Changing pedagogic codes in a class of landscape architects learning 'ecologically sustainable development'

Professional discourse in education has been the focus of research conducted mostly with teachers and professional practitioners but the work of students in the built environment has largely been ignored. This article presents an analysis of students’ visual discourse in the final professional year of a landscape architecture course in Brisbane, Australia. The study has a multi-method design and includes drawings, interviews and documentary materials, but focuses on the drawings in this paper. Using the theory of Bernstein, the analysis considers student representations as interrelations between professional identity and discretionary space for legitimate knowledge formation in landscape planning. It shows a shift in how students persuade the teacher of their expanding views of this field. The discussion of this shift centres on the professional knowledge that students choose rather than need to learn. It points to the differences within a class that a teacher must address in curriculum design in a contemporary professional course.

Writing stories to enhance scientific literacy

In response to international concerns about scientific literacy and students’ waning interest in school science, this study investigated the effects of a science-writing project about the socioscientific issue of biosecurity on the development of students’ scientific literacy. Students generated two BioStories each that merged scientific information with the narrative storylines in the project. The study was conducted in two phases. In the exploratory phase, a qualitative case study of a 6th grade class involving classroom observations and interviews informed the design of the second, confirmatory phase of the study, which was conducted at a different school. This phase involved a mixed methods approach featuring a quasi-experimental design with two classes of Australian middle school students (i.e., 6th grade, 11 years of age, n=55). The results support the argument that writing the sequence of stories helped the students become more familiar with biosecurity issues, develop a deeper understanding of related biological concepts, and improve their interest in science. On the basis of these findings, teachers should be encouraged to engage their students in the practice of writing about socioscientific issues (SSI) in a way that integrates scientific information into narrative storylines. Extending the practice to older students, and exploring additional issues related to writing about SSI are recommended for further research.

Improving reflective writing in higher education : A social semiotic perspective

Reflective skills are widely regarded as a means of improving students’ lifelong learning and professional practice in higher education (Rogers 2001). While the value of reflective practice is widely accepted in educational circles, a critical issue is that reflective writing is complex, and has high rhetorical demands, making it difficult to master unless it is taught in an explicit and systematic way. This paper argues that a functional-semantic approach to language (Eggins 2004), based on Halliday’s (1978) systemic functional linguistics can be used to develop a shared language to explicitly teach and assess reflective writing in higher education courses. The paper outlines key theories and scales of reflection, and then uses systemic functional linguistics to develop a social semiotic model for reflective writing. Examples of reflective writing are analysed to show how such a model can be used explicitly to improve the reflective writing skills of higher education students.

The comparison of international and local sustainable assessment tools of landscape design for housing estate developments : case of Bangkok Metropolitan Region, Thailand

Various countries have been introducing sustainable assessment tools for real estate design to produce integrated sustainability components not just for the building, but also the landscape component of the development. This paper aims to present the comparison between international and local assessment tools of landscape design for housing estate developments in Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR), Thailand. The methodologies used are to review, then compare and identify discrepancy indicators among the tools. This paper will examine four international tools; LEED for Neighbourhood Development (LEED – ND) of United State of America (USA), EnviroDevelopment standards of Australia, Residential Landscape Sustainability of United Kingdom (UK) and Green Mark for Infrastructure of Singapore; and three BMR’s existing tools; Land Subdivision Act B.E. 2543, Environmental Impact Assessment Monitoring Awards (EIA-MA) and Thai’s Rating for Energy and Environmental Sustainability of New construction and major renovation (TREES-NC). The findings show that there are twenty two elements of three categories which are neighbourhood design, community management, and environmental condition. Moreover, only one element in neighbourhood designs different between the international and local tools. The sustainable assessment tools have existed in BMR but they are not complete in only one assessment tool. Thus, the development of new comprehensive assessment tool will be necessary in BMR; however, it should meet the specific environment and climate condition for housing estate development at BMR.

