Resilient Maroochydore 2029 : Urban Design Futures

Resilient Maroochydore 2029 This exhibition showcases the work of 4th year undergraduate Landscape Architecture students in response to issues of sustainability in Maroochydore on the Queensland Sunshine coast. The projects comprising this exhibition all investigate possible design futures for the Maroochydore Centre, in the light of a series of new disturbance scenarios. Specific disturbances upon the landscape have been imagined, and design resolutions developed based on resilience to these disturbances. The proposals investigate how the Maroochydore Centre might respond to these scenarios, and how future components of the Centre might be designed for greater ‘resilience’. The Exhibition Five groups of students (32 in total) produced five strategic planning and design options toward this future: Team Transect: “What happens to a region following a sustained period of economic prosperity, with affordable property and negligible unemployment? This proposal investigates the effects on a community of massive population explosion, land shortages and inadequate planning regulations following an extended boom period.” The Foodfighters: “This proposal considers the scenario of massive food shortages and of escalating prices, and the possibility of government intervention to stabilise food supply. Strategies based upon simplified, collaborative approaches to food production are investigated.” The TTMKG: “This proposal explores the scenario of Peak Oil and the subsequent effects on society of homelessness, large scale unemployment, food shortages and global financial and political instability. Individual opportunities are restricted by the limitations of bicycle transportation.” Team Peak: “Peak Oil has restricted private vehicle transport to only the most wealthy, while public transport systems are under immense pressure. Rising unemployment drives localised trade initiatives, and the global import/export market has collapsed. This proposal considers the transition of a community from its position in a global economy to that of a relocalised economy, where basic needs are secured as close to home as possible.” After the City: “A rapid population decline as a result of the region’s failing economy has resulted in a fragmented urban fabric. This proposal investigates the possibility of new suburbanisation, reinterpretation and reinvention of space through phased processes.

A Detailed Derivation of the Vacuum Retarded Dipole Model of Pulsar Spin Down

Pulsars are rapidly spinning highly magnetised neutron stars. Their spin period is observed to decrease with time. An early analytical model for this process was the vacuum retarded dipole (VRD) by Deutsch in his 1955 paper "The Electromagnetic Field of an Idealized Star in Rigid Rotation in Vacuo" (D55). This model assumes an idealised star and it finds that the energy is radiated away by the electromagnetic fields. This model has been superseded by more realistic numerical simulations that account for the non-vacuum like surroundings of the neutron star. However, the VRD still provides a reasonable approximation and is a useful limiting case that can provide some qualitative understanding. We provide a detailed derivation of the spin down and related field equations of the VRD. We also correct a typo found in the general field equations in D55.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure

The effect of pre-exposure on family resemblance categorization for stimuli of varying levels of perceptual difficulty

This study investigated the effect that pre-exposure to a set of stimuli has on the prevalence of family resemblance categorization. 64 participants were tested to examine the effect that pre-exposure type (same-stimuli vs unrelated-stimuli) and the perceptual difficulty of the stimuli (perceptually similar vs perceptually different) has on categorization strategy. There was a significant effect of perceptual difficulty, indicating that perceptually different stimuli evoked a higher level of family resemblance sorting than perceptually similar stimuli. There was no significant main effect of pre-exposure type; however, there was a significant interaction between pre-exposure type and level of perceptual difficulty. Post-hoc tests revealed that this interaction was the result of an increase in family resemblance sorting for the perceptually different stimuli under relevant preexposure but no such effect for perceptually similar stimuli. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed

A Systematic Review of the Effects of Urban Living on Suicidality and Self-Harm in the UK and Ireland

We conducted a systematic review to answer the following: (a) Is there any evidence to support increased prevalence of suicidality and self-harm (i.e. self-harm or suicidality) in urban versus rural environments? (b) What aspects of the urban environment pose risk for suicidality and self-harm? Thirty-five studies met our criteria. Our findings reflect a mixed picture, but with a tendency for urban living to be associated with an increased risk of suicidality and self-harm over rural living, particularly for those living in deprived areas. Further research should focus on the clustering and additive effects of risk and protective factors for suicidality and self-harm in urban environments

Evaluación de habilidades aritméticas de alumnos adultos con relación al género y desempeño en Aritmética

