A pilot study exploring Australian general practice nurses roles, responsibilities and professional development needs in well and sick child care

Aim Explore practice nurses' (PNs) role in child health and development, and advising parents about child health issues. Background Introduction of the four-year-old child health check into general practice in 2008 placed additional responsibilities on PNs in child health and wellness. This study explores their readiness to expand their practice into this area. Design Integrated mixed method design, self-report survey. Method A purpose-developed questionnaire explored demographics, child health roles and responsibilities, difficulties encountered, professional development needs, barriers and facilitators, and professional development activities undertaken in the past year. Surveys were posted to 218 PNs in one rural Division of General Practice (DGP) in Queensland, Australia; 29 responded. Results PNs reported a significant role in well and sick child care (93.1%) though few had a paediatric/child health background (14.3%). Roles included immunisations (92.3%), child health checks (65.4%), general child health and development (26.9%), asthma (23.1%), feeding (15.4%), fever (11.5%), settling/sleeping (11.5%). PNs were interested in learning more about (81.5%) and incorporating more child health into their practice (81.5%). Professional development in childhood growth and development (80.0%), health and illness (60.0%) and advising new mothers (20.0%) was needed. Conclusions PNs play a substantial role in child health, are unprepared for the complexities of this role and have preferred methods for undertaking professional development to address knowledge deficits. Implications for practice PNs are unprepared for an advanced role in child health and wellness. Significant gaps in their knowledge to support this role were identified. This ever-expanding role requires close monitoring to ensure knowledge precedes expectations to practice.

Projecting the impact of climate change on the transmission of Ross River virus : methodological challenges and research needs

Ross River virus (RRV) is the most common vector-borne disease in Australia. It is vitally important to make appropriate projections on the future spread of RRV under various climate change scenarios because such information is essential for policy-makers to identify vulnerable communities and to better manage RRV epidemics. However, there are many methodological challenges in projecting the impact of climate change on the transmission of RRV disease. This study critically examined the methodological issues and proposed possible solutions. A literature search was conducted between January and October 2012, using the electronic databases Medline, Web of Science and PubMed. Nineteen relevant papers were identified. These studies demonstrate that key challenges for projecting future climate change on RRV disease include: (1) a complex ecology (e.g. many mosquito vectors, immunity, heterogeneous in both time and space); (2) unclear interactions between social and environmental factors; and (3) uncertainty in climate change modelling and socioeconomic development scenarios. Future risk assessments of climate change will ultimately need to better understand the ecology of RRV disease and to integrate climate change scenarios with local socioeconomic and environmental factors, in order to develop effective adaptation strategies to prevent or reduce RRV transmission.

Projecting future transmission of malaria under climate change scenarios : challenges and research needs

There has been an intense debate about climatic impacts on the transmission of malaria. It is vitally important to accurately project future impacts of climate change on malaria to support effective policy–making and intervention activity concerning malaria control and prevention. This paper critically reviewed the published literature and examined both key findings and methodological issues in projecting future impacts of climate change on malaria transmission. A literature search was conducted using the electronic databases MEDLINE, Web of Science and PubMed. The projected impacts of climate change on malaria transmission were spatially heterogeneous and somewhat inconsistent. The variation in results may be explained by the interaction of climatic factors and malaria transmission cycles, variations in projection frameworks and uncertainties of future socioecological (including climate) changes. Current knowledge gaps are identified, future research directions are proposed and public health implications are assessed. Improving the understanding of the dynamic effects of climate on malaria transmission cycles, the advancement of modelling techniques and the incorporation of uncertainties in future socioecological changes are critical factors for projecting the impact of climate change on malaria transmission.

Mining specific features for acquiring user information needs

Term-based approaches can extract many features in text documents, but most include noise. Many popular text-mining strategies have been adapted to reduce noisy information from extracted features; however, text-mining techniques suffer from low frequency. The key issue is how to discover relevance features in text documents to fulfil user information needs. To address this issue, we propose a new method to extract specific features from user relevance feedback. The proposed approach includes two stages. The first stage extracts topics (or patterns) from text documents to focus on interesting topics. In the second stage, topics are deployed to lower level terms to address the low-frequency problem and find specific terms. The specific terms are determined based on their appearances in relevance feedback and their distribution in topics or high-level patterns. We test our proposed method with extensive experiments in the Reuters Corpus Volume 1 dataset and TREC topics. Results show that our proposed approach significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art models.

