The threats of social networking : old wine in new bottles?

Despite the many potential benefits to its users, social networking appears to provide a rich setting for criminal activities and other misdeeds. In this paper we consider whether the risks of social networking are unique and novel to this context. Having considered the nature and range of applications to which social networks may be applied, we conclude that there are no exploits or fundamental threats inherent to the social networking setting. Rather, the risks and associated threats treat this communicative and social context as an enabler for existing, long established and well-recognised exploits and activities

Mesoscale subduction at the Almeria-Oran front. Part 1: ageostrophic flow

This paper presents a detailed diagnostic analysis of hydrographic and current meter data from three, rapidly repeated, fine-scale surveys of the Almeria-Oran front. Instability of the frontal boundary, between surface waters of Atlantic and Mediterranean origin, is shown to provide a mechanism for significant heat transfer from the surface layers to the deep ocean in winter. The data were collected during the second observational phase of the EU funded OMEGA project on RRS Discovery cruise 224 during December 1996. High resolution hydrographic measurements using the towed undulating CTD vehicle, SeaSoar,. traced the subduction of Mediterranean Surface Water across the Almeria-Oran front. This subduction is shown to result from a significant baroclinic component to the instability of the frontal jet. The Q-vector formulation of the omega equation is combined with a scale analysis to quantitatively diagnose vertical transport resulting from mesoscale ageostrophic circulation. The analyses are presented and discussed in the presence of satellite and airborne remotely sensed data; which provide the basis for a thorough and novel approach to the determination of observational error

MiPOS - the Mote Indoor Positioning System

In the past few years, there have been huge research efforts into ubiquitous and context aware platforms that offer a user a custom level of service based on some known local parameters. The utility of such systems is greatly enhanced if a physical locational area can be determined. Recently, hybrid devices have been developed combining low power micro controllers with short range FM radio transceivers. Some location identification work has been carried out with these systems such as the Matrix Pencil approximation technique[8],however most of these all provide information for an ideal square area with no RF obstructions.Here we present MiPOS, a scalable locationing system based on the MICA mote[11] family of devices.The design goal of MiPOS is to provide a low-power, scalable, distributed locationing system suited to an indoor (office) environment.During the presentation of this paper we will highlight solutions in the areas of security, radio and network management and power awareness for a hybrid context aware wearable locationing device

Molecular definition of paratuberculosis pathologies by functional genomics

Paratuberculosis (Johne's disease) is a chronic intestinal disease of ruminants caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). Three forms have been described in sheep — multibacillary, paucibacillary and asymptomatic. Real-time RT-PCR (qPCR) and microarray analyses were used to compare gene expression in ileal tissue from sheep with the three forms of the disease in order to understand the immune responses underpinning these three defined pathologies. All animals from the infected flocks were IS900 positive by qPCR and therefore infected with MAP. Asymptomatic sheep had no clinical signs of disease, showed no evidence of acid-fast bacteria (ZN-), exhibited normal histology of the terminal ileum and were seronegative. Paucibacillary sheep were ZN- and showed lymphocyte/eosinophil infiltrate into the lamina propria. 2/6 of the paucibacillary animals were seropositive. Multibacillary sheep had high numbers of ZN+ bacteria associated with infiltrating sheets of epithelioid macrophages and were seropositive. Control sheep were IS900 negative and thus uninfected with MAP.qPCR experiments compared the expression of the following genes - IL-la, IL-1B, IL-3, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p40, IL-18, CD34, CXCR4, GM-CSF, IFNy, IGFBP-2, IGFBP-6, TGF6, TIRAP, TNFa, TRAF-land TRAM. The results confirmed that pauci- and multibacillary forms are linked to the differential expression of IFNy and IL-10 respectively, but imply that polarisation is incomplete, with upregulation of both proinflammatory IL-18 and anti-inflammatory TGFB in both disease forms. Increased levels of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-ip, IL-8, TNFa and TRAF-1, indicative of persistent inflammatory lesions, were observed in clinical tissues. IL-3 was detected at low levels in all infected animals but never in uninfected control samples. IGFBP-6 was upregulated and CXCR4 down-regulated in paucibacillary samples compared to multibacillary samples. SNP analysis was carried out on these genes, identifying three novel SNPs in each gene, but none were linked to disease pathology.Microarray experiments discovered 63 differentially expressed genes. Four genes were found to be differentially expressed in infected tissue compared to uninfected controls, and a further eight in clinical tissues compared to uninfected controls. Eight genes were differentially expressed in clinical tissue compared to asymptomatic tissue. Seven genes were quantified by qPCR and validated the microarray data well. Pathway analysis of the microarray data identified several immune pathways that are involved in pathogenesis. Infected tissues displayed up-regulation of the genes involved in complement activation, and downregulation of TCR signalling and MHC class II genes. In addition, clinical tissues displayed up-regulation of genes involved in the JAKSTAT and TLR2 signalling pathways, NK cell cytotoxicity and antibody production. Multibacillary tissues also displayed up-regulation of genes involved in leukocyte migration.Overall, these data confirm that multibacillary pathology is linked to type 2 and paucibacillary pathology is linked to type 1 immune responses, and identify novel genes and gene pathways for future analyses

