Triangulating public administrational and genealogical data: the case of Australian migration research

'In der australischen Migrationsforschung existieren seit langem einige Paradigmen, z.B. dass die australische Bevölkerung zu 98% ethnische Briten sind. An diesem Beispiel wird gezeigt, wie Forscher vorgehen können, wenn neue Daten dieses Paradigma in Frage stellen. Die Datentriangulation stellt hierbei ein nützliches Mittel dar, um die Güte der Daten zu bestimmen. Um sie erfolgreich einzusetzen, müssen soziologische, historische und ethnographische Methoden und Konzepte verknüpft werden.' (Autorenreferat)'In this paper, data triangulation is used as a means of verifying, and further exploring, paradigm challenging data that emerged unexpectedly in a research project. The field of this study is Australian migration sociology. The discovery of data which suggested contradictions to the accepted notion that the Australian population was historically '98 percent' British origin, has also lead to what can be seen as a return to the traditional, but seemingly forgotten (in English speaking countries), relationship that existed between ethnography, history and sociology. The rediscovery of connections between these now separate disciplines, and the strengths and critiques that can be made of the now unfamiliar (in sociological but not anthropological/ ethnographic research) tools of marriage records and family genealogy is the subject of this paper.' (author's abstract

Using Screen Recording and Compression Software to Support Online Learning

This Article has supplementary content. View the full record on NSUWorks here

2011 International Design Exchange Project, Hidden Space Project. Volume 2, Urban rooftops

Urban Rooftops: Our cities are now having to rethink and redevelop the use of space more creatively and ingeniously than ever before. Space is precious in any context but the extra pressure cities’ face with the ever growing need to accommodate increasing populations mean that every open area is now a new possibility for spatial development. One of the most recent and fascinating trends is the use of rooftops. Their appeal lies in their surprise and undiscovered disposition. Their purpose might involve a large community or an individual but because of its elevated position, each journey to that roof space provides a chance for adventure. They are an addition to older established buildings but come with a new brief and therefore a new spirit, encouraging creativity and positive thinking, using a different energy. The master planners and the local communities need to consider a more responsible composition of ideas to our urban and earthly needs. Sustainable energy use and material choice are to be rewarded but what of the function? Is just viewing the simple horizon above the rooftops function enough? relieving us of our daily stresses and seeing the city as sleeping giant or should we be industrious, striking balances of nature, pulling it back from disaster, giving space to synergistic projects. The students were asked to design a Rooftop structure in a densely inhabited urban neighbourhood, namely Burbage House, Curtain Road, Shoreditch London E2. Aim: The aim of this lofty structure or series of structures sets out to encourage, inspire a community or an individual to cultivate positive practices. The rooftop should connect and bond visually or through metaphor within its surrounding neighbourhood. The space should take account of the social and cultural diversity that resides close by. Context: Shoreditch is weave of close knit streets with its former industrial context provide an area for those that want to step out of the norm and the corporate, it’s place to imagine new business. Innovative creative houses have set up home using space imaginatively, sharing with like minded disciplines. The narrowness of the streets encourages networking and enhances collective working practices. Warehouse constructions reveal their previous activity and function, reminding us of the busy people, the noise and the industry. The buildings allow a maximum of light though to the interior, the detail in the window frames and brickwork show a sense of pride. The Interiors are simple and true the outer structure, revealing angles and curves. The space is unattractive to the Multi-national corporations, and as there is little capacity for charging large rents makes this area economically suitable for young and emerging practices to set up. The rawness of the interior spaces, unadulterated by recent 20th century trends provide the perfect utilitarian and vacant habitat for the fresh ideas where pioneering and ground breaking professions materialize. View: In some respects the rawness of such a landscape, its lack of conformity compares well with an open landscape. When standing on the roof looking across London, its openness and horizontal neutrality engenders a sense of calm and invigoration. Suddenly there are possibilities and scope for living positively. Hurried life slows down and London becomes picturesque. Novalis wrote ‘Everything seen from a distance becomes poetry :distant mountains, distant people, distant events. Everything become romantic’

