Middle-out approaches to reform of university teaching and learning: Champions striding between the top-down and bottom-up approaches

In recent years, Australian universities have been driven by a diversity of external forces, including funding cuts, massification of higher education, and changing student demographics, to reform their relationship with students and improve teaching and learning, particularly for those studying off-campus or part-time. Many universities have responded to these forces either through formal strategic plans developed top-down by executive staff or through organic developments arising from staff in a bottom-up approach. By contrast, much of Murdoch University's response has been led by a small number of staff who have middle management responsibilities and who have championed the reform of key university functions, largely in spite of current policy or accepted practice. This paper argues that the "middle-out" strategy has both a basis in change management theory and practice, and a number of strengths, including low risk, low cost, and high sustainability. Three linked examples of middle-out change management in teaching and learning at Murdoch University are described and the outcomes analyzed to demonstrate the benefits and pitfalls of this approach

The first South Westerners : Aborigines of South Western Australia

The task of preparing material on the Aboriginal inhabitants of the south western region of Western Australia before 1827, is both a fascinating and a challenging one. Fascinating, because these people lived in a unique part of the continent and were amongst the most remote of all the Australian Aborigines, pursuing their traditions in the wet forest lands and open bush country. Challenging, because so little is recorded of them in a way which paints a clear picture of their lives. The main observers of Aboriginal life and customs in the early days of European settlement of the region were settlers and Government officials. From their accounts and records, shadowy images of traditional Aboriginal life emerge, gaining focus in some aspects which have been described more fully, and blurring and hazi11g in other areas of life that remained unknown to the newcomers. With the exception of such people as Bishop Salvado, Dr. Alexander Collie, Sir George Grey, Ethel Hassell and Jessie Hammond, these accounts are written from a totally European perspective, which views the Aborigines from the outside, and which-makes little attempt to see and understand them through their own eyes. Other records exist which mention Aboriginal contact with Europeans, as it affected the latter. In particular, some individuals felt moved to write to the Government about their experiences, whether motivated by concern for the plight of the Aborigines they came in contact with, or by self interests. These form the inward correspondence of the Colonial Secretary\u27s Office. In preparing this picture of Aboriginal life in the south west prior to European settlement and the dramatic changes which followed, my principal sources have been those authors mentioned above, together with the diaries of G. F. Moore, and contemporary publications on the region notably those dealing with prehistory and language

Bryozoa, Cheilostomata: first records of two invasive species in Australia and the northerly range extension for a third

Biofouling of international marine vessels is one of the most important mechanisms for the transfer of non-native-invasive species around the world. Bryozoan species are some of the commonest of these marine biofouling organisms found worldwide. Whilst some efforts have been made to document the bryozoan species in Australian ports, these surveys are very limited in number, poorly resolved and lack repetition. This paper records two invasive bryozoan species new to Australian waters (Hippoporina indica and Biflustra grandicella), and a northerly range extension of a known invasive bryozoan (Zoobotryon verticillatum)

Attachment,conduct disorder and perspective taking in 7-9 year old boys

The perspective taking ability of children with aggressive behaviour problems was explored, by comparing them with non-aggressive children on tasks involving the prediction of emotion and behaviour on hypothetical short story vignettes. Their ability to correctly predict emotion and behaviour in emotionally charged, personally involving tasks was investigated, and linked with their security of attachment and verbal intelligence. Contrary to what was predicted, the aggressive children were not observed to perform poorly on complex emotionally charged, personally involving vignettes. Also, security of attachment was not seen to relate to performance on vignettes. The ability to provide explanations of responses which incorporated a coherent description of the differing and false beliefs held by different characters correlated with verbal intelligence and tentatively with security of attachment. The two groups showed significant differences on all sub-scales of a measure of abnormal social behaviour and two out of three sub-scales of a measure of security of attachment. The results do not present a clear picture, but suggest that verbal intelligence is associated with perspective taking and understanding of emotion. A consideration of methodological issues suggests that the short story vignettes suffer from poor reliability and possibly poor validity. The findings are discussed with relation to other literature, in particular an alternative theory of the development of emotion understanding that emphasizes the role of coherent psychological discourse by the caregiver. The role of disorganised attachment in childhood aggression is also discussed. Implications for clinical practice are considered and suggestions for future research are outlined

Exploring and construing intimate partner violence: Gender differences in public perceptions of male and female perpetrated intimate partner violence

