GHG mitigation in Australia: an overview of the current policy landscape

This report outlines Australia’s policy framework for greenhouse gas emissions reduction, identifies areas of potential change in the near term, and attempts to evaluate the impact of current policies on Australia’s emissions trajectory to 2020. It assesses Australia’s international commitments, and the major policies of federal and state institutions to reduce emissions. It also assesses the likely success of these policies in achieving Australia’s emissions reduction goals.Authored by Olivia Kember and Erwin Jackson with Merry Chandra

Being digital: The challenge for career-change beginning teachers

The pedagogical challenge of supporting learning in a digital world requires an understanding of how, where, when and when not to use information and communications technology (ICT) in teaching and learning. This paper builds on existing research on the integral use of ICT for teaching and learning, that is, digital pedagogies. Additionally, the research that highlights the value of skills and experiences that career-change beginning teachers bring to the profession is advanced. Through an interpretative analysis of quantitative and qualitative data collated via an online survey, the paper builds a profile of (N=64) career-change beginning teachers currently entering the profession from a one year graduate diploma program at a Queensland university. The responses showed that (a) career-change beginning teachers have diverse backgrounds (b) a range of ICT skills related to former careers exist; (c) beliefs about how ICT should be used for teaching and learning are firmly grounded in past experience; (d) confidence to manage data and teach ICT skills is high in contrast to confidence in using digital pedagogies; and (e) expectations about how ICT will be used in school contexts are also related to past experiences. The paper concludes that influencing beliefs about contemporary learning may be central to supporting career-change beginning teachers to develop familiarity and confidence in the use of digital pedagogies

Boosting Australia’s energy productivity

This report argues that Australia’s poor investment in energy efficiency is costing the nation tens of billions of dollars in economic growth.SummaryEnergy efficiency is both the single most costeffective way of lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and an essential component of any strategy to reach long-term emission reduction goals. Under a limited global carbon budget, the right to produce emissions becomes a scarce and valuable resource. In this carbon-constrained world, prosperity depends on maximising ‘carbon productivity’: generating maximum value for each tonne of carbon emitted. The two main drivers of greater carbon productivity are reducing the emission intensity of energy production, and improving the efficiency of energy use.However, energy efficiency has many other benefits. Many countries are pursuing energy efficiency to achieve goals other than emissions reduction. These include boosting economic productivity, improving energy security, reducing expenditure on fuels and energy infrastructure, reducing health-damaging air pollution and developing the energy services industry.Energy efficiency is an important element of energy productivity: reducing the amount of energy required per unit of output lowers the production cost per unit. (Other factors driving energy productivity are energy prices and economic composition; see Box 1. Definitions, p. 4.) Energy efficiency is about producing the same set of products and outputs with less energy; energy productivity is about producing more outputs and products with the same amount of energy. In the face of a long-term rise in fuel and carbon prices, cutting input costs through more efficient energy use can become an important source of productivity and competitive advantage for companies. Similar benefits accrue to national economies: energy efficiency decreases spending on fuel and energy infrastructure, can suppress energy prices and stimulates economic growth.New research by Vivid Economics has found that a 1 per cent increase in the level of a country’s energy efficiency causes a 0.1 percentage point increase in the rate of economic growth per person in that year. This relationship was quantified using statistical analysis of energy and economic data from 28 diverse countries over a 30-year time period, controlled for sectoral composition, country and time-specific factors, and using energy prices and their relationship with energy efficiency. Applying this energy efficiency effect to forward projections of GDP growth for most of the sampled countries, an annual 1 per cent increase in energy efficiency would increase their combined projected 2030 GDP by 1.8 per cent over the business-as-usual forecast, resulting in approximately $US 600 billion additional GDP.These findings complement recent research by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which used a bottom-up approach to identify the costs and benefits of globally implementing economically viable energy efficiency improvements. The IEA found that investment of$11 trillion would boost world economic output by around US$18 trillion to 2035, avoid$US 7 trillion of investment in coal, oil and gas extraction, new power stations and energy transmission networks, and save nearly $17 trillion in fuel costs

Dynamic Configuration of Large-Scale Cortical Networks: A Useful Framework for Clarifying the Heterogeneity Found in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

The heterogeneity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) traits (inattention vs. hyperactivity/impulsivity) complicates diagnosis and intervention. Identifying how the configuration of large-scale functional brain networks during cognitive processing correlate with this heterogeneity could help us understand the neural mechanisms altered across ADHD presentations. Here, we recorded high-density EEG while 62 non-clinical participants (ages 18-24; 32 male) underwent an inhibitory control task (Go/No-Go). Functional EEG networks were created using sensors as nodes and across-trial phase-lag index values as edges. Using cross-validated LASSO regression, we examined whether graph-theory metrics applied to both static networks (averaged across time-windows: -500–0ms, 0–500ms) and dynamic networks (temporally layered with 2ms intervals), were associated with hyperactive/impulsive and inattentive traits. Network configuration during response execution/inhibition was associated with hyperactive/impulsive (mean R2across test sets = .20, SE = .02), but not inattentive traits. Post-stimulus results at higher frequencies (Beta, 14-29Hz; Gamma, 30-90Hz) showed the strongest association with hyperactive/impulsive traits, and predominantly reflected less burst-like integration between modules in oscillatory beta networks during execution, and increased integration/small-worldness in oscillatory gamma networks during inhibition. We interpret the beta network results as reflecting weaker integration between specialized pre-frontal and motor systems during motor response preparation, and the gamma results as reflecting a compensatory mechanism used to integrate processing between less functionally specialized networks. This research demonstrates that the neural network mechanisms underlying response execution/inhibition might be associated with hyperactive/impulsive traits, and that dynamic, task-related changes in EEG functional networks may be useful in disentangling ADHD heterogeneity

