Continuous and pedagogically sound assessment : A new economy of power relations in Australian Law schools

In recent decades, assessment practices within Australian law schools have moved from the overwhelming use of end-of-year closed-book examinations to an increase in the use of a wider range of techniques. This shift is often characterised as providing a ‘better’ learning environment for students, contributing more positively to their own ‘personal development’ within higher education, or, considered along the lines of critical legal thought, as ‘liberating’ them from the ‘conservatising’ and ‘indoctrinating’ effects of the power relations that operate in law schools. This paper seeks to render problematic such liberal-progressive narratives about these changes to law school assessment practices. It will do so by utilising the work of French historian and philosopher Michel Foucault on power, arguing that the current range of assessment techniques demonstrates a shift in the ‘economy’ of power relations within the law school. Rather than ‘liberating’ students from relations of power, these practices actually extend the power relations through which students are governed. This analysis is intended to inform legal education research and assessment practice by providing a far more nuanced conceptual framework than one that seeks to ‘free’ law students from these ‘repressive’ practices, or hopes to ‘objectively’ contribute to their ‘personal development’.

Continuous innovation in SMEs : how design innovation shapes business performance through doing more with less

Firms face the challenge to survive and thrive in an increasingly competitive global market, developing strategies to continuously innovate, often having to do more with less. Increasing awareness of the benefits of stimulating continuous innovation in small and medium enterprises has led to the development and implementation of design innovation programs, with many western countries investing in design innovation programs for better firm performance. This paper investigates how firms respond to a design innovation program and engage in continuous innovation, doing more business with a focused less diverse strategy. Early findings from a study of companies engaged in a design innovation program indicate that applying design principles to all aspects of their business has delivered better business performance and better positioning in global markets.

A continuous time model for election timing

We consider a continuous time model for election timing in a Majoritarian Parliamentary System where the government maintains a constitutional right to call an early election. Our model is based on the two-party-preferred data that measure the popularity of the government and the opposition over time. We describe the poll process by a Stochastic Differential Equation (SDE) and use a martingale approach to derive a Partial Differential Equation (PDE) for the government’s expected remaining life in office. A comparison is made between a three-year and a four-year maximum term and we also provide the exercise boundary for calling an election. Impacts on changes in parameters in the SDE, the probability of winning the election and maximum terms on the call exercise boundaries are discussed and analysed. An application of our model to the Australian Federal Election for House of Representatives is also given.

Combining influence maps and cellular automata for reactive game agents

Agents make up an important part of game worlds, ranging from the characters and monsters that live in the world to the armies that the player controls. Despite their importance, agents in current games rarely display an awareness of their environment or react appropriately, which severely detracts from the believability of the game. Some games have included agents with a basic awareness of other agents, but they are still unaware of important game events or environmental conditions. This paper presents an agent design we have developed, which combines cellular automata for environmental modeling with influence maps for agent decision-making. The agents were implemented into a 3D game environment we have developed, the EmerGEnT system, and tuned through three experiments. The result is simple, flexible game agents that are able to respond to natural phenomena (e.g. rain or fire), while pursuing a goal.

The PSS : From Flat Maps to Layered Perspectives - the contribution of the Airport Metropolis Planning Support System (PSS) to sub-regional planning in the Brisbane Airport case environment

Conventional planning and decision making, with its sectoral and territorial emphasis and flat-map based processes are no longer adequate or appropriate for the increased complexity confronting airport/city interfaces. These crowed and often contested governance spaces demand a more iterative and relational planning and decision-making approach. Emergent GIS based planning and decision-making tools provide a mechanism which integrate and visually display an array of complex data, frameworks and scenarios/expectations, often in ‘real time’ computations. In so doing, these mechanisms provide a common ground for decision making and facilitate a more ‘joined-up’ approach to airport/city planning. This paper analyses the contribution of the Airport Metropolis Planning Support System (PSS) to sub-regional planning in the Brisbane Airport case environment.

