The weld-brazing metal joining process

Superior mechanical properties were obtained in metal joints weld-brazed between faying surfaces. Weld-braze applications and advantages are listed

Activities of \gamma-ray emitting isotopes in rainwater from Greater Sudbury, Canada following the Fukushima incident

We report the activity measured in rainwater samples collected in the Greater Sudbury area of eastern Canada on 3, 16, 20, and 26 April 2011. The samples were gamma-ray counted in a germanium detector and the isotopes 131I and 137Cs, produced by the fission of 235U, and 134Cs, produced by neutron capture on 133Cs, were observed at elevated levels compared to a reference sample of ice-water. These elevated activities are ascribed to the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactor complex in Japan that followed the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. The activity levels observed at no time presented health concerns.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figure

Ring laser angle encoder

Ring laser angle encoder with a scanning photometer autocollimator and an isolation axis, provides continuous digital readout. It measures the angular difference in inertial attitudes of target /any phenomena generating or reflecting a light beam/ two at a time relative to target one at a time

Comparison of Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug susceptibility using solid and liquid culture in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: This study compares Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture isolation and drug sensitivity testing (DST) using solid (LJ) and liquid (BACTEC-MGIT-960) media in Nigeria. METHODS: This was a cross sectional survey of adults attending reference centres in Abuja, Ibadan and Nnewi with a new diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) or having failed the first-line TB treatment. Patients were requested to provide three sputum specimens for smear-microscopy and culture on LJ and BACTEC-MGIT-960. Positive cultures underwent DST for streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampicin and ethambutol. RESULTS: 527 specimens were cultured. 428 (81%) were positive with BACTEC-MGIT-960, 59 (11%) negative, 36 (7%) contaminated and 4 (1%) had non-tuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM). 411 (78%) LJ cultures were positive, 89 (17%) negative, 22 (4%) contaminated and 5 (1%) had NTM. The mean (SD) detection time was 11 (6) and 30 (11) days for BACTEC-MGIT-960 and LJ. DST patterns were compared in the 389 concordant positive BACTEC-MGIT-960 and LJ cultures. Rifampicin and isoniazid DST patterns were similar. Streptomycin resistance was detected more frequently with LJ than BACTEC-MGIT-960 and ethambutol resistance was detected more frequently with BACTEC-MGIT-960 than LJ, but differences were not statistically significant. MDR-TB was detected in 27 cases by LJ and 25 by BACTEC-MGIT-960 and using both methods detected 29 cases. CONCLUSIONS: There was a substantial degree of agreement between the two methods. However using the two in tandem increased the number of culture-positive patients and those with MDR-TB. The choice of culture method should depend on local availability, cost and test performance characteristics

Assessing for futures: Can professional learning provide a sustainable assessment platform to support learning beyond graduation

Recent evidence suggests that assessment in higher education is predominantly focused on certifying learning (Australian Learning and Teaching Council, 2008), and that the assessment methodologies adopted do not necessarily focus on ‘driving’ learning (Ramsden, 1993; Bransford et al., 2000). The notion that assessment should reach beyond graduation to nurture attitudes, skills and knowledge for life (Boud et al., 2010) requires that it be used to do more than just measure learning objectives. Instead it should be designed to be sustainable, to inform judgment, to encourage reflexive learning and to develop students to become practitioners. This paper is based on an Australian Learning and Teaching Council–funded project entitled ‘Engaging industry: embedding professionally relevant learning in the business curriculum’. Through a series of surveys, focus groups and interviews, a framework was developed to categorise professional learning practices within the business curriculum and to provide exemplars of good practice for each category. This framework and the related examples were then used to develop resources to support academics using professional learning in their teaching, including ‘enablers and impediments’ as well as good practice principles and assessment guidelines. In this paper the guidelines will be discussed alongside examples of good practice from universities across Australia that use professional learning practices to support learning beyond graduation

Engaging industry: Embedding professional learning in the business curriculum

Professional learning has become a feature of business curricula in universities throughout Australia and around the world. ‘Professional learning’ is often used to denote educational programs that are explicitly linked to industry and professional bodies through industry placements, industry projects and teaching approaches that highlight contemporary industry issues. Professional learning encompasses the skills, qualities and attributes that are required by a profession and the processes through which those skills are learnt: that is, the methods of teaching – case studies, role plays, field trips, work placement and the like. Professional learning encourages deep learning in relation to the student’s future profession, and includes industry engagement, work‐integrated learning and authentic learning environments..

