The legacy of Ian Hunter's work on literature education and the history of reading practices : some preliminary remarks

Ian Hunter's early work on the history of literature education and the emergence of English as school subject issued a bold challenge to traditional accounts that have in the main focused on English either as knowledge of a particular field or as ideology. The alternative proposal put forward by Hunter and supported by detailed historical analysis is that English exists as a series of historically contingent techniques and practices for shaping the self-managing capacities of children. The challenge for the field is to advance this historical work and to examine possible implications for English teaching.

Background to the development of a curriculum for the history of “cyber” and “communications” security

For any discipline to be regarded as a professional undertaking by which its members may be treated as true “professionals” in a specific area, practitioners must clearly understand that discipline’s history as well as the place and significance of that history in current practice as well as its relevance to available technologies and artefacts at the time. This is common for many professional disciplines such as medicine, pharmacy, engineering, law and so on but not yet, this paper submits, in information technology. Based on twenty five elapsed years of experience in developing and delivering Cybersecurity courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, this paper proposes a rationale and set of differing perspectives for the planning and development of curricula relevant to the delivery of appropriate courses in the history of cybersecurity or information assurance to information and communications technology (ICT) students and thus to potential information technology professionals.

An illustrated history of settlement

Poem

Late Quaternary vegetation history of North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, eastern Australia

Currently there is a paucity of records of late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental variability available from the subtropics of Australia. The three continuous palaeoecological records presented here, from North Stradbroke Island, subtropical Queensland, assist in bridging this large spatial gap in the current state of knowledge. The dominance of arboreal taxa in the pollen records throughout the past >40,000 years is in contrast with the majority of records from temperate Australia, and indicates a positive moisture balance for North Stradbroke Island. The charcoal records show considerable inter-site variability indicating the importance of local-scale events on individual records, and highlighting the caution that needs to be applied when interpreting a single site as a regional record. The variability in the burning regimes is interpreted as being influenced by both climatic and human factors. Despite this inter-site variability, broad environmental trends are identifiable, with changes in the three records comparable with the OZ-INTIMATE climate synthesis for the last 35,000 years.

Usefulness of a self-reported history of chickenpox in adult women in the Top End

Early determination of immune status is essential for the prevention and/or amelioration of disease following exposure to chickenpox. This is of particular significance for pregnant women because of the additional risks to the foetus or newborn.1 To determine the usefulness of a self-reported history of chickenpox in adult women in the Top End, we compared it with serological evidence of immunity.

The impact of risk-reducing hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy on survival in patients with a history of breast cancer – a population-based data linkage study

Prophylactic surgery including hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO) is recommended in BRCA positive women, while in women from the general population, hysterectomy plus BSO may increase the risk of overall mortality. The effect of hysterectomy plus BSO on women previously diagnosed with breast cancer is unknown. We used data from a population-base data linkage study of all women diagnosed with primary breast cancer in Queensland, Australia between 1997 and 2008 (n=21,067). We fitted flexible parametric breast cancer specific and overall survival models with 95% confidence intervals (also known as Royston-Parmar models) to assess the impact of risk-reducing surgery (removal of uterus, one or both ovaries). We also stratified analyses by age 20-49 and 50-79 years, respectively. Overall, 1,426 women (7%) underwent risk-reducing surgery (13% of premenopausal women and 3% of postmenopausal women). No women who had risk-reducing surgery, compared to 171 who did not have risk-reducing surgery developed a gynaecological cancer. Overall, 3,165 (15%) women died, including 2,195 (10%) from breast cancer. Hysterectomy plus BSO was associated with significantly reduced risk of death overall (adjusted HR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.53-0.89; P =0.005). Risk reduction was greater among premenopausal women, whose risk of death halved (HR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.25-0.79; P < 0.006). This was largely driven by reduction in breast cancer-specific mortality (HR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.24-0.79; P < 0.006). This population-based study found that risk-reducing surgery halved the mortality risk for premenopausal breast cancer patients. Replication of our results in independent cohorts, and subsequently randomised trials are needed to confirm these findings.

