In Australia are people born in other countries at higher risk of road trauma than locally born people?

This study examined whether people born in other countries had higher rates of death and hospitalization due to road crashes than people born in Australia. Data on deaths that occurred in the whole of Australia between 1994 and 1997 and hospitalizations that occurred in the state of New South Wales, Australia, between I July 1995 and 30 June 1997 due to road crashes were analyzed. The rates of death and hospitalization, adjusted for age and area of residence, were calculated using population data from the 1996 Australian census. The study categorized people born in other countries according to the language (English speaking, non-English speaking) and the road convention (left-hand side, right-hand side) of their country of birth. Australia has the left-hand side driving convention. The study found that drivers born in other countries had rates of death or hospitalization due to road trauma equal to or below those of Australian born drivers. In contrast, pedestrians born in other countries, especially older pedestrians had higher rates of death and hospitalization due to road crashes. Pedestrians aged 60 years or more born in non-English speaking countries where traffic travels on the right-hand side of the road had risks about twice those of Australian born pedestrians in the same age group. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Towards a History didactics definition

This paper aims to define history didactics along the lines of the current German literature, which conceives it to be closer to history than to education. Associated to the word Geschichtsdidaktik, this definition is opposed to the concepts of history didactics as the art of teaching - Lehrkunst - history or as a collection of methods used both in the teaching of history and in the teaching of other school subjects - Unterrichtsmethoden. In opposition to these two definitions, this paper discusses German, French and Brazilian literatures to propose a conception of history didactics as a subarea of history, once it does not encompass only history teaching, but all history elaborations without a scientific form - nicht- wissenschaftsformigen Geschichtsverarbeitungen.

History of vegetation and habitat change in the Austral-Asian region

Over 1000 marine and terrestrial pollen diagrams and Some hundreds of vertebrate faunal sequences have been studied in the Austral-Asian region bisected by the PEPII transect, from the Russian arctic extending south through east Asia, Indochina, southern Asia, insular Southeast Asia (Sunda), Melanesia, Australasia (Sahul) and the western south Pacific. The majority of these records are Holocene but sufficient data exist to allow the reconstruction of the changing biomes over at least the past 200,000 years. The PEPII transect is free of the effects of large northern ice caps yet exhibits vegetational change in glacial cycles of a similar scale to North America. Major processes that can be discerned are the response of tropical forests in both lowlands and uplands to glacial cycles, the expansion of humid vegetation at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and the change in faunal and vegetational controls as humans occupy the region. There is evidence for major changes in the intensity of monsoon and El Nino-Southern oscillation variability both on glacial-interglacial and longer time scales with much of the region experiencing a long-term trend towards more variable and/or drier climatic conditions. Temperature variation is most marked in high latitudes and high altitudes with precipitation providing the major climate control in lower latitude, lowland areas. At least some boundary shifts may be the response of vegetation to changing CO2 levels in the atmosphere. Numerous questions of detail remain, however, and current resolution is too coarse to examine the degree of synchroneity of millennial scale change along the transect. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Targeted! Population segmentation, electronic surveillance and governing the unemployed in Australia

Targeting is increasingly used to manage people. It operates by segmenting populations and providing different levels of opportunities and services to these groups. Each group is subject to different levels of surveillance and scrutiny. This article examines the deployment of targeting in Australian social security. Three case studies of targeting are presented in Australia's management of benefit overpayment and fraud, the distribution of employment services and the application of workfare. In conceptualizing surveillance as governance, the analysis examines the rationalities, technologies and practices that make targeting thinkable, practicable and achievable. In the case studies, targeting is variously conceptualized and justified by calculative risk discourses, moral discourses of obligation and notions of welfare dependency Advanced information technologies are also seen as particularly important in giving rise to the capacity to think about and act on population segments.

