Emerging water treatment technologies for decentralised systems : an overview of selected systems suited for application in towns and settlements in remote and very remote regions of Australia and vulnerable and lagging rural regions in Sri Lanka

The primary purpose of this paper is to overview a selection of advanced water treatment technology systems that are suited for application in towns and settlements in remote and very remote regions of Australia and vulnerable and lagging rural regions in Sri Lanka. This recognises that sanitation and water treatment are inextricably linked and both are needed to reduce risks to environment and population health from contaminated water sources. For both Australia and Sri Lanka only a small fraction of the settlements in rural and remote regions are connected to water treatment facilities and town water supplies. In Australia’s remote/very remote regions raw water is drawn from underground sources and rainwater capture. Most settlements in rural Sri Lanka rely on rivers, reservoirs, wells, springs or carted water. Furthermore, Sri Lanka has more than 25,000 hand pumped tube wells which saved the communities during recent droughts. Decentralised water supply systems offer the opportunity to provide safe drinking water to these remote/very remote and rural regions where centralised systems are not feasible due to socio-cultural, economic, political, technological reasons. These systems reduce health risks from contaminated water supplies. In remote areas centralized systems fail due to low population density and less affordability. Globally, a new generation of advanced water treatment technologies are positioned to make a major impact on the provision of safe potable water in remote/very remote regions in Australia and rural regions in Sri Lanka. Some of these systems were developed for higher income countries. However, with careful selection and further research they can be tailored to match local socio-economic conditions and technical capacity. As such, they can equally be used to provide decentralised water supply in communities in developed and developing countries such as Australia and Sri Lanka.

Investigation of pedestrian crashes on two-way two-lane rural roads in Ethiopia

Understanding pedestrian crash causes and contributing factors in developing countries is critically important as they account for about 55% of all traffic crashes. Not surprisingly, considerable attention in the literature has been paid to road traffic crash prediction models and methodologies in developing countries of late. Despite this interest, there are significant challenges confronting safety managers in developing countries. For example, in spite of the prominence of pedestrian crashes occurring on two-way two-lane rural roads, it has proven difficult to develop pedestrian crash prediction models due to a lack of both traffic and pedestrian exposure data. This general lack of available data has further hampered identification of pedestrian crash causes and subsequent estimation of pedestrian safety performance functions. The challenges are similar across developing nations, where little is known about the relationship between pedestrian crashes, traffic flow, and road environment variables on rural two-way roads, and where unique predictor variables may be needed to capture the unique crash risk circumstances. This paper describes pedestrian crash safety performance functions for two-way two-lane rural roads in Ethiopia as a function of traffic flow, pedestrian flows, and road geometry characteristics. In particular, random parameter negative binomial model was used to investigate pedestrian crashes. The models and their interpretations make important contributions to road crash analysis and prevention in developing countries. They also assist in the identification of the contributing factors to pedestrian crashes, with the intent to identify potential design and operational improvements.

Secular and religious moral grounds resonating across state schools in Indonesia

This paper describes moral education in Indonesia, more particularly, how teachers have implemented the Character Education policy issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture (MOEC) in 2010. This policy required teachers to instil certain values in every lesson, including EFL lessons, to contribute towards building a shared national moral character. Drawing on Durkheim's distinction between secular and religious morality, this paper considers how state schools accommodated and promoted this ‘rational moral education' or secular morality (Durkheim, 1925) in government schools, and how it interacted with religious moral education. This paper uses Bernstein's concepts of pedagogic discourse, instructional and regulative discourses to analyse how teachers have recontextualised this policy in the micro pedagogic settings of their EFL classes. Three types of data were collected for this study: interviews, class observations and teachers' lesson plans. In this way, four EFL teachers working in state schools were interviewed on two occasions and three of their classes were observed. The first interview identified teachers' beliefs and perceptions regarding the Character Education policy. Their classroom and lesson plans were observed to augment this information. Then the final interview asked about the teacher's thinking behind their actions in the observed classes. Since character education was issued within the broader frame of school based curriculum that offered schools and teachers more choices to develop the local curriculum and its intent, the analysis will focus on what moral premises were evident in their school and classes, and how such morality was transmitted through the EFL lessons. The conclusion suggests that teachers' implementation of moral education in their classes was dominated by their school communities and the teachers' own preferred value of religiosity. Such value played out in the classes through both the regulative discourse and the instructional discourse.

