The use of hand-held mobile devices as aids to learning within flexible learning spaces in tertiary Information Technology classes

Mobile devices are very popular among tertiary student populations. This study looks at student use of hand-held mobile devices within the context of a first year programming unit. This research sought for ways in which an educational app on these devices could be successfully integrated into such a class's learning.

Using the factors that have a positive impact on the retention of low socioeconomic students to prepare accelerated enrolled nurses for the science units of a nursing degree : a practice report

At a campus in a low socioeconomic (SES) area, our University allows enrolled nurses entry into the second year of a Bachelor of Nursing, but attrition is high. Using the factors, described by Yorke and Thomas (2003) to have a positive impact on the attrition of low SES students, we developed strategies to prepare the enrolled nurses for the pharmacology and bioscience units of a nursing degree with the aim of reducing their attrition. As a strategy, the introduction of review lectures of anatomy, physiology and microbiology, was associated with significantly reduced attrition rates. The subsequent introduction of a formative website activity of some basic concepts in bioscience and pharmacology, and a workshop addressing study skills and online resources, were associated with a further reduction in attrition rates of enrolled nursing students in a Bachelor of Nursing.

Respiratory Exacerbations in Indigenous Children From Two Countries With Non-Cystic Fibrosis Chronic Suppurative Lung Disease/Bronchiectasis

BACKGROUND: Acute respiratory exacerbations (AREs) cause morbidity and lung function decline in children with chronic suppurative lung disease (CSLD) and bronchiectasis. In a prospective longitudinal cohort study, we determined the patterns of AREs and factors related to increased risks for AREs in children with CSLD/bronchiectasis. METHODS: Ninety-three indigenous children aged 0.5 to 8 years with CSLD/bronchiectasis in Australia (n = 57) and Alaska (n = 36) during 2004 to 2009 were followed for > 3 years. Standardized parent interviews, physical examinations, and medical record reviews were undertaken at enrollment and every 3 to 6 months thereafter. RESULTS: Ninety-three children experienced 280 AREs (median = 2, range = 0-11 per child) during the 3-year period; 91 (32%) were associated with pneumonia, and 43 (15%) resulted in hospitalization. Of the 93 children, 69 (74%) experienced more than two AREs over the 3-year period, and 28 (30%) had more than one ARE in each study year. The frequency of AREs declined significantly over each year of follow-up. Factors associated with recurrent (two or more) AREs included age < 3 years, ARE-related hospitalization in the first year of life, and pneumonia or hospitalization for ARE in the year preceding enrollment. Factors associated with hospitalizations for AREs in the first year of study included age < 3 years, female caregiver education, and regular use of bronchodilators. CONCLUSIONS: AREs are common in children with CSLD/bronchiectasis, but with clinical care and time AREs occur less frequently. All children with CSLD/bronchiectasis require comprehensive care; however, treatment strategies may differ for these patients based on their changing risks for AREs during each year of care.

Programming: Reading, writing and reversing

In this paper, we look at the concept of reversibility, that is, negating opposites, counterbalances, and actions that can be reversed. Piaget identified reversibility as an indicator of the ability to reason at a concrete operational level. We investigate to what degree novice programmers manifest the ability to work with this concept of reversibility by providing them with a small piece of code and then asking them to write code that undoes the effect of that code. On testing entire cohorts of students in their first year of learning to program, we found an overwhelming majority of them could not cope with such a concept. We then conducted think aloud studies of novices where we observed them working on this task and analyzed their contrasting abilities to deal with it. The results of this study demonstrate the need for better understanding our students' reasoning abilities, and a teaching model aimed at that level of reality.

Time, place and space – student group collaboration using Google Drive

Virtual working environments are intrinsic to the contemporary workplace and collaborative skills are a vital graduate capability. To develop students’ collaborative skills, first year medical laboratory science students undertake a group poster project, based on a blended learning model. Learning is scaffolded in lectures, workshops in collaborative learning spaces, practitioner mentoring sessions, and online resources. Google Drive provides an online collaborative space for students to realise tangible outcomes from this learning. A Google Drive document is created for each group and shared with members. In this space, students assign tasks and plan workflow, share research, progressively develop poster content, reflect and comment on peer contributions and use the messaging functions to ‘talk’ to group members. This provides a readily accessible, transparent record of group work, crucial in peer assessment, and a communication channel for group members and the lecturer, who can support groups if required. This knowledge creation space also augments productivity and effectiveness of face-to-face collaboration. As members are randomly allocated to groups and are often of diverse backgrounds and unknown to each other, resilience is built as students navigate the uncertainties and complexities of group dynamics, learning to focus on the goal of the team task as they constructively and professionally engage in team dialogue. Students are responsible and accountable for individual and group work. The use of Google Drive was evaluated in a survey including Likert scale and open ended qualitative questions. Statistical analysis was carried out. Results show students (79%) valued the inclusion of online space in collaborative work and highly appreciated (78%) the flexibility provided by Google Drive, while recognising the need for improved notification functionality. Teaching staff recognised the advantages in monitoring and moderating collaborative group work, and the transformational progression in student collaborative as well as technological skill acquisition, including professional dialogue.

Long-term growth and anthropometry after childhood liver transplantation

Objectives: To describe longitudinal height, weight, and body mass index changes up to 15 years after childhood liver transplantation. Study design: Retrospective chart review of patients who underwent liver transplant from 1985-2004 was performed. Subjects were age <18 years at transplant, survived ≥5 years, with at least 2 recorded measurements, of which one was ≥5 years post-transplant. Measurements were recorded pre-transplant, 1, 5, 10, and 15 years later. Results: Height and weight data were available in 98 and 104 patients, respectively; 47% were age <2 years at transplant; 58% were Australian, and the rest were from Japan. Height recovery continued for at least 10 years to reach the 26th percentile (Z-score -0.67) 15 years after transplant. Australians had better growth recovery and attained 47th percentile (Z-score -0.06) at 15 years. Weight recovery was most marked in the first year and continued for 15 years even in well-nourished children. Growth impaired and malnourished children at transplant exhibited the best growth, but remained significantly shorter and lighter even 15 years later. No effect of sex or age at transplant was noted on height or weight recovery. Post-transplant factors significantly impact growth recovery and likely caused the dichotomous growth recovery between Australian and Japanese children; 9% (9/98) of patients were overweight on body mass index calculations at 10-15 years but none were obese. Conclusions: After liver transplant, children can expect ongoing height and weight recovery for at least 10-15 years. Growth impairment at transplant and post-transplant care significantly impact long-term growth recovery. Copyright © 2013 Mosby Inc. All rights reserved.

Centile reference charts for total energy expenditure in infants from 1 to 12 months

Background: A knowledge of energy expenditure in infancy is required for the estimation of recommended daily amounts of food energy, for designing artificial infant feeds, and as a reference standard for studies of energy metabolism in disease states. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to construct centile reference charts for total energy expenditure (TEE) in infants across the first year of life. Methods: Repeated measures of TEE using the doubly labeled water technique were made in 162 infants at 1.5, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. In total, 322 TEE measurements were obtained. The LMS method with maximum penalized likelihood was used to construct the centile reference charts. Centiles were constructed for TEE expressed as MJ/day and also expressed relative to body weight (BW) and fat-free mass (FFM). Results: TEE increased with age and was 1.40,1.86, 2.64, 3.07 and 3.65 MJ/day at 1.5, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, respectively. The standard deviations were 0.43, 0.47, 0.52,0.66 and 0.88, respectively. TEE in MJ/kg increased from 0.29 to 0.36 and in MJ/day/kg FFM from 0.36 to 0.48. Conclusions: We have presented centile reference charts for TEE expressed as MJ/day and expressed relative to BW and FFM in infants across the first year of life. There was a wide variation or biological scatter in TEE values seen at all ages. We suggest that these centile charts may be used to assess and possibly quantify abnormal energy metabolism in disease states in infants.

“It puts a human face on the researched”: A qualitative evaluation of an Indigenous research governance model

Objective This study aimed to describe the Inala Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Jury for Health Research, and evaluate its usefulness as a model of Indigenous research governance within an urban Indigenous primary health care service from the perspectives of Jury members and researchers. Methods Informed by a phenomenological approach and using narrative inquiry, a focus group was conducted with Jury members and key informant interviews were undertaken with researchers who had presented to the Community Jury in its first year of operation. Results The Jury was a site of identity work for researchers and Jury members, providing an opportunity to observe and affirm community cultural protocols. Although researchers and Jury members had differing levels of research literacy, the Jury processes enabled respectful communication and relationships to form which positively influenced research practice, community aspirations and clinical care. Discussion The Jury processes facilitated transformative research practice among researchers, and resulted in transference of power from researchers to the Jury members to the mutual benefit of both. Conclusion Ethical Indigenous health research practice requires an engagement with Indigenous peoples and knowledges at the research governance level, not simply as subjects or objects of research.

Australian journalism students’ professional views and news consumption: Results from a representative study

Journalism education’s role in shaping students’ professional views has been a topic of interest among scholars for the past decade in particular. Increasing numbers of studies are concerned with examining students’ backgrounds and views in order to identify what role exposure to the tertiary environment may play in socializing them into the industry. This study reports on the results of the largest survey of Australian journalism students undertaken to date, with a sample size of 1884 students. The study finds that time spent studying journalism appears to be related to changes in role perceptions and news consumption. Final-year students are significantly more likely to support journalism’s watchdog role and to reject consumer-oriented and ‘loyal’ roles. They also consume more news than first-year students. On the other hand, journalism education appears to have little impact on views of controversial practices, with only marginal differences between final- and first-year students.

The introduction of an Inter-professional learning unit: staff and student perspectives

Background The School of Clinical Sciences comprises a number of health disciplines including podiatry, paramedic science, pharmacy, medical imaging and radiation therapy. A new inter-professional unit was introduced in 2014, which covered key introductory learnings applicable for future health practitioners. This study examined teaching staff and student perspectives about their experience with the new unit for first year students. Methods Qualitative interviews with teaching staff (n=9) and focus group interviews with students (5 groups which ranged in size from 4-30) were conducted. Extensive notes were taken during the interviews Issues emerging from the interviews were identified and organised according to themes and subthemes. Results Four major themes were identified namely: Something new; To be or not to be that is the question; Advantages of the new unit; and Areas for improvement. Previous staff experience with inter-professional learning (IPL) had been ad-hoc, whereas the new unit brought together several disciplines in a planned and deliberate way. There was strong philosophical agreement about the value of IPL but some debate about the extent to which the unit provided IPL experience. The unit was seen as assisting students’ social and academic adjustment to university and provided opportunity for professional socialisation, exposure to macro and micro aspects of the Australian health care system and various types of communication. For podiatry students it was their first opportunity to formally meet and work with other podiatry students and moved their identity from ‘university student’ to ‘podiatry student’. Other positives included providing the opportunity for staff and students to interact at an early stage with the perceived benefit of reducing attrition. Areas for unit improvement included institutional arrangements, unit administration aspects and assessment. Conclusion The unit was seen as beneficial by staff and students however, students were more polarised in their views than staff. There was a tension between feeling apart of and learning about one's own profession and feeling apart of and learning about the roles of other health professionals in relation to patient care and the health care system.

Protein supplementation and growth enhancer strategies in successive years to maximise growth of Brahman cross steers grazing sown grass pastures on brigalow lands

A strategy comprising a winter/spring protein supplement, rumen modifier and hormonal growth promotant (Compudose 400) was used in either the first year (Tl), second year (T2), or in both years (T1+2) following weaning in Brahman cross steers as a means of increasing liveweight gain up to 2.5 years of age. T2 produced the heaviest final liveweight (544.7 kg) and highest overall liveweight gain (366.7 kg), but these were not significantly different from T1 (538.6 kg; 360.9 kg), or T1+2 (528.7 kg; 349.3 kg). However, final liveweight and overall liveweight gains of T1 and T2 but not T1+2 were significantly greater than for untreated (C) steers (504.9 kg; 325.2 kg, both P < 0.05). Regardless of the strategy imposed, liveweight and liveweight gain were enhanced, however final liveweights in each treatment were below the preferred minimum target liveweight (570-580 kg) for premium export markets. Treatment in both years gave no benefit over treatment in 1 year only. 19th Biennial Conference. 5-9 July 1992. LaTrobe University, Melbourne.

Age-related alterations in immunoreactive pancreatic lipase and cationic trypsinogen in young children with cystic fibrosis

Serum immunoreactive pancreatic lipase and cationic trypsinogen are elevated in young infants with cystic fibrosis (CF) and may be useful neonatal screening tests for CF. We compared lipase measured by a recently developed ELISA immunoassay with trypsinogen measured by radioimmunoassay in 70 children (ages 0.1 to 9.9 years) with CF who had various degrees of pancreatic dysfunction and in 79 similarly aged children without CF (controls). In the control children, lipase activity increased with advancing age, whereas trypsinogen showed no age-related trend. Lipase and trypsinogen were significantly elevated in the infants with CF who were younger than 1 year, irrespective of pancreatic function (trypsinogen, P<0.001; lipase, P<0.05). Sensitivities in detecting CF were 76% and 90% for lipase and trypsinogen, respectively. After the first year of life, lipase and trypsinogen values declined toward normal, the rate of decline of lipase being greater than that of trypsinogen; 67% of lipase values were within or below the normal range by 3 years, whereas 67% of trypsinogen values continued to be elevated. We conclude that trypsinogen is an excellent screening test for CF in young infants regardless of pancreatic function, and that the addition of a serum pancreatic lipase determination does not improve the accuracy of trypsinogen as a screening test for cystic fibrosis.

A Conjecture Concerning Transformation Of A Supercooled Hard-Sphere Liquid To A Metastable Disordered Solid

It is conjectured that the hard sphere system has several distinct solid phases, all but one of which are metastable. The bifurcation theory analysis of freezing is extended to the description of the transition between a supercooled liquid and a disordered solid by defining a restricted phase space for the disordered solid. This approach leads to the prediction of a first order transition between a supercooled hard sphere fluid and a disordered metastable hard sphere solid. The results of the calculation are in qualitative agreement with the results of Woodcock's molecular dynamics computer simulations. The Journal of Chemical Physics is copyrighted by The American Institute of Physics.

Det pedagogiska självet : en narrativ studie av direktvalda svensklärarstudenters berättelser

The Pedagogical Self: a narrative study of stories by prospective subject teachers of Swedish The aim of this study is to examine how prospective subject teachers of Swedish experience themselves, their lives and their studies in university context. By answering this question I try to shed light on the pedagogical self of the students, i.e. to reach a deeper understanding of the narrative construction of their teacher identity. My material consists of stories written by one group of students and of transcribed interviews with another group of students at Nordica. All these students have entered both the teacher education programme and studies in their major subject simultaneously, through the so called direct admission. My study focuses on the students first year at the university. I define teacher identity, the pedagogical self, as the part of an individual s self-concept where he/she makes an assessment of himself/herself as a teacher(-to-be). The frame of reference of this interdisciplinary narrative study is founded on phenomenology, hermeneutics, social constructionism and dialogism. The main analysis of the stories is thematic, with the addition of linguistic and metaphorical analysis. With reference to the theories of Paul Ricoeur and Katharine Young, I regard the textual world of the stories as a world of its own. This implies that the researcher can feel free to concentrate on the texts, thus being able to leave the mental processes of the writers disregarded. The theoretician that has influenced my research the most is Max van Manen. He combines a pedagogical attitude with a phenomenological-hermeneutic philosophy. My research results imply that most of these students are drawn to studying Swedish by the clear professional orientation of the studies; their identity as teachers seems to be stronger than their identity as language teachers. The image of a teacher is relatively traditional: a teacher is seen as a self-evident authority, but at the same time as a fostering educator. The students see their studies in a larger perspective: studies as well as the future profession are only one part of life, albeit an important one. Keywords: narrativity, teacher identity

The effect of endophyte on the performance of irrigated perennial ryegrasses in subtropical Australia

The effect of fungal endophyte (Neotyphodium lolii) infection on the performance of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) growing under irrigation in a subtropical environment was investigated. Seed of 4 cultivars, infected with standard (common toxic or wild-type) endophyte or the novel endophyte AR1, or free of endophyte (Nil), was sown in pure swards, which were fertilised with 50 kg N/ha.month. Seasonal and total yield, persistence, and rust susceptibility were assessed over 3 years, along with details of the presence of endophyte and alkaloids in plant shoots. Endophyte occurrence in tillers in both the standard and AR1 treatments was above 95% for Bronsyn and Impact throughout and rose to that level in Samson by the end of the second year. Meridian AR1 only reached 93% while, in the standard treatment, the endophyte had mostly died before sowing. Nil Zendophyte treatments carried an average of ?0.6% infection throughout. Infection of the standard endophyte was associated with increased dry matter (DM) yields in all 3 years compared with no endophyte. AR1 also significantly increased yields in the second and third years. Over the full 3 years, standard and AR1 increased yields by 18% and 11%, respectively. Infection with both endophytes was associated with increased yields in all 4 seasons, the effects increasing in intensity over time. There was 27% better persistence in standard infected plants compared with Nil at the end of the first year, increasing to 198% by the end of the experiment, while for AR1 the improvements were 20 and 134%, respectively. The effect of endophyte on crown rust (Puccinia coronata) infection was inconsistent, with endophyte increasing rust damage on one occasion and reducing it on another. Cultivar differences in rust infection were greater than endophyte effects. Plants infected with the AR1 endophyte had no detectable ergovaline or lolitrem B in leaf, pseudostem, or dead tissue. In standard infected plants, ergovaline and lolitrem B were highest in pseudostem and considerably lower in leaf. Dead tissue had very low or no detectable ergovaline but high lolitrem B concentrations. Peramine concentration was high and at similar levels in leaf and pseudostem, but not detectable in dead material. Concentration was similar in both AR1 and standard infected plants. Endophyte presence appeared to have a similar effect in the subtropics as has been demonstrated in temperate areas, in terms of improving yields and persistence and increasing tolerance of plants to stress factors.