Pathway planning and 'becoming somebody' : Exploring the tensions between wellbeing and credentialism with students at (educational) risk

This paper maps the policy shifts around the education and training of youth that frame how schools respond to issues of youth' at risk'. These shifts have occurred with the move from the self managing schools marked by market discourses of competition, autonomy and image management that supplanted earlier discourses of welfare and community, through to recent policies in Victoria arising from the Kirby Review of Post compulsory Education and Public Education, the Next Generation undertaken by the Labor government. These reports, and the policies emerging out of them, are producing new discourses about youth and schooling focusing on wellbeing, learning networks and more systemic support for schools at the same time as there is increased accountability and expectations of schools. Drawing on the school exclusion literature from the U.K, and using Bourdieu's notion of habitus, we examine the findings from a recent study undertaken on the Geelong Pathways Planning project, funded through a Victorian government strategy, to discuss how schools respond to such initiatives. The project explored the ways in which students in the Geelong region understood and worked with the job planning pathways program, and how service providers (schools, community education facilities, job networks etc) coordinated to meet the needs of individual youth. There was a disjuncture in the participating schools between the discourses of care and welfare for students at risk, and the actual practices and policies that ignored or excluded such students. This paper concludes with a discussion of what might be required systemically, in schools and in their relations to other education providers, to build the capacity to respond more effectively to all students.

Foreign direct investment and exports : the experiences of Vietnam

We examined the implementation statuses of a total of 5,919 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects approved by the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment since 1988, and compiled a database of actually disbursed FDI in Vietnam. The database covers FDI flows into Vietnam from 23 countries from 1990 to 2004. Using the data, we analyzed the impact of FDI on the exports of Vietnam with gravity equations. The empirical results demonstrate that FDI is one of the major factors driving the rapid export growth of Vietnam. It has significantly facilitated the expansion of Vietnam's exports to FDI source countries. In particular, the empirical analysis shows that a 1 percent increase in FDI inflows will be expected to give rise to a 0.13 percent increase in Vietnam's exports to these countries.

New governance, green planning and sustainability : Tasmania together and growing Victoria together

Bridgman and Davis(2000:91) have argued that ‘ideally government will have a well developed and widely distributed policy framework, setting out economic, social and environmental objectives’. This article compares and evaluates two such frameworks or plans, Tasmania Together and Growing Victoria Together, in terms of their potential to promote sustainability. It argues that they are very different exercises in new governance, aimed at reconnecting with community priorities and at redirecting macro-policy setting away from a preoccupation with economic priorities, respectively. Nevertheless, both plans have the capacity to ‘green’ state planning, in Tasmania in terms of more purposeful benchmarks, and in Victoria in terms of enhanced sustainability emphasis in the macro-policy setting. The article encounters tensions in its review of the plans between deliberation and planning, policy empowerment and policy progress, and policy institutionalisation and politicisation as means of achieving policy change. It finds that whilst Tasmania and Victoria are re-engaged states that are reinventing state policy, as yet they are failing to meet the governance challenges of sustainability.

A multi-level approach to planning and scheduling resources for aviation training

This paper describes a multi-level system dynamics (SD) / discrete event simulation (DES) approach for assessing planning and scheduling problems within an aviation training continuum. The aviation training continuum is a complex system, consisting of multiple aviation schools interacting through interschool student and instructor flows that are affected by external triggers such as resource availability and the weather.
SD was used to model the overall training continuum at a macro level to ascertain relationships between system entities. SD also assisted in developing a shared understanding of the training continuum, which involves constructing the definitions of the training requirements, resources and policy objectives. An end-to-end model of the continuum is easy to relate to, while dynamic visualisation of system behaviour provides a method for exploration of the model.
DES was used for micro level exploration of an individual school within the training continuum to capture the physical aspects of the system including resource capacity requirements, bottlenecks and student waiting times. It was also used to model stochastic events such as weather and student availability. DES has the advantage of being able to represent system variability and accurately reflect the limitations imposed on a system by resource constraints.
Through sharing results between the models, we demonstrate a multi-level approach to the analysis of the overall continuum. The SD model provides the school’s targeted demand to the DES model. The detailed DES model is able to assess schedules in the presence of resource constraints and variability and provide the expected capacity of a school to the high level SD model, subjected to constraints such as instructor availability or budgeted number of training systems. The SD model allows stakeholders to assess how policy and planning affect the continuum, both in the short and the long term.
The development of this approach permits moving the analysis of the continuum between SD and DES models as appropriate for given system entities, scales and tasks. The resultant model outcomes are propagated between the continuum and the detailed DES model, iteratively generating an assessment of the entire set of plans and schedule across the continuum. Combining data and information between SD and DES models and techniques assures relevance to the stakeholder needs and effective problem scoping and scaling that can also evolve with dynamic architecture and policy requirements.
An example case study shows the combined use of the two models and how they are used to evaluate a typical scenario where increased demand is placed on the training continuum. The multi-level approach provides a high level indication of training requirements to the model of the new training school, where the detailed model indicates the resources required to achieve those particular student levels.

