Contemporary perspectives of the child in action: An investigation into children’s connectedness with, and contribution to, the world around them

Childcare within Australia has undergone significant reform as a result of the implementation of the nationally mandated Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework [EYLF] (Department for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR]. 2009. Belonging, Being and Becoming. The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations). The EYLF articulates contemporary perspectives of the child through its principles, practices and learning outcomes. Educators are required to promote these principles, practices and learning outcomes with children aged from birth to 5 years. This paper reports the findings from a research project that sought to investigate how educators applied their understanding of learning outcome two of the EYLF (children are connected with and contribute to their world). The focus of this research was educators working with children aged two to three years within childcare centres operating on school sites, in metropolitan Western Australian. The research design was qualitative and situated within the interpretivist paradigm. Observations were used as the method for gathering data and these were analysed through a process of coding. This paper presents the observational findings of educators’ practices within learning outcome two. Composite vignettes from the voice of the child are included to present the observational findings. In centralising the voice of the child, contemporary perspectives are made explicit

What do mathematicians think about their journals? peer reviewquality tops list of stated issues

Cameron Neylon (Curtin University), David Michael Roberts (University of Adelaide) and Mark C Wilson (University of Auckland) have conducted a large-scale survey of what mathematicians think of their scholarly publishing options and what improvements are required. Covering topics like open access, peer review and editorial processes, the survey findings reveal some fascinating insights into the scholarly communication system as it currently stands and what changes could be made to make it better

A longitudinal analysis of university rankings

Pressured by globalization and the increasing demand for public organisations to be accountable, efficient and transparent, university rankings have become an important tool for assessing the quality of higher education institutions. It is therefore important to carefully assess exactly what these rankings measure. In this paper, the three major global university rankings, The Academic Ranking of World Universities, The Times Higher Education and the Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings, are studied. After a description of the ranking methodologies, it is shown that university rankings are stable over time but that there is variation between the three rankings. Furthermore, using Principal Component Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis, we show that the variables used to construct the rankings primarily measure two underlying factors: a universities reputation and its research performance. By correlating these factors and plotting regional aggregates of universities on the two factors, differences between the rankings are made visible. Last, we elaborate how the results from these analysis can be viewed in light of often voiced critiques of the ranking process. This indicates that the variables used by the rankings might not capture the concepts they claim to measure. Doing so the study provides evidence of the ambiguous nature of university ranking's quantification of university performance.Comment: 26 page

Looking within to build strong foundations of personhood: The importance of Early Years Teacher’s Reflective Practice in the formation of a positive sense of identity in the children they work with

A collaborative research project between the Schools of Education at the University of Notre Dame Australia and the University of Western Australia has produced data that looks at how the Australian Early Years Framework is experienced in practice within Schools that deliver programmes for two year old children in the Perth Metropolitan area of Western Australia. The data of this project was analysed and prepared for academic journal publication using the very themes upon which the AEYLF is built; Identity, Connection to the world, Wellbeing, Confident Learning and Effective Communication. Papers presenting the data within these themes are a central outcome of the collaboration and are currently in progress. The paper which deals with the issue of identity formation within the two year old participants leaves the question of the importance of reflective practice wide open for debate and analysis. As such, this additional paper examines the relationship between a teacher’s reflective practice and the formation of a positive sense of self-identity in the toddlers they work with. The concept of identity formation and the pertinent role of the teacher are examined. The importance of reflective practice in establishing both the teacher’s awareness of identity formation, and their attentiveness to their own role within the very nuanced variations of it that can unfold for children, as they develop a sense of self in partnership with the influential adults in their lives. The teacher’s role is critical within this exchange and their engagement with reflective practice is essential to ensure the most positive outcomes for the children they work with

Covalent Attachment of Proteins to Solid Supports and Surfaces via Sortase-Mediated Ligation

BACKGROUND: There is growing interest in the attachment of proteins to solid supports for the development of supported catalysts, affinity matrices, and micro devices as well as for the development of planar and bead based protein arrays for multiplexed assays of protein concentration, interactions, and activity. A critical requirement for these applications is the generation of a stable linkage between the solid support and the immobilized, but still functional, protein. METHODOLOGY: Solid supports including crosslinked polymer beads, beaded agarose, and planar glass surfaces, were modified to present an oligoglycine motif to solution. A range of proteins were ligated to the various surfaces using the Sortase A enzyme of S. aureus. Reactions were carried out in aqueous buffer conditions at room temperature for times between one and twelve hours. CONCLUSIONS: The Sortase A transpeptidase of S. aureus provides a general, robust, and gentle approach to the selective covalent immobilization of proteins on three very different solid supports. The proteins remain functional and accessible to solution. Sortase mediated ligation is therefore a straightforward methodology for the preparation of solid supported enzymes and bead based assays, as well as the modification of planar surfaces for microanalytical devices and protein arrays

