Project to investigate improving literacy and numeracy outcomes of distance education students in the early years of schooling

The project was commissioned to investigate and analyse the issue of effective support for distance education students in the early years of school to maximise literacy and numeracy outcomes. The scope of this project was limited to students living in rural and remote areas who are undertaking education at home and who are in their early years of schooling. For the purpose of this project, the early years are conceptualised as the first three years of formal compulsory schooling in each of the States and Territories. There were a number of key tasks for the project which included: 1. Examining of the role of home tutors/supervisors This included interviewing personnel from the State and Territory distance education providers as well as the principals, teachers, home tutors and children. 2. Describing literacy and numeracy teaching and learning, and the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in distance education This aspect of the project involved a critical review and analysis of relevant literature and reports in the last five years, and a consideration of the new initiatives that had been implemented in the States and Territories in the last two years. 3. The development of resources Through examination of the role of home tutors/supervisors, and an examination of literacy and numeracy and the use of technology in distance education, three resources were developed: ● A guide for home tutors/supervisors and schools of distance education about effective intervention and assessment strategies to support students’ learning and to assist the home tutors/supervisors in implementing ICT to support the development of literacy and numeracy in the early years. ● A calendar of activities for literacy and numeracy that would act as a stimulus for integrated and authentic activity for young children. ● An embryonic website of resources for the stakeholders in rural and distance education that might act as a catalyst for future resource building and sharing. In this way the final key task of the project, which was to create a context for a strategic dissemination plan, was realised when a strategy to address effective dissemination of the findings of the project so as to maximise their usefulness for the relevant groups was achieved.

Analysis of pore-fluid pressure gradient and effective vertical-stress gradient distribution in layered hydrodynamic systems

A theoretical analysis is carried out to investigate the pore-fluid pressure gradient and effective vertical-stress gradient distribution in fluid saturated porous rock masses in layered hydrodynamic systems. Three important concepts, namely the critical porosity of a porous medium, the intrinsic Fore-fluid pressure and the intrinsic effective vertical stress of the solid matrix, are presented and discussed. Using some basic scientific principles, we derive analytical solutions and explore the conditions under which either the intrinsic pore-fluid pressure gradient or the intrinsic effective vertical-stress gradient can be maintained at the value of the lithostatic pressure gradient. Even though the intrinsic pore-fluid pressure gradient can be maintained at the value of the lithostatic pressure gradient in a single layer, it is impossible to maintain it at this value in all layers in a layered hydrodynamic system, unless all layers have the same permeability and porosity simultaneously. However, the intrinsic effective vertical-stress gradient of the solid matrix can be maintained at a value close to the lithostatic pressure gradient in all layers in any layered hydrodynamic system within the scope of this study.

Asymmetry and duration dependence in Australian GDP and unemployment

The per iodic structure of business cycles suggests that significant asymmetries are present over different phases of the cycle. This paper uses markov regime-switching models with fixed and duration dependent transition probabilities to directly model expansions, contractions and durations in Australian GDP growth and unemployment growth. Evidence is found of significant asymmetry in growth rates across expansions and contractions for both series. GDP contractions exhibit duration dependence implying that as output recessions age the likelihood of switching into an expansion phase increases. Unemployment growth does not exhibit duration dependence in either phase. Evidence is also presented that non-linearities in unemployment growth are well explained by the asymmetries in the GDP growth cycle. The analysis suggests that recessions are periods of rapid and intense job destruction, that Australian unemployment tends to ratchet up in recessionary periods and, in contrast to US and UK studies, that shocks to Australian unemployment growth are more persistent in recessions than expansions. [E37 C5 C41].

STD syndrome packets: Improving syndromic management of sexually transmitted diseases in developing countries

Objective: To design, introduce, and evaluate STD syndrome packets containing recommended drugs for each syndrome, four condoms, a partner treatment card, and a patient information leaflet, with the goal of improving sexually transmitted disease (STD) case management. Methods: Packet design evolved around available packaging technology, informed by pilot testing with nurses working in primary care clinics, doctors in private medical practices, and patients with an STD, in Hlabisa, South Africa. Evaluation 1 year later included analysis of distribution records and interviews with 16 nurses and 61 patients. Results: A cheap packet (2 U, S, cents each, excluding contents) compatible with current legislation was designed and introduced to six public sector clinics and as a short pilot to five private medical practices, Four thousand eighty-five packets were distributed to the clinics, equivalent to approximately 115% of the STDs reported over that period. All 16 nurses reported using the packets, but only 63% did so all the time because of occasional supply problems, All believed the packets improved treatment by saving time (75%), improving supply of condoms and partner cards (44%), and making treatment easier (56%), Patients also responded positively, and most said they would buy a packet (up to $5) at a pharmacy (84%) or store (63%) if available. Conclusions: The STD syndrome packets have the potential to improve STD syndromic management by standardizing therapy and improving the supply of condoms, partner cards, and information leaflets. Packets are popular with practitioners and patients, but consistent supply is essential for maximal impact, There may be scope for social marketing of the packets, which could further increase use.

