known as warm loops, and those beyond 1 MK are known as hot loops. Naturally, these different categories radiate at different wavelengths.

Coronal loops populate both active and quiet regions of the solar surface. Active regions on the solar surface take up small areas but produce the majority of activity and 82% of the total coronal heating energy. The quiet Sun, although less active than active regions, is awash with dynamic processes and transient events (bright points, nanoflares and jets). As a general rule, the quiet Sun exists in regions of closed magnetic structures, and active regions are highly dynamic sources of explosive events. It is important to note that observations suggest the whole corona is massively populated by open and closed magnetic fieldlines. A closed fieldline does not constitute a coronal loop; however, closed flux must be filled with plasma before it can be called a coronal loop.

Nanoflares
In order to heat a region of very high X-ray emission, over an area 1" x 1", a nanoflare of 1017 J should happen every 20 seconds, and 1000 nanoflares per second should occur in a large active region of 105 x 105 km2.

Flickerings, brightenings, small explosions, bright points, flares and mass eruptions are observed very frequently, especially in active regions.

Flares
Def. a violent explosion in a star's atmosphere is called a flare.

"A flare star is a variable star that can undergo unpredictable dramatic increases in brightness for a few minutes. The brightness increase is across the spectrum, from X rays to radio waves.

"Flare stars are intrinsically faint, but have been found to distances of 1,000 light years from Earth.

BY Draconis variables
BY Draconis variables are main sequence variable stars of late spectral types, usually K or M. The name comes from the archetype for this category of variable star system, BY Draconis. They exhibit variations in their luminosity due to rotation of the star coupled with star spots, and other chromospheric activity. Resultant brightness fluctuations are generally less than 0.5 magnitudes on timescales equivalent to the star's rotational period, typically from a fraction of a day to several months. Oddly enough, Procyon the 8th brightest night-time star which is an F5 sub-giant or dwarf has also been classified as a BY Draconis variable.

Some of these stars may exhibit flares, resulting in additional variations of the UV Ceti type. Likewise, the spectra of BY Dra variables (particularly in their H and K lines) are similar to RS CVn stars, which are another class of variable stars that have active chromospheres.

RS Canum Venaticorum variables
RS Canum Venaticorum variables are a type of variable star. They are close binary stars having active chromospheres which can cause large stellar spots. These spots are believed to cause variations in their observed luminosity. Systems can exhibit variations on timescales of years due to variation in the spot surface coverage fraction, as well as periodic variations which are, in general, close to the orbital period of the binary system. Some systems exhibit variations in luminosity due to their being eclipsing binaries. Typical brightness fluctuation is around 0.2 magnitudes.

UV Ceti variable
The type star goes through fairly extreme changes of brightness: for instance, in 1952, its brightness increased by 75 times in only 20 seconds.

Plages
A plage is a bright region in the chromosphere of [a star], typically found in regions of the chromosphere near [starspots]. The plage regions map closely to the faculae in the photosphere below, but the latter have much smaller spatial scales. Accordingly plage occurs most visibly near a starspot region.

"Plages are formed in the inner parts of flux loops emerging from below. ... In the early stages of active region growth the appearance of the group is symmetric, while a few days later the f spot may disappear, leaving an extensive plage."

"[M]ajor changes in active regions only take place in the following ways:
 * 1) [starspot] formation and break up;
 * 2) flux outflow from [starspots];
 * 3) new flux emergence; and
 * 4) magnetic reconnection."

"In general there is no proper motion at all in the plage or the surrounding plagettes except for the latter two."

Coronal streamers
The interconnections of active regions are arcs connecting zones of opposite magnetic field, in different active regions. Significant variations of these structures are often seen after a flare. Some other features of this kind are helmet streamers—large cap-like coronal structures with long pointed peaks that usually overlie sunspots and active regions. Coronal streamers are considered as sources of the slow solar wind.

Prominences
A prominence is a large, bright feature extending outward from [a star's] surface, often in a loop shape. Prominences are anchored to [a star's] surface in the photosphere, and extend outwards into the [star's] corona. While the corona consists of extremely hot ionized gases, known as plasma, which [does] not emit much visible light, prominences contain much cooler plasma, similar in composition to that of the chromosphere. A prominence forms over timescales of about a day, and stable prominences may persist in the corona for several months. Some prominences break apart and give rise to coronal mass ejections.

A typical prominence extends over many thousands of kilometers; the largest on record was estimated at over 800,000 kilometres (500,000 mi) long – roughly the radius of the Sun.

