Rich task implementation: modernism meets postmodernism

School renewal', 'productive pedagogies', 'rich tasks', 'New Basics', 'key learning areas'--these are some of the discourses of change in selected Queensland schools. This paper will report on teaching as an insider/outsider in a school's Health and Physical Education department during a time of intense pressure for structural, curriculum and pedagogical shifts. As a teacher/researcher, I spent ten weeks in a government secondary school attempting to implement rich tasks as well as collect data using formal and informal interviews, field note, and document analyses, with a focus upon teachers', students' and administrators' sense of change processes and outcomes. It is suggested that the processes of, and barriers to, curriculum change in this context are best explained in terms of tensions between modernist and postmodernist phenomena.

The BCD transient recorder revisited: firmware for the ISA-to-USB bridging card and software for the graphical user interface

This report describes recent updates to the custom-built data-acquisition hardware operated by the Center for Hypersonics. In 2006, an ISA-to-USB bridging card was developed as part of Luke Hillyard's final-year thesis. This card allows the hardware to be connected to any recent personal computers via a (USB or RS232) serial port and it provides a number of simple text-based commands for control of the hardware. A graphical user interface program was also updated to help the experimenter manage the data acquisition functions. Sampled data is stored in text files that have been compressed with the gzip for mat. To simplify the later archiving or transport of the data, all files specific to a shot are stored in a single directory. This includes a text file for the run description, the signal configuration file and the individual sampled-data files, one for each signal that was recorded.

XSophe-Sophe-XeprView (R). A computer simulation software suite (v. 1.1.3) for the analysis of continuous wave EPR spectra

The XSophe-Sophe-XeprView((R)) computer simulation software suite enables scientists to easily determine spin Hamiltonian parameters from isotropic, randomly oriented and single crystal continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance (CW EPR) spectra from radicals and isolated paramagnetic metal ion centers or clusters found in metalloproteins, chemical systems and materials science. XSophe provides an X-windows graphical user interface to the Sophe programme and allows: creation of multiple input files, local and remote execution of Sophe, the display of sophelog (output from Sophe) and input parameters/files. Sophe is a sophisticated computer simulation software programme employing a number of innovative technologies including; the Sydney OPera HousE (SOPHE) partition and interpolation schemes, a field segmentation algorithm, the mosaic misorientation linewidth model, parallelization and spectral optimisation. In conjunction with the SOPHE partition scheme and the field segmentation algorithm, the SOPHE interpolation scheme and the mosaic misorientation linewidth model greatly increase the speed of simulations for most spin systems. Employing brute force matrix diagonalization in the simulation of an EPR spectrum from a high spin Cr(III) complex with the spin Hamiltonian parameters g(e) = 2.00, D = 0.10 cm(-1), E/D = 0.25, A(x) = 120.0, A(y) = 120.0, A(z) = 240.0 x 10(-4) cm(-1) requires a SOPHE grid size of N = 400 (to produce a good signal to noise ratio) and takes 229.47 s. In contrast the use of either the SOPHE interpolation scheme or the mosaic misorientation linewidth model requires a SOPHE grid size of only N = 18 and takes 44.08 and 0.79 s, respectively. Results from Sophe are transferred via the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) to XSophe and subsequently to XeprView((R)) where the simulated CW EPR spectra (1D and 2D) can be compared to the experimental spectra. Energy level diagrams, transition roadmaps and transition surfaces aid the interpretation of complicated randomly oriented CW EPR spectra and can be viewed with a web browser and an OpenInventor scene graph viewer.

Prevention of child behavior problems through universal implementation of a group behavioral family intervention.

The aim of this mental health promotion initiative was to evaluate the effectiveness of a universally delivered group behavioral family intervention (BFI) in preventing behavior problems in children. This study investigates the transferability of an efficacious clinical program to a universal prevention intervention delivered through child and community health services targeting parents of preschoolers within a metropolitan health region. A quasiexperimental two-group (BFI, n=804 vs. Comparison group, n=806) longitudinal design followed preschool aged children and their parents over a 2-year period. BFI was associated with significant reductions in parent-reported levels of dysfunctional parenting and parent-reported levels of child behavior problems. Effect sizes on child behavior problems ranged from large (.83) to moderate (.47). Positive and significant effects were also observed in parent mental health, marital adjustment, and levels of child rearing conflict. Findings are discussed with respect to their implication for significant population reductions in child behavior problems as well as the pragmatic challenges for prevention science in encouraging both the evaluation and uptake of preventive initiatives in real world settings.