Intimate partner violence, a form of domestic violence, is a social problem and as a result governments are focused on implementing policies that reduce the prevalence of intimate partner violence. The common perception, established by feminist theorising and research, is that males are more likely than females to perpetrate intimate partner violence. However, this notion has in recent years been challenged by researchers whose findings suggest that males and females are equally likely to perpetrate intimate partner violence. This contention in the literature creates problems for policy makers who are attempting to reduce, if not eradicate, the occurrence of intimate partner violence. In this review I explored the possible explanations for these contradictory findings and found that researchers are not clear about their definitions of intimate partner violence and the types of violence that they examine. Therefore, contradictions in the literature could be a result of inconsistencies in definitions and types of violence used in intimate partner violence research. It also became evident through this review that in order to increase understanding of intimate partner violence a new theoretical model is needed. Researchers need to examine the impact that factors such as perpetrator gender difference in types of intimate partner violence, context of intimate partner violence and victims fear levels have on policy development. Future research could begin by first examining the impact that public opinion has on policy development and then examining public opinions of intimate partner violence. The idea of jury gender bias in cases of intimate partner violence was investigated through an examination of public perceptions of intimate partner violence. An experimental design was used to investigate whether or not the gender of the perpetrator and/or the participant, influenced the general public\u27s construction of the behaviour, and their perception of violence and fear levels. It was found that stalking, physical, threats to physical, psychological, and sexual assaults are all considered to be types of intimate partner violence. Additionally, public perceptions about perpetrator gender differences in intimate partner violence are based on perceived outcomes of the violence rather than on whether the violence is defined as a type of violence. Therefore, it is possible that juries may be more likely to convict a male than a female perpetrator of intimate partner violence as male perpetrated intimate partner violence is perceived to cause more damage to the victim. Also female jury members are more likely than male jury members to convict a perpetrator of intimate partner violence as females perceive intimate partner violence to cause more damage than males. From these findings it is recommended that juries contain an equal representation of both males and females and that public awareness is raised to the possibility of female perpetrated intimate partner violence, so that male and female perpetrators may receive equal treatment in court

Moora: Aboriginal children in a wheatbelt town

Moora town was established in 1875, when the railway from Midland Junction to Walkaway was built. There had always been Aborigines in the surrounding districts, and as land was taken up for farming, a number of them were employed as farmhands and domestics. The town is the regional centre for the North Midlands, a subdivision of the Northern Agricultural Statistical Division of Western Australia. As such, it was developed to service the agricultural hinterland. The Northern Agricultural Statistical Division has a total population of 42,804 people (23,044 males and 19,766 females) of whom 1,828 or 4.6% are Aboriginal (1,003 males and 825 females). Moora township has a total population of 1,409 people (735 males and 634 females) of whom 289 or 20.5% are Aboriginal ( 155 males and 134 females). Thus the Aboriginal population of Moora town is disproportionate for the region, and forms a sizeable minority within the town..

Implementation Of The Local Symmetry Criterion For Crack-Growth Simulations

The local symmetry criterion predicts that cracks under mixed-mode loading will deflect so that the local Mode II stress intensity factor, kII, is zero. An efficient approach is presented for its implementation in finite element simulations of crack propagation, based on the observed linearity of kII over a wide range of deflection angles. This linearity is explained by expressing kII, for the kinked crack, in terms of the global stress intensity factors, KI and KII, and parallel T-stress, Sigma T, for the original straight crack. Deflection angles and crack paths obtained agreed with those obtained using a more cautious search algorithm, and with other deflection criteria. This has been particularly applicable to crack-growth simulations in graded materials, where elastic asymmetry results in mixed-mode loading

South West Aboriginal studies bibliography : with annotations and appendices

The south west of Western Australia was the first region of the state to experience the impact of European settlement, when the Swan River Colony was founded in 1829. Yet the Aborigines of this unique area have remained largely obscured in its history for almost a full 150 years. This is ironical, as their counterparts of the Pilbara, Goldfields and Kimberleys, feature prominently in literature, and have captured the imagination of artists, writers and academic researchers alike. There are several reasons for the neglect of the original inhabitants of the south west by observers of the day, and later by other scholars. Firstly, the number of Aborigines declined dramatically under the impact of European encroachment. Never very numerous, they achieved a population density no greater than one person to four square miles (Radcliffe-Brown 1930; Hallam 1977). In some centres in the early days of European settlement, this ratio may have increased. Aborigines became attracted to settled areas as they were made dependent on grain rations, with the usurpation of their own lands by the newcomers. Governor James Stirling estimated one person per square mile in the \u27settled\u27 districts in 1832 (Swan River Papers 9/36-39)

Summer Carbonate Chemistry in the Dalton Polynya, East Antarctica

The carbonate chemistry in the Dalton Polynya in East Antarctica (115°–123°E) was investigated in summer 2014/2015 using high‐frequency underway measurements of CO2 fugacity (fCO2) and discrete water column measurements of total dissolved inorganic carbon (TCO2) and total alkalinity. Air‐sea CO2 fluxes indicate this region was a weak net source of CO2 to the atmosphere (0.7 ± 0.9 mmol C m−2 day−1) during the period of observation, with the largest degree of surface water supersaturation (ΔfCO2 = +45 μatm) in ice‐covered waters near the Totten Ice Shelf (TIS) as compared to the ice‐free surface waters in the Dalton Polynya. The seasonal depletion of mixed‐layer TCO2 (6 to 51 μmol/kg) in ice‐free regions was primarily driven by sea ice melt and biological CO2 uptake. Estimates of net community production (NCP) reveal net autotrophy in the ice‐free Dalton Polynya (NCP = 5–20 mmol C m−2 day−1) and weakly heterotrophic waters near the ice‐covered TIS (NCP = −4–0 mmol C m−2 day−1). Satellite‐derived estimates of chlorophyll a (Chl a) and sea ice coverage suggest that the early summer season in 2014/2015 was anomalous relative to the long‐term (1997–2017) record, with lower surface Chl a concentrations and a greater degree of sea ice cover during the period of observation; the implications for seasonal primary production and air‐sea CO2 exchange are discussed. This study highlights the importance of both physical and biological processes in controlling air‐sea CO2 fluxes and the significant interannual variability of the CO2 system in Antarctic coastal regions