How has the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam changed the legal, political, economic and scientific dynamics within the Nile Basin? : Editors’ Introduction

Peer reviewed

An Exploration of Fairness in International Law through the Blue Nile and GERD

Peer reviewed

Welland Canal Survey of Lands Mill Scibes Grand River Dam, n.d.

Survey map of the land for the Mill Scibes Grand River Dam. Created by The Welland Canal Company. Included is a drawing of the land. Noteable features include; Sulphur Creek, post, bridge, Grand River, lot divisions, inside face of embankment. Surveyor notes are seen in pencil on the map.

Schedules, specifications, and drawings : Completion of Grand Coulee Dam left powerhouse and foundation for pumping plant, Columbia Basin Project, Washington /

Cover title.

Les grandes idées d'un grand peuple, mission diplomatique aux Êtats-Unis.

Mode of access: Internet.

Relief Well Rehabilitation Options in Chief Joseph Dam Right Abutment Drainage Tunnel

This report summarizes the data, observations, methods, assumptions, and decisions for the design of the Relief Well Rehabilitation Project in the Right Abutment Drainage Tunnel at Chief Joseph Dam. Chief Joseph Dam (CJD) is a dam on the Columbia River and is owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). It is the second only to Grand Coulee dam as the largest producer of hydropower in the United States. The right abutment drainage tunnel contains wooden stave relief wells. Water flows from these wells which reduces the hydrostatic pressure in the right abutment of the dam. The 22 wells in the floor of the tunnel are 60 years old and are in need of rehabilitation. The objective of this project is to control the groundwater gradient, prevent the movement of sediment, stop total screen collapse, and prevent initiation of backwards erosion and piping in the abutment. The rehabilitation solution is to install new stainless steel screens into the existing wells, backfill the annular space between the old wooden screen and the new stainless steel screens with a 3/8-inch pea gravel filter pack, and install a new top cap to hold the new screen in place. This report documents the data, observations, and methods used to complete the final design. During tunnel inspections USACE geologists observed dislodged end plugs and evidence of sediment movement out of the formation. The relief wells have historically high flows between 6,000 gallons per minute (gpm) to 9,000 gpm. New screens are designed based on as-built data and historic tunnel flow. The new screens are 8-in diameter, 100 slot (0.10-inch) screens. We found that screen diameter and slot size would provide adequate transmitting capacity for most of the relief wells. The filter pack gradation is based on descriptions from foundation construction reports. I found that 3/8-inch pea gravel is appropriate for the abutment material. During design, I also considered an option to install the screens into the relief wells without filter pack. I eliminated this option because it did not meet our rehabilitation objective to prevent total failure of the wooden screens.

Innovation in clinical learning for the acute hospital environment : nursing grand rounds

The literature reports that workload factors affect nurses' ability to fully engage in continuing professional development. Hence the work environment in acute care calls for innovative approaches to achieve continuous development of nursing practice and work satisfaction. This study employs a one group pre-test post-test design to test the effectiveness of nursing grand rounds on nursing worklife satisfaction and work environment in an acute surgical ward. The effect of nursing grand rounds was measured using the Nursing Worklife Satisfaction Scale and the Practice Environment Scale. There was no change between pre- and post-test on these measures but trends were evident in some component scores. Statistical results were inconclusive but observational data indicated that nursing grand rounds was found to be feasible, well attended with tested processes for implementation in an acute care environment.

Preparing citizens for a complex world : the grand challenge of teaching socio-scientific issues in science education

The dawn of the twenty-first century encouraged a number of scientific and technological organisations to identify what they saw as ‘Grand Challenges and Opportunities’. Issues of environment and health featured very prominently in these quite short lists, as can be seen from a sample of these challenges in Table 1. Indeed, the first two lists of challenges in Table 1 were identified as for the environment and for health, respectively.

Factors affecting the stability analysis of earth dam slopes subjected to reservoir drawdown

The drawdown of reservoirs can significantly affect the stability of upstream slopes of earth dams. This is due to the removal of the balancing hydraulic forces acting on the dams and the undrained condition within the upstream slope soils. In such scenarios, the stability of the slopes can be influenced by a range of factors including drawdown rates, slope inclination and soil properties. This paper investigates the effects of drawdown rate, saturated hydraulic conductivity and unsaturated shear strength of dam materials on the stability of the upstream slope of an earth dam. In this study, the analysis of pore-water pressure changes within the upstream slope during reservoir drawdown was coupled with the slope stability analysis using the general limit equilibrium method. The results of the analysis suggested that a decrease in the reservoir water level caused the stability of the upstream slope to decrease. The dam embankment constructed with highly permeable soil was found to be more stable during drawdown scenarios, compared to others. Further, lower drawdown rates resulted in a higher safety factor for the upstream slope. Also, the safety factor of the slope calculated using saturated shear strength properties of the dam materials was slightly higher than that calculated using unsaturated shear strength properties. In general, for all the scenarios analysed, the lowest safety factor was found to be at the reservoir water level of about 2/3 of drawdown regime.

