Doctoral candidates' information practice through research writing : cases of East-Asian students in Australian universities

Information practices are pertinent to research writing, particularly in the writing of a literature review. This study examined East Asian doctoral (PhD) candidates’ information practices as a construct in writing literature reviews for social science theses in Australian universities. The outcomes of this research complement and extend the current documented strategies and regulations in information practices in both fields of Higher Degree Research education and Library and Information Science (LIS). Conceptualised in terms of Foucauldian (1972) “statements”, this study contributes to a reconceptualisation of information practices in research writing through the analysis of students’ literature reviews. Further, this research sheds light on research pedagogy for researchers who are committed to being educators more than supervisors. For doctoral students this thesis provides in part a picture of information practices in research writing. Information practices in literature reviews have largely been under-researched and/or overlooked in the fields of LIS and research education. Past studies in these two areas have contributed to developing research students’ information search abilities and writing abilities through various strategies (Carter, 2011a; Cotterall, 2011a; Kavuluru et al., 2012; Lee & Kamler, 2008; McCulloch et al., 2010; Olsson, 2010; Switzer & Lepkowski, 2007), while there is lack of combined investigation about information practices in research writing. Moreover, there are few studies investigating the statements (Foucault, 1972) per se in these two areas. Statement which is the core unit of discourse brings about the particular modalities of existence such as the information practices in research writing (Foucault, 1972). The investigation on statement can generate new insights into research writing by relating to information practices in both research education and LIS

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Knowledge in practice : a grounded theory approach to constructing beginning Mandarin teachers' use of the communicative language teaching approach

The Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach, promoted by language education programmes, has become the prevailing language teaching methodology across the world. However, the process about the beginning language teacher’s application of CLT is not yet explored in past research. This research aimed to study the use of CLT through the beginning Mandarin teacher’s perspectives. A grounded theory approach is employed as the research methodology. Data was collected from interviews of eight beginning Mandarin teachers and my reflective journals. The teacher interviewed in the study have been teaching Mandarin in primary schools (stage one to three) and junior high schools (stage four) for one or two years. Major findings suggest a three-dimension explication for the practice of CLT in Mandarin class. The epistemic dimension indicates the beginning Mandarin teacher’s understanding of CLT; the perceptual dimension reveals the teacher’s concerns of CLT as against their preferences, teaching objectives, and surroundings; and the situational dimension explicates the teacher’s adaption of CLT in their particular teaching situations. The integral, emergent process of the three dimensions demonstrates a procedure in the transmission of the CLT theory into practice, and implies the practice of teacher education programmes, language curriculum, and Mandarin teaching to consider issues in the teacher’s knowledge-practice process

Grounded theory approach to beginning teachers' perspectives of communicative language teaching practice

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach has become the prevailing language teaching methodol-ogy across the world. However, beginning language teachers' application of CLT in foreign language teach-ing has yet to be explored in past research. This paper reports the use of CLT from the perspective of begin-ning Mandarin teachers. A grounded theory approach is employed as research methodology. Data were col-lected from interviews with eight beginning Mandarin teachers. Major findings suggest a three-dimensional explication for beginning teachers' practice of CLT in teaching Mandarin as a foreign language. The epistem-ic dimension indicates the beginning Mandarin teachers' concepts of CLT; the perceptual dimension reveals the teachers' concerns about CLT as being opposed to their preferences, teaching objectives and surround-ings; and the situational dimension explicates the teachers' adaptation of CLT in their particular teaching situations. It argues that the integral, emergent process of the three dimensions demonstrates the process un-derlying beginning teachers' application of CLT theory to practice

The discursive construction of literature review : an examination of Chinese PhD students’ information behaviour

Information behaviour is a pertinent practice throughout students’ research work. However, research students, particularly those with English as an additional language, experienced challenges and complications when studying in a western university. Issues relating to their information behaviour during the research process has largely been under-addressed and/or overlooked in both the fields of library and information science (LIS) and higher education. As part of a larger research project, this paper focuses on four Chinese PhD students’ information behaviour in literature review practices. Semi-structured interviews were analysed through Foucault’s concepts of discourse, knowledge and power. The paper argues that the PhD students’ literature review practices, in terms of searching and synthesising relevant articles, are subject to two forms of discursive practices – the problem-based and resource-based practices. This study provides insights for research educators and students in the discourse of research education to weigh the practical consequences of different discursive practices in the construction of researchers’ scholarly work

A reexamination of factor momentum: How strong is it?

