Steady state visually evoked potential correlates of static and dynamic emotional face processing

While the neural regions associated with facial identity recognition are considered to be well defined, the neural correlates of non-moving and moving images of facial emotion processing are less clear. This study examined the brain electrical activity changes in 26 participants (14 males M = 21.64, SD = 3.99; 12 females M = 24.42, SD = 4.36), during a passive face viewing task, a scrambled face task and separate emotion and gender face discrimination tasks. The steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) was recorded from 64-electrode sites. Consistent with previous research, face related activity was evidenced at scalp regions over the parieto-temporal region approximately 170 ms after stimulus presentation. Results also identified different SSVEP spatio-temporal changes associated with the processing of static and dynamic facial emotions with respect to gender, with static stimuli predominately associated with an increase in inhibitory processing within the frontal region. Dynamic facial emotions were associated with changes in SSVEP response within the temporal region, which are proposed to index inhibitory processing. It is suggested that static images represent non-canonical stimuli which are processed via different mechanisms to their more ecologically valid dynamic counterparts.

The current state of play in human neural stem cell models : what we have learnt from the rodent

Rodent (mouse and rat) models have been crucial in developing our understanding of human neurogenesis and neural stem cell (NSC) biology. The study of neurogenesis in rodents has allowed us to begin to understand adult human neurogenesis and in particular, protocols established for isolation and in vitro propagation of rodent NSCs have successfully been applied to the expansion of human NSCs. Furthermore, rodent models have played a central role in studying NSC function in vivo and in the development of NSC transplantation strategies for cell therapy applications. Rodents and humans share many similarities in the process of neurogenesis and NSC biology however distinct species differences are important considerations for the development of more efficient human NSC therapeutic applications. Here we review the important contributions rodent studies have had to our understanding of human neurogenesis and to the development of in vitro and in vivo NSC research. Species differences will be discussed to identify key areas in need of further development for human NSC therapy applications.

Altering the redox state of skeletal muscle by glutathione depletion increases the exercise-activation of PGC-1α

We investigated the relationship between mitochondrial biogenesis, cell signalling and antioxidant enzymes by depleting skeletal muscle glutathione with diethyl maleate (DEM) which resulted in a demonstrable increase in oxidative stress during exercise. Animals were divided into six groups: (1) sedentary control rats; (2) sedentary rats treated with DEM; (3) exercise control rats euthanized immediately after exercise; (4) exercise rats + DEM; (5) exercise control rats euthanized 4 h after exercise, and; (6) exercise rats + DEM euthanized 4 h after exercise. Exercising animals ran on the treadmill at a 10% gradient at 20 m/min for the first 30 min. The speed was then increased every 10 min by 1.6 m/min until exhaustion. There was a reduction in total glutathione in the skeletal muscle of DEM treated animals compared to the control animals (P<0.05). Within the control group, total glutathione was higher in the sedentary group compared to after exercise (P<0.05). DEM treatment also significantly increased oxidative stress, as measured by increased plasma F2-isoprostanes (P<0.05). Exercising animals given DEM showed a significantly greater increase in peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ coactivator-1α(PGC-1α) mRNA compared to the control animals that were exercised (P<0.05). This study provides novel evidence that by reducing the endogenous antioxidant glutathione in skeletal muscle and inducing oxidative stress through exercise, PGC-1α gene expression was augmented. These findings further highlight the important role of exercise induced oxidative stress in the regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis.

Provincial mortality in South Africa, 2000 - priority-setting for now and a benchmark for the future

