Multi-Modal Delivery Approaches in Teaching Postgraduate Legal Research Courses

This paper commences with a consideration of the rationales for teaching legal research to postgraduate students. It discusses the importance of legal research to the dynamic and ever-changing discipline of law and the added significance of this area to postgraduate study. The paper then discusses the learning needs of postgraduate students and the changing educational environment that they face, and how new directions in education and developments in student numbers and background, funding and technology affect this environment. It examines the contextual needs of postgraduate students and how these affect their expectations of postgraduate study. The paper concludes with an analysis of the results of a survey of students undertaking the subject Advanced Legal Research as to various modes of delivery and considers some recommendations arising from the responses

Gamma Ray Bursts: Cosmic Rulers for the High-Redshift Universe?

The desire to extend the Hubble Diagram to higher redshifts than the range of current Type Ia Supernovae observations has prompted investigation into spectral correlations in Gamma Ray Bursts, in the hope that standard candle-like properties can be identified. In this paper we discuss the potential of these new `cosmic rulers' and highlight their limitations by investigating the constraints that current data can place on an alternative Cosmological model in the form of Conformal Gravity. By fitting current Type 1a Supernovae and Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) data to the predicted luminosity distance redshift relation of both the standard Concordance Model and Conformal Gravity, we show that currently \emph{neither} model is strongly favoured at high redshift. The scatter in the current GRB data testifies to the further work required if GRBs are to cement their place as effective probes of the cosmological distance scale.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure (black & white, colour available). To be published in "Phil. Trans. of the Royal Society" as proceedings from Discussion Meeting on Gamma Ray Burst

The Legal Concept of Charity and its Expansion after the Aid/Watch Decision

This paper provides the reader with an insight into the legal analysis of the concept of ‘charity’ and ‘charitable purpose’. This discussion is important in light of the 2010 High Court decision in Commissioner of Taxation v Aid/Watch Incorporated. It begins with an overview of the historical development of ‘charity’ as a legal concept. It then considers how this concept has been interpreted in the context of taxation law and in particular focuses on the arguments for and against a restriction of advocacy and political lobbying by charities. It concludes with an analysis of the Aid/Watch Case and how this may be applied in the future to other charitable entities

'Morbid Exhilarations': Dying Words in Early Modern English Drama

In Renaissance England, dying a good death helped to ensure that the soul was prepared for the afterlife. In the theatre, however, playwrights disrupt and challenge the conventional formulas for last words, creating death scenes that range from the philosophical to the blackly comic. In expanding the potential of the dying speech, dramatists encourage in their audiences a willingness to contemplate less orthodox responses to death. This thesis thus focuses on the final utterances of dying characters, in selected scenes from early modern English tragedies. While scenes from iconic dramatists such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe are considered as part of the discussion, emphasis is primarily given to those of less canonical playwrights, including George Chapman, Thomas Dekker, John Fletcher, Thomas Kyd, Gervase Markham, John Marston, Philip Massinger, Thomas Middleton, John Webster, William Sampson, and Robert Yarington. Chronologically, the scenes span nearly four decades, from Marlowe’s Tamburlaine plays in 1590, to Sampson’s Vow Breaker in 1636. The thesis encompasses four major contexts for the study of dying speeches: beheadings, murder, revenge and suicide. Chapter One, on public execution, focuses on scaffold speeches delivered prior to simulated beheadings on the stage. The second chapter examines the genre of the murder play and the pattern of the victim’s displaced last words. Chapter Three explores the creative freedom taken by playwrights in the composition of dying speeches in revenge scenarios, and the final chapter foregrounds the verbal preoccupations of characters who choose to take their own lives. Each subject is established in relation to social, religious and political contexts in early modern England, so that characters’ final words are considered from both historical and literary perspectives

‘To Be or Not to Be, a Charity?’ That is the Question for Prescribed Bodies Corporate under the Native Title Act

This article evaluates the taxation concessions and other advantages that flow from being a charity and how these might apply to native title groups under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth). Specifically, it examines the role of the Prescribed Body Corporate (‘PBC’) under the Native Title Act and the potential for, and limitations of, these bodies carrying on business, engaging in community development and accumulating funds whilst also having charitable status. The article examines the financial size and geographical status of current PBCs that have been identified as not being charities and analyses the potential benefits for these organisations if they become charities. It concludes with an evaluation of the disadvantages and disadvantages that charitable status would bring to these PBCs

The marine ΔR For Nenumbo (Solomon Islands): A case study in calculating reservoir offsets form paired sample data

