Guest Editorial: Tribocorrosion 2009: East meets West

The 2nd International Symposium on TriboCorrosion held on the 17th and 18th of March 2009, at the Austrian Center of Competence for Tribology, Wiener Neustadt, was a seamlessly smooth transition from the colour of vibrancy of India where the 1st International Conference in TriboCorrosion was held in 2006, to the spectacular beauty of the scenery of Austria. Starting on March 17th, St Patrick's day, the organizers were hoping for the "rub of the green" (the luck of the Irish) and what emerged during the conference, a collective and lively gathering of new and established researchers, certainly lived up to its expectations. The aim of this symposium was not only to assemble specialists in this subject from across the world to address ongoing research issues but also to contemplate education transfer of knowledge and technical innovation, and imbue our young people in the area with an enthusiasm for the topic

Post-school Education and Training for Students with Intellectual Disabilities

AbstractLife-long learning is essential for persons with intellectual disabilities wishing to enter the labour market. This paper describes an integrated curriculum provided by a leading agency in Northern Ireland that provides ‘real work’ training to students aged 16 to 40 years. It has three, inter-linking components: 1) training courses leading to accredited vocational awards; 2) realistic work experience in social enterprises managed by the agency and 3) supported work in mainstream employment with on-the-job training from job coaches. The critical features of the model were validated through interviews with a range of stakeholders including trainees, family carers and disability specialists

Teacher Ethnographic Research as Epistemology: Using Ethnographic Research to Develop Reflexive Educators in Diverse Classrooms

Based on fieldwork, interviews and ethno-graphic research of student teachers, reflectivity is revealed as an important starting point for teachers working with diverse and multilingual students. Reflecting assist individuals as they attempt to assimilate a new cultural complexity, particularly one that is as complex as a classroom full of adolescents. Reflexive practices are essen-tial to meet the learning needs in a multilingual, multicultural and global state. Ethnographic research can indeed provide a springboard into the development of reflective and reflexive educators

Effect of two different participant information sheets on recruitment to a falls trial:an embedded randomised recruitment trial

Background/Aims: Recruitment to trials of intervention for older people who fall is challenging. Evidence suggests that the word falls has negative connotations for older people, and this may present a barrier to engaging with trials in this area. We therefore tested whether a participant information sheet that minimised reference to falls could improve recruitment rates. Methods: We conducted a study within a trial, embedded within a randomised controlled trial of vitamin K versus placebo to improve postural sway in patients aged 65 and over with a history of falls. Potential participants were identified from primary care lists in 14 practices and were randomised to receive either a standard participant information sheet or an information sheet minimising use of the word falls, instead focussing on maintenance of health, fitness and balance. The primary outcome for this embedded trial was the proportion of responses expressing interest in participating received in each arm. Secondary outcomes were the proportion of those contacted attending a screening visit, consenting at screening, and the proportion contacted who were randomised into the main trial. Results: In all, 4145 invitations were sent, with an overall response rate of 444 (10.7%). In all, 2148 individuals received the new information sheet (minimising reference to falls); 1997 received the standard information sheet. There was no statistically significant difference in response rate between those individuals sent the new information sheet and those sent the standard information sheet (10.1% vs 11.4%; difference 1.3% (95% confidence interval -0.6% to 3.2%); p = 0.19). Similarly, we found no statistically significant difference between the percentage of those who attended and consented at screening in the two groups (2.1% vs 2.7%; difference 0.6% (95% confidence interval: -0.4% to 1.6%); p = 0.20), and no statistically significant difference between the percentage randomised in the two groups (2.0% vs 2.6%; difference 0.6% (95% confidence interval -0.4% to 1.6%); p = 0.20). Conclusions: Use of a participant information sheet minimising reference to falls did not lead to a greater response rate in this trial targeting older people with a history of falls.</p

Rethinking the Composition of a Rational Antibiotic Arsenal for the 21st Century

The importance of the human microbiome in health may be the single most valuable development in our conception of the microbial world since Pasteur\u27s germ theory of the 1860s. Its implications for our understanding of health and pathogenesis are profound. Coupled with the revolution in diagnostics that we are now witnessing - a revolution that changes medicine from a science of symptoms to a science of causes - we cannot continue to develop antibiotics as we have for the past 80 years. Instead, we need to usher in a new conception of the role of antibiotics in treatment: away from single molecules that target broad phylogenetic spectra and towards targeted molecules that cripple the pathogen while leaving the rest of the microbiome largely intact