Plant biology in space

Plant Biol.ISI Document Delivery No.: 277NVTimes Cited: 0Cited Reference Count: 24Ruyters, G. Spiero, F. Legue, V. Palme, K.Wiley-blackwellHoboken1Si[début du texte]In August 2012, more than 60 invited scientists and representatives of space agencies from different continents, nationalitiesand disciplines attended the international workshop on ‘Plant Biology Research in Space’, held at the University of Freiburg, Germany. This workshop – jointly organised by the French and German space agencies, CNES and DLR – was embedded as satellite symposium into the Plant Biology Congress 2012, held by FESPB and EPSO, the two leading European organisations involved in plant research. Using this setup, it was also hoped that scientists from the so-called nonspace community would be attracted to the specific topic of plant biology in space. This idea proved very successful: more than 600 participants attended – for instance – the plenary lecture from Stan Roux on ‘New insights in plant biology gained from space research’

Sustainability of a university designed and developed media annotation tool to prepare learners with skills needed for future employment

RMIT University‘s media annotation tool (MAT) is a computer software program dedicated to incorporating video footage to the student learning experience in a novel manner. In addition to the usual functions associated with videos, MAT allows users to enter written comments at strategic and key positions to emphasise the required learning points. Innovatively introduced to creatively support learning for work-ready skills, in 2011 MAT was integrated into courses across nine student cohorts, over six disciplines, in the Vocational and Higher Education (undergraduate and post graduate) sectors of the university. This paper will focus on analysis of insights of teacher experiences using MAT, highlighting sustainable ways forward with university designed innovations. It will introduce the context of implementing MAT and discuss the process of evaluating the requirements for promoting MAT to the wider university community and, more specifically, to embed and sustain MAT into the long-term

Vulnerable bodies and gendered habitus: the prospects for transforming exercise

My thesis is a contribution to research on the embodiment of identity. Using the work of Pierre Bourdieu, in particular his concepts of habitus and practice, I explored women’s embodiment of their identity, in particular, aspects of their identity that relate to feelings of weakness and vulnerability in physical contexts. Women may be at risk if they respond in these ways to threats of assault and harassment. My focus was the possibility that women can transform these aspects of their identity through the pedagogic practice of self–defence training. I drew on Bandura’s work on self-efficacy and my research in two Victorian secondary girls schools where I observed the delivery of two self-defence training courses including one in which I was also an instructor. I interviewed 30 students as well as one member of the teaching staff. The pedagogic approaches of the two courses were different. The course at School A focused on simulated assaults and striking practice on targets. The course at School B focused on a wide range of self-defence techniques but did not include simulations or striking practice. I explored how girls embody their identities, including girls’ perceptions of their physical capabilities, and the kinds of self-protective behaviours they engage in to compensate for feelings of vulnerability and weakness. I found that many of the young women in my research had acquired an understanding of their bodies as relatively weak and vulnerable through strongly gendered habituses. Most of the young women did not experience significant changes to these aspects of their identities as a result of participating in self-defence training. A small number experienced transient dispositions of empowerment and capability, which were more evident in students at School A. In general, students struggled with the complexity of the techniques they learned, memorising the necessary movements, and the time available for practice. I concluded that further research is required to explore the transformative effects of self-defence training on women’s gendered habitus

Phasenkohärenz und Energierelaxation von Tunnelsystemen in Gläsern. Messung und Analyse von Polarisationsechos an BK7

Die Tieftemperatureigenschaften von Gläsern werden durch atomare Tunnelsysteme (TS) bestimmt. Deren Einfluss auf viele physikalische Größen kann durch das Standardtunnelmodell gut beschrieben werden. Betrachtet man jedoch dynamische Eigenschaften der Gläser, werden Wechselwirkungen zwischen TS und Phononen (Relaxation) und zwischen TS und benachbarten TS (spektrale Diffusion) relevant. Die Untersuchung des Zerfalls der Amplitude von Polarisationsechos mit steigender Verzögerungszeit gibt Aufschluss über Relaxations- und Dekohärenzprozesse in Gläsern. In dieser Arbeit wurden erstmals Zwei-, Dreipuls- und Rotationsechos im Borsilikatglas BK7 bis zu sehr langen Pulsabständen >10 ms gemessen. Die Daten werden mit numerischen Berechnungen verglichen, in die die spektrale Diffusion und die Relaxation eingehen. Dabei zeigt sich, dass eine Untergruppe der angeregten TS wegen einer schwachen Kopplung an Phononen kaum an Wechselwirkungsprozessen teilnimmt, so dass die Echoamplitude langsamer zerfällt als erwartet. Alle Datensätze können konsistent beschrieben werden, wenn eine Verteilung des Deformationspotentials Gamma angenommen wird, die auch sehr kleine Werte für Gamma erlaubt

Low temperature dipolar echo in amorphous dielectrics: Significance of relaxation and decoherence free two level systems

The nature of dielectric echoes in amorphous solids at low temperatures is investigated. It is shown that at long delay times the echo amplitude is determined by a small subset of two level systems (TLS) having negligible relaxation and decoherence because of their weak coupling to phonons. The echo decay can then be described approximately by power law time dependencies with different powers at times longer and shorter than the typical TLS relaxation time. The theory is applied to recent measurements of two and three pulse dipolar echo in borosilicate glass BK7 and provides a perfect data fit in the broad time and temperature ranges under the assumption that there exist two TLS relaxation mechanisms due to TLS-phonons and TLS-TLS interaction. This interpretation is consistent with the previous experimental and theoretical investigations. Further experiments verifying the theory predictions are suggested.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure