Literacy assessment that counts : mediating, interpreting and contesting translocal policy in a primary school

In Australia, as in many western education systems over the last two decades, discourses of accountability and performativity have reshaped education policy that has in turn reorganised the work of school leaders and teachers. One of the effects of this reorganisation is increased attention to the production, analysis and display of student achievement data. In this paper we examine in detail a sequence of the production and reading of literacy assessment data in a small Catholic school. Our analysis uses institutional ethnography’s concept of the ‘active text’, the text as occurring in a specific place and time even as it is articulated to social relations beyond its immediate context. Through this process we learn from those involved how their everyday work brings into being formalised, textually authorised processes in a local site that ensure the school meets accountability requirements while enabling teachers to resist standardisation of literacy teaching and assessment.

China's "Responsible Protection" concept : re-interpreting the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and military intervention for humanitarian purposes

This article assesses the extent to which the recently formulated Chinese concept of “Responsible Protection” (RP) offers a valuable contribution to the normative debate over R2P’s third pillar following the controversy over military intervention in Libya. While RP draws heavily on previous proposals such as the original 2001 ICISS report and Brazil’s “Responsibility while Protecting” (RwP), by amalgamating and re-packaging these earlier ideas in a more restrictive form the initiative represents a new and distinctive interpretation of R2P. However, some aspects of RP are framed too narrowly to provide workable guidelines for determining the permissibility of military intervention for civilian protection purposes, and should therefore be clarified and refined. Nevertheless, the Chinese proposal remains significant because it offers important insights into Beijing’s current stance on R2P. More broadly, China’s RP and Brazil’s RwP initiatives illustrate the growing willingness of rising, non-Western powers to assert their own normative preferences on sovereignty, intervention and global governance.

Interpreting and comparing risks in the presence of competing events

Competing events are common in medical research. Ignoring them in the statistical analysis can easily lead to flawed results and conclusions. This article uses a real dataset and a simple simulation to show how standard analysis fails and how such data should be analysed

Interpreting scratch assays using pair density dynamics and approximate Bayesian computation

Quantifying the impact of biochemical compounds on collective cell spreading is an essential element of drug design, with various applications including developing treatments for chronic wounds and cancer. Scratch assays are a technically simple and inexpensive method used to study collective cell spreading; however, most previous interpretations of scratch assays are qualitative and do not provide estimates of the cell diffusivity, D, or the cell proliferation rate,l. Estimating D and l is important for investigating the efficacy of a potential treatment and provides insight into the mechanism through which the potential treatment acts. While a few methods for estimating D and l have been proposed, these previous methods lead to point estimates of D and l, and provide no insight into the uncertainty in these estimates. Here, we compare various types of information that can be extracted from images of a scratch assay, and quantify D and l using discrete computational simulations and approximate Bayesian computation. We show that it is possible to robustly recover estimates of D and l from synthetic data, as well as a new set of experimental data. For the first time, our approach also provides a method to estimate the uncertainty in our estimates of D and l. We anticipate that our approach can be generalized to deal with more realistic experimental scenarios in which we are interested in estimating D and l, as well as additional relevant parameters such as the strength of cell-to-cell adhesion or the strength of cell-to-substrate adhesion.

A roadmap for interpreting the literature on vision and driving

Over the past several decades there has been a sharp increase in the number of studies focused on the relationship between vision and driving. The intensified attention to this topic has most likely been stimulated by the lack of an evidence basis for determining vision standards for driving licensure and a poor understanding about how vision impairment impacts driver safety and performance. Clinicians depend on the literature on vision and driving to advise visually impaired patients appropriately about driving fitness. Policy makers also depend on the scientific literature in order to develop guidelines that are evidence-based and are thus fair to persons who are visually impaired. Thus it is important for clinicians and policy makers alike to understand how various study designs and measurement methods should be interpreted so that the conclusions and recommendations they make are not overly broad, too narrowly constrained, or even misguided. We offer a methodological framework to guide interpretations of studies on vision and driving that can also serve as a heuristic for researchers in the area. Here, we discuss research designs and general measurement methods for the study of vision as they relate to driver safety, driver performance, and driver-centered (self-reported) outcomes.

