Digital Bridges Across Disciplinary, Practical and Pedagogical Divides: An Online Professional Master’s Program in Heritage Resource Management

Growth and diversification in heritage resource management (HRM) archaeology since the 1960s have created new demands for training the next generations of HRM leaders and for addressing persistent and counterproductive divisions between academic and applied archaeologies. The Simon Fraser University Department of Archaeology (SFU) has responded to these demands with an all-new, cohort-based, thesis-focused graduate program created by and for HRM professionals. The program’s target audience is HRM practitioners who hold Bachelor’s credentials, have initiated promising careers in HRM, and desire advanced, research-focused degrees to enable their professional capacity and upward mobility. The SFU program is structured and focused to provide intensive, predominantly online training in the four essential dimensions of HRM: law and policy, ethics and practice, business management, and research design and methods. The program has been successful through initial cohort cycles and in attracting HRM industry interest in collaboration. Industry-academic partnerships in cognate disciplines have proved effective in comparable circumstances but remain underdeveloped as bases for planning and delivering state-of-the-art training in applied archaeology and the broader field of HRM. Critical next steps in program development entail the identification of attributes of HRM futures desired by all or most HRM stakeholders and the collaborative pursuit of those desired futures

Interfacial Molecular Imprinting in Nanoparticle-Stabilized Emulsions

A new interfacial nano and molecular imprinting approach is developed to prepare spherical molecularly imprinted polymers with well-controlled hierarchical structures. This method is based on Pickering emulsion polymerization using template-modified colloidal particles. The interfacial imprinting is carried out in particle-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions, where the molecular template is presented on the surface of silica nanoparticles during the polymerization of the monomer phase. After polymerization, the template-modified silica nanoparticles are removed from the new spherical particles to leave tiny indentations decorated with molecularly imprinted sites. The imprinted microspheres prepared using the new interfacial nano and molecular imprinting have very interesting features: a well-controlled hierarchical structure composed of large pores decorated with easily accessible molecular binding sites, group selectivity toward a series of chemicals having a common structural moiety (epitopes), and a hydrophilic surface that enables the MIPs to be used under aqueous conditions

Impact of milk protein type on the viability and storage stability of microencapsulated Lactobacillus acidophilus using spray drying

Three different milk proteins — skim milk powder (SMP), sodium caseinate (SC) and whey protein concentrate (WPC) — were tested for their ability to stabilize microencapsulated L. acidophilus produced using spray drying. Maltodextrin (MD) was used as the primary wall material in all samples, milk protein as the secondary wall material (7:3 MD/milk protein ratio) and the simple sugars, d-glucose and trehalose were used as tertiary wall materials (8:2:2 MD/protein/sugar ratio) combinations of all wall materials were tested for their ability to enhance the microbial and techno-functional stability of microencapsulated powders. Of the optional secondary wall materials, WPC improved L. acidophilus viability, up to 70 % during drying; SMP enhanced stability by up to 59 % and SC up to 6 %. Lactose and whey protein content enhanced thermoprotection; this is possibly due to their ability to depress the glass transition and melting temperatures and to release antioxidants. The resultant L. acidophilus powders were stored for 90 days at 4 °C, 25 °C and 35 °C and the loss of viability calculated. The highest survival rates were obtained at 4 °C, inactivation rates for storage were dependent on the carrier wall material and the SMP/d-glucose powders had the lowest inactivation rates (0.013 day−1) whilst the highest was observed for the control containing only MD (0.041 day−1) and the SC-based system (0.030 day−1). Further increase in storage temperature (25 °C and 35 °C) was accompanied by increase of the inactivation rates of L. acidophilus that followed Arrhenius kinetics. In general, SMP-based formulations exhibited the highest temperature dependency whilst WPC the lowest. d-Glucose addition improved the storage stability of the probiotic powders although it was accompanied by an increase of the residual moisture, water activity and hygroscopicity, and a reduction of the glass transition temperature in the tested systems

Hydrothermal synthesis and luminescent properties of a new family of organically templated lanthanide fluorides

