Academic experiences of international PhD students in Australian higher education: from an EAP program to a PhD program

For the last few decades, Australia has played a pivotal role in the supply of quality education to international students and other educational industries associated with them. In the higher education sector, in particular, international PhD student numbers continue to increase. However, the limited availability of resources for the students and the lack of investigation concerning the students indicate that there is a need for both higher education providers and other related stakeholders to understand and take into account the difficulties and challenges of international PhD students and their implications in the Australian academic context. While learning a new academic culture in a new country, international PhD students meet situations where they have to deal with a range of language problems, cultural differences and personal matters. The study reported in this article explores international non-English speaking background (NESB) students' experiences with university preparation programs and PhD programs and investigates the issues they face at an Australian university with a focus on factors affecting the NESB students' academic experiences. It provides implications for the teaching of postgraduate preparation programs and the supervision of international NESB PhD students at Australian universities

Discrete Time Iterative Negotiation Algorithm for Phosphorus Reductions in the Illinois River Basin

Economic

DECAY FACTOR WITH EXPERIMENTAL VARIABLES IN TWO CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED BED (CFB) RISERS

The effects of the riser inlet velocity, solid mass flux and particle size on the axial solid holdup profile and decay factor were investigated using two circulating fluidized beds (CFBs) with FCC (Geldart A) particles as the bed materials. Based on the experimental results from the two-CFBs, the axial solid holdup in the two CFBs were compared with the correlations of previous studies. Also, an empirical correlation was proposed for decay factor that exhibited a good agreement with experimental data

Dietary taurine intake, nutrients intake, dietary habits and life stress by depression in Korean female college students: a case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to investigate the dietary taurine intake, nutrients intake, dietary habits and life stress by depression in Korean female college students.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, research data were collected in March 2009 and 65 patients with depression and 65 controls without depression participated. The CES-D (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression) scale was used for depression measure and controls were matched for age. A 3-day recall method was used for dietary assessment (2 weekdays and 1 weekend day).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Average height, weight and body mass index (BMI) were 161.3±0.5cm, 55.3±1.0kg and 21.2±0.4kg/m² for depression patients and those of control group were 161.4±0.7cm, 53.1±0.8kg and 20.3±0.2kg/m², respectively. Average dietary taurine intakes of depression patients and control group were 89.1 and 88.0 mg/day, respectively. There was no significant difference in dietary taurine intake between depression patients and control group. The average intakes of vitamin A (p<0.05), β-carotene (p<0.01), vitamin C (p<0.05), folic acid (p<0.05) and fiber (p<0.05) of depression patients were significantly lower compared to control group. The average total dietary habit score of depression patients (47.2) was significantly lower than that of control group (51.3) (p<0.01). The average dietary habit scores of “eating meals at regular times” (p<0.05), “eating adequate amount of meals” (p<0.05), “having meals with diverse foods” (p<0.05), “avoiding eating spicy foods” (p<0.01) and “eating protein foods such as meat, fish, eggs, beans more than 2 times a day” (p<0.05) were significantly lower in depression patients compare to control group. The average scores of total life stress (p<0.001) and all stress categories of depression patients were significantly higher than those of control group except faculty problem score.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results show that depression patients have poor dietary habits and unbalanced nutrition status. Also depression patients have higher life stress score.</p> <p>Therefore, continuous nutrition education and counselling for good dietary habits and balanced nutrition status are needed to prevent depression in Korean college students.</p

Utility of targeted deep sequencing for detecting circulating tumor DNA in pancreatic cancer patients.

Targeted deep sequencing across broad genomic regions has been used to detect circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients. However, since most PDACs harbor a mutation in KRAS, sequencing of broad regions needs to be systemically compared to analyzing only KRAS mutations for PDAC. Using capture-based targeted deep sequencing, we detected somatic tumor mutations in 17 fine needle aspiration biopsy and 69 longitudinal cell-free DNA (cfDNA) samples from 17 PDAC patients. KRAS mutations were detected in 10 out of 17 pretreatment patient plasma samples. Next, interrogation of genetic alterations in matched primary tumor samples detected ctDNA in 12 of 17 pretreatment plasma samples and cfDNA sequencing across the 83 target genes identified ctDNA in 15 of 17 cases (88.2% sensitivity). This improved sensitivity of ctDNA detection resulted in enhanced tumor burden monitoring when we analyzed longitudinal plasma samples. We found that cfDNA sequencing detected the lowest mutant allelic fractions and number of variants when complete response or partial response to chemotherapy was achieved. We demonstrated that ctDNA levels measured by targeted deep sequencing sensitively indicate the presence of cancer and correlate well with clinical responses to therapy and disease progression in PDAC patients

