Prevalence of substance use and delinquent behavior in adolescents from Victoria, Australia and Washington State, United States

This article compares prevalence estimates of substance use and  delinquent behavior in Washington State, United States and Victoria, Australia, two states chosen for their different policy environments around problem behavior. Few comparisons of international differences on rates of multiple problem behavior exist, and most are based on methods that are not matched, raising the question of whether findings are based on  methodological differences rather than actual rate differences. The  International Youth Development Study used standardized methods to recruit and administer an adaptation of the Communities That Care Youth Survey to representative state samples of fifth-, seventh-, and ninth-grade students in each state. Rates of delinquent behavior were generally comparable.  However, striking differences in substance use were noted, with Victoria students reporting higher rates of alcohol use, alcohol misuse, smoking, and inhalant use, whereas Washington State students reported higher rates of marijuana use. Implications for conducting international comparisons are discussed.

Two stage partial classification for inconsistent and imbalanced classes

When deriving classification rules for a non-symmetric database with a binary target class, it is common practice to generate rules for the majority class, then any object which is not covered by a rule of suitable accuracy is by default given the minority class prediction. However, in the case where misclassification costs for the minority class significantly outweigh those of the majority class, this may mean that there are still costly incorrect predictions. We examine the capability of an evolutionary algorithm to detect these potentially costly misclassifications.

Relationships between problematic alcohol consumption and delinquent behaviour from adolescence to young adulthood

Abstract Background. Heavy episodic drinking (HED) has been associated with increased risk for short- and long-term injury and harms, such as violence and delinquent behaviour; however, the temporal relationship between the two remains unclear, pathways between HED and delinquent behaviour from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Methods. Data were drawn from the Australian Temperament Project; a population-based longitudinal study that has followed the health and development of participants (and parents) across 30 years from birth in 1982.The analytic sample was 1650 participants and included five measurement waves spanning adolescence (3 waves: 13–18 years) and young adulthood (2 waves; 19–24 years). Results. There was strong continuity across waves of both HED and delinquency, as well as across-time associations between them. Delinquent behaviour in adolescence was associated with up to twofold increases in the odds of HED at each subsequent adolescent wave. HED in the late teens was associated with over fourfold increases in the odds of persistent (two waves) HED in young adulthood. HED in the late teens was associated with increases in the odds of delinquent behaviour in young adulthood (over twofold for male and one and a half-fold for female participants). Conclusions. While delinquent behaviour predicts both future HED and future delinquent behaviour in adolescence, once young people reach the legal drinking age of 18 years, HED becomes a predictor of current and future delinquent behaviour and future HED, suggesting that increased access to alcohol increases the likelihood of young people engaging in delinquent behaviour. [Miller PG, Butler E, Richardson B, Staiger PK, Youssef GJ, Macdonald JA, Sanson A, Edwards B, Olsson CA. Relationships between problematic alcohol consumption and delinquent behaviour from adolescence to young adulthood. Drug Alcohol Rev 2015]

An investigation of issues in the teaching and management of large classes

In a quest for a more efficient education system, many organizations have opted to increase class size. It is a common perception that large subjects are economical to run and small subjects are not. Many in the tertiary education system have had concerns with issues involved in the teaching of large classes, including teaching quality and whether there are effective learning outcomes for students. As with any complex issue, there are several approaches that could be utilized to assess whether the needs of stakeholders are being met. Stakeholders include the institution, the teaching staff, the community and the students. This study aims to assess whether universities are satisfying the needs of students as class size is increased. The study focuses on satisfaction with large classes and includes an assessment of the satisfaction of students' psychological needs. These constructs are measured in small, medium and large classes to identify the change in the level of satisfaction. The study used a multi-method approach consisting of a literature review, a qualitative phase involving in-depth interviews, focus groups, and a quantitative survey. The results show that while customer satisfaction is being met, the satisfaction of students' psychological needs are not being fully realised. It was also found that there were notable variations between individual students, the subjects being studied and degree streams of students taking the same subject. The implications of these findings and suggestions for further investigation are discussed in this paper.

Effective teaching in universities: are students' basic needs being satisfied in large classes?

In a quest for a more efficient education system, many organizations have opted to increase class size. It is a common perception that large subjects are economical to run and small subjects are not. Many in the tertiary  education system have had concerns with issues involved in the teaching of large classes, including teaching quality and whether there are effective learning outcomes for students. As with any complex issue, there are several approaches that could be utilized to assess whether the needs of  stakeholders are being met. Stakeholders include the institution, the  teaching staff the community and the students. This study aims to assess whether universities are satisfying the needs of students as class size is increased The study focuses on satisfaction with large classes and includes an assessment of the satisfaction of students' psychological needs. These constructs are measured in small, medium and large classes to identify the change in the level of satisfaction. The study used a multi-method approach consisting of a literature review, a qualitative phase involving in depth  interviews, focus groups, and a quantitative survey The results show that while customer satisfaction is being met, the satisfaction of students' psychological needs are not being fully realised. It was also found that there were notable variations between individual students, the subjects being studied and degree streams of students taking the same subject. The implications of these findings and suggestions for further investigation are discussed in this paper.

