The microbial content of vacuum cleaner bag dust and emitted bioaerosols : implications for human exposures indoors

Vacuum cleaners can release large concentrations of particles, both in their exhaust air and from resuspension of settled dust. However, the size, variability and microbial diversity of these emissions are unknown, despite evidence to suggest they may contribute to allergic responses and infection transmission indoors. This study aimed to evaluate bioaerosol emission from various vacuum cleaners. We sampled the air in an experimental flow tunnel where vacuum cleaners were run and their airborne emissions sampled with closed-face cassettes. Dust samples were also 35 collected from the dust bag. Total bacteria, total archaea, Penicillium/Aspergillus and total Clostridium cluster 1 were quantified with specific qPCR protocols and emission rates were calculated. Clostridium botulinum, as well as antibiotic resistance genes were detected in each sample using endpoint PCR. Bacterial diversity was also analyzed using denaturing gel electrophoresis (DGGE), image analysis and band sequencing. We demonstrated that emission of bacteria and moulds (Pen/Asp) can reach values as high as 1E05/min and that those emissions are not related to each other. The bag dust bacterial and mould content was also consistently across the vacuums we assessed, reaching up to 1E07 bacteria or moulds equivalent/g. Antibiotic resistance genes were detected in several samples. No archaea or C. botulinum were detected in any air samples. Diversity analyses showed that most bacteria are from human sources, in keeping with other recent results. These results highlight the potential capability of vacuum cleaners to disseminate appreciable quantities of moulds and human-associated bacteria indoors and their role as a source of exposure to bioaerosols.

A novel representation of bioacoustic events for content-based search in field audio data

Bioacoustic data can provide an important base for environmental monitoring. To explore a large amount of field recordings collected, an automated similarity search algorithm is presented in this paper. A region of an audio defined by frequency and time bounds is provided by a user; the content of the region is used to construct a query. In the retrieving process, our algorithm will automatically scan through recordings to search for similar regions. In detail, we present a feature extraction approach based on the visual content of vocalisations – in this case ridges, and develop a generic regional representation of vocalisations for indexing. Our feature extraction method works best for bird vocalisations showing ridge characteristics. The regional representation method allows the content of an arbitrary region of a continuous recording to be described in a compressed format.

Booster vaccination of toddlers with reduced antigen content diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine

Immunogenicity and reactogenicity of DTPa and reduced antigen dTpa booster vaccines were compared to a hepatitis A control vaccine in DTPa-primed toddlers aged 18-20 months. Post-booster, all DTPa and dTpa recipients were seroprotected against diphtheria and tetanus, and >= 93.3% had a booster response to pertussis. There were similar reactogenicity rates in the DTPa and dTpa vaccine recipients. Few Grade 3 symptoms were reported. Just over one in four children in the control group had diphtheria antibody at or potentially below the correlate of protection benchmark (0.016 IU/ml). Larger studies should evaluate potential benefits of reduced antigen vaccines and seroprotection in children who do not receive a booster dose of DTPa at this age, including protection against diphtheria until subsequent booster doses are given. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Educating for digital futures : what the learning strategies of digital content professionals can teach higher education

Beginning in the second half of the 20th century, ICTs transformed many societies from industrial societies in which manufacturing was the central focus, into knowledge societies in which dealing effectively with data and information has become a central element of work (Anderson, 2008). To meet the needs of the knowledge society, universities must reinvent their structures and processes, their curricula and pedagogic practices. In addition to this, of course higher education is itself subject to the sweeping influence of ICTs. But what might effective higher education look like in the 21st century? In designing higher education systems and learning experiences which are responsive to the learning needs of the future and exploit the possibilities offered by ICTs, we can learn much from the existing professional development strategies of people who are already successful in 21st century fields, such as digital media. In this study, I ask: (1) what are the learning challenges faced by digital media professionals in the 21st century? (2) what are the various roles of formal and informal education in their professional learning strategies at present? (3) how do they prefer to acquire needed capabilities? In-depth interviews were undertaken with successful Australian digital media professionals working in micro businesses and SMEs to answer these questions. The strongest thematic grouping that emerged from the interviews related to the need for continual learning and relearning because of the sheer rate of change in the digital media industries. Four dialectical relationships became apparent from the interviewees’ commentaries around the learning imperatives arising out of the immense and continual changes occurring in the digital content industries: (1) currency vs best practice (2) diversification vs specialisation of products and services (3) creative outputs vs commercial outcomes (4) more learning opportunities vs less opportunity to learn. These findings point to the importance of ‘learning how to learn’ as a 21st century capability. The interviewees were ambivalent about university courses as preparation for professional life in their fields. Higher education was described by several interviewees as having relatively little value-add beyond what one described as “really expensive credentialling services.” For all interviewees in this study, informal learning strategies were the preferred methods of acquiring the majority of knowledge and skills, both for ongoing and initial professional development. Informal learning has no ‘curriculum’ per se, and tends to be opportunistic, unstructured, pedagogically agile and far more self-directed than formal learning (Eraut, 2004). In an industry impacted by constant change, informal learning is clearly both essential and ubiquitous. Inspired by the professional development strategies of the digital media professionals in this study, I propose a 21st century model of the university as a broad, open learning ecology, which also includes industry, professionals, users, and university researchers. If created and managed appropriately, the university learning network becomes the conduit and knowledge integrator for the latest research and industry trends, which students and professionals alike can access as needed.

A comparison of the histochemical and image-derived proteoglycan content of articular cartilage

There are several methods for determining the proteoglycan content of cartilage in biomechanics experiments. Many of these include assay-based methods and the histochemistry or spectrophotometry protocol where quantification is biochemically determined. More recently a method based on extracting data to quantify proteoglycan content has emerged using the image processing algorithms, e.g., in ImageJ, to process histological micrographs, with advantages including time saving and low cost. However, it is unknown whether or not this image analysis method produces results that are comparable to those obtained from the biochemical methodology. This paper compares the results of a well-established chemical method to those obtained using image analysis to determine the proteoglycan content of visually normal (n=33) and their progressively degraded counterparts with the protocols. The results reveal a strong linear relationship with a regression coefficient (R2) = 0.9928, leading to the conclusion that the image analysis methodology is a viable alternative to the spectrophotometry.

Cultural content matters: A critical sociology of language and literacy curriculum

A theoretical rationale, policy analysis and research agenda for a critical sociology of language and literacy curriculum, outlining the agenda for a political economy of textbooks.

Australian domestic violence protection order legislation : a comparative quantitative content analysis of victim safety provisions

In Australia, protection orders are a key legal response to domestic violence, and are often viewed as a way of providing for victim safety. For instance, recently the joint Australian and New South Wales Law Reform Commissions recommended that a common core purpose of all state and territory domestic violence legislation should be ‘to ensure or maximise the safety and protection of persons who fear or experience family violence’ (2010:Recommendation 7-4). Drawing and building upon prior research in Australia and the United States (‘US’), this paper uses comparative quantitative content analysis to assess the victim safety focus of domestic violence protection order legislation in each Australian state and territory. The findings of this analysis show that the Northern Territory, South Australia and Victoria ‘stand out’ from the other jurisdictions, having the highest victim safety focus in their legislation. However, there remains sizeable scope for improvement in all Australian jurisdictions, in terms of the victim safety focus of their legislative provisions and the considerations of legislative inconsistency between jurisdictions.

Review of community facilities in Australian retirement villages : a content analysis

Aim Facilities in retirement villages form a supportive environment for older residents. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the provision of these facilities in retirement villages, which are regarded as a viable accommodation option for the ever-increasing ageing population in Australia. Method A content analysis of 124 retirement villages operated by 22 developers in Queensland and South Australia was conducted for the research purpose. Results The most widely provided facilities are community centres, libraries, barbeque facilities, hairdressers/salons and billiards/snooker/pool tables. Commercial operators provide more facilities than not-for-profit organisations and larger retirement villages normally have more facilities due to the economics of scale involved. Conclusions The results of the study provide a useful reference for providing facilities within retirement villages that may support the quality lifestyles for the older residents.

Effect of Al content on the structure of Al-substituted goethite : a micro-Raman spectroscopic study

The characterization of X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, and field emission scanning electron microscope were used to confirm the successful preparation of Al-substituted goethite with different Al content. The micro-Raman spectroscopy was utilized to investigate the effect of Al content on the goethite lattice. The results show that all the feature bands of goethite shifted to high wavenumbers after the occurrence of Al substitution for Fe in the structure of goethite. The shift of wavenumber shows a good linear relationship as a function of increasing Al content especially for the band at 299 cm−1 (R2 = 0.9992). The in situ Raman spectroscopy of thermally treated goethite indicated that the Al substitution not only hinders the transformation of goethite, but also retarded the crystallization of thermally formed hematite. All the results indicated that Raman spectrum displayed an excellent performance in characterizing Al-substituted goethite, which implied the promising application in other substituted metal oxides or hydroxides.