2010 International Design Exchange Project, Living bridges

Living bridges: We are very fortunate at London Metropolitan University to own well equipped workshops, wood mills and digital machinery. The legacy of a once popular and thriving furniture and textile industry, based in the East End of London, have left us with this ability to ‘make’. Currently the practice of design is going through rigorous development with the onset of 3 Dimensional drawing packages. Students now can seize the opportunity to create large, complicated and futuristic schemes, light and materials can be added producing both inspiring and convincing visuals. Collaboration: It has been both insightful and a pleasure to have had this opportunity to work with KYUNG WON and DONGYANG MIRAE Universities in many ways. Two aspects in particular are worthy of mentioning, firstly when talking to my Korean counterparts, it is comforting to know that our issues concerning student progress or workshop development are very similar. Designers are rarely constant in their levels of productive output and work through crests and troughs, the enthusiastic activity is followed by moments of incubation that seemingly are unproductive which are then followed by a sprint to the deadline. It’s evident that the design process transcends the notion of culture. Secondly the students that have contributed to the work in this book are half way through their courses. However, projects such as Living Bridges require the student to develop their ideas through sketch modelling, through trial and error. A hand-made model can be viewed from a 360° perspective, its proportions; its aesthetics can be assessed instantly. There is an immediacy of judgement, it allows others to discuss and evaluate its function and presence, generating ideas of further development, improving the concept within its context. There is pressure on the design industry to prioritize 3D CAD competencies before sketch modelling skills, valuing the production of drawings as a tangible asset. It is evident that as the students work through the brief, they only understand the context and the structure properly through hand-made models, those that leap into the visualized model tend to miss the significance of scale and therefore its connection to the site and its users. Their range belongs to a computer screen and within that, the scale is infinite, the views are shortened, abrupt and framed. If it is your intention to design a structure that not only fulfils a function but more importantly articulates with the horizons, the local vernacular and the quality of light or indeed shadows it needs to be tested and appreciated through a model version. Our sense of proportion translates into messages of beauty and experience and gives us reassurance of its success and acceptance. Students value the small group tutorials and one-to-one sessions that allow individuals to discuss,debate, draw and model, design intentions. This positive process needs to be given space and time, therefore students are encouraged to reflect on their process and practice, verbally, in their sketchbooks and within an online learning environment such as e-learning environments. This narrative serves to reinforce the students learning and to provide actions for future outcomes. The collaboration with Kyungwon university and DongYang Mirae University in Seoul, Korea, has given the students the opportunity to demonstrate and push the boundaries of their process and I am extremely proud of their endeavours

Identification of roots from grass swards using PCR-RFLP and FFLP of the plastid trnL (UAA) intron

BACKGROUND: The specific associations between plant roots and the soil microbial community are key to understanding nutrient cycling in grasslands, but grass roots can be difficult to identify using morphology alone. A molecular technique to identify plant species from root DNA would greatly facilitate investigations of the root rhizosphere. RESULTS: We show that trnL PCR product length heterogeneity and a maximum of two restriction digests can separate 14 common grassland species. The RFLP key was used to identify root fragments at least to genus level in a field study of upland grassland community diversity. Roots which could not be matched to known types were putatively identified by comparison of the nuclear ribosomal ITS sequence to the GenBank database. Ten taxa were identified among almost 600 root fragments. Additionally, we have employed capillary electrophoresis of fluorescent trnL PCR products (fluorescent fragment length polymorphism, FFLP) to discriminate all taxa identified at the field site. CONCLUSION: We have developed a molecular database for the identification of some common grassland species based on PCR-RFLP of the plastid transfer RNA leucine (trnL) UAA gene intron. This technique will allow fine-scale studies of the rhizosphere, where root identification by morphology is unrealistic and high throughput is desirable

Personal goals of women recently diagnosed with breast cancer: Protocol for a cohort study