Australian landscape architecture in China

Urbanisation of the Chinese landscape continues at a great pace. Landscape architecture is only a newly recognized profession here, in contemporary practice terms at least, but our expertise is in great demand. However only some Australian companies and a few Australian expats have managed to overcome the complexities of working in the Chinese context. It is worthwhile knowing how some of these individuals reflect on working in China and what they consider to be our strongest areas of expertise here.

Dynamics of pattern writing and erasure in photorefractive lithium niobate for data storage applications

The present rate of technological advance continues to place significant demands on data storage devices. The sheer amount of digital data being generated each year along with consumer expectations, fuels these demands. At present, most digital data is stored magnetically, in the form of hard disk drives or on magnetic tape. The increase in areal density (AD) of magnetic hard disk drives over the past 50 years has been of the order of 100 million times, and current devices are storing data at ADs of the order of hundreds of gigabits per square inch. However, it has been known for some time that the progress in this form of data storage is approaching fundamental limits. The main limitation relates to the lower size limit that an individual bit can have for stable storage. Various techniques for overcoming these fundamental limits are currently the focus of considerable research effort. Most attempt to improve current data storage methods, or modify these slightly for higher density storage. Alternatively, three dimensional optical data storage is a promising field for the information storage needs of the future, offering very high density, high speed memory. There are two ways in which data may be recorded in a three dimensional optical medium; either bit-by-bit (similar in principle to an optical disc medium such as CD or DVD) or by using pages of bit data. Bit-by-bit techniques for three dimensional storage offer high density but are inherently slow due to the serial nature of data access. Page-based techniques, where a two-dimensional page of data bits is written in one write operation, can offer significantly higher data rates, due to their parallel nature. Holographic Data Storage (HDS) is one such page-oriented optical memory technique. This field of research has been active for several decades, but with few commercial products presently available. Another page-oriented optical memory technique involves recording pages of data as phase masks in a photorefractive medium. A photorefractive material is one by which the refractive index can be modified by light of the appropriate wavelength and intensity, and this property can be used to store information in these materials. In phase mask storage, two dimensional pages of data are recorded into a photorefractive crystal, as refractive index changes in the medium. A low-intensity readout beam propagating through the medium will have its intensity profile modified by these refractive index changes and a CCD camera can be used to monitor the readout beam, and thus read the stored data. The main aim of this research was to investigate data storage using phase masks in the photorefractive crystal, lithium niobate (LiNbO3). Firstly the experimental methods for storing the two dimensional pages of data (a set of vertical stripes of varying lengths) in the medium are presented. The laser beam used for writing, whose intensity profile is modified by an amplitudemask which contains a pattern of the information to be stored, illuminates the lithium niobate crystal and the photorefractive effect causes the patterns to be stored as refractive index changes in the medium. These patterns are read out non-destructively using a low intensity probe beam and a CCD camera. A common complication of information storage in photorefractive crystals is the issue of destructive readout. This is a problem particularly for holographic data storage, where the readout beam should be at the same wavelength as the beam used for writing. Since the charge carriers in the medium are still sensitive to the read light field, the readout beam erases the stored information. A method to avoid this is by using thermal fixing. Here the photorefractive medium is heated to temperatures above 150�C; this process forms an ionic grating in the medium. This ionic grating is insensitive to the readout beam and therefore the information is not erased during readout. A non-contact method for determining temperature change in a lithium niobate crystal is presented in this thesis. The temperature-dependent birefringent properties of the medium cause intensity oscillations to be observed for a beam propagating through the medium during a change in temperature. It is shown that each oscillation corresponds to a particular temperature change, and by counting the number of oscillations observed, the temperature change of the medium can be deduced. The presented technique for measuring temperature change could easily be applied to a situation where thermal fixing of data in a photorefractive medium is required. Furthermore, by using an expanded beam and monitoring the intensity oscillations over a wide region, it is shown that the temperature in various locations of the crystal can be monitored simultaneously. This technique could be used to deduce temperature gradients in the medium. It is shown that the three dimensional nature of the recording medium causes interesting degradation effects to occur when the patterns are written for a longer-than-optimal time. This degradation results in the splitting of the vertical stripes in the data pattern, and for long writing exposure times this process can result in the complete deterioration of the information in the medium. It is shown in that simply by using incoherent illumination, the original pattern can be recovered from the degraded state. The reason for the recovery is that the refractive index changes causing the degradation are of a smaller magnitude since they are induced by the write field components scattered from the written structures. During incoherent erasure, the lower magnitude refractive index changes are neutralised first, allowing the original pattern to be recovered. The degradation process is shown to be reversed during the recovery process, and a simple relationship is found relating the time at which particular features appear during degradation and recovery. A further outcome of this work is that the minimum stripe width of 30 ìm is required for accurate storage and recovery of the information in the medium, any size smaller than this results in incomplete recovery. The degradation and recovery process could be applied to an application in image scrambling or cryptography for optical information storage. A two dimensional numerical model based on the finite-difference beam propagation method (FD-BPM) is presented and used to gain insight into the pattern storage process. The model shows that the degradation of the patterns is due to the complicated path taken by the write beam as it propagates through the crystal, and in particular the scattering of this beam from the induced refractive index structures in the medium. The model indicates that the highest quality pattern storage would be achieved with a thin 0.5 mm medium; however this type of medium would also remove the degradation property of the patterns and the subsequent recovery process. To overcome the simplistic treatment of the refractive index change in the FD-BPM model, a fully three dimensional photorefractive model developed by Devaux is presented. This model shows significant insight into the pattern storage, particularly for the degradation and recovery process, and confirms the theory that the recovery of the degraded patterns is possible since the refractive index changes responsible for the degradation are of a smaller magnitude. Finally, detailed analysis of the pattern formation and degradation dynamics for periodic patterns of various periodicities is presented. It is shown that stripe widths in the write beam of greater than 150 ìm result in the formation of different types of refractive index changes, compared with the stripes of smaller widths. As a result, it is shown that the pattern storage method discussed in this thesis has an upper feature size limit of 150 ìm, for accurate and reliable pattern storage.

