Drawing and writing on the screen

This chapter focuses on the physicality of the iPad as an object, and how that physicality affects the interactions children have with the device generally, and the apps specifically. Thinking about the physicality of the iPad is important because the materials, size, weight and appearance make the iPad quite unlike most other toys and equipment in the kindergarten space. Most strikingly, this physicality does not ‘represent’ the virtual vast dimensions of the iPad brought about through the diverse functions and contents of the apps contained in it. While the iPad is small enough and functional enough to be easily handled and operated even by young children, it is capable of performing highly complex, highly technological tasks that take it beyond its diminutive dimensions. This virtual-actual contrast is interesting to consider in relation to the other resources more commonly found in a kindergarten space. While objects such as toys, bricks, building materials often do prompt the child to imagine and invent beyond the physical boundaries of the toy, they not have the same types of virtual-actual contrasts of a digital device such as the iPad. How then, might children be drawn to the iPad because of its physical, technological and virtual difference? Particularly, how might this virtual-actual difference impact on the physical skills associated with writing and drawing: skills usually learnt through the use of a pencil and paper? While the research project did not set out to compare how digital and paper-based resources affect writing and drawing skills there was great interest to see how young children negotiated drawing and writing on the shiny glass surface of the iPad.

Radiation therapist peer review: Raising the bar on quality and safety in radiation oncology

Purpose An emerging developmental tool to help radiation therapists achieve better outcomes is 'peer review'. This review of the current literature summarises the challenges and benefits of peer review in both individual and departmental practice. Discussion There is compelling evidence supporting peer review implementation at both individual and department level in many professions. Implementing peer review requires that radiation therapists and other radiation oncology professionals embrace a culture that supports safety. Peer review can identify trends and barriers associated with quality radiotherapy and share best practice or recommend changes accordingly. Support for peer review must come from pre-registration educational systems as well as clinical managers. Continuing professional development in the workplace is nurtured by peer review of radiotherapy practice and an aptitude for this should be viewed as important to the profession as technical and clinical skills. Conclusion It is clear that peer review has the potential to facilitate reflective practice, improve staff motivation and help foster a culture of quality and safety in radiation oncology. To drive the issues of quality and safety a step further radiation therapists need to accept the challenge of adopting peer review methods in day-to-day practice.

The New Lawyer

This text is designed to implement the Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) for law in the first year, and to incorporate Sally Kift’s First Year Curriculum principles: http://tls.vu.edu.au/portal/site/trans/Resources/KiftTransitonPedagogySixPrinciples_16Nov09.pdf This is a learning-centered text book intentionally designed for first year students and written by experts in legal education and the first year experience. It is written in a tone and style that engages and communicates effectively with first year law students, without compromising its rigour. It provides students with opportunities to contextualise and make sense of their learning by connecting that learning with what they already know, and with current contemporary issues and affairs. This work is designed to ease students through the transition from a diverse variety of backgrounds (such as high school, work or other disciplines) to the first year of law. It provides practical guidance about adjusting to law school and to university. Students are asked to regularly reflect upon why they are studying law. The book also prepares law students for success in their latter year studies in law by ensuring that they are equipped with the necessary threshold concepts and foundational skills to do well: for example, research skills (particularly, online research skills), reasoning skills, written communication skills, negotiation skills, and self-management skills. A range of practical tips on studying law are provided throughout the book. The work also asks students to engage with developing an emergent sense of professional identity – including what it means to ‘think like a lawyer’. In supporting the students to engage with the concept of professional identity, the work begins a process of preparing students for transition from law school to legal practice. This is achieved by providing explanations of how the material being presented relates to the practice of law, as well as practical information relating to employability skills as a new graduate. This work has a number of learning and teaching objectives to enhance the quality of student learning in their first year of law by engaging, motivating and supporting that learning. First, the work is designed to engage first year students with their legal education and with a future sense of professional identity. It does this through its: • Dynamic writing style • Engaging format • Inclusion of contemporary issues and events • Flowcharts, checklists, mind-maps, tables and timelines • Inclusion of real-world problems and dilemmas. Second, the text motivates student learning by promoting active learning. It does this by: • Demonstrating, and asking students to practice, what they need to do – that is, the work is not simply focussed on telling students what they need to know • Including regular self-directed learning exercises throughout each chapter, such as practical exercises for the development of important foundational legal skills • Including exercises that promote student collaboration, and that require students to apply their learning to practical situations, and • Incorporating a range of interesting active thinking points and research activities. Third, the book supports student learning by encouraging reflective learning and independent learning. It does this by including: • Specific content on how to be a reflective practitioner and an independent learner • Exercises that require students to engage in independent learning, particularly in relation to legal research skill development • Exercises requiring students to reflect upon what they have learned, and encouraging students to keep a reflective learning journal • Exercises requiring students to reflect upon their own views and beliefs • Reflection on whether students have achieved the learning objectives articulated at the beginning of the chapter. The work also: • Demonstrates respect for student experiences, views, opinions and values • Acknowledges student diversity • Recognises the importance of being globally minded law students and lawyers • Supports law teachers in using the work in their classrooms through the provision of comprehensive teaching materials.

