An ICT Implementation Strategy for Primary Schools in Fiji

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been embraced with hope and optimism in both developing and developed countries. While in the developed countries most citizens have access to one or many of the devices which utilize this technology (e.g. desktop, laptop, tablet, mobile phone), in developing countries this “luxury” can only be afforded by a privileged few. The use of these technologies in primary schools in developing countries is low. This is due to the fact that there are other bigger issues that some of these countries have to grapple with such as meeting the basic health and education needs of its citizens. Quality primary education and global development partnerships are two of the eight Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations (UNDP, 2012). Many Governments, NGO’s, service organizations, and individuals in developing countries are always looking at ways in which the disparity (not just in terms of ICT) can be narrowed. There has to be a greater collaboration between stakeholders in developing and developed countries (Mutonyi & Norton, 2007). How do stakeholders from developed countries engage with partners in developing countries to deliver meaningful and relevant outcomes for primary school students using ICT? As a first step getting the key stakeholders on side is critical. In the Fijian context, schools are managed and run by committees who are members of the community. Therefore, getting the committee on side together with the head-teachers and teachers is critical. Conversations about teaching and learning with technology can then follow with greater ease. The sustainability of any innovative approaches is also an essential element of this equation. Through this lens, this chapter investigates how ICT can be implemented in primary schools in Fiji. It proposes a three-layered approach which focuses on: (1) the community, school leadership, and teachers; (2) content, pedagogy, and technology, and (3) sustainability.

Numerical simulation of idealised three-dimensional downburst wind fields

Convective downburst wind storms generate the peak annual gust wind speed for many parts of the non-cyclonic world at return periods of importance for ultimate limit state design. Despite this there is little clear understanding of how to appropriately design for these wind events given their significant dissimilarities to boundary layer winds upon which most design is based. To enhance the understanding of wind fields associated with these storms a three-dimensional numerical model was developed to simulate a multitude of idealised downburst scenarios and to investigate their near-ground wind characteristics. Stationary and translating downdraft wind events in still and sheared environments were simulated with baseline results showing good agreement with previous numerical work and full-scale observational data. Significant differences are shown in the normalised peak wind speed velocity profiles depending on the environmental wind conditions in the vicinity of the simulated event. When integrated over the height of mid- to high rise structures, all simulated profiles are shown to produce wind loads smaller than an equivalent 10 m height matched open terrain boundary layer profile. This suggests that for these structures the current design approach is conservative from an ultimate loading standpoint. Investigating the influence of topography on the structure of the simulated near-ground downburst wind fields, it is shown that these features amplify wind speeds in a manner similar to that expected for boundary layer winds, but the extent of amplification is reduced. The level of reduction is shown to be dependent on the depth of the simulated downburst outflow.

Joint identification of infinite-frequency added mass and fluid-memory models of marine structures

This paper addresses the problem of joint identification of infinite-frequency added mass and fluid memory models of marine structures from finite frequency data. This problem is relevant for cases where the code used to compute the hydrodynamic coefficients of the marine structure does not give the infinite-frequency added mass. This case is typical of codes based on 2D-potential theory since most 3D-potential-theory codes solve the boundary value associated with the infinite frequency. The method proposed in this paper presents a simpler alternative approach to other methods previously presented in the literature. The advantage of the proposed method is that the same identification procedure can be used to identify the fluid-memory models with or without having access to the infinite-frequency added mass coefficient. Therefore, it provides an extension that puts the two identification problems into the same framework. The method also exploits the constraints related to relative degree and low-frequency asymptotic values of the hydrodynamic coefficients derived from the physics of the problem, which are used as prior information to refine the obtained models.

Open access to infinite content (or "in praise of law reviews")

This Article is about legal scholarly publication in a time of plenitude. It is an attempt to explain why the most pressing questions in legal scholarly publishing are about how we ensure access to an infinity of content. It explains why standard assumptions about resource scarcity in publication are wrong in general, and how the changes in the modality of publication affect legal scholarship. It talks about the economics of open access to legal material, and how this connects to a future where there is infinite content. And because student-edited law reviews fit this future better than their commercially-produced, peer-refereed cousins, this Article is, in part, a defense of the crazy-beautiful institution that is the American law review.

Dilemmatic spaces : high-stakes testing and the possibilities of collaborative knowledge work to generate learning innovations

This paper examines collaborative researcher-practitioner knowledge work around assessment data in culturally diverse, low- socioeconomic school communities in Queensland, Australia. Specifically, the paper draws on interview accounts about the work of a bridging knowledge flows between a local university and a cluster of schools. We draw on Bernstein’s (2000) concept of recontextualisation to explore the processes of knowledge mediation in dialogues around student assessment data to design instructional innovations. We argue that critical policy studies need to explore the complex ways in which neoliberal education policies are enacted in local sites. Moreover, we suggest that an analysis of collaborative knowledge work designed to improve student learning outcomes in low-socioeconomic school communities necessitates attention to the principles regulating knowledge flows across boundaries. In addition, it necessitates attention to the ways in which mediators navigate dilemmatic spaces, anxieties and affects/feelings in order to generate innovative learning designs in the current global context of high-stakes national testing and accountability regimes.

