Health education action research (HEAR) framework

As a mandatory assessment technique of the Health Education Senior Syllabus (QSA, 2010), action research provides an opportunity for unique insights into health related knowledge, behaviours, beliefs, attitudes and values. It has the potential to be a very motivating and engaging form of learning and assessment. Despite these benefits, action research can be a daunting prospect for some students and a challenging form of assessment for teachers to conceptualise and construct. Session participants will be provided with a visual framework for understanding, structuring and sequencing action research projects. This framework will present a series of action research phases and map them against the four general objectives and three assessable dimensions of the syllabus (QSA, 2010. Participants are strongly encouraged to bring a copy of the syllabus for reference and use during this session. Reference Queensland Studies Authority. (2010). Health Education Senior Syllabus 2010. Brisbane: QSA.

Unpacking the Australian Curriculum HPE - proposition 5 : include a critical inquiry approach

Overview • AC HPE and critical thinking • Interrelated propositions: Examples • Inquiry approach and questions • Summary and our challenge

The BRAKE Driver Awareness Program & Senior Health Education

The BRAKE Driver Awareness Program provides evidence-based behaviour, risk, attitude and knowledge education for young drivers. BRAKE was founded during 2006 by Queensland Police Sergeant Rob Duncan and has been delivered to more than 35,000 senior secondary students since 2007. BRAKE is a participant directed program supported by resources provided at no cost. It includes eight parts able to be delivered in different configurations. BRAKE is endorsed by the Queensland Police and Queensland Ambulance Services. It is recognised by the Queensland Studies Authority as a Queensland Certificate of Education registered life skills course. This session is a must attend for secondary teachers, coordinators, staff in senior leadership positions and other stakeholders seeking a unique approach to adolescent road safety education. It will conclude with an opportunity to consider how BRAKE can be integrated into the senior secondary Health Education curriculum or pastoral care, social action and personal development programs.

Air analysis

There are three distinct categories of air environment to be considered in this chapter. These are as follows: (1) The “ambient” or general outdoors atmosphere to which the members of the population are exposed when they venture out of their homes or offices in industrial, urban or rural environments. (2) Indoor air environments, which occur in buildings such as homes, schools, restaurants, public hospitals and office buildings. This category does not cover factories or workplaces which are otherwise subjected to the provisions of various occupational health standards. (3) Workplace atmospheres, which occur in a variety of industries or factories and for which there are numerous atmospheric concentration limits (or exposure standards) promulgated by appropriate bodies or organisations. Since 2009 setting concentration limits for atmospheric contaminants has been administered by Safe Work Australia. A fourth category of air environment which falls outside this chapter is that which is related to upper atmospheric research, global atmospheric effects and concomitant areas of inquiry and/or debate. Such areas include “greenhouse” gas emissions, ozone depletion, and related matters of atmospheric chemistry and physics. This category is not referred to again in this chapter.

Space Station Design Report 2007

Design Proposal for the Blue Lunar Support Hub The conceptual design of a space station is one of the most challenging tasks in aerospace engineering. The history of the space station Mir and the assembly of the International Space Station demonstrate that even within the assembly phase quick solutions have to be found to cope with budget and technical problems or changing objectives. This report is the outcome of the conceptual design of the Space Station Design Workshop (SSDW) 2007, which took place as an international design project from the 16th to the 21st of July 2007 at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR), University of Sydney, Australia. The participants were tasked to design a human-tended space station in low lunar orbit (LLO) focusing on supporting future missions to the moon in a programmatic context of space exploration beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). The design included incorporating elements from systems engineering to interior architecture. The customised, intuitive, rapid-turnaround software tools enabled the team to successfully tackle the complex problem of conceptual design of crewed space systems. A strong emphasis was put on improving the integration of the human crew, as it is the major contributor to mission success, while always respecting the boundary conditions imposed by the challenging environment of space. This report documents the methodology, tools and outcomes of the Space Station Design Workshop during the SSDW 2007. The design results produced by Team Blue are presented.

Archiving primary data: Solutions for long-term studies

The recent trend for journals to require open access to primary data included in publications has been embraced by many biologists, but has caused apprehension amongst researchers engaged in long-term ecological and evolutionary studies. A worldwide survey of 73 principal investigators (Pls) with long-term studies revealed positive attitudes towards sharing data with the agreement or involvement of the PI, and 93% of PIs have historically shared data. Only 8% were in favor of uncontrolled, open access to primary data while 63% expressed serious concern. We present here their viewpoint on an issue that can have non-trivial scientific consequences. We discuss potential costs of public data archiving and provide possible solutions to meet the needs of journals and researchers.