Horas Perditam : A collaboration of Coney and Writerguy

An experiment in narrative play. Ten Threaders explored an urban physical space and creatively related what they encountered via mobile to their Weavers. Weavers creatively shaped this material to fashion a collaborative story on the fly, framed by a theme of loss and connection. The Weavers On Threader’s Day, during the hours of the lost, Threaders and Weavers collaborate to recover moments of connection and loss, of missed (or not) meetings and inevitable (or not) parting. Threaders: Your path begins near Brick Lane. Use your gift to discover threads. The threads may be thin at start, as fine as an inkling or as fleet as a passing memory. Yet they pull forth deep personal moments which in turn lead to the most powerful stories in human experience, ones that partake of the mythic inevitable. On a street in London, as the sun declines, Gilgamesh pursues, Orpheus sings, Perdita boards a ship, Eurydice walks forever toward the light… as the Lady of Shalott works her loom. Weavers: The fabric a Threader stitches through is the ancient story rediscovered every time one person follows or leads another. As your Threader describes the moments and aspects of this journey to you, in spoken words and written words and in images sent from their phone, you weave these impressions into a multithreaded story, in concert with the other Weavers. And you help guide your Threader across the storyscape, with your narrative intuition and by pulling the threads that connect to times in your own life.

Addressing alcohol related harms within maxillofacial trauma practice

Background A brief intervention, conducted in the acute setting care setting after an alcohol-related injury, has been reported to be highly beneficial in reducing the risk of re-injury and in reducing subsequent level of alcohol consumption. This project aimed to understand Australasian Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons' attitudes, knowledge and skills in terms of alcohol screening and brief intervention within acute settings for patients admitted with facial trauma. Materials and Methods A web-based survey was made available to all members (n=200-250) of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (ANZAOMS), promoted through a number of email bulletins sent by the Association to all members. Implied consent is assumed for participants who complete the online survey. The survey explored their current level of involvement in treating patients with alcohol-relatd facial trauma, as well as their knowledge of and attitudes towards alcohol screening and brief intervention. The survey also explored their willingness for further training and involvement in implementing a SBI program. Parts of the survey were based on a hypothetical case with facial injury and drinking history which was presented to the participants and the participants were asked to give their response to this scenario. Results A total of 58 surgeons completed the on-line survey. 91% of surgeons surveyed were males and 88% were consultant surgeons. 71% would take alcohol history; 29% would deliver a brief alcohol intervention and 14% would refer the patients to an alcohol treatment service or clinician. 40% agreed to have adequate training in managing patients with alcohol-related injuries, while 17% and 19% felt they had adequate time and resources. 76% of surgeons reported the need for more information on where to refer patients for appropriate alcohol treatment. Conclusion The study findings confirm the challenges and barriers to implementing brief alcohol intervention in current practice. There are service gaps that exist, as well as opportunities for training.

Diagnostic potential of saliva : current state and future applications

BACKGROUND: Over the past 10 years, the use of saliva as a diagnostic fluid has gained attention and has become a translational research success story. Some of the current nanotechnologies have been demonstrated to have the analytical sensitivity required for the use of saliva as a diagnostic medium to detect and predict disease progression. However, these technologies have not yet been integrated into current clinical practice and work flow. CONTENT: As a diagnostic fluid, saliva offers advantages over serum because it can be collected noninvasively by individuals with modest training, and it offers a cost-effective approach for the screening of large populations. Gland-specific saliva can also be used for diagnosis of pathology specific to one of the major salivary glands. There is minimal risk of contracting infections during saliva collection, and saliva can be used in clinically challenging situations, such as obtaining samples from children or handicapped or anxious patients, in whom blood sampling could be a difficult act to perform. In this review we highlight the production of and secretion of saliva, the salivary proteome, transportation of biomolecules from blood capillaries to salivary glands, and the diagnostic potential of saliva for use in detection of cardiovascular disease and oral and breast cancers. We also highlight the barriers to application of saliva testing and its advancement in clinical settings. SUMMARY: Saliva has the potential to become a first-line diagnostic sample of choice owing to the advancements in detection technologies coupled with combinations of biomolecules with clinical relevance. (C) 2011 American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Tumor-suppressor gene promoter hypermethylation in saliva of head and neck cancer patients

