Reading and writing PE-files with PERWAPI

PERWAPI is a component for reading and writing .NET PE-files. The name is a compound acronym for Program Executable – Reader/Writer – Application Programming Interface. The code was written by one of us (Diane Corney) with some contributions from some of the early users of the tool. PERWAPI is a managed component, written entirely in safe C#. The design of the writer part of the component is loosely based on Diane Corney’s previous PEAPI component. It is open source software, and is released under a “FreeBSD-like” license. The source may be downloaded from “http://perwapi.codeplex.com”. As of the date of this document the code has facilities for reading and writing PEfiles compatible with the V2 or later frameworks.

An old language for a new landscape

Because aesthetics can have a profound effect upon the human relationship to the non-human environment the importance of aesthetics to ecologically sustainable designed landscapes has been acknowledged. However, in recognition that the physical forms of designed landscapes are an expression of the social values of the time, some design professionals have called for a new aesthetic ― one that reflects these current ecological concerns. To address this, some authors have suggested various theoretical design frameworks upon which such an aesthetic could be based. Within these frameworks there is an underlying theme that the patterns and processes of natural systems have the potential to form a new aesthetic for landscape design —an aesthetic based on fractal rather than Euclidean geometry. Perry, Reeves and Sim (2008) have shown that it is possible to differentiate between different landscape forms by fractal analysis. However, this research also shows that individual scenes from within very different landscape forms can possess the same fractal properties. Early data, revealed by transforming landscape images from the spatial to the frequency domain, using the fast Fourier transform, suggest that fractal patterning can have a significant effect within the landscape. In fact, it may be argued that any landscape design that includes living processes will include some design element whose ultimate form can only be expressed through the mathematics of fractal geometry. This paper will present ongoing research into the potential role of fractal geometry as a basis for a new form language – a language that may articulate an aesthetic for landscape design that echoes our ecological awakening.

From Sydney and Shanghai : Australian and Chinese women writing modernism

In the 1930s and 1940s, Australian women writers published novels, poems, and short stories that pushed the boundaries of their national literary culture. From their position in the Pacific, they entered into a dialogue with a European modernism that they reworked to invigorate their own writing and to make cross-continental connections. My interest in the work of Australian women prose writers of this period stems from an appreciation of the extent of their engagement with interwar modernism (an engagement that is generally under-acknowledged) and the realization that there are commonalities of approach with the ways in which contemporaneous Chinese authors negotiated this transnational cultural traffic. China and Australia, it has been argued, share an imaginative and literal association of many centuries, and this psychic history produces a situation in which ‘Australians feel drawn towards China: they cannot leave it alone.’1 Equally, Chinese exploration of the great southern land began in the fifteenth century, prior to European contact. In recent times, the intensity of Australia’s cultural and commercial connections with Asia has led to a repositioning of the Australian sense of regionalism in general and, in particular, has activated yet another stage in the history of its relationship with China. In this context, the association of Australian and Chinese writing is instructive because the commonalities of approach and areas of interest between certain authors indicate that Australian writers were not alone in either the content or style of their response to European modernism. This recognition, in turn, advances discussions of modernism in Australia and reveals an alternative way of looking at the world from the Pacific Rim through literature. The intent is to examine selective Australian and Chinese authors who are part of this continuous history and whose writing demonstrates common thematic and stylistic features via the vector of modernism. I focus on the 1930s and 1940s because these are the decades in which Australia and China experienced wideranging conflict in the Pacific, and it is significant that war, both forthcoming and actual, features as an ominous soundtrack in the writing of Chinese and Australian women. I argue that, given the immensity of cultural difference between Australia and China, there is an especially interesting juncture in the ways in which the authors interrogate modernist practices and the challenge of modernism. The process in which writing from the Pacific Rim jointly negotiates the twin desires of engaging with European literary form and representing one’s own culture may be seen as what Jessica Berman identifies as a geomodernism, one of the ‘new possible geographies’ of modernism.2 My discussion centres on the work of the Australian women, to which the Chinese material serves as a point of reference, albeit a critical one. The Chinese writing examined here is restricted to authors who wrote at least some material in English and whose work is available in translation.

