Objectifying the Subjective : Assessment and Feedback in Creative Arts Studio Learning and Teaching

This paper examines the Assessment and Feedback aspects of Studio Teaching as Creative Arts pedagogy. Prompted by USQ’s newly offered Bachelor of Creative Arts (BCA), the author has developed an Assessment Matrix specifically designed to satisfy a number of imperatives, including: • ‘objectifying’ the subjective aspects of creative practice as assessable coursework/research • providing the means by which accurate, detailed, personalised and confidential feedback may be provided to students individually • providing consistent, accurate, meaningful assessment records for student, lecturer, and institution • ensuring consistency, continuity, and transparency of assessment processes and records to satisfy quality audits • minimising marking and assessment time, whilst maximising assessment integrity and depth • requiring only basic level skills and knowledge of a computer application already in common use (Microsoft Excel) • adaptability to a range of creative courses ‐ across disciplines This Assessment Matrix has been in development (and trialled) since January 2009.

Discomfort glare in open plan green buildings

This study presents the largest-known, investigation on discomfort glare with 493 surveys collected from five green buildings in Brisbane, Australia. The study was conducted on full-time employees, working under their everyday lighting conditions, all of whom had no affiliation with the research institution. The survey consisted of a specially tailored questionnaire to assess potential factors relating to discomfort glare. Luminance maps extracted from high dynamic range (HDR) images were used to capture the luminous environment of the occupants. Occupants who experienced glare on their monitor and/or electric glare were excluded from analysis leaving 419 available surveys. Occupants were more sensitive to glare than any of the tested indices accounted for. A new index, the UGP was developed to take into account the scope of results in the investigation. The index is based on a linear transformation of the UGR to calculate a probability of disturbed persons. However all glare indices had some correlation to discomfort, and statistically there was no difference between the DGI, UGR and CGI. The UGP broadly reflects the demographics of the working population in Australia and the new index is applicable to open plan green buildings.

Looking yonder : a model of arts engagement with teacher artists and professional artists in Queensland Schools

Since 2007 Kite Arts Education Program (KITE), based at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), has been engaged in delivering a series of theatre-based experiences for children in low socio-economic primary schools in Queensland. KITE @ QPAC is an early childhood arts initiative of The Queensland Department of Education that is supported by and located at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. KITE delivers relevant contemporary arts education experiences for Prep to Year 3 students and their teachers across Queensland. The theatre-based experiences form part of a three year artist-in-residency project titled Yonder that includes performances developed by the children with the support and leadership of Teacher Artists from KITE for their community and parents/carers in a peak community cultural institution. This paper provides an overview of the Yonder model and unpacks some challenges in activating the model for schools and cultural organisations.

Campaigning for street trees, Sydney Botanic Gardens, 1890s to 1920s

Between the 1890s and 1920s street trees became a more prominent feature in streetscapes across New South Wales, Australia. The Sydney Botanic Gardens, with their extensive nursery system, were responsible for supplying seedlings to councils and municipalities for use as street trees. As such, this institution was a primary mover of what a street tree should be, how they should be used and what plants were best suited to this particular use in urban environments. This paper analyses the nurturing of this use of street trees by the Sydney Botanic Gardens and the Director Joseph Maiden. This institution was a place that moved not just stock and seedlings, but ideas about how nature's inclusion into urban environments had the capacity to influence and enhance the cultivation of civilised citizens. This was affected through access to transnational resources available to the Sydney Botanic Gardens.

Prioritizing process improvement : an example from the Australian financial services sector

Process improvement has become a number one business priority, and more and more project requests are raised in organizations, seeking approval and resources for process-related projects. Realistically, the total of the requested funds exceeds the allocated budget, the number of projects is higher than the available bandwidth, and only some of these (very often only few) can be supported and most never see any light. Relevant resources are scarce, and correct decisions must be made to make sure that those projects that are of best value are implemented. How can decision makers make the right decision on the following: Which project(s) are to be approved and when to commence work on them? Which projects are most aligned with corporate strategy? How can the project’s value to the business be calculated and explained? How can these decisions be made in a fair, justifiable manner that brings the best results to the company and its stakeholders? This chapter describes a business value scoring (BVS) model that was built, tested, and implemented by a leading financial institution in Australia to address these very questions. The chapter discusses the background and motivations for such an initiative and describes the tool in detail. All components and underlying concepts are explained, together with details on its application. This tool has been successfully implemented in the case organization. The chapter provides practical guidelines for organizations that wish to adopt this approach.

Ownership, corporate governance and IPO post-listing liquidity

This thesis investigates how ownership structure and corporate governance relate to the post-listing liquidity of IPO firms. Using a sample of 1,049 Chinese IPOs from 2001 to 2010, the results show firms with a broader shareholder base and higher ownership concentration have greater post-listing liquidity. So do firms with higher state ownership and lower institution ownership. Corporate governance is also important; post-listing liquidity is higher for firms with CEO duality, a larger and more independent board, and more frequent board meetings. The 2005 Split Share Structure Reform, which increased the proportion of tradable shares, has a positive impact on liquidity.

