“Waves of Edema” seem implausible

No abstract available

Bioaugmentation mitigates the impact of estrogen on coliform-grazing protozoa in slow sand filters

Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), such as estrogens, is a growing issue for human and animal health as they have been shown to cause reproductive and developmental abnormalities in wildlife and plants and have been linked to male infertility disorders in humans. Intensive farming and weather events, such as storms, flash flooding, and landslides, contribute estrogen to waterways used to supply drinking water. This paper explores the impact of estrogen exposure on the performance of slow sand filters (SSFs) used for water treatment. The feasibility and efficacy of SSF bioaugmentation with estrogen-degrading bacteria was also investigated, to determine whether removal of natural estrogens (estrone, estradiol, and estriol) and overall SSF performance for drinking water treatment could be improved. Strains for SSF augmentation were isolated from full-scale, municipal SSFs so as to optimize survival in the laboratory-scale SSFs used. Concentrations of the natural estrogens, determined by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), revealed augmented SSFs reduced the overall estrogenic potency of the supplied water by 25% on average and removed significantly more estrone and estradiol than nonaugmented filters. A negative correlation was found between coliform removal and estrogen concentration in nonaugmented filters. This was due to the toxic inhibition of protozoa, indicating that high estrogen concentrations can have functional implications for SSFs (such as impairing coliform removal). Consequently, we suggest that high estrogen concentrations could impact significantly on water quality production and, in particular, on pathogen removal in biological water filters

Creating books in communities: A book making program with families in a remote community in Western Australia

This article describes the needs analysis, implementation and outcomes of a pilot program aimed at creating books with families in ways that represent their language and culture. Creating Books in Communities is part of Better Beginnings, a state-wide program, developed by the State Library of Western Australia, for children and their families, that aims to develop literacy skills through fostering a love of books and language. Literature about the importance of recognising and valuing home languages and culture in supporting early literacy learning and the impact of family literacy programs is explored to provide a background to the program. The process of Creating Books in Communities is described in detail—it involves collaboration between librarians, early childhood partners, and community based artists working with families to produce a high-quality book. The impact of the program is explored through the voices of all the participants, revealing a number of positive family and community outcomes. We conclude the article by identifying six key factors related to the success of the program, which can be used as guidelines for implementation of the program both nationally and internationally

Pixel-tracking derived strain using the GlasgowHeart Method.

Background: Estimation of strain parameters from cine acquisitions, such as balanced steady state free precession (b-SSFP) is advantageous, as it would obviate the need for acquisition of additional strain sequences reducing scanning time and making strain more accessible to clinicians. 2D strain derived from feature-tracking is now commercially available. The GlasgowHeart cine-strain method is designed to overcome some limitations of currently available feature-tracking methods by estimating pixel-wise strain for myocardial deformation incorporating all of the myocardial tissues. The aims of this pilot study was to ensure that 2D peak circumferential strain estimated from the GlasgowHeart method is feasible in healthy volunteers (n = 20) and reproducible with minimal intra- and inter- observer variability. Methods: Healthy volunteers aged at least 18 years of age with no prior medical history were invited to participate. A subset of 20 healthy adult volunteers underwent 1.5T CMR twice, < 2 days apart. Written consent was obtained. Mid-LV cine sequences, were analysed with the GlasgowHeart software. The process involves contouring the myocardial borders at end-diastole and segmenting the myocardium by using the right ventricular insertion point according to the 16 segment AHA model. Two observers independently analysed 40 short axis slices using the cine-strain method for inter-observer variability. One observer re-analysed the 40 short axis slices 10 days later for intra-observer variability. Scans were analysed in a random order. Pearson correlation and Bland-Altman analysis were used to analyse the data. Results: 20 participants were used in the subset analysis (mean age ± SD 49.5 years (17.2) 50% male). Peak circumferential strain (Ecc) measured on the first set of MRIs by the two observers (Figure 2A,B) was highly correlated (R = 0.915, p < 0.001) and in excellent agreement (mean difference = 0.01; 95% LoA: -0.01, 0.02). The repeated image analysis (Figure 2C,D) also disclosed a high degree of association in paired measurements of Ecc that was strongly correlated(R= 0.915, p< 0.001) and in excellent agreement (mean difference = 0.00; 95% LoA: -0.02, 0.01). Ecc measured in the second set of MRIs by 2 observers was well correlated (R = 0.937, p < 0.001) and in excellent agreement (mean difference = 0.00; 95% limits of agreement were -0.016 and 0.021). The repeated image analysis at follow-up yielded Ecc that was well correlated(R= 0.942, p < 0.001) and in excellent agreement (mean = 0.00; 95% LoA: -0.009 and 0.009). There was no difference between the average global Ecc at different time points (p > 0.05)

