Assessing the seasonal influence of sewage and agricultural nutrient inputs in a subtropical river estuary

A combination of physical and chemical measurements and biological indicators identified nutrient impacts throughout an Australian subtropical river estuary. This was a balance of sewage inputs in the lower river and agricultural inputs in the mid-upper river, the combined influence being greater in the wet season due to greater agricultural surface runoff. Field sampling in the region was conducted at 6 sites within the river, over 5 surveys to encapsulate both wet and dry seasonal effects. Parameters assessed were tissue nitrogen (N) contents and delta(15)N signatures of mangroves and macroalgae, phytoplankton nutrient addition bioassays, and standard physical and chemical variables. Strong spatial (within river) and temporal (seasonal) variability was observed in all parameters. Poorest water quality was detected in the middle (agricultural) region of the river in the wet season, attributable to large diffuse inputs in this region. Water quality towards the river mouth remained constant irrespective of season due to strong oceanic flushing. Mangrove and macroalgal tissue delta(15)N and %N proved a successful combination for discerning sewage and agricultural inputs. Elevated delta(15)N and %N represented sewage inputs, whereas low delta(15)N and elevated %N was indicative of agricultural inputs. Phytoplankton bioassays found the system to be primarily responsive to nutrient additions in the warmer wet season, with negligible responses observed in the cooler dry season. These results indicate that the Tweed River is sensitive to the different anthropogenic activities in its catchment and that each activity has a unique influence on receiving water quality.

Modeling of hardening and softening processes in Mg alloys

The tensile deformation behavior of a range of supersaturated Mg-Al solid solutions and an as-cast magnesium alloy AM60 has been studied. The Mg-Al alloys were tested at room temperature while the alloy AM60 was tested in the temperature range 293-573 K. The differences in the deformation behavior of the alloys is discussed in terms of hardening and softening processes. In order to identify which processes were active, the stress dependence of the strain-hardening coefficient was assessed using Lukac and Balik's model of hardening and softening. The analysis indicates that hardening involves solid solution hardening and interaction with forest dislocations and non-dislocation obstacles such as second phase particles. Cross slip is not a significant recovery process in the temperature range 293-423 K. At temperatures between 473 and 523 K the analysis suggests that softening is controlled by cross slip and climb of dislocations. At temperatures above 523 K softening seems to be controlled by dynamic recrystallisation. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

delta O-18, Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca records of Porites lutea corals from Leizhou Peninsula, northern South China Sea, and their applicability as paleoclimatic indicators

Combined seasonal to monthly resolution coral skeletal delta(18)O, Sr/Ca, and Mg/Ca records are reported for one modem and two late Holocene Porites lutea corals from a fringing reef at Leizhou Peninsula, the northern coast of the South China Sea (SCS). All the profiles for the period 1989-2000 reveal annual cycles well correlated with instrumental sea surface temperatures (SST), and display broad peaks in summer and narrow troughs in winter, reflecting seasonal growth rate variations. Calibration against instrumental SST yields the following equations: delta(18)O=-0.174(+/- 0.010)xSST(degrees C)-1.02(+/- 0.27) (MSWD=5.8), Sr/Ca-(mmol/mol)=-0.0424(+/- 0.0031)xSST(degrees C)+9.836(+/- 0.082) (MSWD=8.6), and Mg/Ca-(mmol/mol)=0.110(+/- 0.009)XSST(degrees C)+ 1.32(+/- 0.23) (MSWD=55). The scatter in the Mg/Ca-SST relationship is much larger than analytical uncertainties can account for, suggesting the presence of SST-unrelated components in the Mg/Ca variation. Calculated Sr/Ca-SST values for two later Holocene Porites lutea samples (U-series ages similar to 541 BC and similar to 487 AD, respectively) from the same reef suggest that SST in the SCS at similar to 541 BC was nearly as warm as in the 1990s (the warmest decade of the last century), but at similar to 487 AD, it was significantly cooler. This observation is consistent with climatic data reported in Chinese historic documents, confirming that the Sr/Ca-SST relationship is a reliable thermometer. Removing the SST component in the delta(18)O variation based on calculated Sr/Ca-SST values, the residual delta(18)O reflects the deviation of the Holocene seawater delta(18)O from the modem value, which is also a measure of the Holocene sea surface salinity (SSS) or the summer monsoon moisture level in mainland China. Such residual delta(18)O was close to zero at similar to 541 BC and -0.3 parts per thousand at similar to 487 AD, suggesting that it was as wet as in the 1990s at similar to 541 BC but significantly drier at similar to 487 AD in mainland China, which are also consistent with independent historic records. Calculated Mg/Ca-SST values for the two late Holocene corals are significantly lower than the Sr/Ca-SST values and are also in conflict with Chinese historic records, suggesting that coral Mg/Ca is not reliable proxy for SST. At comparable Sr/Ca ranges, fossil corals always display negative Mg/Ca offsets if compared with the modem coral of the same site. We interpret this observation as due to preferential loss of Mg during meteoric dissolution of cryptic Mg-calcite-bearing microbialites in the exposed fossil corals. Microbialites (MgO up to 17%, Sr only 100-300 ppm) are ubiquitous during reef-building processes and their presence in only a trace amount will have a significant impact on coral Mg/Ca ratios without detectable influence on coral Sr/Ca ratios. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Differential impact of posterior lesions in the left and right hemisphere on visual category learning and generalization to contrast reversal

