Action learning in partnership with Landcare and catchment management groups to support increased pasture sowings in southern inland Queensland

The incorporation of sown pastures as short-term rotations into the cropping systems of northern Australia has been slow. The inherent chemical fertility and physical stability of the predominant vertisol soils across the region enabled farmers to grow crops for decades without nitrogen fertiliser, and precluded the evolution of a crop–pasture rotation culture. However, as less fertile and less physically stable soils were cropped for extended periods, farmers began to use contemporary farming and sown pasture technologies to rebuild and maintain their soils. This has typically involved sowing long-term grass and grass–legume pastures on the more marginal cropping soils of the region. In partnership with the catchment management authority, the Queensland Murray–Darling Committee (QMDC) and Landcare, a pasture extension process using the LeyGrain™ package was implemented in 2006 within two Grain & Graze projects in the Maranoa-Balonne and Border Rivers catchments in southern inland Queensland. The specific objectives were to increase the area sown to high quality pasture and to gain production and environmental benefits (particularly groundcover) through improving the skills of producers in pasture species selection, their understanding and management of risk during pasture establishment, and in managing pastures and the feed base better. The catalyst for increasing pasture sowings was a QMDC subsidy scheme for increasing groundcover on old cropping land. In recognising a need to enhance pasture knowledge and skills to implement this scheme, the QMDC and Landcare producer groups sought the involvement of, and set specific targets for, the LeyGrain workshop process. This is a highly interactive action learning process that built on the existing knowledge and skills of the producers. Thirty-four workshops were held with more than 200 producers in 26 existing groups and with private agronomists. An evaluation process assessed the impact of the workshops on the learning and skill development by participants, their commitment to practice change, and their future intent to sow pastures. The results across both project catchments were highly correlated. There was strong agreement by producers (>90%) that the workshops had improved knowledge and skills regarding the adaptation of pasture species to soils and climates, enabling a better selection at the paddock level. Additional strong impacts were in changing the attitudes of producers to all aspects of pasture establishment, and the relative species composition of mixtures. Producers made a strong commitment to practice change, particularly in managing pasture as a specialist crop at establishment to minimise risk, and in the better selection and management of improved pasture species (particularly legumes and the use of fertiliser). Producers have made a commitment to increase pasture sowings by 80% in the next 5 years, with fourteen producers in one group alone having committed to sow an additional 4893 ha of pasture in 2007–08 under the QMDC subsidy scheme. The success of the project was attributed to the partnership between QMDC and Landcare groups who set individual workshop targets with LeyGrain presenters, the interactive engagement processes within the workshops themselves, and the follow-up provided by the LeyGrain team for on-farm activities

Lucerne for dryland farming systems in the Queensland subtropics

The degraded fertility of cropping soils in the Queensland grain belt can be improved by using lucerne, either in short or longer-term rotations. Research in collaboration with NSW Agriculture to improve the adoption of lucerne in farming systems, includes breeding and commercialising better cultivars. Lucerne “probe sets”, comprising cultivars, accessions and breeder lines, were sown at 5 sites in 1997 to measure their production and persistence and to set genetic ideotype targets for further breeding. Highly winter active lines were the most productive and there were some winter active lines that expressed strong persistence traits. The winter active benchmark cv. Trifecta has been clearly superseded but production by the highly winter active benchmark, cv. Sequel was exceeded by only cv. Rippa and Y9549. Breeding for higher winter activity is a priority for short-term rotation lucernes for the Queensland grain belt. For this, there is a strong existing germplasm base to combine with well-selected accessions

Assessing conceptual knowledge in three online engineering courses: theory of computation and compiler construction, operating systems, and signal and systems

In the current decade understanding conceptual knowledge should be an important area of engineering science. However, it is not as widespread in this field as it is in the areas of education and psychology. Learning conceptual knowledge in engineering science could help instructors to adapt their lectures in order to overcome student misconceptions, to reinforce the learning process, and to check whether students are able to identify key features of a problem. Different methods are provided by authors to assess conceptual knowledge. One is to design and develop a concept inventory with the objective of identifying possible student misconceptions through multiple-choice questions. Another method consists of asking each student to answer a question by submitting a written explanation. This study provides two procedures for the assessment of conceptual knowledge based on the latter method. The first procedure is applied to online computer science students enrolled on an Operating Systems course. The second procedure is applied to online communication students enrolled on a Signals and Systems course. Both procedures are focused not only on assessing but also on searching for causes of potential student misconceptions. These procedures could help other instructors to assess conceptual knowledge on other engineering courses.Universidad a Distancia de Madrid, UDIMA2018-1

Silicon spin diffusion transistor: materials, physics and device characteristics

The realisation that eaveryday electronics has ignored the spin of the carrier in favour of its charge is the foundation of the field of spintronics. Starting with simple two-terminal devices based on GMR and tunnel magnetoresistance, the technology has advanced to consider three-terminal devices that aim to combine spin sensitivity with a high current gain and a large current output. These devices require both efficient spin injection and semiconductor fabrication. In this paper, a discussion is presented of the design, operation and characteristics of the only spin transistor that has yielded a current gain greater than one in combination with reasonable output current

