Environmental sustainability awareness and academic curriculum improvements: the case of a business and law faculty in an Australian university

Climate change, global warming, rising sea levels, ice cap melting, carbon taxes and trading schemes etc. are all major environmental issues that confront the modern world. Universities are now trying to ensure that their students graduate with an understanding of environmental sustainability regardless of their field of expertise. 

Informing brain health behaviour choices: the efficacy of a high-school brain awareness pilot study

Aims:
Lifestyle choices such as diet and exercise significantly impact mental wellbeing and this is particularly so during the period of adolescence. The aim of the current study was to determine whether neuroscience concepts could be introduced to the classroom in a manner that improved high school student awareness of how health behaviour choices impact brain health. 

Study Design:
This study was a quantitative study that measured 47 assertions relating to brain health and neuroscience pre and post an interactive seminar.

Place and Duration of Study:
A Victorian high school in Geelong, Australia. Participation in the seminar took approximately 100 minutes, including time to complete the questionnaires.

Methodology:
The current study trialed a ‘Brain Basics’ educational program in a Victorian high-school. The neuro-educative interactive seminar was presented to 48female year 11 students. The level of student understanding, interest and enjoyment was assessed prior to and following an interactive seminar.

Results:
Student understanding of brain health significantly improved in 31 out of 47 questionnaire items and interest and enjoyment were highly rated.

Conclusion:
This supports the notion that basic neuroscience concepts can be introduced into Victorian schools to increase brain health awareness of our youth during this criticaltime of brain development. - See more at: http://www.sciencedomain.org/abstract.php?iid=431&id=21&aid=3887#.UykK5oXAwZm

The experience of Singapore in raising awareness of natural and cultural resources

The city-state of Singapore has a major role in the urban development. Majority of the innovative projects are initiated by the government agencies. For this paper, I would like to highlight the two distinct themes of innovation that, I believe preoccupied the authority for its urban issues, they are innovation which concern nature and culture. Land in Singapore is scarce. Natural resources are strictly protected. At the same time they are challenged to return the maximum benefit to their own population. The water catchment area and the prime forest on the whole island is the most valuable natural resources to be preserved. The paper will demonstrate how Singapore challenges with its own resources (water and greenery) in which the holistic planning around these themes become more than just spaces of protection but integrated with the public space system and turned into more valuable spaces for the well being of its population. The second theme is the issue related to culture. Singapore's economy is the most advance compare to other Southeast Asian countries, however when it comes to culture and identity, the city state struggles with the over constructed image of branding Singapore's culture. The paper will discuss several examples around the theme of arts and culture, how the city state bench-mark itself with the world class cities. It is one of the most challenging topic in urban planning and policy making. It is worth discussing on its success and failure. We can learn form Singapore that innovation at the level of policy maker can be achieved in some urban aspects such as the management of natural resources and urban design projects related to it. However when it comes to the issue related to art and culture, the top down policy alone cannot assure the achievement of city's identity as it aspired. Tracing the historical development of the environmental and cultural policies of Singapore the paper intends to study and analyze various case studies reflecting these attempts of natural and cultural instillation. In the process of comparison of these two drastically contrasting actors and approaches, the paper will argue that it has mostly been driven by economic aims, and careful thought. The results have been limited and restrictive. Further arguing that 'creativity' is the essential factor of arts and culture, it evaluates the authenticity and the ultimate implications on cultural spirit.

Commercial awareness in real estate courses

 Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how and to what extent commercial awareness is
embedded within the curriculum of the UK Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)-accredited
real estate courses. It also discusses the development of commercial awareness taxonomy.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents the research findings of questionnaire
survey and interviews with RICS-accredited real estate course providers in the UK. The questionnaire
aimed to gather course directors’ views on the definitions and components of commercial awareness
and identify what skills and attributes are required for its development. It also evaluated how
commercial awareness has been embedded in the real estate courses. The aim of the interview was to
gain deeper insight on how components of commercial awareness are embedded in real estate courses
and nine interviews were conducted. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded to identify
similar themes. The frequency of the answer in the questionnaire and comments from interviewees
is presented.
Findings – The UK real estate academics agreed the most important definition of commercial
awareness as that of a “person’s ability on understanding of the economics of business”. They agreed
that “strategic” is the most important component for commercial awareness, followed with “financial”
and “process”. However, the “financial” component is embedded the most in the curriculum. The most
important skill and attribute for commercial awareness development are “ability to define and solve
problems” and “ability and willingness to update professional knowledge”, respectively. Commercial
awareness was embedded in the overall curriculum and the key element for developing it is through
having “practical experience”.
Originality/value – This project is the first to conduct an in-depth analysis of commercial awareness
in real estate education. It also develops the pioneer commercial awareness taxonomy.
Keywords UK, Curriculum development, Commercial awareness, Curriculum enhancement,
Real estate education
Paper type Research paper