Scaffolding an EFL (English as a foreign language) ‘effective writing’ class in a hybrid learning community

This study sought to establish and develop innovative instructional procedures, in which scaffolding can be expanded and applied, in order to enhance learning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing skills in an effective hybrid learning community (a combination of face-to-face and online modes of learning) at the university where the researcher is working. Many educational experts still believe that technology has not been harnessed to its potential to meet the new online characteristics and trends. There is also an urgency to reconsider the pedagogical perspectives involved in the utilisation of online learning systems in general and the social interactions within online courses in particular that have been neglected to date. An action research design, conducted in two cycles within a duration of four months, was utilised throughout this study. It was intended not only to achieve a paradigm shift from transmission-absorption to socio-constructivist teaching/learning methodologies but also to inform practice in these technology-rich environments. Five major findings emerged from the study. First, the scaffolding theory has been extended. Two new scaffolding types (i.e., quasi-transcendental scaffolding and transcendental scafolding), two scaffolding aspects (i.e., receptive and productive) and some scaffolding actions (e.g., providing a stimulus, awareness, reminder, or remedy) for EFL writing skills in an effective hybrid learning community have been identified and elaborated on. Second, the EFL ‘Effective Writing’ students used the scaffolds implemented in a hybrid environment to enhance and enrich their learning of writing of English essays. The online activities, conducted after the F2F sessions most of the time, gave students greater opportunities to both reinforce and expand the knowledge they had acquired in the F2F mode. Third, a variety of teaching techniques, different online tasks and discussion topics utilised in the two modes bolstered the students’ interests and engagement in their knowledge construction of how to compose English-language essays. Fourth, through the scaffolded activities, the students learned how to scaffold themselves and thus became independent learners in their future endeavours of constructing knowledge. Fifth, the scaffolding-to-scaffold activities provided the students with knowledge on how to effectively engage in transcendental scaffolding actions and facilitate the learning of English writing skills by less able peers within the learning community. Thus, the findings of this current study extended earlier understandings of scaffolding in an EFL hybrid learning environment and will contribute to the advancement of future ICT-mediated courses in terms of their scaffolding pedagogical aspects.

Whatever it takes : an exploration of writing tools and strategies for completing a novel

This thesis consists of a novel written with the express purpose of exploring what practices and strategies are most useful in writing novel-length fiction as well as an exegesis which discusses the process. By its very nature, an undergraduate degree in Creative Writing is broad and general in approach. The Creative Writing undergraduate is being trained to manage many and varying writing tasks but none of them larger than can be readily marked and assessed in class quantities. This does not prepare the writing graduate for the gargantuan task of managing a project as large as a single title novel which can be up to 100,000 words and often is more. This study explores the question of what writing tools and practices best equip an emerging writer to begin, write and manage a long narrative within a deadline.

Water sensitive urban design : landscape planning and design to improve water quality in Shijiazhaung and Yueyang

Water quality issues are heavily dependent on land development and management decisions within river and lake catchments or watersheds. Economic benefits of urbanisation may be short‐ lived without cleaner environmental outcomes. However, whole‐of‐catchment thinking is not, as yet, as frequent a consideration in urban planning and development in China as it is in many other countries. Water is predominantly seen as a resource to be ‘owned’ by different jurisdictions and allocated to numerous users, both within a catchment and between catchments. An alternative to this approach is to think of water in the same way as other commodities that must be kept moving through a complex transport system. Water must ultimately arrive at particular destinations in the biosphere, although it travels across a broad landscape and may be held up temporarily at certain places along the way. While water extraction can be heavily controlled, water pollution is far more difficult to regulate. Both have significant impacts on water availability and flows both now and in the future. As Chinese cities strive to improve economic conditions for their citizens, new centres are being rebuilt and environmental valued

Rhetoric of landscape architecture and interior design discourses : preparation for cross-disciplinary practice

The rhetoric of the pedagogic discourses of landscape architectural students and interior design students is described as part of a doctoral study undertaken to document practices and orientations prior to cross-disciplinary collaboration. We draw on the theoretical framework of Basil Bernstein, an educational sociologist, and the rhetorical method of Kenneth Burke, a literary dramatist, to study the grammars of ‘landscape’ representation employed within these disciplinary examples. We investigate how prepared final year students are for working in a cross-disciplinary manner. The discursive interactions of their work, as illustrated by four examples of drawn images and written text, are described. Our findings suggest that we need to concern ourselves aspects of our pedagogic discourse that brings uniqueness and value to our disciplines ,as well as that shared discourses between disciplines.

