Metal measurement in aquatic environments by passive sampling methods: Lessons learning from an in situ intercomparison exercise

Passive sampling devices (PS) are widely used for pollutant monitoring in water, but estimation of measurement uncertainties by PS has seldom been undertaken. The aim of this work was to identify key parameters governing PS measurements of metals and their dispersion. We report the results of an in situ intercomparison exercise on diffusive gradient in thin films (DGT) in surface waters. Interlaboratory uncertainties of time-weighted average (TWA) concentrations were satisfactory (from 28% to 112%) given the number of participating laboratories (10) and ultra-trace metal concentrations involved. Data dispersion of TWA concentrations was mainly explained by uncertainties generated during DGT handling and analytical procedure steps. We highlight that DGT handling is critical for metals such as Cd, Cr and Zn, implying that DGT assembly/dismantling should be performed in very clean conditions. Using a unique dataset, we demonstrated that DGT markedly lowered the LOQ in comparison to spot sampling and stressed the need for accurate data calculation.

“English Language Learning Strategies used by the Foreign Language Department Seminar Students Year 2006 with Either Above Eight Grade or Below it Obtained in Their Studies in the Basic Skills Area.

Nowadays language communication plays an important role in the world. For the technological explosion in the 20th century, the electronic mass media collapsed space and time barriers in human communication, enabling people to interact and live on a global scale. In this sense, the earth has been turned into a village by the electronic mass media. It not only changes the distance between countries, societies, but also shortens it between people. It means that the technological advancement makes the earth become a village. Since the distance between people is shortened, language communication becomes more important than before. To enhance language abilities, people can apply many different types of language learning strategies according to the learning styles that they have in order to learn the target language. In the Foreign Language Department of University of El Salvador Seminar students year 2006 apply different language learning strategies which make some of them get a grade either above eight or below it. To understand learning strategies, people can go back to basic term, strategy. This word comes from the ancient Greek term strategia meaning generalship or the art of war. A different, but related, word is tactics, which are tools to achieve the success of strategies. The two expressions share some basic implied characteristics: planning, competition, conscious manipulation, and movement toward a goal.

Learning strategies implemented by the students of Advanced Intensive English I courses for improving oral discourse in the Bachelor of Arts in English Teaching, Department of Foreign Languages, University of El Salvador, year 2014.

There are many learning strategies some, more successful than others when they are applied in a correct way. “Strategies are most successful when they are implemented in a system that encourages collaboration among staff and students, and in which each is a part of a well-planned whole system” (Johns Hopkins, 2000). Additionally, Learning strategies have become an effective instrument in the field of education because students can make use of several strategies in order to enhance their English level in terms of communication. To communicate in a meaningful way, it is important to express ideas inside and outside the classroom; it is part of the development and improvement of speaking.

Self-regulated learning in higher education : strategies adopted by computer programming students

Trabalho apresentado em PAEE/ALE’2016, 8th International Symposium on Project Approaches in Engineering Education (PAEE) and 14th Active Learning in Engineering Education Workshop (ALE)

The interaction of economic and pedagogical ideals in the context of workplace learning in Germany: a framework for empirical research – inspired by business ethics

As an effect of marketisation, the importance of workplace learning in Germany has increased. The article follows up on the long-standing discourse around the question of how economic and pedagogical ideals interact in this context. In order to develop a theoretical framework for empirical research, three major positions of the discipline of business ethics are introduced. Business ethics in more abstract ways deals with the very same question, namely how do ideas such as profit orientation interact with other norms and values? The new perspectives show that the discourse has been hitherto based on a specific understanding of economy. In order to derive an empirical answer to the research question, the question is re-formulated as follows: Which values are inherent in the decisions taken? Consequently, it suggests using the concept of ‘rationalities of justification’ for empirical research. The article shows how this concept can be applied by conducting a test run. (DIPF/Orig.)

Body composition changes assessed by bioelectrical impedance and their associations with functional class deterioration in stable heart failure patients

Background: Heart failure (HF) patients develop important changes in body composition, but only a small number of studies have evaluated the associations between these changes and functional class deterioration in a prospective manner. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether changes in bioimpedance parameters were associated with NYHA functional class deterioration over six months. Methods: A total of 275 chronic stable HF patients confirmed by echocardiography were recruited. Body composition measurements were obtained by whole body bioelectrical impedance with multiple frequency equipment (BodyStat QuadScan 4000). We evaluated functional class using the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification at baseline and after six months. Results: According to our results, 66 (24%) subjects exhibited functional class deterioration, while 209 improved or exhibited no change. A greater proportion of patients exhibited higher extracellular water (> 5%), and these patients developed hypervolemia, according to location on the resistance/reactance graph. A 5% decrease in resistance/height was associated with functional class deterioration with an OR of 1.42 (95% CI 1.01-2.0, p = 0.04). Conclusions: Body composition assessment through bioelectrical impedance exhibited a valuable performance as a marker of functional class deterioration in stable HF patients.

