The Great Hurricane and Tidal Wave of 1938: Scenes of the Disaster in Rhode Island’s East Bay

In September of 1983 a hurricane swept across New England. It was one of the most destructive storms to ever strike the region, causing damage in New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine

Application of numerical methods to planetary radiowave scattering

Existing numerical techniques for the solution of scattering problems were investigated to determine those which might be applicable to planetary surface studies, with the goal of improving the interpretation of radar data from Venus, Mars, the Moon, and icy satellites. The general characteristics of the models are described along with computational concerns. In particular, the Numerical Electrogmatics Code (NEC) developed at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is discussed. Though not developed for random rough surfaces, the NEC contains elements which may be generalized and which could be valuable in the study of scattering by planetary surfaces

Designing a programming-based approach for modelling scientific phenomena

We describe an iteratively designed sequence of activities involving the modelling of 1- dimensional collisions between moving objects based on programming in ToonTalk. Students aged 13-14 in two settings (London and Cyprus) investigated a number of collision situations, classified into six classes based on the relative velocities and masses of the colliding objects. We describe iterations of the system in which students engaged in a repeating cycle of activity for each collision class: prediction of object behaviour from given collision conditions, observation of a relevant video clip, building a model to represent the phenomena, testing, validating and refining their model, and publishing it – together with comments – on our web-based collaboration system, WebReports. Students were encouraged to consider the limitations of their current model, with the aim that they would eventually appreciate the benefit of constructing a general model that would work for all collision classes, rather than a different model for each class. We describe how our intention to engage students with the underlying concepts of conservation, closed systems and system states was instantiated in the activity design, and how the modelling activities afforded an alternative representational framework to traditional algebraic description

Physical Exercise and its Implications for Aging Immunity and Adoptive Transfer Immunotherapy

Advancing age is associated with a profound decline in the normal functioning of the immune system that is commonly referred to as immunosenescence. Impaired responses to vaccination and the increased incidence of infection and malignancy seen in the elderly are often considered to be a direct consequence of immunosenescence. A large body of cross-sectional data has shown that habitual exercise is associated with enhanced functional responses in both the innate and adaptive arms of the aging immune system, indicating that exercise may help curtail the onset of immunosenescence. However, it is not known if exercise is also capable of reversing the detrimental effects of aging on an already weakened immune system. The first part of this presentation will focus on the known effects of habitual exercise at preserving the aging immune system and discuss avenues for future research to test the hypothesis that exercise has immune rejuvenating properties in the elderly. Cancer is widely considered to be an age-related disease, with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) being the preferred treatment for many patients with hematologic malignancies. However, HSCT is associated with significant morbidity and mortality especially due to viral infections (i.e. cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus and adenovirus) and relapse. The second part of this presentation will focus on the immuno-enhancing effects of acute exercise as a means of increasing the efficacy of adoptive transfer immunotherapy - the passive infusion of ex vivo expanded donor-derived or autologous immune cells to a cancer patient recipient. Our early work in this area indicates that a single bout of exercise can augment the ex-vivo expansion of donor-derived NK-cells and antigen-specific T-cells for use in allogeneic adoptive transfer immunotherapy. This may offer a safe and cost-effective method to improve prognosis and reduce mortality in cancer patients after HSCT

Exploring the mathematics of motion through construction and collaboration

In this paper we give a detailed account of the design principles and construction of activities designed for learning about the relationships between position, velocity and acceleration, and corresponding kinematics graphs. Our approach is model-based, that is, it focuses attention on the idea that students constructed their own models – in the form of programs – to formalise and thus extend their existing knowledge. In these activities, students controlled the movement of objects in a programming environment, recording the motion data and plotting corresponding position-time and velocity-time graphs. They shared their findings on a specially-designed web-based collaboration system, and posted cross-site challenges to which others could react. We present learning episodes that provide evidence of students making discoveries about the relationships between different representations of motion. We conjecture that these discoveries arose from their activity in building models of motion and their participation in classroom and online communities

Effectiveness of Morse Code as an Alternative Control Method for Powered Wheelchair Navigation