Conditions for Successful Reforms : Characteristics of the Organisation and Culture in Chinese Schools in a Global Context

Reforms to the basic education system in China have reflected an increasing awareness of and openness to new ideas from the global education sphere. Many of the concepts involved in the development and implementation of these reforms, including adopting holistic perspectives of student development; decentralising school governance to facilitate local decision-making to address local needs; and, an increased focus on practical, lifelong learning for all involved in schools, have been promoted in research and policies throughout the world. While working within this global context, the system of schooling in China has retained a unique character that is quite different from education in the West. Drawing on an international project on school transformation, this chapter aims to examine how five secondary schools in Chongqing, a municipality in Southwestern China, have harnessed and aligned their resources to provide effective school governance following the curriculum reforms. Furthermore, the chapter will examine the similarities and differences between the organisational structures and cultures of these schools in China and successful schools in Australia, England, Finland, Wales and the United States.

Creation of a new evaluation benchmark for information retrieval targeting patient information needs

Searching for health advice on the web is becoming increasingly common. Because of the great importance of this activity for patients and clinicians and the effect that incorrect information may have on health outcomes, it is critical to present relevant and valuable information to a searcher. Previous evaluation campaigns on health information retrieval (IR) have provided benchmarks that have been widely used to improve health IR and record these improvements. However, in general these benchmarks have targeted the specialised information needs of physicians and other healthcare workers. In this paper, we describe the development of a new collection for evaluation of effectiveness in IR seeking to satisfy the health information needs of patients. Our methodology features a novel way to create statements of patients’ information needs using realistic short queries associated with patient discharge summaries, which provide details of patient disorders. We adopt a scenario where the patient then creates a query to seek information relating to these disorders. Thus, discharge summaries provide us with a means to create contextually driven search statements, since they may include details on the stage of the disease, family history etc. The collection will be used for the first time as part of the ShARe/-CLEF 2013 eHealth Evaluation Lab, which focuses on natural language processing and IR for clinical care.

How stable is the well-being of Australian mothers who care for young children with special health care needs?

Ninety-seven percent of children who have special health care needs are cared for by their mothers. These mothers cite that their informal care work can be intrinsically rewarding, however, the role is not without substantial difficulties and consequences. We investigated differences in the health and well-being of mothers whose young children do and do not have special health care needs. Quantitative data are drawn from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. This study employs a matched-case control methodology to compare the experiences of a group of 292 mothers whose children are identified as having long term special health care needs to those mothers whose children are typically developing at two time points; Wave 1 (2004) and Wave 3 (2008). The findings support previous research that mothers of children with special health care needs have poorer general health and mental health than mothers whose children do not have special needs. Mothers of children with special health care needs also perceived life as more difficult. Longitudinally, this study also shows that maternal well-being remains relatively stable during the years when children are transitioning to formal schooling. Implications for policy makers, practitioners and early childhood professionals are discussed.

Using biomimicry to inform urban infrastructure design that addresses 21st century needs

The design of society’s major infrastructure systems are generally based on anthropogenic learnings and seldom encapsulate learning from nature. This results from a pervading attitude of superiority of human-designed systems, particularly since the Industrial Revolution. Problems created by such behaviours have previously not been thought to present a serious threat to humanity. However, many built environment professionals are now reconsidering the impact of such systems on the environment and their vulnerability to issues such as climate change. This paper presents an approach to delivering sustainable urban infrastructure that addresses 21st Century needs by emulating natural form, function and process - biomimicry – in infrastructure design. The analysis reveals the context for infrastructure change and the need for sustainable solutions, detailing the current inquiry into biomimicry informed design and highlighting potential applications from literature that demonstrate precedence for nature to inspire the design of urban infrastructure, in particular water and energy systems.

Critical care nurses' perceptions of their educational needs

A survey of nurses working in critical care units in 89 Queensland hospitals was conducted to investigate their perceptions of critical care nurses' educational needs. Two thirds of the 62 respondents were from rural units and one third were from metropolitan units. Most respondents, irrespective of geographic location, wanted critical care education to be located in hospitals and to be accredited as a graduate diploma course. Rural and metropolitan nurses had similar educational needs and many worked for hospitals that were not offering adequate orientation or inservice critical care education. The findings that nursing staff turnover was a problem in metropolitan units and that the rural workforce was more stable have implications for the development of educational programs.

