Part-time work of high school students and impact on educational outcomes

While increasing numbers of young high school students engage in part-time work, there is no consensus about its impact on educational outcomes. Indeed this field has had a dearth of research. The present paper presents a review of recent research, primarily from Australia and the US, although it is acknowledged that there are considerable contextual differences. Suggestions for school counsellors to harness the students’ experiences to assist in educational and career decision-making are presented.

"Men at play : masculinities in Australian theater since the 1950s" -- By Jonathan Bollen, Adrian Kiernander and Bruce Parr

Adopting a thematic rather than chronological arrangement, this co-authored book surveys representations of men and masculinity in post-war Australian theater. Its searching and sophisticated analyses draw upon playscripts, critical records and archival material, including screen versions of stage productions. The study is organized around two distinct periods of Australian theater history: the 1950s to 1970, during which time a national theatremovement flourished, and the mid-1980s onward.Whilst some attention is given to different genres, discussion centers primarily on realist works from the mainstream. Several plays usually omitted from orthodox theater histories, such as Barry Pree’s A Fox in the Night (1959), are given detailed treatments.

Raman spectroscopic study of the mineral finnemanite Pb5(As3+O3)3Cl

The arsenite minerals finnemanite Pb5(As3+O3)3Cl been studied by Raman spectroscopy. The most intense Raman band at 871 cm-1 is assigned to the ν1 (AsO3)3- symmetric stretching vibration. Three Raman bands at 898, 908 and 947 cm-1 are assigned to the ν3 (AsO3)3- antisymmetric stretching vibration. The observation of multiple antisymmetric stretching vibrations suggest that the (AsO3)3- units are not equivalent in the molecular structure of finnemanite. Two Raman bands at 383 and 399 cm-1 are assigned to the ν2 (AsO3)3- bending modes. DFT calculations enabled the position of AsO32- symmetric stretching mode at 839 cm-1, the antisymmetric stretching mode at 813 cm-1, and the deformation mode at 449 cm-1 to be calculated. Raman bands are observed at 115, 145, 162, 176, 192, 216 and 234 cm-1 as well. The two most intense bands are observed at 176 and 192 cm-1. These bands are assigned to PbCl stretching vibrations and result from transverse/ longitudinal splitting. The bands at 145 and 162 cm-1 may be assigned to Cl-Pb-Cl bending modes.

Modelling the process of learning in economics

Student learning research literature has shown that students' learning approaches are influenced by the learning context (Evans, Kirby, & Fabrigar, 2003). Of the many contextual factors, assessment has been found to have the most important influence on the way students go about learning. For example, assessment that is perceived to required a low level of cognitive abilities will more likely elicit a learning approach that concentrate on reproductive learning activities. Moreover, assessment demand will also interact with learning approach to determine academic performance. In this paper an assessment specific model of learning comprising presage, process and product variables (Biggs, 2001) was proposed and tested against data obtained from a sample of introductory economics students (n=434). The model developed was used to empirically investigate the influence of learning inputs and learning approaches on academic performances across assessment types (essay assignment, multiple choice question exam and exam essay). By including learning approaches in the learning model, the mechanism through which learning inputs determine academic performance was examined. Methodological limitations of the study will also be discussed.

Service employee behaviour : the role of compliance and risk taking

This paper looks at the decision-making process that determines the amount of effort frontline service employees will expend in delivering a service in a business-to-business context. Using theories in behavioural economics and interactional and social psychology, the paper develops and presents a model of employee decision-making. Managerial implications, which have the potential to enhance the marketing of business-to-business services and directions for future research in this area, are indicated.

Low sodium haemodialysis reduces interdialytic fluid consumption but paradoxically increases post-dialysis thirst

