CRIMES AND OFFENSES Relating to Forfeiture of Certain Contraband Property; Change Provisions Relating to Exemptions; Change Certain Provisions Relating to Forfeiture of Certain Contraband Property Relative to Controlled Substances; To Provide for Specific Repeal of Certain Related Provisions

The Act provides for the forfeiture of certain contraband property and changing provisions relating to exemptions to the forfeiture provisions, and to change provisions relating to forfeiture of certain contraband property relative to controlled substances, and to provide for the repeal of certain related provisions

Developing a rural teacher education curriculum package

This paper documents the development of a new website (www. rrrtec. net. au) specifically designed to better equip teacher educators to prepare graduates to teach in rural and regional communities. The two year study (2009-2011) that informed the website\u27s creation included three data sources: A literature review of research into rural teacher education, a survey of pre-service students who had completed a rural practicum and interviews with teacher educators about the current strategies they used to raise awareness and understanding of the needs of rural students, their families, and communities. An analysis of the data revealed that teacher educators need to focus more on developing graduates to be not only \u27classroom ready \u27 but also \u27school and community ready\u27. This analysis provided the framework for the creation of a set of curriculum modules and resources including journal articles, film clips, websites and books that teacher educators could readily and publicly access and use in their own classroom teaching.<br /

Renewing rural and regional teacher education curriculum. Final report 2012.

Recruiting and retaining well-prepared teachers for rural and regional schools,remains an ongoing issue faced by all State based jurisdictions in Australia. Based on recent national research, and focused on meeting the needs of teacher educators to better support new teachers to prepare for and experience success as new teachers in rural locations, this ALTC funded project, Renewing Rural and Regional Teacher Education Curriculum (RRRTEC) set out to address this issue by investigating what teacher education could do differently to better prepare teachers for rural and regional workforce needs. As a result of this two year study involving further research, materials audits and curriculum development, a website has been created and designed specifically for all teacher educators to publicly and freely access and use. The RRRTEC website is located at www.rrrtec.net.au. The website has been created as an accessible resource for teacher educators, principals, mentors and others supporting new teachers in rural schools. Focusing on the classroom, the school and the community, it provides a range of high quality resources that will provide easy access to rural and regional teacher education research, curriculum resources and pedagogical strategies for their teacher education students

PUBLIC UTILITIES AND PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION Distribution, Storage, and Sale of Gas: Allow 90 days for Commission Orders After a Hearing Regarding Electric Fuel Cost Recovery or Adoption or Amendment of Natural Gas Capacity Supply Plans; Authorize the Public Service Commission to Seek an Injunction Against the Violation of any Law Administered by the Commission; Change Accounting Procedures for Gas Utility Rate Proceedings; Clarify the Authority of the Commission to Initiate Proceedings to Detennine Certain Rates; Provide a Bill of Rights for Consumers; Provide for a Continuing Requirement of Financial and Technical Ability for Marketers; Prohibit Certain Methods Relating to Billing and Reading Meters; Provide that EMC Gas Affiliates are Eligible to Receive Certificates of Authority as Marketers; Provide for Terms and Conditions Governing the Relationship Between an Electric Membership Corporation and its EMC Gas Affiliate; Provide for a Reasonable Method of Rate Design; Provide that a Fee for Distribution Services Shall not be Required for Certain Billing Periods; Change a Provision Relating to an Electing Distribution Company\u27s Revenues from Interruptible Distribution Service and Authorize a Surcharge on Certain Customers Receiving Interruptible Service; Require a Hearing Relating to Assignment of Interstate Capacity Assets; Set Out Minimum Requirements for Assignment of Interstate Capacity Assets and Provide for Authorizing Utilization of Excess Interstate Capacity Assets by an Electing Distribution Company; Authorize the Commission to Allocate the Cost of Lost and Unaccounted for Gas; Clarify and Change Provisions Relating to Changing Marketers; Change a Provision Relating to the Amount of Deposits Charged to Natural Gas Consumers; Require an Electing Distribution Company to Cooperate with Certificated Marketers and the Regulated Provider; Provide for Service Quality Standards for Electing Distribution Companies, Commission Review of Performance with Regard to such Standards, and Penalties; Set Rules Governing Marketers\u27 Terms of Service, Disclosure by Marketers, the Contents of Consumer Bills, and Review for Compliance with such Rules; Create Remedies for Consumers Detained to be Victims of Slamming; Prohibit Estimated Bills, Unreasonable Late Fees, and Retroactive Rate Increases; Set Minimum Standards for Terms and Conditions for Certain Nonresidential Customers and Small Businesses; Assist Low Income Residential Consumers with Voluntary Contributions; Create the Natural Gas Consumer Education Advisory Board and Provide for the Duty, Members, Officers, Appointment of Members, and Expenses of Members of such Board; Provide for the Terms, Conditions, Rates, and Customers for Regulated Gas Services; Allow Reimbursements from the Universal Service Fund in Certain Circumstances

