Reclaiming China's former soft power

The discussion begins with a discussion of soft power and creativity in contemporary China. The article then examines three development trajectories: territory, technology and taste. The third section examines the effects of taste in more detail through examples of China's creativity in art, philosophy and technology primarily in three key periods, the Western Zhou, Han, and Song The principal argument is that while China’s cultural authority was established on deep Confucian roots, its international influence, and its creativity, is indebted to periods of openness to ideas.

Upskilling in scholarly communication practices

As the research landscape continues to change with new technologies, advances in data management and new means, expectations and polices surrounding scholarly communication, the role of the Library and Librarian in supporting research is shifting. At the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), the Library has made a positive impact on the scholarly communication practices of QUT researchers in the last decade in several ways: � 1. A university-wide deposit mandate on self-archiving was introduced in 2003. It states that QUT authors must place the author’s accepted manuscript version of refereed research articles and conference papers in the digital repository QUT ePrints. 2. Liaison Librarians remind their researchers to self-deposit their accepted manuscript versions of peer-reviewed research outputs into QUT ePrints, and provide training and support when needed. 3. The Library pays author publication fees for true gold road open access publishers including: BioMed Central, Public Library of Science, Hindawi Press. Liaison Librarians actively assist researchers in the gold road publishing process.� Liaison Librarians play a key role in educating their researchers on university policy and the latest advances in scholarly communication. However, their knowledge and skills related to scholarly communication practices have largely been learnt on the job or self-taught. This poster presents the results of a survey where QUT Liaison Librarians rated their skills in various practices related to eResearch, including scholarly communication.

Departures from tradition : the early years learning framework for Australia

In 2009, the Commonwealth Government of Australia published the first national learning framework for use with children aged birth to five years. The framework marks a departure from tradition in that it emphasizes intentional teaching, learning as well as child development, a particular type of play-based learning, outcomes, and equity. This article analyzes aspects of the document that depart from well established approaches to early childhood education in Australia and identifies challenges for educators who are required to use the document. It concludes that ongoing and supportive professional learning opportunities must accompany the introduction and enactment of the document.

Experiences of the FIRST LEGO League in China and Australia

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was initiated in the U.S. by accomplished inventor Dean Kamen in 1989. FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is one of the five competitions conducted by this organization. Dean’s vision was “to create a world where science and technology are celebrated……where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes”. Each year FLL creates opportunities for young people aged 9-16 to engage in problem solving, teamwork and collaborative learning around a real-world theme. In the 2009/2010 season, more than 145,000 young people in over 50 countries participated in this competition. As they tackle the challenges; they construct and de-construct their own knowledge through hands-on engagement in a constructivist learning environment. The challenges are presented at least eight weeks before the competition. In most events the participants are judged in four categories - robot game, robot design, team project and team challenge. “Gracious professionalism” is an essential element of the competition. This paper compares and contrasts the FLL in China and Australia and presents some of the achievements of the event. It also highlights some of the models which have been adopted in the two countries to facilitate participation. The educational benefits of embedding the FLL will also be discussed.

Copyrights and creative commons licensing : pedagogical innovation in a higher education media literacy classroom

This article examines the role of copyrights in contemporary media literacies. It argues that, provided they are ethical, young people’s engagement with text should occur in environments that are as free from restriction as possible. Discussion of open culture ecologies and the emergent education commons is followed by a theorisation of both literacy and copyrights education as forms of epistemology: that is, as effects of knowledge producing discourses and practices. Because Creative Commons licenses respect and are based on existing copyright laws, a brief overview of traditional copyrights for educators is first provided. We then describe the voluntary Creative Commons copyright licensing framework (“some rights reserved”) as an alternative to conventional “all rights reserved” models. This is followed by an account of a series of workshop activities on copyrights and Creative Commons conducted by the authors in the media literacy classes of a preservice teacher education program in Queensland, Australia. It provides one example of a practical program on critical copyrights approaches, which may be adapted and used by other school and higher education institutions.