Criteria for interpreting kimberlite as coherent: Insights from the Muskox and Jericho kimberlites (Nunavut, Canada)

The Jurassic Muskox and Jericho kimberlites (Northern Slave Province, Nunavut, Canada) contain a variety of facies exhibiting different geometries, contact relationships, internal organisation, country rock abundance and olivine shapes, although many have similar matrix/groundmass mineralogies and textures. Five facies are examined that either have characteristics consistent with coherent rocks in general (i.e. intrusive and extrusive non-fragmental rocks) or are mineralogically and texturally similar to kimberlite described as coherent (or apparent coherent). Three facies are interpreted as coherent on the basis of: (1) geological setting, (2) apparent-porphyritic texture, (3) sharp contacts with fragmental kimberlite, (4) relative abundance of elongate and unbroken olivine crystals and (5) paucity of country rock xenoliths, while the remaining two facies are interpreted as fragmental on the basis of: (1) the gradational contacts with demonstrably fragmental kimberlite, (2) relative abundance and range of sizes of country rock lithic clasts and (3) numerous broken olivine crystals. Comparisons are made with coherent and apparent-coherent kimberlite from the literature. Our three coherent facies are similar to literature reported coherent kimberlite dykes hosted in country rock (CKd) in terms of internal organisation, low abundance of country rock xenoliths, and apparent-porphyritic texture. Conversely, our two fragmental facies share attributes with previously described pipe-filling coherent and apparent-coherent kimberlite (CKpf) in terms of geometry, internal organisation and abundance of country rock xenoliths. We conclude that CKd and most CKpf, although similar in matrix/groundmass mineralogy and texture, can be distinguished on the basis of internal organisation, country rock lithic clast abundance, texture (e.g. apparent-porphyritic texture) and possibly olivine crystal shapes and suggest that fragmental kimberlite is more common than reported.

Translating training in the NYU Caregiver Intervention in Australia: Maintaining fidelity and meeting graduate standards in an online continuing professional education setting

The aim of this study was to develop an Internet-based self-directed training program for Australian healthcare workers to facilitate learning and competence in delivery of a proven intervention for caregivers of people with dementia: The New York University Caregiver Intervention (NYUCI). The NYUCI is a nonpharmacological, multicomponent intervention for spousal caregivers. It is aimed at maintaining well-being by increasing social support and decreasing family discord, thereby delaying or avoiding nursing home placement of the person with dementia. Training in the NYUCI in the United States has, until now, been conducted in person to trainee practitioners. The Internet-based intervention was developed simultaneously for trainees in the U.S. and Australia. In Australia, due to population geography, community healthcare workers, who provide support to older adult caregivers of people with dementia, live and work in many regional and rural areas. Therefore, it was especially important to have online training available to make it possible to realize the health and economic benefits of using an existing evidence-based intervention. This study aimed to transfer knowledge of training in, and delivery of, the NYUCI for an Australian context and consumers. This article details the considerations given to contextual differences and to learners’ skillset differences in translating the NYUCI for Australia.

Estimating cell diffusivity and cell proliferation rate by interpreting IncuCyte ZOOM™ assay data using the Fisher-Kolmogorov model

