Vulnerability criminalised: Transgender people in prisons

Purpose of this paper: International research identifies transgender people as a vulnerable group in prison systems, with basic needs often being denied. This paper outlines Australian contexts of incarceration, and links between institutional responses and the vulnerabilisation of transgender prisoners. Design/methodology/approach: The paper critically analyses Australian prison policies regarding the treatment of transgender prisoners. Findings: The policy analysis illustrates the links between institutional practices and the increased vulnerability of transgender prisoners. The paper argues that policies further criminalise, and potentially doubly punish, transgender prisoners. Research limitations/implications: This paper analyses the publicly available policies on regulating transgender people’s imprisonment. Given the limited Australian research into transgender prisoner’s lived experiences, there is a gap in relation to policies, their perception, and how corrective services personnel enact the limited procedures available to them in managing transgender prisoners. Practical Implications: Current policies and practices significantly enhance the vulnerability of transgender prisoners. This policy analysis highlights the critical importance of policy and practice reform in relation to housing, safety, health and welfare services, and misgendering. What is the original/value of paper: The policy analysis provides practitioners with an outline of critical issues that arise when transgender people are imprisoned and suggests key areas for future research.

Future learning landscapes for architectural education: Linking space, place, pedagogy, technology + context

Diversification and expansion of global higher education in the 21st century, has resulted in Learning Landscapes for architectural education that can no longer be sustained by the traditional model. Changes have resulted because of surging student numbers, extensions to traditional curricula, evolving competency standards and accreditation requirements, and modified geographical and pedagogical boundaries. The influx of available new technology has helped to democratise knowledge, transforming when, where and how learning takes place. Pressures on government funded higher education budgets highlight the need for a critical review of the current approach to the design and use of learning environments. Efficient design of physical space contributes significantly to savings in provision, management and use of facilities, while also potentially improving pedagogical quality. The purpose of this research is to identify emerging trends in the design of future Learning Landscapes for architectural education in Australasia; to understand where and how students of architecture are likely to learn, in the future context. It explores the important linkages between space, place, pedagogy, technology and context, using a multi methodological qualitative research approach. An Australasian context study will explore the Learning Landscapes of 23 Schools of Architecture across Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. The focus of this paper is on the methodology which is being employed to undertake dynamic data collection for the study. The research will be determined through mapping all forms of architectural learning environments, pedagogical approaches and contextual issues, to bridge the gap between academic theory, and architectural design practice. An initial understanding that pedagogy is an intrinsic component imbedded within the design of learning environments, will play an important role. Active learning environments which are exemplified by the architectural design studio, support dynamic project based and collaborative connected learning models. These have recently become a lot more common in disciplines outside of design and the arts. It is anticipated, therefore, that the implications for this research may well have a positive impact far beyond the confines of the architectural studio learning environment.

Idealähtöistä koulualgebraa : IDEAA-opetusmallin kehittäminen algebran opetukseen peruskoulun 7. luokalla

This research is based on the problems in secondary school algebra I have noticed in my own work as a teacher of mathematics. Algebra does not touch the pupil, it remains knowledge that is not used or tested. Furthermore the performance level in algebra is quite low. This study presents a model for 7th grade algebra instruction in order to make algebra more natural and useful to students. I refer to the instruction model as the Idea-based Algebra (IDEAA). The basic ideas of this IDEAA model are 1) to combine children's own informal mathematics with scientific mathematics ("math math") and 2) to structure algebra content as a "map of big ideas", not as a traditional sequence of powers, polynomials, equations, and word problems. This research project is a kind of design process or design research. As such, this project has three, intertwined goals: research, design and pedagogical practice. I also assume three roles. As a researcher, I want to learn about learning and school algebra, its problems and possibilities. As a designer, I use research in the intervention to develop a shared artefact, the instruction model. In addition, I want to improve the practice through intervention and research. A design research like this is quite challenging. Its goals and means are intertwined and change in the research process. Theory emerges from the inquiry; it is not given a priori. The aim to improve instruction is normative, as one should take into account what "good" means in school algebra. An important part of my study is to work out these paradigmatic questions. The result of the study is threefold. The main result is the instruction model designed in the study. The second result is the theory that is developed of the teaching, learning and algebra. The third result is knowledge of the design process. The instruction model (IDEAA) is connected to four main features of good algebra education: 1) the situationality of learning, 2) learning as knowledge building, in which natural language and intuitive thinking work as "intermediaries", 3) the emergence and diversity of algebra, and 4) the development of high performance skills at any stage of instruction.

