Australian National University Research Articles

Challenges and tensions in the role of the LMS for medical education

In the context of discussions of a “next generation LMS” and other contemporary challenges in higher education, this case study looks at the iterative process a team of educational designers and Medical School academics at Australian National University used in a review of the ANU's Medical School LMS sites. Adopting the framework of the actor network theory, this reflective process discovered the tensions, dynamics and issues involved, and worked to gain and maintain key Medical School staff engagement and support for the review and for any changes that might be recommended. This paper reflects on emerging possible models for technology-enhanced learning beyond our current institutional LMS while acknowledging the institutional constraints on learning innovation within the global higher education context. Next generation LMS models may provide a more flexible future solution that could be applicable not just to medical education, but to higher education generally.

Relative age of the Devonian tetrapod Metaxygnathus, based on the associated fossil fish assemblage at Jemalong, New South Wales

A new genus, Jemalongia, is erected for a porolepiform shoulder girdle and associated scales from the Cloghnan Shale at Jemalong Weir, near Forbes in New South Wales, Australia. There is no evidence for the Late Devonian porolepiform Holoptychius that was previously associated with the tetrapod Metaxygnathus at this site. Scales and a partial articulated specimen of Holoptychius sp. from the Famennian Worange Point Formation at Eden on the New South Wales south coast are close to both Holoptychius sp. from East Greenland and Holoptychius nobilissimus from Scotland. However, evidently a species other than Holoptychius sp. is represented by scales in the Hunter Siltstone at Grenfell, central New South Wales. The Jemalong fossils share character states with other scales from Grenfell and Bogan Gate that show features resembling coelacanth scales; a scale attributed to the Devonian coelacanth Gavinia is shown here for comparison. An isolated tooth plate demonstrates a second lungfish taxon at Jemalong, in addition to the denticulate Soederberghia sp. There is insufficient evidence for referring the skull of Soederberghia to the type species Soederberghia groenlandica. Incomplete placoderm remains suggest that a new antiarch taxon may occur at Jemalong. This new evidence suggests that the age of the Jemalong assemblage should be revised downwards to Givetian–Frasnian or older, rather than Famennian as previously interpreted. Gavin C. Young [Gavin.Young@anu.edu.au; Gavinyoung51@gmail.com], Department of Materials Physics, Research School of Physics, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia; Australian Museum Research Institute, 1 Williams St, Sydney 2010, New South Wales, Australia.

Democracy in Divided Societies: Electoral Engineering for Conflict Management “Chapter 3 Centripetal Incentives and Political Engineering in Australia”

Benjamin Reilly is a professor of political science and international relations at the University of Western Australia. Benjamin previously served as dean of the Sir Walter Murdoch School and was director of the Centre for democratic institutions at the Australian National University (ANU). Benjamin is also an expert in the Australian government, the United Nations, and other international organizations. As a professor of political science, Benjamin was invited to various scientific forums to speak at well-known campuses, such as Harvard, Oxford, and Johns Hopkins. Publicizing scientific papers and books earned Benjamin numerous international grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the United StatesInstitute of Peace, the East-West Center, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the Australian Research Council. Benjamin’s ideas and thoughts were widely published in various international and national newspapers, including the New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Time Magazine.

AMSD: The Australian Message Stick Database.

Message sticks are wooden objects once widely used in Indigenous Australia for facilitating important long-distance communications. Within this tradition an individual wishing to send a message would carve a stick and apply conventional symbols to its surface. The stick was entrusted to a messenger who carried the object into the territory of another community together with a memorised oral statement. Between the 1880s and the 1910s, settlers and international scholars took great interest in message sticks and this was reflected in efforts to document, collect and store them in museums worldwide. However, by this period, the practice was already undergoing profound changes, having been abandoned in many parts of the continent and transformed in others. While message sticks were still being used in a traditional way in Western Arnhem Land up until at least the late 1970s, today they feature in public interactions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous organisations, in art production and in oral narrations. Accordingly many questions concerning the history, pragmatics and global significance of message stick communication remain unanswered. To address this we have compiled the Australian Message Stick Database, a new resource hosted at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, and The Australian National University, Canberra. It contains images and data for over 1500 individual message sticks sourced from museums, and supplemented with information derived from published and unpublished manuscripts, private collections, and from field recordings involving contemporary Indigenous consultants. For the first time, knowledge about Australian message sticks can be evaluated as a single set allowing scholars and Traditional Owners to explore previously intractable questions about their histories, meanings and purposes.

