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Evidence for Placoderms from the Mid-Palaeozoic Sandon Beds of North-western New South Wales, Australia
Full text linkArmoured jawed fishes known as placoderms are a well-documented group with a fossil record spanning the Silurian to end-Devonian. They have a global distribution and a marked diversity within Devonian deposits of Australia. Despite their notable Gondwanan fossil record, new material is occasionally identified and can present important stratigraphic information for otherwise under-explored deposits. A unique find from the so-called Sandon beds is presented here and expands the record of placoderms from New South Wales. This specimen presents insight into a previously unknown macrofossil record from the deposit and suggests a more Devonian age for the unit, rather than the previously suggested Carboniferous date. We also summarise the macrovertebrate record of Devonian placoderms from Australia, highlighting and discussing changes in their Gondwanan taxonomic diversity across the time period
Diversity and Abundance of Club and Coral Fungi in the Upper Lane Cove Valley
Full text linkThe Kingdom Fungi are central players in the ecology and biogeochemistry of terrestrial ecosystems. Despite this importance, the diversity, distribution and abundance of fungal species are poorly known. Here, we undertook an intensive survey of club and coral fungi in the Upper Lane Cove Valley, Sydney, Australia. Over a two-year period, we collected more than 1100 specimens, and identified these to genus using a combination of DNA barcoding and morphology. The majority of specimens did not match any sequences in GenBank at more than 95% similarity, meaning that many of these fungi are either poorly represented in DNA databases, or are potentially novel species. A number of hotspots for fungal diversity and abundance were identified, largely along creek lines draining southwest through coachwood dominated vegetation. Notably, these hotspots all lie outside the adjacent Lane Cove National Park
Writing with Multiple Appendages: Scratchings of the Skittering Limbs of Stygofauna
Full text linkFour pairs of images from the Postcards from the Underground (2022) print series are presented here as experiments in translating invertebrate underground worlds. Artist Perdita Phillips and cultural theorist Astrida Neimanis collaborated to create an interdisciplinary ‘walkshop’ event to the coal mining town of Lithgow, as part of Phillips’ Artsource both/and artist in residence at Artspace, Sydney in 2017. The many forms of stygofauna—small invertebrate animals including worms, mites, snails, insects and many crustacea—can be found in the millimetreswide in-between spaces in groundwater. Short-range endemism is common—due to their distribution in isolated patches beneath semi-arid to rainforest landscapes in Australia—and sporadic relic distribution world-wide. Working between Neimanis’ text and Phillips’ drawings and found images, the conversations with and through stygofauna, underground water and mining were then developed into colour postcards, that use a red/cyan optical masking technique. The images can be decoded with a red filter that is held up to the eye. The previously invisible cyan delineations are then revealed from beneath—alluding to the layers of concern and the double state of both/and—“caught up in both the noticing and notnoticing of each other” that the artist/author were articulating (Neimanis and Phillips 137). The swirling patterns of swimming and the complex fingering of many limbs were rendered into cryptic scores. The postcards explore notions of hiding/revealing and comprehension and miscomprehension of subterranean ecosystems, through the multiple scratchings of the skittering limbs of stygofauna.
