The role of textbooks and other teaching and learning resources in higher education in Australia: change and continuity in supporting learning

This paper investigates the role of textbooks and online learn ng resources in university study. In a large scale Australian research project the course coordinators and lecturing staff of twelve university courses were interviewed to elicit data on the resources that are prescribed to support student learning, the role of textbooks in teaching and learning; resource shifts between online and paper based resources; and the links between assessment and learning resources. The paper also reports on the student perspective of similar issues from students involved in sample of twelve undergraduate university courses. The research presented here reveals that textbooks produced by commercial publishers were recommended in every university course. Furthermore the use of these textbooks reflects a typology of integration into the learning design of the course to support student learning. The research found that a resource shift to the sole recommendation of online resources was not occurring, and that the provision of these online and digital resources was complementary and designed to support traditional learning resources.Regarding student use of learning resources, the research concluded that students indicated that they are time-poor and as a consequence, their capacity to engage fully with all learning resources recommended by course coordinators and tutors is limited. Although students did listen to the messages about learning resources conveyed by their tutors, their motivation was driven by the demands of their course assessment and as a result, students prioritised their focus on specific resources. The resources at the top of the priority list related specifically to successful completion of assessment tasks

Interpreting and exploiting narrative as a sketch design generator for application in VE

The research in this paper focusses on how a narrative text can be the generator of an architectural drawing, or other architectural representation, such as an Architectural Virtual Environment. The drawn physical sketch has traditionally played that role. A particular approach to narrative has been important for some notable architects and their architecture. Ian Ritchie (2014), for instance, celebrates the use of poetry to describe the essential spirit of a scheme before any drawing is done. The work in the paper here describes the proposition to capture such narrative text in a systematic and structured way. We describe foundational work on how the captured narrative text has been translated into a contemporary, computer-mediated, design development environment. Different narrative accounts recalling a now demolished house form the focus case study. This case study is the vehicle through which the initial principles establishing how best to move from narrative to virtual representation are established and tested

Lunar stone saw

This project addresses the problem of cutting lunar stones into blocks to be used to construct shelters to protect personnel and equipment from harmful solar radiation. This plant will manufacture 6 in x 1 ft x 2 ft blocks and will be located near the south pole to allow it to be in the shade at all times. This design uses a computer controlled robot, a boulder handler that uses hydraulics for movement, a computer system that used 3-D vision to determine the size of boulders, a polycrystalline diamond tipped saw blade that utilizes radiation for cooling, and a solar tower to collect solar energy. Only two electric motors are used in this plant because of the heavy weight of electric motors and the problem of cooling them. These two motors will be cooled by thermoelectric cooling. All other motors and actuators are to be hydraulic. The architectural design for the building as well as the conceptual design of the machines for cutting the blocks are described

Code Blue! When a Simulation Isn’t a Simulation Anymore

Objectives: • To identify and remediate gaps responding to a medical emergency during a simulated event. • To provide a safe working environment for standardized patients and clinical staff.https://knowledgeconnection.mainehealth.org/lambrew-retreat-2022/1038/thumbnail.jp

Gravitational Waves from Binary Neutron Star Mergers with a Spectral Equation of State

In numerical simulations of binary neutron star systems, the equation of state of the dense neutron star matter is an important factor in determining both the physical realism and the numerical accuracy of the simulations. Some equations of state used in simulations are $C^2$ or smoother in the pressure/density relationship function, such as a polytropic equation of state, but may not have the flexibility to model stars or remnants of different masses while keeping their radii within known astrophysical constraints. Other equations of state, such as tabular or piece-wise polytropic, may be flexible enough to model additional physics and multiple stars' masses and radii within known constraints, but are not as smooth, resulting in additional numerical error. We will study in this paper a recently developed family of equation of state, using a spectral expansion with sufficient free parameters to allow for a larger flexibility than current polytropic equations of state, and with sufficient smoothness to reduce numerical errors compared to tabulated or piece-wise polytropic equations of state. We perform simulations at three mass ratios with a common chirp mass, using two distinct spectral equations of state, and at multiple numerical resolutions. We evaluate the gravitational waves produced from these simulations, comparing the phase error between resolutions and equations of state, as well as with respect to analytical models. From our simulations we estimate that the phase difference at merger for binaries with a dimensionless weighted tidal deformability difference greater than $\Delta \tilde{\Lambda} = 55$ can be captured by the SpEC code for these equations of state.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

Dynamic/Jitter Assessment of Multiple Potential HabEx Structural Designs

One of the driving structural requirements of the Habitable Exo-Planet (HabEx) telescope is to maintain Line Of Sight (LOS) stability between the Primary Mirror (PM) and Secondary Mirror (SM) of 5 mas. Dynamic analyses of two configurations of a proposed (HabEx) 4 meter off-axis telescope structure were performed to predict effects of jitter on primary/secondary mirror alignment. The dynamic disturbance used as the forcing function was the James Webb Space Telescope reaction wheel assembly vibration emission specification level. The objective of these analyses was to predict "order-of-magnitude" performance for various structural configurations which will roll into efforts to define the HabEx structural design's global architecture. Two variations of the basic architectural design were analyzed. Relative motion between the PM and the SM for each design configuration are reported