9,461 research outputs found
Language difficulties in first year Science
A key goal of the study entitled ‘A cross-disciplinary approach to language support for first year students in the science disciplines’, funded by the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, is to examine the role of language in the learning of science by first-year university students. The disciplines involved are Physics, Chemistry and Biology. This national project also aims to transfer active learning skills, which are widely used in language teaching, to the teaching of science in first year. The paper discusses the background to the study, reports on some of the preliminary results on the language difficulties faced by first year student cohorts in science from data collected in 2008, and describes the framework we have established for the organization and delivery of first year science courses to be implemented in semester one 2009
Embedding in-discipline language support for first year students in the sciences
This paper reports on a project which aims at addressing the need to cater for the language needs of a diverse student body (both domestic and international student body) by embedding strategic approaches to learning and teaching in first year sciences in tertiary education. These strategies consist of active learning skills which are widely used in language learning. The disciplines covered by the project are Biology, Chemistry and Physics and involves the University of Canberra (UC), University of Sydney (USyd), University of Tasmania (UTAS), University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and University of Newcastle (Newcastle) in Australia. This project is funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC). The paper discusses the background to the study and reports on results on the language difficulties faced by first year science student cohorts from data collected in 2008 as well as qualitative data was also collected on 2008 students’ attitudes towards online science learning. It will also report on the results on the implementation of the learning strategies at UTS and UTAS in Physics and Chemistry disciplines in 2009. Keywords: First year science teaching, role of language in science teaching, active learning skill
CVD of CrO2: towards a lower temperature deposition process
We report on the synthesis of highly oriented a-axis CrO2 films onto (0001)
sapphire by atmospheric pressure CVD from CrO3 precursor, at growth
temperatures down to 330 degree Celsius, i.e. close to 70 degrees lower than in
published data for the same chemical system. The films keep the high quality
magnetic behaviour as those deposited at higher temperature, which can be
looked as a promising result in view of their use with thermally sensitive
materials, e.g. narrow band gap semiconductors.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
Integrating language learning practises in first year science disciplines
Student retention and progression rates are a matter of concern for most institutions in the higher education sector (Burton & Dowling, 2005;. Simpson, 2006;. Tinto & Pusser, 2006) in Australia. There is also a substantial body of literature concentrating on the first year experience at university (for example, in the Australian context, see Krause, Hartley, James, McInnis, & Centre for the Study of Higher Education. University of Melbourne, 2005). One of the particular concerns is that the diversity of the student body is rapidly increasing. Of course, with diversity comes with differentiated level of preparation for academic study within the student body
A survey for water maser emission towards planetary nebulae. New detection in IRAS 17347-3139
We report on a water maser survey towards a sample of 27 planetary nebulae
(PNe) using the Robledo de Chavela and Medicina single-dish antennas, as well
as the Very Large Array (VLA). Two detections have been obtained: the already
known water maser emission in K 3-35, and a new cluster of masers in IRAS
17347-3139. This low rate of detections is compatible with the short life-time
of water molecules in PNe (~100 yr). The water maser cluster at IRAS 17347-3139
are distributed on a ellipse of size ~ 0.2" x 0.1", spatially associated with
compact 1.3 cm continuum emission (simultaneously observed with the VLA). From
archive VLA continuum data at 4.9, 8.4, and 14.9 GHz, a spectral index alpha =
0.76 +- 0.03 is derived for this radio source, which is consistent with either
a partially optically thick ionized region or with an ionized wind. However,
the latter scenario can be ruled out on mass-loss considerations, thus
indicating that this source is probably a young PN. The spatial distribution
and the radial velocities of the water masers are suggestive of a rotating and
expanding maser ring, tracing the innermost regions of a torus formed at the
end of the AGB phase. Given that the 1.3 cm continuum emission peak is located
near one of the tips of the major axis of the ellipse of masers, we speculate
on a possible binary nature of IRAS 17347-3139, where the radio continuum
emission could belong to one of the components and the water masers would be
associated with a companion.Comment: Accepted by The Astrophysical Journal. 25 pages, 6 figure
Examining exercise dependence symptomatology from a self-determination perspective
Background: Based on the theoretical propositions of Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985) this study examined whether individuals classified as “nondependent-symptomatic” and “nondependent-asymptomatic” for exercise dependence differed in terms of the level of exercise-related psychological need satisfaction and self-determined versus controlling motivation they reported. Further, we examined if the type of motivational regulations predicting exercise behaviour differed among these groups.
