From the margin to the centre : towards an art strategy for the ethnic enclaves in the city

Sunnybank represents a distinctly Australian take on the classic ‘Chinatown’ – or indeed other ethic community enclaves such as ‘little Italy’, ‘little Bombay’, ‘little Athens’ and so on. In the Northern Hemisphere these tended to grow up in the dense working class neighbourhoods of industrial cities, especially in port cities like Liverpool, London, New York and San Francisco. The existing Chinatowns of Sydney and Melbourne, and to some extent Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, are of this variety. In the late 1970s, with the growth of suburbanisation and the de-industrialisation and consequent dereliction of the ‘inner city’, these ethnic communities were one of the few signs of life in the city. Apart from the daily commute into the CBD, business with the city council or a trip to the big shopping streets these areas were one of the few reasons for visiting city centres stigmatised by urban decay and petty crime.

Evolution of life drama program

Life Drama is a program of drama-based experiential learning activities involving groups of community leaders and members. The three-year project evolved from a theatre-in-education approach to an intercultural theatre approach incorporating Papua New Guinean performance traditions. It involved Australian, English and Papua New Guinean researchers at four key sites: Tari, Southern Highlands Province; Port Moresby, National Capital District; Madang, Madang Province; and Karkar Island, Madang Province. The project was innovative in a number of ways, including: a Participatory Action Research approach, involving community leaders at various levels as co-researchers; a participatory theatre approach as opposed to a performance approach; emphasis on sexual health promotion and HIV prevention through an experiential learning paradigm; addressing the norms and realities of the community rather than targeting only individual behaviour; an International Theatre Research Laboratory to explore the fusion of traditional cultural elements with contemporary health promotion aims; and an innovative method-assemblage approach to collecting and triangulating quantitative, qualitative, and performative data. The project attracted over $350,000 in funding and support from the Australian Research Council, National AIDS Secretariat in PNG, and private sector and non-government partners. Findings were presented at various conferences and symposia including the annual Medical Symposium in Wewak (2010), the triennial Research in Drama Education conference in Exeter (2011), and the International Research in Drama Education conference (Sydney 2009 and Limerick 2012). A number of peer-reviewed journal articles have been published. Elements of the program have been incorporated into the University of Goroka's compulsory HIV awareness program for undergraduate students. A national dissemination strategy for Life Drama in Papua New Guinea is now underway, with seed funding of AUD$74,000 from the National AIDS Council Secretariat, PNG.

Simple rules to contain an invasive species with a complex life cycle and high dispersal capacity

Designing practical rules for controlling invasive species is a challenging task for managers, particularly when species are long-lived, have complex life cycles and high dispersal capacities. Previous findings derived from plant matrix population analyses suggest that effective control of long-lived invaders may be achieved by focusing on killing adult plants. However, the cost-effectiveness of managing different life stages has not been evaluated. We illustrate the benefits of integrating matrix population models with decision theory to undertake this evaluation, using empirical data from the largest infestation of mesquite (Leguminosae: Prosopis spp) within Australia. We include in our model the mesquite life cycle, different dispersal rates and control actions that target individuals at different life stages with varying costs, depending on the intensity of control effort. We then use stochastic dynamic programming to derive cost-effective control strategies that minimize the cost of controlling the core infestation locally below a density threshold and the future cost of control arising from infestation of adjacent areas via seed dispersal. Through sensitivity analysis, we show that four robust management rules guide the allocation of resources between mesquite life stages for this infestation: (i) When there is no seed dispersal, no action is required until density of adults exceeds the control threshold and then only control of adults is needed; (ii) when there is seed dispersal, control strategy is dependent on knowledge of the density of adults and large juveniles (LJ) and broad categories of dispersal rates only; (iii) if density of adults is higher than density of LJ, controlling adults is most cost-effective; (iv) alternatively, if density of LJ is equal or higher than density of adults, management efforts should be spread between adults, large and to a lesser extent small juveniles, but never saplings. Synthesis and applications.In this study, we show that simple rules can be found for managing invasive plants with complex life cycles and high dispersal rates when population models are combined with decision theory. In the case of our mesquite population, focussing effort on controlling adults is not always the most cost-effective way to meet our management objective.