Sustainable futures : the new design landscape

Design talks LOUDLY!!! Is a series of interactive presentations exploring issues and opportunities involving professional design. These seminars are organised by the Industrial Design Network Queensland (IDnetQLD) in coordination with the Design Institute of Australia (DIA). This event was held at the State Library of Queensland (SLQ) with invited public presentations by a panel of industry experts from Brisbane City Council, Sims Recycling Solutions and BEST Futures. The second seminar "Sustainable Futures: The New Design Landscape" highlighted to design professionals the positive effect the design industry can achieve in moving towards a sustainable future. A series of presentations from specialist speakers outlined the new generation of design and how design can surf the sustainable shift. A product’s journey from concept to creation and a life beyond was presented and discussed as a basis of designing for sustainability. The intent of the seminar was to inject a brand new sense of purpose into the design world through inspiring designers to find solutions which move forward into this new sustainable landscape.

Water sensitive urban design in landscape projects in Shijiazhuang and Yueyang in China [水敏性城市设计 (WSUD) 策略及景观项目中的应用 (中国石家莊和中國岳陽)]

With the rapid urbanization progress, water resources protection and water pollution control have become key problems of human environment construction and social sustainable development. Many countries, especially Australia, have mature experiences. Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) is one of the successful strategies that is put forward under this global situation and helps releasing heavy environmental pressure from urbanization. The paper discussed main principles of WSUD and then took Shijiazhuang, Heibei and Yueng, Hunan for examples trying to apply WSUD in river landscape projects in China's new urban area, thus doing contributions to more sustainable water management in new urban areas in China.

Spaces of hybridity : creating a sense of belonging through spatial awareness

When the colonisers first came to Australia there was an urgent desire to map, name and settle. This desire, in part, stemmed from a fear of the unknown. Once these tasks were completed it was thought that a sense of identity and belonging would automatically come. In Anglo-Australian geography the map of Australia was always perceived in relationship to the larger map of Europe and Britain. The quicker Australia could be mapped the quicker its connection with the ‘civilised’ world could be established. Official maps could be taken up in official history books and a detailed monumental history could begin. Australians would feel secure in where they were placed in the world. However, this was not the case and anxieties about identity and belonging remained. One of the biggest hurdles was the fear of the open spaces and not knowing how to move across the land. Attempts to transpose colonisers’ use of space onto the Australian landscape did not work and led to confusion. Using authors who are often perceived as writers of national fictions (Henry Lawson, Barbara Baynton, Patrick White, David Malouf and Peter Carey) I will reveal how writing about space becomes a way to create a sense of belonging. It is through spatial knowledge and its application that we begin to gain a sense of closeness and identity. I will also look at how one of the greatest fears for the colonisers was the Aboriginal spatial command of the country. Aborigines already had a strongly developed awareness of spatial belonging and their stories reveal this authority (seen in the work of Lorna Little, Mick McLean) Colonisers attempted to discredit this knowledge but the stories and the land continue to recognise its legitimacy. From its beginning Australian spaces have been spaces of hybridity and the more the colonisers attempted to force predetermined structures onto these spaces the more hybrid they became.

Working on the art of writing

In this short Case story Bronwyn Fredericks shares some of her tips on writing and about the craft of writing. This Case story is contained within the publication titled 'Researching Indigenous Health: A Practical Guide for Researchers', by Alison Laycock, Diane Walker, Nea Harrison and Jenny Brands and published by The Lowitja Institute(pp.266-267).