Methods: Participants (N = 339), recruited from fitness, community, and retail settings, completed measures of exercise-specific psychological need satisfaction, motivational regulations, exercise behaviour and exercise dependence.
Results: Individuals who were nondependent-symptomatic for exercise dependence reported higher levels of competence need satisfaction and all forms of motivational regulation, compared to nondependent-asymptomatic individuals. Introjected regulation approached significance as a positive predictor of strenuous exercise behaviour for symptomatic individuals. Identified regulation was a positive predictor of strenuous exercise for asymptomatic individuals.
Conclusions: The findings reinforce the applicability of SDT to understanding engagement in exercise
NIKA: A millimeter-wave kinetic inductance camera
Current generation millimeter wavelength detectors suffer from scaling limits
imposed by complex cryogenic readout electronics. To circumvent this it is
imperative to investigate technologies that intrinsically incorporate strong
multiplexing. One possible solution is the kinetic inductance detector (KID).
In order to assess the potential of this nascent technology, a prototype
instrument optimized for the 2 mm atmospheric window was constructed. Known as
the N\'eel IRAM KIDs Array (NIKA), it was recently tested at the Institute for
Millimetric Radio Astronomy (IRAM) 30-meter telescope at Pico Veleta, Spain.
The measurement resulted in the imaging of a number of sources, including
planets, quasars, and galaxies. The images for Mars, radio star MWC349, quasar
3C345, and galaxy M87 are presented. From these results, the optical NEP was
calculated to be around WHz. A factor of 10
improvement is expected to be readily feasible by improvements in the detector
materials and reduction of performance-degrading spurious radiation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
How Phase Transitions induce classical behaviour
We continue the analysis of the onset of classical behaviour in a scalar
field after a continuous phase transition, in which the system-field, the long
wavelength order parameter of the model, interacts with an environment, of its
own short-wavelength modes and other fields, neutral and charged, with which it
is expected to interact. We compute the decoherence time for the system-field
modes from the master equation and directly from the decoherence functional
(with identical results). In simple circumstances the order parameter field is
classical by the time the transition is complete.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure: To be published in the International Journal of
Theoretical Physics (2005) as part of the Proceedings of the "Peyresq Physics
9" meeting (2004) on "Micro and Macro structures of spacetime",ed. E.
Verdague
Viewpoint: The Human Capital Approach to Inference
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the “human capital” approach to inference. Observed decisions by experts can be used to organize data on their decisions using simple machine learning techniques. The fact that the human capital of these experts is heterogeneous implies that errors in decision making are inevitable, which in turn allows us to identify the conditional average treatment effect for a wider class of situations than would be possible with randomized control trials. This point is illustrated with some data from medical decision making in the context of treating depression, heart disease, and adverse childbirth events
Hydrogen Recovery by Methane Pyrolysis to Elemental Carbon
Use of a Sabatier reactor to recover the oxygen from the carbon dioxide exhaled by the crew on the International Space Station has been limited by the loss of the hydrogen contained in the methane it generates. Maximizing the oxygen recovered requires the hydrogen to be recovered from the methane product and recycled back to the Sabatier reactor. We describe the use of a tailored methane pyrolysis reactor to completely recover this hydrogen. The carbon-containing byproduct is elemental carbon, which is generated in the form of easily handled, non-sooty material that may have various uses. The process of creating this tailored carbon vapor deposition process involved exploration of the effects of temperature, pressure, substrate design and other variables to develop a high yield process that cleanly generates the desired products. Reaction kinetics and kinetics modelling were used to specify the temperature, pressure and reactor volume required to achieve the target conversion and to assure that the final average density was as high as possible. Reactor design included the selection of materials that will survive the high temperatures and environment in the pyrolysis reactor, and thermal modeling to achieve the required temperatures with minimum power consumption. The successful construction and demonstration of a brassboard prototype will allow the results of the chemical, thermal and mechanical models to be validated and should provide a useful alternative for a completely closed loop ECLS system. Integration of this technology with state-of-the-art (SOA) Sabatier hardware on ISS requires a complete understanding of the effects of impurities in the product hydrogen on the Sabatier catalyst. SOA Sabatier catalyst was evaluated over short and long-term exposure to anticipated contaminants to identify effects
- …