What are we waiting for? [guest editorial]

The clinical education of Australia's aged care nurses can no longer be treated as the Cinderella of nursing's specialities. It is urgent that ways be agreed and measures taken to bring this branch of the profession, and residential aged care nursing in particular, into mainstream health care services. There should be no need to describe again the evolving shape of Australia's demographic profile between now and the middle of this century; and no need to prove here that the ageing bulge is already placing a severe strain on staffmg in the sector. A substantial percentage of the aged care nursing workforce is nearing retirement and the ratio of departures to recruits seems set to worsen at the same time as demand for high quality nursing care escalates. Important indicators - the number of the most highly dependent residents has doubled in the past seven years; compounding co-morbidities are increasingly common and an estimated 60-80% of residents in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) have a dementing illness - reveal the rapidly rising levels of frailty and dependency in the RACF population....

Palliative Care and Dementia

This paper was commissioned by Alzheimer's Australia to promote discussion by people with dementia, their families and carers of the issues that may be faced as people with terminal dementia move towards death. A palliative care approach will also be appropriate when a person with dementia has another terminal condition

Platform Advocacy and the Threat to Deliberative Democracy

Businesses have long tried to influence political outcomes, but today, there is a new and potent form of corporate political power—Platform Advocacy. Internet-based platforms, such as Facebook, Google, and Uber, mobilize their user bases through direct solicitation of support and the more troubling exploitation of irrational behavior. Platform Advocacy helps platforms push policy agendas that create favorable legal environments for themselves, thereby strengthening their own dominance in the marketplace. This new form of advocacy will have radical effects on deliberative democracy. In the age of constant digital noise and uncertainty, it is more important than ever to detect and analyze new forms of political power. This Article will contribute to our understanding of one such new form and provide a way forward to ensure the exceptional power of platforms do not improperly influence consumers and, by extension, lawmakers

Isolation and identification of bacterial endosymbionts in the brooding brittle star Amphipholis squamata

Symbiotic associations with subcuticular bacteria (SCB) have been identified and studied in numerous echinoderms, including the SCB of the brooding brittle star, Amphipholis squamata. These SCB, however, have not been studied using current next generation sequencing technologies. Previous studies on the SCB of A. squamata placed these bacteria in the genus Vibrio (γ-Proteobacteria), but subsequent studies suggested that the SCB are primarily composed of α-Proteobacteria. The present study examines the taxonomic composition of SCB associated with A. squamata from the Northwest Atlantic. DNA was extracted using a CTAB protocol and 16S rRNA sequences were amplified using gene-targeted PCR on an Illumina HiSeq at the UNH Genomics Center. Results show the presence of a single dominant bacterial type, within the family Rhodobacteraceae, which composes 70-80% of the A. squamata microbiome. The majority of sequences recovered from A. squamata were identified as members of the genus Octadecabacter (97% similarity). By comparison, adjacent seawater and sediment bacterial communities were significantly more diverse, hosting bacteria in the phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, and Actinobacteria. Thus, a distinct SCB community is clearly evident in A. squamata. Here, we hypothesize the potential functions of this symbiotic community, in addition to what may be driving the unique dominance of a member of the family Rhodobacteraceae. Although metatranscriptome studies are needed to characterize the functional attributes of the SCB community, we have identified a specific and potentially beneficial symbiont that may support metabolic requirements and nutrient uptake vital to the reproduction of A. squamata

Electing Displacement: Political Cleansing in Apartadó, Colombia

This article highlights a nefarious effect of elections during civil wars by demonstratingthat they can facilitate the displacement of civilians. This occurs through two main mechanisms: they reveal information about civilians' loyalties directly to armed groups; and they threaten the status quo of local elites' power, motivating them to ally with outside armed groups in order to regain it. Armed groups strategically displace civilians identified as "disloyal" in order to gain control over a territory. I test implications of the argument with original, micro-level quantitative and qualitative data from northwest Colombia. Using voter censuses and disaggregated electoral returns from 1991-1998, I show that residents in urban neighborhoods that supported the insurgent-backed political party, the Patriotic Union (UP), were more likely to leave the city of Apartadó than neighbors in other districts. However, residents of the nearby rural communities that supported the UP were the least likely to leave. I trace the patterns of violence across the communities using local archival materials and interviews to assess how well the argument accounts for the variation observed, and to explore the unexpected outcome in the rural area. While I find that counterinsurgents attempted strategic displacement in both the city and the mountains, they only succeeded in the urban areas because residents of the rural hamlets were uniquely able to overcome the collective action problem that strategic displacement generates. The findings demonstrate that that political identities are relevant for patterns of violence, and that political cleansing resembles ethnic cleansing.displacement, violence, internal conflict, Colombia, Urabá

The Minimized Face of Internal Communication: An Exploration of How Public Relations Agency Websites Frame Internal Communication and its Connection to Social Media

Internal communication is increasingly vital to organizational success due to the influence of social media, yet it remains understudied within public relations research. Using a qualitative content analysis of 181 websites, this study examines how leading public relations agency websites frame the value of internal communication and its connection to social media. Findings reveal internal communication is largely missing from the frame. When explicitly referenced, it is mostly framed as synonymous with employee communication as a means for management to communicate to employees, though some portrayals are more robust. Websites frame internal communication’s value as enhancing financial outcomes by improving workplace culture, employee engagement, and workers’ willingness to support management’s preferred organization brand or reputation. Social media are disconnected from internal communication and are mostly framed as tools that require additional employee training to use in order to reach external audiences. A handful of agencies urge organizations to include social media and internal stakeholders within the internal communication function. Recommendations are made for future internal communication research and practice

Public relations professionals’ perspectives on the communication challenges and opportunities they face in the U.S. public sector

This study reports common challenges and opportunities 49 government public relations professionals face in the United States of America (U.S.) when communicating internally and externally. Following on from the primary public sector attributes proposed by Liu and Horsley (2007), the in-depth interviews revealed 13 common attributes that affected government communication practices. The study’s findings are useful for practitioners entering the government communication field in the U.S. and elsewhere, practitioners in other sectors who collaborate with government communicators, and academics developing communication theory for the under-researched public sector

Seeing the bigger picture: investigating tertiary arts educators' views on the Australian arts curriculum

Recent research proposes that arts based learning can offer a range of positive outcomes for all students (Bamford, 2006; Fiske, 1999). Unfortunately, the opportunities for arts based training and education for teachers, particularly in generalist Primary teacher courses are minimal, and therefore requires urgent attention (Gibson & Anderson, 2008). Garvis and Pendergast (2010) support this claim, stating that 'it is assumed pre-service teachers exit teacher training with adequate arts content knowledge and skills' (p. 4), however, contend that in reality this is often not the case. Welch (1995) argues that the way teachers' perceive themselves in regard to their own artistic abilities stems directly from the level of effectiveness they demonstrate as arts teachers. The ability however to transform disciplinary knowledge into a form of knowledge that is appropriate for students is a significant challenge for teachers (Garvis & Pendergast, 2010). The importance of teacher educator trainers in preparing pre-service teachers to see the 'bigger picture' is essential, particularly when curriculum change occurs. This paper will provide a timely national snapshot view of tertiary arts educators' perceptions of the impending national arts curriculum and the level of their preparedness. A narrative inquiry approach will be taken to investigate the deeper, lived experiences of three tertiary art educators and their preparation for the implementation. Additional information will be sought from a survey of Australian arts educators and interviews from each state and territory to provide further insights into the impact of this initiative on the tertiary education sector