Online counselling in secondary schools: Would students seek help by this medium?

Students in secondary schools experience problems that can impact on their well-being and educational outcomes. Although face-to-face counselling is available in most Australian secondary schools, many students, particularly boys, do not seek appropriate help. Research suggests that online counselling can be effective and increase engagement. This study of 215 secondary school students sought to assess students' intention to use online counselling if it was made available in schools. The results found no gender difference in the likely intentions to seek online help though year level was significant and students experiencing psychological distress had a preference for online counselling. If students did use online counselling it was more likely they would discuss sensitive topics rather than for career issues. Implications for school counselling are discussed.

The way schools cope with learning difficulties is doing more harm than good

We fail children who experience difficulty in school and with learning almost every day in Australia and in so many ways. These children can fall through a myriad of cracks: cracks that appear in some schools and not others, cracks that exist for different reasons whether they be capacity, belief or resource-related, and cracks that are exacerbated by industrial relations and education policy. Whatever their origin, these cracks need to be addressed.

Characterization of the sulphate mineral coquimbite, a secondary iron sulphate from Javier Ortega mine, Lucanas Province, Peru – Using infrared, Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetry

The mineral coquimbite has been analysed using a range of techniques including SEM with EDX, thermal analytical techniques and Raman and infrared spectroscopy. The mineral originated from the Javier Ortega mine, Lucanas Province, Peru. The chemical formula was determined as ðFe3þ 1:37; Al0:63ÞP2:00ðSO4Þ3 9H2O. Thermal analysis showed a total mass loss of 73.4% on heating to 1000 C. A mass loss of 30.43% at 641.4 C is attributed to the loss of SO3. Observed Raman and infrared bands were assigned to the stretching and bending vibrations of sulphate tetrahedra, aluminium oxide/hydroxide octahedra, water molecules and hydroxyl ions. The Raman spectrum shows well resolved bands at 2994, 3176, 3327, 3422 and 3580 cm 1 attributed to water stretching vibrations. Vibrational spectroscopy combined with thermal analysis provides insight into the structure of coquimbite.

Establishing and maintaining social connectivity: An understanding of the lived experiences of older adults residing in regional and rural communities

- Objective To better understand how to plan for an ageing demographic that resides in ever-changing community typologies. Design: Semi-structured in-depth interviews. - Setting Community settings in rural and regional towns in Queensland. - Participants Twenty-two people aged over 65 years living in regional and rural Australia. - Interventions Qualitative study of social connectedness. - Main outcome measure(s) Thematic qualitative analysis. - Results Formal and informal social contact, through family, friends and social groups, was found to be important to the everyday lives of the participants. - Conclusions Social connections for older adults are important in maintaining independence and community engagement.

Regional versus urban differences in teenage alcohol use: Does parental disapproval account for these differences?

- Objective To investigate if parental disapproval of alcohol use accounts for differences in adolescent alcohol use across regional and urban communities. - Design Secondary data analysis of grade-level stratified data from a random sample of schools. - Setting High schools in Victoria, Australia. - Participants A random sample of 10273 adolescents from Grade 7 (mean age=12.51 years), 9 (14.46 years) and 11 (16.42 years). - Main outcome measures The key independent variables were parental disapproval of adolescent alcohol use and regionality (regional/ urban), and the dependent variable was past 30 days alcohol use. - Results After adjusting for potential confounders, adolescents in regional areas were more likely to use alcohol in the past 30 days (OR=1.83, 1.44 and 1.37 for Grades 7, 9 and 11, respectively, P<0.05), and their parents have a lower level of disapproval of their alcohol use (b=-0.12, -0.15 and -0.19 for Grades 7, 9 and 11, respectively, P<0.001). Bootstrapping analyses suggested that 8.37%, 23.30% and 39.22% of the effect of regionality on adolescent alcohol use was mediated by parental disapproval of alcohol use for Grades 7, 9 and 11 participants respectively (P<0.05). - Conclusions Adolescents in urban areas had a lower risk of alcohol use compared with their regional counterparts, and differences in parental disapproval of alcohol use contributed to this difference.

