An algebra of Stein operators

We build upon recent advances on the distributional aspect of Stein's method to propose a novel and flexible technique for computing Stein operators for random variables that can be written as products of independent random variables. We show that our results are valid for a wide class of distributions including normal, beta, variance-gamma, generalized gamma and many more. Our operators are $k$th degree differential operators with polynomial coefficients; they are straightforward to obtain even when the target density bears no explicit handle. As an application, we derive a new formula for the density of the product of $k$ independent symmetric variance-gamma distributed random variables.Comment: 20 page

Cooked turkey roasts have different processing characteristics then cooked beef roasts

Roasts were manufactured from lean beef and turkey by injecting with brine to 25% above green weight so the raw product contained 1.8% salt and 0.3% sodium phosphate. Meat muscle characteristics (pH and protein solubility) and processing characteristics were measured as cook yields and expressible moisture. The species significantly affects some basic properties of the meat. Turkey meat had significantly higher pH and extractible myofibrillar proteins than beef. The increased cook yield was correlated with higher pH and higher expressible moisture. The differences observed suggest that processors need to treat the starting materials differently

Work placement reports: Student perceptions

Engineering students complete work placement reports after being on placement in industry, the aim is to increase work place learning and to increase students understanding about the placement, themselves, career direction and skills obtained. Third and fourth year engineering students perceptions on their report writing experience, academic feedback quality, and the effect of completing work placement reports on their learning and report writing ability, were surveyed. Third year students enjoyed the experience more than fourth year students and perceived greater benefits. Fourth year student opinion was mixed, reflecting greater experience and cynicism. Fourth year students rated feedback from academics higher than the third years, perhaps because their reports were more interesting for the academics. The fourth year students were more cynical on the benefits of reflecting and reviewing what they had learned, and many considered this was not important for being an engineer

The Industry and Recent Graduates: A Relationship in Transition

The industry is attempting to become more involved with graduates and currently-enrolled students in hospitality education programs. This article re- views the current situation, describes problems which exist, and proposes potential strategies to help resolve the problems

Analysis of rheological behaviour of titanium feedstocks formulated with a water-soluble binder system for powder injection moulding

Binder selection and formulation are critical in powder injection moulding. Binders play a key role in controlling the rheological properties of a feedstock and influence whether the resulting feedstock can be successfully injection moulded, debound and sintered without defects. A four-step process was used to mix hydride-dehydride titanium alloy (processed) powder (Ti-6Al-4 V) with a polyethylene glycol (PEG) based water soluble binder system. The rheological properties, including flow behaviour index, flow activation energy, fluidity and melt flow index of the homogeneous feedstock, were determined with a capillary rheometer. All feedstock formulations exhibited shear thinning flow behaviour. The optimum feedstock consisting of 60 vol.% powder content, 32 vol.% PEG, 6 vol.% polyvinyl butyryl and 2 vol.% stearic acid was suitable for titanium injection moulding

‘Eating at us’: Representations of knowledge in the activist documentary film Food, Inc.

© 2011, © 2011 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. Writing on social movement learning and environmental adult education invokes particular views on knowledge that need further examination and development in relation to food social movements. Although food social movements take different forms, the paper argues that the politics of food knowledge is at the centre of many of these movements. Contributing to the discourse of social movement learning, this article focuses on the film Food, Inc., an important activist resource and documentary film about a particular food movement. We analyse how it legitimates certain forms of knowledge about food production and consumption and de-legitimates others. Whilst a useful case study on knowledge and film activism in itself, the article seeks to challenge what it sees as some key tenets about knowledge in social movement learning literature. One key tenet is that it is self-evident whose interests are served by ‘ordinary people's knowledge’ and ‘scientific knowledge.’ Instead, it is argued that when it comes to collective action for food there is ambiguity, messiness and contestation about what constitutes knowledge and, in particular, anti-capitalist knowledge. But realisation of such ambiguity, messiness and contestation should not lead to paralysed inaction, but to informed and nuanced action. A question then for social movement learning practitioners is how they can mobilise social change through a broader sense of knowledge and its effects

Imperial Infringement or Self-destruction? The Demise of the Caribbean\u27s Black Power Socialist Experiment

The Caribbean’s experimentation with Black Power and socialism was the highest expression of its self-emancipation and self-definition. This thesis explores the reasons why this experiment, the dawning of a new day as it freed the masses from the grips of colonial constraints, was suppressed. It deconstructs which factor had a greater impact on the failure of the Caribbean’s nation-building process, internal strife and contradictions, or U.S. imperialistic hegemonic greed. Beginning with the exploration of intellectual and inspirational rhetoric of freedom, equality and black liberation, these ideological thinkers inspired the Caribbean to fight for independence. A case study evaluating four Caribbean nations, Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Grenada, that in the 1970s through early 1980s experimented with black power and socialism as their method of self-determination is included. U.S. involvement in the region during this time was the main factor that caused the experiment’s demise as it shaped the Caribbean’s modernity. It explores the criticisms to U.S hegemony and infantilization of the Caribbean and suggests ways the U.S and the Caribbean can learn from the past to be catalysts for internal change, as well as to invoke a new relationship with each other in the future

SIMS chemical analysis of extended impacts on the leading and trailing edges of LDEF experiment AO187-2

Numerous 'extended impacts' found in both leading and trailing edge capture cells were successfully analyzed for the chemical composition of projectile residues by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Most data were obtained from the trailing edge cells where 45 of 58 impacts were classified as 'probably natural' and the remainder as 'possibly man-made debris.' This is in striking contrast to leading edge cells where 9 of 11 impacts so far measured are definitely classified as orbital debris. Although all the leading edge cells had lost their plastic entrance foils during flight, the rate of foil failure was similar to that of the trailing edge cells, 10 percent of which were recovered intact. Ultraviolet embrittlement is suspected as the major cause of failure on both leading and trailing edges. The major impediment to the accurate determination of projectile chemistry is the fractionation of volatile and refractory elements in the hypervelocity impact and redeposition processes. This effect had been noted in a simulation experiment but is more pronounced in the LDEF capture cells, probably due to the higher average velocities of the space impacts. Surface contamination of the pure Ge surfaces with a substance rich in Si, but also containing Mg and Al, provides an additional problem for the accurate determination of impactor chemistry. The effect is variable, being much larger on surfaces that were exposed to space than in those cells that remained intact. Future work will concentrate on the analyses of more leading edge impacts and the development of new SIMS techniques for the measurement of elemental abundances in extended impacts