A grand challenge : reflecting on university science curriculum design, collaborative partnerships and integration of information literacy skills

In 2012, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) committed to the massive project of revitalizing its Bachelor of Science (ST01) degree. Like most universities in Australia, QUT has begun work to align all courses by 2015 to the requirements of the updated Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) which is regulated by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). From the very start of the redesigned degree program, students approach scientific study with an exciting mix of theory and highly topical real world examples through their chosen “grand challenge.” These challenges, Fukushima and nuclear energy for example, are the lenses used to explore science and lead to 21st century learning outcomes for students. For the teaching and learning support staff, our grand challenge is to expose all science students to multidisciplinary content with a strong emphasis on embedding information literacies into the curriculum. With ST01, QUT is taking the initiative to rethink not only content but how units are delivered and even how we work together between the faculty, the library and learning and teaching support. This was the desired outcome but as we move from design to implementation, has this goal been achieved? A main component of the new degree is to ensure scaffolding of information literacy skills throughout the entirety of the three year course. However, with the strong focus on problem-based learning and group work skills, many issues arise both for students and lecturers. A move away from a traditional lecture style is necessary but impacts on academics’ workload and comfort levels. Therefore, academics in collaboration with librarians and other learning support staff must draw on each others’ expertise to work together to ensure pedagogy, assessments and targeted classroom activities are mapped within and between units. This partnership can counteract the tendency of isolated, unsupported academics to concentrate on day-to-day teaching at the expense of consistency between units and big picture objectives. Support staff may have a more holistic view of a course or degree than coordinators of individual units, making communication and truly collaborative planning even more critical. As well, due to staffing time pressures, design and delivery of new curriculum is generally done quickly with no option for the designers to stop and reflect on the experience and outcomes. It is vital we take this unique opportunity to closely examine what QUT has and hasn’t achieved to be able to recommend a better way forward. This presentation will discuss these important issues and stumbling blocks, to provide a set of best practice guidelines for QUT and other institutions. The aim is to help improve collaboration within the university, as well as to maximize students’ ability to put information literacy skills into action. As our students embark on their own grand challenges, we must challenge ourselves to honestly assess our own work.

Grand tours in the glare of the sun : harnessing digital media to develop cultural tourism in Queensland, Australia

It has been well established that highlighting the cultural attributes of a region through stories of place, local histories, and the creative arts boosts tourism income to a region. Cultural tourism also serves to promote the creative industries to visitors and residents alike and, by enhancing a region’s cultural identity, fosters new opportunities for the arts. It can therefore offer considerable potential benefit to the creative economy in Australia. However, in comparison with Europe, where cultural tourism can rely upon an established historical, artistic and literary cultural identity that stretches back to Grand Tours of the seventeenth century, in Queensland, Australia the relatively new enterprise of cultural tourism must compete with visitor expectations of sun, surf and the natural landscapes, which have become the mainstay of tourism advertising. Moreover, in Queensland, it is essential to connect vast distances, diverse communities and a variety of cultural experiences. We must also take account of the expectations of contemporary tourists, who anticipate a digitally mediated travel experience and increasingly seek to connect with local communities in authentic ways. In this paper we consider the unique considerations that must be taken into account in the Queensland context and propose approaches to developing an integrated identity that embraces both the ‘great outdoors’ and the region’s cultural attributes. We make recommendations for providing the types of digitally mediated ‘local’ experiences that cultural tourists now expect, and illustrate the design principles we propose through early, tentative approaches to smart phones, locative media and augmented reality applications for cultural tourism in the region. We conclude by proposing additional ways to formulate a digital strategy in line with the recommendations we make.

Plasma nanoscience : setting directions, tackling grand challenges

This review paper presents historical perspectives, recent advances and future directions in the multidisciplinary research field of plasma nanoscience. The current status and future challenges are presented using a three-dimensional framework. The first and the largest dimension covers the most important classes of nanoscale objects (nanostructures, nanofeatures and nanoassemblies/nanoarchitectures) and materials systems, namely carbon nanotubes, nanofibres, graphene, graphene nanoribbons, graphene nanoflakes, nanodiamond and related carbon-based nanostructures; metal, silicon and other inorganic nanoparticles and nanostructures; soft organic nanomaterials; nano-biomaterials; biological objects and nanoscale plasma etching. In the second dimension, we discuss the most common types of plasmas and plasma reactors used in nanoscale plasma synthesis and processing. These include low-temperature non-equilibrium plasmas at low and high pressures, thermal plasmas, high-pressure microplasmas, plasmas in liquids and plasma–liquid interactions, high-energy-density plasmas, and ionized physical vapour deposition as well as some other plasma-enhanced nanofabrication techniques. In the third dimension, we outline some of the 'Grand Science Challenges' and 'Grand Socio-economic Challenges' to which significant contributions from plasma nanoscience-related research can be expected in the near future. The urgent need for a stronger focus on practical, outcome-oriented research to tackle the grand challenges is emphasized and concisely formulated as from controlled complexity to practical simplicity in solving grand challenges.

Evidence of homing following translocation of long‐tailed bats (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) at Grand Canyon Cave, New Zealand

Homing behaviour in the New Zealand long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus), a temperate insectivorous species, was investigated at Grand Canyon Cave, central North Island. A pilot study of nine adult male bats was conducted to determine whether use of the cave was regular enough for a homing study. Eight bats returned to the cave over the 3 week monitoring period, six on the night of the following release. Nine additional bats carrying radio transmitters were then released at three sites (three at each site) c.5, 10 and 20km due east of the border of, and outside the population's known familiar area respectively. All but one of these nine was subsequently detected at the cave. Results suggest that adult long-tailed bats are able to return home following displacement both inside and outside their familiar area. Implications of these findings for translocations of bats and the possessions of a potential long distance navigation system by this species are discussed.