Using old concepts to gain new insights: Addressing the issue of consistency

Purpose – This paper aims to go beyond a bookkeeping approach to evolutionary analysis whereby surviving firms are better adapted and extinct firms were less adapted. From discussion of the preliminary findings of research into the Hobart pizza industry, evidence is presented of the need to adopt a more traditional approach to applying evolutionary theories with organizational research. Design/methodology/approach – After a brief review of the relevant literature, the preliminary findings of research into the Hobart pizza industry are presented. Then, several evolutionary concepts that are commonplace in ecological research are introduced to help explain the emergent findings. The paper concludes with consideration given to advancing a more consistent approach to employing evolutionary theories within organizational research. Findings – The paper finds that the process of selection cannot be assumed to occur evenly across time and/or space. Within geographically small markets different forms of selection operate in different ways and degrees requiring the use of more traditional evolutionary theories to highlight the causal process associated with population change. Research limitations/implications – The paper concludes by highlighting Geoffrey Hodgson’s Principle of Consistency. It is demonstrated that a failure to truly understand how and why theory is used in one domain will likely result in its misuse in another domain. That, at present, too few evolutionary concepts are employed in organisational research to ensure an appreciation of any underlying causal processes through which social change occurs. Originality/value – The concepts introduced throughout this paper, whilst not new, provide new entry points for organizational researchers intent on employing an evolutionary approach to understand the process of social change.

Efficient eucalypt cell wall deconstruction and conversion for sustainable lignocellulosic biofuels

In order to meet the world’s growing energy demand and reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from fossil fuel combustion, renewable plant-based feedstocks for biofuel production must be considered. The first-generation biofuels, derived from starches of edible feedstocks, such as corn, create competition between food and fuel resources, both for the crop itself and the land on which it is grown. As such, biofuel synthesized from non-edible plant biomass (lignocellulose) generated on marginal agricultural land will help to alleviate this competition. Eucalypts, the broadly defined taxa encompassing over 900 species of Eucalyptus, Corymbia, and Angophora are the most widely planted hardwood tree in the world, harvested mainly for timber, pulp and paper, and biomaterial products. More recently, due to their exceptional growth rate and amenability to grow under a wide range of environmental conditions, eucalypts are a leading option for the development of a sustainable lignocellulosic biofuels. However, efficient conversion of woody biomass into fermentable monomeric sugars is largely dependent on pretreatment of the cell wall, whose formation and complexity lend itself toward natural recalcitrance against its efficient deconstruction. A greater understanding of this complexity within the context of various pretreatments will allow the design of new and effective deconstruction processes for bioenergy production. In this review, we present the various pretreatment options for eucalypts, including research into understanding structure and formation of the eucalypt cell wall.

The creative suburb: Building and urban designs for suburban innovators

Influential creative industries and creative place thinkers Richard Florida and Charles Landry agree that creativity is necessary for a prospering liveable and, therefore, sustainable city. Following Florida’s work, the ‘creative class’ has become central to what has turned out to be city-centre-centric growth policies. However, until the Queensland University of Technology’s Australian Research Council sponsored research into “creative suburbia”, few researchers had demonstrated – let alone challenged – the notion that a substantial cohort of creative industries workers might prefer to live and work at home in the suburbs rather than in city centres. The “creative suburb” work builds on the creative suburbia research. In a practice-led and property development industry embedded inquiry, the creative suburb draws on significant primary research with suburban, home-based, creative industries workers, vernacular architecture, and town planning in the Toowoomba region, in the state of Queensland, Australia, as inspiration for a series of new building and urban designs available for innovators operating in new suburban greenfield situations and suburban areas undergoing a refit in Queensland and possibly further afield. This paper focuses on one building design informed by this inquiry, with the intention of its construction as a ’showcasestudy’ ‘homeworkhouse’, suitable for creative industries workers in the Toowoomba region.