"When a prominence is viewed from a different perspective so that it is against the [star] instead of against space, it appears darker than the surrounding background. This formation is instead called a [stellar] filament. It is possible for a projection to be both a filament and a prominence. Some prominences are so powerful that they throw out matter from the [star] into space at speeds ranging from 600 km/s to more than 1000 km/s. Other prominences form huge loops or arching columns of glowing gases over [starspots] that can reach heights of hundreds of thousands of kilometres. Prominences may last for a few days or even for a few months. Flocculi (plural of flocculus) is another term for these filaments, and dark flocculi typically describes the appearance of [stellar] prominences when viewed against the [stellar] disk in certain wavelengths.

Starspots
Starspots are equivalent to sunspots but located on other stars. Spots the size of sunspots are very hard to detect since they are too small to cause fluctuations in brightness. Observed starspots are in general much larger than those on the Sun, up to about 30 % of the stellar surface may be covered, corresponding to sizes 100 times greater than those on the Sun.

In 1947, G. E. Kron proposed that starspots were the reason for periodic changes in brightness on red dwarfs. Since the mid-1990s, starspot observations have been made using increasingly powerful techniques yielding more and more detail: photometry showed starspot growth and decay and showed cyclic behavior similar to the Sun's; spectroscopy examined the structure of starspot regions by analyzing variations in spectral line splitting due to the Zeeman Effect; Doppler imaging showed differential rotation of spots for several stars and distributions different from the Sun's; spectral line analysis measured the temperature range of spots and the stellar surfaces. The largest cool starspot ever seen rotating the giant K0 star XX Triangulum (HD 12545) with a temperature of 3,500 K (3,230 °C), together with a warm spot of 4,800 K (4,530 °C).

Stars with sizable sunspots may show significant variations in brightness as they rotate, and brighter areas of the surface are brought into view. Bright spots also occur at the magnetic poles of magnetic stars. The surface of the star is not uniformly bright, but has darker and brighter areas (like the sun's solar spots). The star's chromosphere too may vary in brightness. As the star rotates we observe brightness variations of a few tenths of magnitudes.

Observed starspots have a temperature which is in general 500–2000 Kelvin cooler than the stellar photosphere. This temperature difference could give rise to a brightness variation up to 0.6 magnitudes between the spot and the surrounding surface. There also seems to be a relation between the spot temperature and the temperature for the stellar photosphere, indicating that starspots behave similarly for different types of stars (observed in G-K dwarfs).

The lifetime for a starspot depends on its size.
 * For small spots the lifetime is proportional to their size, similar to spots on the Sun.
 * For large spots the sizes depend on the differential rotation of the star, but there are some indications that large spots which give rise to light variations can survive for many years even in stars with differential rotation.

The distribution of starspots across the stellar surface varies analogous to the solar case, but differs for different types of stars, e.g., depending on whether the star is a binary or not. The same type of activity cycles that are found for the Sun can be seen for other stars, corresponding to the solar (2 times) 11-year cycle. Some stars have longer cycles, possibly analogous to the Maunder minima for the Sun.

Another activity cycle is the so called flip-flop cycle, which implies that the activity on either hemisphere shifts from one side to the other. The same phenomena can be seen on the Sun, with periods of 3.8 and 3.65 years for the northern and southern hemispheres.

Flip-flop phenomena are observed for both binary RS CVn stars and single stars although the extent of the cycles are different between binary and singular stars.

Lithiums
A number of lithium emission lines is observed in sunspot umbra. These are "the lithium (I) line doublets from Li(6) and Li(7) at 670.8 nm".

"[A] lithium abundance [is] εLi = 1.02 ± 0.121 ... Some evidence for the existence of a small but notable amount of Li6 is found."

Berylliums
"The isotopes 7Be, with a half-life of 53 days, and 10Be are both cosmogenic nuclides because they are made on a recent timescale in the solar system by spallation, like 14C. These two radioisotopes of beryllium in the atmosphere track the sun spot cycle and solar activity, since this affects the magnetic field that shields the Earth from cosmic rays. The rate at which the short-lived 7Be is transferred from the air to the ground is controlled in part by the weather. 7Be decay in the sun is one of the sources of solar neutrinos, and the first type ever detected using the Homestake experiment.

Calciums
During the limb flares of December 18, 1956, a coronal line at 569.4 nm, a yellow line, occurred at 1822 UTC, 1900 UTC, undiminished up to 20,000 km above the solar limb, and at 2226 UTC, is identified as Ca XV.

Coronal mass ejections
Most coronal mass ejections originate from active regions on a star's surface. Near a stellar maxima a star such as the Sun produces about three CMEs every day, whereas near stellar minima there is about one CME every five days.

"The magnetic field carried away by the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is twisted. ... [Helicity] is defined as

 * $$H = \int_{V} A \cdot B dV - \int_{V} A_p \cdot B_p dV.$$

... Helicity [(H)] is a quantitative measure of the chiral properties of the structures observed in the solar atmosphere."

