Participation and social order in the playground

This study investigates the everyday practices of young children acting in their social worlds within the context of the school playground. It employs an ethnographic ethnomethodological approach using conversation analysis. In the context of child participation rights advanced by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and childhood studies, the study considers children’s social worlds and their participation agendas. The participants of the study were a group of young children in a preparatory year setting in a Queensland school. These children, aged 4 to 6 years, were videorecorded as they participated in their day-to-day activities in the classroom and in the playground. Data collection took place over a period of three months, with a total of 26 hours of video data. Episodes of the video-recordings were shown to small groups of children and to the teacher to stimulate conversations about what they saw on the video. The conversations were audio-recorded. This method acknowledged the child’s standpoint and positioned children as active participants in accounting for their relationships with others. These accounts are discussed as interactionally built comments on past joint experiences and provided a starting place for analysis of the video-recorded interaction. Four data chapters are presented in this thesis. Each data chapter investigates a different topic of interaction. The topics include how children use “telling” as a tactical tool in the management of interactional trouble, how children use their “ideas” as possessables to gain ownership of a game and the interactional matters that follow, how children account for interactional matters and bid for ownership of “whose idea” for the game and finally, how a small group of girls orientated to a particular code of conduct when accounting for their actions in a pretend game of “school”. Four key themes emerged from the analysis. The first theme addresses two arenas of action operating in the social world of children, pretend and real: the “pretend”, as a player in a pretend game, and the “real”, as a classroom member. These two arenas are intertwined. Through inferences to explicit and implicit “codes of conduct”, moral obligations are invoked as children attempt to socially exclude one another, build alliances and enforce their own social positions. The second theme is the notion of shared history. This theme addresses the history that the children reconstructed, and acts as a thread that weaves through their interactions, with implications for present and future relationships. The third theme is around ownership. In a shared context, such as the playground, ownership is a highly contested issue. Children draw on resources such as rules, their ideas as possessables, and codes of behaviour as devices to construct particular social and moral orders around owners of the game. These themes have consequences for children’s participation in a social group. The fourth theme, methodological in nature, shows how the researcher was viewed as an outsider and novice and was used as a resource by the children. This theme is used to inform adult-child relationships. The study was situated within an interest in participation rights for children and perspectives of children as competent beings. Asking children to account for their participation in playground activities situates children as analysers of their own social worlds and offers adults further information for understanding how children themselves construct their social interactions. While reporting on the experiences of one group of children, this study opens up theoretical questions about children’s social orders and these influences on their everyday practices. This thesis uncovers how children both participate in, and shape, their everyday social worlds through talk and interaction. It investigates the consequences that taken-for-granted activities of “playing the game” have for their social participation in the wider culture of the classroom. Consideration of this significance may assist adults to better understand and appreciate the social worlds of young children in the school playground.

Metal oxide nanofibres membranes assembled by spin-coating method

Ceramic membranes are of particular interest in many industrial processes due to their ability to function under extreme conditions while maintaining their chemical and thermal stability. Major structural deficiencies under conventional fabrication approach are pin-holes and cracks, and the dramatic losses of flux when pore sizes are reduced to enhance selectivity. We overcome these structural deficiencies by constructing hierarchically structured separation layer on a porous substrate using larger titanate nanofibres and smaller boehmite nanofibres. This yields a radical change in membrane texture. The differences in the porous supports have no substantial influences on the texture of resulting membranes. The membranes with top layer of nanofibres coated on different porous supports by spin-coating method have similar size of the filtration pores, which is in a range of 10–100 nm. These membranes are able to effectively filter out species larger than 60 nm at flow rates orders of magnitude greater than conventional membranes. The retention can attain more than 95%, while maintaining a high flux rate about 900 L m-2 h. The calcination after spin-coating creates solid linkages between the fibres and between fibres and substrate, in addition to convert boehmite into -alumina nanofibres. This reveals a new direction in membrane fabrication.

