High stakes principalship-sleepless nights, heart attacks and sudden death accountabilities: reading media representations of the United States principal shortage

The possible shortage of applicants for principal positions is news in both Australia and abroad. We subject a corpus of predominantly United states (US) news articles to deconstructive narrative analysis and find that the dominant media representation of principals' work is one of long hours Iow salary high stress and sudden death from high stakes accountabilities. However, reported US policy interventions focus predominantly on professional development for aspirants. We note that this will be insufficient to reverse the lack of applications and suggest that the dominant media picture of completely unattractive principals work, meant to leverage a policy solution, will perhaps paradoxically perpetuate the problem. The dominant media picture is also curiously at odds with research that reports high job satisfaction among principals. We suggest that there is a binary of victim and saviour principal in both media and policy which prevents some strategic re-thinking about how the principalship might be different.

Sudden drawdown and drainage of a horizontal aquifer

Drainage of a saturated horizontal aquifer following a sudden drawdown is reanalyzed using the Boussinesq equation. The effect of the finite length of the aquifer is considered in detail. An analytical approximation based on a superposition principle yields a very good estimate of the outflow when compared to accurate numerical solutions. An illustration of the new analytical approach to analyze basin-scale field data is used to demonstrate possible field applications of the new solution.

The life cycle of the AFL footballer : If you sell your body, mind and soul what is left when the cheering stops?

In this paper we will draw on research conducted for the AFL which, in part, illuminated aspects of the Faustian pact that many young men enter into in order to become an elite level, professional footballer in what is increasingly a global sports entertainment industry. In order to develop an identity as an AFL footballer these young men willingly sell their body, mind and soul to one club, or to many. For varying lengths of time these pacts can have significant payoffs - in terms of a sense of self, and in monetary terms. For many though, these payoffs are limited and must be accounted for sometime in the future - an accounting that in Faustian terms, can carry significant costs to the body, mind and soul long after the cheering has stopped, and when the benefits come mainly in the form of memories. In this paper we argue that elements of these pacts can be identified and analysed via the following: understanding AFL as a sports entertainment business; using Foucault's work on the care of the self to explore what it means to be an elite level professional and the demands made by others on the body, mind and soul of players; and the idea that a career as an elite level professional footballer has a number of phases (early, mid and late) in which the nature of a professional identity - shaped by different demands on the body, mind and soul- changes.

High stakes principalship - sleepless nights, heart attacks and sudden death accountabilities: reading media representations of the US principal shortage

The possible shortage of applicants for principal positions is news in both Australia and abroad. We subject a corpus of predominantly US news article to deconstructive narrative analysis and find that the dominant media representation of principals' work is one of long hours, low salary, high stress and sudden death from high stakes accountabilities. However reported US policy interventions focus predominantly on professional development for aspirants. We note that this will be insufficient to reverse the lack of applications, and suggest that the dominant media picture of completely unattractive principals' work, meant to leverage a policy solution will perhaps paradoxically perpetuate the problem. This picture is also curiously at odds with research that reports high job satisfaction among principals. We suggest that there is a dominant binary of victim and saviour principal in both media and policy which prevents some strategic re-thinking about how the principalship might be different.

The race that stops a nation : the demand for the Melbourne Cup

This article uses the bounds testing procedure to cointegration, within an autoregressive distributed lag framework to estimate the determinants of attendance at the Melbourne Cup from its inception from 1861 to 2002. Following the literature on the demand for professional team sports, attendance is specified as a function of economic, demographic and race-specific factors. The main findings are that real income and population size are the major determinants of attendance in the long run, while in the short run the weather is the most important factor explaining attendance.

Paths to Buddhahood : the "sudden" and "gradual" awakening models in Mah ̄y n̄a and Vajray n̄a Buddhism

Examines the graduated paths of Mah ȳn̄a and Vajrayn̄a Buddhism and the instantaneous paths of Ch'an/Zen, rDzogs chen and Mahm̄udr.̄ The main contention between these approaches relates to how the mental defilements are to be purified and how the positive qualities of Buddhahood are to be realised. After comparing and examining the paths it is argued that the polarisation of the "sudden" and "gradual" approaches is the result of the critical philosophies of late Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, rather than a real spiritual dilemma for adherents of either path.

Physiological stress responses in the warm-water fish matrinxã (Brycon amazonicus) subjected to a sudden cold shock

The present work evaluated several aspects of the generalized stress response [endocrine (cortisol), metabolic (glucose), hematologic (hematocrit and hemoglobin) and cellular (HSP70)] in the Amazonian warm-water fish matrinxã (Brycon amazonicus ) subjected to an acute cold shock. This species farming has been done in South America, and growth and feed conversion rates have been interesting. However, in subtropical areas of Brazil, where the water temperature can rapidly change, high rates of matrinxã mortality have been associated with abrupt decrease in the water temperature. Thus, we subjected matrinxã to a sudden cold shock by transferring the fish directly to tanks in which the water temperature was 10oC below the initial conditions (cold shock from 28ºC to 18oC). After 1h the fish were returned to the original tanks (28ºC). The handling associated with tank transfer was also imposed on control groups (not exposed to cold shock). While exposure to cold shock did not alter the measured physiological conditions within 1h, fish returned to the ambient condition (water at 28º C) significantly increased plasma cortisol and glucose levels. Exposure to cold shock and return to the warm water did not affect HSP70 levels. The increased plasma cortisol and glucose levels after returning the fish to warm water suggest that matrinxã requires cortisol and glucose for adaptation to increased temperature.

