8,063 research outputs found
Colourful children’s author visits Notre Dame
No full textOne of Australia’s most cherished authors, Morris Gleitzman, spoke about his passion for writing, the impacts of his literature on children and the enjoyment he receives from exploring his imagination every day to a vast audience at Notre Dame’s Fremantle Campus on Monday 21 May.
Author of more than 30 books, including the timeless classics Worry Warts, Two Weeks with the Queen and Adults Only, Mr Gleitzman said his stories reflected the essential qualities and values each person held dear in their lives.
“I wanted to suggest that stories, while we use them often for entertainment, have been around the centre of human culture for millennia,” Mr Gleitzman said.
“These stories are modelling exactly the same skills, abilities and cultural traits via the main characters as teachers hope to develop in their students in the classroom.”
The British-born author was an avid reader as a child and soon found a love for writing after migrating to Australia in 1969. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Mr Gleitzman’s colourful career included working as a department store Santa Claus, a frozen chicken defroster and as a paperboy.
Mr Gleitzman also worked as a television screenwriter for the popular Norman Gunston Show in the 1970s.
However, it was not until a publishing company presented Mr Gleitzman with an opportunity to turn his script about a schoolboy who drove his family and friends “bonkers” into a book that his vocation as an author was realised.
He says that, for him, writing is a technical process that is assisted by a love of language and the ability to explore and evolve characters in any given setting.
“The aspect of writing that I most enjoy is going into my imagination, a place free of all the constraints of the physical and social world where I can have adventures in the context of that freedom,” Mr Gleitzman said.
“When I’m looking for, as I do with each new character, the biggest problem in their life, the problem is almost always timeless and universal.
“The biggest problems we face in our lives today are problems that humans have faced forever and everywhere. Everyone has a need for love, friendship, recognition, validation and, sometimes, survival in their lives.”
Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the Fremantle Campus, Dr Angeline O’Neill, said Mr Gleitzman exemplified the power and importance of children’s literature in contemporary society.
Notre Dame was indeed fortunate to host the first week of Morris Gleitzman’s Perth visit,” Dr O’Neill said.
“He is a major Australian author with a significant global readership, ranging from child readers to adults.
“We see literature in action through Mr Gleitzman’s work. His novels simultaneously entertain and inform young readers, promoting social awareness through the pleasure of reading.
While in Perth, Mr Gleitzman was sponsored by Notre Dame to conduct a series of school visits which included Mercedes College and John XXIII College. These visits provided students with the opportunity to hear about his new book titled After and the chance to speak to the highly acclaimed author.
MEDIA CONTACT: Shelley Robinson: Tel (08) 9433 0610; Mob 0408 959 138 Leigh Dawson: Tel (08) 9433 0569; Mob 0405 441 09
Defining simple nD operations based on prismatic nD objects
No full textAn alternative to the traditional approaches to model separately 2D/3D space, time, scale and other parametrisable characteristics in GIS lies in the higher-dimensional modelling of geographic information, in which a chosen set of non-spatial characteristics, e.g. time and scale, are modelled as extra geometric dimensions perpendicular to the spatial ones, thus creating a higher dimensional model. While higher-dimensional models are undoubtedly powerful, they are also hard to create and manipulate due to our lack of an intuitive understanding in dimensions higher than three. As a solution to this problem, this paper proposes a methodology that makes nD object generation easier by splitting the creation and manipulation process into three steps: (i) constructing simple nD objects based on nD prismatic polytopes—analogous to prisms in 3D—, (ii) defining simple modification operations at the vertex level, and (iii) simple postprocessing to fix errors introduced in the model. As a use case, we show how two sets of operations can be defined and implemented in a dimension-independent manner using this methodology: the most common transformations (i.e. translation, scaling and rotation) and the collapse of objects. The nD objects generated in this manner can then be used as a basis for an nD GIS.Urban Data Scienc
Pro/con clinical debate: tracheostomy is ideal for withdrawal of mechanical ventilation in severe neurological impairment
No full textMost clinical trials on the topic of extubation have involved patients outside the neurological intensive care unit. As a result, in this area clinicians are left with little evidence on which to base their decision making. Although tracheostomies are increasingly common procedures, they are not without complications and costs, and hence a decision to perform them should not be taken lightly. In this issue of Critical Care two groups debate the merits of tracheostomy before extubation in a patient with neurological impairment. What becomes very clear is the need for more high quality data for this common clinical problem
Letter from Representative Burdick to Walter Ferguson Regarding Garrison Dam Lands, February 28, 1952
No full textThis letter, dated February 28, 1952, from United States (US) Representative Usher Burdick to Walter Ferguson (spelled Fergusen in an earlier letter from Burdick; the more common Ferguson was chosen for both entries) of White Earth, North Dakota (ND) concerns the size of Garrison Dam and how many acres of land it will require. In it, Burdick reminds Ferguson of his opposition the US Army Engineers buying up enough land for a 23 million acre-feet pool of water under the dam and repeats the recommendation he made in his last letter to Ferguson, that the latter should contact Bigelow Neal of Sanish, ND who is working on the issue.
See also:
Letter from Representative Burdick to Walter Ferguson Regarding Garrison Dam Lands, January 2, 1952https://commons.und.edu/burdick-papers/1269/thumbnail.jp
Plan of choice allotments situate at Balmain [cartographic material] /
No full text"Sketch of Location"; Map of allotments for sale at Balmain at corner of Birch Grove Road and Darling Road.; Published after the opening of Mort's Dock in 1855 nd and before Bird's change of address by 1858.; Also available in an electronic version via the Internet at: http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-f533; Ferguson Collection Map F 533
Practice-led theology or thinking theology through practice
No full textFollowing a series of economic and political changes beginning in the late 1980s, art/design schools and performing arts academies were incorporated into the university system. The disciplines these schools offered were then faced with the requirement to justify some of what they did as academic research.
