A transition program in first year law : adopting the First Year Curriculum Principles

The First Year Curriculum Principles espouse a student-focused consistent and explicit curriculum, acknowledging diversity and the need to scaffold skills and learning. Commencing law students are no different to other first year students in that they must deal with changes in teaching and learning approaches and expectations. As well as the generic issues of transition, law students must grapple with learning the skills which are necessary for the study of law from the very start of their degree. A transition program at the commencement of a law degree as part of a planned first year curriculum provides an opportunity to introduce students to the study of law, the requisite skills as well as assist with transition to tertiary education.

The transition to school of children with developmental disabilities : views of parents and teachers

The transition from early intervention programs to inclusive school settings presents children with developmental disabilities with a range of social challenges. In Queensland, in the year of transition to school, many children with developmental disabilities attend an Early Childhood Development Program for 2 to 3 days each week and also begin attendance in a mainstream program with the latter increasing to full-time attendance during the year. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected by parent interviews and teacher questionnaires for 62 children participating in the Transition to School Project regarding their perceptions of the success of the transition process and the benefits and challenges of inclusion. Both parents and teachers saw a range of benefits to children from their inclusion in ‘regular’ classrooms, with parents noting the helpfulness of teachers and their support for inclusion. Challenges noted by parents included the school’s lack of preparation for their child’s particular developmental needs especially in terms of the physical environment while teachers reported challenges meeting the needs of these children within the context and resources of the classroom. Parents were more likely than teachers to view the transition as easy. Correlational analyses indicated that teachers were more likely to view the transition as easy when they felt that the child was appropriately placed in a ‘regular’ classroom. Findings from this project can inform the development of effective transition-to-school programs in the early school years for children with developmental disabilities.

Bispectral and trispectral characterization of transition to chaos in the Duffing oscillator

Higher-order spectral (bispectral and trispectral) analyses of numerical solutions of the Duffing equation with a cubic stiffness are used to isolate the coupling between the triads and quartets, respectively, of nonlinearly interacting Fourier components of the system. The Duffing oscillator follows a period-doubling intermittency catastrophic route to chaos. For period-doubled limit cycles, higher-order spectra indicate that both quadratic and cubic nonlinear interactions are important to the dynamics. However, when the Duffing oscillator becomes chaotic, global behavior of the cubic nonlinearity becomes dominant and quadratic nonlinear interactions are weak, while cubic interactions remain strong. As the nonlinearity of the system is increased, the number of excited Fourier components increases, eventually leading to broad-band power spectra for chaos. The corresponding higher-order spectra indicate that although some individual nonlinear interactions weaken as nonlinearity increases, the number of nonlinearly interacting Fourier modes increases. Trispectra indicate that the cubic interactions gradually evolve from encompassing a few quartets of Fourier components for period-1 motion to encompassing many quartets for chaos. For chaos, all the components within the energetic part of the power spectrum are cubically (but not quadratically) coupled to each other.

Influence of physical and chemical parameters on the treatment of heavy metals in polluted stormwater using zeolite : A review

Zeolite-based technology can provide a cost effective solution for stormwater treatment for the removal of toxic heavy metals under increasing demand of safe water from alternative sources. This paper reviews the currently available knowledge relating to the effect of properties of zeolites such as pore size, surface area and Si:Al ratio and the physico-chemical conditions of the system such as pH, temperature, initial metal concentration and zeolite concentration on heavy metal removal performance. The primary aims are, to consolidate available knowledge and identify knowledge gaps. It was established that an in-depth understanding of operational issues such as, diffusion of metal ions into the zeolite pore structure, pore clogging, zeolite surface coverage by particulates in stormwater as well as the effect of pH on stormwater quality in the presence of zeolites is essential for developing a zeolite-based technology for the treatment of polluted stormwater. The optimum zeolite concentration to treat typical volumes of stormwater and initial heavy metal concentrations in stormwater should also be considered as operational issues in this regard. Additionally, leaching of aluminium and sodium ions from the zeolite structure to solution were identified as key issues requiring further research in the effort to develop cost effective solutions for the removal of heavy metals from stormwater.

