Australian Early Childhood Teachers’ Training in Language and Literacy: A Nation-Wide Review of Pre-Service Course Content

Early childhood teachers are well-positioned to maximise preschoolers’ development in oral language and emergent literacy; both of which are vital predictors of academic success at school. Research investigating their pre-service training in language and emergent literacy remains limited. This issue is addressed in the present study, with the first nation-wide review of the oral language and emergent literacy course content across all 84 Australian early childhood teacher pre-service courses. Qualitative Content Analysis was employed to gain an overview of language and emergent literacy teaching content reported in publicly available course documents. Study findings demonstrated large variation in the oral language and emergent literacy course content reported. The results showed that course content on the structure of language and code-related skills including phonological awareness and concepts of print, do not feature prominently across pre-service course documents. Further, course content on evidence-based strategies to foster children’s oral language and emergent literacy development, such as dialogic book reading, and intentional adult-child interactions were also limited. Findings are discussed with respect to their implications for preparing early childhood teachers to support the oral language and emergent literacy growth of preschooler

Stiction, Adhesion Energy and the Casimir Effect in Micromechanical Systems

We measure the adhesion energy of gold using a micromachined doubly-clamped beam. The stress and stiffness of the beam are characterized by measuring the spectrum of mechanical vibrations and the deflection due to an external force. To determine the adhesion energy we induce stiction between the beam and a nearby surface by capillary forces. Subsequent analysis yields a value $\gamma =0.06$ J/m$^{2}$ that is a factor of approximately six smaller than predicted by idealized theory. This discrepancy may be resolved with revised models that include surface roughness and the effect of adsorbed monolayers intervening between the contacting surfaces in these mesoscopic structures.Comment: RevTex, 4 pages, 4 eps figure

Efficient out-coupling and beaming of Tamm optical states via surface plasmon polariton excitation

We present evidence of optical Tamm states to surface plasmon polariton (SPP) coupling. We experimentally demonstrate that for a Bragg stack with a thin metal layer on the surface, hybrid Tamm-SPP modes may be excited when a grating on the air-metal interface is introduced. Out-coupling via the grating to free space propagation is shown to enhance the transmission as well as the directionality and polarization selection for the transmitted beam. We suggest that this system will be useful on those devices, where a metallic electrical contact as well as beaming and polarization control is needed

Comment on the sign of the Casimir force

I show that reflection positivity implies that the force between any mirror pair of charge-conjugate probes of the quantum vacuum is attractive. This generalizes a recent theorem of Kenneth and Klich to interacting quantum fields, to arbitrary semiclassical bodies, and to quantized probes with non-overlapping wavefunctions. I also prove that the torques on charge-conjugate probes tend always to rotate them into a mirror-symmetric position.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, Latex file. Several points clarified and expanded, two references added

Efficient out-coupling and beaming of Tamm optical states via surface plasmon polariton excitation

We present evidence of optical Tamm states to surface plasmon polariton (SPP) coupling. We experimentally demonstrate that for a Bragg stack with a thin metal layer on the surface, hybrid Tamm-SPP modes may be excited when a grating on the air-metal interface is introduced. Out-coupling via the grating to free space propagation is shown to enhance the transmission as well as the directionality and polarization selection for the transmitted beam. We suggest that this system will be useful on those devices, where a metallic electrical contact as well as beaming and polarization control is needed

Finite temperature Casimir effect in piston geometry and its classical limit

We consider the Casimir force acting on a $d$-dimensional rectangular piston due to massless scalar field with periodic, Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions and electromagnetic field with perfect electric conductor and perfect magnetic conductor boundary conditions. It is verified analytically that at any temperature, the Casimir force acting on the piston is always an attractive force pulling the piston towards the interior region, and the magnitude of the force gets larger as the separation $a$ gets smaller. Explicit exact expressions for the Casimir force for small and large plate separations and for low and high temperatures are computed. The limits of the Casimir force acting on the piston when some pairs of transversal plates are large are also derived. An interesting result regarding the influence of temperature is that in contrast to the conventional result that the leading term of the Casimir force acting on a wall of a rectangular cavity at high temperature is the Stefan--Boltzmann (or black body radiation) term which is of order $T^{d+1}$, it is found that the contributions of this term from the interior and exterior regions cancel with each other in the case of piston. The high temperature leading order term of the Casimir force acting on the piston is of order $T$, which shows that the Casimir force has a nontrivial classical $\hbar\to 0$ limit

