University Of South Australia Research Articles

Use of blue dye in sentinel lymph node biopsy: Time to reevaluate

Use of blue dye in sentinel lymph node biopsy: Time to reevaluate

INTEGRATED APPROACH TO ECOLOGICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC RESEARCH TO SUPPORT THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY: THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN BIGHT COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH SCIENCE PROGRAM

ABSTRACT BP is investing $A1.43B and drilling four exploratory wells in the hope of discovering a new deep-water oil and gas province in the Great Australia Bight (GAB). The GAB is one of Australia's most valuable marine ecosystems. It supports globally significant populations of seabirds and marine mammals, diverse and endemic benthic assemblages and important fishing, aquaculture and ecotourism industries. Two research agencies (CSIRO, South Australian Research and Development Institute) and two universities (University of Adelaide, Flinders University of South Australia) recently entered into a collaborative research partnership with BP Australia to undertake an integrated study of the ecological processes and socio-economic importance of the GAB. Uniquely, this four year $20M research program is being undertaken during the exploration phase and conducted as a single integrated program. The Research Program is comprised of seven themes: physical oceanography; pelagic ecosystem and environmental drivers; benthic biodiversity; ecology of iconic and apex predators; petroleum geology and geochemistry; socio-economic values; and data integration and ecosystem modelling. Sixteen inter-related projects are being undertaken by some of Australia's leading marine scientists and will involve at least seven post-graduate Ph.D. students. Scientific quality assurance is provided by a review process that involves an Independent Science Panel and BP's international Subject Matter Experts. Ecological data collected during the study will be publically available. Findings will be presented to stakeholders and regulators and published in technical reports and scientific papers throughout the course of the program. The program is one of the few whole of system studies ever undertaken in Australia and is the first large-scale, integrated study of the ecosystems, resources and socio-economic values of the GAB. The approach has several advantages over undertaking discrete projects on key issues near the start of the production phase.1)BP Australia's financial contribution has leveraged significant investment from the other partners.2)Establishing baseline environmental conditions during the exploration phase provides the opportunity to conduct temporally replicated analyses of the ecosystem prior to commencement of production, should it occur.3)Engaging with the local scientific community builds on the existing knowledge base and working relationships with stakeholders and will assist the development of relevant local scientific capability.4)An integrated program provides for efficient development and validation of whole of system (i.e. ecological and socio-economic) models that elucidate interconnections among components of the system and can inform decisions regarding future development and predict, monitor and assess potential future impacts.

Embodied learning on the network

For many, if not most, professions, practice is embodied. Embodied learning associated with embodied professional practice poses a number of challenges for networked educators working in professional degree programs. The consideration of embodied learning forces a shift from a focus on cognitive, 'in the head' learning, to a more holistic view which includes whole body experiences, embodied practice and embodied cognition. This shift calls into question the ways learning is defined and the means by which learning is structured, facilitated, supported and assessed within educational programs. These questions can be difficult to address in networked learning situations where the physical has been supplemented or replaced with the virtual, where participant experiences are mediated by technology and in which good practices in learning design and facilitation are less well established.The purpose of this paper is to provide a basis for understanding embodied learning and the ways in which it may be supported and facilitated in networked learning situations. This paper provides the conceptual foundations of a continuing project on the design and development of networked courses which support embodied learning. The paper is structured in three parts. The first part provides background through a description of embodied learning and its links to professional practice. The case in point is an initial (pre-service) teacher education program at the University of South Australia. The second part identifies commonalities between networked learning and embodied learning with reference Goodyear's (2002) framework for understanding ‘good learning' as active, cumulative, individual, self-regulated and goal-oriented. The third part draws upon recent experiences designing and developing networked courses within a teacher education program at The University of South Australia. The discussion identifies challenges associated with practical work to design, develop and implement embodied learning including a) explicitly identifying intended learning outcomes associated with embodied learning; b) the relationship between ‘real' (embodied, physical) and ‘virtual' aspects of the learning experience; c) identifying appropriate learning environments for embodied learning; d) providing access to necessary physical artefacts to support embodied learning and e) creating records of performance as part of the learning (and assessment process). The discussion includes in-context responses to those challenges and a list of tentative conclusions which guide ongoing work related to these challenges.

