Family day care educators : an exploration of their understanding and experiences promoting children's social and emotional wellbeing

This study aimed to explore family day care (FDC) educators’ knowledge of child social and emotional wellbeing and mental health problems, the strategies used to promote children’s wellbeing, and barriers and opportunities for promoting children’s social and emotional wellbeing. Thirteen FDC educators participated in individual semi-structured interviews. FDC educators were more comfortable defining children’s social and emotional wellbeing than they were in identifying causes and early signs of mental health problems. Strategies used to promote children’s mental health were largely informal and dependent on educator skills and capacities rather than a systematic scheme-wide approach. Common barriers to mental health promotion were limited financial resources, a need for more training and hesitance raising child mental health issues with parents. There is a need to build FDC educators’ knowledge of child social and emotional wellbeing and for tailored mental health promotion strategies in FDC.

Evaluating and improving morpho-syntactic classification over multiple corpora using pre-trained, "off-the-shelf", parts-of-speech tagging tools

This paper evaluates six commonly available parts-of-speech tagging tools over corpora other than those upon which they were originally trained. In particular this investigation measures the performance of the selected tools over varying styles and genres of text without retraining, under the assumption that domain specific training data is not always available. An investigation is performed to determine whether improved results can be achieved by combining the set of tagging tools into ensembles that use voting schemes to determine the best tag for each word. It is found that while accuracy drops due to non-domain specific training, and tag-mapping between corpora, accuracy remains very high, with the support vector machine-based tagger, and the decision tree-based tagger performing best over different corpora. It is also found that an ensemble containing a support vector machine-based tagger, a probabilistic tagger, a decision-tree based tagger and a rule-based tagger produces the largest increase in accuracy and the largest reduction in error across different corpora, using the Precision-Recall voting scheme.

Evaluating and improving morpho-syntactic classification over multiple corpora using pre-trained, “off-the-shelf”, parts-of-speech tagging tools

his paper evaluates six commonly available parts-of-speech tagging tools over corpora other than those upon which they were originally trained. In particular this investigation measures the performance of the selected tools over varying styles and genres of text without retraining, under the assumption that domain specific training data is not always available. An investigation is performed to determine whether improved results can be achieved by combining the set of tagging tools into ensembles that use voting schemes to determine the best tag for each word. It is found that while accuracy drops due to non-domain specific training, and tag-mapping between corpora, accuracy remains very high, with the support vector machine-based tagger, and the decision tree-based tagger performing best over different corpora. It is also found that an ensemble containing a support vector machine-based tagger, a probabilistic tagger, a decision-tree based tagger and a rule-based tagger produces the largest increase in accuracy and the largest reduction in error across different corpora, using the Precision-Recall voting scheme.

E-simulations for the purpose of training forensic (investigative) interviewers

One of the most critical issues facing investigative organisations is how best to administer effective practice opportunities in investigative interviewing on a global scale. Interviewer evaluation research across the world has highlighted inadequacies in the adherence to and maintenance of best-practice interview approaches, and insufficient opportunities for practice and feedback are the major reasons attributed by experts for poor interviewer competency. “Unreal Interviewing: Virtual Forensic Interviewing of a Child” (an e-simulation created at Deakin University, Australia) was developed as a way to ‘expand the reach’ of trainers in the investigative interviewing area. The simulation enables trainers to provide ongoing professional development for forensic interviewers in dispersed work environments, without the financial burden on organisations of extracting large numbers of professionals from the workplace to the classroom. This chapter provides readers with: an overview of the key stages involved in the development of Unreal Interviewing and the education and technical decisions that needed to be made; and a review of the application of “Unreal Interviewing” in the training and continuing professional development of trainees in their workplace.

Warming up and stretching for athletes : A meta-analysis of the research literature from 2000 to 2006 in light of current athletic practice

This review presents the methods used to investigate the effects of various stretching protocols on muscular force and performance, in light of current individual and elite athlete stretching practices in their warm-up routines. A meta-analysis of peer-reviewed articles between the years of 2000 and 2007 revealed the majority of studies support the notion that static stretching is detrimental to muscular force and performance. However, the meta-analysis also revealed that the protocols used do not necessarily match current practice with many elite athletes. This article proposes, based on the mismatch between research and practice, that further studies must address this issue in further exploring the role of stretching in pre-training and competition warm-up routines.