Evolution
"The region (McMath 12510) arose on the back side of the Sun and first was visible on August 30, 1973, displaying a normal amount of plage. ... During its second transit the spot (now Mt. Wilson 12510, McMath 12542) was the largest on the disk but already naked ... The spot returned a third time (Mt. Wilson 19281, McMath 12585), greatly reduced in size."

Solar spicules
There are about 300,000 active spicules at any one time on the Sun's chromosphere, amounting to about 1% of the Sun's surface. At any one time there are around 60,000 to 70,000 active spicules on the Sun; an individual spicule typically reaches 3,000-10,000 km altitude above the photosphere.

Solar microflares
Ultraviolet telescopes such as TRACE and SOHO/EIT can observe individual [solar] micro-flares as small brightenings in extreme ultraviolet light.

Coronal arcades
Def. a close collection of loops in a cylindrical structure is called an arcade.

The TRACE image at right "is from near flare maximum (11:00 UT) and has a width of 230,000 km [...] how in the world can the footpoints of the arcade have such a clearly-organized pattern whose scale greatly exceeds the known scales of the largest convective scales known in the photosphere?"

"The most obvious coronal signatures of CMEs in the low corona are the arcades of bright loops that develop after the CME material has erupted [...] nearly all (92%) EIT post-eruptive arcades from 1997 – 2002 were associated with LASCO CMEs [...] The activity associated with halo CMEs includes the formation of dimming regions, long-lived loop arcades, flaring active regions, large-scale coronal waves and filament eruptions".

Helmet streamers
Helmet streamers are bright loop-like structures which develop over active regions on the sun. They are closed magnetic loops which connect regions of opposite magnetic polarity. Electrons are captured in these loops, and cause them to glow very brightly. The solar wind elongates these loops to pointy tips. They far extend above most prominences into the corona, and can be readily observed during a solar eclipse. Helmet streamers are usually confined to the "streamer belt" in the mid latitudes, and their distribution follows the movement of active regions during the solar cycle. Small blobs of plasma, or "plasmoids" are sometimes released from the tips of helmet streamers, and this is one source of the slow component of the solar wind. In contrast, formations with open magnetic field lines are called coronal holes, and these are darker and are a source of the fast solar wind. Helmet streamers can also create coronal mass ejections if a large volume of plasma becomes disconnected near the tip of the streamer.

Solar flares
Balfour Stewart recorded a super flare on the evening of 28 August 1859 and the morning of 2 September 1859, at the Kew Observatory, and presented his findings in a paper presented to the Royal Society on 21 November 1861. He noted that while "magnetic disturbances of unusual violence and very wide extent" were recorded in various places around the world, the Kew Observatory had the benefit of self-recording magnetographs, which allowed "the means of obtaining a continuous photographic register of the state of the three elements of the earth’s magnetic force—namely, the declination, and the horizontal and vertical intensity."

During the limb flares of December 18, 1956, a coronal line at 569.4 nm, a yellow line, occurred at 1822 UTC, 1900 UTC, undiminished up to 20,000 km above the solar limb, and at 2226 UTC, is identified as Ca XV. "The coronal temperature was 4000000°." "The December 18, 1956, flare appears to have been a violent condensation of material from a dense coronal cloud above an active region."

"The first true astrophysical gamma-ray sources were solar flares, which revealed the strong 2.223 MeV line predicted by Morrison. This line results from the formation of deuterium via the union of a neutron and proton; in a solar flare the neutrons appear as secondaries from interactions of high-energy ions accelerated in the flare process. These first gamma-ray line observations were from OSO-3 [and] OSO-7

Fairly large fluxes of neutrons have been observed during solar flares such as that of November 12, 1960, with a flux of 30-70 neutrons per cm-2 s-1.

The Bastille Day Flare or Bastille Day Event was a powerful solar flare on July 14, 2000, occurring near the peak of the solar maximum in solar cycle 23. NOAA Active region 9077 produced an X5.7-class flare, which caused an S3 radiation storm on Earth fifteen minutes later as energetic protons bombarded the ionosphere. It was the biggest solar radiation event since 1989. The proton event was four times more intense than any previously recorded since the launches of SOHO in 1995 and ACE in 1997. The flare was followed by a full-halo coronal mass ejection and a geomagnetic super storm on July 15-16. The extreme level, G5, was peaked in late hours of July 15.

"The Bastille Day event was observed by Voyager I and Voyager II, thus it is the farthest out observed solar storm."