Persistence is fertile: Pushing methodological potentialities in education research

As more is known about contemporary cultural shifts and the effect this has on the young, research must consider how children operate as global citizens. Children are innocent and vulnerable, but also actively participate in the world; research into early childhood must therefore refine ideas and conceptions and develop research methodologies that see children as superdiverse young citizens. Intergenerational collaborative drawing, which involves adult researchers and children drawing together, is a method that supports superdimensions. A group of researchers tested the method to consider the politics of research, particularly when researcher neutrality and the conventions around gathering ‘unsullied’ data are challenged.

Applying urban morphology theory to design practice

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between research and design through an applied example of how architects can approach the design for a building guided by data derived from morphological research. An Expert Focus Group consisting of nine leading architects and urban designers from Brisbane, Australia was given the task of testing this proposition. Analysis of the workshop outcomes are examined, and the design drawings of each participant are assessed to determine the relative congruence of the design proposals within the morphological commodity of the specific context. In addition, qualitative data, captured through verbal and written feedback is assessed highlighting the participants' observations and experiences of the workshop. This paper makes a contribution to the current debate within the field on the opportunities of integrating research with practice.

Garden of Shrinking Violets

Description of the work Garden of Shrinking Violets is a collection of six half scale garments and three illustrations, continuing the practice-led research project into design for disassembly, developed in the work Shrinking Violets (2015). All garments are constructed in laser cut modules that enable the items to be reassembled in new combinations. The project extended the materials used to include ahimsa (peace) silk, silk organza and silk twill. The pattern pieces have internal laser cut grids of 5mm circles, allowing the textiles to be layered, threaded and knotted to achieve rich embellished surfaces that play with the transparencies and colour overlays of the sheer and opaque silks. Research Background Conceptually grounded in design for sustainability, the aim of the work is to develop approaches to garment construction that could allow users to engage with the garments by adding, removing and reconfiguring elements. This approach to design considers the use and end-of-life phases of the transient fashion garment through considering how the garments can be later disassembled. Research Contribution This construction process is unique in being not only a patterning device but also integral to the garment’s construction. This work sits at the intersection of technical design and craft: the laser cutting and technical approach to developing new forms of garment construction is coupled with the artisanal approach of hand-knotting, a reference to traditional quilting techniques, as a method to layer and pattern the textiles. The technique developed in Shrinking Violets was extended to experiment with different grid structures, knotting devices, and decorative fringing. The result is a proposed construction system in which the laser cut grid and knotting form a decorative patterning device, but are also integral to the garments’ construction. Research Significance Garden of Shrinking Violets was exhibited at artisan gallery’s Ivory Street window, Brisbane, January 18 – February 28 2016. The work was selected by artisan gallery exhibition curators. As part of artisan gallery’s public programming, the author participated in a panel discussion: ‘Constructive conversations: deconstruction and reconstruction in contemporary craft and design’ with jeweller Elizabeth Shaw and visual arts lecturer Courtney Pedersen, 20 February 2016. Photography used in illustrations by Jonathan Rae