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) accounts for a bulk of the oral and laryngeal cancers, the majority (70%) of which are associated with smoking and excessive drinking, major known risk factors for the development of HNSCC. In contrast to reports that suggest an inverse relationship between smoking and global DNA CpG methylation, hypermethylation of promoters of a number of genes was detected in saliva collected from patients with HNSCC. Using a sensitive methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) assay to determine specific methylation events in the promoters of RASSF1A, DAPK1, and p16 genes, we demonstrate that we can detect tumor presence with an overall accuracy of 81% in the DNA isolated from saliva of patients with HNSCC (n = 143) when compared with the DNA isolated from the saliva of healthy nonsmoker controls (n = 31). The specificity for this MSP panel was 87% and the sensitivity was 80%(with a Fisher exact test P < .0001). In addition, the test panel performed extremely well in the detection of the early stages of HNSCCs, with a sensitivity of 94% and a specificity of 87%, and a high. concordance value of 0.8, indicating an excellent overall agreement between the presence of HNSCC and a positive MSP panel result. In conclusion, we demonstrate that the promoter methylation of RASSF1A, DAPK1, and p16 MSP panel is useful in detecting hypermethylation events in a noninvasive manner in patients with HNSCC.

Diagnostic potential of saliva : state of the art and future applications [Potenziale diagnostico della saliva: stato dell’arte e applicazioni future]

Over the past 10 years, the use of saliva as a diagnostic fluid has gained attention and has become a translational research success story. Some of the current nanotechnologies have been demonstrated to have the analytical sensitivity required for the use of saliva as a diagnostic medium to detect and predict disease progression. However, these technologies have not yet been integrated into current clinical practice and work flow. As a diagnostic fluid, saliva offers advantages over serum because it can be collected noninvasively by individuals with modest training, and it offers a cost-effective approach for the screening of large populations. Gland-specific saliva can also be used for diagnosis of pathology specific to one of the major salivary glands. There is minimal risk of contracting infections during saliva collection, and saliva can be used in clinically challenging situations, such as obtaining samples from children or handicapped or anxious patients, in whom blood sampling could be a difficult act to perform. In this review we highlight the production of and secretion of saliva, the salivary proteome, transportation of biomolecules from blood capillaries to salivary glands, and the diagnostic potential of saliva for use in detection of cardiovascular disease and oral and breast cancers. We also highlight the barriers to application of saliva testing and its advancement in clinical settings. Saliva has the potential to become a first-line diagnostic sample of choice owing to the advancements in detection technologies coupled with combinations of biomolecules with clinical relevance.

Victorian Public Libraries: Our Future, Our Skills. Research Report

This research study represents a key part of the program of Statewide Public Library Development Projects delivered by the State Library of Victoria between 2011 and 2014 in partnership with Public Libraries Victoria Network (PLVN), the peak body for Victoria’s 47 public library services. The overarching objectives of this project were: - to develop a framework to articulate the core competencies required by the public library workforce for the 21st century - to conduct a skills audit of Victorian public library staff in order to collect evidence of the current skills and to anticipate future skills requirements - to deliver a report that analyses the audit findings and makes recommendations on training needs and strategies to prepare for the future delivery of public library services in Victoria. The study built on the 2008 report Workforce sustainability and leadership: Survey, analysis and planning, developed for the State Library of Victoria and PLVN, in which three types of workplace skills were delineated: cognitive (or Foundation), technical (or Professional) and Behavioural skills. Following industry discussion and review, a framework comprising 59 skill-sets within the three distinct skills areas was finalised in October 2013. The skills audit, which comprised an Individual survey and a Management survey with questionnaires directly based on the skills framework, was undertaken between late November and December 2013. This report presents the analysis and interpretation of the data collected through the two surveys.

Young Children and the Environment : Early Education for Sustainability [2nd Edition]

This book is a practical resource that illustrates the difference that early childhood educators can make by working with children, their families and the wider community to tackle one of the most important contemporary issues facing the world today: sustainable living. This second edition has been substantially revised and updated, with a new section exploring sustainability education in a variety of global contexts. Researched and written by authors recognised as leaders in their own countries, the chapters in this new section provide readers with international resources and perspectives to further their teaching about early childhood education for sustainability.

