Comparing ‘apples with apples’: professional accounting practices in university classroom discourse

How are professional accounting practices represented in university classroom discourse and what are the implications of this for theory and practice in professional learning? Professional accounting practices order the world, and are also ordered. In reducing the complexities of social activity to abstract meanings that render it measurable, diverse and complex structures can be compared ‘apples with apples’. This study investigates the relocalization of professional accounting practices in university classroom discourse, working with tools from Legitimation Code Theory, systemic functional linguistics and critical discourse analysis. Findings draw on digital recordings of seminars presented by three lecturers in different subjects of a Master of Accounting program in an Australian metropolitan university. The analysis examines movements between context-independent and more context-dependent meanings in classroom discourse that mark shifts in emphasis from accounting as a system of representation, to accounting as interpersonal exchange. It considers two sets of social relations at play in the professional classroom: those between lecturers and students, and those within professional practice that are relocalized in classroom discourse. The framework developed in this study complements current research within the sociology of education. Discussion connects the analysis with recent explorations of knowledge practices in education within Legitimation Code Theory. It draws on foundational principles of a systemic functional model of language, considering the basis of professional practice and professional learning in interpersonal exchange. Conclusions are oriented towards theory and practice in professional learning, recognizing professional educators as agents of change and mediators of ways of thinking and acting in their field that are potentially transformative

Cross-sectional analysis of hearing threshold in relation to age in a large family with cochleovestibular impairment thoroughly genotyped for DFNA9/COCH.

Hearing threshold was analyzed for each frequency in relation to age in 88 members of a large Dutch family with cochleovestibular impairment caused by a P51S mutation in the COCH gene within the DFNA9 locus (chromosome 14q12-13). The participants in this study were 34 mutation carriers and 54 relatives without the mutation (control subjects). A sigmoidal dose-response curve with a variable slope was used to fit the mutation carriers' threshold-on-age data. Progression started at about 40 years of age and only lasted for some 20 to 25 years; the associated average progression was 2.9 dB/y for all frequencies. However, some hearing impairment was already present before, predominantly at the high frequencies. The mean thresholds in the young mutation carriers (< 33 years of age) were significantly higher (by 4 to 13 dB) than those in age-matched controls at 2 to 8 kHz. Presumably, mutation carriers have a congenital, stable offset threshold (10 to 29 dB) at these frequencies, and develop progression later in life

Non-syndromal autosomal dominant hearing impairment: ongoing phenotypical characterization of genotypes.

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Familial progressive vestibulocochlear dysfunction caused by a COCH mutation (DFNA9).

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Progressive cochleovestibular impairment caused by a point mutation in the COCH gene at DFNA9.

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China’s third plenum endorses the “decisive” role of the market — unfortunately for China

Cochleovestibular impairment was evaluated, in relation to age, in a longitudinal follow-up study on a Dutch family with a DFNA9 trait caused by a Pro51Ser mutation in the COCH gene on chromosome 14q12-q13. Fourteen cases were genotyped. The onset age of progressive impairment reported by the mutation carriers was between age 35 and 45 years. Pure-tone thresholds deteriorated by about 2-7 dB per year (mean 3.8 dB per year) in a variable, often asymmetrical, fashion. One mutation carrier developed recurrent episodes of vertigo accompanied by nausea and vomiting, resembling Meniere's disease. Two others developed special susceptibility for motion sickness and appeared to have a hyperactive vestibulo-ocular reflex. More advanced stages of vestibular impairment, i.e. vestibular hyporeflexia and complete vestibular areflexia, were eventually found in a number of cases. DFNA9/COCH should be considered as a possible cause in patients developing combined progressive cochlear and vestibular impairment, or suspected hereditary Meniere-like disease, from around middle age

Birthplace safety: an exploration of differences between primary maternity units and tertiary hospitals in women’s decision-making, transfers and birth outcomes – the New Zealand ‘Evaluating Maternity Units’ study

This thesis reports the findings of the New Zealand Evaluating Maternity Units (EMU) prospective cohort study which included 407 pregnant women who booked to give birth in a primary maternity unit and 285 well women who booked at the tertiary maternity hospital in New Zealand during 2010-2012. Data were also received from a six week postpartum survey (82% response rate) and focus groups (37 women). A mixed method methodology was used to explore the influences on women’s decision-making; to identify and evaluate the frequency, timing, reasons outcomes and experience of antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum transfers; and describe the clinical outcomes. For tertiary hospital women accessing a ‘specialist facility’ was most important, compared to multiple reason including 'closeness to home', 'ease of access' and the 'feel' of the unit for primary unit women. “Confidence” was the overarching concept influencing the five core themes: ‘the birth process’, ‘women’s belief in their ability to give birth’, ‘midwives’, ‘the health system’ and ‘birth place’. Of those who planned a primary unit birth, 50% changed their plan (mostly antenatally); and 12.6% transfers made during labour (most non-urgent and due to “slow progress” of labour). Themes around experience of transfer were: ‘not to plan’, ‘control’, ‘communication’ and ‘my midwife’. Primary unit women were less likely to have an instrumental assisted birth, labour augmentation or an episiotomy and significantly more likely to have spontaneous onset of labour, normal vaginal birth, no analgesia and physiological management of the third stage of labour, compared to the tertiary hospital women. All other maternal and neonatal outcomes were similar. The study is the first undertaken in the context of a publicly funded maternity system where all women had midwifery-led continuity of care regardless of planned or eventual place of birth

Mutations in the WFS1 gene that cause low-frequency sensorineural hearing loss are small non-inactivating mutations.

Hereditary hearing impairment is an extremely heterogeneous trait, with more than 70 identified loci. Only two of these loci are associated with an auditory phenotype that predominantly affects the low frequencies (DFNA1 and DFNA6/14). In this study, we have completed mutation screening of the WFS1 gene in eight autosomal dominant families and twelve sporadic cases in which affected persons have low-frequency sensorineural hearing impairment (LFSNHI). Mutations in this gene are known to be responsible for Wolfram syndrome or DIDMOAD (diabetes insipidus, diabetes mellitus, optic atrophy, and deafness), which is an autosomal recessive trait. We have identified seven missense mutations and a single amino acid deletion affecting conserved amino acids in six families and one sporadic case, indicating that mutations in WFS1 are a major cause of inherited but not sporadic low-frequency hearing impairment. Among the ten WFS1 mutations reported in LFSNHI, none is expected to lead to premature protein truncation, and nine cluster in the C-terminal protein domain. In contrast, 64% of the Wolfram syndrome mutations are inactivating. Our results indicate that only non-inactivating mutations in WFS1 are responsible for non-syndromic low-frequency hearing impairment