The promise and practice of e-learning within complex tertiary environments

In advance of a change in learning management systems at a tertiary institution in New Zealand, the authors undertook a research study, the purpose of which was to provide a ‘snap-shot’ of existing online instructional practice within their School. They sought to identify existing pedagogical and technical issues and staff attitudes and preparedness for the new software. Although they found considerable staff good will toward e-learning, a number of problems were identified in the study. Findings from research have been organized and are discussed within five categories, including vision, skills, incentives, resources, and action plan. Conclusions describe plans for reorganizing how and in what manner e-learning can be supported within complex social environments, such as universities, when resources are limited

Passively cooled glass CO2 laser tubes for severe environments

The objective of this effort was to design a glass CO2 laser tube that could survive the Titan 3 C launch environment and at the same time provide adequate thermal conductivity to maintain the wall of the laser tube below approximately equal to 50 C for efficient lasing. The approach that was taken to satisfy these requirements was to pot the tube in an aluminum heat sink using a space qualified polyurethane potting material. Two configurations of the laser tube successfully passed the complete Titan 3 C qualification level sine and random vibration specification and satisfied the thermal requirements. Fabrication details and test results are presented that indicate this could be a practical solution for laser tubes used in a severe environment and where flowing coolants are impractical or undesirable

Potential utilization of scallop viscera for solid waste management and as feedstuff for swine

Waste management has been identified as a major problem which will threaten the economic security of Florida's seafood industry within the next ten years (1). One of the primary concerns is treatment and disposal of solid wastes resulting from seafood processing. Utilization of scallop viscera as silage, much like that developed for waste fish and fish offal (3,4), could represent a practical solid waste treatment option which offers the additional benefit of a protein feed supplement for production of swine. (27pp.

Insights from the Outskirts: Chemical and Dynamical Properties in the outer Parts of the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

We present radial velocities and [Fe/H] abundances for 340 stars in the Fornax dwarf spheroidal from R~16,000 spectra. The targets have been obtained in the outer parts of the galaxy, a region which has been poorly studied before. Our sample shows a wide range in [Fe/H], between -0.5 and -3.0 dex, in which we detect three subgroups. Removal of stars belonging to the most metal-rich population produces a truncated metallicity distribution function that is identical to Sculptor, indicating that these systems have shared a similar early evolution, only that Fornax experienced a late, intense period of star formation (SF). The derived age-metallicity relation shows a fast increase in [Fe/H] at early ages, after which the enrichment flattens significantly for stars younger than ~8 Gyr. Additionally, the data indicate a strong population of stars around 4 Gyr, followed by a second rapid enrichment in [Fe/H]. A leaky-box chemical enrichment model generally matches the observed relation but does not predict a significant population of young stars nor the strong enrichment at late times. The young population in Fornax may therefore originate from an externally triggered SF event. Our dynamical analysis reveals an increasing velocity dispersion with decreasing [Fe/H] from sigma_sys 7.5 km/s to >14 km/s, indicating an outside-in star formation history in a dark matter dominated halo. The large velocity dispersion at low metallicities is possibly the result of a non-Gaussian velocity distribution amongst stars older than ~8 Gyr. Our sample also includes members from the Fornax GCs H2 and H5. In agreement with past studies we find [Fe/H]=-2.04+-0.04 and a mean radial velocity RV=59.36+-0.31 km/s for H2 and [Fe/H]=-2.02+-0.11 and RV=59.39+-0.44 km/s for H5. Overall, we find large complexity in the chemical and dynamical properties, with signatures that additionally vary with galactocentric distance.Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A&

UBVRI CCD photometric study of the open clusters Basel 4 and NGC 7067

In this paper we present UBVRI CCD photometry in the region of two young open star clusters Basel 4 and NGC 7067 for the first time. Our sample consists of ~ 4000 stars down to V ~ 21 mag. Stellar surface density profile indicates that radius of Basel 4 and NGC 7067 are about 1.8 and 3.0 arcmin respectively.The (U-B) versus (B-V) diagrams indicate that metallicity of NGC 7067 is solar while that of Basel 4 is Z ~ 0.008. We estimate the mean value of E(B-V) = 0.45$\pm$0.05 and 0.75$\pm$0.05 mag for Basel 4 and NGC 7067 respectively. The analysis of 2MASS JHK data in combination with the optical data in both the clusters yields E(J-K) = 0.30$\pm$0.20 mag and E(V-K) = 1.60$\pm$0.20 mag for Basel 4 while E(J-K) = 0.40$\pm$0.20 mag and E(V-K) = 2.10$\pm$0.20 mag for NGC 7067. Furthermore, colour excess diagrams show a normal interstellar extinction law towards both the clusters. Using the intrinsic colour-magnitude diagrams of the cluster members, we estimated the distances of the clusters as 3.0$\pm$0.2 and 3.6$\pm$0.2 Kpc for Basel 4 and NGC 7067 respectively. By fitting the proper metallicity isochrones to the bright cluster members we estimated the age of the clusters as 200$\pm$50 and 100$\pm$25 Myr for Basel 4 and NGC 7067 respectively. The mass function slope which is derived by applying the corrections of field star contamination and data incompleteness are $1.55\pm0.25$ and $1.68\pm0.47$ for Basel 4 and NGC 7067 respectively. The values of mass function slopes are thus not too different from the Salpeter's (1955) value. Mass segregation is observed in both the clusters which may be due to the dynamical evolutions or imprint of star formation processes or both.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA

Optical Magnetometer Array for Fetal Magnetocardiography

We describe an array of spin-exchange relaxation free optical magnetometers designed for detection of fetal magnetocardiography (fMCG) signals. The individual magnetometers are configured with a small volume with intense optical pumping, surrounded by a large pump-free region. Spin-polarized atoms that diffuse out of the optical pumping region precess in the ambient magnetic field and are detected by a probe laser. Four such magnetometers, at the corners of a 7 cm square, are configured for gradiometry by feeding back the output of one magnetometer to a field coil to null uniform magnetic field noise at frequencies up to 200 Hz. Using this array, we present the first measurements of fMCG signals using an atomic magnetometer