Hemispheric differences in the learning and generalization of pattern categories were explored in two experiments involving sixteen patients with unilateral posterior, cerebral lesions in the left (LH) or right (RH) hemisphere. In each experiment participants were first trained to criterion in a supervised learning paradigm to categorize a set of patterns that either consisted of simple geometric forms (Experiment 1) or unfamiliar grey-level images (Experiment 2). They were then tested for their ability to generalize acquired categorical knowledge to contrast-reversed versions of the learning patterns. The results showed that RH lesions impeded category learning of unfamiliar grey-level images more severely than LH lesions, whereas this relationship appeared reversed for categories defined by simple geometric forms. With regard to generalization to contrast reversal, categorization performance of LH and RH patients was unaffected in the case of simple geometric forms. However, generalization to of contrast-reversed grey-level images distinctly deteriorated for patients with LH lesions relative to those with RH lesions, with the latter (but not the former) being consistently unable to identify the pattern manipulation. These findings suggest a differential use of contrast information in the representation of pattern categories in the two hemispheres. Such specialization appears in line with previous distinctions between a predominantly lefthemispheric, abstract-analytical and a righthemispheric, specific-holistic representation of object categories, and their prediction of a mandatory representation of contrast polarity in the RH. Some implications for the well-established dissociation of visual disorders for the recognition of faces and letters are discussed.

An investigation of the factor-analytic approach to the determination of abilities involved in psychomotor learning

This research began with an attempt to solve a practical problem, namely, the prediction of the rate at which an operator will learn a task. From a review of the literature, communications with researchers in this area and the study of psychomotor learning in factories it was concluded that a more fundamental approach was required which included the development of a task taxonomy. This latter objective had been researched for over twenty years by E. A. Fleishman and his approach was adopted. Three studies were carried out to develop and extend Fleishman's approach to the industrial area. However, the results of these studies were not in accord with FIeishman's conclusions and suggested that a critical re-assessment was required of the arguments, methods and procedures used by Fleishman and his co-workers. It was concluded that Fleishman's findings were to some extent an artifact of the approximate methods and procedures which he used in the original factor analyses and that using the more modern computerised factor analytic methods a reliable ability taxonomy could be developed to describe the abilities involved in the learning of psychomotor tasks. The implications for a changing-task or changing-subject model were drawn and it was concluded that a changing task and subject model needs to be developed.

