Religious Education Leadership and the 21st Century: Overcoming Disconnectedness

The role of the religious education leader is a relatively new role within Catholic education in Australia. This leadership position has evolved since the time of its emergence in the decades following Vatican II; however, there appears to be a lack of clarity and understanding about the role and its impact upon a school. While the religious education leader plays a significant role in building a school community, a recent study which sought to discover the kinds of support these leaders need found that many religious education leaders encountered experiences of disconnectedness in their own school communities. Drawing on the insights emerging from that study, this paper provides an overview of the development of the role. While the general trend associated with these developments in religious education leadership have been oriented towards raising the profile of religious education leadership in Catholic schools there remains a lack of clarity about the role. This has contributed to experiences of disconnectedness amongst many religious education leaders. This paper aims to identify some of these experiences and suggest practical ways of overcoming them

Sustaining school based religious education leadership

The number of people applying for school based religious education leadership positions is scarce in most regions throughout Australia as well as other geographical regions. Drawing on the insights from key stakeholders associated with religious education leadership in schools this qualitative study aimed to identify factors which militated against sustaining school based religious education leadership. This paper reports on the findings emanating from the study and proceeds to outline practical solutions that may contribute to attracting and sustaining future generations of religious education leaders. The key factors impacting on the sustainability of religious education leaders include feelings of disconnection, excessive demands associated with the role and a lack of structural support. Practical recommendations are outlined to contribute to sustaining school based religious education leadership. The recommendations include a review of teacher appraisal processes, equity in terms of industrial conditions and the inclusion of middle leadership positions that support the leader

Management of curriculum change: An analysis of religious education coordinator's perspectives on the management of a particular curriculum change in Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne

This thesis aimed to study the perspectives of religious education coordinators' in secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne regarding their management of a particular curriculum change in religious education. The change in question involved a 'top down' (Morris, 1995) change to a 'text-based curriculum' (Pell, 2001) directed by the Archbishop of Melbourne, who is responsible for religious education in Catholic schools throughout the Archdiocese. Situated within a qualitative paradigm this research utilised grounded theory as a means to identify and analyse the theory generated from interviews with religious education coordinators who were responsible for managing the change. The emergent categories were used to generate new theory in relation to how religious education coordinators managed the curriculum change. Key theories generated from this study included factors that impeded the change such as an inability to understand the theoretical position underpinning the curriculum innovation, and inadequate qualifications to teach religious education. It also generated theory about factors that assisted the management of this change such as time to reflect on practice, and support from school leadership teams. The theory generated was analysed against the existing knowledge about curriculum change in education, textbook use and leadership in religious education. A distinguishing aspect of this research is that it linked the general literature on educational change as it applies to curriculum change, with curriculum change in religious education.The study also proposed some recommendations for future directions and practices concerning the management of curriculum change in religious education in Catholic schools

Radio Frequency Mass Gauging of Propellants

A combined experimental and computer simulation effort was conducted to measure radio frequency (RF) tank resonance modes in a dewar partially filled with liquid oxygen, and compare the measurements with numerical simulations. The goal of the effort was to demonstrate that computer simulations of a tank's electromagnetic eigenmodes can be used to accurately predict ground-based measurements, thereby providing a computational tool for predicting tank modes in a low-gravity environment. Matching the measured resonant frequencies of several tank modes with computer simulations can be used to gauge the amount of liquid in a tank, thus providing a possible method to gauge cryogenic propellant tanks in low-gravity. Using a handheld RF spectrum analyzer and a small antenna in a 46 liter capacity dewar for experimental measurements, we have verified that the four lowest transverse magnetic eigenmodes can be accurately predicted as a function of liquid oxygen fill level using computer simulations. The input to the computer simulations consisted of tank dimensions, and the dielectric constant of the fluid. Without using any adjustable parameters, the calculated and measured frequencies agree such that the liquid oxygen fill level was gauged to within 2 percent full scale uncertainty. These results demonstrate the utility of using electromagnetic simulations to form the basis of an RF mass gauging technology with the power to simulate tank resonance frequencies from arbitrary fluid configurations

Intradialytic cardiac magnetic resonance imaging to assess cardiovascular responses in a short-term trial of hemodiafiltration and hemodialysis

Hemodynamic stress during hemodialysis (HD) results in recurrent segmental ischemic injury (myocardial stunning) that drives cumulative cardiac damage. We performed a fully comprehensive study of the cardiovascular effect of dialysis sessions using intradialytic cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine the comparative acute effects of standard HD versus hemodiafiltration (HDF) in stable patients. We randomly allocated 12 patients on HD (ages 32–72 years old) to either HD or HDF. Patients were stabilized on a modality for 2 weeks before undergoing serial cardiac MRI assessment during dialysis. Patients then crossed over to the other modality and were rescanned after 2 weeks. Cardiac MRI measurements included cardiac index, stroke volume index, global and regional contractile function (myocardial strain), coronary artery flow, andmyocardial perfusion. Patients had mean6SEMultrafiltration rates of 3.862.9 ml/kg per hour during HD and 4.462.5 ml/kg per hour during HDF (P=0.29), and both modalities provided a similar degree of cooling. All measures of systolic contractile function fell during HD and HDF, with partial recovery after dialysis. All patients experienced some degree of segmental left ventricular dysfunction, with severity proportional to ultrafiltration rate and BP reduction. Myocardial perfusion decreased significantly during HD and HDF. Treatment modality did not influence any of the cardiovascular responses to dialysis. In conclusion, in this randomized, crossover study, there was no significant difference in the cardiovascular response to HDF or HD with cooled dialysate as assessed with intradialytic MRI