Unexpected issues and solutions: Emerge from environmental manipulation strategy

Environmental manipulation removes students from their everyday worlds to unfamiliar worlds, to facil- itate learning. This article reports that this strategy was effective when applied in a university design unit, using the tactic of immersion in the Second Life online virtual environment. The objective was for teams of stu- dents each to design a series of modules for an orbiting space station using supplied data. The changed and futuristic environment led the students to an important but previously unconsidered design decision which they were able to address in novel ways because of, rather than in spite of, the Second Life immersion.

An evidence-informed strategy to prevent osteoporosis in Australia

Osteoporosis imposes a tremendous burden on Australia : 1.2 million Australians have osteoporosis and 6.3 million have Osteopenia. In the 2007-08 financial year, 82000 Australians suffered fragility fractures, of Which >17000 were hip fractures. In the 2000-01 financial year, direct costs were estimated at $1.9 billion per year and an additional $5.6 billion on indirect costs. Osteoporosis was designated a National Health Priority Area in 2002; however, implementation of national plans has not yet matched the rhetoric in terms of urgency. Building healthy bones throughout life, the Osteoporosis Australia strategy to prevent osteoporosis throughout the life cycle, presents an evidence-informed set of recommendations for consumers, health care professionals and policymakers. The strategy was adopted by consensus at the Osteoporosis Australia Summit in Sydney, 20 October 2011. Primary objectives throughout the life cycle are: to maximise peak bone mass during childhood and adolescence to prevent premature bone loss and improve or maintain muscle mass, strength and functional capacity in healthy adults to prevent and treat osteoporosis in order to minimise the risk of suffering fragility fractures, and reduce falls risk, in older people. The recommendations focus on three affordable and important interventions to ensure people have adequate calcium intake, vitamin D levels and appropriate, physical activity throughout their lives. Recommendations relevant to all stages of life include: daily dietary calcium intakes should be consistent with Australian and New Zealand guidelines serum levels of vitamin D in the general population should be above 50 nmol/L in winter or early spring for optimal bone health regular weight-bearing physical activity, Muscle strengthening exercises and challenging balance/ mobility activities should be conducted in a safe environment.

Integrating Intangible Cultural Heritage elements and learning strategy : a case study

Tanzania has a rich and diverse cultural history based on community cultural life. However, at present, young people have limited opportunity to exploit this richness of creative expressions and engage in creative jobs as their future career. Hence, the significant challenge remains: how to integrate Intangible cultural heritage elements and learning strategy as a means of promoting creative jobs for youth. This paper presents a case study on 'Strategies for youth employment in Tanzania: A creative industries approach'. The case study employed mixed methods incorporating questionnaires, interviews and focus groups and was held in Dar-Es-Salaam, Mwanza, Dodoma, Lindi and Morogoro from July to October, 2012. This paper discusses some of the issues and argues that there is no virtual utilization of the intangible cultural heritage knowledge and skills in 'putting education to work' (UNESCO, 2012) for the better prospects of youth. Although the discussion is specific to Tanzania, the case may also apply to other developing countries.

Science and engineering for whole of life : integrating education, research and public engagement in a collaborative environment