Background. Cause-of-death statistics are an essential component of health information. Despite improvements, underregistration and misclassification of causes make it difficult to interpret the official death statistics. Objective. To estimate consistent cause-specific death rates for the year 2000 and to identify the leading causes of death and premature mortality in the provinces. Methods. Total number of deaths and population size were estimated using the Actuarial Society of South Africa ASSA2000 AIDS and demographic model. Cause-of-death profiles based on Statistics South Africa's 15% sample, adjusted for misclassification of deaths due to ill-defined causes and AIDS deaths due to indicator conditions, were applied to the total deaths by age and sex. Age-standardised rates and years of life lost were calculated using age weighting and discounting. Results. Life expectancy in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga is about 10 years lower than that in the Western Cape, the province with the lowest mortality rate. HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of premature mortality for all provinces. Mortality due to pre-transitional causes, such as diarrhoea, is more pronounced in the poorer and more rural provinces. In contrast, non-communicable disease mortality is similar across all provinces, although the cause profiles differ. Injury mortality rates are particularly high in provinces with large metropolitan areas and in Mpumalanga. Conclusion. The quadruple burden experienced in all provinces requires a broad range of interventions, including improved access to health care; ensuring that basic needs such as those related to water and sanitation are met; disease and injury prevention; and promotion of a healthy lifestyle. High death rates as a result of HIV/AIDS highlight the urgent need to accelerate the implementation of the treatment and prevention plan. In addition, there is an urgent need to improve the cause-of-death data system to provide reliable cause-of-death statistics at health district level.

Reason of state and a new notion of fortune : Historicising the risk society

Since the 1980s the concept of risk has produced a large and diverse volume of sociological research. Ulrich Beck’s groundbreaking risk society thesis provides a particularly engaging contribution, since it seems that nearly every sociological account of risk engages with this work. For Beck, we are living in second modernity – a new epoch that breaks with pre-modernity and industrial society due to the centrality, incalculability and reflexivity of globalised risk. While Beck’s theory is compelling, a reading of other theorists such as Foucault (2007[1978]) and Hacking (1975,1990) suggests that a difficulty with Beck’s work is that in attempting to explain what is novel about risk in contemporary times, he too quickly passes over the complexities and ruptures of historical change that impact on the history and contingency of risk. This paper begins by presenting a brief analysis of the present state of risk by introducing Beck’s historical narrative of risk from pre-modernity to the risk society; it then outlines the challenges with the “risk as epoch” argument by considering a range of literature, which suggests risk has a more complex history than proposed by Beck; and finally it highlights the value in examining strategies of statecraft in early modern Europe, specifically Machiavelli’s The Prince (2008[1513]) and Giovanni Botero’s political treatise, Della Ragion di Stato (1956[1589]) – as a means of more thoroughly understanding how our current concept of risk emerges. In doing so, this paper seeks to open up new trajectories in the historicisation of risk for other interested scholars.

Soil Magnetism Research: State of the Art and Future Directions

Magnetic properties of soils have been highlighted as a primary detrimental environmental effect on the performance of geophysical systems for detection of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and mine targets. A recent workshop at Cranfield University, U.K., aimed to identify knowledge gaps related to soil magnetism. Eight invited speakers from multidisciplinary areas provided briefings on state‐of‐the‐art research linked to soil magnetism and geophysical sensing. Contributions from other participants provided additional insights from a range of disciplines through case studies and applications. The workshop included break‐out sessions to identify current gaps in knowledge and to determine priority areas for investment in research to further developments in UXO and mine detection in magnetic soil environments. Key recommendations for future research investments have been grouped in categories including soils, theory and modeling, instrumentation, and communication.

The ‘state of play’ in Australia: Early childhood educators and play-based learning

This article provides an overview of the Education Meets Play study that will investigate early childhood educators’ use of play-based learning, now mandatory under the National Quality Standard. By building on what can be gleaned about educators’ approaches to play-based learning prior to the implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework, the study will contribute to the evidence base concerning the implementation and effects of Australia’s early childhood education and care policy reform initiatives.

