Flexibility, Technology and Academics' Practices : Tantalising Tales and Muddy Maps

The project investigated the relationships between diversification in modes ofdelivery, use of information and communication technologies, academics’ teaching practices, and the context in which those practices are employed, in two of the three large universities in Brisbane—Griffith University and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The project’s initial plan involved the investigation of two sites: Queensland University of Technology’s Faculty of Education (Kelvin Grove campus) and Griffith University’s Faculty of Humanities(Nathan campus). Interviews associated with the Faculty of Education led to a decision to include a third site—the School of Law within Queensland University of Technology’s Faculty of Law, which is based on the Gardens Point Campus. Here the investigation focused on the use of computer-based flexible learning practices, as distinct from the more text-based practices identified within the original two sites.

The human cost of change : tales from the campus about personal change fatigue, resistance, and resilience

For the last decade, one question has haunted me: what helps people to cope with large-scale organisational change in their workplace? This study explores the construct of personal change resilience, and its potential for identifying solutions to the problems of change fatigue and change resistance. The thesis has emerged from the fields of change management, leadership, training, mentoring, evaluation, management and trust within the context of higher education in Australia at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In this thesis I present a theoretical model of the factors to consider in increasing peoples’ personal change resilience as they navigate large-scale organisational change at work, thereby closing a gap in the literature on the construct of change resilience. The model presented is based on both the literature in the realms of business and education, and on the findings of the research. In this thesis, an autoethnographic case study of two Australian university projects is presented as one narrative, resulting in a methodological step forward in the use of multiple research participants’ stories in the development of a single narrative. The findings describe the experiences of workers in higher education and emphasise the importance of considerate management in the achievement of positive experiences of organisational change. This research makes a significant contribution to new knowledge in three ways. First, it closes a gap in the literature in the realm of change management around personal change resilience as a solution to the problem of change fatigue by presenting models of both change failure and personal change resilience. Second, it is methodologically innovative in the use of personae to tell the stories of multiple participants in one coherent tale presented as a work of ethnographic fiction seen through an autoethnographic lens. By doing so, it develops a methodology for giving a voice to those to whom change is done in the workplace. Third, it provides a perspective on organisational change management from the view of the actual workers affected by change, thereby adding to the literature that currently exists, which is based on the views of those with responsibility for leading or managing change rather than those it affects. This thesis is intended as a practical starting point for conversations by actual change managers in higher education, and it is written in such a way as to help them see how theory can be applied in real life, and how empowering and enabling the actual working staff members, and engaging with them in a considerate way before, during and even after the change process, can help to make them resilient enough to cope with the change, rather than leaving them burned out or disengaged and no longer a well-functioning member of the institution. This thesis shows how considerately managed large-scale organisational change can result in positive outcomes for both the organisation and the individuals who work in it.

Tales of science and defiance : the case for co-learning and collaboration in bridging the science/emotion divide in water recycling debates

Although science is generally assumed to be well integrated into rational decision-making models, it can be used to destabilise consultative processes, particularly when emotions are involved. Water policies are often seen as debates over technical and engineering issues, but can be highly controversial. Recycled water proposals, in particular, can create highly emotive conflicts. Through a case study regarding the rejection of recycled water proposals in the south-east Queensland, Australia, we explore the influence of science and emotions in contemporary water planning. We highlight the dangers inherent in promoting technical water planning issues at the expense of appropriate consideration of citizen concerns. Combining the science–policy interface and stakeholder engagement literatures, we advocate for collaborative decision-making processes that accommodate emotions and value judgements. A more collaborative stakeholder engagement model, founded on the principles of co-learning, has the potential to broaden the decision-making base and to promote better and more inclusive decision-making.