As a result, a new methodology was developed called practice‐led research. This methodology has two key foundations. The first is the recognition that artistic practice is a site of academic research and the second is that the results of that practice–the creative output–are a legitimate carrier of knowledge. Practice‐led research recognises the validity of both explicit/propositional knowledge and embodied/tacit knowledge. Practice‐led research is a methodology that answers a research question through two or more ‘languages:’ through the written word and through the relevant practice and corresponding output of the researcher.
Being a Christian also involves a life in two languages: the acceptance of a set of intellectual beliefs and the lived life–the practice–of being a Christian through prayer, worship and ritual. The parallels between practice‐led research and a Christian life are acknowledged in the thesis and the methodology ‘translated’ for use in theological research.
The thesis achieves three primary tasks. Firstly, practice‐led research lacks a detailed history of its origins and development. The thesis traces foundational historical themes, understanding the methodology as a part of a long‐standing debate on the nature and role of the creative disciplines.
Secondly, practice‐led research lacks a clear definition of the methodology. The thesis develops a detailed broad‐based definition clarifying key elements of the 9 methodology. The definition may be used in a theological context as well as by practice‐led researchers in other disciplines.
Thirdly, the thesis develops a comprehensive and clearly articulated model for the use of practice‐led research. The thesis goes further by applying practice‐led research into a new area, theology, as a tool Christian researchers can use to incorporate their practice as a part of their research.
The thesis presents a fully articulated and flexible model of practice‐led research for use in a theological context, but widely applicable in other disciplines
Executing convex polytope queries on nD point clouds
No full textEfficient spatial queries are frequently needed to extract useful information from massive nD point clouds. Most previous studies focus on developing solutions for orthogonal window queries, while rarely considering the polytope query. The latter query, which includes the widely adopted polygonal query in 2D, also plays a critical role in many nD spatial applications such as the perspective view selection. Aiming for an nD solution, this paper first formulates a convex nD-polytope for querying. Then, the paper integrates three approximate geometric algorithms – SWEEP, SPHERE, VERTEX, and a linear programming method CPLEX, developing a solution based on an Index-Organized Table (IOT) approach. IOT is applied with space filling curve based clustering and advanced querying mechanism which recursively refines hypercubic nD spaces to approach the query geometry for primary filtering. Results from experiments based on both synthetic and real data have confirmed the superior performance of SWEEP. However, the algorithm may lag behind CPLEX due to pessimistic intersection computation in high dimensional spaces. In a real application, by properly transforming a perspective view selection into a polytope query, the solution achieves a sub-second querying performance using SWEEP. In another flood risk query, SWEEP also leads the others. In general, the robust and efficient solution can be immediately used to address different polytope queries, including those abstract ones whose constraints on combinations of different dimensions are formed into a polytope model. Besides, the knowledge of high-dimensional computations acquired also provides significant guidance for handling more nD GIS issues.GIS Technologi
Award winning Indigenous author speaks at Notre Dame
No full textMultiple Miles Franklin Literary Award winning Indigenous author, Kim Scott, discussed the role of language in developing and exploring relationships between people of different cultures with guests at Notre Dame’s Fremantle Campus recently.
Scott spoke of the background and inspiration behind his recent publication That Deadman Dance to community members and Notre Dame’s Study Abroad students from the United States of America.
The event was hosted by the College of St Benedict (CSB) and St John’s University (SJU), Minnesota, with support from Notre Dame’s Study Abroad Office.
The students had been studying That Deadman Dance to further their understanding of Australia’s diverse and continually evolving culture.
The book explores the first contact between the Noongar people, European settlers and American whalers in a 19th century setting in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.
It follows the story of young Noongar man, Bobby Wabalanginy, and decisions that lay before him which could have potentially affected not only the lives of his ancestors, but the lives of his new-found settler friends in Australia.
Study Abroad Director from CSB and SJU, Janelle Hinchley, said the Study Abroad students responded well to the issues presented in the novel surrounding cultural diversity in Australia.
“He challenged our students to look at the layered dynamics involved in these early cultural exchanges and the propensity that the Aboriginal people had in the facilitation of multiculturalism in Australia,” Ms Hinchley said.
Study Abroad student Christine Schneider said That Deadman Dance provided her with an artistic outlook of the Aboriginal heritage in WA.
“After hearing Kim Scott speak, I realised how poetic and insightful he is which lent itself to the discovery of all the hidden meanings within his novel,” Ms Schneider said.
“It was a great example of being able to take written work and further develop our understanding of its impact on our lives.”
That Deadman Dance won several awards in 2011, including the Miles Franklin Literary Award for the best Australian novel or play which portrays the beauty, challenges and characteristics of Australian life. The novel also collected the Premier’s Prize and the Best Fiction Book prize at the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards.
MEDIA CONTACT: Shelley Robinson: Tel (08) 9433 0610; Mob 0408 959 138 Leigh Dawson: Tel (08) 9433 0569; Mob 0405 441 09
Continuous wave oscillation of a monomode neodymium-doped fibre laser at 0.9µm on the 4F3/2 - 4I9/2 transition
No full textA monomode silica fibre doped with Nd has allowed the first demonstration of cw laser action on the 4F3/2 to 4I9/2 transition of Nd in a glass host, with tuning over the range 900-945 nm
A working strategy for improving International students' pass rates
No full textThis report reviews performance of International students
enrolled in the GradDipIT, specifically changes to credit
recognition for introductory modules. We found that
making our introductory modules compulsory for all,
regardless of previous qualifications, improved pass rates,
as it eases students into New Zealand environments and
students help each other
- …