Students’ views on the incorporation of commercial awareness in real estate education

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review how real estate students perceive and define commercial awareness, which is one of the most important employability skills. This paper also examines students’ perceptions about how their courses support and develop their commercial awareness. In addition, it compares students’ and academics’ views on commercial awareness and identifies whether there are any gaps.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents the research findings of a questionnaire survey and e-mail discussions with students who are currently studying Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)-accredited real estate courses in the UK. The questionnaire aimed to gather students’ views on the definitions and components of commercial awareness and identify what skills and attributes are required for its development. It also evaluates how commercial awareness has been embedded in the real estate courses. The aim of each discussion was to gain deeper insight on how components of commercial awareness are embedded in real estate courses, and 17 discussions were conducted. The contents of the e-mail discussions were analysed and similar themes were identified and coded. The frequency of the answer in the questionnaire and comments from interviewees is presented. The findings from students’ views have been compared to published research reporting UK RICS-accredited real estate course providers’ views on commercial awareness. In addition to descriptive statistics, Fisher’s exact test was used to identify the statistical significance between the academics’ and students’ views on commercial awareness.

Findings – The UK real estate students agreed that the most important definition of commercial awareness is a “person’s ability to understand the economics of business”. They agreed that “financial” component is the most important component of commercial awareness and it is the largest portion of their courses. The most important skill and attribute for commercial awareness development are “critical thinking” and “ability and willingness to update professional knowledge”, respectively. Although the descriptive analysis shows students and academics have different views on the definition and components of commercial awareness and its incorporation within real estate courses, the Fisher exact test shows that only a few elements are different enough to be statistically significant. This analysis shows that while students and academics have slightly different views on commercial awareness they are not very different.  Commercial awareness is an important employability skill, thus, it is still necessary for real estate academics to re-visit the curriculum and to ensure learning outcomes related to commercial awareness have been clearly explained and communicated to students. Furthermore, it is vital for students to obtain practical experience in order to fully develop their commercial awareness. 

Originality/value – This paper is a pioneer study focused on reviewing real estate students’ views on commercial awareness, including identifying its definition, components and evaluating the extent to which commercial awareness has been embedded in their courses. It also identifies the skills and attributes that students thought were required for the development of commercial awareness.  Furthermore, it discusses students’ preferred ways of enhancing their commercial awareness as part of the course they are studying. It is the first study identifying the statistical difference between students’ and academics’ views on commercial awareness. The understanding of students’ views on commercial awareness, their preferred delivery method and the divergence between students’ and academics’ views on commercial awareness can provide useful insights for course directors on the development and renewal of real estate course curriculum

Is body dysmorphic disorder associated with abnormal bodily self-awareness? A study using the rubber hand illusion.

Evidence from past research suggests that behaviours and characteristics related to body dissatisfaction may be associated with greater instability of perceptual body image, possibly due to problems in the integration of body-related multisensory information. We investigated whether people with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a condition characterised by body image disturbances, demonstrated enhanced susceptibility to the rubber hand illusion (RHI), which arises as a result of multisensory integration processes when a rubber hand and the participant's hidden real hand are stimulated in synchrony. Overall, differences in RHI experience between the BDD group and healthy and schizophrenia control groups (n = 17 in each) were not significant. RHI strength, however, was positively associated with body dissatisfaction and related tendencies. For the healthy control group, proprioceptive drift towards the rubber hand was observed following synchronous but not asynchronous stimulation, a typical pattern when inducing the RHI. Similar drifts in proprioceptive awareness occurred for the BDD group irrespective of whether stimulation was synchronous or not. These results are discussed in terms of possible abnormalities in visual processing and multisensory integration among people with BDD.

