Indigenous knowledge and effective parent–school partnerships : issues and insights

Towards the last decade of the last millennium, Indigenous knowledge was central to international scholarly debates relating to decolonising knowledge. Indigenous scholars, particularly those from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, advanced many of these debates. They argued for Indigenous knowledge to be used as the epistemological standpoint for intellectual engagements and the methodology for resisting colonial constructions of the colonised other (Rigney 1997; Smith 1999, 2005). However, the challenge of engaging Indigenous knowledge to inform research and educational processes, in many respects, is still a contested debate in Western-oriented universities and institutions of higher education. This chapter discusses findings of the Parent–School Partnership Initiative (hereafter referred to as PSPI) project conducted by the Oodgeroo Unit staff and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Focus Group for the Caboolture Shire, in South East Queensland. The state government sponsored initiative examined factors that promote and enhance parent–school engagement with students’ schooling, and contributed to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ learning and completion of secondary schooling within the participating schools. We argue in this chapter for the importance of recognising Indigenous knowledge and its place in enhancing parent–school partnerships.

Adoption of innovative products on Australian road infrastructure projects

Product innovation is an important contributor to the performance of infrastructure projects in the construction industry. Maximizing the potential for innovative product adoption is a challenging task due to the complexities of the construction innovation system. A qualitative methodology involving interviews with major construction project stakeholders is employed to address the research question: ‘What are the main obstacles to the adoption of innovative products in the road industry?’ The characteristics of six key product innovation obstacles in Australian road projects are described. The six key obstacles are: project goal misalignment, client pressures, weak contractual relations, lack of product trialling, inflexible product specifications and product liability concerns. A snapshot of the dynamics underlying these obstacles is provided. There are few such assessments in the literature, despite the imperative to improve construction innovation rates globally in order to deliver road infrastructure projects of increasing size and complexity. Key obstacles are interpreted through an open innovation construct, providing direction for policy to enhance the uptake of innovation across the construction product supply network. Early evidence suggests the usefulness of an open innovation construct that integrates three conceptual lenses: network governance, absorptive capacity and knowledge intermediation, in order to interpret product adoption obstacles in the context of Australian road infrastructure projects. The paper also provides practical advice and direction for government and industry organizations that wish to promote the flow of innovative product knowledge across the construction supply network.

A view from the edge of the forest : recent progress in understanding the relationships of the insect orders

Research over the last two decades has significantly increased our understanding of the evolutionary position of the insects among other arthropods, and the relationships among the insect Orders. Many of these insights have been established through increasingly sophisticated analyses of DNA sequence data from a limited number of genes. Recent results have established the relationships of the Holometabola, but relationships among the hemimetabolous orders have been more difficult to elucidate. A strong consensus on the relationships among the Palaeoptera (Ephemeroptera and Odonata) and their relationship to the Neoptera has not emerged with all three possible resolutions supported by different data sets. While polyneopteran relationships generally have resisted significant resolution, it is now clear that termites, Isoptera, are nested within the cockroaches, Blattodea. The newly discovered order Mantophasmatodea is difficult to place with the balance of studies favouring Grylloblattodea as sister-group. While some studies have found the paraneopteran orders (Hemiptera, Thysanoptera, Phthiraptera and Psocoptera) monophyletic, evidence suggests that parasitic lice (Phthiraptera) have evolved from groups within the book and bark lice (Psocoptera), and may represent parallel evolutions of parasitism within two major louse groups. Within Holometabola, it is now clear that Hymenoptera are the sister to the other orders, that, in turn are divided into two clades, the Neuropteroidea (Coleoptera, Neuroptera and relatives) and the Mecopterida (Trichoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera and their relatives). The enigmatic order Strepsiptera, the twisted wing insects, have now been placed firmly near Coleoptera, rejecting their close relationship to Diptera that was proposed some 15years ago primarily based on ribosomal DNA data. Phylogenomic-scale analyses are just beginning to be focused on the relationships of the insect orders, and this is where we expect to see resolution of palaeopteran and polyneopteran relationships. Future research will benefit from greater coordination between intra and inter-ordinal analyses. This will maximise the opportunities for appropriate outgroup choice at the intraordinal level and provide the background knowledge for the interordinal analyses to span the maximum phylogenetic scope within groups.