Background: Standard methods for quantifying IncuCyte ZOOM™ assays involve measurements that quantify how rapidly the initially-vacant area becomes re-colonised with cells as a function of time. Unfortunately, these measurements give no insight into the details of the cellular-level mechanisms acting to close the initially-vacant area. We provide an alternative method enabling us to quantify the role of cell motility and cell proliferation separately. To achieve this we calibrate standard data available from IncuCyte ZOOM™ images to the solution of the Fisher-Kolmogorov model. Results: The Fisher-Kolmogorov model is a reaction-diffusion equation that has been used to describe collective cell spreading driven by cell migration, characterised by a cell diffusivity, D, and carrying capacity limited proliferation with proliferation rate, λ, and carrying capacity density, K. By analysing temporal changes in cell density in several subregions located well-behind the initial position of the leading edge we estimate λ and K. Given these estimates, we then apply automatic leading edge detection algorithms to the images produced by the IncuCyte ZOOM™ assay and match this data with a numerical solution of the Fisher-Kolmogorov equation to provide an estimate of D. We demonstrate this method by applying it to interpret a suite of IncuCyte ZOOM™ assays using PC-3 prostate cancer cells and obtain estimates of D, λ and K. Comparing estimates of D, λ and K for a control assay with estimates of D, λ and K for assays where epidermal growth factor (EGF) is applied in varying concentrations confirms that EGF enhances the rate of scratch closure and that this stimulation is driven by an increase in D and λ, whereas K is relatively unaffected by EGF. Conclusions: Our approach for estimating D, λ and K from an IncuCyte ZOOM™ assay provides more detail about cellular-level behaviour than standard methods for analysing these assays. In particular, our approach can be used to quantify the balance of cell migration and cell proliferation and, as we demonstrate, allow us to quantify how the addition of growth factors affects these processes individually.

Encounters and content sharing in an urban village : reading texts through an archaeological lens

Archaeology provides a framework of analysis and interpretation that is useful for disentangling the textual layers of a contemporary lived-in urban space. The producers and readers of texts may include those who planned and developed the site and those who now live, visit and work there. Some of the social encounters and content sharing between these people may be artificially produced or manufactured in the hope that certain social situations will occur. Others may be serendipitous. With archaeology’s original focus on places that are no longer inhabited it is often only the remaining artefacts and features of the built environment that form the basis for interpreting the social relationships of past people. Our analysis however, is framed within a contemporary notion of archaeological artefacts in an urban setting. Unlike an excavation, where the past is revealed through digging into the landscape, the application of landscape archaeology within a present day urban context is necessarily more experiential, visual and based on recording and analysing the physical traces of social encounters and relationships between residents and visitors. These physical traces are present within the creative content, and the built and natural elements of the environment. This chapter explores notions of social encounters and content sharing in an urban village by analysing three different types of texts: the design of the built environment; content produced by residents through a geospatial web application; and, print and online media produced in digital storytelling workshops.

Management of sharps in ambulance care : a state-wide survey of paramedic knowledge and reported practice

Paramedics are at high risk of exposure to infectious diseases because they frequently undertake procedures such as the use and disposal of sharps as components of everyday practice. While the literature demonstrates that the management of sharps is problematic across all health disciplines, there is a paucity of research examining sharps management practices in the Australian pre-hospital paramedic context. This study examines knowledge and practices of sharps control among paramedics in Queensland, Australia. A mail survey focusing on infection control knowledge and practices was sent to all clinical personnel of the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) (N = 2274). A total of 1258 surveys were returned, a response rate of 55.3%. Participants responded to 12 true/false statements on the management of sharps and three questions about recapping practices. Most respondents were knowledgeable about the correct management of sharps, with a mean of 11.28 (out of 12, SD = 1.32). When gauging reported practices, more than half (59.1%, n = 736) of participants reported recapping a needle, and 38.5% (n = 479) reported never having done so. These results reflect good knowledge of general management of sharps among respondents, but suggest deficits regarding reported practices. The results suggest that a comprehensive ambulance in-service education programme focusing particularly on sharps management is required. The study highlights the need for further research on sharps management practices in the field, identification of barriers to safe sharps practices in pre-hospital settings, and 'best practice' for translating good sharps management knowledge into practice.

