Search for Mars lander/rover/sample-return sites: A status review

Ten Mars sites were studied in the USA for four years. The sites are the Chasma Boreale (North Pole), Planum Australe (South Pole), Olympus Rupes, Mangala Valles, Memnonia Sulci, Candor Chasma, Kasel Valles, Nilosyrtis Mensae, Elysium Montes, and Apollinaris Patera. Seven sites are being studied by the USSR; their prime sites are located at the east mouth of Kasel Valles and near Uranius Patera. Thirteen geological maps of the first six USA sites are compiled and in review. Maps of the Mangala East and West sites at 1:1/2 million scale and a 1:2 million scale map show evidence of three episodes of small-channel formation interspersed with episodes of volcanism and tectonism that span the period from 3.5 to 0.6 b.y. ago. The tectonic and geological history of Mars, both ancient and modern, can be elucidated by sampling volcanic and fluvial geologic units at equatorial sites and layered deposits at polar sites. The evidence appears clear for multiple episodes of fluvial channeling, including some that are quite recent; this evidence contrasts with the theses of Baker and Partridge (1986) and many others that all channels are ancient. Verification of this hypothesis by Mars Observer will be an important step forward in the perception of the history of Mars

Whole-genome resequencing of Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 undergoing short-term laboratory evolution in lactate minimal media reveals flexible selection of adaptive mutations

Background Short-term laboratory evolution of bacteria followed by genomic sequencing provides insight into the mechanism of adaptive evolution, such as the number of mutations needed for adaptation, genotype-phenotype relationships, and the reproducibility of adaptive outcomes. Results In the present study, we describe the genome sequencing of 11 endpoints of Escherichia coli that underwent 60-day laboratory adaptive evolution under growth rate selection pressure in lactate minimal media. Two to eight mutations were identified per endpoint. Generally, each endpoint acquired mutations to different genes. The most notable exception was an 82 base-pair deletion in the rph-pyrE operon that appeared in 7 of the 11 adapted strains. This mutation conferred an approximately 15% increase to the growth rate when experimentally introduced to the wild-type background and resulted in an approximately 30% increase to growth rate when introduced to a background already harboring two adaptive mutations. Additionally, most endpoints had a mutation in a regulatory gene (crp or relA, for example) or the RNA polymerase. Conclusions The 82 base-pair deletion found in the rph-pyrE operon of many endpoints may function to relieve a pyrimidine biosynthesis defect present in MG1655. In contrast, a variety of regulators acquire mutations in the different endpoints, suggesting flexibility in overcoming regulatory challenges in the adaptation

Techno-Economic Analysis of a Seaweed Extraction Process

The goal of this thesis was to perform a techno-economic analysis of a seaweed polysaccharide extraction process that could estimate how economically viable it would be to harvest and process seaweed in Maine to produce algal polysaccharides. I pursued two investigations to answer this question: First, I continued the research I have been doing on an EPSCoR SEANET funded undergraduate research team working on the extraction and fractionation of sugar kelp (Saccharina Latissima) to produce three different separated polysaccharides: alginate, laminarin, and fucoidan. My contributions to this project were primarily to hydrolyze whole pieces of seaweed and extracted samples and quantify their saccharide composition by running the hydrolysates through HPLC. I also prepared samples for elemental analysis by ICP-MS and contributed to tasks associated with the extraction and fractionation work. The seaweed samples we used were harvested from various locations along the Maine coast and collected at different harvest times. Each of these samples were analyzed individually. In this way we could determine the relative amounts of each type of polysaccharide in the different samples. Second, I constructed a process model of our extraction process in the modeling software program ASPEN Plus. A principle task in constructing the model was to translate our multi step batch processes used in the laboratory into a continuous unit operations-based model. I used this model to develop financial viability criteria for the economics of extracting polysaccharides from Maine seaweeds. The desired output of the model was to generate estimated values of the harvested seaweeds to a potential seaweed harvester in Maine

The object we aim at in life

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

A Method to Determine the Viability of Photovoltaic Systems in Various Climate Regions