Spatial and temporal clusters of Barmah Forest virus disease in Queensland, Australia

Objective To identify the spatial and temporal clusters of Barmah Forest virus (BFV) disease in Queensland in Australia, using geographical information systems (GIS) and spatial scan statistic (SaTScan). Methods We obtained BFV disease cases, population and statistical local areas boundary data from Queensland Health and Australian Bureau of Statistics respectively during 1992-2008 for Queensland. A retrospective Poisson-based analysis using SaTScan software and method was conducted in order to identify both purely spatial and space-time BFV disease high-rate clusters. A spatial cluster size of a proportion of the population and a 200km circle radius and varying time windows from 1 month to 12 months were chosen (for the space-time analysis). Results The spatial scan statistic detected a most likely significant purely spatial cluster (including 23 SLAs) and a most likely significant space-time cluster (including 24 SLAs) in approximately the same location. Significant secondary clusters were also identified from both the analyses in several locations. Conclusions This study provides evidence of the existence of statistically significant BFV disease clusters in Queensland, Australia. The study also demonstrated the relevance and applicability of SaTScan in analysing on-going surveillance data to identify clusters to facilitate the development of effective BFV disease prevention and control strategies in Queensland, Australia.

Phylogeography of Echinocladius martini Cranston (Diptera: Chironomidae) in closed forest streams of eastern Australia

The eastern Australian rainforests have experienced several cycles of range contraction and expansion since the late Miocene that are closely correlated with global glaciation events. Together with ongoing aridification of the continent, this has resulted in current distributions of native closed forest that are highly fragmented along the east coast. Several closed forest endemic taxa exhibit patterns of population genetic structure that are congruent with historical isolation of populations in discrete refugia and reflect evolutionary histories dramatically affected by vicariance. Currently, limited data are available regarding the impact of these past climatic fluctuations on freshwater invertebrate taxa. The non-biting midge species Echinocladius martini Cranston is distributed along the east coast and inhabits predominantly montane streams in closed forest habitat. Phylogeographic structure in E. martini was resolved here at a continental scale by incorporating data from a previous pilot study and expanding the sampling design to encompass populations in the Wet Tropics of north-eastern Queensland, south-east Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Patterns of phylogeographic structure revealed several deeply divergent mitochondrial lineages from central and south-eastern Australia that were previously unrecognised and were geographically endemic to closed forest refugia. Estimated divergence times were congruent with late Miocene onset of rainforest contractions across the east coast of Australia. This suggested that dispersal and gene flow among E. martini populations isolated in refugia has been highly restricted historically. Moreover, these data imply, in contrast to existing preconceptions about freshwater invertebrates, that this taxon may be acutely susceptible to habitat fragmentation.

Socio-environmental variability and Barmah Forest virus disease transmission : a review of epidemiological evidence and future prospects

Barmah Forest Virus (BFV) disease is the most rapidly emerging mosquito-borne disease in Australia. BFV transmission depends on factors such as climate, virus, vector and the human population. However, the impact of climatic and social factors on BFV remains to be determined. This paper provided an overview of current research and discusses the future research directions on the BFV transmission. These research findings could be regarded as an impetus towards BFV prevention and control strategies.

Spatio-temporal patterns of Barmah Forest virus disease in Queensland, Australia

Background Barmah Forest virus (BFV) disease is a common and wide-spread mosquito-borne disease in Australia. This study investigated the spatio-temporal patterns of BFV disease in Queensland, Australia using geographical information system (GIS) tools and geostatistical analysis. Methods/Principal Findings We calculated the incidence rates and standardised incidence rates of BFV disease. Moran's I statistic was used to assess the spatial autocorrelation of BFV incidences. Spatial dynamics of BFV disease was examined using semi-variogram analysis. Interpolation techniques were applied to visualise and display the spatial distribution of BFV disease in statistical local areas (SLAs) throughout Queensland. Mapping of BFV disease by SLAs reveals the presence of substantial spatio-temporal variation over time. Statistically significant differences in BFV incidence rates were identified among age groups (χ2 = 7587, df = 7327,p<0.01). There was a significant positive spatial autocorrelation of BFV incidence for all four periods, with the Moran's I statistic ranging from 0.1506 to 0.2901 (p<0.01). Semi-variogram analysis and smoothed maps created from interpolation techniques indicate that the pattern of spatial autocorrelation was not homogeneous across the state. Conclusions/Significance This is the first study to examine spatial and temporal variation in the incidence rates of BFV disease across Queensland using GIS and geostatistics. The BFV transmission varied with age and gender, which may be due to exposure rates or behavioural risk factors. There are differences in the spatio-temporal patterns of BFV disease which may be related to local socio-ecological and environmental factors. These research findings may have implications in the BFV disease control and prevention programs in Queensland.

