Primary students’ interpretation of maps : gesture use and mapping knowledge

Maps are used to represent three-dimensional space and are integral to a range of everyday experiences. They are increasingly used in mathematics, being prominent both in school curricula and as a form of assessing students understanding of mathematics ideas. In order to successfully interpret maps, students need to be able to understand that maps: represent space, have their own perspective and scale, and their own set of symbols and texts. Despite the fact that maps have an increased prevalence in society and school, there is evidence to suggest that students have difficulty interpreting maps. This study investigated 43 primary-aged students’ (aged 9-12 years) verbal and gestural behaviours as they engaged with and solved map tasks. Within a multiliteracies framework that focuses on spatial, visual, linguistic, and gestural elements, the study investigated how students interpret map tasks. Specifically, the study sought to understand students’ skills and approaches used to solving map tasks and the gestural behaviours they utilised as they engaged with map tasks. The investigation was undertaken using the Knowledge Discovery in Data (KDD) design. The design of this study capitalised on existing research data to carry out a more detailed analysis of students’ interpretation of map tasks. Video data from an existing data set was reorganised according to two distinct episodes—Task Solution and Task Explanation—and analysed within the multiliteracies framework. Content Analysis was used with these data and through anticipatory data reduction techniques, patterns of behaviour were identified in relation to each specific map task by looking at task solution, task correctness and gesture use. The findings of this study revealed that students had a relatively sound understanding of general mapping knowledge such as identifying landmarks, using keys, compass points and coordinates. However, their understanding of mathematical concepts pertinent to map tasks including location, direction, and movement were less developed. Successful students were able to interpret the map tasks and apply relevant mathematical understanding to navigate the spatial demands of the map tasks while the unsuccessful students were only able to interpret and understand basic map conventions. In terms of their gesture use, the more difficult the task, the more likely students were to exhibit gestural behaviours to solve the task. The most common form of gestural behaviour was deictic, that is a pointing gesture. Deictic gestures not only aided the students capacity to explain how they solved the map tasks but they were also a tool which assisted them to navigate and monitor their spatial movements when solving the tasks. There were a number of implications for theory, learning and teaching, and test and curriculum design arising from the study. From a theoretical perspective, the findings of the study suggest that gesturing is an important element of multimodal engagement in mapping tasks. In terms of teaching and learning, implications include the need for students to utilise gesturing techniques when first faced with new or novel map tasks. As students become more proficient in solving such tasks, they should be encouraged to move beyond a reliance on such gesture use in order to progress to more sophisticated understandings of map tasks. Additionally, teachers need to provide students with opportunities to interpret and attend to multiple modes of information when interpreting map tasks.

Identity fraud and land registration systems : an Australian perspective

There is no doubt that fraud in relation to land transactions is a problem that resonates amongst land academics, practitioners, and stakeholders involved in conveyancing. As each land registration and conveyancing process increasingly moves towards a fully electronic environment, we need to make sure that we understand and guard against the frauds that can occur. What this paper does is examine the types of fraud that have occurred in paper-based conveyancing systems in Australia and considers how they might be undertaken in the National Electronic Conveyancing System (NECS) that is currently under development. Whilst no system can ever be infallible, it is suggested that by correctly imposing the responsibility for identity verification on the appropriate individual, the conveyancing system adopted can achieve the optimum level of fairness in terms of allocation of responsibility and loss. As we sit on the cusp of a new era of electronic conveyancing, the framework suggested here provides a model for minimising the risks of forged mortgages and appropriately allocating the loss. Importantly it also recognises that the electronic environment will see new opportunities for those with criminal intent to undermine the integrity of land transactions. An appreciation of this now, can see the appropriate measures put in place to minimise the risk.