"On May 17, 2012 an M-class flare exploded from the sun. The eruption also shot out a burst of solar particles traveling at nearly the speed of light that reached Earth about 20 minutes after the light from the flare. An M-class flare is considered a "moderate" flare, at least ten times less powerful than the largest X-class flares, but the particles sent out on May 17 were so fast and energetic that when they collided with atoms in Earth's atmosphere, they caused a shower of particles to cascade down toward Earth's surface. The shower created what's called a ground level enhancement (GLE)."

"[O]n Saturday, May 5, ... a large sunspot rotated into view on the left side of the sun. ... [J]ust before [Active Region 1476] disappeared over the right side of the sun, it ... erupted with an M-class flare."

The solar flare at Active Region 10039 on July 23, 2002, exhibits many exceptional high-energy phenomena including the 2.223 MeV neutron capture line and the 511 keV electron-positron (antimatter) annihilation line. In the image at right, the RHESSI low-energy channels (12-25 keV) are represented in red and appear predominantly in coronal loops. The high-energy flux appears as blue at the footpoints of the coronal loops. Violet is used to indicate the location and relative intensity of the 2.2 MeV emission.

During solar flares “[s]everal radioactive nuclei that emit positrons are also produced; [which] slow down and annihilate in flight with the emission of two 511 keV photons or form positronium with the emission of either a three gamma continuum (each photon < 511 keV) or two 511 keV photons." The Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) made the first high-resolution observation of the solar positron-electron annihilation line during the July 23, 2003 solar flare. The observations are somewhat consistent with electron-positron annihilation in a quiet solar atmosphere via positronium as well as during flares. Line-broadening is due to "the velocity of the positronium." "The width of the annihilation line is also consistent ... with thermal broadening (Gaussian width of 8.1 ± 1.1 keV) in a plasma at 4-7 x 105 K. ... The RHESSI and all but two of the SMM measurements are consistent with densities ≤ 1012 H cm-3 [but] <10% of the p and α interactions producing positrons occur at these low densities. ... positrons produced by 3He interactions form higher in the solar atmosphere ... all observations are consistent with densities > 1012 H cm-3. But such densities require formation of a substantial mass of atmosphere at transition region temperatures."

"[N]eutrino flux increases noted in Homestake results [coincide] with major solar flares [14]."

"The correlation between a great solar flare and Homestake neutrino enhancement was tested in 1991. Six major flares occurred from May 25 to June 15 including the great June 4 flare associated with a coronal mass ejection and production of the strongest interplanetary shock wave ever recorded (later detected from spacecraft at 34, 35, 48, and 53 AU) [15]. It also caused the largest and most persistent (several months) signal ever detected by terrestrial cosmic ray neutron monitors in 30 years of operation [16]. The Homestake exposure (June 1–7) measured a mean 37Ar production rate of 3.2 ± 1.5 atoms/day (≈19 37Ar atoms produced in 6 days) [13]; about 5 times the rate of ≈ 0.65 day −1 for the preceding and following runs, > 6 times the long term mean of ≈ 0.5 day−1 and > 2 1/2 times the highest rates recorded in ∼ 25 operating years."

Solar Moreton waves
A Moreton wave is the chromospheric signature of a large-scale solar coronal shock wave. Described as a kind of solar 'tsunami', they are generated by solar flares.

The 1995 launch of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory led to observation of coronal waves, which cause Moreton waves. (SOHO's EIT instrument discovered another, different wave type called 'EIT waves'.) The reality of Moreton waves (aka fast-mode MHD waves) has also been confirmed by the two STEREO spacecraft. They observed a 100,000-km-high wave of hot plasma and magnetism, moving at 250 km/second, in conjunction with a big coronal mass ejection in February 2009.

Moreton waves propagate at a speed of usually 500–1500 km/s. Yutaka Uchida interpreted Moreton waves as MHD fast mode shock waves propagating in the corona. He links them to type II radio bursts, which are radio wave discharges created when coronal mass ejections accelerate shocks.

Moreton waves can be observed primarily in the Hα band.

Sunspots
Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. They are caused by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection by an effect comparable to the eddy current brake, forming areas of reduced surface temperature. Like magnets, they also have two poles. Although they are at temperatures of roughly 3,000–4,500 K (2,727–4,227 °C), the contrast with the surrounding material at about 5,780 K leaves them clearly visible as dark spots, as the luminous intensity of a heated black body (closely approximated by the photosphere) is a function of temperature to the fourth power. If the sunspot were isolated from the surrounding photosphere it would be brighter than an electric arc. Sunspots expand and contract as they move across the surface of the Sun and can be as large as 80,000 kilometers (49,710 mi) in diameter, making the larger ones visible from Earth without the aid of a telescope. They may also travel at relative speeds ("proper motions") of a few hundred m/s when they first emerge onto the solar photosphere.

