Eurimbula Site 1, Curtis Coast: site report

This site report presents an account of archaeological excavations undertaken at Eurimbula Site 1, a large open midden site complex located in Eurimbula National Park on the southern Curtis Coast, Central Queensland. Excavations yielded a cultural assemblage dominated by mud ark (Anadara trapezia) and commercial oyster (Saccostrea commercialis) and incorporating small quantities of stone artefacts, fish bone and charcoal. Densities of cultural material were found to decrease markedly with distance from the creek. Analyses of excavated material demonstrate extensive low intensity use of the site from at least c.3,200 cal BP to the historical period

A qualitative study of health professionals’ views on the holding of children for clinical procedures: Constructing a balanced approach

Children undergoing clinical procedures can experience fear, uncertainty, and anxiety which can cause them to become upset and resist procedures. This study aimed to capture an international perspective of how health professionals report they would act if a child was upset and resisted a procedure. An online questionnaire, distributed through network sampling, used three vignettes to elicit qualitative open text responses from health professionals. Seven hundred and twelve professionals participated, resulting in 2072 pieces of text across the three vignettes. Many professionals reported that they would use distraction and spend time to inform and engage children in making choices about their procedure. However, most professionals indicated that if a child became uncooperative they would hold or instruct the holding of the child in order to get the procedure done 'as quickly as possible'. The findings demonstrate that professionals experience difficulty in balancing the different agendas, rights and priorities within the momentum which can build during a clinical procedure, often resulting in the child's voice and rights being undermined. A more balanced approach could be facilitated by a 'clinical pause' that would equip professionals with the time to consider children's expressed wishes and explore alternative approaches to holding

The Aurora-related kinase AIR-2 recruits ZEN-4/CeMKLP1 to the mitotic spindle at metaphase and is required for cytokinesis

AbstractBackground: The Aurora/Ipl1p-related kinase AIR-2 is required for mitotic chromosome segregation and cytokinesis in early Caenorhabditis elegans embryos. Previous studies have relied on non-conditional mutations or RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) to inactivate AIR-2. It has therefore not been possible to determine whether AIR-2 functions directly in cytokinesis or if the cleavage defect results indirectly from the failure to segregate DNA. One intriguing hypothesis is that AIR-2 acts to localize the mitotic kinesin-like protein ZEN-4 (also known as CeMKLP1), which later functions in cytokinesis.Results: Using conditional alleles, we established that AIR-2 is required at metaphase or early anaphase for normal segregation of chromosomes, localization of ZEN-4, and cytokinesis. ZEN-4 is first required late in cytokinesis, and also functions to maintain cell separation through much of the subsequent interphase. DNA segregation defects alone were not sufficient to disrupt cytokinesis in other mutants, suggesting that AIR-2 acts specifically during cytokinesis through ZEN-4. AIR-2 and ZEN-4 shared similar genetic interactions with the formin homology (FH) protein CYK-1, suggesting that AIR-2 and ZEN-4 function in a single pathway, in parallel to a contractile ring pathway that includes CYK-1. Using in vitro co-immunoprecipitation experiments, we found that AIR-2 and ZEN-4 interact directly.Conclusions: AIR-2 has two functions during mitosis: one in chromosome segregation, and a second, independent function in cytokinesis through ZEN-4. AIR-2 and ZEN-4 may act in parallel to a second pathway that includes CYK-1

Using professional atandards : assessing work integrated learning in initial teacher education

All Australian teacher education programs must include practical experience--the practicum. It is a critical part of learning to become a teacher.  One of the major challenges in initial teacher education is to provide good quality assessment of the practicum.  Assessing the practicum is filled with tension for both the individual supervisor as well as the pre-service teacher. In 2011 the Australian National Professional Standards for Teachers were established.  On completion of teacher education programs, graduate teachers will have gained the knowledge and practice to meet the seven national standards.  For teacher preparation programs, the successful implementation of the standards will rely on the opportunities for preservice teachers to gather evidence of achieving the standards. This project focussed specifically on evidence of achievements of these standards through assessment practices during practicum.The overall aim of this project was to enhance the academic and school-based teacher educators\u27 and preservice teachers\u27 capacities and understandings of assessing the practicum.  To achieve this aim, four outcomes were developed to provide professional leaning for improving the assessment practices of the practicum: a website resource, a collaborative partnership process, a professional learning model (PLM) and a developmental \u27inventory\u27 of evidence of achievement of the first five national standards.  The website resource provides materials and activities for staff involved in the design of professional experience in initial teacher education programs, to work with partner schools and preservice teachers to facilitate high quality supervision and assessment in practicum sites.  The collaborateive partnership process used for achieving these soutcomes -- communities of reflective practitioners--is integral to the professional learning focus of the project.  It guides the use of the resource in future teacher education sites of practice.  The professional learning model and website materials emphasise the critical role that evidence-informed judgements play at school sites in learning and assessment of future teachers

