University Technical College Incubator

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C-class article from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Governance

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The Nottingham University Academy of Science and Technology is an academy sponsored by the University of Nottingham. It is legally a trust, with a board of 11 directors and the headteacher, who is ex-officio, and a local board of governors. It was opened in 2014 as a 14 to 19 University Technical College,[4] but transitioned into an 11-18 free school in September 2018.[5]

The school is a member of Nova Education Trust,[3] who provide the school with their IT systems and teachers.[6][7] Admissions NUAST- Dunkirk, Nottingham

In September 2018, the first Year 7's were admitted to the school. Year 10 admissions will remain open until 2021, from when admissions will only be accepted at 11 and sixth form.[8] Applications for admission are made though the home education authority. The academy has an admissions number of 120.[9]

Curriculum

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Students study a broad curriculum in a building equipped to allow specialist study in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum areas. The school operates an extended day finishing at 3:45 (including time for guided independent learning).

At Key Stage 4, students have the opportunity to study the group of subjects designated by the government as EBacc, the English Baccalaureate. These are the core academic subjects: English, Mathematics, History or Geography, two sciences and a language.

All students study Mathematics, English Language, English Literature, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Either ICT or Engineering is compulsory. Students make up the rest of their timetable by choosing two subjects from iMedia, Computer Science, Design and Technology, Business Studies, Media studies, History, Geography and Spanish.

In 2018, the college decided to not run an iMedia option for newly admitted Year 10's, instead deciding to run a Photography option instead. In addition, they added basic PE lessons to meet the Department of Education's requirements.

Buildings

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The academy is built on the former site of a fire station, on the A52 Clifton Boulevard in Dunkirk, Nottingham. It was designed by Bond Bryan Architects for BAM Construction. It has a gross internal floor area of 8,600 square metres and cost £10 million. It was completed in 2014. In addition to the standard features that one finds on a secondary school, there are specialist rooms provided for the STEM subjects. For mechanical engineering there are workshops with CNC lathes, milling machines and routers. There are bench facilities for heat treatment, welding and brazing. For electronic engineering there is printed circuit board production and assembly equipment. The building also houses industry standard test equipment. Software is available for virtual circuit simulation and testing. Process control engineering equipment allows training in hydraulic and pneumatic control systems. The ten dedicated science laboratories are to an industrial research standard.

Across the site there are 150 desktop PCs running Autodesk and Adobe software. Robotics is taught using Raspberry Pis and Lego Mindstorms. Programming is done in Python.[10]

References

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"Nottingham University Academy Of Science And Technology: Governance". GOV.UK. Retrieved 1 January 2018. "Hands-on coding experience for NUAST students". CO.UK. Retrieved 21 February 2020. "Nottingham University Academy of Science and Technology - GOV.UK". get-information-schools.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 2020-01-13. "Statutory Information". NUAST. Retrieved 28 June 2018. "Year 7 | NUAST". nuast.org.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2018. "Our Trust | Nova Education Trust". www.novaeducationtrust.net. Retrieved 2018-04-22. "Partners | NUAST". nuast.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-22. https://nuast.org.uk/data/uploads/web/files/NUAST_Admissions_Policy_2021%282%29.pdf "Nottingham University Academy of Science and Technology Admission Arrangements for 2018" (PDF). nuast.org.uk. Retrieved 13 December 2017. "NUAST Year 10 Prospectus". nuast.org.uk. Retrieved 13 December 2017.

"Nottingham University Academy of Science and Technology Nottingham | Bond Bryan Architects". www.bondbryan.com. Retrieved 13 December 2017.



Quadrant (instrument)

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The Horary quadrant, or quadrant in short is a small portable sundial that was invented by the eighth century scolars in Bagdad and was used from the thirteenth century. It was as small as 52mm and indicated the time by using the sun's altitude. A small piece of latten was shaped to look like a quarter of a circle, it was suspended from the apex so one of the sides aligned with the sun: from the same point dropped a plumb-line with a small moveable bead. The bead touched a scale engraved on the plate thus telling the time.

Quadrants

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The word quadrants has been used to describe many types of measuring instruments:

  • Mural quadrants used for measuring the altitudes of astronomical objects.
  • Large frame-based instruments used for measuring angular distances between astronomical objects.
  • Geometric quadrant used by surveyors and navigators.
  • Davis quadrant a compact, framed instrument used by navigators for measuring the altitude of an astronomical object.
 
Horary quadrant for a latitude of about 51.5° as depicted in an instructional text of 1744: To find the Hour of the Day: Lay the thread just upon the Day of the Month, then hold it till you slip the small Bead or Pin-head [along the thread] to rest on one of the 12 o'Clock Lines; then let the Sun shine from the Sight G to the other at D, the Plummet hanging at liberty, the Bead will rest on the Hour of the Day.
  • Altitude: - The plain quadrant with plumb line, used to take the altitude of an object.[1]
  • Gunner's: - A type of clinometer used by an artillerist to measure the elevation or depression angle of a gun barrel of a cannon or mortar, both to verify proper firing elevation, and to verify the correct alignment of the weapon-mounted fire control devices. [1]
  • Gunter's - A quadrant used for time determination. Invented by Edmund Gunter in 1623.[1]

