Work Integrated Learning and the Humanities: Possibilities and future directions

In 2008, in response to government, industry and community demand, Australia completed its first large scale scoping study of Work Integrated Learning (WIL) curriculum in contemporary Australian higher education. The aim of the WIL project was to document and scope current WIL practices nationally, and identify ways to improve the educational experience of students, in order to produce more industry focused, work ready graduates (Patrick et al., 2008). The project, which was government funded and included 37 of Australia's 39 universities, found that all of those who participated in the study saw real value in adopting a more industry focused curricula, however, it also revealed that many were still grappling with selecting from the range of options available, and finding the most appropriate way of integrating them into courses. Traditional disciplines such as nursing, medicine, education and engineering have always had an embedded work integrated learning component in their curriculum, usually in the form of industry placements, but many disciplines, in non-traditional areas such as the liberal arts, were new to this concept of WIL and unsure of how to customise programs to meet the needs of their particular discipline. To address this issue, a series of narratives or vignettes were developed and compiled to provide insight into not only to the diverse range of pedagogical practices in the area, but also offer practical advice on how to establish, develop and manage programs in an innovative and sustainable way. This paper analyses more closely the Australian research on embedding WIL in non-traditional areas and highlights a number of key vignettes that offer significant insights into possible future directions for the Humanities as they come to terms with this challenge

Use of laboratory-scale rill and interill erodibility measurements for the prediction of hillslope-scale erosion on rehabilitated coal mine soils and overburdens

Prediction of hillslope-scale soil erosion traditionally involves extensive data collection from field plots under natural rainfall, or from field rainfall simulation programs. Recognising the high costs and inconvenience associated with field-based studies, a method was developed and tested for predicting hillslope-scale soil erosion from laboratory-scale measurements of erodibility. A laboratory tilting flume and rainfall simulator were used to determine rill and interill erodibility coefficients for 32 soils and overburdens from Queensland open-cut coal mines. Predicted sediment delivery rates based on laboratory determinations of erodibility were tested against field measurements of erosion from 12-m-long plots under simulated rainfall at 100 mm/h on slopes ranging from 5% to 30%. Regression analysis demonstrated a strong relationship between predicted and measured sediment delivery rates, giving an r2 value of up to 0.74, depending on the particular modeling approach used. These results demonstrate that soil losses due to the combined processes of rill and interill erosion at the hillslope scale can successfully be predicted from laboratory-scale measurements of erodibility, provided a suitable methodology and modelling approach is adopted. The success of this approach will greatly reduce the cost and effort required for prediction of hillslope scale soil erosion

How to Compose a PhD Thesis in Music Composition

I start from the principle that composition is a historical lineage of techniques that have traditionally been applied to music but need not be. To illustrate this, I apply composition principles to the writing of this PhD thesis. In describing this process, I draw parallels between the music work I have composed during 2013-2017 and the process of thesis writing. Along the way, I show how quantization is not only central to my composition practice but fundamental to the act of composing; I rethink the basic epistemological principles of PhD research, using John Cage's ideology of chance and Arthur Koestler's idea of bisociation; I develop a new set of categories for classifying artworks that use combinatorics, under the umbrella neologism 'completism'; expand upon James Tenney's ideas to create a new typology of musical form based on completist principles; and finish by composing the bibliography, font, page-layout, semantics, word choice, and syntax of the Conclusion of this thesis

Differential proteolysis of insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) in pregnancy

The insulin-like growth factors and their binding proteins are important for placental and foetal growth. In this study, we have investigated the presence of proteolytic activity directed against insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) in pregnancy. In addition, the effect of protease activity on IGFBP-1 immunoreactivity and IGF binding was characterised. 125I-IGFBP-1 was incubated with maternal and foetal serum, amniotic fluid and placental extracts. Breakdown of 125I-IGFBP-1 was determined by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. The size distribution of endogenous IGFBP-1 was determined by Western immunoblotting. Protease inhibitor studies characterised the proteolytic activity, and Western ligand blotting with 125I-IGF-I was used to determine IGF binding capacity of proteolysed IGFBP-1. Amniotic fluid samples collected after labour onset contained proteolytic activity that generated 12- and 19-kDa IGFBP-1 fragments that did not bind to 125I-IGF-I. This activity was not detected in amniotic fluid collected prior to labour onset or in other tissues. Activity was blocked by aprotinin, leupeptin, phenyl methyl sulphonyl fluoride, and Kunitz soybean trypsin inhibitor but not by ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid or pepstatin. Incubation of IGFBP-1 with trypsin generated fragments of a similar size to the amniotic fluid protease. In conclusion, we have demonstrated the presence in vivo of a trypsin-like proteolytic activity that alters the IGF-binding function of IGFBP-1 in pregnancy

Utilization of lucerne by dairy cattle

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D70313/81 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Tree-kangaroo survey data

Survey data from project assessing thermal imaging as a survey tool for Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo, comparing the use of a thermal scope to traditional spotlighting and daytime surveys