A Spitzer IRS Spectral Atlas of Luminous 8 micron Sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud

We present an atlas of Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) spectra of highly luminous, compact mid-infrared sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Sources were selected on the basis of infrared colors and 8 micron (MSX) fluxes indicative of highly evolved, intermediate- to high-mass stars with current or recent mass loss at large rates. We determine the chemistry of the circumstellar envelope from the mid-IR continuum and spectral features and classify the spectral types of the stars. In the sample of 60 sources, we find 21 Red Supergiants (RSGs), 16 C-rich Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars, 11 HII regions, 4 likely O-rich AGB stars, 4 Galactic O-rich AGB stars, 2 OH/IR stars, and 2 B[e] supergiants with peculiar IR spectra. We find that the overwhelming majority of the sample AGB stars (with typical IR luminosities ~1.0E4 L_sun) have C-rich envelopes, while the O-rich objects are predominantly luminous RSGs with L_IR ~ 1.0E5 L_sun. We determine mean bolometric corrections to the stellar K-band flux densities and find that for carbon stars, the bolometric corrections depend on the infrared color, whereas for RSGs, the bolometric correction is independent of IR color. Our results reveal that objects previously classified as PNe on the basis of IR colors are in fact compact HII regions with very red IRS spectra that include strong atomic recombination lines and PAH emission features. We demonstrate that the IRS spectral classes in our sample separate clearly in infrared color-color diagrams that use combinations of 2MASS data and synthetic IRAC/MIPS fluxes derived from the IRS spectra. On this basis, we suggest diagnostics to identify and classify, with high confidence levels, IR-luminous evolved stars and HII regions in nearby galaxies using Spitzer and near-infrared photometry.Comment: 46 pages, 9 figures; accepted for publication in AJ; abstract abridge

Statistical Analysis of Paradigmatic Class Richness Supports Greater Paleoindian Projectile-Point Diversity in the Southeast

Ronald Mason\u27s hypothesis from the 1960s that the southeastern United States possesses greater Paleoindian projectile-point diversity than other regions is regularly cited, and often assumed to be true, but in fact has never been quantitatively tested. Even if valid, however, the evolutionary meaning of this diversity is contested. Point diversity is often linked to Clovis origins, but point diversity could also arise from group fissioning and drift, admixture, adaptation, or multiple founding events, among other possibilities. Before archaeologists can even begin to discuss these scenarios, it is paramount to ensure that what we think we know is representative of reality. To this end, we tested Mason\u27s hypothesis for the first time, using a sample of 1,056 Paleoindian points from eastern North America ami employing paradigmatic classification and rigorous statistical tools used in the quantification of ecological biodiversity. Our first set of analyses, which compared the Southeast to the Northeast, showed that the Southeast did indeed possess significantly greater point-class richness. Although this result was consistent with Mason\u27s hypothesis, our second set of analyses, which compared the Upper Southeast to the Lower Southeast and the Northeast showed that in terms of point-class richness the Upper Southeast \u3e Lower Southeast \u3e Northeast. Given current chronometric evidence, we suggest that this latter result is consistent with the suggestion that the area of the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee River valleys, as well as the mid-Atlantic coastal plain, were possible initial and secondary staging areas for colonizing Paleoindian foragers moving from western to eastern North America

Col-OSSOS: The Distribution of Surface Classes in Neptune's Resonances

The distribution of surface classes of resonant trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) provides constraints on the protoplanetesimal disk and giant planet migration. To better understand the surfaces of TNOs, the Colours of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (Col-OSSOS) acquired multi-band photometry of 102 TNOs, and found that the surfaces of TNOs can be well described by two surface classifications, BrightIR and FaintIR. These classifications both include optically red members and are differentiated predominantly based on whether their near-infrared spectral slope is similar to their optical spectral slope. The vast majority of cold classical TNOs, with dynamically quiescent orbits, have the FaintIR surface classification, and we infer that TNOs in other dynamical classifications with FaintIR surfaces share a common origin with the cold classical TNOs. Comparison between the resonant populations and the possible parent populations of cold classical and dynamically excited TNOs reveal that the 3:2 has minimal contributions from the FaintIR class, which could be explained by the $\nu_8$ secular resonance clearing the region near the 3:2 before any sweeping capture occurred. Conversely, the fraction of FaintIR objects in the 4:3 resonance, 2:1 resonance, and the resonances within the cold classical belt, suggest that the FaintIR surface formed in the protoplanetary disk between 34.6 and 47 au, though the outer bound depends on the degree of resonance sweeping during migration. The presence and absence of the FaintIR surfaces in Neptune's resonances provides critical constraints for the history of Neptune's migration, the evolution of the $\nu_8$, and the surface class distribution in the initial planetesimal diskComment: 19 pages, 8 figures. in Press at PS

Biological measurement beyond the quantum limit

Quantum noise places a fundamental limit on the per photon sensitivity attainable in optical measurements. This limit is of particular importance in biological measurements, where the optical power must be constrained to avoid damage to the specimen. By using non-classically correlated light, we demonstrated that the quantum limit can be surpassed in biological measurements. Quantum enhanced microrheology was performed within yeast cells by tracking naturally occurring lipid granules with sensitivity 2.4 dB beyond the quantum noise limit. The viscoelastic properties of the cytoplasm could thereby be determined with a 64% improved measurement rate. This demonstration paves the way to apply quantum resources broadly in a biological context