1,446 research outputs found
Technology and The North American Forest
Cet propose une revue de la littĂ©rature concernant lâadoption en AmĂ©rique du nord, au cours des 19e et 20e siĂšcle, de technologies forestiĂšres europĂ©ennes. On discutera surtout du traitement des billes de bois, des technologies touchant les moulin Ă scie et les pĂątes et papier, et ce en relation avec trois thĂšmes importants en histoire des technologies : 1) la nature des changements techniques, 2) lâenvironnement et les impacts sociaux des technologies et 3) le rĂŽle des valeurs sociales dans le choix des technologies. Adoptant une perspective comparative, on signalera Ă©galement les diffĂ©rences entre le cas amĂ©ricain et le cas canadien.This paper is a critical review of recent historical literature relating to nineteenth and twentieth-century European-based technology in the North American forest. My discussion is limited to the industrial technologies of logging, sawmilling, pulp and paper milling, and forestry. These technologies will be discussed with reference to three issues in the history of technology: first, the nature of technological change; second, the environmental and social impacts of technology; and finally, the role of social values in determining choices of technology. Throughout, there will be an attempt to compare Canadian and American perspectives, when these diverge
Examining Cultural Equity: Bostonâs Arts & Culture Sector
There is a cultural equity gap within the United Statesâ arts and culture landscape, constituting unequal representation of various identities in the arts, including, race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. These inequities reproduce within arts management, academia, artist sales, and donor and foundation demographics and priorities. With the objective of working toward creative justice in Bostonâs arts and culture sector, this multiphase study employs transdisciplinary research using inductive, mixed-methods to learn: 1) current influencersâ understanding of the cultural equity gap; 2) current influencersâ motivations to eradicate the cultural equity gap; 3) how arts leaders with various marginalized identities conceptualize and operationalize leadership development for themselves; and 4) how arts leaders with various marginalized identities perceive barriers to access for positions of leadership in the arts and culture sector. These nuanced investigations support the foundational question: What are the social, emotional, economic, and cultural assets within Boston that can lead to creative justice and what reformation is still needed to achieve creative justice? Findings include attitudes and beliefs surrounding cultural equity, examination of historical and present-day oppressive structures, pipeline talent issues and opportunities, levers for change in building equity, and a call for culture shift
CHOICES: A Family-based Childhood Obesity Intervention for Low Income Minority Children
The objective of this presentation is to discuss the effectiveness of a 6-week summer childhood obesity intervention for low-income minority children ages 10-12. Topics will include strategies and best practices for effective summer programming for youth. The target audience includes practitioners, educators, and researchers interested in childhood obesity interventions involving families and communities
Multi-heme Cytochromes in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1:Structures, functions and opportunities
Multi-heme cytochromes are employed by a range of microorganisms to transport electrons over distances of up to tens of nanometers. Perhaps the most spectacular utilization of these proteins is in the reduction of extracellular solid substrates, including electrodes and insoluble mineral oxides of Fe(III) and Mn(III/IV), by species of Shewanella and Geobacter. However, multi-heme cytochromes are found in numerous and phylogenetically diverse prokaryotes where they participate in electron transfer and redox catalysis that contributes to biogeochemical cycling of N, S and Fe on the global scale. These properties of multi-heme cytochromes have attracted much interest and contributed to advances in bioenergy applications and bioremediation of contaminated soils. Looking forward there are opportunities to engage multi-heme cytochromes for biological photovoltaic cells, microbial electrosynthesis and developing bespoke molecular devices. As a consequence it is timely to review our present understanding of these proteins and we do this here with a focus on the multitude of functionally diverse multi-heme cytochromes in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1. We draw on findings from experimental and computational approaches which ideally complement each other in the study of these systems: computational methods can interpret experimentally determined properties in terms of molecular structure to cast light on the relation between structure and function. We show how this synergy has contributed to our understanding of multi-heme cytochromes and can be expected to continue to do so for greater insight into natural processes and their informed exploitation in biotechnologies
Exploring learning through energy dialogues in an informal learning centre
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in fulfilment of the partial requirement of
the degree of Master of Science.
Johannesburg, 2012Campaigns to educate people on how to use and manage energy responsibly are on the
agenda of energy producers, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) and the government of
South Africa. Until recently, publications on energy conservation programmes to inform
these groups on best practice have been non-existent.
