Library and information science education 2.0 : guiding principles and models of best practice. Interview with Mary Anne Kennan.

In 2005, Stephen Abram, vice president of Innovation at SirsiDynix, challenged library and information science (LIS) professionals to start becoming “librarian 2.0.” In the last few years, discussion and debate about the “core competencies” needed by librarian 2.0 have appeared in the “biblioblogosphere” (blogs written by LIS professionals). However, beyond these informal blog discussions few systematic and empirically based studies have taken place. A project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council fills this gap. The project identifies the key skills, knowledge, and attributes required by “librarian 2.0.” Eighty-one members of the Australian LIS profession participated in a series of focus groups. Eight themes emerged as being critical to “librarian 2.0”: technology, communication, teamwork, user focus, business savvy, evidence based practice, learning and education, and personal traits. Guided by these findings interviews with 36 LIS educators explored the current approaches used within contemporary LIS education to prepare graduates to become “librarian 2.0”. This video presents an example of ‘great practice’ in current LIS education as it strives to foster web 2.0 professionals.

The contribution of leadership attributes to large scale, complex project success

Mismanagement of large-scale, complex projects has resulted in spectacular failures, cost overruns, time blowouts, and stakeholder dissatisfaction. We focus discussion on the interaction of key management and leadership attributes which facilitate leaders’ adaptive behaviors. These behaviors should in turn influence adaptive team member behavior, stakeholder engagement and successful project outcomes, outputs and impacts. An understanding of this type of management will benefit from a perspective based in managerial and organizational cognition. The research question we explore is whether successful leaders of large-scale complex projects have an internal process leading to a display of administrative, adaptive, and enabling behaviors that foster adaptive processes and enabling behaviors within their teams and with external stakeholders. At the core of the model we propose interactions of key attributes, namely cognitive flexibility, affect, and emotional intelligence. The result of these cognitive-affective attribute interactions is leadership leading to enhanced likelihood of complex project success.

Can transfer of learning be enriched by valuing knowledge transformation and co-creation? Exploring new ways to improve training design

This paper argues that a possible cause of issues with management education outcomes is the fact that most training models operate from a limited ‘transfer’ metaphor. This theoretical paper contends that by reconceptualising existing models, specifically Holton’s transfer of learning model, to incorporate multiple processes and acknowledge the importance of educator- or trainer-student interaction in co-creating knowledge, there is potential to improve training design and ultimately achieve more satisfactory training outcomes.

A multi-level model of leadership in complex project management

Management (or perceived mismanagement) of large-scale, complex projects poses special problems and often results in spectacular failures, cost overruns, time blowouts and stakeholder dissatisfaction. While traditional project management responds with increasingly administrative constraints, we argue that leaders of such projects also need to display adaptive and enabling behaviours to foster adaptive processes, such as opportunity recognition, which requires an interaction of cognitive and affective processes of individual, project, and team leader attributes and behaviours. At the core of this model we propose is an interaction of cognitive flexibility, affect and emotional intelligence. The result of this interaction is enhanced leader opportunity recognition that, in turn, facilitates multilevel outcomes.

Tutorial facilitation in the humanities based on the tenets of Carl Rogers

This article introduces a model for group facilitation in the humanities based on Carl Rogers’s model for group psychotherapy. Certain aspects of Rogers’s reflective learning strategies are re-appraised and principles, specific only to psychotherapy, are introduced. Five of Rogers’s axioms are applied to the tutorial discussion model: a non-directive approach, climate-setting, facilitation, reflective listening and positive regard. The model, which has been trialed in tutorials at The University of Queensland, encourages self-direction, active learning and critical thinking.