Intermittent drying of food products : a critical review

Drying is very energy intensive process and consumes about 20-25% of the energy used by food processing industry. The energy efficiency of the process and quality of dried product are two key factors in food drying. Global energy crisis and demand for quality dried food further challenge researchers to explore innovative techniques in food drying to address these issues. Intermittent drying is considered one of the promising solutions for improving energy efficiency and product quality without increasing the capital cost of the drier. Intermittent drying has already received much attention. However, a comprehensive review of recent progresses and overall assessment of energy efficiency and product quality in intermittent drying is lacking. The objective of this article is to discuss, analyze and evaluate the recent advances in intermittent drying research with energy efficiency and product quality as standpoint. Current available modelling techniques for intermittent drying are reviewed and their merits and demerits are analyzed. Moreover, intermittent application of ultrasound, infrared (IR) and microwave in combined drying technology have been reviewed and discussed. In this review article the gaps in the current literature are highlighted, some important future scopes for theoretical and experimental studies are identified and the direction of further research is suggested.

Positive emotional experiences with portable interactive products

Positive emotions are central to human life and have implications to the overall quality of people's life (Fredrickson, 1998). This paper reports on positive experiences with two types of portable interactive devices (PIDs), specifically media/entertainment and medical/health devices. The study is based on a six-month longitudinal study exploring people's emotional experience and how PIDs mediate these experiences in everyday contexts. Previous findings by the authors (Gomez, Popovic & Blackler, 2011) presented four categories of activities including Feature, Functional, Mediation and Auxiliary activities and their relationship to emotional experience. The paper presents emotional experiences with specific activities reported with a focus on positive emotions. It concludes with a discussion of the findings on positive experiences and the implications for the future design of PIDs.

Battling in a virtual world: a proposal for increased copyright protection of multimedia products in Australia

This article discusses the adequacy of copyright protection afforded to multimedia products pursuant to the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) and in response to international obligations. The paper critically evaluates the effect that the most recent amendments to the Copyright Act have had on the protection of copyright in multimedia products. An outline of some practical measures of protection available to copyright owners as alternatives or complements to the current statutory regime is provided, ultimately concluding that the current legislative protection is ineffective. The paper closes by considering possible future reform by way of statutory amendments to the Copyright Act aimed at increasing protection of copyright in multimedia products.

One-year delayed effect of fog on malaria transmission : a time-series analysis in the rain forest area of Mengla County, south-west China

Background: Malaria is a major public health burden in the tropics with the potential to significantly increase in response to climate change. Analyses of data from the recent past can elucidate how short-term variations in weather factors affect malaria transmission. This study explored the impact of climate variability on the transmission of malaria in the tropical rain forest area of Mengla County, south-west China. Methods: Ecological time-series analysis was performed on data collected between 1971 and 1999. Auto-regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models were used to evaluate the relationship between weather factors and malaria incidence. Results: At the time scale of months, the predictors for malaria incidence included: minimum temperature, maximum temperature, and fog day frequency. The effect of minimum temperature on malaria incidence was greater in the cool months than in the hot months. The fog day frequency in October had a positive effect on malaria incidence in May of the following year. At the time scale of years, the annual fog day frequency was the only weather predictor of the annual incidence of malaria. Conclusion: Fog day frequency was for the first time found to be a predictor of malaria incidence in a rain forest area. The one-year delayed effect of fog on malaria transmission may involve providing water input and maintaining aquatic breeding sites for mosquitoes in vulnerable times when there is little rainfall in the 6-month dry seasons. These findings should be considered in the prediction of future patterns of malaria for similar tropical rain forest areas worldwide.

Spatial and temporal analysis of Barmah Forest virus disease in Queensland, Australia

