Promotion of STEM education in Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET)

Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET) enhances learners to acquire professional knowledge, apply practical skills and develop positive workplace attitudes to support the long-term development of a country or a city. Established in 1982, the Vocational Training Council (VTC) is the largest vocational and professional education and training provider (VTC 2016) in Hong Kong. Through a wide range of pre-employment and in-service programmes, it establishes valuable credentials for approximately 250,000 students each year with internationally recognised qualifications. As a member institution of VTC, the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) offers fulltime and part-time programmes - covering an array of disciplines and at levels ranging from higher diploma to certificate - nurturing talents valued by industries. STEM (Wikipedia 2016), an acronym that refers to the academic disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. STEM (Education Bureau, Hong Kong 2015) plays a pivotal role in educating students to meet the rapid changes and continuous challenges in our society and all over the world due to swift economic, scientific and technological developments. In alignment with this worldwide trend in education, the promotion of STEM in VPET, especially in the Applied Science (AS), Engineering (ENG) and Information Technology (IT) Disciplines, has been the major focus of development in VTC for years. In this paper, various STEM education strategies under VTC will be addressed. One important milestone is the setup of STEM Education Centre to serve as a platform for cross-disciplinary projects for STEM students and to promote STEM education to the public and primary/secondary school students through seminars, workshops and international events. Pertaining to the internationalisation of vocational and professional education, the implementation of exchange programmes in STEM study with overseas countries, local students and their counterparts is another strategic development of VTC. It broadens students’ horizon and generates their inspirations in team work and collaboration projects. The Engineering Discipline in IVE has completed a number of successful workshops with MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) students, in which IVE students were inspired to explore their learning, employing different learning methods and have gained insights into the development of STEM industries, as well as interests in STEM subjects. In June 2016, as another important event to internationalise VPET, VTC organised an international STEM Students Forum in the WorldDidac Asia in Hong Kong. This provided a golden opportunity for the local and overseas students from Australia, UK and Singapore to exchange a wealth of information from different perspectives in STEM education. A similar international STEM forum is underway for 2017 covering sessions with outstanding STEM projects from academic institutions, to study STEM teaching and learning pedagogy, and to look into the STEM project development with VTC students. Other strategies such as Science and Mathematics Help Desk, Technology Enhanced Learning and Teacher Support will also be discussed in the paper

Tele-operation of a manufacturing system for vocational education

A flexible manufacturing system was designed and developed to become a decentralised modular network manufacturing plant in the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (Chai Wan). The system consists of a flexible machining cell, flexible assembly cell, automatic storage system, a database server, web-server and video conferencing system which are to be linked by various networks internationally with other educational institutions or manufacturing sites. Various areas for the development such as system layout, simulation, mechanical design, hardware and software development have been carried out. The current development is to establish a web-based control and training system to the customers or students. They can view the operation of manufacturing and assembly processes as well as access system data and information globally. The aim of this paper is to report the tele-control development of the flexible manufacturing system. The development changes the current education process. The system provides virtual and animated images on design, manufacturing attributes and supports remote training. Students, at a distant location can acquire skills, production methods and access system data and information globally. Moreover, instant feedback from students is possible, as they can make criticism at any geographical area. Delivery of knowledge can now be on-line and in real time globally to achieve better result of education. Students using this system can communicate with the system host using Internet or ISDN leased line directly. They can submit task on various manufacturing processes and control of industrial robots through Internet or intranet. Host’s feedback to students is also provided in order to enhance the learning process

Reflection for tri-city student exchange programmes on students\u27 learning

Student exchange programmes or study tours have been used in various education institutes in different regions to enrich students’ learning experience. Previous studies have demonstrated the positive impacts of student exchange programmes to students’ learning and development. However, the effectiveness in achieving the intended goals of a student exchange tour might substantially affected by the programme design, planning and implementation. This paper discusses the development and implementation of a tri-city student exchange programme in achieving the intended learning outcomes based on a joint student exchange programme to Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), Singapore. A group of higher diploma engineering students in Hong Kong attended the second tri-city student exchange programme in Singapore and mixed together with the local Singaporean students and another group of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Kumamoto College students from Japan for a series of exchange activities, including joint project development, industrial visits and cultural activities. With the effective coordination among the three institutes involved, the tour was successfully completed with positive feedbacks from various stakeholders. This paper aims to address and reflect the benefits of undertaking a student exchange programme to higher diploma engineering students in Hong Kong. Students’ feedbacks and reflective writings of the programme will be reviewed and analyzed. Discussion on the design, planning and implementation for future multi-city student exchange programmes as an effective learning tool is also provided in the paper. Recommendations in organizing similar programmes will be addressed

