Illuminative evaluation as a method applied to Australian Government policy borrowing and implementation in higher education

Any government deciding to invoke widespread change in its higher education sector through implementation of new policies impacts on every institution and all staff and students, often in both the time taken up and the heightened emotions caused. The central phenomenon that this study addresses is the process and consequences of policy changes in higher education in Australia. The aim of this article is to record the research design through the perspective (evaluation research), theoretical framework (program evaluation) and methods (content analysis, descriptive statistical analysis and bibliometric analysis) applied to the investigation of the 2003 federal government higher education reform package. This approach allows both the intended and unintended consequences arising from the policy implementation of three national initiatives focused on learning and teaching in higher education in Australia to surface. As a result, this program evaluation, also known in some disciplines as policy implementation analysis, will demonstrate the applicability of illuminative evaluation as a methodology and reinforce how program evaluation will assist and advise future government reform and policy implementation, and will serve as a legacy for future evaluative research.Any government deciding to invoke widespread change in its higher education sector through implementation of new policies impacts on every institution and all staff and students, often in both the time taken up and the heightened emotions caused. The central phenomenon that this study addresses is the process and consequences of policy changes in higher education in Australia. The aim of this article is to record the research design through the perspective (evaluation research), theoretical framework (program evaluation) and methods (content analysis, descriptive statistical analysis and bibliometric analysis) applied to the investigation of the 2003 federal government higher education reform package. This approach allows both the intended and unintended consequences arising from the policy implementation of three national initiatives focused on learning and teaching in higher education in Australia to surface. As a result, this program evaluation, also known in some disciplines as policy implementation analysis, will demonstrate the applicability of illuminative evaluation as a methodology and reinforce how program evaluation will assist and advise future government reform and policy implementation, and will serve as a legacy for future evaluative research.

Load applied on a bone-anchored transfemoral prosthesis: characterisation of a prosthesis : a pilot study

The objectives of this study were (A) to record the inner prosthesis loading during activities of daily living (ADL), (B) to present a set of variables comparing loading data, and (C) to provide an example of characterisation of two prostheses. The load was measured at 200 Hz using a multi-axial transducer mounted between the residuum and the knee of an individual with unilateral transfemoral amputation fitted with a bone-anchored prosthesis. The load was measured while using two different prostheses including a mechanically (PRO1) and a microprocessor controlled (PRO2) knee during six ADL. The characterisation of prosthesis was achieved using a set of variables split into four categories, including temporal characteristics, maximum loading, loading slopes and impulse. Approximately 360 gait cycles were analysed for each prosthesis. PRO1 showed a cadence improved by 19% and 7%, a maximum force on the long axis reduced by 11% and 19%, as well as an impulse reduced by 32% and 15% during descent of incline and stairs compared to PRO2, respectively. This work confirmed that the proposed apparatus and characterisation can reveal how changes of prosthetic components are translated into inner loading.

Fate and transport of nursery-box-applied tricyclazole and imidacloprid in paddy fields

The fate and transport of tricyclazole and imidacloprid in paddy plots after nursery-box application was monitored. Water and surface soil samples were collected over a period of 35 days. Rates of dissipation from paddy waters and soils were also measured. Dissipation of the two pesticides from paddy water can be described by first-order kinetics. In the soil, only the dissipation of imidacloprid fitted to the simple first-order kinetics, whereas tricyclazole concentrations fluctuated until the end of the monitoring period. Mean half-life (DT₅₀) values for tricyclazole were 11.8 and 305 days, respectively, in paddy water and surface soil. The corresponding values of imidacloprid were 2.0 and 12.5 days, respectively, in water and in surface soil. Less than 0.9% of tricyclazole and 0.1% of imidacloprid were lost through runoff during the monitoring period even under 6.3 cm of rainfall. The pesticide formulation seemed to affect the environmental fate of these pesticides when these results were compared to those of other studies.

A comparison of the molecular orbital (ab initio, CNDO and EHT) methods applied to the conformational study of thiocarbonohydrazide in its basic and diprotonated forms

Conformational preferences of thiocarbonohydrazide (H2NNHCSNHNH2) in its basic and N,N′-diprotonated forms are examined by calculating the barrier to internal rotation around the C---N bonds, using the theoretical LCAO—MO (ab initio and semiempirical CNDO and EHT) methods. The calculated and experimental results are compared with each other and also with values for N,N′-dimethylthiourea which is isoelectronic with thiocarbonohydrazide. The suitability of these methods for studying rotational isomerism seems suspect when lone pair interactions are present.

