Airborne concentration of Volatile Organic Compounds in school environment in Brisbane

Traffic emissions are considered as a major source of pollutants, particularly ultrafine particles, in the urban environment. 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. There have been a number of studies related to the number concentration and size distribution of these particles but studies on the chemical composition of aerosols, especially in the school environment, are very limited. Mejia et. al (2011) reviewed studies on the exposure to and impact of air pollutants on school children and found that there were only a handful of studies on this topic. Therefore, the main focus of this research is on an analysis of the chemical composition of airborne particles, as well as source apportionment and the quantification of ambient concentrations of organic pollutants in the vicinity of schools, as a part of “Ultrafine Particles from Traffic Emissions on Children’s Health” (UPTECH) project. The aim of the present study was to find out the concentrations of different Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in both outdoor and indoor locations from six different schools in Brisbane.

Short answer versus multiple choice examination questions for first year chemistry

Multiple choice (MC) examinations are frequently used for the summative assessment of large classes because of their ease of marking and their perceived objectivity. However, traditional MC formats usually lead to a surface approach to learning, and do not allow students to demonstrate the depth of their knowledge or understanding. For these reasons, we have trialled the incorporation of short answer (SA) questions into the final examination of two first year chemistry units, alongside MC questions. Students’ overall marks were expected to improve, because they were able to obtain partial marks for the SA questions. Although large differences in some individual students’ performance in the two sections of their examinations were observed, most students received a similar percentage mark for their MC as for their SA sections and the overall mean scores were unchanged. In-depth analysis of all responses to a specific question, which was used previously as a MC question and in a subsequent semester in SA format, indicates that the SA format can have weaknesses due to marking inconsistencies that are absent for MC questions. However, inclusion of SA questions improved student scores on the MC section in one examination, indicating that their inclusion may lead to different study habits and deeper learning. We conclude that questions asked in SA format must be carefully chosen in order to optimise the use of marking resources, both financial and human, and questions asked in MC format should be very carefully checked by people trained in writing MC questions. These results, in conjunction with an analysis of the different examination formats used in first year chemistry units, have shaped a recommendation on how to reliably and cost-effectively assess first year chemistry, while encouraging higher order learning outcomes.

Spatial variation of particle number concentration in school microscale environment

There is significant toxicological evidence of the effects of ultrafine particles (<100nm) on human health (WHO 2005). Studies show that the number concentration of particles has been associated with adverse human health effects (Englert 2004). This work is part of a major study called ‘Ultrafine Particles form Traffic Emissions and Children’s Health’ (UPTECH), which seeks to determine the effect of the exposure to traffic related ultrafine particles on children’s health in schools (http://www.ilaqh.qut.edu.au/Misc/UPT ECH%20Home.htm). Quantification of spatial variation of particle number concentration (PNC) in a microscale environment and identification of the main affecting parameters and their contribution levels are the main aims of this analysis.

Promoting student well-being and resilience at law school

University can be a psychologically distressing place for students, particularly those studying law. Legal academics have been concerned about this for some time. In the United States, in particular, it has been found that symptoms of psychological distress rise signifi cantly for students in their fi rst year of law (compared to levels in the general population at that time), and persist throughout the degree to post-graduation. Recognised symptoms include depression, obsessive compulsive behaviour, feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, anxiety, hostility, paranoia, and social alienation. Many students experience law school as an isolating, adversarial and competitive environment, which impacts negatively on their values and motivation...

Evaluating stakeholder satisfaction during public participation in major infrastructure and construction projects : a fuzzy approach

Numerous different and sometimes discrepant interests can be affected, both positively and negatively, throughout the course of a major infrastructure and construction (MIC) project. Failing to address and meet the concerns and expectations of the stakeholders involved has resulted in many project failures. One way to address this issue is through a participatory approach to project decision making. Whether the participation mechanism is effective or not depends largely on the client/owner. This paper provides a means of systematically evaluating the effectiveness of the public participation exercise, or even the whole project, through the measurement of stakeholder satisfaction. Since the process of satisfaction measurement is complicated and uncertain, requiring approximate reasoning involving human intuition, a fuzzy approach is adopted. From this, a multi-factor hierarchical fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model is established to facilitate the evaluation of satisfaction in both single stakeholder group and overall MIC project stakeholders.

