Restor(y)ing power, intimacy and desire in academic work : relational academic development and learning development practice

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.In academic work, the discourses of academic development and learning development tend to focus on technical and transactional dimensions at the expense of the affective. This study presents the work experiences of one academic as instantiations of the operation of these discourses within the cultural context of contemporary Australian higher education. Autoethnographic techniques are utilised to present personal narratives as realisations of cultural-historical and sociocultural possibilities. In addition, restorying, a technique borrowed from White and Epston’s (1990) Narrative Therapy, is appropriated to non-therapeutic ends in this thesis to open up discursive space for subjugated narratives that challenge dominant, canonical accounts of academic work. The foundation chapters of the thesis locate academic work within a set of contextualising relations that provide the meaning making potential for the events and encounters that are described. Key among these contextualising relations are the Australian higher education ecosystem, the echoes of the Humboltian ideal and the impacts of neoliberalisation on the resource arrangements and governance of globalising higher education. Ethical, aesthetical and critical dimensions are explored to denaturalise a number of taken-for-granted aspects of higher education. Three key affective dimensions in academic work are identified to encompass taken-for-granted dimensions of academic work: power, intimacy and desire. The first, power, is explored in relation to an academic development encounter focused on constructive alignment and criterion-referenced assessment. The journal entry presents the lines of flight (Deleuze & Guattari 1983 & 1987) taken by a disciplinary-based lecturer to resist the power dimensions of the academic development encounter. The chapter concludes by restorying this academic development encounter and to recount an encounter with a student to suggest a pedagogy of ambivalence. The second affective dimension, intimacy, is explored in relation to the attenuated bodily logics of modernity. Journal entries recount a disciplinary-based colleague’s, and a student’s, bodily excess in terms of tears, bodily tremors and personal disclosure in academic development and learning development encounters. Resisting the therapeutisation of these encounters and a liberal-humanist account of disabled others, restorying techniques are utilised to propose a pedagogy of intimacy in which bodily excess and personal disclosure become the plain of emergence in which academic development and learning development operate as educational endeavours. The third affective dimension, desire, is not understood in the Freudian-psychoanalytic sense of lack, but in the Spinozan and Deleuzo-Guattarian sense of production. Curriculum and generic graduate attributes are analysed as desiring discourses that operate within the arborescent assumptions of structuralism. A more nuanced account of curriculum and educational outcomes is advocated through a pedagogy of desire (Zembylas 2007). The study concludes with an outline of a relational academic practice arguing for discursive space for the emergence of a relational academic developer and learning developer subjectivity. Between the experience of living a normal life at the moment on the planet and the public narratives being offered to give a sense of that life, the empty space, the gap, is enormous… In such gaps, people get lost, and in such gaps, people go mad. (Berger, 2001, p. 176

Graphical Reasoning in Compact Closed Categories for Quantum Computation

Compact closed categories provide a foundational formalism for a variety of important domains, including quantum computation. These categories have a natural visualisation as a form of graphs. We present a formalism for equational reasoning about such graphs and develop this into a generic proof system with a fixed logical kernel for equational reasoning about compact closed categories. Automating this reasoning process is motivated by the slow and error prone nature of manual graph manipulation. A salient feature of our system is that it provides a formal and declarative account of derived results that can include `ellipses'-style notation. We illustrate the framework by instantiating it for a graphical language of quantum computation and show how this can be used to perform symbolic computation.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures. This is the journal version of the paper published at AIS

Declaraciones de enfermeras hospitalarias de la década del ochenta: ayuda para la comprensión de la enfermería actual

