Managing the interdisciplinary requirements of 3D geological models.

Despite increasing computer power, the requirement to upscale 3D geological models for dynamic reservoir simulation purposes is likely to remain in many commercial environments. This study established that there is a relationship between sandbody size, cell size and changes to predictions of reservoir production as grids are upscaled. The concept of a cell width to sandbody width ratio (CSWR) was developed to allow the comparison of changes in reservoir performance as grids are upscaled. A case study of the Flounder Field in the Gippsland Basin resulted in the interpretation of three depositional environments in the intra-Latrobe reservoir interval. The sandbody dimensions associated with these depositional environments were used to build a series of 3D geological models. These were upscaled vertically and horizontally to numerous grid cell sizes. Results from over 1400 dynamic models indicate that if the CSWR is kept below 0.3 there will be a strong correlation between the average production from the upscaled grids compared to those of a much finer grid, and there will be less than 10% variation in average total field production. If the CSWR is between 0.3 and 1, there could be up to 30% difference, and once the CSWR exceeds 1.0 there is only a weak relationship between the results from upscaled grids and those of finer grids. As grids are upscaled the morphology of bodies in facies models changes, the distribution of petrophysical properties is attenuated and the structure is smoothed. All these factors result in a simplification of the fluid flow pathways through a model. Significant loss of morphology occurs when cells are upscaled to more than a half the width of the reservoir body being modelled. A simple rule of thumb is established — if the geological features of a model cannot be recognised when looking at a layer in the upscaled grid, the properties of the upscaled grid are unlikely to be similar to those of the original grid and the predictions of dynamic models may vary significantly from those of a finer grid. This understanding of the influence of sandbody size on the behaviour of upscaled dynamic models can be used in the planning stages of a reservoir modelling project. Two simple charts have been created. The first chart is for calculating the approximate number of cells in a model before it is built. The second chart is for comparing the proposed cell size against the CWSR, so that the predicted discrepancy between the ultimate production from the upscaled grid and one with much smaller cells can be assessed. These two charts enhance discussion between all interested disciplines regarding the potential dimensions of both static and upscaled dynamic models during the planning stage of a modelling project, and how that may influence the results of dynamic modelling.Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, Australian School of Petroleum, 200

Techniques, tactics and strategies for conceptual change in school science

This study explores how experienced science teachers promote conceptual change. It examines how instructional strategies, learning methods (Darden, 1991) and conceptual change interrelate. Three research methods (expert micro-teaching, verbal protocols and retrospective debriefing) were used. Data were video-recorded and managed using NVivo. Six groups of 11 year-old pupils took part (three girls and three boys) in each expert micro-teaching interview, led by a science specialist (Advanced Skills Teacher). A ‘Concurrent Verbal Protocol and Retrospective Debriefing’ interview (Taylor and Dionne, 2000) happened with the teacher approximately one month later. Six teachers participated altogether. About fifteen hours of interview data were analysed using grounded theory methods. The interpretivist theoretical perspective (symbolic interactionism) was underpinned by a social constructionist epistemology. What can be considered evidence is inevitably affected by the researcher’s methodological position. So what constitutes reliable evidence can be contentious. Appropriate criteria for evaluating the grounded theory emerging from this study were used. Interpretivist approaches for investigating conceptual change in school science are necessary to avoid dominance by positivist literature. This approach, proved successful in other fields (Pressley, 2000), is new to this context. The assumption that instructional strategy is a plan does not adequately explain the data collected here. However, abandoning attempts to unpick complicated interactions between pupils and teacher whilst learning takes place, leaves practitioners without guidance. Consensus exists among most conceptual change researchers that instructional strategies, learning methods and conceptual change must be considered together where possible. This present study proposes a grounded theory for how experienced science teachers promote conceptual change and questions how instructional strategy is understood in the literature. Findings show that during and between sporadic periods of ‘conceptual conflict’ participants used eleven ‘teaching and learning techniques’. The relative weight given to each technique was termed the ‘strategic profile’ of the teacher. ‘Tactics’ is the theory of the use of teaching and learning techniques in conceptual combat. ‘Strategy’ is the theory of the use of such conceptual combats to try to achieve an aim (here to promote conceptual change). Teachers (and pupils) demonstrated and described tactical and strategic behaviour. Techniques, tactics and strategies frequently failed. How participants managed such ‘friction’ was described. Teachers and researchers view classroom dynamics from different perspectives. This study argues that an interpretivist approach, which moves back and forth between the particular and the general, can help bridge the “gap” between practice and theory in this field (Duit et al., 2008, p.629)