Lymphedema after breast or gynecological cancer : use and effectiveness of mainstream and complementary therapies

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe the use, as well as perceived effectiveness, of mainstream and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies in the treatment of lymphedema following breast or gynecological cancer. Further, the study assessed the relationship between the characteristics of lymphedema (including type, severity, stability, and duration), and the use of CAM and/or mainstream treatment. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using a convenience sample of women with lymphedema following breast and gynecological cancers. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to 247 potentially eligible women. Of those returned (50%), 23 were ineligible and 6 were excluded due to level of missing data. Results: In the previous 12 months, the majority of women (90%) had used mainstream treatments to treat their lymphedema, with massage being the most commonly used (86%). One (1) in 2 women had used CAM to treat their lymphedema, and 98% of those using CAM were also using mainstream treatments. Over 27 types of CAM were reported, with use of a chi machine, vitamin E supplements, yoga, and meditation being the most commonly reported forms. The perceived effectiveness ratings (1–7 with 7 = completely effective) of mainstream(mean – standard deviation (SD): 5.3 – 1.5) and CAM therapies (mean – SD: 5.2 + 1.6) were considered high. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that mainstream and CAM treatment use is common, varied, and considered to be effective among women with lymphedema following breast or gynecological cancer. Furthermore, it highlights the immediate need for larger prospective studies assessing the inter-relationship between the use of mainstream and CAM therapies for treatment success.

Psychoanalytic perspectives on substance use and antisocial personality disorder

Psychoanalysis and related psychodynamic psychotherapies have historically had a limited engagement with substance use and antisocial personality disorders. This in part reflects an early preoccupation with ‘transference neuroses’ and in part reflects later de-emphasis of diagnosis and focus on therapeutic process. Nonetheless, psychoanalytic perspectives can usefully inform thinking about approaches to treatment of such disorders and there are psychoanalytic constructs that have specific relevance to their treatment. This paper reviews some prominent strands of psychoanalytic thinking as they pertain to the treatment of substance abuse and antisocial personality disorders. It is argued that, while Freudian formulations lead to a primarily pessimistic view of the prospect of treatment of such disorders, both the British object relations and the North American self psychology traditions suggest potentially productive approaches. Finally the limited empirical evidence from brief psychodynamically informed treatments of substance use disorders is reviewed. It is concluded that such treatments are not demonstrably effective but that, since no form of psychotherapy has established high efficacy with substance use disorders, brief psychdynamic therapies are not necessarily of lesser value than other treatments and may have specific value for particular individuals and in particular treatment contexts.

Radioactive residues associated with water treatment, use and disposal in Australia

Water resources are known to contain radioactive materials, either from natural or anthropogenic sources. Treatment, including wastewater treatment, of water for drinking, domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes has the potential to concentrate radioactive materials. Inevitably concentrated radioactive material is discharged to the environment as a waste product, reused for soil conditioning, or perhaps recycled as a new potable water supply. This thesis, presented as a collection of peer reviewed scientific papers, explores a number of water / wastewater treatment applications, and the subsequent nature and potential impact of radioactive residues associated with water exploitation processes. The thesis draws together research outcomes for sites predominantly throughout Queensland, Australia, where it is recognised that there is a paucity of published data on the subject. This thesis contributes to current knowledge on the monitoring, assessment and potential for radiation exposure from radioactive residues associated with the water industry.