Effects of preferred hand and sex on the perception of tactile simultaneity

The effects of handedness, sex and the influence of hand placement in extrapersonal space on temporal information processing was investigated by measuring thresholds for perceiving the simultaneity of pairs of tactile stimuli. Simultaneity thresholds of preferred right handed and left handed university students with left hemisphere speech representation were compared using unimanual and bimanual stimulation at three hand placements (midline, lateral and crossed). In unimanual conditions two fingers of one hand were stimulated (single hemisphere), whereas in the bimanual conditions one finger of each hand was stimulated (cross hemispheres). Bimanual minus unimanual thresholds provided an estimate of interhemisphere transmission time (IHTT) regardless of hand placement. The effects of hemispace varied with the type of stimulation. With unimanual stimulation, overall thresholds were longer at the midline placement, however, with bimanual stimulation, thresholds were longer when the hands were spatially separated (crossed and/or uncrossed). Left handers' IHTTs were 8 ms faster than those of right handers. IHTTs in males were faster than females with hands placed in lateral (by 10.8 ms) or crossed (by 9.8 ms) but not midline positions. It was concluded that the cerebral hemispheres are equally capable of discriminating temporal intervals, but that the left hemisphere predominates when there is uncertainty about location of stimulation.

Use of advance information in patients with schizophrenia

To document possible motor disturbance in schizophrenia, we examined the ability to use advance information (or cues) to plan movements in a sequential button pressing task in 12 Clozapine medicated patients. Programming of movements under various cues revealed that patients with schizophrenia, relative to controls, initiated movements slower to the right than left, providing possible evidence for right hemineglect (left hemisphere dysfunction). Additionally, patients with schizophrenia had difficulty in the initiation of movements in the absence of a cue, suggesting internal cue generation difficulty for movement related to some form of fronto-striatal disturbance. Motor abnormalities were predominantly observed at the level of movement initiation, but not execution, contrary to basal ganglia disorders such as Parkinson's and Huntington's disease.

X-ray absorption and phase contrast imaging to study the interplay between plant roots and soil structure

Plant performance is, at least partly, linked to the location of roots with respect to soil structure features and the micro-environment surrounding roots. Measurements of root distributions from intact samples, using optical microscopy and field tracings have been partially successful but are imprecise and labour-intensive. Theoretically, X-ray computed micro-tomography represents an ideal solution for non-invasive imaging of plant roots and soil structure. However, before it becomes fast enough and affordable or easily accessible, there is still a need for a diagnostic tool to investigate root/soil interplay. Here, a method for detection of undisturbed plant roots and their immediate physical environment is presented. X-ray absorption and phase contrast imaging are combined to produce projection images of soil sections from which root distributions and soil structure can be analyzed. The clarity of roots on the X-ray film is sufficient to allow manual tracing on an acetate sheet fixed over the film. In its current version, the method suffers limitations mainly related to (i) the degree of subjectivity associated with manual tracing and (ii) the difficulty of separating live and dead roots. The method represents a simple and relatively inexpensive way to detect and quantify roots from intact samples and has scope for further improvements. In this paper, the main steps of the method, sampling, image acquisition and image processing are documented. The potential use of the method in an agronomic perspective is illustrated using surface and sub-surface soil samples from a controlled wheat trial. Quantitative characterization of root attributes, e.g. radius, length density, branching intensity and the complex interplay between roots and soil structure, is presented and discussed.

Screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm: lessons from a population-based study

Objectives: To test the acceptability of screening and to identify modifiable risk factors for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in men. Design: A trial of ultrasound screening for AAA in a population-based random sample of men aged 65-83 years, and a cross-sectional case-control comparison of men in the same sample. Participants: 12203 men who had an ultrasound examination of their abdominal aorta, and completed a questionnaire covering demographic, behavioural and medical factors. Main outcome measures: Prevalence of AAA, and independent associations of AAA with demographic, medical and lifestyle factors. Results: Invitations to screening produced a corrected response of 70.5%. The prevalence of AAAs (> 30 mm) rose from 4.8% in men aged 65-69 years to 10.8% in those aged 80-83 years. The overall prevalence of large (> 50 mm) aneurysms was 0.69%. In a multivariate logistic model Mediterranean-born men had a 40% lower risk of AAA (> 30 mm) compared with men born in Australia (odds ratio [OR], 0.6; 95% CI, 0.4-0.8), while ex-smokers had a significantly increased risk of AAA (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.9-2.8), and current smokers had even higher risks. AAA was significantly associated with established coronary and peripheral arterial disease and a waist:hip ratio greater than 0.9; men who regularly undertook vigorous exercise had a lower risk (OR, 0.8; 95% CI, 0.7-1.0). Conclusion: Ultrasound screening for AAA is acceptable to men in the likely target population. AAA shares some but not all of the risk factors for occlusive vascular disease, but the scope for primary prevention of AAA in later life is limited.

Local-global processing in early-onset schizophrenia: Evidence for an impairment in shifting the spatial scale of attention

In this study we report the results of two experiments on visual attention conducted with patients with early-onset schizophrenia. These experiments investigated the effect of irrelevant spatial-scale information upon the processing of relevant spatial-scale information, and the ability to shift the spatial scale of attention, across consecutive trials, between different levels of the hierarchical stimulus. Twelve patients with early-onset schizophrenia and matched controls performed local-global tasks under: (1) directed attention conditions with a consistency manipulation and (2) divided-attention conditions. In the directed-attention paradigm, the early-onset patients exhibited the normal patterns of global advantage and interference, and were not unduly affected by the consistency manipulation. Under divided-attention conditions, however, the early-onset patients exhibited a local-processing deficit. The source of this local processing deficit lay in the prolonged reaction time to local targets, when these had been preceded by a global target, but not when preceded by a local target. These findings suggest an impaired ability to shift the spatial scale of attention from a global to a local spatial scale in early-onset schizophrenia. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Molecular diversity through sugar scaffolds

Monosaccharides provide an excellent platform to tailor molecular diversity by appending desired substituents at selected positions around the sugar scaffold. The presence of five functionalized and stereo-controlled centres on the sugar scaffolds gives the chemist plenty of scope to custom design molecules to a pharmacophore model. This review focuses on the peptidomimetic developments in this area, as well as the concept of tailoring structural and functional diversity in a library using carbohydrate scaffolds and how this can lead to increased hit rates and rapid identification of leads, which has promising prospects for drug development.

A medial to lateral shift in premovement cortical activity in hemi-Parkinson's disease: Studies of event-related potentials and whole-scalp magneto encephalography

Cortical activity associated with voluntary movement is shifted from medial to lateral premotor areas in Parkinson's disease. This occurs bilaterally, even for unilateral movements. We have used both EEG and MEG to further investigate medial and lateral premotor activity in patients with hemi-Parkinson's disease, in whom basal ganglia impairment is most pronounced in one hemisphere. The CNV, recorded from 21 scalp positions in a Go/NoGo task, was maximal over central medial regions in control subjects. For hemi-Parkinson's disease subjects, activity was shifted more frontally, reduced in the midline and lateralised towards the side of greatest basal ganglia impairment. With 143 channel whole-scalp magneto encephalography (MEG) we are further examining asymmetries in supplementary motor/premotor cortical activity prior to self-paced voluntary movement. In preliminary results, one hemi-Parkinson's disease patient with predominantly left-side symptoms showed strong medial activity consistent with a dominant source in the left supplementary motor area (SMA). Three patients showed little medial activity, but early bilateral sources within lateral premotor cortex. Results suggest greater involvement of lateral premotor rather than the SMA prior to movement in Parkinson's disease and provide evidence for asymmetric function of the SMA in hemi- Parkinson's disease, with reduced activity on the side of greatest basal ganglia deficit.