Complex skills and academic writing:a review of evidence about the types of learning required to meet core assessment criteria

Assessment criteria are increasingly incorporated into teaching, making it important to clarify the pedagogic status of the qualities to which they refer. We reviewed theory and evidence about the extent to which four core criteria for student writing-critical thinking, use of language, structuring, and argument-refer to the outcomes of three types of learning: generic skills learning, a deep approach to learning, and complex learning. The analysis showed that all four of the core criteria describe to some extent properties of text resulting from using skills, but none qualify fully as descriptions of the outcomes of applying generic skills. Most also describe certain aspects of the outcomes of taking a deep approach to learning. Critical thinking and argument correspond most closely to the outcomes of complex learning. At lower levels of performance, use of language and structuring describe the outcomes of applying transferable skills. At higher levels of performance, they describe the outcomes of taking a deep approach to learning. We propose that the type of learning required to meet the core criteria is most usefully and accurately conceptualized as the learning of complex skills, and that this provides a conceptual framework for maximizing the benefits of using assessment criteria as part of teaching. © 2006 Taylor & Francis.

Special Features of Musical Education in Distant Learning (Training of Intonation Thinking)

The problem of using modern technologies in distant learning of intonation thinking is described in this article. An importance of intonation learning for musician students and the possibilities, provided by World Wide Web and multimedia technologies are the main point of this article.

Study of the Self-Assessment as а Component of the Model of Self-Regulated Learning for Engineering Students

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education and Research in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2015

Lecturers' experiences of assessing generic skills in an active learning environment for engineering education in Malaysia - Emergent findings

The aim of this paper is to explore the engineering lecturers' experiences of generic skills assessment within an active learning context in Malaysia. Using a case-study methodology, lecturers' assessment approaches were investigated regarding three generic skills; verbal communication, problem solving and team work. Because of the importance to learning of the assessment of such skills it is this assessment that is discussed. The findings show the lecturers' initial feedback to have been generally lacking in substance, since they have limited knowledge and experience of assessing generic skills. Typical barriers identified during the study included; generic skills not being well defined, inadequate alignment across the engineering curricula and teaching approaches, assessment practices that were too flexible, particular those to do with implementation; and a failure to keep up to date with industrial requirements. The emerging findings of the interviews reinforce the arguments that there is clearly much room for improvement in the present state of generic skills assessment.

The MG Rover closure and policy response: an evaluation of the Task Force model in the UK

In recent years there have been a number of high-profile plant closures in the UK. In several cases, the policy response has included setting up a task force to deal with the impacts of the closure. It can be hypothesised that task force involving multi-level working across territorial boundaries and tiers of government is crucial to devising a policy response tailored to people's needs and to ensuring success in dealing with the immediate impacts of a closure. This suggests that leadership, and vision, partnership working and community engagement, and delivery of high quality services are important. This paper looks at the case of the MG Rover closure in 2005, to examine the extent to which the policy response to the closure at the national, regional and local levels dealt effectively with the immediate impacts of the closure, and the lessons that can be learned from the experience. Such lessons are of particular relevance given the closure of the LDV van plant in Birmingham in 2009 and more broadly – such as in the case of the downsizing of the Opel operation in Europe following its takeover by Magna.

The role of temporal synchrony in the facilitation of perceptual learning during prenatal development

This study explored the critical features of temporal synchrony for the facilitation of prenatal perceptual learning with respect to unimodal stimulation using an animal model, the bobwhite quail. The following related hypotheses were examined: (1) the availability of temporal synchrony is a critical feature to facilitate prenatal perceptual learning, (2) a single temporally synchronous note is sufficient to facilitate prenatal perceptual learning, with respect to unimodal stimulation, and (3) in situations where embryos are exposed to a single temporally synchronous note, facilitated perceptual learning, with respect to unimodal stimulation, will be optimal when the temporally synchronous note occurs at the onset of the stimulation bout. To assess these hypotheses, two experiments were conducted in which quail embryos were exposed to various audio-visual configurations of a bobwhite maternal call and tested at 24 hr after hatching for evidence of facilitated prenatal perceptual learning with respect to unimodal stimulation. Experiment 1 explored if intermodal equivalence was sufficient to facilitate prenatal perceptual learning with respect to unimodal stimulation. A Bimodal Sequential Temporal Equivalence (BSTE) condition was created that provided embryos with sequential auditory and visual stimulation in which the same amodal properties (rate, duration, rhythm) were made available across modalities. Experiment 2 assessed: (a) whether a limited number of temporally synchronous notes are sufficient for facilitated prenatal perceptual learning with respect to unimodal stimulation, and (b) whether there is a relationship between timing of occurrence of a temporally synchronous note and the facilitation of prenatal perceptual learning. Results revealed that prenatal exposure to BSTE was not sufficient to facilitate perceptual learning. In contrast, a maternal call that contained a single temporally synchronous note was sufficient to facilitate embryos’ prenatal perceptual learning with respect to unimodal stimulation. Furthermore, the most salient prenatal condition was that which contained the synchronous note at the onset of the call burst. Embryos’ prenatal perceptual learning of the call was four times faster in this condition than when exposed to a unimodal call. Taken together, bobwhite quail embryos’ remarkable sensitivity to temporal synchrony suggests that this amodal property plays a key role in attention and learning during prenatal development.