Effect of surface-applied treatments on the above-ground performance of simulated timber joinery

We examined the effect of surface-applied treatments on the above-ground decay resistance of the tenon of mortice-and-tenon timber joints designed to simulate joinery that is exposed to the weather. Joints made from untreated radiata pine, Douglas-fir, brush box, spotted gum and copper-chrome-arsenic (CCA) treated radiata pine were exposed to the weather for 9 y on above-ground racks at five sites throughout eastern Australia. Results indicate (1) a poorly maintained external paint film generally accelerated decay, (2) a brush coat of water-repellent preservative inside the joints often extended serviceability (in some cases by a factor of up to seven times that of untreated joints) and (3) the level of protection provided by a coat of primer applied inside the joint varied and in most cases was not as effective as the water-repellent preservative treatment.

Development and Accreditation of an Applied Climate Education Unit for Sustainable Land Use in Australia

In recent years, there have been significant developments in climate science relevant to agriculture and natural resource management. Assessing impacts of climate variability and use of seasonal climate forecasts have become increasingly important elements in the management "toolkit" for many Australian farmers. Consideration of climate change further increases the need for improved management strategies. While climate risk extension activities have kept pace with advances in climate science, a national review of the Vocational Education and Training system in Australia in relation to "weather and climate" showed that these topics were "poorly represented" at the management level in the Australian Qualifications Framework, and needed increased emphasis. Consequently, a new Unit of Competency concerning management of climatic risk was developed and accredited to address this deficiency. The objective of the unit was to build knowledge and skills for better management of climate variability via the elements of surveying climatic and enterprise data; analysing climatic risks and opportunities; and developing climatic risk management strategies. This paper describes establishment of a new unit for vocational education that is designed to harness recent developments in applied climate science for better management of Australia's highly variable climate. The main benefits of the new unit of competency, "Developing climatic risk management strategies,"were seen as improving decisions in climate and agriculture, and reducing climate risk exposure to enhance sustainable agriculture. The educational unit is now within the scope of agricultural colleges, universities, and registered training organisations as an accredited unit.

Effect of irrigation amounts applied with subsurface drip irrigation on corn evapotranspiration, yield, water use efficiency, and dry matter production in a semiarid climate

Quantifying the local crop response to irrigation is important for establishing adequate irrigation management strategies. This study evaluated the effect of irrigation applied with subsurface drip irrigation on field corn (Zea mays L.) evapotranspiration (ETc), yield, water use efficiencies (WUE = yield/ETc, and IWUE = yield/irrigation), and dry matter production in the semiarid climate of west central Nebraska. Eight treatments were imposed with irrigation amounts ranging from 53 to 356 mm in 2005 and from 22 to 226 mm in 2006. A soil water balance approach (based on FAO-56) was used to estimate daily soil water and ETc. Treatments resulted in seasonal ETc of 580-663 mm and 466-656 mm in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Yields among treatments differed by as much as 22% in 2005 and 52% in 2006. In both seasons, irrigation significantly affected yields, which increased with irrigation up to a point where irrigation became excessive. Distinct relationships were obtained each season. Yields increased linearly with seasonal ETc (R 2 = 0.89) and ETc/ETp (R 2 = 0.87) (ETp = ETc with no water stress). The yield response factor (ky), which indicates the relative reduction in yield to relative reduction in ETc, averaged 1.58 over the two seasons. WUE increased non-linearly with seasonal ETc and with yield. WUE was more sensitive to irrigation during the drier 2006 season, compared with 2005. Both seasons, IWUE decreased sharply with irrigation. Irrigation significantly affected dry matter production and partitioning into the different plant components (grain, cob, and stover). On average, the grain accounted for the majority of the above-ground plant dry mass (≈59%), followed by the stover (≈33%) and the cob (≈8%). The dry mass of the plant and that of each plant component tended to increase with seasonal ETc. The good relationships obtained in the study between crop performance indicators and seasonal ETc demonstrate that accurate estimates of ETc on a daily and seasonal basis can be valuable for making tactical in-season irrigation management decisions and for strategic irrigation planning and management.

International Society for Applied Ethology. Special issue: a Selection of Papers from the 38th International Congress of the ISAE, Helsinki, Finland, August 2004

Welcome to the latest collection of papers selected from the International Society for Applied Ethology's (ISAE's) annual congress. The ISAE is a multi-faceted scientific society that supports applied research on animals under the influence of humankind. Every year, we aim to invite congress participants who have submitted papers, plenary talks, run workshops, or presented the memorial lecture on theoretical, review or discussion papers of topical interest to contribute to the Special Issue. These papers are peer-reviewed before being published here in Applied Animal Behaviour Science. International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE) Special Issue 2004.