High pressure in situ diffraction studies of metal–hydrogen systems

“Hybrid” hydrogen storage, where hydrogen is stored in both the solid material and as a high pressure gas in the void volume of the tank can improve overall system efficiency by up to 50% compared to either compressed hydrogen or solid materials alone. Thermodynamically, high equilibrium hydrogen pressures in metal–hydrogen systems correspond to low enthalpies of hydrogen absorption–desorption. This decreases the calorimetric effects of the hydride formation–decomposition processes which can assist in achieving high rates of heat exchange during hydrogen loading—removing the bottleneck in achieving low charging times and improving overall hydrogen storage efficiency of large hydrogen stores. Two systems with hydrogenation enthalpies close to −20 kJ/mol H2 were studied to investigate the hydrogenation mechanism and kinetics: CeNi5–D2 and ZrFe2−xAlx (x = 0.02; 0.04; 0.20)–D2. The structure of the intermetallics and their hydrides were studied by in situ neutron powder diffraction at pressures up to 1000 bar and complementary X-ray diffraction. The deuteration of the hexagonal CeNi5 intermetallic resulted in CeNi5D6.3 with a volume expansion of 30.1%. Deuterium absorption filled three different types of interstices, Ce2Ni2 and Ni4 tetrahedra, and Ce2Ni3 half-octahedra and was accompanied by a valence change for Ce. Significant hysteresis was observed between deuterium absorption and desorption which profoundly decreased on a second absorption cycle. For the Al-modified Laves-type C15 ZrFe2−xAlx intermetallics, deuteration showed very fast kinetics of H/D exchange and resulted in a volume increase of the FCC unit cells of 23.5% for ZrFe1.98Al0.02D2.9(1). Deuterium content, hysteresis of H/D uptake and release, unit cell expansion and stability of the hydrides systematically change with the amount of Al content. In the deuteride D atoms exclusively occupy the Zr2(Fe,Al)2 tetrahedra. Observed interatomic distances are Zr–D = 1.98–2.11; (Fe, Al)–D = 1.70–1.75A˚ . Hydrogenation slightly increases the magnetic moment of the Fe atoms in ZrFe1.98Al0.02 and ZrFe1.96Al0.04 from 1.9 �B at room temperature for the alloy to 2.2 �B for its deuteride.

Histories of user-generated content : between formal and informal media economies

Debates about user-generated content (UGC) often depend on a contrast with its normative opposite, the professionally produced content that is supported and sustained by commercial media businesses or public organisations. UGC is seen to appear within or in opposition to professional media, often as a disruptive, creative, change-making force. Our suggestion is to position UGC not in opposition to professional or "producer media", or in hybridised forms of subjective combination with it (the so-called "pro-sumer" or "pro-am" system), but in relation to different criteria, namely the formal and informal elements in media industries. In this article, we set out a framework for the comparative and historical analysis of UGC systems and their relations with other formal and informal media activity, illustrated with examples ranging from games to talkback radio. We also consider the policy implications that emerge from a historicised reading of UGC as a recurring dynamic within media industries, rather than a manifestation of consumer agency specific to digital cultures.

Open access to infinite content (or "in praise of law reviews")

This Article is about legal scholarly publication in a time of plenitude. It is an attempt to explain why the most pressing questions in legal scholarly publishing are about how we ensure access to an infinity of content. It explains why standard assumptions about resource scarcity in publication are wrong in general, and how the changes in the modality of publication affect legal scholarship. It talks about the economics of open access to legal material, and how this connects to a future where there is infinite content. And because student-edited law reviews fit this future better than their commercially-produced, peer-refereed cousins, this Article is, in part, a defense of the crazy-beautiful institution that is the American law review.

Australian screen content in education research project

Researchers from Queensland University of Technology have teamed up with the Australian Research Council (ARC), Screen Australia, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF) to investigate the use of Australian screen content in primary, secondary and tertiary education. Over the next three years (2014-2016), researchers and investigators will undertake a national survey of schools and universities, and will conduct in-depth interviews with hundreds of industry representatives, teachers, principals, librarians and students. Furthermore, new approaches to developing screen content and curricula will be trialled. The project aims to develop a comprehensive picture of why, how, how much and where Australian screen content is used in education.