This study is part of a more extensive project that aims to rescue significant aspects related to the evolution of nursing care from 1950s until 1990s.This study was developed using the technique of oral declaration by active and retired registered nurses, in the context of a school-hospital from the interior of the São Paulo State. The present study particularizes the outcomes regarding to 1980s. As result becomes evident the undertaken effort by nurses in the struggle for profession's recognition and prestige; intense and deep transformations related to nurse's new roles as leadership of the nursinf staff and members of the medical team.Este estudo é parte de um projeto mais amplo que visa resgatar aspectos significativos relacionados à evolução da assistência de enfermagem nas décadas de 50 a 90. Este resgate é feito através da técnica de depoimentos orais de enfermeiros em exercício e aposentados, no contexto de um Hospital Escola do interior paulista. O presente estudo particulariza os resultados obtidos, referentes à década de 80. Como resultado evidencia-se o esforço empreendido pelos enfermeiros na luta pelo reconhecimento e prestígio da profissão, as transformações intensas e profundas aos novos papéis da enfermeira enquanto líder e membro da equipe médica.El estudio es parte de um projecto más ámplio con el intento de rescatar aspectos significativos relacionados a la evolución de la asistencia de enfermería en las décadas de 50 a 90. La capitación se há realizado a traves de la técnica de depoimentos orales de los enfermeros en ejercício de la profesión, en le contexto de un Hospital Escuela del interior del Estado de São Paulo. El presente estudio particulariza los resultados obtenidos, referentes a la década de 80. Como resultados se evidencian el esfuerzo imprimido por las enfermeras en la lucha por el reconocimiento y prestigio de la profésion. Las transformaciones intensas y profundas relacionadas a los nuevos roles de la enfermera como líder de los trabajadores de enfermería y miembro del grupo de la Salud

The Influence of Fat Suppression Technique on Diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI in Lung Cancer

Purpose: To qualitatively and quantitatively investigate the effect of common vendor-related sequence variations in fat suppression techniques on the diagnostic performance of free-breathing DW protocols for lung imaging.Methods: 8 patients with malignant lung lesions were scanned in free breathing using two diffusion-weighted (DW) protocols with different fat suppression techniques: DWA used short-tau inversion recovery (STIR), and DWB used Spectral Adiabatic Inversion Recovery (SPAIR). Both techniques were obtained at two time points, between 1 hour and 1 week apart. Image quality was assessed using a 5-point scoring system. The number of lesions visible within lung, mediastinum and at thoracic inlet on the DW (b=800 s/mm2) images was compared. Signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) were calculated for lesions and para-spinal muscle. Repeatability of ADC values of the lesions was estimated for both protocols together and separately.Results: There was a signal void at the thoracic inlet in all patients with DWB but not with DWA. DWA images were rated significantly better than DWB images overall quality domains. (Cohens κ = 1). Although 8 more upper mediastinal/thoracic inlet lymph nodes were detected with DWA than DWB, this did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.23). Tumour ADC values were not significantly different between protocols (p=0.93), their ADC reproducibility was satisfactory (CoV=7.7%) and repeatability of each protocol separately was comparable (CoVDWA=3.7% (95% CI 2.5 7.1%) and CoVDWB=4.6% (95% CI 3.18.8%)).Conclusion: In a free-breathing DW-MRI protocol for lung, STIR fat suppression produced images of better diagnostic quality than SPAIR, while maintaining comparable SNR and providing repeatable quantitative ADC acceptable for use in a multicentre trial setting

Is the pharmacy profession innovative enough?: meeting the needs of Australian residents with chronic conditions and their carers using the nominal group technique

Background Community pharmacies are ideally located as a source of support for people with chronic conditions. Yet, we have limited insight into what innovative pharmacy services would support this consumer group to manage their condition/s. The aim of this study was to identify what innovations people with chronic conditions and their carers want from their ideal community pharmacy, and compare with what pharmacists and pharmacy support staff think consumers want. Methods We elicited ideas using the nominal group technique. Participants included people with chronic conditions, unpaid carers, pharmacists and pharmacy support staff, in four regions of Australia. Themes were identified via thematic analysis using the constant comparison method. Results Fifteen consumer/carer, four pharmacist and two pharmacy support staff groups were conducted. Two overarching themes were identified: extended scope of practice for the pharmacist and new or improved pharmacy services. The most innovative role for Australian pharmacists was medication continuance, within a limited time-frame. Consumers and carers wanted improved access to pharmacists, but this did not necessarily align with a faster or automated dispensing service. Other ideas included streamlined access to prescriptions via medication reminders, electronic prescriptions and a chronic illness card. Conclusions This study provides further support for extending the pharmacist’s role in medication continuance, particularly as it represents the consumer’s voice. How this is done, or the methods used, needs to optimise patient safety. A range of innovative strategies were proposed and Australian community pharmacies should advocate for and implement innovative approaches to improve access and ensure continuity of care

Internal and external cooling methods and their effect on body temperature, thermal perception and dexterity

