The advantages of ambiguity? Development, rule formation and property rights during transition in China

Certainty and clarity of legally defined individual private property rights, protected by and from a constrained state, are doctrines of neoclassical economics-derived development theory. But absent these conditions, there may be alternative mechanisms to provide some protection for business development and property. Using a case study drawn from China, I will argue that collective, contested, ambiguous and perhaps absence of legally defined property rights - and a relatively unconstrained state with limited rule of law - has not led to a failure in economic development terms. In some cases there may have been advantages in the Chinese post-Maoist context with economic liberalisation reforms beginning in 1978, and with the building of meaning and institutions found in a transitional state, where rules are unclear and open to debate, and much is up for grabs. Indeed, ambiguity – where something can be understood in variable ways - may have allowed for innovation and experimentation in this transition

Embracing complexity in engineering education: A way forward for developing intercultural competency

towards engineering education that prepares graduates to work effectively across foreign cultures and customs1-3. The author argues that while this outward focus is important and necessary, there is also a need to focus on preparing graduates for cultural issues that will arise much closer to home. Identifying, and working with subtle cultural differences that can occur in workplaces, organizations and the community, where the population may initially appear monocultural, presents unique challenges. The way in which one assumes cultural uniformity in a given situation can contribute to the oversimplification of a problem, and subsequently the pursuit of ineffective solutions. In a recent project, the author and colleagues sought to develop educational modules that introduced students, and staff, to strategies for identifying complexities arising from these subtle cultural contrasts and conflicts. In the process, a model for knowledge management by Kurtz and Snowden4 has been identified that neatly frames the way we approach learning and decision making in engineering education and practice. The framework distinguishes the ways in which one perceives a problem in terms of its complexity and the strategies employed to solve it. This paper describes the applications of this framework to engineering education that focuses on developing students\u27 intercultural competency. The way this framework has been used to design learning activities as well as its usefulness for staff training and development are outlined. The author proposes potential applications of this framework to other areas of engineering curricula as a way to embrace complexity in learning and teaching and avoid oversimplifying complicated problems

Good Governance and Building a Civil Service in a Fragile State: The Case of Timor Leste

Newly independent Timor Leste provides a unique case study of the difficulties of developing a civil service in a fragile state. We show the UN and other bodies have attempted to develop a reasonably traditional Weberian legal/rational type civil service, but that many difficulties remain

Occupational and public radiation safety - A legacy

An attempt has been made to give adequate justification for the application for a higher doctorate degree (DSc) by identifying contributions of originality and merit in three closely related fields, namely radiation dosimetry, the safe transport of radioactive materials and academic scientific publishing. The intent has been to demonstrate a sustained, consistent and substantial contribution to the advancement of knowledge in the profession of radiation protection, together with international authoritative recognition and standing over a period of many years. In the area of radiation dosimetry the main contributions have been in the standardisation of aspects of thermoluminescence dosimetry and promoting clarity in radiation dosimetry understanding and terminology. I had the honour of giving the KEYNOTE address at the 14th International Solid State Dosimetry Conference in 2004. In the area of safe transport of radioactive material contributions have been oriented towards to the developing and upgrading of the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Materials, but in particular, in initiating and developing the Q system dosimetric modelling, leading to establishing essential quantitative control parameters for all radionuclides to be transported. The Q system still provides virtually all of the quantitative requirements of the international transport regulations, and national regulations in most countries of the world. The asests and rights of Nuclear Technology Publishing were sold to Oxford University Publiahing in 2004. In the area of academic publishing major contribution have been the establishment of Nuclear Technology Publishing., the publishing of scientific text books and the founding and publication of three highly prestigious scientific journals, namely a) Radiation Protection Dosimetry, arguably the lead world journal in the field of radiation protection. RPD will shortly enter its 40th year of publication, including 187 volumes, each of four issues, and having published papers from several thousand authors, b) The Journal of the ICRU which has recently been sold on by Oxford University Press to another publisher. c) The international journal Packaging, Transport, Storage and Security of Radioactive Materials, which reached its 25th year of publishing before publication ceased in 201

The Four Enthusiasms of ICT Failure, Problems of Control and Information System Development in the Public Sector Work-in-progress. Not for proceedings.

model of the Four Enthusiasms of ICT Failure is proposed. The Problems of Control are described. A research design to test this model and a series of research questions is outlined

Matter of Life and Death

This thesis is a critical analysis of the processes, concepts and imagery of my artwork. In my art, I intended to explore death anxieties, individuality and the uncanny. I am interested in what we leave behind after we are gone as proof of existing post mortem. My themes include procreation, forensic science, and religion among others. My imagery includes fragmented bodies, reliquaries, and forensic evidence. I use traditional and non-traditional sculpture materials and processes that are intended to conceptually inform the viewer further

The wheel has already been invented: Facilitating students' use of existing mechanics resources

