The Australian media and the \u27push to Asia\u27

In 1989 the Garnaut Report appeared arguing Australian trade would have to take on a new Asian focus. 1 The Hawke Government began to implement its recommendations in 1990-91. But it was not until the ascendancy of the Keating administration that in 1992 the Federal Government launched a major national initiative to integrate Australia more closely with the Australian-Pacific Region. Various federal politicians and departmental spokespersons argued with a great deal of urgency that Asia was a potential economic lifeline for Australia well into the 21st Century. Federal Minister Dawkins said the time had come for Australia to be enmeshed with the dynamism of the Asian-Pacific region . Prime Minister Keating addressing the region said Australia was a friend you can rely on . Foreign Minister Evans said we were not Asian but alongside Asia .

Reporting Cambodia in the Australian media : heroic \u27journalism or neo-colonial\u27 distortions?

This series of Occasional Papers is designed to bring to the attention of the reader work that focuses on Asian communication and culture. Compared to most areas of Asian Studies, communication and media have been largely ignored, a fact the recent Australian \u27push into Asia\u27 reveals. These Occasional Papers redress this absence and deal with a comprehensive range of issues that inform our understanding of the importance of communication in forging links between Australia and Asia. Consequently their scope is far-reaching, covering cultural, political, economic, and increasingly, technological topics and their relationship to the communication process that lies at the heart of Australian/Asian relations. In short, they will chart a new emerging mediascape in the Asia Pacific region. As such they must be viewed as work in progress. The authors published in this series include academics, journalists and post-graduate students from Australia and throughout Asia

Effect of Image Sharpening on Radiographic Image Quality

There is evidence that capture and processing of the digital radiographic images may contain artifacts that could reduce the diagnostic value of dental radiographs. This phenomenon has been reported through various case reports. However, its effect on radiographic image quality has not been studied. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of image processing on the quality of dental digital radiographs using the most common type of filter; sharpening. Four imaging modalities (2 CMOS, 1 PSP, 1 conventional film) were used to radiograph a DDQA imaging phantom (Digital Dental Quality Assurance phantom) and to create a flat field radiograph. Contrast resolution, spatial resolution, dynamic range and radiographic noise were assessed for image quality. “Uberschwinger” or overshoot artifact was also assessed. Each image was sharpened and then highly sharpened. Images were compared using Friedman\u27s two-way nonparametric ANOVA. Image quality with regards to noise and resolution were significantly affected by image sharpening. All modalities saw an increase in overshoot artifact when using any level of sharpening. This degree of image sharpening creates artifacts that can be misinterpreted. While image sharpening significantly affects spatial resolution, no significant effect was seen on dynamic range or contrast resolution

Spirituals And Gospel Music Performance Practice: A Dual Curriculum That Bridges The Cultural Divide

This study explores methods in which the teaching of Gospel Music and Spirituals can be used as a conduit to bridge ethnic, cultural, and racial divides that are often found in American society. After working with various cultural and racial groups within religious and secular circles, the researcher has observed that individual cultures can have very distinct and opposite approaches to learning music, even in the United States, which some consider to be a cultural "melting pot." More specifically, there are cultures that embrace the written or visual learning tradition, while others lean more heavily toward the aural or oral learning tradition. As a result, the perceived differences deriving from these two opposite learning traditions can often create both unconscious and conscious divisions among various cultural and ethnic groups. However, using teaching techniques and performance practices related to both Gospel Music and Spirituals (which use different although related learning approaches), one can create an opportunity to bridge the gap between the aural and visual learning traditions and can create an environment ripe for intra-cultural and cross-cultural communication. This dissertation studied two separate groups of individuals; one group from the visual cultural learning tradition and one group from the aural cultural learning tradition. Both groups were taught music through the process of either an aural or visual process (or in some cases, by a combination of both), and their behavioral responses were observed during rehearsals. The results of these observations are used to create an outline for curricular approaches to teaching groups from opposing learning traditions, utilizing the opportunity that this presents not only to bridge the divide which often exists between individuals from different learning traditions, but also to offer a way to address ethnic and cultural divides

Religious Worship Music in The United House of Prayer for All People: A Brief Examination of the Shout Band Tradition and its use of the Trombone