The Act increases the time period for the Public Service Commission (PSC) to issue orders regarding electric fuel cost recovery or natural gas capacity plans, authorizes the Commission to seek an injunction, clarifies the Commission\u27s authority to initiate certain rate proceedings, and changes accounting procedures for gas utility rate proceedings. The Act also provides for a Consumers\u27 Bill of Rights. The Act changes certain provisions relating to billing, reading meters, deposits, and changing marketers. The Act also prohibits charging distribution fees when a consumer\u27s gas service is turned off. The Act provides remedies for slamming and prohibits estimated bills, unreasonable late fees, and retroactive rate increases. The Act also creates the Natural Gas Consumer Education Advisory Board, and provides for a private right of action and for the application of the Fair Business Practices Act of 1975. Finally, the Act changes certain provisions relating to the Universal Service Fund (USF) and provides for a regulated provider to serve low-income residential consumers and consumers unable to get service from marketers

The rural practicum : preparing a quality teacher workforce for rural and regional Australia

Communities play a critical role in supporting pre-service teachers during rural and regional professional experience. This support, coupled with access to teacher educators and university resources, appears to positively influence graduate attitudes toward taking up a rural appointment. These are among the key findings to emerge from open-ended responses within 263 surveys completed for the Rethinking Teacher Education for Rural and Regional Sustainability&mdash;Renewing Teacher Education for Rural and Regional Australia project (TERRAnova). The national surveys, collected annually from 2008-2010, monitored the impact of state-based financial incentives designed to promote rural and regional professional experience. Findings discussed in this article have implications for teacher educators and rural school leaders as they work in partnership with communities to support pre-service teachers on rural and regional practicum

Integrated catchment scale model of a lowland eutrophic lake and river system : Norfolk, UK

Shallow lakes are ecologically and economically important; many users are interested in methods to assess their response to restoration measures and in tools to predict the impact of specific measures. These users include: local and governmental authorities, private companies or nature conservation organisations. This research is centred on the Broads. The Broads are shallow, eutrophic lakes, probably the result of medieval peat workings, concentrated in the Ant, Bure, Thurne and Yare river valleys. These man made lakes and their surroundings are unique in Europe in terms of both ecology and landscape, forming one of the few remaining large areas of lowland river grassland in the UK. A catchment scale model, SWAT, has been used to model past and future land use and climate scenarios for river basins supplying water and nutrients to the Broads. SWAT is a comprehensive model that requires a diversity of information including climate, topography, soil, land use, agricultural practices, water abstraction and discharge data. Future scenarios run with SWAT suggest that increases in rainfall and temperature through climate change and changed land use increase nutrient and sediment yields and runoff. Future scenarios therefore suggest increased eutrophication problems for both the rivers and Broads within the study area and an increase in the already high risk of ecological failure to the Broads. Various management scenarios based on erosion control measures were designed to alleviate nutrient and sediment yields and increased run-off to the system. SWAT modelling showed the best-case future scenario in terms of land management was to convert the area to grassland. Where land is still used for agriculture erosion control, measures such as cover crops and conservation tillage should be employed. Overall, the work has increased the understanding of water quality, water movement, nutrient and sediment dynamics and agricultural management practices within the study area. The environmental implications of different future scenarios and erosion control measures on the ecology of the Broads provide a basis for management of the area.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Longitudinal evaluation of cognitive functioning in young children with type 1 diabetes over 18 months

