Discovery of the Early Ordovician strata in Xianza County, Tibet and its significance

There is no any sediments contain fossils which formed earlier than Middle Ordovician in northern Tibet yet. It is very important whether have developed the Cambrian to Early Ordovician sedimentary strata. During geological mapping of Xainza County in 2000, Tetragraptus approximatus, the typical one of graptolite belts which cosmepolitically distributed in the Arenigian of Early Ordovician, was collected from the so-call Pre-Sinian Nianqingtanggula Group. So there is developped the Early Ordovician sediments and we have established Zakang Formation and Taduo Formation which perfected the Plaeozoic sequences in northern Tibet. According to these, we can realize tectonic control, palaeogeographrc pattern as well as palaeobiogeographic distribution of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the early Paleozoic and also provided the materials to the cosmepolitical biostratigraphic contrast.

An approach to search and exploration through mixed-initiative

Generative design environments need support for human intervention as well as sound computational formalisms. A systematic approach to integrating the two, formal generation and the exploratory, is lacking. In this paper, we posit the possibility of a design support system that combines formal search with user driven exploration. Our approach is to cast the interaction between the user and the generative formalism as agent collaboration in a mixed-initiative environment. We describe the role of interaction and agency in an experimental mixed-initiative design support system, FOLDS and demonstrate its application.

The infant feeding activity and nutrition trial (INFANT) an early intervention to prevent childhood obesity : cluster-randomised controlled trial

Background : Multiple factors combine to support a compelling case for interventions that target the development of obesity-promoting behaviours (poor diet, low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour) from their inception. These factors include the rapidly increasing prevalence of fatness throughout childhood, the instigation of obesity-promoting behaviours in infancy, and the tracking of these behaviours from childhood through to adolescence and adulthood. The Infant Feeding Activity and Nutrition Trial (INFANT) aims to determine the effectiveness of an early childhood obesity prevention intervention delivered to first-time parents. The intervention, conducted with parents over the infant's first 18 months of life, will use existing social networks (first-time parent's groups) and an anticipatory guidance framework focusing on parenting skills which support the development of positive diet and physical activity behaviours, and reduced sedentary behaviours in infancy.

Methods/Design : This cluster-randomised controlled trial, with first-time parent groups as the unit of randomisation, will be conducted with a sample of 600 first-time parents and their newborn children who attend the first-time parents' group at Maternal and Child Health Centres. Using a two-stage sampling process, local government areas in Victoria, Australia will be randomly selected at the first stage. At the second stage, a proportional sample of first-time parent groups within selected local government areas will be randomly selected and invited to participate. Informed consent will be obtained and groups will then be randomly allocated to the intervention or control group.

Discussion : The early years hold promise as a time in which obesity prevention may be most effective. To our knowledge this will be the first randomised trial internationally to demonstrate whether an early health promotion program delivered to first-time parents in their existing social groups promotes healthy eating, physical activity and reduced sedentary behaviours. If proven to be effective, INFANT may protect children from the development of obesity and its associated social and economic costs.

A pathway to enhancing professionalism: building a bridge between TAFE and university early childhood qualifications

It has been argued that a key strategy to improve developmental and educational outcomes for young children is to increase the number of childcare staff with early childhood university degrees (Saracho & Spodek, 2007). In order to upgrade the qualifications of staff, a number of Australian universities provide pathways that enable graduates of early childhood diploma programs to complete a degree. Several impediments, including institutional structures and individual contextual and personal factors, may affect these pathways. Although a range of organisations offer diploma programs, TAFE (Tertiary and Further Education) is a major provider. The aim of the present study was to investigate student transition between early childhood programs in TAFE and university. The research drew on several data sources, including a survey of the perceptions of students at various points of undertaking the transition. The current credit arrangement for TAFE Diploma graduates was found to be satisfactory; however, gaps were identified between the TAFE and university teaching and learning arrangements with regard to curriculum structures, teaching styles and assessment. Graduates of both programs considered that the completion of both awards would have a positive effect on their careers.