This paper reports on an energy conservation programme, âEnergy Dialoguesâ primarily
aimed at offering information as well as influencing pro-environmental attitudes and
consequently the behaviour of grade 11 learners in the Gauteng province of South Africa.
The Energy Dialogues was conducted in a non-formal learning environment. Learners on the
programme were challenged to propose various forms of âaction takingâ to promote Energy
Dialogues amongst their peers, in their school, at home, and in their community. Seven out of
twenty schools met the challenge.
The research project captured the social interaction among learners during the âEnergy
Dialoguesâ programme. A survey confirmed that learners still possess alternative ideas with
regards to energy use and management after classroom instruction. While learners have
significant knowledge of the causes and consequences of poor energy usage, this does not
translate into change in behaviour. Creating an environment of group learning may influence
the learnersâ lifestyle choices. Learners are more inclined to align themselves with the values
of a group. An active learning framework of the Energy Dialogues gave learners an
opportunity to take personal responsibility for the environment. They redefined their culture,
physically engaged in activity and spoke the language of the educator.
While the learnersâ visit to DEC was a one-time occurrence, and the findings cannot be
generalised, this study may inform future longitudinal research which would offer
information of the causal relationships of the components influencing sustainable practices
Computational Modeling of Meteor-Generated Ground Pressure Signatures
We present a thorough validation of a computational approach to predict infrasonic signatures of centimeter-sized meteoroids. We assume that the energy deposition along the meteor trail is dominated by atmospheric drag and simulate the steady, inviscid flow of air in thermochemical equilibrium to compute the meteoroid's near-body pressure signature. This signature is then propagated through a stratified and windy atmosphere to the ground using a methodology adapted from aircraft sonic-boom analysis. An assessment of the numerical accuracy of the near field and the far field solver is presented. The results show that when the source of the signature is the cylindrical Mach-cone, the simulations closely match the observations. The prediction of the shock rise-time, the zero-peak amplitude of the waveform, and the duration of the positive pressure phase are consistently within 10% of the measurements. Uncertainty in the shape of the meteoroid results in a poorer prediction of the trailing part of the waveform. Overall, our results independently verify energy deposition estimates deduced from optical observations
The Cronin Effect, Quantum Evolution and the Color Glass Condensate
We show that the numerical solution of the classical SU(3) Yang-Mills
equations of motion in the McLerran-Venugopalan model for gluon production in
central heavy ion collisions leads to a suppresion at low and an
enhancement at the intermediate region as compared to peripheral heavy
ion and pp collisions at the same energy. Our results are compared to previous,
Color Glass Condensate inspired calculations of gluon production in heavy ion
collisions. We revisit the predictions of the Color Glass Condensate model for
() collisions in Leading Order and show that quantum evolution--in
particular the phenomenon of geometric scaling and change of anomalous
dimensions--preserves the Cronin enhancement of cross section (when
normalized to the leading twist term) in the Leading Order approximation even
though the spectrum can change. We comment on the case when gluon
radiation is included.Comment: 6pages, 4figures, revised versio
A multinational online survey of the goal setting practice of rehabilitation staff with stroke survivors with aphasia
Purpose:
Goal setting is an essential rehabilitation activity. However, multidisciplinary rehabilitation staff goal-setting practice with stroke survivors with aphasia and associated training needs are not well understood.
Methods:
We designed, piloted, and conducted a survey of stroke rehabilitation staff in the UK, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Canada, Ireland. Analysis included descriptive statistics, chi-square and Fisherâs exact tests, and qualitative content analysis.
Results:
We received 251 responses from 118 SLTs and 133 non-SLTs. Most reported setting goals with most or all people with aphasia (78%, 197/251); 57% (138/244) rarely or never provided an accessible copy of goals. All disciplines reported significantly less confidence setting goals with people with aphasia than without aphasia (p = 0.012, n = 119). Barriers to goal setting included the communication impairment (especially severe aphasia) and poor insight. Staff described feeling ill-equipped to support people with aphasia in goal setting; only 27% (67/251) had accessed training to do so.
Conclusions:
Rehabilitation staff described involving stroke survivors with aphasia in goal setting but lacked confidence doing so and receive inadequate training and support. Training should target multidisciplinary staff confidence and communication support strategies and resources so that people with aphasia and families are supported as goal-setting partners
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