A longitudinal study of corporate earnings guidance in Australia’s continuous disclosure environment

Since the introduction of a statutory‐backed continuous disclosure regime (CDR) in 1994, regulatory reforms have significantly increased litigation risk in Australia for failure to disclose material information or for false and misleading disclosure. However, there is almost no empirical research on the impact of the reforms on corporate disclosure behaviour. Motivated by the absence of research and using management earnings forecasts (MEFs) as a disclosure proxy, this study examines (1) why managers issue earnings forecasts, (2) what firm‐specific factors influence MEF characteristics, and (3) how MEF behaviour changes as litigation risk increases. Based on theories in information economics, a theoretical framework for MEF behaviour is formulated which includes antecedent influencing factors related to firms‟ internal and external environments. Applying this framework, hypotheses are developed and tested using multivariate models and a large sample of hand-collected MEFs (7,213) issued by top 500 ASX-listed companies over the 1994 to 2008 period. The results reveal strong support for the hypotheses. First, MEFs are issued to reduce information asymmetry, litigation risk and signal superior performance. Second, firms with better financial performance, smaller earnings changes, and lower operating uncertainty provide better quality MEFs. Third, forecast frequency and quality (accuracy, timeliness and precision) noticeably improve as litigation risk increases. However, managers appear to be still reluctant to disclose earnings forecasts when there are large earnings changes, and an asymmetric treatment of news type continues to prevail (a good news bias). Thus, the findings generally provide support for the effectiveness of the CDR regulatory reforms in improving disclosure behaviour and will be valuable to market participants and corporate regulators in understanding the implications of management forecasting decisions and areas for further improvement.

Which way from here? The spatiality of maps & navigation in first-person single-player video games

Player experience of spatiality in first-person, single-player games is informed by the maps and navigational aids provided by the game. This project uses textual analysis to examine the way these maps and navigational aids inform the experience of spatiality in Fallout 3, BioShock and BioShock 2. Spatiality is understood as trialectic, incorporating perceived, conceived and lived space, drawing on the work of Henri Lefebvre and Edward Soja. The most prominent elements of the games’ maps and navigational aids are analysed in terms of how they inform players’ experience of the games’ spaces. In particular this project examines the in-game maps these games incorporate, the waypoint navigation and fast-travel systems in Fallout 3, and the guide arrow and environmental cues in the BioShock games.

Motivational Interviewing (MINT) improves Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) acceptance and adherence : a randomised controlled trial

Objective: Adherence to Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Therapy (CPAP) for Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) is poor. We assessed the effectiveness of a motivational interviewing intervention (MINT) in addition to best practice standard care to improve acceptance and adherence to CPAP therapy in people with a new diagnosis of OSA. Method: 106 Australian adults (69% male) with a new diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnoea and clinical recommendation for CPAP treatment were recruited from a tertiary sleep disorders centre. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either three sessions of a motivational interviewing intervention ‘MINT’ (n=53; mean age=55.4 years), or no intervention ‘Control’ (n=53; mean age=57.74). The primary outcome was the difference between the groups in objective CPAP adherence at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months and 12 months follow-up. Results: Fifty (94%) participants in the MINT group and 50 (94%) of participants in the control group met all inclusion and exclusion criteria and were included in the primary analysis. The hours of CPAP use per night in the MINT group at 3 months was 4.63 hours and 3.16 hours in the control group (p=0.005). This represents almost 50% better adherence in the MINT group relative to the control group. Patients in the MINT group were substantially more likely to accept CPAP treatment. Conclusions: MINT is a brief, manualized, effective intervention which improves CPAP acceptance and objective adherence rates as compared to standard care alone.

Loop closure detection on a suburban road network using a continuous appearance-based trajectory

This paper presents a novel technique for performing SLAM along a continuous trajectory of appearance. Derived from components of FastSLAM and FAB-MAP, the new system dubbed Continuous Appearance-based Trajectory SLAM (CAT-SLAM) augments appearancebased place recognition with particle-filter based ‘pose filtering’ within a probabilistic framework, without calculating global feature geometry or performing 3D map construction. For loop closure detection CAT-SLAM updates in constant time regardless of map size. We evaluate the effectiveness of CAT-SLAM on a 16km outdoor road network and determine its loop closure performance relative to FAB-MAP. CAT-SLAM recognizes 3 times the number of loop closures for the case where no false positives occur, demonstrating its potential use for robust loop closure detection in large environments.