This document investigates the cultural and historical significance of the use of the trombone in the shout band of the United House of Prayer for All People the Church on the Rock of the Apostolic Faith, a predominately African-American religious institution founded by Marcelino da Graca (also referred to as Bishop Charles M. Grace). Specific attention will be placed on the use of the trombone as a pillar of musical expression in the shout band tradition. Research has been limited to the most prominent House of Prayer houses located in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Sources for this document have been gathered from published books, dissertations, articles, on-line sources, discography and personal interviews.;This study discusses the life of Marcelino da Graca and his immigration from the Cape Verde Island of Brava to the United States until his death in 1960. Topics pertinent to Marcelino\u27s assimilation in American culture as well as the establishment and expansion of the House of Prayer will also be investigated and scrutinized. Furthermore, an exploration of the shout band and its history will be discussed, outlining its hierarchy, specific roles, and pedagogical practices throughout the ensemble. A portion of this research will discuss trombonists who were made in the shout band and who utilized this particular tradition as a platform to pursue musical endeavors in both sacred and secular musical arenas.;The states of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina were visited to obtain first-hand accounts of past and present shout band members. These first-hand accounts have provided significant individual insight and details about participants\u27 personal House of Prayer knowledge and shout band history. Lastly, interviewees were allowed to expound on their overall religious experience both as a member of the House of Prayer and as a member of the shout band.;The purpose of this document is to advance the study of this under researched topic because of its importance to American music culture as well as the trombone community at large. It is my hope that this document serves as a worthy addition to the current research on this topic by providing historical background as well as first-hand accounts of the use of the trombone in the shout band tradition

Strategies Used by Retail Store Managers to Engage Customers

Between the years 2013 and 2016, e-commerce sales grew as a percent of total retail sales in the United States from 5.8% to 8.5%, an increase of $129 billion. Some brick-and-mortar (B & M) retailers struggle with maintaining the historic levels of revenue in their stores. A multiple case study design with retail store managers was used to understand what factors engage customers to shop at B & M store locations. The consumer-dominant value creation logic was the conceptual framework. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 5 retail store managers in Texas who demonstrated successful strategies for engaging customers in their B & M stores, and notes from observations. Data from semistructured interviews were analyzed with a traditional method to identify themes. The found themes included fun at work, customer connection, relationship, pride, and genuine care. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to enhance the economic vitality and development in the surrounding community by creating additional jobs and generating additional income for members of the community that could be spent in local economies

Sexual Harassment of Human Resource Professionals

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the frequency that male and female human resource (HR) professionals receive unwanted sexual behavior and the likelihood of perceiving such behavior as sexual harassment. Participants in this study included members of the human resource societies in metropolitan statistical areas of 525,000, 45,000, and 41,000. Each participant completed Fitzgerald's, et al. Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ). The SEQ includes three subscales to measure unwanted sexual behavior in the form of: gender harassment (GH), unwanted sexual attention (USA), and sexual coercion (SC). Frequency tables, t-Tests, Chi-Square, ANOVA, and Pearson's r were used to investigate eleven research questions. Human resource professionals were found to be sexually harassed at rates greater in the case of GH and USA and equal to in the case of SC as compared to other occupational or organizational settings in which the SEQ was used to gather data. Female HR professionals self-reported the folloSchool of Teaching and Curriculum Leadershi

A specialised finite element for simulating self-healing quasi-brittle materials

A new specialised finite element for simulating the cracking and healing behaviour of quasi-brittle materials is presented. The element employs a strong discontinuity approach to represent displacement jumps associated with cracks. A particular feature of the work is the introduction of healing into the element formulation. The healing variables are introduced at the element level, which ensures consistency with the internal degrees freedom that represent the crack; namely, the crack opening, crack sliding and rotation. In the present work, the element is combined with a new cohesive zone model to simulate damage-healing behaviour and implemented with a crack tracking algorithm. To demonstrate the performance of the new element and constitutive models, a convergence test and two validation examples are presented that consider the response of a vascular self-healing cementitious material system for three different specimens. The examples show that the model is able to accurately capture the cracking and healing behaviour of this type of self-healing material system with good accuracy