Two suggested configurations for the Chinese space telescope

China will establish a 2-meter space-based astronomical telescope. Its main science goals are performing a sky survey for research about dark matter and dark energy, and high resolution observations. Some experts suggest that this space telescope should be installed inside the Chinese space station. In accord with this suggestion we put forward our first configuration, i.e., to adopt a coude system for this telescope. This coude system comes from the Chinese 2.16 m telescope＇s coude system, which includes a relay mirror so that excellent image quality can be obtained. In our second configuration, we suggest that the whole space telescope fly freely as an independent satellite outside the space station. When it needs servicing, for example, changing in- struments, refilling refrigerant or propellant, etc., this space telescope can fly near or even dock with the core space station. Although some space stations have had accom- panying satellites, the one we propose is a space telescope that will be much larger than other accompanying satellites in terms of weight and volume. On the basis of the second configuration, we also put forward the following idea： the space station can be composed of several large independent modules if necessary.

Student Self-assessment for Undergraduate, Graduate and Imernational Finance Courses

Assessing student learning can be exceedingly challenging considering that as faculty we never really know what a student knows prior to entering our classroom and what value-added material has been assimilated during the academic quarter. This research paper introduces a self-assessment instrument that focuses on ten major finance topics and reports the results of the administration of the self-assessment tool for finance education at the undergraduate and graduate level in courses taught in the United States and abroad. Ten topics of importance to most finance curriculum design were selected as the focus topics. The research methodology employed uses a pre-/post- test comparison with ＂understanding＂ being measured on a five-point Lichert scale as implemented in five different fmanee courses. Significant measurable differences occurred in each of the courses using this finance assessment instrument with overall average improvement of understanding by the students as much as one entire point. For exarnple, 1.5 mean score for the pre-test and 2.4 mean score for the post -test for an introductory finance class at the undergraduate level in a college of business. Additional improvements were assessed in each of the courses surveyed.

Dual-band bandpass tunable microwave photonic filter based on stimulated Brillouin scattering

A dual-band bandpass microwave photonic filter(MPF) based on stimulated Brillouin scattering(SBS) is theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. Two separated tunable laser sources(TLSs) are employed to generate two passbands by implementing phase modulation to amplitude modulation conversion by using SBS induced sideband amplification. The center frequencies of both passbands can be independently tuned ranging from 1 GHz to 19 GHz. High resolution with 3 d B bandwidth less than 30 MHz and large out-of-band rejection about 40 d B under 25 m W optical pump power are achieved.