Inspiring Womanhood: A re-interpretation of The Dawn

This thesis explores the diversity of content and ideas found in Louisa Lawson’s The Dawn, Australia’s first successful magazine ‘by women and for women’, showing that every element of the journal promoted a womanhood ideal for Australian women. Though remembered for the challenging arguments it made for women’s rights, most of the journal was taken up by beauty tips, household hints, recipes, women’s stories, health ideas, fashion articles and the like. This thesis examines such elements, noting how they served to help readers progress towards its womanhood ideal. It highlights the way that The Dawn’s discourse on women’s right was integrated into this ideal. It also analyses some of the key themes and ideas central to the ideal constructed in The Dawn, such as motherhood, beauty, and success in work and study

The New Zealand Public Service Response to Covid-19

The New Zealand public service faced an unprecedented challenge in 2020. The focus of this article is on what the Covid-19 experience can tell us about the strengths of the public service, and whether the course that we have set for the future, enshrined through the Public Service Act 2020, is the right one. The established directions of public service change helped the Covid response: functional leadership made a definite contribution; dispersed leadership roles proved their worth; the deepening experience of inter-agency collaboration over the past decade cannot be proved to have contributed, but it seems reasonable to conclude that it did. Public servants proved willing to behave as participants in a single service rather than employees of a single agency, living up to the more complete view of human motivation reflected in the Public Service Act. The article concludes with some observations on the importance of interoperability for the future public service, and on the implications the strong Mäori response to Covid-19 may have for the public service of the future

Contesting the Commemorative Narrative: Planning for Richmond’s Cultural Landscape

Abstract: New Orleans, Baltimore, and Charlottesville are reevaluating the presence of Confederate statues in their built environment. Known as the Capital of the Confederacy, Richmond’s cultural landscape is visible through the connection of two historical spaces, Monument Avenue and Shockoe Bottom. Both serve as a powerful case study for how the commemorative narrative of these spaces is contested today and how barriers that exist influence urban planning processes and outcomes

A preliminary investigation of the potential effects of the invasive Mozambique tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus on the native fish assemblages of Lake MacLeod, Western Australia

As one of the major threats to biodiversity in aquatic systems, invasive species can alter the structure and function of a community, often through habitat and resource competition, and/or direct predation. This study aims to determine if invasive tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) is likely to have an effect on the native fish communities of Lake MacLeod, a unique and important inland, saline lake system in north-western Western Australia, through competition for key resources, namely habitat and food sources. Seven study sites were selected within the Northern Ponds of Lake MacLeod, from which fish abundances were assessed in three habitats (pneumatophore beds, nearshore and vents) using adapted fyke-nets and unbaited underwater videography. From three of the seven sites, dietary and stable isotope analyses were conducted. The species richness of fish was low, with between 3-4 species caught at each site. Amniataba caudavittata (yellowtail grunters) and Craterocephalus pauciradiatus (hardyheads), the two most prevalent native fish species, were captured in all three habitats. Although observed in every habitat, O. mossambicus was only successfully captured from the vent habitats. The total length of O. mossambicus ranged from 48-385 mm but the cohort at one of the vents, ‘Jack’s vent’, was considerably larger and more abundant than at all other sites. C. pauciradiatus remained consistent in its size structure across sites and habitats, whereas A. caudavittata tended to be slightly smaller in the pneumatophore habitat. Based on stomach contents analysis, O. mossambicus and A. caudavittata consumed many of the same food items, but often in different proportions. Little variation was seen among sites, except for Jack’s, and the diets were more separated by species than by site. A. caudavittata consumed higher percentages of filamentous green algae, amphipods, and seagrasses than O. mossambicus, but O. mossambicus generally consumed a higher percentage of sand and/or sediment, foraminifera, and detritus. A. caudavittata consumed a wider variety of items. From observations on recorded videos, and from the high percentage of sediment in the stomachs of O. mossambicus relative to A. caudavittata, it was concluded that the two species are utilizing different feeding strategies; the former selecting items from the benthos and the latter straight from the water column. A. caudavittata had a higher mean !15N than O. mossambicus, but not high enough to imply they occupy different trophic levels. The mixing models based on stable isotopes that incorporate food assimilated over longer periods than stomach content analysis, suggested a greater similarity in the diets between species within each site. O. mossambicus is occupying some of the same habitats and using some of the same resources as the native fish, particularly A. caudavittata. However, based on behavioural differences, such as feeding strategies, and the observed differences in prey item proportions, along with the observations of high abundances of all species at many sites, it can be hypothesized that the fish species successfully co-exist with the present habitat and food resource availability. It would be prudent to examine other aspects of the ecology of O. mossambicus in this system to determine if they are impacting the system in ways other than its trophic and habitat interactions with other species