Implementation of workplace learning in the accountancy schools of Australian universities

This exploratory study seeks to further our understanding of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) programs in the Accountancy schools of Australian universities. It emphasises the significance of the role of the university in monitoring and administrating these programs. The study uses a qualitative method with mainly open-ended questions via an online questionnaire. The responses from senior accounting academic decision-makers identified the major forms of WIL used and the most challenging issues. WIL is perceived to be an important program that should be included in degree courses, and strong efforts should be made to overcome the challenges involved in conducting such a program.

Air analysis

There are three distinct categories of air environment to be considered in this chapter. These are as follows: (1) The “ambient” or general outdoors atmosphere to which the members of the population are exposed when they venture out of their homes or offices in industrial, urban or rural environments. (2) Indoor air environments, which occur in buildings such as homes, schools, restaurants, public hospitals and office buildings. This category does not cover factories or workplaces which are otherwise subjected to the provisions of various occupational health standards. (3) Workplace atmospheres, which occur in a variety of industries or factories and for which there are numerous atmospheric concentration limits (or exposure standards) promulgated by appropriate bodies or organisations. Since 2009 setting concentration limits for atmospheric contaminants has been administered by Safe Work Australia. A fourth category of air environment which falls outside this chapter is that which is related to upper atmospheric research, global atmospheric effects and concomitant areas of inquiry and/or debate. Such areas include “greenhouse” gas emissions, ozone depletion, and related matters of atmospheric chemistry and physics. This category is not referred to again in this chapter.

Assessment of volatile organic compounds in urban schools

There is an increased concern about airborne particles not only because of their environmental effects, but also due to their potential adverse health effects on humans, especially children. Despite the growing evidence of airborne particles having an impact on children’s health, there have been limited studies investigating the long term health effects as well as the chemical composition of ambient air which further helps in determining their toxicity. Therefore, a systematic study on the chemical composition of air in school environment has been carried out in Brisbane, which is known as “Ultrafine Particles from Traffic Emissions on Children’s Health” (UPTECH). This study is also a part of the larger project focusing on analysis of the chemical composition of ambient air, as well as source apportionment and the quantification of ambient concentrations of organic pollutants in the vicinity of schools. However, this particular paper presents some of the results on concentration of different Volatile Organic Compounds in both indoor and outdoor location from different schools. The database consisted of 750 samples (500 outdoor and 250 indoor) collected for VOCs at 25 different schools. The sampling and analysis were conducted following the standard methods. A total of 90 individual VOCs were identified from the schools studied. Compounds such as toluene, acetic acid, nonanal, benzaldehyde, 2- ethyl 1- hexanol, limonene were the most common in indoors whereas isopentane, toluene, hexane, heptane were dominant in outdoors. The indoor/ outdoor ratio of average sum of VOCs were found to be more than one in most of the schools indicating that there might be additional indoor sources along with the outdoor air in those schools. However, further expansion of the study in relation to source apportionment, correlating with traffic and meteorological data is in progress.

Volatile organic compounds: Characteristics, distribution and sources in urban schools

Long term exposure to organic pollutants, both inside and outside school buildings may affect children’s health and influence their learning performance. Since children spend significant amount of time in school, air quality, especially in classrooms plays a key role in determining the health risks associated with exposure at schools. Within this context, the present study investigated the ambient concentrations of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in 25 primary schools in Brisbane with the aim to quantify the indoor and outdoor VOCs concentrations, identify VOCs sources and their contribution, and based on these; propose mitigation measures to reduce VOCs exposure in schools. One of the most important findings is the occurrence of indoor sources, indicated by the I/O ratio >1 in 19 schools. Principal Component Analysis with Varimax rotation was used to identify common sources of VOCs and source contribution was calculated using an Absolute Principal Component Scores technique. The result showed that outdoor 47% of VOCs were contributed by petrol vehicle exhaust but the overall cleaning products had the highest contribution of 41% indoors followed by air fresheners and art and craft activities. These findings point to the need for a range of basic precautions during the selection, use and storage of cleaning products and materials to reduce the risk from these sources.