International Society for Applied Ethology. Special issue: a selection of papers from the 39th International Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE), Tokyo, Japan, August 2005

Welcome to the latest collection of papers selected from the International Society for Applied Ethology's (ISAE's) annual congress. The ISAE is a multi-faceted scientific society that supports applied research on animals that are managed by humans. Every year, we aim to invite congress participants who have submitted papers, plenary talks, run workshops, or presented the memorial lecture on theoretical, review or discussion papers of topical interest to contribute to the Special Issue. These papers are peer-reviewed before being published here in Applied Animal Behaviour Science. This year, we have a variety of papers to bring to your attention. The David Wood-Gush Memorial lecture, the keynote address of the congress, was given by Shigeru Watanabe on animal cognition and welfare. His paper highlights how animal's sensory capabilities relate to their welfare. On the topic of human–animal bonds, Stine Christiansen and Björn Forkman explore how animal welfare is assessed in a veterinary context, and how those assessments might be improved by ethologists. Yoshie Kakuma and co-authors report on the discussions from a workshop on the welfare of working and companion dogs in five different countries. Based on their plenary lectures, Michael Cockram discusses the factors that affect farmed animals during road transport and how these might contribute in making decisions to restrict journey times, while Clive Phillips and co-author Danica Peck examine how personality influences the behaviour and interactions between zoo-housed tigers and their keepers. We hope you enjoy these papers. Our sincere thanks go to both the authors and referees, without whom these special issues would not be possible. A selection of papers from the 39th International Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE), Tokyo, Japan, August 2005.

A comparison of mark-recapture distance-sampling methods applied to aerial surveys of eastern grey kangaroos

Aerial surveys of kangaroos (Macropus spp.) in Queensland are used to make economically important judgements on the levels of viable commercial harvest. Previous analysis methods for aerial kangaroo surveys have used both mark-recapture methodologies and conventional distance-sampling analyses. Conventional distance sampling has the disadvantage that detection is assumed to be perfect on the transect line, while mark-recapture methods are notoriously sensitive to problems with unmodelled heterogeneity in capture probabilities. We introduce three methodologies for combining together mark-recapture and distance-sampling data, aimed at exploiting the strengths of both methodologies and overcoming the weaknesses. Of these methods, two are based on the assumption of full independence between observers in the mark-recapture component, and this appears to introduce more bias in density estimation than it resolves through allowing uncertain trackline detection. Both of these methods give lower density estimates than conventional distance sampling, indicating a clear failure of the independence assumption. The third method, termed point independence, appears to perform very well, giving credible density estimates and good properties in terms of goodness-of-fit and percentage coefficient of variation. Estimated densities of eastern grey kangaroos range from 21 to 36 individuals km-2, with estimated coefficients of variation between 11% and 14% and estimated trackline detection probabilities primarily between 0.7 and 0.9.

Estimation of light interception in research environments: A joint approach using directional light sensors and 3D virtual plants applied to sunflower (Helianthus annuus) and Arabidopsis thaliana in natural and artificial conditions

Light interception is a major factor influencing plant development and biomass production. Several methods have been proposed to determine this variable, but its calculation remains difficult in artificial environments with heterogeneous light. We propose a method that uses 3D virtual plant modelling and directional light characterisation to estimate light interception in highly heterogeneous light environments such as growth chambers and glasshouses. Intercepted light was estimated by coupling an architectural model and a light model for different genotypes of the rosette species Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh and a sunflower crop. The model was applied to plants of contrasting architectures, cultivated in isolation or in canopy, in natural or artificial environments, and under contrasting light conditions. The model gave satisfactory results when compared with observed data and enabled calculation of light interception in situations where direct measurements or classical methods were inefficient, such as young crops, isolated plants or artificial conditions. Furthermore, the model revealed that A. thaliana increased its light interception efficiency when shaded. To conclude, the method can be used to calculate intercepted light at organ, plant and plot levels, in natural and artificial environments, and should be useful in the investigation of genotype-environment interactions for plant architecture and light interception efficiency. This paper originates from a presentation at the 5th International Workshop on Functional–Structural Plant Models, Napier, New Zealand, November 2007.