The correlation between reading and mathematics ability at age twelve has a substantial genetic component

Dissecting how genetic and environmental influences impact on learning is helpful for maximizing numeracy and literacy. Here we show, using twin and genome-wide analysis, that there is a substantial genetic component to children’s ability in reading and mathematics, and estimate that around one half of the observed correlation in these traits is due to shared genetic effects (so-called Generalist Genes). Thus, our results highlight the potential role of the learning environment in contributing to differences in a child’s cognitive abilities at age twelve.

Global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 306 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 188 countries, 1990–2013: Quantifying the epidemiological transition

Background The Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013) aims to bring together all available epidemiological data using a coherent measurement framework, standardised estimation methods, and transparent data sources to enable comparisons of health loss over time and across causes, age–sex groups, and countries. The GBD can be used to generate summary measures such as disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) and healthy life expectancy (HALE) that make possible comparative assessments of broad epidemiological patterns across countries and time. These summary measures can also be used to quantify the component of variation in epidemiology that is related to sociodemographic development. Methods We used the published GBD 2013 data for age-specific mortality, years of life lost due to premature mortality (YLLs), and years lived with disability (YLDs) to calculate DALYs and HALE for 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2013 for 188 countries. We calculated HALE using the Sullivan method; 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) represent uncertainty in age-specific death rates and YLDs per person for each country, age, sex, and year. We estimated DALYs for 306 causes for each country as the sum of YLLs and YLDs; 95% UIs represent uncertainty in YLL and YLD rates. We quantified patterns of the epidemiological transition with a composite indicator of sociodemographic status, which we constructed from income per person, average years of schooling after age 15 years, and the total fertility rate and mean age of the population. We applied hierarchical regression to DALY rates by cause across countries to decompose variance related to the sociodemographic status variable, country, and time. Findings Worldwide, from 1990 to 2013, life expectancy at birth rose by 6·2 years (95% UI 5·6–6·6), from 65·3 years (65·0–65·6) in 1990 to 71·5 years (71·0–71·9) in 2013, HALE at birth rose by 5·4 years (4·9–5·8), from 56·9 years (54·5–59·1) to 62·3 years (59·7–64·8), total DALYs fell by 3·6% (0·3–7·4), and age-standardised DALY rates per 100 000 people fell by 26·7% (24·6–29·1). For communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional disorders, global DALY numbers, crude rates, and age-standardised rates have all declined between 1990 and 2013, whereas for non–communicable diseases, global DALYs have been increasing, DALY rates have remained nearly constant, and age-standardised DALY rates declined during the same period. From 2005 to 2013, the number of DALYs increased for most specific non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms, in addition to dengue, food-borne trematodes, and leishmaniasis; DALYs decreased for nearly all other causes. By 2013, the five leading causes of DALYs were ischaemic heart disease, lower respiratory infections, cerebrovascular disease, low back and neck pain, and road injuries. Sociodemographic status explained more than 50% of the variance between countries and over time for diarrhoea, lower respiratory infections, and other common infectious diseases; maternal disorders; neonatal disorders; nutritional deficiencies; other communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases; musculoskeletal disorders; and other non-communicable diseases. However, sociodemographic status explained less than 10% of the variance in DALY rates for cardiovascular diseases; chronic respiratory diseases; cirrhosis; diabetes, urogenital, blood, and endocrine diseases; unintentional injuries; and self-harm and interpersonal violence. Predictably, increased sociodemographic status was associated with a shift in burden from YLLs to YLDs, driven by declines in YLLs and increases in YLDs from musculoskeletal disorders, neurological disorders, and mental and substance use disorders. In most country-specific estimates, the increase in life expectancy was greater than that in HALE. Leading causes of DALYs are highly variable across countries. Interpretation Global health is improving. Population growth and ageing have driven up numbers of DALYs, but crude rates have remained relatively constant, showing that progress in health does not mean fewer demands on health systems. The notion of an epidemiological transition—in which increasing sociodemographic status brings structured change in disease burden—is useful, but there is tremendous variation in burden of disease that is not associated with sociodemographic status. This further underscores the need for country-specific assessments of DALYs and HALE to appropriately inform health policy decisions and attendant actions.

