Operation Moshtarak and the manufacture of credible, “heroic” warfare

Richard Lance Keeble argues that Fleet Street’s coverage of the Afghan conflict has served largely to promote the interests of the military/industrial/media complex – and marginalise the views of the public who have consistently appealed in polls for the troops to be brought back hom

Write, and Write Well - Speak, and Speak Well: The Gospel According to Halmos and Rota

Writing/speaking well—with real intent, focus and clarity—has always been an issue of the utmost importance to some of those working in academia generally, within which mathematicians are no exception. We give consideration to the conventional literature survey and other expository pieces as useful centres of an initial discussion, and develop the broader theme as referenced to two of our very best past communicators and popularisers of mathematics across both facets of dissemination—P.R. Halmos and G.-C. Rota, de facto grand seigneurs of the early modern day period

On 'Two Cultures' and Tackling the 'Writing Versus Mathematics' Dichotomy

While for many it is a timeless norm with no hope of resolution, not everyone accepts that mathematics and writing appear to have an unbridgeable gulf between them

Introduction of CAA into a mathematics course for technology students to address a change in curriculum requirements

The mathematical requirements for engineering, science and technology students has been debated for many years and concern has been expressed about the mathematical preparedness of students entering higher education. This paper considers a mathematics course that has been specifically designed to address some of these issues for technology education students. It briefly chronicles the changes that have taken place over its lifetime and evaluates the introduction of Computer Assisted Assessment (CAA) into a course already being delivered using Computer Aided Learning (CAL). Benefits of CAA can be categorised into four main areas. 1. Educational – achieved by setting short, topic related, assessments, each of which has to be passed, thereby increasing curriculum coverage. 2. Students – by allowing them to complete assessments at their own pace removing the stress of the final examination. 3. Financial – increased income to the institution, by broadening access to the course. Improved retention rate due to self-paced learning. 4. Time – staff no longer required to set and mark exams. Most students preferred this method of assessment to traditional exams, because it increased confidence and reduced stress levels. Self-paced working, however, resulted in a minority of students not completing the tests by the deadline

Managing marine environments and decision-making requires better application of the physical sedimentary sciences

Effective management of marine environments requires a sound understanding of the relevant physical sedimentary sciences. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a key management and decision-making tool employed in Australia for coastal and marine developments. This article examines the veracity of the application of the marine physical sciences within the EIA process, using turbidity measurement and sediment transport pathways as examples. A review of EIA guidance reveals deficiencies in regulation. Turbidity measurement is poorly understood and performed in current practice, while a focus on protecting marine habitats largely ignores those physical sedimentary processes, such as long-term bed-sediment transport pathways, that create and maintain these habitats. Thus evaluations of impacts of offshore activities such as channel dredging and spoil emplacement at sea are fundamentally flawed. An extensive body of scientific knowledge is already available on marine physical processes, and equivalent information for assessments of terrestrial development is routinely taken into consideration. Perhaps practice for the marine environment lags behind that for terrestrial settings or is it a case of ‘out of sight – out of mind’? We call on environmental management professionals to increase engagement with the physical processes that determine the quality of marine environments