Neural differentiation potential of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells: misleading marker gene expression

Background In contrast to pluripotent embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells have been considered to be multipotent, being somewhat more restricted in their differentiation capacity and only giving rise to cell types related to their tissue of origin. Several studies, however, have reported that bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are capable of transdifferentiating to neural cell types, effectively crossing normal lineage restriction boundaries. Such reports have been based on the detection of neural-related proteins by the differentiated MSCs. In order to assess the potential of human adult MSCs to undergo true differentiation to a neural lineage and to determine the degree of homogeneity between donor samples, we have used RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry to investigate the basal expression of a range of neural related mRNAs and proteins in populations of non-differentiated MSCs obtained from 4 donors. Results The expression analysis revealed that several of the commonly used marker genes from other studies like nestin, Enolase2 and microtubule associated protein 1b (MAP1b) are already expressed by undifferentiated human MSCs. Furthermore, mRNA for some of the neural-related transcription factors, e.g. Engrailed-1 and Nurr1 were also strongly expressed. However, several other neural-related mRNAs (e.g. DRD2, enolase2, NFL and MBP) could be identified, but not in all donor samples. Similarly, synaptic vesicle-related mRNA, STX1A could only be detected in 2 of the 4 undifferentiated donor hMSC samples. More significantly, each donor sample revealed a unique expression pattern, demonstrating a significant variation of marker expression. Conclusion The present study highlights the existence of an inter-donor variability of expression of neural-related markers in human MSC samples that has not previously been described. This donor-related heterogeneity might influence the reproducibility of transdifferentiation protocols as well as contributing to the ongoing controversy about differentiation capacities of MSCs. Therefore, further studies need to consider the differences between donor samples prior to any treatment as well as the possibility of harvesting donor cells that may be inappropriate for transplantation strategies.

Writing the self : the emergence of a dialogic space

While much narrative inquiry is concerned with issues of self and identity, doing study on the processes (the how) of self-making offers ongoing challenges to methodology. This article explores the creation of a dialogic space that assisted young adolescents to write about themselves and their daily lives using email journals as an alternative to face-to-face interviews. With the researcher acting as a listener-responder, and in the absence of researcher-designed questions, a dynamic field was opened up for participant-led self-making to emerge over a six month period of self-reflective written expression. The article describes a shared email relationship based on a dialogic pattern of thinking, writing, listening and response intended to foster participants’ voices as ontological narratives of self. Findings show the use of email journals created a synergy for self-disclosure and a safe space for self-expression where the willingness of participants to be themselves was encouraged. The self-representations of a specific group of gifted young adolescents thus emerged as written versions of “who” they are —offering data that differs from interview approaches and contributing to discussion of the value of ontology narratives.

Unravelling design : fashion, dressmaking, ethos

Discourses on ethical fashion are usually geared toward finding solutions—or right outcomes—to ethical problems, based on a teleological model of design and a positioning of the designer as an autonomous and isolated design authority. This practice-led project argues, however, that considerations of design ethics must take into account not only the outcome of a design, but also the ongoing, lived experience of designing as a making located in pre-existing social, historical and cultural conditions. Through an exploration of my own dressmaking practice and a reading of ethos as location, I argue for two things: one, for the designer as a located entity rather than an autonomous "author", and, two, against design-asplan and the original design object, and for the circular and conditioned character of design. Through a connection to ethos, understandings of design ethics shift from an end object focus to something situated, and invested in, everyday lived experience—and always in the making.

AskNow Instant Messaging: innovation in virtual reference

In late 2006, the National Library of Australia implemented a trial Instant Messaging service that ran in parallel with the AskNow chat reference service for a six month period. The trial was a resounding success, proving both a demand for an IM service and the suitability of the medium for reference service provision in a collaborative environment. The trial also allowed the collection of a significant body of data on user expectations, librarian experience and the nature of enquiries. This article begins by introducing the concept of IM and discusses the impetus for its use as a channel for reference service provision. It presents and analyses data collected from user surveys, session transcripts, usage statistics, staff surveys and other staff feedback mechanisms, and explores the issues arising from the data analysis. The article concludes by discussing the IM system architecture that the NLA is currently developing, which will allow the Library to move forward with an ongoing IM service.

Negotiation 2.0 in the twitter age : using Web 2.0 applications to facilitate successful negotiation outcomes

The high-pressure, cross-cultural, cross-factional and frequently cross-national nature of contemporary negotiation means that there are a number of clements potentially hampering efforts to achieve successful negotiation outcomes from face-to-face interactions. These hindrances include: resource scarcity (for example, finances, technology and facilities), time scarcity, geographical separation, lack of a COnl1110n language and an inability to Inaintain a consistent ongoing dialogue.