Asia

Reporters sans frontiéres (RSF) has repeatedly declared Asia to be the most demanding continent for journalists and their news organizations to operate in, and in some countries, even simply to survive in. The many reports issued by RSF and other global agencies regularly show Asia to be the region in which the largest number of murders of journalists occur per year, even when Asian–Arabic states and Central Asia are not included in the definition of ‘Asia’. The reports describe numerous physical, legal and economic threats as well as serious political repression and restrictions that journalists face as they attempt to function as watch-dogs, agenda-setters and gate-keepers for their societies. The statistics and examples provided within these reports, however, do not provide the full picture. Most Asian nations also host vibrant media cultures in which journalists play an important role in supporting social and democratic processes and activities. This chapter outlines the political and economic influences on Asian journalism; the impact of new technologies; the debates about philosophies such as 'development journalism', 'peace journalism' and 'Asian values'; and the influence of the so-called 'envelope culture' or practices of gift-giving and bribery that pervade journalism in some countries. To illustrate how these principles affect journalists' practice, the chapter presents a comparison of the starkly contrasting situations in India versus North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea). The chapter also describes issues affecting countries as far afield as China to Kazakhstan, including a short case study of journalism during the so-called Saffron Revolution in Burma in 2007. The chapter concludes with suggestions about how training and aid for the Asian should be contextualized to take into account the specific cultural, economic and political factors that shape and limit the media’s performance, and how journalists might be best placed to negotiate around them. Such training needs to be sensitive to valid variations in perceptions of what kind of governance and journalism best serves development, without serving politically motivated rhetoric.

The development and validation of Australian indices of child development - Part II : validity support

The two outcome indices described in a companion paper (Sanson et al., Child Indicators Research, 2009) were developed using data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). These indices, one for infants and the other for 4 year to 5 year old children, were designed to fill the need for parsimonious measures of children’s developmental status to be used in analyses by a broad range of data users and to guide government policy and interventions to support young children’s optimal development. This paper presents evidence from Wave 1data from LSAC to support the validity of these indices and their three domain scores of Physical, Social/Emotional, and Learning. Relationships between the indices and child, maternal, family, and neighborhood factors which are known to relate concurrently to child outcomes were examined. Meaningful associations were found with the selected variables, thereby demonstrating the usefulness of the outcome indices as tools for understanding children’s development in their family and socio-cultural contexts. It is concluded that the outcome indices are valuable tools for increasing understanding of influences on children’s development, and for guiding policy and practice to optimize children’s life chances.

High impact training : achieving synergies between program management education and workplace practice

This paper addresses the challenges of transfer of training back to the workplace for programme and project managers who are being groomed for the leadership of large and complex projects. The paper draws on the experience of the development and delivery of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) education programs: an Executive Masters of Complex Project Management and a series of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) events for an Australian government agency, Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO). Drawing on notions of ‘far transfer’ (Laker 1990; Noe, 1986) and ‘transfer climate’ (Kozlowski & Salas, 1993; Yamnill & McLean, 2001), the paper describes the steps undertaken to achieve a design that ensures that programme and project leadership skills developed through these corporate education programs become successfully embedded back in the organisation. Further, the paper reports on a small qualitative study where the programme success was evaluated by the organisational sponsor, senior leaders and program participants. Nine interviews were conducted and analysed to identify the success of far transfer and transfer climate four months after the return of program participants from cohort 1 2008 to the workplace.

Concepts of intuitive interaction

Intuition is a type of cognitive processing that is often non-conscious and utilises stored experiential knowledge. Intuitive interaction involves the use of knowledge gained from other products and/or experiences. We have developed novel approaches and techniques for studying intuitive use of interfaces, and shown that intuitive interaction is based on past experience with similar artefacts. Based on our empirical work we have developed principles and tools for designers to assist them in making interfaces more intuitive. These principles are discussed in this paper.

The development and evaluation of an innovative nursing practice model to improve undergraduate nursing students' competence in paediatric physical assessment