We applied Morse code as an alternative input method for powered wheelchair navigation to improve driving efficiency for individuals with physical disabilities. In lab trials performed by four testers, it demonstrated significant improvement in driving efficiency by reducing the driving time, compared to traditional single switch wheelchair navigation

Relationships between Risk Factors, Perceptions of School Membership and Academic and Behavioral Engagement of Students Who Attend an Alternative School for Behavioral and Emotional Challenges

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the perceptions of school membership, risk factors, and behavioral and academic engagement among a sample of alternative school students. The study subjects were 48 7th-9th graders who were at high risk for school failure because of their serious and chronic behavioral and academic problems. All subjects had an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). A 25 item school membership questionnaire adapted from existing school membership surveys was used to assess students’ perceived school membership. The study participants reported a moderately positive school membership score. The findings indicated that commonly known risk factors, such as being a male, minority, low SES, no participation in extracurricular activities, and a history of involvement with the juvenile justice system did not negatively affect study participants’ perceptions of school membership. The relationships between students’ school outcomes and the risk variables were also analyzed. The findings indicated that the above mentioned risk variables did not result in significantly negative effects on school outcomes (GPA, number of missed school days, hours spent for in-school suspension, and days spent for out-of school suspension). Instead, academic and behavioral school outcome variables were found to be closely related with each other, and also with some demographic factors, including race/ethnicity and grade levels. Implications for planning academic and behavioral interventions for students with emotional and behavioral challenges are discussed

Modeling an Automatic Adjustment of Scanning Rate Using Fuzzy Inference Logic

Single-switch scanning is one of the slowest way for people with severe motor impairments to access a wide range of assistive technologies, such as entering text into computer applications, manipulating alternative and augmentative communication devices, and operating power wheelchairs. Automating scanning rate adjustment has been investigated as a means of improving selection rate by several research groups [1-6], using probabilistic methods such as uncertainty factors and Bayesian networks. In practice, however, when assessing and documenting their client’s needs, clinicians tend to prefer specifying linguistic values, such as slow, medium, and fast, rather than numerical values. In this respect, fuzzy logic can be an alternative to the existing approaches because it can capture the meaning of linguistic variables whose values are words rather than numbers [7, 8]. This paper describes our approach to modeling the automatic adjustment of scan rate using fuzzy logic

Leadership for innovation – why manufacturing has a future in Australia

In this paper, business leaders discuss the leadership styles they have used to ensure their companies are manufacturing success stories, and then these experiences are analysed to outline the leadership needs for innovation in Australia. Introduction With dire predictions about the future of manufacturing in Australia, we should remember that manufacturing has been an important contributor to national development. There was a thriving manufacturing industry up to 1945, sufficient to supply most domestic needs. Post-war, new industries flourished and a golden era of manufacturing followed. By the late 1950s manufacturing accounted for 29% of Australia’s GDP. By the 1960s, growth and productivity was faltering and manufacturing had begun to stagnate. Today, manufacturing accounts for less than 10% of Australia’s GDP, the lowest level since early colonial times. This is due, in large part, to global economic changes and the economic processes of comparative advantage. However, the innovative spirit that drove previous successes remains and a new generation of leaders and enterprises has emerged. Two of these innovative leaders presented case studies of their firms at a Swinburne Leadership Dialogue in June 2014. Richard Simpson of Furnace Engineering and Robert Wilson of the Wilson Transformer Company discussed the leadership styles and approaches they have used to ensure their companies are – and remain – national manufacturing success stories. Scott Thompson-Whiteside of Swinburne University of Technology then analyses their experiences to outline the leadership needs for innovation in Australia

Strategies Used by Employment Service Providers in the Job Development Process: Are they consistent with what employers want?

Historically, the role of job developers employed in the state/federal vocational rehabilitation program and the larger network of community-based rehabilitation programs has been to identify and secure paid employment for individuals with disabilities, particularly those with significant disabilities. This technical report describes the results of a study of job development/job placement professionals' strategies in the employment process, and compares these results to employer perceptions of the employment process from recent literature. The report also identifies implications for job development/placement practice based on this comparative analysis