An ICT Implementation Strategy for Primary Schools in Fiji

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been embraced with hope and optimism in both developing and developed countries. While in the developed countries most citizens have access to one or many of the devices which utilize this technology (e.g. desktop, laptop, tablet, mobile phone), in developing countries this “luxury” can only be afforded by a privileged few. The use of these technologies in primary schools in developing countries is low. This is due to the fact that there are other bigger issues that some of these countries have to grapple with such as meeting the basic health and education needs of its citizens. Quality primary education and global development partnerships are two of the eight Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations (UNDP, 2012). Many Governments, NGO’s, service organizations, and individuals in developing countries are always looking at ways in which the disparity (not just in terms of ICT) can be narrowed. There has to be a greater collaboration between stakeholders in developing and developed countries (Mutonyi & Norton, 2007). How do stakeholders from developed countries engage with partners in developing countries to deliver meaningful and relevant outcomes for primary school students using ICT? As a first step getting the key stakeholders on side is critical. In the Fijian context, schools are managed and run by committees who are members of the community. Therefore, getting the committee on side together with the head-teachers and teachers is critical. Conversations about teaching and learning with technology can then follow with greater ease. The sustainability of any innovative approaches is also an essential element of this equation. Through this lens, this chapter investigates how ICT can be implemented in primary schools in Fiji. It proposes a three-layered approach which focuses on: (1) the community, school leadership, and teachers; (2) content, pedagogy, and technology, and (3) sustainability.

Service encounter needs theory : a dyadic, psychosocial approach to understanding service encounters

Interactions between customers and service providers are ubiquitous. Some of these encounters are routine, but many are characterized by conflict and intense emotions. This chapter introduces a new theory, service encounter needs theory (SENT) that aims to elucidate the mechanisms through which service encounter behaviors affect outcomes for customers and employees. Evidence is presented for the preeminence within these encounters of eight psychosocial needs, and propositions are advanced regarding likely antecedents to fulfillment and violation of these needs. Emotional experiences and displays are viewed as important consequences of need fulfillment and violation, as are numerous cognitive, behavioral, and health-related outcomes.

Analysis of the needs of the East Coast cluster regional natural resource management bodies in relation to planning for climate change adaptation

The Climate Change Adaptation for Natural Resource Management (NRM) in East Coast Australia Project aims to foster and support an effective “community of practice” for climate change adaptation within the East Coast Cluster NRM regions that will increase the capacity for adaptation to climate change through enhancements in knowledge and skills and through the establishment of long‐term collaborations. It is being delivered by six consortium research partners: * The University of Queensland (project lead) * Griffith University * University of the Sunshine Coast * CSIRO * New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage * Queensland Department of Science, IT, Innovation and the Arts (Queensland Herbarium). The project relates to the East Coast Cluster, comprising the six coastal NRM regions and regional bodies between Rockhampton and Sydney: * Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA) * Burnett‐Mary Regional Group (BMRG) * SEQ Catchments (SEQC) * Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority (CMA) (NRCMA) * Hunter‐Central Rivers CMA (HCRCMA) * Hawkesbury Nepean CMA (HNCMA). The aims of this report are to summarise the needs of the regional bodies in relation to NRM planning for climate change adaptation, and provide a basis for developing the detailed work plan for the research consortium. Two primary methods were used to identify the needs of the regional bodies: (1) document analysis of the existing NRM/ Catchment Action Plans (CAPs) and applications by the regional bodies for funding under Stream 1 of the Regional NRM Planning for Climate Change Fund, and; (2) a needs analysis workshop, held in May 2013 involving representatives from the research consortium partners and the regional bodies. The East Coast Cluster includes five of the ten largest significant urban areas in Australia, world heritage listed natural environments, significant agriculture, mining and extensive grazing. The three NSW CMAs have recently completed strategic level CAPs, with implementation plans to be finalised in 2014/2015. SEQC and FBA are beginning a review of their existing NRM Plans, to be completed in 2014 and 2015 respectively; while BMRG is aiming to produce a NRM and Climate Variability Action Strategy. The regional bodies will receive funding from the Australian Government through the Regional NRM Planning for Climate Change Fund (NRM Fund) to improve regional planning for climate change and help guide the location of carbon and biodiversity activities, including wildlife corridors. The bulk of the funding will be available for activities in 2013/2014, with smaller amounts available in subsequent years. Most regional bodies aim to have a large proportion of the planning work complete by the end of 2014. In addition, NSW CMAs are undergoing major structural change and will be incorporated into semi‐autonomous statutory Local Land Services bodies from 2014. Boundaries will align with local government boundaries and there will be significant change in staff and structures. The regional bodies in the cluster have a varying degree of climate knowledge. All plans recognise climate change as a key driver of change, but there are few specific actions or targets addressing climate change. Regional bodies also have varying capacity to analyse large volumes of spatial or modelling data. Due to the complex nature of natural resource management, all regional bodies work with key stakeholders (e.g. local government, industry groups, and community groups) to deliver NRM outcomes. Regional bodies therefore require project outputs that can be used directly in stakeholder engagement activities, and are likely to require some form of capacity building associated with each of the outputs to maximise uptake. Some of the immediate needs of the regional bodies are a summary of information or tools that are able to be used immediately; and a summary of the key outputs and milestone dates for the project, to facilitate alignment of planning activities with research outputs. A project framework is useful to show the linkages between research elements and the relevance of the research to the adaptive management cycle for NRM planning in which the regional bodies are engaged. A draft framework is proposed to stimulate and promote discussion on research elements and linkages; this will be refined during and following the development of the detailed project work plan. The regional bodies strongly emphasised the need to incorporate a shift to a systems based resilience approach to NRM planning, and that approach is included in the framework. The regional bodies identified that information on climate projections would be most useful at regional and subregional scale, to feed into scenario planning and impact analysis. Outputs should be ‘engagement ready’ and there is a need for capacity building to enable regional bodies to understand and use the projections in stakeholder engagement. There was interest in understanding the impacts of climate change projections on ecosystems (e.g. ecosystem shift), and the consequent impacts on the production of ecosystem services. It was emphasised that any modelling should be able to be used by the regional bodies with their stakeholders to allow for community input (i.e. no black box models). The online regrowth benefits tool was of great interest to the regional bodies, as spatial mapping of carbon farming opportunities would be relevant to their funding requirements. The NSW CMAs identified an interest in development of the tool for NSW vegetation types. Needs relating to socio‐economic information included understanding the socio‐economic determinants of carbon farming uptake and managing community expectations. A need was also identified to understand the vulnerability of industry groups as well as community to climate change impacts, and in particular understanding how changes in the flow of ecosystem services would interact with the vulnerability of these groups to impact on the linked ecologicalsocio‐economic system. Responses to disasters (particularly flooding and storm surge) and recovery responses were also identified as being of interest. An ecosystem services framework was highlighted as a useful approach to synthesising biophysical and socioeconomic information in the context of a systems based, resilience approach to NRM planning. A need was identified to develop processes to move towards such an approach to NRM planning from the current asset management approach. Examples of best practice in incorporating climate science into planning, using scenarios for stakeholder engagement in planning and processes for institutionalising learning were also identified as cross‐cutting needs. The over‐arching theme identified was the need for capacity building for the NRM bodies to best use the information available at any point in time. To this end a planners working group has been established to support the building of a network of informed and articulate NRM agents with knowledge of current climate science and capacity to use current tools to engage stakeholders in NRM planning for climate change adaptation. The planners working group would form the core group of the community of practice, with the broader group of stakeholders participating when activities aligned with their interests. In this way, it is anticipated that the Project will contribute to building capacity within the wider community to effectively plan for climate change adaptation.

