Fluorine gas as a cleaning agent for Apollo bulk-sample containers

A technique has been developed for cleaning Apollo bulk sample containers using fluorine gas as the cleaning agent

Is cooperative learning an appropriate pedagogy to support the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence?

Cooperative learning is a widely researched pedagogy that has received very positive research results in the USA and Canada. In the last few years this pedagogy has been adopted by a number of schools in Scotland and by one Local Authority as a major area of investment in training. At the same time, a new curriculum, called Curriculum for Excellence, is being introduced in Scotland that will bring significant changes to current practice. Underpinning this new curriculum is the development of the ‘four capacities’ of successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens. To achieve the aims of Curriculum for Excellence there will need to be a change in how schools are organised and in the approaches to learning and teaching that take place in our classrooms. This has implications for the continuing professional development (CPD) of teachers as there is a requirement, in the new curriculum, to provide more active learning in the classroom. This thesis has developed from a personal interest in the capacity of cooperative learning to include and engage learners and, therefore, its ability to promote active learning. This thesis argues, through the literature and research data reviewed, and the evidence of the research undertaken as part of this project, that cooperative learning is an effective way to support, and therefore develop, the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence

Alternative baits for minimization of non-target species usage in an Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) contraceptive project

The eastern gray squirrel (Sciuruscarolinensis) (EGS) is a common nuisance species throughout its range. A new means of limitingEGSpopulation is being tested onClemson University\u27s campus by administering the drugDiazaConâ„¢ orally with coatedsunflower kernels.The objective of this study is to determine the best bait for administeringDiazaConâ„¢ while minimizing non-target usage.The usage of three baits:corn, peanuts, andsunflowerseedswill betested by placing trail cameras facing feeders in squirrel-frequented trees.Each of the baits will havetwo feeders for a total of six. This same process will berepeated in areas classified as rural, urban with little foot traffic, and urban with heavy foot traffic. The pictures will then be analyzed to understand speciesusage and frequency.All bait typeswill be coated withDiazaConâ„¢ to determine the capacity of eachoneto hold thecontraceptivedrug. This capacity of each bait type and its preference or lack of preference by non-targets may offer an alternative contraceptive delivery method to the one currently being used withEGSthereby reducing non-target consumption

CELF significantly reduces milling requirements and improves soaking effectiveness for maximum sugar recovery of Alamo switchgrass over dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment

BackgroundPretreatment is effective in reducing the natural recalcitrance of plant biomass so polysaccharides in cell walls can be accessed for conversion to sugars. Furthermore, lignocellulosic biomass must typically be reduced in size to increase the pretreatment effectiveness and realize high sugar yields. However, biomass size reduction is a very energy-intensive operation and contributes significantly to the overall capital cost.ResultsIn this study, the effect of particle size reduction and biomass presoaking on the deconstruction of Alamo switchgrass was examined prior to pretreatment by dilute sulfuric acid (DSA) and Co-solvent Enhanced Lignocellulosic Fractionation (CELF) at pretreatment conditions optimized for maximum sugar release by each pretreatment coupled with subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. Sugar yields by enzymatic hydrolysis were measured over a range of enzyme loadings. In general, DSA successfully solubilized hemicellulose, while CELF removed nearly 80% of Klason lignin from switchgrass in addition to the majority of hemicellulose. Presoaking and particle size reduction did not have a significant impact on biomass compositions after pretreatment for both DSA and CELF. However, presoaking for 4 h slightly increased sugar yields by enzymatic hydrolysis of DSA-pretreated switchgrass compared to unsoaked samples, whereas sugar yields from enzymatic hydrolysis of CELF solids continued to increase substantially for up to 18 h of presoaking time. Of particular importance, DSA required particle size reduction by knife milling to < 2 mm in order to achieve adequate sugar yields by subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. CELF solids, on the other hand, realized nearly identical sugar yields from unmilled and milled switchgrass even at very low enzyme loadings.ConclusionsCELF was capable of achieving nearly theoretical sugar yields from enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated switchgrass solids without size reduction, unlike DSA. These results indicate that CELF may be able to eliminate particle size reduction prior to pretreatment and thereby reduce overall costs of biological processing of biomass to fuels. In addition, presoaking proved much more effective for CELF than for DSA, particularly at low enzyme loadings

PHASES Differential Astrometry and the Mutual Inclination of the V819 Herculis Triple Star System

V819 Herculis is a well-studied triple star system consisting of a ``wide'' pair with 5.5 year period, one component of which is a 2.2-day period eclipsing single-line spectroscopic binary. Differential astrometry measurements from the Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES) are presented and used to determine a relative inclination between the short- and long-period orbits of 23.6 +- 4.9 degrees. This represents only the sixth unambiguous determination of the mutual inclination of orbits in a hierarchical triple system. This result is combined with those for the other five systems for analysis of the observed distribution of mutual inclinations in nearby triple systems. It is found that this distribution is different than that which one would expect from random orientations with statistical significance at the 94% level; implications for studying the spatial distribution of angular momentum in star forming regions is discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics; changed direction of axis for figure 2

Ordered groupoids and the holomorph of an inverse semigroup

We present a construction for the holomorph of an inverse semigroup, derived from the cartesian closed structure of the category of ordered groupoids. We compare the holomorph with the monoid of mappings that preserve the ternary heap operation on an inverse semigroup: for groups these two constructions coincide. We present detailed calculations for semilattices of groups and for the polycyclic monoids.Comment: 16 page