Tales from the field: enhancing the discoverability of field notes and field specimens

Field specimens and field notes provide a rich source of data for researchers. In 2016, Deakin University Library implemented a project to make accessible an historic field specimen album by William Harvey and a set of field diaries by noted scientist, Edmund Gill. Such unique and unusual items created challenges for the digitisation process and also led us to explore a range of methods to enhance their discovery and promotion. This paper outlines the digitisation project, the use of metadata, digital exhibitions and social media to expose the digitised items and the collaboration required to successfully complete the project

Democratic Values in the 21st Century: Addressing Our Transforming Society in the K12 Classroom

The professional experience of K12 teachers in the United States is marked by transformation. The K12 classroom has been a consistent presence in the history of the U.S., with the specifics of the teacher’s role regularly transforming over time. With the spread of the internet and the increasing ubiquity of web-enabled digital devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets) to our social lives, K12 teacher’s in the current historical moment face a unique challenge. They must reckon with adjusting their instructional practice to account for the ways our increasing uses of digital media and technology have transformed the nature of social interaction in our world. Additionally, many teachers are increasingly concerned with the impact this pervasive connectivity has on the social development of their students. This project aims to explore the current experience of K12 teachers in the United States and apply new understandings towards resources and strategies for helping teachers promote democratic values of the importance of community-minded action for responsible social change. This dissertation approaches understanding the experience of K12 teachers in the U.S. through multiple perspectives, including the works of John Dewey, macro-oriented social theory, the neoliberal incursion on the K12 classroom, current literature from the fields of media studies and education, and contemporary media theory. These perspectives will be brought into conversation through Stuart Hall’s concept of the “conjuncture.” The resulting analysis is then applied to qualitative field research with K12 teachers and educators, including in-depth interviews and participant observations. An inductive analysis is performed on the collected data and applied towards creating prototypes of resources and strategies for promoting democratic values for the 21st Century

Effect of surface energy on the transition from fixed to bubbling gas-fluidised beds

AbstractTwo-dimensional DEM–CFD simulations have been performed in order to examine the effect of surface energy on the transitional behaviour from fixed bed to bubbling bed for Geldart Type A particles. The results of the simulations presented in the paper show that any effect of surface energy on the magnitude of Umf is not due to increasing bed resistance as a result of increasing the interparticle bond strength. It is demonstrated that Umf corresponds to a deterministic (isostatic) state that is in effect the initiation of the transition from solid-like to fluid-like behaviour. It is also shown that the so-called ‘homogeneous expansion' regime is not in fact homogeneous. This is because the system, when U>Umf, consists of agglomerates. Consequently, the idea that bed expansion is due to the ‘elasticity’ of the bed is not tenable. In order to break up the agglomerates and create a fully fluidised bed that will allow bubbling to occur, higher superficial gas velocities are required for higher values of surface energy. Once the bed is fully fluidised and bubbling occurs the effect of surface energy becomes insignificant

A DEM investigation of transitional behaviour in gas-fluidised beds

AbstractUsing DEM simulations, the paper examines the different types of behaviour as the gas velocity is increased to cover the complete range from fixed bed to homogeneous expansion, bubbling, turbulent and fast fluidisation. The paper highlights the transitions between the various regimes. At minimum fluidisation velocity, Umf, the structure of the bed is isostatic. When the gas velocity U is increased the system immediately breaks up into large clusters of contacting particles which gradually disintegrate with further increases in gas velocity until, at minimum bubbling velocity, Umb, the first bubbles start to appear. Conventionally, the regime Umf<U<Umb is referred to as homogeneous expansion. However, it is shown that the expansion is not homogeneous. Above Umb, the amplitude of the pressure drop fluctuations increases to a maximum when U=Uc, which marks the transition from bubbling to turbulent behaviour. The simulations also show that in the turbulent regime the average pressure drop increases with increasing gas velocity. This aspect appears not to have been reported previously in the literature. Finally, when U>Uk, corresponding to “fast fluidisation”, the particle system behaves as a granular gas. A new criterion is suggested to define the transition from turbulent fluidisation to fast fluidisation, defined by Uk