Symptoms of depression and difficulty initiating sleep from early adolescence to early adulthood: a longitudinal study

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To assess the direction of the relationship and degree of shared associations between symptoms of depression and difficulty initiating sleep (DIS) from early adolescence to early adulthood. DESIGN: Cross-sectional and longitudinal assessment of the symptoms of depression-DIS association from early adolescence (age 13 y) to early adulthood (age 23 y). SETTING: Hordaland, Norway. PARTICIPANTS: There were 1,105 individuals (55% male) who took part in the Norwegian Longitudinal Health Behaviour Study (NLHB) and participated at least once across seven data collection waves during the years 1990-2000. INTERVENTIONS: N/A. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Characteristic data were obtained during the first assessment. Symptoms of depression and instances of DIS were assessed during each data collection wave. Symptoms of depression and DIS were associated in all data waves, and one-step cross-lagged bivariate correlations were significant and comparatively high for both factors. Structural equation modelling indicated that DIS and symptoms of depression at wave 1 remain relatively stable across waves (all P < 0.001), and a significant and consistent unidirectional cross-lagged effect was noted running from symptoms of depression to DIS from early adolescence to early adulthood. DIS is only marginally and inconsistently associated with the lagged symptoms of depression score across waves. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that symptoms of depression established in early adolescence are a moderate predictor of difficulty initiating sleep (DIS) in early adulthood, whereas the reverse association of DIS predicting depression was not convincingly supported. These findings are in contrast to previous findings that suggest sleep problems as a risk factor for the later development of depression.

The extended Infant Feeding, Activity and Nutrition Trial (InFANT Extend) Program : a cluster-randomized controlled trial of an early intervention to prevent childhood obesity

BACKGROUND: Understanding how we can prevent childhood obesity in scalable and sustainable ways is imperative. Early RCT interventions focused on the first two years of life have shown promise however, differences in Body Mass Index between intervention and control groups diminish once the interventions cease. Innovative and cost-effective strategies seeking to continue to support parents to engender appropriate energy balance behaviours in young children need to be explored. METHODS/DESIGN: The Infant Feeding Activity and Nutrition Trial (InFANT) Extend Program builds on the early outcomes of the Melbourne InFANT Program. This cluster randomized controlled trial will test the efficacy of an extended (33 versus 15 month) and enhanced (use of web-based materials, and Facebook® engagement), version of the original Melbourne InFANT Program intervention in a new cohort. Outcomes at 36 months of age will be compared against the control group. DISCUSSION: This trial will provide important information regarding capacity and opportunities to maximize early childhood intervention effectiveness over the first three years of life. This study continues to build the evidence base regarding the design of cost-effective, scalable interventions to promote protective energy balance behaviors in early childhood, and in turn, promote improved child weight and health across the life course. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12611000386932 . Registered 13 April 2011.

The Relationship of Childhood Family Characteristics and Current Attachment Styles to Depression and Depressive Vulnerability

The role of adult romantic attachment style in the relationship between childhood experiences and current depression was examined. Childhood maltreatment, parental separation/divorce, family adaptability and cohesion during childhood, current attachment style in romantic relationships, vulnerability to depression, and current depressive symptoms were measured in a self-selected sample of adults (N = 133). A large degree of overlap was found in the experience of different types of maltreatment during childhood. Depressive symptoms were uniquely predicted by the sexual abuse and neglect scales, with significant additional variance explained after entering the degree to which respondents' current romantic attachment style was “secure”. Maltreatment and family dysfunction in childhood were significant predictors of depression and vulnerability to depression. Although maltreatment scores did not differentiate between different attachment styles, the degree to which respondents were securely attached may explain -in part -the association between early childhood environment and depressive symptoms in adulthood.

