MONITOOL: new tools for monitoring the chemical status in transitional and coastal waters under the Water Framework Directive

The MONITOOL Project is based upon Directive 2013/39/EU [1] with regards to priority metals in the field of water policy, including cadmium, nickel, and lead. Existing Environmental Quality Standards for these methods only include biota sampling, and therefore new in situ solution sampling methodologies are a priority. The MONITOOL Project aims to define suitable EQS to allow for the use of Diffusive Gradient in Thin film (DGT) passive sampling devices [2] for the monitoring of these priority metals in a regulatory context. DGT devices are composed of an ion-exchange resin, separated from solution by a diffusive ion-permeable gel layer. Their design allows for the continuous accumulation of metals in situ, and subsequent quantitation via methods such as ICP-MS. While many of the chemical aspects of the devices have been well studied [3], effects of environmental physicochemical parameters on the functionality of the devices has not been examined in detail. Five-day deployments of DGT devices, alongside spot sampling and physicochemical parameter measurement, will be conducted in both wet and dry seasons in coastal and transitional waters of the North Atlantic coast, including locations in Ireland such as Cobh, Dun Laoghaire and the Alexandra Basin. The data collected from these sampling campaigns will inform potential future EQS adaptations

Evaluating the genetic progress of wheat in NSW, 1992-2009

Intellectual Property Regimes (IPRs) have been justified on the basis that they promote innovation, but it is not always clear that they do so. Empirical studies of IPRs in an Australian context have been limited. Plant variety protection is one form of IPR. The passing of the Australian Plant Breeder’s Rights Act of 1994 has been followed by significant commercialisation of the wheat breeding industry. The purpose of this paper is to consider whether this commercialisation has benefited wheat productivity through varietal improvement. We estimate a linear crop production function, using a random effects Hausman Taylor estimator to evaluate differences in genetic contributions to productivity between public and private wheat varieties commercially released in NSW over the period 1992-2009 using crop varietal data. Results from the Hausman Taylor estimator show that private varieties, on average, have outperformed public varieties over the period, suggesting that Plant Breeder’s Rights has promoted productive innovation in wheat. However, when we consider the best performing genetics of the varieties, public varieties have, in some years, outperformed privately bred varieties.genetic change, technical change, innovation, wheat breeding, intellectual property, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Transcending Lockdown: Fostering Student Imagination through Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning and Creativity in Engineering Design Courses

Engineering design and communication courses are typically dynamic, active learning spaces that bring together a complex array of knowledge and skills. Their ambiguous nature has allowed, often contentiously, subjects such as language and communication, the arts, the humanities and the social sciences to enter the discourse of engineering in a newly meaningful way. This paper considers this development in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular how the creativity and imagination required to succeed in engineering design might be cultivated in emergency distance learning. I consider a plethora of sources for guidance, with a special interest in how language and communication facilitates collaborative learning, creativity, and intersubjectivity and how that mediation is further mediated by educational technology in distance learning. I focus on the challenges faced, and the resulting importance of training for both instructors and students. Finally, I argue that despite our difficult circumstances, we should aim to encourage our students to exercise their imaginations, both independently and collaboratively, through our selection, framing and facilitation of team design projects during the pandemic

Coaching Feedback\u27s Influence on Passion and Satisfaction in Sport in Division I Athletes

How a coach interacts with their athletes could influence a number of athlete outcomes. Specifically, coach-athlete interactions such as reinforcement, non-reinforcement, technical instruction after a mistake, punishment, ignoring a mistake, general technical instruction, general encouragement, and general communication indicate to an athlete how much a coach values their relationship and how much they desire athlete’s improvement. One outcome that might be influenced is athlete passion, or the level of energy devoted toward their sport, which can manifest as either harmonious or obsessive. Athletes with harmonious passion exhibit a strong yet controllable desire to engage in sport while those with obsessive passion feel compelled to engage in their sport. A second variable that might be influenced by coaching feedback is satisfaction in sport. Past studies have shown strong social support fosters high levels of athlete satisfaction. Both athlete passion and satisfaction in sport might be impacted by coach feedback. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to investigate how types of coaching feedback can influence an athlete’s passion or satisfaction in sport. To investigate this, we surveyed 264 collegiate Division I student-athletes who completed the passion scale, coaching feedback questionnaire, and satisfaction in sport scale. Results and implications will be discussed