Urban area change detection procedures with remote sensing data

The underlying factors affecting the detection and identification of nonurban to urban land cover change using satellite data were studied. Computer programs were developed to create a digital scene and to simulate the effect of the sensor point spread function (PSF) on the transfer of modulation from the scene to an image of the scene. The theory behind the development of a digital filter representing the PSF is given as well as an example of its application. Atmospheric effects on modulation transfer are also discussed. A user's guide and program listings are given

Science religion encounters toolkit 12: science and religion in the classroom

I was a classroom science teacher for 17 years (I now work in Initial Teacher Education). Many years ago, I was welcoming year 9 pupils (13-year-olds) at the door of my classroom for a physics lesson. One pupil stopped in the doorway with a puzzled expression on his face. They all knew I was religious as it was a Catholic school, and I was a Eucharistic Minister at the school Mass. He said, “I thought scientists weren’t allowed to be religious.” I don’t remember what I did and/or said in response, but that incident struck me at the time and now as interesting. How can I make my classroom an inclusive place for people of diverse religious beliefs, the unsure, and those without religious beliefs

Using a Firearm during and in Relation to a Drug Trafficking Crime: Defining the Elements of the Mandatory Sentencing Provision of 18 USC § 924(c)(1)

Since 18 USC § 924(c)(1) was revised in 1986, it has been subject to varying interpretations by courts seeking to determine under what circumstances a person during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime uses or carries a firearm. This article provides guidance to the federal courts and practitioners in applying the mandatory five year sentencing provision of section 924(c)(1) as it relates to narcotic crimes

Trusts - Jurisdiction - Trustee and Trust Assets Outside Jurisdiction of Forum

The purpose of this comment is to examine these rationales and determine their validity--first as to testamentary trusts and then as to inter vivos trusts

Conflict of Laws - Brokerage Contracts - Out-of-State Broker Denied Commission Because of Isolated Acts Within Forum

Plaintiff was a Massachusetts real estate broker, not licensed to do business in New York. Defendants, who resided in New York, owned real estate in Massachusetts and executed a brokerage contract there with the plaintiff. The real estate was leased to a Massachusetts corporation through plaintiff\u27s efforts. All of plaintiff\u27s services, with the exception of several important conferences in New York, were performed in Massachusetts. On plaintiff\u27s suit for unpaid commissions, held, for defendant. The New York brokerage laws prohibit recovery in a New York court by brokers, unlicensed in New York, who perform any brokerage services within the state. Plaintiff\u27s participation in the New York conferences constituted brokerage services within the meaning of the statute. Copellman v. Rabinowitz, 208 Misc. 274, 143 N.Y.S. (2d) 496 (1955)

Pedagogy Analysis Framework: a video-based tool for combining teacher, pupil & researcher perspectives

