University staff in learning technology related roles are critical to the capability of the institution to effectively enhance the student experience, deliver an engaged curriculum and achieve significant pedagogical change. However, their perceptions of identity, precarity, status and capability and the locations and roles they are located in within many institutions can challenge that capability. Drawing on data gathered about the hopes and dreams of over two hundred learning technology related staff at three workshops held in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany, this paper will explore the contradictions and paradoxes that impact on the capability of staff in learning technology related roles to influence and shape pedagogical and technological change.

‘Visitors and Residents’ is a continuum of modes of engagement which has been well established as a valuable way of understanding how individuals engage online. This paper discusses how the original metaphor of Visitors and Residents has been developed into a mapping process which helps individuals to visualise, and reflect on, the digital tools and places they use or spend time in. The paper explores ways that the Visitors and Residents work has developed and proposes a method of analysing a body of maps through ‘engagement genres’ to discover broader trends in behaviour across groups.

This 3-year project is funded by JISC, OCLC, Oxford University, and the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. It does not aim to answer ‘What works?’ but ‘Why does it work?’. If we gain a better understanding of student and scholar motivations for engaging in the information environment, we have a greater chance of meeting expectations and creating services which are used and ultimately good value for money. We cannot continue to provide an educational version of every available platform in an attempt to mirror the web within institutions. We must make informed decisions on how to move forward to ensure that we will not be at the mercy of every ‘new’ technology that becomes available nor will we be expending funds on services, systems, and facilities that are not used. The project is an attempt to fill the gap in user behaviour studies identified in the JISC Digital Information Seeker Report (2010). Connaway and Dickey (2010) call for a longitudinal study “to identify how individuals engage in both the virtual and physical worlds to get information for different situations could be conducted” (p. 56). They believe that “Such an investigation would contribute to a better understanding of how individuals navigate in multiple information environments and could influence the design and integration of systems and services for devices and applications, as well as cloud computing” (Connaway and Dickey (2010, p. 56). It utilises the visitors and residents principle described in the TALL blog (White 2008), which hypothesizes that neither age nor gender determines whether one is a visitor (one who logs on to the virtual environment, performs a specific task or acquires specific information, and then logs off) or a resident (one who has an ongoing, developing presence online).

This longitudinal study tracks US and UK participants' shifts in their motivations and forms of engagement with technology and information as they transition between four educational stages. The quantitative and qualitative methods, including ethnographic methods that devote individual attention to the subjects, yield a very rich data set enabling multiple methods of analysis. Instead of reporting general information-seeking habits and technology use, this study explores how the subjects get their information based on the context and situation of their needs during an extended period of time, identifying if and how their behaviors change.

Zooplankton collection methods can differ substantially in the information produced; therefore, determining the best method or methods for a particular ecosystem is essential in understanding limnological processes. We compared results of two sampling methods, Wisconsin net vertical tows and Schindler-Patalas traps, that have been used in a long-term monitoring program in a large, shallow reservoir, Kentucky Lake, USA. Although there were differences in net mesh size and volume of water sampled, statistically similar cladoceran and copepod communities were captured by both methods. Population densities and the number of taxa collected did differ between methods, with many smaller rotifer taxa being found only in the vertical tows, but there were higher densities of larger taxa in the traps. Annual patterns were similar for most larger taxa, except that Wisconsin net tows revealed an autumn density peak for Bosmina longirostris not well-detected in the trap samples. Given the biases of each method, the Schindler-Patalas trap appears to be more efficient overall in long-term monitoring studies, particularly in shallow systems where multiple samples are taken frequently at a number of sites.

This article proposes a continuum of ‘Visitors’ and ‘Residents’ as a replacement for Prensky’s much‐criticised Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. Challenging the basic premises upon which Prensky constructed his typology, Visitors and Residents fulfil a similar purpose in mapping individuals’ engagement with the Web. We argue that the metaphors of ‘place’ and ‘tool’ most appropriately represent the use of technology in contemporary society, especially given the advent of social media. The Visitors and Residents continuum accounts for people behaving in different ways when using technology, depending on their motivation and context, without categorising them according to age or background. A wider and more accurate representation of online behaviour is therefore established.

Background: Many of the potential benefits of using virtual worlds for teaching and learning are difficult to define and often become overly focused on the functionality of the technology or on its ability to support informal or 'social' forms of learning. Purpose: The aim of the paper is to highlight the experiential nature of virtual worlds and to relate this to theories of experiential learning with a view to providing educators with a conceptual framework by which they can analyse their practice. Sources of evidence: The paper principally draws upon our own experience as professionals who have used virtual worlds for teaching purposes with the specific purpose of better understanding and analysing their characteristics. One significant source is the Open Habitat project, which, during 2008, piloted the use of virtual worlds with undergraduate art and design students based at Leeds Metropolitan University and lifelong distance philosophy students studying with the University of Oxford. Main argument: Virtual worlds have a culture specific to themselves. While aspects of this parallel real-life, the overall experience of learners when they immerse themselves in these worlds can be significantly different from that of real life. Rather than attempt to eliminate the differences, or simply focus on the technological aspects of teaching online, educators are encouraged to familiarise themselves with some of the differences, place them within the context of theories of experiential learning, and harness the opportunities for their own purposes. Conclusions: Teaching practitioners wishing to take advantage of virtual worlds should approach them as an 'other' cultural space as well as a platform with given technical functionality. This will allow them to harness moments of disjuncture as key educational events.

