Responsible participation and housing: restoring democratic theory to the scene

Tensions between individual liberty and collective social justice characterise many advanced liberal societies. These tensions are reflected in the challenges posed for representative democracy both by participatory democratic practices and by the current emphasis on (so-called) responsible participation. Based on the example of ‘community’ housing associations in Scotland, this paper explores these tensions. It is argued that the critique of responsibility may have been over-stated – that, in particular, ‘community’ housing associations offer the basis for relatively more inclusive and effective processes of decision-making than council housing, which relies on the traditional processes and institutions of representative local government for its legitimacy

Performativity, fabrication and trust: exploring computer-mediated moderation

Based on research conducted in an English secondary school, this paper explores computer mediated moderation as a performative tool. The Module Assessment Meeting (MAM) was the moderation approach under investigation. I mobilise ethnographic data generated by a key informant, and triangulated with that from other actors in the setting, in order to examine some of the meanings underpinning moderation within a performative environment. Drawing on the work of Ball (2003), Lyotard (1979) and Foucault (1977, 1979), I argue that in this particular case performativity has become entrenched in teachers’ day-to-day practices, and not only affects those practices but also teachers’ sense of self. I suggest that MAM represented performative and fabricated conditions and (re)defined what the key participant experienced as a vital constituent of her educational identities - trust. From examining the case in point, I hope to have illustrated for those interested in teachers’ work some of the implications of the interface between technology and performativity

A profile of patients receiving palliative care in Queensland for January - June 2019

The Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) is a national program that aims to improve the quality and outcomes of palliative care in Australia. This is achieved via a standardised clinical language that supports a national data collection. This report provides a high level profile of 4,625 patients who received palliative care in Queensland during January to June 2019 and had their pain, symptom, family / carer and psychological / spiritual issues assessed as part of routine clinical care

A profile of patients receiving palliative care in Western Australia for January - June 2019

The Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) is a national program that aims to improve the quality and outcomes of palliative care in Australia. This is achieved via a standardised clinical language that supports a national data collection. This report provides a high level profile of 4,181 patients who received palliative care in Western Australia during July to December 2018 and had their pain, symptom, family / carer and psychological / spiritual issues assessed as part of routine clinical care

Patient Outcomes in Palliative Care - NSW and ACT, January - June 2019

The Australian palliative care sector is a world leader in using routine clinical assessment information to guide patient centred care and measure patient and family outcomes. Providers of palliative care are commended for their commitment to excellence in delivering evidence-based, patient-centred care by using the routine Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) assessment framework and contributing patient data toward national outcome measurement and benchmarking. PCOC acknowledges the dedication and willingness of clinicians to improve the care of patients, their families and caregivers. The information collected is not just data - it represents the real-life outcomes of over 40,000 Australians who die an expected death every year. While the focus of this report is on the most recent information relating to January to June 2019, results over the last three years are also presented to highlight achievements and improvement in outcomes. The most recent information corresponds to 24,562 patients, having 31,826 episodes of care and 73,209 palliative care phases from 138 services who provide palliative care in hospital / hospice or in the person\u27s home

Determining spatial and temporal scales for management: lessons from whaling

Selection of the appropriate management unit is critical to the conservation of animal populations. Defining such units depends upon knowledge of population structure and upon the timescale being considered. Here, we examine the trajectory of eleven subpopulations of five species of baleen whales to investigate temporal and spatial scales in management. These subpopulations were all extirpated by commercial whaling, and no recovery or repopulation has occurred since. In these cases, time elapsed since commercial extinction ranges from four decades to almost four centuries. We propose that these subpopulations did not recover either because cultural memory of the habitat has been lost, because widespread whaling among adjacent stocks eliminated these as sources for repopulation, and/or because segregation following exploitation produced the abandonment of certain areas. Spatial scales associated with the extirpated subpopulations are frequently smaller than those typically employed in management. Overall, the evidence indicates that: (1) the time frame for management should be at most decadal in scope (i.e., \u3c100 yr) and based on both genetic and nongenetic evidence of population substructure, and (2) at least some stocks should be defined on a smaller spatial scale than they currently are

Further education sector governors as ethnographers: five case studies

This paper considers how governors in the English Further Education and Skills (FE) sector examined their practice as ethnographers. The paper locates both FE governance and ethnography within the challenges of the performative and Panoptic environments facing English education. In doing so, the paper explores how the informants’ mobilisation of ethnographic methods revealed a novel lens on both governance and the role of ethnographer. Employing Grounded Theory, the paper considers how the participants negotiated philosophical questions regarding evidence, objectivity and truth. The paper suggests that despite the deep-seated complexities inherent in conducting ethnography in performative contexts, the participants generated data which painted a unique and revealing picture upon their practice as governor and researcher

Activation of native TRPC1/C5/C6 channels by endothelin-1 is mediated by both PIP3 and PIP2 in rabbit coronary artery myocytes

We investigate activation mechanisms of native TRPC1/C5/C6 channels (termed TRPC1 channels) by stimulation of endothelin-1 (ET-1) receptor subtypes in freshly dispersed rabbit coronary artery myocytes using single channel recording and immunoprecipitation techniques. ET-1 evoked non-selective cation channel currents with a unitary conductance of 2.6 pS which were not inhibited by either ET(A) or ET(B) receptor antagonists, respectively BQ-123 and BQ788, when administered separately. However, in the presence of both antagonists, ET-1-evoked channel activity was abolished indicating that both ET(A) and ET(B) receptor stimulation activate this conductance. Stimulation of both ET(A) and ET(B) receptors evoked channel activity which was inhibited by the protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor chelerythrine and by anti-TRPC1 antibodies indicating that activation of both receptor subtypes causes TRPC1 channel activation by a PKC-dependent mechanism. ET(A) receptor-mediated TRPC1 channel activity was selectively inhibited by phosphoinositol-3-kinase (PI-3-kinase) inhibitors wortmannin (50 nm) and PI-828 and by antibodies raised against phosphoinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate (PIP(3)), the product of PI-3-kinase-mediated phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP(2)). Moreover, exogenous application of diC8-PIP(3) stimulated PKC-dependent TRPC1 channel activity. These results indicate that stimulation of ET(A) receptors evokes PKC-dependent TRPC1 channel activity through activation of PI-3-kinase and generation of PIP(3). In contrast, ET(B) receptor-mediated TRPC1 channel activity was inhibited by the PI-phospholipase C (PI-PLC) inhibitor U73122. 1-Oleoyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycerol (OAG), an analogue of diacylglycerol (DAG), which is a product of PI-PLC, also activated PKC-dependent TRPC1 channel activity. OAG-induced TRPC1 channel activity was inhibited by anti-phosphoinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP(2)) antibodies and high concentrations of wortmannin (20 μm) which depleted tissue PIP(2) levels. In addition exogenous application of diC8-PIP(2) activated PKC-dependent TRPC1 channel activity. These data indicate that stimulation of ET(B) receptors evokes PKC-dependent TRPC1 activity through PI-PLC-mediated generation of DAG and requires a permissive role of PIP(2). In conclusion, we provide the first evidence that stimulation of ET(A) and ET(B) receptors activate native PKC-dependent TRPC1 channels through two distinct phospholipids pathways involving a novel action of PIP(3), in addition to PIP(2), in rabbit coronary artery myocytes