The 1994–2001 eruptive period at Rabaul, Papua New Guinea: Petrological and geochemical evidence for basalt injections into a shallow dacite magma reservoir, and significant SO 2 flux

The eruptions that began at Rabaul Caldera on 19 September 1994 had two focal points, the vents Tavurvur and Vulcan, located 6 km apart on opposing sides of the caldera. Vulcan eruptives define a tight cluster of dacite compositions, whereas Tavurvur eruptives span an array from equivalent dacite compositions to mafic andesites. The eruption of geochemically and mineralogically identical dacites from both vents indicates sourcing from the same magma reservoir. This, together with previously reported H₂O-CO₂ volatile contents of dacite melt inclusions, a caldera-wide seismic low-velocity zone, and a seismically active caldera ring fault structure are consistent with the presence at 3–6 km depth of an extensive, tabular dacitic magma body having volume of about 15–150 km³. The Tavurvur andesites form a linear compositional array and have strongly bimodal phenocryst assemblages that reflect dacite hybridisation with a mafic basalt. The moderately large volume SO₂ flux documented in the Tavurvur volcanic plume (and negligible SO₂ flux in the Vulcan plume) combined with high dissolved S contents of basaltic melt inclusions trapped in olivine of Tavurvur eruptives, indicate that the amount of degassed basaltic magma was ~ 0.1 km³ and suggest that the injection of this magma was confined to the Tavurvur-side (eastern to northeastern sector) of the caldera. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the eruption was triggered and evolved in response to a series of basaltic magma injections that may have commenced in 1971 and continued up until at least the start of the 1994 eruptions. The presence of zoned plagioclase phenocrysts reflecting older basalt-dacite interaction events (i.e. anorthite cores overgrown with thick andesine rims), evaluation of limited available data for the products of previous eruptions in 1878 and 1937–1943, and the episodic occurrence of major intra-caldera seismo-deformational events indicates that the shallow magma system at Rabaul Caldera is subjected to repeated mafic magma injections at intervals of several years to several decades.We thank Shane Nancarrow, formerly of Geoscience Australia, for making many aspects of this project possible and AusAID for providing financial support to HP to undertake research at the Australian National University (ANU) into the 1994 and historical eruptions at Rabaul

Cremmer-Gervais r-matrices and the Cherednik Algebras of type GL2

We give an intepretation of the Cremmer-Gervais r-matrices for sl(n) in terms of actions of elements in the rational and trigonometric Cherednik algebras of type GL2 on certain subspaces of their polynomial representations. This is used to compute the nilpotency index of the Jordanian r-matrices, thus answering a question of Gerstenhaber and Giaquinto. We also give an interpretation of the Cremmer-Gervais quantization in terms of the corresponding double affine Hecke algebra.Comment: 6 page

Canola seed as affected by swathing time

Non-Peer ReviewedYield, weight, protein content (oil-free meal) and oil content of canola seed increased as seeds developed. Maximum values were obtained between 45-49 days after flowering, when seed moisture was 29-38%. Fatty acid composition of canola seed oil changed during seed development. The proportion of oleic (C18:1) and linolenic (C18:3) acids increased, while that of most other fatty acids decreased, as seeds developed, while Eicosenoic (C20:1) and erucic (C22:1) acids did not show a clear trend. Fatty-acids tended to stabilize by the 49th day after flowering. Early seeding resulted in higher seed yield, larger seeds, lower seed protein content and higher seed oil content, when compared to late seeding

On the Neutrality of Flowshop Scheduling Fitness Landscapes

Solving efficiently complex problems using metaheuristics, and in particular local searches, requires incorporating knowledge about the problem to solve. In this paper, the permutation flowshop problem is studied. It is well known that in such problems, several solutions may have the same fitness value. As this neutrality property is an important one, it should be taken into account during the design of optimization methods. Then in the context of the permutation flowshop, a deep landscape analysis focused on the neutrality property is driven and propositions on the way to use this neutrality to guide efficiently the search are given.Comment: Learning and Intelligent OptimizatioN Conference (LION 5), Rome : Italy (2011

The Virtual Child: Evaluation of an Internet‐Based Pediatric Behavior Management Simulation

This article describes an Internet‐based instructional tool designed to give predoctoral dental students a virtual simulation of clinical pediatric dentistry to develop their pediatric behavior management knowledge. Effectiveness of this tool was evaluated using two consecutive classes of junior dental students. The control group was exposed to the traditional behavior management curriculum (two lectures) in a spring term course. The next class of dental students was exposed to the two lectures and, in addition, completed the behavior management simulation during the following spring term. Both groups completed a two‐part examination (objective section=18 questions; open‐ended section=responses to a clinical situation) designed to test their behavior management knowledge. The simulation group performed significantly better in both parts of the examination (objective section: p=.028; open‐ended section: p=.012). The simulation was evaluated by students and perceived by most to be an effective addition to the curriculum. It was concluded that the experimental behavior management simulation, when added to the traditional lecture curriculum, improved pediatric behavior management knowledge in predoctoral dental students.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153691/1/jddj002203372007719tb04383x.pd