Meals in the melting-pot: Immigration and dietary change in diversifying cities

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105728.Changes in diets and food practices have implications for personal and planetary health. As these implications have become more apparent, dietary change interventions that seek to promote healthy and sustainable transitions have proliferated, and the processes and drivers of dietary change have come under increasing scrutiny. In particular, dietary acculturation has been recognised as a driver of dietary change in the context of immigration to expanding, cosmopolitan cities. However, research has largely focused on changes in the diets of immigrants and ethnic minorities. In contrast, this study contributes to our understanding of the process of dietary acculturation among the largest population groups in Vancouver, Canada — Chinese- and European-Canadians — in the context of the rapid diversification of the population and food environments in this city. This is done through the analysis of descriptive and contextualised interview and observational data, and a focus on social practices. These data show that food practices, particularly in cosmopolitan urban contexts, are constantly in flux, as diverse ethnic groups come into contact, and new generations develop their own hybrid food cultures. By demonstrating and theorising this process of dietary acculturation, this research offers insights how cultural interactions relate to dietary transitions. It presents an exploratory model for considering how food practices change through dietary acculturation, which is relevant to the design of interventions that aim to support healthier and more sustainable dietary transitions."The field work was kindly funded by the Environmental Change Institute and Pembroke College, University of Oxford. None of the funding sources for this research were involved in study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, in the writing of the report, or in the decision to submit the article for publication."Ye

Evolutionary conservation of regulated longevity assurance mechanisms

Short abstract: A multi-level cross-species comparative analysis of gene-expression changes accompanying increased longevity in mutant nematodes, fruit flies and mice with reduced insulin/IGF-1 signaling revealed candidate conserved mechanisms

Long-term Impact of sewage sludge application on rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii: an evaluation using meta-analysis

The Long-Term Sludge Experiment (LTSE) began in 1994 at nine UK field sites as part of continuing research into the effects of sludge-borne heavy metals on soil fertility. The long-term effects of Zn, Cu, and Cd on the most probable numbers of cells (MPN) of Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii were monitored for 8 yr in sludge-amended soils. To assess the statutory limits set by the UK Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations, the experimental data were reviewed using statistical methods of meta-analysis. Previous LTSE studies have focused predominantly on statistical significance rather than effect size, whereas meta-analysis focuses on the magnitude and direction of an effect, i.e., the practical significance rather than its statistical significance. Results showed Zn to be the most toxic element causing an overall significant decrease in Rhizobium MPN of −26.6% during the LTSE. The effect of Cu showed no significant effect on Rhizobium MPN at concentrations below the UK limits, although a −5% decrease in Rhizobium MPN was observed in soils where total Cu ranged from 100 to <135 mg kg−1. Overall, there was nothing to indicate that Cd had a significant effect on Rhizobium MPN below the current UK statutory limit. In summary, the UK statutory limit for Zn appears to be insufficient for protecting Rhizobium from Zn toxicity effects

A linear model of elasto-plastic and adhesive contact deformation

Rigorous non-linear models of elasto-plastic contact deformation are time-consuming in numerical calculations for the distinct element method (DEM) and quite often unnecessary to represent the actual contact deformation of common particulate systems. In this work a simple linear elasto-plastic and adhesive contact model for spherical particles is proposed. Plastic deformation of contacts during loading and elastic unloading, accompanied by adhesion are considered, for which the pull-off force increases with plastic deformation. Considering the collision of a spherical cohesive body with a rigid flat target, the critical sticking velocity and coefficient of restitution in the proposed model are found to be very similar to those of Thornton and Ning’s model. Sensitivity analyses of the model parameters such as plastic, elastic, plastic-adhesive stiffnesses and pull-off force on work of compaction are carried out. It is found that by increasing the ratio of elastic to plastic stiffness, the plastic component of the total work increases and the elastic component decreases. By increasing the interface energy, the plastic work increases, but the elastic work does not change. The model can be used to efficiently represent the force-displacement of a wide range of particles, thus enabling fast numerical simulations of particle assemblies by the DEM