Description:
An important step towards commercial scale post-combustion CO2 capture from coal-fired power stations is understanding solvent degradation. Laboratory scale trials have identified three main solvent degradation pathways for 30% MEA: oxidative degradation, carbamate polymerization and formation of heat stable salts. This paper probes the semi-volatile organic compounds produced from a single batch of 30% MEA which was used to capture CO2 from a black coal-fired power station (Tarong, Queensland, Australia) for approximately 700 hours, followed by 500 hours at the brown coal-fired power station (Loy Yang, Victoria, Australia). Comparisons are made between the compounds identified in this aged solvent system with MEA degradation reactions described in literature. Most of semi-volatile compounds tentatively identified by GC/MS have previously been reported in laboratory scale degradation trials. Our preliminary results show low levels of degradation products were present in samples after its use in the pilot plant at Tarong (black coal) and consequent 13 months storage, but much higher concentrations were later found in the same solvent during its at use in the pilot plant at Loy Yang Power (brown coal). Further work includes identifying the cause of poor GC/MS repeatability and investigating the relative rates of reactions described in literature. The impact of inorganic anions and dissolved metals on MEA degradation will also be explored.
Description:
An important step towards commercial scale post-combustion CO2 capture from coal-fired power stations is understanding solvent degradation. Laboratory scale trials have identified three main solvent degradation pathways for 30% MEA: oxidative degradation, carbamate polymerization and formation of heat stable salts. This paper probes the semi-volatile organic compounds produced from a single batch of 30% MEA which was used to capture CO2 from a black coal-fired power station (Tarong, Queensland, Australia) for approximately 700 hours, followed by 500 hours at the brown coal-fired power station (Loy Yang, Victoria, Australia). Comparisons are made between the compounds identified in this aged solvent system with MEA degradation reactions described in literature. Most of semi-volatile compounds tentatively identified by GC/MS have previously been reported in laboratory scale degradation trials. Our preliminary results show low levels of degradation products were present in samples after its use in the pilot plant at Tarong (black coal) and consequent 13 months storage, but much higher concentrations were later found in the same solvent during its at use in the pilot plant at Loy Yang Power (brown coal). Further work includes identifying the cause of poor GC/MS repeatability and investigating the relative rates of reactions described in literature. The impact of inorganic anions and dissolved metals on MEA degradation will also be explored.
Description:
Objectives: COAST (Chiropractic Observation and Analysis Study) aimed to describe the clinical practices of chiropractors in Victoria, Australia. Design: Cross-sectional study using the BEACH (Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health) methods for general practice. Setting and participants: 180 chiropractors in active clinical practice in Victoria were randomly selected from the list of 1298 chiropractors registered on Chiropractors Registration Board of Victoria. Twenty-four chiropractors were ineligible, 72 agreed to participate, and 52 completed the study. Main outcome measures: Each participating chiropractor documented encounters with up to 100 consecutive patients. For each chiropractor-patient encounter, information collected included patient health profile, patient reasons for encounter, problems and diagnoses, and chiropractic care. Results: Data were collected on 4464 chiropractor-patient encounters from 52 chiropractors between 11 December 2010 and 28 September 2012. In most (71%) encounters, patients were aged 25-64 years; 1% of encounters were with infants (age < 1 year; 95% CI, 0.3%-3.2%). Musculoskeletal reasons for encounter were described by patients at a rate of 60 per 100 encounters (95% CI, 54-67 encounters) and maintenance and wellness or check-up reasons were described at a rate of 39 per 100 encounters (95% CI, 33-47 encounters). Back problems were managed at a rate of 62 per 100 encounters (95% CI, 55-71 encounters). The most frequent care provided by the chiropractors was spinal manipulative therapy and massage. Conclusions: A range of conditions are managed by chiropractors in Victoria, Australia, but most commonly these conditions are musculoskeletal-related. These results can be used by stakeholders of the chiropractic profession in workforce development, education and health care policy.
Description:
Cholera is a severe diarrhoeal illness caused by infection with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. From July 2009 to late 2011 Papua New Guinea (PNG) experienced thefirst outbreak of cholera ever reported in this country. During this time > 15,000 cases of cholera were reported, resulting in approximately 500 deaths. The origin of this outbreak is unknown, but considering the remote location of the initial outbreak an infected international traveller is unlikely to be the source. In this paper we review the characteristics of the PNG cholera outbreak and discuss the ongoing threat of cholera to the country and the region.