Fate of applied biosolids nitrogen in a cut and remove forage system on an alluvial clay loam soil

The fate of nitrogen (N) applied in biosolids was investigated in a forage production system on an alluvial clay loam soil in south-eastern Queensland, Australia. Biosolids were applied in October 2002 at rates of 6, 12, 36, and 54dryt/ha for aerobically digested biosolids (AE) and 8, 16, 48, and 72dryt/ha for anaerobically digested biosolids (AN). Rates were based on multiples of the Nitrogen Limited Biosolids Application rate (0.5, 1, 3, and 4.5NLBAR) for each type of biosolid. The experiment included an unfertilised control and a fertilised control that received multiple applications of synthetic fertiliser. Forage sorghum was planted 1 week after biosolids application and harvested 4 times between December 2002 and May 2003. Dry matter production was significantly greater from the biosolids-treated plots (21-27t/ha) than from the unfertilised (16t/ha) and fertilised (18t/ha) controls. The harvested plant material removed an extra 148-488kg N from the biosolids-treated plots. Partial N budgets were calculated for the 1NLBAR and 4.5NLBAR treatments for each biosolids type at the end of the crop season. Crop removal only accounted for 25-33% of the applied N in the 1NLBAR treatments and as low as 8-15% with 4.5NLBAR. Residual biosolids N was predominantly in the form of organic N (38-51% of applied biosolids N), although there was also a significant proportion (10-23%) as NO3-N, predominantly in the top 0.90m of the soil profile. From 12 to 29% of applied N was unaccounted for, and presumed to be lost as gaseous nitrogen and/or ammonia, as a consequence of volatilisation or denitrification, respectively. In-season mineralisation of organic N in biosolids was 43-59% of the applied organic N, which was much greater than the 15% (AN)-25% (AE) expected, based on current NLBAR calculation methods. Excessive biosolids application produced little additional biomass but led to high soil mineral N concentrations that were vulnerable to multiple loss pathways. Queensland Guidelines need to account for higher rates of mineralisation and losses via denitrification and volatilisation and should therefore encourage lower application rates to achieve optimal plant growth and minimise the potential for detrimental impacts on the environment.

Multiresolution Area-based Fractal Dimension Estimation of Signals Applied to EEG Data

In this paper, we present an approach to estimate fractal complexity of discrete time signal waveforms based on computation of area bounded by sample points of the signal at different time resolutions. The slope of best straight line fit to the graph of log(A(rk)A / rk(2)) versus log(l/rk) is estimated, where A(rk) is the area computed at different time resolutions and rk time resolutions at which the area have been computed. The slope quantifies complexity of the signal and it is taken as an estimate of the fractal dimension (FD). The proposed approach is used to estimate the fractal dimension of parametric fractal signals with known fractal dimensions and the method has given accurate results. The estimation accuracy of the method is compared with that of Higuchi's and Sevcik's methods. The proposed method has given more accurate results when compared with that of Sevcik's method and the results are comparable to that of the Higuchi's method. The practical application of the complexity measure in detecting change in complexity of signals is discussed using real sleep electroencephalogram recordings from eight different subjects. The FD-based approach has shown good performance in discriminating different stages of sleep.

Incompressible boundary layer for longitudinal flow over a cylinder with an applied magnetic field

The flow, heat and mass transfer problem for a steady laminar incompressible boundary layer flow in an electrically conducting fluid over a longitudinal cylinder with an applied magnetic field has been studied. The partial differential equations governing the flow have been solved numerically using an implicit finite-difference scheme. The results are found to be strongly dependent on the magnetic field and dissipation parameter. The effect of the mass transfer is more pronounced on the skin friction than on the heat transfer. The results have been compared with those of the series solution, the asymptotic solution, the Glauert and Lighthill's solution, local similarity, local nonsimilarity and difference-differential methods. Good agreement is found with all of them, except with the results of the local similarity and series solution methods.

Needs for applied climate education in agriculture

This paper reports on a purposive survey study which aimed to identify needs for the development, delivery and evaluation of applied climate education for targeted groups, to improve knowledge and skills to better manage under variable climatic conditions. The survey sample consisted of 80 producers and other industry stakeholders in Australia (including representatives from consulting, agricultural extension and agricultural education sectors), with a 58% response rate to the survey. The survey included an assessment of (i) knowledge levels of the Southern Oscillation Index and sea surface temperatures, and (ii) skill and ability in interpreting weather and climate parameters. Results showed that despite many of the respondents having more than 20 years experience in their industry, the only formal climate education or training undertaken by most was a 1-day workshop. Over 80% of the applied climate skills listed in the survey were regarded by respondents as essential or important, but only 42% of educators, 30% of consultants and 28% of producers rated themselves as competent in applying such skills. Essential skills were deemed as those that would enable respondents or their clients to be better prepared for the next extended wet or dry meteorological event, and improved capability in identifying and capitalising on key decision points from climate information and a seasonal climate outlook. The complex issue of forecast accuracy is a confounding obstacle for many in the application of climate information and forecasts in management. Addressing this problem by describing forecast 'limitations and skill' can help to overcome this problem. The survey also highlighted specific climatic tactical and strategic information collated from grazing, cropping and agribusiness enterprises, and showed the value of such information from a users perspective.