Collaborative concept mapping: an education research team leveraging their collaborative efforts

Collaborative concept mapping (CCM) has been a tool deployed by educators to enhance learning in such situations as primary science classes, supported learning environments and asynchronous computer-mediated learning. Of its outcomes, CCM has produced rich group discussion about ideas and possibilities pertinent to the topic or problem at hand. The majority of research into CCM has been explicitly pointed at enhancing learning. This chapter takes a different tack by reporting on how the authors used CCM to seek understandings of its utility in enabling collaborative research by creating synergies within a research team located in the Faculty of Education at the University of Southern Queensland. The following questions were used to focus the research: • What was the research team’s experience of collaborative concept mapping? • What propositions did the team construct about teamwork and collaboration? • How did the interactions among team members facilitate meaning-making about teamwork and collaboration? The data consisted of this team’s collaborative concept map and recordings of the dialogue during the process of constructing the map. Analysis revealed the team’s emerging propositions about teamwork and collaboration and also contributed understandings of the co-constructed patterns of talk that produced this dynamic map. The chapter concludes that collaborative concept mapping is a useful tool for research and other team development, and possibly for the collaborative conceptualisation of future team research projects

Asymmetries of Heavy Elements in the Young Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A

Supernova remnants (SNRs) offer the means to study supernovae (SNe) long after the original explosion and can provide a unique insight into the mechanism that governs these energetic events. In this work, we examine the morphologies of X-ray emission from different elements found in the youngest known core-collapse (CC) SNR in the Milky Way, Cassiopeia A. The heaviest elements exhibit the highest levels of asymmetry, which we relate to the burning process that created the elements and their proximity to the center of explosion. Our findings support recent model predictions that the material closest to the source of explosion will reflect the asymmetries inherent to the SN mechanism. Additionally, we find that the heaviest elements are moving more directly opposed to the neutron star (NS) than the lighter elements. This result is consistent with NS kicks arising from ejecta asymmetries.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables Updated to include an analysis of Emission Measure Maps (vs the, still-included, continuum-subtracted flux maps), used as another proxy for mass maps. The results have not changed; the emission measure maps also show increasing asymmetry with ejecta mass. (Now matches the version published in ApJ. Vol 889 Issue 2 (2020) 144

Scintillator-based ion beam profiler for diagnosing laser-accelerated ion beams

Next generation intense, short-pulse laser facilities require new high repetition rate diagnostics for the detection of ionizing radiation. We have designed a new scintillator-based ion beam profiler capable of measuring the ion beam transverse profile for a number of discrete energy ranges. The optical response and emission characteristics of four common plastic scintillators has been investigated for a range of proton energies and fluxes. The scintillator light output (for 1 MeV > Ep < 28 MeV) was found to have a non-linear scaling with proton energy but a linear response to incident flux. Initial measurements with a prototype diagnostic have been successful, although further calibration work is required to characterize the total system response and limitations under the high flux, short pulse duration conditions of a typical high intensity laser-plasma interaction

Torque control system

System stabilizes aximuth of gondolas which are carried by high-altitude balloons as platforms for tracking telescopes. When telescopes must be constantly aimed at specific targets, control system stabilizes gondola to within 5 arc-seconds

Application of numerical methods to planetary radiowave scattering

Existing numerical techniques for the solution of scattering problems were investigated to determine those which might be applicable to planetary surface studies, with the goal of improving the interpretation of radar data from Venus, Mars, the Moon, and icy satellites. The general characteristics of the models are described along with computational concerns. In particular, the Numerical Electrogmatics Code (NEC) developed at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is discussed. Though not developed for random rough surfaces, the NEC contains elements which may be generalized and which could be valuable in the study of scattering by planetary surfaces

Surface properties of Galilean satellites from bistatic radar experiments

The icy moons of Jupiter were the first to show unusual radar backscatter behavior in Earth-based experiments. Studies of Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto revealed strong echoes and a reversed sense of circular polarization. No explanations were entirely satisfactory because of the difficult constraints imposed by the existing data. The (scalar) bidirectional coherence model predicts an opposition effect, or enhancement in the backscatter direction, resulting from coherent addition of backscatter from identical (but oppositely directed) ray paths. The mode decoupling model yields a similar, vector result in which the observed polarization properties of the backscattered wave can also be obtained. The possibilities were considered for conducting such experiments using the Galileo spacecraft. Both conventional oblique-forward bistatic experiments (to determine basic electrical and physical properties of the surface material on centimeter-meter scales) and near-backscatter experiments (to sample the enhanced backscatter lobe) were considered

Carfentrazone-ethyl Pond Dissipation and Efficacy on Floating Plants

Carfentrazone-ethyl (CE) is a reduced risk herbicide that is currently being evaluated for the control of aquatic weeds. Greenhouse trials were conducted to determine efficacy of CE on water hyacinth ( Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms- Laub.), water lettuce ( Pistia stratiotes L.), salvinia ( Salvinia minima Baker) and landoltia (Landoltia punctata (G. Mey.) Les & D. J. Crawford ) . CE controlled water lettuce, water hyacinth and salvinia at rates less than the maximum proposed use rate of 224 g ha -1 . Water lettuce was the most susceptible to CE with an EC 90 of 26.9 and 33.0 g ha -1 in two separate trials. Water hyacinth EC 90 values were calculated to be 86.2 to 116.3 g ha -1 , and salvinia had a similar susceptibility to water hyacinth with an EC 90 of 79.1 g ha -1 . Landoltia was not adequately controlled at the rates evaluated. In addition, CE was applied to one-half of a 0.08 ha pond located in North Central, Florida to determine dissipation rates in water and hydrosoil when applied at an equivalent rate of 224 g ha -1 . The half-life of CE plus the primary metabolite, CE-chloropropionic acid, was calculated to be 83.0 h from the whole pond, and no residues were detected in water above the limit of quantification (5 μg L -1 ) 168 h after treatment. CE dissipated rapidly from the water column, did not occur in the sediment above the levels of quantification, and in greenhouse studies effectively controlled three species of aquatic weeds at relatively low rates.(PDF contains 6 pages.