Digestibility Studies with Laying Hens

Poultry Scienc

Tuning the Solar Dynamics Observatory Onboard Kalman Filter

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was launched in 2010. SDO is a sun pointing semi-autonomous spacecraft in a geosynchronous orbit that allows nearly continuous observations of the sun. SDO is equipped with coarse sun sensors, two star trackers, a digital sun sensor, and three two-axis inertial reference units (IRU). The IRUs are temperature sensitive and were designed to operate in a stable thermal environment. Due to battery degradation concerns the IRU heaters were not used on SDO and the onboard filter was tuned to accommodate the noisier IRU data. Since launch currents have increased on two IRUs, one had to eventually be powered off. Recent ground tests on a battery similar to SDO indicated the heaters would have negligible impact on battery degradation, so in 2016 a decision was made to turn the heaters on. This paper presents the analysis and results of updating the filter tuning parameters onboard SDO with the IRUs now operating in their intended thermal environment

Looking From The Outside In: The Issue of Equal Access to Computer-Mediated Learning by Distance Learners in Higher Education

This study examines the experience of distance learners, particularly those who fit into different equity groups, with online learning in higher education. Cyber education is no longer the realm of science fiction. Instead, the use of computer technology has now become an integral part of learning in the modern university. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) - it is hoped - will extend opportunities for learning outside the preexisting parameters of distance education and enhance the learning opportunities and outcomes for all students within these courses. Whilst there are many potentials for the new technology, the implementation of CMC in distance education, however, may assume that students will possess a pre-existing practical knowledge of computer technology. It also may assume equality of students in terms of access, competency, and opportunity. However, not all students have had the opportunity, the desire, or even the confidence to gain access to this medium. Often factors such as little or no income, geographical isolation, gender, time constraints, age, cultural background and disabilities compound to separate distance learners from the very technology that has the capabilities to provide them with greater opportunities in tertiary education. This study, conducted over a five-year period from 1998 to 2003, spans a time of rapid change in tertiary institutions in Australia, from the initial incorporation to the now widespread utilisation of computer-mediated technology in distance learning, the so-called 'third-generation' of distance learning. The aim of the study has been to explore the lived reality of a select group of 35 distance education students through their experiences with CMC

Frontline players in Australian higher education: challenges facing Heads of School in a regional university

This study sought to identify the roles and responsibilities of Heads of School in a regional Australian University, and the factors that promote and inhibit the capacity of the Heads of School to perform their function effectively and efficiently. It is set in the context of rapid and pervasive changes in the strategic direction, operation and management of Australia's universities as they necessarily respond to fundamental changes in their political, social and economic environments. The study employed a modified Delphi design for the collection and analysis of information. The Delphi method is a structured process for collecting and synthesizing ideas and opinions through a triangulation of interviews, discussions and questionnaires, interspersed with controlled feedback. Findings of the study identified numerous major roles and responsibilities ascribed to Heads of School at the university, as well as the major factors that act to promote or inhibit their effectiveness. Also identified are a range of significant challenges for the university's middle management. Finally the current decision-making paradigm that led to the Heads of School position statement and operational realities is questioned. Areas for future research are identified in the study including: • The functioning of the current process driven paradigm for ascribing roles and responsibilities of Heads of School; • The nature and implications of the various management 'styles' of Heads of School; and • The relationship between time available for the role of Head of School and the level of creative management

Repertoires of governance among members of Australian university governing boards

Recent corporate collapses have focused public attention on the roles and responsibilities of governing boards. These issues are also significant for Australian universities. This research examines the repertoires of ideas that public university governing body members use to make sense of their governance functions. Through a qualitative study of the language of members of five university governing boards (councils), it identifies the repertoires, or 'regimes of justification' (Boltanksi & Thevenot 1991), used by board members to interpret the principles and practices of university governance. My thesis is that board members of university councils in Australia use several distinct repertoires - of business, of the community, of traditional university values and of professionalism - to express their ideas about university governance. Analysis of these repertoires, each of which implies a different 'logic of action' (Bacharach, Bamberger, & Sonnenstuhl 1996), illuminates our understanding of why board members interpret governance functions in different and sometimes contradictory ways. It also provides a means to assess the influence of 'managerialist' ideas on Australian university governance and the extent to which Australian university governance is yet to become professionalised. The theoretical basis for the research is drawn from the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu, coupled with the discourse analytical method of interpretative repertoires (Wetherell & Potter 1988). By viewing board governance as a locus of discursive struggles over differing systems of value, it becomes possible to analyse the impact on 'practical politics' (Heffernan 1997) of the repertoires of key ideas revealed in discourse by governing board members. This research affirms the significance of organisational and wider societal values in non-for-profit governance. Broad concepts of the public good, participation and the university ideal are used to counterbalance an extreme managerialist view that universities are no more than a particular type of business. It is noted that certain repertoires may be more commonly employed in particular institutions such as regional universities. Reflexive consideration of these differing repertoires by council members could contribute to more effective university governance