Not for profit income tax exemption : is there a hole in the bucket, dear Henry?

Australia’s Future Tax System Review, headed by the then head of the Australian Treasury, and the Productivity Commission’s Research Report on the not for profit sector, both examined the state of tax concessions to Australia’s not for profit sector in the light of the High Court’s decision in Commissioner of Taxation v Word Investments Ltd. Despite being unable to quantify with any certainty the pre- or post-Word Investments cost of the tax concessions, both Reports indicated their support for continuation of the income tax exemption. However, the government acted in the 2011 Budget to target the not for profit income tax concessions more precisely, mainly on competitive neutrality grounds. This article examines the income tax exemption by applying the five taxation design principles, proposed in the Australia’s Future Tax System Review, for assessing tax expenditure. The conclusion is that the exemptions can be justified and, further, that a rationale for the exemption can be consistent with the reasoning in the Word Investments case.

Bio-diverse-city: Elastic Urbanism

Bio-diverse-city was a group exhibition curated by Barry Fitzpatrick, showcasing different approaches to designing for resilient and sustainable futures. Elastic urbanism was exhibited within the framework of artworks exploring the different solutions to designing for the future. A design proposition for new models of sustainable and ecological urban growth structured around natural water and infrastructure. The project integrates four different modelling techniques and is developing an alternative system for predicting the impact of urban growth in the future. The design proposition and exhibition is part of an ongoing research project.

Tensions in developing a secure collective information practice : the case of Agile Ridesharing

Many current HCI, social networking, ubiquitous computing, and context aware designs, in order for the design to function, have access to, or collect, significant personal information about the user. This raises concerns about privacy and security, in both the research community and main-stream media. From a practical perspective, in the social world, secrecy and security form an ongoing accomplishment rather than something that is set up and left alone. We explore how design can support privacy as practical action, and investigate the notion of collective information-practice of privacy and security concerns of participants of a mobile, social software for ride sharing. This paper contributes an understanding of HCI security and privacy tensions, discovered while “designing in use” using a Reflective, Agile, Iterative Design (RAID) method.

An exploration of the role of web and mobile social media in the implementation of e-Government in Malaysia

This paper reports on an exploratory study of the role of web and social media in e-governments, especially in the context of Malaysia, with some comparisons and contrasts from other countries where such governmental efforts have been underway for awhile. It describes the current e-government efforts in Malaysia, and proposes that applying a theoretical framework would help understand the context and streamline these ongoing efforts. Specifically, it lays out a theoretical and cultural framework based on Mary Douglas’ (1996) Grid-Group Theory, Mircea Georgescu’s (2005) Three Pillars of E-Government, and Gerald Grant’s and Derek Chau’s (2006) Generic Framework for E-Government. Although this study is in its early stages, it has relevance to everyone who is interested in e-government efforts across the world, and especially relevant to developing countries.