High resolution dynamical mapping of social interactions with active RFID

In this paper we present an experimental framework to gather data on face-to-face social interactions between individuals, with a high spatial and temporal resolution. We use active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices that assess contacts with one another by exchanging low-power radio packets. When individuals wear the beacons as a badge, a persistent radio contact between the RFID devices can be used as a proxy for a social interaction between individuals. We present the results of a pilot study recently performed during a conference, and a subsequent preliminary data analysis, that provides an assessment of our method and highlights its versatility and applicability in many areas concerned with human dynamics

An analysis of the feasibility of short read sequencing

Several methods for ultra high-throughput DNA sequencing are currently under investigation. Many of these methods yield very short blocks of sequence information (reads). Here we report on an analysis showing the level of genome sequencing possible as a function of read length. It is shown that re-sequencing and de novo sequencing of the majority of a bacterial genome is possible with read lengths of 20-30 nt, and that reads of 50 nt can provide reconstructed contigs (a contiguous fragment of sequence data) of 1000 nt and greater that cover 80% of human chromosome 1

Long-Term Outcome of Otherwise Healthy Individuals with Incidentally Discovered Borderline Thrombocytopenia

BACKGROUND: The long-term outcome of individuals with mild degrees of thrombocytopenia is unknown. METHODS AND FINDINGS: In a prospective study conducted between August 1992 and December 2002, 260 apparently healthy individuals with incidentally discovered platelet counts between 100 × 10(9)/l and 150 × 10(9)/l were monitored for 6 mo to determine whether their condition persisted. The monitoring period was completed in 217 cases, of whom 191 (88%) maintained stable platelet counts. These 191 individuals were included in a long-term follow-up study to gain knowledge of their natural history. With a median time of observation of 64 mo, the thrombocytopenia resolved spontaneously or persisted with no other disorders becoming apparent in 64% of cases. The most frequent event during the study period was the subsequent development of an autoimmune disease. The 10-y probability of developing idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), as defined by platelet counts persistently below 100 × 10(9)/l, was 6.9% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.0%–12.0%). The 10-y probability of developing autoimmune disorders other than ITP was 12.0% (95% CI: 6.9%–20.8%). Most of the cases (85%) of autoimmune disease occurred in women. CONCLUSIONS: Healthy individuals with a sustained platelet count between 100 × 10(9)/l and 150 × 10(9)/l have a 10-y probability of developing autoimmune disorders of 12%. Further investigation is required to establish whether this risk is higher than in the general population and whether an intensive follow-up results in an improvement of prognosis

Stage-specific fluorescence intensity of GFP and mCherry during sporulation In Bacillus Subtilis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fluorescent proteins are powerful molecular biology tools that have been used to study the subcellular dynamics of proteins within live cells for well over a decade. Two fluorescent proteins commonly used to enable dual protein labelling are GFP (green) and mCherry (red). Sporulation in the Gram positive bacterium <it>Bacillus subtilis </it>has been studied for many years as a paradigm for understanding the molecular basis for differential gene expression. As sporulation initiates, cells undergo an asymmetric division leading to differential gene expression in the small prespore and large mother cell compartments. Use of two fluorescent protein reporters permits time resolved examination of differential gene expression either in the same compartments or between compartments. Due to the spectral properties of GFP and mCherry, they are considered an ideal combination for co-localisation and co-expression experiments. They can also be used in combination with fluorescent DNA stains such as DAPI to correlate protein localisation patterns with the developmental stage of sporulation which can be linked to well characterised changes in DNA staining patterns.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>While observing the recruitment of the transcription machinery into the forespore of sporulating <it>Bacillus subtilis</it>, we noticed the occurrence of stage-specific fluorescence intensity differences between GFP and mCherry. During vegetative growth and the initial stages of sporulation, fluorescence from both GFP and mCherry fusions behaved similarly. During stage II-III of sporulation we found that mCherry fluorescence was considerably diminished, whilst GFP signals remained clearly visible. This fluorescence pattern reversed during the final stage of sporulation with strong mCherry and low GFP fluorescence. These trends were observed in reciprocal tagging experiments indicating a direct effect of sporulation on fluorescent protein fluorophores.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Great care should be taken when interpreting the results of protein localisation and quantitative gene expression patterns using fluorescent proteins in experiments involving intracellular physiological change. We believe changes in the subcellular environment of the sporulating cell leads to conditions that differently alter the spectral properties of GFP and mCherry making an accurate interpretation of expression profiles technically challenging.</p