Modelling the maturation of grip selection planning and action representation: insights from typical and atypical motor development

We investigated the purported association between developmental changes in grip selection planning and improvements in an individual’s capacity to represent action at an internal level (i.e., motor imagery). Participants were groups of healthy children aged 6-7 years and 8-12 years respectively, while a group of adolescents (13-17 years) and adults (18-34 years) allowed for consideration of childhood development in the broader context of motor maturation. A group of children aged 8-12 years with probable DCD (pDCD) was included as a reference group for atypical motor development. Participants’ proficiency to generate and/or engage internal action representations was inferred from performance on the hand rotation task, a well-validated measure of motor imagery. A grip selection task designed to elicit the end-state comfort (ESC) effect provided a window into the integrity of grip selection planning. Consistent with earlier accounts, the efficiency of grip selection planning followed a non-linear developmental progression in neurotypical individuals. As expected, analysis confirmed that these developmental improvements were predicted by an increased capacity to generate and/or engage internal action representations. The profile of this association remained stable throughout the (typical) developmental spectrum. These findings are consistent with computational accounts of action planning that argue that internal action representations are associated with the expression and development of grip selection planning across typical development. However, no such association was found for our sample of children with pDCD, suggesting that individuals with atypical motor skill may adopt an alternative, sub-optimal strategy to plan their grip selection compared to their same-age control peers.

Distributed generation capacity planning for distribution networks to minimize energy loss: an unbalanced multi-phase optimal power flow based approach

This chapter presents an unbalanced multi-phase optimal power flow (UMOPF) based planning approach to determine the optimum capacities of multiple distributed generation units in a distribution network. An adaptive weight particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to find the global optimum solution. To increase the efficiency of the proposed scheme, a co-simulation platform is developed. Since the proposed method is mainly based on the cost optimization, variations in loads and uncertainties within DG units are also taken into account to perform the analysis. An IEEE 123 node distribution system is used as a test distribution network which is unbalanced and multi-phase in nature, for the validation of the proposed scheme. The superiority of the proposed method is investigated through the comparisons of the results obtained that of a Genetic Algorithm based OPF method. This analysis also shows that the DG capacity planning considering annual load and generation uncertainties outperform the traditional well practised peak-load planning.

Risk analysis in cost planning and its effect on efficiency in capital cost budgeting

Builds on earlier work which reported on the experience of the Hong Kong Government in using risk analysis techniques in capital cost estimating. In 1993 the Hong Kong Government implemented a methodology for capital cost estimating using risk analysis (ERA) in its public works planning. This calculated amount replaces the pre-1993 contingency allowance, which was merely a percentage addition on top of the base estimate of a project. Adopts a team approach to identify, classify and cost the uncertainties associated with a project. The sum of the average risk allowance for the identified risk events thus becomes the contingency. A study of the effect of ERA was carried out to compare the variability and consistency of the contingency estimates between non-ERA and ERA projects. The preliminary results of a survey showed a highly significant difference in variation and consistency between these groups. This analysis indicates the successful use of the ERA method for public works projects to reduce unnecessary and  exaggerated allowance for risk. However, the contingency allowance for ERA projects was also considered high. Adds data from the UK with descriptions of 41 private sector projects which fall into the non-ERA category and reflect better performance in the determining of contingency allowances.

Understanding Concepts of Efficiency and Effectiveness in Architectural Facilities Space Planning and Design

Although contemporary literature treats efficiency and effectiveness extensively, virtually no objective understanding of both is found in architectural facilities space planning and design. It is imperative that both concepts are definitively explained as they apply to these disciplines. Hence, the contemporary views of both concepts are reviewed and attempts made to interpret them within more amenable contexts. The objectives are (1) to objectively elucidate the factual differences between efficiency and effectiveness; and (2) to contribute to their better understanding in architectural facilities space planning and design. Diagrammatic and mathematical means are engaged to demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness in these fields.