IASDR 2015 Interplay Exhibition 2-5 NOV 2015

It has been said that we are living in a golden age of innovation. New products, systems and services aimed to enable a better future, have emerged from novel interconnections between design and design research with science, technology and the arts. These intersections are now, more than ever, catalysts that enrich daily activities for health and safety, education, personal computing, entertainment and sustainability, to name a few. Interactive functions made possible by new materials, technology, and emerging manufacturing solutions demonstrate an ongoing interplay between cross-disciplinary knowledge and research. Such interactive interplay bring up questions concerning: (i) how art and design provide a focus for developing design solutions and research in technology; (ii) how theories emerging from the interactions of cross-disciplinary knowledge inform both the practice and research of design and (iii) how research and design work together in a mutually beneficial way. The IASDR2015 INTERPLAY EXHIBITION provides some examples of these interconnections of design research with science, technology and the arts. This is done through the presentation of objects, artefacts and demonstrations that are contextualised into everyday activities across various areas including health, education, safety, furniture, fashion and wearable design. The exhibits provide a setting to explore the various ways in which design research interacts across discipline knowledge and approaches to stimulate innovation. In education, Designing South African Children’s Health Education as Generative Play (A Bennett, F Cassim, M van der Merwe, K van Zijil, and M Ribbens) presents a set of toolkits that resulted from design research entailing generative play. The toolkits are systems that engender pleasure and responsibility, and are aimed at cultivating South African’s youth awareness of nutrition, hygiene, disease awareness and prevention, and social health. In safety, AVAnav: Avalanche Rescue Helmet (Jason Germany) delivers an interactive system as a tool to contribute to reduce the time to locate buried avalanche victims. Helmet-mounted this system responds to the contextual needs of rescuers and has since led to further design research on the interface design of rescuing devices. In apparel design and manufacturing, Shrinking Violets: Fashion design for disassembly (Alice Payne) proposes a design for disassembly through the use of beautiful reversible mono-material garments that interactively responds to the challenges of garment construction in the fashion industry, capturing the metaphor for the interplay between technology and craft in the fashion manufacturing industry. Harvest: A biotextile future (Dean Brough and Alice Payne), explores the interplay of biotechnology, materiality and textile design in the creation of sustainable, biodegradable vegan textile through the process of a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY). SCOBY is a pellicle curd that can be harvested, machine washed, dried and cut into a variety of designs and texture combinations. The exploration of smart materials, wearable design and micro-electronics led to creative and aesthetically coherent stimulus-reactive jewellery; Symbiotic Microcosms: Crafting Digital Interaction (K Vones). This creation aims to bridge the gap between craft practitioner and scientific discovery, proposing a move towards the notion of a post-human body, where wearable design is seen as potential ground for new human-computer interactions, affording the development of visually engaging multifunctional enhancements. In furniture design, Smart Assistive chair for older adults (Chao Zhao) demonstrates how cross-disciplinary knowledge interacting with design strategies provide solution that employed new technological developments in older aged care, and the participation of multiple stakeholders: designers, health care system and community based health systems. In health, Molecular diagnosis system for newborns deafness genetic screening (Chao Zhao) presents an ambitious and complex project that includes a medical device aimed at resolving a number of challenges: technical feasibility for city and rural contexts, compatibility with standard laboratory and hospital systems, access to health system, and support the work of different hospital specialists. The interplay between cross-disciplines is evident in this work, demonstrating how design research moves forward through technology developments. These works exemplify the intersection between domains as a means to innovation. Novel design problems are identified as design intersects with the various areas. Research informs this process, and in different ways. We see the background investigation into the contextualising domain (e.g. on-snow studies, garment recycling, South African health concerns, the post human body) to identify gaps in the area and design criteria; the technologies and materials reviews (e.g. AR, biotextiles) to offer plausible technical means to solve these, as well as design criteria. Theoretical reviews can also inform the design (e.g. play, flow). These work together to equip the design practitioner with a robust set of ‘tools’ for design innovation – tools that are based in research. The process identifies innovative opportunity and criteria for design and this, in turn, provides a means for evaluating the success of the design outcomes. Such an approach has the potential to come full circle between research and design – where the design can function as an exemplar, evidencing how the research-articulated problems can be solved. Core to this, however, is the evaluation of the design outcome itself and identifying knowledge outcomes. In some cases, this is fairly straightforward that is, easily measurable. For example the efficacy of Jason Germany’s helmet can be determined by measuring the reduced response time in the rescuer. Similarly the improved ability to recycle Payne’s panel garments can be clearly determined by comparing it to those recycling processes (and her identified criteria of separating textile elements!); while the sustainability and durability of the Brough & Payne’s biotextile can be assessed by documenting the growth and decay processes, or comparative strength studies. There are however situations where knowledge outcomes and insights are not so easily determined. Many of the works here are open-ended in their nature, as they emphasise the holistic experience of one or more designs, in context: “the end result of the art activity that provides the health benefit or outcome but rather, the value lies in the delivery and experience of the activity” (Bennet et al.) Similarly, reconfiguring layers of laser cut silk in Payne’s Shrinking Violets constitutes a customisable, creative process of clothing oneself since it “could be layered to create multiple visual effects”. Symbiotic Microcosms also has room for facilitating experience, as the work is described to facilitate “serendipitous discovery”. These examples show the diverse emphasis of enquiry as on the experience versus the product. Open-ended experiences are ambiguous, multifaceted and differ from person to person and moment to moment (Eco 1962). Determining the success is not always clear or immediately discernible; it may also not be the most useful question to ask. Rather, research that seeks to understand the nature of the experience afforded by the artefact is most useful in these situations. It can inform the design practitioner by helping them with subsequent re-design as well as potentially being generalizable to other designers and design contexts. Bennett et. al exemplify how this may be approached from a theoretical perspective. This work is concerned with facilitating engaging experiences to educate and, ultimately impact on that community. The research is concerned with the nature of that experience as well, and in order to do so the authors have employed theoretical lenses – here these are of flow, pleasure, play. An alternative or complementary approach to using theory, is using qualitative studies such as interviews with users to ask them about what they experienced? Here the user insights become evidence for generalising across, potentially revealing insight into relevant concerns – such as the range of possible ‘playful’ or experiences that may be afforded, or the situation that preceded a ‘serendipitous discovery’. As shown, IASDR2015 INTERPLAY EXHIBITION provides a platform for exploration, discussion and interrogation around the interplay of design research across diverse domains. We look forward with excitement as IASDR continues to bring research and design together, and as our communities of practitioners continue to push the envelope of what is design and how this can be expanded and better understood with research to foster new work and ultimately, stimulate innovation.