Hunters and gatherers: Strategies for curriculum mapping and data collection for assuring learning

Assurance of learning is a predominant feature in both quality enhancement and assurance in higher education. Assurance of learning is a process that articulates explicit program outcomes and standards, and systematically gathers evidence to determine the extent to which performance matches expectations. Benefits accrue to the institution through the systematic assessment of whole of program goals. Data may be used for continuous improvement, program development, and to inform external accreditation and evaluation bodies. Recent developments, including the introduction of the Tertiary Education and Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) will require universities to review the methods they use to assure learning outcomes. This project investigates two critical elements of assurance of learning: 1. the mapping of graduate attributes throughout a program; and 2. the collection of assurance data. An audit was conducted with twenty five Business Schools in Australian universities to identify current methods of mapping graduate attributes across degree programs and their impact on the curriculum, followed by a review of the systems used to collect and store data. Our findings indicate that external drivers like professional body accreditation (for example: Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA); Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)) and TEQSA are important motivators for assuring learning, and those who were undertaking AACSB accreditation had more robust assurance of learning systems in place. It was reassuring to see that the majority of institutions (96%) had adopted an embedding approach to assuring learning rather than opting for independent standardised testing. The main challenges that were evident were the development of sustainable processes not considered a burden to academic staff, and obtainment of academic buy in to the benefits of assuring learning rather than assurance being seen as a tick box exercise. This cultural change is the real challenge in assurance of learning practice

Building sustainable and effective assurance of learning processes in a changing higher education environment

In a study of assuring learning in Australian Business Schools, 25 Teaching and Learning Associate Deans were interviewed to identify current issues in developing and measuring the quality of teaching and learning outcomes. Results indicate that for most institutions developing a perspective on graduate attributes and mapping assessments to measure outcomes across an entire program required knowledge creation and the building of new inclusive processes. Common elements of effective practice, namely those which offered consistently superior outcomes, included: inclusive processes; and embedded graduate attributes throughout a program; alongside consistent and appropriate assessment. Results indicate that assurance of learning processes are proliferating nationally while quality of teaching and learning outcomes and in the processes for assuring it is increasing as a result

Nitrogen and phosphorus limitation of oceanic microbial growth during spring in the Gulf of Aqaba

Bioassay experiments were performed to identify how growth of key groups within the microbial community was simultaneously limited by nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) availability during spring in the Gulf of Aqaba's oceanic waters. Measurements of chlorophyll a (chl a) concentration and fast repetition rate (FRR) fluorescence generally demonstrated that growth of obligate phototrophic phytoplankton was co-limited by N and P and growth of facultative aerobic anoxygenic photoheterotropic (AAP) bacteria was limited by N. Phytoplankton exhibited an increase in chl a biomass over 24 to 48 h upon relief of nutrient limitation. This response coincided with an increase in photosystem II (PSII) photochemical efficiency (F v /F m), but was preceded (within 24 h) by a decrease in effective absorption crosssection (σPSII) and electron turnover time (τ). A similar response for τ and bacterio-chl a was observed for the AAPs. Consistent with the up-regulation of PSII activity with FRR fluorescence were observations of newly synthesized PSII reaction centers via low temperature (77K) fluorescence spectroscopy for addition of N (and N + P). Flow cytometry revealed that the chl a and thus FRR fluorescence responses were partly driven by the picophytoplankton (æ10 μm) community, and in particular Synechococcus. Productivity of obligate heterotrophic bacteria exhibited the greatest increase in response to a natural (deep water) treatment, but only a small increase in response to N and P addition, demonstrating the importance of additional substrates (most likely dissolved organic carbon) in moderating the heterotrophs. These data support previous observations that the microbial community response (autotrophy relative to heterotrophy) is critically dependent upon the nature of transient nutrient enrichment. © Inter-Research 2009

The Ever Changing Circumstellar Nebula Around UW Centauri

We present new images of the reflection nebula surrounding the R Coronae Borealis Star, UW Cen. This nebula, first detected in 1990, has changed its appearance significantly. At the estimated distance of UW Cen, this nebula is approximately 0.6 ly in radius so the nebula cannot have physically altered in only 8 years. Instead, the morphology of the nebula appears to change as different parts are illuminated by light from the central star modulated by shifting thick dust clouds near its surface. These dust clouds form and dissipate at irregular intervals causing the well-known declines in the R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars. In this way, the central star acts like a lighthouse shining through holes in the dust clouds and lighting up different portions of the nebula. The existence of this nebula provides clues to the evolutionary history of RCB stars possibly linking them to the Planetary Nebulae and the final helium shell flash stars.Comment: To be published in ApJ Letters. 5 pages, 3 figures (2 in color