Manifesting intense magnetic activity, sunspots host secondary phenomena such as coronal loops (prominences) and reconnection events. Most solar flares and coronal mass ejections originate in magnetically active regions around visible sunspot groupings. Similar phenomena indirectly observed on stars are commonly called starspots and both light and dark spots have been measured.

Solar active region AR 10030 contained a group of sunspots including the largest one partially included in the image at the right. It is a planet-sized sunspot showing for the first time the dark cores of the filaments extending into the sunspot. These filaments are thousands of km long by about 100 km wide. The image is recorded on July 15, 2002, using the Swedish Solar Telescope (SST).

Solar CMEs
An explosive limb flare occurred above 30,000 km in the corona of the Sun. "So the aftermath of the flare explosion, usually visible in disk pictures as extensive Hα brightening, but hidden from us in this case, was seen by the ionosphere as an intense flux of ionizing radiation from the coronal cloud created by the explosion." "The November 20, 1960, event is very similar to that of February 10, 1956, which was observed at Sacramento Peak. A bright ball appears above the surface, grows in size and Hα brightness, and explodes upward and outward." "The great breadth and intensity of the Hα emission from the suspended ball at 2013 U.T. testify to the large amount of energy stored there, as no corresponding macroscopic motion was observed until the explosion at 2023 U.T." "[T]he great energy of the preflare cloud was released into the corona by the explosion of 2023 U.T., and Hα radiation disappeared by 2035 U.T."

"On 16 June 1972, the Naval Research Laboratory's coronagraph aboard OSO-7 tracked a huge coronal cloud moving outward from the Sun."

"Many CMEs have also been observed to be unassociated with any obvious solar surface activity ... The frequency of occurrence of CMEs observed in white light tends to follow the solar cycle in both phase and amplitude, which varies by an order of magnitude over the cycle ... The latitude distribution of the central position angles of CMEs tends to cluster about the equator around solar minimum but broadens over all latitudes near solar maximum. ... Many CMEs viewed at the solar limb also appear to arise from large-scale, pre-existing coronal streamers which often overlie active regions ... Many energetic CMEs actually involve the disruption (“blowout”) of such a structure, which can increase in brightness and size for days before erupting as a CME ... A streamer is a bright (dense) structure containing closed and open fields, which help guide denser, outward-flowing solar wind material. ... The absence of solar surface activity with observed CME activity is not a new observation ... the CME originated high enough up in the corona such that no surface signatures were evident. ... about a third of the CMEs were “stealth”, having no distinct surface association, and tending to be slow, i.e., < 300 km s–1. Faint coronal changes could be detected in about half of the stealth CMEs ... Based on the highest mass (1014 kg) and speed (∼ 3500 km s–1) observed one can estimate a maximum kinetic energy of ∼ 6 x 1034 erg. Assuming that only a fraction of the stored energy is released in a single episode and that the CME derives all of its energy from a single active region, we can set a limit of ∼ 1036 erg for the maximum free energy available in a solar active region. This is consistent with the size and magnetic field strengths in solar active regions".

Solar ejections
Magnetic clouds represent about one third of ejecta observed by satellites at Earth. Other types of ejecta are multiple-magnetic cloud events (a single structure with multiple subclouds distinguishable) and complex ejecta, which can be the result of the interaction of multiple CMEs.

Active region designations
"75% of the naked sunspots represented the return of large dominant p spots which had been part of large active regions during previous rotations."

Greenwich numbering
In a 1904 article, Maunder was to describe the storm as a "very intense and long-continued disturbance", which in total, lasted between November 11 and 26. He pointed out that this synchronised "with the entire passage across the visible disc" of sunspot group 885 (Greenwich numbering). This group originally had formed on the disc on October 20, passed off at the west limb on October 28, passed again east-west between November 12–25, and returned at the east limb on December 10, before finally disappearing on the disc on December 20.

Mt. Wilson designations
Notation: let the symbol CMP stand for central meridian passage.

"The centre of activity which is under study contains a widely-separated bipolar sunspot group, Mt. WILSON region #13333, and associated plage region, MCMATH HULBERT #4622. The strength of the magnetic field is 2600 gauss."

Mt. Wilson spot numbers usually correspond with Hale, McMath, or Big Bear region numbers.

Hale designations
"The spotless flare occurred in Hale plage region No. 15521 during its first rotation. The region survived four rotations and was most flare productive in the second rotation (Hale No. 15570) when it produced 58 subflares, 3 importance 1 flares, and one importance 2 flare which was also associated with a metric type IV event."

"HELlOS-1 was in an ideal position to study the solar events on June 7, 1980, which occurred in Hale plage region 16886."