Paradigmatic considerations for creative practice in Creative Industries research: The case of Australia's Indie 100

This paper begins with the assertion that research grounded in creative practice constitutes a new paradigm. We argue both for and against the idea. We argue against the idea in terms of applying it to the idealised ‘lone artist’ engaged in the production of their art, whose focus of research is a self-reflection upon the art they produce, and whose art is also the findings of the research. Our position is that such an approach cannot be considered as anything other than a form of auto-phenomenography, that such efforts are part of qualitative research, and they are thus trivial in paradigmatic terms. However, we argue in the positive for understanding the artistic event – by which we mean any mass ecology of artistic practice – as being paradigmatically new in terms of research potentials and demands. Our exemplar for that argument is a practice-led, large-scale annual event called Indie 100 which has run for five years and has demonstrated a distinct paradigmatic ‘settling in’ over its duration while clearly pushing paradigmatic boundaries for research into creative practice.

A Historical Approach to Children s Physics Education : Modelling of DC-circuit Phenomena in a Small Group

This three-phase design research describes the modelling processes for DC-circuit phenomena. The first phase presents an analysis of the development of the DC-circuit historical models in the context of constructing Volta s pile at the turn of the 18th century. The second phase involves the designing of a teaching experiment for comprehensive school third graders. Among other considerations, the design work utilises the results of the first phase and research literature of pupils mental models for DC-circuit phenomena. The third phase of the research was concerned with the realisation of the planned teaching experiment. The aim of this phase was to study the development of the external representations of DC-circuit phenomena in a small group of third graders. The aim of the study has been to search for new ways to guide pupils to learn DC-circuit phenomena while emphasing understanding at the qualitative level. Thus, electricity, which has been perceived as a difficult and abstract subject, could be learnt more comprehensively. Especially, the research of younger pupils learning of electricity concepts has not been of great interest at the international level, although DC-circuit phenomena are also taught in the lower classes of comprehensive schools. The results of this study are important, because there has tended to be more teaching of natural sciences in the lower classes of comprehensive schools, and attempts are being made to develop this trend in Finland. In the theoretical part of the research an Experimental-centred representation approach, which emphasises the role of experimentalism in the development of pupil s representations, is created. According to this approach learning at the qualitative level consists of empirical operations like experimenting, observations, perception, and prequantification of nature phenomena, and modelling operations like explaining and reasoning. Besides planning teaching, the new approach can be used as an analysis tool in describing both historical modelling and the development of pupils representations. In the first phase of the study, the research question was: How did the historical models of DC-circuit phenomena develop in Volta s time? The analysis uncovered three qualitative historical models associated with the historical concept formation process. The models include conceptions of the electric circuit as a scene in the DC-circuit phenomena, the comparative electric-current phenomenon as a cause of different observable effect phenomena, and the strength of the battery as a cause of the electric-current phenomenon. These models describe the concept formation process and its phases in Volta s time. The models are portrayed in the analysis using fragments of the models, where observation-based fragments and theoretical fragements are distinguished from each other. The results emphasise the significance of the qualitative concept formation and the meaning of language in the historical modelling of DC-circuit phenomena. For this reason these viewpoints are stressed in planning the teaching experiment in the second phase of the research. In addition, the design process utilised the experimentation behind the historical models of DC-circuit phenomena In the third phase of the study the research question is as follows: How will the small group s external representations of DC-circuit phenomena develop during the teaching experiment? The main question is divided into the following two sub questions: What kind of talk exists in the small group s learning? What kinds of external representations for DC-circuit phenomena exist in the small group discourse during the teaching experiment? The analysis revealed that the teaching experiment of the small group succeeded in its aim to activate talk in the small group. The designed connection cards proved especially successful in activating talk. The connection cards are cards that represent the components of the electric circuit. In the teaching experiment the pupils constructed different connections with the connection cards and discussed, what kinds of DC-circuit phenomena would take place in the corresponding real connections. The talk of the small group was analysed by comparing two situations, firstly, when the small group discussed using connections made with the connection cards and secondly with the same connections using real components. According to the results the talk of the small group included more higher-order thinking when using the connection cards than with similar real components. In order to answer the second sub question concerning the small group s external representations that appeared in the talk during the teaching experiment; student talk was visualised by the fragment maps which incorporate the electric circuit, the electric current and the source voltage. The fragment maps represent the gradual development of the external representations of DC-circuit phenomena in the small group during the teaching experiment. The results of the study challenge the results of previous research into the abstractness and difficulty of electricity concepts. According to this research, the external representations of DC-circuit phenomena clearly developed in the small group of third graders. Furthermore, the fragment maps uncover that although the theoretical explanations of DC-circuit phenomena, which have been obtained as results of typical mental model studies, remain undeveloped, learning at the qualitative level of understanding does take place.