Policy makers increasingly recognise that an educated workforce with a high proportion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) graduates is a pre-requisite to a knowledge-based, innovative economy. Over the past ten years, the proportion of first university degrees awarded in Australia in STEM fields is below the global average and continues to decrease from 22.2% in 2002 to 18.8% in 2010 [1]. These trends are mirrored by declines between 20% and 30% in the proportions of high school students enrolled in science or maths. These trends are not unique to Australia but their impact is of concern throughout the policy-making community. To redress these demographic trends, QUT embarked upon a long-term investment strategy to integrate education and research into the physical and virtual infrastructure of the campus, recognising that expectations of students change as rapidly as technology and learning practices change. To implement this strategy, physical infrastructure refurbishment/re-building is accompanied by upgraded technologies not only for learning but also for research. QUT’s vision for its city-based campuses is to create vibrant and attractive places to learn and research and to link strongly to the wider surrounding community. Over a five year period, physical infrastructure at the Gardens Point campus was substantially reconfigured in two key stages: (a) a >$50m refurbishment of heritage-listed buildings to encompass public, retail and social spaces, learning and teaching “test beds” and research laboratories and (b) destruction of five buildings to be replaced by a $230m, >40,000m2 Science and Engineering Centre designed to accommodate retail, recreation, services, education and research in an integrated, coordinated precinct. This landmark project is characterised by (i) self-evident, collaborative spaces for learning, research and social engagement, (ii) sustainable building practices and sustainable ongoing operation and; (iii) dynamic and mobile re-configuration of spaces or staffing to meet demand. Innovative spaces allow for transformative, cohort-driven learning and the collaborative use of space to prosecute joint class projects. Research laboratories are aggregated, centralised and “on display” to the public, students and staff. A major visualisation space – the largest multi-touch, multi-user facility constructed to date – is a centrepiece feature that focuses on demonstrating scientific and engineering principles or science oriented scenes at large scale (e.g. the Great Barrier Reef). Content on this visualisation facility is integrated with the regional school curricula and supports an in-house schools program for student and teacher engagement. Researchers are accommodated in a combined open-plan and office floor-space (80% open plan) to encourage interdisciplinary engagement and cross-fertilisation of skills, ideas and projects. This combination of spaces re-invigorates the on-campus experience, extends educational engagement across all ages and rapidly enhances research collaboration.

School industry partnerships : An innovative strategy for vocational education

One of the challenges confronting contemporary education internationally is to ensure that students are provided with opportunities to make informed choices about future careers and to acquire the capacity to transition into these careers. Schools need to manage their curricula, teacher capacity, timetables, and diversity of student populations by offering pathways that are seen as engaging and meaningful to life beyond schooling. Traditionally, education in the senior years has privileged those students who intend to progress to advanced studies at university or in other professional careers. In more recent times, in response the need for more sophisticated technical knowledge in the trades and a growing skills shortages in these fields, schools have paid more attention to vocational education. It has been argued that the vocational aspect of the school curriculum is less well understood and poorly implemented in comparison with the traditional academic curricula. One attempt to address this issue is through the establishment of school-industry partnerships. This paper explores the process of knowledge transfer between industry and schools in these partnerships. The paper theorises how knowledge that is valued and foundational in workplace employment can inform school curricula and pedagogical practices. The paper draws on theories of organisational knowledge, workplace learning and experiential learning to explore strategies that enhance school-to-employment transition outcomes.

Air Gondwana and Mosswood Manor : blended learning environments utilising second life machinima to teach negotiation skills

Seminal reports into higher education in Australia and overseas have recognised negotiation as an essential skill of a practising lawyer and have recommended that all law schools include instruction in negotiation theory and practice in their curricula. Effective negotiation training includes the elements of instruction, modelling, practice and feedback. Ideally such training takes place in the context of small groups. However, this does not necessarily mean that negotiation cannot be taught effectively in the context of large groups. This paper discusses two related blended learning environments that provide instruction in negotiation theory and practice as part of the graduate capabilities program of the undergraduate law degree in the School of Law at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Air Gondwana, which forms part of the curriculum of the two first year Contract Law subjects, and Mosswood Manor, which forms part of the curriculum of the second year Trusts subject, utilise a common narrative concerning the family of a wealthy industrialist to facilitate learning of negotiation skills. The programs both combine online and in-class components, the online components utilising machinima (computer graphics created without the need for professional software) to depict the narrative. This strategy has enabled the creation of effective, engaging and challenging learning experiences for large cohorts of students studying by different modes (full-time, part-time and distance external). The use of a common narrative, including the same characters and settings, in the two programs also provides a familiar environment in which students advance their learning from one level of attainment to the next.

