All the worldwide web's a stage : teenage girls' self-presentation and identities formation through status updates

This study investigates grade eight girls’ use of status updates on Facebook in order to create identities online. Using sociologist Erving Goffman’s theory of self-presentation as a framework, Jones and Pittman’s subsequent strategies of self-presentation are used to discover the ways in which teenage girls use status updates in order to create identities online and manage audience impressions. Using a mixed methods design, the results showed that, while existing self-presentation strategies persist, social networking has created new means of self-presentation. This study adds to a growing pool of research regarding teens’ engagement with social networking websites to form identities.

Podiatry scope of practice: The role of gender in identification as a specialist

Background Ensuring efficient and effective delivery of health care to an aging population has been a major driver for a review of the health workforce in Australia. As part of this review a new National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS) has evolved with one goal being to improve workforce flexibility. With increased flexibility there have been discussions about the role specialist scopes of practice plays. This study explored the role of gender and other work related characteristics in relation to contemporary scope of podiatry practice and specialisation in Australia. Methods A cross sectional survey was administered through an on-line survey tool on behalf of the Australasian Podiatry Council. Descriptive data was collected over a three-week period. Queensland University of Technology Human Research Ethics approval was sought and confirmed exemption from review, exemption number 1400000791. Results Of the podiatrists participating in this survey (n=218), they were predominately female (66%), early career (34%, 0-9 years) and work in private practices (78%) in multi-podiatrists centres (41%). Relationship between clinical activities performed and “self-perception” of performing a “specialist role” was significant for practitioners who undertook treatment of specific patient groups. The largest area of interest was biomechanics (n=65), followed closely by diabetes (n=61), a third area identified was paediatrics (n=26). Self-perception of specialist status was compared with gender, years of experience, location, primary work environment and clinical practice. When practitioners are asked to categorise themselves to be either “generalist” or “specialist/ generalist with a special interest” podiatrist, male gender was identified as being the only factor which would predict perception of status; 64% males identified as specialist, as opposed to 49% of female survey respondents (Chi square, df = 1, P = 0.044). Self-perception of specialist status was not explained by years of experience, location, working in rural versus urban environment, state worked in, or part-time/full-time work status. Conclusions In conclusion; gender, work environment plus area of interest form a complex relationship, which appear to influence both perception and reality of service provision. Incorporation of specialisation activity (surgical podiatry along with endorsement for use of scheduled medicines) will have lasting impact on the scope of the podiatry profession in Australia. To meet community expectation and maintain high standards, the addition of new subspecialties may be indicated.

Neurological drugs and opioids for pain management

20.1 Epilepsy and an introduction to drugs used to treat 20.1.1 Introduction to epilepsy 20.1.2 Treatment of partial seizures 20.1.3 Treatment of generalised seizures 20.1.4 Treatment of status epilepticus 20.2 Neurodegenerative disorders; principles of treatment 20.2.1 Introduction to neurodegenerative disorders 20.2.2 Parkinson’s disease 20.2.2.1 Introduction to Parkinson’s disease 20.2.2.2 Dopaminergic system 20.2.2.3 Treatment to enhance the dopaminergic system 20.2.2.4 Treatment to inhibit the cholinergic system 20.2.3 Dementia/Alzheimer’s disease 20.2.3.1 Introduction to Alzheimer’s disease 20.2.3.2 Treatment of Alzheimer’s disease 20.2.4 Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis 43.4.1 Introduction 43.4.2 Treatment 20.3. Pain and opioid analgesics 20.3.1 Introduction to pain and analgesia 20.3.2 Introduction to opioids 20.3.3 Tolerance and physical dependence 20.3.4 Effects of opioids 20.3.5 Agonists at opioid μ receptors 20.3.6 Toxicity to opioids This section deals with the neurologic drugs. The neurologic drugs are used to treat epilepsy and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. The opioids for pain management are also discussed in this section.