Reflections from damaged modernity

The cliché about modern architecture being the fairy-tale fulfillment of every fantasy ceases to be a cliché only when it is accompanied by the fairy tale’s moral: that the fulfillment of the wishes rarely engenders goodness in the one doing the wishing (Adorno). Wishing for the right things in architecture and the city is the most difficult art of all: since the grim childhood-tales of the twentieth century we have been weaned from dreams and utopias, the stuff of modernism’s bad conscience. For Adorno writing in 1953, Hollywood cinema was a medium of “regression” based on infantile wish fulfillment manufactured by the industrial repetition (mimesis) of the filmic image that he called a modern “hieroglyphics,” like the archaic language of pictures in Ancient Egypt which guaranteed immortality after death in Egyptian burial rites. Arguably, today the iconic architecture industry is the executor of archaic images of modernity linked to rituals of death, promises of omnipotence and immortality. As I will argue in this symposium, such buildings are not a reflection of external ‘reality,’ but regression to an internal architectural polemic that secretly carries out the rituals of modernism’s death and seeks to make good on the liabilities of architectural history.

Hertzian Tales: Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience, and Critical Design

Anthony Dunne’s Hertzian Tales is an exploration of the aesthetic and conceptual aspects of industrial design and its potential to bring about social change for the users of electronic objects. It is a provoking and – to first-time readers – positively alarming social commentary on the interrelationship between electronic product design and culture, and the powerful but largely under-explored potential of electronic innovation to trigger social awareness. Hertzian Tales proposes an innovative approach to critical design and therefore serves as a reflection on and a critique of the commercial design practices at large. In this second edition, Dunne reiterates the original rationale for his project: a concern that the majority of industrial designers have unwittingly joined a treadmill culture of post-industrial mass-production – turning out electronic goods that have long simply met the brief of an optimally functioning and eagerly consumable technology.

Telling tales and painting pictures: A narrative inquiry into the professional learning of Northern Territory primary teachers

This thesis narrates the professional learning experiences of seven Northern Territory teachers. It outlines the evolution from traditional professional development in schools to an active, responsive professional learning agenda. With increasing demands on teachers, standardisation and the quest for improved student outcomes, key themes in the re-storied narrative emerge about the definition and role of professional learning in complex conditions, effective teaching, quality programmes, and teacher agency. This thesis contributes to knowledge about the characteristics that teachers value in their professional learning experiences. An Ongoing Professional Enhancement Model (OPE) is proposed, highlighting directions in this field for key stakeholders.

Dystopian fiction for young people: Instructive tales of resilience

The rise and popularity of dystopian fiction in recent years is quite marked and critics often attribute such high sales of books and box office as being linked to the impact September 11 has had on the world, especially in the United States. While the events of September 11, 2001 saw a heightened anxiety by nations and their citizens about the fear and threat of terrorism – an anxiety which is paradoxically lowered and raised by increased surveillance practices, security checks and warnings – other changes since the last stages of the twentieth century have also raised concerns and anxieties. In this paper I use examples of Young Adult (YA) dystopian fiction to illustrate the potential these texts have for providing their readers with alternative ways of thinking about the challenges that others face and their capacity for resilience.

Imaging cellular signalling: many `moving tales' in MAP kinase odyssey

Cellular signalling events are at the core of every adaptive response. Signalling events link environmental changes to physiological responses, consequently allowing cellular and organismal sustenance and survival. Classical approaches to study cellular signalling have relied on a variety of cell disruptive techniques which yield limited kinetic information, while the underlying events are much more complex. In this article, we discuss how modern live cell imaging microscopy has found increasing utilization in revealing spatio temporal dynamics of various signalling pathways. Utilizing the well studied mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling cascade as a template, the design, construction and utilization of `mobile' (translocation proficient) biosensors, suitable for studying MAPK signalling in living cells are described in detail. Experimental setup and results obtained from these biosensors, based on different proteins involved in the MAPK signalling cascade, have been described along with the setup of a microscope optimal for live cell imaging applications. Utilizing the ability to activate or deactivate signalling pathways using defined activators and specific pharmacological inhibitors, we also show how these sensors can yield unique spatial and temporal kinetic information of signalling in living cells.