Visualisation of complex flows using texture-based techniques

Complex flow datasets are often difficult to represent in detail using traditional vector visualisation techniques such as arrow plots and streamlines. This is particularly true when the flow regime changes in time. Texture-based techniques, which are based on the advection of dense textures, are novel techniques for visualising such flows (i.e., complex dynamics and time-dependent). In this paper, we review two popular texture-based techniques and their application to flow datasets sourced from real research projects. The texture-based techniques investigated were Line Integral Convolution (LIC), and Image-Based Flow Visualisation (IBFV). We evaluated these techniques and in this paper report on their visualisation effectiveness (when compared with traditional techniques), their ease of implementation, and their computational overhead.

Experiences with implementing common mathematical operations using field programmable gate arrays

Many computationally intensive scientific applications involve repetitive floating point operations other than addition and multiplication which may present a significant performance bottleneck due to the relatively large latency or low throughput involved in executing such arithmetic primitives on commod- ity processors. A promising alternative is to execute such primitives on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) hardware acting as an application-specific custom co-processor in a high performance reconfig- urable computing platform. The use of FPGAs can provide advantages such as fine-grain parallelism but issues relating to code development in a hardware description language and efficient data transfer to and from the FPGA chip can present significant application development challenges. In this paper, we discuss our practical experiences in developing a selection of floating point hardware designs to be implemented using FPGAs. Our designs include some basic mathemati cal library functions which can be implemented for user defined precisions suitable for novel applications requiring non-standard floating point represen- tation. We discuss the details of our designs along with results from performance and accuracy analysis tests.

Comparison and modification of car following models toward a more accurate microscopic simulation parameters reproduction

Traffic safety studies demand more than what current micro-simulation models can provide as they presume that all drivers of motor vehicles exhibit safe behaviours. Several car-following models are used in various micro-simulation models. This research compares the mainstream car following models’ capabilities of emulating precise driver behaviour parameters such as headways and Time to Collisions. The comparison firstly illustrates which model is more robust in the metric reproduction. Secondly, the study conducted a series of sensitivity tests to further explore the behaviour of each model. Based on the outcome of these two steps exploration of the models, a modified structure and parameters adjustment for each car-following model is proposed to simulate more realistic vehicle movements, particularly headways and Time to Collision, below a certain critical threshold. NGSIM vehicle trajectory data is used to evaluate the modified models performance to assess critical safety events within traffic flow. The simulation tests outcomes indicate that the proposed modified models produce better frequency of critical Time to Collision than the generic models, while the improvement on the headway is not significant. The outcome of this paper facilitates traffic safety assessment using microscopic simulation.

2005 pedagogical orientation program in the School of Architecture and Built Environment : a case study

The University of Newcastle (UoN) offers various access and support programs for a range of students through the English Language and Foundation Studies Centre and a University orientation for students. At UoN, students are required to engage in a learning experience, meet program outcomes and demonstrate the core attributes of the University at each graduation point. For a University with a strong focus on access is there a missing facet to the access programs where students are required to study within a teaching delivery style which may be vastly different to their previous educational experience? This paper will describe a pedagogical orientation program currently delivered at UoN School of Architecture and Built Environment in 2005 to assist in the transition of students from different cultural and pedagogical backgrounds into “Problem Based Learning” as delivered by this School. Furthermore the paper will analyse how this program has enabled students from diverse backgrounds to understand and successfully embrace the new learning opportunities.

A framework for mathematics graphical tasks : The influence of the graphic element on student sense making

Graphical tasks have become a prominent aspect of mathematics assessment. From a conceptual stance, the purpose of this study was to better understand the composition of graphical tasks commonly used to assess students’ mathematics understandings. Through an iterative design, the investigation described the sense making of 11–12-year-olds as they decoded mathematics tasks which contained a graphic. An ongoing analysis of two phases of data collection was undertaken as we analysed the extent to which various elements of text, graphics, and symbols influenced student sense making. Specifically, the study outlined the changed behaviour (and performance) of the participants as they solved graphical tasks that had been modified with respect to these elements. We propose a theoretical framework for understanding the composition of a graphical task and identify three specific elements which are dependently and independently related to each other, namely: the graphic; the text; and the symbols. Results indicated that although changes to the graphical tasks were minimal, a change in student success and understanding was most evident when the graphic element was modified. Implications include the need for test designers to carefully consider the graphics embedded within mathematics tasks since the elements within graphical tasks greatly influence student understanding.

