Peer Leader Roles Descriptors

Across QUT there are a spectrum of peer-to-peer programs and activities initiated by both staff and students that have been designed to build the capacity of all students to ensure they reach their full learning potential. Peer leader roles have in common a focus on building students' sense of belonging to the university, and in doing so, boosting their confidence as learners and capacity to succeed academically. This document provides a set of descriptors that provides details of the various peer leader roles across QUT and their associated responsibilities.

Barriers and supports for development of a clinician scientist role in cerebrovascular nursing: A position paper

This position paper will: 1. Provide an update on relevant current developments in the education, training and positioning of clinician nurse scientists; 2. Provide and promote a rational argument for the development of the clinician nurse scientist role, and; 3. Discuss issues related to capacity building in clinical research in neuroscience nursing, with specific reference to and support for the cerebrovascular (stroke) specialty nursing area.

Skilling up for a low carbon future

A lack of appropriate skills and qualifications in the professions over the next decade may see Australian businesses forego significant opportunities in the global shift to sustainable development. What is the extent of the broader capacity building challenge facing our education sector, and how quickly will we need to respond?

Innovation in energy efficiency education for engineers

Energy efficiency as a concept has gained significant attention over the last few decades, as governments and industries around the world have grappled with issues such as rapid population growth and expanding needs for energy, the cost of supplying infrastructure for growing spikes in peak demand, the finite nature of fossil based energy reserves, and managing transition timeframes for expanding renewable energy supplies. Over the last decade in particular, there has been significant growth in understanding the complexity and interconnectedness of these issues, and the centrality of energy efficiency to the engineering profession. Furthermore, there has been a realisation amongst various government departments and education providers that associated knowledge and skill sets to achieve energy efficiency goals are not being sufficiently developed in vocational or higher education. Within this context, this poster discusses the emergence of a national energy efficiency education agenda in Australia, to support embedding such knowledge throughout the engineering curriculum, and throughout career pathways. In particular, the posterprovides insights into the national priorities for capacity building in Australia, and how this is influencing the engineering education community, from undergraduate education through to postgraduate studies and professional development. The poster is intended to assist in raising awareness about the central role of energy efficiency within engineering, significant initiatives by major government, professional, and training organisations, and the increasing availability of high quality energy efficiency engineering education resources. The authors acknowledge the support for and contributions to this poster by the federal Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, through members of the national Energy Efficiency Advisory Group for engineering education.

Consultation: Energy efficiency and engineering education

This report provides the Commonwealth Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (RET) with a summary of consultation undertaken with representatives from industry and academia around Australia regarding mainstreaming energy efficiency within engineering education. Specifically, the report documents the purpose of the consultation process, key messages and emerging themes, industry-perceived gaps in energy efficiency related knowledge and skills, and academic considerations regarding graduate attributes and learning pathways to close these gaps. This information complements previous reports by presenting the current thoughts and ideas of more than 100 engineering academic and practising professionals who are actively involved in building capacity through the education system or implementing energy efficiency improvements in companies/the workplace. Furthermore, the report describes the emergence of a potential ‘community of practice’ in energy efficiency capacity building that arose during the project.

Supporting the development and deployment of sustainable energy technologies through targeted scientific training

Sustainable energy technologies rely heavily on advanced materials and modern engineering controls. These promising new technologies cannot be reliably deployed without ensuring that there is a sufficient “capacity,” i.e., trained technical personnel with the expertise to implement, monitor, and maintain the energy infrastructure. This same capacity is critical to the local development of new technologies, especially those that respond directly to regional priorities, strengths, and needs. One way to build capacity is through targeted programs that integrate the training and development of locals at an advanced technical level. In practical terms, these programs usually produce a small number of highly educated individuals with skills in science and engineering. The goal of Part VI of this book is to highlight contributing factors in successfully operating capacity building programs.