Merging fact with fiction : a study of year 9 students' developing scientific literacy through the writing of hybridised scientific narratives on a socioscientific issue

International assessments of student science achievement, and growing evidence of students' waning interest in school science, have ensured that the development of scientific literacy continues to remain an important educational priority. Furthermore, researchers have called for teaching and learning strategies to engage students in the learning of science, particularly in the middle years of schooling. This study extends previous national and international research that has established a link between writing and learning science. Specifically, it investigates the learning experiences of eight intact Year 9 science classes as they engage in the writing of short stories that merge scientific and narrative genres (i.e., hybridised scientific narratives) about the socioscientific issue of biosecurity. This study employed a triangulation mixed methods research design, generating both quantitative and qualitative data, in order to investigate three research questions that examined the extent to which the students' participation in the study enhanced their scientific literacy; the extent to which the students demonstrated conceptual understanding of related scientific concepts through their written artefacts and in interviews about the artefacts; and the extent to which the students' participation in the project influenced their attitudes toward science and science learning. Three aspects of scientific literacy were investigated in this study: conceptual science understandings (a derived sense of scientific literacy), the students' transformation of scientific information in written stories about biosecurity (simple and expanded fundamental senses of scientific literacy), and attitudes toward science and science learning. The stories written by students in a selected case study class (N=26) were analysed quantitatively using a series of specifically-designed matrices that produce numerical scores that reflect students' developing fundamental and derived senses of scientific literacy. All students (N=152) also completed a Likert-style instrument (i.e., BioQuiz), pretest and posttest, that examined their interest in learning science, science self-efficacy, their perceived personal and general value of science, their familiarity with biosecurity issues, and their attitudes toward biosecurity. Socioscientific issues (SSI) education served as a theoretical framework for this study. It sought to investigate an alternative discourse with which students can engage in the context of SSI education, and the role of positive attitudes in engaging students in the negotiation of socioscientific issues. Results of the study have revealed that writing BioStories enhanced selected aspects of the participants' attitudes toward science and science learning, and their awareness and conceptual understanding of issues relating to biosecurity. Furthermore, the students' written artefacts alone did not provide an accurate representation of the level of their conceptual science understandings. An examination of these artefacts in combination with interviews about the students' written work provided a more comprehensive assessment of their developing scientific literacy. These findings support extensive calls for the utilisation of diversified writing-to-learn strategies in the science classroom, and therefore make a significant contribution to the writing-to-learn science literature, particularly in relation to the use of hybridised scientific genres. At the same time, this study presents the argument that the writing of hybridised scientific narratives such as BioStories can be used to complement the types of written discourse with which students engage in the negotiation of socioscientific issues, namely, argumentation, as the development of positive attitudes toward science and science learning can encourage students' participation in the discourse of science. The implications of this study for curricular design and implementation, and for further research, are also discussed.

Australian landscape lineages

Stephen Krog has pointed out that landscape architecture has an ill-studied Modernist history, and further suggested that landscape architecture is too theoretically bereft to have a considered theoretical Post-Modernism anyway. The projects that make up the Sunburnt exhibition all emerge from practitioners who were educated during the Post-Modern period in Australia, roughly the 10 years between 1985 and 1995 - a period corresponding to the Australian Bicentennial celebrations in 1988. This essay will quickly trace lineages of education, office experience and ideas through the projects and practices during that period. In common with theories of Post-Modernism in architecture propounded at the time, many of the projects exhibit an interest in pluralistic views of places, cultures and issues, including engaging contextual relationships with places, and involving urban form. These designers were interested in form at a time when it was regarded as incidental rather than important.

Theorizing about board governance of nonprofit organizations : surveying the landscape

Leading scholars on nonprofit governance have urged that future research be more informed by theory in order to promote more rigorous analysis. The aim of this paper is to survey the major theories on board governance, including those based in the disciplines of economics, management, sociology, psychology, politics, history and theology, in order to respond to this challenge. In addition, the relevance of these theories to a critical set of board behaviors - that is, how boards monitor, judge and influence organizational performance - is examined. Gaps in the theoretical literature are identified, and implications for public policy are explored. We conclude that a multi-theory and multi-disciplinary perspective is needed if research on governance of nonprofit organizations is to be complete in scope, rich in content, and relevant.