An assessment of web-based textbook supplementary material to support student learning

There is an increasing trend by publishers to provide supplementary learning materials with text books in order to improve the learning experience and thus ultimately improve text book sales. This study will aim to establish the use of these materials and their relevance to students in terms of supporting student learning. The materials include multiple choice test banks, animated demonstrations, simulations, quizzes and electronic versions of the text. The study will focus on the extensive library of web-based learning materials available on the ‘WileyPlus’ web platform which accompanies the textbook ‘Operations Management’, 2nd edition authored by A. Greasley and published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

The formulation of artificial reference standards for use within the ELISPOT assay

Whether to assess the functionality of equipment or as a determinate for the accuracy of assays, reference standards are essential for the purposes of standardisation and validation. The ELISPOT assay, developed over thirty years ago, has emerged as a leading immunological assay in the development of novel vaccines for the assessment of efficacy. However, with its widespread use, there is a growing demand for a greater level of standardisation across different laboratories. One of the major difficulties in achieving this goal has been the lack of definitive reference standards. This is partly due to the ex vivo nature of the assay, which relies on cells being placed directly into the wells. Thus, the aim of this thesis was to produce an artificial reference standard using liposomes, for use within the assay. Liposomes are spherical bilayer vesicles with an enclosed aqueous compartment and therefore are models for biological membranes. Initial work examined pre-design considerations in order to produce an optimal formulation that would closely mimic the action of the cells ordinarily placed on the assay. Recognition of the structural differences between liposomes and cells led to the formulation of liposomes with increased density. This was achieved by using a synthesised cholesterol analogue. By incorporating this cholesterol analogue in liposomes, increased sedimentation rates were observed within the first few hours. The optimal liposome formulation from these studies was composed of 2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC), cholesterol (Chol) and brominated cholesterol (Brchol) at a 16:4:12 µMol ratio, based on a significantly higher (p<0.01) sedimentation (as determined by a percentage transmission of 59 ± 5.9 % compared to the control formulation at 29 ± 12 % after four hours). By considering a range of liposome formulations ‘proof of principle’ for using liposomes as ELISPOT reference standards was shown; recombinant IFN? cytokine was successfully entrapped within vesicles of different lipid compositions, which were able to promote spot formation within the ELISPOT assay. Using optimised liposome formulations composed of phosphatidylcholine with or without cholesterol (16 µMol total lipid) further development was undertaken to produce an optimised, scalable protocol for the production of liposomes as reference standards. A linear increase in spot number by the manipulation of cytokine concentration and/or lipid concentrations was not possible, potentially due to the saturation that occurred within the base of wells. Investigations into storage of the formulations demonstrated the feasibility of freezing and lyophilisation with disaccharide cryoprotectants, but also highlighted the need for further protocol optimisation to achieve a robust reference standard upon storage. Finally, the transfer of small-scale production to a medium lab-scale batch (40 mL) demonstrated this was feasible within the laboratory using the optimised protocol.

Credibility theory-based available transfer capability assessment

Since the development of large scale power grid interconnections and power markets, research on available transfer capability (ATC) has attracted great attention. The challenges for accurate assessment of ATC originate from the numerous uncertainties in electricity generation, transmission, distribution and utilization sectors. Power system uncertainties can be mainly described as two types: randomness and fuzziness. However, the traditional transmission reliability margin (TRM) approach only considers randomness. Based on credibility theory, this paper firstly built models of generators, transmission lines and loads according to their features of both randomness and fuzziness. Then a random fuzzy simulation is applied, along with a novel method proposed for ATC assessment, in which both randomness and fuzziness are considered. The bootstrap method and multi-core parallel computing technique are introduced to enhance the processing speed. By implementing simulation for the IEEE-30-bus system and a real-life system located in Northwest China, the viability of the models and the proposed method is verified.

Comparative Assessment of Climate Change Scenarios Based on Aquatic Food Web Modeling

In the years 2004 and 2005, we collected samples of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and macroinvertebrates in an artificial small pond in Budapest (Hungary). We set up a simulation model predicting the abundances of the cyclopoids, Eudiaptomus zachariasi, and Ischnura pumilio by considering only temperature and the abundance of population of the previous day. Phytoplankton abundance was simulated by considering not only temperature but the abundances of the three mentioned groups. When we ran the model with the data series of internationally accepted climate change scenarios, the different outcomes were discussed. Comparative assessment of the alternative climate change scenarios was also carried out with statistical methods.