Family Mobility : Reconciling Career Opportunities and Educational Strategy

Family mobility decisions reveal much about how the public and private realms of social life interact and change. This sociological study explores how contemporary families reconcile individual members’ career and education projects within the family unit over time and space, and unpacks the intersubjective constraints on workforce mobility. This Australian mixed methods study sampled Defence Force families and middle class professional families to illustrate how families’ educational projects are necessarily and deeply implicated in issues of workforce mobility and immobility, in complex ways. Defence families move frequently, often absorbing the stresses of moving through ‘viscous’ institutions as private troubles. In contrast, the selective mobility of middle class professional families and their ‘no go zones’ contribute to the public issue of poorly serviced rural communities. Families with different social, material and vocational resources at their disposal are shown to reflexively weigh the benefits and risks associated with moving differently. The book also explore how priorities shift as children move through educational phases. The families’ narratives offer empirical windows on larger social processes, such as the mobility imperative, the gender imbalance in the family’s intersubjective bargains, labour market credentialism, the social construction of place, and the family’s role in the reproduction of class structure.

Economic inequality of the badli workers of Bangladesh: Contested entitlements and a 'perpetually temporary' life-world

This article discusses the experience of economic inequality of badli workers in the state-owned jute mills of the postcolonial state of Bangladesh, and how this inequality is constituted and perpetuated. Nominally appointed to fill posts during the temporary absence of permanent workers, the reality of badli workers’ employment is very different. They define themselves as ‘a different category of workers’, with limited economic entitlements. We undertake content analysis of the badli workers’ narratives to identify elements that they themselves consider constitute these economic entitlements. We consider their perceptions of discrimination and exclusion and explain how, in response to these feelings, they construct their survival strategy. From this, through the writings of Armatya Sen, we discuss the badli workers’ contextual experience and understanding of economic inequality in relation to extant theoretical understandings, seeking to contribute to the field and to empirical studies in the subaltern context.

Developing the ASEAN regional road safety strategy

In 2011, more than 75,000 people died in road crashes in the ten member countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and many times this number sustained long term injuries. Improving road safety outcomes in ASEAN is not only important for the welfare and economic benefit of these countries, but given that a significant proportion of the world’s population lives in ASEAN, it will strongly influence whether the aims of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety and the Sustainable Development Goals are reached. For this reason, the Asian Development Bank, funded by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, has funded a package of action to improve road safety in ASEAN, including the development of a regional road safety strategy. The diversity of the member nations of ASEAN poses significant challenges for the development of the strategy. For example, the road fatality rates per 100,000 population in Malaysia and Thailand are about 5 times greater than in Singapore. In addition, the importance of particular road safety issues varies across the ASEAN countries and for countries which are undergoing rapid motorization, the order of importance may change over the life of the strategy. The development of the ASEAN Regional Road Safety Strategy has adopted the five pillars of road safety of the UN Decade of Action but focused on those aspects which are most relevant at the regional level and where a regional approach will support and facilitate actions taken by individual countries.

Challenges in developing a new regional road safety strategy for ASEAN

In 2011, more than 75,000 people died in road crashes in the ten member countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and many times this number sustained long term injuries. Improving road safety outcomes in ASEAN is not only important for the welfare and economic benefit of these countries, but given that a significant proportion of the world's population lives in ASEAN, it will strongly influence whether the aims of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety and the Sustainable Development Goals are reached. Following the ASEAN Senior Transport Officials Meeting in May 2011, the Secretariat requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to provide assistance to improve road safety in ASEAN. In response, ADB, funded by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, has funded a package of action to improve road safety in ASEAN, including the development of a new regional road safety strategy. The diversity of the member nations of ASEAN poses significant challenges for the development of the strategy. For example, the road fatality rates per 100,000 population in Malaysia and Thailand are about 5 times greater than in Singapore. In addition, the importance of particular road safety issues varies across the ASEAN countries and for countries which are undergoing rapid motorization, the order of importance may change over the life of the strategy. The development of the ASEAN Regional Road Safety Strategy has adopted the five pillars of road safety of the UN Decade of Action but focused on those aspects which are most relevant at the regional level and where a regional approach will support and facilitate actions taken by individual countries. A draft ASEAN Regional Road Safety Strategy document has been prepared and consultation will further refine its directions and contents. The paper will describe the processes undertaken to identify issues and solutions, the measurement of road safety maturity and behavioural risk factors, and the overall structure and themes of the strategy.