Within the Islamic culture, Muslim astronomers produced four types of quadrants.[2]

  • The sine quadrant (Arabic: Rubul Mujayyab) - also known as the "Sinecal Quadrant" – was used for solving trigonometric problems and taking astronomical observations. It was developed by al-Khwarizmi in 9th century Baghdad and prevalent until the nineteenth century. Its defining feature is a graph-paper like grid on one side that is divided into sixty equal intervals on each axis and is also bounded by a 90 degree graduated arc. A cord was attached to the apex of the quadrant with a bead, for calculation, and a plumb bob. They were also sometimes drawn on the back of astrolabes.
  • The universal (shakkāzīya) quadrant: – used for solving astronomical problems for any latitude: These quadrants had either one or two sets of shakkāzīya grids and were developed in the fourteenth century in Syria. Some astrolabes are also printed on the back with the universal quadrant like an astrolabe created by Ibn al-Sarrāj.
  • The astrolabe/almucantar quadrant: – a quadrant developed from the astrolabe: This quadrant was marked with one half of a typical astrolabe plate as astrolabe plates are symmetrical. A cord attached from the centre of the quadrant with a bead at the other end was moved to represent the position of a celestial body (sun or a star). The ecliptic and star positions were marked on the quadrant for the above. It is not known where and when the astrolabe quadrant was invented, existent astrolabe quadrants are either of Ottoman or Mamluk origin, while there have been discovered twelfth century Egyptian and fourteenth century Syrian treatises on the astrolabe quadrant. These quadrants proved to be very popular alternatives to astrolabes.
  • The horary quadrant – used for finding the time with the sun

Horary quadrant

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The horary quadrant could be used to find the time either in equal or unequal (length of the day divided by twelve) hours. Different sets of markings were created for either equal or unequal hours. For measuring the time in equal hours, the horary quadrant could only be used for one specific latitude while a quadrant for unequal hours could be used anywhere based on an approximate formula. One edge of the quadrant had to be aligned with the sun, and once aligned, a bead on the plumbline attached to the centre of the quadrant showed the time of the day.

The earliest references to these quadrants come from medieval texts rather than artifacts. An example exists dated 1396, from European sources (Richard II of England).[3] The oldest horary quadrant was found during an excavation in 2013 in the Hanseatic town of Zutphen (Netherlands) and is dated ca. 1300 and is in the local Stedelijk Museum in Zutphen.).[4] [5] [6]

Markout for uneven hours

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Uneven hours was the normal way of telling time in medieval Europe before the invention of the pendulum clock. Under this system dawn was the start of the day and sunset was the the end or the twelfth hour. The day was divided into twelve equal divisions, the hours. In winter the day was shorter, so so were the hours. This was adequate in a rural Mediterranean economy, but the effect of day length became more difficult at higher latitudes. Similarly the night was divided into 12. In the fourteenth century society increasing adopted even hours, where the day was measured from midnight to midnight and divided up into 24 sections. On the equinoxes hour length were the same on both systems. The consequence for the quadrant plate is that noon is labelled with a 6, whereas in equal hours it is 12.

Setting the bead

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The bead can be set using a table of solar altitudes or by estimation recursively refining the position. [7]

Known quadrants

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Richard II quadrants

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Zutphen quadrant

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Chetwode quadrant

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quadrans vetustissimus 9th century munuscript from Bagdad. A shadow square which allows the heights of buildings to be calculated. Unknown date but close to a Henry III farthing. (1216-72) quadrans vetus a later one with a large curved track used to set the position of the bead. [8]

Norfolk quadrant

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Setout with uneven hours but later re-engraved with equal hours markings

Canterbury quadrant

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quadrans novans

See also

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References

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c Turner 1980.
  2. ^ King, D. (1987), ‘Islamic Astronomical Instruments’, Variorum, London, repr. Aldershot: Variorum, 1995.
  3. ^ 14th century timepiece unearthed in Qld farm shed, Clayton Bloom, ABC News Online, accessed 10 November 2011
  4. ^ Davis 2014. sfn error: multiple targets (3×): CITEREFDavis2014 (help)
  5. ^ Fermin & Kastelein 2013.
  6. ^ Gerard L'E. Turner, Antique Scientific Instruments, Blandford Press Ltd. 1980 ISBN 0-7137-1068-3
  7. ^ King 2015, p. 21.
  8. ^ Davis 2015, p. 3.

Bibliography

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  • Davis, John (March 2014). "The Zutphen Quadrant-a very early equal hours instumenty". Bulletin. 26 (1). British Sundial Society. ISSN 0958-4315.
  • Davis, John (March 2014). "The Zutphen Quadrant-a very early equal hours instumenty". Bulletin. 26 (1). British Sundial Society. ISSN 0958-4315.
  • Davis, John (March 2014). "The Zutphen Quadrant-a very early equal hours instumenty". Bulletin. 26 (1). British Sundial Society. ISSN 0958-4315.
  • Fermin, B.; Kastelein, D. (2013). "Het Zutphense Kwadrant. Archeologisch onderzoek in de gracht van de ringwalburg op de Houtmarkt te Zutphen" (80). Gemeente Zutphen: Zutphense Archeologische Publicaties. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

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