A multi-hierarchical motorway ramp signalling strategy

Ramp signalling is an access control for motorways, in which a traffic signal is placed at on-ramps to regulate the rate of vehicles entering the motorway and thus to preserve the motorway capacity. In general, ramp signalling algorithms fall into two categories: local control and coordinated control by their effective scope. Coordinated ramp signalling strategies make use of measurements from the entire motorway network to operate individual ramp signals for the optimal performances at the network level. This study proposes a multi-hierarchical strategy for coordinated ramp signalling. The strategy is structured in two layers. At the higher layer with a longer update interval, coordination group is assembled and disassembled based on the location of high-risk breakdown flow. At the lower layer with a shorter update interval, individual ramps are hired to serve the coordination and are also released based on the prevailing congestion level on the ramp. This strategy is modelled and applied to the northbound Pacific Motorway micro-simulation platform (AIMSUN). The simulation results show an effective congestion mitigation of the proposed strategy.

Three-dimensional hydrogen-bonded structures in the hydrated proton-transfer salts of isonipecotamide with the dicarboxylic oxalic and adipic acid analogues

The structures of the 1:1 hydrated proton-transfer compounds of isonipecotamide (piperidine-4-carboxamide) with oxalic acid, 4-carbamoylpiperidinium hydrogen oxalate dihydrate, C6H13N2O+·C2HO4-·2H2O, (I), and with adipic acid, bis­(4-car­bam­oylpiperidinium) adipate dihydrate, 2C6H13N2O+·C6H8O42-·2H2O, (II), are three-dimensional hydrogen-bonded constructs involving several different types of enlarged water-bridged cyclic associations. In the structure of (I), the oxalate monoanions give head-to-tail carb­oxy­lic acid O-HOcarboxyl hydrogen-bonding inter­actions, forming C(5) chain substructures which extend along a. The isonipecotamide cations also give parallel chain substructures through amide N-HO hydrogen bonds, the chains being linked across b and down c by alternating water bridges involving both carboxyl and amide O-atom acceptors and amide and piperidinium N-HOcarboxyl hydrogen bonds, generating cyclic R43(10) and R32(11) motifs. In the structure of (II), the asymmetric unit comprises a piperidinium cation, half an adipate dianion, which lies across a crystallographic inversion centre, and a solvent water mol­ecule. In the crystal structure, the two inversion-related cations are inter­linked through the two water mol­ecules, which act as acceptors in dual amide N-HOwater hydrogen bonds, to give a cyclic R42(8) association which is conjoined with an R44(12) motif. Further N-HOwater, water O-HOamide and piperidinium N-HOcarbox­yl hydrogen bonds give the overall three-dimensional structure. The structures reported here further demonstrate the utility of the isonipecotamide cation as a synthon for the generation of stable hydrogen-bonded structures. The presence of solvent water mol­ecules in these structures is largely responsible for the non-occurrence of the common hydrogen-bonded amide-amide dimer, promoting instead various expanded cyclic hydrogen-bonding motifs.

Three-dimensional dose verification for clinical treatments of small intracranial tumours

Cancers of the brain and central nervous system account for 1.6% of new cancers and 1.8% of cancer deaths globally. The highest rates of all developed nations are observed in Australia and New Zealand. There are known complexities associated with dose measurement of very small radiation fields. Here, 3D dosimetric verification of treatments for small intracranial tumours using gel dosimetry was investigated.

Hydrogen-bonded two- and three-dimensional polymeric structures in the ammonium salts of 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid, 4-nitrobenzoic acid and 2,4-dichlorobenzoic acid

The structures of the ammonium salts of 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid, NH4+ C7H3N2O6- (I), 4-nitrobenzoic acid, NH4+ C7H4N2O4- . 2H2O (II) and 2,4-dichlorobenzoic acid, NH4+ C7H3Cl2O2- . 0.5H2O (III), have been determined and their hydrogen-bonded structures are described. All salts form hydrogen-bonded polymeric structures, three-dimensional in (I) and two-dimensional in (II) and (III). With (I), a primary cation-anion cyclic association is formed [graph set R3/4(10)] through N-H...O hydrogen bonds, involving a carboxyl O,O' group on one side and a single carboxyl O-atom on the other. Structure extension involves both N-H...O hydrogen bonds to both carboxyl and nitro O-atom acceptors. With structure (II), the primary inter-species interactions and structure extension into layers lying parallel to (0 0 1) are through conjoined cyclic hydrogen-bonding motifs: R3/4(10) [one cation, a carboxyl (O,O') group and two water molecules] and centrosymmetric R2/4(8) [two cations and two water molecules]. The structure of (III) also has conjoined R3/4(10) and centrosymmetric R2/4(8) motifs in the layered structure but these differ in that he first involves one cation, a carboxyl (O,O') as well as a carboxyl (O) group and one water molecule, the second, two cations and two carboxyl O-groups. The layers lie parallel to (1 0 0). The structures of the salt hydrates (II) and (III) reported in this work, giving two-dimensional layered arrays through conjoined hydrogen-bonded nets provide further illustrations of a previously indicated trend among ammonium salts of carboxylic acids, but the anhydrous three-dimensional structure of (I) is inconsistent.