Dreams in the Shadows : Vietnamese-Australian Lives in Transition

Explores the experiences of Vietnamese immigrants in Australia. Description What is it like to be a refugee in a country that has a completely different culture from your own, where you feel very different from those around you? With a fine eye for detail and keen empathy for her interviewees, Mandy Thomas explores the experiences of Vietnamese living in Australia. She examines displacement and loss, the ongoing effects of war trauma, and international and community politics. While reflecting on many of the contemporary debates on identity and communality, she explores the concrete realities of Vietnamese lives through their daily experiences. She discusses how Vietnamese families have adapted Western domestic architecture to create a more comfortable home environment, how traditional festivals now serve new purposes, and the changing nature of status and gender relations. She describes the reception of the Vietnamese by the wider Australian society and in the media, and she explores the ongoing ties that overseas Vietnamese have with their homeland. Dreams in the Shadows is a valuable resource for anyone working with immigrant communities, for readers interested in Vietnamese immigration to Western countries, and for researchers of migration and multiculturalism. 'Dreams in the Shadows is a wonderfully sensitive account of Vietnamese in Australia that provides insight into the worlds of Vietnamese immigrants and the often marginalizing orders of the host society.' Bruce Kapferer, Professor of Anthropology, James Cook University and University College London 'A perceptive, sensitive and culturally nuanced account of one of the most recently formed diasporas - that of Vietnamese in Sydney. Deserves to be widely read.' Pnina Werbner, Reader in Social Anthropology, Keele University

'What's on your mind?' Writing on Facebook as a tool for self-formation

In the context of modern western psychologised, techno-social hybrid realities, where individuals are incited constantly to work on themselves and perform their self-development in public, the use of online social networking sites (SNSs) can be conceptualised as what Foucault has described as a ‘technique of self’. This article explores examples of status updates on Facebook to reveal that writing on Facebook is a tool for self-formation with historical roots. Exploring examples of self-writing from the past, and considering some of the continuities and discontinuities between these age-old practices and their modern translations, provides a non-technologically deterministic and historically aware way of thinking about the use of new media technologies in modern societies that understands them to be more than mere tools for communication.

Developing transactive memory systems : theoretical contributions from a social identity perspective

Transactive memory system (TMS) theory explains how expertise is recognized and coordinated in teams. Extending current TMS research from a group information-processing perspective, our article presents a theoretical model that considers TMS development from a social identity perspective. We discuss how two features of communication (quantity and quality) important to TMS development are linked to TMS through the group identification mechanism of a shared common team identity. Informed by social identity theory, we also differentiate between intragroup and intergroup contexts and outline how, in multidisciplinary teams, professional identification and perceived equality of status among professional subgroups have a role to play in TMS development. We provide a theoretical discussion of future research directions aimed at testing and extending our model.

Rationality, governmentality, natio(norm)ality: Shaping social science, scientific objects, and the invisible

The discipline of education in Anglophone-dominant contexts has always grappled with a kind of status anxiety relative to other disciplines. This is in part due to the ways in which evidence has been thought about in the theoretico-experimental sciences relative to the ethico-redemptive ones. By examining that which was considered to fall to the side of science, even of social science, this paper complexifies contemporary debates over educational science and research, including debates over evidence-based education or assumed divisions between the quantitative/qualitative and empirical/conceptual. It reapproaches historical vagaries in discourses of vision that underscore the arbitrariness of approaches to social scientific research and its objects. A less-considered set of spatializations and regionalisms in social scientific conceptions of rationality especially are exposed through a close reading of the Harvard University philosopher William James' more marginalized texts.

Employability and job status as moderators of the effects of job insecurity on work outcomes

Despite greater use of temporary employment contracts, little is known about how employees react to job length uncertainty. Individual careers within the safety of one or two primary organisations are no longer the norm. This study investigates the effects of job insecurity and employment status (temporary/permanent) on work outcomes. Three hundred and ninety-one employees (122 temporary and 269 permanent) in low to medium level non-academic positions from two Australian universities completed a survey. The results show that a belief that comparable employment is easily available did not alleviate the negative effects of job insecurity. Work attitudes for temporaries and permanents though were differentially influenced by employee perceptions of their own employability.