It is necessary to calculate location-specific marine ΔR values in order to calibrate marine samples using calibration curves such as those provided through the IntCal98 (Stuiver et al. 1998) data. Where known-age samples are available, this calculation is straightforward (i.e. Stuiver et al. 1986). In the case that a paired marine/terrestrial sample calculation is performed, however, the standard calculation (i.e. Stuiver and Braziunas 1993) requires that the samples are treated as relating to isochronous events. This may not be an appropriate assumption for many archaeological paired samples. In this paper, we present an approach to calculating marine ΔR values that does not require the dated events to be treated as isochronous. When archaeological evidence allows the dated events to be tightly temporally constrained, the approach presented here and that described by Stuiver and Braziunas (1993) give very similar results. However, where tight temporal constraints are less certain, the 2 approaches can give rise to differing results. The example analysis considered here shows that a ΔR of –81 ± 64 ¹⁴C yr is appropriate for samples in the vicinity of Nenumbo (Reef Islands, southeast Solomon Islands) around the period 2000–3000 BP

Self-understanding in high-functioning males with autism spectrum disorders : relationship with social functioning and theory of mind

Aim. This study aims to investigate self-understanding in young males with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and to determine whether self-understanding is related to social functioning and theory of mind (ToM). In addition, this study aims to examine the characteristics and abilities of young males with high-functioning autism (HFA) and Asperger’s disorder (AD) to determine whether there are significant differences in selfunderstanding and whether self-understanding is related to social functioning and ToM between these two groups. The results have important implications for social skills interventions for young people with ASD. Method. Forty three young males diagnosed with one of the ASD (25 diagnosed with HFA and 18 diagnosed with AD) were compared with 38 TD males. Participants were assessed using the Autism Diagnostic Interview- Revised (ADI-R), the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (KBIT), the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test- Third Edition (PPVT-III), Damon and Hart’s Self-understanding Interview, and two false-belief ToM tasks. Results. Children with ASD had difficulties recognising and attributing their own mental states and failed to integrate various aspects of the self. Specifically, the ASD group produced fewer self-statements that reflected agency (the awareness and understanding that one is in control of their actions), social aspects of self (such as personality characteristics and group membership) and psychological aspects of self (such as emotions, thoughts and cognitive processes). Instead, children with ASD produced more concrete physical self-statements (such as body characteristics and material possessions). A significant positive relationship was found between selfunderstanding and social functioning for the ASD group. Within the ASD group, the relationship held for the HFA group only. In terms of ToM, children with ASD were less able to correctly answer the second-order false-belief ToM question compared to the TD group. For the ASD group, there was a significant positive correlation between self-understanding and ToM. Within the ASD group, the relationship held for the HFA group only. Conclusions. The results show young males with high-functioning ASD are less aware of their own and others’ mental states perhaps reflecting a general delay in the development of self-understanding and ToM. Furthermore, a more developed self-understanding may translate to improved social functioning and ToM ability for young males with high-functioning ASD. For young males with HFA, self-understanding and ToM may stem from a common underlying cognitive framework. Consequently, treatments aimed at improving self-understanding may simultaneously improve ToM, or vice versa. For individuals with AD there may be a separate cognitive mechanism responsible for self-understanding and another for ToM. Therefore, different interventions may be required; one to improve self-understanding and another to improve the understanding of others’ minds. Overall, these results may assist in the development of practice parameters for social skills training for those with ASD

Breast and prostate cancer survivor responses to group exercise and supportive group psychotherapy

This study qualitatively examined an 8 week group exercise and counseling intervention for breast and prostate cancer survivors. Groups exercised 3 days per week, 50 minutes per session, performing moderate intensity aerobic and resistance training. Groups also underwent 90 minute supportive group psychotherapy sessions once per week. Survivors discussed their experiences in focus groups post intervention. Transcripts were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Survivors described how exercise facilitated counseling by creating mutual aid and trust, and counseling helped participants with self-identity, sexuality, and returning to normalcy. When possible, counselors and fitness professionals should create partnerships to optimally support cancer survivors

Waste Management Behaviour of Households: A Case Study of a Strike in Saskatchewan

Environmental Economics and Policy,

[Introduction] Settler colonialism and French Algeria

The unusual trajectory of settler colonialism in French Algeria, which culminated in Algerian independence and the exodus of European settlers, has often limited the interest of scholars who seek to understand settler colonialism as an enduring structure of oppression. For their part, scholars of French Algeria have yet to fully engage with the intellectual propositions of settler colonial studies, which has focused primarily on Anglophone and Israeli–Palestinian contexts. The Introduction seeks to open a dialogue between these groups of scholars, mobilising the propositions of settler colonial theory to outline the dynamics of the operations of power in settler colonial Algeria, before describing the evolution of these dynamics over five historical phases. Correspondingly, by bringing to the fore questions of cultural and linguistic diversity within both settler and indigenous populations, and underscoring the emotional dynamics of Empire, it is hoped that research on French Algeria might help shed light on understudied aspects of other settler colonial contexts. Through such dialogue, we seek to facilitate comparative and globally connected histories of settler colonialism, bringing multiple imperial spaces into the same frame of analysis