ANU-ADRI scores, tau pathology, and cognition in non-demented adults: the CABLE study

BackgroundIt has been reported that the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) could be predicted by the Australian National University Alzheimer Disease Risk Index (ANU-ADRI) scores. However, among non-demented Chinese adults, the correlations of ANU-ADRI scores with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) core biomarkers and cognition remain unclear.MethodsIndividuals from the Chinese Alzheimer’s Biomarker and LifestyLE (CABLE) study were grouped into three groups (low/intermediate/high risk groups) based on their ANU-ADRI scores. The multiple linear regression models were conducted to investigate the correlations of ANU-ADRI scores with several biomarkers of AD pathology. Mediation model and structural equation model (SEM) were conducted to investigate the mediators of the correlation between ANU-ADRI scores and cognition.ResultsA total of 1078 non-demented elders were included in our study, with a mean age of 62.58 (standard deviation [SD] 10.06) years as well as a female proportion of 44.16% (n = 476). ANU-ADRI scores were found to be significantly related with MMSE (β = -0.264, P < 0.001) and MoCA (β = -0.393, P < 0.001), as well as CSF t-tau (β = 0.236, P < 0.001), p-tau (β = 0.183, P < 0.001), and t-tau/Aβ42 (β = 0.094, P = 0.005). Mediation analyses indicated that the relationships of ANU-ADRI scores with cognitive scores were mediated by CSF t-tau or p-tau (mediating proportions ranging from 4.45% to 10.50%). SEM did not reveal that ANU-ADRI scores affected cognition by tau-related pathology and level of CSF soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (sTREM2).ConclusionANU-ADRI scores were associated with cognition and tau pathology. We also revealed a potential pathological mechanism underlying the impact of ANU-ADRI scores on cognition.

On Romancing the Tomes: Popular Culture, Law and Feminism: A Public Conversation

ABSTRACT Emerita Professor Margaret Thornton's edited collection, Romancing the Tomes: Popular Culture, Law and Feminism was published in 2002, and grew out of the workshop Margaret organised under the auspices of the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University in 2000. In 2021 as part of the Institute of International Law and the Humanities (‘IILAH') Festival of Conversations Margaret spoke to Johanna Commins about the original workshop, the edited collection, and Margaret's reading of High Court Justice Ian Callinan’s first published novel, The Lawyer and the Libertine. The following edited conversation was held at Melbourne Law School in May 2023 and opened the workshop Romancing the Tomes 2.0: Feminism, Law and Popular Culture. It continued via email in early 2024.

MULTIVALUED WAVES AND THE RICHTMYER–MESHKOV INSTABILITY AS THE CAUSES OF THE FORMATION OF GALAXIES

A few months ago, the Max Planck Institute (Dresden, Germany) organized an International Seminar for outstanding researchers of such a remarkable phenomenon as “extreme waves”. The seminar was led by such famous professors as Nail Akhdiev (Australian National University, Canberra, Australia) [1], Helmut Brand (University of Bayreuth, Germany) [2] and Amin Chabchub (Kyoto University, Japan) [3]. Thе phenomenon of "Extreme waves" is remarkable since widely spread in Nature, and at the same time it is used widely in technology. In particular it is used in modern optical communications (nonlinear optics). The results of the Workshop are widely discussed by experts. They preview promising new directions springing from group efforts. This article is a review of my seminar presentation. At the same time, it includes some results of my book, which is being prepared for publication. The main outlines of this book are outlined by Marat Aksanovich Ilgamov in his article [5]. The book is devoted to multivalued waves existing in various scalar fields. An attempt is made to describe, on this basis, the entire variety of fundamental physical phenomena of the world around us, starting with quantum phenomena and ending with the emergence and initial development of the Universe. It is known that Einstein tried to build a unified (interdisciplinary) field theory that would unite all interactions in nature into a single system. My report to Dresden made an attempt to use this idea, which was developed in the mentioned book and this article. The first three parts of this article examine the stability of Richtmyer–Meshkov and Faraday waves. The last part discusses the theory of the origin of the Universe proposed in [4, 12]. The birth of galaxies in the first moments of the process of spherical expansion of our Universe is associated with the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability.

Emission-line velocity, metallicity, and extinction maps of the Large Magellanic Cloud

ABSTRACT We measure the properties of optical emission lines in multiple locations across the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using the Australian National University 2.3-m telescope and the Wide-Field Spectrograph (WiFeS). From these measurements, we interpolate maps of the gas-phase metallicity, extinction, Hα radial velocity, and Hα velocity dispersion across the LMC. The LMC metallicity maps show a complex structure that cannot be explained by a simple radial gradient. The bright H ii region 30 Doradus stands out as a region of high extinction. The Hα and H i gas radial velocities are mostly consistent except for a region to the south and east of the LMC centre. The Hα velocity dispersion is almost always higher than the H i velocity dispersion, except in the region that shows the divergence in radial velocity, where the H i velocity dispersion is greater than the Hα velocity dispersion. This suggests that the H i gas is diverging from the stellar radial velocity, perhaps as a result of inflow or outflow of H i gas. The study of dwarf galaxies like the LMC is important as they are the building blocks of larger galaxies like our own Milky Way. The maps provided in this work show details not accessible in the study of more distant dwarf galaxies.