The social orders of family mealtime

This study examined the everyday practices of families within the context of family mealtime to investigate how members accomplished mealtime interactions. Using an ethnomethodological approach, conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis, the study investigated the interactional resources that family members used to assemble their social orders moment by moment during family mealtimes. While there is interest in mealtimes within educational policy, health research and the media, there remain few studies that provide fine-grained detail about how members produce the social activity of having a family meal. Findings from this study contribute empirical understandings about families and family mealtime. Two families with children aged 2 to 10 years were observed as they accomplished their everyday mealtime activities. Data collection took place in the family homes where family members video recorded their naturally occurring mealtimes. Each family was provided with a video camera for a one-month period and they decided which mealtimes they recorded, a method that afforded participants greater agency in the data collection process and made available to the analyst a window into the unfolding of the everyday lives of the families. A total of 14 mealtimes across the two families were recorded, capturing 347 minutes of mealtime interactions. Selected episodes from the data corpus, which includes centralised breakfast and dinnertime episodes, were transcribed using the Jeffersonian system. Three data chapters examine extended sequences of family talk at mealtimes, to show the interactional resources used by members during mealtime interactions. The first data chapter explores multiparty talk to show how the uniqueness of the occasion of having a meal influences turn design. It investigates the ways in which members accomplish two-party talk within a multiparty setting, showing how one child "tells" a funny story to accomplish the drawing together of his brothers as an audience. As well, this chapter identifies the interactional resources used by the mother to cohort her children to accomplish the choralling of grace. The second data chapter draws on sequential and categorical analysis to show how members are mapped to a locally produced membership category. The chapter shows how the mapping of members into particular categories is consequential for social order; for example, aligning members who belong to the membership category "had haircuts" and keeping out those who "did not have haircuts". Additional interactional resources such as echoing, used here to refer to the use of exactly the same words, similar prosody and physical action, and increasing physical closeness, are identified as important to the unfolding talk particularly as a way of accomplishing alignment between the grandmother and grand-daughter. The third and final data analysis chapter examines topical talk during family mealtimes. It explicates how members introduce topics of talk with an orientation to their co-participant and the way in which the take up of a topic is influenced both by the sequential environment in which it is introduced and the sensitivity of the topic. Together, these three data chapters show aspects of how family members participated in family mealtimes. The study contributes four substantive themes that emerged during the analytic process and, as such, the themes reflect what the members were observed to be doing. The first theme identified how family knowledge was relevant and consequential for initiating and sustaining interaction during mealtime with, for example, members buying into the talk of other members or being requested to help out with knowledge about a shared experience. Knowledge about members and their activities was evident with the design of questions evidencing an orientation to coparticipant’s knowledge. The second theme found how members used topic as a resource for social interaction. The third theme concerned the way in which members utilised membership categories for producing and making sense of social action. The fourth theme, evident across all episodes selected for analysis, showed how children’s competence is an ongoing interactional accomplishment as they manipulated interactional resources to manage their participation in family mealtime. The way in which children initiated interactions challenges previous understandings about children’s restricted rights as conversationalists. As well as making a theoretical contribution, the study offers methodological insight by working with families as research participants. The study shows the procedures involved as the study moved from one where the researcher undertook the decisions about what to videorecord to offering this decision making to the families, who chose when and what to videorecord of their mealtime practices. Evident also are the ways in which participants orient both to the video-camera and to the absent researcher. For the duration of the mealtime the video-camera was positioned by the adults as out of bounds to the children; however, it was offered as a "treat" to view after the mealtime was recorded. While situated within family mealtimes and reporting on the experiences of two families, this study illuminates how mealtimes are not just about food and eating; they are social. The study showed the constant and complex work of establishing and maintaining social orders and the rich array of interactional resources that members draw on during family mealtimes. The family’s interactions involved members contributing to building the social orders of family mealtime. With mealtimes occurring in institutional settings involving young children, such as long day care centres and kindergartens, the findings of this study may help educators working with young children to see the rich interactional opportunities mealtimes afford children, the interactional competence that children demonstrate during mealtimes, and the important role/s that adults may assume as co-participants in interactions with children within institutional settings.

Professional growth through working together : a study of reciprocal benefits for teacher and education advisor through classroom based professional development

Teacher professional development provided by education advisors as one-off, centrally offered sessions does not always result in change in teacher knowledge, beliefs, attitudes or practice in the classroom. As the mathematics education advisor in this study, I set out to investigate a particular method of professional development so as to influence change in a practising classroom teacher’s knowledge and practices. The particular method of professional development utilised in this study was based on several principles of effective teacher professional development and saw me working regularly in a classroom with the classroom teacher as well as providing ongoing support for her for a full school year. The intention was to document the effects of this particular method of professional development in terms of the classroom teacher’s and my professional growth to provide insights for others working as education advisors. The professional development for the classroom teacher consisted of two components. The first was the co-operative development and implementation of a mental computation instructional program for the Year 3 class. The second component was the provision of ongoing support for the classroom teacher by the education advisor. The design of the professional development and the mental computation instructional program were progressively refined throughout the year. The education advisor fulfilled multiple roles in the study as teacher in the classroom, teacher educator working with the classroom teacher and researcher. Examples of the professional growth of the classroom teacher and the education advisor which occurred as sequences of changes (growth networks, Hollingsworth, 1999) in the domains of the professional world of the classroom teacher and education advisor were drawn from the large body of data collected through regular face-to-face and email communications between the classroom teacher and the education advisor as well as from transcripts of a structured interview. The Interconnected Model of Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002; Hollingsworth, 1999) was used to summarise and represent each example of the classroom teacher’s professional growth. A modified version of this model was used to summarise and represent the professional growth of the education advisor. This study confirmed that the method of professional development utilised could lead to significant teacher professional growth related directly to her work in the classroom. Using the Interconnected Model of Professional Growth to summarise and represent the classroom teacher’s professional growth and the modified version for my professional growth assisted with the recognition of examples of how we both changed. This model has potential to be used more widely by education advisors when preparing, implementing, evaluating and following-up on planned teacher professional development activities. The mental computation instructional program developed and trialled in the study was shown to be a successful way of sequencing and managing the teaching of mental computation strategies and related number sense understandings to Year 3 students. This study was conducted in one classroom, with one teacher in one school. The strength of this study was the depth of teacher support provided made possible by the particular method of the professional development, and the depth of analysis of the process. In another school, or with another teacher, this might not have been as successful. While I set out to change my practice as an education advisor I did not expect the depth of learning I experienced in terms of my knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and practices as an educator of teachers. This study has changed the way in which I plan to work as an education advisor in the future.

