Expectation versus variation: Students’ decision making in a sampling environment

Abstract:

A task adapted from one used by Tversky and Kahneman (1971) was used in an interview or questionnaire context with 122 students from Grade 3 to Grade 13. Two questions assessed student understanding of the relationship of a sample to a population and of the expected value of the arithmetic mean, with and without information on a single value from the sample. Combining responses to the two questions, increasingly complex hierarchical sequences were identified in the observed responses in relation to the expected value of the means, an expectation variable, and in relation to the degree that ideas about variation were used to support judgements, a variation variable. Using data from another task performed by 68 of the students, responses were associated with the observed development of understanding of sampling more generally, a basic sampling variable. Overall, the associations of levels of response among the variables was not strong, suggesting more explicit discussion of sampling issues is required in classrooms.     

A Computational Model for Masked Negative Films

The construction of a computational model representing a masked negative film is described. Model negative tripacks are then used in the context of a complete negative-positive system to demonstrate the changes in colour reproduction which result from increasing the degree of masking of the magenta dye.     

The response of the adult and ATD heads to impacts onto a rigid surface

Given the high incidence of TBI, head injury has been studied extensively using both cadavers and anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs). However, few studies have benchmarked the response of ATD heads against human data. Hence, the objective of this study is to investigate the response of adult and ATD heads in impact, and to compare adult Hybrid III head responses to the adult head responses.     

The Process of Activity and the Built Environment

Summary of some of the topics covered by the author under the ACSA-AMAX Research Fellowship, which he won in 1967.     

pH control for enhanced reductive bioremediation of chlorinated solvent source zones

Enhanced reductive dehalogenation is an attractive treatment technology for in situ remediation of chlorinated solvent DNAPL source areas. Reductive dehalogenation is an acid-forming process with hydrochloric acid and also organic acids from fermentation of the electron donors typically building up in the source zone during remediation. This can lead to groundwater acidification thereby inhibiting the activity of dehalogenating microorganisms. Where the soils' natural buffering capacity is likely to be exceeded, the addition of an external source of alkalinity is needed to ensure sustained dehalogenation. To assist in the design of bioremediation systems, an abiotic geochemical model was developed to provide insight into the processes influencing the groundwater acidity as dehalogenation proceeds, and to predict the amount of bicarbonate required to maintain the pH at a suitable level for dehalogenating bacteria (i.e., > 6.5). The model accounts for the amount of chlorinated solvent degraded, site water chemistry, electron donor, alternative terminal electron-accepting processes, gas release and soil mineralogy. While calcite and iron oxides were shown to be the key minerals influencing the soil's buffering capacity, for the extensive dehalogenation likely to occur in a DNAPL source zone, significant bicarbonate addition may be necessary even in soils that are naturally well buffered. Results indicated that the bicarbonate requirement strongly depends on the electron donor used and availability of competing electron acceptors (e.g., sulfate, iron (III)). Based on understanding gained from this model, a simplified model was developed for calculating a preliminary design estimate of the bicarbonate addition required to control the pH for user-specified operating conditions.     

Low Loss,High NA Chalcogenide Glass Fibers for Broadband Mid‐Infrared Supercontinuum Generation

High‐purity Ge–As–Se and Ge–As–S chalcogenide glasses were prepared by modified physical and chemical purification techniques. Using the purified glasses, step‐index fibers with a small core (~5.5 μm) and large numerical aperture (~1.3) were fabricated. When a 13.5‐cm‐long fiber was pumped with 320 fs pulses at a repetition rate of 10.5 MHz at 4.1 μm, supercontinuum spanning from ~1.8 to ~9.8 μm with a dynamic range of ±10 dB and an average power of ~3 mW was generated.     

The eye of the beholder

This article falls into four broad sections.

1. A background to the physical, political, social and cultural attributes of Saudi Arabia.

2. Problems encountered by designers, such as communications, contractors, plant and construction materials, irrigation water.

3. An attempt to establish some design principles, particularly pertinent to working in an arid Islamic environment.

4. Concludes with some recent projects carried out in the Kingdom, which follow some of these principles.

     

Flood Hazards

The phenomenon of virtual space is fundamental to the way human beings relate perceptually, behaviorally, and existentially to their world. Virtuality is the presence of what is not literally present, and it thus enables the immanence of building to be annealed to the past and future, analogous form, and hypothetical possibility. In sum, virtuality is synonymous with “architecture” proper, as opposed to building simple. Through the use of gesture, the non-present is made present and given a secret status ruled by a non-classical or “grotesque” order. The principle of our access to the virtual is based on the act of reading, where the movement from the actual to the virtual is simultaneously a spatial and a philosophical transformation. Reading is not simply the translation of phonetic or iconographic characters into their linguistic equivalents, but a restructuring of the space of appearance. The origins and evolution of this “space of reading” are characterized by a distinctive architecture, and the architecture of inhabitable spaces is conditioned by this distinctive architecture: the architecture of reading is the means of reading architecture.     

High Brightness 2.2–12 μm Mid‐Infrared Supercontinuum Generation in a Nontoxic Chalcogenide Step‐Index Fiber

An environment friendly nonlinear chalcogenide glass fiber with a Ge‐Sb‐Se core and a Ge‐Se cladding is fabricated for bright broadband mid‐infrared (MIR) supercontinuum (SC) generation. The fabricated Ge‐Sb‐Se/Ge‐Se fiber with a core diameter of 6 μm shows zero group velocity dispersion at ~4.2 μm and ~7.3 μm. By pumping the fiber with a length of 11 cm at 4.485 μm with 330 fs pulses, we achieve a SC covering the 2.2–12 μm spectral range and with an output average power of ~17 mW. This bright broadband SC source is promising for high‐resolution MIR spectroscopy.     

Determination of total dietary fibre and available carbohydrates: A rapid integrated procedure that simulates in vivo digestion

The new definition of dietary fibre introduced by Codex Alimentarius in 2008 includes resistant starch and the option to include non‐digestible oligosaccharides. Implementation of this definition required new methodology. An integrated total dietary fibre method was evaluated and accepted by AOAC International and AACC International (AOAC Methods 2009.01 and 2011.25; AACC Method 32–45.01 and 32–50.01, and recently adopted by Codex Alimentarius as a Type I Method. However, in application of the method to a diverse range of food samples and particularly food ingredients, some limitations have been identified. One of the ongoing criticisms of this method was that the time of incubation with pancreatic α‐amylase/amyloglucosidase mixture was 16 h, whereas the time for food to transit through the human small intestine was likely to be approximately 4 h. In the current work, we use an incubation time of 4 h, and have evaluated incubation conditions that yield resistant starch and dietary values in line with ileostomy results within this time frame. Problems associated with production, hydrolysis and chromatography of various oligosaccharides have been addressed resulting in a more rapid procedure that is directly applicable to all foods and food ingredients currently available.