Possible genetic predisposition to lymphedema after breast cancer

Background: Known risk factors for secondary lymphedema only partially explain who develops lymphedema following cancer, suggesting that inherited genetic susceptibility may influence risk. Moreover, identification of molecular signatures could facilitate lymphedema risk prediction prior to surgery or lead to effective drug therapies for prevention or treatment. Recent advances in the molecular biology underlying development of the lymphatic system and related congenital disorders implicate a number of potential candidate genes to explore in relation to secondary lymphedema. Methods and Results: We undertook a nested case-control study, with participants who had developed lymphedema after surgical intervention within the first 18 months of their breast cancer diagnosis serving as cases (n=22) and those without lymphedema serving as controls (n=98), identified from a prospective, population-based, cohort study in Queensland, Australia. TagSNPs that covered all known genetic variation in the genes SOX18, VEGFC, VEGFD, VEGFR2, VEGFR3, RORC, FOXC2, LYVE1, ADM and PROX1 were selected for genotyping. Multiple SNPs within three receptor genes, VEGFR2, VEGFR3 and RORC, were associated with lymphedema defined by statistical significance (p<0.05) or extreme risk estimates (OR<0.5 or >2.0). Conclusions: These provocative, albeit preliminary, findings regarding possible genetic predisposition to secondary lymphedema following breast cancer treatment warrant further attention for potential replication using larger datasets.

Estimation on disease burden related to hepatitis B virus infection in Shandong province of China [山东省乙型肝炎病毒感染所致相关疾病的疾病负担研究]

Objective: To comprehensively measure the burden of hepatitis B, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer in Shandong province, using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) to estimate the disease burden attribute to hepatitis B virus (HBV)infection. Methods: Based on the mortality data of hepatitis B, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer derived from the third National Sampling Retrospective Survey for Causes of Death during 2004 and 2005, the incidence data of hepatitis B and the prevalence and the disability weights of liver cancer gained from the Shandong Cancer Prevalence Sampling Survey in 2007, we calculated the years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs) and DALYs of three diseases following the procedures developed for the global burden of disease (GBD) study to ensure the comparability. Results: The total burden for hepatitis B, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer were 211 616 (39 377 YLLs and 172 239 YLDs), 16 783 (13 497 YLLs and 3286 YLDs) and 247 795 (240 236 YLLs and 7559 YLDs) DALYs in 2005 respectively, and men were 2.19, 2.36 and 3.16 times as that for women, respectively in Shandong province. The burden for hepatitis B was mainly because of disability (81.39%). However, most burden on liver cirrhosis and liver cancer were due to premature death (80.42% and 96.95%). The burden of each patient related to hepatitis B, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer were 4.8, 13.73 and 11.11 respectively. Conclusion: Hepatitis B, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer caused considerable burden to the people living in Shandong province, indicating that the control of hepatitis B virus infection would bring huge potential benefits.

Book review : "Carbon Capture and Storage Emerging Legal and Regulatory Issues" edited by Ian Havercroft, Richard Macrory, Richard B Stewart, Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2011

As the international community struggles to find a cost-effective solution to mitigate climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, carbon capture and storage (CCS) has emerged as a project mechanism with the potential to assist in transitioning society towards its low carbon future. Being a politically attractive option, legal regimes to promote and approve CCS have proceeded at an accelerated pace in multiple jurisdictions including the European Union and Australia. This acceleration and emphasis on the swift commercial deployment of CCS projects has left the legal community in the undesirable position of having to advise on the strengths and weaknesses of the key features of these regimes once they have been passed and become operational. This is an area where environmental law principles are tested to their very limit. On the one hand, implementation of this new technology should proceed in a precautionary manner to avoid adverse impacts on the atmosphere, local community and broader environment. On the other hand, excessive regulatory restrictions will stifle innovation and act as a barrier to the swift deployment of CCS projects around the world. Finding the balance between precaution and innovation is no easy feat. This is an area where lawyers, academics, regulators and industry representatives can benefit from the sharing of collective experiences, both positive and negative, across the jurisdictions. This exemplary book appears to have been collated with this philosophy in mind and provides an insightful addition to the global dialogue on establishing effective national and international regimes for the implementation of CCS projects...