"Hale regions 16918 and the northern portions of 16923 ... [comprise] NOAA active regions 2516, 2517, and 2519 ... whose disk passage occurred during rotation 1696 in the latter half of 1980 June. ... [T]his area [is] simply [designated] as 16918. ... Region 16918 was the decaying remnant of NOAA regions 2466, 2469, and 2470 crossing the disk the previous rotation, 1695. During this earlier disk passage the combined sunspot area reached a maximum of 2600 millionths, and the region was even more subdued in rotation 1697."

"Hale region 17244 (NOAA region 2776) ... produced several m and x class flares 1980 November 5-7, while the region was near central meridian. This region, located at 10° north latitude, reached maximum sunspot area of 1440 millionths on November 4 and maximum sunspot number of 95 3 days later. During both the subsequent and previous disk passages, the region was much subdued."

McMath designations
"[T]he McMath region Number 8461 ... passed over the solar disk during the 1966 Proton Flare Project period, from August 21 to September 4, and produced two important solar particle events on August 28 and September 2."

"A time sequence of magnetograms and velocity-grams in the Hα and Fe I 6569 Å lines has been made at a rate of 12 h-1 of McMath Region 10385 from 26 to 29 October, 1969."

"Region C corresponds to McMath region 10607, where a flare occurred approximately 7 hr before the X-ray photograph was taken."

"Region B corresponds to McMath regions 10618 I and 10618 II, in which no flare occurred on March 7, 1970."

"McMath region 12379 [corresponds to] NOAA 131 [on] June 15, 1973 ... [or] AR 131 in the NOAA nomenclature ... NOAA region 131".

McMath 12417 is observed on July 4, 1973.

"Region A corresponds to McMath region 19622, a small region which, in its short life (approximately three days), developed no flare activity and shows the typical X-ray structures which have been found to overlay relatively simple bipolar magnetic configurations."

"[T]he 1972 August flares [occurred] in the active region McMath 11976."

Boulder designations
"During a period in early June 1980 a series of particle events was produced by Boulder Region 2495 which was situated between W67 and the west limb."

"[A] sequence of very high quality filtergrams of Boulder Region No. 2490 (heliographic coordinates 15°S, 36°E) photographed ... on 1980 June 6."

NOAA designations
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the USA keeps track of stellar active regions on the Sun. Each new region that appears for the first time on the surface of the Sun receives a sequentially assigned number.

Solar Active Region NOAA 2372 was observed extensively by the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) satellite and several ground-based observatories during 1980 April 4–13 in the Solar Maximum Year. After its birth around April 4, it underwent a rapid growth and produced a reported 84 flares in the course of its disc passage. NOAA 2372 first appeared as an Η-alpha plage (Hale Plage Region No. 16747) on April 4 in the NE-quadrant of the solar disc near an old region, Hale No. 16752".

"NOAA Active Region 9165 [September 14-17, 2000]
 * 1) ... is the site of both new flux emergence and intense horizontal shearing flows;
 * 2) ... shows rapid development and rapid decay, and for a few days ... is the site of violent activity;
 * 3) the horizontal motions occur when it is close to disk center ...; and
 * 4) observations of a magnetic cloud associated with one of the CMEs linked to the active region are available."

Proxima Centauri
Although it has a very low average luminosity, Proxima is a flare star that undergoes random dramatic increases in brightness because of magnetic activity.

The resulting flare activity generates a total X-ray emission similar to that produced by the Sun. >

In 1951, American astronomer Harlow Shapley announced that Proxima Centauri is a flare star. Examination of past photographic records showed that the star displayed a measurable increase in magnitude on about 8% of the images, making it the most active flare star then known. The proximity of the star allows for detailed observation of its flare activity. In 1980, the Einstein Observatory produced a detailed X-ray energy curve of a stellar flare on Proxima Centauri. Further observations of flare activity were made with the EXOSAT and ROSAT satellites, and the X-ray emissions of smaller, solar-like flares were observed by the Japanese ASCA satellite in 1995. Proxima Centauri has since been the subject of study by most X-ray observatories, including XMM-Newton and Chandra.

These flares can grow as large as the star and reach temperatures measured as high as 27 million K —hot enough to radiate X-rays. Indeed, the quiescent X-ray luminosity of this star, approximately (4–16) x 1026 erg/s ((4–16) x 1019 W), is roughly equal to that of the much larger Sun. The peak X-ray luminosity of the largest flares can reach 1028 erg/s (1021 W.)

The chromosphere of this star is active, and its spectrum displays a strong emission line of singly ionized magnesium at a wavelength of 280 nm. About 88% of the surface of Proxima Centauri may be active, a percentage that is much higher than that of the Sun even at the peak of the solar cycle. Even during quiescent periods with few or no flares, this activity increases the corona temperature of Proxima Centauri to 3.5 million K, compared to the 2 million K of the Sun's corona. However, the overall activity level of this star is considered low compared to other M-class dwarfs.