Global banana disease management - getting serious with sustainability and food security

Much research in understanding plant diseases has been undertaken, but there has been insufficient attention given to dealing with coordinated approaches to preventing and managing diseases. A global management approach is essential to the long-term sustainability of banana production. This approach would involve coordinated surveys, capacity building in developing countries, development of disease outbreak contingency plans and coordinated quarantine awareness, including on-line training in impact risk assessment and web-based diagnostic software. Free movement of banana plants and products between some banana-producing countries is causing significant pressure on the ability to manage diseases in banana. The rapid spread of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense 'tropical race 4' in Asia, bacterial wilts in Africa and Asia and black leaf streak [Mycosphaerella fijiensis] in Brazil and elsewhere are cases in point. The impact of these diseases is devastating, severely cutting family incomes and jeopardising food security around the globe. Agreements urgently need to be reached between governments to halt the movement of banana plants and products between banana-producing countries before it is too late and global food security is irreparably harmed. Black leaf streak, arguably the most serious banana disease, has become extremely difficult to control in commercial plantations in various parts of the world. Sometimes in excess of 50 fungicide sprays have to be applied each year. Disease eradication and effective disease control is not possible because there is no control of disease inoculum in non-commercial plantings in these locations. Additionally, there have been enormous sums of money invested in international banana breeding programmes over many years only to see the value of hybrid products lost too soon. 'Goldfinger' (AAAB, syn. 'FHIA-01'), for example, has recently been observed severely affected by black leaf streak in Samoa. Resistant cultivars alone cannot be relied upon in the fight against this disease. Real progress in control may only come when the local communities are engaged and become actively involved in regional programmes. Global recommendations are long overdue and urgently needed to help ensure the long-term sustainable utilisation of the products of the breeding programmes.

Development and feasibility testing of an education program to improve knowledge and self-care among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients with heart failure

Background/Aim There is a 70% higher age-adjusted incidence of heart failure (HF) amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, three times more hospitalisations and twice as many deaths than non-Aboriginal people. There is a need to develop holistic yet individualised approaches in accord with the values of Aboriginal community healthcare to support patient education and self-care. The aim of this study was to re-design an existing HF educational resource (Fluid Watchers-Pacific Rim©) to be culturally safe for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, working in collaboration with the local community, and to conduct feasibility testing. Methods This study was conducted in two phases and utilised a mixed methods approach (qualitative and quantitative). Phase 1 of this study used action research methods to develop a culturally safe electronic resource to be provided to Aboriginal HF patients via a tablet computer. A HF expert panel adapted the existing resource to ensure it was evidence-based and contained appropriate language and images that reflects Aboriginal culture. A stakeholder group (which included Aboriginal workers and HF patients, as well as researchers and clinicians) then reviewed the resources and changes were made accordingly. In Phase 2, the new resource was tested on a sample of Aboriginal HF patients to assess feasibility and acceptability. Patient knowledge, satisfaction and self-care behaviours were measured using a before and after design with validated questionnaires. As this was a pilot test to determine feasibility, no statistical comparisons were made. Results - Phase 1: Throughout the process of resource development, two main themes emerged from the stakeholder consultation. These were the importance of identity, meaning that it was important to ensure that the resource accurately reflected the local community, with the appropriate clothing, skin tone and voice. The resource was adapted to reflect this and of the local community voiced the recordings for the resource. The other theme was comprehension; images were important and all text was converted to the first person and used plain language. - Phase 2: Five Aboriginal participants, mean age 61.6 ± 10.0 years, with NYHA Class III and IV heart failure were enrolled. Participants reported a high level of satisfaction with the resource (83.0%). HF knowledge (percentage of correct responses) increased from 48.0 ± 6.7% to 58.0 ± 9.7%, a 20.8% increase and results of the self-care index indicated that the biggest change was in patient confidence for self-care with a 95% increase in confidence score (46.7 ± 16.0 to 91.1 ± 11.5). Changes in management and maintenance scores varied between9275 patients. Conclusion By working in collaboration with HF experts, Aboriginal researchers and patients, a culturally safe HF resource has been developed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. Engaging Aboriginal researchers, capacity-building, and being responsive to local systems and structures enabled this pilot study to be successfully completed with the Aboriginal community and positive participant feedback demonstrated that the methodology used in this study was appropriate and acceptable; participants were able to engage with willingness and confidence.

