‘Research as dialogue’ and cross-cultural consultations: confronting relations of power

In this paper, we discuss methodological issues that emerged as we worked through a small empirical research project, ‘Engaging Aboriginal students in education through community empowerment’. Recent national policy statements (see, for example, MCEETYA 2000, NBEET 1995) argue the importance of education/research that keeps the locus of control within the Aboriginal community as a means to further the goal of self-determination and improve educational outcomes. In keeping with these recommendations, our project aimed to challenge assimilationist frameworks and sought to ‘empower’ members of the local Aboriginal community through participation in the project.     

Fostering scientific understanding and epistemic beliefs through judgments of promisingness

The evaluation of promisingness is central to knowledge building and knowledge creation but remains largely unexplored. As part of a design-based research program to support promisingness judgments, the present study implemented an intervention in a sixth grade science class, with the goal of exploring the potential of promisingness judgments to foster scientific understanding and epistemic beliefs. Aided by a Promising Ideas Tool and pedagogical supports designed for this intervention, students explored the concept of promisingness, judged the promisingness of their community ideas, and engaged in iterative cycles of idea refinement. Results indicated that students were capable of improving their understanding of promisingness and making promisingness judgments deemed sensible by domain experts. The conceptual understanding and epistemic beliefs displayed by students improved over the course of the intervention, and such improvement happened in tandem with students’ understanding of promisingness. The implications of this exploratory study and future research are discussed.     

Motion characteristics of novel floating foundation for offshore wind turbine

A novel floating foundation to support the NREL offshore 5 MW wind turbine was designed conceptually by combining the characteristics of barge and Spar. The main focus was structural design and hydrodynamic modelling. Based on this novel floating foundation, the hydrodynamic performance was investigated in the frequency domain and time domain by using the wave analysis software HydroD and DeepC from Det Norske Veritas. The frequency domain analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of the incident wave angle and water depth. The time-domain analysis was carried out to evaluate the response of the floating foundation under a selected operational condition. The hydrodynamic performances of this floating foundation with respect to time series and response spectra were also investigated in this study.     

汇率干预中的多点自由边值问题的数值计算方法

1IntroductionIt is i mportant for the economic development of acountry to maintain the stabilization of exchange rate,so the intervention of exchange rate has become thetopic of the main concerns of the economic and math-ematical circles[1-5].To maintain the stabilization ofexchange rate,many countries use target zone re-gi mes,that is,the central banks intervene in the for-eign exchange market such that the exchange ratestays within the interval[a,b].There are fixed costand cost proportional …     

Multi-objective aerodynamic optimization design of high-speed train head shape

To improve the aerodynamic performance of high-speed trains (HSTs) running in the open air, a multi-objective aerodynamic optimization design method for the head shape of a HST is proposed in this paper. A parametric model of the HST was established and seven design variables of the head shape were extracted. Sample points and their exact values of optimization objectives were obtained by an optimal Latin hypercube sampling (opt. LHS) plan and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations, respectively. A Kriging surrogate model was constructed based on the sample points and their optimization objectives. Taking the total aerodynamic drag force and the aerodynamic lift force of the tail coach as the optimization objectives, the multi-objective aerodynamic optimization design was performed based on a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II) and the Kriging model. After optimization, a series of Pareto-optimal head shapes were obtained. An optimal head shape was selected from the Pareto-optimal head shapes, and the aerodynamic performance of the HST with the optimal head shape was compared with that of the original train in conditions with and without crosswinds. Compared with the original train, the total aerodynamic drag force is reduced by 2.61% and the lift force of the tail coach is reduced by 9.90% in conditions without crosswind. Moreover, the optimal train benefits from lower fluctuations in aerodynamic loads in crosswind conditions.     

A four spiral slots microstrip patch antenna for radiotelemetry capsules based on FDTD

Antenna is very crucial to radiotelemetry capsules which can measure the physiological parameters of the gastroin- testinal (GI) tract. The objective of this paper is to design a novel spiral slots microstrip patch antenna for the radiotelemetry capsules communicating with external recorder at 915 MHz located in ISM (Industry, Science, and Medical) bands. The microstrip patch antenna is designed and evaluated using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Return loss characteristics and the effect of the human body on resonant frequency are analyzed, and the performances of radiation patterns at different positions of the human alimentary tract are also estimated. Finally, specific absorption rate (SAR) computations are performed, and the peak 1-g and 10-g SAR values are calculated. According to the peak SAR values, the maximum delivered power for the designed antenna was found so that the SAR values of the antenna satisfy the ANSI (American National Standards Institute) limitations.     

Investigation of iodine concentration in salt,water and soil along the coast of Zhejiang,China

Objective: We aim to describe the environment iodine concentration in salt, water and soil along Zhejiang Province coast in the China foreland. It will be helpful for us to judge whether this area is insufficient in iodine and universal iodized salt is necessary or not. Methods: We collected iodized salt samples, drinking water samples (tap water in the towns, and well water or spring water in the villages), water samples from different sources (ditches, lakes, rivers) and soil samples through random sampling in June, 2005. Salt, water and soil iodine was detected by arsenic-cerium redox method. Statistical analysis was expressed as mean±SEMby Windows SPSS 13.0. Results: (1) The iodine concentration in salt was 27.9±4.33 mg/kg (n=108). (2) Seventy-five water samples were collected. The water iodine value was 0.6～84.8 μg/L (mean of 11.66 μg/L). The watershed along the Qiantang River has significantly higher iodine content than the water in Lin'an in mountain area (P＜0.01). The iodine content and mean iodine content of tap water, well or spring water and natural water sources were 4.30±2.43 μg/L (n=34), 23.59±27.74 μg/L (n=19)and 12.72±10.72 μg/L (n=22) respectively. This indicated that among environmental water sources, the ditch iodine content was the highest with river water iodine being the lowest (P＜0.01). (3) Soil iodine value was 0.11～2.93 mg/kg (mean of 1.32 mg/kg).Though there was no statistical difference of soil iodine in different districts (P=0.131), soil iodine content correlated positively with water iodine content. Conclusion: Iodine concentration in salt accords with national policy of adding iodine in salt. Foreland has more iodine in water than mountain area. The data reflected that water and soil iodine in foreland area was not high, which suggests universal iodized salt should be necessary. Environment iodine has relatively close association with pollution.