Contingency, contiguity, and development: The ontogeny of contingency learning in northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) chicks

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ontogeny of auditory learning via operant contingency in Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus ) hatchlings and possible interaction between attention, orienting and learning during early development. Chicks received individual 5 min training sessions in which they received a playback of a bobwhite maternal call at a single delay following each vocalization they emitted. Playback was either from a single randomly chosen speaker or switched back and forth semi-randomly between two speakers during training. Chicks were tested 24 hrs later in a simultaneous choice test between the familiar and an unfamiliar maternal call. It was found that day-old chicks showed a significant time-specific decrement in auditory learning when trained with delays in the range of 470–910 ms between their vocalizations and call playback only when training involved two speakers. Two-day-old birds showed an even more sustained disruption of learning than day-old chicks, whereas three-day-old chicks showed a pattern of intermittent interference with their learning when trained at such delays. A similar but less severe decrement in auditory learning was found when chicks were provided with motor training in which playback was contingent upon chicks entering and exiting one of two colored squares placed on the floor of the arena. Chicks provided with playback of the call at randomly chosen delays each time they vocalized exhibited large fluctuations in their responsivity to the auditory stimulus as a function of delay—fluctuations which were correlated significantly with measures of chick learning, particularly at two-days-of-age. When playback was limited to a single location chicks no longer showed a time-specific disruption of their learning of the auditory stimulus. Sequential analyses revealed several patterns suggesting that an attentional process similar or analogous to attentional blink may have contributed both to the observed fluctuations in chick responsivity to the auditory stimulus as a function of delay and to the time-specific learning deficit shown by chicks provided with two-speaker training. The study highlights that learning can be substantially modulated by processes of orienting and attention and has a number of important implications for research within cognitive neuroscience, animal behavior and learning.

An interview study of community college student perspectives on service -learning

Over the past two decades, the community college in the United States has boasted a leadership role in the movement to make education community-based and performance-oriented. This has led to an intensification in attempts to search for more innovative means to make education more experiential and relevant to students' lived experiences. ^ One such innovative program that holds promise to meet this challenge is service-learning. This paradigm attempts to relate the academic education in the classroom to community-based problems, which fits in neatly with the community-based characteristics of the community college. It promises to link ideas developed in the classroom and their practical application within the community through guided reflection. It is designed to enhance and enrich student learning of course material by combining citizenship, academic subjects, skills, and values. ^ Though many studies have been carried out in regard to the outcomes of service-learning through quantitative means, relatively few qualitative studies are available, and those available have primarily studied traditional students at four-year residential colleges or universities. Therefore, there is an urgent need to study non-traditional students' perspectives at the community college level. ^ The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the perspectives of five students at Broward Community College, Central Campus, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The following exploratory questions guided this study: (1) What elements constitute these students' perspectives? (2) What variables influence their perspectives? (3) What beliefs do these students hold about their service-learning experience which support or are contrary to their perspectives? ^ This ethnographic interview study was conducted over a period of twelve months and consisted of three interviews for each of the five participants. The analysis of the data was conducted following the stringent principles of ethnographic research which included constant comparative analysis. The interviews were tape recorded with the participants' permission, transcribed verbatim, and organized into categories for in-depth understanding. Furthermore, these categories were developed from the data collected and an organizational scheme for understanding and interpreting of these perspectives emerged. The researcher, as well, kept a reflective journal of the research process as part of the data set. ^ The results of this study show the need for a better grasp of the concepts of service-learning on the part of all involved with its implementation. In spite of this, all of the participants displayed gains to a greater or lesser degree in personal growth, academic skills, and citizenship skills. ^