Journal of China University of Geosciences (ISSN 1002 - 0705 CN42-1279/P) is a geological magazine published quar-terly in English by this university. The journal is designed for the dissemination of information on all branches of geology find associated technology in the exploration and utilization of earth resources. Articles from both domestic and international scien-tists on relevant subjects are welcome. All articles arc reviewed by two or more referees for scholarly presentation, technical merit, quality of scientific content and utility of the results for practicing geologists. The Editorial Committee reserves the fi-nal decision concerning the acceptance of a paper.

Trace fossils of lacustrine benthos are less well known than those of marine benthos, limiting their potential use in interpreting paleo-environmental conditions, including climate change, reconstructing lake ecosystems, and predicting effects of sediment mixing of paleoclimate records. Here, we present a synopsis of limnological controls on the distribution of present day lacustrine ben- thos, a synopsis of their burrowing and feeding habits, and a summary of the traces they produce. Maximum diversity and density of benthos occur in sublittoral zones and decrease both shore- ward and basinward. Common taxa include bivalves (unionids, sphaeriids), snails, oligochaetes, amphipods, and insects (particularly chironomids and ephemeropterans). With a few exceptions, traces produced are morphologically simple, shallowly inscribed, and have low preservation poten- tial. Although lacustrine benthic organisms are widespread, variability within and between lakes causes them and their traces to be patchily distributed. To truly understand the records left in lacus- trine sediments and the links between modern and ancient traces, we need comprehensive surveys over a range of lake types and collaborations between ichnologists and benthic ecologists.

Rotifer hatching was examined for moist sediments collected from three benthic environments in a mainstem reservoir embayment, Kentucky Lake, KY: a drawdown zone with an established annual drying and wetting cycle, a floodplain that is only rarely inundated, and the permanently inundated embayment. Hatching data were compared with previous published data for laboratory-dried sediments from the same sites and with bi-weekly water-column samples over a one-year period. Of the total 44 taxa now recorded from Kentucky Lake, 18 species hatched from moist sediments and six from completely dried sediments. Taxa that emerged from moist and dried sediments were common to temporary and littoral habitats indicating that they may be better adapted for surviving diapause in a fluctuating reservoir environment. Evidence further suggests that the degree of sediment drying in drawdown and floodplain zones may affect egg hatching and that human-induced reservoir water level fluctuations may play a role in rotifer community dynamics by increasing or reducing rotifer community diversity in a single year.

Chironomus major is a large chironomid (larval length up to 50 mm) that occurs sporadically in lakes and ponds throughout the eastern United States. Chironomus major is the dominant chironomid in Kentucky Lake, KY, U.S.A. in western shoreline depositional zones 6-10 m deep with mean densities of about 87/m(2) per month. In the laboratory, eggs hatched in 3-4 days. The life cycle appears to be univoltine. Adult emergence begins in early October (water temp 22 degrees C) and peaks about the first week in November. Mean larval dry weights were 0.002, 0.76, 2.98, and 6.20 mg for first, second, third, and fourth instars, Mean head capsule widths were 0.13, 0.55, 0.78, and 1.03 mm for first, second, third, and fourth instars. Production was estimated as 1.5 g dry mass/m(2) based on the present study. Although the densities of C. major larvae were low, the relatively high standing stock biomass (0.4 g dry mass/m(2)) contributed much of the production.

The effects of drying and rewetting on rotifer egg bank hatching were examined for three habitats in a mainstem reservoir embayment, Kentucky Lake, KY: a littoral zone with an annual drying and wetting cycle, a floodplain that was only rarely inundated, and a permanently wetted embayment. Hatching from surface sediments also was compared with hatching from sediments 4-10 cm and 14-20 cm deep. Seven rotifer species normally associated with littoral zones and two other zooplankton species hatched from sediments following rewetting. No pelagic species hatched. Surface sediments normally experiencing drying and rewetting cycles had a greater number of species than permanently wetted sediments. Eggs hatched more quickly from deeper than surface sediments. Results demonstrated that reservoir water level fluctuations may play a role in rotifer community dynamics by providing favorable conditions for littoral as well as pelagic species.