Situation awareness in undergraduate nursing students managing simulated patient deterioration

Nursing work often occurs in complex and potentially hazardous settings. Awareness of patient and practice environments is an imperative for nurses in practice.

Recovery of hypoglycemia awareness in long-standing type 1 diabetes: a multicenter 2 × 2 factorial randomized controlled trial comparing insulin pump with multiple daily injections and continuous with conventional glucose self-monitoring (HypoCOMPaSS)

To determine whether impaired awareness of hypoglycemia (IAH) can be improved and severe hypoglycemia (SH) prevented in type 1 diabetes, we compared an insulin pump (continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion [CSII]) with multiple daily injections (MDIs) and adjuvant real-time continuous glucose monitoring (RT) with conventional self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG).

"I tell ya who needs educatin’”: non-Indigenous cultural self-awareness and prisoner education.

Glen says, “current education is colonial; it ain’t ours. I tell ya who needs educatin’, wadjellas”. Glen is a Noongar man who, along with several other Aboriginal adults living in Western Australia, teaches me in a PhD research project about prisoner education from their perspective. His words pose a question for wadjellas like myself who are raised, taught and work in a white neo-colonial society. We have been raised in, taught in and work in a colonial system. As non-Aboriginal people we have unearned privileges which are often invisible and unacknowledged. How then to address the outcomes of this in a way that might lead to working co-operatively alongside Aboriginal people? What kind of ‘educatin’ could teach us about our own unacknowledged privilege and the disadvantage this can lead to for others? Is the standard cross-cultural awareness training enough?This paper shares some of the teachings of Glen and other participants in this research. It expresses the view that, ultimately, the usually unacknowledged legacy of colonisation and associated issue of denied Aboriginal sovereignty lies at the heart of much of the disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal people today when considering education and the prison system. Addressing gaps in non-Indigenous cultural self-awareness by learning from Aboriginal people is an important factor in improving their experiences of education.

Characterizing problematic hypoglycaemia: iterative design and preliminary psychometric validation of the Hypoglycaemia Awareness Questionnaire (HypoA-Q)

AIMS: To design and conduct preliminary validation of a measure of hypoglycaemia awareness and problematic hypoglycaemia, the Hypoglycaemia Awareness Questionnaire.

METHODS: Exploratory and cognitive debriefing interviews were conducted with 17 adults (nine of whom were women) with Type 1 diabetes (mean ± sd age 48±10 years). Questionnaire items were modified in consultation with diabetologists/psychologists. Psychometric validation was undertaken using data from 120 adults (53 women) with Type 1 diabetes (mean ± sd age 44±16 years; 50% with clinically diagnosed impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia), who completed the following questionnaires: the Hypoglycaemia Awareness Questionnaire, the Gold score, the Clarke questionnaire and the Problem Areas in Diabetes questionnaire.

RESULTS: Iterative design resulted in 33 items eliciting answers on awareness of hypoglycaemia when awake/asleep and hypoglycaemia frequency, severity and impact (healthcare utilization). Psychometric analysis identified three subscales reflecting 'impaired awareness', 'symptom level' and 'symptom frequency'. Convergent validity was indicated by strong correlations between the impaired awareness subscale and existing measures of awareness: (Gold: rs =0.75, P<0.01; Clarke: rs =0.76, P<0.01). Divergent validity was indicated by weaker correlations with diabetes-related distress (Problem Areas in Diabetes: rs =0.25, P<0.01) and HbA1c (rs =-0.05, non-significant). The impaired awareness subscale and other items discriminated between those with impaired and intact awareness (Gold score). The impaired awareness subscale and other items contributed significantly to models explaining the occurrence of severe hypoglycaemia and hypoglycaemia when asleep.

CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary validation shows the Hypoglycaemia Awareness Questionnaire has robust face and content validity; satisfactory structure; internal reliability; convergent, divergent and known groups validity. The impaired awareness subscale and other items contribute significantly to models explaining recall of severe and nocturnal hypoglycaemia. Prospective validation, including determination of a threshold to identify impaired awareness, is now warranted.