Assessment and verification of commercially available pressure cookers for laboratory sterilization

Microbiology laboratory experiments require careful maintenance of sterile reagents and tools as well as the sterilization of waste prior to disposal. However, steam autoclaves typically used for this purpose may not be readily accessible to everyone in the scientific community, such as K-12 teachers, researchers in the field, or students in under-funded laboratories. This work examines the use of commercial electric pressure cookers as an alternative method for the sterilization of media, instruments, and waste. Four commonly available brands of pressure cooker were tested for their ability to sterilize microbiological media, a variety of metal instruments, and high-titer microbial cultures. All four pressure cookers were able to sterilize these starting materials as well as a range of microbial types, including Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, filamentous fungi, unicellular fungi, and mixed environmental samples. Only the Instant Pot, however, was able to sterilize autoclave tester ampoules of Geobacillus stearothermophilus spores. These results suggest that, depending on the nature of the work undertaken, store-bought pressure cookers can be an appropriate substitute for commercial autoclaves. Their adoption may also help increase the accessibility of science to a broader range of investigators

Use of online video in a first year tertiary mathematics unit

The exploratory case study reported here used an action learning approach to examine the impact of online video on students studying a first year mathematics unit aimed at non-mathematics majors. After this intervention, the students completed a written questionnaire to determine their views on the impact of online video material on their understanding. Although most students were frequent users of online video only a proportion viewed the online video material. Two thirds of students who viewed the online video found it useful for visualising and understanding the practical applications of exponential function. The findings of this pilot study are encouraging and provide impetus to repeat the intervention, and develop online video material in other difficult areas of mathematics

Les pôles d’excellence comme facteur de compétitivité et d’attractivité des territoires : l’exemple de la métropole lilloise

Depuis la fin des années 1970, la région Nord-Pas-de-Calais a dû affronter une crise sans précédent qui a remis en cause son modèle de développement basé sur les très grandes industries, telles que l’industrie textile ou minière. Pour amorcer ce tournant, la région, à l’instar de ce qui se passe en France, a compris le rôle prégnant que pouvaient jouer la recherche et l’innovation dans son développement territorial. Ainsi, depuis la fin des années 1990, la multiplication des « pôles » liés à la recherche et à l’innovation sur le territoire régional, issus des politiques publiques nationales, régionales et locales soulève de multiples questionnements, notamment sur l’articulation de ces politiques au sein du territoire et sur les retombées de telles formes d’agglomération. Pour tenter d’y répondre, nous avons choisi d’étudier plus précisément les pôles d’excellence de la métropole lilloise, en nous basant notamment sur une enquête réalisée auprès des entreprises de l’un de ces pôles. Cette enquête nous montre que l’exigence de rentabilité foncière s’est faite parfois au détriment des ambitions affichées au départ.Since the late 1970s, the Lille region has had to face an unprecedented crisis which called its development model into question. The model was based on very large industries, such as the textile or mining industry. A drastic change was needed, and the Lille region, like other French regions, recognized the major role played by research and innovation in territorial development. As a consequence, research and innovation clusters have sprung up at the regional level since the late 1990s, fostered by local, regional and national public policies. This recent phenomenon raises many questions, especially regarding the articulation of these policies within the regional territory and the impact of such clustering patterns. To try to answer these questions, this study will focus more specifically on excellence clusters in the Lille metropolitan area, based on a survey of companies from one of these clusters. This survey shows us that the requirement of land profitability was sometimes made to the detriment of the ambitions posted at first

Measuring preparedness to teach with ICT

In this paper we discuss the development and implementation of a questionnaire that measures preparedness to teach secondary school science with information and communication technologies (leT). The questionnaire was designed for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of instruction in a science education unit in a Graduate Diploma teacher education course. Rasch analysis of the pre- and post-unit responses indicated domains of expertise for which students perceived they had improved their knowledge during the unit, and domains for which they perceived they were less knowledgeable after the unit than before it. We discuss students\u27 responses in relation to the unit, and report the technical decisions that we \u27made as part of the analysis. The questionnaire could be adapted easily to suit preservice teacher education in disciplines other than science

Contemporary science curricula in Australian schools

A quality education in science is a crucial outcome of schooling. All young people need a deep understanding of how the practice of science enables humans to make sense of the world around them. The knowledge produced by science allows us to solve problems and make informed, evidence-based judgements to improve our lives and that of others. For example, our understanding of science allows us to develop drugs to treat diseases, build telescopes to search the outermost parts of the Universe, predict weather patterns and explain why certain chemicals react with each other in predictable ways. Many of the global problems facing humanity (e.g., climate change, food and energy shortages) require science and technology-based solutions

Proton Radiation Belt Anisotropy as Seen by ICARE-NG Head-A

International audienceThe ICARE-NG instrument onboard the Argentinian satellite SAC-D detected much more protons during descending orbits (when latitude decreases) than for ascending orbits (increasing latitudes). In this paper we will investigate on the anisotropy seen by the ICARE-NG Head-A for protons in coincidence mode from Monte-Carlo simulations performed with GEANT4. Our simulations show that the difference in the fluxes observed during ascending and descending orbits comes from the fact that the instrument observed trapped protons or not on each point of the orbits as a result of the instrument and satellite orientations. In addition, we show in this paper that the measurements performed by ICARE-NG can be used in conjunction with our GEANT4 simulations to study the anisotropy of trapped protons, i.e. their distribution relative to their equatorial pitch-angle