Spatial organisation of groundwater dynamics and streamflow response from different hydropedological units in a montane catchment

Funding was provided by the Leibniz Association (SAW-2012-IGB 4167) within the International Leibniz Graduate School: Aquatic boundaries and linkages- Aqualink. We would like to thank the NRI staff for their help during field work.Peer reviewedPostprin

"Engaging with birth stories in pregnancy: a hermeneutic phenomenological study of women's experiences across two generations"

BACKGROUND: The birth story has been widely understood as a crucial source of knowledge about childbirth. What has not been reported is the effect that birth stories may have on primigravid women's understandings of birth. Findings are presented from a qualitative study exploring how two generations of women came to understand birth in the milieu of other's stories. The prior assumption was that birth stories must surely have a positive or negative influence on listeners, steering them towards either medical or midwifery-led models of care. METHODS: A Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used. Twenty UK participants were purposively selected and interviewed. Findings from the initial sample of 10 women who were pregnant in 2012 indicated that virtual media was a primary source of birth stories. This led to recruitment of a second sample of 10 women who gave birth in the 1970s-1980s, to determine whether they were more able to translate information into knowledge via stories told through personal contact and not through virtual technologies RESULTS: Findings revealed the experience of 'being-in-the-world' of birth and of stories in that world. From a Heideggerian perspective, the birth story was constructed through 'idle talk' (the taken for granted assumptions of things, which come into being through language). Both oral stories and those told through technology were described as the 'modern birth story'. The first theme 'Stories are difficult like that', examines the birth story as problematic and considers how stories shape meaning. The second 'It's a generational thing', considers how women from two generations came to understand what their experience might be. The third 'Birth in the twilight of certainty,' examines women's experience of Being in a system of birth as constructed, portrayed and sustained in the stories being shared. CONCLUSIONS: The women pregnant in 2012 framed their expectations in the language of choice, whilst the women who birthed in the 1970s-1980s framed their experience in the language of safety. For both, however, the world of birth was the same; saturated with, and only legitimised by the birth of a healthy baby. Rather than creating meaningful understanding, the 'idle talk' of birth made both cohorts fearful of leaving the relative comfort of the 'system', and of claiming an alternative birth

The Social and Political Dimensions of the Ebola Response: Global Inequality, Climate Change, and Infectious Disease

The 2014 Ebola crisis has highlighted public-health vulnerabilities in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea – countries ravaged by extreme poverty, deforestation and mining-related disruption of livelihoods and ecosystems, and bloody civil wars in the cases of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Ebola’s emergence and impact are grounded in the legacy of colonialism and its creation of enduring inequalities within African nations and globally, via neoliberalism and the Washington Consensus. Recent experiences with new and emerging diseases such as SARS and various strains of HN influenzas have demonstrated the effectiveness of a coordinated local and global public health and education-oriented response to contain epidemics. To what extent is international assistance to fight Ebola strengthening local public health and medical capacity in a sustainable way, so that other emerging disease threats, which are accelerating with climate change, may be met successfully? This chapter considers the wide-ranging socio-political, medical, legal and environmental factors that have contributed to the rapid spread of Ebola, with particular emphasis on the politics of the global and public health response and the role of gender, social inequality, colonialism and racism as they relate to the mobilization and establishment of the public health infrastructure required to combat Ebola and other emerging diseases in times of climate change

Personalisation in MOOCs: a critical literature review

The advent and rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have brought many issues to the area of educational technology. Researchers in the field have been addressing these issues such as pedagogical quality of MOOCs, high attrition rates, and sustainability of MOOCs. However, MOOCs personalisation has not been subject of the wide discussions around MOOCs. This paper presents a critical literature survey and analysis of the available literature on personalisation in MOOCs to identify the needs, the current states and efforts to personalise learning in MOOCs. The findings illustrate that there is a growing attention to personalisation to improve learners’ individual learning experiences in MOOCs. In order to implement personalised services, personalised learning path, personalised assessment and feedback, personalised forum thread and recommendation service for related learning materials or learning tasks are commonly applied

Cytogerontology since 1881: A reappraisal of August Weismann and a review of modern progress

Cytogerontology, the science of cellular ageing, originated in 1881 with the prediction by August Weismann that the somatic cells of higher animals have limited division potential. Weismann's prediction was derived by considering the role of natural selection in regulating the duration of an organism's life. For various reasons, Weismann's ideas on ageing fell into neglect following his death in 1914, and cytogerontology has only reappeared as a major research area following the demonstration by Hayflick and Moorhead in the early 1960s that diploid human fibroblasts are restricted to a finite number of divisions in vitro. In this review we give a detailed account of Weismann's theory, and we reveal that his ideas were both more extensive in their scope and more pertinent to current research than is generally recognised. We also appraise the progress which has been made over the past hundred years in investigating the causes of ageing, with particular emphasis being given to (i) the evolution of ageing, and (ii) ageing at the cellular level. We critically assess the current state of knowledge in these areas and recommend a series of points as primary targets for future research