Evaluating research - Peer review team assessment and journal-based bibliographic measures: New Zealand PBRF research output scores in 2006

This paper concerns the relationship between the assessment of the research of individual academics by peer or expert review teams with a variety of bibliometric schemes based on journal quality weights. Specifically, for a common group of economists from New Zealand departments of economics the relationship between Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) Research Output measures for those submitting new research portfolios in 2006 are compared with evaluations of journal based research over the 2000-2005 assessment period. This comparison identifies the journal weighting schemes that appear most similar to PBRF peer evaluations. The paper provides an indication of the ‘power or aggressiveness’ of PBRF evaluations in terms of the weighting given to quality. The implied views of PBRF peer review teams are also useful in assessing common assumptions made in evaluating journal based research

Alternatives for Measuring Hazardous Waste Reduction

PTI Project number 233U-4913FRHWRIC Project Number 89006

Pedagogy of Relevance: A Critical Communication Pedagogy Agenda for the \u27Basic\u27 Course

In this article, we envision how a critical communication pedagogy approach might lend narrative coherence, intellectual rigor, and a focused agenda to the introductory course. Such a paradigm shift is not only consistent with the trajectory of work in our discipline, but it will likely result in ourselves and others assigning more value and respect to our work with the introductory course. Specifically, we advocate four changes with respect to the introductory course: Challenge “teacher-proof” textbooks and curricula, engage diversity, embrace pedagogy as teaching and research, and recover and reinvigorate communication education research

Comparison of VO2 peak during treadmill and cycle ergometry in severely overweight youth

The purpose of this study was to compare peak cardiorespiratory parameters during treadmill and cycle ergometry in severely overweight youth. Twenty-one participants from the Committed to Kids Pediatric Weight Management program at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center volunteered. Participants completed peak treadmill and cycle ergometer tests on separate days. In order to examine reliability, six subjects completed a second treadmill test and seven subjects a second cycle test. Physical characteristics included the following: Age (yrs) 12.5 ± 2.8; Body weight (BW) (kg) 78.5 ± 27.0, Height (m) 1.56 ± 0.13; and % fat 42.8 ± 7.5. No statistical significant differences (p ? 0.05) were found between treadmill and cycle peak tests. Treadmill VO2 peak (l·min-1) averaged 1.57 ± 0.40 and cycle 1.46 ± 0.30 and VO2 peak relative to BW 21.5 ± 4.1 and 20.3 ± 5.5 for treadmill and cycle ergometry, respectively. Therefore treadmill values were 7.0% and 5.6% higher than cycle values. In normal weight or children and adolescents at risk for overweight, treadmill values typically average from 7 to 12% higher than cycle values. Reliability of VO2 peak as indicated by intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.70 to 0.96 for a single or repeated tests. Intra individual variability averaged 0.5% for VO2 peak (l·min-1) during treadmill ergometry and 5.7% for cycle ergometry. Also, standard errors of measurement were low (40 to 90 ml min or 1.0 to 1.7 ml.kg-1. min-1) for the peak treadmill or cycle tests. In summary, our data suggest that both treadmill and cycle ergometry provide reliable methods for determining VO2 peak in overweight youth

Chemical spray pyrolysis of Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O high-T(sub c) superconductors for high-field bitter magnets

The deposition of Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O thick films by spray pyrolyzing a Ba-Ca-Cu-O precursor film and diffusing thallium into the film to form the superconducting phase is examined. This approach was taken to reduce exposure to thallium and its health and safety hazards. The Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O system was selected because it has very attractive features which make it appealing to device and manufacturing engineering. Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O will accommodate a number of superconducting phases. This attribute makes it very forgiving to stoichiometric fluctuations in the bulk and film. It has excellent thermal and chemical stability, and appears to be relatively insensitive to chemical impurities. Oxygen is tightly bound into the systems, consequently there is no orthorhombic (conductor) to tetragonal (insulator) transition which would affect a component's lifetime. More significantly, the thallium based superconductors appear to have harder magnetic properties than the other high-Tc oxide ceramics. Estimates using magnetoresistance measurements indicate that at 77 K Tl2Ba2CaCu2O10 will have an upper critical field, H(sub c2) fo 26 Tesla for applied fields parallel to the c-axis and approximately 1000 Tesla for fields oriented in the a-b plane. Results to date have shown that superconducting films can be reproducibly deposited on 100 oriented MgO substrates. One film had a zero resistance temperature of 111.5 K. Furthermore, x ray diffraction analysis of the films showed preferential c-axis orientation parallel to the plane of the substrate. These results have now made it possible to consider the manufacture of a superconducting tape wire which can be configured into a topology useful for high-field magnet designs. The research which leads to the preparation of these films and plans for further development are reviewed