Re-reading the reading lesson : episodes in the history of reading pedagogy

Reading pedagogy is constantly an object of discussion and debate in contemporary policy and practice but is rarely a matter for historical inquiry. This paper reports from a recent study of the history of reading pedagogy in Australia and beyond. It focuses on a recurring figure in the historical record—the ‘reading lesson’. Presented as a distinctive trope, the reading lesson is traced in its regularity in and through the discourse of reading pedagogy, starting in 1930s Australia and moving back into 19th-century Europe, and with specific reference to the UK and the USA. Teaching reading is expressly identified as a moral project—something that, it can be argued, clearly continues into the present.

A history of environmental management in the field in Queensland : episodes of activity

This paper reviews a wide range of literature on environmental management in the field in Queensland, and analyzes this by period and by author. An episodic pattern of activities since European settlement is evident. Periods of exploration (pre-1950) and inventory- compilation (ca. 1950-1970) were followed by two decades of media and non-government organization campaigning (ca. 1970-1990), then an era dominated by government regulatory action (ca. 1990-2010). These eras dominated public perception of what was happening in environmental practice. They were delineated by historic ‘interventions’ (summarily, the end of World War II, the 1971 inflationary crisis, and computerization respectively).

Effect of culture conditions and calcium phosphate coating on ectopic bone formation

This study investigated the effect of a calcium phosphate (CaP) coating onto a polycaprolactone melt electrospun scaffold and in vitro culture conditions on ectopic bone formation in a subcutaneous rat model. The CaP coating resulted in an increased alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP) in ovine osteoblasts regardless of the culture conditions and this was also translated into higher levels of mineralisation. A subcutaneous implantation was performed and increasing ectopic bone formation was observed over time for the CaPcoated samples previously cultured in osteogenic media whereas the corresponding non-coated samples displayed a lag phase before bone formation occurred from 4 to 8 weeks post-implantation. Histology and immunohistochemistry revealed bone fill through the scaffolds 8 weeks post-implantation for coated and non-coated specimens and that ALP, osteocalcin and collagen 1 were present at the ossification front and in the bone tissues. Vascularisation in the vicinity of the bone tissues was also observed indicating that the newly formed bone was not deprived of oxygen and nutrients.We found that in vitro osteogenic induction was essential for achieving bone formation and CaP coating accelerated the osteogenic process. We conclude that high cell density and preservation of the collagenous and mineralised extracellular matrix secreted in vitro are factors of importance for ectopic bone formation.

Book review "Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation by Tom Sito , The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2013"

As a Lecturer of Animation History and 3D Computer Animator, I received a copy of Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation by Tom Sito with an element of anticipation in the hope that this text would clarify the complex evolution of Computer Graphics (CG). Tom Sito did not disappoint, as this text weaves together the multiple development streams and convergent technologies and techniques throughout history that would ultimately result in modern CG. Universities now have students who have never known a world without computer animation and many students are younger than the first 3D CG animated feature film, Toy Story (1996); this text is ideal for teaching computer animation history and, as I would argue, it also provides a model for engaging young students in the study of animation history in general. This is because Sito places the development of computer animation within the context of its pre-digital ancestry and throughout the text he continues to link the discussion to the broader history of animation, its pioneers, technologies and techniques...

From Catch Up to Innovation: A History of occupational Health and Safety Regulation in Queensland

From Queensland’s inception as a self-governing colony in December 1859 the issue of labour relations has preoccupied governments and shaped the experiences of its working men and women. However, despite the often turbulent nature of labour relations in Queensland there has, prior to this book, been no attempt to provide an overview of the system as a whole. This important addition to Queensland’s sesquicentenary celebrations redresses this failure, looking at the diverse range of experiences that, together, made up a unique system of labour relations – including those of employers, women workers, indigenous workers, unions, the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, labour law, industrial disputation, the workings of health and safety system and life in regional areas. It is argued that, overall, Queensland’s system of industrial regulation was central to its economic and social development. Despite past emphasis on the large-scale strikes that periodically raked the state this book finds that consensus normally prevailed.

History of Work Health and Safety Laws

This definitive guide (formerly the Australian Master OHS & Environment Guide) is a first point of reference for work health and safety best practice and strategy. Written by WHS and legal experts, the guide provides key information on the challenges that professionals and organisations face in relation to WHS. It includes valuable information on legal obligations and risk management, and covers the latest changes brought about by the Work Health and Safety Act.