Phillips, Perdita and Astrida Neimanis. Postcards from the Underground. 2022. Private Collection
Critical thinking development in physics courses by PBL in virtual collaboration environments
No full textThis research comprises the design of a strategy to develop critical thinking skills throughout the physics courses in engineering careers, trough collaborative work, problem-based learning (PBL) and virtual classroom interactions. To know any student’s development level and propose improvements to the learning strategy, an evaluation instrument is applied, seeking to increase the learning effectiveness before the course has finished. In various research stages a mixture of quantitative, qualitative, and inductive-deductive methods is used. An open-end questions instrument is adapted to show the initial and final critical thinking skills from the students. This didactic instrument focuses on developing critical thinking trough the usage of collaborative work to solve problems in virtual classrooms. The results shown that students demonstrate cognitive skills that allowed them to find the right solutions based on analysis and inference with various proceedings
Interrogating resilience and exploring the agency within affect
Full text linkIn this article I discuss the role that emotions have on shaping responses to disasters, based on interviews with people who experienced bushfire and flood in 2019 and 2020 in New South Wales, Australia. At the time of the research, state and federal disaster management strategies implored individuals to be self-responsible, independent, and accountable, under the broad concept of ‘resilience’. I argue that resilience rhetoric enforces notions of acting 'stoically' and being self-reliant in the context of disasters, which I locate as being connected with historical understandings of Australian national identity and can be dismissive of emotions, as barriers or non-pertinent in recovery efforts. I problematise the notion of resilience by challenging the presumption that its corollary, vulnerability, and emotions more broadly, belong to a non-agentive category. I consider how emotions can mould both personal and collective responses to disasters and find that experiences of anger, feeling forgotten, and being traumatized can be factors that motivate people to act
Strategic ambiguity: Turkey, Russia and the War in Ukraine
Full text linkAs a NATO member, Turkey is formally an adversary of Russia. Moreover, Turkey’s interests in the Middle East and the southern Caucasus frequently conflict with Russia’s. Yet Turkey has forged a productive working relationship with Russia over the years of Erdogan’s rule, with ties between the two ranging across defence, foreign policy and energy. In particular Turkey has finessed its reaction to the war in Ukraine: it has opposed Russia’s invasion at the United Nations, provided lethal aid to Ukraine and limited Russian naval access to the Black Sea; at the same time Turkey has refused to implement Western sanctions, continued to buy Russian gas, and allowed Russian tourism and trade to continue. Neither Russia nor the West can force Turkey to become more accommodating to their interests: Turkey’s key geostrategic location means it effectively has both sides over a barrel
Not useful or difficult to use? Clinicians’ grievances against drug-drug interaction alerts.
No full textBackground: Medications that are harmful when concurrently prescribed contribute to adverse drug events in hospitalised patients. Drug-drug interaction (DDI) alerts are designed to notify prescribers of potentially harmful drug combinations, yet are often ignored by prescribing clinicians.
Aims: The aim of this study was to explore prescribers’ perceptions of DDI alerts and to identify key barriers impeding integration of the system into prescriber decision-making.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with clinicians from two major Australian hospitals. Questions focussed on how users interact with DDI alerts, as well as aspects of the alerts that hinder clinician integration of the system into prescriber decision-making. Common themes were extracted from interviews by two researchers and subsequently mapped to the relevant determinants in the Technology Acceptance Model-3 (TAM3).
Results: Factors relating to usefulness of the alert system were the most frequently raised barriers to routine use of alerts during prescribing tasks. These included clinicians’ perceptions of the system’s relevance to their role and the degree to which their tasks benefit from having alerts in place. In contrast, perceptions relating to how easy the system was to navigate were less frequently mentioned.
Conclusions: In order to increase the uptake of DDI alerts, they need to be more useful, or perceived to be more useful by prescribers. This can be achieved through demonstrating the utility of alerts to users, as well as improving the objective value that the system provides by, for example, improving the clinical relevance of alerts to individual patients
Acceptability and feasibility of a mobile health intervention to support patients with chronic pain during opioid tapering: a pilot randomised controlled trial
No full textBackground: Opioids are no longer recommended as long-term therapy for chronic noncancer pain (CNCP). Patients are advised to reduce/discontinue opioids when the risks outweigh the benefits. Patients report difficulties in tapering, necessitating the development of, and access to, supporting interventions.
Aims: To develop and evaluate the acceptability, feasibility, and efficacy of a mobile health intervention to support patients with CNCP during opioid tapering.
Methods: A mobile health intervention, consisting of a psychoeducational video and a library of text messages, was co-produced by patients, clinicians, and researchers and was evaluated by consumers and clinicians panels. After revisions, a pilot randomised controlled trial was conducted to test the acceptability, feasibility, and potential efficacy of the intervention. Patients with CNCP who were tapering opioids were randomised to receive the intervention in addition to the usual care for 4 weeks. Acceptability, feasibility, and potential efficacy were assessed.
Results: To date (12 months into recruitment), 38 patients have been screened, 26 met the eligibility criteria and were randomised. Feedback surveys indicate the acceptability of the intervention (e.g., useful 70%, supportive 80%, recommending to others 90%). Most participants suggested a longer intervention period. Recruitment is still open and potential efficacy data will be presented at the meeting.
Conclusions: It is feasible and acceptable to support patients during opioid tapering with text messaging interventions that are co-designed. Most patients wish for support for longer than 4 weeks, hence, a definitive trial with large sample size (national level) is initiated to test the efficacy of a 12-week intervention