The right to own : internationalization of perspectives of plagiarism and the internet

Cultural diversity in tertiary classrooms is integral to the current university scene. Teachers must incorporate different methods of delivery and
assessment to cater for an increasingly international student population. This paper explores the notion of plagiarism from two perspectives: the law
and English as a Second Language (ESL) writing theory.

Historical fictions : the historical novel in Australia during the 1930s and 1940s

The thesis examines historical novels written in Australia during the 1930s and 1940s, providing close readings of Xavier Herbert's Caprocornia, Miles Franklin's All That Swagger, M. Barnard Eldershaw's Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Katherine Susannah Prichard's goldfields trilogy, and Eleanor Dark's The Timeless Land. No attempt has been made at encyclopaedic completeness. The organising principle behind the study relates, instead, to the question of the status of the historical novel as a genre. The thesis considers the importance of genre in literary theory, and reflects on the construction of Australian literary history, which in the post-war period has consistently involved a debunking of historical fiction. In the first chapter, various approaches to historical fiction are considered, special attention being paid to Lukacs's The Historical Novel. This leads on to an examination of Marxist approaches to literature, including Frederic Jameson's The Political Unconscious, in order to establish some of the coordinates of the subsequent analysis. While Lukacs's study represents an inadequate theoretical basis for an examination of the historical novel, his popular frontism suggests a useful context for an examination of historical fiction written in Australia during the 'thirties and 'forties, raising the question of the relationship between literature and ideology during this period. The thesis, however, embraces a wider ideological spectrum than the Popular Front, including P.R. Stephensen's 'Australia First' Movement, as well as Katherine Susannah Prichard's communism. The next two chapters are devoted to a consideration of Capricornia and All That Swagger, novels P. R. Stephensen praised in the columns of The Publicist for being 'authentically Australian'. The thesis is generally concerned with the question of the relationship between Australian nationalism and literary production, a concern which is taken up in the following chapter, where Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Prichard's goldfields trilogy are examined in connection with the Popular Front. Eleanor Dark's development as a writer forms the subject matterof the concluding chapters of this study, when the significance of the historical novel for writers of her generation is established through considering the importance of the historical novel within her oevre.

A haemodialysis exercise program using novel exercise equipment

This study explored whether an exercise programme for haemodialysis patients, including the use of a purpose built dialysis exercise machine, would improve quality of life (QoL), nutrition, physical function and biochemical indices. QoL, and biochemical indices were measured at 6 months and nutrition was measured at 12 months. Physical function was measured at 4, 8 and 12 months. Results showed improvement in physical function tests a decrease in serum phosphate. The QoL health and physical functioning domain improved also. Conclusions The development of a structured exercise programme can improve quality of life, physical functioning, PO4 levels and urea clearances of dialysis patients.

Sustaining a hemodialysis exercise program : a review

This article reviews the literature addressing exercise programs for dialysis patients to identify elements necessary for sustaining exercise programs in this population. Literature searches for publications (January 1980–February 2009) in Medline (OVID), PubMed, CINAHL (EBSCO), EBSCOhost EJS, ProQuest Central, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink (Kluwer), and Wiley Interscience (Blackwell) were performed. Reference lists from relevant articles were hand-searched for further publications. Criteria for inclusion included full-text primary research and review articles focused on exercise for adult hemodialysis patients. One hundred and seventy one publications were found with a primary focus on exercise in hemodialysis. Of these, 28 primary research and 14 review articles addressed one or more aspects of sustainability of hemodialysis exercise programs. Factors contributing to sustainable exercise programs included: dedicated exercise professionals; encouragement to exercise intradialytically; dialysis and medical staff commitment; adequate physical requirements of equipment and space; interesting and stimulating; cost implications need to be addressed; exercise is not for everyone; requires individual prescription; and there is no age barrier to exercise on hemodialysis.

Not all roads lead to Rome - a review of quality of life measurement in diabetes

Aims Quality of life (QoL) is recognized widely as an important health outcome in diabetes, where the burden of selfmanagement places great demands on the individual. However, the concept of QoL remains ambiguous and poorly defined. The aim of our review is to clarify the measurement of QoL in terms of conceptualization, terminology and psychometric properties, to review the instruments that have been used most frequently to assess QoL in diabetes research and make recommendations for how to select measures appropriately.

Methods A systematic literature search was conducted to identify the ten measures most frequently used to assess QoL in diabetes research (including clinical trials) from 1995 to March 2008.

Results Six thousand and eight-five abstracts were identified and screened for instrument names. Of the ten instruments most frequently used to assess ‘QoL’, only three actually do so [i.e. the generic World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) and the diabetes-specific Diabetes Quality of Life (DQOL) and Audit of Diabetes-Dependent Quality of Life (ADDQoL)]. Seven instruments more accurately measure health status [Short-Form 36 (SF-36), EuroQoL 5-Dimension (EQ-5D)], treatment satisfaction [Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (DTSQ)] and psychological well-being [Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Well-Being Questionnaire (W-BQ), Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID)].

Conclusions No single measure can suit every purpose or application but, when measures are selected inappropriately and data misinterpreted, any conclusions drawn are fundamentally flawed. If we value QoL as a therapeutic goal, we must ensure that the instruments we use are both valid and reliable. QoL assessment has the proven potential to identify ways in which treatments can be tailored to reduce the burden of diabetes. With careful consideration, appropriate measures can be selected and truly robust assessments undertaken successfully.

Pilot Study of clinician attitudes to insulin pump therapy: international differences and the need for a greater understanding of the patient perspective

OBJECTIVES: To identify and survey health care professionals (HCPs) attitudes to insulin pump therapy (CSII).

METHODS: Eight specialists were interviewed to explore the attitudes and beliefs about CSII. Responses were analysed thematically and used to inform the design of a new 22-item questionnaire: the Attitudes to Pump Therapy (APT) Survey. The APT was pilottested among 95 HCPs (54% male; 75.5% diabetologists/DSNs, 13.8% general practitioners) at the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) conference, 2006. Results were analysed using non-parametric statistics with bonferroni correction.

RESULTS: Analyses of interview data identified 9 themes: biomedical, perceived control of care/diabetes, technology, quality of life, financial resources, training, education & support, suitability, and evidence-base. Items were designed to reflect these themes with responses scored on a 5-point Likert scale (strongly agree—strongly disagree). No statistically significant differences
were found by gender, HCP speciality, country (and continent) of origin or proportion of patients using CSII. Most notable differences were found in relation to gross domestic product (GDP) and the potential for pump therapy to achieve tight blood glucose control (lower GDP = more agreement: p = 0.001), and result in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) (lower GDP = less agreement: p < 0.005). Ranked mean scores showed a split between biomedical/clinical items (N = 11) and items concerned with patient experience (N = 11). Attitudes about biomedical/clinical issues were generally clear (i.e. for 7/11 items, the mean score was “agree”) but less decisive about patient experience (i.e. for 8/11 items, the mean score was “neither agree nor disagree”).

CONCLUSION: Few subgroup differences existed, but those that did may be explained by lack of access to treatment (directly corresponding to GDP). Clinicians’ were generally clear in their attitudes regarding biomedical aspects but less so regarding patient experience. Research focusing on patient-reported outcomes is likely to offer clinicians a greater understanding of the patients’ perspective of insulin pump therapy.