Discovery of a new blue large-amplitude pulsator in the SkyMapper DR2: SMSS J184506.82−300804.7

ABSTRACT We report the discovery of a new Blue Large-Amplitude Pulsator (BLAP), SMSS J184506−300804 (SMSS-BLAP-1) in Data Release 2 of the SkyMapper Southern Sky Survey. We conduct high-cadence photometric observations in the u band to confirm a periodic modulation of the light curve. SMSS-BLAP-1 has a ∼19-min pulsation period with an amplitude of 0.2 mag in u band, and is similar to the classical BLAPs found by OGLE. From spectroscopic observations with the Wide-Field Spectrograph on the Australian National University 2.3m telescope, we confirm it as a low-gravity BLAP: best-fitting parameters from the non-LTE tlusty model are estimated as Teff = 29 020$^{+193}_{-34}$ K, logg = 4.661$^{+0.008}_{-0.143}$ (cm s−2), and logn(He)/n(H) = −2.722$^{+0.057}_{-0.074}$ dex. However, our BLAP exhibits a very He-deficient atmosphere compared to both low- and high-gravity BLAPs, which have logn(He)/n(H) in the range −0.41∼−2.4.

Adaptation of the Australian National University Alzheimer's Disease Risk Index-Short Form (ANU-ADRI-SF) into Turkish.

The 'Australian National University Alzheimer's Disease Risk Index' (ANU-ADRI) assesses the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is a potential tool for its prevention. The aim of this study is to adapt the ANU-ADRI-SF (the short version of ANU-ADRI) into the Turkish language and Turkish cultural context. The study was methodological and involved the translation and intercultural adaptation of the ANU-ADRI-SF into the Turkish language. The study included 384 community-based participants from a province in the Western Black Sea Region of Türkiye. Data was collected via an online form prepared using Google Forms. The index was translated from its original language, English, into Turkish and then retranslated to English by bilingual translators. It was then reviewed and evaluated for possible issues related to translation and degrees of equivalence. When TR-ANU-ADRI-SF levels were compared according to sex, the mean risk scores were found to be 11.25 ± 7.02 for males and 11.69 ± 7.99 for females. After cross-cultural adaptation, the TR-ANU-ADRI-SF was conceptually intelligible to Turkish adults. The TR-ANU-ADRI-SF is a valid and reliable AD risk assessment tool. Given the increase in AD and its impact on people's health, there is a great need for strategies to be implemented by health professionals to improve the lifestyle of the adult population. For use in conjunction with these strategies, a localised AD risk assessment tool that can be applied by clinicians or by individual patients has been adapted and introduced to the Turkish literature.

Per Andersen. 12 January 1930—17 February 2020

Per Andersen was one of the leading neuroscientists of the second half of the twentieth century. He spent his entire career at the University of Oslo, apart from an exceptionally productive postdoctoral period with Sir John Eccles FRS at the Australian National University in Canberra between 1961 and 1963. As a PhD student he laid the foundation of field potential analysis, which allowed synaptic function in laminated cortical structures such as the hippocampus to be followed for long periods in intact animals, an essential technical prerequisite for the study of the synaptic basis of memory. In Canberra he identified the neurons responsible for feed-back inhibition in the hippocampus and feed-forward inhibition in the cerebellum, the first inhibitory neurons to be functionally identified in the mammalian brain. Per's Canberra achievements catapulted him to superstar status, and enabled him on his return to Oslo in 1963 to establish a laboratory that played a major role over the following decades in characterizing the functional properties of hippocampal synapses. From his laboratory emerged a string of significant advances, including the discovery of long-term potentiation, a form of synaptic plasticity widely believed to support learning and memory, and the introduction of the transverse hippocampal slice, which rapidly became the dominant preparation for investigating the properties of hippocampal neurons. Young researchers, many from the USA and Canada, flocked to his laboratory for postdoctoral training, adding to the steady stream of Norwegian doctoral students, two of whom went on to win the Nobel Prize. Per was also committed to the importance of communicating scientific advances to the general public, and contributed prolifically over the years to the Norwegian media, commentating on advances in neuroscience and their relevance to neurological disorders.

