Pragmatic mathematics : representations of thought and action

This philosophical essay canvasses a number of themes in relation to a more inclusive approach to school mathematics for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. As an alternative to current arrangements, the term 'pragmatic mathematics' is suggested as an organising concept of primary and secondary mathematics that emphasises learning by doing and reflection. Accordingly, the essay criticises school mathematics as being overly formalist and procedural and lacking a basis of socio-cultural practice. On the other hand, it is argued that pragmatic mathematics builds upon the enquiry philosophy of Dewey (see McDermott, 1981) and encourages long-term cycles of reflective practice where original and personal mathematical ideas are constructed from personal experience. Learning outcomes are uncertain and are not specified, but do occur within a framework of recognised mathematical knowledge. Clearly, pragmatic mathematics must be democratic and interpretive in orientation and not impose predetermined truth on learners

A government funded internet portal as a promoter of regional cluster relationships: a case study from the Australian wine industry

This paper reports on a study that examined the relationship between a small winery cluster and the implementation of a government sponsored Internet portal— the WinesOfGippsland.com site. Literature relating to industry clusters and Internet portals is examined to identify the beneficial features associated with portals and clusters. The paper makes a link between portal benefits and those typically associated with industry clusters— with the subsequent implications for policy. The study found that the winery business experience after portal implementation enhanced relationships between small wine producers, resulting in outcomes that included resource sharing, informal knowledge exchanges, and innovative practices that resulted in new product development. Indeed, these types of benefits tend to be also reported in successful clusters. Moreover, the authors argue that government policy may achieve more favourable outcomes in promoting e-commerce and Internet adoption in regional areas by identifying established business clusters— more so than ad-hoc related groups— that can use their already established relationships to quickly and appropriately leverage the business benefits associated with new technologies

Suggestions for designing a tennis-specific strength and conditioning program

In tennis, the optimal execution of any given stroke requires different adaptations of learned motor patterns in coordination with the requirements of strength, power, speed, agility and balance. Strength and conditioning training not only prepares the athletes for such demands, but also enables complete integration with the tactical/technical and psychological elements of the sport. Meaningful integration of conditioning training with the required game skills assists the athletes’ understanding of these requirements of the sport. Further, results of such integrated programs are athletes that enjoy their physical training as much as playing tennis. This article aims to give coaches who may also be responsible for their athlete(s) conditioning sessions some suggestions in designing programs that are specific to the sport as well as giving athletes meaningful exercises at training

East-West Genetic Differentiation in Musk Ducks (Biziura lobata) of Australia Suggests Late Pleistocene Divergence at the Nullarbor Plain

Musk Ducks (Biziura lobata) are endemic to Australia and occur as two geographically isolated populations separated by the Nullarbor Plain, a vast arid region in southern Australia. We studied genetic variation in Musk Duck populations at coarse (eastern versus western Australia) and fine scales (four sites within eastern Australia). We found significant genetic structure between eastern and western Australia in the mtDNA control region (UST = 0.747), one nuclear intron (UST = 0.193) and eight microsatellite loci (FST = 0.035). In contrast, there was little genetic structure between Kangaroo Island and adjacent mainland regions within eastern Australia. One small population of Musk Ducks in Victoria (Lake Wendouree) differed from both Kangaroo Island and the remainder of mainland eastern Australia, possibly due to genetic drift exacerbated by inbreeding and small population size. The observed low pairwise distance between the eastern and western mtDNA lineages (0.36%) suggests that they diverged near the end of the Pleistocene, a period characterised by frequent shifts between wet and arid conditions in central Australia. Our genetic results corroborate the display call divergence and Mathews’ (Austral Avian Record 2:83–107, 1914) subspecies classification, and confirm that eastern and western populations of Musk Duck are currently isolated from each other

On Trapezoid Inequality Via a Grüss Type Result and Applications

In this paper, we point out a Grüss type inequality and apply it for special means (logarithmic mean, identric mean, etc... ) and in Numerical Analysis in connection with the classical trapezoid formula

A Challenging Conversation on Integral Futures: Embodied Foresight and Trialogues

Practitioner reflection is vital for knowledge frameworks such as Ken Wilber's Integral perspective. Richard Slaughter, Joseph Voros and others have combined Wilber's perspective and Futures Studies to create Integral Futures as a new stance. This paper develops Embodied Foresight as a new approach about the development of new Integral Futures methodologies (or meta-methodologies) and practitioners, with a heightened sensitivity to ethics and specific, local contexts. Three practitioners conduct a 'trialogue' - a three-way deep dialogue - to discuss issues of theory generation, practitioner development, meta-methodologies, institutional limits, knowledge systems, and archetypal pathologies. Personal experiences within the Futures Studies and Integral communities, and in other initiatory and wisdom traditions are explored

Some Landau Type Inequalities for Functions Whose Derivatives are of Locally Bounded Variation

Some inequalities of the Landau type for functions whose derivatives are of locally bounded variation are pointed out

Agency as the Acquisition of Capital: the role of one-on-one tutoring and mentoring in changing a refugee student's educational trajectory

Current research into the experiences of refugee students in mainstream secondary schools in Australia indicates that for these students, schools are places of social and academic isolation and failure. This article introduces one such student, Lian, who came to Australia as a refugee from Burma, and whom the author tutored and mentored intensively during his final year of schooling. The article provides an empirically derived understanding of how one-on-one tutoring and mentoring became a platform through which this student was able to succeed in a structure which systematically tried to exclude him. Here, agency is conceptualised in terms of Bourdieu's concept of capital. The analysis highlights the ways in which one-on-one tutoring and mentoring provided the necessary platform by which this refugee student was able to acquire the necessary capital that effected a positive change in his educational trajectory