Does haste make waste? The human factors of overtaking land design

The aim of this research was to improve overtaking safety and efficiency through improvements in road signage, markings, geometry and speed control associated with the placement and layout of passing lanes. The approach of the research was to explore the effects of several types of overtaking lane treatments in the safety and controlled environment of a state-of-the-art driving simulator. It was found that under the most benign conditions there were no differential effects of the three treatments. With poorer visibility or more taxing road geometry, the drivers relied more heavily on the road markings and signage and the effects of the treatments become more pronounced. The sensitivity to the more "challenging" situations was borne out by the greater speed differential between merge area sections at these sites

Demonstrating ‘Impact’: Insights from the Work of Preservice Teachers Completing a Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment

Initial Teacher Education (ITE) reform in Australia has mandated that graduating teachers demonstrate their practice and ‘impact’ through the completion of a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) prior to graduation. The requirement to analyse ‘impact’ in teaching, requires a nuanced understanding of what ‘impact’ is and how it manifests in varied contemporary classrooms. This paper reports on how a sample of high-performing pre-service teachers from one Australian ITE institution, within a framework devised by Australia’s largest TPA consortium, appraised the impact of their teaching in the context of the disciplinary area of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS). How ‘impact’ was articulated through GTPA submissions revealed data-informed and holistic interpretations layered to include opportunistic teaching moments and relational and affective impact as well as analysis of cognitive progress. The paper also identifies ways in which analysis of impact might be further finessed with greater attention to pedagogical content knowledge and discipline-specific progression

Onset and Recurrence of Depression as Predictors of Cardiovascular Prognosis in Depressed Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients:A Systematic Review

Background: Depression after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is associated with worse cardiac outcomes. This systematic review evaluated whether depressed ACS patients are at differential risk depending on the recurrence and timing of onset of depressive episodes. Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO were searched from inception to 11 April 2009. Additionally, reference lists and recent tables of contents of 34 selected journals were manually searched. Eligible studies evaluated cardiovascular outcomes for subgroups of ACS patients with depression or depressive symptoms according to recurrence or onset. Results: Six studies were included that reported outcomes for subgroups of ACS patients with first-ever versus recurrent depression. Four of these reported also outcomes for post-ACS onset versus pre-ACS onset depression, and incident versus nonincident depression. Worse outcomes (odds ratio &gt;1.4) were reported for ACS patients with first-ever depression in 3 of 6 studies (1 study p &lt;0.05), for patients with post-ACS onset depression in 3 of 4 studies (1 study p &lt;0.05, but better outcomes in one study) and for patients with incident depression in 2 of 4 studies (no studies p &lt;0.05). Conclusions: Although it is still suggested that ACS patients with first and new-onset depression are at particularly increased risk of worse prognosis, the inconsistent results from the studies included in this systematic review show that there is no consistent evidence to support such statements. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel</p

Milk whey protein concentration and mRNA associated with β-lactoglobulin phenotype

Two common genetic variants of β-lactoglobulin (β-lg), A and B, exist as co- dominant alleles in dairy cattle (Aschaffenburg, 1968). Numerous studies have shown that cows homozygous for β-lg A have more β-lg and less α-lactalbumin (α-la) and casein in their milk than cows expressing only the B variant of β-lg (Ng-Kwai-Hang et al. 1987; Graml et al. 1989; Hill, 1993; Hill et al. 1995, 1997). These differences have a significant impact on the processing characteristics of the milk. For instance, the moisture-adjusted yield of Cheddar cheese is up to 10% higher using milk from cows of the β-lg BB phenotype compared with milk from cows expressing only the A variant (Hill et al. 1997). All these studies, however, describe compositional differences associated with β-lg phenotype in established lactation only. No information is available on the first few weeks of lactation, when there are marked changes in the concentrations of β-lg and α-la (Pérez et al. 1990)

Readily available sources of long-chain omega-3 oils: Is farmed australian seafood a better source of the good oil than wild-caught seafood?