Enhancing quality in online learning : scaffolding planning and design through proactive evaluation

A major issue confronting educators is the extent to which they wish to conform to so-called paradigm shifts in teaching and learning. In the contemporary world of tertiary education these shifts embrace both pedagogy (from instructivist to constructivist) and technology (from classroom to online). As teachers and learners are faced with the potential of these new learning environments, the extent to which learning outcomes are achieved remains a high priority and subject to a wide range of evaluation strategies. Conventionally, evaluation has been positioned at the end of the instructional development cycle, to assess first whether or not the creative effort achieved the original product goals and second whether or not the desired learning outcomes were realized. In the context of online teaching and learning environments, however, the level of understanding teachers, learners and developers have of the medium can impact the ultimate effectiveness of the product. This paper articulates an additional dimension to post-development evaluation processes in proposing proactive evaluation, a framework that identifies critical online learning factors and influences that will better inform the planning, design and development of learning resources. This notion of proactive evaluation advocates resource development being undertaken where all planning activities are assessed against the evaluation criteria that would normally be applied during formative assessment. By performing these evaluation checks proactively, online learning resources will, in principle, work first time as all relevant factors and issues will have been considered and resolved. More importantly, for those participants who are new to online environments, proactive evaluation will perform a scaffolding and professional development role by enhancing online teaching or learning competencies.

University planning and design under confucianism, colonialism, communism and capitalism : the Vietnamese experience

The university in Vietnam represents a thread of continuity that has managed to survive the political, economic and social turmoil faced so frequently by the Vietnamese people. This paper traces the evolution of the Vietnamese university in terms of its site planning and building design from the Hanoi Van Mieu, a Confucian 'temple of literature' which, built in 1070AD, is regarded as the country's first university, to today’s system of general and specialised universities and polytechnic institutions. In the late 1990s another step in the process of evolution began with the rationalization and amalgamation of the tertiary system to form two large, multi-campus and multi-disciplinary universities – the Hanoi National University and the Ho Chi Minh National University.

A new relationship between planning and democracy? Urban activism in Melbourne 1965-1975

This paper is a reflective overview of urban social protest in the years 1965-1975 and its influence on post-war planning, especially on models of public participation in planning, and conceptions of effective local democracy. Drawing extensively on a major study of urban activism in Melbourne, Australia, the paper discusses the political and organisational strategies used by activists in Melbourne’s inner city areas to resist the large-scale planning/urban renewal projects especially of the Victorian state government. The paper focuses on Melbourne’s inner city Residents’ Action Groups and examines their motivations, strategies and rationales, placing them within an international context of urban protest movements demanding local democracy and consultation. The paper concludes that the Melbourne urban protest movements of the late 60s and early 70s deserve recognition for their contribution to inclusive, consultative processes in planning decision-making. This is done within a context of questioning contemporary academic discussion around the interpretative concept of gentrification, widely and indiscriminately applied to this and later periods of urban change.

Development of an internet supportive platform for online teaching and learning of construction planning and scheduling

Construction Planning and Scheduling is taught for the fIrst time ill Semester 2, 2004 in the School of Architecture and Building, Deakin University. During the unit development process and the implementation of teaching activities, several issues arose in relation to implementing computer-aided construction scheduling and unit delivery in a unitary environment. Although various types of construction planning and scheduling software have been developed and applied, none of them can be run inside an online teaching software package, which provides powerful functions in administration. This research aims to explore the strategies to connect a project planning and scheduling software package and an online ~aching and learning software package by a Web-based support platform so that both the lecturer and students can draw up and communicate a construction plan or schedule with tables and fIgures. The key techniques of this supportive platfonn are idt;nlifies and they include a web-based graphically user-interfaced, dynamic and distributed multimedia data acquisition mechanism, which accepts users' drawings and retrieval information from canvas and stores the multimedia data ona server for further usage. This paper demonstrates the techniques and principals needed to construct such a multimedia data acquisition tool. This. research will fill the gap.in the literature in respect to an online pedagogical solution to an existing problem.

Marketing planning and business performance : an empirical study of large Australian organisations

The marketing planning process is said to influence organisational performance. This influence is realised through the adoption of a focused approach aimed at achieving specific marketing objectives, which motivates the adaptation of the internal capabilities of an organisation in facilitating an effective implementation. This study investigated the association of formal marketing planning with business performance. The results showed that marketing planning has a stronger, positive relationship with market share, than with the overall financial performance of the organisation. The study also compared the associations of marketing planning and market orientation variables with the performance measures. The results indicated that the two variables associate at about the same magnitude with market share and the overall financial performance.

Do what we do: a multimodal approach to planning and teaching

Quality teaching and learning in teacher education can be enriched across campuses for both the academics and the student bodies when focus is given to the development of dynamic ICT rich learning experiences. This paper focuses on the learning journey of two academics and their preservice teacher education students located on two regional campuses, 200km apart, and how planning, communicating, implementing, presenting, evaluating, and reflecting took place within a framework of collegiality. The unit, entitled, ‘The Literacy Teacher, the Profession and the Community’ was a final year unit within the undergraduate Bachelor of Education program. Specifically this paper discusses how a multimodal teaching and learning environment using a range of new communication technologies enhanced the both the teaching and the learning experience for our pre-service teacher education students.