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

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

Assessing the potential of wild yeasts for bioethanol production

Bioethanol fermentations expose yeasts to a new, complex and challenging fermentation medium with specific inhibitors and sugar mixtures depending on the type of carbon source. It is, therefore, suggested that the natural diversity of yeasts should be further exploited in order to find yeasts with good ethanol yield in stressed fermentation media. In this study, we screened more than 50 yeast isolates of which we selected five isolates with promising features. The species Candida bombi, Wickerhamomyces anomalus and Torulaspora delbrueckii showed better osmo- and hydroxymethylfurfural tolerance than Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, S. cerevisiae isolates had the highest ethanol yield in fermentation experiments mimicking high gravity fermentations (25\ua0% glucose) and artificial lignocellulose hydrolysates (with a myriad of inhibitors). Interestingly, among two tested S. cerevisiaestrains, a wild strain isolated from an oak tree performed better than Ethanol Red, a S. cerevisiae strain which is currently commonly used in industrial bioethanol fermentations. Additionally, a W. anomalus strain isolated from sugar beet thick juice was found to have a comparable ethanol yield, but needed longer fermentation time. Other non-Saccharomycesyeasts yielded lower ethanol amounts

Mobilisation of arsenic from bauxite residue (red mud) affected soils: effect of pH and redox conditions

The tailings dam breach at the Ajka alumina plant, western Hungary in 2010 introduced ~1 million m3 of red mud suspension into the surrounding area. Red mud (fine fraction bauxite residue) has a characteristically alkaline pH and contains several potentially toxic elements, including arsenic. Aerobic and anaerobic batch experiments were prepared using soils from near Ajka in order to investigate the effects of red mud addition on soil biogeochemistry and arsenic mobility in soil–water experiments representative of land affected by the red mud spill. XAS analysis showed that As was present in the red mud as As(V) in the form of arsenate. The remobilisation of red mud associated arsenate was highly pH dependent and the addition of phosphate to red mud suspensions greatly enhanced As release to solution. In aerobic batch experiments, where red mud was mixed with soils, As release to solution was highly dependent on pH. Carbonation of these alkaline solutions by dissolution of atmospheric CO2 reduced pH, which resulted in a decrease of aqueous As concentrations over time. However, this did not result in complete removal of aqueous As in any of the experiments. Carbonation did not occur in anaerobic experiments and pH remained high. Aqueous As concentrations initially increased in all the anaerobic red mud amended experiments, and then remained relatively constant as the systems became more reducing, both XANES and HPLC–ICP-MS showed that no As reduction processes occurred and that only As(V) species were present. These experiments show that there is the potential for increased As mobility in soil–water systems affected by red mud addition under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions

Phenotypic evaluation of natural and industrial Saccharomyces yeasts for different traits desirable in industrial bioethanol production

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the organism of choice for many food and beverage fermentations because it thrives in high-sugar and high-ethanol conditions. However, the conditions encountered in bioethanol fermentation pose specific challenges, including extremely high sugar and ethanol concentrations, high temperature, and the presence of specific toxic compounds. It is generally considered that exploring the natural biodiversity of Saccharomyces strains may be an interesting route to find superior bioethanol strains and may also improve our understanding of the challenges faced by yeast cells during bioethanol fermentation. In this study, we phenotypically evaluated a large collection of diverse Saccharomyces strains on six selective traits relevant for bioethanol production with increasing stress intensity. Our results demonstrate a remarkably large phenotypic diversity among different Saccharomyces species and among S. cerevisiae strains from different origins. Currently applied bioethanol strains showed a high tolerance to many of these relevant traits, but several other natural and industrial S. cerevisiae strains outcompeted the bioethanol strains for specific traits. These multitolerant strains performed well in fermentation experiments mimicking industrial bioethanol production. Together, our results illustrate the potential of phenotyping the natural biodiversity of yeasts to find superior industrial strains that may be used in bioethanol production or can be used as a basis for further strain improvement through genetic engineering, experimental evolution, or breeding. Additionally, our study provides a basis for new insights into the relationships between tolerance to different stressors

Advances in Understanding Environmental Risks of Red Mud After the Ajka Spill, Hungary

In the 5 years since the 2010 Ajka red mud spill (Hungary), there have been 46 scientific studies assessing the key risks and impacts associated with the largest single release of bauxite-processing residue (red mud) to the environment. These studies have provided insight into the main environmental concerns, as well as the effectiveness of remedial efforts that can inform future management of red mud elsewhere. The key immediate risks after the spill were associated with the highly caustic nature of the red mud slurry and fine particle size, which once desiccated, could generate fugitive dust. Studies on affected populations showed no major hazards identified beyond caustic exposure, while red mud dust risks were considered equal to or lesser than those provided by urban dusts of similar particle size distribution. The longer-term environmental risks were related to the saline nature of the spill material (salinization of inundated soils) and the release and the potential cycling of oxyanion-forming metals and metalloids (e.g., Al, As, Cr, Mo, and V) in the soil–water environment. Of these, those that are soluble at high pH, inefficiently removed from solution during dilution and likely to be exchangeable at ambient pH are of chief concern (e.g., Mo and V). Various ecotoxicological studies have identified negative impacts of red mud-amended soils and sediments at high volumes (typically [5 %) on different test organisms, with some evidence of molecularlevel impacts at high dose (e.g., genotoxic effects on plants and mice). These data provide a valuable database to inform future toxicological studies for red mud. However, extensive management efforts in the aftermath of the spill greatly limited these exposure risks through leachate neutralization and red mud recovery from the affected land. Monitoring of affected soils, stream sediments, waters and aquatic biota (fungi, invertebrates and fish) have all shown a very rapid recovery toward prespill conditions. The accident also prompted research that has also highlighted potential benefits of red mud use for critical raw material recovery (e.g., Ga, Co, V, rare earths, inform), carbon sequestration, biofuel crop production, and use as a soil ameliorant