Influence of rainfall and catchment characteristics on urban stormwater quality

This thesis presents the outcomes of a comprehensive research study undertaken to investigate the influence of rainfall and catchment characteristics on urban stormwater quality. The knowledge created is expected to contribute to a greater understanding of urban stormwater quality and thereby enhance the design of stormwater quality treatment systems. The research study was undertaken based on selected urban catchments in Gold Coast, Australia. The research methodology included field investigations, laboratory testing, computer modelling and data analysis. Both univariate and multivariate data analysis techniques were used to investigate the influence of rainfall and catchment characteristics on urban stormwater quality. The rainfall characteristics investigated included average rainfall intensity and rainfall duration whilst catchment characteristics included land use, impervious area percentage, urban form and pervious area location. The catchment scale data for the analysis was obtained from four residential catchments, including rainfall-runoff records, drainage network data, stormwater quality data and land use and land cover data. Pollutants build-up samples were collected from twelve road surfaces in residential, commercial and industrial land use areas. The relationships between rainfall characteristics, catchment characteristics and urban stormwater quality were investigated based on residential catchments and then extended to other land uses. Based on the influence rainfall characteristics exert on urban stormwater quality, rainfall events can be classified into three different types, namely, high average intensity-short duration (Type 1), high average intensity-long duration (Type 2) and low average intensity-long duration (Type 3). This provides an innovative approach to conventional modelling which does not commonly relate stormwater quality to rainfall characteristics. Additionally, it was found that the threshold intensity for pollutant wash-off from urban catchments is much less than for rural catchments. High average intensity-short duration rainfall events are cumulatively responsible for the generation of a major fraction of the annual pollutants load compared to the other rainfall event types. Additionally, rainfall events less than 1 year ARI such as 6- month ARI should be considered for treatment design as they generate a significant fraction of the annual runoff volume and by implication a significant fraction of the pollutants load. This implies that stormwater treatment designs based on larger rainfall events would not be feasible in the context of cost-effectiveness, efficiency in treatment performance and possible savings in land area needed. This also suggests that the simulation of long-term continuous rainfall events for stormwater treatment design may not be needed and that event based simulations would be adequate. The investigations into the relationship between catchment characteristics and urban stormwater quality found that other than conventional catchment characteristics such as land use and impervious area percentage, other catchment characteristics such as urban form and pervious area location also play important roles in influencing urban stormwater quality. These outcomes point to the fact that the conventional modelling approach in the design of stormwater quality treatment systems which is commonly based on land use and impervious area percentage would be inadequate. It was also noted that the small uniformly urbanised areas within a larger mixed catchment produce relatively lower variations in stormwater quality and as expected lower runoff volume with the opposite being the case for large mixed use urbanised catchments. Therefore, a decentralised approach to water quality treatment would be more effective rather than an "end-of-pipe" approach. The investigation of pollutants build-up on different land uses showed that pollutant build-up characteristics vary even within the same land use. Therefore, the conventional approach in stormwater quality modelling, which is based solely on land use, may prove to be inappropriate. Industrial land use has relatively higher variability in maximum pollutant build-up, build-up rate and particle size distribution than the other two land uses. However, commercial and residential land uses had relatively higher variations of nutrients and organic carbon build-up. Additionally, it was found that particle size distribution had a relatively higher variability for all three land uses compared to the other build-up parameters. The high variability in particle size distribution for all land uses illustrate the dissimilarities associated with the fine and coarse particle size fractions even within the same land use and hence the variations in stormwater quality in relation to pollutants adsorbing to different sizes of particles.

Fatalism and its implications for risky road use and receptiveness to safety messages : a qualitative investigation in Pakistan

Given the increasing vehicle numbers and expanding road construction in developing countries, the importance of safe road user behaviour is critical. Road traffic crashes (RTC) are a significant problem in Pakistan, however the factors that contribute to RTC in Pakistan are not well-researched. Fatalistic beliefs are a potential barrier to the enhancement of road safety, especially participation in health-promoting and injury prevention behaviours, and also contribute to risk-taking. Fatalistic beliefs relating to road safety have been found in some developing countries, although again research is scarce and indicates that the nature and extent of fatalism differs in each country. Qualitative research was undertaken with a range of drivers, religious orators, police and policy makers to explore associations between fatalism, risky road use and associated issues. Findings indicate that fatalistic beliefs are pervasive in Pakistan, are strongly linked with religion, present a likely barrier to road safety messages and contribute to risky road use. Fatalism appears to be a default attribution of RTC and the intensity of belief in fate surpasses the kinds of fatalism noted in the limited existing literature. These findings have importance to developing road safety countermeasures in countries where fatalistic beliefs are strong.

An expanded critical incident approach for exploring information use and learning

Critical incidents offer a focus for exploratory research about human experiences, including information use and information literacy learning. This paper describes how critical incidents underpinned research about international students’ use of online information resources at two Australian universities. It outlines the development and application of an expanded critical incident approach (ECIA), explaining how ECIA built upon critical incident technique (CIT) and incorporated information literacy theory. It discusses points of expansion (differences) between CIT and ECIA. While CIT initially proved useful in structuring the research, the pilot study revealed methodological limitations. ECIA allowed more nuanced data analysis and the integration of reflection. The study produced a multifaceted word picture of international students’ experience of using online information resources to learn, and a set of critical findings about their information literacy learning needs. ECIA offers a fresh approach for researching information use, information experience, evidence-based practice, information literacy and informed learning.