Reflections around artefacts - using a deliberative approach to teaching reflective practices in fashion

The importance of reflection in higher education, and across disciplinary fields is widely recognised; it is generally included in university graduate attributes, professional standards and program objectives. Furthermore, reflection is commonly embedded into assessment requirements in higher education subjects, often without necessary scaffolding or clear expectations for students. Despite the rhetoric around the importance of reflection for ongoing learning, there is scant literature on any systematic, developmental approach to teaching reflective learning across higher education programs/courses. Given that professional or academic reflection is not intuitive, and requires specific pedagogic intervention to do well, a program/course-wide approach is essential. Over the last 18 months, teaching staff from five QUT faculties: Business, Creative Industries, Education, Health and Law, have been involved in an ALTC-funded project to develop a systematic, cross-faculty approach to teaching and assessing reflection in higher education. This forum will present a reflective model that staff have used in their teaching and they will also share their ideas and approaches to reflective teaching and assessment with colleagues from QUT and other universities. A poster format will enable forum participants to talk informally with the presenters about how the approaches and resources they have developed for units have contributed to the development of the reflective model which can be applied across faculties. Participants will also be able to explore the web resources which have been developed as part of the project.

Validating the is-impact model in the Malaysian public sector

This research is one of several ongoing studies conducted within the IT Professional Services (ITPS) research programme at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). In 2003, ITPS introduced the IS-Impact model, a measurement model for measuring information systems success from the viewpoint of multiple stakeholders. The model, along with its instrument, is robust, simple, yet generalisable, and yields results that are comparable across time, stakeholders, different systems and system contexts. The IS-Impact model is defined as “a measure at a point in time, of the stream of net benefits from the Information System (IS), to date and anticipated, as perceived by all key-user-groups”. The model represents four dimensions, which are ‘Individual Impact’, ‘Organizational Impact’, ‘Information Quality’ and ‘System Quality’. The two Impact dimensions measure the up-to-date impact of the evaluated system, while the remaining two Quality dimensions act as proxies for probable future impacts (Gable, Sedera & Chan, 2008). To fulfil the goal of ITPS, “to develop the most widely employed model” this research re-validates and extends the IS-Impact model in a new context. This method/context-extension research aims to test the generalisability of the model by addressing known limitations of the model. One of the limitations of the model relates to the extent of external validity of the model. In order to gain wide acceptance, a model should be consistent and work well in different contexts. The IS-Impact model, however, was only validated in the Australian context, and packaged software was chosen as the IS understudy. Thus, this study is concerned with whether the model can be applied in another different context. Aiming for a robust and standardised measurement model that can be used across different contexts, this research re-validates and extends the IS-Impact model and its instrument to public sector organisations in Malaysia. The overarching research question (managerial question) of this research is “How can public sector organisations in Malaysia measure the impact of information systems systematically and effectively?” With two main objectives, the managerial question is broken down into two specific research questions. The first research question addresses the applicability (relevance) of the dimensions and measures of the IS-Impact model in the Malaysian context. Moreover, this research question addresses the completeness of the model in the new context. Initially, this research assumes that the dimensions and measures of the IS-Impact model are sufficient for the new context. However, some IS researchers suggest that the selection of measures needs to be done purposely for different contextual settings (DeLone & McLean, 1992, Rai, Lang & Welker, 2002). Thus, the first research question is as follows, “Is the IS-Impact model complete for measuring the impact of IS in Malaysian public sector organisations?” [RQ1]. The IS-Impact model is a multidimensional model that consists of four dimensions or constructs. Each dimension is represented by formative measures or indicators. Formative measures are known as composite variables because these measures make up or form the construct, or, in this case, the dimension in the IS-Impact model. These formative measures define different aspects of the dimension, thus, a measurement model of this kind needs to be tested not just on the structural relationship between the constructs but also the validity of each measure. In a previous study, the IS-Impact model was validated using formative validation techniques, as proposed in the literature (i.e., Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer, 2001, Diamantopoulos and Siguaw, 2006, Petter, Straub and Rai, 2007). However, there is potential for improving the validation testing of the model by adding more criterion or dependent variables. This includes identifying a consequence of the IS-Impact construct for the purpose of validation. Moreover, a different approach is employed in this research, whereby the validity of the model is tested using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method, a component-based structural equation modelling (SEM) technique. Thus, the second research question addresses the construct validation of the IS-Impact model; “Is the IS-Impact model valid as a multidimensional formative construct?” [RQ2]. This study employs two rounds of surveys, each having a different and specific aim. The first is qualitative and exploratory, aiming to investigate the applicability and sufficiency of the IS-Impact dimensions and measures in the new context. This survey was conducted in a state government in Malaysia. A total of 77 valid responses were received, yielding 278 impact statements. The results from the qualitative analysis demonstrate the applicability of most of the IS-Impact measures. The analysis also shows a significant new measure having emerged from the context. This new measure was added as one of the System Quality measures. The second survey is a quantitative survey that aims to operationalise the measures identified from the qualitative analysis and rigorously validate the model. This survey was conducted in four state governments (including the state government that was involved in the first survey). A total of 254 valid responses were used in the data analysis. Data was analysed using structural equation modelling techniques, following the guidelines for formative construct validation, to test the validity and reliability of the constructs in the model. This study is the first research that extends the complete IS-Impact model in a new context that is different in terms of nationality, language and the type of information system (IS). The main contribution of this research is to present a comprehensive, up-to-date IS-Impact model, which has been validated in the new context. The study has accomplished its purpose of testing the generalisability of the IS-Impact model and continuing the IS evaluation research by extending it in the Malaysian context. A further contribution is a validated Malaysian language IS-Impact measurement instrument. It is hoped that the validated Malaysian IS-Impact instrument will encourage related IS research in Malaysia, and that the demonstrated model validity and generalisability will encourage a cumulative tradition of research previously not possible. The study entailed several methodological improvements on prior work, including: (1) new criterion measures for the overall IS-Impact construct employed in ‘identification through measurement relations’; (2) a stronger, multi-item ‘Satisfaction’ construct, employed in ‘identification through structural relations’; (3) an alternative version of the main survey instrument in which items are randomized (rather than blocked) for comparison with the main survey data, in attention to possible common method variance (no significant differences between these two survey instruments were observed); (4) demonstrates a validation process of formative indexes of a multidimensional, second-order construct (existing examples mostly involved unidimensional constructs); (5) testing the presence of suppressor effects that influence the significance of some measures and dimensions in the model; and (6) demonstrates the effect of an imbalanced number of measures within a construct to the contribution power of each dimension in a multidimensional model.

