Stacking Canvas Up Against Other LMSs

Canvas is the modern, open learning platform designed to help you transform learning. Instructure is the company who builds it. This is the blog where we hold it to a standard of openness, usability and reliability—and give you a glimpse of the fun we have doing it.

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NBL: no vendetta against Joey

Adelaide 36ers coach Joey Wright (left) speaks to the referee during an NBL game against the New Zealand Breakers. Source: Getty Images

THE Adelaide 36ers today will review technical fouls slapped on Joey Wright while NBL referees boss Mal Cooper insists there is no "vendetta" against the Sixers' coach.

"I must stress there's no vendetta against Joey at all," Cooper said.

"Maybe there have been a couple of unfortunate incidents but I will find out from both officials exactly what was said and I will talk with Joey to try and sort it out."

Wright, who has a reputation for volatility but has shown only passion since being appointed coach of the second-ranked Sixers, was hit with a technical foul by Vaughan Mayberry just 4:46 before half-time of Adelaide's recent 96-93 road win over New Zealand.

Import Jarrid Frye was roughly handled by Breakers' swingman Reuben Te Rangi and no call was made, leading to Wright's protestations.

Mayberry replied by giving him a technical foul.

On Friday as the 36ers saw off Melbourne 90-87 at Adelaide Arena, Wright was hit with a technical foul by Nathan Durant 43 seconds from half-time.

Wright had been animated about a no-call when Gary Ervin was knocked to the floor after releasing a three-point attempt.

Wright already had received what appeared to be an unwarranted earlier warning from referee Michael Aylen, prompting Durant's tech.

In both instances, the technical fouls looked more the work of trigger-happy refs than officials understanding man-management.

"Michael (Aylen) and Vaughan (Mayberry) are our Olympics referees so I will talk with both but I know no-one has any axe to grind against Joey," Cooper said.

Adelaide 36ers general manager Dean Parker said he had no issue with his coach's sideline behaviour and felt the officials may have been overly sensitive.

"I'll speak to Joey first before we look at whether we take it up with the NBL or Mal," Parker said.

"Joey is a vocal, emotive man when he's coaching and we wouldn't want him any other way.

"He's done nothing abusive or nothing incorrect and I do have a concern they're (the officials) jumping on him faster than they need to.

"Are they jumping on him because it's him? Calls like those have the potential to be game-changing."

Adelaide is on the road back to Auckland on Friday to again face New Zealand, the Breakers beaten 91-78 by Townsville this weekend and currently seventh on a 2-5 record.

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Rogers to stand tall against Poms

Courier-Mail cricket writer Ben Dorries believes England are flying under the radar heading into the first Test at the Gabba.

Chris Rogers isn't concerned about England's over-sized pace battery for the Ashes. Photo: Scott Barbour Source: Getty Images

CHRIS Rogers says England's giant quick bowlers hold no fears for Australia's batsmen, even on lively Ashes pitches.

The plucky streetfighter, an unlikely batting hero of Australia's ill-fated winter campaign, says playing the towering tourists won't be made harder on decks likely to contain more venom than the lifeless strips served up in England in July and August.

But, as England legend Ian Botham suggests another rout is on the cards with the visitors' batsmen and bowlers suited to the pace and bounce, Rogers said the pace attack would offer no surprises.

Australian batsman Chris Rogers has backed David Warner to open the batting in the first test in Brisbane, saying he must perform if Australia are a chance to win back the Ashes.

"It's always a challenge when you face tall bowlers, but it also means there's going to be pressure on them to find the right length," Rogers said.

"If you're tall, you have to find that perfect length otherwise you're not hitting the stumps and that makes our (the Aussie batsmen's) decisions a lot easier to make.

"So the challenge is there for them as well. And we know what they've brought, so we'll play accordingly."

Rogers churned out 367 runs in the winter Ashes series at an average of 40.8, frustrating the English seamers, particularly James Anderson, with impeccable awareness of his off stump.

And he walks back into the "land of the giants" in good Sheffield Shield form, having peeled off 283 runs at 70.8 in two matches for Victoria.

"For me, I'm probably luckier than most in that I had the grounding of growing up on the WACA (Ground) in Perth and having learnt how to play balls at steep and different angles," Rogers said.

