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Reply, John Carmody, Victoria Traynor, Don C. Iverson

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

We thank Dr Hocking for his comments on our paper.1 We agree that reliance upon on-road assessments alone is inappropriate when determining driving safety.

Comparison Of Assessment Performance Of Rural And Regional Students In A Unique Australian Graduate-Entry Medical Program, David L. Garne, J Bushnell, A Lethbridge, J Douglas

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Wollongong is one of Australia's newest medical schools, with a regional/rural focus and a distributed campus, and students are all expected to spend a significant proportion of their training in a rural setting. Due to the diverse learning environments that students are exposed to, we sought to determine by phase if there was any difference in examination results between groups who were located in rural settings and those in regional settings.

Bioregional Assessment Project: Sydney Metropolitan, Southern Rivers And Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchments: Data Collation Phase To Study The Impact Of Mining Activity And Coal Seam Gas On Environmental Assets, John Bradd, Tim Cohen, Sam Marx, Sol Buckman, Emma Burkhardt, A Clarke, Nicole Cook, Stephen Cullen, James Daley, Alexi Gavin, Ren Hu, Emma Kiekebosch-Fitt, Matt Lemcke, Andrew Lowe, Thomas Mcmahon, Luke Mcneilage, Kaitlyn O'Mara, Garth Nagle, Sam Robson, Carolyn Silveri, Joe Stammers

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

This study was commissioned by the Hawkesbury-Nepean (HNCMA), Sydney Metropolitan (SMCMA) and Southern Rivers (SRCMA) Catchment Management Authorities and undertaken by the University of Wollongong to collate existing data and to provide a preliminary assessment of the potential impacts of coal seam gas (CSG) and coal mining activities on environmental assets within the three CMA regions, where environmental assets were defined under three broad themes; water, land and biodiversity. This study formed part of the Australian Federal Government’s Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPaC) Bioregional Assessment initiative within regions potentially affected by CSG and coal mining activities. …

Consensus On The Future Core Functions And Competency Requirements Of Public Health Nutritionists, Roger Hughes, Andrea Begley, Heather Yeatman

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Competency standards provide the architecture for workforce development and serve to inform workforce preparation, continuing professional development and quality assurance via registration and credentialing systems. Developing consensus on competency requirements for the developing global public health nutrition workforce is therefore an important strategic initiative. This study aimed to assess the level of consensus amongst an international panel of public health nutrition leaders regarding the essential competencies required for effective public health nutrition practice.

Reliability Of Ultrasound To Measure Morphology Of The Toe Flexor Muscles, Karen J. Mickle, Christopher J. Nester, Gillian Crofts, Julie R. Steele

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Measuring the strength of individual foot muscles is very challenging; however, measuring muscle morphology has been shown to be associated with strength [1]. A reliable method of assessing foot muscle atrophy and hypertrophy would therefore be beneficial to researchers and clinicians. Real-time ultrasound (US) is a non-invasive, objective and inexpensive method of assessing muscle morphology and has been employed widely to quantify cross-sectional area (CSA) and linear dimensions of larger muscles (e.g. quadriceps, triceps surae). Few studies, however, have determined its ability to measure the small muscles of the foot and ankle. This study aimed to determine whether US is …

Approximating The Face Of 'Aunty': A Question Of Likeness, Susan Hayes, Hallie Buckley, Richard Bradley, Nick Milne, John Dennison

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

This paper describes two approaches to the facial approximation of three individuals from the Wairau Bar burial site (New Zealand). Two individuals were approximated working in direct reference to the remains and incorporated manual drafting. The third individual, 'Aunty' (the respectful title given by the iwi Rangitane elders) was approximated from CT scans and using computer graphics. The computer graphic approach enabled a greater level of precision in the application of the research and recommendations that inform a facial approximation, and facilitated collaboration with appropriate expertise. The computer-graphic approach, however, also resulted in a more photographic facial appearance, which can …