Evidence-based practice training for health professionals in the Philippines.

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is integral in the health care system whether in developed or developing countries. Thus, all health professionals need to be trained in EBP. An EBP training program was conducted to health professionals in a developing country, the Philippines. The health professionals (medical doctors and allied health professionals [physical therapists and occupational therapists]) were working in hospitals in Manila, Philippines. The program aimed to build capacity in EBP in terms of knowledge and skills. The EBP training program was conducted as a 1-day face-to-face training. Pre- and post-test measures of EBP knowledge and skills were taken prior to and immediately after the 1-day training, using the Fresno test of evidence-based medicine for the medical doctors and the Adapted Fresno test for the allied health professionals. The EBP training program resulted in significant improvements in knowledge and skills for both the medical doctors (change in pre- and post-Fresno test measures, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 14.6–23.5; P≤0.05) and the allied health professionals (change in pre- and post-Adapted Fresno test measures, 95% CI: 32.7–38.5; P≤0.05). The EBP training conducted amongst the health professionals is an effective and tested undertaking in introducing EBP in developing countries such as the Philippines.

Always “Tasty”, Regardless: Art, Chocolate and Indigenous Australians

This paper examines race and colour through the metaphor of chocolate. The authors use the metaphor of chocolate to question why some Aboriginal people are chosen ahead of others, with the choosing done by non-Indigenous people, perhaps on the basis of who is most likely to be “soft-centred”, agreeable, and pliable. The authors discuss the development of the Hot Chocolate art exhibition in Adelaide in 2012, with a particular focus on the works of Pamela CroftWarcon. The exhibition combined chocolate (the food), lyrics from Hot Chocolate (the band), and chocolate (the metaphor for skin colour) to encourage visitors to question their assumptions about representations of Aboriginal people in Australia.

O006 Investigating the extent and explanations of in-hospital disparities experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people admitted for Acute Coronary Syndrome in South Australia

Alex Brown*, Rebekah O’Shea, Kathy Mott, Katharine Brown, Tony Lawson, Garry Jennings, on behalf of the members of the Essential Service Standards for Equitable National Cardiovascular Care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (ESSENCE) Steering Committee Wardliparingga Aboriginal Research Unit, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, Central Australia, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Alice Springs, School of Population Health, University of South Australia, Central Australia, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Tony Lawson Consulting, Adelaide, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Australia

An Interview with Dr. Vincenza Tudini from the University of South Australia

Vincenza Tudini is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Communication, International Studies and Languages at the University of South Australia. She has a Ph.D. in Italian with a focus on critical analysis of contemporary narrative. Her more recent research and publications record is in the area of applied linguistics with a focus on Computer Mediated Communication. She has directed several projects in the area of Computer Assisted Language Learning (C.A.L.L.) including a project of the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers (AFMLTA) Language Resources on the Internet and a project of the Australian Language & Literacy Council Implications of Technology for Language Teaching. She is currently working on several projects that research and develop online language teaching and learning.

The Adapted Fresno test for speech pathologists, social workers, and dieticians/nutritionists: validation and reliability testing

PurposeThe current versions of the Adapted Fresno test (AFT) are limited to physiotherapists and occupational therapists, and new scenarios and scoring rubrics are required for other allied health disciplines. The aim of this study was to examine the validity, reliability, and internal consistency of the AFT developed for speech pathologists (SPs), social workers (SWs), and dieticians/nutritionists (DNs).Materials and methodsAn expert panel from each discipline was formed to content-validate the AFT. A draft instrument, including clinical scenarios, questionnaire, and scoring rubric, was developed. The new versions were completed by ten SPs, 16 SWs, and 12 DNs, and scored by four raters. Interrater reliability was calculated using intraclass correlation coefficients (2,1) for the individual AFT items and the total score. The internal consistency of the AFT was examined using Cronbach’s α.ResultsTwo new clinical scenarios and a revised scoring rubric were developed for each discipline. The reliability among raters was excellent for questions 1, 3, and 6 across all disciplines. Question 7 showed excellent reliability for SPs, but not for SWs and DNs. All other reliability coefficients increased to moderate or excellent levels following training. Cronbach’s α was 0.71 for SPs, 0.68 for SWs, and 0.74 for DNs, indicating that internal consistency was acceptable for all disciplines.ConclusionThere is preliminary evidence to show that AFT is a valid and reliable tool for the assessment of evidence-based practice knowledge and skills of SPs, SWs, and DNs. Further research is required to establish its sensitivity to detect change in knowledge and skills following an educational program.

