What does the skill of observation look like in young children?

Fifty six children, aged between four and eleven years of age, in seven groups, were videoed playing with, being questioned about and sorting a collection of toys in order to identify what skills of observation looked like in young children, how observations influenced other scientific skills and what supported the skill of observation. Children's skills of observation were found to be similar across all ages and included affective, functional, social and exploratory comments, actions and questions. These initial observations led to the use of other scientific process skills: classification, prediction, hypotheses, along with explanation for younger children and interpretations for older children. There was generally a greater sophistication of observation skills with increasing age of the children. Observation in young children was found to be tactile and developed in two ways; by engaging in more unique close observation and interpreting observation by utilising previous knowledge and experiences. Important factors affecting the development of observational and other scientific skills were found to be the context (activity, environment, resources) and combination of social interactions between individuals, peers and adults. This combination supported the development of both observational and other scientific skills, although the nature and amount of this interaction appeared individual to different groups of children and could not be predicted

The zooplankton communities of Tomales Bay, California

This thesis represents a zooplankton study of Tomales Bay, Marin County, California. It consists of two papers. The first paper, The Abundance of Copepods in Tomales Bay, California has been submitted to the California Fish and Game for publication. The second paper, Diet Studies of the Ctenophore Pleurobrachia bachei has been submitted to Fishery Bulletin. The raw data has been compiled in the Appendix

Constructing legal narratives: law, language and the media

This paper proposes using the theory of narratology to connect legal discourses and processes with the way the media translate the law into news. Focussing on the Australian context, it looks at the choice of language used by media in covering courts, how stories are told and retold within these primarily textual environments, as well as the selection processes used by journalists in covering these rounds. The paper extends the argument for a narratology of courts, to a narratology of court reporting, suggesting fundamental criteria of story, discourse and the interpretative context be examined. It foreshadows the need for a methodology which addresses not just a content or discourse analysis of the media’s coverage of the law but a more embedded, triangulated approach which follows court proceedings through their various stages, beginning with the ‘acting out’ in the legal system, to written versions of transcripts, to media selection and, finally, to the production of courts as news. It suggests that a possible outcome to this methodology may be a deeper understanding between the courts and the media

Australia’s media climate: Time to renegotiate control

In 2007, Australia was rated by two international media bodies as well down the chain in media freedom. Within its own borders, internal media groups—in particular the Australian Press Council and the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, as well as a consortium of major employer groups—have recently released reports investigating the position of media freedoms. This atricle examines a select few of these shrinking freedoms which range from the passive restrcitions on access to documents to the overt threat of imprisonment for publishing sensitive material. In particular, it considers laws relating to freedom of information, camera access to courts, shield laws and whistleblower protection and finally revamped anti-terrorism laws. The article maps the landscape of Australia's downgraded press fredom and suggests that laws controlling media reportage need to be renegotiated.&nbsp

Moral Rights: Exploring the Myths, Meanings and Misunderstandings in Australian Copyright Law

This article examines how moral rights are treated in Australian publishing contracts, and whether this approach is consistent with the expectations of authors, journalists and academics. Although, in theory, moral rights cannot be sold or assigned in Australia, the apparent wide scope for exceptions raises questions of whether there is any real protection afforded to creators under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), notably in circumstances that relate to pressure on creators to accept contractual terms in order to get published. Additionally, Australian case law reflects some uncertainty about the traditionally accepted non-economic nature of moral rights. The article examines recent case law in this field, found in Meskenas, Perez and Corby, and considers the literature associated with development of moral rights in Australia. It then presents the findings of a two-part study of moral rights in Australia; first through the results of interviews with 176 Australian authors, journalists and academics, followed by an analysis of 20 publishing contracts. It concludes that — in some, but not all, instances — a combination of the exceptions allowed under the Act and practical exigencies have diluted the unique character of authors’ moral rights and have created an environment of uncertainty

Fit, Simplicity and Risk: Multiple Paths to Strategic IT Change

The dominant rational approach to IT-centered strategic change derives from the positioning literature in business strategy. It assumes a single best path to successful organizational transformation. Three cases are used to show that,inpractice,therearemultiplealternativepaths. ThestrategicITandbusinessstrategyliteraturesarecritiqued in terms of the process of fit so as to explain why these alternative paths are successful. Two distinctive characteristics of the fit process -- the search for simplicity and differential risk management profiles -- are identified. Their roles in successful paths are discussed

Courts' use of social media: a community of practice model

This article examines the development of social media as a communication tool for courts, judicial agencies, and tribunals. It presents the findings of a study into a small, but vibrant network of public information officers from this sector who shared knowledge and worked creatively in developing their social media practice at a time when these platforms were emerging as a serious consideration for government stakeholder communication. The article achieves two outcomes. First, it advances the limited scholarly literature into how courts, judicial agencies, and tribunals have transitioned to social media. Second, it develops a theoretical framework based on a community of practice model, which has application across any sector or industry in which practitioners work in siloed communication roles or are required to incorporate information and communication technologies at a rapid pace

Reconstructing trees from small cards

The $\ell$-deck of a graph $G$ is the multiset of all induced subgraphs of $G$ on $\ell$ vertices. In 1976, Giles proved that any tree on $n\geq 6$ vertices can be reconstructed from its $\ell$-deck for $\ell \geq n-2$. Our main theorem states that it is enough to have $\ell\geq (8/9+o(1))n$, making substantial progress towards a conjecture of N\'ydl from 1990. In addition, we can recognise connectedness from the $\ell$-deck if $\ell\geq 9n/10$, and reconstruct the degree sequence from the $\ell$-deck if $\ell\ge \sqrt{2n\log(2n)}$. All of these results are significant improvements on previous bounds.Comment: 24 pages, fixed several typo

Flavonoid Actions on Receptors for the Inhibitory Neurotransmitter GABA

Flavonoids, both naturally occurring and synthetic, are known to have multiple effects on the activation of ionotropic receptors for γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in our brains. They can act as positive or negative allosteric modulators, enhancing or reducing the effect of GABA. They can elicit a direct activation of the receptors. They can also act to modulate the action of other modulators. This ability to influence function via their actions on GABA receptors permits a range of effects of flavonoids, including relief of anxiety, anticonvulsant, analgesic and sedative actions