Selection of yeast strains for bioethanol production from UK seaweeds

Macroalgae (seaweeds) are a promising feedstock for the production of third generation bioethanol, since they have high carbohydrate contents, contain little or no lignin and are available in abundance. However, seaweeds typically contain a more diverse array of monomeric sugars than are commonly present in feedstocks derived from lignocellulosic material which are currently used for bioethanol production. Hence, identification of a suitable fermentative microorganism that can utilise the principal sugars released from the hydrolysis of macroalgae remains a major objective. The present study used a phenotypic microarray technique to screen 24 different yeast strains for their ability to metabolise individual monosaccharides commonly found in seaweeds, as well as hydrolysates following an acid pre-treatment of five native UK seaweed species (Laminaria digitata, Fucus serratus, Chondrus crispus, Palmaria palmata and Ulva lactuca). Five strains of yeast (three Saccharomyces spp, one Pichia sp and one Candida sp) were selected and subsequently evaluated for bioethanol production during fermentation of the hydrolysates. Four out of the five selected strains converted these monomeric sugars into bioethanol, with the highest ethanol yield (13 g L−1) resulting from a fermentation using C. crispus hydrolysate with Saccharomyces cerevisiae YPS128. This study demonstrated the novel application of a phenotypic microarray technique to screen for yeast capable of metabolising sugars present in seaweed hydrolysates; however, metabolic activity did not always imply fermentative production of ethanol

The worldwide NORM production and a fully automated gamma-ray spectrometer for their characterization

Materials containing radionuclides of natural origin, which is modified by human made processes and being subject to regulation because of their radioactivity are known as NORM. We present a brief review of the main categories of non-nuclear industries together with the levels of activity concentration in feed raw materials, products and waste, including mechanisms of radioisotope enrichments. The global management of NORM shows a high level of complexity, mainly due to different degrees of radioactivity enhancement and the huge amount of worldwide waste production. The future tendency of guidelines concerning environmental protection will require both a systematic monitoring based on the ever-increasing sampling and high performance of gamma ray spectroscopy. On the ground of these requirements a new low background fully automated high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometer MCA_Rad has been developed. The design of Pb and Cu shielding allowed to reach a background reduction of two order of magnitude with respect to laboratory radioactivity. A severe lowering of manpower cost is obtained through a fully automation system, which enables up to 24 samples to be measured without any human attendance. Two coupled HPGe detectors increase the detection efficiency, performing accurate measurements on sample volume (180 cc) with a reduction of sample transport cost of material. Details of the instrument calibration method are presented. MCA_Rad system can measure in less than one hour a typical NORM sample enriched in U and Th with some hundreds of Bq/kg, with an overall uncertainty less than 5%. Quality control of this method has been tested. Measurements of certified reference materials RGK-1, RGU-2 and RGTh-1 containing concentrations of K, U and Th comparable to NORM have been performed, resulting an overall relative discrepancy of 5% among central values within the reported uncertainty.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, 6 table

Alkaline residues and the environment: A review of impacts, management practices and opportunities

Around two billion tonnes of alkaline residues are produced globally each year by industries such as steel production, alumina refining and coal-fired power generation, with a total production estimate of 90 billion tonnes since industrialization. These wastes are frequently stored in waste piles or landfills, and can be an environmental hazard if allowed to generate dust, or if rainwater infiltrates the waste. This review will focus on the environmental impacts associated with alkaline residues, with emphasis on the leachates produced by rainwater ingress. Many alkaline industrial wastes can produce leachates that are enriched with trace metals that form oxyanions (e.g. As, Cr, Mo, Se, V), which can be very mobile in alkaline water. The management options for the residues and their leachates are also discussed, distinguishing active and passive treatment options. Potential reuses of these materials, in construction materials, as agricultural amendments, and in environmental applications are identified. The mechanisms of carbon sequestration by alkaline residues are assessed, and the potential for enhancing its rate as a climate change off-setting measure for the industry is evaluated. The potential for recovery of metals critical to e-technologies, such as vanadium, cobalt, lithium and rare earths, from alkaline residues is considered. Finally research needs are identified, including the need to better understand the biogeochemistry of highly alkaline systems in order to develop predictable passive remediation and metal recovery technologies