Bacterial adherence and biofilm formation on medical implants : a review

Biofilms are a complex group of microbial cells that adhere to the exopolysaccharide matrix present on the surface of medical devices. Biofilm-associated infections in the medical devices pose a serious problem to the public health and adversely affect the function of the device. Medical implants used in oral and orthopedic surgery are fabricated using alloys such as stainless steel and titanium. The biological behavior, such as osseointegration and its antibacterial activity, essentially depends on both the chemical composition and the morphology of the surface of the device. Surface treatment of medical implants by various physical and chemical techniques are attempted in order to improve their surface properties so as to facilitate bio-integration and prevent bacterial adhesion. The potential source of infection of the surrounding tissue and antimicrobial strategies are from bacteria adherent to or in a biofilm on the implant which should prevent both biofilm formation and tissue colonization. This article provides an overview of bacterial biofilm formation and methods adopted for the inhibition of bacterial adhesion on medical implants

Magnetic resonance imaging: An accurate, radiation-free, alternative to computed tomography for the primary imaging and three-dimensional reconstruction of the bony orbit

Purpose: To determine the extent to which the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based virtual 3-dimensional (3D) models of the intact orbit can approach that of the gold standard, computed tomography (CT) based models. The goal was to determine whether MRI is a viable alternative to CT scans in patients with isolated orbital fractures and penetrating eye injuries, pediatric patients, and patients requiring multiple scans in whom radiation exposure is ideally limited. Materials and Methods: Patients who presented with unilateral orbital fractures to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital from March 2011 to March 2012 were recruited to participate in this cross-sectional study. The primary predictor variable was the imaging technique (MRI vs CT). The outcome measurements were orbital volume (primary outcome) and geometric intraorbital surface deviations (secondary outcome)between the MRI- and CT-based 3D models. Results: Eleven subjects (9 male) were enrolled. The patients’ mean age was 30 years. On average, the MRI models underestimated the orbital volume of the CT models by 0.50 0.19 cm3 . The average intraorbital surface deviation between the MRI and CT models was 0.34 0.32 mm, with 78 2.7% of the surface within a tolerance of 0.5 mm. Conclusions: The volumetric differences of the MRI models are comparable to reported results from CT models. The intraorbital MRI surface deviations are smaller than the accepted tolerance for orbital surgical reconstructions. Therefore, the authors believe that MRI is an accurate radiation-free alternative to CT for the primary imaging and 3D reconstruction of the bony orbit. �

A study of safety leadership and safety governance for board members and senior executives

This thesis is an investigation of the fields of leadership and corporate governance in the context of workplace safety. The research has made a contribution by defining four criteria of safety leadership and applying these criteria to board members, senior executives and written communications. The thesis outlines the findings of two studies; the first is an analysis of public disclosures in ASX200 annual reports and CSR reports, and the second comprises two case studies of large Australian companies including interviews with board members and senior executives. The concept of safety governance is defined and a safety governance framework is developed.

Associations between early shared music activities in the home and later child outcomes : findings from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

The benefits of early shared book reading between parents and children have long been established,yet the same cannot be said for early shared music activities in the home. This study investigated the parent–child home music activities in a sample of 3031 Australian children participating in Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) study. Frequency of shared home music activities was reported by parents when children were 2–3 years and a range of social, emotional,and cognitive outcomes were measured by parent and teacher report and direct testing two years later when children were 4–5 years old. A series of regression analyses (controlling for a set of important socio-demographic variables) found frequency of shared home music activities to have a small significant partial association with measures of children’s vocabulary, numeracy, attentional and emotional regulation, and prosocial skills. We then included both book reading and shared home music activities in the same models and found that frequency of shared home music activities maintained small partial associations with measures of prosocial skills, attentional regulation, and numeracy. Our findings suggest there may be a role for parent-child home music activities in supporting children’s development.

Negotiating indeterminacy in studio teaching: Using the zones of material and immaterial play to shape pedagogies and practices in art

The processes of studio-based teaching in visual art are often still tied to traditional models of discrete disciplines and largely immersed in skill-based learning. These approaches to training artists are also tied to an individual model of art practice that is clearly defined by the boundaries of those disciplines. This paper will explain how the open studio program at QUT can be broadly understood as an action research model of learning that ‘plays’ with the post-medium, post-studio genealogies and zones of contemporary art. This emphasises developing conceptual, contextual and formal skills as essential for engaging with and practicing in the often-indeterminate spatio-temporal sites of studio teaching. It will explore how this approach looks to Sutton-Smith’s observations on the role of play and Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development in early childhood learning as a way to develop strategies for promoting creative learning environments that are collaborative and self sustainable. Social, cultural, political and philosophical dialogues are examined as they relate to art practice with the aim of forming the shared interests, aims, and ambitions of graduating students into self initiated collectives or ARIs.