Exfoliated Graphite Resistance Based Pressure Sensor for Mapping Plantar Pressure

Undergraduate Basi

Managing Internal Tensions in Contract Negotiations: A Perspective from the Academic Union’s Side

Academic collective bargaining, like all collective bargaining, presupposes conflicts between goals of the administration and the academic union. The represented parties on both sides, as well as the general public, typically perceive conflicts in collective bargaining in that way. However, both the administration’s and union’s bargaining teams must substantially resolve internal conflicts among the teams‘ own represented parties before the teams can hope to achieve an acceptable collective-bargaining agreement (i.e., a binding contract). After briefly addressing the very real strengths of academic unions in collective bargaining, we will at greater length explain the origin, nature, and usually imperfect resolution of conflicts arising within an academic union

Flicker-defined form stimuli are minimally affected by centre-surround lateral contrast interactions

Purpose: Flicker-defined form (FDF) stimuli have recently been adopted for visual field testing. A key difference between FDF and traditional perimetric stimuli is that the entire display background contains flickering dots. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the perception of FDF stimuli is influenced by lateral interactions involving regions beyond the stimulus border in young healthy observers. Methods: Experiment 1 measured the effect of surround size and retinal eccentricity on the detection of the FDF contour. Psychometric functions were collected for surround diameters of 20, 30 and 40°, and with stimuli centered at eccentricities of 0, 10 and 20°. Experiment 2 measured the effect of target-surround temporal phase difference on apparent temporal contrast (flicker strength) of the target for both the FDF stimulus and a solid-field stimulus. Psychometric functions were collected for target-surround phase differences of 0, 45, 90, 135 and 180°. Results: Our results show a mild surround-suppression effect for FDF stimuli that is independent of surround size. Magnitudes of FDF surround suppression were consistent with the reduced temporal contrast energy of the stimulus compared to solid-field stimuli. Conclusion: FDF stimuli necessarily have both flickering target and background. Our results suggest that visual field defects outside the target are unlikely to markedly influence the detection and perception of the FDF stimulus. Nevertheless, mild surround suppression of contrast arises for FDF stimuli, hence interactions between the background and the target area may influence FDF results in conditions that alter centre-surround perceptual effects

Perspectives of healthcare providers on the nutritional management of patients on haemodialysis in Australia: An interview study

Objective To describe the perspectives of healthcare providers on the nutritional management of patients on haemodialysis, which may inform strategies for improving patient-centred nutritional care. Design Face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted until data saturation, and thematic analysis based on principles of grounded theory. Setting 21 haemodialysis centres across Australia. Participants 42 haemodialysis clinicians (nephrologists and nephrology trainees (15), nurses (12) and dietitians (15)) were purposively sampled to obtain a range of demographic characteristics and clinical experiences. Results Six themes were identified: responding to changing clinical status (individualising strategies to patient needs, prioritising acute events, adapting guidelines), integrating patient circumstances (assimilating life priorities, access and affordability), delineating specialty roles in collaborative structures (shared and cohesive care, pivotal role of dietary expertise, facilitating access to nutritional care, perpetuating conflicting advice and patient confusion, devaluing nutritional specialty), empowerment for behaviour change (enabling comprehension of complexities, building autonomy and ownership, developing self-efficacy through engagement, tailoring self-management strategies), initiating and sustaining motivation (encountering motivational hurdles, empathy for confronting life changes, fostering non-judgemental relationships, emphasising symptomatic and tangible benefits, harnessing support networks), and organisational and staffing barriers (staffing shortfalls, readdressing system inefficiencies). Conclusions Organisational support with collaborative multidisciplinary teams and individualised patient care were seen as necessary for developing positive patient-clinician relationships, delivering consistent nutrition advice, and building and sustaining patient motivation to enable change in dietary behaviour. Improving service delivery and developing and delivering targeted, multifaceted self-management interventions may enhance current nutritional management of patients on haemodialysis

Prey fractionation in the Archaeocyatha and its implication for the ecology of the first animal reef systems