Development of risk based treatability and engineering measures for reducing exposure to lead contaminated media in the Miami inner city, Florida

A major consequence of contamination at the local level’s population as it relates to environmental health and environmental engineering is childhood lead poisoning. Environmental contamination is one of the pressing environmental concerns facing the world today. Current approaches often focus on large contaminated industrial size sites that are designated by regulatory agencies for site remediation. Prior to this study, there were no known published studies conducted at the local and smaller scale, such as neighborhoods, where often much of the contamination is present to remediate. An environmental health study of local lead-poisoning data in Liberty City, Little Haiti and eastern Little Havana in Miami-Dade County, Florida accounted for a disproportionately high number of the county’s reported childhood lead poisoning cases. An engineering system was developed and designed for a comprehensive risk management methodology that is distinctively applicable to the geographical and environmental conditions of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Furthermore, a scientific approach for interpreting environmental health concerns, while involving detailed environmental engineering control measures and methods for site remediation in contained media was developed for implementation. Test samples were obtained from residents and sites in those specific communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida (Gasana and Chamorro 2002). Currently lead does not have an Oral Assessment, Inhalation Assessment, and Oral Slope Factor; variables that are required to run a quantitative risk assessment. However, various institutional controls from federal agencies’ standards and regulation for contaminated lead in media yield adequate maximum concentration limits (MCLs). For this study an MCL of .0015 (mg/L) was used. A risk management approach concerning contaminated media involving lead demonstrates that the linkage of environmental health and environmental engineering can yield a feasible solution.

The use of hyphenated spectrometric techniques for the environmental forensic assessment of non-traditional pollutants and degradates in the greater Florida Everglades

A comprehensive investigation of sensitive ecosystems in South Florida with the main goal of determining the identity, spatial distribution, and sources of both organic biocides and trace elements in different environmental compartments is reported. This study presents the development and validation of a fractionation and isolation method of twelve polar acidic herbicides commonly applied in the vicinity of the study areas, including e.g. 2,4-D, MCPA, dichlorprop, mecroprop, picloram in surface water. Solid phase extraction (SPE) was used to isolate the analytes from abiotic matrices containing large amounts of dissolved organic material. Atmospheric-pressure ionization (API) with electrospray ionization in negative mode (ESP-) in a Quadrupole Ion Trap mass spectrometer was used to perform the characterization of the herbicides of interest. ^ The application of Laser Ablation-ICP-MS methodology in the analysis of soils and sediments is reported in this study. The analytical performance of the method was evaluated on certified standards and real soil and sediment samples. Residential soils were analyzed to evaluate feasibility of using the powerful technique as a routine and rapid method to monitor potential contaminated sites. Forty eight sediments were also collected from semi pristine areas in South Florida to conduct screening of baseline levels of bioavailable elements in support of risk evaluation. The LA-ICP-MS data were used to perform a statistical evaluation of the elemental composition as a tool for environmental forensics. ^ A LA-ICP-MS protocol was also developed and optimized for the elemental analysis of a wide range of elements in polymeric filters containing atmospheric dust. A quantitative strategy based on internal and external standards allowed for a rapid determination of airborne trace elements in filters containing both contemporary African dust and local dust emissions. These distributions were used to qualitative and quantitative assess differences of composition and to establish provenance and fluxes to protected regional ecosystems such as coral reefs and national parks. ^

Water resources assessment and geographic information system (GIS)-based stormwater runoff estimates for artificial recharge of freshwater aquifers in New Providence, Bahamas

The Bahamas is a small island nation that is dealing with the problem of freshwater shortage. All of the country’s freshwater is contained in shallow lens aquifers that are recharged solely by rainfall. The country has been struggling to meet the water demands by employing a combination of over-pumping of aquifers, transport of water by barge between islands, and desalination of sea water. In recent decades, new development on New Providence, where the capital city of Nassau is located, has created a large area of impervious surfaces and thereby a substantial amount of runoff with the result that several of the aquifers are not being recharged. A geodatabase was assembled to assess and estimate the quantity of runoff from these impervious surfaces and potential recharge locations were identified using a combination of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing. This study showed that runoff from impervious surfaces in New Providence represents a large freshwater resource that could potentially be used to recharge the lens aquifers on New Providence.