The role of insulin and IGF2 signalling on metabolic pathways in prostate cancer progression

Prostate cancer (CaP) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in males in Australia, North America, and Europe. If found early and locally confined, CaP can be treated with radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy; however, 25-40% patients will relapse and go on to advanced disease. The most common therapy in these cases is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), which suppresses androgen production from the testis. Lack of the testicular androgen supply causes cells of the prostate to undergo apoptosis. However, in some cases the regression initially seen with ADT eventually gives way to a growth of a population of cancerous cells that no longer require testicular androgens. This phenotype is essentially fatal and is termed castrate resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). In addition to eventual regression, there are many undesirable side effects which accompany ADT, including development of a metabolic syndrome, which is defined by the U.S. National Library of Medicine as “a combination of medical disorders that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.” This project will focus on the effect of ADT induced hyperinsulinemia, as mimicked by treating androgen receptor positive CaP cells with insulin in a serum (hormone) deprived environment. While this side effect is not widely explored, in this thesis it is demonstrated for the first time that insulin upregulates pathways important to CaP progression. Our group has previously shown that during CaP progression, the enzymes necessary for de novo steroidogenesis are upregulated in the LNCaP xenograft model, total steroid levels are increased in tumours compared to pre castrate levels, and de novo steroidogenesis from radio-labelled acetate has been demonstrated. Because of the CaP dependence on AR for survival, we and other groups believe that CaP cells carry out de novo steroidogenesis to survive in androgen deprived conditions. Because (a) men on ADT often develop metabolic syndrome, and (b) men with lifestyle-induced obesity and hyperinsulinemia have worse prognosis and faster disease progression, and because (c) insulin causes steroidogenesis in other cell lines, the hypothesis that insulin may contribute to CaP progression through upregulation of steroidogenesis was explored. Insulin upregulates steroidogenesis enzymes at the mRNA level in three AR positive cell lines, as well as upregulating these enzymes at the protein level in two cell lines. It has also been demonstrated that insulin increases mitochondrial (functional) levels of steroid acute regulatory protein (StAR). Furthermore, insulin causes increased levels of total steroids in and induction of de novo steroid synthesis by insulin has been demonstrated at levels induced sufficient to activate AR. The effect of insulin analogs on CaP steroidogenesis in LNCaP and VCaP cells has also been investigated because epidemiological studies suggest that some of the analogs developed may have more cancer stimulatory effects than normal insulin. In this project, despite the signalling differences between glargine, X10, and insulin, these analogs did not appear to induce steroidogenesis any more potently that normal insulin. The effect of insulin of MCF7breast cancer cells was also investigated with results suggesting that breast cancer cells may be capable of de novo steroidogenesis, and that increase in estradiol production may be exacerbated by insulin. Insulin has also been long known to stimulate lipogenesis in the liver and adipocytes, and has been demonstrated to increase lipogenesis in breast cancer cells; therefore, investigation of the effect of insulin on lipogenesis, which is a hallmark of aggressive cancers, was investigated. In CaP progression sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) is dysregulated and upregulates fatty acid synthase (FASN), acetyl CoA-carboxylase, and other lipogenesis genes. SREBP is important for steroidogenesis and in this project has been shown to be upregulated by insulin in CaP cells. Fatty acid synthesis provides building blocks of membrane growth, provides substrates for acid oxidation, the main energy source for CaP cells, provides building blocks for anti-apoptotic and proinflammatory molecules, and provides molecules that stimulate steroidogenesis. In this project it has been shown that insulin upregulates FASN and ACC, which synthesize fatty acids, as well as upregulating hormone sensitive lipase (HSL), diazepam-binding inhibitor (DBI), and long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase 3 (ACSL3), which contribute to lipid activation of steroidogenesis. Insulin also upregulates total lipid levels and de novo lipogenesis, which can be suppressed by inhibition of the insulin receptor (INSR). The fatty acids synthesized after insulin treatment are those that have been associated with CaP; furthermore, microarray data suggests insulin may upregulate fatty acid biosynthesis, metabolism and arachidonic acid metabolism pathways, which have been implicated in CaP growth and survival. Pharmacological agents used to treat patients with hyperinsulinemia/ hyperlipidemia have gained much interest in regards to CaP risk and treatment; however, the scientific rationale behind these clinical applications has not been examined. This thesis explores whether the use of metformin or simvastatin would decrease either lipogenesis or steroidogenesis or both in CaP cells. Simvastatin is a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) inhibitor, which blocks synthesis of cholesterol, the building block of steroids/ androgens. It has also been postulated to down regulate SREBP in other metabolic disorders. It has been shown in this thesis, in LNCaP cells, that simvastatin inhibited and decreased insulin induced steroidogenesis and lipogenesis, respectively, but increased these pathways in the absence of insulin. Conversely, metformin, which activates AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) to shut down lipogenesis, cholesterol synthesis, and protein synthesis, highly suppresses both steroidogenesis and lipogenesis in the presence and absence of insulin. Lastly, because it has been demonstrated to increase steroidogenesis in other cell lines, and because the elucidation of any factors affecting steroidogenesis is important to understanding CaP, the effect of IGF2 on steroidogenesis in CaP cells was investigated. In patient samples, as men progress to CRPC, IGF2 mRNA and the protein levels of the receptors it may signal through are upregulated. It has also been demonstrated that IGF2 upregulates steroidogenic enzymes at both the mRNA and protein levels in LNCaP cells, increases intracellular and secreted steroid/androgen levels in LNCaPs to levels sufficient to stimulate the AR, and upregulated de novo steroidogenesis in LNCaPs and VCaPs. As well, inhibition of INSR and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R), which IGF2 signals through, suggests that induction of steroidogenesis may be occurring predominantly through IGF1R. In summary, this project has illuminated for the first time that insulin is likely to play a large role in cancer progression, through upregulation of the steroidogenesis and lipogenesis pathways at the mRNA and protein levels, and production levels, and demonstrates a novel role for IGF-II in CaP progression through stimulation of steroidogenesis. It has also been demonstrated that metformin and simvastatin drugs may be useful in suppressing the insulin induction of these pathways. This project affirms the pathways by which ADT- induced metabolic syndrome may exacerbate CaP progression and strongly suggests that the monitoring and modulation of the metabolic state of CaP patients could have a strong impact on their therapeutic outcomes.