Imaging cellular signalling: many `moving tales' in MAP kinase odyssey

Cellular signalling events are at the core of every adaptive response. Signalling events link environmental changes to physiological responses, consequently allowing cellular and organismal sustenance and survival. Classical approaches to study cellular signalling have relied on a variety of cell disruptive techniques which yield limited kinetic information, while the underlying events are much more complex. In this article, we discuss how modern live cell imaging microscopy has found increasing utilization in revealing spatio temporal dynamics of various signalling pathways. Utilizing the well studied mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling cascade as a template, the design, construction and utilization of `mobile' (translocation proficient) biosensors, suitable for studying MAPK signalling in living cells are described in detail. Experimental setup and results obtained from these biosensors, based on different proteins involved in the MAPK signalling cascade, have been described along with the setup of a microscope optimal for live cell imaging applications. Utilizing the ability to activate or deactivate signalling pathways using defined activators and specific pharmacological inhibitors, we also show how these sensors can yield unique spatial and temporal kinetic information of signalling in living cells.

Timna revisited : egyptian chronology and the copper mines of the southern Arabah

This article studies the chronology of the New Kingdom Egyptian copper mining in the southern Arabah valley, and particularly Timna, traditionally dated in the 13th– 12th centuries BCE. a reassessment is made of the local archaeological evidence and especially of the findings of the Hejazi Qurayya pottery in archaeological assemblages of the southern Levant. It is argued that the chronology of the New Kingdom activities at Timna needs a revision towards lower dates.

Inconstitucionalidad de la ley argentina 26.618 de 2010 : su reforma. El matrimonio es un bien jurídico exclusivo del varón y la mujer, como tales. En consecuencia, es indisponible por el Estado.

Resumen: El presente artículo presenta las razones jurídicas que fundan la inconstitucionalidad de la ley argentina 26.618 de legalización de las uniones de personas del mismo sexo. Parte del reconocimiento de la igual dignidad esencial de todas las personas y analiza luego la reforma del matrimonio civil dispuesto por la ley 26.618 y la necesidad de reglamentación previa y específica del vínculo filiatorio y de parentesco por adopción y la improcedencia de la aplicación de las técnicas de procreación asistida en las uniones homosexuales o lésbicas. Señala cómo esta legislación afecta a terceros: al menor de edad en desamparo familiar, a la persona por nacer y, también, al matrimonio, a la familia y a la sociedad. El desarrollo presenta los argumentos por los cuales se sostiene que esta ley ha hecho una extensión irrazonable del nombre de matrimonio. También se cuestiona la “cláusula complementaria” prevista por la ley, que evidencia el abuso cometido y la imposibilidad de legislar sin lógica. Considera la actuación de los legisladores y la violación de lo anticipado en las respectivas plataformas electorales y señala que el matrimonio es una realidad anterior al derecho positivo. Finaliza con reflexiones sobre el límite objetivo que surge de la realidad y el riesgo caos social y jurídico-político y la necesidad de derogación de la ley 26.618.

Southend Adult Community College: Walk like an Egyptian - A new reflection

Southend Adult Community College hosts a regular Middle Eastern and Egyptian dance class for all ages and abilities. For a performing art such as dance, learning and self-review aids such as mirrors are essential for improving technique and attainment. The Egyptian Dance course is very popular with many students enrolled. Therefore, sessions need to take place in a large hall within the college. Through inspired innovation and improvisation, the class now have an extremely useful reflective teaching aid using cameras and projectors.

The market for Egyptian farmed fish

Egypt’s aquaculture production (921,585 tonnes in 2010) is by far the largest of any African country. The aquaculture sector, dominated by semi-intensive pond production of tilapia, makes a significant contribution to income, employment creation and food and nutrition security in the country, all of which are national priority areas given low per capita income levels, rising population, worsening food and nutrition security indicators, and official unemployment levels which have remained at around 10% for the last ten years. The Improving Employment and Income through Development of Egypt’s Aquaculture Sector (IEIDEAS) project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is a three-year project which commenced in December 2011, and which aims to support the development of the aquaculture sector in Egypt so as to increase productivity, profitability, and employment in the sector, and the nutritional status of poor consumers. This report represents the output of a short two-week study to better understand the market for Egyptian farmed fish. The intention of the study was to provide an output which would cut-across, and potentially benefit, all five of the project outcomes.