A technology of study applied in marketing education and supported by self-determination theory

The aim of this study is to assess whether universities are meeting the needs of marketing students in their specific university function of providing knowledge and knowledge processes. This viewpoint is not meant to overlook the university role as a civilizing agent in a constant search for truth (McKenna 2001), but the focus for this study (based as it is in a Faculty of Business and Law) is toward graduates entering the corporate world. Therefore, graduates with suitable discipline knowledge and reasoning skills, in this context, must be able to meet the needs of the corporate marketing sector. Extending this backward to the role of the university, this study is by default seeking to establish if universities are meeting the needs of the corporate sector. A comparison is made between marketing classes using a specific technology of study called an autarchic system, and those classes not using this method. As part of this analysis the study investigates the application of self-determination theory and psychological needs satisfaction. The basic needs scale, comprising of two constructs; Control and Caring was adapted and used to evaluate students' perception of subjects using autarchic study system and those not utilising this methodology.

An analysis of computer-mediated marketing education : the relationship between access to WEBCT, tutorial attendance and student grades

One of the problems faced by Australian academics in the 21 st century is to facilitate learning with a changing profile of students, in bigger and bigger classes. As educators at tertiary institutions, our environment is undergoing major changes as increasingly marketing programs are offering courses either partially (Web enabled) or totally (Web exclusive) online. This study has developed a significant model allowing the prediction of students' overall results and indicates that a student's final grade is dependant, in part, on accessing the study materials and study tools available to them via WebCT and attending face-to-face tutorials.

Evaluating a community lifestyle intervention: adherence and the role of perceived support

Background Interventions that increase participation in physical activity and positive dietary changes may improve the health of the community through modifying the lifestyle contribution to preventable disease. However, previous evaluations have identified concerns about inequitable and unsustainable uptake, adherence and retention within healthy lifestyle schemes.

Intervention study The intervention evaluated here was designed to be a 12-week intervention for participants, offering free testing of physiological indicators of health, one-to-one health advice and a range of exercise, activity and cookery classes, at no or reduced cost, at local venues throughout the community. This paper reports the findings from a small qualitative study undertaken to explore the experiences and reflections of those who took part in the intervention to different extents, including those who fully and partially participated as well as those who dropped out or declined to take part.

Method Sixteen respondents took part in semi-structured interviews (5 male, 11 female; 8 black, 8 white; age range 25–85).

Findings The findings suggest that participants assessed the healthy lifestyle intervention in terms of how well it met their pre-existing needs and opportunities for change, and that they selected the aspects of the scheme that suited them, interested them and were perceived as delivering salient results. There is also evidence for a stronger role of perceived support in influencing uptake and maintenance of lifestyle changes, and that support was conceptualised by participants as one of the services offered by the scheme. Perceived support and related perceptions of reliance on the scheme to sustain lifestyle changes also suggested that in some cases full adherence to a scheme is not as likely to produce long-term adherence to lifestyle changes as compared to partial, but more realistic adherence and smaller lifestyle changes. Implications for delivering and evaluating healthy lifestyle interventions are also discussed.

What do they think when we stack them in? A comparative analysis of student perceptions relating to large and small marketing subjects

University education is in a period of flux with emphasis being focused on quality education, competition for students both local and international as well as changes in governmental financial support and direction. It is with this scenario as a backdrop, that universities in an endeavour to obtain economies of scale offer subjects with large student enrolments. This study investigates marketing students’ perception of and participation in marketing subjects relating to teaching quality, staff availability and support, and individual student involvement in marketing education with large enrolments compared to subjects with small enrolments. This research builds on the investigations of effects of class size by Cuseo (2004) and Binney et al (2004). The study used a multi-method approach. Data from a sample of 621 students was analysed using Factor analysis, MANOVA and ANOVA. Students indicated that there was little difference in the quality of learning obtained in small or large classes. Of interest from a marketing perspective, however, is the perception by students that they are more likely to obtain practical assistance and support from tutors in smaller classes. Student perceptions generally show no major differences between large and small classes in relation to subject selection, ability to learn and lecture  attendance. Students expressed a preference for the opportunity to choose from a number of lecture streams available in subjects with large enrolments. Of interest, however is the student belief that they are less likely to actively participate in large lectures than in small lecture environments.