Using FCD Mapper Software and Landsat Images to Assess Forest Canopy Density in Landscapes in Australia and the Philippines

Using Landsat imagery, forest canopy density (FCD) estimated with the FCD Mapper®, was correlated with predominant height (PDH, measured as the average height of the tallest 50 trees per hectare) for 20 field plots measured in native forest at Noosa Heads, south-east Queensland, Australia. A corresponding image was used to calculate FCD in Leyte Island, the Philippines and was validated on the ground for accuracy. The FCD Mapper was produced for the International Tropical Timber Organisation and estimates FCD as an index of canopy density using reflectance characteristics of Landsat Enhanced Thematic (ETM) Mapper images. The FCD Mapper is a ‘semi-expert’ computer program which uses interactive screens to allow the operator to make decisions concerning the classification of land into bare soil, grass and forest. At Noosa, a positive strong nonlinear relationship (r2 = 0.86) was found between FCD and PDH for 15 field plots with variable PDH but complete canopy closure. An additional five field plots were measured in forest with a broken canopy and the software assessed these plots as having a much lower FCD than forest with canopy closure. FCD estimates for forest and agricultural land in the island of Leyte and subsequent field validation showed that at appropriate settings, the FCD Mapper differentiated between tropical rainforest and banana or coconut plantation. These findings suggest that in forests with a closed canopy this remote sensing technique has promise for forest inventory and productivity assessment. The findings also suggest that the software has promise for discriminating between native forest with a complete canopy and forest which has a broken canopy, such as coconut or banana plantation.

Expokit: A software package for computing matrix exponentials

Expokit provides a set of routines aimed at computing matrix exponentials. More precisely, it computes either a small matrix exponential in full, the action of a large sparse matrix exponential on an operand vector, or the solution of a system of linear ODEs with constant inhomogeneity. The backbone of the sparse routines consists of matrix-free Krylov subspace projection methods (Arnoldi and Lanczos processes), and that is why the toolkit is capable of coping with sparse matrices of large dimension. The software handles real and complex matrices and provides specific routines for symmetric and Hermitian matrices. The computation of matrix exponentials is a numerical issue of critical importance in the area of Markov chains and furthermore, the computed solution is subject to probabilistic constraints. In addition to addressing general matrix exponentials, a distinct attention is assigned to the computation of transient states of Markov chains.

Formal derivation of finite state machines for class testing

Previous work on generating state machines for the purpose of class testing has not been formally based. There has also been work on deriving state machines from formal specifications for testing non-object-oriented software. We build on this work by presenting a method for deriving a state machine for testing purposes from a formal specification of the class under test. We also show how the resulting state machine can be used as the basis for a test suite developed and executed using an existing framework for class testing. To derive the state machine, we identify the states and possible interactions of the operations of the class under test. The Test Template Framework is used to formally derive the states from the Object-Z specification of the class under test. The transitions of the finite state machine are calculated from the derived states and the class's operations. The formally derived finite state machine is transformed to a ClassBench testgraph, which is used as input to the ClassBench framework to test a C++ implementation of the class. The method is illustrated using a simple bounded queue example.

L-studio/cpfg: A software system for modeling plants

L-studio/cpfg is a plant modeling software system designed for Windows 95/98/NT platforms. Its key components are the L-system-based plant simulator cpfg and the modeling environment called L-studio. We overview version 1.0 of this system from the user's perspective.

Adaptation on the commons

This paper seeks to understand how software systems and organisations co-evolve in practice and how order emerges in the overall environment. Using a metaphor of timetable as a commons, we analyse the introduction of a novel academic scheduling system to demonstrate how Complex Adaptive Systems theory provides insight into the adaptive behaviour of the various actors and how their action is both a response to and a driver of co-evolution within the engagement.

Analysis and implementation of a new constant acceleration subcycling algorithm

An algorithm for explicit integration of structural dynamics problems with multiple time steps is proposed that averages accelerations to obtain subcycle states at a nodal interface between regions integrated with different time steps. With integer time step ratios, the resulting subcycle updates at the interface sum to give the same effect as a central difference update over a major cycle. The algorithm is shown to have good accuracy, and stability properties in linear elastic analysis similar to those of constant velocity subcycling algorithms. The implementation of a generalised form of the algorithm with non-integer time step ratios is presented. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.