Velocity jump processes with proliferation

Cell invasion involves a population of cells that migrate along a substrate and proliferate to a carrying capacity density. These two processes, combined, lead to invasion fronts that move into unoccupied tissues. Traditional modelling approaches based on reaction–diffusion equations cannot incorporate individual–level observations of cell velocity, as information propagates with infinite velocity according to these parabolic models. In contrast, velocity jump processes allow us to explicitly incorporate individual–level observations of cell velocity, thus providing an alternative framework for modelling cell invasion. Here, we introduce proliferation into a standard velocity–jump process and show that the standard model does not support invasion fronts. Instead, we find that crowding effects must be explicitly incorporated into a proliferative velocity–jump process before invasion fronts can be observed. Our observations are supported by numerical and analytical solutions of a novel coupled system of partial differential equations, including travelling wave solutions, and associated random walk simulations.

Imagination in school children's choice of their learning environment: An Australian study

A visual research project addressed school children's concepts of ideal learning environments. Drawings and accompanying narratives were collected from Year 5 and Year 6 children in nine Queensland primary schools. The 133 submissions were analysed and coded to develop themes, identify key features and consider the uses of imagination. The children's imagined schools echo ideas promoted by progressive educators. The results of this study suggest benefits for school designers can emerge from the imaginative contributions of children in creating engaging environments, while educational policy makers can benefit from children's ideas in the promotion of engaging, student-centred pedagogies.

Injury prevention among friends : the benefits of school connectedness

Background: Injury is a leading cause of adolescent death. Risk-taking behaviours, including unsafe road behaviours, violence and alcohol use, are primary contributors. Recent research suggests adolescents look out for their friends and engage in protective behaviour to reduce others’ involvement in risk-taking. A positive school environment, and particularly students’ school connectedness, is also associated with reduced injury-risks. Aim: This study aimed to understand the role of school connectedness in adolescents’ intentions to protect and prevent their friends from involvement in alcohol use, fights, drink driving and unlicensed driving. Method: Surveys were completed by 540 13-14 year old students (49% male). Four sequential logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine whether school connectedness statistically predicted intentions to protect friends from injury-risk behaviours. Gender and ethnicity were entered at step 1, students’ own risk behaviour at step 2, and school connectedness scores at step 3 for all analyses. Results: School connectedness significantly predicted intentions to protect friends from all four injury-risk behaviours, after accounting for the variance attributable to sex, ethnicity and adolescents’ own involvement in injury-risks. Significance: School connectedness is negatively associated with adolescents’ own injury-risk behaviours. This research extends our knowledge of this critical protective factor, as it shows that students who are connected to school are also more likely to protect their friends from alcohol use, violence and unsafe road behaviours. School connectedness may therefore be an important factor to target in school-based prevention programs, both to reduce adolescents’ own injury-risk behaviour and to increase injury prevention among friends.

Development of a school connectedness component of an adolescent injury prevention program : lessons for implementation

The school environment plays an important role in shaping adolescent outcomes, and research increasingly demonstrates the need to target the school social context in health promotion programs. This paper describes the research process undertaken to design a school connectedness component of an injury prevention program for early adolescents, Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth (SPIY). The connectedness component takes the form of a professional development workshop for teachers on increasing students’ connectedness to school, and this paper describes the research process used to construct program material. It also describes the methods used to encourage teachers’ implementation of connectedness strategies following program delivery. A multi-stage process of data collection included, (i) surveys with 540 Grade 9 students to examine links between school connectedness and risk-related injury, (ii) a systematic literature review of previously-evaluated school connectedness programs to determine key strategies that encourage implementation fidelity and program effectiveness, and (iii) interviews with 14 high school teachers to understand current use of connectedness strategies and ideas for program design. Findings from each stage are discussed in terms of how results informed the program design. The survey data provided information from which to frame program content, and the results of the systematic review demonstrated effective program strategies. The teacher interview data also provided program content incorporating target participants’ views and aligning with their priorities, which is important to ensure effective implementation of program strategies. A comprehensive design process provides an understanding of methods for, and may encourage, teachers’ future implementation of program strategies.

Reaching high-risk adolescents : a process evaluation of a school based injury prevention program

High-risk adolescents are a population most vulnerable to harm from injury due to increased engagement in risk taking behaviour. There is a gap in the literature regarding how universal school based injury prevention programs apply to high-risk adolescents. This study involves a component of the process evaluation of a school based injury prevention program, as it relates to high-risk adolescents (13-14 years)...