An Investigation of MBSE Practices across the Contractual Boundary

One of the key impediments to the expansion of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) practice across the lifecycle, particularly in competitive tendering environments, is the continued reliance on documents to define the contractual interface between the acquirer and the supplier. This paper describes the collaborative research project between the University of South Australia (UniSA), the Defence Systems Innovation Centre (DSIC), and the Defence Science Technology Organisation (DSTO) that is investigating the capability of the DSTO Whole-of- System Analytical Framework (WSAF) to supplant contractual documents within the tender process and the degree to which the model passed from acquirer through the contractual interface can be used by the supplier as the basis of their tender response and subsequent systems development. The paper opens with background material and then describes the “learning-by-doing” approach that is being employed. This is followed by a description of methods and tools used to support the design of the tender response and the capture of the design rationale in the same MBSE environment used to capture the project definition. The paper concludes with a discussion section that surfaces the key issues and challenges inherent in utilising this MBSE approach across the contractual boundary and ways that the selected approach could address these.

Student Perspectives on Transitioning to University in South Australia

Student Perspectives on Transitioning to University in South Australia

Student Perspectives on Transitioning to University in South Australia: Exploring Skill Needs Identified by Commencing Enabling Program Students

Student Perspectives on Transitioning to University in South Australia: Exploring Skill Needs Identified by Commencing Enabling Program Students

John Robert Anderson 1928–2007

John Anderson was born in Sydney on 5 March 1928 and died in Melbourne on 26 February 2007. He was educated at Sydney Boys' High School, Sydney Technical College, the New South Wales University of Technology (now the University of New South Wales) and the University of Cambridge. He was at Queens University Belfast as a Ramsay Memorial Fellow, 1954–5, was a Lecturer in Chemistry at the New South Wales University of Technology, a Reader in Chemistry at the University of Melbourne and Foundation Professor of Chemistry at Flinders University in South Australia. In 1969 he was appointed Chief of the CSIRO Division of Tribophysics and managed the Division's transition to become the Division of Materials Science. He was a Professor of Chemistry at Monash University, Melbourne, from 1987 until his retirement in 1993. He will be remembered for his contributions to the understanding of gas–solid interactions with particular emphasis on fundamental heterogeneous catalysis on metals, but also embracing other adsorption and oxidation processes.

University literacy: A multi-literacies model

Literacy teachers in schools and universities share a common goal: to prepare students with the 'literacies' they need to succeed in and beyond educational settings. In a 'wideningparticipation' era universities must increase and expand their literacy offerings to help students make the most of their university experiences. At Flinders University in South Australia we have set out to design a first-year literacy framework to equip students with the foundational literacies they need to succeed. Once implemented, the framework should help to increase retention and completion rates and give 'traditional' and 'non-traditional' student cohorts a more empowering education experience. It will also help students from diverse backgrounds make the transition to tertiary study. Our 'multiliteracies' framework explicitly addresses four key tertiary literacies: (1) institutional literacies, (2) critical literacies, (3) traditional literacies, and (4) academic literacies. The framework endeavours to make explicit many of the literacy requirements that were previously assumed, and should help equalise differences in 'cultural capital' and literacy levels of students arriving at university. This paper will unpack the multiliteracies framework and explore the nexus between cultural capital and literacy practice.