"[S]imultaneous Einstein and IUE observations of the dM5e flare star Proxima Centauri ... On 1979 March 6 ... [and] ... Again on 1980 August 20 [captured] X-ray [flares] on Proxima [Centauri] ... The X-ray characteristics of this flare event are strongly suggestive of a solar analog: the two-ribbon flare. ... [This] less common flare class, the long decay X-ray events, are characterized by large and diffuse systems of X-ray loops and are associated with prominence eruptions generally away from active regions."

Alpha Centauri B
"The light curve of B varies on a short time scale and there has been at least one observed flare.

Barnard's star
In 1998, astronomers observed an intense stellar flare, surprisingly showing that Barnard's Star is a flare star.

A "cold super-Earth, three times the size of our planet, [has been detected] orbiting [Barnard's] star every 233 days."

"Measurements from high-precision instruments, including the High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) at W. M. Keck Observatory unearthed the planet – after 16 years of observations."

"Barnard’s star is among the nearby red dwarfs that represents an ideal target to search for exoplanets that could someday actually be reached by future interstellar spacecraft."

"We knew we would have to be patient. We followed Barnard’s star for 16 long years at Keck, amassing some 260 radial velocities of Barnard’s star by 2013."

"Fortunately, our long-running Keck planet search program gave us the years we needed to gather enough precision radial velocity data with HIRES to begin to sense the presence of a planet."

"It is the most common type of star in the galaxy — over 70 percent of Milky Way stars are like this dim, M dwarf star. Though it is extremely close, Barnard’s star is too faint to be seen with the naked eye."

Wolf 359
Wolf 359 is a flare star that can undergo sudden increases in luminosity for several minutes. These flares emit strong bursts of X-ray and gamma ray radiation that have been observed by space telescopes.

In 1969, a brief flare in the luminosity of Wolf 359 was observed, linking it to the class of variable stars known as flare stars.

In 2001, Wolf 359 became the first star other than the Sun to have the spectrum of its corona observed from a ground-based telescope. The spectrum showed emission lines of Fe XIII, which is heavily ionized iron that has been stripped of twelve of its electrons. The strength of this line can vary over a time period of several hours, which may be evidence of microflare heating.

Wolf 359 has a relatively high flare rate. Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope detected 32 flare events within a two hour period, with energies of 1027 ergs (1020 joules) and higher.

During flare activity, Wolf 359 has been observed emitting X-rays and gamma rays.

Van Biesbroeck's star
VB 10 is a variable star and is identified in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars as V1298 Aquilae. It is classified as a UV Ceti type variable star and is known to be subject to frequent flare events. Its dynamics were studied from the Hubble Space Telescope in the mid-1990s and although the star has a normally cool surface temperature of 2600 K it was found to produce violent flares of up to 100,000 K.

AD Leonis
AD Leonis (Gliese 388) is a red dwarf star. It is located relatively near the Sun, at a distance of about 16 light years, in the constellation Leo. AD Leonis is a main sequence star with a spectral classification of M3.5V. It is a flare star that undergoes random increases in luminosity.

AD Leonis is one of the most active flare stars known, and the emissions from the flares have been detected across the electromagnetic spectrum as high as the X-ray band.

Besides star spots, about 73% of the surface is covered by magnetically active regions. Examination of the corona in X-ray shows compact loop structures that span up to 30% of the size of the star.

GJ 1214
GJ 1214 is a dim M4.5 red dwarf in the constellation Ophiuchus with an apparent magnitude of 14.7. It is located at a distance of approximately 40 light years from Earth. It is about one-fifth as large as the Sun with a surface temperature estimated to be 3,000 K (2,730 °C; 4,940 °F). Its luminosity is only 0.003% that of the Sun. The estimate for the stellar radius is 15% larger than predicted by theoretical models. It also shows a 1% intrinsic variability in the near-infrared probably caused by stellar spots.

BY Draconis variables
BY Draconis stars are of spectral class K or M and vary by less than 0.5 magnitudes (70% change in luminosity).

FK Comae Berenices variables
These stars rotate extremely fast (~100 km/s at the equator); hence they are ellipsoidal in shape. They are (apparently) single giant stars with spectral types G and K and show strong chromospheric emission lines. Examples are FK Com, HD 199178 and UZ Lib.

T Tauri variables
Variability of T Tauri stars is due to spots on the stellar surface and gas-dust clumps, orbiting in the circumstellar disks.