Introduction The purpose of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate the impact of an educational intervention, comprising an innovative model of clinical decisionmaking and educational delivery strategy for facilitating nursing students‘ learning and development of competence in paediatric physical assessment practices. Background of the study Nursing students have an undergraduate education that aims to produce graduates of a generalist nature who demonstrate entry level competence for providing nursing care in a variety of health settings. Consistent with population morbidity and health care roles, paediatric nursing concepts typically form a comparatively small part of undergraduate curricula and students‘ exposure to paediatric physical assessment concepts and principles are brief. However, the nursing shortage has changed traditional nursing employment patterns and new graduates form the majority of the recruitment pool for paediatric nursing speciality staff. Paediatric nursing is a popular career choice for graduates and anecdotal evidence suggests that nursing students who select a clinical placement in their final year intend to seek employment in paediatrics upon graduation. Although concepts of paediatric nursing are included within undergraduate curriculum, students‘ ability to develop the required habits of mind to practice in what is still regarded as a speciality area of practice is somewhat limited. One of the areas of practice where this particularly impacts is in paediatric nursing physical assessment. Physical assessment is a fundamental component of nursing practice and competence in this area of practice is central to nursing students‘ development of clinical capability for practice as a registered nurse. Timely recognition of physiologic deterioration of patients is a key outcome of nurses‘ competent use of physical assessment strategies, regardless of the practice context. In paediatric nursing contexts children‘s physical assessment practices must specifically accommodate the child‘s different physiological composition, function and pattern of clinical deterioration (Hockenberry & Barrera, 2007). Thus, to effectively manage physical assessment of patients within the paediatric practice setting nursing students need to integrate paediatric nursing theory into their practice. This requires significant information processing and it is in this process where students are frequently challenged. The provision of rules or models can guide practice and assist novice-level nurses to develop their capabilities (Benner, 1984; Benner, Hooper-Kyriakidis & Stannard, 1999). Nursing practice models are cognitive tools that represent simplified patterns of expert analysis employing concepts that suit the limited reasoning of the inexperienced, and can represent the =rules‘ referred to by Benner (1984). Without a practice model of physical assessment students are likely to be uncertain about how to proceed with data collection, the interpretation of paediatric clinical findings and the appraisal of findings. These circumstances can result in ad hoc and unreliable nursing physical assessment that forms a poor basis for nursing decisions. The educational intervention developed as part of this study sought to resolve this problem and support nursing students‘ development of competence in paediatric physical assessment. Methods This study utilised the Context Input Process Product (CIPP) Model by Stufflebeam (2004) as the theoretical framework that underpinned the research design and evaluation methodology. Each of the four elements in the CIPP model were utilised to guide discrete stages of this study. The Context element informed design of the clinical decision-making process, the Paediatric Nursing Physical Assessment model. The Input element was utilised in appraising relevant literature, identifying an appropriate instructional methodology to facilitate learning and educational intervention delivery to undergraduate nursing students, and development of program content (the CD-ROM kit). Study One employed the Process element and used expert panel approaches to review and refine instructional methods, identifying potential barriers to obtaining an effective evaluation outcome. The Product element guided design and implementation of Study Two, which was conducted in two phases. Phase One employed a quasiexperimental between-subjects methodology to evaluate the impact of the educational intervention on nursing students‘ clinical performance and selfappraisal of practices in paediatric physical assessment. Phase Two employed a thematic analysis and explored the experiences and perspectives of a sample subgroup of nursing students who used the PNPA CD-ROM kit as preparation for paediatric clinical placement. Results Results from the Process review in Study One indicated that the prototype CDROM kit containing the PNPA model met the predetermined benchmarks for face validity and the impact evaluation instrumentation had adequate content validity in comparison with predetermined benchmarks. In the first phase of Study Two the educational intervention did not result in statistically significant differences in measures of student performance or self-appraisal of practice. However, in Phase Two qualitative commentary from students, and from the expert panel who reviewed the prototype CD-ROM kit (Study One, Phase One), strongly endorsed the quality of the intervention and its potential for supporting learning. This raises questions regarding transfer of learning and it is likely that, within this study, several factors have influenced students‘ transfer of learning from the educational intervention to the clinical practice environment, where outcomes were measured. Conclusion In summary, the educational intervention employed in this study provides insights into the potential e-learning approaches offer for delivering authentic learning experiences to undergraduate nursing students. Findings in this study raise important questions regarding possible pedagogical influences on learning outcomes, issues within the transfer of theory to practice and factors that may have influenced findings within the context of this study. This study makes a unique contribution to nursing education, specifically with respect to progressing an understanding of the challenges faced in employing instructive methods to impact upon nursing students‘ development of competence. The important contribution transfer of learning processes make to students‘ transition into the professional practice context and to their development of competence within the context of speciality practice is also highlighted. This study contributes to a greater awareness of the complexity of translating theoretical learning at undergraduate level into clinical practice, particularly within speciality contexts.

Consumer trends in digital news and information in Australia

We all know that the future of news is digital. But mainstream news providers are still grappling with how to entice more customers to their online sites. This paper provides context for a survey currently underway on user intentions towards online news and entertainment, by exploring: 1. Consumer behaviours and intentions with regards to accessing online news and information; 2. Current trends in the Australian online news and information sector; and 3. Key issues and emerging opportunities in the Australian (and global) environment. Key influences on use of online news and information are pricing and access. The paper highlights emerging technical opportunities and flags service gaps. These gaps include multiple disconnects between: 1. Changing user intentions towards online and location based news (news based on a specific locality as chosen by the user) and information; 2. The ability by consumers to act on these intentions via the availability and cost of technologies; 3. Younger users may prefer entertainment to news, or ‘infotainment’; and 4. Current online offerings of traditional news providers and opportunities. These disconnects present an opportunity for online news suppliers to appraise and resolve. Doing so may enhance their online news and information offering, attract consumers and improve loyalty. Outcomes from this paper will be used to identify knowledge gaps and contribute to the development of further analysis on Australian consumers and their behaviours and intentions towards online news and information. This will be undertaken via focus groups as part of a broader study.

Factors associated with recurrence of venous leg ulcers : a survey and retrospective chart review

Background: Chronic venous leg ulcers have a significant impact on older individuals’ well-being and health care resources. Unfortunately after healing, up to 70% recur. ----- Objective: To examine the relationships between leg ulcer recurrence and physical activity, compression, nutrition, health, psychosocial indicators and self-care activities in order to provide information for preventive strategies. ----- Design: Survey and retrospective chart review Settings: Two metropolitan hospital and three community-based leg ulcer clinics. ----- Subjects: A sample of 122 community living patients with leg ulcer of venous aetiology which had healed between 12 and 36 months prior to the survey. ---- Methods: Data were collected from medical records on demographics, medical history and previous ulcer history and treatments; and from self-report questionnaires on physical activity, nutrition, psychosocial measures, ulcer recurrences and history, compression and other self-care activities. All variables significantly associated with recurrence at the bivariate level were entered into a logistic regression model to determine their independent influences on recurrence. ----- Results: Median follow-up time was 24 months (range 12–40 months). Sixty-eight percent of participants had recurred. Bivariate analysis found recurrence was positively associated with ulcer duration, cardiac disease, a Body Mass Index ≤20, scoring as at-risk of malnutrition and depression; and negatively associated with increased physical activity, leg elevation, wearing Class 2 (20–25mmHg) or Class 3 (30–40mmHg) compression hosiery, and higher self-efficacy scores. After adjusting for all variables, an hour/day of leg elevation (OR=0.04, 95% CI=0.01–0.17), days/week in Class 2 or 3 compression hosiery (OR=0.53, 95% CI=0.34–0.81), Yale Physical Activity Survey score (OR=0.95, 95% CI=0.92–0.98), cardiac disease (OR=5.03, 95% CI=1.01–24.93) and General Self-Efficacy scores (OR=0.83, 95% CI=0.72–0.94) remained significantly associated (p<0.05) with recurrence. ----- Conclusions: Results indicate a history of cardiac disease is a risk factor for recurrence; while leg elevation, physical activity, compression hosiery and strategies to improve self-efficacy are likely to prevent recurrence.

Adiabatic compression testing - part II : background and approach to estimating severity of test methodology

Adiabatic compression testing of components in gaseous oxygen is a test method that is utilized worldwide and is commonly required to qualify a component for ignition tolerance under its intended service. This testing is required by many industry standards organizations and government agencies; however, a thorough evaluation of the test parameters and test system influences on the thermal energy produced during the test has not yet been performed. This paper presents a background for adiabatic compression testing and discusses an approach to estimating potential differences in the thermal profiles produced by different test laboratories. A “Thermal Profile Test Fixture” (TPTF) is described that is capable of measuring and characterizing the thermal energy for a typical pressure shock by any test system. The test systems at Wendell Hull & Associates, Inc. (WHA) in the USA and at the BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing in Germany are compared in this manner and some of the data obtained is presented. The paper also introduces a new way of comparing the test method to idealized processes to perform system-by-system comparisons. Thus, the paper introduces an “Idealized Severity Index” (ISI) of the thermal energy to characterize a rapid pressure surge. From the TPTF data a “Test Severity Index” (TSI) can also be calculated so that the thermal energies developed by different test systems can be compared to each other and to the ISI for the equivalent isentropic process. Finally, a “Service Severity Index” (SSI) is introduced to characterizing the thermal energy of actual service conditions. This paper is the second in a series of publications planned on the subject of adiabatic compression testing.

Corporate governance in China : the role of the state and ideology in shaping reforms

Examines the political and ideological influences on China's economic reforms since the early 1980s. Discusses the influence of the Chinese Communist Party and Confucianism on economic progress and assesses the effect of reforms. Outlines the requirement for new corporate governance laws to meet the needs of expanding private businesses and considers China's use and adaptation of some Western models of corporate governance. Comments on whether these fit easily with China's business culture. Criticises the shortcomings of China's corporate laws. Looks in particular at the telecommunications industry and at the Company Law 2006.

Teachers' attitudes towards the gifted : the importance of professional development and school culture

Given that teachers have one of the most significant influences on the educational development of gifted students, reports of negative attitudes and beliefs in popular myths about giftedness are cause for concern. It is important to understand teachers’ attitudes and beliefs to implement effective training and educational practices to improve education for gifted students. This study explored the attitudes of Australian primary school teachers (N = 126) towards intellectually gifted children and their education at eight schools. These schools could be categorised into four different classifications in regards to their involvement in gifted education. Key findings include significant associations between teachers’ attitudes and their school classifications (p < .001), and their participation in gifted and talented education inservice training (p < .001). Findings from this study suggest that further teacher training and school-wide involvement in gifted education may assist in improving attitudes towards intellectually gifted children and their education.

The nine lives of Vietnam's new competition law

Vietnam's present draft of the proposed new Law on Competition is currently in its ninth version. Although there is a need to enact legislation as quickly as possible, Vietnam cannot rush the drafting process. Under its Bilateral Trade Agreement with the USA, Vietnam has committed to improve the quality of its laws and consistency of its legislative framework. Since the Law on Competition will be fundamental in establishing the legal framework for a more coherent and effective competition regime, and will have profound influences on Vietnam's objective of becoming a socialist-oriented market economy, its provisions must be well constructed and well considered, and this takes time. This article shows how the proposed Law is being crafted as compared to older drafts which sheds light on changes in policy during the drafting process. Where possible, the Draft is also compared with the laws in other jurisdictions for any assistance they might lend. In this author's opinion not all the changes are positive but any defects in the draft are not intractable and can be remedied prior to promulgation.

ICTs for creative practice in drama : creating cyberdrama with young people in school contexts

This study explores young people's creative practice through using Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) - in one particular learning area - Drama. The study focuses on school-based contexts and the impact of ICT-based interventions within two drama education case studies. The first pilot study involved the use of online spaces to complement a co-curricula performance project. The second focus case was a curriculum-based project with online spaces and digital technologies being used to create a cyberdrama. Each case documents the activity systems, participant experiences and meaning making in specific institutional and technological contexts. The nature of creative practice and learning are analysed, using frameworks drawn from Vygotsky's socio-historical theory (including his work on creativity) and from activity theory. Case study analysis revealed the nature of contradictions encountered and these required an analysis of institutional constraints and the dynamics of power. Cyberdrama offers young people opportunities to explore drama through new modes and the use of ICTs can be seen as contributing different tools, spaces and communities for creative activity. To be able to engage in creative practice using ICTs requires a focus on a range of cultural tools and social practices beyond those of the purely technological. Cybernetic creative practice requires flexibility in the negotiation of tool use and subjects and a system that responds to feedback and can adapt. Classroom-based dramatic practice may allow for the negotiation of power and tool use in the development of collaborative works of the imagination. However, creative practice using ICTs in schools is typically restricted by authoritative power structures and access issues. The research identified participant engagement and meaning making emerging from different factors, with some students showing preferences for embodied creative practice in Drama that did not involve ICTs. The findings of the study suggest ICT-based interventions need to focus on different applications for the technology but also on embodied experience, the negotiation of power, identity and human interactions.

Predicting adolescents’ use of social networking sites from an extended theory of planned behaviour perspective

The popularity of social networking sites (SNSs) among adolescents has grown exponentially, with little accompanying research to understand the influences on adolescent engagement with this technology. The current study tested the validity of an extended theory of planned behaviour model (TPB), incorporating the additions of group norm and self-esteem influences, to predict frequent SNS use. Adolescents (N = 160) completed measures assessing the standard TPB constructs of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control (PBC), and intention, as well as group norm and self-esteem. One week later, participants reported their SNS use during the previous week. Support was found for the standard TPB variables of attitude and PBC, as well as group norm, in predicting intentions to use SNS frequently, with intention, in turn, predicting behaviour. These findings provide an understanding of the factors influencing frequent engagement in what is emerging as a primary tool for adolescent socialisation.