The building blocks of digital media literacy: Socio-material participation and the production of media knowledge

This article outlines the knowledge and skills students develop when they engage in digital media production and analysis in school settings. The metaphor of ‘digital building blocks’ is used to describe the material practices, conceptual understandings and production of knowledge that lead to the development of digital media literacy. The article argues that the two established approaches to media literacy education, critical reading and media production, do not adequately explain how students develop media knowledge. It suggests there has been too little focus on material practices and how these relate to the development of conceptual understanding in media learning. The article explores empirical evidence from a four-year investigation in a primary school in Queensland, Australia using actor–network theory to explore ‘moments of translation’ as students deploy technologies and concepts to materially participate in digital culture. A generative model of media learning is presented with four categories of building blocks that isolate the specific skills and knowledge that can be taught and learnt to promote participation in digital media contexts: digital materials, conceptual understandings, media production and media analysis. The final section of the article makes initial comments on how the model might become the basis for curriculum development in schools and argues that further empirical research needs to occur to confirm the model’s utility.

The plasticity of NBS resistance genes in sorghum is driven by multiple evolutionary processes

Background Increased disease resistance is a key target of cereal breeding programs, with disease outbreaks continuing to threaten global food production, particularly in Africa. Of the disease resistance gene families, the nucleotide-binding site plus leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) family is the most prevalent and ancient and is also one of the largest gene families known in plants. The sequence diversity in NBS-encoding genes was explored in sorghum, a critical food staple in Africa, with comparisons to rice and maize and with comparisons to fungal pathogen resistance QTL. Results In sorghum, NBS-encoding genes had significantly higher diversity in comparison to non NBS-encoding genes and were significantly enriched in regions of the genome under purifying and balancing selection, both through domestication and improvement. Ancestral genes, pre-dating species divergence, were more abundant in regions with signatures of selection than in regions not under selection. Sorghum NBS-encoding genes were also significantly enriched in the regions of the genome containing fungal pathogen disease resistance QTL; with the diversity of the NBS-encoding genes influenced by the type of co-locating biotic stress resistance QTL. Conclusions NBS-encoding genes are under strong selection pressure in sorghum, through the contrasting evolutionary processes of purifying and balancing selection. Such contrasting evolutionary processes have impacted ancestral genes more than species-specific genes. Fungal disease resistance hot-spots in the genome, with resistance against multiple pathogens, provides further insight into the mechanisms that cereals use in the “arms race” with rapidly evolving pathogens in addition to providing plant breeders with selection targets for fast-tracking the development of high performing varieties with more durable pathogen resistance.

Small and medium enterprises using software as a service : exploring the different roles of intermediaries

Software as a Service (SaaS) can provide significant benefits to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) due to advantages like ease of access, 7*24 availability, and utility pricing. However, underlying the SaaS delivery model is often the assumption that SMEs will directly interact with the SaaS vendor and use a self-service approach. In practice, we see the rise of SaaS intermediaries who can support SMEs with sourcing and leveraging SaaS. This paper reports on the roles of intermediaries and how they support SMEs with using SaaS. We conducted an empirical study of two SaaS intermediaries and analysed their business models, in particular their value propositions. We identified orientation (technology or customer) and alignment (operational or strategic) as themes for understanding their roles. The contributions of this paper include: (1) the identification and description of SaaS intermediaries for SMEs based on an empirical study and (2) understanding the different roles of SaaS intermediaries, in particular a more basic role based on technology orientation and operational alignment and a more value adding role based on customer orientation and strategic alignment. We propose that SaaS intermediaries can address SaaS adoption and implementation challenges of SMEs by playing a basic role and can also aim to support SMEs in creating business value with SaaS based solutions by playing an added value role.

Development of a transient, high-level expression platform for protein production in plants

Plants are an attractive alternative to conventional expression systems for the production of recombinant proteins and useful biologics, however, the economic viability of plant made proteins is strongly yield dependent. This study aimed to improve transgene expression levels in the plant host Nicotiana benthamiana using the Agroinfiltration transient expression platform. Independent investigation of the physical, chemical and genetic features associated with Agroinfiltration identified factors that improved transformation frequencies, elevated transgene expression levels and ultimately improved protein yield. The major outcome of this research was a novel hyper-expression system for biofarming recombinant proteins in plants.

An open pit multistage mine production scheduling model for drilling, blasting and excavating operations

This paper proposes a new multi-resource multi-stage scheduling problem for optimising the open-pit drilling, blasting and excavating operations under equipment capacity constraints. The flow process is analysed based on the real-life data from an Australian iron ore mine site. The objective of the model is to maximise the throughput and minimise the total idle times of equipment at each stage. The following comprehensive mining attributes and constraints have been considered: types of equipment; operating capacities of equipment; ready times of equipment; speeds of equipment; block-sequence-dependent movement times of equipment; equipment-assignment-dependent operation times of blocks; distances between each pair of blocks; due windows of blocks; material properties of blocks; swell factors of blocks; and slope requirements of blocks. It is formulated by mixed integer programming and solved by ILOG-CPLEX optimiser. The proposed model is validated with extensive computational experiments to improve mine production efficiency at the operational level. The model also provides an intelligent decision support tool to account for the availability and usage of equipment units for drilling, blasting and excavating stages.