‘Argue with us!’: audience co-creation through post-performance discussions.

In this article Caroline Heim explores an avenue for the audience's contribution to the theatrical event that has emerged as increasingly important over the past decade: postperformance discussions. With the exception of theatres that actively encourage argument such as the Staatstheater Stuttgart, most extant audience discussions in Western mainstream theatres privilege the voice of the theatre expert. Caroline Heim presents case studies of post-performance discussions held after performances of Anne of the Thousand Days and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? which trialled a new model of audience co-creation. An audience text which informs the theatrical event was created, and a new role, that of audience critic, established in the process.

Inactivation and structural changes of E. Cloacae and B. Subtilis Endospores during IR laser water treatment

IR radiation has been studied for micro-organism inactivation of bacterial spores on metal substrates [1] and on metal and paper substrates [2]. A near-point near infrared laser water treatment apparatus for use in dental hand-pieces was also developed [3]. To date water sterilisation research using a mid-IR laser technique is very rare. According to the World Health Organisation [4], examinations for faecal indicator bacteria remain the most sensitive and specific way of assessing the hygienic quality of water. Bacteria that fall into this group are E. coli, other coliform bacteria (including E. cloacae) and to a lesser extent, faecal streptococci [5]. Protozoan cysts from organisms which cause giardiasis are the most frequently identified cause of waterborne diseases in developed countries [6,7]. The use of aerobic bacterial endospores to monitor the efficiency of various water treatments has been shown to provide a reliable and simple indicator of overall performance of water treatment[8,9].The efficacy of IR radiation for water disinfection compared to UV treatment has been further investigated in the present study. In addition FTIR spectroscopy in conjunction with Principle Component Analysis was used to characterise structural changes within the bacterial cells and endospores following IR laser treatment. Changes in carbohydrate content of E. cloacae following IR laser treatment were observed.