Background: dialogue between the teaching profession and researchers regarding pedagogical strategy is sometimes problematic. Pedagogy research may benefit from incorporating research methods that can investigate teachers’ and pupils’ interpretations. Purpose: this research expands the Pedagogy Analysis Framework (Riordan, 2020) by explaining in detail the meso-strategies (tactics) and a macro-strategy (grand strategy) used by participants in three school science lessons about chromatography. The research design builds on previous work by using full lessons and introducing pupil group verbal protocols. In addition, Pedagogy Analysis Notation is introduced to help understand and explain macro-strategic behaviours. Sample: one class of thirty 13-year-old pupils and one science teacher. Design and method: four research methods were used (lesson video analysis, teacher verbal protocols, pupil group verbal protocols and researcher group interviews). Data were video recorded (managed using NVivo). Fourteen hours of video data were analysed using Grounded Theory Methods by two educational researchers and the class teacher. The interpretivist theoretical perspective (symbolic interactionism) was underpinned by a social constructionist epistemology (hence the methodology is Straussian Grounded Theory). Appropriate criteria for evaluating the emergent grounded theory were used. Data were recorded in 2017. Results: the Pedagogy Analysis Framework uses the concepts: means (human and non-human), strategy (a spectrum from micro-strategies (actions), through meso-strategies (tactics) to macro-strategies (grand strategies)), ends (regarding the self, another person or a thing, or a group of people or things), and accidents. Types of tactics identified in these data were: inform (misinform and disinform), question, instruct, use space/time, repeat, train, assess, and interact. Pedagogy Analysis Notation is used to understand and explain ‘the stationary [sic] cupboard’ incident. Conclusion: the extended Pedagogy Analysis Framework, combined with the Pedagogy Analysis Notation, improves strategic dialogue between teachers, pupils and educational researchers. This research design facilitates comparison of interpretations of classroom pedagogy by a teacher, pupils and two researchers

Chemosensory-Mediated Deposit Feeding in the Spionid Polychaete Dipolydora Quadrilobata.

Deposit feeding organisms live and feed in marine soft-sediment habitats. This sediment makes up a majority of the material ingested by deposit feeders and contains a variety of edible material that may constitute their principal nutrient source. However, the specific components that are assimilated by these organisms, and the strategies they employ to efficiently collect those components, remain unclear. Sensory interactions between an organism and its surrounding environment typically play an important role in helping the organism detect and locate potential food. Accordingly, chemical sensing by deposit feeders is most likely involved in feeding, yet few specifics about this role and its ecological implications are known. This study, a multi-disciplined investigation of chemoreception, focuses on putative chemosensory structures located on the palps of the deposit-feeding spionid polychaete Diplydora quadrilobata. Using behavioral studies, neurophysiological methods, and molecular biological techniques, this study examines the sensory capabilities of this deposit feeder and their potential role as a mediator of selective feeding. A series of behavioral assays tested for feeding responses to a selected number of potential cues that might be used to indicate food availability or quality. Two sets of glass beads, one with and one without covalently bound compounds such as single amino acids, mixtures of amino acids, and single simple sugars, were separately presented to an organism. The differences in observed responses were used to identify these compounds as stimulatory, inhibitory, or inactive. Stirnulatory cues identified in the behavioral studies were then used to label, in an activity-dependent manner, putative receptor neurons in the palps. Stimulatory cues were perfused over the palp in the presence of the cationic molecule agmatine. Agmatine can enter into stimulated receptor neurons via activated non-selective cation channels. Those cells containing agmatine are then stained using an anti-agmatine antibody followed by silver intensification. Four putative sensory cell types located in the palps were identified by comparing cell labeling in response to the perfusion of a mixture of amino acids in the presence of agmatine to controls of agmatine in the absence of stimuli. Two of these cells types appear to be mechanosensory in function, and two appear to be chemosensory in function. Finally, molecular biological techniques were employed in attempts at isolating gene sequences that code for chemoreceptor proteins. Using RNA isolated fiom two tissues, D. quadrilobata palps and tails, single-stranded complementary DNA was constructed and amplified via the polymerase chain reaction. Gene expression patterns in the two tissues were compared (i.e. differential display) in order to isolate genes differentially expressed in the palps with the goal of finding receptor gene sequences. These studies indicate that chemoreception is an important influence in particle selection by this organism, and similarly suggest that this influence is at least partially mediated via chemoreceptor structures of the palp