Schizophrenia and the progression of emotional expression in relation to others

Gaining an improved understanding of people diagnosed with schizophrenia has the potential to influence priorities for therapy. Psychosis is commonly understood through the perspective of the medical model. However, the experience of social context surrounding psychosis is not well understood. In this research project we used a phenomenological methodology with a longitudinal design to interview 7 participants across a 12-month period to understand the social experiences surrounding psychosis. Eleven themes were explicated and divided into two phases of the illness experience: (a) transition into emotional shutdown included the experiences of not being acknowledged, relational confusion, not being expressive, detachment, reliving the past, and having no sense of direction; and (b) recovery from emotional shutdown included the experiences of being acknowledged, expression, resolution, independence, and a sense of direction. The experiential themes provide clinicians with new insights to better assess vulnerability, and have the potential to inform goals for therapy.

Reaction to the mandatory write-down provisions of AASB 1010 : accounting for the revaluation of non-current assets

Commentators in the financial press claimed that the amendments to AASB 1010, Accounting for the Revaluation of Non-Current Assets, issued in September 1991, would have “disastrous” implications for the accounts of companies. This paper is concerned with whether the amendments did indeed affect asset write-down activities. An analysis of write-down practices of 75 Australian companies before and after the amendments were operative suggests that the commentators' judgment could have been hasty.

The association between playgroup participation, learning competence and social-emotional wellbeing for children aged 4-5 years in Australia

Data from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children is used to examine the associations between playgroup participation and the outcomes for children aged 4 to 5 years. Controlling for a range of socio-economic and family characteristics, playgroup participation across the ages of 0-3 years was used to predict learning competence and social-emotional functioning outcomes at age 4-5 years. For learning competence, both boys and girls from disadvantaged families scored 3-4% higher if they attended playgroup when aged 0-1 and 2-3 years compared to boys and girls from disadvantaged families who did not attend playgroup. For social and emotional functioning, girls from disadvantaged families who attended playgroup when they were aged 0-1 and 2-3 years scored nearly 5% higher than those who did not attend. Demographic characteristics also showed that disadvantaged families were the families least likely to access these services. Despite data limitations, this study provides evidence that continued participation in playgroups is associated with better outcomes for children from disadvantaged families.

The effect of ocular surface conditions on blink rate and completeness

A healthy human would be expected to show periodic blinks, making a brief closure of the eyelids. Most blinks are spontaneous, occurring regularly with no external stimulus. However a reflex blink can occur in response to external stimuli such as a bright light, a sudden loud noise, or an object approaching toward the eyes. A voluntary or forced blink is another type of blink in which the person deliberately closes the eyes and the lower eyelid raises to meet the upper eyelid. A complete blink, in which the upper eyelid touches the lower eyelid, contributes to the health of ocular surface by providing a fresh layer of tears as well as maintaining optical integrity by providing a smooth tear film over the cornea. The rate of blinking and its completeness vary depending on the task undertaken during blink assessment, the direction of gaze, the emotional state of the subjects and the method under which the blink was measured. It is also well known that wearing contact lenses (both rigid and soft lenses) can induce significant changes in blink rate and completeness. It is been established that efficient blinking plays an important role in ocular surface health during contact lens wear and for improving contact lens performance and comfort. Inefficient blinking during contact lens wear may be related to a low blink rate or incomplete blinking and can often be a reason for dry eye symptoms or ocular surface staining. It has previously been shown that upward gaze can affect blink rate, causing it to become faster. In the first experiment, it was decided to expand on previous studies in this area by examining the effect of various gaze directions (i.e. upward gaze, primary gaze, downward gaze and lateral gaze) as well as head angle (recumbent position) on normal subjects’ blink rate and completeness through the use of filming with a high-speed camera. The results of this experiment showed that as the open palpebral aperture (and exposed ocular surface area) increased from downward gaze to upward gaze, the number of blinks significantly increased (p<0.04). Also, the size of closed palpebral aperture significantly increased from downward gaze to upward gaze (p<0.005). A weak positive correlation (R² = 0.18) between the blink rate and ocular surface area was found in this study. Also, it was found that the subjects showed 81% complete blinks, 19% incomplete blinks and 2% of twitch blinks in primary gaze, consistent with previous studies. The difference in the percentage of incomplete blinks between upward gaze and downward gaze was significant (p<0.004), showing more incomplete blinks in upward gaze. The findings of this experiment suggest that while blink rate becomes slower in downward gaze, the completeness of blinking is typically better, thereby potentially reducing the risk of tear instability. On the other hand, in upward gaze while the completeness of blinking becomes worse, this is potentially offset by increased blink frequency. In addition, blink rate and completeness were not affected by lateral gaze or head angle, possibly because these conditions have similar size of the open palpebral aperture compared with primary gaze. In the second experiment, an investigation into the changes in blink rate and completeness was carried out in primary gaze and downward gaze with soft and rigid contact lenses in unadapted wearers. Not surprisingly, rigid lens wear caused a significant increase in the blink rate in both primary (p<0.001) and downward gaze (p<0.02). After fitting rigid contact lenses, the closed palpebral aperture (blink completeness) did not show any changes but the open palpebral aperture showed a significant narrowing (p<0.04). This might occur from the subjects’ attempt to avoid interaction between the upper eyelid and the edge of the lens to minimize discomfort. After applying topical anaesthetic eye drops in the eye fitted with rigid lenses, the increased blink rate dropped to values similar to that before lens insertion and the open palpebral aperture returned to baseline values, suggesting that corneal and/or lid margin sensitivity was mediating the increased blink rate and narrowed palpebral aperture. We also investigated the changes in the blink rate and completeness with soft contact lenses including a soft sphere, double slab-off toric design and periballast toric design. Soft contact lenses did not cause any significant changes in the blink rate, closed palpebral aperture, open palpebral aperture and the percentage of incomplete blinks in either primary gaze or downward gaze. After applying anaesthetic eye drops, the blink rate reduced in both primary gaze and downward gaze, however this difference was not statistically significant. The size of the closed palpebral aperture and open palpebral aperture did not show any significant changes after applying anaesthetic eye drops. However it should be noted that the effects of rigid and soft contact lenses that we observed in these studies were only the immediate reaction to contact lenses and in the longer term, it is likely that these responses will vary as the eye adapts to the presence of the lenses.

