Under the hood: How an authentic online course was designed, delivered and evaluated

A key challenge for university professionals is to identify how to construct more interactive, engaging and student-centred environments that promote 21st century skills and encourage selfdirected learning. Existing research suggests the use of real-life tasks supported by new technologies, together with access to the vast array of open educational resources on the Internet, have the potential to improve the quality of online learning. This paper describes how an authentic online professional development course for higher education practitioners was designed and implemented using a learning management system (LMS) and an open companion website. It also briefly discusses how the initial iteration was evaluated and identifies recommendations for improving future iterations of the cours

A flight investigation of simulated data link communications during single-pilot IFR flight

A Flight Data Console (FDC) was developed to allow simulation of a digital communications link to replace the current voice communication system used in air traffic control (ATC). The voice system requires manipulation of radio equipment, read-back of clearances, and mental storage of critical information items, all contributing to high workload, particularly during single-pilot operations. This was an inflight study to determine how a digital communications system might reduce cockpit workload, improve flight proficiency, and be accepted by general aviation pilots. Results show that instrument flight, including approach and landing, can be accomplished quite effectively using a digital data link system for ATC communications. All pilots expressed a need for a back-up voice channel. When included, this channel was used sparingly and principally to confirm any item of information about which there might be uncertainty

Inflation, Renormalization, and CMB Anisotropies

In single-field, slow-roll inflationary models, scalar and tensorial (Gaussian) perturbations are both characterized by a zero mean and a non-zero variance. In position space, the corresponding variance of those fields diverges in the ultraviolet. The requirement of a finite variance in position space forces its regularization via quantum field renormalization in an expanding universe. This has an important impact on the predicted scalar and tensorial power spectra for wavelengths that today are at observable scales. In particular, we find a non-trivial change in the consistency condition that relates the tensor-to-scalar ratio "r" to the spectral indices. For instance, an exact scale-invariant tensorial power spectrum, n_t=0, is now compatible with a non-zero ratio r= 0.12 +/- 0.06, which is forbidden by the standard prediction (r=-8n_t). Forthcoming observations of the influence of relic gravitational waves on the CMB will offer a non-trivial test of the new predictions.Comment: 4 pages, jpconf.cls, to appear in the Proceedings of Spanish Relativity Meeting 2009 (ERE 09), Bilbao (Spain

Maleimido substituted aromatic cyclotriphosphazenes

4-Aminophenoxy cyclotriphosphazenes are reacted with maleic anhydride to produce maleamic acids which are converted to the maleimides. The maleimides are polymerized. By selection of starting materials (e.g., hexakis amino or trisaminophenoxy-trisphenoxy-cyclo-triphosphazenes), selection of molar proportions of reactants, use of mixtures of anhydrides and use of dianhydrides as bridging groups a variety of maleimides and polymers are produced. The polymers have high limiting oxygen indices, high char yields and other useful heat and fire resistant properties making them useful as, for example, impregnants of fabrics

Thomas-Fermi versus one- and two-dimensional regimes of a trapped dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate

We derive the criteria for the Thomas-Fermi regime of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate in cigar, pancake and spherical geometries. This also naturally gives the criteria for the mean-field one- and two-dimensional regimes. Our predictions, including the Thomas-Fermi density profiles, are shown to be in excellent agreement with numerical solutions. Importantly, the anisotropy of the interactions has a profound effect on the Thomas-Fermi/low-dimensional criteria.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Photoacoustic detection of stimulated emission pumping in p-difluorobenzene

Photoacoustic detection has been used to monitor a stimulated emission pumping process in p‐difluorobenzene. Using the Ã^(1)B_(2u)5^1 state as an intermediate, several vibrational levels of the ground electronic state were populated. The photoacoustic method is an attractive alternative to other detection techniques because of its sensitivity, simplicity, and its ability to differentiate between stimulated emission pumping and excited state absorption. An example of excited state absorption in aniline is given

Low density bismaleimide-carbon microballoon composites

A process is described for the preparation of composite laminate.structures of glass cloth preimpregnated with polybismaleimide resin and adhered to a polybismaleimide glass or aromatic polyamide paper honeycomb cell structure that is filled or partially filled with a syntactic foam consisting of a mixture of bismaleimide resin and carbon microballoons. The carbon microballoons are prepared by pyrolyzing phenolic microballoons and subsequently bonded using a 2% bismaleimide solution. The laminate structures are cured for two hours at 477 deg K and are adhered to the honeycomb bismaleimide adhesive using a pressure of 700 KN/sq m pressure at 450 deg K. The laminate composite is then post-cured for two hours at 527 deg K to produce a composite laminate having a density in the range from about 95 kilograms per cubic meter to 130 kilograms per cubic meter

New Structure In The Shapley Supercluster

We present new radial velocities for 189 galaxies in a 91 sq. deg region of the Shapley supercluster measured with the FLAIR-II spectrograph on the UK Schmidt Telescope. The data reveal two sheets of galaxies linking the major concentrations of the supercluster. The supercluster is not flattened in Declination as was suggested previously and it may be at least 30 percent larger than previously thought with a correspondingly larger contribution to the motion of the Local Group.Comment: LaTex: 2 pages, 1 figure, includes conf_iap.sty style file. To appear in proceedings of The 14th IAP Colloquium: Wide Field Surveys in Cosmology, held in Paris, 1998 May 26--30, eds. S.Colombi, Y.Mellie

Fire blocking systems for aircraft seat cushions

A configuration and method for reducing the flammability of bodies of organic materials that thermally decompose to give flammable gases comprises covering the body with a flexible matrix that catalytically cracks the flammable gases to less flammable species. Optionally, the matrix is covered with a gas impermeable outer layer. In a preferred embodiment, the invention takes the form of an aircraft seat in which the body is a poly(urethane) seat cushion, the matrix is an aramid fabric or felt and the outer layer is an aluminum film

Peer reviews: What can we learn from our students?

This paper describes lessons learnt whilst using an online peer review system in an undergraduate unit for pre-service teachers. In this unit students learn to use information technologies as part of their future teaching practice. The unit aims to foster graduates who become life-long reflective educators by providing opportunities to explore and reflect on how they might use technology in authentic learning situations. Whilst peer review is an appropriate activity for supporting critical thinking and reflective practice in this kind of unit, it requires a number of decisions to be made in relation to student preparation and support, implementation strategy, and technological infrastructure to make it work in specific contexts. Much research has been conducted in recent years to inform educators in making these decisions. However, there are still gaps in the research, particularly in how to improve the quality and consistency of feedback that students give to each other in their feedback. This paper describes the experiences of implementing an online peer review system aiming to improve quality and consistency of feedback. This exploration has revealed that we can learn much about ways to improve our teaching practices by giving students an opportunity to review each other’s work and give each other feedback