Engaging data-literate beginning teachers

Gen Y beginning teachers have an edge: they’ve grown up in an era of educational accountability, so when their students have to sit a high-stakes test, they can relate

Student-centred schools make the difference

The primary focus of this review is on how school leaders can develop and sustain a student-centred philosophy at all levels within their schools in order to increase the quality of education for all students. The authors draw on research literature from Australia and internationally to examine the impact that student-centred education can have on student outcomes, particularly for those students in disadvantaged contexts. The review initially explores the concept of student-centred schools and how this notion is nested within a range of theoretical and philosophical constructs. The authors draw from research into student-centred pedagogy, learner-centred education, student-centred teaching and learning, and student-centred/ learner-centred leadership to provide a description of a student-centred school. They then consider models of leading student-centred schools, drawing from AITSL’s Australian Professional Standard for Principals and looking at the large-scale student-centred reforms in Ontario, Canada. The authors use Viviane Robinson’s five dimensions of school leadership that impact on student outcomes: 1) Establishing goals and expectations, 2) Resourcing strategically, 3) Ensuring quality teaching, 4) Leading teacher learning and development, and 5) Ensuring a safe and orderly environment.  They then extend this framework to include three additional dimensions of student-centred schooling that emerged from the literature: a) Working with the wider community, b) Ethical Leadership, and c) Student voice. This report offers a critical review of literature to address the hypothesis that student-centred schools make the difference

Catholic Teachers’ Postgraduate Qualifications and Students’ End of Schooling Outcomes: A Large Scale Queensland Based Comparative Study

Abstract A key feature of the current era of Australian schooling is the dominance of publically available student, school and teacher performance data. Our paper examines the intersection of data on teachers’ postgraduate qualifications and students’ end of schooling outcomes in 26 Catholic Systemic Secondary Schools and 18 Catholic Independent Secondary Schools throughout the State of Queensland. We introduce and justify taking up a new socially-just measurement model of students’ end of schooling outcomes, called the ‘Tracking and Academic Management Index’, otherwise known as ‘TAMI’. Additional analysis is focused on the outcomes of top-end students vis-à-vis all students who are encouraged to remain in institutionalised education of one form or another for the two final years of senior secondary schooling. These findings of the correlations between Catholic teachers’ postgraduate qualifications and students’ end of schooling outcomes are also compared with teachers’ postgraduate qualifications and students’ end of schooling outcomes across 174 Queensland Government Secondary Schools and 58 Queensland Independent Secondary Schools from the same data collection period. The findings raise important questions about the transference of teachers’ postgraduate qualifications for progressing students’ end of schooling outcomes as well as the performance of Queensland Catholic Systemic Secondary Schools and Queensland Catholic Independent Secondary Schools during a particular era of education