Central Queensland Sustainable Farming Systems - Phase 3

This project employed a participatory development and extension (D&E) approach involving on-farm trials and capacity- building activities to improve the economic and environmental performance of grain and mixed farming enterprises in central Queensland (CQ). The project's activities delivered (1) enhanced knowledge and understanding of key system variables that underpin grain and mixed farming businesses, and parameter values for these variables in relation to a range of environmental and management factors, (2) new and refined practices, technologies and management strategies to sustain the profitability of cropping and (3) products and information to support continuous improvement in farm business performance.

Review of the Deakin University Master of Public Health Program

This work is one in a series of reports that forms a national review of Indigenous Public Health Core Competencies Integration into Master of Public Health programs. The review is a component of the Indigenous Public Health Capacity Building (IPHCB) Project funded by the Australian Government Department of Health.The Indigenous public health competencies are a core component of the Foundational Competencies for MPH Graduates in Australia (ANAPHI 2009), a curriculum framework that integrates the six core competencies in Indigenous public health expected of every Australian MPH graduate. The aim of this review is to investigate the integration of the core Indigenous public health competencies into the curriculum of MPH programs nationally in order to document and disseminate examples of best practice and to find ways of strengthening the delivery of this content. This report, one in a series, relates to the curriculum review conducted at Deakin University’s Burwood campus, Melbourne in April 2013.

Operational experience on a grid connected 100 kWe biomass gasification power plant in Karnataka, India

The paper reports the operational experience from a 100 kWe gasification power plant connected to the grid in Karnataka. Biomass Energy for Rural India (BERI) is a program that implemented gasification based power generation with an installed capacity of 0.88 MWe distributed over three locations to meet the electrical energy needs in the district of Tumkur. The operation of one 100 kWe power plant was found unsatisfactory and not meeting the designed performance. The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, the technology developer, took the initiative to ensure the system operation, capacity building and prove the designed performance. The power plant connected to the grid consists of the IISc gasification system which includes reactor, cooling, cleaning system, fuel drier and water treatment system to meet the producer gas quality for an engine. The producer gas is used as a fuel in Cummins India Limited, GTA 855 G model, turbo charged engine and the power output is connected to the grid. The system has operated for over 1000 continuous hours, with only about 70 h of grid outages. The total biomass consumption for 1035 h of operation was 111 t at an average of 107 kg/h. Total energy generated was 80.6 MWh reducing over loot of CO(2) emissions. The overall specific fuel consumption was about 1.36 kg/kWh, amounting to an overall efficiency from biomass to electricity of about 18%. The present operations indicate that a maintenance schedule for the plant can be at the end of 1000 h. The results for another 1000 h of operation by the local team are also presented. (C) 2011 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Corporate social responsibilities of Indian public sector enterprises-a case study of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)

The high level of public accountability attached to Public Sector Enterprises as a result of public ownership makes them socially responsible. The Committee of Public Undertakings in 1992 examined the issue relating to social obligations of Central Public Sector Enterprises and observed that ``being part of the `State', every Public Sector enterprise has a moral responsibility to play an active role in discharging the social obligations endowed on a welfare state, subject to the financial health of the enterprise''. It issued the Corporate Social Responsibility Guidelines in 2010 where all Central Public Enterprises, through a Board Resolution, are mandated to create a CSR budget as a specified percentage of net profit of the previous year. This paper examines the CSR activities of the biggest engineering public sector organization in India, Bharath Heavy Electricals Limited. The objectives are twofold, one, to develop a case study of the organization about the funds allocated and utilized for various CSR activities, and two, to examine its status with regard to other organizations, the 2010 guidelines, and the local socio-economic development. Secondary data analysis results show three interesting trends. One, it reveals increasing organizational social orientation with the formal guidelines in place. Two, Firms can no longer continue to exploit environmental resources and escape from their responsibilities by acting separate entities regardless of the interest of the society and Three the thrust of CSR in public sector is on inclusive growth, sustainable development and capacity building with due attention to the socio-economic needs of the neglected and marginalized sections of the society.

