Book Review: "Language, literacy, and pedagogy in postindustrial societies : the case of black academic underachievement"

Mocombe and Tomlin’s Language, Literacy, and Pedagogy in Postindustrial Societies: The Case of Black Academic Underachievement is part of the Routledge Research in Education series. The purpose of the work is to set out a theoretical framework for understanding the black/white academic achievement gap in the age of globalisation and post-industrialism. The authors use each chapter to develop an explanation for the persistent black/white academic achievement gap, by theorising that the gap is an epiphenomenon of global capitalist, post-industrial structures, reinforced by education as an apparatus of the system...

A simple method for EPID-based in vivo dosimetry for radiotherapy treatments of head-and-neck cancers

This study used a homogeneous water-equivalent model of an electronic portal imaging device (EPID), contoured as a structure in a radiotherapy treatment plan, to produce reference dose images for comparison with in vivo EPID dosimetry images. Head and neck treatments were chosen as the focus of this study, due to the heterogeneous anatomies involved and the consequent difficulty of rapidly obtaining reliable reference dose images by other means. A phantom approximating the size and heterogeneity of a typical neck, with a maximum radiological thickness of 8.5 cm, was constructed for use in this study. This phantom was CT scanned and a simple treatment including five square test fields and one off-axis IMRT field was planned. In order to allow the treatment planning system to calculate dose in a model EPID positioned a distance downstream from the phantom to achieve a source-to-detector distance (SDD) of 150 cm, the CT images were padded with air and the phantom’s “body” contour was extended to encompass the EPID contour. Comparison of dose images obtained from treatment planning calculations and experimental irradiations showed good agreement, with more than 90% of points in all fields passing a gamma evaluation, at γ (3%, 3mm )Similar agreement was achieved when the phantom was over-written with air in the treatment plan and removed from the experimental beam, suggesting that water EPID model at 150 cm SDD is capable of providing accurate reference images for comparison with clinical IMRT treatment images, for patient anatomies with radiological thicknesses ranging from 0 up to approximately 9 cm. This methodology therefore has the potential to be used for in vivo dosimetry during treatments to tissues in the neck as well as the oral and nasal cavities, in the head-and-neck region.

Parental perceptions of the learner driver log book system in two Australian states

Objective While many jurisdictions internationally now require learner drivers to complete a specified number of hours of supervised driving practice before being able to drive unaccompanied, very few require learner drivers to complete a log book to record this practice and then present it to the licensing authority. Learner drivers in most Australian jurisdictions must complete a log book that records their practice thereby confirming to the licensing authority that they have met the mandated hours of practice requirement. These log books facilitate the management and enforcement of minimum supervised hours of driving requirements. Method Parents of learner drivers in two Australian states, Queensland and New South Wales, completed an online survey assessing a range of factors, including their perceptions of the accuracy of their child’s learner log book and the effectiveness of the log book system. Results The study indicates that the large majority of parents believe that their child’s learner log book is accurate. However, they generally report that the log book system is only moderately effective as a system to measure the number of hours of supervised practice a learner driver has completed. Conclusions The results of this study suggest the presence of a paradox with many parents possibly believing that others are not as diligent in the use of log books as they are or that the system is too open to misuse. Given that many parents report that their child’s log book is accurate, this study has important implications for the development and ongoing monitoring of hours of practice requirements in graduated driver licensing systems.

The Language : Rationale and Fundamentals

The Business Process Management domain has evolved at a dramatic pace over the past two decades and the notion of the business process has become a ubiquitous part of the modern business enterprise. Most organizations now view their operations in terms of business processes and manage these business processes in the same way as other corporate assets. In recent years, an increasingly broad range of generic technology has become available for automating business processes. This is part of a growing trend in the software engineering field throughout the past 40 years, where aspects of functionality that are potentially reusable on a widespread basis have coalesced into generic software components. Figure 2.1 illustrates this trend and shows how software systems have evolved from the monolithic applications of the 1960s developed in their entirety often by a single development team to today’s offerings that are based on the integration of a range of generic technologies with only a small component of the application actually being developed from scratch. In the 1990s, generic functionality for the automation of business processes first became commercially available in the form of workflow technology and subsequently evolved in the broader field of business process management systems (BPMS). This technology alleviated the necessity to develop process support within applications from scratch and provided a variety of off-the-shelf options on which these requirements could be based. The demand for this technology was significant and it is estimated that by 2000 there were well over 200 distinct workflow offerings in the market, each with a distinct conceptual foundation. Anticipating the difficulties that would be experienced by organizations seeking to utilize and integrate distinct workflow offerings, the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC), an industry group formed to advance technology in this area, proposed a standard reference model for workflow technology with an express desire to seek a common platform for achieving workflow interoperation.

ORIGO stepping stones common core mathematics Grade 5 practice book

ORIGO Stepping Stones is written and developed by a team of experts to provide teachers with a world-class elementary math program. Our expert team of authors and consultants are utilizing all available educational research to create a unique program that has never before been available to teachers. The full color Student Practice Book provides practice pages that support previous and current lessons.

Transnational distance education : cultural and quality considerations

There have now been two decades of rhetoric on the need for culturally and contextually appropriate perspectives in international education. However, the extent to which courses, provision and pedagogy have truly reflected differences in cultural characteristics and learning preferences is still open to question. Little attention has been paid to these matters in quality assurance frameworks. This chapter discusses these issues and draws upon Hofstede’s cultural dimensions framework and studies into Asian pedagogy and uses of educational technology. It proposes a benchmark and performance indicators for assuring cultural, contextual, educational and technological appropriateness in the provision of transnational distance education in Asia by Australian universities.

Book Review : The Concept of Injustice (Eric Heinze, Routledge, 2013)

Given the level of debate and theorising in Western thought on the topic of justice, it is curious that the concept of injustice has not attracted the same attention. While many schools of thought have sought to address various injustices, most define injustice solely as the opposite of their vision of a just society – it seems they have not been interested in exploring injustice per se. With this as a starting point, Eric Heinze’s The Concept of Injustice addresses this oversight and, by taking injustice itself as an object of analysis, adds a new dimension to these discussions...