Akt signalling through GSK-3beta, mTOR and Foxo1 is involved in human skeletal muscle hypertrophy and atrophy

Skeletal muscle size is tightly regulated by the synergy between anabolic and catabolic signalling pathways which, in humans, have not been well characterized. Akt has been suggested to play a pivotal role in the regulation of skeletal muscle hypertrophy and atrophy in rodents and cells. Here we measured the amount of phospho-Akt and several of its downstream anabolic targets (glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β), mTOR, p70s6k and 4E-BP1) and catabolic targets (Foxo1, Foxo3, atrogin-1 and MuRF1). All measurements were performed in human quadriceps muscle biopsies taken after 8 weeks of both hypertrophy-stimulating resistance training and atrophy-stimulating de-training. Following resistance training a muscle hypertrophy (∼10%) and an increase in phospho-Akt, phospho-GSK-3β and phospho-mTOR protein content were observed. This was paralleled by a decrease in Foxo1 nuclear protein content. Following the de-training period a muscle atrophy (5%), relative to the post-training muscle size, a decrease in phospho-Akt and GSK-3β and an increase in Foxo1 were observed. Atrogin-1 and MuRF1 increased after the hypertrophy and decreased after the atrophy phases. We demonstrate, for the first time in human skeletal muscle, that the regulation of Akt and its downstream signalling pathways GSK-3β, mTOR and Foxo1 are associated with both the skeletal muscle hypertrophy and atrophy processes.

Training improves interobserver reliability for the diagnosis of scaphoid fracture displacement

Background The diagnosis of displacement in scaphoid fractures is notorious for poor interobserver reliability.

Questions/purposes We tested whether training can improve interobserver reliability and sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for the diagnosis of scaphoid fracture displacement on radiographs and CT scans.

Methods Sixty-four orthopaedic surgeons rated a set of radiographs and CT scans of 10 displaced and 10 nondisplaced scaphoid fractures for the presence of displacement, using a web-based rating application. Before rating, observers were randomized to a training group (34 observers) and a nontraining group (30 observers). The training group received an online training module before the rating session, and the nontraining group did not. Interobserver reliability for training and nontraining was assessed by Siegel’s multirater kappa and the Z-test was used to test for significance.

Results There was a small, but significant difference in the interobserver reliability for displacement ratings in favor of the training group compared with the nontraining group. Ratings of radiographs and CT scans combined resulted in moderate agreement for both groups. The average sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of diagnosing displacement of scaphoid fractures were, respectively, 83%, 85%, and 84% for the nontraining group and 87%, 86%, and 87% for the training group. Assuming a 5% prevalence of fracture displacement, the positive predictive value was 0.23 in the nontraining group and 0.25 in the training group. The negative predictive value was 0.99 in both groups.

Conclusions Our results suggest training can improve interobserver reliability and sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for the diagnosis of scaphoid fracture displacement, but the improvements are slight. These findings are encouraging for future research regarding interobserver variation and how to reduce it further.

Techno-literacy and learning in blended, multicultural course environments

For the last two decades, higher education institutions have been actively engaged in the use of online technology with the aim of transforming the way we teach and learn to improve students’ learning experiences and outcomes. However, despite significant investment in infrastructure and training and a wide-scale uptake of such technologies, the promised transformative effect on student learning is yet to be actualised outside of small pockets of innovation. In this paper, we argue that one of the factors contributing to lack of qualitative large-scale transformation is students’ lack of preparedness and experience in using online tools for learning purposes. Drawing on an ethnographic study of culturally diverse computing students and teachers within learning environments that blend online and face-to-face pedagogies, we argue that, although contemporary university students are largely operationally literate when using online learning tools, they often lack the cultural and critical skills required to use such technologies in a meaningful way to support powerful learning. We argue that, for online learning technologies to transform learning, students need to be supported to develop these higher order techno-literacy skills.

Exploring the current status of call centre offshoring research : a research agenda and future directions

Call centres have become an important and growing part of the service industry, enabling firms to provide better customer service, extend sales capabilities and manage customer relationships. However, the methods taken by firms around recruitment, training and management of overseas call centre agents have been far more complex, leading to high failure rates with Call Centre Offshoring (CCO) practices. To better understand the current CCO practices, this study reviews a current research status. Through a literature review, we identified a number of themes spanning across disciplines related to CCO. We found that the current literature lacked of understanding of socio-cultural elements such as trust, language, communication, national and organisational culture that positively influenced the stakeholder relationships. We argue that a common link can be established among CCO-related studies across disciplines when approaching the topic from a socio-cultural perspective. Our findings discuss the implications and provide a useful reference for future CCO-related studies.

Psychosocial antecedents of communication, trust, and relationship effectiveness in new product development projects : a functional manager perspective

The basic differences between marketing managers and their technically trained counterpart managers [e.g., research and development (R&D), engineering, and manufacturing managers] in terms of work experience, training, and differing decision-making styles have often been suggested as a source of conflict, which acts as a barrier to effective working relationships and integration during new product development (NPD) work. In this paper, we empirically explore this issue by developing and testing a model of psychosocial differences (thought worlds and psychological distance) between the two groups of managers and their effect on communication, trust, and relationship effectiveness during NPD projects. We find that while thought world differences do still matter, it was from a marketing perspective that they had a stronger effect. These findings have implications for top management trying to manage the functional manager interface during NPD projects. We propose a semi-formalized approach to relationship building that may speed up the acquisition of social data that is often necessary to elevate working relationships to trusting ones and improve the efficiency of NPD work. Our model is tested using data from two samples, 184 technically trained managers and 145 marketing managers from Australian companies involved in NPD work.