Objectives: This study aims to identify the personal goals of women with breast cancer, to describe the characteristics of partici- pants’ personal goals over four months, and to identify barriers and facilitators to their pursuit. Methods: This protocol outlines plans to conduct a prospective cohort study. We will recruit women participating in the Ottawa In- tegrative Cancer Centre’s Head Start program (an integrative oncology psychoeducational program in Ottawa, Canada), and those on the program’s waiting list if possible. We anticipate a sample size of approximately 18 to 36 women. Prior to the beginning of Head Start, participants will identify their current personal goals and rate them on various dimensions on a questionnaire. At one and three months, participants will re-assess their goals and their goal pursuit. In a one-on-one interview at three months, they will identify barriers and facilitators to the pursuit of their goals. We will analyze quantitative data using descriptive and inferential statistics, and qualitative data using thematic content analysis. Conclusion: Findings from this study will identify important information about the personal goals of women recently diagnosed with breast cancer that can help to support the process of positive goal adjustment and enhance support to these women.  Résumé Objectifs : Cette étude vise à identifier les objectifs personnels des femmes atteintes d’un cancer du sein, à décrire les caractéristiques des objectifs personnels des participantes sur une période de quatre mois, et à identifier les obstacles et les facilitateurs à leur poursuite. Méthodes : Ce protocole décrit les plans pour mener une étude de cohorte prospective. Nous recruterons des femmes qui participeront au programme Head Start du Centre de cancérologie intégrative d’Ottawa (un programme psychopédagogique intégratif en oncologie à Ottawa, au Canada) et celles qui sont sur la liste d’attente du programme, si possible. Nous prévoyons un échantillon d’environ 18 à 36 femmes. Avant le début de Head Start, les participantes identifieront leurs objectifs personnels actuels et les noteront sur différentes dimensions dans un questionnaire. À un et trois mois, les participantes réévalueront leurs objectifs et la poursuite de leur objectif. Dans une entrevue individuelle à trois mois, elles identifieront les obstacles et les facilitateurs à la poursuite de leurs objectifs. Nous analyserons les données quantitatives à l’aide de statistiques descriptives et inférentielles, et les données qualitatives à l’aide d’analyses de contenu thématiques. Conclusion : Les résultats de cette étude permettront d’identifier des informations importantes sur les objectifs personnels des femmes récemment diagnostiquées avec un cancer du sein qui peuvent aider à soutenir le processus d’ajustement positif des objectifs et améliorer le soutien à ces femmes. 

Immune state is associated with natural dietary variation in wild mice Mus musculus domesticus

1. The ability, propensity and need to mount an immune response vary both among individuals and within a single individual over time.2. A wide array of parameters have been found to influence immune state in carefully controlled experiments, but we understand much less about which of these parameters are important in determining immune state in wild populations.3. Diet can influence immune responses, for example when nutrient availability is limited. We therefore predict that natural dietary variation will play a role in modulating immune state, but this has never been tested.4. We measured carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios in an island population of house mice Mus musculus domesticus as an indication of dietary variation, and the expression of a range of immune?related genes to represent immune state.5. After accounting for potential confounding influences such as age, sex and helminth load, we found a significant association between carbon isotope ratio and levels of immune activity in the mesenteric lymph nodes, particularly in relation to the inflammatory response.6. This association demonstrates the important interplay between diet and an animal's response to immune challenges, and therefore potentially its susceptibility to disease

Sheep Updates 2005 - Part 2

This session covers seven papers from different authors: CONCURRENT SESSIONS - STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT 1.Finishing Pastoral Lambs, Peter Tozer, Patricia Harper, Janette Drew, Department of Agriculture Western Australia 2. Coating Improves Wool Quality under Mixed Farming Conditions, KE Kemper, ML Hebart, FD Brien, KS Grimson, DH Smith AMM Ramsay, South Australian Research and Development Institute 3. J. S. Richards, K.D. Atkins, T. Thompson, W. K. Murray, Australian Sheep Industry Co-operative Research Centre and NSW Department of Primary Industries, Orange Agricultural Institute, Forest Rd. Orange 4. Strategic Risk Management in the Sheep Industry, J.R.L. Hall, ICON Agriculture (JRL Hall & Co) 5. Joining Prime Lambs for the Northern End of the Market - a Systems Approach, Chris Carter, Peter Tozer, Department of Agriculture Western Australia 6. Lifetime Wool - Dry feed budgeting tool, Mike Hyder, department of Agriculture Western Australia, John Young, Farming Systems Analysis Service, Kojonup, Western Australia 7. Influence of ultrafine wool fibre curvature and blending with cashmere on attributes of knitwear, B. A. McGregor, Primary Industries Research Victoria, Department of Primary Industries, Victori

Contributions of mean and shape of blood pressure distribution to worldwide trends and variations in raised blood pressure: A pooled analysis of 1018 population-based measurement studies with 88.6 million participants

