Review of the Deakin University Master of Public Health Program

This work is one in a series of reports that forms a national review of Indigenous Public Health Core Competencies Integration into Master of Public Health programs. The review is a component of the Indigenous Public Health Capacity Building (IPHCB) Project funded by the Australian Government Department of Health.The Indigenous public health competencies are a core component of the Foundational Competencies for MPH Graduates in Australia (ANAPHI 2009), a curriculum framework that integrates the six core competencies in Indigenous public health expected of every Australian MPH graduate. The aim of this review is to investigate the integration of the core Indigenous public health competencies into the curriculum of MPH programs nationally in order to document and disseminate examples of best practice and to find ways of strengthening the delivery of this content. This report, one in a series, relates to the curriculum review conducted at Deakin University’s Burwood campus, Melbourne in April 2013.

Program of special service on the emancipation of the slaves in Surinam

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Open-pit block sequencing optimization: A mathematical model and solution technique

This study presents a comprehensive mathematical formulation model for a short-term open-pit mine block sequencing problem, which considers nearly all relevant technical aspects in open-pit mining. The proposed model aims to obtain the optimum extraction sequences of the original-size (smallest) blocks over short time intervals and in the presence of real-life constraints, including precedence relationship, machine capacity, grade requirements, processing demands and stockpile management. A hybrid branch-and-bound and simulated annealing algorithm is developed to solve the problem. Computational experiments show that the proposed methodology is a promising way to provide quantitative recommendations for mine planning and scheduling engineers.

Queensland shark control program non-target statistics by year

Spreadsheet of non-target species (bycatch) numbers in the Shark Control Program by species, date of capture, location, size and sex from 2001 onwards The shark control program (SCP) relies on nets or drumlines, or a combination of both, to minimise the threat of shark attack on humans in particular locations. Following is information on numbers and locations of sharks that have been caught by the SCP. It is important to reduce the inadvertent impacts of the SCP on other marine animals (bycatch) without compromising human safety. Bycatch levels are carefully monitored and research is focused on minimising impacts on non-target species. This dataset contains details of non-target numbers in the Shark Control program by species, date of capture, and location from 2001

Integration and optimization of pressure retarded osmosis with reverse osmosis for power generation and high efficiency desalination

Salinity gradient power is proposed as a source of renewable energy when two solutions of different salinity are mixed. In particular, Pressure Retarded Osmosis (PRO) coupled with a Reverse Osmosis process (RO) has been previously suggested for power generation, using RO brine as the draw solution. However, integration of PRO with RO may have further value for increasing the extent of water recovery in a desalination process. Consequently, this study was designed to model the impact of various system parameters to better understand how to design and operate practical PRO-RO units. The impact of feed salinity and recovery rate for the RO process on the concentration of draw solution, feed pressure, and membrane area of the PRO process was evaluated. The PRO system was designed to operate at maximum power density of . Model results showed that the PRO power density generated intensified with increasing seawater salinity and RO recovery rate. For an RO process operating at 52% recovery rate and 35 g/L feed salinity, a maximum power density of 24 W/m2 was achieved using 4.5 M NaCl draw solution. When seawater salinity increased to 45 g/L and the RO recovery rate was 46%, the PRO power density increased to 28 W/m2 using 5 M NaCl draw solution. The PRO system was able to increase the recovery rate of the RO by up to 18% depending on seawater salinity and RO recovery rate. This result suggested a potential advantage of coupling PRO process with RO system to increase the recovery rate of the desalination process and reduce brine discharge.

Reliability Optimization using SLUMT

This paper is concerned with the reliability optimization of a spatially redundant system, subject to various constraints, by using nonlinear programming. The constrained optimization problem is converted into a sequence of unconstrained optimization problems by using a penalty function. The new problem is then solved by the conjugate gradient method. The advantages of this method are highlighted.