Maiden, Joseph

Joseph Henry Maiden was born in London in 1859 and sailed for Australia in 1880, where he lived for the remainder of his life. He was an ardent Australian nationalist, and like many immigrants of this time, remained proud of his British heritage. His sweetheart, Eliza Jane Hammond, followed him to Australia in 1883. They married in Kew the day after she made port in Melbourne, and together in Sydney they raised five children. [1] During the first phase of his career Maiden presided over the Technological Museum of Sydney from 1882 to 1896. In the second phase, he was the director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens from 1896 to 1924. There he managed a whole complex of parks including the Domain,Centennial Park and the Governor's residences, a state nursery at Campbelltown and a scientific institution, the National Herbarium of New South Wales, devoted to botany. A short time after his retirement, he died at his home in Turramurra in 1925...

Hospital pharmacists' views on collaborative pharmacist prescribing

In 2008, Weeks et al. published the results of a postal survey, which explored the views of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia’s (SHPA) members on collaborative prescribing, and the extent of de facto prescribing in their institution. Since then, significant work has been undertaken on non-medical prescribing, such as pilots of pharmacist prescribing across Australia and a National Health Workforce report on developing a nationally consistent approach to prescribing by nonmedical health professionals. The first stage of the Health Workforce Australia Health Practitioner Prescribing Pathway project is complete and the recommendations for implementation have been approved by the Standing Council in November 2013. New Zealand pharmacists obtained prescribing rights in 2013, and the first cohort of 14 prescribers have completed the postgraduate pharmacist prescribing course (jointly run by the Otago and Auckland Universities).

A deconvolution method for deriving the transit time spectrum for ultrasound propagation through cancellous bone replica models

The acceptance of broadband ultrasound attenuation for the assessment of osteoporosis suffers from a limited understanding of ultrasound wave propagation through cancellous bone. It has recently been proposed that the ultrasound wave propagation can be described by a concept of parallel sonic rays. This concept approximates the detected transmission signal to be the superposition of all sonic rays that travel directly from transmitting to receiving transducer. The transit time of each ray is defined by the proportion of bone and marrow propagated. An ultrasound transit time spectrum describes the proportion of sonic rays having a particular transit time, effectively describing lateral inhomogeneity of transit times over the surface of the receiving ultrasound transducer. The aim of this study was to provide a proof of concept that a transit time spectrum may be derived from digital deconvolution of input and output ultrasound signals. We have applied the active-set method deconvolution algorithm to determine the ultrasound transit time spectra in the three orthogonal directions of four cancellous bone replica samples and have compared experimental data with the prediction from the computer simulation. The agreement between experimental and predicted ultrasound transit time spectrum analyses derived from Bland–Altman analysis ranged from 92% to 99%, thereby supporting the concept of parallel sonic rays for ultrasound propagation in cancellous bone. In addition to further validation of the parallel sonic ray concept, this technique offers the opportunity to consider quantitative characterisation of the material and structural properties of cancellous bone, not previously available utilising ultrasound.

Supermarkets and agro-industrial foods : the strategic manufacturing of consumer trust

There is increasing evidence of a weakened platform of consumer trust in mass produced food products. The resistance shown by consumers to the agro-industrial paradigm is evident in an emergent phase of reflexive consumerism, public reactions to an overly-concentrated retail sector and the rise of alternative food networks such as farmers' markets and organic box schemes. Supermarkets are responding strategically by aiming to manufacture new trust relations with consumers. This paper identifies three key strategies of trust manufacturing: (i) reputational enhancement though the institution of “behind the scenes,” business-to-business private standards; (ii) direct quality claims via private standard certification badges on food products, and ; (iii) discursive claimsmaking through symbolic representations of “authenticity” and “tradition.” Drawing upon the food governance literature and a “visual sociology” of supermarkets and supermarket produce, we highlight how trust is both commoditized and increasingly embedded into the marketing of mass-produced foods.

A school by any other name...is still a rock band?

How is your academic institution structured? If you work within a university, then no doubt you are familiar with the use of faculties or perhaps colleges. What about departments or schools? Whatever names or structures are employed, how would you describe the working relationship between academics and professional staff members? As a research scientist and academic over the last twenty years, my appointments have almost always been made through academic departments or schools. In each case, the academic unit has been led by a senior academic manager, such as a chair or head, supported by a dedicated team of professional staff. More recently, however, I have had the opportunity of leading an academic discipline and the experience has led me to reflect more broadly about leadership styles and academic structures within the Australian higher education sector. The written record of this reflection was published last year in the Australian Universities Review (Harkin and Healy, 2013), but I’m pleased to be able to provide a brief synopsis here for the readership of Insights.