Using A Micro-Uav For Ultra-High Resolution Multi-Sensor Observations Of Antarctic Moss Beds, Arko Lucieer, Sharon Robinson, Darren Turner, Steve Harwin, Josh Kelcey

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

This study is the first to use an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for mapping moss beds in Antarctica. Mosses can be used as indicators for the regional effects of climate change. Mapping and monitoring their extent and health is therefore important. UAV aerial photography provides ultra-high resolution spatial data for this purpose. We developed a technique to extract an extremely dense 3D point cloud from overlapping UAV aerial photography based on structure from motion (SfM) algorithms. The combination of SfM and patch-based multi-view stereo image vision algorithms resulted in a 2 cm resolution digital terrain model (DTM). This detailed topographic …

Dietary Docosahexaenoic Acid (22:6) Incorporates Into Cardiolipin At The Expense Of Linoleic Acid (18:2): Analysis And Potential Implications, Colin Cortie, Paul L. Else

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Cardiolipin is a signature phospholipid of major functional significance in mitochondria. In heart mitochondria the fatty acid composition of cardiolipin is commonly viewed as highly regulated due to its high levels of linoleic acid (18:2n − 6) and the dominant presence of a 4×18:2 molecular species. However, analysis of data from a comprehensive compilation of studies reporting changes in fatty acid composition of cardiolipin in heart and liver mitochondria in response to dietary fat shows that, in heart the accrual of 18:2 into cardiolipin conforms strongly to its dietary availability at up to 20% of total dietary fatty acid and …

Ground-Based Remote Sensing Of Tropospheric Water Vapour Isotopologues Within The Project Musica, M Schneider, S Barthlott, F Hase, Y Gonzalez, K Yoshimura, O E. Garcia, E Sepulveda, A Gomez-Pelaez, M Gisi, R Kohlhepp, S Dohe, T Blumenstock, A Wiegele, E Christner, K Strong, D Weaver, M Palm, N M. Deutscher, T Warneke, J Notholt, B Lejeune, P Demoulin, N Jones, D W. T Griffith, D Smale, J Robinson

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Within the project MUSICA (MUlti-platform remote Sensing of Isotopologues for investigating the Cycle of Atmospheric water), long-term tropospheric water vapour isotopologue data records are provided for ten globally distributed ground-based mid-infrared remote sensing stations of the NDACC (Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change). We present a new method allowing for an extensive and straightforward characterisation of the complex nature of such isotopologue remote sensing datasets. We demonstrate that the MUSICA humidity profiles are representative for most of the troposphere with a vertical resolution ranging from about 2 km (in the lower troposphere) to 8 km (in the upper …

Weathering, Bauxitisation And Soil Genesis From The Nakobalevu Basalt, South-East Viti Levu, Fiji, J A. Bonato, R J. Morrison

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The augite-olivine flows (5.3 Ma) capping Mount Nakobalevu, a few kilometres north-west of Suva, Fiji, have been subjected to rapid and deep weathering. The Nakobalevu K1 and K2 weathering profiles (at approximately 454 m altitude) show features of strong bauxitisation, and the attributes of a "classical" lateritic profile. Aluminium and iron enrichment in the 2-3 m depth layers of the Nakobalevu weathering profiles is marked, with the presence of abundant gibbsite (as gravels and nodules, and in the silt and clay-sized fractions), goethite, kaolinite, haematite and magnetite (grains); the presence of fragmented (goethitic and gibbsitic) crustal materials in each of …

Understanding And Benchmarking Health Service Achievement Of Policy Goals For Chronic Disease, Erica Bell, Bastian Seidel

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background Key challenges in benchmarking health service achievement of policy goals in areas such as chronic disease are: 1) developing indicators and understanding how policy goals might work as indicators of service performance; 2) developing methods for economically collecting and reporting stakeholder perceptions; 3) combining and sharing data about the performance of organizations; 4) interpreting outcome measures; 5) obtaining actionable benchmarking information. This study aimed to explore how a new Boolean-based small-N method from the social sciences—Qualitative Comparative Analysis or QCA—could contribute to meeting these internationally shared challenges. Methods A ‘multi-value QCA’ (MVQCA) analysis was conducted of data from 24 …

