Developing career aspirations of information technology students at Deakin University

It is important for students to develop informed and realistic career aspirations to gain the most value from their university studies towards achieving their initial career goals. However developing students’ career aspirations, goals, and expectations is a complex and discipline-specific process. In Information Technology (IT) no clear career development framework is evident in the literature. Recent research in Australia argues that electronic portfolios are a useful way for students to develop, articulate and document career objectives to enhance their employability. IT students at Deakin engage in formal training and assessment with respect to developing their professional skills and career understandings. Currently electronic portfolios feature as a useful method for evidencing professional competencies for employability. Through a combined quantitative and qualitative analysis of 306 students’ articulated current career aspirations, qualitative analysis of 7 staff opinions of desired student career competencies, and a quantitative analysis of 28 students’ current work personality traits assessments (Work Personality Index), this work presents an analysis of the current state of IT students’ career development. The results indicate that while students reported short-term career aspirations, navigating to their long-term career goals is going to require addressing difficult barriers such as confidence (self-perception) and motivation. This research will influence a larger program-wide endeavour to build student career competencies for employability in IT at Deakin University

Understanding career aspirations of Information Technology students at Deakin University

Students need to develop informed and realistic career aspirations to gain the most from their university studies towards their initial career development. However developing their aspirations, goals, and expectations is a complex process. In Information Technology (IT) no clear career development framework is evident in the literature. We present a pilot study which investigates the career aspirations of novice students studying IT at an Australian University. Through a series of career activities their aspirations were explored with the aim of improving support for career development. Results indicate that students have no clear short- or long- term aspirations, yet believe that programming skills are key to achieve a career in IT

Antibiotic Resistance and Typhoid.

Multiple drug (antibiotic) resistance (MDR) has become a major threat to the treatment of typhoid and other infectious diseases. Since the 1970s, this threat has increased in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, driven in part by the emergence of successful genetic clades, such as haplotype H58, associated with the MDR phenotype. H58 S. Typhi can express multiple antibiotic resistance determinants while retaining the ability to efficiently transmit and persist within the human population. The recent identification of extensively drug resistant S. Typhi only highlights the dangers of ignoring this threat. Here we discuss the evolution of the S. Typhi MDR phenotype and consider options for management

Eco-innovation and benchmarking of carbon footprint data for vineyards and wineries in Spain and France

Environmental sustainability in the wine sector has become a priority, as a result of both the growing interest in environmental issues and the consumer's demand for more information regarding the environmental impact of the products they purchase. In this context, the use of carbon footprint as an indicator to assess and report the environmental burdens associated with wine production has gained a role of primary interest. The present study has the aim of improving the wine sector's sustainability by providing inventory data on wine production systems from a total of 18 wineries located in major wine-producing regions in Spain and the South of France. The main novelty of this paper is: the corporate carbon footprint approach, the greater number of wineries studied, the diversity of location of those wineries, the detail of data presented and the identification of the best reference flow for vineyards. Data was statistically analysed. Vineyard consumptions are usually related to the area of cultivation. However, although 1 ha of vineyard or 1 kg of harvested grape could both be considered good reference flows for vineyard processes, this study shows a greater standard deviation of average data calculated per ha rather than per kg. Impact results show a major contribution of the winery phase to the corporate carbon footprint (73%), mainly due to glass production for bottling (45.6% contribution) and electricity consumption (9.2%). In the vineyard phase, contribution comes mainly from diesel production and combustion due to field works (11.3%) and the use of phytosanitary products (6.0%). The results revealed that with the establishment of best practices and with optimized resource consumption, the corporate carbon footprint values can be reduced by almost 25%. The comparative results presented can be used as a reference that will enable wineries to compare their impacts to the average, to identify in which aspects they are within the average and which aspects they are outside the average and whether these aspects are significant to their carbon footprint. This may encourage wineries to adopt measures for Eco-innovation through carbon emission reduction