Investigating the links between muscle strength, sun exposure, dietary vitamin D intake and the vitamin D status of ambulatory older adults in South East Queensland

Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency are now seen as a contemporary health problem in Australia with possible widespread health effects not limited to bone health1. Despite this, the Vitamin D status (measured as serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D)) of ambulatory adults has been overlooked in this country. Serum 25(OH)D status is especially important among this group as studies have shown a link between Vitamin D and fall risk in older adults2. Limited data also exists on the contributions of sun exposure via ultraviolet radiation and dietary intake to serum 25(OH)D status in this population. The aims of this project were to assess the serum 25(OH)D status of a group of older ambulatory adults in South East Queensland, to assess the association between their serum 25(OH)D status and functional measures as possible indicators of fall risk, obtain data on the sources of Vitamin D in this population and assess whether this intake was related to serum 25(OH)D status and describe sun protection and exposure behaviors in this group and investigate whether a relationship existed between these and serum 25(OH)D status. The collection of this data assists in addressing key gaps identified in the literature with regard to this population group and their Vitamin D status in Australia. A representative convenience sample of participants (N=47) over 55 years of age was recruited for this cross-sectional, exploratory study which was undertaken in December 2007 in south-east Queensland (Brisbane and Sunshine coast). Participants were required to complete a sun exposure questionnaire in addition to a Calcium and Vitamin D food frequency questionnaire. Timed up and go and handgrip dynamometry tests were used to examine functional capacity. Serum 25(OH)D status and blood measures of Calcium, Phosphorus and Albumin were determined through blood tests. The Mean and Median serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) for all participants in this study was 85.8nmol/L (Standard Deviation 29.7nmol/L) and 81.0nmol/L (Range 22-158nmol/L), respectively. Analysis at the bivariate level revealed a statistically significant relationship between serum 25(OH)D status and location, with participants living on the Sunshine Coast having a mean serum 25(OH)D status 21.3nmol/L higher than participants living in Brisbane (p=0.014). While at the descriptive level there was an apparent trend towards higher outdoor exposure and increasing levels of serum 25(OH)D, no statistically significant associations between the sun measures of outdoor exposure, sun protection behaviors and phenotypic characteristics and serum 25(OH)D status were observed. Intake of both Calcium and Vitamin D was low in this sample with sixty-eight (68%) of participants not meeting the Estimated Average Requirements (EAR) for Calcium (Median=771.0mg; Range=218.0-2616.0mg), while eighty-seven (87%) did not meet the Adequate Intake for Vitamin D (Median=4.46ug; Range=0.13-30.0ug). This raises the question of how realistic meeting the new Adequate Intakes for Vitamin D is, when there is such a low level of Vitamin D fortification in this country. However, participants meeting the Adequate Intake (AI) for Vitamin D were observed to have a significantly higher serum 25(OH)D status compared to those not meeting the AI for Vitamin D (p=0.036), showing that meeting the AI for Vitamin D may play a significant role in determining Vitamin D status in this population. By stratifying our data by categories of outdoor exposure time, a trend was observed between increased importance of Vitamin D dietary intake as a possible determinant of serum 25(OH)D status in participants with lower outdoor exposures. While a trend towards higher Timed Up and Go scores in participants with higher 25(OH) D status was seen, this was only significant for females (p=0.014). Handgrip strength showed statistically significant association with serum 25(OH)D status. The high serum 25(OH)D status in our sample almost certainly explains the limited relationship between functional measures and serum 25(OH)D. However, the observation of an association between slower Time Up and Go speeds, and lower serum 25(OH)D levels, even with a small sample size, is significant as slower Timed Up and Go speeds have been associated with increased fall risk in older adults3. Multivariable regression analysis revealed Location as the only significant determinant of serum 25(OH)D status at p=0.014, with trends (p=>0.1) for higher serum 25(OH)D being shown for participants that met the AI for Vitamin D and rated themselves as having a higher health status. The results of this exploratory study show that 93.6% of participants had adequate 25(OH)D status-possibly due to measurement being taken in the summer season and the convenience nature of the sample. However, many participants do not meet their dietary Calcium and Vitamin D requirements, which may indicate inadequate intake of these nutrients in older Australians and a higher risk of osteoporosis. The relationship between serum 25(OH)D and functional measures in this population also requires further study, especially in older adults displaying Vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency.