RRS James Cook Cruise JC103, 23 Apr - 03 Jun 2014. RAPID moorings cruise report

This cruise report covers scientific operations conducted during RRS James Cook Cruise 103. The purpose of the cruise was the refurbishment of an array of moorings spanning the latitude of 26.5°N from the Bahamas to the Canary Islands. Cruise JC103 departed from Port of Spain on Wednesday 23rd April 2014, calling twice at Nassau, Bahamas before finally docking in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on Wednesday 3rd June 2014. The moorings are part of a purposeful Atlantic wide mooring array for monitoring the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and the associated heat transport. The array is a joint UK-US programme and is known as the RAPID-MOCHA array. During JC103 moorings were serviced at sites: WBAL, WBADCP, WB1, WB2, WB2L, WBH2, WB4, WB4L, WB6, MAR0, MAR1, MAR1L, MAR2, MAR3, MAR3L, EB1, EB1L, EBHi, EBH1, EBH1L, EBH2, EBH3, EBH4, EBH4L. Sites with suffix ‘L’ denote landers fitted with bottom pressure recorders, WBADCP is a bottom mounted 75kHz ADCP. At the other sites moorings were equipped with CTDs and current meters. CTDs with oxygen sensors were, for the first time, deployed at WB1, WBH2, and WB4. Additionally two PIES (pressure and inverted echo sounder instruments) were recovered but not re-deployed at sites WBP1 and EBP2. Mooring MAR0 was not able to be recovered but was redeployed. A sediment trap mooring NOGST was also recovered and redeployed for the Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems Group at the NOCS. CTD stations were conducted throughout the cruise for purposes of providing pre- and post- deployment calibrations for mooring instrumentation and for testing mooring releases prior to deployment. Shipboard underway measurements were systematically logged, processed and calibrated, including: surface meteorology, 5m depth sea temperatures and salinities, water depth, and navigation. Water velocity profiles from 15 m to approximately 800 m depth were obtained using the two vessel mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (one 75 kHz and one 150 kHz). Six APEX Argo floats supplied by the UK Met Office, were deployed during the cruis

Assuming Identity: Material Exchange in Southeastern Euro-Indian Encounters, c. 1680 - 1750

From the beginning of colonisation, Southeastern Native Americans used and adapted European materials in to their day-to-day lives. In particular, textile exchange held a central place in Euro-Indian relations, with clothing and style used to express identity and judge character. This thesis explores the role of material in relations and personal identity, using inventories, travel accounts and art to explain the accumulation of items as well as the ways they were used. By looking at the development of trade and style from 1680 to 1750, the autonomy of Native Americans are illuminated as they were able to retain traditional markers of their identity, while also actively using and engaging with European textiles

The centrality of ethical leadership

Purpose The central argument in this paper is that ethical school leadership is imperative in a context of increasing performance-driven accountability. The purpose of this paper is to focus on school principals’ perceptions of how they understand ethical leadership and how they lead the ethical use of data. Design/methodology/approach This study utilises semi-structured interviews with six state school principals (one primary and six secondary) to explore their perceptions of ethical leadership practices; and how they balance current competing accountabilities in a context of performance-driven accountability. Findings There were four key findings. First, principals used data to inform and direct their practices and their conversations with teachers. Second, while ethics was a central consideration in how principals’ led, practising in an ethical manner was identified as complex and challenging in the current context. Third, Starratt’s (1996) ethical framework proved to be relevant for interpreting principals’ practices. Finally, all of the principals referred to dilemmas they faced as a result of competing priorities and all used a variety of strategies to deal with these dilemmas. Originality/value While there is a small body of research that explores school leaders’ understandings of ethical tensions and dilemmas, there is little research that has focused on school leaders’ understandings of the ethical use of data. This study, then, contributes to this area as it provides a discussion on school principals’ leadership practices in the current climate driven by data use