OBJECTIVE: Decrements in cognitive function may already be evident in young children with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Here we report prospectively acquired cognitive results over 18 months in a large cohort of young children with and without T1D. METHODS: 144 children with T1D (mean HbA1c: 7.9%) and 70 age-matched healthy controls (mean age both groups 8.5 years; median diabetes duration 3.9 yrs; mean age of onset 4.1 yrs) underwent neuropsychological testing at baseline and after 18-months of follow-up. We hypothesized that group differences observed at baseline would be more pronounced after 18 months, particularly in those T1D patients with greatest exposure to glycemic extremes. RESULTS: Cognitive domain scores did not differ between groups at the 18 month testing session and did not change differently between groups over the follow-up period. However, within the T1D group, a history of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) was correlated with lower Verbal IQ and greater hyperglycemia exposure (HbA1c area under the curve) was inversely correlated to executive functions test performance. In addition, those with a history of both types of exposure performed most poorly on measures of executive function. CONCLUSIONS: The subtle cognitive differences between T1D children and nondiabetic controls observed at baseline were not observed 18 months later. Within the T1D group, as at baseline, relationships between cognition (VIQ and executive functions) and glycemic variables (chronic hyperglycemia and DKA history) were evident. Continued longitudinal study of this T1D cohort and their carefully matched healthy comparison group is planned

Building an effective school-university partnership : a cluster approach

Deakin University has introduced a new Master of Teaching course incorporating a new form school-university partnership that we refer to as the &lsquo;cluster approach&rsquo;. In addition to responding to recent state and National reports on teacher education (e.g. House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training, 2007; Kruger et al., 2009; Parliament of Victoria Education and Training Committee, 2005), this cluster approach aims to respond directly to recommendations from the Australian Teaching and Learning Council funded project into practicum partnerships (Ure, 2009), and focuses specifically on one of the reform agendas of the National Partnership Agreement on Improving Teacher Quality, that of &lsquo;improving the quality and consistency of teacher training in partnership with universities&rsquo; (see http://smarterschools.gov.au/nationalpartnerships/Pages/ImprovingTeacherQuality.aspx)Learning to teach is a continuum whereby teachers create new understandings and build professional knowledge and practice in collaboration with colleagues during their pre-service teacher education and then during their careers as teachers (Fieman-Nemser 2001). Learning to teach is not a sole learning activity; rather teachers learn in communities and in collaboration with colleagues. Moreover, teachers are always balancing &lsquo;being the teacher&rsquo; while at the same time &lsquo;becoming a teacher&rsquo; (e.g. Britzman, 2003). Thus, they balance the notion of &lsquo;doing teaching&rsquo; while at the same time &lsquo;learning teaching&rsquo;, and this is nowhere more evident than during the professional experience component of teacher education. This cluster approach is based on these premises.The work of Le Cornu (2004), Le Cornu and Ewing (2008) and Little (2001) also informed aspects of the approach, which is predicated on &lsquo;reciprocal relationships&rsquo; amongst pre-service teachers, and between pre-service teachers and experienced teachers both in schools and in universities. It frames teachers as&nbsp;cultural producers of knowledge, pre-service teachers as new resources bringing different ideas and practices into schools and schools as knowledge building communities (Little 2001, Nias 1998, Retallick et al 1999, Veugelers &amp; O&rsquo;Hair 2005)