Design and implementation of a PC-based FPGA tester

A new range of programmable logic devices are revolutionizing the way complex digital hardware is designed and built all over the world. Being able to test these devices in order to validate and dynamically improve on the design is crucial. This paper describes a low-cost FPGA tester that can test SRAM based FPGAs in the laboratory.

Design and realization of high-performance wave-pipelined 8×8 b multiplier in CMOS technology

Wave pipelining is a design technique for increasing the throughput of a digital circuit or system without introducing pipelining registers between adjacent combinational logic blocks in the circuit/system. However, this requires balancing of the delays along all the paths from the input to the output which comes the way of its implementation. Static CMOS is inherently susceptible to delay variation with input data, and hence, receives a low priority for wave pipelined digital design. On the other hand, ECL and CML, which are amenable to wave pipelining, lack the compactness and low power attributes of CMOS. In this paper we attempt to exploit wave pipelining in CMOS technology. We use a single generic building block in Normal Process Complementary Pass Transistor Logic (NPCPL), modeled after CPL, to achieve equal delay along all the propagation paths in the logic structure. An 8×8 b multiplier is designed using this logic in a 0.8 ?m technology. The carry-save multiplier architecture is modified suitably to support wave pipelining, viz., the logic depth of all the paths are made identical. The 1 mm×0.6 mm multiplier core supports a throughput of 400 MHz and dissipates a total power of 0.6 W. We develop simple enhancements to the NPCPL building blocks that allow the multiplier to sustain throughputs in excess of 600 MHz. The methodology can be extended to introduce wave pipelining in other circuits as well

An Empirical Model of the Process of Synthesis of Multiple State Mechanical Devices

Automated synthesis of mechanical designs is an important step towards the development of an intelligent CAD system. Research into methods for supporting conceptual design using automated synthesis has attracted much attention in the past decades. The research work presented here is based on the processes of synthesizing multiple state mechanical devices carried out individually by ten engineering designers. The designers are asked to think aloud, while carrying out the synthesis. The ten design synthesis processes are video recorded, and the records are transcribed and coded for identifying activities occurring in the synthesis processes, as well as for identifying the inputs to and outputs from the activities. A mathematical representation for specifying multi-state design task is proposed. Further, a descriptive model capturing all the ten synthesis processes is developed and presented in this paper. This will be used to identify the outstanding issues to be resolved before a system for supporting design synthesis of multiple state mechanical devices that is capable of creating a comprehensive variety of solution alternatives could be developed.