Seasonal variations of outdoor air pollution and factors driving them in the school environment in rural Bhutan

A quantitative understanding of outdoor air quality in school environments is crucial given that air pollution levels inside classrooms are significantly influenced by outdoor pollution sources. To date, only a handful of studies have been conducted on this important topic in developing countries. The aim of this study was to quantify pollutant levels in the outdoor environment of a school in Bhutan and assess the factors driving them. Measurements were conducted for 16 weeks, spanning the wet and dry seasons, in a rural school in Bhutan. PM10, PM2.5, particle number (PN) and CO were measured daily using real-time instruments, while weekly samples for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbonyls and NO2 were collected using a passive sampling method. Overall mean PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations (µg/m3) were 27 and 13 for the wet, and 36 and 29 for the dry season, respectively. Only wet season data were available for PN concentrations, with a mean of 2.56 × 103 particles/cm3. Mean CO concentrations were below the detection limit of the instrumentation for the entire measurement period. Only low levels of eight VOCs were detected in both the wet and dry seasons, which presented different seasonal patterns in terms of the concentration of different compounds. The notable carbonyls were formaldehyde and hexaldehyde, with mean concentrations (µg/m3) of 2.37 and 2.41 for the wet, and 6.22 and 0.34 for the dry season, respectively. Mean NO2 cocentration for the dry season was 1.7 µg/m3, while it was below the detection limit of the instrumentation for the wet season. The pollutant concentrations were associated with a number of factors, such as cleaning and combustion activities in and around the school. A comparison with other school studies showed comparable results with a few of the studies, but in general, we found lower pollutant concentrations in the present study.

Challenges in embedding numeracy throughout the curriculum in three Queensland secondary schools

The new Australian Curriculum and national standardised testing have placed the teaching of numeracy across the curriculum at the forefront of what Australian schools must do. However, it has been left to schools to determine how they do this. Although there is a growing body of literature giving examples of pedagogies that embed numeracy in various learning areas, there are few studies of cross-curricular numeracy from the management perspective. This paper responds to the research question: How do selected Queensland secondary schools interpret and apply the Australian Curriculum requirement to embed numeracy throughout the curriculum? A multiple case study design was used to investigate the actions of the senior managers and mathematics teachers in three large secondary schools located in outer Brisbane. The numeracy practices in the three schools were interpreted from asocial constructivist perspective. The study found that in each school key managers had differing constructions of numeracy that led to confusion in administrative practices, policy development and leadership. The lack of coordinated cross-curricular action in numeracy in all three schools points to the difficulty that arises when teachers do not share the cross-curricular vision of numeracy present in the Australian Curriculum. The managers identified teachers’ commitment, understanding, or skills in relation to numeracy as significant barriers to the successful implementation of numeracy in their school. Adoption of the Australian Curriculum expectation of embedding numeracy across the curriculum will require school managers to explicitly commit to initiatives that require persistence,time and, most importantly, money.

Exploring links between pedagogical knowledge practices and student outcomes in STEM education for primary schools

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is an emerging initiative in Australia, particularly in primary schools. This qualitative research aimed to understand Year 4 students' involvement in an integrated STEM education unit that focused on science concepts (e.g., states of matter, testing properties of materials) and mathematics concepts (e.g., 3D shapes and metric measurements) for designing, making and testing a strong and safe medical kit to insulate medicines (ice cubes) at desirable temperatures. Data collection tools included student work samples, photographs, written responses from students and the teacher, and researcher notes. In a post-hoc analysis, a pedagogical knowledge practice framework (i.e., planning, timetabling, preparation, teaching strategies, content knowledge, problem solving, classroom management, questioning, implementation, assessment, and viewpoints) was used to explain links to student outcomes in STEM education. The study showed how pedagogical knowledge practices may be linked to student outcomes (knowledge, understanding, skill development, and values and attitudes) for a STEM education activity.