The impact of transformative learning in a critical service-learning program on teacher development: Building a foundation for inclusive teaching

With international and national policies requiring teachers to adopt inclusive practices worldwide, this paper examines the impact of transformational learning in a critical service-learning program on final-year pre-service teachers’ approaches to inclusive teaching. Data from emailed questionnaires and focus group interviews are analysed through a social, critical framework. The results indicate that the critical service-learning program provided the students with an opportunity to consider diversity and inclusion in selecting teaching strategies, and to enact values suitable to inclusive practices and appreciation of diversity in schools. In this paper we argue that transformative learning experiences about inclusivity and diversity are needed if pre-service teachers are to be challenged to adopt inclusive values and practice in schools. A critical service-learning program for pre-service teachers provides a solid foundation on which to develop or build on the ability to think and teach inclusively.

Exploring variation in measurement as a foundation for statistical thinking in the elementary school

This study was based on the premise that variation is the foundation of statistics and statistical investigations. The study followed the development of fourth-grade students' understanding of variation through participation in a sequence of two lessons based on measurement. In the first lesson all students measured the arm span of one student, revealing pathways students follow in developing understanding of variation and linear measurement (related to research question 1). In the second lesson each student's arm span was measured once, introducing a different aspect of variation for students to observe and contrast. From this second lesson, students' development of the ability to compare their representations for the two scenarios and explain differences in terms of variation was explored (research question 2). Students' documentation, in both workbook and software formats, enabled us to monitor their engagement and identify their increasing appreciation of the need to observe, represent, and contrast the variation in the data. Following the lessons, a written student assessment was used for judging retention of understanding of variation developed through the lessons and the degree of transfer of understanding to a different scenario (research question 3).

Biomechanical analyses of the performance of Paralympians: From foundation to elite level

Biomechanical analysis of sport performance provides an objective method of determining performance of a particular sporting technique. In particular, it aims to add to the understanding of the mechanisms influencing performance, characterization of athletes, and provide insights into injury predisposition. Whilst the performance in sport of able-bodied athletes is well recognised in the literature, less information and understanding is known on the complexity, constraints and demands placed on the body of an individual with a disability. This paper provides a dialogue that outlines scientific issues of performance analysis of multi-level athletes with a disability, including Paralympians. Four integrated themes are explored the first of which focuses on how biomechanics can contribute to the understanding of sport performance in athletes with a disability and how it may be used as an evidence-based tool. This latter point questions the potential for a possible cultural shift led by emergence of user-friendly instruments. The second theme briefly discusses the role of reliability of sport performance and addresses the debate of two-dimensional and three-dimensional analysis. The third theme address key biomechanical parameters and provides guidance to clinicians, and coaches on the approaches adopted using biomechanical/sport performance analysis for an athlete with a disability starting out, to the emerging and elite Paralympian. For completeness of this discourse, the final theme is based on the controversial issues on the role of assisted devices and the inclusion of Paralympians into able-bodied sport is also presented. All combined, this dialogue highlights the intricate relationship between biomechanics and training of individuals with a disability. Furthermore, it illustrates the complexity of modern training of athletes which can only lead to a better appreciation of the performances to be delivered in the London 2012 Paralympic Games

Patent-busting: The public patent foundation, gene patents and the Seed Wars

This chapter considers the Public Patent Foundation as a novel institution in the patent framework. It contends that such a model can play a productive role in challenging the validity of high-profile patents; working as an amicus curiae in significant court cases; and also promoting patent law reform. However, there are limits to the ‘patent-busting’ of the Foundation. The not-for-profit legal services organization has only had the time and resources to challenge a number of noteworthy patents. Other jurisdictions – such as Australia – lack such public-spirited "patent-busting" entities. This chapter considers a number of key disputes involving the Public Patent Foundation. Part I examines the role of the Public Patent Foundation in the landmark dispute over Myriad Genetics’ patents in respect of breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Part II considers the role of the Public Patent Foundation in litigation between organic farmers and Monsanto. Part III examines the role of the Public Patent Foundation in larger debates about patent law reform in the United States – particularly looking at the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act 2011 (US). The conclusion contends that the patent-busting model of the Public Patent Foundation should be emulated in respect of other technological fields, and other jurisdictions – such as Australia. The initiative could also be productively applied to other forms of intellectual property – such as trade mark law, designs law, plant breeders’ rights, plant breeders’ rights, and access to genetic resources.

Can the Gates Foundation be convinced to dump fossil fuels?

This week, The Guardian newspaper has campaigned for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to divest its fossil fuel investments – which the newspaper claims are worth US$1.4 billion. The foundation can and should address the climate crisis, particularly given the threat it poses to food security, public health, human rights, and the development agenda.

