Getting there, being there, staying and belonging: a case study of two indigenous Australian children’s transition to school

Indigenous Australians are among the most unhealthy populations in the world and yet they reside in a country where the non-Indigenous population enjoys high standards of well-being. Education has been identified as the key mechanism for closing this equity gap. At school commencement many Indigenous children are already at risk of disengagement. This four-year longitudinal study of two Indigenous boys from a socially marginalised community examined key factors affecting transitional trajectories into school. While child characteristics affected level of achievement the critical factors in sustaining positive educational engagement were social support, school practices, inclusion of family and positive expectation.

Strain engineering of selective chemical adsorption on monolayer MoS2

Nanomaterials are prone to influence by chemical adsorption because of their large surface to volume ratios. This enables sensitive detection of adsorbed chemical species which, in turn, can tune the property of the host material. Recent studies discovered that single and multi-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) films are ultra-sensitive to several important environmental molecules. Here we report new findings from ab inito calculations that reveal substantially enhanced adsorption of NO and NH3 on strained monolayer MoS2 with significant impact on the properties of the adsorbates and the MoS2 layer. The magnetic moment of adsorbed NO can be tuned between 0 and 1 μB; strain also induces an electronic phase transition between half-metal and metal. Adsorption of NH3 weakens the MoS2 layer considerably, which explains the large discrepancy between the experimentally measured strength and breaking strain of MoS2 films and previous theoretical predictions. On the other hand, adsorption of NO2, CO, and CO2 is insensitive to the strain condition in the MoS2 layer. This contrasting behavior allows sensitive strain engineering of selective chemical adsorption on MoS2 with effective tuning of mechanical, electronic, and magnetic properties. These results suggest new design strategies for constructing MoS2-based ultrahigh-sensitivity nanoscale sensors and electromechanical devices.

Bonding and bridging : transition to school and social capital formation among a community of Indigenous Australian children

This study reports on an intervention program designed to facilitate transition to school of a whole community of Indigenous Australian children who had previously not been attending. The children were from families displaced from their traditional lands and experienced on-going social marginalisation and transience. A social capital framework was employed to track change in the children’s social inclusion and family-school engagement for two years, from school entry. Sociometric measurement and interview techniques were applied to assess the children’s social connectedness and peer relationship quality. Using these data, analyses examined whether bonding within the group supported or inhibited formation of new social relationships. Although transience disrupted attendance, there was a group trend towards increased social inclusion with some evidence that group bonds supported bridging to new social relationships. Change in family-school engagement was tracked using multi-informant interviews. Limited engagement between school and families presented an on-going challenge to sustained educational engagement.

The importance of agency in facilitating the transition to a multifunctional countryside

We appreciate Holmes' body of work relating to transitions within the Australian landscape, and welcome the opportunity to engage in a discussion on this topic. The paper to which Holmes refers (Bjørkhaug and Richards, 2008) examined the application of agricultural (rather than landscape) multifunctionality in both Norway and Australia. Of specific focus was how non-tradeable concerns, such as environmental sustainability, faired under these divergent systems. We argued that Norway's multifunctionality was strong, due to it being embraced at both the policy and actor level, whereas Australia's could be described as weak. This ‘weak multifunctionality’ that we observed in Australia was due to an emerging bi-lateral (state and federal) policy framework that advocated the importance of environmental values which was rarely embraced by landholders who found themselves trapped on the ‘agricultural treadmill’. The nature of the treadmill is that alternative forms of land use are unthinkable when on-farm investments have been made that support the status quo – to get bigger and/or more efficient. For many of the Australian landholders interviewed in relation to this study, efficiency in production was at odds with the values necessary to effect a transition toward multifunctionality. For instance, graziers in Central Queensland were unconvinced of the value of conserving native flora and fauna when economic viability can be better assured through clear felling native forests to increase the productive capacity of the land.

Direct Observation of Photodissociation Products from Phenylperoxyl Radicals Isolated in the Gas Phase

Gas phase peroxyl radicals are central to our chemical understanding of combustion and atmospheric processes and are typically characterized by strong absorption in the UV (lambda(max) approximate to 240 nm). The analogous maximum absorption feature for arylperoxyl radicals is predicted to shift to the visible but has not previously been characterized nor have any photoproducts arising from this transition been identified. Here we describe the controlled synthesis and isolation in vacuo of an array of charge-substituted phenylperoxyl radicals at room temperature, including the 4-(N,N,N-trimethylammonium)methyl phenylperoxyl radical cation (4-Me3N[+]CH2-C6H4OO center dot), using linear ion-trap mass spectrometry. Photodissociation mass spectra obtained at wavelengths ranging from 310 to 500 nm reveal two major photoproduct channels corresponding to homolysis of aryl-OO and arylO-O bonds resulting in loss of O-2 and O, respectively. Combining the photodissociation yields across this spectral window produces a broad (FWHM approximate to 60 nm) but clearly resolved feature centered at lambda(max) = 403 nm (3.08 eV). The influence of the charge-tag identity and its proximity to the radical site are investigated and demonstrate no effect on the identity of the two dominant photoproduct channels. Electronic structure calculations have located the vertical (B) over tilde <- (X) over tilde transition of these substituted phenylperoxyl radicals within the experimental uncertainty and further predict the analogous transition for unsubstituted phenylperoxyl radical (C6H5OO center dot) to be 457 nm (2.71 eV), nearly 45 nm shorter than previous estimates and in good agreement with recent computational values.