Combined in-fermenter extraction and cross-flow microfiltration for improved inclusion body processing

In this study we demonstrate a new in-fermenter chemical extraction procedure that degrades the cell wall of Escherichia coli and releases inclusion bodies (IBs) into the fermentation medium. We then prove that cross-flow microfiltration can be used to remove 91% of soluble contaminants from the released IBs. The extraction protocol, based on a combination of Triton X-100, EDTA, and intracellular T7 lysozyme, effectively released most of the intracellular soluble content without solubilising the IBs. Cross-flow microfiltration using a 0.2 mum ceramic membrane successfully recovered the granulocyte macrophagecolony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) IBs with removal of 91% of the soluble contaminants and virtually no loss of IBs to the permeate. The filtration efficiency, in terms of both flux and transmission, was significantly enhanced by infermenter Benzonase(R) digestion of nucleic acids following chemical extraction. Both the extraction and filtration methods exerted their efficacy directly on a crude fermentation broth, eliminating the need for cell recovery and re-suspension in buffer. The processes demonstrated here can all be performed using just a fermenter and a single cross-flow filtration unit, demonstrating a high level of process intensification. Furthermore, there is considerable scope to also use the microfiltration system to subsequently solubilise the IBs, to separate the denatured protein from cell debris, and to refold the protein using diafiltration. In this way refolded protein can potentially be obtained, in a relatively pure state, using only two unit operations. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals Inc.

The structure of worker compensation in Brazil, with a comparison to France and the United States

We employ comprehensive linked employer-employee data for Brazil to analyze wage determinants and compare results to Abowd et al. (2001) for French and U.S. manufacturing. While returns to human capita in Brazilian manufacturing exceed those of the other countries, occupation and gender differentials are similar. The worker-characteristics component accounts for much of the greater wage inequality in Brazil, but the establishment-fixed component has scant explanatory power. Thus, firm-or industry-level factors offer little scope for explaining the differences in wage inequality. Brazil`s wage structure resembles that of France, a country with some similarity in labor market institutions.

Analysis of Approaches to Controllership in Mater`s Thesis from Post-graduate Programs in Accounting Sciences

The objective of the Study is to analyze approaches in master`s thesis in Brazilian Post-Graduate Programs in Accounting Sciences in relation to Controllership, in terms of their conceptual, procedural and organizational aspects, as proposed by Borinelli (2006). The research is descriptive and it uses a quantitative approach. The sample consists of 26 master`s thesis which have the word ""Controllership"" in their titles. Resulting from analysis, in Perspective I (conceptual aspects), in which the elements of definition, object of study and relationship with other sciences were referenced, consensus among authors of the master`s thesis was not verified. In Perspective II (procedural aspects), which deals with activities and functions of Controllership by means of how they materialize as areas of knowledge within organizations, it was observed that the approach in the master`s thesis is quite differentiated in terms of the scope of activities. In relation to Perspective III (organizational aspects), there is also no consensus about what constitutes typical Controllership activities, but master`s thesis do include in the definition of Controllership the idea that it is a service or function of information. It was concluded that the approach to controllership, in terms of its conceptual, procedural and organizational aspects is similar to the elements proposed by Borinelli (2006).

Mapping cortical change in Alzheimer's disease, brain development, and schizophrenia

This paper describes algorithms that can identify patterns of brain structure and function associated with Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, normal aging, and abnormal brain development based on imaging data collected in large human populations. Extraordinary information can be discovered with these techniques: dynamic brain maps reveal how the brain grows in childhood, how it changes in disease, and how it responds to medication. Genetic brain maps can reveal genetic influences on brain structure, shedding light on the nature-nurture debate, and the mechanisms underlying inherited neurobehavioral disorders. Recently, we created time-lapse movies of brain structure for a variety of diseases. These identify complex, shifting patterns of brain structural deficits, revealing where, and at what rate, the path of brain deterioration in illness deviates from normal. Statistical criteria can then identify situations in which these changes are abnormally accelerated, or when medication or other interventions slow them. In this paper, we focus on describing our approaches to map structural changes in the cortex. These methods have already been used to reveal the profile of brain anomalies in studies of dementia, epilepsy, depression, childhood and adult-onset schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, fetal alcohol syndrome, Tourette syndrome, Williams syndrome, and in methamphetamine abusers. Specifically, we describe an image analysis pipeline known as cortical pattern matching that helps compare and pool cortical data over time and across subjects. Statistics are then defined to identify brain structural differences between groups, including localized alterations in cortical thickness, gray matter density (GMD), and asymmetries in cortical organization. Subtle features, not seen in individual brain scans, often emerge when population-based brain data are averaged in this way. Illustrative examples are presented to show the profound effects of development and various diseases on the human cortex. Dynamically spreading waves of gray matter loss are tracked in dementia and schizophrenia, and these sequences are related to normally occurring changes in healthy subjects of various ages. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier Inc.