Mapping the experiential in contemporary dance

The research questions how a ‘lived experience’ of contemporary dance could be deepened for the audience. It presents a series of choreographic ‘tools’ to create alternative frameworks of presentation that challenge the dominant modes of creation, presentation and meaning making in contemporary dance. The five tools established and applied in this research are: variations of site, liminality, audience agency, audience-performer proximity and performer qualities. These tools are framed as a series of calibrated scales that allow choreographers to map decisions made in the studio in relation to potential audience engagement. The research houses multiple presentation formats from the traditional to the avant-garde and opens up possibilities for analysis of a wide range of artistic dance works. This research presents options for choreographers to map how audiences experience their work and offers opportunities to engage audiences in new and exciting ways.

Dichotomy of food and inhalant allergen sensitization in eosinophilic esophagitis

Background: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EE) is an emerging condition where patients commonly present with symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease and fail to respond adequately to anti-reflux therapy. Food allergy is currently recognized as the main immunological cause of EE; recent evidence suggests an etiological role for inhalant allergens. The presence of EE appears to be associated with other atopic illnesses. Objectives: To report the sensitization profile of both food and inhalant allergens in our EE patient cohort in relation to age, and to profile the prevalence of other allergic conditions in patients with EE. Method: The study prospectively analyzed allergen sensitization profiles using skin prick tests to common food allergens and inhalant allergens in 45 children with EE. Patch testing to common food allergens was performed on 33 patients in the same cohort. Comorbidity of atopic eczema, asthma, allergic rhinitis and anaphylaxis were obtained from patient history. Results: Younger patients with EE showed more IgE and patch sensitization to foods while older patients showed greater IgE sensitization to inhalant allergens. The prevalence of atopic eczema, allergic rhinitis and asthma was significantly increased in our EE cohort compared with the general Australian population. A total of 24% of our cohort of patients with EE had a history of anaphylaxis. Conclusion: In children with EE, the sensitization to inhalant allergens increases with age, particularly after 4 years. Also, specific enquiry about severe food reactions in patients presenting with EE is strongly recommended as it appears this patient group has a high incidence of anaphylaxis. © 2007 The Authors.

Destinations: 3 Large Cast Plays for Young People

This book is a collection of three large-cast plays written in response to a very specific problem. My work as a teacher of drama often required me to locate a script that would somehow miraculously work for a cast of unknown number and gender, and most likely uneven skills and enthusiasm, who I hadn’t even met yet. It’s a familiar dilemma for teachers and students of drama in education contexts, at whatever level you’re teaching. I’d first addressed this creative problem with scripts such as Gate 38 (2010). I had tried using scripts that already existed, but found they required such extensive editing to suit the parameters of cast and performance duration that I may as well have been writing them myself. Even in the setting of a closed studio, in altering these plays I felt I was bending the vision of the playwright, and certainly their narrative structure, out of shape. Everyone who’s attempted to stage a performance with a large cast of students in an educational setting knows it takes time to truly connect with a play, its social contexts, themes and characters. It also takes a lot of time to get on top of the practicalities of learning, rehearsing, directing and running a performance with young people. Often the curtain goes up on something unfinished and unstable. I was looking for ways to reduce the complexity of staging a script, while maintaining the potential of this process as a site of rich, enjoyable learning. Two of the plays (Duty Free and Please Be Seated) are comprised of multiple monologues, combined with music-driven ensemble sequences. The monologues enable individuals to develop and polish their own performances, work in small groups, and cut down on the laborious detail of directing naturalistic scenes based in character interaction. The third (Australian Drama) involves a lot of duologues, meaning that its rehearsal process can happily employ that mainstay of the drama classroom: small group work. There’s plenty of room to move in terms of gender-blind casting as well. Please be Seated is mainly young women. The scripts also contain ensemble-based interludes which are non-verbal, music driven, with a choreographic element. They have also springboarded further explorations in form. The ethical and aesthetic complexities of verbatim works; the interaction between music and theatre; and meta-concerns related to the performing of performance: ‘how can the act of acting ‘acted’. The narratives of all three of these plays are deliberately open, enabling the flexible casting and on-the hop editing that large-group, time-poor processes sometimes necessitate. Duty Free is about the overseas ‘adventures’ of young people. Please Be Seated is based in verbatim text about young people falling in and out of love. Australian Drama is about young people in a drama classroom trying to connect with each other and put their own shine on dull fragments of the theatrical canon. The plays were published as a collection in hardcopy and digital editions by Playlab Press in 2015. Please be Seated is a co-write with a large group. These co-author’s names are listed in the publication, and below in ‘additional information’.