Site survey and analysis of highway trucks overloading status quo in Anhui

In 2004, with the increasing overloading restriction requirements of society in Anhui, a provincial comprehensive overloading transportation survey has been developed to take evaluations on overloading actuality and enforcement efficiency with the support of the World Bank. A total of six site surveys were conducted at Hefei, Fuyang, Luan, Wuhu, Huainan and Huangshan Areas with four main contents respectively: traffic volume, axle load, freight information and registration information. Via statistical analysis on the survey data, conclusions were gained that: vehicle overloading are very universal and serious problems at arterial highways in Anhui now. The traffic loads have far exceeded the designed endure capacity of highways and have caused prevalent premature pavement damage, especially for rigid pavement. The overloading trucks are unimpeded engaged in highway freight transportation actually due to the disordered overloading enforcement strategies and the deficient inspecting technologies.

Nutritional status and information needs of medical oncology patients receiving treatment at an Australian public hospital

This study aimed to identify: i) the prevalence of malnutrition according to the scored Patient Generated-Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA); ii) utilization of available nutrition resources; iii) patient nutrition information needs; and iv) external sources of nutrition information. An observational, cross-sectional study was undertaken at an Australian public hospital on 191 patients receiving oncology services. According to PG-SGA, 49% of patients were malnourished and 46% required improved symptom management and/or nutrition intervention. Commonly reported nutrition-impact symptoms included: peculiar tastes (31%), no appetite (24%) and nausea (24%). External sources of nutrition information were accessed by 37%, with popular choices being media/internet (n=19) and family/friends (n=13). In a sub-sample (n=65), 32 patients were aware of the available nutrition resources, 23 thought the information sufficient and 19 patients had actually read them. Additional information on supplements and modifying side effects was requested by 26 patients. Malnutrition is common in oncology patients receiving treatment at an Australian public hospital and almost half require improved symptom management and/or nutrition intervention. Patients who read the available nutrition information found it useful, however awareness of these nutrition resources and the provision of information on supplementation and managing symptoms requires attention.

The status of Australian nurse practitioners : the first national census

A five-section questionnaire was mailed to all 234 authorised Australian nurse practitioners in late 2007. An 85% response rate was achieved (202 responses). Respondents had a mean age of 47.0 years and 84.2% were women. Only 145 nurse practitioners (72% of respondents) reported being employed in Australia at the time of the census. Emergency nurse practitioners were the most commonly employed nationally (26.9%). Nearly one third of employed nurse practitioners reported that they were still awaiting approval to prescribe medications despite this being a core legislated skill. Over 70% stated that lack of Medicare provider numbers and lack of authority to prescribe through the Pharmaceut ical Benef its Scheme was extremely limiting to their practice. These findings are consistent with the international literature describing establishment of reformative

A multilevel study of area socio-economic status and food purchasing behaviour

Objective: This study examined the association between area socioeconomic status (SES) and food purchasing behaviour.----- Setting: Melbourne city, Australia, 2003.----- Participants: Residents of 2,564 households located in 50 small areas.----- Design: Data were collected by mail survey (64.2% response rate). Area SES was indicated by the proportion of households in each area earning less than Aus$400 per week, and individual-level socioeconomic position was measured using education, occupation, and household income. Food purchasing was measured on the basis of compliance with dietary guideline recommendations (for grocery foods) and variety of fruit and vegetable purchase. Multilevel regression examined the association between area SES and food purchase after adjustment for individual-level demographic (age, sex, household composition) and socioeconomic factors.----- Results: Residents of low SES areas were significantly less likely than their counterparts in advantaged areas to purchase grocery foods that were high in fibre and low in fat, salt, and sugar; and they purchased a smaller variety of fruits. There was no evidence of an association between area SES and vegetable variety.----- Conclusions In Melbourne, area SES was associated with some food purchasing behaviours independent of individual-level factors, suggesting that areas in this city may be differentiated on the basis of food availability, accessibility, and affordability, making the purchase of some types of foods more difficult in disadvantaged areas.