Resiliency as a mediator of the impact of sleep on child and adolescent behavior

BackgroundDisturbed sleep is detrimental to child behavior; however, the precise means by which this association occurs is unclear. Sleep and resilience can theoretically share an underlying neural mechanism and therefore influence one another. However, the role of resilience in the association between sleep and behavior is not known. The associations between sleep, resilience, and problematic behavior in children and adolescents aged 7–18 years were investigated in this study.MethodsA correlational design was used to determine the relationships between total sleep problems, indices of resilience, and internalizing and externalizing behaviors.ResultsSleep problems and resiliency variables were strongly correlated, and further, sleep problems were found to be predictive of resiliency scores. Resiliency significantly mediated the relationship between increased sleep problems and both overall internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, and specifically, measures of depression and anxiety.ConclusionSleep impacted levels of resilience such that greater sleep disturbance reduced resilience and consequently increased problematic behavior, potentially predisposing individuals to psychopathology.

Why we feel how we feel: Investigating cerebral blood flow during exercise

University of South Australia, Australia Introduction: The underlying mechanisms of why we feel how we feel during exercise remain unknown and until recently have been methodologically problematic to investigate. Local cerebral blood flow (which reflects activity of the frontal cortex [FC]) can be measured using Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), and is suitable for use during exercise. The objective of this study is to examine affective responses (i.e. feeling good or feeling bad) and activity in areas of the FC during exercise standardised tometabolic processes (i.e. gas exchange thresholds). Methods: In a fully repeated measures design, participants (n=25, 25.6 years, range21–34) completed an incremental exercise test to volitional exhaustion. Affective responses (using the Feeling Scale; range +5 [very good] to −5 [very bad]) and changes in cerebral oxygenation (O2Hb), deoxygenation (HHb), blood volume (tHb) and haemoglobin difference (HbDiff =O2Hb−HHb), were measured (micromolars; m) from the right (Areas 1–4R) and left (Areas 5–8L) FC (corresponding to Brodmann’s Areas 8,10 and 46) using multi-channel NIRS. Averages were taken at ventilatory threshold (VT), respiratory compensation point (RCP) and exhaustion (END). Results: A one-way Time (Pre-, VT, RCP, END) ANOVA indicated a significant (p<0.05) decline in affect (feeling good to bad) from Pre(M± SD, 2.4±1.1), to VT (1.5±1.0), RCP (−.8±1.7), and END (−2±1.8). A multivariate ANOVA revealed significant (p<0.05) Intensity (3; VT, RCP, END) by Area (8; 1–4R, 5–8L) interactions for O2Hb, tHb and HbDiff. From VT to END, HbDiff increased in Area 6L (+1.7±4.9) compared to Area 1R (−1.3±5.7). From RCP to END, O2Hb declined in Area 1R (−.8±2.2) whereas O2Hb and tHb increased in Area 4R (+1.4±2.5 and +3.2±3.6, respectively). At RCP, Areas 1R (O2Hb, HbDiff) and 6L (HbDiff); and at END, Areas 4R (O2Hb, tHb) and 6L (HbDiff) were associated with feeling bad (range r=−0.44, p<0.02 and −0.61 p<0.01). Discussion: Differential patterns of activity and asymmetry in the FC at exercise intensities above VT are associated with howwe feel during exercise. On-going research is exploring other potential sources of influence i.e. dispositional traits and the effect of intervention strategies on FC activity during exercise to further understand why we feel how we feel.

Editorial Volume 9(2)

Editorial Volume 9(2)

A Place at the Table: Interiors and the Everyday

ABSTRACTThis paper centers on two research-based interior design exhibitions, A Place at the Table: The Politics of Being Inside (2007) and Setting a Place at the Table (2009), at the Kerry Packer Civic Gallery, University of South Australia (UniSA), Adelaide. These re-presented a city's (Adelaide's) civic buildings, plus the surrounding region, through examining interiors as people's everyday settings. The exhibitions attempted to reveal an alternative means of interpreting and communicating space and place through the ubiquitous element of the table, shown privileged within the interior as a political construct: a nostalgic remembrance and the site of ordinary and extraordinary quotidian experiences. Curated by a team of interior architecture academics from UniSA, the exhibitions incorporated “postproduction” materials and techniques: exhibition content ranged from personal recollections to handmade artifacts and the second exhibition was remade from elements of the first. The exhibitions contributed to an increasing regard for the everyday within the developing interior design discipline and to the challenge of publicly communicating an understanding of the interior through everyday experience.