The Use of Hyphenated Spectrometric Techniques for the Environmental Forensic Assessment of Non-Traditional Pollutants and Degradates in the Greater Florida Everglades

A comprehensive investigation of sensitive ecosystems in South Florida with the main goal of determining the identity, spatial distribution, and sources of both organic biocides and trace elements in different environmental compartments is reported. This study presents the development and validation of a fractionation and isolation method of twelve polar acidic herbicides commonly applied in the vicinity of the study areas, including e.g. 2,4-D, MCPA, dichlorprop, mecroprop, picloram in surface water. Solid phase extraction (SPE) was used to isolate the analytes from abiotic matrices containing large amounts of dissolved organic material. Atmospheric-pressure ionization (API) with electrospray ionization in negative mode (ESP-) in a Quadrupole Ion Trap mass spectrometer was used to perform the characterization of the herbicides of interest. The application of Laser Ablation-ICP-MS methodology in the analysis of soils and sediments is reported in this study. The analytical performance of the method was evaluated on certified standards and real soil and sediment samples. Residential soils were analyzed to evaluate feasibility of using the powerful technique as a routine and rapid method to monitor potential contaminated sites. Forty eight sediments were also collected from semi pristine areas in South Florida to conduct screening of baseline levels of bioavailable elements in support of risk evaluation. The LA-ICP-MS data were used to perform a statistical evaluation of the elemental composition as a tool for environmental forensics. A LA-ICP-MS protocol was also developed and optimized for the elemental analysis of a wide range of elements in polymeric filters containing atmospheric dust. A quantitative strategy based on internal and external standards allowed for a rapid determination of airborne trace elements in filters containing both contemporary African dust and local dust emissions. These distributions were used to qualitative and quantitative assess differences of composition and to establish provenance and fluxes to protected regional ecosystems such as coral reefs and national parks.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based approach to consequence assessment of accidental release of hydrocarbon during storage and transportation

This thesis investigated the risk of accidental release of hydrocarbons during transportation and storage. Transportation of hydrocarbons from an offshore platform to processing units through subsea pipelines involves risk of release due to pipeline leakage resulting from corrosion, plastic deformation caused by seabed shakedown or damaged by contact with drifting iceberg. The environmental impacts of hydrocarbon dispersion can be severe. Overall safety and economic concerns of pipeline leakage at subsea environment are immense. A large leak can be detected by employing conventional technology such as, radar, intelligent pigging or chemical tracer but in a remote location like subsea or arctic, a small chronic leak may be undetected for a period of time. In case of storage, an accidental release of hydrocarbon from the storage tank could lead pool fire; further it could escalate to domino effects. This chain of accidents may lead to extremely severe consequences. Analyzing past accident scenarios it is observed that more than half of the industrial domino accidents involved fire as a primary event, and some other factors for instance, wind speed and direction, fuel type and engulfment of the compound. In this thesis, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach is taken to model the subsea pipeline leak and the pool fire from a storage tank. A commercial software package ANSYS FLUENT Workbench 15 is used to model the subsea pipeline leakage. The CFD simulation results of four different types of fluids showed that the static pressure and pressure gradient along the axial length of the pipeline have a sharp signature variation near the leak orifice at steady state condition. Transient simulation is performed to obtain the acoustic signature of the pipe near leak orifice. The power spectral density (PSD) of acoustic signal is strong near the leak orifice and it dissipates as the distance and orientation from the leak orifice increase. The high-pressure fluid flow generates more noise than the low-pressure fluid flow. In order to model the pool fire from the storage tank, ANSYS CFX Workbench 14 is used. The CFD results show that the wind speed has significant contribution on the behavior of pool fire and its domino effects. The radiation contours are also obtained from CFD post processing, which can be applied for risk analysis. The outcome of this study will be helpful for better understanding of the domino effects of pool fire in complex geometrical settings of process industries. The attempt to reduce and prevent risks is discussed based on the results obtained from the numerical simulations of the numerical models.

Development of a work-based learning MSc course which incorporates the development and demonstration of professional engineering competence standards

UK engineering standards are regulated by the Engineering Council (EC) using a set of generic threshold competence standards which all professionally registered Chartered Engineers in the UK must demonstrate, underpinned by a separate academic qualification at Masters Level. As part of an EC-led national project for the development of work-based learning (WBL) courses leading to Chartered Engineer registration, Aston University has started an MSc Professional Engineering programme, a development of a model originally designed by Kingston University, and build around a set of generic modules which map onto the competence standards. The learning pedagogy of these modules conforms to a widely recognised experiential learning model, with refinements incorporated from a number of other learning models. In particular, the use of workplace mentoring to support the development of critical reflection and to overcome barriers to learning is being incorporated into the learning space. This discussion paper explains the work that was done in collaboration with the EC and a number of Professional Engineering Institutions, to design a course structure and curricular framework that optimises the engineering learning process for engineers already working across a wide range of industries, and to address issues of engineering sustainability. It also explains the thinking behind the work that has been started to provide an international version of the course, built around a set of globalised engineering competences. © 2010 W J Glew, E F Elsworth.