Translating tissue engineering technology platforms into cancer research

Technology platforms originally developed for tissue engineering applications produce valuable models that mimic three-dimensional (3D) tissue organization and function to enhance the understanding of cell/tissue function under normal and pathological situations. These models show that when replicating physiological and pathological conditions as closely as possible investigators are allowed to probe the basic mechanisms of morphogenesis, differentiation and cancer. Significant efforts investigating angiogenetic processes and factors in tumorigenesis are currently undertaken to establish ways of targeting angiogenesis in tumours. Anti-angiogenic agents have been accepted for clinical application as attractive targeted therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Combining the areas of tumour angiogenesis, combination therapies and drug delivery systems is therefore closely related to the understanding of the basic principles that are applied in tissue engineering models. Studies with 3D model systems have repeatedly identified complex interacting roles of matrix stiffness and composition, integrins, growth factor receptors and signalling in development and cancer. These insights suggest that plasticity, regulation and suppression of these processes can provide strategies and therapeutic targets for future cancer therapies. The historical perspective of the fields of tissue engineering and controlled release of therapeutics, including inhibitors of angiogenesis in tumours is becoming clearly evident as a major future advance in merging these fields. New delivery systems are expected to greatly enhance the ability to deliver drugs locally and in therapeutic concentrations to relevant sites in living organisms. Investigating the phenomena of angiogenesis and anti-angiogenesis in 3D in vivo models such as the Arterio-Venous (AV) loop mode in a separated and isolated chamber within a living organism adds another significant horizon to this perspective and opens new modalities for translational research in this field.

Future directions and perspectives for problem solving research and curriculum development

Since the 1960s, numerous studies on problem solving have revealed the complexity of the domain and the difficulty in translating research findings into practice. The literature suggests that the impact of problem solving research on the mathematics curriculum has been limited. Furthermore, our accumulation of knowledge on the teaching of problem solving is lagging. In this first discussion paper we initially present a sketch of 50 years of research on mathematical problem solving. We then consider some factors that have held back problem solving research over the past decades and offer some directions for how we might advance the field. We stress the urgent need to take into account the nature of problem solving in various arenas of today’s world and to accordingly modernize our perspectives on the teaching and learning of problem solving and of mathematical content through problem solving. Substantive theory development is also long overdue—we show how new perspectives on the development of problem solving expertise can contribute to theory development in guiding the design of worthwhile learning activities. In particular, we explore a models and modeling perspective as an alternative to existing views on problem solving.

The role of fluency in a mathematics item with an embedded graphic: Interpreting a pie chart.

The purpose of this study was to identify the pedagogical knowledge relevant to the successful completion of a pie chart item. This purpose was achieved through the identification of the essential fluencies that 12–13-year-olds required for the successful solution of a pie chart item. Fluency relates to ease of solution and is particularly important in mathematics because it impacts on performance. Although the majority of students were successful on this multiple choice item, there was considerable divergence in the strategies they employed. Approximately two-thirds of the students employed efficient multiplicative strategies, which recognised and capitalised on the pie chart as a proportional representation. In contrast, the remaining one-third of students used a less efficient additive strategy that failed to capitalise on the representation of the pie chart. The results of our investigation of students’ performance on the pie chart item during individual interviews revealed that five distinct fluencies were involved in the solution process: conceptual (understanding the question), linguistic (keywords), retrieval (strategy selection), perceptual (orientation of a segment of the pie chart) and graphical (recognising the pie chart as a proportional representation). In addition, some students exhibited mild disfluencies corresponding to the five fluencies identified above. Three major outcomes emerged from the study. First, a model of knowledge of content and students for pie charts was developed. This model can be used to inform instruction about the pie chart and guide strategic support for students. Second, perceptual and graphical fluency were identified as two aspects of the curriculum, which should receive a greater emphasis in the primary years, due to their importance in interpreting pie charts. Finally, a working definition of fluency in mathematics was derived from students’ responses to the pie chart item.