Accelerometer based performance assessment of basic routines in classical ballet

Classical ballet requires dancers to exercise significant muscle control and strength both while stationary and when moving. Following the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) syllabus, 8 male and 27 female dancers (aged 20.2 + 1.9 yr) in a fulltime university undergraduate dance training program were asked to stand in first position for 10 seconds and then perform 10 repeats of a demi-plié exercise to a counted rhythm. Accelerometer records from the wrist, sacrum, knee and ankle were compared with the numerical scores from a professional dance instructor. The sacrum mounted sensor detected lateral tilts of the torso in dances with lower scores (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient r = -0.64, p < 0.005). The RMS acceleration amplitude of wrist mounted sensor was linearly correlated to the movement scores (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient r = 0.63, p < 0.005). The application of sacrum and wrist mounted sensors for biofeedback during dance training is a realistic, low cost option.

Basic finance made accessible in Excel 2007 : "the big 5, plus 2"

The basic principles and equations are developed for elementary finance, based on the concept of compound interest. The five quantities of interest in such problems are present value, future value, amount of periodic payment, number of periods and the rate of interest per period. We consider three distinct means of computing each of these five quantities in Excel 2007: (i) use of algebraic equations, (ii) by recursive schedule and the Goal Seek facility, and (iii) use of Excel's intrinsic financial functions. The paper is intended to be used as the basis for a lesson plan and contains many examples and solved problems. Comment is made regarding the relative difficulty of each approach, and a prominent theme is the systematic use of more than one method to increase student understanding and build confidence in the answer obtained. Full instructions to build each type of model are given and a complete set of examples and solutions may be downloaded (Examples.xlsx and Solutions.xlsx).

Teaching basic finance with Excel, and without pain

The five quantities of interest in elementary finance problems are present value, future value, amount of periodic payment, number of periods and the rate of compound interest per period. A recursive approach to computing each of these five quantities in a modern version of Excel, for the case of ordinary annuities, is described. The aim is to increase student understanding and build confidence in the answer obtained, and this may be achieved with only linear relationships and in cases where student knowledge of algebra is essentially zero. Annuity problems may be solved without use of logarithms and black-box intrinsic functions; these being used only as check mechanisms. The author has had success with the method at Bond University and surrounding high schools in Queensland, Australia.