University of the Sunshine Coast
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Memory Keeper: A prototype digital application to improve engagement with people with dementia in long-term care (innovative practice)
No full textPeople with dementia living in long-term care commonly experience loneliness and lack of meaningful activity. Memory Keeper is a prototype digital application that presents personalised prompts to stimulate reminiscences and meaningful engagement with formal and informal carers. A trial involving three persons with dementia in long-term care and seven family and staff members revealed no negative responses to the device or application. Family members said it was valuable in improving the quality of engagement and made visits more enjoyable. If practical and technical barriers can be overcome, Memory Keeper could become an innovative family engagement tool for dementia management
Contesting family-based violence: sole parenting possibilities and alternatives
No full textThis paper considers problematic recognisability and deficit constructions of sole parent families which I suggest contribute to conditions that can perpetuate family-based violence. Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s safety (ANROWS) state that one in four women in Australia have experienced at least one incident of violence by an intimate partner, equating to 2.2 million women who, since the age of 15, have experienced male intimate partner violence. A proliferation of discourses constructing the deficit ‘single mother’ tends to reinscribe the centrality and normative power of the hetero-nuclear family. When we obscure and restrict choice and alternatives to familial forms we restrict the possibilities of these alternatives becoming liveable lives. When deficit constructions of sole parenting are reinforced, people in dangerous and untenable violent family circumstances are less likely to view sole parenting as a possibility for constituting an alternative and happy family life. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Grou
A writer’s manifesto: articulating ways of learning to write well
No full textA writer’s manifesto is a statement outlining a writer’s philosophy of life, writing goals and intentions, motives, and sources of inspiration. It is also an ongoing self-reflection on how a writer learns to write well. A writing manifesto demands an interrogation of the literary, political, philosophical and material contexts of a writer’s practice. This paper demonstrates how both undergraduate and post-graduate students can steer their own writing growth by writing a manifesto through an exploration of various methods of writing practice
Physical education across the international media: a five-year analysis
No full textThe message of physical education (PE) has been one of a ‘contested ground’ with regular debate around its purpose, alongside conceptual confusions. A major channel of communication that strongly influences public perceptions is through mainstream media, yet how media platforms have reported on the PE profession has received a scarcity of research attention. The aim of this research was to investigate international media reporting of PE over a five-year period. To generate key concepts and themes emerging from the international PE media (English speaking), researchers conducted a Leximancer text mining analysis of media articles published via the Google News function between January 2013 and March 2018. A PE for health discourse was evident from across the international media reporting of PE with regular concepts and themes focused upon the ‘physical’ including activity, health, obesity, physical activity and exercise. It was also evident that there were clear links between the concept of ‘physical education’ with regulatory concepts such as ‘requirements, reporting and law’. Notable thematic absences related to how PE goals can be met through teaching, learning and programming. Unpacking conceptual and thematic insight into how the PE profession has been reported into the public sphere sheds light on key trends, discourses and influences that are being communicated to the public across global contexts
Alternative dispute resolution and mediation of complaints against police in Australia and New Zealand
No full textThis study assessed the role of alternative dispute resolution options in the complaints management systems of the eight policing jurisdictions in Australia and the single jurisdiction of New Zealand. The available literature shows that a large proportion of complainants would like to participate in mediation, and that both complainants and police who experience mediation report much higher rates of satisfaction than those experiencing traditional adversarial investigative and adjudicative processes. Experiences with informal dispute resolution or ‘conciliation’ options are more mixed, and they are susceptible to tokenism and misuse as a convenient administrative means of disposing of complaints. Despite this situation, the data obtained from police and oversight agency sources in this study showed that options were limited to informal resolution conducted by senior officers, with an ostensible focus on behavioral improvement but with no meaningful publicly available data on outcomes. The paper concludes by advocating for a best practice complaints management system that includes mediation within a consultative framework focused on behavioral improvement
Sexual abuse by educators: a comparison between male and female teachers who sexually abuse students
No full textThe study aimed to identify the differences in case characteristics and typologies of female and male teachers who perpetrated sexual abuse on students. Decisions of sexual misconduct reports in England from June 2006 to December 2016 were used. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis was conducted on 20 cases of male and female teacher sexual misconduct (N = 40). Regarding case characteristics, most were secondary school or college teachers, mid-career, with victims of the opposite sex. For differences, male teachers were older and more likely to have: perpetrated more severe and lengthier sexual abuse and previously received warnings. Interestingly, females and males were similar across the preliminary typology: minimisers and deniers; poor mental health or stressors; and young, early career. However, a fourth group of females emerged: “I was overpowered”. The study furthers the understanding of sexual misconduct by teachers and should assist in the development of policies, guidelines, and legislation around prevention
Rapid plant responses following relocation of a constructed floating wetland from a construction site into an urban stormwater retention pond