Learning leadership is in your hands : toward a scholarship of teaching in practical legal training

A scholarship of teaching in post-graduate pre-admission practical legal training is germane to perceptions of the quality of accreditation of young Australian lawyers practicing in a globalised profession. Traditional forms of teaching scholarship in law have been identified as influencing the well being of law students and practitioners. This article reviews literature that frames a definition and prerequisites for a scholarship of teaching, its traditional and potential forms, and its subject matter. It considers the present position of a scholarship of teaching in practical legal training, and the historical and organisational epistemological approaches to professional practical training (compared to academic education) that shape that position. Problems of validity, measurement, performativity, and engagement in teaching scholarship are introduced, followed by consideration of possible methodological approaches drawing on Schon’s conception of action research, together with emergent methodologies, technologies and practical considerations that enable individual practitioners to pursue and lead a scholarship of teaching in practical legal training. The article frames questions for further doctoral research in relation to practical legal training teachers’ engagement with the scholarship of teaching.

Semi-supervised and compound classification of network traffic

This paper presents a new semi-supervised method to effectively improve traffic classification performance when few supervised training data are available. Existing semi supervised methods label a large proportion of testing flows as unknown flows due to limited supervised information, which severely affects the classification performance. To address this problem, we propose to incorporate flow correlation into both training and testing stages. At the training stage, we make use of flow correlation to extend the supervised data set by automatically labeling unlabeled flows according to their correlation to the pre-labeled flows. Consequently, the traffic classifier has better performance due to the extended size and quality of the supervised data sets. At the testing stage, the correlated flows are identified and classified jointly by combining their individual predictions, so as to further boost the classification accuracy. The empirical study on the real-world network traffic shows that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art flow statistical feature based classification methods.

Interconnectedness, multiplexity and the global student : the role of blogging and micro blogging in opening students horizons

The authors explore the world of blogging and micro blogging (twitter) as a means of mediating engagement with students, lawyers, academics and other interested and interesting people around the world. Through the use of auto-ethnographic case studies of their own experiences with blogging and micro blogging tools, the authors propose that far from being a distraction from student learning, these tools have the potential to open up an international professional collaborative space beyond the physical classroom, for both academics and our students, from their first year experience through to practical legal training and continuing professional development.

A cognitive behavioural intervention for overweight and obese adolescents illustrated by four case studies

This article reports four case studies illustrating the implementation of the CHOOSE HEALTH Program, a cognitive behavioural lifestyle intervention for overweight and obese adolescents. Participants were an overweight (12 years) and obese (15 years) female, and an overweight (14 years) and obese (12 years) male. The program was delivered by provisional psychologists with program specific training and supervision. All participants demonstrated improvements in body composition, and maintained or improved dietary quality and psychosocial wellbeing. The program had variable effects on physical activity and minimal effect on cardiovascular fitness for three of the four participants. While parents and adolescents required considerable assistance to develop and monitor long term program goals, these goals were a useful clinical tool to support the adolescent and parent to recognise the improvements they had made. Identification and monitoring of specific, measurable, and realistic behaviour change strategies was particularly important in assisting adolescents and their parents to translate session information into improved health behaviours. Results indicate that an adolescent overweight and obesity treatment program that promotes adolescent responsibility and autonomy, and emphasises the importance of parent support and family change is both effective and highly acceptable to both adolescents and parents.

Life during wartime : sexuality, recruitment and reality television

In 2010, Defence Force Recruiting (DFR) Navy Marketing entered into a media sponsorship package with the Australian version of the reality TV show So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD): Footage of the day aired on national television on SYTYCD and weekly ‘dancer bootcamp’ sessions training the dancers in Navy values featured on a dedicated and branded Navy section of the official SYTYCD website. This article analyses the Navy’s SYTYCD ‘integration opportunities’ to consider the role of reality television in the redefinition of the defence forces as a training and vocational pathway for young people. Underpinning such considerations is the conceptualization of the work of reality television through the prism of public and popular pedagogies. Taking sexuality as a focal point, the article will reflect on efforts to lift recruitment through an emphasis on the incorporation of diversity. Reading the work of Jasbir Puar against the Australian ‘archive’ of integration opportunities, this article contributes to queer critiques of homonormative and homonationalist tendencies in contemporary politics.