Using incomplete online metric maps for topological exploration with the Gap Navigation Tree

This paper presents a general, global approach to the problem of robot exploration, utilizing a topological data structure to guide an underlying Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) process. A Gap Navigation Tree (GNT) is used to motivate global target selection and occluded regions of the environment (called “gaps”) are tracked probabilistically. The process of map construction and the motion of the vehicle alters both the shape and location of these regions. The use of online mapping is shown to reduce the difficulties in implementing the GNT.

CAT-SLAM : probabilistic localisation and mapping using a continuous appearance-based trajectory

This paper describes a new system, dubbed Continuous Appearance-based Trajectory Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (CAT-SLAM), which augments sequential appearance-based place recognition with local metric pose filtering to improve the frequency and reliability of appearance-based loop closure. As in other approaches to appearance-based mapping, loop closure is performed without calculating global feature geometry or performing 3D map construction. Loop-closure filtering uses a probabilistic distribution of possible loop closures along the robot’s previous trajectory, which is represented by a linked list of previously visited locations linked by odometric information. Sequential appearance-based place recognition and local metric pose filtering are evaluated simultaneously using a Rao–Blackwellised particle filter, which weights particles based on appearance matching over sequential frames and the similarity of robot motion along the trajectory. The particle filter explicitly models both the likelihood of revisiting previous locations and exploring new locations. A modified resampling scheme counters particle deprivation and allows loop-closure updates to be performed in constant time for a given environment. We compare the performance of CAT-SLAM with FAB-MAP (a state-of-the-art appearance-only SLAM algorithm) using multiple real-world datasets, demonstrating an increase in the number of correct loop closures detected by CAT-SLAM.

New maps of learning for quality art education : what pre-service teachers should learn and be able to do

It would be a rare thing to visit an early years setting or classroom in Australia that does not display examples of young children’s artworks. This practice serves to give schools a particular ‘look’, but is no guarantee of quality art education. The Australian National Review of Visual Arts Education (NRVE) (2009) has called for changes to visual art education in schools. The planned new National Curriculum includes the arts (music, dance, drama, media and visual arts) as one of the five learning areas. Research shows that it is the classroom teacher that makes the difference, and teacher education has a large part to play in reforms to art education. This paper provides an account of one foundation unit of study (Unit 1) for first year university students enrolled in a 4-year Bachelor degree program who are preparing to teach in the early years (0–8 years). To prepare pre-service teachers to meet the needs of children in the 21st century, Unit 1 blends old and new ways of seeing art, child and pedagogy. Claims for the effectiveness of this model are supported with evidence-based research, conducted over the six years of iterations and ongoing development of Unit 1.

Continuous intravenous infusion of glucose induces endogenous hyperinsulinaemia and lamellar histopathology in Standardbred horses

Endocrinopathic laminitis is frequently associated with hyperinsulinaemia but the role of glucose in the pathogenesis of the disease has not been fully investigated. This study aimed to determine the endogenous insulin response to a quantity of glucose equivalent to that administered during a laminitis-inducing, euglycaemic, hyperinsulinaemic clamp, over 48. h in insulin-sensitive Standardbred racehorses. In addition, the study investigated whether glucose infusion, in the absence of exogenous insulin administration, would result in the development of clinical and histopathological evidence of laminitis. Glucose (50% dextrose) was infused intravenously at a rate of 0.68 mL/kg/h for 48. h in treated horses (n = 4) and control horses (n = 3) received a balanced electrolyte solution (0.68 mL/kg/h). Lamellar histology was examined at the conclusion of the experiment. Horses in the treatment group were insulin sensitive (M value 0.039 ± 0.0012. mmol/kg/min and M-to-I ratio (100×) 0.014 ± 0.002) as determined by an approximated hyperglycaemic clamp. Treated horses developed glycosuria, hyperglycaemia (10.7 ± 0.78. mmol/L) and hyperinsulinaemia (208 ± 26.1. μIU/mL), whereas control horses did not. None of the horses became lame as a consequence of the experiment but all of the treated horses developed histopathological evidence of laminitis in at least one foot. Combined with earlier studies, the results showed that laminitis may be induced by either insulin alone or a combination of insulin and glucose, but that it is unlikely to be due to a glucose overload mechanism. Based on the histopathological data, the potential threshold for insulin toxicity (i.e. laminitis) in horses may be at or below a serum concentration of ∼200. μIU/mL.