Tecnica simples de marcacao externa de reprodutores de tilapia nilotica (Oreochromis niloticus)

With the goal of organizing a control program of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) reproduction in laboratory, a tecnique with ceramic pearls held on dorsal musculature by transfixion with flexible sintetic string was developed. Sixty fishes with 12g average weight and 60 with 19g average weight were used. Marking was done on three positions: frontal (F), median (M), and caudal (C). Different combinations of three collored pearls were fixed on the right side (defining number), and were linked to only one pearl in the left side (defining sex), with a slack of about 1.5cm to prevent growth damage. The animals were individually identified and weigthed at 30, 60 and 130 days after surgery. Results showed that both F and M positions allowed normal growth and reproductive behavior, whereas the C position induced mortality and loss of marker in some specimens. The M position is recomended as the best, or the intermediate between F and M positions.

Developing robust assessment criteria for postgraduate research oriented papers

Assessment criteria designed to fully evaluate prescribed learning outcomes is a significant aid to both student and staff alike. For the student, it allows them to fully understand the requirements for a specific grade and for staff, it simplifies marking (grading) and minimises the likelihood of student appeals against assessment. Whilst criterion referencing is common place in the more traditional analytical type taught papers common in the Engineering degree curriculum it is perhaps less commonly utilised for research based papers. Presented here is a case study where both learning outcomes and achievement criteria have been proposed for a postgraduate research methodology paper which prepares students for their thesis. It has significant cross over to a descriptor for the thesis paper itself and is considered a template which could be equally applied to other subject domains where research methodology is taught.

Digital oral feedback written assignments as professional learning for teacher educators : a collaborative self-study.

Allan Luke (2008) uses a “pedagogical economy where literacy education is taken as a cultural gift”. This paper reports on the digital oral feedback provided to pre-service teachers in a literacy unit and explores the pedagogical gift this feedback is to the teacher educators marking this work. Rather than mark their written work as individual lecturers, we collaboratively read the assignment and recorded the sound file of the conversation around each assignment. We then participated in another conversation with a critical friend, which enabled us to explore the impact of this form of assessment on our professional identities as teacher educators. We found these conversations provided a rich context for our professional learning about ourselves as teacher educators, as well as specific content knowledge we both brought to the teaching of this unit. We found we were working as a team to provide more in-depth feedback of the assessment criteria for each assignment than we did with written feedback. Through this dialogical feedback we were able to construct the pre-service teachers' assignments as an important textual gift in our collaborative professional learning about assessment, and in exploring our beliefs and practices as teacher educators.

Digital oral feedback on written assignments as professional learning for teacher educators: a collaborative self-study

This article reports on a self-study of teacher educators involved in a preservice teacher unit on literacy. In this study the teacher educators provided the preservice teachers with digital oral feedback about their final unit of work. Rather than marking written work as individual lecturers, we collaboratively read each assignment and recorded a sound file of our conversation. We constructed our collaborative marking of each assignment as a “cultural gift” to our own professional learning. We found that we were providing more in-depth feedback on the assessment criteria for each assignment than we would have with written feedback prepared individually. We also uncovered tensions in relation to our preferred modalities associated with the digital marking.

Identification and functional characterization of a novel monotreme - specific antibacterial protein expressed during lactation

Monotremes are the only oviparous mammals and exhibit a fascinating combination of reptilian and mammalian characters. They represent a component of synapsidal reproduction by laying shelled eggs which are incubated outside the mother’s body. This is accompanied by a prototherian lactation process, marking them as representatives of early mammals. The only extant monotremes are the platypus, and the short- and long- beaked echidnas, and their distributions are limited to Australia and New Guinea. Apart for a short weaning period, milk is the sole source of nutrition and protection for the hatchlings which are altricial and immunologically naive. The duration of lactation in these mammals is prolonged relative to the gestational length and period of incubation of eggs. Much of the development of monotreme young occurs in the non-sterile ex-utero environment. Therefore the role of milk in the growth, development and disease protection of the young is of significant interest. By sequencing the cDNA of cells harvested from monotreme milk, we have identified a novel monotreme- specific transcript, and the corresponding gene was designated as the EchAMP. The expression profile of this gene in various tissues revealed that it is highly expressed in milk cells. The peptides corresponding to the EchAMP protein have been identified in a sample of echidna milk In silico analysis indicated putative antimicrobial potential for the cognate protein of EchAMP. This was further confirmed by in vitro assays using a host of bacteria. Interestingly, EchAMP did not display any activity against a commensal gut floral species. These results support the hypothesis of enhancement of survival of the young by antimicrobial bioactives of mammary gland origin and thus emphasize the protective, non- nutritional role of milk in mammals.

International and regional perspectives on the state of world heritage

A presentation marking the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, identifying some key challenges in its implementation. The presentation concludes with some proposals for joint work by Australian natural and cultural heritage conservation organisations.