Computer-mediated education : the relationship between computer access, tutorial attendance and student grades

One of the problems faced by Australian academics in the 21st century is to facilitate learning with a changing profile of students, in bigger and bigger classes. As educators at tertiary institutions, our environment is undergoing major changes as increasingly business and commerce programs are offering courses either partially (Web enabled) or totally (Web exclusive) online. This study has developed an important model allowing the prediction of students' overall results and indicates that a student's final grade is dependant, in part, on accessing the study materials and study tools available to them via WebCT and attending face-to-face tutorials.

Resisting assimilation : the mild aesthetics and wild perceptions of the migrant house

The physical adaptation, remaking and maintenance, or building of the house plays a significant role in immigrants’ sense of belonging to a community, especially in contexts of first generation elderly immigrants with minimal English language skills. Psychoanalytic theories propose that objects are integral to a subject’s identity, but that the path of effect between the subject and object is not causal or direct, rather it goes via the unconscious. This paper seeks to examine the relationship between immigrants and their houses through these theories adapting them to an analysis of the houses. It draws its data from field research of three elderly immigrant households. The iconography of the house has always been perceived as central to the analysis of dreams, here the thesis is that the house is the most significant object of the immigrant because it mediates the many worlds inherent to the migrant’s imaginary landscapes. The analysis will seek to understand this role of the house.

Secondly, while many houses in which migrants live can barely be differentiated in clear physical ways from the typology of houses built in Australia, the perception that they are different is a strong myth. At the least it has resulted in very little, if any, study of this vernacular of new Australian houses. It would be easy to argue that to build a house in Australia is the most important mode of assimilation because a way of life is intrinsically set by this suburban paradigm. But for the reason of this perception of difference I will explore an idea about ethnic aesthetics as a mode of resisting assimilation. In writing on taste in his seminal book, Distinction, the sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, has argued that taste is a way of classifying people into classes, race, culture, but it is also a way for dominant and ruling classes to resist challenges from other parties, and maintain a particular hierarchy of society. In this case those other parties are ethnic communities in Australia whose tastes are not always the same as that of the dominant Anglo-Celtic community.

Class size and its effect on learning in business education

This thesis explores the multi-dimensional nature of class size and how educational processes are shaped by different class size environments in four undergraduate business courses. Class size significantly influenced how curricula were structured and designed for learning and consequently students' course expectations and learning experiences in large and small classes.

Changes in oil content, lipid class and fatty acid composition of the microalga Chaetoceros calcitrans over different phases of batch culture

 Abstract
The diatom Chaetoceros calcitrans is a microalgal species used as food for larva in aquaculture for many species worldwide. Chaetoceros calcitrans is an important source of omega 3 long chain (C ≥ 20) polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC PUFA), chiefly eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3). This article reports lipid content, lipid class composition and fatty acid profiles of each lipid class during the growth cycle of batch cultures of C. calcitrans. Total lipid content and the concentration of neutral lipid were highest in the late stationary growth phase (day 12). However, the amount of EPA was highest during the logarithmic growth phase (1.24 pg/cell on day 4). EPA was initially concentrated in the glycolipid fraction, but this fraction decreased during logarithmic growth, coinciding with the increase in neutral lipid. Docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3, DHA) (0.91 pg/cell) was reported as a major fatty acid (>10 mg/100 g) in all lipid classes on day 1. DHA was depleted quickly from the neutral lipid and glycolipid classes, but at a slower rate from the polar lipid fraction. This work confirms that C. calcitrans is a good source of lipid, in particular EPA, for larval and adult filter feeders in aquaculture.

Social media as a learning environment : how, why, where and when people learn

This paper reports on an 18-month high school action research study and how this could be used to inform course designers and educators in other sectors of education. The high school study focused on the integration of social media into the face-to-face classroom. It used action research in a Victorian public high school in a total of 13 of the author’s classes. Data collection was in three phases over an eighteen month period. This involved the teacher creating one online social network and sharing this dynamic environment with up to seven classes in a semester. Blogs, groups, chats, discussion forums, Web 2.0 tools and a wide range of student-generated content were shared online, within a class and between classes. Students were encouraged to interact and to share their thoughts and ideas about planning as well as using their out-of-school skills and knowledge. Each topic, within each class, was one action research cycle. A number of the findings from this high school study were integrated into post-secondary education subjects at Deakin University. In an era of social media, this high school study has provided insight into how, why, where and when students learn, and by blending many of the findings into Deakin University courses, this study offers a new way of approaching teaching and learning in the broader notion of tertiary education and training.