St Barnabas abuse allegations build up

MORE victims have made child-sex allegations against senior Anglican clergymen at a shut-down north Queensland boarding school, as church officials confirmed they had sat on a 2004 report about complaints from Britain into one of the suspected serial abusers. Former students Mark McClintock and Greg Shaw have this week come forward with allegations against Robert Waddington, headmaster at St Barnabas boarding school, in Ravenshoe southwest of Cairns, in the 1960s. Waddington later returned to Britain and rose to become head of education for the Church of England and Dean of Manchester. Another former student at St Barnabas, who does not want to be named, also contacted The Weekend Australian with allegations of abuse in the 60s by former Anglican brother Peter Gilbert, who was hired by Waddington and jailed in 2006 for child-sex offences in South Australia.

Regulatory compliance as a means to achieve environmental sustainability at some large coastal developments in Queensland

The growing public concern about the complexity, cost and uncertain efficacy of the statuary environmental impact assessment process applying to large-scale projects in Queensland is reviewed. This is based on field data gathered over the past six years sat large-scale marina developments that access major environmental reserves along the coast. An ecological design proposal to broaden the process consisted with both government aspirations and regional ecological parameters - termed Regional Landscape Strategies - would allow the existing Environmental Impact Asessment to be modified alone potentially more practicable and effective lines.

A tale of two solvers: Eager and lazy approaches to bit-vectors

The standard method for deciding bit-vector constraints is via eager reduction to propositional logic. This is usually done after first applying powerful rewrite techniques. While often efficient in practice, this method does not scale on problems for which top-level rewrites cannot reduce the problem size sufficiently. A lazy solver can target such problems by doing many satisfiability checks, each of which only reasons about a small subset of the problem. In addition, the lazy approach enables a wide range of optimization techniques that are not available to the eager approach. In this paper we describe the architecture and features of our lazy solver (LBV). We provide a comparative analysis of the eager and lazy approaches, and show how they are complementary in terms of the types of problems they can efficiently solve. For this reason, we propose a portfolio approach that runs a lazy and eager solver in parallel. Our empirical evaluation shows that the lazy solver can solve problems none of the eager solvers can and that the portfolio solver outperforms other solvers both in terms of total number of problems solved and the time taken to solve them.

Molecular analysis of asymptomatic bacteriuria escherichia coli strain VR50 reveals adaptation to the urinary tract by gene acquisition

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infectious diseases of humans, with Escherichia coli responsible for >80% of all cases. One extreme of UTI is asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU), which occurs as an asymptomatic carrier state that resembles commensalism. To understand the evolution and molecular mechanisms that underpin ABU, the genome of the ABU E. coli strain VR50 was sequenced. Analysis of the complete genome indicated that it most resembles E. coli K-12, with the addition of a 94-kb genomic island (GI-VR50-pheV), eight prophages, and multiple plasmids. GI-VR50-pheV has a mosaic structure and contains genes encoding a number of UTI-associated virulence factors, namely, Afa (afimbrial adhesin), two autotransporter proteins (Ag43 and Sat), and aerobactin. We demonstrated that the presence of this island in VR50 confers its ability to colonize the murine bladder, as a VR50 mutant with GI-VR50-pheV deleted was attenuated in a mouse model of UTI in vivo. We established that Afa is the island-encoded factor responsible for this phenotype using two independent deletion (Afa operon and AfaE adhesin) mutants. E. coli VR50afa and VR50afaE displayed significantly decreased ability to adhere to human bladder epithelial cells. In the mouse model of UTI, VR50afa and VR50afaE displayed reduced bladder colonization compared to wild-type VR50, similar to the colonization level of the GI-VR50-pheV mutant. Our study suggests that E. coli VR50 is a commensal-like strain that has acquired fitness factors that facilitate colonization of the human bladder.

Local experiences, global similarities: Teacher perceptions of the impacts of national testing

Since 2008, Australian schoolchildren in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 have sat a series of tests each May designed to assess their attainment of basic skills in literacy and numeracy. These tests are known as the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). In 2010, individual school NAPLAN data were first published on the MySchool website which enables comparisons to be made between individual schools and statistically like schools across Australia. NAPLAN represents the increased centrality of the federal government in education, particularly in regards to education policy. One effect of this has been a recast emphasis of education as an economic, rather than democratic, good. As Reid (2009) suggests, this recasting of education within national productivity agendas mobilises commonsense discourses of accountability and transparency. These are common articles of faith for many involved in education administration and bureaucracy; more and better data, and holding people to account for that data, must improve education...

What's the fuss about NAPLAN?

In September each year in Australia, schools and the families of students receive their NAPLAN results. Since 2008, students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 have sat tests in literacy and numeracy. Since 2010, schools’ NAPLAN results have been listed on the My School website. The tests are designed to improve student achievement by “improving the transparency and accountability of schools and school systems at all levels” (Rudd & Gillard, 2008, p. 19). The policy logic, it seems, is that test-based accountability encourages improvements in teachers and schools.

Doing something about it: Representations of NAPLAN in the public domain

Since 2008 all Australian school students have sat standardised tests in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and Numeracy in years 3,5,7 and 9. NAPLAN tests report individual students' attainment of skills against a set of standards. Individual student results are communicated to parents. Schools are then ranked against other schools depending upon the aggregate of their NAPLAN results. The process is explained to parents and community members as “improving the learning outcomes for all Australian students” (MCEETYA, 2009). This paper will examine NAPLAN as it is being played out in a mediated space through analysing unsolicited comment found in new media such as Twitter and online forums. NAPLAN intersects with contemporary debates about Australian education policy: the roles schools should play in improving national productivity, the relationship between state and federal government interest in education, the role and expectations of the teacher, what curriculum and pedagogy should be and look like and how limited financial resources can best be spread across education sectors and systems. These are not new considerations, however, what has changed is that education policy seems to have become even more of a political issue than it has before. This paper uses Ball's 'toolkit' approach to education policy analysis to suggest that there are multiple 'effects' of NAPLAN culminating in a series of disconnected conversations between various stakeholders.

Embedding sustainability in a real-world context: Developing a world class early learning centre

This symposium describes what is possible when early childhood professionals work with designers to develop a vision for an exemplary early childhood centre with a focus on Education for Sustainability (EfS). The symposium provides insights into cross-disciplinary initiatives between QUT Early childhood and Design staff and students, who have worked together with the iconic Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane, to explore imperatives around EfS, including leadership and professionalism. This practical, real world project has seen all stakeholders engage in a focus on sustainability which has opened new ways of thinking about early childhood centre design. Cross-disciplinarity has created space to re-think the potential of the disciplines to interweave, and in so doing opened different ways for thinking about early childhood centres – their operation and their function. For the first time in Queensland, this project creates strategic alliances between EfS, childcare, business and sustainable design. EfS is essential for addressing local and global environmental issues and early childhood EfS research has been gaining international momentum, with governments nominating this area as having significant capacity to empower communities and promote change. While models for collaboration exist in the early childhood programs in Reggio Emilia, we offer sustainability as a unique and contemporary focus with immense potential to generate international and national interest. To date Early Childhood degree students enrolled in a leadership and management unit/subject have worked collaboratively with Design students to explore the sustainable design of the proposed Lone Pine early childhood centre. Providing students with a ‘real world’ project sees them re-positioned from ‘novice’ to ‘professional’, where their knowledge, expertise and perspectives are simultaneously validated and challenged. These learning experiences are enabling students to practice a new model of early childhood leadership, one that is vital for leading in an increasingly complex world. The symposium will be comprised of three discrete, though interconnected presentations, that work together to tell the story of this project. Three key facets of the project will be explored during the 90 minute session, as the perspectives of key stakeholders are shared. The first presentation (A/Prof Julie Davis, Dr Lyndal O’Gorman& Dr Megan Gibson) will outline the role of QUT School of Early Childhood staff and students, with attention to the ways in which the project was embedded in students’ work in the final year of their degree program of study. The second presentation (Ms Lindy Osborne) will provide insights into the Design students’ collaborative work in the project. Finally, the key role of the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and their commitment for EfS (Ms Peta Wilson & Dr Sue Elliott) will map out the philosophy that underpins the project. Together, the authors will conclude key project outcomes that have been achieved through this real-world, cross-disciplinary work.

Sitting-time and 9-year all-cause mortality in older women

Background Studies of mid-aged adults provide evidence of a relationship between sitting-time and all-cause mortality, but evidence in older adults is limited. The aim is to examine the relationship between total sitting-time and all-cause mortality in older women. Methods The prospective cohort design involved 6656 participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health who were followed for up to 9 years (2002, age 76–81, to 2011, age 85–90). Self-reported total sitting-time was linked to all-cause mortality data from the National Death Index from 2002 to 2011. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the relationship between sitting-time and all-cause mortality, with adjustment for potential sociodemographic, behavioural and health confounders. Results There were 2003 (30.1%) deaths during a median follow-up of 6 years. Compared with participants who sat <4 h/day, those who sat 8–11 h/day had a 1.45 times higher risk of death and those who sat ≥11 h/day had a 1.65 times higher risk of death. These risks remained after adding sociodemographic and behavioural covariates, but were attenuated after adjustment for health covariates. A significant interaction (p=0.02) was found between sitting-time and physical activity (PA), with increased mortality risk for prolonged sitting only among participants not meeting PA guidelines (HR for sitting ≥8 h/day: 1.31, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.61); HR for sitting ≥11 h/day: 1.47, CI 1.15 to 1.93). Conclusions Prolonged sitting-time was positively associated with all-cause mortality. Women who reported sitting for more than 8 h/day and did not meet PA guidelines had an increased risk of dying within the next 9 years.