Weve been teaching engineering mechanics to first year engineering students for a long time, yet at many engineering faculties around the world there are still significant failure rates⋯ Educators have tried many different approaches to address persistent high failure rates in first year engineering mechanics courses. These approaches often involve the development of new mechanics learning resources in a variety of styles depending on the perceived learning obstacle. As part of a project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council on addressing student learning diversity in engineering mechanics we have developed a framework for reviewing these existing learning resources. This framework has been used to create a database of references to resources, categorising them by attributes such as topics covered and depth of coverage, suitable student learning styles, appropriate learner levels, copyright and accessibility issues. While it is anticipated that academics will use the database to complement their normal subject delivery, it has been developed with student users as the main target audience. Student focus groups have shown that independent study can be ineffective, particularly after hours when assistance is unavailable. The aim of this database is to encourage students to be proactive in improving the quality of their learning by assisting them to select learning resources best suited to their needs, in both content and style of delivery. In this paper we describe the elements of the framework used to review engineering mechanics resources, the resultant database of resources, and the planned evaluation of its effectiveness in improving learning outcomes. The authors intend to demonstrate use of the database at the conference. © 2010 Goldfinch & Gardner

Development of macroarray technology to profile bacterial composition of intestinal communities

The gastrointestinal tract is colonized by an abundant and diverse community of microorganisms which has a profound impact on the health of the host. The profiling of these microbial communities with traditional culture-based methods identifies only a fraction of microbes present with limited specificity, high labour costs and limited sample throughput. To overcome these limitations, a molecular hybridization assay was developed and characterized using the target gene chaperonin 60 (cpn60). The interspecies discriminatory ability of the hybridization assay was determined by hybridizing cpn60 gene fragments from a known species to a series of cpn60 gene fragments derived from related species with distinct but similar cpn60 sequences. Species with less than 85% cpn60 sequence identity to the probe DNA were effectively distinguished using the hybridization approach. To characterize complex microbial communities, universal PCR primers were used to amplify a fragment of 549-567 nucleotides from cpn60 (the cpn60 universal target (UT)) using template DNA extracted from the ileal contents of pigs fed diets based on corn (C), barley (B), or wheat (W), or from plasmids containing the cpn60 UT selected from a clone library generated from these contents. The intensity of hybridization signals generated using labelled probes prepared from library clones designated B1 (Bacillales-related), S1 (Streptococcus-related), C1 (Clostridiales-related), and L10 (Lactobacillales-related) and targets prepared from ileal contents of C, W, or B-fed pigs correlated closely with the number of genomes of each bacterial group as determined by quantitative PCR. Universal PCR primers were also used to amplify genomic DNA extracted from jejeunal contents of pre- and post-weaning piglets. Labelled probe DNA was prepared from S1, L10, LV (Lactobacillus vaginalis-related) and EC (E.coli) library clones. The resulting signal intensities correlated with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) data for L10 and LV, but minimal correlation was observed for the S1 and EC groups. A cpn60- based macroarray has potential as a tool for identification and semi-quantification of shifts in colonization abundance of bacteria in complex communities, providing a similar amount of data as techniques such as denaturation gradient gel electrophoresis or terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis

Man-eating teddy bears of the scrub: exploring the Australian drop bear urban legend

Urban legends are contemporary forms of folklore that are often used to provide lessons in morality or explicate local beliefs, dangers, or customs. In Australia, one such tale describes fiendish, carnivorous, blood-sucking koala-like animals that launch themselves from trees at unsuspecting tourists in the Australian scrub. The drop bear (also known as Thylarctos plummetus or Thylarctos plummetus vampirus) is an urban legend common to tropical Australian scrub regions that serves as a cautionary tale intended to warn against the dangers associated with traversing the Australian bush. As such, the figure of the drop bear represents a uniquely Australian manifestation of the vampire motif. This article examines representations of the drop bear urban legend as provided in contemporary pseudo-scientific, satirical, and popular media sources by means of critical discourse analysis, in addition to exploring how archaeological evidence has been mobilised in support of drop bear narratives. Through a critical review of drop bear tales in accordance with established folklore typologies the paper posits a categorisation of drop bear narratives as urban legend, while also explicating the impacts of social media and the internet on the perpetuation and dissemination of the drop bear legend

Evidence-Based Policy: Where Is Our Theory of Evidence?

This article critically analyses the concept of evidence in evidence‐based policy, arguing that there is a key problem: there is no existing practicable theory of evidence, one which is philosophically‐grounded and yet applicable for evidence‐based policy. The article critically considers both philosophical accounts of evidence and practical treatments of evidence in evidence‐based policy. It argues that both fail in different ways to provide a theory of evidence that is adequate for evidence‐based policy. The article contributes to the debate about how evidence can and should be used to reduce contingency in science and in policy based on science