The study investigated adult learner numeracy as related to gender and performance in arithmetic among 32 Nigerian adult learners from one government accredited adult literacy centre in Lagos State using the quantitative research method within the blueprint of descriptive survey design. Data collected were analysed using the descriptive statistics of percentages, mean, and standard deviation and inferential statistics of factor analysis, independent samples t-test, and multiple regression analysis. Findings revealed that numeracy skill assessed by the numeracy self-assessment scale was a multi-dimensional construct (numeracy in everyday life, numeracy in workplace, and numeracy in mathematical tasks). Adult learners showed average numeracy strength as gender differences in perception of numeracy skills and performance in arithmetic among adult learners reached zero-tolerance level. Numeracy in workplace and numeracy in mathematical tasks made statistically significant contributions to the variance in adult learners’ performance in arithmetic. Based on this base line study, it was thus, recommended that future studies in Nigeria should investigate adult learners’ numeracy skills using more robust and psychometrically sound instruments such as the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS) and the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS).En el estudio llevado a cabo fueron investigadas las habilidades aritméticas de los estudiantes adultos en relación al género y desempeño en aritmética. Fueron examinados los 32 alumnos adultos nigerianos pertenecientes a un centro de alfabetización de adultos acreditado por el gobierno en el Estado de Lagos mediante el método cuantitativo de investigación y con un diseño descriptivo de la encuesta. Los datos recogidos fueron analizados mediante las estadísticas descriptivas de porcentajes, promedio y desviación estándar, y las estadísticas inferenciales del análisis factorial, muestras independientes, test-t, y análisis de regresión múltiple. Los resultados revelaron que la habilidad aritmética evaluada por la escala de autoevaluación en aritmética fue una construcción pluridimensional (la aritmética en la vida cotidiana, la aritmética en las tareas laborales, y la aritmética en las tareas matemáticas). Los estudiantes adultos mostraron efectivos medios de aritmética como las diferencias de género en la percepción de las habilidades aritméticas, y el desempeño en aritmética entre los alumnos adultos alcanzó el nivel cero de tolerancia. La aritmética en las tareas laborales y la aritmética en las tareas matemáticas contribuyeron significativamente a la variación del desempeño de los estudiantes adultos en la aritmética. Basándose en este estudio de línea base, se recomendó que los futuros estudios en Nigeria deban investigar las habilidades aritméticas de los estudiantes adultos haciendo el uso de los instrumentos más sólidos y psicométricos como la Encuesta de la Alfabetización de Adultos y Competencias prácticas esenciales (ALLS) y la Encuesta Internacional de Alfabetización de Adultos (IALS)

The creative landscape: Experimenting with a hybridised teaching strategy

There is a tension in contemporary design studio teaching between the prevailing instrumentality of the ‘learning outcomes’ approach, and the facilitation of student learning through creativity. Authentic learning opportunities sometimes reinforce this tension, with clients defining prescriptively pragmatic design briefs; but they can also create space for a balance between teaching to administrative imperatives, and the creative development of student designers. Such a space has been created in our Queensland University of Technology undergraduate landscape architecture ‘ReGenerate Studio’, in partnership with the Brisbane Powerhouse. This arts-focused client is enabling experimentation with a hybridised teaching strategy, in which students approach the Powerhouse landscape as a place of creative inhabitation, using art and storytelling to explore it, and to present installations and/or performances within the landscape, expressing the qualities they perceive, and visions they have of it. At the same time, they undertake familiar foundational landscape exploration and design processes, and bring both together to germinate design concepts. Over two years, the degree of creativity evidenced in student design work has visibly increased, while still meeting required learning outcomes. This hybridised teaching experiment is demonstrably affording our students learning experiences embracing the creativity, as well as the pragmatics, of landscape architectural design

Disordered eating attitudes and behaviours in coeliac disease

This thesis examines the relationship between coeliac disease (CD) and disordered eating attitudes and behaviours. The literature review describes the development of a theoretical model of disordered eating in CD that will be evaluated throughout this thesis. Chapter Three reports the results of a study that found a high prevalence of disordered eating in CD. Chapter Four reports the results of a qualitative study; participants in this study discussed an increased concern around food that affected their eating patterns. Chapter Five describes the development and validation of the CD Food Attitudes and Behaviours Scale (CD-FAB), which was designed to assess the increased food concerns reported in CD. Chapter Six reports the results of an online survey that explored the correlates of this tool; participants with increased food concerns were more psychologically distressed and had an impaired quality of life. Chapter Seven reports the results of a laboratory study that explored the relationship between food concerns, food intake and cognitive processes related to eating. Overall, this thesis provides novel experimental and theoretical insights into the relationship between CD and disordered eating. The findings have implications for the management and treatment of people with CD