The purpose of this study is to manufacture and disseminate 37 photovoltaic test systems which will be located at various United States Air Force installations worldwide. The Air Force\u27s goals in renewable energy are to determine the potential for systems to aid in promoting resiliency for an installation\u27s energy demands. The test systems are designed to collect climate and power production data from each test site and associated photovoltaic cells. The overall goal of the test system data collection is to determine the correlation between power output of photovoltaic panels and the associated geographic region climate classification. This study does not include a complete analysis of the data as a full year of data has not yet been recorded. A full year of data, including all four seasons, is required for a proper analysis to be completed. The conclusion which can be drawn from this study is that the test systems performed as expected. Not including hardware malfunctions, the systems were able to measure all data as designed. Analysis was able to be completed on four months data which provided initial results and observations on the climate region\u27s Performance

Developing reading-writing connections; the impact of explicit instruction of literary devices on the quality of children's narrative writing

The purpose of this collaborative schools-university study was to investigate how the explicit instruction of literary devices during designated literacy sessions could improve the quality of children's narrative writing. A guiding question for the study was: Can children's writing can be enhanced by teachers drawing attention to the literary devices used by professional writers or “mentor authors”? The study was conducted with 18 teachers, working as research partners in nine elementary schools over one school year. The research group explored ways of developing children as reflective authors, able to draft and redraft writing in response to peer and teacher feedback. Daily literacy sessions were complemented by weekly writing workshops where students engaged in authorial activity and experienced writers' perspectives and readers' demands (Harwayne, 1992; May, 2004). Methods for data collection included video recording of peer-peer and teacher-led group discussions and audio recording of teacher-child conferences. Samples of children's narrative writing were collected and a comparison was made between the quality of their independent writing at the beginning and end of the research period. The research group documented the importance of peer-peer and teacher-student discourse in the development of children's metalanguage and awareness of audience. The study suggests that reading, discussing, and evaluating mentor texts can have a positive impact on the quality of children's independent writing

Employing culturally responsive pedagogy to foster literacy learning in schools

 In recent years it has become increasingly obvious that, to enable students in schools from an increasingly diverse range of cultural backgrounds to acquire literacy to a standard that will support them to achieve academically, it is important to adopt pedagogy that is responsive to, and respectful of, them as culturally situated. What largely has been omitted from the literature, however, is discussion of a relevant model of learning to underpin this approach. For this reason this paper adopts a socio-cultural lens (Vygotsky, 1978) through which to view such pedagogy and refers to a number of seminal texts to justify of its relevance. Use of this lens is seen as having a particular rationale. It forces a focus on the agency of the teacher as a mediator of learning who needs to acknowledge the learner’s cultural situatedness (Kozulin, 2003) if school literacy learning for all students is to be as successful as it might be. It also focuses attention on the predominant value systems and social practices that characterize the school settings in which students’ literacy learning is acquired. The paper discusses implications for policy and practice at whole-school, classroom and individual student levels of culturally-responsive pedagogy that is based on a socio-cultural model of learning. In doing so it draws on illustrations from the work of a number of researchers, including that of the author

Leading from within: Distributing leadership to enhance eLearning at ACU

Research on academic leaders of Australian and international higher education institutions has shown how “the broader societal change forces that have unfolded over the past quarter century have generated a set of higher education specific pressures on universities to change, which, in turn, are testing the extent to which these institutions and their leaders are ‘change capable’” (Scott, Coates and Anderson, 2008, p. xiii). Australian Catholic University (ACU) which has six campuses across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, is responding to these change forces in accord with its mission to provide quality teaching, research and service. ACU has focussed on the development of policy, procedures and strategic initiatives related to eLearning. This paper reports on embedding of an initial Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) project designed “to develop distributed leadership capacity in the pedagogical and evaluative dimensions of online teaching and learning” in which six academic staff members were funded for a new role as Online Advisers (OAs). The paper highlights the leadership learning which has occurred for the OAs, identifies ongoing challenges in terms of distributing leadership in a sustainable way for the enhancement of online teaching and learning (OTL) and offers eight insights and challenges into how such projects can be implemented by like institutions

A Long-Established Extension Education Course Goes On-Line

Technology is applied to an Extension education course. A grant was received to build an e-learning framework for Education 331. Instructor and staff created a learning environment that engaged students in field instruction. The course enhances students\u27 knowledge of Extension, agriculture, and adult/continuing education. Educational program development and design are key content areas. Transition to e-learning frameworks included on-line course materials and class time instruction in technologies for content delivery in the Extension System. Students applied content and technology through delivering on-line in-service for Cornell Cooperative Extension professionals