Late Cretaceous To Present-Day Opening Of The Southwest Pacific Constrained By Numerical Models And Seismic Tomography, Kara J. Matthews, Maria Seton, Nicolas Flament, R. Dietmar Muller

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The southwest Pacific is a frontier region for petroleum exploration. A complex series of subduction and back-arc basin forming episodes characterises the late Cretaceous to present day evolution of the region. Controversial aspects of the regional tectonic history include the presence or lack of subduction between 83 and 43 Ma, the polarity of subduction, the timing of back-arc basin formation, and whether or not Pacific plate motion can be tied to the motion of Australia via spreading in the Tasman Sea during the late Cretaceous-early Cenozoic. A combination of tectonic and geodynamic models has previously been used to propose that …

Realizing The Potential Of Fluvial Archives Using Robust Osl Chronologies, Alastair C. Cunningham, Jakob Wallinga

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating has enormous potential for interpreting fluvial sediments, because the mineral grains used for OSL dating are abundant in fluvial deposits. However, the limited light exposure of mineral grains during fluvial transport and deposition often leads to scatter and inaccuracy in OSL dating results. Here we present a statistical protocol which aims to overcome these difficulties. Rather than estimating a single burial age for a sample, we present ages as likelihood functions created by bootstrap re-sampling of the equivalent-dose data. The bootstrap likelihoods incorporate uncertainty from age-model parameters and plausible variation in the input data. This …

Pleistocene Survivors And Holocene Extinctions: The Giant Rats From Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia), Elisa Locatelli, Rokhus Awe Due, Gerrit D. Van Den Bergh, Lars W. Van Den Hoek Ostende

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Excavations at Liang Bua Cave yielded a large amount of micromammal remains, the major part of which are murids, and some can be referred to three different species of giant rats. Whilst Papagomys armandvillei is still living on Flores, the other two species, Papagomys theodorverhoeveni and Spelaeomys florensis went extinct late during the Holocene. In this paper, the fossil record of these species at Liang Bua Cave is discussed. These giant murids are a clear example of insular gigantism, and can be seen as end members of the Island Rule. Opposition against the general applicability of this 'rule' is mainly …

Model Studies Towards The Total Synthesis Of The Stemona Alkaloid 1-Hydroxyprotostemonine: Synthesis Of Ent-1-Hydroxystemoamide, Nalivela Kumara Swamy, Stephen G. Pyne

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

As part of a model study towards the total synthesis of Stemona alkaloid 1-hydroxyprotostemonine 1, we have achieved the synthesis an A-B-C ring precursor, ent-1-hydroxystemoamide. Key steps involve an ene-yne RCM reaction and a diastereoselective dihydroxylation-lactonization reaction.

Mobilité Humaine Et Changement Environnemental: Une Analyse Historique Et Textuelle De La Politique Des Nations Unies, Karen Elizabeth Mcnamara, Christopher R. Gibson

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The United Nations plays a leadership role in protecting the environment as well as people dislocated from their homes; however such roles remain mutually exclusive. At present, there is no United Nations framework for human mobility because of environmental change, even if among other factors. This article conducts a historical analysis of policy documents produced by the United Nations and subsidiary agencies. Specifically, this article unpacks different textual descriptions of people displaced by environmental change in selected United Nations documents over the last 40 years. Based on an assessment of these documents, subject categories of people displaced by environmental change …

Climate Change And Rural Child Health: Results And New Directions From An International Collaboration, Bastian Seidel

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

No abstract provided.