Is He Being Bad? Social and Language Brain Networks during Social Judgment in Children with Autism

Individuals with autism often violate social rules and have lower accuracy in identifying and explaining inappropriate social behavior. Twelve children with autism (AD) and thirteen children with typical development (TD) participated in this fMRI study of the neurofunctional basis of social judgment. Participants indicated in which of two pictures a boy was being bad (Social condition) or which of two pictures was outdoors (Physical condition). In the within-group Social-Physical comparison, TD children used components of mentalizing and language networks [bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), bilateral medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and bilateral posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS)], whereas AD children used a network that was primarily right IFG and bilateral pSTS, suggesting reduced use of social and language networks during this social judgment task. A direct group comparison on the Social-Physical contrast showed that the TD group had greater mPFC, bilateral IFG, and left superior temporal pole activity than the AD group. No regions were more active in the AD group than in the group with TD in this comparison. Both groups successfully performed the task, which required minimal language. The groups also performed similarly on eyetracking measures, indicating that the activation results probably reflect the use of a more basic strategy by the autism group rather than performance disparities. Even though language was unnecessary, the children with TD recruited language areas during the social task, suggesting automatic encoding of their knowledge into language; however, this was not the case for the children with autism. These findings support behavioral research indicating that, whereas children with autism may recognize socially inappropriate behavior, they have difficulty using spoken language to explain why it is inappropriate. The fMRI results indicate that AD children may not automatically use language to encode their social understanding, making expression and generalization of this knowledge more difficult. © 2012 Carter et al

Upgrades to the International Space Station Urine Processor Assembly

The ISS Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) began operations in November 2008. Though the UPA has successfully generated distillate from crew urine, several modifications and upgrades have been implemented to improve overall system performance throughout the years. Current and future upgrades to the UPA will continue to focus on improved system performance and reliability, focusing primarily on the Distillation Assembly and upgrades to the UPA vacuum pump. Work towards a flight demonstration experiment of a vacuum pump utilizing scroll pump technologies has also continued forward. The following paper discusses progress on these various concepts, including the implementation of a more reliable drive belt, improved methods for managing condensate in the stationary bowl of the Distillation Assembly, installation of improved centrifuge bearings, implementation of a liquid level sensor, and upgrades to the UPA vacuum pump

Status of ISS Water Management and Recovery

Water management on ISS is responsible for the provision of water to the crew for drinking water, food preparation, and hygiene, to the Oxygen Generation System (OGS) for oxygen production via electrolysis, to the Waste & Hygiene Compartment (WHC) for flush water, and for experiments on ISS. This paper summarizes water management activities on the ISS US Segment as of May 2018 and provides a status of the performance and issues related to the operation of the Water Processor Assembly (WPA) and Urine Processor Assembly (UPA)

Newer cardiac troponin I assays have similar performance to troponin T in patients with end-stage renal disease

Background: Troponin T is present in the blood of a majority of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) undergoing regular dialysis and presence of troponin T is a predictor of adverse outcome in these patients. With several new formulations of troponin I assays available, this study was performed to see whether these newer assays were able to detect troponin I in these patients more effectively than the older assays. Methods: One hundred and forty-three patients undergoing regular haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis had plasma collected and troponin T and troponin I measured by a variety of assays. Results: The newer troponin I assays (Abbott Architect, Bayer Centaur and Beckman Accu-TnI) were able to detect troponin I (>75% of samples) as effectively as the Roche assay was able to detect troponin T, while other troponin I assays had a much lower rate of detection of troponin - DPC Immulite 2000 16% and Abbott AxSYM 35%. However, the troponin T assay had more samples detected at concentrations corresponding to an assay CV of 10% (59% of samples) than did the newer troponin I assays (highest on the Bayer Centaur at 37%). Conclusions: Newer assays demonstrate that troponin I is present in a similar number of samples as is troponin T, in the blood of patients with dialysis-dependent renal failure, and these newer troponin I assays identify patients at risk of experiencing a cardiac event