Snobbery in education.

Can the U.S. stave off the erosion of its longtime preeminence in science and
engineering? For decades the nation's stature in those disciplines has attracted
many of the brightest and most talented students from around the world to
America's advanced degree programs. Citizens of other countries now receive more
than half the Ph.D.s awarded by U.S. universities in engineering, computer
science and physics, on top of earning one third of all college degrees in
science and engineering. In certain subfields, the disparity is much higher: in
electrical engineering, for example, foreign students received 65 percent of all
doctoral diplomas in 2001.

These figures should inspire alarm, not pride. The unpleasant truth is that the U.S. public education system simply does not produce enough high school graduates who are qualified for college work of any kind, let alone students with a vigorous appetite for math and the sciences. The full depth of America's educational failure is actually masked by the diversity of nationalities among grad students in those fields: Of the 1,777 physics doctorates awarded in 2011, for example, 743 went to temporary visa holders from many lands—and that figure excludes foreign nationals who had won permanent resident status. Only 15 of those 1,777 doctorates were earned by African-Americans.

Shelga wrote: »

http://www.hio.harvard.edu/statistics

The figure of 29 Irish includes 25 students and 4 scholars, across all schools and years of study, not just undergraduates, I think. But then it says there are over 9,000 international students in total, which seems far too high in a university population of ~20,000? Must be my pea-sized brain letting me down. :pac:

languagenerd wrote: »

Timetabled hours really don't mean anything. I did a 15-hour (class-time) a week degree and we had a huge amount of work to do outside of class hours. It's a different sort of course - lots of STEM courses need the scheduled lab hours for the practical components (because you need the lab facilities), whereas the "practical" learning in an Arts or Humanities subject can be done in the library and therefore didn't need to be scheduled as such. My course involved at least 20 hours working on my own each week, as well as 15 hours lectures which were really just to focus our attention on various areas that we had to study in depth in our own time. It's a different sort of challenging, maybe, but they can be equally tough.

Scientists based at Sligo IT have made what's being hailed as a major
breakthrough in the fight against superbugs.


They've developed a new technology which can be baked into everyday items,
including smartphones, to combat the likes of MRSA and E. coli.


They say it has a 99.9 % kill rate of potentially lethal and
drug-resistant bacteria.


Lead scientist Professor Suresh C. Pillai, of Sligo IT's Nanotechnology
Research Group, says the discovery is the culmination of 12 years' work.


"This is a game-changer," he said. "This breakthrough will change the whole
fight against superbugs. It can effectively control the spread of bacteria."


The findings are published today in the international journal 'Scientific
Reports'

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Stories like this appear every day and mean about as much as Daily Mail headlines claiming that red wine cures/causes (delete as appropriate) Alzheimer's disease.

Samaris wrote: »

Why?

FOR SCIENCE!

(Sorry, I just wanted an excuse for that)

A DISCOVERY BY a team of scientists in Ireland could control the spread of
deadly antibiotic-resistant superbugs which experts fear could kill 10 million
people every year by 2050 – more than will die from cancer.

A team of scientists, led by Professor Suresh C Pillai from IT Sligo, have
made a breakthrough which will allow everyday items such as smartphones and door
handles to be protected against deadly bacteria including MRSA
and E coli.


The group’s research was published today in the journal Scientific Reports.


The nanotechnology has a 99.9% kill rate and uses an agent that kills
microorganisms or inhibits their growth.

Anything made from glass, metallics and ceramics can be protected, including
computer or tablet screens, smartphones, ATMs, door handles, TVs, toilet seats
and fridges.

The researchers said it will be of particular use in hospitals and medical
facilities.

It could also be used in swimming pools, on public transport, and on sneeze
guards protecting food in delis and restaurants, as well as in clean rooms in
the medical sector.

The discovery is the culmination of almost 12 years of research by a team of
scientists led by Pillai, initially at the Centre for Research in Engineering
Surface Technology in DIT and then at IT Sligo’s Nanotechnology Research
Group.

DCU, the University of Surrey and Kastus Technologies were also involved in
the research.

“It’s absolutely wonderful to finally be at this stage. This breakthrough
will change the whole fight against superbugs. It can effectively control the
spread of bacteria,” Pillai said.

Every single person has a sea of bacteria on their hands. The mobile phone
is the most contaminated personal item that we can have.


“Bacteria grows on the phone and can live there for up to five months. As it
is contaminated with proteins from saliva and from the hand, it’s fertile land
for bacteria and has been shown to carry 30 times more bacteria than a toilet
seat.”

UV light


As there is nothing that will effectively kill antibiotic-resistant superbugs
completely from the surface of items, scientists have been searching for a way
to prevent the spread.


This has been in the form of building or ‘baking’ antimicrobial surfaces into
products during the manufacturing process.


However, until now these materials were toxic or needed UV light in order to
make them work.

“The challenge was the preparation of a solution that was activated by indoor light rather than UV light and we have now done that,” Pillai said.
The new water-based solution can be sprayed onto any glass, ceramic or metallic surface during the production process, rendering the surface 99.9% resistant to superbugs like MRSA, E coli and other fungi.
The solution is sprayed on the product — such as a smartphone glass surface — and then ‘baked’ into it, forming a surface that is transparent, permanent and scratch-resistant

Permabear wrote: »

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Permabear wrote: »

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