See you in class: Promoting a quality program for pre-service educators in regional locations through a virtual classroom

The quality of an online university degree is paramount to the student, the reputation of the university and most importantly, the profession that will be entered. At the School of Education within Curtin University, we aim to ensure that students within rural and remote areas are provided with high quality degrees equal to their city counterparts who access face-to-face classes on campus.In 2010, the School of Education moved to flexible delivery of a fully online Bachelor of Education degree for their rural students. In previous years, the degree had been delivered in physical locations around the state. Although this served the purpose for the time, it restricted the degree to only those rural students who were able to access the physical campus. The new model in 2010 allows access for students in any rural area who have a computer and an internet connection, regardless of their geographical location. As a result enrolments have seen a positive increase in new students. Academic staff had previously used an asynchronous environment to deliver learning modules housed within a learning management system (LMS). To enhance the learning environment and to provide high quality learning experiences to students learning at a distance, the adoption of synchronous software was introduced. This software is a real-time virtual classroom environment that allows for communication through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and videoconferencing, along with a large number of collaboration tools to engage learners. This research paper reports on the professional development of academic staff to integrate a live e-learning solution into their current LMS environment. It involved professional development, including technical orientation for teaching staff and course participants simultaneously. Further, pedagogical innovations were offered to engage the students in a collaborative learning environment. Data were collected from academic staff through semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The findings discuss the perceived value of the technology, problems encountered and solutions sought.

Theoretical gain optimization studies in 10.6 µm CO2-N2 gasdynamic lasers. IV. Further results of parametric study

Based on a method proposed by Reddy and Shanmugasundaram, similar solutions have been obtained for the steady inviscid quasi-one-dimensional nonreacting flow in the supersonic nozzle of CO2-N2-H2O and CO2-N2-He gasdynamic laser systems. Instead of using the correlations of a nonsimilar function NS for pure N2 gas, as is done in previous publications, the NS correlations are computed here for the actual gas mixtures used in the gasdynamic lasers. Optimum small-signal optical gain and the corresponding optimum values of the operating parameters like reservoir pressure and temperature and nozzle area ratio are computed using these correlations. The present results are compared with the previous results and the main differences are discussed. Journal of Applied Physics is copyrighted by The American Institute of Physics.

Cluster randomised-control trial for an Australian child protection education program: Study protocol for the Learn to be safe with Emmy and friends™

Background Child maltreatment has severe short-and long-term consequences for children’s health, development, and wellbeing. Despite the provision of child protection education programs in many countries, few have been rigorously evaluated to determine their effectiveness. We describe the design of a multi-site gold standard evaluation of an Australian school-based child protection education program. The intervention has been developed by a not-for-profit agency and comprises 5 1-h sessions delivered to first grade students (aged 5–6 years) in their regular classrooms. It incorporates common attributes of effective programs identified in the literature, and aligns with the Australian education curriculum. Methods/Design A three-site cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) of Learn to be safe with Emmy and friends™ will be conducted with children in approximately 72 first grade classrooms in 24 Queensland primary (elementary) schools from three state regions, over a period of 2 years. Entire schools will be randomised, using a computer generated list of random numbers, to intervention and wait-list control conditions, to prevent contamination effects across students and classes. Data will be collected at baseline (pre-assessment), immediately after the intervention (post-assessment), and at 6-, 12-, and 18-months (follow-up assessments). Outcome assessors will be blinded to group membership. Primary outcomes assessed are children’s knowledge of program concepts; intentions to use program knowledge, skills, and help-seeking strategies; actual use of program material in a simulated situation; and anxiety arising from program participation. Secondary outcomes include a parent discussion monitor, parent observations of their children’s use of program materials, satisfaction with the program, and parental stress. A process evaluation will be conducted concurrently to assess program performance. Discussion This RCT addresses shortcomings in previous studies and methodologically extends research in this area by randomising at school-level to prevent cross-learning between conditions; providing longer-term outcome assessment than any previous study; examining the degree to which parents/guardians discuss intervention content with children at home; assessing potential moderating/mediating effects of family and child demographic variables; testing an in-vivo measure to assess children’s ability to discriminate safe/unsafe situations and disclose to trusted adults; and testing enhancements to existing measures to establish greater internal consistency.