Description:
The present article continues the investigation of constructions essential for applications of combinatorial semigroups to the design of multiple classification systems in data mining. Our main theorem gives a complete description of all optimal classification systems defined by one-sided ideals in a construction based on combinatorial Rees matrix semigroups. It strengthens and generalizes previous results, which handled the more narrow case of two-sided ideals.
Description:
Low-resolution protein models are often used within a hierarchical framework for structure prediction. However, even with these simplified but realistic protein models, the search for the optimal solution remains NP complete. The complexity is further compounded by the multimodal nature of the search space. In this paper, we propose a systematic design of an evolutionary search technique, namely the memetic algorithm (MA), to effectively search the vast search space by exploiting the domain-specific knowledge and taking cognizance of the multimodal nature of the search space. The proposed MA achieves this by incorporating various novel features: 1) a modified fitness function includes two additional terms to account for the hydrophobic and polar nature of the residues; 2) a systematic (rather than random) generation of population automatically prevents an occurrence of invalid conformations; 3) a generalized nonisomorphic encoding scheme implicitly eliminates generation of twins (similar conformations) in the population; 4) the identification of a meme (protein substructures) during optimization from different basins of attraction - a process that is equivalent to implicit applications of threading principles; 5) a clustering of the population corresponds to basins of attraction that allows evolution to overcome the complexity of multimodal search space, thereby avoiding search getting trapped in a local optimum; and 6) a 2-stage framework gathers domain knowledge (i.e., substructures or memes) from different basins of attraction for a combined execution in the second stage. Experiments conducted with different lattice models using known benchmark protein sequences and comparisons carried out with recently reported approaches in this journal show that the proposed algorithm has robustness, speed, accuracy, and superior performance. The approach is generic and can easily be extended for applications to other classes of problems.
Description:
The tide gauge results exhibit strong multi-decadal oscillations with detected periodicities up to a quasi-60 years. This translates in the requirement of at least 60-70 years of continuously recorded data without any quality issue and the use of a procedure appropriate for time series with periodic components to infer the acceleration trend. This is not what is done in many recent papers where the oscillating behaviour is neglected and short or incomplete records arbitrarily extended or reconstructed are used to infer wrong accelerating trends. All the tide gauges of enough length and quality show the sea levels are oscillating with important multi-decadal periodicities but absolutely not positively accelerating. The satellite radar altimeter reconstruction of the global mean sea level only available since 1993 shows despite the many uncertainties of a still imperfect procedure a not positively accelerating behaviour. The presence of acceleration in the reconstructed or extended data sets and the lack of acceleration in all the individual tide gauge measurements of enough quality and length certainly deserve further discussion. This is a comment to a previously published original paper made on the basis of other previously published results and not a new original paper.
Description:
The paper by M Lichter and D Felsenstein (2012) presents a framework for assessing the costs of sea-level rise (SLR) and extreme flooding at the local level. The authors consider sea level rises of 0.5, 1 and 2 m coupled to 1:50 yr 1 m high tide and 4 m Tsunami. It is shown that these occurrences are not very likely to occur because the sea levels are rising slowly and without any sign of positive acceleration, the typical tidal oscillations are smaller and there is no significant past occurrence of Tsunamis along the coast of Israel. The result of the study is therefore mostly consequently misleading for a proper coastal management. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Description:
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a chronic metabolic disorder that is predominately associated with lifestyle changes including reduced physical activity, poor nutrition and obesity. Despite major medical advances in the treatment of T2D, its prevalence is still increasing at an alarming rate. Accordingly, better management and prevention strategies are urgently needed to prevent the development and progression of this disease. In the last decade there have been considerable efforts to improve public health through alternative research paradigms. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is one such process by which researchers form an equal and transparent partnership with the community with the final goal of creating empowerment and societal change to facilitate action and provide solutions to promote health and well-being. One CBPR program, the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project (KSDPP), was initiated to promote increased physical activity and healthier eating habits among school children based on the Mohawk’s “Living in Balance” philosophy. Utilizing CBPR principles, KSDPP engaged researchers and the community in all stages of the research processes. This project was community driven from the beginning and was independent of any external institutional change agent to facilitate community action and the implementation of strategies to find solutions. Although the project has been instrumental in community empowerment and societal change, several challenges remain. Accordingly, understanding the unique social, environmental and historical context that shapes lifestyle and risk factors for T2D in Native populations will help to understand the unique nature of this disease in these groups.