Quantum states of light produced by a high-gain optical parametric amplifier for use in quantum lithography

We present a theoretical analysis of the properties of an unseeded optical parametic amplifier (OPA) used as the source of entangled photons for applications in quantum lithography. We first study the dependence of the excitation rate of a two-photon absorber on the intensity of the light leaving the OPA. We find that the rate depends linearly on intensity only for output beams so weak that they contain fewer than one photon per mode. We also study the use of an N-photon absorber for arbitrary N as the recording medium to be used with such a light source. We find that the contrast of the interference pattern and the sharpness of the fringe maxima tend to increase with increasing values of N, but that the density of fringes and thus the limiting resolution does not increase with N. We conclude that the output of an unseeded OPA exciting an N-photon absorber provides an attractive system in which to perform quantum lithography

Australian ultrasound-guided biopsy trends: a 17-year analysis of national data

Background Prostate cancer diagnosis is primarily performed through ultrasound-guided biopsy. Australia has a Stage 4 aging population and as prostate cancer is a disease of middle aged to elderly patients, it would be expected that there would be an increase in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. However, several key events have occurred in the last 10 years including the introduction of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) of the prostate and publication of major prostate cancer screening trials and guidelines. We aimed to characterize the trends in prostate biopsy in Australia in the context of these changes. Methods Population and prostate biopsy data were obtained from the Australian Government Bureau of Statistics Census data and the Australian Department of Health Medicare Benefits Schedule between 2000 and 2017. A meta narrative review of publications, guidelines, and policy announcements regarding prostate cancer screening and diagnosis in Australia was performed. Prostate biopsy trends were analyzed from 2000 to 2017 by age-group and year. Results The 2016 Census data showed the male population of Australia was 11,546,638. Between 2000 and 2017, a total of 373,158 ultrasound-guided biopsies were performed in Australia. A general decline in the total number of prostate biopsies performed was observed from 2009 onwards. There was a transition of the highest prostate biopsy age-group from 55-64 to 65-74 years with the transition occurring in 2012. Biopsy numbers in the age-group 75-84 years also slowly increased from 2000 to 2009 and declined for a short period of time till 2013 and is on the rise again. The decrease in 2010 coincides with the increased uptake of mpMRI in Australia as a new tool in the screening for prostate cancer. Furthermore, this decrease also coincides with the release of the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) and the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) prostate cancer screening trials in 2009 and the policy statements developed as a result of these by Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand. Conclusion Interesting trends have been identified through this population study. With an aging population, it would be expected that the number of prostate biopsies would be increasing. It is likely that the introduction of mpMRI in Australia and the release of prostate cancer screening guidelines have decreased the number of patients being screened for prostate cancer. Furthermore, increasing use of active surveillance may be responsible for the increase in the prostate biopsies occurring in the older age-groups

Double Averaging Analysis Applied to a Large Eddy Simulation of Coupled Turbulent Overlying and Porewater Flow

Freestream turbulence in rivers is a key contributor to the flux of dissolved nutrients, carbon, and other ecologically important solutes into porewater. To advance understanding of turbulent hyporheic exchange and porewater transport, we investigate flow over and through a rough bed of spheres using large eddy simulation (LES). We apply double averaging (combined space and time averaging) to the LES results to determine the mean velocity distribution, momentum balance, and drag forces. Our simulations show large-scale freestream structures interacting strongly with vortices generated at the surfaces of individual spheres to control turbulent momentum fluxes into the bed. The transition between turbulent flow and Darcy flow occurs over the first row of spheres, where turbulence decays rapidly and turbulent kinetic energy, Reynolds stress, and drag forces peak. Below this region, turbulence is only present in the high-velocity flow in open pore throats. Experimental observations suggest that minimum mean porewater velocity occurs in the first open pore space below the transition region, but our results show that the minimum occurs between the first and second pore spaces. The simulation mean porewater velocities are approximately half those captured in measurements because the model resolves the entire flow continuum while measurements can access high-velocity fluid in open pores. The high-resolution dual time-space averaging of the LES resolves both turbulent and mean flow features that are important to interfacial solute and particle fluxes, providing a means to include turbulent hyporheic exchange in upscaled river models, which has not been achieved to date

The Toronto Concussion Study: a prospective investigation of characteristics in a cohort of adults from the general population seeking care following acute concussion, 2016–2020