Big Bear Solar Observatory
The Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) is a solar observatory located on the north side of Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains of southwestern San Bernardino County, California (USA), approximately 120 kilometers (75 mi) east of downtown Los Angeles.

Kodaikanal Solar Observatory
The Kodaikanal Solar Observatory is a solar observatory owned and operated by Indian Institute of Astrophysics. It is located on the southern tip of the Palni Hills 4 km from Kodaikanal town, Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu state, South India.

A Grubb Parson 60 cm diameter two-mirror fused quartz coelostat mounted on 11 m tower platform directs sunlight via a flat mirror into a 60 m long underground horizontal 'tunnel'. A 38 cm aperture f/90 achromat forms a 34 cm diameter solar image at the focal plane. The telescope has an option to mount a 20 cm achromat, which provides an f/90 beam to form a 17 cm image.

A Littrow-type spectrograph is the main instrument of the telescope. A 20 cm diameter, 18 m focal length achromat in conjunction with a 600 lines/mm grating gives 9 mm/A dispersion in the fifth order of the grating. Together with the 5.5 arcsec/mm spatial resolution of the image, it forms a high resolution set up for solar spectroscopy. Recording of the spectrum can be done photographically or with a Photometrix 1k x 1k CCD system. A large format CCD system is being procured to enhance the coverage of spectrum especially for the broad resonance lines and the nearby continuum.

Lomnický štít station
The astronomical station on Lomnický štít (2632 m) has been active since 1960. It is equipped with a 20 cm coronograph and a spectrograph.

McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope
The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope is a 1.6-m f/54 reflecting solar telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, USA. It is the largest telescope of its kind in the world and is named for astronomers Robert McMath and Keith Pierce.

"The telescope contains a heliostat at the top of its main tower which focuses the sun's light down a long shaft. The distinctive diagonal shaft continues underground, where the telescope's primary mirror is located. The theoretical resolution of this main telescope 0.07 arcsec, although this is never reached because atmospheric distortions degrade the image quality severely. The image scale is 2.50 arcsec/mm at the image plane.

Solar active regions detected using the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope receive a numerical designation as soon as they are observed on the solar surface.

Norikura Solar Observatory
"[I]n June 1991 large solar flares were seen repeatedly in the sunspot region 6659. Among those flares, the new solar neutron detector located at Mt. Norikura observatory, Japan (2770 m) which is made of plastic scintillators, succeeded in catching the signal of neutrons even though the size of the neutron telescope is only 1 m2 [23] and [24]."

"[T]he roots of the [coronal] streamers seem to coincide best with the quiescent type prominences. ... the intensive regions of the green corona coincide best with the center of activity".

"The peaks in the eleven-year component are found in the declining phase of activity, 2–4 years after the sunspot number maximum."

Sayan Solar Observatory
"A set of three subsequent vector magnetograms of the leading spot of the active region NOAA 4216 (Solnechnye Dannye 163/83) was made about 10 hours after the spot's central meridian passage by the vector magnetrographs of the Sayan Observatory (Irkutsk) and the Solar Observatory "Einsteinturm" (Potsdam) within a cooperative observational programme."

Hypotheses

 * 1) Stellar active regions are initiated by a specific conjunction of Venus and Jupiter.

An initial control group for a star in general may be a uniformly luminous sphere of finite and constant size, similar to the bulb of a light bulb minus the socket attachment.

The simplest stellar active region may be any region on the surface of the sphere undergoing variation.

title: Stars/Active regions


text:
Economic Classroom Experiments/Rock, Paper, Scissors

Introduction to a simple hand game that is often used for 'random' decision-making, in much the same manner as drawing straws. However, under the right circumstances, it can be a game of skill.

Level
Any level

Prerequisite knowledge
None

Suitable modules
Any

Intended learning outcomes

 * 1) Understanding of how the game is played
 * 2) Understanding of how the intended randomness of the game can be undermined by skilled play

Abstract
Students (in pairs) both present a hand shape at the same time. There are shapes representing rock, scissors and paper. The student presenting the 'better' hand wins (or there is a draw). On a simple examination, it would seem that each hand shape is equally likely to win. However, over a series of games, psychological effects come into play, and a skilled player can skew results in their favour.

Discussion of Likely Results
In a simplistic analysis, each of the three hand shapes offers an equal chance of winning (an analysis borne out when the game is played against a computer). However, human players will unintentionally exhibit patterns of behaviour, that a skilled player can observe over a long series of games. The skilled player can then use those patterns to improve their own plays.

Of course, skilled players will deliberately alter their playing patterns to foil such pattern observation. But even these countermeasures are inevitably imperfect, and in the long run, the more skilled player will win more games.

From this, one can demonstrate that even seemingly even-handed games can be skewed by an observant player.