No full textThis study compared plant growth, nutrient partitioning and total nutrient uptake by tall sedge (Carex appressa) plants in large-scale Constructed Floating Wetlands (CFWs). Two CFWs with a total area of 2088 m2 were installed in a 2.6 ha man-made urban lake to treat stormwater runoff during the construction phase of a 45-ha residential development. After 12 months of operation, parts of the CFWs, with a total area of 147 m2, were removed from the urban lake and relocated into a well-established 0.127-ha stormwater retention pond at another site. Biomass and nutrient concentrations of C. appressa shoots above the floating mat and roots below the mat were analysed at both sites 12, 16 and 25 months after initial planting. Plants at the urban lake maintained an extensive root network but there was no increase in total plant biomass at 16 and 25 months after planting. In contrast, the relocated plants in the stormwater pond showed extensive shoot growth but a significant decline in root biomass. C. appressa at the urban lake removed and sequestered 1.00 ± 1.04 g m−2 N, 0.11 ± 0.07 g m−2 P and 1.03 ± 0.81 g m−2 K while plants at the pond removed 11.20 ± 2.29 g m−2 N, 1.37 ± 0.26 g m−2 P and 16.13 ± 2.88 g m−2 K during 12 and 25 months after planting. This study demonstrated that C. appressa adapted rapidly to changes in nutrient availability. The implications are interesting as nutrient levels can be low in constructed lakes during the initial phase of urban developments but can increase rapidly as the development progresses. The study demonstrated multiple benefits of CFWs for stormwater treatment during the early construction stages of an urban development and the potential benefits of relocating and establishing CFWs in existing stormwater retention ponds and lakes
Past, present and future of industrial plantation forestry and implication on future timber harvesting technology
No full textPlantation forests are established, and expanding, to satisfy increasing global demand for timber products. Shifting societal values, such as safety, productivity, environmental, quality and social are influencing the plantation forestry sector. This is primarily driven through an ever increasing world population, which in turn influences the way nations view the value systems by which they live. More people require more resources—also forest products. Also, the availability of information is influencing the pace of technological development. These changes could result in a difference in the management of plantations that could affect the forest engineering systems of the future. This review aimed to summarize the current status of plantation forests; summarize future developments and possible scenarios in forest plantation management for the various products; and assess whether these developments in a plantation environment could affect the harvesting systems used. Factors influencing the form of plantations include the type and nature of the plantation owner; the change in demand for different and new forest products; climate change factors, including the use of biomass for energy, carbon sequestration and trading; ecosystem services and other products and services; and sustainability certification of forest management. The impact and influence of these factors were summarised into a series of key drivers that will influence the technology used in harvesting machines, as well as the choice of harvesting machines, systems and methods. These drivers were the effect of variations in tree size, the expansion of plantation areas onto more difficult terrain, diversity in plantation design, increased attention towards site impacts and the increased use of biomass for energy. Specific information is provided regarding how the harvesting systems could be affected
Biological nitrogen fixation by two Acacia species and associated root-nodule bacteria in a suburban Australian forest subjected to prescribed burning
No full textPurpose:
Prescribed burning is a forest management practice which can lead to nitrogen (N)-limited conditions. This study aimed to explore whether biological N2 fixation (BNF) remained the main source of N acquisition for two understorey Acacia species in a Eucalyptus-dominated suburban forest of subtropical Australia, 3 to 6 years after prescribed burning. Root-nodule bacteria associated with these acacias were also characterised to unravel the differences in rhizobial communities between sites and species.
Material and methods:
Two sites, burned 3 and 6 years before sample collection, were selected within a dry subtropical forest of south-east Queensland, Australia. Leaves were collected from individuals of Acacia disparrima and A. leiocalyx at each site to determine leaf total carbon (C) and N content, C and N isotope composition (δ13C and δ15N) and the percentage of N derived from atmospheric N2. Nodules were harvested from both acacia species at each site to isolate root nodule bacteria. Bacterial isolates were processed for 16S rDNA gene sequencing.
Results and discussion:
Generally, no differences were found in plant physiological variables between the two acacia species. Six years after the fire, both species still depended upon BNF for their N supply, with a higher dependence in winter than in summer. Fire, although of low intensity, was likely to have created a N-limited environment which induced the reliance of legumes on BNF. Root nodule bacteria were dominated by non-rhizobial endophytes, mainly from the Firmicutes phylum. No difference in nodule bacterial diversity was found between sites. The relative abundance of rhizobial genera varied amongst plant species and sites, with a shift in dominance from Bradyrhizobium to Rhizobium species between sites 1 and 2.
Conclusions:
Our results show that even 6 years after burning, ecosystem remained under N stress and BNF was still the main mechanism for N acquisition by the understorey legumes
Elucidating the neurobiology of cyberbullying using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI): A hypothesis
No full textCyberbullying is a prevalent concern around the world. Research shows that interactions online are associated with similar structural correlates and patterns of brain activity to real-world (offline) relationships, and that the brain experiences peer victimisation (e.g., cyberbullying) in the same way that it experiences physical pain. Furthermore, these experiences can become biologically embedded in the physiology of the developing person, thereby increasing their risk of developing mental health problems. With the increasing prevalence of cyberbullying and youth internet usage, there is a pressing need to further understand the brain's response to cyberbullying.
We hypothesise that a unique pattern of brain activation is associated with cyberbullying and can be identified using task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (tbfMRI). However, there is a dearth of research regarding cyberbullying and no fMRI paradigm exists in a real-time situation such as observing a cyberbullying scenario. Here, we propose a tbfMRI protocol we have developed specifically for this purpose.
This paper will describe a tbfMRI protocol that can be used to investigate the hypothesis. The overall aim of such a protocol is to elucidate the neurobiological underpinnings of cyberbullying by exploring the brain responses in passive cyber-bystanders (those who witness cyberbullying). This would be the first research to use fMRI to examine brain activation in cyberbystanders, and will bring us closer to understanding the various neurobiological underpinnings that may be associated with cyber-victim/bully status and outcomes