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Archaeocyaths are the most abundant sponges from the Cambrian period, having formed the first animal reef communities more than 500 million years ago. The Archaeocyatha are index fossils for correlating rocks of similar ages globally because of their abundance, extensive geographic distribution, detailed anatomy, and well-established taxonomy. Their ecological significance remains incompletely explored, yet they are known to have strongly competitively interacted, unlike modern sponges. This study examines the feeding ecology of the fossil remains of Siberian archaeocyath assemblages. As suspension feeders, archaeocyaths filtered plankton from the water column through pores in their outer wall. Here we outline a new method to estimate the limit on the upper size of plankton that could be consumed by an archaeocyath during life. The archaeocyaths examined were predominantly feeding on nanoplankton and microplankton such as phytoplankton and protozooplankton. Size-frequency distributions of pore sizes from six different Siberian archaeocyath assemblages, ranging from Tommotian to Botoman in age, reveal significantly different upper limits to the prey consumed at each locality. Some of the assemblages contain specimens that could have fed on larger organisms extending into the mesoplankton, including micro-invertebrates as a possible food resource. These results show that during the establishment of the first animal reef systems, prey partitioning was established as a way of reducing competition. This method has applicability for understanding the construction and the functioning of the first reef systems, as well as helping to understand modern reef systems and their development though time and space.</jats:p&gt

Automated Software Quality Visualisation Using Fuzzy Logic Techniques

In the past decade there has been a concerted effort by the software industry to improve the quality of its products. This has led to the inception of various techniques with which to control and measure the process involved in software development. Methods like the Capability Maturity Model have introduced processes and strategies that require measurement in the form of software metrics. With the ever increasing number of software metrics being introduced by capability based processes, software development organisations are finding it more difficult to understand and interpret metric scores. This is particularly problematic for senior management and project managers where analysis of the actual data is not feasible. This paper proposes a method with which to visually represent metric scores so that managers can easily see how their organisation is performing relative to quality goals set for each type of metric. Acting primarily as a proof of concept and prototype, we suggest ways in which real customer needs can be translated into a feasible technical solution. The solution itself visualises metric scores in the form of a tree structure and utilises Fuzzy Logic techniques, XGMML, Web Services and the .NET Framework. Future work is proposed to extend the system from the prototype stage and to overcome a problem with the masking of poor scores

Visual contrast detection cannot be predicted from surrogate measures of retinal ganglion cell number and sampling density in healthy young adults

To establish whether a clinically exploitable relationship exists between surrogate measures of retinal ganglion cell number and functional sampling density and visual contrast sensitivity in healthy young eyes

Blending Learning: The Evolution of Online and Face-to-Face Education from 20082015

In 2008, iNACOL produced a series of papers documenting promising practices identified throughout the field of K–12 online learning. Since then, we have witnessed a tremendous acceleration of transformative policy and practice driving personalized learning in the K–12 education space. State, district, school, and classroom leaders recognize that the ultimate potential for blended and online learning lies in the opportunity to transform the education system and enable higher levels of learning through competency-based approaches.iNACOL's core work adds significant value to the field by providing a powerful practitioner voice in policy advocacy, communications, and in the creation of resources and best practices to enable transformational change in K–12 education.We worked with leaders throughout the field to update these resources for a new generation of pioneers working towards the creation of student-centered learning environments.This refreshed series, Promising Practices in Blended and Online Learning, explores some of the approaches developed by practitioners and policymakers in response to key issues in K–12 education, including:Blended Learning: The Evolution of Online and Face-to-Face Education from 2008-2015;Using Blended and Online Learning for Credit Recovery and At-Risk Students;Oversight and Management of Blended and Online Programs: Ensuring Quality and Accountability; andFunding and Legislation for Blended and Online Education.Personalized learning environments provide the very best educational opportunities and personalized pathways for all students, with highly qualified teachers delivering world-class instruction using innovative digital resources and content. Through this series of white papers, we are pleased to share the promising practices in K–12 blended, online, and competency education transforming teaching and learning today