Overweight and obesity from childhood to adulthood: a follow-up of participants in the 1985 Australian Schools Health and Fitness Survey

Objective: To examine overweight and obesity in Australian children followed through to adulthood.

Design and participants: A cohort study of 8498 children aged 7–15 years who participated in the 1985 Australian Schools Health and Fitness Survey; of these, 2208 men and 2363 women completed a follow-up questionnaire at age 24–34 years in 2001–2005.

Main outcome measures: Height and weight were measured in 1985, and self-reported at follow-up. The accuracy of self-reported data was checked in 1185 participants. Overweight and obesity in childhood were defined according to international standard definitions for body mass index (BMI), and, in adulthood, as a BMI of 25–29.9 and ≥ 30 kg/m2, respectively, after correcting for self-report error.

Results: In those with baseline and follow-up data, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in childhood was 8.3% and 1.5% in boys and 9.7% and 1.4% in girls, respectively. At follow-up, the prevalence was 40.1% and 13.0% in men and 19.7% and 11.7% in women. The relative risk (RR) of becoming an obese adult was significantly greater for those who had been obese as children compared with those who had been a healthy weight (RR = 4.7; 95% CI, 3.0–7.2 for boys and RR = 9.2; 95% CI, 6.9–12.3 for girls). The proportion of adult obesity attributable to childhood obesity was 6.4% in males and 12.6% in females.

Conclusion: Obesity in childhood was strongly predictive of obesity in early adulthood, but most obese young adults were a healthy weight as children.

Using bioinformatics techniques for gene identification in drug discovery and development

As more and more evidence has become available, the link between gene and emergent disease has been made including cancer, heart disease and parkinsonism. Analyzing the diseases and designing drugs with respect to the gene and protein level obviously help to find the underlying causes of the diseases, and to improve their rate of cure. The development of modern molecular biology, biochemistry, data collection and analysis techniques provides the scientists with a large amount of gene data. To draw a link between genes and their relation to disease outcomes and drug discovery is a big challenge: How to analyze large datasets and extract useful knowledge? Combining bioinformatics with drug discovery is a promising method to tackle this issue. Most techniques of bioinformatics are used in the first two phases of drug discovery to extract interesting information and find important genes and/or proteins for speeding the process of drug discovery, enhancing the accuracy of analysis and reducing the cost. Gene identification is a very fundamental and important technique among them. In this paper, we have reviewed gene identification algorithms and discussed their usage, relationships and challenges in drug discovery and development.

Feminine transports and transformations : textual performances of Australian women convicts and emigrants from 1788 to 1850

While scholars have critiqued early representations of the white colonial female in the form of the novel, short story, or historical narrative, analyses of poetry tend to be located only on that produced in Australia and often in light of a nascent national identity. This article examines how poetic renditions of the desolate woman might be viewed as part of imperialism's mythologising process, displacing more worrying versions of womanhood in relation to the new colonies. While social anxieties over the identity of the white colonial female would result in highly controlled productions of the female convict and female emigrant, this article demonstrates how they also prove unstable and point to a disruptive reality beyond language.

Is there global inclusion in publishing in the five leading advertising journals and does this relate to general publishing performance : a regional comparison

The question has been raised in academia whether there is global inclusion of authors in publishing. This has generally not been explored in the 30 years of research on advertising research activity and those works that do exist in advertising have generally only examined three North American focused journals. This paper expands the set of journals to five advertising focused journals and thus is a global examination of publishing in advertising. Within these five advertising journals there is an increased international involvement and thus it appears that a broader set of perspectives are being considered in the advertising literature. We also found that there is a positive correlation between publishing in the five leading advertising journals and four leading generalist journals, suggesting that institutions may be developing broader research cultures, rather than targeting works only in advertising.

A model of price discovery and market design : theory and empirical evidence

An essential function of derivative markets is price discovery. A model is proposed to incorporate a comprehensive dynamic interaction between price size coordinates of orders and trades. An example of application of the model and its effect on price discovery is discussed.