Quality planning based on risk assessment

Product quality planning is a fundamental part of quality assurance in manufacturing. It is composed of the distribution of quality aims over each phase in product development and the deployment of quality operations and resources to accomplish these aims. This paper proposes a quality planning methodology based on risk assessment and the planning tasks of product development are translated into evaluation of risk priorities. Firstly, a comprehensive model for quality planning is developed to address the deficiencies of traditional quality function deployment (QFD) based quality planning. Secondly, a novel failure knowledge base (FKB) based method is discussed. Then a mathematical method and algorithm of risk assessment is presented for target decomposition, measure selection, and sequence optimization. Finally, the proposed methodology has been implemented in a web based prototype software system, QQ-Planning, to solve the problem of quality planning regarding the distribution of quality targets and the deployment of quality resources, in such a way that the product requirements are satisfied and the enterprise resources are highly utilized. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.

Improved image analysis based corrosion assessment using preprocessing techniques

The importance of non-destructive techniques (NDT) in structural health monitoring programmes is being critically felt in the recent times. The quality of the measured data, often affected by various environmental conditions can be a guiding factor in terms usefulness and prediction efficiencies of the various detection and monitoring methods used in this regard. Often, a preprocessing of the acquired data in relation to the affecting environmental parameters can improve the information quality and lead towards a significantly more efficient and correct prediction process. The improvement can be directly related to the final decision making policy about a structure or a network of structures and is compatible with general probabilistic frameworks of such assessment and decision making programmes. This paper considers a preprocessing technique employed for an image analysis based structural health monitoring methodology to identify sub-marine pitting corrosion in the presence of variable luminosity, contrast and noise affecting the quality of images. A preprocessing of the gray-level threshold of the various images is observed to bring about a significant improvement in terms of damage detection as compared to an automatically computed gray-level threshold. The case dependent adjustments of the threshold enable to obtain the best possible information from an existing image. The corresponding improvements are observed in a qualitative manner in the present study.

A Delay Vector Variance based marker for an output-only assessment of structural changes in tension leg platforms

Although aspects of power generation of many offshore renewable devices are well understood, their dynamic responses under high wind and wave conditions are still to be investigated to a great detail. Output only statistical markers are important for these offshore devices, since access to the device is limited and information about the exposure conditions and the true behaviour of the devices are generally partial, limited, and vague or even absent. The markers can summarise and characterise the behaviour of these devices from their dynamic response available as time series data. The behaviour may be linear or nonlinear and consequently a marker that can track the changes in structural situations can be quite important. These markers can then be helpful in assessing the current condition of the structure and can indicate possible intervention, monitoring or assessment. This paper considers a Delay Vector Variance based marker for changes in a tension leg platform tested in an ocean wave basin for structural changes brought about by single column dampers. The approach is based on dynamic outputs of the device alone and is based on the estimation of the nonlinearity of the output signal. The advantages of the selected marker and its response with changing structural properties are discussed. The marker is observed to be important for monitoring the as- deployed structural condition and is sensitive to changes in such conditions. Influence of exposure conditions of wave loading is also discussed in this study based only on experimental data.

Assessment of the EEE-4 oral test: a discourse analysis based on complex networks.

With the development of information technology, the theory and methodology of complex network has been introduced to the language research, which transforms the system of language in a complex networks composed of nodes and edges for the quantitative analysis about the language structure. The development of dependency grammar provides theoretical support for the construction of a treebank corpus, making possible a statistic analysis of complex networks. This paper introduces the theory and methodology of the complex network and builds dependency syntactic networks based on the treebank of speeches from the EEE-4 oral test. According to the analysis of the overall characteristics of the networks, including the number of edges, the number of the nodes, the average degree, the average path length, the network centrality and the degree distribution, it aims to find in the networks potential difference and similarity between various grades of speaking performance. Through clustering analysis, this research intends to prove the network parameters’ discriminating feature and provide potential reference for scoring speaking performance.