Pockets of Change : Adaptation and Cultural Transition

Pockets of Change collects fourteen essays that address issues of cultural adaptation and transition in the Arts. Based on insights into a range of primary texts and cultural practices—from visual art to film, from literature to theatre—these essays investigate the ways in which traditions, art-forms, cultures and ethics adapt to challenge established boundaries.

Investigation on Temperature-Dependent Electrical Conductivity of Carbon Nanotube/Epoxy Composites for Sustainable Energy Applications

Composites with carbon nanotubes are becoming increasingly used in energy storage and electronic devices, due to incorporated excellent properties from carbon nanotubes and polymers. Although their properties make them more attractive than conventional smart materials, their electrical properties are found to be temperature-dependent which is important to consider for the design of devices. To study the effects of temperature in electrically conductive multi-wall carbon nanotube/epoxy composites, thin films were prepared and the effect of temperature on the resistivity, thermal properties and Raman spectral characteristics of the composite films was evaluated. Resistivity-temperature profiles showed three distinct regions in as-cured samples and only two regions in samples whose thermal histories had been erased. In the vicinity of the glass transition temperature, the as-cured composites exhibited pronounced resistivity and enthalpic relaxation peaks, which both disappeared after erasing the composites’ thermal histories by temperature cycling. Combined DSC, Raman spectroscopy, and resistivity-temperature analyses indicated that this phenomenon can be attributed to the physical aging of the epoxy matrix and that, in the region of the observed thermal history-dependent resistivity peaks, structural rearrangement of the conductive carbon nanotube network occurs through a volume expansion/relaxation process. These results have led to an overall greater understanding of the temperature-dependent behaviour of conductive carbon nanotube/epoxy composites, including the positive temperature coefficient effect.

Automatic de-identification of electronic health records : an Australian perspective

We present an approach to automatically de-identify health records. In our approach, personal health information is identified using a Conditional Random Fields machine learning classifier, a large set of linguistic and lexical features, and pattern matching techniques. Identified personal information is then removed from the reports. The de-identification of personal health information is fundamental for the sharing and secondary use of electronic health records, for example for data mining and disease monitoring. The effectiveness of our approach is first evaluated on the 2007 i2b2 Shared Task dataset, a widely adopted dataset for evaluating de-identification techniques. Subsequently, we investigate the robustness of the approach to limited training data; we study its effectiveness on different type and quality of data by evaluating the approach on scanned pathology reports from an Australian institution. This data contains optical character recognition errors, as well as linguistic conventions that differ from those contained in the i2b2 dataset, for example different date formats. The findings suggest that our approach compares to the best approach from the 2007 i2b2 Shared Task; in addition, the approach is found to be robust to variations of training size, data type and quality in presence of sufficient training data.

PCCP does exist

Neutral and cationic \[C-2,P-2] were investigated by a combination of mass spectrometry and electronic structure calculations. The cationic \[C-2,P-2](.+) potential energy surface including all relevant minima, transition states and fragmentation products was calculated at the B3LYP/6-311G(3df) level of theory. The most stable structures are linear PCCP.+ 1(.+) (E-rel=0 kcal mol(-1)), a three-membered ring with exocyclic phosphorus c-(PCC)-P 2(.+) (E-rel = 40.8 kcal mol(-1)), and the rhombic isomer 3(.+) (E-rel = 24.9 kcal mol(-1)). All fragmentation channels are significantly higher in energy than any of the \[C-2,P-2](.+) isomers. Experimentally, \[C-2,P-2](.+) ions are generated under high vacuum conditions by electron ionization of two different precursors. The fragmentation of \[C-2,P-2](.+) on collisional activation is preceded by rearrangement reactions which obscure the structural connectivity of the ions. The existence and the high stability of neutral \[C-2,P-2] were proved by a neutralization-reionization (NR) experiment. Although an unambiguous structural assignment of the neutral species cannot be drawn, both theory and experiment suggest that the long-sought neutral, linear PCCP 1 is generated using the NR technique.

Mentoring : improving transition to practice

Nurse graduates indicate the transition from student of nursing to registered nurse (RN) is a difficult conversion. This impending change of role and accompanying higher expectations placed upon newly graduating RNs causes concern for students as their Bachelor of Nursing program nears completion. A career mentor scheme is suggested as a way to better prepare final year students for this transition. Evaluations indicate the positive impact the scheme has made on both mentors and mentees as it has enhanced their career development.

Career mentoring : a career development-enhancing strategy for university students in transition to employment

In 1992 the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Convocation initiated the Mentor Scheme to assist students to better prepare for the transition to employment. The scheme has developed over the past six years and in 1998 more than 130 pairs of employers and students from 12 different disciplines participated in it. Evaluations indicate the positive impact the scheme has made on both mentors and mentees, particularly in enhancing mentees' career development.

Teacher understandings of orientation and transition programs from action research in five schools

Discontinuity between prior-to-school and school sectors in Australia reflects an historical, philosophical and pedagogical schism. This is most evident as children transition from one sector to the other. However, contemporary international research, alongside an intensive focus on policy and practice in early years education has challenged many of the taken-for-granted assumptions that perpetuate this rift. Drawing on data collected in a recent action research project, we present evidence of how a group of primary school kindergarten teachers define differences between orientation and transition programs, understand the importance of transition and how they position themselves in this process. The absence of Australian policy mandating and guiding the work of teachers across sectors is a significant factor perpetuating discontinuity in transition practices between prior–to-school and school sectors.