Effects of opening in the cross girders of the flat bottom rail wagons to the load transferring mechanisms when used as road bridge deck

A Flat Bed Rail Wagon (FBRW) has been proposed as an alternative solution for replacing bridges on low traffic volume roads. The subject matter for this paper is to investigate the impediment to load transfer from cross girders to main girder, through visually identifiable structural flaws. Namely, the effect of having large openings at close proximity to the connection of the main girder to the cross girder of a FBRW was examined. It was clear that openings locally reduce the section modulus of the secondary members; however it was unclear how these reductions would affect the load transfer to the main girder. The results are presented through modeling grillage action for which the loads applied onto the FBRW were distributed through cross girders to the main girder.

Anna Clark (2008) History’s Children: History Wars in the Classroom. UNSW Press, Sydney, 178 pages

“History’s Children” stems from Anna Clark’s 2004 postdoctoral research into the ways in which Australian students connect with the past, and aims at bringing some classroom perspectives into the public debates about Australian history education. Although the title makes reference to the “History Wars”, there is little evidence of contestation, engagement, passion or intellectual excitement in Clark’s conclusions about what happens in history classrooms. Rather, Clark’s small focus groups with 182 high school students in 34 high schools around Australia indicate that “it got a bit dismal hearing student after student being so dismissive of Australian history” (p. 143). Apart from some enthusiasm for the study of Australians at war, a sort of resigned boredom seems to characterise what students have to say about learning Australian history, despite their acknowledgement that it is important to “know about” it.

Alternative systems for Intellectual Property in the digital age

This paper investigates the current turbulent state of copyright in the digital age, and explores the viability of alternative compensation systems that aim to achieve the same goals with fewer negative consequences for consumers and artists. To sustain existing business models associated with creative content, increased recourse to DRM (Digital Rights Management) technologies, designed to restrict access to and usage of digital content, is well underway. Considerable technical challenges associated with DRM systems necessitate increasingly aggressive recourse to the law. A number of controversial aspects of copyright enforcement are discussed and contrasted with those inherent in levy based compensation systems. Lateral exploration of the copyright dilemma may help prevent some undesirable societal impacts, but with powerful coalitions of creative, consumer electronics and information technology industries having enormous vested interest in current models, alternative schemes are frequently treated dismissively. This paper focuses on consideration of alternative models that better suit the digital era whilst achieving a more even balance in the copyright bargain.

International journalism and democracy : civic engagement models from around the world

"International Journalism and Democracy" explores a new form of journalism that has been dubbed ‘deliberative journalism’. As the name suggests, these forms of journalism support deliberation — the processes in which citizens recognize and discuss the issues that affect their communities, appraise the potential responses to those issues, and make decisions about whether and how to take action. Authors from across the globe identify the types of journalism that assist deliberative politics in different cultural and political contexts. Case studies from 15 nations spotlight different approaches to deliberative journalism, including strategies that have been sometimes been labeled as public or civic journalism, peace journalism, development journalism, citizen journalism, the street press, community journalism, social entrepreneurism, or other names. Countries that are studied in-depth include the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Nigeria, Brazil, Colombia and Puerto Rico. Each of the approaches that are described offers a distinctive potential to support deliberative democracy. However, the book does not present any of these models or case studies as examples of categorical success. Instead, it explores different elements of the nature, strengths, limitations and challenges of each approach, as well as issues affecting their longer-term sustainability and effectiveness. The book also describes the underlying principles of deliberation, the media’s potential role in deliberation from a theoretical and practical perspective, and ongoing issues for deliberative media practitioners.