Designing Web 2.0 ePortfolios for music postgraduate study : A practice-led enquiry

This article examines the design of ePortfolios for music postgraduate students utilizing a practice-led design iterative research process. It is suggested that the availability of Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs and social network software potentially provide creative artist with an opportunity to engage in a dialogue about art with artefacts of the artist products and processes present in that discussion. The design process applied Software Development as Research (SoDaR) methodology to simultaneously develop design and pedagogy. The approach to designing ePortfolio systems applied four theoretical protocols to examine the use of digitized artefacts to enable a dynamic and inclusive dialogue around representations of the students work. A negative case analysis identified a disjuncture between university access and control policy, and the relative openness of Web2.0 systems outside the institution that led to the design of an integrated model of ePortfolio.

Transfer pricing and multinational financial institutions : the case for replacing arm’s length price with a unitary approach

The international tax system, designed a century ago, has not kept pace with the modern multinational entity rendering it ineffective in taxing many modern businesses according to economic activity. One of those modern multinational entities is the multinational financial institution (MNFI). The recent global financial crisis provides a particularly relevant and significant example of the failure of the current system on a global scale. The modern MNFI is increasingly undertaking more globalised and complex trading operations. A primary reason for the globalisation of financial institutions is that they typically ‘follow-the-customer’ into jurisdictions where international capital and international investors are required. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently reported that from 1995-2009, foreign bank presence in developing countries grew by 122 per cent. The same study indicates that foreign banks have a 20 per cent market share in OECD countries and 50 per cent in emerging markets and developing countries. Hence, most significant is that fact that MNFIs are increasingly undertaking an intermediary role in developing economies where they are financing core business activities such as mining and tourism. IMF analysis also suggests that in the future, foreign bank expansion will be greatest in emerging economies. The difficulties for developing countries in applying current international tax rules, especially the current traditional transfer pricing regime, are particularly acute in relation to MNFIs, which are the biggest users of tax havens and offshore finance. This paper investigates whether a unitary taxation approach which reflects economic reality would more easily and effectively ensure that the profits of MNFIs are taxed in the jurisdictions which give rise to those profits. It has previously been argued that the uniqueness of MNFIs results in a failure of the current system to accurately allocate profits and that unitary tax as an alternative could provide a sounder allocation model for international tax purposes. This paper goes a step further, and examines the practicalities of the implementation of unitary taxation for MNFIs in terms of the key components of such a regime, along with their their implications. This paper adopts a two-step approach in considering the implications of unitary taxation as a means of improved corporate tax coordination which requires international acceptance and agreement. First, the definitional issues of the unitary MNFI are examined and second, an appropriate allocation formula for this sector is investigated. To achieve this, the paper asks first, how the financial sector should be defined for the purposes of unitary taxation and what should constitute a unitary business for that sector and second, what is the ‘best practice’ model of an allocation formula for the purposes of the apportionment of the profits of the unitary business of a financial institution.

Establishing a framework for transforming student engagement, success and retention in higher education institutions [Final Report]

The perennial issues of student engagement, success and retention (SESR) in higher education continue to attract attention as key indicators of learning and teaching quality. This project aimed to establish and provide a holistic framework that would allow higher education institutions (HEIs) manage and improve their student engagement and retention strategies and programs. The framework and main project deliverable is a Maturity Model (MM) for Student Engagement, Success and Retention (SESR-MM). The project involved three Australian universities with experience and reputations in SESR activities: Queensland University of Technology (lead institution), the University of Queensland and Griffith University, working cooperatively to develop and trial the project deliverables. Project findings suggest that the SESR-MM has the potential to positively transform the holistic—academic, social and personal—engagement experiences of students in Australian universities, and that the SESR-MM is a useful mechanism for sharing good practice and improving programs designed to enhance the student experience.

Primary control level of parallel distributed energy resources converters in system of multiple interconnected autonomous microgrids within self-healing networks

To minimise the number of load sheddings in a microgrid (MG) during autonomous operation, islanded neighbour MGs can be interconnected if they are on a self-healing network and an extra generation capacity is available in the distributed energy resources (DER) of one of the MGs. In this way, the total load in the system of interconnected MGs can be shared by all the DERs within those MGs. However, for this purpose, carefully designed self-healing and supply restoration control algorithm, protection systems and communication infrastructure are required at the network and MG levels. In this study, first, a hierarchical control structure is discussed for interconnecting the neighbour autonomous MGs where the introduced primary control level is the main focus of this study. Through the developed primary control level, this study demonstrates how the parallel DERs in the system of multiple interconnected autonomous MGs can properly share the load of the system. This controller is designed such that the converter-interfaced DERs operate in a voltage-controlled mode following a decentralised power sharing algorithm based on droop control. DER converters are controlled based on a per-phase technique instead of a conventional direct-quadratic transformation technique. In addition, linear quadratic regulator-based state feedback controllers, which are more stable than conventional proportional integrator controllers, are utilised to prevent instability and weak dynamic performances of the DERs when autonomous MGs are interconnected. The efficacy of the primary control level of the DERs in the system of multiple interconnected autonomous MGs is validated through the PSCAD/EMTDC simulations considering detailed dynamic models of DERs and converters.