Barmah Forest virus (BFV) disease is one of the most widespread mosquito-borne diseases in Australia. The number of outbreaks and the incidence rate of BFV in Australia have attracted growing concerns about the spatio-temporal complexity and underlying risk factors of BFV disease. A large number of notifications has been recorded continuously in Queensland since 1992. Yet, little is known about the spatial and temporal characteristics of the disease. I aim to use notification data to better understand the effects of climatic, demographic, socio-economic and ecological risk factors on the spatial epidemiology of BFV disease transmission, develop predictive risk models and forecast future disease risks under climate change scenarios. Computerised data files of daily notifications of BFV disease and climatic variables in Queensland during 1992-2008 were obtained from Queensland Health and Australian Bureau of Meteorology, respectively. Projections on climate data for years 2025, 2050 and 2100 were obtained from Council of Scientific Industrial Research Organisation. Data on socio-economic, demographic and ecological factors were also obtained from relevant government departments as follows: 1) socio-economic and demographic data from Australian Bureau of Statistics; 2) wetlands data from Department of Environment and Resource Management and 3) tidal readings from Queensland Department of Transport and Main roads. Disease notifications were geocoded and spatial and temporal patterns of disease were investigated using geostatistics. Visualisation of BFV disease incidence rates through mapping reveals the presence of substantial spatio-temporal variation at statistical local areas (SLA) over time. Results reveal high incidence rates of BFV disease along coastal areas compared to the whole area of Queensland. A Mantel-Haenszel Chi-square analysis for trend reveals a statistically significant relationship between BFV disease incidence rates and age groups (ƒÓ2 = 7587, p<0.01). Semi-variogram analysis and smoothed maps created from interpolation techniques indicate that the pattern of spatial autocorrelation was not homogeneous across the state. A cluster analysis was used to detect the hot spots/clusters of BFV disease at a SLA level. Most likely spatial and space-time clusters are detected at the same locations across coastal Queensland (p<0.05). The study demonstrates heterogeneity of disease risk at a SLA level and reveals the spatial and temporal clustering of BFV disease in Queensland. Discriminant analysis was employed to establish a link between wetland classes, climate zones and BFV disease. This is because the importance of wetlands in the transmission of BFV disease remains unclear. The multivariable discriminant modelling analyses demonstrate that wetland types of saline 1, riverine and saline tidal influence were the most significant risk factors for BFV disease in all climate and buffer zones, while lacustrine, palustrine, estuarine and saline 2 and saline 3 wetlands were less important. The model accuracies were 76%, 98% and 100% for BFV risk in subtropical, tropical and temperate climate zones, respectively. This study demonstrates that BFV disease risk varied with wetland class and climate zone. The study suggests that wetlands may act as potential breeding habitats for BFV vectors. Multivariable spatial regression models were applied to assess the impact of spatial climatic, socio-economic and tidal factors on the BFV disease in Queensland. Spatial regression models were developed to account for spatial effects. Spatial regression models generated superior estimates over a traditional regression model. In the spatial regression models, BFV disease incidence shows an inverse relationship with minimum temperature, low tide and distance to coast, and positive relationship with rainfall in coastal areas whereas in whole Queensland the disease shows an inverse relationship with minimum temperature and high tide and positive relationship with rainfall. This study determines the most significant spatial risk factors for BFV disease across Queensland. Empirical models were developed to forecast the future risk of BFV disease outbreaks in coastal Queensland using existing climatic, socio-economic and tidal conditions under climate change scenarios. Logistic regression models were developed using BFV disease outbreak data for the existing period (2000-2008). The most parsimonious model had high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy and this model was used to estimate and forecast BFV disease outbreaks for years 2025, 2050 and 2100 under climate change scenarios for Australia. Important contributions arising from this research are that: (i) it is innovative to identify high-risk coastal areas by creating buffers based on grid-centroid and the use of fine-grained spatial units, i.e., mesh blocks; (ii) a spatial regression method was used to account for spatial dependence and heterogeneity of data in the study area; (iii) it determined a range of potential spatial risk factors for BFV disease; and (iv) it predicted the future risk of BFV disease outbreaks under climate change scenarios in Queensland, Australia. In conclusion, the thesis demonstrates that the distribution of BFV disease exhibits a distinct spatial and temporal variation. Such variation is influenced by a range of spatial risk factors including climatic, demographic, socio-economic, ecological and tidal variables. The thesis demonstrates that spatial regression method can be applied to better understand the transmission dynamics of BFV disease and its risk factors. The research findings show that disease notification data can be integrated with multi-factorial risk factor data to develop build-up models and forecast future potential disease risks under climate change scenarios. This thesis may have implications in BFV disease control and prevention programs in Queensland.

Briefing paper on eTextbooks and third party eLearning products and their implications for Australian university libraries

The briefing paper was commissioned by the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) to examine the current picture and evolving role of electronic textbooks (eTextbooks) and third party eLearning products in the academic arena. The study reviews industry trends, identifies the major players and considers the different stakeholder perspectives of eTextbook adoption. Within the context of learning and teaching in the digital age, specific areas of research, policy and practice are highlighted to consider the implications that eTextbooks might have for universities in general and for university libraries in particular. An environmental scan focused on the analysis of current developments and the anticipated future directions of digital learning resources in Australia, as well as in other major English speaking countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States. This research guided the development of key interview questions aimed at examining, at a deeper level, diverse stakeholder perspectives about the roles university libraries can play in the adoption of digital learning content.