© 2018 The Authors. Published by PLOS. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191416© 2018 Maley et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Objective The present study aimed to compare a range of cooling methods possibly utilised by occupational workers, focusing on their effect on body temperature, perception and manual dexterity. Methods Ten male participants completed eight trials involving 30 min of seated rest followed by 30 min of cooling or control of no cooling (CON) (34C, 58% relative humidity). The cooling methods utilised were: ice cooling vest (CV0), phase change cooling vest melting at 14C (CV14), evaporative cooling vest (CVEV), arm immersion in 10C water (AI), portable water-perfused suit (WPS), heliox inhalation (HE) and ice slushy ingestion (SL). Immediately before and after cooling, participants were assessed for fine (Purdue pegboard task) and gross (grip and pinch strength) manual dexterity. Rectal and skin temperature, as well as thermal sensation and comfort, were monitored throughout. Results Compared with CON, SL was the only method to reduce rectal temperature (P = 0.012). All externally applied cooling methods reduced skin temperature (P0.05). Conclusion The present study observed that ice ingestion or ice applied to the skin produced the greatest effect on rectal and skin temperature, respectively. AI should not be utilised if workers require subsequent fine manual dexterity. These results will help inform future studies investigating appropriate pre-cooling methods for the occupational worker.This project is financially supported by the US Government through the Technical Support Working Group within the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office.Published versio

Molecular basis of FIR-mediated c-myc transcriptional control

The far upstream element (FUSE) regulatory system promotes a peak in the concentration of c-Myc during cell cycle. First, the FBP transcriptional activator binds to the FUSE DNA element upstream of the c-myc promoter. Then, FBP recruits its specific repressor (FIR), which acts as an on/off transcriptional switch. Here we describe the molecular basis of FIR recruitment, showing that the tandem RNA recognition motifs of FIR provide a platform for independent FUSE DNA and FBP protein binding and explaining the structural basis of the reversibility of the FBP-FIR interaction. We also show that the physical coupling between FBP and FIR is modulated by a flexible linker positioned sequentially to the recruiting element. Our data explain how the FUSE system precisely regulates c-myc transcription and suggest that a small change in FBP-FIR affinity leads to a substantial effect on c-Myc concentration.MRC Grant-in-aid U11757455

Phenotypic and molecular assessment of seven patients with 6p25 deletion syndrome: Relevance to ocular dysgenesis and hearing impairment

BACKGROUND: Thirty-nine patients have been described with deletions involving chromosome 6p25. However, relatively few of these deletions have had molecular characterization. Common phenotypes of 6p25 deletion syndrome patients include hydrocephalus, hearing loss, and ocular, craniofacial, skeletal, cardiac, and renal malformations. Molecular characterization of deletions can identify genes that are responsible for these phenotypes. METHODS: We report the clinical phenotype of seven patients with terminal deletions of chromosome 6p25 and compare them to previously reported patients. Molecular characterization of the deletions was performed using polymorphic marker analysis to determine the extents of the deletions in these seven 6p25 deletion syndrome patients. RESULTS: Our results, and previous data, show that ocular dysgenesis and hearing impairment are the two most highly penetrant phenotypes of the 6p25 deletion syndrome. While deletion of the forkhead box C1 gene (FOXC1) probably underlies the ocular dysgenesis, no gene in this region is known to be involved in hearing impairment. CONCLUSIONS: Ocular dysgenesis and hearing impairment are the two most common phenotypes of 6p25 deletion syndrome. We conclude that a locus for dominant hearing loss is present at 6p25 and that this locus is restricted to a region distal to D6S1617. Molecular characterization of more 6p25 deletion patients will aid in refinement of this locus and the identification of a gene involved in dominant hearing loss

Facing the Beast Apart Together: Fear in Boys and Girls after Processing Information about Novel Animals Individually or in a Duo

In this experimental study, we made an attempt to examine gender-related peer influences on childhood fear. Nine- to 12-year-old boys and girls were provided with ambiguous and positive information about novel animals and then asked to provide a subjective fear rating of the animals under two conditions: fear of one animal was assessed individually by the child on its own, whereas fear of the other animal was measured after a brief discussion on fear-related issues with a same-gender peer. Results indicated that children who completed the FBQ after a discussion with a same-gender peer displayed lower fear beliefs scores than children who completed the questionnaire fully on their own. This fear-suppression effect was mainly evident in boys after hearing ambiguous information about the novel animals. The implications of these findings are briefly discussed