The Casual Approach to Teacher Education: What Effect Does Casualisation Have for Australian University Teaching?

Universities in many countries are struggling to adapt to the competing forces of globalisation, new managerialism, entrepreneurialism and new technologies and quality agenda demands. Diminishing resources caused by restricted funding and an aging and diminishing academic workforce pose barriers. One solution to staffing shortages is the casualisation of academic teachers increasing causal or sessional teaching staff who take on significantly increased teaching responsibilities. This article explores the casualisation of university academics and reports on preliminary findings of a small scale sessional teacher development program that used data from a questionnaire on demographics of a small group of 22 sessional teaching staff employed at an Australian university. Results indicated that sessional staff believed they were effective university teachers yet their ongoing development was hampered by heavy teaching workloads, other employment and lack of time. The article concludes that these factors must be addressed by universities to provide quality outcomes for students

South African surgical registrar perceptions of the research project component of training: Hope for the future?

Background. The Health Professions Council of South Africa requires that a research project be submitted and passed before registration as a specialist.Objective. To describe surgical registrars’ perceptions of the compulsory research project.Method. Ethics clearance was received before commencing the study. A questionnaire was developed to collect feedback from surgical registrars throughout South Africa (SA). Completed questionnaires underwent descriptive analysis using MS Excel. Fisher’s exact test and the χ2 test were used to compare perceptions of the research-experienced and research-naive groups.Results. All medical schools in SA were sampled, and 51.5% (124/241) of surgical registrars completed the questionnaire. Challenges facing registrars included insufficient time (109/124), inadequate training in the research process (40/124), inadequate supervision (31/124), inadequate financial resources (25/124) and lack of research continuity (11/124). Of the registrars sampled, 67.7% (84/124) believed research to be a valuable component of training. An overwhelming percentage (93.5%, 116/124) proposed a dedicated research block of time as a potential solution to overcoming the challenges encountered. Further proposals included attending a course in research methodology (79/124), supervision by a faculty member with an MMed or higher postgraduate degree (73/124), and greater research exposure as an undergraduate (56/124). No statistically significant differences were found between the perceptions of the researchexperienced and research-naive groups.Conclusions. Challenges facing surgical registrars in their efforts to complete their research projects were identified and solutions to these problems proposed. It is heartening that respondents have suggested solutions to the problems they encounter, and view research as an important component of their careers

Een hernieuwde kijk op individuele besluitvorming in de glastuinbouw

In dit rapport wordt verslag gedaan van een verkennend onderzoek naar verschillen in de besluitvorming van individuele glastuinders en naar de rol die de 'omgeving' hierbij speelt. Onderzoeksvragen zijn: Hoe verloopt het besluitvormingsproces van een glastuinder bij investeringsbeslissingen omtrent energiebesparing? Wat is de rol van 'externen' (bedrijfs-adviseurs, collega-telers, en dergelijke) bij dit proces? Hoe krijgen we zicht op de interactie tussen de glastuinder en zijn of haar omgeving? Op basis van de literatuur is een conceptueel model opgesteld. Bij in totaal 70 glastuinders zijn, via een workshop en telefonische interviews, data verzameld met be-trekking tot persoonlijkheidskenmerken, attituden en informatieverzamelingsgedrag. Deze data zijn vervolgens gerelateerd aan hun bedrijfsgegevens die reeds eerder vastgelegd zijn in het Bedrijven-Informatienet van LEI B.V. De resultaten laten zien dat er significante relaties zijn tussen persoonlijkheidskenmerken van glastuinders, bedrijfsfactoren en informatieverzamelingsgedrag. Het persoonlijkheidskenmerk 'extraversie' en de bedrijfsfactor 'oppervlakte van het bedrijf' ble-ken (deels) te kunnen verklaren waarom de ene glastuinder zelf de uiteindelijke beslissing neemt en de andere glastuinder het overlaat aan een 'extern' persoon

Bi- and trinuclear coinage metal complexes of a PNNP ligand featuring metallophilic interactions and an unusual charge separation

A selective synthesis of bi- and trinuclear complexes featuring a tetradentate monoanionic PNNP ligand is presented. The binuclear coinage metal complexes show a typical fourfold coordination for Cu and Ag, which changes to a bifold coordination for Au. The latter is accompanied by an unusual charge separation. Optical properties are investigated using photoluminescence spectroscopy and complemented by time-dependent density-functional-theory calculations. All compounds demonstrate clearly distinguished features dependent on the metals chosen and differences in the complex scaffold

The perceived influence of the elements of internal marketing on the brand image of a staffing agency group

The main purpose of the study on which this article is based was to determine the influence of internal marketing on service quality as a means of improving the brand image of staffing agencies. The population of the study was the public staffing industry in South Africa. The sampling unit was the clients of a selected staffing brand. The selected sample of respondents was surveyed through an online self-administered survey distributed via a link in an email. The data was analysed using multivariate regression statistics. The application of an internal marketing approach enables staffing agencies to minimise employee turnover and increase service quality and performance, aiding staffing agencies to gain strong brand images that result in higher levels of competitiveness and profitability. Successful internal marketing should have a positive influence on employee attitudes and actions and therefore enhance customer satisfaction and service quality. The integration of internal marketing into the organisation's overall marketing strategy is therefore critical. The purpose of such a strategy can be to ensure that the organisation recruits and trains employees to deliver on the values of the brand in order to ensure that staffing agencies strengthen their brand images

The correlation between hair and eye colour and contralateral suppression of otoacoustic emissions

Genetics and environmental factors frequently influence individual’s susceptibility to hearing loss. It is postulated that melanin in the inner ear is related to individual’s susceptibility to noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). General pigmentation in turn, suspected to be related to the amount of pigmentation in the inner ear. The amount of melanin in the inner ear is said to modulate the endocochlear potential and provide an otoprotective effect. Aim: The study aimed to determine the relationship between the contralateral suppression of otoacoustic emissions (CSOAE) in individuals with brown eyes and hair, and blue eyes and blond hair, and temporary emission shift (TES) after short-term noise exposure. Setting and Design: The research was conducted using a quantitative research design with a quasi-experimental repeated within the subject design to compare the CSOAE in subjects with different hair and eyes colour with TES after short-term noise exposure. Quantitative research was used to determine the relationship between the measurable variables to predict occurrence. Material and Method: The hearing sensitivity of young adults was determined by using pure tone audiometry followed by CSOAE’s and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) before listening to music for one hour individually. Pure tone audiometry and DPOAE’s were repeated after music exposure to determine the amount of TES and temporary threshold shift (TTS). Statistical Analysis used: One-way ANOVA was used during the analysis of the data obtained during this research study, in addition to, two-tailed Wilcoxon Sign Rank test and Friedman’s test. In all analyses, a 95% level of significance (P<0.05) was used. Results: No statistically significant difference between efferent suppression was measured by CSOAE’s between the participant groups. A larger TTS at 4000 Hz and TES at 2000 Hz was evident in the blue eyes and blond hair group after short-term music exposure. Conclusion: CSOAE’s were unable to predict which group of individuals were more susceptible to NIHL after short-term noise exposure.http://www.noiseandhealth.orghj2020Speech-Language Pathology and Audiolog