He said on renowned lively pitches in Brisbane and Perth, that would give him the upper hand as, with the extra bounce on offer, the tourists fought the temptation to bowl short.

"Who knows what their plans are? Whatever they decide, we'll just have to react and know there's going to be that kind of challenge,'' Rogers said.

"At times they'll probably come hard at us and try to get the ball up head-high, but all the batsmen know that's what's coming our way. There are no surprises there."

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A Possible Answer For Protection Against Chemical / Biological Agents, Fuel Leaks, And Coffee Stains

Main Category: Bio-terrorism / Terrorism
Also Included In: Medical Devices / Diagnostics
Article Date: 05 Feb 2013 - 0:00 PST Current ratings for:
A Possible Answer For Protection Against Chemical / Biological Agents, Fuel Leaks, And Coffee Stains

A recent discovery funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) may very well lead to a process that not only benefits every uniformed service member of the Department of Defense, but everyone else as well: protection from Chemical/Biological agents, to self-cleaning apparel, to effortless thermal management, to fuel purification as well as enhanced control of leaks - especially oil and fuels.

In 2006, AFOSR Program Manager Dr. Charles Lee funded Professor Gareth McKinley at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology exploring nanocomposite technology for Defense applications. Anish Tuteja, an MIT doctoral student at the time, was exploiting the unusual surface properties of a nanocomposite with fluorinated nanoparticles, to create a superoleophobic surface. After graduation, Tuteja moved to University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he is currently an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, specializing in chemical engineering and macromolecular science and engineering. He was awarded a Young Investigator Program grant from AFOSR in 2011, and continued to conduct the same line of research begun at MIT. His team also included doctoral student Shuaijun Pan and postdoctoral researcher Arun Kota, as well as collaboration with Dr. Joseph Mabry, from the Rocket Propulsion Division of the Air Force Research Laboratory, at Edwards AFB, California.

In their latest paper, "Superomniphobic Surfaces for Effective Chemical Shielding," in the current issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Tuteja and his team have demonstrated surfaces that effectively perform as "chemical shields against virtually all liquids."

To make this possible, surfaces are prepared using a nanoscale coating that is approximately 95 percent air, which in turn, repels liquids of any material in its class, causing them to literally bounce off the treated surface. The surfaces "possess hierarchical scales of re-entrant texture that significantly reduce the solid - liquid contact area." It all comes down to controlling how much contact the liquid ultimately has with the treated surface. To accomplish that the researchers apply the nanoscale coating using a process called electrospinning - using an electric charge to create fine particles of solid derived from a liquid solution.

The coating is a mixture of cross-linked "polydimethylsiloxane," or PDMS, and liquid-resisting nanoscale cubes developed by the Air Force that contain carbon, fluorine, silicon and oxygen. While the material's chemistry is important, so is its texture, because it hugs the pore structure of whatever surface it is applied to, and creates a fine web of air pockets within those pores, so any liquid that comes in contact with the coating is barely touching a solid surface.

According to Dr. Tuteja, when an untreated surface and a liquid get in close proximity, "they imbue a small positive or negative charge on each other, and as soon as the liquid comes in contact with the solid surface, it will start to spread... we've drastically reduced the interaction between the surface and the droplet." By effectively eliminating the contact between the treated surface and the liquid, there is almost no incentive for the liquid to spread, as such, the droplets stay intact, interacting only with molecules of themselves, and maintaining their spherical shape.

The research team has tested more than 100 liquids and found only two that were able to penetrate the coating: they were both chlorofluorocarbons - chemicals used in refrigerators and air conditioners. In Tuteja's lab demonstrations the surface repelled coffee, soy sauce and vegetable oil, as well as toxic hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, and the surfaces are also resistant to gasoline and various alcohols.

This program is of particular interest to the Air Force and the Department of Defense, as it can be useful for self-cleaning surfaces (in particular, integral breathable protective Chemical/Biological Warfare defense in uniform clothing and sensor systems), improvement of thermal management efficiency in phase change cooling systems, fuel purification and the control of oil and fuel leakages in rockets and airplanes. Not to mention, protection against the everyday coffee spill.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
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