The assessment of complex learning outcomes

The Engineering Professors' Council (EPC) produced an output standard in 2000 containing a setof 26 generic statements of what an engineering graduate should have an ability to tackle. In addition, Higher Education (HE) is concerned with the promotion of complex or advanced understanding of subject matter. This leads to complex learning outcomes, which need to be adequately assessed. Changing demands mean changing assessment practices. While good practice is being used in many cases, there is a need to ensure assessment stimulates complex learning. The article seeks to address these issues

Studies of dynamic processes related to active experiments in space plasmas

This is the final report for grant NAGw-2055, 'Studies of Dynamic Processes Related to Active Experiments in Space Plasmas', covering research performed at the University of Michigan. The grant was awarded to study: (1) theoretical and data analysis of data from the CHARGE-2 rocket experiment (1keV; 1-46 mA electron beam ejections) and the Spacelab-2 shuttle experiment (1keV; 100 mA); (2) studies of the interaction of an electron beam, emitted from an ionospheric platform, with the ambient neutral atmosphere and plasma by means of a newly developed computer simulation model, relating model predictions with CHARGE-2 observations of return currents observed during electron beam emissions; and (3) development of a self-consistent model for the charge distribution on a moving conducting tether in a magnetized plasma and for the potential structure in the plasma surrounding the tether. Our main results include: (1) the computer code developed for the interaction of electrons beams with the neutral atmosphere and plasma is able to model observed return fluxes to the CHARGE-2 sounding rocket payload; and (2) a 3-D electromagnetic and relativistic particle simulation code was developed

Solar-Terrestrial Science Strategy Workshop

The conclusions and recommendations reached at the Solar Terrestrial Science Strategy Workshop are summarized. The charter given to this diverse group was: (1) to establish the level of scientific understanding to be accomplished with the completion of the current and near term worldwide programs; (2) identify the significant scientific questions to be answered by future solar terrestrial programs, and the programs required to answer these questions; and (3) map out a program strategy, taking into consideration currently perceived space capabilities and constraints, to accomplish the identified program

Generating new geo-data

The construction of wind farms is on the rise. According to the UK Wind Energy Database (UKWED) 1, 4366 onshore wind turbines are currently operating at 584 sites in the UK, with a total onshore capacity of 7172 MW. In addition, 722 turbines (79 onshore) are under construction, and a further 2305 (814 onshore) where construction approval has already been granted. The growing development of onshore wind farms is often controversial, particularly in relation to concerns over their environmental impact. This is a matter for the planning approval process; but where approval is granted, construction can have some significant but unintentional geological benefit

Field Strength and Monopoles in Dual U(1) Lattice Gauge Theory

In any Abelian gauge theory with an action periodic in the link variables one can perform a duality transformation not only in the partition function, but also in correlation functions including Polyakov loops. The calculation of expectation values in the confinement phase, like electric field strength or monopole currents in the presence of external charges, becomes significantly more efficient simulating the dual theory. We demonstrate this using the ordinary Wilson action. This approach also allows a quantitative analysis of the dual superconductor model, because the dual transformed U(1) theory can be regarded as limit of a dual non-compact Abelian Higgs model. In this way we also try to interpret the behaviour of monopole condensate and string fluctuations. Finally we present some applications for simulating the dual U(1) gauge theory.Comment: Talk presented at LATTICE96(topology) ; 3 pages, latex, 4 figures; complete postscript file also available at ftp://is1.kph.tuwien.ac.at/pub/zach/stl96.ps.g

Graphical statistics to explore the natural and anthropogenic processes influencing the inorganic quality of drinking water, ground water and surface water

Plots of cumulative distribution functions (CDF) are a simple but powerful exploratory data analysis (EDA) tool to evaluate and compare statistical data distributions. Here, empirical CDF plots are used to compare results of four large (476 to 884 samples) national- to continental-scale inorganic water chemistry data sets: (1) European surface water, (2) European tap water, (3) European bottled waters as a proxy for groundwater and (4) Norwegian crystalline bedrock rock groundwater, all analysed at the same laboratory, albeit at different times. For many parameters (e.g., Ba, Cl-, K, SO4 2-) median values and ranges are, given the differing origins and, in some cases, treatment processes of the waters, surprisingly comparable. Unusually high concentrations of some other elements (e.g., B, Be, Br, Cs, F-, Ge, Li, Rb, Te and Zr) appear to be characteristic of deeper-seated, mature groundwaters. Other influences that can be inferred include contamination from well construction or plumbing materials (Cu, Pb, Zn – in tap waters, bottled waters and Norwegian groundwaters), water treatment (Fe, Mn – in tap- and Norwegian groundwater), bottle materials (Sb - bottled waters). The empirical CDF plots also reveal analytical issues for some elements (excessive rounding, element interferences). The best reference for natural and uncontaminated ’water’ is probably provided by the mineral water samples, representing ’deep groundwater’ at the European scale

Report from ionospheric science

The general strategy to advance knowledge of the ionospheric component of the solar terrestrial system should consist of a three pronged attack on the problem. Ionospheric models should be refined by utilization of existing and new data bases. The data generated in the future should emphasize spatial and temporal gradients and their relation to other events in the solar terrestrial system. In parallel with the improvement in modeling, it will be necessary to initiate a program of advanced instrument development. In particular, emphasis should be placed on the area of improved imaging techniques. The third general activity to be supported should be active experiments related to a better understanding of the basic physics of interactions occurring in the ionospheric environment. These strategies are briefly discussed

On the "Causality Argument" in Bouncing Cosmologies

We exhibit a situation in which cosmological perturbations of astrophysical relevance propagating through a bounce are affected in a scale-dependent way. Involving only the evolution of a scalar field in a closed universe described by general relativity, the model is consistent with causality. Such a specific counter-example leads to the conclusion that imposing causality is not sufficient to determine the spectrum of perturbations after a bounce provided it is known before. We discuss consequences of this result for string motivated scenarios.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, ReVTeX, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Hidden Sector Gaugino Condensation and the Model-independent Axion

In the effective field theory framework, we consider the effect of supersymmetry breaking via gaugino condensation and supergravity in the hidden sector gauge group on the hidden sector vacuum angle $\theta_h$. The $\theta_h$ parameter dependence of the potential yields phenomenologically acceptable invisible axion solutions if the $U(1)_R$ symmetry is broken down to a discrete subgroup $Z_N$ with $N\ge 3$ (N=4 is marginal). Anomalous U(1) superstring models are good candidates for this invisible axion resolution of the strong CP puzzle.Comment: 7 pages, no figure