Undergraduate nursing students' performance in recognising and responding to sudden patient deterioration in high psychological fidelity simulated environments: an Australian multi-centre study

Objectives
This paper reports the quantitative findings of the first phase of a larger program of ongoing research: Feedback Incorporating Review and Simulation Techniques to Act on Clinical Trends (FIRST2ACTTM). It specifically aims to identify the characteristics that may predict primary outcome measures of clinical performance, teamwork and situation awareness in the management of deteriorating patients.

Design
Mixed-method multi-centre study.

Setting
High fidelity simulated acute clinical environment in three Australian universities.

Participants
A convenience sample of 97 final year nursing students enrolled in an undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing or combined Bachelor of Nursing degree were included in the study.

Method
In groups of three, participants proceeded through three phases: (i) pre-briefing and completion of a multi-choice question test, (ii) three video-recorded simulated clinical scenarios where actors substituted real patients with deteriorating conditions, and (iii) post-scenario debriefing. Clinical performance, teamwork and situation awareness were evaluated, using a validated standard checklist (OSCE), Team Emergency Assessment Measure (TEAM) score sheet and Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT). A Modified Angoff technique was used to establish cut points for clinical performance.

Results
Student teams engaged in 97 simulation experiences across the three scenarios and achieved a level of clinical performance consistent with the experts' identified pass level point in only 9 (1%) of the simulation experiences. Knowledge was significantly associated with overall teamwork (p = .034), overall situation awareness (p = .05) and clinical performance in two of the three scenarios (p = .032 cardiac and p = .006 shock). Situation awareness scores of scenario team leaders were low overall, with an average total score of 41%.

Conclusions
Final year undergraduate nursing students may have difficulty recognising and responding appropriately to patient deterioration. Improving pre-requisite knowledge, rehearsal of first response and team management strategies need to be a key component of undergraduate nursing students' education and ought to specifically address clinical performance, teamwork and situation awareness.

Socioeconomic differences in outdoor food advertising at public transit stops across Melbourne suburbs.

To assess and compare the number and type of outdoor food advertisements at public transit stops within suburbs of varying levels of socioeconomic disadvantage.

Corrigendum to "Undergraduate nursing students' performance in recognising and responding to sudden patient deterioration in high psychological fidelity simulated environments: An Australian multi-centre study" [Nurse Educ. Today 34(5) (May 2014

The authors regret that the original text: The SAGAT instrument has been previously validated (Bell et al., 2006) is incorrect and should read: The SAGAT technique has been demonstrated as valid, sensitive and reliable measure of situation awareness in diverse applications (Endsley, 2000).

Endsley, M. R. (2000) Direct measurement of situation awareness: Validity and use of SAGAT. In Endsley, M.R. & Garland, D.J. (Eds.), Situation awareness analysis and measurement (pp 147–173). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

A trial of e-simulation of sudden patient deterioration (FIRST2ACT WEB) on student learning

BACKGROUND: High-fidelity simulation pedagogy is of increasing importance in health professional education; however, face-to-face simulation programs are resource intensive and impractical to implement across large numbers of students. OBJECTIVES: To investigate undergraduate nursing students' theoretical and applied learning in response to the e-simulation program-FIRST2ACT WEBTM, and explore predictors of virtual clinical performance. DESIGN AND SETTING: Multi-center trial of FIRST2ACT WEBTM accessible to students in five Australian universities and colleges, across 8 campuses. PARTICIPANTS: A population of 489 final-year nursing students in programs of study leading to license to practice. METHODS: Participants proceeded through three phases: (i) pre-simulation-briefing and assessment of clinical knowledge and experience; (ii) e-simulation-three interactive e-simulation clinical scenarios which included video recordings of patients with deteriorating conditions, interactive clinical tasks, pop up responses to tasks, and timed performance; and (iii) post-simulation feedback and evaluation. Descriptive statistics were followed by bivariate analysis to detect any associations, which were further tested using standard regression analysis. RESULTS: Of 409 students who commenced the program (83% response rate), 367 undergraduate nursing students completed the web-based program in its entirety, yielding a completion rate of 89.7%; 38.1% of students achieved passing clinical performance across three scenarios, and the proportion achieving passing clinical knowledge increased from 78.15% pre-simulation to 91.6% post-simulation. Knowledge was the main independent predictor of clinical performance in responding to a virtual deteriorating patient R(2)=0.090, F(7, 352)=4.962, p<0.001. DISCUSSION: The use of web-based technology allows simulation activities to be accessible to a large number of participants and completion rates indicate that 'Net Generation' nursing students were highly engaged with this mode of learning. CONCLUSION: The web-based e-simulation program FIRST2ACTTM effectively enhanced knowledge, virtual clinical performance, and self-assessed knowledge, skills, confidence, and competence in final-year nursing students.