Grammar and disciplinary culture : a corpus-based study

The present study provides a usage-based account of how three grammatical structures, declarative content clauses, interrogative content clause and as-predicative constructions, are used in academic research articles. These structures may be used in both knowledge claims and citations, and they often express evaluative meanings. Using the methodology of quantitative corpus linguistics, I investigate how the culture of the academic discipline influences the way in which these constructions are used in research articles. The study compares the rates of occurrence of these grammatical structures and investigates their co-occurrence patterns in articles representing four different disciplines (medicine, physics, law, and literary criticism). The analysis is based on a purpose-built 2-million-word corpus, which has been part-of-speech tagged. The analysis demonstrates that the use of these grammatical structures varies between disciplines, and further shows that the differences observed in the corpus data are linked with differences in the nature of knowledge and the patterns of enquiry. The constructions in focus tend to be more frequently used in the soft disciplines, law and literary criticism, where their co-occurrence patterns are also more varied. This reflects both the greater variety of topics discussed in these disciplines, and the higher frequency of references to statements made by other researchers. Knowledge-building in the soft fields normally requires a careful contextualisation of the arguments, giving rise to statements reporting earlier research employing the constructions in focus. In contrast, knowledgebuilding in the hard fields is typically a cumulative process, based on agreed-upon methods of analysis. This characteristic is reflected in the structure and contents of research reports, which offer fewer opportunities for using these constructions.

The use of animation to promote student learning about the importance of mental well-being for tertiary study success

It is now widely acknowledged that student mental well-being is a critical factor in the tertiary student learning experience and is important to student learning success. The issue of student mental well-being also has implications for effective student transition out of university and into the world of work. It is therefore vital that intentional strategies are adopted by universities both within the formal curriculum, and outside it, to promote student well-being and to work proactively and preventatively to avoid a decline in student psychological well-being. This paper describes how the Queensland University of Technology Law School is using animation to teach students about the importance for their learning success of the protection of their mental well-being. Mayer and Moreno (2002) define an animation as an external representation with three main characteristics: (1) it is a pictorial representation, (2) it depicts apparent movement, and (3) it consists of objects that are artificially created through drawing or some other modelling technique. Research into the effectiveness of animation as a tool for tertiary student learning engagement is relatively new and growing field of enquiry. Nash argues, for example, that animations provide a “rich, immersive environment [that] encourages action and interactivity, which overcome an often dehumanizing learning management system approach” (Nash, 2009, 25). Nicholas states that contemporary millennial students in universities today, have been immersed in animated multimedia since their birth and in fact need multimedia to learn and communicate effectively (2008). However, it has also been established, for example through the work of Lowe (2003, 2004, 2008) that animations can place additional perceptual, attentional, and cognitive demands on students that they are not always equipped to cope with. There are many different genres of animation. The dominant style of animation used in the university learning environment is expository animation. This approach is a useful tool for visualising dynamic processes and is used to support student understanding of subjects and themes that might otherwise be perceived as theoretically difficult and disengaging. It is also a form of animation that can be constructed to avoid any potential negative impact on cognitive load that the animated genre might have. However, the nature of expository animation has limitations for engaging students, and can present as clinical and static. For this reason, the project applied Kombartzky, Ploetzner, Schlag, and Metz’s (2010) cognitive strategy for effective student learning from expository animation, and developed a hybrid form of animation that takes advantage of the best elements of expository animation techniques along with more engaging short narrative techniques. First, the paper examines the existing literature on the use of animation in tertiary educational contexts. Second, the paper describes how animation was used at QUT Law School to teach students about the issue of mental well-being and its importance to their learning success. Finally, the paper analyses the potential of the use of animation, and of the cognitive strategy and animation approach trialled in the project, as a teaching tool for the promotion of student learning about the importance of mental well-being.

Pack

Inspiration for this work came from my recent experience of living in Beijing, China. Having a massive population of over 21 million people, one cannot feel but just another number within the crowd of this hectic megalopolis. Society is conditioned to obey, to conform, with some cultures being more hard lined with their citizens than others. However, there is a desire within each of us to have freedom of expression… to project an identity, to be an individual… nevertheless a desire not to be different… to follow trends and fads… a desire to fit in and connect. Within the pack there is also the outcast… the one who is different… the one who does not fit in. Pack has been created to be absorbed and interpreted openly by each individual. Driven by repetition and cycles, I have used this choreographic approach as a metaphor for the daily routine inherent in one’s life.