Background: Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hypertensive population). Our aim was to quantify the contributions of these two phenomena to the worldwide trends in the prevalence of raised blood pressure. Methods: We pooled 1018 population-based studies with blood pressure measurements on 88.6 million participants from 1985 to 2016. We first calculated mean systolic blood pressure (SBP), mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and prevalence of raised blood pressure by sex and 10-year age group from 20-29 years to 70-79 years in each study, taking into account complex survey design and survey sample weights, where relevant. We used a linear mixed effect model to quantify the association between (probittransformed) prevalence of raised blood pressure and age-group- and sex-specific mean blood pressure. We calculated the contributions of change in mean SBP and DBP, and of change in the prevalence-mean association, to the change in prevalence of raised blood pressure. Results: In 2005-16, at the same level of population mean SBP and DBP, men and women in South Asia and in Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa would have the highest prevalence of raised blood pressure, and men and women in the highincome Asia Pacific and high-income Western regions would have the lowest. In most region-sex-age groups where the prevalence of raised blood pressure declined, one half or more of the decline was due to the decline in mean blood pressure. Where prevalence of raised blood pressure has increased, the change was entirely driven by increasing mean blood pressure, offset partly by the change in the prevalence-mean association. Conclusions: Change in mean blood pressure is the main driver of the worldwide change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure, but change in the high-blood-pressure tail of the distribution has also contributed to the change in prevalence, especially in older age groups

Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128·9 million children, adolescents, and adults

Background Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated with adverse health consequences throughout the life-course. Our aim was to estimate worldwide trends in mean body-mass index (BMI) and a comprehensive set of BMI categories that cover underweight to obesity in children and adolescents, and to compare trends with those of adults. Methods We pooled 2416 population-based studies with measurements of height and weight on 128·9 million participants aged 5 years and older, including 31·5 million aged 5–19 years. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1975 to 2016 in 200 countries for mean BMI and for prevalence of BMI in the following categories for children and adolescents aged 5–19 years: more than 2 SD below the median of the WHO growth reference for children and adolescents (referred to as moderate and severe underweight hereafter), 2 SD to more than 1 SD below the median (mild underweight), 1 SD below the median to 1 SD above the median (healthy weight), more than 1 SD to 2 SD above the median (overweight but not obese), and more than 2 SD above the median (obesity). Findings Regional change in age-standardised mean BMI in girls from 1975 to 2016 ranged from virtually no change (−0·01 kg/m2 per decade; 95% credible interval −0·42 to 0·39, posterior probability [PP] of the observed decrease being a true decrease=0·5098) in eastern Europe to an increase of 1·00 kg/m2 per decade (0·69–1·35, PP\u3e0·9999) in central Latin America and an increase of 0·95 kg/m2 per decade (0·64–1·25, PP\u3e0·9999) in Polynesia and Micronesia. The range for boys was from a non-significant increase of 0·09 kg/m2 per decade (−0·33 to 0·49, PP=0·6926) in eastern Europe to an increase of 0·77 kg/m2 per decade (0·50–1·06, PP\u3e0·9999) in Polynesia and Micronesia. Trends in mean BMI have recently flattened in northwestern Europe and the high-income English-speaking and Asia-Pacific regions for both sexes, southwestern Europe for boys, and central and Andean Latin America for girls. By contrast, the rise in BMI has accelerated in east and south Asia for both sexes, and southeast Asia for boys. Global age-standardised prevalence of obesity increased from 0·7% (0·4–1·2) in 1975 to 5·6% (4·8–6·5) in 2016 in girls, and from 0·9% (0·5–1·3) in 1975 to 7·8% (6·7–9·1) in 2016 in boys; the prevalence of moderate and severe underweight decreased from 9·2% (6·0–12·9) in 1975 to 8·4% (6·8–10·1) in 2016 in girls and from 14·8% (10·4–19·5) in 1975 to 12·4% (10·3–14·5) in 2016 in boys. Prevalence of moderate and severe underweight was highest in India, at 22·7% (16·7–29·6) among girls and 30·7% (23·5–38·0) among boys. Prevalence of obesity was more than 30% in girls in Nauru, the Cook Islands, and Palau; and boys in the Cook Islands, Nauru, Palau, Niue, and American Samoa in 2016. Prevalence of obesity was about 20% or more in several countries in Polynesia and Micronesia, the Middle East and north Africa, the Caribbean, and the USA. In 2016, 75 (44–117) million girls and 117 (70–178) million boys worldwide were moderately or severely underweight. In the same year, 50 (24–89) million girls and 74 (39–125) million boys worldwide were obese. Interpretation The rising trends in children\u27s and adolescents\u27 BMI have plateaued in many high-income countries, albeit at high levels, but have accelerated in parts of Asia, with trends no longer correlated with those of adults. Funding Wellcome Trust, AstraZeneca Young Health Programme