Novel numerical methods for time-space fractional reaction diffusion equations in two dimensions

We consider time-space fractional reaction diffusion equations in two dimensions. This equation is obtained from the standard reaction diffusion equation by replacing the first order time derivative with the Caputo fractional derivative, and the second order space derivatives with the fractional Laplacian. Using the matrix transfer technique proposed by Ilic, Liu, Turner and Anh [Fract. Calc. Appl. Anal., 9:333--349, 2006] and the numerical solution strategy used by Yang, Turner, Liu, and Ilic [SIAM J. Scientific Computing, 33:1159--1180, 2011], the solution of the time-space fractional reaction diffusion equations in two dimensions can be written in terms of a matrix function vector product $f(A)b$ at each time step, where $A$ is an approximate matrix representation of the standard Laplacian. We use the finite volume method over unstructured triangular meshes to generate the matrix $A$, which is therefore non-symmetric. However, the standard Lanczos method for approximating $f(A)b$ requires that $A$ is symmetric. We propose a simple and novel transformation in which the standard Lanczos method is still applicable to find $f(A)b$, despite the loss of symmetry. Numerical results are presented to verify the accuracy and efficiency of our newly proposed numerical solution strategy.

Globally networked public spheres? The Australian media reaction to WikiLeaks

The global release of 250,000 US Embassy diplomatic cables to selected media sites worldwide through the WikiLeaks website, was arguably the major global media event of 2010. As well as the implications of the content of the cables for international politics and diplomacy, the actions of WikiLeaks and its controversial editor-in-chief, the Australian Julian Assange, bring together a range of arguments about how the media, news and journalism are being transformed in the 21st century. This paper will focus on the reactions of Australian online news media sites to the release of the diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks, including both the online sites of established news outlets such as The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, the ABC’s The Drum site, and online-only sites such as Crikey, New Matilda and On Line Opinion. The study focuses on opinion and commentary rather than straight news reportage, and analysis is framed around three issues: WikiLeaks and international diplomacy; implications of WikiLeaks for journalism; and WikiLeaks and democracy, including debates about the organisation and the ethics of its own practice. It also whether a “WikiLeaks Effect” has wider implications for how journalism is conducted in the future, particularly the method of ‘redaction’ of large amounts of computational data.

Investigation of phenol degradation : True reaction kinetics on fixed film titanium dioxide photocatalyst

This study of photocatalytic oxidation of phenol over titanium dioxide films presents a method for the evaluation of true reaction kinetics. A flat plate reactor was designed for the specific purpose of investigating the influence of various reaction parameters, specifically photocatalytic film thickness, solution flow rate (1–8 l min−1), phenol concentration (20, 40 and 80 ppm), and irradiation intensity (70.6, 57.9, 37.1and 20.4 W m−2), in order to further understand their impact on the reaction kinetics. Special attention was given to the mass transfer phenomena and the influence of film thickness. The kinetics of phenol degradation were investigated with different irradiation levels and initial pollutant concentration. Photocatalytic degradation experiments were performed to evaluate the influence of mass transfer on the reaction and, in addition, the benzoic acid method was applied for the evaluation of mass transfer coefficient. For this study the reactor was modelled as a batch-recycle reactor. A system of equations that accounts for irradiation, mass transfer and reaction rate was developed to describe the photocatalytic process, to fit the experimental data and to obtain kinetic parameters. The rate of phenol photocatalytic oxidation was described by a Langmuir–Hinshelwood type law that included competitive adsorption and degradation of phenol and its by-products. The by-products were modelled through their additive effect on the solution total organic carbon.