Ammatillinen osaaminen ja täydennyskoulutus : tiedon ja osaamisen leviäminen osallistujien välillä

The goal of my research was to describe how adult students perceive professional knowledge and know-how, and how these diffuse among a group of students during a continuing education program. The goal was also to research the meaning of shared working life experience in improving the professional know-how of the students. My research is positioned in the field of supporting environments for adult learning with an emphasis on interaction between students in social networks. The participants of my research were 31 adult students taking part in continuing education program at the time of my study. I gathered the research data using quantitative and qualitative research methods. Quantitative network enquiry led me to do 9 theme interviews. I analyzed the data using a network analyzing program and a content analyzing method. I examined the whole community of students, the home groups of four students and the main actors who were central for the community. The analysis focused on the distribution network of professional knowledge and know-how, the distribution network of social support and the network of reciprocal interaction. Professional knowledge and know-how that diffuse between adult students in continuing education, is mostly hands-on tips and occupational experience. The factors that promote the distribution of professional experience and know-how are structural ones and factors that emphasize co-operation relationships. The structural factors are participation in adult education and in home groups and also organizational arrangements of learning. The factors that emphasize co-operation relationships are encouragement and doing learning assignments together. The central distributors of professional know-how are adult students who have long working life experience. The meaning of the diffusion of professional experience and know-how for improving professional know-how of a single adult student is in developing his professional identity and adding his social capital. In the social interaction networks, which I studied, more relations exist inside the home groups than between them, which is congruent with earlier researches. My research can be utilized by using its research methods and emphasizing its results in adult education planning and guidance.

Maximising the contribution of native-range studies towards the identification and prioritisation of weed biocontrol agents

Effective study in the native range to identify potential agents underpins all efforts in classical biological control of weeds. Good agents that demonstrate both a high degree of host specificity and the potential to be damaging are a very limited resource and must therefore be carefully studied and considered. The overseas component is often operationally difficult and expensive but can contribute considerably more than a list of herbivores attacking a particular target. While the principles underlying this foreign component have been understood for some time, recently developed technologies and methods can make very significant contributions to foreign studies. Molecular and genetic characterisations of both target weed and agent organism can be increasingly employed to more accurately define the identity and phylogeny of them. Climate matching and modelling software is now available and can be utilised to better select agents for particular regions of concern. Relational databases can store collection information for analysis and future enquiry while quantification of sampling effort, employment of statistical survey methods and analysis by techniques such as rarefaction curves contribute to efficient and effective searching. Obtaining good and timely identifications for discovered agent organisms is perhaps the most serious issue confronting the modern explorer. The diminishing numbers of specialist taxonomists employed at the major museums while international and national protocols demand higher standards of identity exacerbates the issue. Genetic barcoding may provide a very useful tool to overcome this problem. Native-range work also offers under-exploited opportunities for contributing towards predicting safety, abundance and efficacy of potential agents in their target environment.

Tapiolan kuoron pedagoginen merkitys vuosina 1963-2003

This study examines the impact that the Tapiola choir has had on its singers under its four decades. This pedagogical meaning was studied through the former singers of the Tapiola choir, their life choices and their choice of profession. The purpose of this study was to find out how the Tapiola choir has influenced its singers in the long run - their individuality and personality as well as their world view. The target group of this research were all the former members of the Tapiola choir. Altogether 400 individuals have sung in the Tapiola choir. One hundred of them could be reached and 87 of them answered the enquiry. The enquiry was divided in to the following sections: 1) background, 2) years in the choir, 3) hobbies, 4) statements, 5) complete the sentences and 6) with your own words. The main emphasis in this enquiry was on the 50 statements, which were used to study the respondents' attitudes towards the choir as a hobby, the choir's working methods and music education. Through the analysis of this section the researcher was able to generalize the impacts that Tapiola choir has had on its singers. The theoretical base of this study examines the subtext of musicality and musical development as well as music as a hobby. Communal music hobbies and the requirements for a functioning music community were also accentuated. This was connected to my hypothesis of an educative music community. A music community can't be truly educative if its members are unable to collaborate in different situations of practicing and performing. The research results support my hypothesis of the educativeness of a children's choir. The former choristers are socially skilled and self-confident individuals, who are well prepared for the challenges in life. In the Tapiola choir every member is a responsible individual as well as an important part of the whole. The different tasks given in the choir teach the choristers to trust their own skills. Working in a group for its part develops social skills. Many of the respondents also felt that singing in the Tapiola choir was more than a hobby, almost like a way of life. Many of them impress that they would be totally different persons without this period in their life. Children's choir, music education, life choices, social interest group, communal music hobby

Lost in space: The place of the architectural milieu in the aetiology and treatment of schizophrenia

