Beliefs, practices, and expectations of oral teachers of the deaf

This study investigated the beliefs and practices of 28 teachers of the deaf about their practices. The teachers were all working in oral settings either as visiting teachers or teachers in a mainstream school facility supporting groups of students with hearing loss. Teachers who used an Auditory Verbal approach largely adopted a positivist paradigm, whereas those using an Auditory Oral approach were more likely to adopt a constructivist paradigm. Those using a mixed approach (AV/AO) adopted a paradigm that was a mix of both positivist and constructivist. Results suggest that there is a strong relationship between the underlying beliefs of teachers and the model of practice that they adopt, and that professional experience, professional development and the inclusion movement exert an influence on those beliefs and practices.

Mortgages and bonds: the asset management practices of Australian life insurers to 1960

Recent studies of the experience of the British life insurance industry indicate that a period of transition, and the development of more diversified investment strategies, began in the interwar period. Australian life insurers lagged behind their British counterparts in the introduction of such strategies. This paper investigates why this was the case. It argues that in the Australian market there was both a lack of opportunity and incentive to broaden asset portfolios. However, this did not mean that asset management practices did not advance. Australian life offices became progressively more sophisticated in their approach to portfolio management during this period. Developments in the interwar period provided a grounding for post-war expansion into the equity market.

In the service of the society: the labour management practices of an Australian life Insurer to 1940

This article considers the labour management practices in use in the Australian life insurance industry during the inter-war period. Using the Australian Mutual Provident as a case study, it is argued that the specific human resource management practices evolved to deal with separate sets of problems arising from the functions of the life insurance business and the manner in which the principal/agent problem was manifested. The differing nature of work associated with the sales and management of life insurance fostered the development of primary and secondary labour markets in which the benefits flowing to one were superior to those accruing to the other.

The ambivalent practices of reflexivity

Reflexivity involves turning one’s reflexive gaze on discourse—turning language back on itself to see the work it does in constituting the world. The subject/researcher sees simultaneously the object of her or his gaze and the means by which the object (which may include oneself as subject) is being constituted. The consciousness of self that reflexive writing sometimes entails may be seen to slip inadvertently into constituting the very (real) self that seems to contradict a focus on the constitutive power of discourse. This article explores this site of slippage and of ambivalence. In a collective biography on the topic of reflexivity, the authors tell and write stories about reflexivity and in a doubled reflexive arc, examine themselves at work during the workshop. Examining their own memories and reflexive practices, they explore this place of slippage and provide theoretical and practical insight into "what is going on" in reflexive research and writing.

Mothers and sons : using memory-work to explore the subjectivities and practices of profeminist men

In this chapter I will outline the application of memory-work to understanding the subjectivities and practices of profeminist men. Profeminism for men involves a sense of responsibility to our own and other men's sexism, and a commitment to work with women to end men's violence (Douglas, 1993). It acknowledges that men benefit from the oppression of women, drawing men's attention to the privileges we receive as men and the harmful effects these privileges have on women (Thome-Finch, 1992). The research was undertaken as my PhD thesis and it began with questions that have been a personal challenge in my search· to understand my place as a white, heterosexual man who is committed to a profeminist position 1. What does it mean to be a profeminist man? What is the experience of endeavoring to live out a profeminist commitment? What do these experiences tell us about reforming men's subjectivities and practices towards gender equality? I believe that men's subjectivity is crucial to the maintenance and reproduction of gender domination and hence to its change. The purpose of the research was thus to theorize men's subjectivities and practices to inform a profeminist men's practice and to enact strategies that will, in themselves, promote the process of change. So the research was driven by practical concerns as well as by the imperatives of intellectual inquiry.

Current status of farming practices of striped catfish, Pangasianodon hypophthalmus in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Aquaculture of catfish, Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (Sauvage), locally known as “ca tra”, and commonly referred to as striped catfish, river catfish and sutchi catfish, in Vietnam, having recorded a production of 683,000 tonnes in 2007, valued at about 645 million US$ is one of the largest single species based farming system, restricted to a small geographical area, in the world. The product is almost totally exported to over 100 countries as frozen fillets, as an acceptable alternative to white fish. Catfish is farmed mostly in earthen ponds, up to 4 m deep, in nine provinces in the Mekong Delta in South Vietnam. The results of the grow-out system of catfish farming in the Mekong Delta from a survey of 89 farms are presented. The farm size ranged from 0.2 to 30 ha with a mean of 4.09 ha. The frequency distribution of the yield in tonne/ha/crop and tonne/ML/crop corresponded to a normal distribution curve, where 75% of the farms yielded 300 tonnes/ha/crop or more. It was found that the yield per crop was significantly correlated (p < 0.05) to stocking density, pond depth and volume but not to pond surface area. Yields per crop was significantly different (p < 0.05) between upper and lower provinces of the Mekong Delta and water source (river versus channels), amongst others. It was evident that diseases and/or symptoms were observed to occur mostly in accordance with the onset of rains. In this paper the history of the catfish farming in the Mekong Delta is briefly traced, and current harvesting and marketing procedures as well as pertinent social elements of the farming community are dealt with.

Teaching like an artist : the pedagogic identities and practices of artists in schools

This article reports findings from an ethnographic study of the arts curriculum and pedagogy in a British primary school. The policy context for the study is the school's involvement in promoting creative partnerships between teachers and artists. The pedagogies of three different artist-led projects are analysed, using a Bernsteinian framework, and are characterised in relation to notions of 'competence' and 'performance' pedagogies. These characterisations are then used to consider the impact of the artists' pedagogies on teachers in the school, and the extent to which the different pedagogies promote inclusion. Broad conclusions are drawn about the relative difficulty of adopting competence pedagogies in the current educational culture of British schools; more specific conclusions are drawn about the importance of time, text, discourse and interpretation in arts pedagogies.

Lay meanings and practices of medicinal use in a multicultural context : a qualitative study among Anglo-Celtic and Russian Australians in Melbourne

Describes medicinal use among Anglo-Celtic and Russian Australians. Cultural constructions of medicines are embedded in health beliefs; shaped by experiences with health care within socio-economic and political contexts. Cultural practices of medicinal use are best understood in the context of lay models of rationality and recognition of the conflict existing between the lay and expert models.

A novel nanoplatform for oral delivery of anti-cancer biomacromolecules

Oral administration of bio–macromolecules is an uphill task and the challenges from varying pH and enzymatic activity are difficult to overcome. In this regard, nanotechnology promises the new hope and offers advantages such as controlled release, target specific delivery, combinatorial therapy and many more. In this study, we demonstrate the formulation of a novel alginate enclosed, chitosan coated ceramic, anti cancer nano carrier (ACSC NC). These NC were loaded with multi functional anti cancer bovine lactoferrin (Lf), a natural milk based protein, for improvement of intestinal absorption, in order to develop a novel platform to carry anti cancer protein and/or peptides for oral therapy. Here we demonstrate the size, morphology, internalisation and release profiles of the nanoparticles (NC) under varying pH as perceived in human digestive system. We further determine the uptake of these particles by colon cancer cell lines by measuring the endocytosis and transcytosis of the NC. These NC can be used for future targeted protein/peptide or nucleic acid based drug delivery to treat difficult diseases including cancer.