Description:
The purpose of this paper is to share how sport was used to build relationships between Monash University (Gippsland campus) pre-service education and six rural primary schools during semester one, 2012. Not only was sport used to build partnerships but also to deliver quality Health and Physical Education lessons, offering children sporting opportunities that they may otherwise not receive. The goals established at the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, 2008) were "about equity and social justice and improved learning outcomes for our most disadvantaged and isolated students" (Ewing, 2010, p. 127). A commitment to action in achieving these goals included: promoting world-class curriculum and assessment; and improving educational outcomes for the disadvantaged young Australians, especially those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. A large percentage of the Gippsland region population comprises of socio-economically disadvantaged and all six rural schools were located within these areas. Initial discussions with local principals in January (2012) revealed that implementation of the Health and Physical Education (HPE) learning area was carried out by classroom teachers in all but one school, which had a delegated Physical Education (PE) teacher (with no specialist training). Furthermore, some schools outsourced the HPE learning area for the approximate annual cost of $10 000 through the 'Bluearth' program. A major problem identified in the 1992 Senate Inquiry into Physical and Sport Education was that "suitably qualified physical education teachers are not being employed to teach physical education and school sport to all children" (Commonwealth of Australia, 1992, p.xiv), as many classroom teachers lack knowledge and confidence for teaching PE (Lynch, 2008; Morgan and Bourke, 2005). In Semester One, 2012 as part of the Bachelor of Primary Education course at Monash - Gippsland, a pathway was created to achieve these national ideals and goals. Primary education university students, choosing the Physical Education (PE) major stream, study the unit EDF3619 'Sport and physical activity education'. Through amendments made to this unit, objectives involved the implementation of the Friday Sports program. This program ran over five weeks and was the first program of this nature to be implemented within the Latrobe Valley. The Friday Sports program enabled Year 5 and 6 children from the six schools to choose a sport that they would like to participate in during the one hour sessions over the five weeks. Each sport group consisted of 20-25 children, were mixed sexes and mixed schools. The aim of the program was to progressively work towards achieving the objectives of the Sports Education curriculum model; "to develop as competent, literate and enthusiastic sportspeople" (Siedentop, 1994, p. 4). Monash University provided the equipment, the human resource of five teacher education students per group who had planned the five week units, and collaboratively with the local health industry (local leisure and sports centre) provided the stadium and field facilities, all at no cost to schools. Dr Tim Lynch, Senior Lecturer at Monash University reflects on building partnerships between university and the local schools through the medium of sport; provision of quality Health and Physical Education lessons at no cost. He shares: his vision; the benefits for the primary school children; the benefits and interest of the teacher education students; dynamics involved when collaboratively working with a number of stakeholders; and barriers that need to be overcome for future growth and for similar programs to succeed.
Description:
In 1905 the famous British socialist Tom Mann conducted his extensive investigation of the state of union organisation of Australia and New Zealand. In the North Queensland goldmining towns of Charters Towers Mann found the movement at a 'low ebb', but at Mount Morgan in Central Queensland it was nonexistent. One man he met reported that he was a member of the Rockhampton branch of the carpenters 'but I don't know of any other member of any union in Mount Morgan'. At first glance it would seem that Mount Morgan offered little cause for celebration for the labour movement. The Mount Morgan Gold Mining Company, which owned and mined the great orebody, was a powerful force in local society as was the staff who occupied crucial senior positions in the firm. But on closer inspection, as this article shall detail below, it is possible to discern a 'labour interest' emerging from the political contests for the local electorate of 'Fitzroy' and in the move of local working class candidates into municipal politics.
Description:
The extent and nature of denaturation of whey protein isolate (WPI) in convective air drying environments was measured and analysed using single droplet drying. A custom-built, single droplet drying instrument was used for this purpose. Single droplets having 5. ±. 0.1. μl volume (initial droplet diameter 1.5. ±. 0.1. mm) containing 10% (w/v) WPI were dried at air temperatures of 45, 65 and 80. °C for 600. s at constant air velocity of 0.5. m/s. The extent and nature of denaturation of WPI in isothermal heat treatment processes was measured at 65 and 80. °C for 600. s and compared with those obtained from convective air drying. The extent of denaturation of WPI in a high hydrostatic pressure environment (600. MPa for 600. s) was also determined. The results showed that at the end of 600. s of convective drying at 65. °C the denaturation of WPI was 68.3%, while it was only 10.8% during isothermal heat treatment at the same medium temperature. When the medium temperature was maintained at 80. °C, the denaturation loss of WPI was 90.0% and 68.7% during isothermal heat treatment and convective drying, respectively. The bovine serum albumin (BSA) fraction of WPI was found to be more stable in the convective drying conditions than