Mechanical Alloying Synthesis and Spark Plasma Sintering Consolidation of Al-Ti-Si-W Alloys

Al-Ti-Si-W quaternary powders were mechanically synthesized by planetary ball milling; and further consolidated by spark plasma sintering. The nominal compositions of the quaternary alloys were designed to be Al60Ti30Si5W5 and Al45Ti40Si10W5 (wt.%). The microstructural evolution of intermetallic compounds in Al-Ti-Si-W alloys included titanium aluminide, titanium silicide, and ternary alloys (AlxTiy, TixSiy, and TixAly,Siz), whereas W was embedded in the Al-Ti matrix as a single phase. The phase composition and grain size distribution were investigated using electron backscatter diffraction analysis, in which refined and uniform microstructures (less than 0.3 μm) were attributed to severe plastic deformation and rapid densification of the pre-alloyed powders. The mechanical properties were correlated with the Al content in the quaternary alloys; a high hardness of 1014.6 ±73.5 kg/mm2 was observed

Effects of 1-MCP on Quality and Storability of Cherry Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

Cherry tomato is a perishable fruit due to its high rate of ethylene production and respiration during ripening. 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) is known to control ripening and reduce decay of fruit by inhibiting ethylene action. In the present study, the influence of 1-MCP application on quality and storability of ‘Unicorn’ cherry tomato was observed. Fruit at pink and red maturity stages were put in the commercial plastic containers and sealed with 40 μm low density polyethylene (LDPE) film, treated with 1-MCP (0 µL L−1 (control), 0.035 µL L−1 and 0.1 µL L−1), and stored at 10 °C in 85 ± 5% relative humidity (RH). The results indicated that application of 1-MCP at 0.1 µL L−1 significantly affected firmness, cell wall thickness, water soluble pectin, weight loss, surface color, lycopene content and physiological parameters in both pink and red maturity stages compared to 0.035 µL L−1 and control. 1-MCP treatment at 0.1 µL L−1 kept the fruits firmer than 0.035 µL L−1 and the control throughout the storage period for both maturity stages. Cell wall degradation in the control treatment was higher compared to the 0.1 µL L−1 1-MCP treated fruits in both maturity stages throughout the storage period. Results of this study revealed the effectiveness of application of 0.1 µL L−1 1-MCP on quality and shelf life of cherry tomato

Design and Evaluation of Passive Shoulder Joint Tracking Module for Upper-Limb Rehabilitation Robots

As the number of people suffering from shoulder movement disabilities increases, there is a rising demand for shoulder rehabilitation. The natural motion of the shoulder joint [glenohumeral (GH) joint] includes not only three-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) rotation but also three-DOF translation of the joint center due to simultaneous motion of the shoulder girdle. If the motion of the shoulder girdle is restricted, then the arm cannot be raised above a certain posture. This paper presents a passive shoulder joint tracking device that allows three-DOF translation of the shoulder joint while compensating for gravity. The single-DOF vertical tracker with a constant-force spring compensates for the gross weight of the user's arm, the upper limb rehabilitation device, and the tracker itself while allowing vertical tracking motion. The two-DOF horizontal tracker consists of two linear guides arranged perpendicular to each other. The tracker freely follows the shoulder joint in the horizontal plane. The effect of using the passive shoulder joint tracking device was evaluated by means of experiments by combining two popular commercial upper limb rehabilitation apparatuses with the proposed tracker. Nineteen subjects (8 healthy persons and 11 patients with shoulder impairments) participated in the evaluation study. The movement of the GH joint and the interactive force between the subject and the commercial rehabilitation device were analyzed when subjects made the following shoulder movements: flexion/extension and abduction/adduction. The improved tracker allowed a greater range of motion and reduced interaction. The tracker can be combined with existing commercial rehabilitation devices for more natural shoulder movement during rehabilitation tasks