Sternal plating for primary and secondary sternal closure; can it improve sternal stability?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sternal instability with mediastinitis is a very serious complication after median sternotomy. Biomechanical studies have suggested superiority of rigid plate fixation over wire cerclage for sternal fixation. This study tests the hypothesis that sternal closure stability can be improved by adding plate fixation in a human cadaver model.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Midline sternotomy was performed in 18 human cadavers. Four sternal closure techniques were tested: (1) approximation with six interrupted steel wires; (2) approximation with six interrupted cables; (3) closure 1 (wires) or 2 (cables) reinforced with a transverse sternal plate at the sixth rib; (4) Closure using 4 sternal plates alone. Intrathoracic pressure was increased in all techniques while sternal separation was measured by three pairs of sonomicrometry crystals fixed at the upper, middle and lower parts of the sternum until 2.0 mm separation was detected. Differences in displacement pressures were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and Regression Coefficients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Intrathoracic pressure required to cause 2.0 mm separation increased significantly from 183.3 ± 123.9 to 301.4 ± 204.5 in wires/cables alone vs. wires/cables plus one plate respectively, and to 355.0 ± 210.4 in the 4 plates group (p < 0.05). Regression Coefficients (95% CI) were 120 (47–194) and 142 (66–219) respectively for the plate groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Transverse sternal plating with 1 or 4 plates significantly improves sternal stability closure in human cadaver model. Adding a single sternal plate to primary closure improves the strength of sternal closure with traditional wiring potentially reducing the risk of sternal dehiscence and could be considered in high risk patients.</p

A dyadic approach to understanding the impact of breast cancer on relationships between partners during early survivorship

© 2016 The Author(s). Background: The shared impact of breast cancer for women and their male partners is emerging as an important consideration during the experience of a breast cancer diagnosis, particularly during survivorship. This study aimed to explore the experiences of women and their partners during early survivorship and contributes a range of insights into the lives of those intimately affected by breast cancer. Methods: In-depth interviews were completed with Australian women survivors of breast cancer (n = 8) and their partners (n = 8), between six months and five years following cessation of treatment. Questions included a focus on the women and their partners' daily experiences during early survivorship, including the management of ongoing symptoms, engagement in leisure and social interests, returning to work, communicating with each other, maintenance of the current relationship and other important roles and responsibilities. Thematic analysis was employed to determine key themes arising from the dyadic accounts of women and their partners' experiences during early breast cancer survivorship. Results: Women and their partners experienced many changes to their previous roles, responsibilities and relationships during early breast cancer survivorship. Couples also reported a range of communication, intimacy and sexuality concerns which greatly impacted their interactions with each other, adding further demands on the relationship. Three significant themes were determined: (1) a disconnection within the relationship - this was expressed as the woman survivor of breast cancer needing to prioritise her own needs, sometimes at the expense of her partner and the relationship; (2) reformulating the relationship - this reflects the strategies used by couples to negotiate changes within the relationship; and (3) support is needed to negotiate the future of the relationship - couples emphasised the need for additional support and resources to assist them in maintaining their relationship during early survivorship. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the early survivorship period represents a crucial time for both women and their partners and there are currently limited options available to meet their shared needs and preferences for support. Findings indicate that a suitable model of care underpinned by a biopsychosocial framework, access to comprehensive assessment, timely support and the provision of targeted resources are urgently needed to assist women and their partners during this critical time

Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability