Beyond the middle: A report about literacy and numeracy development of target group students in the middle years of schooling: Volume 2 (Appendices)

This research project was commissioned by the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training to investigate the perceived efficacy of middle years programs in all States and Territories in improving the quality of teaching, learning and student outcomes - especially in literacy and numeracy and for student members of particular target groups. The latter groups included students from lower socio-economic communities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) communities, students with a Language Background Other than English (hereafter LBOTE), rural and remote students, and students struggling with the transition from middle/upper primary to the junior secondary years.

Behaviour rating scales for older people with dementia: which is the best for use by nurses?

There is increasing awareness of the importance of disruptive behaviour in people with dementia and the need for rating scales to accurately and reliably measure this behaviour. When rating scales are to be administered by nurses, scale characteristics must take into account the limitations of the nursing role and the nature of the environment in which nurses work. This paper reviews thirty-one rating scales that have been used to measure behaviour in dementia. From this analysis, five scales were identified as suitable for use by nurses when measuring disruptive behaviour in older people with dementia.

Steiner trades that give rise to completely decomposable latin interchanges

In this paper we focus on the representation of Steiner trades of volume less than or equal to nine and identify those for which the associated partial latin square can be decomposed into six disjoint latin interchanges.

Erotic Literature in Nineteenth-Century Bali

Two nineteenth-century Balinese genres in which the erotic predominates are epic kakawin poetry and tutur (religious manuals) on sexual yoga. The article points to the strong intertextual links between these diverse genres. Through their focus on practical sexual matters and on the pursuit of sexual pleasure as integral to spiritual growth, tutur and kakawin also offer insight into notions of gender and sexuality in nineteenth-century Bali.

Aligning school reform and teacher education reform in the middle years: An Australian case study

This paper discusses the development of a new Bachelor of Education (Middle Years of Schooling) at The University of Queensland. The middle years of schooling have increasingly been the focus of education reform initiatives in Australia, but this has not been accompanied by significant increases in the number of teacher education institutions offering specialised middle schooling-level teacher preparation programmes. Considering the rapidly changing social and economic context and the emergent state of middle schooling in Australia, the programme represented a conceptual and practical opportunity and challenge for The University of Queensland team. Working collaboratively, the team sought to design a teacher education preservice programme that was both responsive and generative: that is, responsive to local school contexts and to current educational research and reform at national and international levels; and generative of cutting-edge theories and practices associated with middle schooling, teachers' work, and teacher education. This paper focuses on one component of the Middle Years of Schooling Teacher Education programme at The University of Queensland; namely, the practicum. We first present the underlying principles of the practicum programme and then examine "dilemmas" that emerged early in the practicum. These issues and tensions were associated with the ideals of "middle years" philosophy and the pragmatics of school reform associated with that new approach. In this paper, and within this context, we explore what it means to be both responsive and generative, and describe how we as teacher educators negotiated between the extremes these terms implied.

Broadening conceptions of curriculum for young people: Reports from three student-teachers on exchange

Research reports prepared by three Australian preservice teachers--Paula Shaw, Chris Sharp and Scott McDonald--undertaking their teacher education practicum in Canada, form the basis of this paper. The reports provide critical insights into three aspects of education for young people in both Canada and Australia. They also provide critical insight into the ways in which a practicum research project, along with the opportunities afforded through an international experience, enabled the preservice teachers to broaden their understanding of the curriculum for young people, of issues relevant to the diverse needs of young people, and of themselves and their priorities as teachers. The preservice teachers investigated three topics: attempts to reduce homophobia in schools; the presence or absence of Aboriginal content in the school curricula in British Columbia and Queensland; and "schools-within-schools" as a means to meet the needs of diverse student populations. Linda Farr Darling from the University of British Columbia provides a response to the three reports.

High rate of detection of primary aldosteronism, including surgically treatable forms, after 'non-selective' screening of hypertensive patients

Background Wide testing of the aldosterone: renin ratio among hypertensive individuals has revealed primary aldosteronism to be common, with most patients normokalaemic. Some investigators, however, have reported aldosterone-producing adenoma to be rare among patients so detected. Objective To test the hypothesis that differences among reported studies in the rate of detection of aldosterone-producing adenoma (as opposed to bilateral adrenal hyperplasia) reflect differences in the procedures used for diagnosis of primary aldosteronism, and the methods used to identify aldosterone-producing adenomas. Methods In the newly established Princess Alexandra Hospital Hypertension Unit (PAHHU), we used procedures developed by Greenslopes Hospital Hypertension Unit (which reports that more than 30% of patients with primary aldosteronism have aldosterone-producing adenomas) to diagnose primary aldosteronism and determine the subtype. All patients with an increased aldosterone: renin ratio (measured after correction for hypokalaemia and while the patient was not receiving interfering medications) underwent fludrocortisone suppression testing to confirm or exclude primary aldosteronism; if they were positive, they underwent genetic testing to exclude glucocorticoid-remediable aldosteronism before adrenal venous sampling was used to differentiate lateralizing from bilateral primary aldosteronism. Results This approach allowed PAHHU to diagnose, within 2 years, 54 patients [only seven (13%) hypokalaemic] with primary aldosteronism. All tested negative for glucocorticoid-remediable aldosteronism. Aldosterone production was lateralized to one adrenal in 15 patients (31%; only six hypokalaemic) and was bilateral in 34 (69%; all normokalaemic) of 49 patients who underwent adrenal venous sampling. Among patients with lateralizing adrenal hyperplasia, computed tomography revealed an ipsilateral mass in only six and a contralateral lesion in one. Fourteen patients underwent unilateral adrenalectomy, which cured the hypertension in seven and improved it in the remainder. In patients with bilateral primary aldlosteronism, hypertension responded to spironolactone (112.5-50 mg/ day) or amiloride (2.5-10 mg/day). Conclusion When performed with careful regard to confounding factors, measurement of the aldosterone: renin ratio in all hypertensive individuals, followed by fludrocortisone suppression testing to confirm or exclude primary aldosteronism and adrenal venous sampling to determine the subtype, can result in the detection of significant numbers of patients with specifically treatable or potentially curable hypertension. (C) 2003 Lippincott Williams Wilkins.