Indonesian teachers’ implementation of new curriculum initiatives in relation to teaching writing in lower primary school

This paper reports an investigation of teachers’ implementation of a new Indonesian curriculum, the Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP), meaning school-based curriculum. The specific context chosen was the teaching of writing in Year 2 in the primary schools of Makassar City, Indonesia. The teachers’ implementation was examined through the lens of the KTSP’s key constructivist-based concepts. Using qualitative methods, the study found that the teachers’ implementation of the new writing curriculum reflected a traditional view of teaching, despite the intent of the KTSP to move away from this approach to one that better reflected a constructivist approach. The study also revealed that the inconsistencies between the intentions of the KTSP and the basic competencies it mandated discouraged the teachers from changing their teaching and assessment practices. These findings have important implications for the development of policy and practice regarding the implementation of existing and future curricula in Indonesia and elsewhere

“Portray cultures other than ours”: How children’s literature is being used to support the diversity goals of the Australian Early Years Learning Framework

Catering for diversity within birth to 5-year-old settings continues to be an on-going concern for policy makers and educators worldwide. This research contributes to discussion on the value of children’s literature in achieving international principles of diversity and, in particular, the Principles, Practice and Outcomes outlined in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework. The article considers the selection and use of children’s literature related to diversity, as well as what influences these processes. Seventeen educators from five long day care centres located in or near the Perth metropolitan area participated in the study. Data were drawn from interviews and a book audit. The findings revealed educators had limited understandings of the role of literature in acknowledging and valuing diversity and rarely used it to promote the diversity-related outcomes of the EYLF. The key challenges which emerged from the findings concerned beliefs of educators, professional learning and the application of the EYLF in practice

Correction to: “Portray cultures other than ours”: How children’s literature is being used to support the diversity goals of the Australian Early Years Learning Framework

The article “Portray cultures other than ours”: How children’s literature is being used to support the diversity goals of the Australian Early Years Learning Framework, written by Helen Adam, Caroline Barratt-Pugh and Yvonne Haig, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal (currently Springer- Link) on 20 January 2019 without open access. With the author(s)’ decision to opt for Open Choice the copyright of the article changed on 30 August 2019 to © The Author(s) 2019 and the article is forthwith distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The original article has been corrected

A critique of models for body composition and energy-balance components in childhood and adolescence

It is well known that, in Western countries, people of all ages and both sexes are becoming ‘fatter’ in general. In a ‘healthy’ population, we arbitrarily consider cut-offs to be that 10% of people should be ‘overweight’ and 5% ‘obese’, as there is limited evidence that these cut-off points are related to ill-health. However, we are seeing a dramatic rise in the numbers of people in each of these categories. The mechanism behind weight gain is energy-imbalance. At energy-balance for adults - i.e. where weight is expected to remain stable over time, we know that: energy intake (EI) = energy expenditure (EE) This equation is far less straightforward than it first appears. The first important issue is that EE has several different components (e.g. resting EE). The second issue is to do with measurement - how do we measure energy intake and energy expenditure? Another is down to physiological differences between people - how do things vary between individuals and do they differ systematically between males and females, adults and children? The above equation applies to adults, but we know that children and adolescents actually require a positive imbalance for healthy growth - what is not known is what degree of positive imbalance is healthy. This thesis is particularly concerned with energy-balance and imbalance during puberty, at which time the human body goes through extreme changes. We investigate how these changes are measured, and how energy-imbalance and the modelling thereof must change across this time. We will show that the proportions of children who are overweight and obese are higher than we would expect; commonly used models for body composition are not in agreement; commonly used models for resting energy expenditure are not in agreement; children do not need a high energy-imbalance for normal growth; and those girls with early menarche are more likely to become overweight than their counterparts

Learning by doing with shareable interfaces

New technologies, such as multi-touch tables, increasingly provide shareable interfaces where multiple people can simultaneously interact, enabling co-located groups to collaborate more flexibly than using single personal computers. Soon, these technologies will make their way into the classroom. However, little is known about what kinds of learning activities they will effectively support that other technologies, such as mobile devices, whiteboards, and personal computers, are currently unable to do. We suggest that one of the most promising uses of shareable interfaces is to support learning through exploration and creation. We present our work on DigiTile as a case study of how shareable interfaces can enable these forms of learning by doing. We demonstrate how DigiTile supports collaboration, present a field study on its learning benefits, and show how it can fit into a larger computing ecology