National survey of viruses in pastures of subterranean clover. I. Incidence of four viruses assessed by ELISA

A nationwide survey was made of the time-course incidence of alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV), clover yellow vein virus (CYVV), subterranean clover mottle virus (SCMoV) and subterranean clover red leaf virus (SCRLV) in improved pastures in southern regions of Australia. Averaged over all states, the highest mean incidence recorded for samples infected with individual viruses in either winter or spring was 9.4% for AMV, 5.7% for CYVV, 10.9% for SCMoV and 7.5% for SCRLV. For AMV and SCRLV, there was an increasing trend from spring 1984 to spring 1986. A similar increasing trend for SCMoV was more evident in winter than in spring. For CYVV, no time-course pattern was evident. Results support the proposition that viruses contribute significantly to "clover-decline', a well-known problem in pastures of Trifolium subterraneum. -from Authors

Providing 'best practice' placements begins with mentoring skills : overview of the Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (PEPA) quality improvement initiatives for mentors

Objectives PEPA is funded by the Department of Health and Ageing and aims to further improve the skill and confidence of the generalist workforce to work with people with palliative care needs. Recent quality improvement initiatives to promote transfer of learning into practice include appointment of a clinical educator, implementation of an online module for mentors and delivery of a mentoring workshop (collaborating with NSAP and PCC4U). This paper presents an overview of outcomes from these quality improvement initiatives. Methods PEPA host sites are selected based on their specialist palliative care level. Host site managers are surveyed six-monthly and participants are surveyed pre and three months post-placement to collect open and fixed response data on their experience of the program. Participants in the mentoring workshop (n=39) were asked to respond to a survey regarding the workshop outcomes. Results The percentage of placement participants who strongly agreed they ‘have the ability to implement the interventions required for people who have a life-limiting illness’ increased from 35% in 2011 (n=34) to 51% in 2012 (n=91) post-placement. Responses from mentor workshop participants indicated that 76% of respondents (n=25) agreed that they were able to identify principles for mentoring in the context of palliative care. In 2012, 61% of host site managers (n=54) strongly agreed that PEPA supports clinician working with people with a life-limiting illness. Conclusion Strategies to build the capabilities of palliative care professionals to mentor and support the learning experience of PEPA participants are critical to ongoing improvements of the program.

English in the urban environment : resources for 21st century readers

Where teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) once observed a paucity of authentic language input, public displays of written English are now proliferating. Ideas for capitalising on this abundance can be drawn from two strands of pedagogic thought: a psycholinguistic approach to conventional literacy long established in foreign, second and first language education (e.g., Teng, 2009), and a more recent and critical approach informed by diverse theoretical understandings of the ‘linguistic landscape’ (e.g., Rowland, 2013). In this paper I draw from these two approaches to suggest ways of helping EFL learners use environmental print to develop knowledge and skills required of English readers in the twenty-first century: (1) fluency in breaking the codes of English and other languages of publicly displayed text; (2) facility with making meaning as the English of these texts becomes ever more diverse in cultural, historical and contextual implication; (3) use of environmental English in contexts that range from the local to the transnational; and (4) critique of the presence of English and attendant worldviews in the urban environment (Chern & Dooley, forthcoming). The psychological concept of motivation and the complementary sociological concept of investment are at the heart of my deliberations here: realisation of the pedagogic potential of environmental print to develop literate resources requires consideration of sources of motivation in the classroom learning situation (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011), as well as learner investment in literate practices in English (Norton, 2010).

Process mining for clinical processes: A comparative analysis of four Australian hospitals

Business process analysis and process mining, particularly within the health care domain, remain under-utilised. Applied research that employs such techniques to routinely collected, health care data enables stakeholders to empirically investigate care as it is delivered by different health providers. However, cross-organisational mining and the comparative analysis of processes present a set of unique challenges in terms of ensuring population and activity comparability, visualising the mined models and interpreting the results. Without addressing these issues, health providers will find it difficult to use process mining insights, and the potential benefits of evidence-based process improvement within health will remain unrealised. In this paper, we present a brief introduction on the nature of health care processes; a review of the process mining in health literature; and a case study conducted to explore and learn how health care data, and cross-organisational comparisons with process mining techniques may be approached. The case study applies process mining techniques to administrative and clinical data for patients who present with chest pain symptoms at one of four public hospitals in South Australia. We demonstrate an approach that provides detailed insights into clinical (quality of patient health) and fiscal (hospital budget) pressures in health care practice. We conclude by discussing the key lessons learned from our experience in conducting business process analysis and process mining based on the data from four different hospitals.

Visually impaired drivers who use bioptic telescopes : self-assessed driving skills and agreement with on-road driving evaluation

Purpose. To compare self-assessed driving habits and skills of licensed drivers with central visual loss who use bioptic telescopes to those of age-matched normally sighted drivers, and to examine the association between bioptic drivers' impressions of the quality of their driving and ratings by a “backseat” evaluator. Methods. Participants were licensed bioptic drivers (n = 23) and age-matched normally sighted drivers (n = 23). A questionnaire was administered addressing driving difficulty, space, quality, exposure, and, for bioptic drivers, whether the telescope was helpful in on-road situations. Visual acuity and contrast sensitivity were assessed. Information on ocular diagnosis, telescope characteristics, and bioptic driving experience was collected from the medical record or in interview. On-road driving performance in regular traffic conditions was rated independently by two evaluators. Results. Like normally sighted drivers, bioptic drivers reported no or little difficulty in many driving situations (e.g., left turns, rush hour), but reported more difficulty under poor visibility conditions and in unfamiliar areas (P < 0.05). Driving exposure was reduced in bioptic drivers (driving 250 miles per week on average vs. 410 miles per week for normally sighted drivers, P = 0.02), but driving space was similar to that of normally sighted drivers (P = 0.29). All but one bioptic driver used the telescope in at least one driving task, and 56% used the telescope in three or more tasks. Bioptic drivers' judgments about the quality of their driving were very similar to backseat evaluators' ratings. Conclusions. Bioptic drivers show insight into the overall quality of their driving and areas in which they experience driving difficulty. They report using the bioptic telescope while driving, contrary to previous claims that it is primarily used to pass the vision screening test at licensure.

Building indicators in media assistance; four ways evaluation reports present “change”

The international aid and development community has supported programs that aim to build the capacity of media professionals or contribute to an enabling environment throughout the past 20 years. However, two decades on from the first modern media assistance programs, the sector is still struggling to identify, measure and understand the changes effected by their programs. There are questions raised as to whether it is even feasible to identify impacts on society and governance. This paper draws on some preliminary findings from a comparative thematic analysis of 47 evaluation documents of media assistance programs. The aim of this analysis is to identify trends in impact evaluation practice in the media assistance field, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of different evaluation approaches. This paper presents four types of social change claims commonly presented in reports; hypothetical changes, introduction of new opportunities, concrete examples of immediate impacts, and analysis of ongoing social and political changes. Although these types may appear as a spectrum from weak to strong, the interactions are perhaps more accurately understood using metaphors such as building blocks. This paper explores these types in more detail and suggests that a robust set of impacts-types could be useful in developing more grounded theories of change and indicators.

Plasmodium vivax malaria incidence over time and its association with temperature and rainfall in four counties of Yunnan Province, China

Background Transmission of Plasmodium vivax malaria is dependent on vector availability, biting rates and parasite development. In turn, each of these is influenced by climatic conditions. Correlations have previously been detected between seasonal rainfall, temperature and malaria incidence patterns in various settings. An understanding of seasonal patterns of malaria, and their weather drivers, can provide vital information for control and elimination activities. This research aimed to describe temporal patterns in malaria, rainfall and temperature, and to examine the relationships between these variables within four counties of Yunnan Province, China. Methods Plasmodium vivax malaria surveillance data (1991–2006), and average monthly temperature and rainfall were acquired. Seasonal trend decomposition was used to examine secular trends and seasonal patterns in malaria. Distributed lag non-linear models were used to estimate the weather drivers of malaria seasonality, including the lag periods between weather conditions and malaria incidence. Results There was a declining trend in malaria incidence in all four counties. Increasing temperature resulted in increased malaria risk in all four areas and increasing rainfall resulted in increased malaria risk in one area and decreased malaria risk in one area. The lag times for these associations varied between areas. Conclusions The differences detected between the four counties highlight the need for local understanding of seasonal patterns of malaria and its climatic drivers.

How small-sided and conditioned games enhance acquisition of movement and decision-making skills

This article summarizes research from an ecological dynamics program of work on team sports exemplifying how small-sided and conditioned games (SSCG) can enhance skill acquisition and decision-making processes during training. The data highlighted show how constraints of different SSCG can facilitate emergence of continuous interpersonal coordination tendencies during practice to benefit team game players.

A shared reading intervention with parents to enhance young children’s early literacy skills

Parental reading to children from an early age has been shown to enhance children’s emergent literacy skills. A pragmatic randomized controlled trial (RCT) was used to investigate the effects of two forms of shared reading interventions on children’s language and literacy skills. Parents of 80 preparatory year children from outer suburban schools of an Australian metropolitan city were trained to use shared reading strategies in an eight-week home intervention. Families were assigned to one of three groups: Dialogic Reading (DR), Dialogic Reading with the addition of Print Referencing (DR + PR), or an attention-matched control group. The sample comprised 42 boys and 38 girls ranging in age from 4.9 years to 6.3 years (M = 5.5, SD = 0.3). Data were collected at pre, post, and at three months follow-up. Measures assessed children’s oral language (receptive and expressive vocabulary), phonological awareness (rhyme, word completion), alphabet knowledge, and concepts about print. Analyses of change from pre to post showed significant effects for the DR and DR + PR groups compared to the control group on three of the six measures: expressive language, rhyme, and concepts about print. At 3-month follow-up assessment, the two intervention groups maintained significantly better performance on the measure of concepts of print only. At both time points, there were no group differences between the DR and DR+PR conditions. These findings illustrate the potential of a brief home focused intervention on promoting children’s emergent literacy.

Four Aces : Bringing Communication Perspectives to Corporate Social Responsibility

The purpose of this chapter is to address the question of how communication studies can prove its value in relation to corporate social responsibility (CSR). As many disciplines seek to understand CSR, the role of communication has been relatively underexplored despite its prevalence in demonstrating and shaping social responsibility positions and practice. Literature review. The literature review points to what we consider as four aces. Communication studies alert us to (1) how meaning is constructed through communication, something that has implications for the management of organizations as publics hold different views of CSR and expect different things from them; (2) how a dialogue between an organization and its publics should unfold; (3) how practices of transparency can assist organizations to come across as trustworthy actors; and, importantly, (4) how a complexity view is fruitful to grasp the CSR communication process. These four key themes could be instructive for practitioners who want to argue for and demonstrate the usefulness of strategic communication for the management of CSR and bridge meso and macro levels of analysis.

On managing information technology capabilities

Information technology (IT) plays a critical role of enabler of activities that improve the performance of business processes. This enabling role of IT resources means continuous investment in IT is a strategic necessity. It is established that organizations’ IT-related capabilities leverage the enabling potential of IT resources. Today’s turbulent and challenging business environment requires organizations to do more from their existing and newly acquired IT resources. To achieve this, organizations need to discover ways or establish environments to nourish their existing IT-related capabilities, and develop new IT-related capabilities. We suggest one such environment, a dynamic IT-learning environment that could contribute to nourishing existing IT-related capabilities, and developing new IT-related capabilities. This environment is a product of coordination of four organizational factors that relate to the ways in which IT-related knowledge is applied to business processes, the accompanying reward structures, and ways in which the IT-related learning and knowledge is shared within the organization. Using 216 field survey responses, this paper shows that two IT-related capabilities of top management commitment to IT initiatives, and shared organizational knowledge between the IT and business unit managers has a stronger positive influence on business process performance in the presence of this dynamic IT-learning environment. The study also shows that a marginal IT-related capability, technical IT skills, has a positive and significant influence on business process performance in the presence of this environment. These outcomes imply that organizations’ internal environments could contribute to the management of their IT-related capabilities.

Factor Five : Transforming the Global Economy through 80% Improvements in Resource Productivity

The 21st century will see monumental change. Either the human race will use its knowledge and skills and change the way it interacts with the environment, or the environment will change the way it interacts with its inhabitants. In the first case, the focus of this book, we would see our sophisticated understanding in areas such as physics, chemistry, engineering, biology, planning, commerce, business and governance accumulated over the last 1,000 years brought to bear on the challenge of dramatically reducing our pressure on the environment. The second case however is the opposite scenario, involving the decline of the planet’s ecosystems until they reach thresholds where recovery is not possible, and following which we have no idea what happens. For instance, if we fail to respond to Sir Nicolas Stern’s call to meet appropriate stabilisation trajectories for greenhouse gas emissions, and we allow the average temperature of our planets surface to increase by 4-6 degrees Celsius, we will see staggering changes to our environment, including rapidly rising sea level, withering crops, diminishing water reserves, drought, cyclones, floods… allowing this to happen will be the failure of our species, and those that survive will have a deadly legacy. In this update to the 1997 International Best Seller, Factor Four, Ernst von Weizsäcker again leads a team to present a compelling case for sector wide advances that can deliver significant resource productivity improvements over the coming century. The purpose of this book is to inspire hope and to then inform meaningful action in the coming decades to respond to the greatest challenge our species has ever faced – that of living in harmony with our planet and its other inhabitants.

State of Energy Efficiency Education in Australian Technical & Further Education (TAFE) : A Report to the Australian Government Skills for the Carbon Challenge Initiative, The Natural Edge Project (TNEP), Queensland University of Technology

The Australian Government’s Skills for the Carbon Challenge (SCC) initiative aims to accelerate industry and the education sectors response to climate change. As part of the SCC initiative, the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIICCSRTE) provided funding to investigate the state of energy efficiency education in engineering-related Australian Technical and Further Education (TAFE) Programs. The following document reports on the outcomes of a multi-stage consultation project that engaged with participants from over 80% of TAFE institutions across Australia with the aim of supporting and enhancing future critical skills development in this area. Specifically, this report presents the findings of a national survey, based on a series of TAFE educator focus groups, conducted in May 2013 aimed at understanding the experiences and insights of Australian TAFE educators teaching engineering-related courses. Responses were received from 224 TAFE Educators across 50 of the 61 TAFE institutions in Australia (82% response rate).

An investigation into increasing the extent of energy efficiency knowledge and skills in engineering education

Today, many sectors across society are recognising the need to swiftly reduce their growing energy demand, as well as meeting remaining demand with low emissions options. A key ingredient to addressing such issues is equipping professionals – in particular engineers – with emerging energy efficiency knowledge and skills. This paper responds to an identified engineering education gap in Australia, by investigating options to increase energy efficiency content for both undergraduate and postgraduate engineers. The authors summarise the findings of the multi-stage methodology funded by the National Framework for Energy Efficiency (2008-2009), highlighting identified key barriers and benefits to such curriculum renewal. The findings are intended for use by engineering departments, accreditation agencies, professional bodies and government, to identify opportunities for moving forward based on rigorous research, and then to strategically plan the transition. This process, focused on energy efficiency, may also provide valuable parallels for a range of sustainable engineering related topics.

Design Minds Tomorrow's Classroom Toolkit

The Design Minds Tomorrow’s Classroom Toolkit was one of six K7-12 secondary school design toolkits commissioned by the State Library of Queensland (SLQ) Asia Pacific Design Library (APDL), to facilitate the delivery of the Stage 1 launch of its Design Minds online platform (www.designminds.org.au) partnership initiative with Queensland Government Arts Queensland and the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, on June 29, 2012. Design Minds toolkits are practical guides, underpinned by a combination of one to three of the Design Minds model phases of ‘Inquire’, ‘Ideate’ and ‘Implement’ (supported by at each stage with structured reflection), to enhance existing school curriculum and empower students with real life design exercises, within the classroom environment. Toolkits directly identify links to Naplan, National Curriculum, C2C and Professional Standards benchmarks, as well as the student capabilities of successful and creative 21st century citizens they seek to engender through design thinking. This toolkit explores, through four distinct exercises, different design tools and ways to approach the future design of environments (classrooms/schools) to facilitate the Reggio Emilia philosophy of learning, while addressing diverse and changing social, cultural, technological and environmental challenges. The Design Minds Tomorrow’s Classroom Toolkit encourages students to explore architecture and interior design, and to think about their (life-long) learning as a product of inspiring interactions with people and the environments around them, and that their potential role in contributing to both delightful and functional design solutions requires a deep understanding of the user experience. More generally, it aims to facilitate awareness in young people, of the role of design in society and the value of design thinking skills in generating strategies to solve basic to complex systemic challenges, as well as to inspire post-secondary pathways and idea generation for education. The toolkit encourages students and teachers to develop sketching, making, communication, presentation and collaboration skills to improve their design process, as well as explore further inquiry (background research) to enhance the ideation exercises. Exercise 1 focuses on the ‘Inquire’ and ‘Ideate’ phases, Exercise 2 on the ‘Inquire’, Exercise 3 builds on ideation skills, and Exercise 4 concentrates on the ‘Implement’ phase. Depending on the intensity of the focus, the unit of work could be developed over a 2-5 week program (approximately 4-10 x 60 minute lessons/workshops) or as smaller workshops treated as discrete learning experiences. The toolkit is available for public download from http://designminds.org.au/tomorrows-classroom/ on the Design Minds website. This toolkit inspired the authorship and facilitation of a 2-day design workshop entitled Learning Environment 2050 at John Paul College, Daisy Hill, Brisbane on the 15-16 August 2013. 120 Grade 7 students and their teachers, under the mentorship of two design academics, 3 QUT design students and a professional architect, as part of a QUT School of Design Project Week community engagement activity, explored the formulation of a participatory design brief for the redesign of the school’s Wesley Precinct (including classrooms, a sustainable farm and recreation areas).