Scholarly Teaching Fellows as a new category of employment in Australian universities: impacts and prospects for teaching and learning'

In recent years a new type of teaching-focused academic position has emerged in the university system, the ‘Scholarly Teaching Fellow’ (STF). These continuing positions are designed to replace casual teachers, and to enable a more ‘sustained’ engagement with scholarship as required under Commonwealth higher education standards. There has been agrowing reliance on casual academics to deliver university courses, and the rise of the ‘gig’ academic has undermined scholarship as well as job security. In 2012 the sector’s lead trade union, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), proposed a novel approach to extend teaching capacity and provide job security for a portion of the estimated 50,000 casual university teaching staff. By creating a career path for the casual academics who currently perform the bulk of face-to-face teaching in Australian universities, it was envisaged that not only would casual academics benefit from enhanced job security, but that the employment ofmore continuing staff would improve teaching and learning and enhance the student experience. Between 2012 and 2015, industrial agreements negotiated between the NTEU and the majority of the sector’s universities led to a commitment to create 850 positions for a new type of academic role: the Scholarly Teaching Fellow (STF). Around 800 of these positions had been created by August 2018. This research, funded as a ‘Strategic Project’ by the former Office of Learning and Teaching, examined the introduction of STFs into the Australian university system between 2013and 2016. The project explored the impact of this new category of employment in Australian universities on the organisation and future prospects of academic work

Scholarly Teaching: The Changing Composition of Work and Identity in Higher Education

By February 2018, almost 700 positions for a new type of academic, the ‘Scholarly Teaching Fellow’ (STF), had been created (NTEU 2018). The creation of STFs reflects a shift in priorities, both for universities and for staff as represented through the sector’s lead trade union, the NTEU. There is growing pressure from universities to promote teaching-intensive academic careers, mainly to strengthen teaching capacity in the context of rising enrolments. There is also new recognition from the NTEU that continuing teaching-intensive positions can offer a means of reducing academic casualization. The resulting convergence in priorities has led to the creation of this new category of employment in the academic workforce. Drawing from in-depth interviews conducted for an Office of Learning and Teaching Project about STFs, this paper reflects on the implementation and experience of these positions from the perspective of academics and managers. A collective narrative analysis of the purpose of the positions and the varied experience of academics in the roles will be used to draw out the impact of these changes on workloads, job security, professional identity and personal life

Nanometer-sized ceria-coated silica-iron oxide for the reagentless microextraction/preconcentration of heavy metals in environmental and biological samples followed by slurry introduction to ICP-OES

A slurry suspension sampling technique is developed and optimized for the rapid microextraction of heavy metals and analysis using nanometer-sized ceria-coated silica-iron oxide particles and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Magnetic-silica material is synthesized by a co-precipitation and sol-gel method followed by ceria coating through a precipitation. The large particles are removed using a sedimentation-fractionation procedure and a magnetic homogeneous colloidal suspension of ceria-modified iron oxide-silica is produced for microextraction. The nanometer-sized particles are separated from the sample solution magnetically and analyzed with ICP-OES using a slurry suspension sampling approach. The ceria-modified iron oxide-silica does not contain any organic matter and this probably justifies the absence of matrix effect on plasma atomization capacity, when increased concentrations of slurries are aspirated. The As, Be, Mo, Cr, Cu, Pb, Hg, Sb, Se and V can be preconcentrated by the proposed method at pH 6.0 while Mn, Cd, Co and Ni require a pH ≥ 8.0. Satisfactory values are obtained for the relative standard deviations (2-6%), recoveries (88-102%), enrichment factors (14-19) and regression correlation coefficients as well as detectability, at sub-μg L(-1) levels. The applicability of magnetic ceria for the microextraction of metal ions in combination with the slurry introduction technique using ICP is substantiated by the analysis of environmental water and urine samples

1º Webinário Enfam: Combate à pandemia e a Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados

Realizado pelo Escola Nacional de Formação e Aperfeiçoamento de Magistrados Ministro Sálvio de Figueiredo Teixeira - ENFAM.O webinário foi mediado pelo diretor-geral da Enfam, ministro Herman Benjamin, e teve a participação do ministro Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, do Superior Tribunal de Justiça, da professora de Direito Civil Laura Schertel Mendes e do advogado Danilo Doneda.O objetivo do evento é debater as perspectivas e desafios para a utilização de dados pessoais no combate à pandemia no país nesse contexto institucional singular, em que permanece premente a constituição de um sistema de proteção de dados

Exploring the potential of biobeds for the depuration of pesticide-contaminated wastewaters from the citrus production chain: Laboratory, column and field studies

The high wastewater volumes produced during citrus production at pre- and post-harvest level presents serious pesticide point-source pollution for groundwater bodies. Biobeds are used for preventing such point-source pollution occurring at farm level. We explored the potential of biobeds for the depuration of wastewaters produced through the citrus production chain following a lab-to-field experimentation. The dissipation of pesticides used pre- or post-harvest was studied in compost-based biomixtures, soil, and a straw-soil mixture. A biomixture of composted grape seeds and skins (GSS-1) showed the highest dissipation capacity. In subsequent column studies, GSS-1 restricted pesticides leaching even at the highest water load (462 L m(-3)). Ortho-phenylphenol was the most mobile compound. Studies in an on-farm biobed filled with GSS-1 showed that pesticides were fully retained and partially or fully dissipated. Overall biobeds could be a valuable solution for the depuration of wastewaters produced at pre- and post-harvest level by citrus fruit industries. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Associations, active citizenship, and the quality of democracy in Brazil and Mexico

In many Third Wave democracies large classes of people experience diminished forms of citizenship. The systematic exclusion from mandated public goods and services significantly injures the citizenship and life chances of entire social groups. In democratic theory civil associations have a fundamental role to play in reversing this reality. One strand of theory, known as civic engagement, suggests that associations empower their members to engage in public politics, hold state officials to account, claim public services, and thereby improve the quality of democracy. Empirical demonstration of the argument is surprisingly rare, however, and limited to affluent democracies. In this article, we use original survey data for two large cities in Third Wave democracies-So Paulo and Mexico City-to explore this argument in a novel way. We focus on the extent to which participation in associations (or associationalism) increases "active citizenship"aEuro"the effort to negotiate directly with state agents access to goods and services legally mandated for public provision, such as healthcare, sanitation, and security-rather than civic engagement, which encompasses any voluntary and public spirited activity. We examine separately associationalism's impact on the quality of citizenship, a dimension that varies independently from the level of active citizenship, by assessing differences in the types of citizenship practices individuals use to obtain access to vital goods and services. To interpret the findings, and identify possible causal pathways, the paper moves back-and-forth between two major research traditions that are rarely brought into dialogue: civic engagement and comparative historical studies of democratization