PurposeThere is limited research regarding the characteristics of those from the general population who seek care following acute concussion.MethodsTo address this gap, a large cohort of 473 adults diagnosed with an acute concussion (female participants = 287; male participants = 186) was followed using objective measures prospectively over 16 weeks beginning at a mean of 5.1 days post-injury.ResultsFalls were the most common mechanism of injury (MOI) (n = 137, 29.0%), followed by sports-related recreation (n = 119, 25.2%). Male participants were more likely to be injured playing recreational sports or in a violence-related incident; female participants were more likely to be injured by falling. Post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) was reported by 80 participants (16.9 %), and loss of consciousness (LOC) was reported by 110 (23.3%). In total, 54 participants (11.4%) reported both PTA and LOC. Male participants had significantly higher rates of PTA and LOC after their injury compared to their female counterparts. Higher initial symptom burden was associated with a longer duration of recovery for both male and female participants. Female participants had more symptoms and higher severity of symptoms at presentation compared to male participants. Female participants were identified to have a longer recovery duration, with a mean survival time of 6.50 weeks compared to 5.45 weeks in male participants (p < 0.0001). A relatively high proportion of female and male participants in this study reported premorbid diagnoses of depression and anxiety compared to general population characteristics.ConclusionAlthough premorbid diagnoses of depression and/or anxiety were associated with higher symptom burden at the initial visit, the duration of symptoms was not directly associated with a pre-injury history of psychological/psychiatric disturbance. This cohort of adults, from the general population, seeking care for their acute concussion attained clinical and functional recovery over a period of 4–12 weeks

The importance of considering both depth of penetration and crater volume in forwards-ballistic penetrative experiments

The most common method of analysing armour performance is the Depth of Penetration (DoP). However, this one-dimensional measurement does not provide insight into the method of penetration or energy absorbed by the target; the crater could be particularly narrow or very wide and yield the same DoP. Analysis of the crater through Crater Volume (CV) provides a more detailed metric to be used alongside DoP to visualise the crater, indicating whether energy was dispersed over a large area. CV provides a wider insight into how a material resisted penetration events, giving evidence of potential defeat mechanisms. Digital reconstruction of the craters using X-ray radiographs or Computed Tomography (CT) scanning can also provide a useful tool for computational models to be compared against. The simple calculation of CV through X-ray radiography and image processing has been demonstrated to be accurate to within ±6% of the CT scanned CV. Success in utilising this analytical tool was demonstrated through comparison of three armour configurations. A consistent difference in the ratio of DoP:CV was seen between steel targets, ceramic-steel targets and ceramic-air-steel targets, indicating variation in the defeat mechanism between the three target configurations

Frequency-Domain Multiplexed Readout for Superconducting Gamma-Ray Detectors

We are developing a frequency-multiplexed readout for arrays of high-resolution Gamma detectors based on superconducting transition edge sensors (TESs). Each sensor is part of an LCR resonant circuit and is biased at an identifying carrier frequency. Several carrier signals are added and amplified with a single SQUID preamplifier at 4 K. Gamma absorption modulates the amplitude of the carrier, and demodulation at room temperature retrieves the initial temperature evolution of the sensor. This multiplexing system has originally been developed to read out large arrays of bolometers for cosmic microwave background studies. To accommodate the faster Gamma-ray signals, its demodulator bandwidth is being extended to 20 kHz to allow reading out up to eight TESs with a detector bandwidth of 10 kHz. Here we characterize the system noise performance and show how this multiplexing scheme can be adapted to read out arrays of superconducting Gamma-ray detectors

Establishing a core outcome set for peritoneal dialysis : report of the SONG-PD (standardized outcomes in nephrology-peritoneal dialysis) consensus workshop

Outcomes reported in randomized controlled trials in peritoneal dialysis (PD) are diverse, are measured inconsistently, and may not be important to patients, families, and clinicians. The Standardized Outcomes in Nephrology-Peritoneal Dialysis (SONG-PD) initiative aims to establish a core outcome set for trials in PD based on the shared priorities of all stakeholders. We convened an international SONG-PD stakeholder consensus workshop in May 2018 in Vancouver, Canada. Nineteen patients/caregivers and 51 health professionals attended. Participants discussed core outcome domains and implementation in trials in PD. Four themes relating to the formation of core outcome domains were identified: life participation as a main goal of PD, impact of fatigue, empowerment for preparation and planning, and separation of contributing factors from core factors. Considerations for implementation were identified: standardizing patient-reported outcomes, requiring a validated and feasible measure, simplicity of binary outcomes, responsiveness to interventions, and using positive terminology. All stakeholders supported inclusion of PD-related infection, cardiovascular disease, mortality, technique survival, and life participation as the core outcome domains for PD