Launch Envelope Optimization of Virtual Sliding Target Guidance Scheme

This paper presents an optimization of the performance of a recently proposed virtual sliding target (VST) guidance scheme in terms of maximization of its launch envelope for three- dimensional (3-D) engagements. The objective is to obtain the launch envelope of the missile using the VST guidance scheme for different lateral launch angles with respect to the line of sight (LOS) and demonstrate its superiority over kinematics-based guidance laws like proportional navigation (PN). The VST scheme uses PN as its basic guidance scheme and exploits the relation between the atmospheric properties, missile aerodynamic characteristics, and the optimal trajectory of the missile. The missile trajectory is shaped by controlling the instantaneous position and the speed of a virtual target which the missile pursues during the midcourse phase. In the proposed method it is shown that an appropriate value of initial position for the virtual target in 3-D, combined with optimized virtual target parameters, can significantly improve the launch envelope performance. The paper presents the formulation of the optimization problem, obtains the approximate models used to make the optimization problem more tractable, and finally presents the optimized performance of the missile in terms of launch envelope and shows significant improvement over kinematic-based guidance laws. The paper also proposes modification to the basic VST scheme. Some simulations using the full-fledged six degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) models are also presented to validate the models and technique used.

Theoretical gain optimization in CO2-N2-H2 gasdynamic lasers with two-dimensional wedge nozzles

Attention is given to the results of optimization studies with a 16-micron CO2-N2-H2 GDL employing two-dimensional wedge nozzles. The optimum value of the achievable gain reaches 12.7 percent/cm on the P(15) line for a 30:50:20 percent respective apportionment of the aforementioned gases. The corresponding optimum values for reservoir pressure and area ratio are computed as functions of reservoir temperature, and presented graphically.

Application of optimization methods to vibration control of stretched strings

In this paper, non-linear programming techniques are applied to the problem of controlling the vibration pattern of a stretched string. First, the problem of finding the magnitudes of two control forces applied at two points l1 and l2 on the string to reduce the energy of vibration over the interval (l1, l2) relative to the energy outside the interval (l1, l2) is considered. For this problem the relative merits of various methods of non-linear programming are compared. The more complicated problem of finding the positions and magnitudes of two control forces to obtain the desired energy pattern is then solved by using the slack unconstrained minimization technique with the Fletcher-Powell search. In the discussion of the results it is shown that the position of the control force is very important in controlling the energy pattern of the string.

Asthma self-management program for adolescents in Taiwan

This thesis reports on a randomised controlled study conducted in Northern Taiwan. This study examined the effectiveness of a newly developed asthma self-management program based on Bandura's self-efficacy model on levels of adolescents' self-efficacy, outcome expectation, asthma self-management behaviours and symptoms of asthma. Study findings have contributed evidence supporting effective developmentally appropriate, educational support strategies for adolescents who, have demonstrated to improvement in prevention and more effective management of their asthma symptoms.

Non-linear Transceiver Designs with Imperfect CSIT Using Convex Optimization

In this paper, we consider non-linear transceiver designs for multiuser multi-input multi-output (MIMO) down-link in the presence of imperfections in the channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). The base station (BS) is equipped with multiple transmit antennas and each user terminal is equipped with multiple receive antennas. The BS employs Tomlinson-Harashima precoding (THP) for inter-user interference pre-cancellation at the transmitter. We investigate robust THP transceiver designs based on the minimization of BS transmit power with mean square error (MSE) constraints, and balancing of MSE among users with a constraint on the total BS transmit power. We show that these design problems can be solved by iterative algorithms, wherein each iteration involves a pair of convex optimization problems. The robustness of the proposed algorithms to imperfections in CSIT is illustrated through simulations.