Seeking a life in the literary position : the writing of Charmian Clift

An examination of the published and unpublished writing of Charmian Clift.

Detailed landscape plan for the North section of the Bailang River north of Jiqing Highway, Weifang

International practice-led design research in landscape architecture has identified wetland sites as highly significant and potentially fragile environments in many countries. China has considerable wetland acreage that has been drained and transformed into farmland to address local poverty of farmers. An important gap in knowledge exists as to how to design Chinese public open spaces to reduce water contamination, flood severity and loss of farmland for local villagers as urban development expands. This project responded to the opportunity of introducing a new type of wetland design to Stage 3 of the Bailang River Redevelopment, Weifang City, Shandong Province. The work proposed a range of wetland design innovations for Chinese wetland environments to encourage on-site solutions to contamination and flooding problems.

Xiamen Hai Cang tourism project : landscape planning and design of five islands

International practice-led design research in landscape architecture has identified the need for addressing the loss of biodiversity in urban environments. China has lost much of its biodiversity in rural and urban environments over thousands of years. However some Chinese cities have attempted to conserve what remains and enhance existing vegetation communities in isolated pockets. Island biogeography has been used as the basis for planning and designing landscapes in Australia and North America but not as yet in China, as far as we know. A gap in landscape design knowledge exists regarding how to apply landscape ecology concepts to urban islands of remaining biodiversity being developed for heavy Chinese domestic tourism impacts in the future. This project responded to the demands for harbour-side tourism opportunities in Xiamen City, Fujian Province, by proposing a range of eco-design innovations using concepts of patch, edge and interior to interconnect people and nature in a Chinese setting.

Stage 1 of the Yueyang Urban Water System Project: Landscape planning and design of Wangjia River

Chinese landscape architects are largely focused on objective practical solutions to environmental problems. In the West, theoretical landscape knowledge is largely conceptual and abstract. This research debated how Australian ecological concepts could or should be transposed to Chinese landscapes. This project responded to severe water and soil pollution issues in the estuarine and riparian zones of rivers flowing into Dongting Lake, in Yueyang City, Hunan Province. This work proposed a range of waterfront design innovations that challenged the notion of corridor as habitat, filter, barrier and conduit in a Chinese riparian context.

