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Introduction to Speech Pathology Practice: Foundational Concepts for Australian First-year Students
No full textThis eBook is designed for emerging speech pathology professionals. This peer reviewed resource lays a strong foundation for first-year speech pathology students by covering the core principles and concepts for speech pathology practice. The eBook begins with an exploration of the anatomy involved in communication and swallowing, offering insights into how the structures of the human body support these crucial functions. It then delves into the core aspects of communication development, covering the typical progression of speech, language and literacy skills from infancy through adulthood. It offers students a framework for understanding both typical and diversity in development, essential for effective assessment and intervention. Linguistics is another key area covered, offering insights into the structure and function of language, including syntax, pragmatics, semantics, morphology, phonology, and phonetics. This understanding is crucial for diagnosing and treating communication disorders. The eBook advocates for culturally responsive practice, outlining strategies for delivering effective and sensitive care to clients from diverse backgrounds. Additionally, the text addresses the practical application of foundational principles in assessing and treating communication and swallowing disorders
In vitro and in vivo evaluation of the effects of condensed tannins and catechins monomers on antioxidant and intestinal health of Chinese seabass (Lateolabrax maculatus)
Full text linkPlant-derived condensed tannins (CT) exhibit strong bioactivity of antioxidant, immunostimulation and intestinal protection, but with little clues of the mechanism of action. Since CT are consist of catechins (CAs) monomers, e.g., catechin (CA), epicatechin (EC) and epigallocatechin (EG), we motivated to use the monomers to explore the underlying mechanisms in a seabass model focusing on anti-oxidative stress and intestinal health of Lateolabrax maculatus. An in vitro intestinal primary cell oxidative stress model induced by hydrogen peroxide was set up to assess the antioxidant and immune activities of CT and CAs. Another 56–d feeding trial with 800 fish was conducted to evaluate the effects of CT and CAs on growth performance, intestinal permeability and digestive enzyme activities, intestinal morphology and antioxidant status, and intestinal bacterial flora of fish. Five diets were prepared to contain 0 (G1) and 1 g/kg of CT, CA, EC and EG. Fish were randomly distributed into 20 tanks with 4 tanks per diet and 40 fish per tank, and were fed to apparent satiation twice daily. Results showed that CT and CAs exhibited similar effects in alleviating hydrogen peroxide-induced cell injury by activating nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 gene expression, and improving antioxidant and immune capacities. Dietary CT and CAs enhanced intestinal antioxidant ability and increased (p < 0.05) the abundance of intestinal Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes to oxidative stress tolerant. With a dose of 1 g/kg CT and CA promoted (p < 0.05) intestinal total antioxidant capacity, but slightly induced intestinal injury mainly due to increased (p < 0.05) intestinal permeability (as reflected by increased lipopolysaccharide concentrations) and inhibited (p < 0.05) digestion (as reflected by the decreased trypsin and lipase activities) of fish. In summary, CT and CAs protect intestine from oxidative stress and improve intestinal antioxidant capacity by stimulating antioxidant enzyme system and bacterial flora. CA and EC show similar or superior antioxidant activity than CT
Mpox vaccination strategies in DR Congo
Full text link[Extract] Alexandra Savinkina and colleagues1 present findings from the first mpox vaccination modelling study in DR Congo. Using a dynamic transmission model, they assess various vaccination strategies across age groups (15 years) and provinces (endemic and nonendemic)
The Evolving Tourism Marketplace: Changing Tourist Shopping Markets
No full textGlobal mass tourism is a relatively recent phenomenon emerging at the start of the twenty first century with the rise of budget airlines, aircraft capable of longer flights with larger capacities, globalization and decreased travel restrictions and the enthusiasm of Chinese consumers to take up opportunities for international travel (Buckley et al., 2015). While tourism has a much longer history the scale and diversity of truly global mass tourism is limited to the last 30 years. Although this is not a long time in any historical context it does mean that at a large proportion of the world’s human population have never lived without global tourism. Not surprisingly then a question asked at a tourism academic conference in 2019 about imagining a world without international tourism resulted in an extensive pause and much consternation. Less than 6 months after this question was posed the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic essentially shut down international travel and much domestic travel. This resulted in an avalanche of academic predictions on the future of tourism, many of which have not yet been subjected to any critical analysis. These discussions fell into two main categories- once the pandemic was under control tourism would/should return to its pre-pandemic levels and quickly grow beyond those, or tourism would/should return but in a much-changed form (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020). While to date neither of these two extremes appear to be correct, on closer inspection with more critical analysis, changing trends and emerging forces for change can be identified.