Solar Assisted Fast Pyrolysis: A Novel Approach of Renewable Energy Production

Biofuel produced by fast pyrolysis from biomass is a promising candidate. The heart of the system is a reactor which is directly or indirectly heated to approximately 500°C by exhaust gases from a combustor that burns pyrolysis gas and some of the by-product char. In most of the cases, external biomass heater is used as heating source of the system while internal electrical heating is recently implemented as source of reactor heating. However, this heating system causes biomass or other conventional forms of fuel consumption to produce renewable energy and contributes to environmental pollution. In order to overcome these, the feasibility of incorporating solar energy with fast pyrolysis has been investigated. The main advantages of solar reactor heating include renewable source of energy, comparatively simpler devices, and no environmental pollution. A lab scale pyrolysis setup has been examined along with 1.2 m diameter parabolic reflector concentrator that provides hot exhaust gas up to 162°C. The study shows that about 32.4% carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and almost one-third portion of fuel cost are reduced by incorporating solar heating system. Successful implementation of this proposed solar assisted pyrolysis would open a prospective window of renewable energy.

Echolocation call production during aerial and terrestrial locomotion by New Zealand's enigmatic lesser short-tailed bat, Mystacina tuberculata

Linkage of echolocation call production with contraction of flight muscles has been suggested to reduce the energetic cost of flight with echolocation, such that the overall cost is approximately equal to that of flight alone. However, the pattern of call production with limb movement in terrestrially agile bats has never been investigated. We used synchronised high-speed video and audio recordings to determine patterns of association between echolocation call production and limb motion by Mystacina tuberculata Gray 1843 as individuals walked and flew, respectively. Results showed that there was no apparent linkage between call production and limb motion when bats walked. When in flight, two calls were produced per wingbeat, late in the downstroke and early in the upstroke. When bats walked, calls were produced at a higher rate, but at a slightly lower intensity, compared with bats in flight. These results suggest that M. tuberculata do not attempt to reduce the cost of terrestrial locomotion and call production through biomechanical linkage. They also suggest that the pattern of linkage seen when bats are in flight is not universal and that energetic savings cannot necessarily be explained by contraction of muscles associated with the downstroke alone.

Trashtopia by Maison Briz Vegas

Description of the Work Trashtopia was a fashion exhibition at Craft Queensland’s Artisan gallery showcasing outfits made entirely from rubbish materials. The exhibition was part of an on-going series by the Queensland Fashion Archives, called Remember or Revive. Maison Briz Vegas designers, Carla Binotto and Carla van Lunn created a dystopian beach holiday tableau referencing mid-century Californian and Gold Coast beach culture and style, and today’s plastic pollution of the world’s oceans. The display engaged a popular audience with ideas about environmental destruction and climate change while bringing twentieth and twenty-first century consumer and leisure culture into question. The medium of fashion was used as a means of amusement and provocation. The fashion objects and installation questioned current mores about the material value of rubbish and the installation was also a work of environmental activism. Statement of the Research Component The work was framed by critical reflections of contemporary consumer culture and research fields questioning value in waste materials and fashion objects. The work is situated in the context of conceptual and experimental fashion design practice and fashion presentation. The exhibited work transgressed the conventional production methods and material choice of designer fashion garments, for example, discarded plastic shopping bags were painstakingly shredded to mimic ostrich feathers. The viewer was prompted to reflect on the materiality of rubbish and its potential for transformation. The exhibition also sits in the context of culture jamming and contemporary activist practice. The work references and subverts twentieth century beach holiday culture, contrasting resort wear with a contemporary picture of plastic pollution of the oceans and climate change. Hawaiian style prints contained a playful and dark narrative of dying marine-life and the viewer was invited to take a “Greetings from Trashtopia” postcard depicting fashion models floating in oceans of plastic rubbish. This reflective creative practice sought to address the question of whether fashion made from recycled rubbish materials can critically and emotionally engage viewers with questions about contemporary consumer culture and material value. This work presents an innovative model of fashion design practice in which rubbish materials are transformed into designer garments and rubbish is placed centre stage in the public presentation of the designs. In overturning the traditional model of fashion presentation, the viewer is also given a deeper connection to the recycling process and complex ideas of waste and value. In 2015 two outfits from the exhibition were selected, along with works from three leading Australian fashion labels, and four leading New Zealand labels, for a commemorative ANZAC fashion collection shown at iD Dunedin Fashion Week. The show titled, “Together Alone, revisited” reprised an Australian and New Zealand fashion exhibition first held at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2009.

Dynamic capabilities and performance : an empirical study of audiovisual producers in Europe

This study tests Teece’s conceptualization of dynamic capabilities in the context of small and medium sized firms competing in creative industries, i.e. the European audio-visual production industry. This industry is characterized by immature and evolving markets where firms’ dynamic capabilities are expected to lead to superior innovative performance. Using survey data from audio-visual producers in ten European countries we find that both sensing and seizing capabilities have a positive effect on firms' innovative performance. The effect however, is curvilinear and positive effects appear only when capabilities overcome a threshold level.

Opportunities and challenges in engaging citizens in the co-production of infrastructure-based public services in Australia

Research and practice have observed a shift towards service-oriented approaches that depend on input from citizens as co-producers of services. Yet in the delivery of public infrastructure the focus is still on managing assets rather than services. Using a Policy Delphi approach, we found that although experts advocate service-centric approaches guidelines and policies lack a service-centric perspective. Findings revealed a range of impediments to effective stakeholder involvement. The paper contributes to co-production and new public governance literature and offers directions for public infrastructure decision-makers to support and reconnect disengaged government–citizen relations, and determine ways of understanding optimal service outcomes.