Nurse-Led Cancer Care, Moira Stephens

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

In this issue of The Australian Journal of Cancer Nursing we focus on nurse-led cancer care. We have chosen three research studies in different settings, all of which demonstrate the impact of excellent cancer nursing and multidisciplinary care: an intervention enhancing survivorship for long-term survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma; a focus on the position of cancer coordinator-led care in a regional hospital and a project enabling nurse-led screening and interventions using a supportive care resource kit.

Exercise Counselling: When Undergraduate Practice-Based Learning And Community Outreach Combine, Everyone Appears To Be A Winner, Angela Douglas, Jennifer Wilkie, Herbert Groeller

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Abstract of paper presented at the 5th Exercise & Sports Science Australia Conference 2012.

Can You Get It Online? How To Enhance Professional And Clinical Learning Experiences For Exercise Physiology Students, Angela Douglas, Chris Brewer, Lisa Carrington

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Abstract of paper presented at the 5th Exercise & Sports Science Australia Conference 2012.

Possible Earthquake Trigger For 6th Century Mass Wasting Deposit At Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania), Bernd Wagner, Alexander Francke, Roberto Sulpizio, Giovanni Zanchetta, K Lindhorst, S Krastel, Hendrik Vogel, Janet Rethemeyer, G Daut, A Grazhdani, B Lushaj, S Trajanovski

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Lake Ohrid shared by the Republics of Albania and Macedonia is formed by a tectonically active graben within the south Balkans and suggested to be the oldest lake in Europe. Several studies have shown that the lake provides a valuable record of climatic and environmental changes and a distal tephrostratigraphic record of volcanic eruptions from Italy. Fault structures identified in seismic data demonstrate that sediments have also the potential to record tectonic activity in the region. Here, we provide an example of linking seismic and sedimentological information with tectonic activity and historical documents. Historical documents indicate that a major earthquake …

Realist Synthesis: Illustrating The Method For Implementation Research, Joanne Rycroft-Malone, Brendan Mccormack, Alison M. Hutchinson, Kara Decorby, Tracey K. Bucknall, Bridie Kent, Alyce Schultz, Erna Snelgrove-Clarke, Cheryl B. Stetler, Marita Titler, Lars Wallin, Valerie J. Wilson

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background: Realist synthesis is an increasingly popular approach to the review and synthesis of evidence, which focuses on understanding the mechanisms by which an intervention works (or not). There are few published examples of realist synthesis. This paper therefore fills a gap by describing, in detail, the process used for a realist review and synthesis to answer the question 'what interventions and strategies are effective in enabling evidence-informed healthcare?' The strengths and challenges of conducting realist review are also considered.

Methods: The realist approach involves identifying underlying causal mechanisms and exploring how they work under what conditions. The …

Appreciation Of A Child's Journey: Implementation Of A Cardiac Action Research Project, Kate Alexa Dengler, Valerie J. Wilson, Sarah Redshaw, Gabrielle Scarfe

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the phases of the action research process involved in developing, implementing, and evaluating the Heart Beads program. The aim of the project is to enrich the hospital experience of children with cardiac conditions. Heart Beads involves children receiving unique beads specific to each cardiac treatment, procedure or event in recognition of their experiences, and endurance. An action research approach, involving a partnership between clinicians and researchers and emphasising the involvement of patients and their families, was used to guide the Heart Beads program. The project followed the five phases …

Future Fire Regimes Of Australian Ecosystems: New Perspectives On Enduring Questions Of Management, Ross A. Bradstock, Richard J. Williams, A Malcolm Gill

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

This book provides a contemporary overview of the state of knowledge of fire as a shaper of biodiversity and ecosystems in Australia, along with insights into the way in which a 'flammable Australia' may fare under future climate change. It comes at the end of a decade (2000 to 2010) of extraordinary fire activity in Australia, matched by heightened public interest in fire and debate about its management. The decade commenced with major fire activity between 2000 and 2002 in the central and north western deserts (Nano et al. 2012, Chapter 9), at scales not seen in decades. In the …

