Middle leading in Australian schools: professional standards, positions, and professional development

In Australia, there is a national education agenda for school improvement with an increasing focus on how school leaders can fulfil this agenda. As school principals are arguably faced with increasing demands, the importance of school middle leaders is increasing. This article presents the initial findings from a larger project on middle leadership in Australian schools, the first phase of which is a documentary analysis of significant texts including policy documents, websites and reports. The purpose of the document analysis was to examine expectations placed on, and support provided for, school middle leaders in Australian schools to make explicit the potential implications for policymakers, leaders and researchers investigating this field. We argue there is a lack of clarity about the role of middle leadership across Australia, with unclear policies, and variations in expectations, titles and levels of support. What is evident is that middle leaders play a pivotal role as they lead teaching, learning, and pastoral care. They carry out these roles in subject areas, key stages and classrooms, and among teachers. While there are a range of professional development provisions for middle leaders across different states, middle leadership needs to be an area of increased focus across Australia

Improvement of mechanical properties of polylactic acid adhesion joints with bio-based adhesives by using air atmospheric plasma treatment

The packaging industry generates a high volume of wastes; so that, there is a high demand of biodegradable materials, which do not damage the environment. Nowadays, there is an interesting consumption of polylactic acid (PLA) due to its biodegradable features. This work focuses on the improvement of mechanical properties of PLA adhesion joints for uses in the packaging industry. In order to achieve that purpose, atmospheric plasma treatment is used to selectively modify PLA surface properties. The obtained experimental results show that the atmospheric plasma treatment is suitable to increase the mechanical performance of PLA-PLA adhesive joints. Optimum conditions for the atmospheric plasma treatment were obtained with a nozzle-substrate distance of 10 mm and an advance rate in the 100-300 mm s(-1) range; for these particular conditions, the effectiveness of the surface modification is the highest. The main plasma-acting mechanisms are microetching together with the insertion of polar groups which lead to an interesting synergy that causes a remarkable increase in mechanical properties of adhesion joints. In particular, the shear strength of untreated PLA-PLA adhesion joints is close to 50 N cm(-2) and this value is increased up to values of about 168.7 N cm(-2) with optimum plasma treatment conditions. This indicates that atmospheric plasma treatment is both a technical and an environmental friendly technique to improve mechanical performance of PLA adhesive joints. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42391.Jordá Vilaplana, A.; Sánchez Nacher, L.; Fombuena Borrás, V.; García García, D.; Carbonell Verdú, A. (2015). Improvement of mechanical properties of polylactic acid adhesion joints with bio-based adhesives by using air atmospheric plasma treatment. Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 132(32):42391-1-42391-9. doi:10.1002/app.42391S42391-142391-91323

Signatures of large composite Dark Matter states

We investigate the interactions of large composite dark matter (DM) states with the Standard Model (SM) sector. Elastic scattering with SM nuclei can be coherently enhanced by factors as large as A^2, where A is the number of constituents in the composite state (there exist models in which DM states of very large A > 10^8 may be realised). This enhancement, for a given direct detection event rate, weakens the expected signals at colliders by up to 1/A. Moreover, the spatially extended nature of the DM states leads to an additional, characteristic, form factor modifying the momentum dependence of scattering processes, altering the recoil energy spectra in direct detection experiments. In particular, energy recoil spectra with peaks and troughs are possible, and such features could be confirmed with only O(50) events, independently of the assumed halo velocity distribution. Large composite states also generically give rise to low-energy collective excitations potentially relevant to direct detection and indirect detection phenomenology. We compute the form factor for a generic class of such excitations - quantised surface modes - finding that they can lead to coherently-enhanced, but generally sub-dominant, inelastic scattering in direct detection experiments. Finally, we study the modifications to capture rates in astrophysical objects that follow from the elastic form factor, as well as the effects of inelastic interactions between DM states once captured. We argue that inelastic interactions may lead to the DM collapsing to a dense configuration at the centre of the object.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, v2; references and minor additional comments adde

