Scientific Visualisation: Linking Science and Technology Education through Graphic Communications

Scientific visualisation is a new curriculum in the technology education area in orth Carolina, USA. The goal of this two-course curriculum is to help develop students' ability to communicate technical and scientific information to a variety of audiences. A historical context is set to help explain the development of this curriculum. The curriculum's unique application of the design process to visualisation methods and its emphasis on the use of science and technology concepts for visualisation topics are discussed. How curriculum is implemented in the classroom and an example activity are outlined

Scientific visualization: a new basic in design and technology

Since 1995, the authors have been developing a new secondary school curriculum in Scientific Visualization. This curriculum is currently part of the Technology Education area in North Carolina, USA. The goal of this two-course curriculum is to help develop student's ability to communicate technical and scientific information to a variety of audiences. The development of this curriculum has been motivated by a belief that graphics, as a means of communication, has been growing rapidly as a means of communication worldwide, but has been largely neglected as a course of study in US secondary schools. This presentation will give an overview of the Scientific Visualization curriculum. As part of this overview, how this curriculum supports the goals of design and technology education and constructivist education philosophy will be presented

Evolving Technical Graphics in the High Schools: A New Curriculum in Scientific Visualization

A new curriculum, Scientific Visualization, is being taught by high school technical graphics and science teachers for the first time in the Fall of 1997.  This curriculum reflects a broadening application of computer graphics techniques in the workplace and represents a rich area for technical graphics teachers at all levels of education to be involved in.  The goal of the two-course sequence at the high school level is to give students expertise in manipulating both geometry and the visual characteristics of geometry, such as color and texture.  These visual elements are used to construct 2-D and 3-D graphic images which support the understanding of scientific and technical principles.  These courses are meant to complement rather than replace more mainstream technical graphics courses in architectural and mechanical graphics.  The proposed student populations taking the scientific visualization courses are not only the traditional vocational track students, but also pre-college students planning on studying in scientific, engineering, and technical fields.  Work is underway developing an extensive set of support materials and sample problems for use in the newly developed curriculum.  Implications for teaching technical graphics in higher education will be discussed in this paper, as well as the impact this type of curriculum may have on colleges and universities with future students having gone through this type of course and training

A life in progress: motion and emotion in the autobiography of Robert M. La Follette

This article is a study of a La Follette’s Autobiography, the autobiography of the leading Wisconsin progressive Robert M. La Follette, which was published serially in 1911 and, in book form, in 1913. Rather than focusing, as have other historians, on which parts of La Follette’s account are accurate and can therefore be trusted, it explains instead why and how this major autobiography was conceived and written. The article shows that the autobiography was the product of a sustained, complex, and often fraught series of collaborations among La Follette’s family, friends, and political allies, and in the process illuminates the importance of affective ties as well as political ambition and commitment in bringing the project to fruition. In the world of progressive reform, it argues, personal and political experiences were inseparable

Apophis planetary defense campaign

We describe results of a planetary defense exercise conducted during the close approach to Earth by the near-Earth asteroid (99942) Apophis during 2020 December–2021 March. The planetary defense community has been conducting observational campaigns since 2017 to test the operational readiness of the global planetary defense capabilities. These community-led global exercises were carried out with the support of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office and the International Asteroid Warning Network. The Apophis campaign is the third in our series of planetary defense exercises. The goal of this campaign was to recover, track, and characterize Apophis as a potential impactor to exercise the planetary defense system including observations, hypothetical risk assessment and risk prediction, and hazard communication. Based on the campaign results, we present lessons learned about our ability to observe and model a potential impactor. Data products derived from astrometric observations were available for inclusion in our risk assessment model almost immediately, allowing real-time updates to the impact probability calculation and possible impact locations. An early NEOWISE diameter measurement provided a significant improvement in the uncertainty on the range of hypothetical impact outcomes. The availability of different characterization methods such as photometry, spectroscopy, and radar provided robustness to our ability to assess the potential impact risk

Status of care for end stage kidney disease in countries and regions worldwide:international cross sectional survey

ObjectiveTo determine the global capacity (availability, accessibility, quality, and affordability) to deliver kidney replacement therapy (dialysis and transplantation) and conservative kidney management.DesignInternational cross sectional survey.SettingInternational Society of Nephrology (ISN) survey of 182 countries from July to September 2018.ParticipantsKey stakeholders identified by ISN's national and regional leaders.Main outcome measuresMarkers of national capacity to deliver core components of kidney replacement therapy and conservative kidney management.ResultsResponses were received from 160 (87.9%) of 182 countries, comprising 97.8% (7338.5 million of 7501.3 million) of the world's population. A wide variation was found in capacity and structures for kidney replacement therapy and conservative kidney management-namely, funding mechanisms, health workforce, service delivery, and available technologies. Information on the prevalence of treated end stage kidney disease was available in 91 (42%) of 218 countries worldwide. Estimates varied more than 800-fold from 4 to 3392 per million population. Rwanda was the only low income country to report data on the prevalence of treated disease; 5 (<10%) of 53 African countries reported these data. Of 159 countries, 102 (64%) provided public funding for kidney replacement therapy. Sixty eight (43%) of 159 countries charged no fees at the point of care delivery and 34 (21%) made some charge. Haemodialysis was reported as available in 156 (100%) of 156 countries, peritoneal dialysis in 119 (76%) of 156 countries, and kidney transplantation in 114 (74%) of 155 countries. Dialysis and kidney transplantation were available to more than 50% of patients in only 108 (70%) and 45 (29%) of 154 countries that offered these services, respectively. Conservative kidney management was available in 124 (81%) of 154 countries. Worldwide, the median number of nephrologists was 9.96 per million population, which varied with income level.ConclusionsThese comprehensive data show the capacity of countries (including low income countries) to provide optimal care for patients with end stage kidney disease. They demonstrate substantial variability in the burden of such disease and capacity for kidney replacement therapy and conservative kidney management, which have implications for policy

Identification and Characterization of Two Novel RNA Viruses from Anopheles gambiae Species Complex Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes of the Anopheles gambiae complex display strong preference for human blood-meals and are major malaria vectors in Africa. However, their interaction with viruses or role in arbovirus transmission during epidemics has been little examined, with the exception of O'nyong-nyong virus, closely related to Chikungunya virus. Deep-sequencing has revealed different RNA viruses in natural insect viromes, but none have been previously described in the Anopheles gambiae species complex. Here, we describe two novel insect RNA viruses, a Dicistrovirus and a Cypovirus, found in laboratory colonies of An. gambiae taxa using small-RNA deep sequencing. Sequence analysis was done with Metavisitor, an open-source bioinformatic pipeline for virus discovery and de novo genome assembly. Wild-collected Anopheles from Senegal and Cambodia were positive for the Dicistrovirus and Cypovirus, displaying high sequence identity to the laboratory-derived virus. Thus, the Dicistrovirus (Anopheles C virus, AnCV) and Cypovirus (Anopheles Cypovirus, AnCPV) are components of the natural virome of at least some anopheline species. Their possible influence on mosquito immunity or transmission of other pathogens is unknown. These natural viruses could be developed as models for the study of Anopheles-RNA virus interactions in low security laboratory settings, in an analogous manner to the use of rodent malaria parasites for studies of mosquito anti-parasite immunity