The economic value of human milk from three cohort studies in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy

BackgroundThe Mothers’ Milk Tool, developed and launched by the Australian National University and Alive & Thrive in 2022, allows to estimate the volume and value of breastmilk using prevalence rates of breastfeeding by month of age from birth to 36 months. The objective of this study was to obtain these estimates for three cohort studies conducted in a region of Italy.MethodsBreastfeeding data from three cohort studies carried out in 1999, 2007 and 2016, with follow-up to 12, 24 and 36 months of 842, 400 and 265 children, respectively, were entered into the downloadable version of the tool. Breastfeeding rates charts and tables with estimates of breastmilk production and value for breastfeeding of children aged 0–36 months were produced.ResultsThe rates of initiation of breastfeeding were similar in the three cohorts, while the rates of any breastfeeding at subsequent ages increased over the years. The volumes and values of breastmilk per child increased accordingly, from around 130 L (13,000 USD) in 1999, to 200 L (20,000 USD) in 2007, to 226 L (22,600 USD) in 2016. The percentage of lost breastmilk decreased from 67.7% to 55.4% to 43.7%, respectively. Overall, the 1507 mothers of the three cohorts produced an estimated 250,000 L of breastmilk for their children aged 0–36 months. At 100 USD per litre, this would add up to around 25 million USD.ConclusionsOur study shows that the Mothers’ Milk Tool can be used to estimate per child volumes and values of breastmilk produced and lost at local levels, and to provide simple indicators of the effects of breastfeeding interventions using the percentage of lost breastmilk, where datasets on rates of breastfeeding by month of age are available. The results of such studies can be used to advocate for better and adequately funded programmes for the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding.

What remains when two neutron stars collide?

What remains when two neutron stars collide? Distinguished Professor Susan M. Scott and Dr Karl Wette from the Australian National University examine what remains when two neutron stars collide in this exciting gravitational astrophysics focus. Our Universe is now 13.7 billion years old. Many processes have evolved slowly over its existence; for example, our Sun will burn for about 10 billion years over its working life before entering retirement as a white dwarf star. At the opposite end of the scale, the Universe is also home to a myriad of short-lived events, which may radiate enormous amounts of energy in an instant. These are the astronomical transients.

Reviewer Acknowledgements for World Journal of English Language, Vol. 13, No. 9

World Journal of English Language wishes to acknowledge the following individuals for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Their help and contributions in maintaining the quality of the journal are greatly appreciated.World Journal of English Language is recruiting reviewers for the journal. If you are interested in becoming a reviewer, we welcome you to join us. Please contact us for the application form at: wjel@sciedupress.comReviewers for Volume 13, Number 9Abdul Majeed Hameed Joodi, Al-Farahidi University, Baghdad, IraqAbdulfattah Omar, The Australian National University, AustraliaAntonio Piga, University of Cagliari, ItalyAravind B R, Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education, IndiaBradley Lloyd, University of Antwerp, BelgiumHossein Salarian, University of Tehran, IranJeffrey Mcgee, University of Pittsburgh, United StatesJergen Jel A. Cinco- Labaria, Western Philippines University, Philippines

Brij V. Lal &amp; K.L. Gillion: The apprentice and the sorcerer

Brij Lal was mentored by Ken Gillion during the former’s doctoral work at the Australian National University in the late-1970s. The resulting thesis was a pathbreaking quantitative analysis of the 45,439 North Indians who went to Fiji as indentured labourers between 1879 and 1916 – centering on such variables as the places of origin, their age, gender, marital status, caste, and family circumstances. 1 The much-reduced monograph that derived from the thesis is a thoroughgoing statistical profile that has stood the test of time and been a model for subsequent work. 2 So we can thank Ken Gillion for his part in the ‘making’ of Brij Lal. Gillion and Lal became good friends, each holding the other in high regard. I knew them both, Lal far better than Gillion. As will be seen, Lal and I have contrasting views on Gillion as a person and as a scholar. Bringing to bear my own observations dating back to 1973, the archival record and a reading of Gillion and Lal’s writings, I discuss the evolving relationship between these two major historians of Indo-Fijian indenture.

Identification of three unexpected new psychoactive substances at an Australian drug checking service.

