A comparison of submicrometer particle dose between Australian and Italian people

Alveolar and tracheobronchial-deposited submicrometer particle number and surface area data received by different age groups in Australia are shown. Activity patterns were combined with microenvironmental data through a Monte-Carlo method. Particle number distributions for the most significant microenvironments were obtained from our measurement survey data and people activity pattern data from the Australian Human Activity Pattern Survey were used. Daily alveolar particle number (surface area) dose received by all age groups was equal to 3.0×1010 particles (4.5×102 mm2), varying slightly between males and females. In contrast to gender, the lifestyle was found to significantly affect the daily dose, with highest depositions characterizing adults. The main contribution was due to indoor microenvironments. Finally a comparison between Italian and Australian people in terms of received particle dose was reported; it shows that different cooking styles can affect dose levels: higher doses were received by Italians, mainly due to their particular cooking activity.

The Australian curriculum : implications for teaching and assessment

Teachers will be aware of the raft of educational changes introduced recently and also of the associated challenges and opportunities that such educational reforms present. This PETAA Paper commences with an overview of the major educational changes and how they impinge on teachers’ classroom practice in the teaching of English and makes explicit the implications for policy support. This article aims to provide teachers with some insight into how they might respond in their teaching to develop their own assessment and pedagogic practices and in so doing support students to improve in their learning and to achieve higher standards. A group of teachers’ classroom practice, which has applicability to both Upper Primary and Middle School English teaching, is analysed to demonstrate how these teachers have pedagogically incorporated some of the ‘general capabilities’ and a cross-curriculum priority of ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures’ into their classroom practice.

And the winner is...? : Thinking about Australian book awards in the library

Among their many duties, librarians occupy and must negotiate a space between the dreamed-of library and the all-too-real culture industries. This is perhaps most visible in the competition between pragmatism and idealism in text selection and collection development, and in one commonly-used tool thereof: the book award. This paper considers the possibilities and problematics of Australian book awards in libraries and librarianship.

Australian journalism studies after ‘Journalism’: breaking down the disciplinary boundaries (for good)

This paper argues that if journalism is to remain a relevant and dynamic academic discipline, it must urgently reconsider the constrained, heavily-policed boundaries traditionally placed around it (particularly in Australia). A simple way of achieving this is to redefine its primary object of study: away from specific, rigid, professional inputs, towards an ever-growing range of media outputs. Such a shift may allow the discipline to freely re-assess its pedagogical and epistemological relationships to contemporary newsmaking practices (or, the ‘new’ news).

Impacts of invasive plants on Australian rangelands

In Australia, the spread and dominance of non-native plant species has been identified as a serious threat to rangeland biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Rangelands extend over 70% of Australia’s land mass or more than 6 million km2. These rangelands consist of a diverse set of ecosystems including grasslands, shrub-lands, and woodlands spanning numerous climatic zones, ranging from arid to mesic. Because of the high economic, social, and environmental values, sustainable management of these vast landscapes is critical for Australia’s future. More than 2 million people live in these areas and major industries are ranching, mining, and tourism. In terms of biodiversity values, 53 of 85 of Australia’s biogeographical regions and 5 of 15 identified biodiversity hotspots are found in rangelands.

Journalists and Twitter : how Australian news organisations adapt to a new medium

Twitter has developed an increasingly visible presence in Australian journalism, and in the discussion of news. Many journalists have begun to explore manageable approaches to incorporating Twitter into their work practices, and for some – like the ABC’s ‘star recruits’ Annabel Crabb and Latika Bourke – it has already become a career driver. This article examines the positioning of journalists as ‘personal brands’ on Twitter, by documenting the visibility of leading personal and institutional accounts during two major political events in Australia: the Rudd/Gillard leadership spill on 23 June 2010, and the day of the subsequent federal election on 21 August 2010. It highlights the fact that in third-party networks such as Twitter, journalists and news organisations no longer operate solely on their own terms, as they do on their own Websites, but gain and maintain prominence in the network and reach for their messages only in concert with other users. It places these observations in a wider context of journalist/audience relations, a decade after the emergence of the first citizen journalism Websites.