Two -way direction of influence in mother-infant interaction as denoted by concurrent reciprocal learning processes

This series of 5 single-subject studies used the operant conditioning paradigm to investigate, within the two-way influence process, how (a) contingent infant attention can reinforce maternal verbal behaviors during a period of mother-infant interaction and under subsequent experimental manipulation. Differential reinforcement was used to determine if it is possible that an infant attending to the mother (denoted by head-turns towards the image of the mother plus eye contact) increases (reinforces) the mother's verbal response (to a cue from the infant) upon which the infant behavior is contingent. There was also (b) an evaluation during the contrived parent-infant interaction for concurrent operant learning of infant vocal behavior via contingent verbal responding (reinforcement) implemented by the mother. Further, it was noted (c) whether or not the mother reported being aware that her responses were influenced by the infant's behavior. Findings showed: the operant conditioning of the maternal verbal behaviors were reinforced by contingent infant attention; and the operant conditioning of infant vocalizations was reinforced by contingent maternal verbal behaviors. No parent reported (1) being aware of the increase in their verbal response reinforced during operant conditioning of parental behavior nor a decrease in those responses during the DRA reversal phase, or (2) noticing a contingency between infant's and mother's response. By binomial 1-tail tests, the verbal-behavior patterns of the 5 mothers were conditioned by infant reinforcement (p < 0.02) and, concurrently, the vocal-response patterns of the 5 infants were conditioned by maternal reinforcement (p < 0.02). A program of systematic empirical research on the determinants of concurrent conditioning within mother-child interaction may provide a way to evaluate the differential effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving parent-child interactions. The work conducted in the present study is one step in this direction. ^

The impact of pre -training interventions on cognitive, skill, and affective learning outcomes: A meta -analytic examination of four decades of research

Technological advancements and the ever-evolving demands of a global marketplace may have changed the way in which training is designed, implemented, and even managed, but the ultimate goal of organizational training programs remains the same: to facilitate learning of a knowledge, skill, or other outcome that will yield improvement in employee performance on the job and within the organization (Colquitt, LePine, & Noe, 2000; Tannenbaum & Yukl, 1992). Studies of organizational training have suggested medium to large effect sizes for the impact of training on employee learning (e.g., Arthur, Bennett, Edens, & Bell, 2003; Burke & Day, 1986). However, learning may be differentially affected by such factors as the (1) level and type of preparation provided prior to training, (2) targeted learning outcome, (3) training methods employed, and (4) content and goals of training (e.g., Baldwin & Ford, 1988). A variety of pre-training interventions have been identified as having the potential to enhance learning from training and practice (Cannon-Bowers, Rhodenizer, Salas, & Bowers, 1998). Numerous individual studies have been conducted examining the impact of one or more of these pre-training interventions on learning. ^ I conducted a meta-analytic examination of the effect of these pre-training interventions on cognitive, skill, and affective learning. Results compiled from 359 independent studies (total N = 37,038) reveal consistent positive effects for the role of pre-training interventions in enhancing learning. In most cases, the provision of a pre-training intervention explained approximately 5–10% of the variance in learning, and in some cases, explained up to 40–50% of variance in learning. Overall attentional advice and meta-cognitive strategies (as compared with advance organizers, goal orientation, and preparatory information) seem to result in the most consistent learning gains. Discussion focuses on the most beneficial match between an intervention and the learning outcome of interest, the most effective format of these interventions, and the most appropriate circumstances under which these interventions should be utilized. Also highlighted are the implications of these results for practice, as well as propositions for important avenues for future research. ^