Multilinguisme et variétés linguistiques en Europe à l’aune de l’intelligence artificielle Multilinguismo e variazioni linguistiche in Europa nell’era dell’intelligenza artificiale Multilingualism and Language Varieties in Europe in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Il presente volume è il frutto di una riflessione interdisciplinare e multilingue maturata attorno a diversi eventi organizzati nell’ambito del panel concernente i diritti e le variazioni linguistiche in Europa nell’era dell’intelligenza artificiale all’interno del progetto Artificial Intelligence for European Integration, promosso dal Centro studi sull’Europa TO-EU dell’Università di Torino e cofinanziato dalla Commissione europea. L’interrogativo iniziale che abbiamo voluto sollevare è se l’IA potesse avere un impatto negativo sulle varietà linguistiche e sul multilinguismo, valore “aggiunto” dell’UE, o se potesse, e in che modo, divenire utile per la promozione di essi. Il volume, interamente inedito, può dirsi tra i primi ad affrontare, almeno in Europa, questo tipo di tematiche.This book is the outcome of an interdisciplinary multilingual reflection carried out on research into linguistic rights, multilingualism and language varieties in Europe in the age of artificial intelligence. It is part of the Artificial Intelligence for European Integration project, promoted by the Centre of European Studies To-EU of the University of Turin and co-financed by the European Commission. Our aim was to investigate more generally the negative and/or positive outcomes of AI on language varieties and multilingualism, the latter a key value for the EU. The result is a volume of original unpublished research being made generally available for the first time, at least in Europe.Ce livre a été élaboré à partir d’une réflexion interdisciplinaire et multilingue qui a été menée dans le cadre d’une recherche sur les droits, le multilinguisme et les variétés linguistiques en Europe à l’aune de l’intelligence artificielle à l’intérieur du projet Artificial Intelligence for European Integration promu par le Centre d’études européennes To-EU de l’Université de Turin et cofinancé par la Commission de l’Union européenne. Notre propos était de réfléchir plus généralement sur les conséquences négatives et/ou positives de l’IA sur les variétés linguistiques et le multilinguisme, ce dernier étant une valeur de l’UE. Ce que nous proposons par ce numéro est un livre inédit qui peut se vanter d’être parmi les premiers à s’occuper de ce type de thématique, du moins en Europe

Uterine Epithelial Cell Regulation of DC-SIGN Expression Inhibits Transmitted/Founder HIV-1 Trans Infection by Immature Dendritic Cells

Sexual transmission accounts for the majority of HIV-1 infections. In over 75% of cases, infection is initiated by a single variant (transmitted/founder virus). However, the determinants of virus selection during transmission are unknown. Host cell-cell interactions in the mucosa may be critical in regulating susceptibility to infection. We hypothesized in this study that specific immune modulators secreted by uterine epithelial cells modulate susceptibility of dendritic cells (DC) to infection with HIV-1.Here we report that uterine epithelial cell secretions (i.e. conditioned medium, CM) decreased DC-SIGN expression on immature dendritic cells via a transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) mechanism. Further, CM inhibited dendritic cell-mediated trans infection of HIV-1 expressing envelope proteins of prototypic reference. Similarly, CM inhibited trans infection of HIV-1 constructs expressing envelopes of transmitted/founder viruses, variants that are selected during sexual transmission. In contrast, whereas recombinant TGF- β1 inhibited trans infection of prototypic reference HIV-1 by dendritic cells, TGF-β1 had a minimal effect on trans infection of transmitted/founder variants irrespective of the reporter system used to measure trans infection.Our results provide the first direct evidence for uterine epithelial cell regulation of dendritic cell transmission of infection with reference and transmitted/founder HIV-1 variants. These findings have immediate implications for designing strategies to prevent sexual transmission of HIV-1

HIV interactions with monocytes and dendritic cells: viral latency and reservoirs

HIV is a devastating human pathogen that causes serious immunological diseases in humans around the world. The virus is able to remain latent in an infected host for many years, allowing for the long-term survival of the virus and inevitably prolonging the infection process. The location and mechanisms of HIV latency are under investigation and remain important topics in the study of viral pathogenesis. Given that HIV is a blood-borne pathogen, a number of cell types have been proposed to be the sites of latency, including resting memory CD4+ T cells, peripheral blood monocytes, dendritic cells and macrophages in the lymph nodes, and haematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow. This review updates the latest advances in the study of HIV interactions with monocytes and dendritic cells, and highlights the potential role of these cells as viral reservoirs and the effects of the HIV-host-cell interactions on viral pathogenesis

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research