The Development of Science Education Research in Brazil and Contributions from the History and Philosophy of Science

Over the last 50 years a new research area, science education research, has arisen and undergone singular development worldwide. In the specific case of Brazil, research in science education first appeared systematically 40 years ago, as a consequence of an overall renovation in the field of science education. This evolution was also related to the political events taking place in the country. We will use the theoretical work of Rene Kaes on the development of groups and institutions as a basis for our discussion of the most important aspects that have helped the area of science education research develop into an institution and kept it operating as such. The growth of this area of research can be divided into three phases: The first was related to its beginning and early configurations; the second consisted of a process of consolidation of this institution; and the third consists of more recent developments, characterised by a multiplicity of research lines and corresponding challenges to be faced. In particular, we will analyse the special contributions to this study gleaned from the field known as the history and philosophy of science.

Auction price anomalies: Evidence from wool auctions in Australia

Using detailed Australian wool auction data we test for further evidence of pricing anomalies at sequential auctions. We find that an anomaly frequently exists and order is frequently endogenously determined. Moreover, prices increase through some sales and decrease through others. We examine whether it is possible to explain the variation in the anomaly across sales and conclude that there is no systematic relationship between the direction of the price anomaly and the characteristics of the wool or the auction. We do, however, find evidence that an anomaly, is more likely in longer sales.

Breast cancer in Western Australia: clinical practice and clinical guidelines

Objectives: To review changes in patterns of care for women with early invasive breast cancer in Western Australia from 1989 to 1999, and compare management with recommendations in the 1995 National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines. Design and setting: Population-based surveys of all cases listed in the Western Australian Cancer Registry and Western Australian Hospital Morbidity Data System. Main outcome measures: Congruence of care with guidelines. Results: Data were available for 1649 women with early invasive breast cancer (categories pT1 or pT2; pN0 or pN1; and M0). In 1999, 96% had a preoperative diagnosis by fine-needle aspiration or core biopsy (compared with 66% in 1989), with a synoptic pathology report on 95%. Breast-conserving surgery was used for 66% of women with mammographically detected tumours (v 35% in 1989) and 46% of those with clinically detected tumours (v 28% in 1989), with radiotherapy to the conserved breast in 90% of these cases (83% in 1989). Adjuvant chemotherapy was given to 92% of premenopausal women with node-positive disease and 63% with poor-prognosis node-negative tumours (v 78% and 14%, respectively, in 1989). Among postmenopausal women with receptor-positive tumours, tamoxifen was prescribed for 91% of those with positive nodes (85% in 1989) and 79% of those with negative nodes (30% in 1989). Among postmenopausal women with receptor-negative tumours, chemotherapy was prescribed for 70% with positive nodes (v 33%) and 58% with negative nodes (v none). Conclusions: Patterns of management of women with early invasive breast cancer in Western Australia during the 1990s changed significantly in all respects toward those recommended in the 1995 guidelines.

Surgical management of lung cancer in Western Australia in 1996 and its outcomes

Background: All cases of lung cancer diagnosed in Western Australia in 1996 in which surgery was the primary treatment, were reviewed. Reported herein are the characteristics of the patients, the treatment outcomes and a comparison of the management undertaken with that recommended by international guidelines. Methods: All patients with a new diagnosis of lung cancer in Western Australia in the calendar year of 1996 were identified using two different population-based registration systems: the Western Australian (WA) Cancer Registry and the WA Hospital Morbidity Data System. A structured questionnaire on the diagnosis and management was completed for each case. Date of death was determined through the WA Cancer Registry. Results: Six hundred and sixty-eight patients with lung cancer were identified; 132 (20%) were treated with surgery. Lobectomy was the most frequently performed procedure (71%), followed by pneumonectomy (19%). Major complications affected 23% of patients. Postoperative mortality was 6% (3% lobectomy, 12% pneumonectomy). At 5 years the absolute survival was as follows for stage I, II, IIIA, IIIB, respectively: 51%, 45%, 12%, 5%. Conclusions: Investigations and choice of surgery in WA in 1996 reflect current international guidelines. The survival of patients with resectable lung cancer remains unsatisfactory.