Recent studies show that most financial market anomalies exhibit a momentum effect. Based on two datasets, (i) an original 22-factor sample and (ii) a more comprehensive 187-factor sample, we find that factor momentum effect is weak at the individual factor level. In both samples, only about 22%– 27% of the factors exhibit strong return continuation and dominate the factor momentum portfolio while the remaining factors do not. The factor momentum strategies do not outperform the corresponding long-only strategies in either sample. The choice of factors affects the ability of factor momentum to explain individual stock momentum

Study on the Pressure Drop Variation and Prediction Model of Heavy Oil Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow

To explore the pressure drop variation with the viscosity of heavy oil gas-liquid two-phase flow, experiments with different viscosity gas-liquid two-phase flows are carried out. The experimental results show that the total pressure drop increases with increasing liquid viscosity when the superficial gas and liquid flow rates are the same. The liquid superficial velocity is 0.52 m/s, and the superficial gas velocity is 12 m/s in the vertical and inclined pipes, as there is a negative friction pressure drop when the superficial gas and liquid velocities are small. Additionally, the increased range of the total pressure drop decreases with increasing liquid viscosity. Considering the heavy oil gas-liquid two-phase flow, a prediction model of the pressure drop in high-viscosity liquid-gas two-phase flow is established. The new model is verified by experimental data and compared with existing models. The new model has the smallest error, basically within 15%. Based on the prediction of the wellbore pressure distribution of four wells in the BeiA oilfield, the new model prediction results are closer to the measured results, and the error is the smallest. The new model can be used to predict pressure drops in high-viscosity gas-liquid two-phase flow

Numerical Simulation of Flashing Flows in a Converging–Diverging Nozzle with Interfacial Area Transport Equation

Flashing flows of initially sub-cooled water in a converging–diverging nozzle is investigated numerically in the framework of the two-fluid model (TFM). The thermal non-equilibrium effect of phase change is considered by an interfacial heat transfer model, while the pressure jump across the interface is ignored. The bubble size distribution induced by nucleation, bubble growth/shrinkage, coalescence, and breakup is described based on the interfacial area transport equation (IATE) and constant bubble number density model (CBND), respectively. The results are compared with the experimental data. Satisfactory prediction of the axial pressure distribution along the nozzle as well as the flashing inception, is achieved by the TFM-IATE coupling method. It was also found that the vapor production in the diverging section was overpredicted, and the radial gas volume fraction distribution deviated from the experiment. The radial diameter profiles exhibit opposite patterns at the nozzle throat and near the outlet, and similar trends can be observed for the superheated degree. A poly-disperse method is suggested to be introduced to describe the evolution of interfacial area concentration

Transient Multi-Physics Modeling and Performance Degradation Evaluation of Direct Internal Reforming Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Focusing on Carbon Deposition Effect

The performance degradation issue caused by carbon deposition has limited the commercial application of natural-gas-fueled solid oxide fuel cells. Most previous corresponding studies are based on thermodynamic equilibrium analyses, while long-term transient evaluation work is lacking. Therefore, a transient multi-physics numerical model is developed in present work. The corresponding long-term performance degradation evaluation is then conducted. The results show that, for a direct internal reforming solid oxide fuel cell, the increase in carbon deposition and deterioration of performance degradation were concentrated in the first 180 days of steady−state operation and slowed down at the later stage. The electrode inlet rapidly developed a high concentration of carbon deposition after 180 days of steady−state operation. The deposited carbon deteriorated the gas transport and decayed reaction activity within the porous electrode, eventually inducing a deactivation zone with 0 current density at the inlet. Key measures to inhibit carbon deposition should be implemented within the first 180 days of operation, and the pre-reformed operation of natural gas is encouraged for natural-gas-fueled solid oxide fuel cells

Facile Fabrication of ZnO/TiO2 Heterogeneous Nanofibres and Their Photocatalytic Behaviour and Mechanism towards Rhodamine B

In this study, novel titanium dioxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) hybrid photocatalysts in the form of nanofibres were fabricated by a facile method using electrospinning followed by a calcination process. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to investigate the morphology and structure of the heterogeneous nanofi‐ bres. The photocatalytic performances were evaluated via the photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under irradiation with UV light. Due to the low recombination rate of photo-induced charge carriers, the high utilization efficiency of UV light and the large contact area with the target molecules, the ZnO/TiO2 hybrid nanofibres exhibit‐ ed high catalytic activity towards the Rhodamine B, and the amount of Zn(OAc)2 in the precursor of these nanofibres played an important role in determining the photo decom‐ position performance