Background Interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) can be reduced by lowering the dialysate sodium concentration ([Na]) in haemodialysis patients. It has been assumed that this is because thirst is reduced, although this has been difficult to prove. We compared thirst patterns in stable haemodialysis patients with high and low IDWG using a novel technique and compared the effect of low sodium dialysis (LSD) with normal sodium dialysis (NSD). Methods Eight patients with initial high IDWG and seven with low IDWG completed hourly visual analogue ratings of thirst using a modified palmtop computer during the dialysis day and the interdialytic day. The dialysate [Na] was progressively reduced by up to 5 mmol/l over five treatments. Dialysis continued at the lowest attained [Na] for 2 weeks and the measurements were repeated. The dialysate [Na] then returned to baseline and the process was repeated. Results Baseline interdialytic day mean thirst was higher than the dialysis day mean for the high IDWG group (49.9±14.0 vs 36.2±16.6) and higher than the low weight gain group (49.9±14.0 vs 34.1±14.6). This trend persisted on LSD, but there was a pronounced increase in post-dialysis thirst scores for both groups (high IDWG: 46±13 vs 30±21; low IDWG: 48±24 vs 33±18). The high IDWG group demonstrated lower IDWG during LSD than NSD (2.23±0.98 vs 2.86±0.38 kg; P<0.05). Conclusions Our results indicate that patients with high IDWG experience more intense feelings of thirst on the interdialytic day. LSD reduces their IDWG, but paradoxically increases thirst in the immediate post-dialysis period.

Changing pedagogic codes in a class of landscape architects learning 'ecologically sustainable development'

Professional discourse in education has been the focus of research conducted mostly with teachers and professional practitioners but the work of students in the built environment has largely been ignored. This article presents an analysis of students’ visual discourse in the final professional year of a landscape architecture course in Brisbane, Australia. The study has a multi-method design and includes drawings, interviews and documentary materials, but focuses on the drawings in this paper. Using the theory of Bernstein, the analysis considers student representations as interrelations between professional identity and discretionary space for legitimate knowledge formation in landscape planning. It shows a shift in how students persuade the teacher of their expanding views of this field. The discussion of this shift centres on the professional knowledge that students choose rather than need to learn. It points to the differences within a class that a teacher must address in curriculum design in a contemporary professional course.

Knowledge about health benefits of Vitamin D in Queensland Australia

In Queensland, Australia, the ultraviolet (UV) radiation levels are high (greater than UV Index 3) almost all year round. Although ambient UV is about three times higher in summer compared to winter, Queensland residents receive approximately equal personal doses of UV radiation within these seasons (Neale et al., 2010). Sun protection messages throughout the year are thus essential (Montague et al., 2001), need to reach all segments of the population, and should incorporate guidelines for maintenance of adequate vitamin D levels. Knowledge is an essential requirement to allow people to make health conscious decisions. Unprompted knowledge commonly requires a higher level of awareness or recency of acquisition compared to prompted recall (Waller et al., 2004). This paper thus reports further on the data from a 2008 population-based, cross-sectional telephone survey conducted in Queensland, Australia (2,001 participants; response rate=45%) (Youl et al., 2009). It was the aim of this research to establish the level of, and factors predicting, unprompted and prompted knowledge about health and vitamin D.

Curriculum change in testing times

In these new, testing times, we need a new controlled rapid approach to curriculum change. Judy Smeed and TerrI Bourke explain.

Comprehensive Australian Study of Entrepreneurial Emergence (CAUSEE): design, data collection and descriptive results

The Comprehensive Australian Study of Entrepreneurial Emergence (CAUSEE) is a research programme that aims to uncover the factors that initiate, hinder and facilitate the process of emergence of new economic activities and organizations. It is widely acknowledged that entrepreneurship is one of the most important forces shaping changes in a country’s economic landscape (Baumol 1968; Birch 1987; Acs 1999). An understanding of the process by which new economic activity and business entities emerge is vital (Gartner 1993; Sarasvathy 2001). An important development in the study of ‘nascent entrepreneurs’ and ‘firms in gestation’ was the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) (Gartner et al. 2004) and its extensions in Argentina, Canada, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Yet while PSED I is an important first step towards systematically studying new venture emergence, it represents just the beginning of a stream of nascent venture studies – most notably PSED II is currently being undertaken in the US (2005– 10) (Reynolds and Curtin 2008).

School-aged workers : industrial citizens in the making?

While the literature points to significant shifts in young peoples‟ labour market participation and the social, economic and political context in which the shift has occurred, it tells us little about how young people are socialised in the workplace, how literate they are in terms of their rights and responsibilities at work or how and via what mechanisms this literacy is acquired. Using the concept citizenship as an analytical tool, we explored these questions using data derived from 48 focus groups conducted with 216 adolescents (13-16 years of age) at 19 high schools in Australia. The findings reveal the way in which several key dimensions of industrial citizenship come to be shaped and have implications for addressing the vulnerability of youth in employment and informing policy and action.