Drops That Open Worlds : Image of Water in the Poetry of Euphrase Kezilahabi

Euphrase Kezilahabi on tansanialainen kirjailija, joka ensimmäisenä julkaisi swahilinkielisen vapaalla mitalla kirjoitetun runokokoelman. Perinteisessä swahilirunoudessa tiukat muotosäännöt ovat tärkeitä, ja teos synnytti kiivasta keskustelua. Runoteokset Kichomi ( Viilto , Kipu , 1974) ja Karibu Ndani ( Tervetuloa sisään , 1988) sekä Kezilahabin muu tuotanto voidaan nähdä uuden sukupolven taiteena. Kezilahabi on arvostettu runoilija, mutta hänen runojaan ei aiemmin ole käännetty englanniksi (yksittäisiä säkeitä lukuunottamatta), eikä juurikaan tutkittu yksityiskohtaisesti. Yleiskuvaan pyrkivissä lausunnoissa Kezilahabin runouden on hyvin usein määritelty olevan poliittista. Monet Kezilahabin runoista ottavatkin kantaa yhteiskunnallisiin kysymyksiin, mutta niiden pohdinta on kuitenkin runoissa vain yksi taso. Sen lisäksi Kezilahabin lyriikassa on paljon muuta ennen kartoittamatonta tämä tutkimus keskittyy veden kuvaan (the image of water). Kezilahabi vietti lapsuutensa saarella Victoria-järven keskellä, ja hänen vesikuvastonsa on rikasta. Tutkimuskysymyksenä on, mitä veden kuva runoteoksissa Kichomi ja Karibu Ndani esittää. Runojen analysoinnissa ja tulkinnassa on tarkasteltu myös sitä, miten äänteellinen taso osallistuu kuvien luomiseen. Tutkimuksen määritelmä kuvasta pohjautuu osittain Hugh Kennerin näkemykseen, jonka mukaan oleellista kuvassa on kirjaimellinen taso. Kennerin lähtökohtaan on yhdistetty John Shoptawin teoriaa, joka korostaa runon äänteellisen puolen tärkeyttä merkityksen muodostumisessa. Foneemien analyysissä vaikutteena on ollut Reuven Tsurin teoria. Analyysiosio osoittaa, että veden kuva edustaa ja käsittelee teoksissa lukuisia teemoja: elämää, kuolemaa, fyysistä vetovoimaa, runoutta, mielikuvitusta ja (ali)tajuntaa sekä moraalia. Veden kuvan tutkimuksen pohjalta on nähtävissä, että Kezilahabin filosofia asettuu elävä/kuollut- ja elämä/kuolema dikotomioiden ulkopuolelle.

Scrotal Circumference at Puberty and its Relationship to Testes Mass in Three Genotypes of Beef Cattle

Scrotal circumference (SC) is a simple, non-invasive measurement commonly used to evaluate bull breeding potential although its validity as a predictor of fertility is questionable (Holroyd, 1998). SC is highly heritable but varies with breed and animal factors such as condition, live weight and age. As an indicator of fertility, recommended SC values range broadly from 30cm to 38cm (Miller, 1992). It is assumed that SC accurately reflects testes mass (TM) which may be related to direct measures of fertility such as spermatogenesis (Entwistle, 1992). The SC measurements made here test the assumption that SC, used to estimate testes volume (TV), is directly related to TM. Miller (1992) reported a value of 261mm as the SC threshold for puberty. We have studied serial SC measurements so as to devise a more accurate means of using SC to determine puberty.

The Context-integrity of the global carbon regime: The relevance and impact of the World Trade Organization

In the study of the integrity of the global carbon regime there are a number of institutions that must be considered for their impacts on this system. In particular, the subject matter of this chapter is concerned with the main international institution for trade, the World Trade Organization (the WTO). Otherwise stated, this chapter is concerned with how the institutional integrity of the global carbon regime aligns with the values and policy objectives of the WTO. This is done with a view to consider whether the global carbon regime aligns with these values and objectives in a way demonstrative of context-integrity. This alignment is not a single-sided undertaking and, therefore, it is essential that the underlying values of the WTO themselves align with the global carbon regime. I suggest this is particularly crucial given the importance of the objectives of the climate change regime, and the scientific predictions of the current climate projections.

Still in Search of the Good Life

At the 2014 G20 held in Brisbane, Australia took the position that climate change is not an economic issue. Most others thought it was - especially the Turkish Prime Minister who is hosting the 2015 G20. It is certainly an economic issue. But, it is not just an economic issue - either in the source or the solution.