Drug checking is a harm reduction measure that provides people with the opportunity to confirm the identity and purity of substances before consumption. The CanTEST Health and Drug Checking Service is Australia's first fixed-site drug checking service, where clients can learn about the contents of the samples they provide while receiving tailored harm reduction and health advice. Three samples were recently presented to the service with the expectation of 4-fluoromethylphenidate (4F-MPH) 1, methoxetamine (MXE) 2 and 3-methylmethcathinone (3-MMC) 3. The identity of all three samples did not meet these expectations and remained unknown on-site, as no high confidence identifications were obtained. However, further analysis by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, high resolution gas chromatography-electron ionisation-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry at the nearby Australian National University allowed for the structure elucidation of the three samples as 4-fluoro-α-pyrrolidinoisohexanophenone (4F-α-PiHP) 4, 1-(4-fluorobenzyl)-4-methylpiperazine (4F-MBZP) 5 and N-propyl-1,2-diphenylethylamine (propylphenidine) 6, respectively. Given all three samples were not of the expected identity and have not yet been described as new psychoactive substances in the literature, this study presents a full characterisation of each compound. As exemplified by this rapid identification of three unexpected new psychoactive substances, drug checking can be used as an effective method to monitor the unregulated drug market.

First record of Protemnodon (Macropodidae: Marsupialia) from Pleistocene lowland New Guinea

An isolated molar from the archaeological deposit of Lachitu Cave (RIQ), on the north coast of Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea represents the first Pleistocene occurrence of the genus Protemnodon below 1700 m on the island of New Guinea. The specimen is identified as a deciduous second lower premolar (dp3) from a juvenile individual. It is distinguished from other New Guinean Protemnodon by its large size, proportions, and some morphological features. The find is the first evidence of New Guinean Protemnodon in Pleistocene coastal lowland rainforest environments and likely represents an undescribed species. Loukas G. Koungoulos [ loukas.koungoulos@anu.edu.au ] Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture, History and Language, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia; Timothy F. Flannery [ tim.fridtjof.flannery@gmail.com ] Australian Museum, 1 William Street, Sydney 2000, New South Wales, Australia; Sue O’Connor [ sue.oconnor@anu.edu.au ] Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture, History and Language, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

A revision of the Late Jurassic fish Aphnelepis australis from the Talbragar Fossil Fish Bed of New South Wales, Australia

The discovery of an exceptionally preserved specimen of the Mesozoic teleost fish Aphnelepis australis from the upper Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) Talbragar Fossil Fish Bed in New South Wales, together with historic confusion over its phylogenetic affinities, has prompted a detailed reassessment of the taxon. The new specimen of A. australis is skeletally complete and exhibits the dorsal fin with long principal dorsal fin rays and characteristic squamation comprising heavy rhombic scales anterior to insertions of the dorsal fin and anal fin, and much lighter and thinner weakly crenulate scales on the posterior half of the body. A cladistic analysis resolves A. australis as a member of Archaeomenidae, along with Archaeomene tenuis, Wadeichthys oxyops, Oreochima ellioti, Gurvanichthys mongoliensis, Zaxilepis quinglongensis, and Aphnelepis australis. Lynne B. Bean [lynne.bean@anu.edu.au ], Research School of Earth Sciences, 142 Mills Road, Australian National University, Acton, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia.

FROM NOVEL COATING STRATEGY ON BIODEGRADABLE MG-BASED ORTHOPAEDIC IMPLANT MATERIAL TOWARDS CLINICAL TRIAL

Device-associated bacterial infections are a major and costly clinical challenge. This project aimed to develop a smart new biomaterial for implants that helps to protect against infection and inflammation, promote bone growth, and is biodegradable. Gallium (Ga) doped strontium-phosphate was coated on pure Magnesium (Mg) through a chemical conversion process. Mg was distributed in a graduated manner throughout the strontium-phosphate coating GaSrPO4, with a compact structure and a Ga-rich surface. We tested this sample for its biocompatibility, effects on bone remodeling and antibacterial activities including Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis and E. coli - key strains causing infection and early failure of the surgical implantations in orthopaedics and trauma.Ga was distributed in a gradient way throughout the entire strontium-phosphate coating with a compact structure and a gallium-rich surface. The GaSrPO4 coating protected the underlying Mg from substantial degradation in minimal essential media at physiological conditions over 9 days. The liberated Ga ions from the coatings upon Mg specimens inhibited the growth of bacterial tested. The Ga dopants showed minimal interferences with the SrPO4 based coating, which boosted osteoblasts and undermined osteoclasts in in vitro co-cultures model.The results evidenced this new material may be further translated to preclinical trial in large animal model and towards clinical trial.Acknowledgements: Authors are grateful to the financial support from the Australian Research Council through the Linkage Scheme (ARC LP150100343). The authors acknowledge the facilities, and the scientific and technical assistance of the RMIT University and John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University.

How COVID changed the world of data

This is an edited version of a speech delivered to the Population Symposium at the Australian National University School of Demography on 6th October 2023.