Graduate attributes: How some university students experience and learn them

The voices of university students are often absent from academic discourses on the learning of graduate attributes (GAs). Such attributes are mostly constructed and conceptualised from the viewpoint of academics, institutions, education authorities and industry. However, as students within democratic contexts are increasingly challenged to assume greater responsibility for their own growth and development, it seems imperative that they participate in discussions related to the acquiring of graduate attributes. This article reports on how students at one South African university understand and relate to graduate attributes. Data were generated from a group of students at the University of the Western Cape through focus group interviews and photo elicitation. The results indicate that students who understand what graduate attributes are and how they can acquire these attributes might enhance such students’ further growth and their employability

Simulating the Water Requirements and Economic Feasibility of Corn in the Midwest

An evaluation of the economics of supplemental irrigation when using a surface water supply must be site specific in order to account for variations in soil moisture holding capacity, watershed area supplying the runoff, climatic conditions, and proposed irrigation management procedures. With the use of farm specific simulation models to determine grain yields, availability of irrigation water, and economic expenditures involved in irrigation, an economic evaluation of supplemental irrigation can be performed, In the model presented in this report, the Duncan SIMAIZ model is used to predict grain yields using long-term daily weather information. SIMAIZ also determines irrigation water demand for the crop. The Haan Water Yield Model is used to predict flow into a reservoir using the same weather information. By knowing daily water flow into a reservoir and water demand for irrigation, a reservoir size is determined which will supply water at all times for the study period. Simulations are then run by incrementally reducing, by volume, the size of this reservoir, thus limiting the availability of irrigation water, and resulting in reduced irrigated yields. An economic evaluation is performed for each reservoir size. Costs and benefits included are: initial cost of constructing the reservoir, yearly reservoir maintenance cost, yearly irrigation costs of operation, and additional income resulting from the increase in grain yields. After the project life has been assumed, the model determines the capital available for investing in an irrigation system for a given year and reservoir size. By ranking these values, a probability distribution is obtained indicating the probability of making money in any given year. By using the Central Limit Theorem, these results are converted to the probability of making money over the life of the system. A sensitivity analysis examines the sensitivity of capital available for investment in an irrigation system to select input variation. The results indicate that great care should be exercised when assigning values to some inputs, while for others, a reasonable estimate is adequate. This model can be used as a tool for evaluating which irrigation practices, if any, are economically feasible. An example of its use is shown

More Than One Personal Risk Factor is Associated with Worse Clinical Outcomes Among Adolescents Following Concussion

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Attenuated and Protease-Profile Modified Sendai Virus Vectors as a New Tool for Virotherapy of Solid Tumors

Peer reviewe

Draft genome sequences of Pseudomonas fluorescens strains SF39a and SF4c, potential plant growth promotion and biocontrol agents

Pseudomonas fluorescens SF4c and SF39a, strains isolated from wheat rhizosphere, have potential applications in plant growth promotion and biocontrol of fungal diseases of crop plants. We report the draft genome sequences of SF4c and SF39a with estimated sizes of 6.5 Mb and 5.9 Mb, respectively.Fil: Ly, Lindsey K.. University of Massachussets; Estados UnidosFil: Underwood, Grace E.. University of Massachussets; Estados UnidosFil: McCully, Lucy M.. University of Massachussets; Estados UnidosFil: Bitzer, Adam S.. University of Massachussets; Estados UnidosFil: Godino, Agustina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Bucci, Vanni. University of Massachussets; Estados UnidosFil: Brigham, Christopher J.. University of Massachussets; Estados UnidosFil: Principe, Analia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Fischer, Sonia Elizabeth. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Silby, Mark W.. University of Massachussets; Estados Unido

The Secret to Successful User Communities: An Analysis of Computer Associates’ User Groups

This paper provides the first large scale study that examines the impact of both individual- and group-specific factors on the benefits users obtain from their user communities. By empirically analysing 924 survey responses from individuals in 161 Computer Associates' user groups, this paper aims to identify the determinants of successful user communities. To measure success, the amount of time individual members save through having access to their user networks is used. As firms can significantly profit from successful user communities, this study proposes four key implications of the empirical results for the management of user communities

Influence of solvent granularity on the effective interaction between charged colloidal suspensions

We study the effect of solvent granularity on the effective force between two charged colloidal particles by computer simulations of the primitive model of strongly asymmetric electrolytes with an explicitly added hard sphere solvent. Apart from molecular oscillating forces for nearly touching colloids which arise from solvent and counterion layering, the counterions are attracted towards the colloidal surfaces by solvent depletion providing a simple statistical description of hydration. This, in turn, has an important influence on the effective forces for larger distances which are considerably reduced as compared to the prediction based on the primitive model. When these forces are repulsive, the long-distance behaviour can be described by an effective Yukawa pair potential with a solvent-renormalized charge. As a function of colloidal volume fraction and added salt concentration, this solvent-renormalized charge behaves qualitatively similar to that obtained via the Poisson-Boltzmann cell model but there are quantitative differences. For divalent counterions and nano-sized colloids, on the other hand, the hydration may lead to overscreened colloids with mutual attraction while the primitive model yields repulsive forces. All these new effects can be accounted for through a solvent-averaged primitive model (SPM) which is obtained from the full model by integrating out the solvent degrees of freedom. The SPM was used to access larger colloidal particles without simulating the solvent explicitly.Comment: 14 pages, 16 craphic

Global Consensus Position Statement on the Use of Testosterone Therapy for Women

The only evidence-based indication for testosterone for women is for HSDD. There are insufficient data for using testosterone for any other symptom/condition or for disease prevention

Capturing Desire: Rhetorical Strategies and the Affectivity of Discourse

In this article I argue that psychoanalytical theory can help us understand the emotional force of political rhetoric. I undertake a theoretical enquiry into the method of interpreting political speeches as strategies of affective persuasion. Both rhetorical and psychoanalytical studies converge in their concern with the production of ‘plausible stories’ that aim to fold psychic investments into political judgements. To capture desire, I claim, political rhetoric must articulate ‘symptomatic beliefs’ in relation to wider situational exigencies. I sketch three distinct psychoanalytical approaches, each of which emphasises a different scenario of unconscious organisation where rhetorical strategies are pertinent: namely Freudian, Kleinian, and Lacanian approaches. These are then applied to the example of a controversial rhetorical intervention – Enoch Powell’s infamous Birmingham speech of 1968 – to demonstrate the various potential focii when undertaking analysis

Bethe-hole polarization analyser for the magnetic vector of light

The nature of light as an electromagnetic wave with transverse components has been confirmed using optical polarizers, which are sensitive to the orientation of the electric field. Recent advances in nanoscale optical technologies demand their magnetic counterpart, which can sense the orientation of the optical magnetic field. Here we report that subwavelength metallic apertures on infinite plane predominantly sense the magnetic field of light, establishing the orientation of the magnetic component of light as a separate entity from its electric counterpart. A subwavelength aperture combined with a tapered optical fibre probe can also serve as a nanoscale polarization analyser for the optical magnetic field, analogous to a nanoparticle sensing the local electric polarization. As proof of its functionality, we demonstrate the measurement of a magnetic field orientation that is parallel to the electric field, as well as a circularly polarized magnetic field in the presence of a linearly polarized electric field