A comparative review of quantitative VFM methodology for PPP infrastructure project in Indonesia and Australia

The Government of Indonesia (GoI) increasingly relies on the private sector financing to build and operate infrastructures through public private partnership (PPP) schemes. However, PPP does not automatically provide the solution for the financing scheme due to value for money (VFM) issues. The procurement authority must show whether a PPP proposal is the optimal solution that provides best VFM outcome. The paper presents a literature review of comparing quantitative VFM methodology for PPP infrastructure project procurement in Indonesia and Australia. Public Sector Comparator (PSC) is used to assess the potential project VFM quantitatively in Australia. In Indonesia, the PSC has not been applied, where the PPP procurement authority tends to utilize a common project evaluation method that ignores the issues of risk. Unlike the conventional price bid evaluation, the PSC enables a financial comparison including costs/gains and risks. Since the construction of PSC is primarily on risk management approach, it can facilitate risk negotiation processes between the involved parties. The study indicates that the quantitative VFM methodology of PSC is potentially applicable in Indonesia for water supply sector. Various supporting regulations are available that emphasize the importance of VFM and risk management in infrastructure investment. However, the study also reveals a number of challenges that need to be anticipated, such as the need of a more comprehensive PPP policy at both central and local government level, a more specific legal instrument for bidding evaluation method and the issue of institutional capacity development in PPP Units at the local level.

Are Active Australia physical activity questions valid for older adults?

Objective The Active Australia Survey (AAS) is used for physical activity (PA) surveillance in the general Australian adult population, but its validity in older adults has not been evaluated. Our aim was to examine the convergent validity of the AAS questions in older adults. Design The AAS was validated against pedometer step counts as an objective measure of PA, self-reported physical function, and a step-test to assess cardiorespiratory fitness. Method Participants were community-dwelling adults, aged 65-89 y, with the ability to walk 100 m. They completed a self-administered AAS and the step-test in one interview. One week earlier, they completed the Short Form-36 physical function subscale. Between these two interviews, they each wore a YAMAX Digiwalker SW200 pedometer and recorded daily steps. Using the AAS data, daily walking minutes and total PA minutes (walking, moderate-intensity PA and vigorous-intensity PA) were compared with the validity measures using Spearman rank-order correlations. Fifty-three adults completed the study. Results Median daily walking minutes were 34.2 (interquartile range [IQR] 17.1, 60.0), and median daily total PA minutes were 68.6 (IQR 31.4, 113.6). Walking and total PA minutes were both moderately correlated with pedometer steps (Spearman correlation r=0.42, p=0.003, for each) but not with step-test seconds to completion (r=-0.11, p=0.44; r=-0.25, p=0.08, respectively). Total PA minutes were significantly correlated with physical function scores (r=0.39, p=0.004), but walking minutes were not (r=0.15, p=0.29). Conclusions This initial examination of the psychometric properties of the AAS for older adults suggests that this surveillance tool has acceptable convergent validity for ambulatory, community-dwelling older adults.

Source apportionment of fine particles at a suburban site in Queensland, Australia

Airborne fine particles were collected at a suburban site in Queensland, Australia between 1995 and 2003. The samples were analysed for 21 elements, and Positive Matrix Factorisation (PMF), Preference Ranking Organisation METHods for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) and Graphical Analysis for Interactive Assistance (GAIA) were applied to the data. PROMETHEE provided information on the ranking of pollutant levels from the sampling years while PMF provided insights into the sources of the pollutants, their chemical composition, most likely locations and relative contribution to the levels of particulate pollution at the site. PROMETHEE and GAIA found that the removal of lead from fuel in the area had a significant impact on the pollution patterns while PMF identified 6 pollution sources including: Railways (5.5%), Biomass Burning (43.3%), Soil (9.2%), Sea Salt (15.6%), Aged Sea Salt (24.4%) and Motor Vehicles (2.0%). Thus the results gave information that can assist in the formulation of mitigation measures for air pollution.