Expanding Horizons

This paper discusses an initiative titled UniReady Program for Multicultural Groups that was conducted at the University of South Australia‘s Centre for Regional Engagement located in the city of Whyalla. Immigrant families are currently being attracted to the city due to regional employment opportunities and are potential university students. The aim of the program is to attract these non-traditional students into higher education. The program explores the opportunities available for community members from diverse backgrounds to study at the regional university campus. The pilot session introduced the participants to university study, pathways into university, the degrees available, and assisted them in planning their future at the campus. The Harvard Questionnaire was administered to evaluate this new initiative. Eighteen community members participated in the inaugural program. The paper draws on the experiences of the immigrants and staff members who contributed to the program. For the participants, what was beneficial was learning about how to gain entry to university as well as clarifying the wide variety of support available to assist students become successful learners. For the staff, it was determining the barriers of taking up university for the immigrants and following through their expressed interest in undertaking university studies.

Is there Space for Spirituality in the Contemporary Museum?

This paper outlines the subject and findings of the author's doctoral thesis, completed at Flinders University of South Australia in 2010, entitled “The Spirit of Change in Museums” which examined the influence of Indigenous cultural and spiritual beliefs and practices on contemporary museums and considered the implications for future developments of the role of the Museum (). The author demonstrates that in mainstream and community museums, Indigenous elders, ceremonialists and artists are using both cultural protocols and museological methods to protect culturally-sensitive knowledge, preserve or renew spiritual aspects of culture, and address contemporary social and cultural issues such as protection of cultural rights and recovery from post-colonial trauma. This is creating new models of museums shaped by local cultural and spiritual values and ceremonial practices. The author also suggests that by recognising spiritual and intangible dimensions of cultural artefacts and their significance to traditional owners, mainstream museums can potentially play an important role in contributing to these efforts.

Identifying functional decline: a methodological challenge

BackgroundFunctional decline (FD) in older people has commonly been measured in the hospital setting with instruments which have been validated on decrease over time in capacity to undertake basic activities of daily living (ADL). In a nonhospitalized sample of older people (independently community dwelling, but potentially on the cusp of FD), it is possible that other measures could be used to predict decline. Early, accurate, and efficient identification of older community-dwelling people who are on the cusp of FD can assist in identifying appropriate interventions to slow the rate of decline.MethodsThis paper reports on associations between four outcome measures which have been associated with FD (instrumental ADLs [IADLs], quality of life, hospitalizations and falls). The sample was older individuals who were discharged from one large metropolitan emergency department (ED) during 2011–2012, without an inpatient admission.ResultsOf 597 individuals aged 65+ who provided baseline information, 148 subjects provided four outcome measures at both 1 and 3 months follow up. Overall, approximately 24% demonstrated decreased IADL scores over the 3 months, with domains of home activities, laundry, shopping, and getting places declining the most. Over this time, 18% fell often, and 11% were consistently hospitalized. Between 1 and 3 months follow up, 41% declined in mental component scores, and 50% declined in physical component scores. Low mental and physical component quality of life scores were associated with downstream increased falls and hospitalizations, and decreased quality of life and IADLs. However, change in the four outcome measures was largely independent in factor analysis.ConclusionMeasuring the four outcome measures over 3 months post-discharge from an ED presentation, showed that changes in one were not generally correlated with changes in another. This result suggests that a wider measurement net could be cast to identify individuals who may not be coping safely or independently in the community after a minor health crisis. Individuals who declined in at least one outcome measure at 1 month, generally continued to decline over the next 2 months, thus suggesting early opportunities to screen and intervene to slow FD.