A new family of luminescent materials has been prepared by hydrothermal techniques. The materials are derived from the novel organically templated framework structure [C2N2H10](0).(5)[Y2F7]. This structure type consists of a three-dimensional yttrium fluoride framework incorporating two similar, but crystallographically distinct, yttrium sites. The lanthanide analogues [C2N2H10](0.5)[Ln(2)F(7)] have been prepared for Ln = Nd3+ and Eu3+-Lu3+, and the crystal structure of [C2N2H10](0.5)[Yb2F7] is reported in detail. Photo-, cathodo- and radioluminescence measurements have been carried out on a range of Gd3+-, Eu3+- and Tb3+-doped derivatives of [C2N2H10](0.5)[Y2F7], all of which show characteristic luminescence emissions.</p

Solvothermal synthesis and luminescent properties of two organically-templated chain-structure fluorides, [C4H14N2][MF5] (M = In, Sc)

The solvothermal syntheses and crystal structures of organically templated indium fluoride, [C4H14N2][InF5] 1, and its scandium analogue, [C4H14N2][ScF5] 2, are reported. Compound 1 represents the first indium fluoride with extended inorganic connectivity prepared using an organic airline, 1,4-diaminobutane (DAB), as a structure-directing agent. 1 is orthorhombic, space group Ibam, with cell parameters a = 9.324(2) angstrom, b = 11.391(2) angstrom, c = 8.401(2), and Z = 4 (for isostructural 2: a = 9.353(3) angstrom, b = 11.433 (1) angstrom, c = 8.226 (4) angstrom). The structure of I consists of infinite trans vertex sharing (InF5)(infinity) chains running parallel to the c-axis, which are linked via H-bonded organic moieties. The photoluminescence properties of the doped compounds, of nominal composition [C4H14N2][In(1-x)Ln(x)F(5)] (Ln=Tb and/or Eu), have been explored. For x = 0.05 Eu3+, 1 exhibits a dominant orange emission at 592.5 nm from the D-5(0) -&gt; F-7(1) magnetic dipole transition within Eu3+ For x = 0.08 Tb3+, 1 shows strong down conversion fluorescence corresponding to D-5(4) -&gt; F-7(5) (green at 543 5 nm). In addition, a Tb3+/Eu3+ co-doped sample exhibits a combination of green (Tb3+) and orange (Eu3+) luminescence. with Tb3+ enhancing the emission of Eu3+ in this host. The dependence of luminescence intensity on dopant concentration for 1 has been analyzed. The scandium and fluorine local environments in 2 have been characterized by F-19 and Sc-45 solid-state magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR, which confirms a single scandium site together with discrete bridging and planar fluorine sites.</p

A low cost novel sensing system for detection of dangerous marine biotoxins in seafood

A novel planar interdigital sensor-based sensing system has been developed for detection of dangerous marine biotoxins in seafood. Our main objective is to sense the presence of dangerous contaminated acid in mussels and other seafood by observing the change of reactive impedance of the planar interdigital sensors. Initial studies were conducted with three peptide derivatives namely sarcosine, proline and hydroxylproline. These three chemicals are structurally closely related to our target molecule. The proline molecule is arguably the most important amino acid in peptide conformation, contains the basic structural similarity to the domoic acid. Three novel interdigital sensors have been designed and fabricated. All sensors have the same effective area but having different sensor configurations. The initial results show that sensors respond very well to the chemicals and it is possible to discriminate the different chemicals from the output of the sensor. The sensors were also being tested with three seafood products. Results from the analysis have shown that one configuration has better sensitivity compared to other configurations. The sensor with the best sensitivity was chosen for experiment using proline and mussels. The changes in sensor sensitivity were analyzed with mussels before and after adding the proline. The presence of proline on the mussel surface and also injected proline to the mussels was very clearly detected by the sensor. Further experiment was conducted with small amount of domoic acid (0.5–5.0 μg) injected to a mussel and it was found that the chosen sensor was able to detect small amount of domoic acid (1.0 μg) injected into the mussel sample. The result shows that the sensor was able to detect approximately 12.6 μg/g of domoic acid in mussel meat. The outcomes from the experiments provide chances of opportunity for further research in developing a low cost miniature type of sensors for reliable sensing system for commercial use.9 page(s