Using a Crowdsourcing Knowledge Base to Support the Sustainability and Social Compromise Skill in Computer Science Engineering Studies

The Skill "Sustainability and Social Commitment" is commonly accepted as essential in today's world. However it proves tricky to introduce into the curriculum, mainly because of lack of knowledgeable teachers. To address this issue we present a knowledge base that brings together scientific articles, books, videos, compilations of data, experiences, etc., related to sustainability and knowledge areas associated with computer science engineering. This is a valuable tool that should provide to the teacher accurate and useful information in the research task of finding links between her course and the "Sustainability and Social Commitment" skill

Safety analysis of thorium-based fuels in the General Electric Standard BWR

A denatured (U-233/Th)O/sub 2/ fuel assembly has been designed which is energy equivalent to and hardware interchangeable with a modern boiling water reactor (BWR) reference reload assembly. Relative to the reference UO/sub 2/ fuel, the thorium fuel design shows better performance during normal and transient reactor operation for the BWR/6 product line and will meet or exceed current safety and licensing criteria. Power distributions are flattened and thermal operating margins are increased by reduced steam void reactivity coefficients caused by U-233. However, a (U-233/Th)O/sub 2/-fueled BWR will likely have reduced operating flexibility. A (U-235/Th)O/sub 2/-fueled BWR should perform similar to a UO/sub 2/-fueled BWR under all operating conditions. A (Pu/Th)O/sub 2/-fueled BWR may have reduced thermal margins and similar accident response and be less stable than a UO/sub 2/-fueled BWR. The assessment is based on comparisions of point model and infinite lattice predictions of various nuclear reactivity parameters, including void reactivity coefficients, Doppler reactivity coefficients, and control blade worths

Curricula for economic and social gain

Discusses ways of forming curriculum to promote employability and citizenship, without compromising academic values. Economic success is an aim of governments around the world. Their ‘human capital’ stance towards higher education implies the need to develop graduates’ capabilities to the full. The concept of graduate ‘employability’, currently being developed in the light of theory and empirical data, is beginning to find acceptance in the UK. One of the keys to its acceptability in higher education has been the alignment of employability with good learning – that is, learning that is manifested in complex outcomes. However, the achievement of complex outcomes requires a programme-level focus, rather than a focus on individual study units. This article reports on the way such a programme-level approach was adopted in four different universities in the UK, and how relatively small-scale actions have the potential to augment students’ employability. The implications for policy at the levels of the system, the higher education institution and the academic department are discussed

Are graphomotor tasks affected by working in the contralateral hemispace in 6- to 10-year-old children?

Contains fulltext : 58255.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)It has been shown that crossing the midline affects the performance of fine motor skills but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. This issue is particularly important with respect to the development of motor activities such as writing or pointing in children. Forty-eight right-handed children performed goal-directed movements toward targets positioned either at the midline, or in the left (contralateral side), or right (ipsilateral) hemispace. Findings revealed that movements were more accurate in ipsilateral than in contralateral space and their overall accuracy increased by 42% between 6 and 10 years of age. Differences in movement time among hemispaces depended on the joints predominantly involved in producing the movements (wrist versus fingers). Lower accuracy of movements in contralateral workspace is also present when participants do not have to cross the midline but only move within this workspace. In motor proficient children, no developmental trends were found for these hemispace effects