An information and communications technology (ICT)-enabled method for collecting and collating information about pre-service teachers' pedagogical beliefs regarding the integration of ICT

This paper describes a method that utilized technology to collect and collate quantitative and qualitative data about pre‐service teachers’ use of networked technologies during a 12‐week undergraduate course, and the impact of this use on their pedagogical beliefs regarding the integration of information and communications technology (ICT). The technologies used captured and analysed students’ spoken and written communication while engaging in four synchronous online tasks, and also collected evaluation data from online interviews, surveys and diaries. The richness of data afforded by this ICT‐enabled method enabled the research to produce a rich narrative of how the students used the technology and provided evidence of a change in pre‐service teachers’ pedagogical beliefs during the course

A note on the diet of the Tasmanian Aborigines

The Tasmanian Aboriginal diet was drawn from marine and non-marine environments, in which food resources varied according to habitat. Alpine and rain forest environments provided a limited supply of plant food, whereas the wet and dry schlerophyll forests provided an abundant supply of plant and animal foods. The coastal zones, despite a deceptively barren appearance, supplied a consistently rich plant and marsupial food resource that was supplemented by large shellfish grounds and a seasonal abundance of birds and certain mammals

Incorporating general race and housing flexibility and deadband in rolling element bearing analysis

Methods for including the effects of general race and housing compliance and outer race-to-housing deadband (clearance) in rolling element bearing mechanics analysis is presented. It is shown that these effects can cause significant changes in bearing stiffness characteristics, which are of major importance in rotordynamic response of turbomachinery and other rotating systems. Preloading analysis is demonstrated with the finite element/contact mechanics hybrid method applied to a 45 mm angular contact ball bearing

Cardiovascular tests: use & limits of biochemical markers - therapeutic measurements of ADMA involved in cardiovascular disorders

Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is an endogenously occurring methylarginine that inhibits nitric oxide synthesis. Plasma levels of methylarginines increase in renal failure and certain cardiovascular pathologies, and in patients with end stage renal failure the level of ADMA predicts the risk of cardiovascular events and overall mortality. The object of this review is to describe the mechanisms of ADMA synthesis, metabolism and uptake and to outline techniques for measuring ADMA and the pathological states in which ADMA levels are altered

Rapid, energy-efficient synthesis of the layered carbide, Al₄C₃

The phase-pure binary aluminium carbide, Al4C3 can be synthesised in vacuo from the elements in 30 minutes via microwave heating in a multimode cavity reactor. The success of the reaction is dependent on the use of finely divided aluminium and graphite starting materials, both of which couple effectively to the microwave field. The yellow-brown powder product was characterised by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis and Raman spectroscopy. Powders were composed of hexagonal single crystallites tens of microns in diameter (rhombohedral space group R[3 with combining macron]m; Z = 3; a = 3.33813(5) Å, c = 25.0021(4) Å) and were stable to 1000 °C in air, argon and nitrogen. Equivalent microwave reactions of the elements in air led to the formation of the oxycarbide phases Al2OC and Al4O4C

Skepticism as Epistemic Naturalization

Responses to radical philosophical skepticism often interpret skeptical arguments as conceptual challenges that must be overcome if common epistemic practices are to remain justifiably practicable. Such responses treat skeptical arguments as attacks on our ability to justifiably make knowledge claims, wherein the skeptic attempts to isolate conceptual problems embedded in common epistemic processes that debar those processes from the potential to produce knowledge. In this framework, the successful skeptic reveals our constitutional epistemic blindness while the successful response defangs the skeptic’s attack on our capacity for knowledge. This paper argues that this interpretation is predicated on a fundamental misunderstanding of the target and method of radical skepticism. Analyzing the skeptical projects of Sextus Empiricus and David Hume serves to identify a set of conceptual strategies commonly identified with “radical skepticism” that rely on pitting empirical evidence against a demanding concept of knowledge and concluding from the incongruence which emerges that the concept is unrealizable. Far from an attack on everyday knowledge claims, the overlapping strategies of these writers produce an overarching project of empirical skepticism which privileges common epistemic practices over extant philosophical definitions of knowledge by using the former to argue for the incoherence of the latter. Using the epistemic contextualism of Michael Williams as an example of a typical response that treats skepticism as a challenge to everyday knowledge claims places the nature of the common confusion between the skeptic’s target and argument in stark relief. Williams’ main criticism, that the skeptic conflates an unrealizable standard for knowledge with functional everyday standards, results in an epistemological theory which shares multiple similarities with the conclusions of empirical skepticism as described by Sextus and Hume. Williams’ worry that the skeptic demands unreasonably high standards of justification for knowledge is shared by the skeptic because it is precisely those standards that are integral to the concept of knowledge” which the skeptic aims to reveal as incoherent. At its terminus, empirical skepticism emerges as a prototypical attempt at epistemic naturalization through its swapping of a faulty conceptual analysis of knowledge with an empirical analysis of epistemic processes

When a school offers hope: An initial report of research in a special school for behaviour disordered students

This paper reports the first findings of an ethnographic research and evaluation project undertaken over two years in a school for behaviour disordered students in Sydney. These students are at-risk of school exclusion, and have frequently experienced short-term exclusion from more than one school. The John Berne School is the only such school within the Catholic system, and it is privately run by a Catholic Religious Order. This paper reports the experiences and cognitions of a graduating class of students, Yr 10 2009. In 2009 there were 12 students, all but one agreeing to be involved in this research. This project explores their understandings of their recent history and educational prospects, as well as their reflections on their own personal growth, using pen-and-paper survey and an individual interview. Additionally, this paper includes the reflections of a small group of parents who chose to be part of the research data collection by participating in a face-to-face interview. The interview data were analysed using NVivo 8. Results from the project indicate that the students marked their development as individuals as well as the achievement of the School Certificate, and expressed high regard for employment or further study. A number of students were able to reflect on significant behaviour changes in the previous couple of years while at this special school. Students identify the central roles of good relationships with staff and a diversified curriculum in helping them towards achievement at school. This research is significant because it focuses on a much under-researched group, Special Schools. Special Schools within the Catholic education system are seldom researched, this study being the first such conducted in New South Wales. This Special School is focused on addressing the educational disadvantage of a marginalised group; students with learning disabilities, behaviour disorders and contingent personal, family and social issues