Educating the Country Out of the Child and Educating the Child Out of the Country: An Excursion in Spectrology

A focus on rurality has been largely absent from much contemporary educational policy discussion. At best, rural education is a peripheral concern just as rural areas are increasingly considered marginal to the development of a globalized, networked, fast capitalism. In Canada rural, coastal, northern, and single-industry communities that were built around primary resource extraction are constructed as social and educational problem spaces partly because their residents are often attached to these places long after they have served their economic purpose as natural resource deposits for the interests of capital. In fact rurality and rusticity are typically seen as one face of the kind of localized social condition that formal education is designed to normalize and transform by fostering outmigration and a general orientation to urban life and to mobility. In this analysis I use Derrida’s idea of spectrology to examine some images of rurality as persistent, place-attached ghosts haunting the educational project of modernity.La ruralité a été absente d’une grande partie de la discussion contemporaine sur l’éducation. Tout au mieux, l’éducation en milieu rural est considérée comme une préoccupation secondaire, tout comme les régions rurales sont jugées comme étant en marge du développement d’un capitalisme mondial réseauté. Au Canada, les milieux ruraux, côtiers, du Nord ou à industrie unique et dont l’origine découle de l’extraction de ressources primaires, sont considérés comme des régions qui posent des problèmes sur le plan social et éducationnel et ce, en partie parce que ceux qui y résident demeurent souvent sur place longtemps après que le lieu ne fournisse plus de ressources primaires aux financiers. En fait, les caractéristiques rurales et rustiques sont typiquement perçues comme faisant partie des aspects de la condition sociale localisée qu’une formation scolaire doit normaliser et transformer en stimulant la migration vers les villes et, de façon générale, un penchant pour la vie urbaine et la mobilité. Dans cette analyse, je puise dans la spectrologie de Derrida et j’étudie quelques perceptions qui présentent la ruralité comme des fantômes ancrés dans un lieu qui perturbent le projet éducationnel de la modernité

Memory, placelessness and the Geoweb: exploring the role of locational social-networking in reimagining community

The concept of memory is integral to theorisations of both displacement and placelessness, especially when a sense of place exists only in memory or imagination for members of dispersed communities. Collective memories deployed to restore, re-establish, repatriate territory, and reconnect a people with its original homeland reveal the symbolic significance embedded within place, as well as the value of collective memory as a strategy of resistance and viable political tool. The challenge is to find ways that enable Aboriginal communities to document, share, and reflect on place-based memories and knowledge, and in so doing reestablish identity, culture, and language, which in turn will facilitate the re-appropriation of contested places. Geographic Information Technologies (GITs) are increasingly pervasive in Aboriginal communities in documenting aboriginal knowledge and land use and occupancy information. Many communities use GITs for a range of purposes, including land-use planning, cultural documentation, and territorial claims. The Geoweb is the GIT platform for Web 2.0 digital social networking applications. In its current state, the Geoweb is a tool for spatial representation rather than a platform for spatial analysis as with traditional GIS. Because of the interactive capability and ease of use of Geoweb technologies, they offer great potential for storing, managing, and communicating land-related knowledge to both decision-makers and community members themselves. The Geoweb's ability to compile and mash-up photographs, audio and video through a map interface gives it great potential for presenting place-based memories and knowledge, including toponyms, oral histories, and stories. This presentation reports on two community-based Geoweb projects with Aboriginal groups in Canada, the Metis Nation of British Columbia and the Tlowitsis Nation. It specifically examines the potential for Geoweb technologies to capture, communicate, and comment on community memories in these dispersed communities and discuss how the Geoweb medium alters information flow and the nature of the knowledge being shared.Australian Academy of the Humanities; the ANU College of Arts and Social Science

Acute anxiety predicts components of the cold shock response on cold water immersion:toward an integrated psychophysiological model of acute cold water survival

Introduction: Drowning is a leading cause of accidental death. In cold-water, sudden skin cooling triggers the life-threatening cold shock response (CSR). The CSR comprises tachycardia, peripheral vasoconstriction, hypertension, inspiratory gasp, and hyperventilation with the hyperventilatory component inducing hypocapnia and increasing risk of aspirating water to the lungs. Some CSR components can be reduced by habituation (i.e., reduced response to stimulus of same magnitude) induced by 3–5 short cold-water immersions (CWI). However, high levels of acute anxiety, a plausible emotion on CWI: magnifies the CSR in unhabituated participants, reverses habituated components of the CSR and prevents/delays habituation when high levels of anxiety are experienced concurrent to immersions suggesting anxiety is integral to the CSR.Purpose: To examine the predictive relationship that prior ratings of acute anxiety have with the CSR. Secondly, to examine whether anxiety ratings correlated with components of the CSR during immersion before and after induction of habituation.Methods: Forty-eight unhabituated participants completed one (CON1) 7-min immersion in to cold water (15°C). Of that cohort, twenty-five completed four further CWIs that would ordinarily induce CSR habituation. They then completed two counter-balanced immersions where anxiety levels were increased (CWI-ANX) or were not manipulated (CON2). Acute anxiety and the cardiorespiratory responses (cardiac frequency [fc], respiratory frequency [fR], tidal volume [VT], minute ventilation [E]) were measured. Multiple regression was used to identify components of the CSR from the most life-threatening period of immersion (1st minute) predicted by the anxiety rating prior to immersion. Relationships between anxiety rating and CSR components during immersion were assessed by correlation.Results: Anxiety rating predicted the fc component of the CSR in unhabituated participants (CON1; p < 0.05, r = 0.536, r2= 0.190). After habituation immersions (i.e., cohort 2), anxiety rating predicted the fR component of the CSR when anxiety levels were lowered (CON2; p < 0.05, r = 0.566, r2= 0.320) but predicted the fc component of the CSR (p < 0.05, r = 0.518, r2= 0.197) when anxiety was increased suggesting different drivers of the CSR when anxiety levels were manipulated; correlation data supported these relationships.Discussion: Acute anxiety is integral to the CSR before and after habituation. We offer a new integrated model including neuroanatomical, perceptual and attentional components of the CSR to explain these data