Fuzzy-logic-based health monitoring and residual-life prediction for composite helicopter rotor

A health-monitoring and life-estimation strategy for composite rotor blades is developed in this work. The cross-sectional stiffness reduction obtained by physics-based models is expressed as a function of the life of the structure using a recent phenomenological damage model. This stiffness reduction is further used to study the behavior of measurable system parameters such as blade deflections, loads, and strains of a composite rotor blade in static analysis and forward flight. The simulated measurements are obtained using an aeroelastic analysis of the composite rotor blade based on the finite element in space and time with physics-based damage modes that are then linked to the life consumption of the blade. The model-based measurements are contaminated with noise to simulate real data. Genetic fuzzy systems are developed for global online prediction of physical damage and life consumption using displacement- and force-based measurement deviations between damaged and undamaged conditions. Furthermore, local online prediction of physical damage and life consumption is done using strains measured along the blade length. It is observed that the life consumption in the matrix-cracking zone is about 12-15% and life consumption in debonding/delamination zone is about 45-55% of the total life of the blade. It is also observed that the success rate of the genetic fuzzy systems depends upon the number of measurements, type of measurements and training, and the testing noise level. The genetic fuzzy systems work quite well with noisy data and are recommended for online structural health monitoring of composite helicopter rotor blades.

Cultural Trauma and Life Stories

The purpose of this work is to use the concepts of human time and cultural trauma in a biographical study of the turning points in the recent history of Estonia. This research is primarily based on 148 in-depth biographical interviews conducted in Estonia and Sweden in 1995-2005, supplemented by excerpts from 5 collections and 10 individually published autobiographies. The main body of the thesis consists of six published and of two forthcoming separate refereed articles, summarised in the theoretical introduction, and Appendix of the full texts of three particular life stories. The topic of the first article is the generational composition and the collective action frames of anti-Soviet social mobilisation in Estonia in 1940-1990. The second article details the differentiation of the rites of passage and the calendar traditions as a strategy to adapt to the rapidly changed political realities, comparatively in Soviet Estonia and among the boat-refugees in Sweden. The third article investigates the life stories of the double-minded strategic generation of the Estonian-inclined Communists, who attempted to work within the Soviet system while professing to uphold the ideals of pre-war Estonia. The fourth article is concentrated on the problems of double mental standards as a coping strategy in a contradictory social reality. The fifth article implements the theory of cultural trauma for the social practice of singing nationalism in Estonia. The sixth article bridges the ideas of Russian theoreticians concerning cultural dialogue and the Western paradigm of cultural trauma, with examples from Estonian Russian life stories. The seventh article takes a biographical look at the logic of the unraveling of cultural trauma through four Soviet decades. The eighth article explores the re-shaping of citizen activities as a strategy of coping with the loss of the independent nation state, comparatively in Soviet Estonia and among Swedish Estonians. Cultural trauma is interpreted as the re-ordering of the society s value-normative constellation due to sharp, violent, usually political events. The first one under consideration was caused by the occupations of the Republic of Estonia by the Soviet army in 1940-45. After half a century of suppression the memories of these events resurfaced as different stories describing the long-term, often inter-generational strategies of coping with the value collapse. The second cultural trauma is revealed together with the collapse of the Soviet power and ideology in Estonia in 1991. According to empirical data, the following three trauma discourses have been reconstructed: - the forced adaptation to Soviet order of the homeland Estonians; - the difficulty of preserving Estonian identity in exile (Sweden); - the identity crisis of the Russian population of Estonia. Comparative analyses of these discourses have shown that opposing experiences and worldviews cause conflicting interpretations of the past. Different social and ethnic groups consider coping with cultural trauma as a matter of self-defence and create appropriate usable pasts to identify with. Keywords: human time, cultural trauma, frame analysis, discourse, life stories