Ultrasonic phased array technology for the non-destructive testing of marble sculptures

The medical ultrasonic phased array technology was modified for the non-destructive testing of marble sculptures and the feasibility of the approach was evaluated. For this purpose, 1?MHz, 64-channel phased array electronic and phased array transducers were developed. The specifications of the electronics and the transducers are presented and discussed. Ultrasound images of inner structures of a marble sculpture are presented. The problem of the acoustic matching layers for different states of deterioration is discussed and the developments in view of a suitable matching layer solution are presented. This matching layer is combined with a new coupling technique that protects the marble surface. The results of experiments on ultrasound phantoms and on a marble sculpture are presented.     

Halite – A new calibration material for microdrilling resistance measurements

This paper aims at proposing a new calibration material for microdrilling resistance measurements. Microdrilling resistance is a microdestructive method mainly used in built heritage in order to determine the strength profile in depth. This method is suitable to detect changes in the material cohesion, either due to a different state of preservation or to the action of a consolidant. Calibration materials are often used in microdrilling measurements in order to characterise the drill bit initial value and to correct the variations existing within the initial values of a set of drill bits. Calibration materials are also useful to detect the wear effect on a drill bit due to an abrasive stone. Moreover, such materials can be used for comparing results obtained with different microdrilling machines. In this work, halite was chosen to be tested as a calibration material due to its properties, as low hardness and isotropy. Halite single crystals and halite salt stone from different provenances were tested in order to evaluate the suitability of this material to the requests of a calibration material for microdrilling resistance applications, as for instance being homogeneous, non-abrasive, sensitive and available worldwide. Experimental results show that halite from different provenances is very homogeneous, especially in the crystalline form. This form of halite is slightly more expensive than stone halite; however its costs are comparable to ARS and significantly lower than Macor (other calibration materials commonly used for microdrilling resistance measurements). Due to the advantages of halite for calibration purposes, this material should be further tested by other authors in order to validate our conclusions.     

What it means to be studying against the grain of neoliberalism in a community-based university programme in a ‘disadvantaged area’

Australia is indicative of a country that is deeply confused and conflicted around a policy discourse of inclusion that is sutured within an existential context heavily committed to the tenets of neoliberalism. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of higher education, in which the proportion of young people from backgrounds of ‘disadvantage’ has remained implacably stuck at around 15% for several decades. The research from which this paper comes is an innovative community-based university-provided programme for young people for whom university education was never a realistic possibility – because of family histories, interruption to their lives, of having undertaken forms of secondary education that prevented them from gaining university entrance qualification, or who had terminated their education before completing the secondary years of schooling. This paper explores the story of one young person in his first year in a university programme, as he struggled with obstacles and impediments of a higher education system and set of neoliberal policy discourses that remain deeply sceptical and antagonistic to his trajectory.     

Kinetic changes during a six-week minimal footwear and gait-retraining intervention in runners

An evaluation of a six-week Combined minimal footwear transition and gait-retraining combination vs. gait retraining only on impact characteristics and leg stiffness. Twenty-four trained male runners were randomly assigned to either (1) Minimalist footwear transition Combined with gait-retraining over a six-week period (“Combined” group; n = 12) examined in both footwear, or (2) a gait-retraining group only with no minimalist footwear exposure (“Control”; n = 12). Participants were assessed for loading rate, impact peak, vertical, knee and ankle stiffness, and foot-strike using 3D and kinetic analysis. Loading rate was significantly higher in the Combined group in minimal shoes in pre-tests compared to a Control (P ≤ 0.001), reduced significantly in the Combined group over time (P ≤ 0.001), and was not different to the Control group in post-tests (P = 0.16). The impact peak (P = 0.056) and ankle stiffness reduced in both groups (P = 0.006). Loading rate and vertical stiffness was higher in minimalist footwear than conventional running shoes both pre (P ≤ 0.001) and post (P = 0.046) the intervention. There has a higher tendency to non-rearfoot strike in both interventions, but more acute changes in the minimalist footwear. A Combined intervention can potentially reduce impact variables. However, higher loading rate initially in minimalist footwear may increase the risk of injury in this condition.     

Social capital and the ‘socially just school’

This paper argues that growing inequalities make it imperative that schools reinvent themselves around the issue of social justice. Through a case study of an Australian primary school, teacher‐based forms of social capital are explored revealing progressive pedagogies to be an important precursor to the ‘socially just school’.     

‘Education and the working class’: a conversation with the work of Dennis Marsden and his contribution to the sociology of education

This paper is both a careful analysis of a seminal piece of work in the sociology of education, as well as a passionate plea to revisit with renewed urgency, the way in which education continues to fail unacceptably large numbers of working-class children. Through closely examining the work of Dennis Marsden (with his colleague Brian Jackson) in Education and the working class, the paper argues that this pioneering work done in working-class Huddersfield the 1950s, remains a stoic statement of what is wrong with working-class education, and is as rich in substantive and methodological insights as when it was written in 1962. By taking some biographical slices of key contemporary scholars, in particular Stephen Ball and Diane Reay, who have themselves been prolific scholars in this field, the paper speaks to the central arguments of Marsden’s unique work through their biographies, while establishing the distinctiveness of Marsden’s contribution to understanding social class within the wider field of sociology of education. The paper argues for a reinvigoration of the elusive search for the kind of authentic understandings of working class pioneered by Marsden, as the basis for an equitable and just schooling for working-class children.     

Executive functions and pragmatics in children with high-functioning autism

Children with deficits in executive functions (EFs) and impairments in pragmatic language have a range of cognitive and language difficulties that affect their literacy and educational achievements. As deficits in EFs and pragmatic impairments are characteristics of autism spectrum disorders, this study examined the associations between EFs and pragmatic skills in children with high-functioning autism (HFA). Fifteen children with HFA (5–9 years; M?=?7.44, SD 1.21), matched to 15 typically developing peers on age, gender, and non-verbal intelligence participated in the study. Children completed a pragmatic language assessment protocol, and a rating scale of EFs was administered to parents. Our results point to two main findings: children with HFA presented pragmatic difficulties and EFs impairments when compared with typically developing peers; and, as shown by a significant indirect effect of group on pragmatics via EFs, the poor pragmatics skills of HFA children were associated with their EFs difficulties. These findings may be of clinical relevance for children with pragmatic impairments, such as autism spectrum disorders. Future studies are crucial to further investigate the relationship between impaired pragmatics and EFs.