Paving the Pathways to Quality: Washington's Early Learning Professional Development Landscape

Stakeholders from across the early care and education spectrum joined together to investigate what it will take to achieve a strong professional development system for early learning providers that will result in quality care and long-term outcomes for children. This collaborative process revealed a need for foundational work upon which to base a comprehensive, state-wide system of professional development for Washington's early childhood education workforce

Motivating social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic: An online experiment. ESRI Working Paper No. 658 April 2020

Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic will save lives. We tested communication strategies to promote social distancing via an online experiment (N = 500) commissioned by Ireland’s Department of Health. A control group saw a current informational poster. Two treatment groups saw similar posters with messages that highlighted: (i) the risk of transmission to identifiable persons vulnerable to COVID-19; (ii) the exponential nature of transmission. We then measured judgements of behaviours previously identified by focus groups as “marginal” (meaning that people were not sure whether they were advisable, such meeting others outdoors, or visiting parents). We recorded intention to undertake behaviours and stated acceptability of behaviours. Our hypotheses, that both treatments would increase participants’ caution about marginal behaviours, were preregistered (i.e. lodged with an international organisation for open science before data collection). Results confirmed the hypotheses. The findings suggest that the thought of infecting vulnerable people or large numbers of people can motivate social distancing. This has implications for communications strategies. The stud

Difference in Water Status between Oak Trees (Quercus berberidifolia) with Brown and Green Leaves During Severe Drought

In this experiment, we examined cavitation in Quercus berberidifolia plants. We hypothesized that as the amount of water stress increases, then the pressure to cause embolism will decrease. We thought this because as a plant loses more water, the more air bubbles will form within the plant and therefore the pressure to cause this will decrease. We tested this hypothesis by comparing dry Quercus berberidifolia to more hydrated Quercus berberidifolia in Tapia Park, near Malibu, California. We measured and compared these plants by the use of the Scholander Pressure chamber and a parometer. In the end, we discovered that our hypothesis was correct. Our data showed us that less hydrated plants that had more water stress had a lower atmospheric pressure than the more hydrated plants

Splashing of a very viscous liquid drop impacting onto a solid wall wetted by another liquid

[EN] In this experimental work the main focus is on the impact of a single drop of a very viscous liquid onto a thin, horizontal wall film of different liquid. Splashing resulting from drop impact onto a wetted wall occurs in many natural and engineering applications like in internal combustion engines and spray cooling. While the splashing threshold for low viscosity liquid drops has been extensively examined, impact of a very viscous drop is much less studied. The viscosities of drop and wall film liquids are varied up to kinematic viscosities of 100,000 mm²/s. The liquids used in the experiments are miscible. The impact outcome is determined by the impact parameters and fluid properties. The effect of very viscous liquids used as drop fluid and as wall film liquid on the kinematic of the corona expansion is investigated in the experiments. The results of drop impact onto solid walls are compared to obtain the limiting asymptotic values for the splashing threshold. Finally, a semi-empirical model for the splashing threshold, for the maximum spreading radius Dmax and for the maximum spreading times tmax are developed for extremely viscous liquids.This research was supported by the the German Scientific Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) in the framework of the SFB-TRR 150 collaborative research center, subproject A02.Kittel, H.; Roisman, I.; Tropea, C. (2017). Splashing of a very viscous liquid drop impacting onto a solid wall wetted by another liquid. En Ilass Europe. 28th european conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 716-722. https://doi.org/10.4995/ILASS2017.2017.4702OCS71672

Resilient and Sustainable Water Infrastructure

Background: Lifeline critical infrastructures are pivotal for the uninterrupted flow of goods and services that are crucial to the functioning of society (Singh, 2021). This review will be the second in a series of four systematic literature reviews examining the resilience and sustainability of critical lifeline infrastructures in Australia, with a focus on the state of Tasmania. The first SLR examined energy infrastructure. The recent passing of the 2021 Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill in Australia, coupled with the lack of a governing document at the state level in Tasmania, necessitates a review to uncover the governance settings, which will aide in increasing the resilience and sustainability of water infrastructures, contributing to broader critical lifeline infrastructure resilience, in Tasmania. Methods/Design: Following the 2015 PRISMA-P (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis Protocols), the review focuses on scholarly sources that address the governance of water infrastructures. In addition to governance settings, secondary evidence is sought regarding interruptions to water infrastructures; policy problems and solutions; and resilience and sustainability definitions. Discussion: Findings from this review will contribute to a comprehensive understanding of how the resilience and sustainability of water infrastructures may be enhanced via deeper knowledge of their governance settings. This research is directed at Tasmanian policy-makers, practitioners, industry specialists, and researchers to inform and enhance their decision-making on this important topic