Beyond Ideology: Retrospect and Prospect

The paper takes as its platform the centrality of ill-defined problems in design educational activity. From an appreciation of the nature of these states of affairs, two meta-aspects of design educational developments are offered: one, retrospective, the other, prospective. In the retrospective aspect, interpreting data collected by NADE and the RCA's research project team (1974-1976), seven features are associated with 'design education' developments in secondary education (when construing the activities of designing as an aspect of human action in general, rather than with Design as a school subject). Related to these seven features, a characterisation of a possible secondary curriculum is offered. In a speculative passage, a possible organising focus for such a conception of the curriculum is nominated in: man, his nature, his responsibility towards himself and others, and his habitat. Against this, some implications are introduced in terms of the nature and functions of the school (as institution) and the formal curriculum programme. A shift in general orientation towards curriculum 'content' is proposed, with a shift of attention towards seeing the learner as being the agent of responsible and reponsive action - developed through experience of design educational activity. A pedagogic approach to this is seen in 'problematization'. It is suggested that reflecting on the experiencing of design educational activities may reveal and illuminate paradoxes; in particular, the co-existence of conservative and potentially subversive views of the design activity in human affairs. Hence, it is proposed, axiomatically, that agents of action should be properly sceptical towards the status quo and proposals for 'innovation'. In the prospective meta-view of design educational activity, it is proposed that a focussing (through problematization) on the nature of design educational activity may lead to a reflexive and continually re-structuring pedagogy: that is, towards the emergence of a curriculum discourse which would be part of being a teacher

What would it take to optimise marginalised young people's sexual health? : A conversational journey with youth workers [Final Project Report]

Marginalised young people have been consistently identified as a high risk group in relation to sexual health. This research, undertaken through the Youth Affairs Network of Queensland, seeks to explore impacts on youth workers’ ability to provide effective interventions around sexual health? What knowledge,skills, resources, value and ethics, training and support is available to youth workers? What do youth workers identify that they need and what workforce development strategies are recommended to enable the youth sector to respond more effectively? This project report provides a snapshot and introduction to the key themes raised by youth workers and other key stakeholders in Queensland Australia

Effect of emotional content on online video sharing among health care professionals and researchers (DIFFUSION): results and lessons learnt from a randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: We assessed the effect of emotional content on the extent to which online videos are shared among health professionals. SETTING: We conducted a two-arm randomised controlled trial. We sent a link to one of two videos by email to participants asking them to watch the video and forward it to their colleagues. PARTICIPANTS: Health professionals and researchers (obstetrics, gynaecology and midwifery) with an email address apart from those in countries where access to YouTube is banned. We estimated that 7000 participants were required. INTERVENTIONS: We compared two online videos providing background information about the WOMAN trial. The videos were the same length and had the same content. However, the intervention video had more emotional impact than the control video. OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was video sharing and the secondary outcome was views generated by participants. We conducted a χ2 test for the primary outcome and t-test for the secondary outcome. RESULTS: We randomly allocated 8353 email addresses, 4178 to the intervention video and 4175 to the control. Of these, 221 (5.3%) watched the intervention video and 215 (5.1%) watched the control. In the intervention group, 44 (1.1%) forwarded the video compared with 37 (0.9%) in the control group (risk ratio 1.2 [95% CI 0.8 to 1.8], p=0.44). Mean number of views generated by participants allocated to the intervention video was 0.04 and the control video was 0.03 (mean difference 0.01 [95% CI -0.02 to 0.04], p=0.53). CONCLUSIONS: We found no evidence that emotional content increased forwarding. The trial had low power due to the low video watching rate and the small number of outcome events. A key challenge for online dissemination is ensuring recipients watch the video. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02109159; Results

A self-administered questionnaire to estimate the distance and mode of children's travel to school in urban India

A self-administered questionnaire produced as part of a study on distribution of children’s mode of travel to school in Hyderabad (Telangana, India). The questionnaire has 21 multiple choice items: four on demographics, nine on mode of travel and travel during dry or wet weather, two items on parental permissions for independent travel, three on children’s perceptions of safety, including road traffic injuries, and three items on physical activity after school

Tuna Fishery Management in the Western Central Pacific - An Industry Perspective

The Western Central Pacific Fishery Commission (WCPFC) was inaugurated in 2004 after a preparatory process which commenced in 1996. Scientific advice is that skipjack stocks are in good condition, but bigeye and yellowfin stocks are being exploited too heavily and reductions of effort are needed to avoid overfishing. Compared to other RMFOs the WCPFC has a lot of its area within national EEZs, many of them small, developing States. Decisions at the WCPFC are taken by consensus, and so far no consensus has emerged about management measures. The largest component of the tuna catch is that of purse seiners.The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), whose waters includes the most prolific surface tuna fisheries, have introduced a novel scheme whereby purse seiner days will be limited. This replaces a simple vessel numbers limit. PNA members expect this to create a more active market for fishing licenses and an increase in fees. The scheme is untested, and will create an 'Olympic' style fishery leading to increased capacity and potential fishing down of the tuna stock. Capacity limits are important in order to prevent over-exploitation. Transferable individual quotas within a science based overall quota could be an effective means of maximizing value for resource owners and fishers alike, whilst conserving the resource. ITQs may not be widely acceptable today due to lack of confidence in Government policy

WOMAN-2 Pilot Study Data

Data and supporting material produced as part of a pilot study to test outcome questions for the WOMAN-2 trial of tranexamic acid for the prevention of postpartum haemorrhage. This pilot study was conducted in one hospital which will also be conducting the WOMAN-2 Trial in Pakistan. The pilot study population included participants similar to those to be included in the WOMAN-2 Trial: women who are anaemic, and having given birth. Participants took part in an interview which included answering questions from the draft participant reported outcomes questionnaire. A small subset of participants enrolled in this pilot study also took part in a cognitive interview directly following the questionnaire to learn how they understood the questions. Each row of the dataset table represents data for an individual participant

Reviews

The following publications have been reviewed by the mentioned authors;Design Education for the Middle Years, A Teachers' Guide by D. M. Shaw and J. M. Reeve, reviewed by Phil RobertsEducagao Visual I and II by Betamio de Almeida et al, reviewed by Phil RobertsWhat Is a Designer: Things, Places Messages by Norman Potter, reviewed by Phil RobertsDesigning a Present by Norman Potter, reviewed by Phil RobertsA Sense of What is Real by Philip Pacey, reviewed by John LancasterDesign Education at Secondary Level, A Design Education Report, reviewed by Richard KimbellAmerican Porcelain: New Expressions in an Ancient Art by Lloyd E. Herman, reviewed by Michael PaffardThe Mud-Pie Dilemma: A Master Potter's Struggle to Make Art and Ends Meet by John Nance, reviewed by Michael PaffardWoodcarving for Beginners by Art McKellips, reviewed by Bernard AylwardAppreciation of Materials and Design by T. Pettit, reviewed by Bernard AylwardWhy It is Like This by Bernard Aylward, reviewed by Richard Kimbel