Seafood consumption enhances intake of omega-3 long-chain (&ge;C20) polyunsaturated fatty acids (termed LC omega-3 oils). Humans biosynthesize only small amounts of LC-omega-3, so they are considered semi-essential nutrients in our diet. Concern has been raised that farmed fish now contain lower LC omega-3 content than wild-harvested seafood due to the use of oil blending in diets fed to farmed fish. However, we observed that two major Australian farmed finfish species, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and barramundi (Lates calcifer), have higher oil and LC omega-3 content than the same or other species from the wild, and remain an excellent means to achieve substantial intake of LC omega-3 oils. Notwithstanding, LC omega-3 oil content has decreased in these two farmed species, due largely to replacing dietary fish oil with poultry oil. For Atlantic salmon, LC omega-3 content decreased ~30%-50% between 2002 and 2013, and the omega-3/omega-6 ratio also decreased (&gt;5:1 to &lt;1:1). Australian consumers increasingly seek their LC omega-3 from supplements, therefore a range of supplement products were compared. The development and future application of oilseeds containing LC omega-3 oils and their incorporation in aquafeeds would allow these health-benefitting oils to be maximized in farmed Australian seafood. Such advances can assist with preventative health care, fisheries management, aquaculture nutrition, an innovative feed/food industry and ultimately towards improved consumer health

Reconfigurable ferromagnetic liquid droplets.

Solid ferromagnetic materials are rigid in shape and cannot be reconfigured. Ferrofluids, although reconfigurable, are paramagnetic at room temperature and lose their magnetization when the applied magnetic field is removed. Here, we show a reversible paramagnetic-to-ferromagnetic transformation of ferrofluid droplets by the jamming of a monolayer of magnetic nanoparticles assembled at the water-oil interface. These ferromagnetic liquid droplets exhibit a finite coercivity and remanent magnetization. They can be easily reconfigured into different shapes while preserving the magnetic properties of solid ferromagnets with classic north-south dipole interactions. Their translational and rotational motions can be actuated remotely and precisely by an external magnetic field, inspiring studies on active matter, energy-dissipative assemblies, and programmable liquid constructs

Learning the Words: Supervising Teachers and the Language of Impact in an Initial Teacher Education Programme

The language of “impact” has been foregrounded in the recent lexicon of Australian initial teacher education (ITE). How teacher education programmes and supervising teachers identify and assess the impact of pre-service teachers’ work with learners across a professional placement is a pressing issue for ITE providers. This paper reports on qualitative analysis of the language of supervising teachers’ summative assessments of pre-service teachers’ final-year professional experience placements in relation to impact. Analysis of written comments that addressed the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers Graduate Standards revealed that the language of impact is still emerging within the discourse of supervising teachers. This has professional learning implications for all ITE stakeholders

Prognostic association of depression following myocardial infarction with mortality and cardiovascular events:A meta-analysis of 25 years of research

AbstractObjectiveA meta-analysis of over 25 years of research into the relationship between post-myocardial infarction (MI) depression and cardiac prognosis was conducted to investigate changes in this association over time and to investigate subgroup effects.MethodA systematic literature search was performed (Medline, Embase and PsycINFO; 1975–2011) without language restrictions. Studies investigating the impact of post-MI depression on cardiovascular outcome, defined as all-cause mortality, cardiac mortality and cardiac events within 24 months after the index MI, were identified. Depression had to be assessed within 3 months after MI using established instruments. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) were calculated using a random effects model.ResultsA total of 29 studies were identified, resulting in 41 comparisons. Follow-up (on average 16 months) was described for 16,889 MI patients. Post-MI depression was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality [(OR), 2.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.73–2.93; P<.001], cardiac mortality (OR, 2.71; 95% CI, 1.68–4.36; P<.001) and cardiac events (OR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.37–1.85; P<.001). ORs proved robust in subgroup analyses but declined over the years for cardiac events.ConclusionsPost-MI depression is associated with a 1.6- to 2.7-fold increased risk of impaired outcomes within 24 months. This association has been relatively stable over the past 25 years