Development and Interdisciplinarity: A Citation Analysis

Development is often defined as an inherently interdisciplinary field of study. Yet there has been limited examination of this interdisciplinarity. Using Web of Science data, we present citation patterns since 1990 between leading journals of two fields of development, development economics and development studies, and other social science disciplines (economics, geography, political science and sociology). We find negligible interdisciplinary interactions in development, with the bulk of cross-disciplinary citations taking place between development economics, development studies, and economics. There is an increasing trend since the mid 2000s in the number of citations between development economics and development studies. We explore a number of potential contributing factors and conclude that the most likely explanation is rising numbers of economists publishing in development studies journals in response to increasing relative competition in development economics journals. While there appears to be growing communications among different fields of development cross-citation rates remain low at two-three percent of total citations and are driven by select journals. Overall, results suggest that development is not an interdisciplinary field of study as measured by flows of citations

Behandlung komorbider Störungen, Syndrome und Symptome der Posttraumatischen Belastungsstörung nach Missbrauchserfahrungen in der Kindheit mit STAIR-NT. Klinische Empfehlungen und Herausforderungen

Background: Early interpersonal traumatic events, such as childhood maltreatment, increase the risk of developing complex posttraumatic stress symptoms. The biphasic treatment program STAIR-NT (Skills Training for Affective and Interpersonal Regulation with Narrative Therapy), developed specifically for this patient group, combines interventions to improve emotion regulation and interpersonal skills with narrative therapy. Objective: Many affected patients with PTSD after childhood maltreatment also suffer from various comorbid mental disorders and symptoms that can affect and impede the course and outcome of treatment with STAIR-NT. Method: Based on experience from a current treatment study, we provide recommendations for integrating treatment of comorbid mental symptoms into STAIR-NT. Results / Conclusion: Training affective and interpersonal regulation skills in the first treatment phase offers various interventions to efficiently adapt transdiagnostic mechanisms such as emotion dysregulation. In cases of severe comorbid mental disorders or symptoms, adding disorder-specific interventions to STAIR-NT may be indicated.Hintergrund: Frühe interpersonelle traumatische Erfahrungen, wie Misshandlung und Missbrauch in Kindheit und Jugend, erhöhen das Risiko eine komplexe posttraumatische Belastungssymptomatik zu entwickeln. Das zwei-phasische Therapieprogramm STAIR-NT (Skillstraining zur affektiven und interpersonellen Regulation mit narrativer Therapie), das speziell für diese Gruppe von Patient_innen entwickelte wurde, kombiniert Interventionen zur Verbesserung der Emotionsregulation und der interpersonellen Fähigkeiten mit einer narrativen Therapie. Fragestellung: Viele der Betroffenen mit einer PTBS nach Misshandlung und Missbrauch in der Kindheit leiden unter einer Vielzahl komorbider psychischer Symptome, die den Verlauf und das Ergebnis der Behandlung mit STAIR-NT beeinflussen und behindern können. Methode: Basierend auf den Erfahrungen aus einer aktuellen Therapiestudie werden hier Empfehlungen für die Integration der Behandlung komorbider psychischer Symptomatik in STAIR-NT gegeben. Ergebnis / Schlussfolgerung: Vor allem das Training affektiver und interpersoneller Regulationsfähigkeiten in der ersten Therapiephase bietet vielfältige Interventionen zur Veränderung störungsübergreifender Mechanismen wie Emotionsdysregulation. Bei besonders schwerwiegender komorbider Symptomatik kann die zusätzliche Anwendung von störungsspezifischen Interventionen zur STAIR-NT indiziert sein

The effectiveness of conservative interventions for the management of syndromic hypermobility: A systematic literature review