Delivering value for money in the procurement of public sector major infrastructure : a new first-order decision making model

The significant challenge faced by government in demonstrating value for money in the delivery of major infrastructure resolves around estimating costs and benefits of alternative modes of procurement. Faced with this challenge, one approach is to focus on a dominant performance outcome visible on the opening day of the asset, as the means to select the procurement approach. In this case, value for money becomes a largely nominal concept and determined by selected procurement mode delivering, or not delivering, the selected performance outcome, and notwithstanding possible under delivery on other desirable performance outcomes, as well as possibly incurring excessive transaction costs. This paper proposes a mind-set change in this particular practice, to an approach in which the analysis commences with the conditions pertaining to the project and proceeds to deploy transaction cost and production cost theory to indicate a procurement approach that can claim superior value for money relative to other competing procurement modes. This approach to delivering value for money in relative terms is developed in a first-order procurement decision making model outlined in this paper. The model developed could be complementary to the Public Sector Comparator (PSC) in terms of cross validation and the model more readily lends itself to public dissemination. As a possible alternative to the PSC, the model could save time and money in preparation of project details to lesser extent than that required in the reference project and may send a stronger signal to the market that may encourage more innovation and competition.

Review of Dr. Richard Shapcott's International Ethics : A Critical Introduction. 2010. London: Polity Press. ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-3142-4.

This work by Richard Shapcott is, as the title provides, an introduction to international ethics. By taking a quick glance at the table of contents (see Figure 1) we see that he has systematically divided this particular discourse into its normative areas of concern (in other words its major areas of argument or research). When reading, we also see that a great deal of work has gone into the publication because the narrative is flowing, the arguments continuous, and because the tone of the work maintained its critical position throughout.

An interview with Dr. Benjamin Isakhan : on the alternative histories of democracy

Dr. Isakahn is currently a research associate with the Centre for Dialogue at La Trobe University in Australia. His latest works include several forthcoming books: Democracy in Iraq is a monograph soon to be released; whilst The Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy and The Secret History of Democracy, both done in concert with Stephen Stockwell, are edited collections. His most recent articles include “Targeting the Symbolic Dimension of Baathist Iraq,” “Measuring Islam in Australia” and “Manufacturing Consent in Iraq.” For further information regarding Dr. Isakhan and his works, please visit his website, www.benjaminisakhan.com.

Par4 is a coactivator for a splice isoform-specific transcriptional activation domain in WT1

The Wilms’ tumor suppressor protein WT1 is a transcriptional regulator involved in differentiation and the regulation of cell growth. WT1 is subject to alternative splicing, one isoform including a 17–amino acid region that is specific to mammals. The function of this 17–amino acid insertion is not clear, however. Here, we describe a transcriptional activation domain in WT1 that is specific to the WT1 splice isoform that contains the 17–amino acid insertion. We show that the function of this domain in transcriptional activation is dependent on a specific interaction with the prostate apoptosis response factor par4. A mutation in WT1 found in Wilms’ tumor disturbs the interaction with par4 and disrupts the function of the activation domain. Analysis of WT1 derivatives in cells treated to induce par4 expression showed a strong correlation between the transcription function of the WT1 17–amino acid insertion and the ability of WT1 to regulate cell survival and proliferation. Our results provide a molecular mechanism by which alternative splicing of WT1 can regulate cell growth in development and disease.

Louis Nowra, 'Radiance' (Sydney: Currency Press, 1993)

Louis Nowra wrote 'Radiance' especially for the three actors who performed it in the play’s premier season at Belvoir Street Theatre in September 1993. And the Currency Press playscript / programme produced for that season foregrounds these three performers – Rachael Maza, Lydia Miller and Rhoda Roberts – in such a way that the usual distinction between dramatis personae and the actors who play them is considerably diminished. Both the blurb on the back cover and Nowra’s introduction emphasise this special relationship between text and actors, but it is the front cover shot which particularly reflects the conjunction between the two. Rather than depicting a scene from performance, or a ‘graphic’ suggesting something of the play’s thematic content, the front cover of Radiance features the three actors in a posed promotional shot. Arms joined warmly, lovingly, about each other’s waist, bodies turned away from but faces towards the camera, it is the actors we see, not their characters. It’s a very joyful image; they’re positively beaming. Radiant. They look as if they could really be the three half-sisters they portray, except that such moments of blithe sorority are just about non-existent in the play.