Dancing the Thesis : Potentials and Pitfalls in Practice-led Research

Practice-led or multi modal theses (describing examinable outcomes of postgraduate study which comprise the practice of dancing/choreography with an accompanying exegesis) are an emerging strength of dance scholarship; a form of enquiry that has been gaining momentum for over a decade, particularly in Australia and the United Kingdom. It has been strongly argued that, in this form of research, legitimate claims to new knowledge are embodied predominantly within the practice itself (Pakes, 2003) and that these findings are emergent, contingent and often interstitial, contained within both the material form of the practice and in the symbolic languages surrounding the form. In a recent study on ‘dancing’ theses Phillips, Stock, Vincs (2009) found that there was general agreement from academics and artists that ‘there could be more flexibility in matching written language with conceptual thought expressed in practice’. The authors discuss how the seemingly intangible nature of danced / embodied research, reliant on what Melrose (2003) terms ‘performance mastery’ by the ‘expert practitioner’ (2006, Point 4) involving ‘expert’ intuition (2006, Point 5), might be accessed, articulated and validated in terms of alternative ways of knowing through exploring an ongoing dialogue in which the danced practice develops emergent theory. They also propose ways in which the danced thesis can be ‘converted’ into the required ‘durable’ artefact which the ephemerality of live performance denies, drawing on the work of Rye’s ‘multi-view’ digital record (2003) and Stapleton’s ‘multi-voiced audio visual document’(2006, 82). Building on a two-year research project (2007-2008) Dancing Between Diversity and Consistency: Refining Assessment in Postgraduate Degrees in Dance, which examined such issues in relation to assessment in an Australian context, the three researchers have further explored issues around interdisciplinarity, cultural differences and documentation through engaging with the following questions:  How do we represent research in which understandings, meanings and findings are situated within the body of the dancer/choreographer?  Do these need a form of ‘translating’ into textual form in order to be accessed as research?  What kind of language structures can be developed to effect this translation: metaphor, allusion, symbol?  How important is contextualising the creative practice?  How do we incorporate differing cultural inflections and practices into our reading and evaluation?  What kind of layered documentation can assist in producing a ‘durable’ research artefact from a non-reproduce-able live event?

Corneal topography with Scheimpflug imaging and videokeratography : comparative study of normal eyes

PURPOSE: To compare the repeatability within anterior corneal topography measurements and agreement between measurements with the Pentacam HR rotating Scheimpflug camera and with a previously validated Placido disk–based videokeratoscope (Medmont E300). ------ SETTING: Contact Lens and Visual Optics Laboratory, School of Optometry, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. ----- METHODS: Normal eyes in 101 young adult subjects had corneal topography measured using the Scheimpflug camera (6 repeated measurements) and videokeratoscope (4 repeated measurements). The best-fitting axial power corneal spherocylinder was calculated and converted into power vectors. Corneal higher-order aberrations (HOAs) (up to the 8th Zernike order) were calculated using the corneal elevation data from each instrument. ----- RESULTS: Both instruments showed excellent repeatability for axial power spherocylinder measurements (repeatability coefficients <0.25 diopter; intraclass correlation coefficients >0.9) and good agreement for all power vectors. Agreement between the 2 instruments was closest when the mean of multiple measurements was used in analysis. For corneal HOAs, both instruments showed reasonable repeatability for most aberration terms and good correlation and agreement for many aberrations (eg, spherical aberration, coma, higher-order root mean square). For other aberrations (eg, trefoil and tetrafoil), the 2 instruments showed relatively poor agreement. ----- CONCLUSIONS: For normal corneas, the Scheimpflug system showed excellent repeatability and reasonable agreement with a previously validated videokeratoscope for the anterior corneal axial curvature best-fitting spherocylinder and several corneal HOAs. However, for certain aberrations with higher azimuthal frequencies, the Scheimpflug system had poor agreement with the videokeratoscope; thus, caution should be used when interpreting these corneal aberrations with the Scheimpflug system.