Effects of normobaric hypoxia on oxygen saturation variability

Background: The study is the first to evaluate the effects of graded normobaric hypoxia on SpO2 variability in healthy individuals. / Materials and Methods: Twelve healthy males (mean [standard deviation] age 22 [4] years) were exposed to four simulated environments (fraction of inspired oxygen [FIO2]: 0.12, 0.145, 0.17, and 0.21) for 45 minutes, in a balanced crossover design. / Results: Sample entropy, a tool that quantifies the irregularity of pulse oximetry fluctuations, was used as a measure of SpO2 variability. SpO2 entropy increased as the FIO2 decreased, and there was a strong significant negative correlation between mean SpO2 and its entropy during hypoxic exposure (r = −0.841 to −0.896, p < 0.001). In addition, SpO2 sample entropy, but not mean SpO2, was correlated (r = 0.630–0.760, p < 0.05) with dyspnea in FIO2 0.17, 0.145, and 0.12 and importantly, SpO2 sample entropy at FIO2 0.17 was correlated with dyspnea at FIO2 0.145 (r = 0.811, p < 0.01). / Conclusions: These findings suggest that SpO2 variability analysis may have the potential to be used in a clinical setting as a noninvasive measure to identify the negative sequelae of hypoxemia

Medical Journal of Australia

ABSTRACT Objectives: To determine the response to colorectal cancer (CRC) screening by colonoscopy, through direct invitation or through invitation by general practitioners. Design and setting: Two-way comparison of randomised population sampling versus cluster sampling of a representative general practice population in the Australian Capital Territory, May 2002 to January 2004. Intervention: Invitation to screen, assessment for eligibility, interview, and colonoscopy. Subjects: 881 subjects aged 55-74 years were invited to screen: 520 from the electoral roll (ER) sample and 361 from the general practice (GP) cluster sample. Main outcome measures: Response rate, participation rate, and rate of adenomatous polyps in the screened group. Results: Participation was similar in the ER arm (35.1%; 95% CI, 30.2%-40.3%) and the GP arm (40.1%; 95% CI, 29.2%-51.0%) after correcting for ineligibility, which was higher in the ER arm. Superior eligibility in the GP arm was offset by the labour of manual record review. Response rates after two invitations were similar for the two groups (ER arm: 78.8%; 95% CI, 75.1%-82.1%; GP arm: 81.7%; 95% CI, 73.8%-89.6%). Overall, 53.4% ineligibility arose from having a colonoscopy in the past 10 years (ER arm, 98/178; GP arm, 42/84). Of 231 colonoscopies performed, 229 were complete, with 32% of subjects screened having adenomatous polyps. Conclusions: Colonoscopy-based CRC screening yields similar response and participation rates with either random population sampling or general practice cluster sampling, with population sampling through the electoral roll providing greater ease of MJA 2004; 181: 423-427 recruitment

Colonoscopic screening for colorectal cancer improves quality of life measures: a population-based screening study

BACKGROUND: Screening asymptomatic individuals for neoplasia can have adverse consequences on quality of life. Colon cancer screening is widespread but the quality of life (QOL) consequences are unknown. This study determined the impact of screening colonoscopy on QOL measures in asymptomatic average-risk participants. METHODS: Asymptomatic male and female participants aged 55–74 years were randomly selected from the Australian Electoral Roll or six primary care physicians' databases. Participants completed the Short-Form (SF-36) Quality of Life Assessment at baseline and at a mean of 39 days after colonoscopy. Outcome measures were (i) significant changes in raw scores in any of the eight SF-36 domains assessed following colonoscopic screening and (ii) improvements or declines in previously validated categories, representing clinically significant changes, within any of the eight SF-36 domains. RESULTS: Baseline QOL measures were similar to those of a matched general population sample. Role Limitations due to Emotions, Mental Health and Vitality raw scores significantly improved following colonoscopy (P < 0.05, 2-tailed t-test). Health ratings according to Category were similar (same clinical status) in the majority of participants. However, 30% participants recorded clinically significant improvement in the Mental Health and Vitality domains (P < 0.05, Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks test). This improvement was not offset by declines in other domains or in other participants. Improvement in QOL was not related to colonoscopy results. CONCLUSION: Average-risk persons benefit significantly from colon cancer screening with colonoscopy, improving in Mental Health and Vitality domains of Quality of Life. This improvement is not offset by declines in other domains