Nature, Culture And Time: Contested Landscapes Among Environmental Managers In Skane, Southern Sweden, Lesley Head, Joachim Regnell

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Our increased understanding of 'Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth' (Thomas 1956) is one of the key scientific achievements of the second half of the 20th century. Human activities now appropriate more than one third of the Earth's terrestrial ecosystem production, and between a third and a half of the land surface of the planet has been transformed by human development (Vitousek et al. 1997). Humans are inextricably embedded in all earth surface processes, and often dominate them. These findings are increasingly being recognised in political and policy spheres, most notably in contemporary debates about climate change …

The Significance Of Carbon-Enriched Dust For Global Carbon Accounting, Nicholas P. Webb, Adrian Chappell, Craig L. Strong, Samuel K. Marx, Granth Mctainsh

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Soil carbon stores amount to 54% of the terrestrial carbon pool and twice the atmospheric carbon pool, but soil organic carbon (SOC) can be transient. There is an ongoing debate about whether soils are a net source or sink of carbon, and understanding the role of aeolian processes in SOC erosion, transport and deposition is rudimentary. The impacts of SOC erosion by wind on the global carbon budget, and its importance for carbon accounting remain largely unknown. Current understanding of SOC losses to wind erosion is based on the assumption that the SOC content of eroded material is the same …

Climate Change And Displacement: Multidisciplinary Perspectives - Book Review, Carol Farbotko

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

In the small but growing field of research into climate change and migration, there is much debate about terms. Attempts to definitively count the numbers or pinpoint the characteristics of 'climate refugees' are being discarded in favour of more nuanced descriptors, such as climate-induced migration, that are better attuned to the agency and complexity of populations on the move in a warming world. The choice of the word 'displacement' in the title of this book, therefore, reveals much about its editor's intent.

Rapid Regolith Formation Over Volcanic Bedrock And Implications For Landscape Evolution, Anthony Dosseto, Heather L. Buss, P O Suresh

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The ability to quantify how fast weathering profiles develop is crucial to assessing soil resource depletion and quantifying how landscapes evolve over millennia. Uranium-series isotopes can be used to determine the age of the weathering front throughout a profile and to infer estimates of regolith production rates, because the abundance of U-series isotopes in a weathering profile is a function of chemical weathering and time. This technique is applied to a weathering profile in Puerto Rico developed over a volcaniclastic bedrock. U-series isotope compositions are modelled, revealing that it takes 40–60 kyr to develop an 18 m-thick profile. This is …

Nutrition & Dietetics: Gaining Momentum, Moving Forward, Eleanor Beck

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Nutrition & Dietetics is known as the journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA), including Dietitians New Zealand. However, while always providing a forum for promotion of nutrition and dietetic research in Australia in particular, it has had a number of previous incarnations. Before 1987, the Australian Commonwealth Department of Health published Food & Nutrition: Notes and Reviews. At various times, this was managed by the Australian Institute of Anatomy, the Australian Department of Health Nutrition Section and the Department of Health Food and Nutrition Section. In 1987, DAA took over the journal and it became the Australian Journal …

Reflectance Continuum Removal Spectral Index Tracking The Xanthophyll Cycle Photoprotective Reactions In Norway Spruce Needles, Daniel Kovac, Martin Navratil, Zbynek Malenovsky, Michal Stroch, Vladimir Spunda, Otmar Urban

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

This laboratory experiment tested the ability of the spectral index called 'area under curve normalised to maximal band depth' (ANMB) to track dynamic changes in the xanthophyll cycle of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karsten) needles. Four-year-old spruce seedlings were gradually acclimated to different photosynthetic photon flux densities (PPFDs) and air temperature regimes. The measurements were conducted at the end of each acclimation period lasting for 11 days. A significant decline in the chlorophylls to carotenoids ratio and the increase of the amount of xanthophyll cycle pigments indicated a higher need for carotenoid-mediated photoprotection in spruce leaves acclimated to high …