This chapter seeks to explore these changing trends and emerging forces and their impact on tourist shopping markets. For the purposes of this chapter tourist shopping will be defined “as a recreational activity in which tourists browse, select and purchase goods to take home during their travel” (Jin et al., 2017, p. 121). This definition includes people who take shopping focussed tours/trips as well as tourists who buy personal items and souvenirs as part of a trip. There is considerable overlap between leisure shopping and tourism. Both are hedonic, recreational activities that involve discretionary expenditure (Backstrom, 2011). For some leisure shopping is a prime feature of tourist activities and for others the two phenomena are substitutes for each other. After outlining key trends and forces in both the retail shopping and tourism systems, the chapter will use social practice theory from sociology as the basis for identifying and analysing changing and emerging tourist shopping markets It will conclude the analysis with some initial implications for both research into tourist shopping and for tourism practitioners
Scoping the suitability of water-tolerant species of trees for swamp restorations across Australia and its Great Barrier Reef catchment
Full text linkWetlands are vital for humanity and include some of the most productive, diverse, and service-rich ecosystems in the world. Service provided include food production (e.g., fish, birds, and vegetables), protection from flooding and storm surge inundation, provision of clean water and climate stability, and timber resources for construction. Despite these benefits, vast areas of wetlands have been drained across the globe, including in Australia. With growing awareness of the value of wetlands, there is increasing push to restore wetlands and the values they support, such as carbon sequestration. A major challenge for restoration practitioners is to identify what land parcels could be restored and what species they could support. This study scoped the environmental suitability of 125 water-tolerant species of trees across Australia, using random forest modeling to relate records observed within the Atlas of Living Australia database with spatial datasets of soil and climatic characteristics and water observations from space. Of the 125 species of trees examined, 105 species were modeled with excellent performance. Models were then used to predict tree suitability for existing wetlands nationally, as well as across potentially suitable restoration sites within the Great Barrier Reef catchment, given the strong push for wetland restoration to improve water quality. Within the Great Barrier Reef catchment, over 2200 land parcels covering over 20,000 ha were identified as being potentially suitable for restoration with diverse tree swamps. This study allows restoration practitioners to identify where swamp restoration could occur and potentially suitable trees for planting at those locations
An Ontological ‘Radix’ Take on Comparative Industrial Relations
No full textComparative political economy is an intellectual domain of profuse complexity. Industrial relations, that can be conceived as a sub-component of which, have been subjected to an array of approaches. The heuristic landscape ranges from historical materialism (structure) to functionalism and systems (and their trajectories, that is convergence versus divergence, regional integration and internationalism), to class (agency) and (counter-hegemonic) social movements (action), to (production) models (including stages of development), typologies even paradigms; with institutionalist perspectives such as the Variety of Capitalism and in extenso a meso-level being arguably the most common ground for comparative analyses.
