Perspectives of Year 12 Students From Five Catholic Secondary Schools in Western Australia Towards Teaching as a Career

The purpose of this research was to review the ways in which Year 12 Catholic school students perceive teaching as a career and to explore the people, contexts and factors that have influenced these perspectives. Schools are being increasingly challenged to revisit the role of the educator in today’s rapidly changing educational landscape. Best practice teaching and learning is at the forefront of this consideration. Attracting talented and committed students to the teaching profession is crucial if schools are going to play a part in adequately teaching and preparing future generations for society (Weldon, 2015). It follows therefore that both the profession itself and the status of the profession must be appealing to passionate, committed and high-calibre students (Laming, 2019; Masters 2014; 2015; Parliament of Australia, 2019). Underpinning the purpose of this study are the beliefs that student perspectives surrounding careers lead to decisions that manifest in university course preferences and that those perspectives can be influenced. The study was qualitative in nature with a constructivist epistemology. Interpretivism was employed as a theoretical perspective using the lens of symbolic interactionism. An instrumental case study was chosen as the research methodology. Qualitative methods of data collection were predominately employed. The methods of research included semi-structured interviews with five career counsellors, 470 Year 12 student online surveys, five Year 12 student focus group interviews, with a total of 109 students and researcher field notes. The data was analysed using the Miles and Huberman interactive model of data management and analysis (2014). The results of the study provided responses to three specific research questions, which emanated from the literature review. The student perspectives of teaching as a career covered four themes that included the purpose of teaching, positive perspectives of teaching, negative perspectives of teaching and perspectives of the status of teaching as a career. Both the students and the career counsellors identified influences upon these perspectives. The students clearly identified experiences with teachers and students as the most significant influencers on their perspectives towards teaching as a career. The specific experiences are identified and presented iv as either positive or negative influences upon the student perspectives of teaching as a career. As a result of the research, a conceptual design was proposed to explain the domains of influence on student perspectives of teaching as a career. The study presents the implications for the teaching profession alongside recommendations. The research proposes highly contextualised topics for further research and possible additions to the body of published literature relating to student perspectives of teaching as a career

The International Exportation of Waste: The Battle Against the Path of Least Resistance

This Comment will focus on the United States\u27 current regulations governing the exportation of waste, their strengths and weaknesses, and the changes needed to incorporate the Basel Convention into United States domestic law

The International Exportation of Waste: The Battle Against the Path of Least Resistance

This Comment will focus on the United States\u27 current regulations governing the exportation of waste, their strengths and weaknesses, and the changes needed to incorporate the Basel Convention into United States domestic law

Is every toric variety an M-variety?

A complex algebraic variety X defined over the real numbers is called an M-variety if the sum of its Betti numbers (for homology with closed supports and coefficients in Z/2) coincides with the corresponding sum for the real part of X. It has been known for a long time that any nonsingular complete toric variety is an M-variety. In this paper we consider whether this remains true for toric varieties that are singular or not complete, and we give a positive answer when the dimension of X is less than or equal to 3.Comment: 13 page

Examining plausibility of self-report energy intake data: considerations for method selection.

Self-reported dietary intake data contain valuable information and have long been used in the development of nutrition programs and policy. Some degree of measurement error is always present in such data. Biological plausibility, assessed by determining whether self-reported energy intake (rEI) reflects physiological status and physical activity level, must be examined and accounted for before drawing conclusions about intake. Methods that may be used to account for plausibility of rEI include crude methods such as excluding participants reporting EIs at the extremes of a range of intake and individualized methods such as statistical adjustment and applying cutoffs that account for the errors associated with within-participant variation in EI and total energy expenditure (TEE). These approaches allow researchers to determine how accounting for under- and overreporting affects study results and to appropriately address misreporting in drawing conclusions with data collected and in interpreting reported research. In selecting a procedure to assess and account for plausibility of intake, there are a number of key considerations, such as resources available, the dietary-report instrument, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each method. While additional studies are warranted to recommend one procedure as superior to another, researchers should apply one of the available methods to address the issue of implausible rEI. If no method is applied, then at minimum, mean TEE or rEI/TEE should be reported to allow readers to ascertain the degree of misreporting at a gross level and better interpret the data and results provided

The Influence of Proximal versus Distal Strength on Balance Control in Athletes versus Non-Athletes

Please see the pdf version of the abstract

Quality and Safety of Minimally Invasive Surgery: Past, Present, and Future

Adverse events because of medical errors are a leading cause of death in the United States (US) exceeding the mortality rates of motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, and AIDS. Improvements can and should be made to reduce the rates of preventable surgical errors because they account for nearly half of all adverse events within hospitals. Although minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has proven patient benefits such as reduced postoperative pain and hospital stay, its operative environment imposes substantial physical and cognitive strain on the surgeon increasing the risk of error. To mitigate errors and protect patients, a multidisciplinary approach is needed to improve MIS. Clinical human factors, and biomedical engineering principles and methodologies can be used to develop and assess laparoscopic surgery instrumentation, practices, and procedures. First, the foundational understanding and the imperative to transform health care into a high-quality and safe system is discussed. Next, a generalized perspective is presented on the impact of the design and redesign of surgical technologies and processes on human performance. Finally, the future of this field and the research needed to further improve the quality and safety of MIS is discussed

Can the palatability of healthy, satiety-promoting foods increase with repeated exposure during weight loss?

Repeated exposure to sugary, fatty, and salty foods often enhances their appeal. However, it is unknown if exposure influences learned palatability of foods typically promoted as part of a healthy diet. We tested whether the palatability of pulse containing foods provided during a weight loss intervention which were particularly high in fiber and low in energy density would increase with repeated exposure. At weeks 0, 3, and 6, participants (n = 42; body mass index (BMI) 31.2 ± 4.3 kg/m²) were given a test battery of 28 foods, approximately half which had been provided as part of the intervention, while the remaining half were not foods provided as part of the intervention. In addition, about half of each of the foods (provided as part or not provided as part of the intervention) contained pulses. Participants rated the taste, appearance, odor, and texture pleasantness of each food, and an overall flavor pleasantness score was calculated as the mean of these four scores. Linear mixed model analyses showed an exposure type by week interaction effect for taste, texture and overall flavor pleasantness indicating statistically significant increases in ratings of provided foods in taste and texture from weeks 0 to 3 and 0 to 6, and overall flavor from weeks 0 to 6. Repeated exposure to these foods, whether they contained pulses or not, resulted in a ~4% increase in pleasantness ratings. The long-term clinical relevance of this small increase requires further study.T32 AT000815 - NCCIH NIH HH