Using Participatory Design (PD) as youth engagement strategy to inform design and development of evidence-based wellbeing e-tools

The paper presents a participatory design research framework as a primary method for structuring youth engagement, participation and contribution to the design, development and usability evaluation of three evidencebased e-tools for wellbeing, which include smart phone mobile apps as well as e-health websites. The three projects are part of a series of six e-tools part of Safe and Supportive program under Young and Well CRC. The participatory design method, developed by Zelenko (2012) for application in design of online health promoting technologies, was further piloted in partnership with Inspire USA for specific application within the CRC, deploying a combination of creative design workshops and speculative design activities in developing e-tool prototypes with young people. This paper presents the resulting participatory research framework as it was implemented across the e-tool projects to facilitate active youth participation in co-designing the e-tools and ensuring the final designs are relevant to young people and deliver health messages in engaging ways. The principles of Participatory Design (PD) that inform the new framework include a high degree of participant agency in creative decisionmaking and a commitment to the process of co-designing, with young people working alongside designers and developers. The paper will showcase how the PD framework was applied across three projects to increase young people’s contribution to final design outcome.

A new distributed control strategy to coordinate multiple dstatcoms in LV network

Voltage rise is the main issue which limits the capacity of Low Voltage (LV) network to accommodate more Renewable Energy (RE) sources. In addition, voltage drop at peak load period is a significant power quality concern. This paper proposes a new robust voltage support strategy based on distributed coordination of multiple distribution static synchronous compensators (DSTATCOMs). The study focuses on LV networks with PV as the RE source for customers. The proposed approach applied to a typical LV network and its advantages are shown comparing with other voltage control strategies.

Investigating subspace distances in semantic spaces

Semantic space models of word meaning derived from co-occurrence statistics within a corpus of documents, such as the Hyperspace Analogous to Language (HAL) model, have been proposed in the past. While word similarity can be computed using these models, it is not clear how semantic spaces derived from different sets of documents can be compared. In this paper, we focus on this problem, and we revisit the proposal of using semantic subspace distance measurements [1]. In particular, we outline the research questions that still need to be addressed to investigate and validate these distance measures. Then, we describe our plans for future research.

Semantic spaces : measuring the distance between different subspaces

Semantic Space models, which provide a numerical representation of words’ meaning extracted from corpus of documents, have been formalized in terms of Hermitian operators over real valued Hilbert spaces by Bruza et al. [1]. The collapse of a word into a particular meaning has been investigated applying the notion of quantum collapse of superpositional states [2]. While the semantic association between words in a Semantic Space can be computed by means of the Minkowski distance [3] or the cosine of the angle between the vector representation of each pair of words, a new procedure is needed in order to establish relations between two or more Semantic Spaces. We address the question: how can the distance between different Semantic Spaces be computed? By representing each Semantic Space as a subspace of a more general Hilbert space, the relationship between Semantic Spaces can be computed by means of the subspace distance. Such distance needs to take into account the difference in the dimensions between subspaces. The availability of a distance for comparing different Semantic Subspaces would enable to achieve a deeper understanding about the geometry of Semantic Spaces which would possibly translate into better effectiveness in Information Retrieval tasks.

Urban knowledge and innovation spaces : concepts, conditions, and contexts

Innovation is one of the key determinants of growth in the globalised knowledge economy, and ‘urban knowledge and innovation spaces’ form the spatial foci for sustained innovation. This paper aims to explore concepts, conditions and contexts that substantiate the development of these spaces of innovation. The paper seeks to identify the foundational elements of knowledge- based urban development to outline the concept of urban knowledge and innovation spaces, and justify its meaning, unique characteristics and growing influence in the contemporary cities. It rationalises the relevance of the three underlying conditions—namely policy, place, and people— to better understand their contribution in the development of such spaces. This paper sheds light over the varied contexts shaping each urban knowledge and innovation space uniquely. The paper reveals the interplay between design and policies that is required for the creation of spaces of innovation that are economically strong, socially connected, spatially stimulating, and environmentally sustainable.