Introduction: ‘Syndromic hypermobility’ encompasses heritable connective tissue disorders such as hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and hypermobility spectrum disorders which are characterised by excessive joint range of motion and pain. Conservative interventions such as exercise are the cornerstone of management, yet their effectiveness is unclear. Aim: To systematically appraise the effectiveness of conservative management for people with syndromic hypermobility. Method: A systematic online database search was conducted (AMED, BND, CINAHL Plus, MEDLINE, PEDro, PsychINFO and SportDiscus). Potential articles were assessed for eligibility by two researchers against the following criteria: adults and children with a hEDS/HSD diagnosis (or equivalent diagnosis using specific criteria); non-pharmacological or non-surgical interventions; outcomes related to pain, physical function, psychological well-being or quality of life. Controlled trials and cohort studies were included. Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklists were used to assess methodological quality. Results: Eleven studies were included, comprising eight controlled trials and three cohort studies. All studies investigated interventions that had exercise as the primary component. Three small controlled studies demonstrated superior effects of conservative management relative to a control group. However, those studies only focused on a single area of the body, only recruited women, and had no long-term follow-up. All studies reported improvements in a wide range of outcomes over time. Conclusion: Controlled trial evidence for the superiority of conservative management over comparators is weak. There is some evidence that people improve over time. Robust randomised controlled trial research of the long-term effectiveness of ‘whole-body’ (rather than individual joints or body areas) conservative management is required.• Conservative management is the cornerstone of management of syndromic hypermobility.• The review found that evidence for the effectiveness of conservative management relative to no treatment or other conservative comparators was weak.• However, there was consistent evidence for effectiveness from pre- to post-treatment.• Further robust randomised controlled trial evidence is required

Evolution and comparative analysis of the MHC Class III inflammatory region

BACKGROUND: The Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) is essential for immune function. Historically, it has been subdivided into three regions (Class I, II, and III), but a cluster of functionally related genes within the Class III region has also been referred to as the Class IV region or "inflammatory region". This group of genes is involved in the inflammatory response, and includes members of the tumour necrosis family. Here we report the sequencing, annotation and comparative analysis of a tammar wallaby BAC containing the inflammatory region. We also discuss the extent of sequence conservation across the entire region and identify elements conserved in evolution. RESULTS: Fourteen Class III genes from the tammar wallaby inflammatory region were characterised and compared to their orthologues in other vertebrates. The organisation and sequence of genes in the inflammatory region of both the wallaby and South American opossum are highly conserved compared to known genes from eutherian ("placental") mammals. Some minor differences separate the two marsupial species. Eight genes within the inflammatory region have remained tightly clustered for at least 360 million years, predating the divergence of the amphibian lineage. Analysis of sequence conservation identified 354 elements that are conserved. These range in size from 7 to 431 bases and cover 15.6% of the inflammatory region, representing approximately a 4-fold increase compared to the average for vertebrate genomes. About 5.5% of this conserved sequence is marsupial-specific, including three cases of marsupial-specific repeats. Highly Conserved Elements were also characterised. CONCLUSION: Using comparative analysis, we show that a cluster of MHC genes involved in inflammation, including TNF, LTA (or its putative teleost homolog TNF-N), APOM, and BAT3 have remained together for over 450 million years, predating the divergence of mammals from fish. The observed enrichment in conserved sequences within the inflammatory region suggests conservation at the transcriptional regulatory level, in addition to the functional level

How do we design and evaluate health system strengthening? Collaborative development of a set of health system process goals

From Wiley via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2022-06-14, rev-recd 2022-11-24, accepted 2022-12-06, pub-electronic 2022-12-28Article version: VoRPublication status: PublishedFunder: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000865Funder: ReBUILD for Resilience RPCMaria Paola Bertone - ORCID: 0000-0001-8890-583X https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8890-583XSophie Witter - ORCID: 0000-0002-7656-6188 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7656-6188Strong health systems are widely recognized as a key requirement for improving health outcomes and also for ensuring that health systems are equitable, resilient and responsive to population needs. However, the related term Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) remains unclear and contested, and this creates challenges for how HSS can be monitored and evaluated. A previous review argued for the need to rethink evaluation methods for HSS to examine systemic effects of HSS investments. In line with that recommendation, this article describes the work of the HSS Evaluation Collaborative (HSSEC) in the development of a framework and tool to guide HSS monitoring, evaluation and learning by national and global actors. It was developed based on a rapid review of the literature and iterative expert consultation, with the aim of going beyond a focus on the building blocks of health systems and on health system outputs or health outcomes to think about the features that constitute a strong health system. As a result, we developed a list of 22 health system process goals which represent desirable attributes for health systems. The health system process goals (or rather, progress towards them) are influenced by positive and negative, intended and unintended effects of HSS interventions. Finally, we illustrate how the health system process goals can be operationalised for prospective and retrospective HSS monitoring, evaluation and learning, and how they also have the potential to be used for opening a space for participatory, inclusive policy dialogue about HSS.pubpu