Shijiazhuang ecological landscape planning and design comprehensive improvement program for the Hutuo River

International practice-led design research in landscape architecture has identified water quality and water availability as two of the most important environmental issues in developing countries. China is particularly focused on improving water supplies for its rural and urban populations. However a significant gap in knowledge exists between urban planning and environmental engineering in China as to how to design Chinese public open spaces to reduce water pollution in urban rivers. This project responded to traditional zoning methods in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, by proposing a range of water sensitive design innovations from lake construction to planting design to modify standardised engineering solutions in a Chinese context.

Reconnecting the interrupted landscape : a cultural landscape approach to Australian open-cut coal mining landscapes

In the late 20th century, a value-shift began to influence political thinking, recognising the need for environmentally, socially and culturally sustainable resource development. This shift entailed moves away from thinking of nature and culture as separate entities - The former existing merely to serve the latter. Cultural landscape theory recognises 'nature' as at once both 'natural', and as a 'cultural' construct. As such it may offer a framework through which to progress in the quest for 'sustainable development'. This 2005 Masters thesis makes a contribution to that quest by asking whether contemporary developments in cultural landscape theory can contribute to rehabilitation strategies for Australian open-cut coal mining landscapes, an examplar resource development landscape. A thematic historial overview of landscape values and resource development in Australis post-1788, and a review of cultural landscape theory literature contribute to the formation of the theoretical framework: "reconnecting the interrupted landscape". The author then explores a possible application of this framework within the Australian open-cut coal mining landscape.

Dryness : the aesthetic condition of landscape design in Australia

Despite having a band of greenness around the edge, Australia is fundamentally a dry country. Australian vegetation has developed a high range of mechanisms to cope with the dryness, but after 200 years of white settlement, Australians still have not really come to terms with the real dryness of their country, and still exploit European paradigms that attempted to transplant European aesthetic conditions, greenness, to the brown land of Australia. Australia is going through serious water shortages that are still and will continue with the Greenhouse effect, to become a major factor in the location and extent of urbanisation, and also Australia's carrying capacity. While such aesthetic concerns might seem ornamental, until the population changes its attitude to the real condition of the country, it will keep using water and operating unsustainably. The design of the public landscape, however, offers the opportunity to contribute to changing people's aesthetic perception of the country, which might in turn help to redirect their water use practices. This essay develops a language for discussion dryness based around the experiences of water. After having developed this sensibility it then discusses a range of different approaches that landscape design in Australia has used to try to develop geographically appropriate design languages, including the Bush Garden and the Mediterranean Garden. It then discusses four design projects, one from the 1970's, the other three from the last five years that demonstrate what such an aesthetic might look like.

'The black hole of our history' : a conversation with Louis Nowra

This is an edited version of an interview recorded for Canadian Theatre Review in 1992. By that time Nowra had established a reputation as one of Australia's foremost playwrights. Part of the generation which succeeded the New Wave of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Nowra became known for a stylistic inventiveness which placed him outside the tradition of realist playwriting in Australia. The international outlook in his early plays, and the fact that he was not exclusively preoccupied with Australian settings and subject matter, was often a focal point in critical accounts of his work. In this interview Nowra discusses his 'internationalism', and a range of topics including the playwriting process; the presence of landscape in his plays; and the autobiographical elements in his work.

Expression and connection : the integration of the reflective learning process and the writing process into social network sites

A number of instructors have recently adopted social network sites (SNSs) for learning. However, the learning design of SNSs often remains at a preliminary level similar to a personal log book because it does not properly include reflective learning elements such as individual reflection and collaboration. This article looks at the reflective learning process and the public writing process as a way of improving the quality of reflective learning on SNSs. It proposes a reflective learning model on SNSs based on two key pedagogical concepts for social networking: individual expression and collaborative connection. It is expected that the model would be helpful for instructors in designing a reflective learning process on SNSs in an effective and flexible way.