A Midwife's Tale, produced by Laurie Kahn-Leavitt and directed by Richard Rogers. (A Blueberry Hill film, 1997, 80 minutes)

A Midwife's Tale, which aired on PBS in January, 1997, as part of the "American Experience" collection, is the documentary based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning narrative of the same name written by historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. The book, based on the diary of Martha Ballard, details her life beginning in 1785, when she was 50, and ending with her death in 1812. Ballard's diary records her work as a midwife and her home life in the Kennebec River region of Maine, and the book contains selections from Ballard's diary followed by explanations and details by Ulrich. The film, directed by Richard P. Rogers and written and produced by Laurie Kahn-Leavitt, follows much the same pattern

From enforcement to engagement: The role of the EHRC and Higher Education Institutions in considering the lived experience of disabled people

This paper is based on the findings of a doctoral participatory research study which explored how the lived experience of disabled people is, and could be, considered in the design and delivery of equality and diversity training in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The paper considers how, learning from the lived experience of disabled staff in HEIs, equality and diversity training can be enhanced to provide spaces in which all staff can discuss, and improve, the experience of disabled staff and students on University campuses. The paper will introduce a conceptual map of the Affirmative Model of Disability (Kember, 2020) as a lens through which to consider the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and HEIs approach to equality and diversity training, and presents the views of disabled staff, working in Higher Education. The paper will suggest that the role of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and HEIs is not to 'enforce' (2020) fair treatment, as announced by the Minister, but is to establish a culture of 'freedom, choice and opportunity'

The Virtual Life of Photography

The premise of this article is that although photography is proliferating and diversifying, we still do not know what it is. In order to find out what it is, we must look at it from both the outside and the inside: we must consider both the condition of photography, and its ontology. New media studies, science and technology studies, and other related fields help to illuminate the condition of photography, or its exteriority. But it is philosophy which enables us to address, directly, and from the inside, the question of ontology. The article proposes that this ontology is one of becoming, not of Being, and that it can be understood through Bergson's terms of memory and intuition. Memory, as an ontology of becoming, constitutes the virtual life of photography, and intuition, as a method of understanding, enables us to apprehend it

Of tradition and conversion : a comparative study of two Phuo griottes

La version intégrale de ce mémoire est disponible uniquement pour consultation individuelle à la Bibliothèque de musique de l’Université de Montréal (www.bib.umontreal.ca/MU).Cette recherche apporte deux contributions importantes à l’étude ethnomusicologique: l’étude de portrait ainsi que l’analyse comparative de la vie et de la musique d’une griotte traditionnelle et d’une griotte convertie au Christianisme au sein de la société Phuo au Burkina Faso. Cette étude comparative fait l’illustration de l’adaptation d’un répertoire rencontrée dans d’autres contextes musico-culturels. Cela comprend non seulement une exploration de la vie et de la musique de la tradition féminine phuo, mais aussi la compréhension du phénomène d’adaptation de la fonction de griotte, ou le rôle de Phuo ‘ƴuo,’ au milieu de l’église Chrétienne évangélique. Nous présentons aussi une brève analyse des deux répertoires ainsi qu’un regard sur les éléments esthétiques et symboliques au cœur des pratiques vocales individuelles.This research brings two important elements to the study of ethnomusicology: the study and comparative analysis between the life and music of a traditional griotte and a griotte converted to Christianity within the Phuo society of Burkina Faso. It is an illustration of the adaptation of a repertoire which can be comparatively encountered in other musico-cultural contexts. This incorporates not only an exploration into the life and the music of the feminine Phuo tradition, but also an attempt at a deeper understanding of the griotte, or ‘ƴuo,’ role and function within the evangelical Christian church. We also present a brief analysis of both repertoires, as well as look into the aesthetic and symbolic elements within their individual vocal practices

Vagal nerve stimulation therapy: what is being stimulated?

Vagal nerve stimulation in cardiac therapy involves delivering electrical current to the vagal sympathetic complex in patients experiencing heart failure. The therapy has shown promise but the mechanisms by which any benefit accrues is not understood. In this paper we model the response to increased levels of stimulation of individual components of the vagal sympathetic complex as a differential activation of each component in the control of heart rate. The model provides insight beyond what is available in the animal experiment in as much as allowing the simultaneous assessment of neuronal activity throughout the cardiac neural axis. The results indicate that there is sensitivity of the neural network to low level subthreshold stimulation. This leads us to propose that the chronic effects of vagal nerve stimulation therapy lie within the indirect pathways that target intrinsic cardiac local circuit neurons because they have the capacity for plasticity