Sex does not matter: gender bias and gender differences in peer assessments of contributions to group work

This paper considers the possibility of gender bias in peer ratings for contributions to team assignments, as measured by an online self-and-peer assessment tool. The research was conducted to determine whether peer assessment led to reliable and fair marking outcomes. The methodology of Falchikov and Magin was followed in order to test their finding that gender has no discernable impact on peer ratings. Data from over 1500 participants at two universities enrolled in four different degree programmes were analysed. The research indicates an absence of gender bias in six case studies. The research also found that women received significantly higher ratings than men.

Improving assessment management using tools

This paper firstly explains the importance of assessment management, then introduces two assessment tools currently used in the School of Information Technology at Deakin University. A comparison of assignment marking was conducted after collecting test data from three sets of assignments. The importance of providing detailed marking guides and personalized comments is emphasized and future possible extension to the tools is also discussed at the end of this paper.

Review : For love and punishment: who prepares the prisoners' meals?

Book review of: For love & punishment: who prepares the prisoners' meals? 1911-2011 Marking 100 years of International Women's Day and Commonwealth control of the Northern Territory, by Megg Kelham, 2011.

An effective and feasible traceback scheme in mobile internet environment

Around one billion people access the Internet using their mobile phones today, and many of the mobile phones are prone to be compromised by hackers due to their inherited vulnerability. It is critical to identify these compromised mobile phones to effectively eliminate cyber attacks. However, we see few research works in the field. In order to address this desperate situation, we design a practical traceback framework to identify active compromised mobiles in the mobile Internet environment in this letter. In the proposed framework, we creatively use the IMEI number of mobile hardware as unique marks for the traceback purpose. Two-layer traceback tables are designed to collect global attack information and identify local attacking bots, respectively. Our analysis and simulation demonstrate that the proposed traceback method is effective and feasible, and it can identify every possible attacking mobile in the current mobile Internet environment with single packet marking.

The Tablet PC: A Complete Teaching Studio

The Tablet PC is a flexible teaching tool. It can be used to increase the lecturer’s productivity in note taking and in assignment marking. It can be used in the lecture room with increased interaction. With a few minor accessories it can be used to record all aspects of a lecture or presentation. It can also be used to record short topic segments that can be used as references or summaries by students. Containing the abilities of both a tablet device with multi touch, a pen interface for accurate drawing and handwriting and with the power of a full PC, it is a complete teaching studio.

Does student engagement in self-assessment calibrate their judgement over time?

One of the implicit aims of higher education is to enable students to become better judges of their own work. This paper examines whether students who voluntarily engage in self-assessment improve in their capacity to make those judgements. The study utilises data from a web-based marking system that provides students with the opportunity to assess themselves on each criterion for each assessment task throughout a programme of study. Student marks were compared with those from tutors to plot changes over time. The findings suggest that overall students’ judgements do converge with those of tutors, but that there is considerable variation across achievement levels, with weaker students showing little improvement. Whilst the study is limited by the exigencies of voluntary participation and thus consequential gaps in the data set, it shows how judgement over time can be demonstrated and points to the potential for more systematic interventions to improve students’ judgements. It also illustrates the use of the web-based marking and feedback software (ReView) that has considerable utility in aiding self-assessment research.

Toward a pedagogy of feeling: understanding how museums create a space for cross-cultural encounters

In this chapter I engage with two developments – a growing understanding that citizenship involves political activity on the part of citizens in the public sphere and that affective relationships are an important aspect of this activity – to engage with the increasing use of affective interpretation strategies within exhibitions. I argue that the use of these strategies can be understood as the beginning of a new moment in museological practice that is concerned not so much with finding ways to become more pluralistic in who is represented within museums but with building opportunities for cross-cultural encounters in ways that question established relationships between self and other. I call this new moment “a pedagogy of feeling,” marking it as distinctive from both “a pedagogy of walking,” a term used by Tony Bennett to encapsulate the specific exhibition strategies that supported evolutionary narratives, and “a pedagogy of listening,” which I suggest marks the moment when exhibition practices were concerned with finding ways to increase the number of voices found in museum exhibitions as part of a civic program to encourage greater degrees of tolerance. Central to a pedagogy of feeling is, I argue, the idea of a “terrible gift” (as Roger Simon calls it), which is enacted through an exhibition syntax that uses a wide variety of affective or sensorial interpretation strategies.

Using technology to improve peer review and collaborative conversations to benchmark academic standards

In 2010 the Australian government commissioned the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) to undertake a national project to facilitate disciplinary development of threshold learning standards. The aim was to lay the foundation for all higher education providers to demonstrate to the new national higher education regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), that graduates achieved or exceeded minimum academic standards. Through a yearlong consultative process, representatives of employers, professional bodies, academics and students, developed learning standards applying to any Australian higher education provider. Willey and Gardner reported using a software tool, SPARKPLUS, in calibrating academic standards amongst teaching staff in large classes. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of this technology to promote calibrated understandings with the national accounting learning standards. We found that integrating the software with a purposely designed activity provided significant efficiencies in calibrating understandings about learning standards, developed expertise and a better understanding of what is required to meet these standards and how best to demonstrate them. The software and supporting calibration and assessment process can be adopted by other disciplines, including engineering, seeking to provide direct evidence about performance against learning standards. © 2012 IEEE.