Prospective genetic screening decreases the incidence of Abacavir hypersensitivity reactions in the Western Australian HIV cohort study

Abacavir therapy is associated with significant drug hypersensitivity in ∼8% of recipients, with retrospective studies indicating a strong genetic association with the HLA-B*5701 allelle. In this prospective study, involving 260 abacavir-naive individuals (7.7% of whom were positive for HLA-B*5701), we confirm the usefulness of genetic risk stratification, with no cases of abacavir hypersensitivity among 148 HLA-B*5701–negative recipients

Love, Women and Conceits in Donne's Songs and Petrarch's Canzoniere

One of the most discussed questions of twentieth century John Donne criticism is the poet's relation to the work of Francis Petrarch and the Petrarchan tradition. One view, epitomised by Herbert Grierson, tends to emphasize Donne's youthful reputation as a cynical and rakish personality. His poetry, reflecting this personality, is viewed as highly original and thoroughly contrary to the idealistic love poetry of Petrarch and his followers. Another critical view, concentrating more on the poetry of Donne and less on his reputation and personality, acknowledges a definite Petrarchan presence in Donne's Songs and Sonnets and believes Donne's originality is in his innovative use of Petrarchan situations, themes and conceits rather than in a rejection of those Petrarchan elements. -- This thesis does not attempt to label Donne a Petrarchist or an anti-Petrarchist, because such labels are unrepresentative of Donne's relation to Petrarch and limit a full appreciation of both poets. However, part of this thesis can be seen as a study of the development of this critical debate and how it affects the perception and understanding of both Donne's and Petrarch's poetry. -- Most discussions of Donne's Petrarchism relate his work to the innumerable Petrarchists who followed and imitated Petrarch. Petrarch's reputation has been damaged by association with the often inferior work of his imitators and critical approaches to Donne's Petrarchism that do not take Petrarch himself into account present a distorted view of Donne's use of Petrarchism. This thesis allows the Canzoniere itself to serve as the standard of comparison for assessing Donne's Petrarchism. -- A comparison between the Canzoniere and Donne's Songs and Sonnets reveals that generalizations usually applied to each poet's work are oversimplified and often unjustified. The identification of Petrarch with unreasonably idealistic love and unfailing adoration ignores the elements of regret, frustration, resentment and anguish that are also expressed in the Canzoniere. Similarly, labelling Donne as a cynical realist who denies any faith in love and women is to overlook tender love poems such as Sweetest Love and The Goodmorrow. Such labelling also ignores the numerous poems, like Twickenham Garden and The Triple Fool, which are Petrarchan in their theme of unrequited love and rely heavily on Petrarchan imagery. Also, the cynicism and distrust of women that are usually seen as elements of Donne's revolt against Petrarchism have precedents in the Canzoniere. A common sense of defeated idealism and unfulfilled love creates elements of misogyny and distrust in the Petrarchan lover and the disgruntled lovers in poems like Go and Catch and Woman's Constancy. As a result of the comparison many of the elements that seemed to separate both poets' work are found to be shared characteristics, thus achieving a greater appreciation and understanding of both poets

The JAM Suite - a Voice-enabled Network-based Virtual Band Application

The Java Audio Music-suite (J.A.M. for short) is a suite of applications that provides tools and audio processing utilities for musicians. It’s core functionality includes a means whereby musicians who are geographically dispersed can play music together. An additional utility determines the actual musical notes from a piece of music using Fourier Transform techniques. All of these functions are complemented by a voiceenabled, animated help agent that takes in voice commands using speech recognition and reports errors via text-to-speech technology