Purpose – Psychological and epidemiological literature suggests that the built environment plays both causal and therapeutic roles in schizophrenia, but what are the implications for designers? The purpose of this paper is to focus on the role the built environment plays in psycho‐environmental dynamics, in order that negative effects can be avoided and beneficial effects emphasised in architectural design. Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken is a translational exploration of the dynamics between the built environment and psychotic illness, using primary research from disciplines as diverse as epidemiology, neurology and psychology. Findings – The built environment is conceived as being both an agonist and as an antagonist for the underlying processes that present as psychosis. The built environment is implicated through several means, through the opportunities it provides. These may be physical, narrative, emotional, hedonic or personal. Some opportunities may be negative, and others positive. The built environment is also an important source of unexpected aesthetic stimulation, yet in psychotic illnesses, aesthetic sensibilities characteristically suffer from deterioration. Research limitations/implications – The findings presented are based on research that is largely translated from very different fields of enquiry. Whilst findings are cogent and logical, much of the support is correlational rather than empirical. Social implications – The WHO claims that schizophrenia destroys 24 million lives worldwide, with an exponential effect on human and financial capital. Because evidence implicates the built environment, architectural and urban designers may have a role to play in reducing the human costs wrought by the illness. Originality/value – Never before has architecture been so explicitly implicated as a cause of mental illness. This paper was presented to the Symposium of Mental Health Facility Design, and is essential reading for anyone involved in designing for improved mental health.

From workplace to profession: New focus for the information literacy discourse

The present paper suggests articulating the general context of workplace in information literacy research. The paper considers distinguishing between information literacy research in workplaces and professions. Referring to the results of a phenomenographic enquiry into web professionals’ information literacy as an example, it is indicated that work-related information literacy in particular contexts and depending on the nature of the context, is experienced beyond physical workspaces and at professional level. This involves people interacting with each other and with information at a broader level in comparison to a physically bounded workspace. Regarding the example case discussed in the paper, virtuality is identified as the dominant feature of the profession that causes information literacy to be experienced at a professional level. It is anticipated that pursuing the direction proposed in the paper will result in a more segmented image of work-related information literacy.

Predicting the last brand standing in the supermarket price wars

On January 26, 2011, grocery retailer Coles fired the first salvo in what would soon be dubbed the “supermarket price wars” by reducing the price of its own-brand milk to A$1 per litre. Woolworths immediately responded. In the three years since, grocery prices have been tumbling, with 85 cent bread being the latest “sacrificial lamb”. This period of intense competition has brought about not just lower grocery prices, but a senate enquiry, and increasing media and analyst interest.

Exploring elements for innovation in the Australian water sector

This thesis explores innovation as a means to achieving an enhanced level of sustainability in the Australian water sector. A modified Delphi study uncovered sixteen key elements centred around themes of 'community acceptance' and 'innovator effectiveness', that provide insights for immediate application within the sector to address impacts of climate change, population increases and resource scarcity. This exploratory research builds a foundational understanding of the components for change and innovation within the Australian water sector, and forms the underpinning for more specific lines of enquiry.

Dealing with discomfort: How the unspeakable confounds wicked planning problems

The idea of ‘wicked’ problems has made a valuable contribution to recognising the complexity and challenges of contemporary planning. However, some wicked policy problems are further complicated by a significant moral, psychological, religious or cultural dimension. This is particularly the case for problems that possess strong elements of abjection and symbolic pollution and high degrees of psychosocial sensitivity. Because this affects the way these problems are framed and discussed they are also characterised by high levels of verbal proscription. As a result, they are not discussed in the rational and emotion-free way that conventional planning demands and can become obscured or inadequately acknowledged in planning processes. This further contributes to their wickedness and intractability. Through paradigmatic urban planning examples, we argue that placing their unspeakable nature at the forefront of enquiry will enable planners to advocate for a more contextually and culturally situated approach to planning, which accommodates both emotional and embodied talk alongside more technical policy contributions. Re-imagining wicked problems in this way has the potential to enhance policy and plan-making and to disrupt norms, expose their contingency, and open new ways of planning for both the unspeakable and the merely wicked.

'Insider-other': spectator-dancer relationships fostered through open rehearsals

This thesis addresses audience engagement challenges during professional mainstream ballet and contemporary dance company performances by examining spectator-dancer relationships. Focusing on the open rehearsal as an audience engagement tool, this project presents a new line of enquiry in dance reception studies. The findings signify that open rehearsal attendance can contribute to more meaningful and enjoyable performance experiences for audience members by opening up the possibility of different relationships with dancers.