Impact of speciation on behaviour of uranium in a solar powered membrane system for treatment of brackish groundwater

Factors affecting uranium removal from brackish groundwater using a direct solar powered ultrafiltration-nanofiltration/reverse osmosis membrane system were investigated during a field trial in the Australian outback. The key variables were uranium speciation (as a function of pH), groundwater type as well as energy variation over the course of a day. It was found that uranium was retained by the membranes over the pH range 3-11, but strongly adsorbed to membranes at pH 4-7. The speciation of uranium pH 4-7 explained the adsorption to the membrane. The presence of other inorganic species, in particular calcium, was a likely cause of uranium co-precipitation at pH 10-11. During solar energy experiments, it was found that the specific energy consumption increased over the course of the day. This indicated fouling through precipitation on the membranes which caused reduced retention of uranium towards the end of the solar day

Expanding Efficiency: Women\u27s Communication in Engineering

As engineering fields strive to be more inclusive of women, focusing on perceptions of women\u27s work is vital to understanding how women can succeed and the limitations they may face. One area in need of more attention is the connection between communication and women\u27s experiences in engineering. This article examines the gendered nature of writing labor in engineering, focusing on case studies of three women who were able to use writing effectively, yet how communication emerged as a gendered form of labor subject to gendered perceptions. While these women\u27s communication skills led to professional success, their association with writing echoes a historical division, where writing is viewed as less valuable than technical knowledge. This division has the potential to disadvantage women who are asked to take on more writing-related tasks. In addition, their writing and communication are subject to gendered perceptions of being ‘chatty’ or blunt rather than effective or efficient. Articulating these perceptions and attitudes can lead to a breakdown of the binary between writing and technical labor as well as appropriately valuing the contributions women make in engineering through writing

Challenges and Facilitating Factors in Accessing Administrative Data for Research: Insights from the Children's Health Profile and Trajectory Initiative in NB and PEI

Introduction Administrative health data (AHD) are typically not analyzed to produce evidence on the effectiveness and limitations of primary prevention programs and strategies. The value of AHD for answering research questions is generally recognized, but the challenges in accessing and using these data for research are not always know and documented. Objectives and Approach To identify and advise on the facilitating factors and challenges of accessing select AHD in New Brunswick (NB) and Prince Edward Island (PEI) for the purpose of creating an intra-provincial Child Health Profile (CHP) and population-based birth cohort database, using existing AHD not been previously linked. This research is a cross-jurisdictional collaboration between NB and PEI with an integrated knowledge translation (iKT) approach that adheres to each province’s unique data policies, data procedures, and data governance. The collaboration involves people in various roles: provincial government managers, policy-makers, data custodians, health practitioners, citizens, community organizations, in addition to academic researchers. Results Access to select AHD required considerable preparation, cross province coordination, and ongoing discussions over many months. Key facilitators were the NB Institute for Research, Data and Training, a newly established data repository that holds provincial AHD in NB, and the provincial health authority in PEI. In NB, the existence of well-documented protocols and support from designated personnel (including trained data analysts) were assets facilitating data access through the data repository. In PEI, REB approval was obtained more rapidly but challenges occurred in subsequent stages of data access directly through the health authority. This research supports the empowerment of stakeholders such as Public Health and researchers who are trying to leverage ‘big data’ resources to address research and practice questions regarding children’s health. Conclusion/Implications Accessing AHD for the project was facilitated by the existence of well-documented protocols and other specialized resources that help streamline the process of data sharing while ensuring data privacy and security. Continued relationship-building among stakeholders is needed to facilitate and maximize the use of existing AHD in NB and PEI

Mastering the Hard Stuff: The History of College Concrete-Canoe Races and the Growth of Engineering Competition Culture

This article details the history of college engineering competitions, originating with student concrete-canoe racing in the 1970s, through today’s multi-million-dollar international multiplicity of challenges. Despite initial differences between engineering educators and industry supporters over the ultimate purpose of undergraduate competitions, these events thrived because they evolved to suit many needs of students, professors, schools, corporations, professional associations, and the engineering profession itself. The twenty-first-century proliferation of university-level competitions in turn encouraged a trickling-down of technical contests to elementary-age children and high schools, fostering the institutionalization of what might be called a competition culture in engineering

The emergence of modern statistics in agricultural science : Analysis of variance, experimental design and the reshaping of research at Rothamsted Experimental Station, 1919–1933

During the twentieth century statistical methods have transformed research in the experimental and social sciences. Qualitative evidence has largely been replaced by quantitative results and the tools of statistical inference have helped foster a new ideal of objectivity in scientific knowledge. The paper will investigate this transformation by considering the genesis of analysis of variance and experimental design, statistical methods nowadays taught in every elementary course of statistics for the experimental and social sciences. These methods were developed by the mathematician and geneticist R. A. Fisher during the 1920s, while he was working at Rothamsted Experimental Station, where agricultural research was in turn reshaped by Fisher’s methods. Analysis of variance and experimental design required new practices and instruments in field and laboratory research, and imposed a redistribution of expertise among statisticians, experimental scientists and the farm staff. On the other hand the use of statistical methods in agricultural science called for a systematization of information management and made computing an activity integral to the experimental research done at Rothamsted, permanently integrating the statisticians’ tools and expertise into the station research programme. Fisher’s statistical methods did not remain confined within agricultural research and by the end of the 1950s they had come to stay in psychology, sociology, education, chemistry, medicine, engineering, economics, quality control, just to mention a few of the disciplines which adopted them