Alternative futures of globalisation a socio-ecological study of the world social forum process

Inspired by the initial World Social Forum in Porto Alegre Brazil, over the past decade over 200 local and regional social forums have been held, on five continents. This study has examined the nature of this broader social forum process, in particular as an aspect of the movement for 'another globalisation'. I discuss both the discourses for 'another world', as well as the development of an Alternative Globalisation Movement. As an action research study, the research took place within a variety of groups and networks. The thesis provides six accounts of groups and people striving and struggling for 'another world'. I provide a macro account of the invention and innovation of the World Social Forum. A grassroots film-makers collective provides a window into media. A local social forum opens up the radical diversity of actors. An activist exchange circle sheds light on strategic aspects of alternative globalisation. An educational initiative provides a window into transformations in pedagogy. And a situational account (of the G20 meeting in Melbourne in 2006) provides an overview of the variety of metanetworks that converge to voice demands for global justice and sustainability. In particular, this study has sought to shed light on how, within this process, groups and communities develop 'agency', a capacity to respond to the global challenges they / we face. And as part of this question, I have also explored how alternatives futures are developed and conceived, with a re-cognition of the importance of histories and geo-political (or 'eco-political') structures as contexts. I argue the World Social Forum Process is prefigurative, as an interactional process where many social alternatives are conceived, supported, developed and innovated into the world. And I argue this innovation process is meta-formative, where convergences of diverse actors comprise ‘social ecologies of alternatives’ which lead to opportunities for dynamic collaboration and partnership.

Industry school partnerships : real world learning through the Gateway Schools Projects

In the last decade, a gradual but significant shift in education has taken place. Schools have transformed from hermetically sealed, impermeable bureaucracies to dynamic and flexible organisations characterised by openness to local communities and connectedness to global issues and cultures. They are also more responsive to the aspirations of students and parents. A central feature of what Christian Maroy (2009) has described as the post bureaucratic era of education has been the relationships formed between schools and other organisations through formalised partnerships. Partnerships have been a significant feature of schooling in Queensland since the 1980s when schools developed Vocational Education Programs (VET) providing alternative pathways from schooling to post school training or employment. However, partnerships that have emerged in recent times have been more structured in their organisation and more targeted in terms of the outcomes they aim to achieve. Examples here have included Queensland’s District Youth Achievement plans that linked schools, business, industry bodies, training organisations and community groups to improve transition outcomes, particularly for young people at risk in their transitions from school to post-school life.