Secular and religious moral grounds resonating across state schools in Indonesia

This paper describes moral education in Indonesia, more particularly, how teachers have implemented the Character Education policy issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture (MOEC) in 2010. This policy required teachers to instil certain values in every lesson, including EFL lessons, to contribute towards building a shared national moral character. Drawing on Durkheim's distinction between secular and religious morality, this paper considers how state schools accommodated and promoted this ‘rational moral education' or secular morality (Durkheim, 1925) in government schools, and how it interacted with religious moral education. This paper uses Bernstein's concepts of pedagogic discourse, instructional and regulative discourses to analyse how teachers have recontextualised this policy in the micro pedagogic settings of their EFL classes. Three types of data were collected for this study: interviews, class observations and teachers' lesson plans. In this way, four EFL teachers working in state schools were interviewed on two occasions and three of their classes were observed. The first interview identified teachers' beliefs and perceptions regarding the Character Education policy. Their classroom and lesson plans were observed to augment this information. Then the final interview asked about the teacher's thinking behind their actions in the observed classes. Since character education was issued within the broader frame of school based curriculum that offered schools and teachers more choices to develop the local curriculum and its intent, the analysis will focus on what moral premises were evident in their school and classes, and how such morality was transmitted through the EFL lessons. The conclusion suggests that teachers' implementation of moral education in their classes was dominated by their school communities and the teachers' own preferred value of religiosity. Such value played out in the classes through both the regulative discourse and the instructional discourse.

The effect of feedback from pupil to teacher on assessment for leaning and visible learning: An ethnographic case study in a community school in England and the outcome in a state high school in Queensland, Australia

This study shows that there is positive regulatory effect of feedback from pupils to teachers on Assessment for Learning (AfL), classroom proactiveness, and on visible and progressive learning but not on behaviour. This research finding further articulates feedback from pupil to teacher as a paradigm shift from the classical paradigm of feedback from teacher to pupil. Here, the emphasis is geared towards pupils understanding of objectives built from previous knowledge. These are then feedback onto the teachers by the pupils in the form of discrete loops of cues and questions, where they are with their learning. This therefore enables them to move to the next level of understanding, and thus acquired independence, which in turn is reflected by their success in both formative and summative assessments. This study therefore shows that when feedback from pupil to teacher is used in combination with teacher to pupil feedback, AfL is ameliorated and hence, visible and accelerated learning occurs in a gender, nor subject non-dependent manner.

Evaluation of ANPR trials for traffic policing in Queensland. Report to the Queensland Police Service, State Traffic Support Branch

In response to the Travelsafe Committee Report No. 51 – report on the inquiry into Automatic Plate Recognition Technology – it was recommended that the Queensland Police Service continue to trial the deployment of ANPR technology for traffic enforcement work and to evaluate the road safety impacts and operational effectiveness of the technology. As such, the purpose of this report is to provide an independent evaluation of a trial of ANPR that was conducted by a project team within the State Traffic Support Branch of the Queensland Police Service (QPS) and provide recommendations as to the applicability and usability of the technology for use throughout Queensland...

Emergency pre-hospital disaster response training. What's the state of play?

Study/Objective This study examines the current state of disaster response education for Australian paramedics from a national and international perspective and identifies both potential gaps in content and challenges to the sustainability of knowledge acquired through occasional training. Background As demands for domestic and international disaster response increase, experience in the field has begun to challenge traditional assumptions that response to mass casualty events requires little specialist training. The need for a “streamlined process of safe medical team deployment into disaster regions”1 is generally accepted and, in Australia, the emergence of national humanitarian aid training has begun to respond to this gap. However, calls for a national framework for disaster health education2 haven’t received much traction. Methods A critical analysis of the peer reviewed and grey literature on the core components/competencies and training methods required to prepare Australian paramedics to contribute to effective health disaster response has been conducted. Research from the past 10 years has been examined along with federal and state policy with regard to paramedic disaster education. Results The literature shows that education and training for disaster response is variable and that an evidence based study specifically designed to outline sets of core competencies for Australian health care professionals has never been undertaken. While such competencies in disaster response have been developed for the American paradigm it is suggested that disaster response within the Australian context is somewhat different to that of the US, and therefore a gap in the current knowledge base exists. Conclusion Further research is needed to develop core competencies specific to Australian paramedics in order to standardise teaching in the area of health disaster management. Until this occurs the task of evaluating or creating disaster curricula that adequately prepares and maintains paramedics for an effective all hazards disaster response is seen as largely unattainable.

The State of Queensland Charities: An examination of the first Annual Information Statements of charities operating in Queensland

The advent of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) in 2012 and submission of Annual Information Statements (AIS) in 2013 by those charities which registered with them, have allowed new measures to be taken of charities and their activities. This report examines the filed AIS data for Queensland charities and compares it with the overall Australian population of charities.