Challenges for researchers investigating contraceptive use and pregnancy intentions of young women living in urban and rural Australia : face-to-face discussions to increase participation in a web-based survey

Background: It is imperative to understand how to engage young women in research about issues that are important to them. There is limited reliable data on how young women access contraception in Australia especially in rural areas where services may be less available. Objective: This paper identifies the challenges involved in engaging young Australian women aged 18-23 years to participate in a web-based survey on contraception and pregnancy and ensure their ongoing commitment to follow-up web-based surveys. Methods: A group of young women, aged 18-23 years and living in urban and rural New South Wales, Australia, were recruited to participate in face-to-face discussions using several methods of recruitment: direct contact (face-to-face, telephone or email)and snowball sampling by potential participants inviting their friends. All discussions were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Twenty young women participated (urban, n=10: mean age 21.6 years; rural, n=10: 20.0 years) and all used computers or smart phones to access the internet on a daily basis. All participants were concerned about the cost of internet access and utilized free access to social media on their mobile phones. Their willingness to participate in a web-based survey was dependent on incentives with a preference for small financial rewards. Most participants were concerned about their personal details and survey responses remaining confidential and secure. The most appropriate survey would take up to 15 minutes to complete, be a mix of short and long questions and eye-catching with bright colours. Questions on the sensitive topics of sexual activity, contraception and pregnancy were acceptable if they could respond with “I prefer not to answer”. Conclusions: There are demographic, participation and survey design challenges in engaging young women in a web-based survey. Based on our findings, future research efforts are needed to understand the full extent of the role social media and incentives play in the decision of young women to participate in web-based research.

Adapting wheat sowing dates to projected climate change in the Australian subtropics: analysis of crop water use and yield

Projected increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]) and air temperature associated with future climate change are expected to affect crop development, crop yield, and, consequently, global food supplies. They are also likely to change agricultural production practices, especially those related to agricultural water management and sowing date. The magnitude of these changes and their implications to local production systems are mostly unknown. The objectives of this study were to: (i) simulate the effect of projected climate change on spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Lang) yield and water use for the subtropical environment of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia; and (ii) investigate the impact of changing sowing date, as an adaptation strategy to future climate change scenarios, on wheat yield and water use. The multimodel climate projections from the IPCC Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3) for the period 2030–2070 were used in this study. Climate scenarios included combinations of four changes in air temperature (08C, 18C, 28C, and 38C), three [CO2] levels (380 ppm, 500 ppm, and 600 ppm), and three changes in rainfall (–30%, 0%, and +20%), which were superimposed on observed station data. Crop management scenarios included a combination of six sowing dates (1 May, 10 May, 20 May, 1 June, 10 June, and 20 June) and three irrigation regimes (no irrigation (NI), deficit irrigation (DI), and full irrigation (FI)). Simulations were performed with the model DSSAT4.5, using 50 years of daily weather data.Wefound that: (1) grain yield and water-use efficiency (yield/evapotranspiration) increased linearly with [CO2]; (2) increases in [CO2] had minimal impact on evapotranspiration; (3) yield increased with increasing temperature for the irrigated scenarios (DI and FI), but decreased for the NI scenario; (4) yield increased with earlier sowing dates; and (5) changes in rainfall had a small impact on yield for DI and FI, but a high impact for the NI scenario.

Remove, rehabilitate, return? The use and effectiveness of behaviour schools in New South Wales, Australia

Research indicates that enrolments in separate special educational settings for students with disruptive behaviour have increased in a number of educational jurisdictions internationally. Recent analysis of school enrolment data has identified a similar increase in the New South Wales (NSW) government school sector; however, questions have been raised as to their use and effectiveness. To situate the NSW experiment with behaviour schools in a broader context, the paper begins with a review of the international research literature. This is followed by a discussion of the NSW experience with the aim of identifying parallels and gaps in the research. The paper concludes by outlining important questions and directions for research to better understand and improve the educational experiences and outcomes of disruptive disaffected students in Australia’s largest school system.