The presentation will first revisit this landscape, as a background. However, while acknowledging the sophistication and multi-faceted value of this theoretical apparatus, the presentation’s objective is to turn things round: can we make a U-turn from complexity to simplicity? To achieve this, the presentation will switch to an ontological level or say a root-level of analysis. This attempt borrows from structural anthropology and Marcel Mauss’ elementary definition of any economic system as the value of value. Inspiration also stems from Richard Hyman’s geometry of trade unionism articulating a triangulation of three cardinal concepts: Market, Class, and Society. Can we thus identify key or radical (understood as ‘radix’) determinants of what (national) industrial systems are about? We will exercise to do so in examining a mix of countries: USA, UK, Australia, Singapore, and Vietnam. We will further the analysis in relation to Singapore and then expand to the fundamentals of the European context. We will conclude with an open question as to whether such kind of analysis can be useful to address the relative ethnocentrism of our conceptual toolkit
Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of community pharmacists providing over-the-counter emergency hormonal contraception: a scoping review
Full text linkObjectives:
Reducing the rate and impact of unintended pregnancy through effective contraception is a public health goal. Since deregulation, globally, ease of access to community pharmacists has enabled them to play a key role in the provision of emergency hormonal contraceptive pills (ECP). The aim of this scoping review is to explore pharmacists’ overall knowledge of and attitudes and practices towards the provision of emergency contraception.
Methods:
A systematic literature search for the period from 1999 to 2023 was conducted using Scopus, Medline (Ovid), CINAHL, Emcare, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Keywords such as emergency contraception, emergency contraceptive, morning after pill, plan B, pharmacist, community pharmacist, and pharmacy were applied. Articles published only in English that described the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of community pharmacists providing emergency contraception were included in this review.
Key findings:
Twenty studies met the inclusion criteria. Despite positive attitudes towards the provision of ECP, there is a clear deficit in both the knowledge and counselling practices of pharmacists, with some pharmacists lacking an open attitude towards the supply of ECP to adolescents and third parties. Usage of a private counselling area ranged from 0% to 90% highlighting privacy for patients seeking ECPs is lacking during consultations. In countries where practice guidelines are available, these are often not being optimally utilized.
Conclusions:
This review has highlighted gaps in pharmacists’ knowledge and counselling practices, demonstrating shortcomings in pharmacists’ education, training, and application of professional practice guidelines. Future research on ECP guidelines is recommended to improve implementation and usability in practice
Across the Tropical Pacific Ocean: Reflections on the Future of Kanaky-New Caledonia
Full text linkImagination can be found in a range of human activities and the concept of envisioning the future has been a topic of discussion for centuries (Casey, 2000; Fuentes, 2017; Pelizzo, 2024;). Contemporary discussions on forecasting the future can often relate to climate change and geopolitical instability, as their profound impacts effect how societies must adapt. This paper draws attention to the imagined future of the often-overlooked Franco-Melanesian archipelago of Kanaky-New Caledonia in the South Pacific. As the local population faces growing uncertainties about their future, particularly since the riots of May 2024, it is timely to engage in such reflection. This study focuses on the narratives of the authors, three women from Kanaky-New Caledonia, who have migrated to Australia. As observers from across the ocean, we reflect on the challenges and possible futures of our island home; a place that remains deeply connected to our sense of identity. Here we draw from our experiences as women born across three different decades: the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. By sharing our voices, this paper aims to contribute to the broader discussions about the future of Kanaky-New Caledonia
Influence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis isolate and dose on infection outcomes in a critically endangered Australian amphibian
Full text linkThe amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd)) is a continuing threat globally, causing widespread declines. Corroboree frogs (Pseudophryne corroboree) are critically endangered and no longer have self-sustaining populations in the wild due to the presence of Bd in the environment. We aimed to investigate variation in susceptibility to Bd in juvenile P. corroboree and evaluate the impact of Bd isolate and dose on infection outcomes. We experimentally exposed juvenile P. corroboree to two Bd isolates at five doses, and also characterised the in vitro growth of these isolates. Frogs showed high susceptibility to Bd, with isolate and dose impacting survival time and infection loads. Additionally, differences in the in vitro phenotype of the two Bd isolates were linked to their differential virulence. This study highlights the considerable impact that fungal isolate and dose have in shaping disease outcomes in experimental exposures
Edits & Annotations: Season 1
No full textEdits & Annotations is a podcast from the Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing, featuring interviews with Australian and international authors about their craft, their process and their writing lives