ABSTRACT Nutrient patterns were examined spatially and temporally from 1989 to 1998 in Kentucky Lake U.S.A., the largest mainstem reservoir on the Tennessee River system. Nutrients included NO3 −-N, NH4 +-N, PO4 −, SiO2, SO4 −2, and Cl−. Seasonal patterns in most nutrient concentrations were described well by cosine functions. Seasonal descriptions had less variance than discharge related descriptions of nutrient concentrations, possibly due to regulation of reservoir discharge. Differing land-use practices on either side of the reservoir were associated with significantly different nutrient concentrations in their related embayments. The agriculturally dominated western side embayments had lower nutrient concentrations than either the forested eastern side of the reservoir or mainstem sites. Annual average nutrient concentrations did not vary greatly over the 10-year period, indicating no change in eutrophication potential during the sampling period. An exception was a significant decline in SO4 −2 levels from 23 mg·L−1 in 1992 to 12.8 mg·L−1 in 1998. Annual export of nutrients was computed from yearly regressions on seasonal concentrations and daily discharge rates.

In pond and wetland systems for wastewater treatment, plants are often thought to enhance the removal of ammonium and nitrogen through the activities of root-associated bacteria. In this study, we examined the role of plant roots in an aerated pond system with floating plants designed to treat high-strength septage wastewater. We performed both laboratory and full-scale experiments to test the effect of different plant root to septage ratios on nitrification and denitrification, and measured the abundances of nitrifying bacteria associated with roots and septage particulates. Root-associated nitrifying bacteria did not play a significant role in ammonium and total nitrogen removal. Investigations of nitrifier populations showed that only 10% were associated with water hyacinth [Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms] roots (at standard facility plant densities equivalent to 2.2 wet g roots L(-1) septage); instead, nitrifiers were found almost entirely (90%) associated with suspended septage particulates. The role of root-associated nitrifiers in nitrification was examined in laboratory batch experiments where high plant root concentrations (7.4 wet g L(-1), representing a 38% net increase in total nitrifier populations over plant-free controls) yielded a corresponding increase (55%) in the non-substrate-limited nitrification rate (V(max)). However, within the full-scale septage-treating pond system, nitrification and denitrification rates remained unchanged when plant root concentrations were increased to 7.1 g roots L(-1) (achieved by increasing the surface area available for plants while maintaining the same tank volume). Under normal facility operating conditions, nitrification was limited by ammonium concentration, not nitrifier availability. Maximizing plant root concentrations was found to be an inefficient mechanism for increasing nitrification in organic particulate-rich wastewaters such as septage.

Septage disposal presents technical difficulties due to its high concentrations of solids and nutrients. Many existing treatment options create excessive waste solids or fail to remove nutrients, which, upon discharge, impact groundwater and aquatic systems. This study evaluated nitrogen removal in an ecologically engineered wastewater treatment system (the Solar Aquatic System™ [SAS]) that combines aeration and activated solids recycling with aquatic and constructed wetlands treatment components. A septage-treating SAS in coastal Massachusetts, USA, produced an effluent of 113 mg/l chemical oxygen demand, 16 mg/l total suspended solids (TSS), 0.56 mg/l ammonium nitrogen, 6.1 mg/l total nitrogen and 1.5 mg/l total phosphorus. Waste solids production was low at 0.81 g/g influent TSS, including harvested plant biomass. Primary treatment was by biological oxidation with activated solids, followed by gravity clarification. Further oxidation and ammonium removal occurred in planted aerated aquatic tanks enclosed in a greenhouse, followed by secondary gravity clarification. Nitrogen removal in the aquatic tanks was limited by denitrification, which was limited by the availability of anaerobic microsites. Mineralization of particulate organic nitrogen, followed by nitrification and denitrification, occurred simultaneously during primary treatment and in the aquatic tanks. Final solids polishing and denitrification occurred in a constructed wetland. Although 88% of the influent nitrogen was removed during primary treatment, further treatment in the aquatic tanks and wetlands was required to reduce effluent nitrogen to tertiary standards. Nitrogen removal in the whole system was primarily by sedimentation of waste solids, accounting for 57.6% of the influent nitrogen, followed by denitrification, at 40.9%. Direct uptake of nitrogen by plants was insignificant, at 0.5%. 1.0% of the total influent nitrogen left the facility in the effluent water. The SAS has the capability to treat septage to tertiary standards with low solids production in small, decentralized facilities.

ABSTRACT Particulate carbon was measured spatially and temporally in the mainstem and embayments of Kentucky Lake U.S.A., the largest reservoir on the Tennessee River system. Samples were collected on pre-combusted glass fiber filters and particulate carbon and nitrogen determined with a CHN analyzer. An annual cycle was observed in the reservoir mainstem where peak particulate concentrations occurred primarily during the summer (with a yearly average 629 μg C·L−1). Concentrations of particulate carbon in embayments correlated with differential land-use practices on either side of the reservoir. Primarily agricultural western side embayments had elevated particulate carbon concentrations (1062 μg C·L−1). Forested eastern side embayments had average particulate carbon concentrations (736 μg C·L−1) that were more comparable to the mainstem. Contributions to summer POC in the reservoir mainstem were mainly from autochthonous sources, while contributions from upstream allochthonous sources were dominant during the winter.

(2000). Long-term establishment of Daphnia lumholtzi Sars in Kentucky Lake, USA. SIL Proceedings, 1922-2010: Vol. 27, No. 5, pp. 3102-3106.