Top Ten Box Office Blockbusters of All Time

‘Top Ten Box Office Blockbusters in Dollars’, is an ongoing series of works that represent the production budgets and worldwide gross profits of the top ten grossing films of all time. By displaying this data on top of the full running time of each blockbuster, the viewer’s attention is drawn back and forth between the amassing dollar figures, and the original film’s highly polished presentation. In doing so, the work aims to provide a new opportunity to enjoy these immensely popular films with a new sense of value. The exhibition was selected for the Artistic Program at MetroArts, Brisbane in 2010

Safety culture research in the construction sector : interlocked projects in safety competency and safety effectiveness indicators

Safety culture is a concept that has long been accepted in high risk industries such as aviation, nuclear industries and mining, however, considerable research is now being undertaken within the construction sector, with varying levels of success. The current paper discusses three recent interlocked projects that have had some success in the Australian construction industry. The first project examined the development and implementation of a safety competency framework targeted at safety critical positions across first tier construction organisations. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, the project: developed a matrix of safety critical positions (n=11) and safety managements tasks (SMTs; n=39); mapped the process steps for their acquisition and ongoing development; detailed the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for all SMTs; and outlined organisational cultural outcomes that could be anticipated in a successful implementation of the framework. The second project extended research on safety competency and leadership to develop behavioural guidelines for leaders to drive safety culture change down to second tier companies. This was designed to assist smaller construction companies to customise their own competency framework and develop implementation guidelines that match their aspirations and resources. The third interlocked project explored the use of safety effectiveness indicators (SEIs) as an industry-relevant assessment tool for reducing risk on construction sites. With direct linkages to safety competencies and safety management tasks, the SEIs are the next step towards an integrated safety cultural approach to safety and extend the concept of positive performance indicators (PPIs) by providing a valid, reliable, and user friendly measurement platform. Taken together, the results of the interlocked projects suggest that safety culture research has many potential benefits for the construction industry, particularly when research is conducted in partnership with industry stakeholders. Suggestions are made for future research, including further application and testing of the safety competency framework and aligning SEIs across construction projects of varying size, location and design.