Annual report 2003 - North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES). Twelfth meeting, Seoul, Republic of Korea, October 9-18, 2003

Report of Opening Session (pdf 58 KB) Report of Governing Council Meeting (pdf 244 KB) Report of 2003 interim Governing Council meeting Tenth Anniversary PICES Organization Review Report of the Finance and Administration Committee (pdf 102 KB) 2002 Auditor's report to the Organization Review of PICES Publication Program Reports of Science Board and Committees: Science Board/Governing Council interim meeting (pdf 81 KB) Science Board (pdf 95 KB) Study Group on PICES Capacity Building Biological Oceanography Committee (pdf 65 KB) Advisory Panel on Micronekton sampling gear intercalibration experiment Advisory Panel on Marine birds and mammals Fishery Science Committee (pdf 41 KB) Working Group 16 on Climate change, shifts to fish production, and fisheries management Marine Environmental Quality Committee (pdf 76 KB) Working Group 15 on Ecology of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in the North Pacific Physical Oceanography and Climate Committee (pdf 70 KB) Working Group 17 on Biogeochemical data integration and synthesis Advisory Panel on North Pacific Data Buoy Technical Committee on Data Exchange (pdf 32 KB) Implementation Panel on the CCCC Program (pdf 64 KB) Nemuro Experimental Planning Team (NEXT) BASS Task Team (pdf 35 KB) Advisory Panel on Iron Fertilization Experiment MODEL Task Team (pdf 29 KB) MONITOR Task Team (pdf 30KB) REX Task Team (pdf 25 KB) Documenting Scientific Sessions (pdf 164 KB) List of Participants (pdf 60 KB) List of Acronyms (pdf 21 KB)

Tropical river fisheries valuation: background papers to a global synthesis

This report is a compilation of five regional reviews that document the global status of tropical rivers and inland fisheries in three continents: Latin America, Africa and Asia. It explores the role of ‘valuation’ methods and their contribution to policy-making and river fishery management. From the compilation, the best estimate of the global value of inland fisheries for those three continents is US$ 5.58 billion (gross market value), which is equivalent to 19 percent of the current value of annual fish exports from developing countries (US$ 29 billion) for 2004. The compilation shows that there is a general shortage of information on inland fisheries, especially derived from conventional economic valuation methods, though information from economic impact assessment methods and socio-economic and livelihood analysis methods is more widely available. The status of knowledge about the impact of changes in river management on the value of tropical river fisheries is weak and patchy. Although the impacts of large dams on the hydrology, ecology and livelihood support attributes of tropical rivers are well-recognized, there have been only few valuation studies of these issues. The document highlights the need for further valuation studies of tropical river and inland fisheries in developing countries. It underlines how vital it is for policy-makers and other stakeholders to understand the importance of these natural resources in order to make appropriate decisions concerning their role in development policy and illustrates why capacity building in valuation should become a major priority for agencies concerned with fisheries management and policy-making.

Proceedings of the International Workshop responding to HIV and AIDS in the fishery sector in Africa, Lusaka, Zambia, 21-22 February 2006

The purpose of the workshop was to enable professionals and organizations working with fishing communities in response to HIV and AIDS in Africa to share experiences, appraise the efficacy of their approaches and identify actions in research and development that will further improve their impact. The workshop pursued and achieved the following objectives: 1)Review and compare research findings and approaches applied in response to HIV and AIDS in fishing communities and the wider fishery sector. 2)Identify good practice examples for wider application. 3)Identify next steps in development and research to scale up these examples. 4)Initiate a network of practitioners in Africa for capacity building, scaling-up and further development of approaches. The range of papers presented at the conference reveals the diversity of responses to HIV and AIDS in the fishery sector at all levels. The papers discussed a range of issues within this broad remit, from community level impacts of disease to policy implementation, from spatial mapping to theatre as a mode of communication. (Document contains 92 pages)