Keeping House : a novel and novel companion

The creative work of this study is a novel-length work of literary fiction called Keeping House (published as Grace's Table, by University of Queensland Press, April 2014). Grace has not had twelve people at her table for a long time. Hers isn't the kind of family who share regular Sunday meals. As Grace prepares the feast, she reflects on her life, her marriage and her friendships. When the three generations of her family come together, simmering tensions from the past threaten to boil over. The one thing that no one can talk about is the one thing that no one can forget. Grace's Table is a moving and often funny novel using food as a language to explore the power of memory and the family rituals that define us. The exegetical component of this study does not adhere to traditional research pedagogies. Instead, it follows the model of what the literature describes as fictocriticism. It is the intention that the exegesis be read as a hybrid genre; one that combines creative practice and theory and blurs the boundaries between philosophy and fiction. In offering itself as an alternative to the exegetical canon it provides a model for the multiplicity of knowledge production suited to the discipline of practice-led research. The exegesis mirrors structural elements of the creative work by inviting twelve guests into the domestic space of the novel to share a meal. The guests, chosen for their diverse thinking, enable examination of the various agents of power involved in the delivery of food. Their ideas cross genders, ages and time periods; their motivations and opinions often collide. Some are more concerned with the spatial politics of where food is consumed, others with its actual preparation and consumption. Each, however, provides a series of creative reflective conversations throughout the meal which help to answer the research question: How can disempowered women take authority within their domestic space? Michel de Certeau must defend his "operational tactics" or "art of the weak" 1 as a means by which women can subvert the colonisation of their domestic space against Michel Foucault's ideas about the functions of a "disciplinary apparatus". 2 Erving Goffman argues that the success of de Certeau's "tactics" depends upon his theories of "performance" and "masquerade" 3; a claim de Certeau refutes. Doreen Massey and the author combine forces in arguing for space, time and politics to be seen as interconnected, non-static and often contested. The author calls for identity, or sense of self, to be considered a further dimension which impacts on the function of spatial models. Yu-Fi Tuan speaks of the intimacy of kitchens; Gaston Bachelard the power of daydreams; and Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin gives the reader a taste of the nourishing arts. Roland Barthes forces the author to reconsider her function as a writer and her understanding of the reader's relationship with a text. Fictional characters from two texts have a place at the table – Marian from The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood 4 and Lilian from Lilian's Story by Kate Grenville. 5 Each explores how they successfully subverted expectations of their gender. The author interprets and applies elements of the conversations to support Grace's tactics in the novel as well as those related to her own creative research practice. Grace serves her guests, reflecting on what is said and how it relates to her story. Over coffee, the two come together to examine what each has learned.

Multiple evolutionary rate classes in animal genome evolution

The proportion of functional sequence in the human genome is currently a subject of debate. The most widely accepted figure is that approximately 5% is under purifying selection. In Drosophila, estimates are an order of magnitude higher, though this corresponds to a similar quantity of sequence. These estimates depend on the difference between the distribution of genomewide evolutionary rates and that observed in a subset of sequences presumed to be neutrally evolving. Motivated by the widening gap between these estimates and experimental evidence of genome function, especially in mammals, we developed a sensitive technique for evaluating such distributions and found that they are much more complex than previously apparent. We found strong evidence for at least nine well-resolved evolutionary rate classes in an alignment of four Drosophila species and at least seven classes in an alignment of four mammals, including human. We also identified at least three rate classes in human ancestral repeats. By positing that the largest of these ancestral repeat classes is neutrally evolving, we estimate that the proportion of nonneutrally evolving sequence is 30% of human ancestral repeats and 45% of the aligned portion of the genome. However, we also question whether any of the classes represent neutrally evolving sequences and argue that a plausible alternative is that they reflect variable structure-function constraints operating throughout the genomes of complex organisms.

An evaluation of alternative media for pebble matrix filtration using clay balls and recycled crushed glass

Protecting slow sand filters (SSFs) from high-turbidity waters by pretreatment using pebble matrix filtration (PMF) has previously been studied in the laboratory at University College London, followed by pilot field trials in Papua New Guinea and Serbia. The first full-scale PMF plant was completed at a water-treatment plant in Sri Lanka in 2008, and during its construction, problems were encountered in sourcing the required size of pebbles and sand as filter media. Because sourcing of uniform-sized pebbles may be problematic in many countries, the performance of alternative media has been investigated for the sustainability of the PMF system. Hand-formed clay balls made at a 100-yearold brick factory in the United Kingdom appear to have satisfied the role of pebbles, and a laboratory filter column was operated by using these clay balls together with recycled crushed glass as an alternative to sand media in the PMF. Results showed that in countries where uniform-sized pebbles are difficult to obtain, clay balls are an effective and feasible alternative to natural pebbles. Also, recycled crushed glass performed as well as or better than silica sand as an alternative fine media in the clarification process, although cleaning by drainage was more effective with sand media. In the tested filtration velocity range of ð0:72–1:33Þ m=h and inlet turbidity range of (78–589) NTU, both sand and glass produced above 95% removal efficiencies. The head loss development during clogging was about 30% higher in sand than in glass media.