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC): New Discipline with an Old Learning Approach: A Syllabi Analysis

Marketing communications as a discipline has changed significantly in both theory and practice over the past decade. But has our teaching of IMC kept pace with the discipline changes? The purpose of this paper is to explore how far the evolving concepts of IMC are reaching university learners. By doing this, the paper offers an approach to assessing how well marketing curricula are fulfilling their purpose. The course outlines (syllabi) for all IMC courses in 30 universities in Australia and five universities in New Zealand were analyzed. The findings suggest that most of what is taught in the units is not IMC. It is not directed by the key constructs of IMC, nor by the research informing the discipline. Rather, it appears to have evolved little from traditional promotion management units and is close in content and structure to many introductory advertising courses. This paper suggests several possible explanations for this, including: (1) a tacit rejection of IMC as a valid concept; (2) a lack of information about what IMC is and what it is not; and (3) a scarcity of teaching and learning materials that are clearly focused on key constructs and research issues of IMC.

Developing a supportive culture for teaching and learning : a university, faculty and school perspective

In the early 1990's the University of Salford was typical of most pre-1992 Universities in that whilst students provided much of it's income, little attention was paid to pedagogy. As Warren Piper (1994) observed, University teachers were professional in their subject areas but generally did not seek to acquire a pedagogy of HE. This was the case in Alsford. Courses were efficiently run but only a minority of staff were engaged in actively considering learning and teaching issues. Instead staff time was spent on research and commercial activity.----- In the mid-1990's the teaching environment began to change significantly. As well as Dearing, the advent of QAA and teaching quality reviews, Salford was already experiencing changes in the characteristics of its student body. Wideing access was on our agenda before it was so predominant nationally. With increasing numbers and heterogeneity of students as well as these external factors, new challenges were facing the University and teaching domain.----- This paper describes how a culture which values teaching, learning and pedagogic inquiry is being created in the university. It then focuses on parts of this process specific to the Faculty of Business and Informatics, namely the Faculty's Learning and Teaching Research Network and the establishment of the Centre for Construction Education in the School of Construction and Property Management.----- The Faculty of Business and Informatics' Learning and Teaching Research Network aims to raise the profile, quality and volume of pedagogic research across the five schools in the faculty. The initiative is targeted at all academics regardless of previous research experience. We hope to grow and nurture research potential where it exists and to acknowledge and use the existing expertise of subject-based researchers in collaborative ventures. We work on the principle that people are deliged to share what they know but need appreciation and feedback for doing so. A further ain is to surface and celebrate the significant amount of tacit knowledge in the area of pedagogy evidenced by the strength of student and employer feedback in many areas of the faculty's teaching.----- The Faculty embraces generic and core management expertise but also includes applied management disciplines in information systems and construction and property management where internationally leading research activities and networked centres of excellence have been established. Drawing from this experience, and within the context of the Faculty network, a Centre for Construction Education is being established with key international external partners to develop a sustainable business model of an enterprising pedagogic centre that can undertake useful research to underpin teaching in the Faculty whilst offering sustainable business services to allow it to benefit from pump-priming grant funding.----- Internal and external networking are important elements in our plans and ongoing work. Key to this are our links with the LTSN subject centres (BEST and CEBE) and the LTSN generic centre. The paper discusses networking as a concept and gives examples of practices which have proved useful in this context.----- The academic influences on our approach are also examined. Dixon’s (2000) work examining how a range of companies succeed through internal knowledge sharing has provided a range of transferable practices. We also examine the notion of dialogue in this context, defined by Ballantyne (1999) as ‘The interactive human process of reasoning together which comes into being through interactions based on spontaneity or need and is enabled by trust’ Social constructionist principles of Practical Authorship (Shotter, 1993, Pavlica, Holman and Thorpe, 1998)) have also proved useful in developing our perspective on learning and knowledge creation within our community of practice.

MILK : the Mobile Informal Learning Kit. Collaborating to design successful mobile learning applications

This paper suggests ways for educators and designers to understand and merge priorities in order to inform the development of mobile learning (m-learning) applications that maximise user experiences and hence learning opportunities. It outlines a User Experience Design (UXD) theory and development process that requires designers to conduct a thorough initial contextual inquiry into a particular domain in order to set project priorities and development guidelines. A matrix that identifies the key contextual considerations namely the social, cultural, spatial, technical and temporal constructs of any domain is presented as a vital tool for achieving successful UXD. The frame of reference provided by this matrix ensures that decisions made throughout the design process are attributable to a desired user experience. To illustrate how the proposed UXD theory and development process supports the creation of effective m-learning applications, this paper documents the development process of MILK (Mobile Informal Learning Kit). MILK is a support tool that allows teachers and students to develop event paths that consist of a series SMS question and answer messages that lead players through a series of checkpoints between point A and point B. These event paths can be designed to suit desired learning scenarios and can be used to explore a particular place or subject. They can also be designed to facilitate formal or informal learning experiences.

Flow of a micropolar fluid bounded by a stretching sheet

We consider boundary layer flow of a micropolar fluid driven by a porous stretching sheet. A similarity solution is defined, and numerical solutions using Runge-Kutta and quasilinearisation schemes are obtained. A perturbation analysis is also used to derive analytic solutions to first order in the perturbing parameter. The resulting closed form solutions involve relatively complex expressions, and the analysis is made more tractable by a combination of offline and online work using a computational algebra system (CAS). For this combined numerical and analytic approach, the perturbation analysis yields a number of benefits with regard to the numerical work. The existence of a closed form solution helps to discriminate between acceptable and spurious numerical solutions. Also, the expressions obtained from the perturbation work can provide an accurate description of the solution for ranges of parameters where the numerical approaches considered here prove computationally more difficult.