The Australian Nutrition Foundation - Improving the health of school canteens

School canteens represent Australia's largest take-away food outlet. With changes in lifestyles and family roles, canteens are used increasingly as a source of food for students. The nutritional quality of foods offered can have a significant impact on the nutritional status of students both now, and in the future. The Australian Nutrition Foundation has been developing its work in the field of school canteens over the past six years. Perhaps its most significant contribution to improving the health of canteens has been the development of the "Food Selection Guidelines for Children and Adolescents". These Guidelines are used to assess foods most suitable for sale in school canteens and for purchasing food in boarding schools. Products meeting the Guidelines are added to the ANF Registered Product List which school canteens and kitchens use as a type of "buying guide". This project has been successfully piloted in Queensland and this year has been expanded to a national campaign.

Bending Of Circular Plate On Elastic-Foundation

The governing differential equation of linear, elastic, thin, circular plate of uniform thickness, subjected to uniformly distributed load and resting on Winkler-Pasternak type foundation is solved using ``Chebyshev Polynomials''. Analysis is carried out using Lenczos' technique, both for simply supported and clamped plates. Numerical results thus obtained by perturbing the differential equation for plates without foundation are compared and are found to be in good agreement with the available results. The effect of foundation on central deflection of the plate is shown in the form of graphs.

Natural convection from a vertical cone in a porous medium due to the combined effects of heat and mass diffusion with non-uniform wall temperature/concentration or heat/mass flux and suction/injection

An analysis has been carried out to study the non-Darcy natural convention flow of Newtonian fluids on a vertical cone embedded in a saturated porous medium with power-law variation of the wall temperature/concentration or heat/mass flux and suction/injection with the streamwise distance x. Both non-similar and self-similar solutions have been obtained. The effects of non-Darcy parameter, ratio of the buoyancy forces due to mass and heat diffusion, variation of wall temperature/concentration or heat/mass flux and suction/injection on the Nusselt and Sherwood numbers have been studied.

Direct shear testing on unsaturated silty soils to investigate the effects of drying and wetting on shear strength parameters at low suction

A modified conventional direct shear device was used to measure unsaturated shear strength of two silty soils at low suction values (0 ~ 50 kPa) that were achieved by following drying and wetting paths of soil water characteristic curves (SWCCs). The results revealed that the internal friction angle of the soils was not significantly affected by either the suction or the drying wetting SWCCs. The apparent cohesion of soil increased with a decreasing rate as suction increased. Shear stress-shear displacement curves obtained from soil specimens subjected to the same net normal stress and different suction values showed a higher initial stiffness and a greater peak stress as suction increased. A soil in wetting exhibited slightly higher peak shear stress and more contractive volume change behavior than that of soil in drying at the same net normal stress and suction.

A novel breeding programme for improved growth in barramundi Lates calcarifer (Bloch) using foundation stock from progeny-tested parents

Rapid genetic gains for growth in barramundi ( Lates calcarifer) appear achievable by starting a breeding programme using foundation stock from progeny tested broodstock. The potential gains of this novel breeding design were investigated using biologically feasible scenarios tested with computer simulation models. The design involves the production of a large number of full-sib families using artificial mating which are compared in common growout conditions. The estimated breeding values of their paternal parents are calculated using a binomial probit analysis to assess their suitability as foundation broodstock. The programme can theoretically yield faster rates of genetic gain compared to other breeding programmes for aquaculture species. Assuming a heritability of 0.25 for growth, foundation broodstock evaluated in two years had breeding values for faster growth ranging from 21% to 51% depending on the genetic diversity of stock under evaluation. As a comparison it will take between nine and twenty-two years to identify broodstock with similar breeding values in a contemporary barramundi breeding programme.

Stresses and Displacements under a Flexible Circular Foundation in the Presence of Friction or Adhesion

Die Vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit den Spannungen und Verschiebungen an einem elastischen Halbraum unter einem kreisförmigen biegsamen Fundament, wenn an der Kontaktfläche vollkommenes Haften besteht. Das gemischte Randwertproblem wird mit Hilfe von Hankel-Transformationen auf duale Integralgleichungen von Titchmarsh- Typ zurückgeführt. Für die Berechnung der Spannungen und Verschiebungen werden Gaußsche Quadraturformeln benutzt. Die Ergebnisse werden mit denen verglichen, die man bei glattem Fundament erhält, und der Einfluß der Poisson-Zahl auf die Spannungen und Verschiebungen wird deutlich gemacht. Schließlich werden die Ergebnisse für den praktischen Gebrauch in Diagrammen und Tabellen zusammengefaßt.

Stresses and Displacements under a Flexible Circular Foundation in the Presence of Friction or Adhesion

Die Vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit den Spannungen und Verschiebungen an einem elastischen Halbraum unter einem kreisförmigen biegsamen Fundament, wenn an der Kontaktfläche vollkommenes Haften besteht. Das gemischte Randwertproblem wird mit Hilfe von Hankel-Transformationen auf duale Integralgleichungen von Titchmarsh- Typ zurückgeführt. Für die Berechnung der Spannungen und Verschiebungen werden Gaußsche Quadraturformeln benutzt. Die Ergebnisse werden mit denen verglichen, die man bei glattem Fundament erhält, und der Einfluß der Poisson-Zahl auf die Spannungen und Verschiebungen wird deutlich gemacht. Schließlich werden die Ergebnisse für den praktischen Gebrauch in Diagrammen und Tabellen zusammengefaßt.