Making connections in science: engaging with ICT to enhance curriculum understanding

The “Teaching Teachers for the Future” (TTF) project (DEEWR, 2012) provided the La Trobe University School of Education with the opportunity to rethink the integration of Information and Communication Technology in the science curriculum subjects offered in their teacher education programs. The La Trobe University iteration of the Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) project focused initially on subject in the second semester, third year of the Bachelor of Education course called the Multi-Disciplinary Science & Technology Integrated Experience (MSTIE). Two pairs of pre-service teachers were placed in the school where the TTF ICT Pedagogy Officer (ICTPO) worked as an ICT specialist. The two teams worked with classroom teachers and the ICTPO to cooperatively plan, teach and evaluate a science curriculum project enhanced by strong ICT integration. The experience was a catalyst for significant educational insight, for the students involved, but also for other pre-service teachers and teachers from the school and university. In the second cycle of the project the ICTPO worked with academics from the university to draw on findings from the first cycle in order to design and implement integrated ICT initiatives in a first semester, second year Science curriculum subject. This structure means that students who will take MSTIE in their third year will have a strong foundation of Science ICT integration on which to base their MSTIE preparation and implementation. &nbsp

Impact Assessment of African Agricultural Technology Development and Transfer: Synthesis of Findings and Lessons Learned

Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Downloads July 2008 - June 2009: 13,

And Tommy Goes, Too

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/1024/thumbnail.jp

Investigating five key predictive text entry with combined distance and keystroke modelling

This paper investigates text entry on mobile devices using only five-keys. Primarily to support text entry on smaller devices than mobile phones, this method can also be used to maximise screen space on mobile phones. Reported combined Fitt's law and keystroke modelling predicts similar performance with bigram prediction using a five-key keypad as is currently achieved on standard mobile phones using unigram prediction. User studies reported here show similar user performance on five-key pads as found elsewhere for novice nine-key pad users

Winslow elliptic smoothing equations extended to apply to general regions of an unstructured mesh

In any engineering endeavor, it is important to have the ability to efficiently and intelligently break up a region of interest in order to explore and investigate the interesting and dynamic aspects of the system enclosed in the region. In the field of fluid mechanics - and, in particular, computational fluid dynamics - this region breakup (known as discretization) has traditionally been done using structured meshes but, because of their flexibility with capturing real-world geometry, unstructured meshes are being increasingly utilized. Not surprisingly, techniques that have traditionally been reserved for structured meshes are migrating to the world of unstructured meshing as well. One such technique is the application of the Winslow elliptic smoothing equations to an unstructured mesh. The Winslow equations have proven to be powerful tools for smoothing unstructured meshes and some early difficulty using the Winslow equations with unstructured meshes was alleviated when it was determined that it was not necessary for the entire computational mesh to be constructed as an overarching system of nodes and elements, but rather, each node in computational space could be treated as an individual virtual control volume. Winslow equations have been shown to be ideal for smoothing non-boundary nodes in inviscid regions but of limited use in other situations. This presented two opportunities to improve and extend the usefulness of the Winslow equations in relation to unstructured meshes. Research documented herein allowed the Winslow equations to be applied to boundary nodes which, traditionally, have been held static while interior mesh points are smoothed. In addition, several methods were tested to make the Winslow equations applicable to highly anisotropic viscous regions of a mesh. The most successful methodology that was developed and explored in relation to a viscous region was to use an iteratively adapted computational space for each of the nodes in the viscous region. This technique allowed a mesh with an amenable connectivity structure to be smoothed in such a way that it could match a desired viscous profile based on an initial off-body spacing and the geometric progression of the viscous layers of the mesh

Reducing Smooth Sumac Dominance in Native Tallgrass Prairie

Smooth sumac (Rhus glabra L.) is a resprouting shrub native to the tallgrass prairie region that increases in density without an active disturbance regime. Our objective was to use prescribed fire and herbicides to decrease smooth sumac density as a strategy to improve a degraded tall grass prairie remnant. In two separate experiments repeated in space and time, we used prescribed fire in combination with herbicides at various rates and two application methods to develop an effective management scheme for reducing smooth sumac. We used a randomized complete block design with 13 herbicide treatments and a control with three replicates in burned and non-burned areas. Results were similar in both experiments in which herbicide treatment and burning were the significant main effects. All herbicide treatments reduced smooth sumac stem density compared to the control, but no distinct advantage was detected regarding specific herbicide, application rate, or whether the herbicide was applied as a broadcast spray or with a hand-held wick. We expected burning to make the plant more susceptible to herbicides, but burning increased stem density. In this tallgrass prairie remnant, we determined that herbicides were the most effective management tool in reducing smooth sumac stem density

The effect of surgical approach on the histology of the femoral head following resurfacing of the hip : analysis of retrieval specimens

Objectives: We aimed to determine the effect of surgical approach on the histology of the femoral head following resurfacing of the hip. Methods: We performed a histological assessment of the bone under the femoral component taken from retrieval specimens of patients having revision surgery following resurfacing of the hip. We compared the number of empty lacunae in specimens from patients who had originally had a posterior surgical approach with the number in patients having alternative surgical approaches. Results: We found a statistically significant increase in the percentage of empty lacunae in retrieval specimens from patients who had the posterior approach compared with other surgical approaches (p < 0.001). Conclusions: This indicates that the vascular compromise that occurs during the posterior surgical approach does have long-term effects on the bone of the femoral head, even if it does not cause overt avascular necrosis

A Survey of Solver-Related Geometry and Meshing Issues

There is a concern in the computational fluid dynamics community that mesh generation is a significant bottleneck in the CFD workflow. This is one of several papers that will help set the stage for a moderated panel discussion addressing this issue. Although certain general "rules of thumb" and a priori mesh metrics can be used to ensure that some base level of mesh quality is achieved, inadequate consideration is often given to the type of solver or particular flow regime on which the mesh will be utilized. This paper explores how an analyst may want to think differently about a mesh based on considerations such as if a flow is compressible vs. incompressible or hypersonic vs. subsonic or if the solver is node-centered vs. cell-centered. This paper is a high-level investigation intended to provide general insight into how considering the nature of the solver or flow when performing mesh generation has the potential to increase the accuracy and/or robustness of the solution and drive the mesh generation process to a state where it is no longer a hindrance to the analysis process