Exploratory investigation of atmospheric total suspended particulate matter and heavy metals in urban air

Atmospheric concentration of total suspended particulate matter (TSP) and associated heavy metals are a great concern due to their adverse health impacts and contribution to stormwater pollution. This paper discusses the outcomes of a study which investigated the variation of atmospheric TSP and heavy metal concentrations with traffic and land use characteristics during weekdays and weekends. Data for this study was gathered from fifteen sites at the Gold Coast, Australia using a high volume air sampler. The study detected consistently high TSP concentrations during weekdays compared to weekends. This confirms the significant influence of traffic related sources on TSP loads during weekdays. Both traffic and land use related sources equally contribute to TSP during weekends. Almost all the measured heavy metals showed high concentration on weekdays compared to weekends indicating significant contributions from traffic related emissions. Among the heavy metals, Zn concentration was the highest followed by Pb. It is postulated that re-suspension of previously deposited reserves was the main Pb source. Soil related sources were the main contributors of Mn.

A way forward to managing the transition to professional practice for beginning teachers

The high attrition rate of beginning teachers in Australia and overseas is well-documented. This trend is easily understood as many beginning teachers enter the profession with little support or mentoring (Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), 2002; Herrington & Herrington, 2004; Ramsey, 2000). Continual calls for more comprehensive approaches to teacher induction in which universities and employing bodies share the responsibilities of the transition to professional practice (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training, 2007) have, to date, largely been ignored. This paper reports on a trial project conducted at a university in south-east Queensland, Australia that addresses these shortfalls. The aim of the project is to facilitate and support the development of high quality teachers and teaching through an extended model of teacher preparation. The model comprises a 1+2 program of formal teacher preparation: a one-year teacher education course (the Graduate Diploma in Education), followed by a comprehensive two year program of workplace induction and ongoing professional learning tailored to meet graduate and employer needs. This paper reports on graduating students’ perceptions of their preparedness to teach as they transition from the Graduate Diploma in Education program to professional practice. The study concludes that innovative programs, including university-linked, ongoing professional learning support for teacher education graduates, may provide the way forward for enhancing the transition to practice for beginning teachers.

A way forward to managing the transition to professional practice for beginning teachers

The high attrition rate of beginning teachers in Australia and overseas is well-documented. This trend is easily understood as many beginning teachers enter the profession with little support or mentoring (Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), 2002; Herrington & Herrington, 2004; Ramsey, 2000). Continual calls for more comprehensive approaches to teacher induction in which universities and employing bodies share the responsibilities of the transition to professional practice (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training, 2007) have, to date, largely been ignored. This paper reports on a trial project conducted at a university in south-east Queensland, Australia that addresses these shortfalls. The aim of the project is to facilitate and support the development of high quality teachers and teaching through an extended model of teacher preparation. The model comprises a 1+2 program of formal teacher preparation: a one-year teacher education course (the Graduate Diploma in Education), followed by a comprehensive two year program of workplace induction and ongoing professional learning tailored to meet graduate and employer needs. This paper reports on graduating students’ perceptions of their preparedness to teach as they transition from the Graduate Diploma in Education program to professional practice. The study concludes that innovative programs, including university-linked, ongoing professional learning support for teacher education graduates, may provide the way forward for enhancing the transition to practice for beginning teachers.

Flow regime transition criteria for two-phase flow at reduced gravity conditions

Flow regime transition criteria are of practical importance for two-phase flow analyses at reduced gravity conditions. Here, flow regime transition criteria which take the friction pressure loss effect into account were studied in detail. Criteria at reduced gravity conditions were developed by extending an existing model with various experimental datasets taken at microgravity conditions showed satisfactory agreement. Sample computations of the model were performed at various gravity conditions, such as 0.196, 1.62, 3.71, and 9.81 m/s2 corresponding to micro-gravity and lunar, Martian and Earth surface gravity, respectively. It was found that the effect of gravity on bubbly-slug and slug-annular (churn) transitions in a two-phase flow system was more pronounced at low liquid flow conditions, whereas the gravity effect could be ignored at high mixture volumetric flux conditions. While for the annular flow transitions due to flow reversal and onset of dropset entrainment, higher superficial gas velocity was obtained at higher gravity level.

Communications and learning structures that facilitate transfer of knowledge at innovation transition points

Innovation processes are rarely smooth and disruptions often occur at transition points were one knowledge domain passes the technology on to another domain. At these transition points communication is a key component in assisting the smooth hand over of technologies. However for smooth transitions to occur we argue that appropriate structures have to be in place and boundary spanning activities need to be facilitated. This paper presents three case studies of innovation processes and the findings support the view that structures and boundary spanning are essential for smooth transitions. We have explained the need to pass primary responsibility between agents to successfully bring an innovation to market. We have also shown the need to combine knowledge through effective communication so that absorptive capacity is built in process throughout the organisation rather than in one or two key individuals.