Search

In this paper, we study the following fractional Choquard equation with weight (−Δ)su=1|x|N−α∗h(x)|u|ph(x)|u|p−2uinℝN,$$ {\left(-\Delta \right)}&#x0005E;su&#x0003D;\left(\frac{1}{{\left&#x0007C;x\right&#x0007C;}&#x0005E;{N-\alpha }}\ast h(x){\left&#x0007C;u\right&#x0007C;}&#x0005E;p\right)h(x){\left&#x0007C;u\right&#x0007C;}&#x0005E;{p-2}u\kern0.5em \mathrm{in}\kern0.5em {\mathrm{\mathbb{R}}}&#x0005E;N, $$where 02s,p>2,α>0$$ 02s,p>2,\alpha >0 $$ and h$$ h $$ is a positive weight function satisfying h(x)≥C|x|a$$ h(x)\ge C{\left&#x0007C;x\right&#x0007C;}&#x0005E;a $$ at infinity, for some a≥0$$ a\ge 0 $$. We establish, in this paper, a Liouville type theorem saying that if maxN−4s−2a,0<α

In Australia, there have been a growing number of nature-based early childhood education initiatives [Alme, H., and M. A. Reime. 2021. "Nature Kindergartens: A Space for Children's Participation." Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education 24: 113–131]. Research into early years' nature education internationally remains under-theorised particularly in STEM teaching and learning. The nature or bush kindergarten programme (often referred to as 'bush kinders' in the Australian context), is one such programme where nature play and education occur. This paper considers how children's mathematical thinking develops through their time spent in bush kinder settings. Using an ethnographic lens, this longitudinal study is the first of its type in Australia with a focus on STEM in bush kinders. In this paper, eight 'powerful mathematical ideas' are used to analyse how educators can approach teaching mathematics with only what nature provides. The paper reports one main finding, that bush kinders provide opportunities for children through educator support to build mathematical understandings through nature play. Drawing on fieldwork data and the analysis of research literature, this paper contributes to the conceptualisation of mathematics in early childhood nature play and bush kinder programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Computer‐based assessment allows for the monitoring of reader behaviour. The identification of patterns in this behaviour can provide insights that may be useful in informing educational interventions. Objectives: Our study aims to explore what different patterns of reading activity exist, and investigates their interpretation and consistency across different task sets (units), countries, and languages. Three patterns were expected: on‐task, exploring and disengaged. Methods: Using log data from the PISA 2012 digital reading assessment (9226 students from seven countries), we conducted hierarchical cluster analyses with typical process indicators of digital reading assessments. We identified different patterns and explored whether they remained consistent across different units. To validate the interpretation of the identified patterns, we examined their relationship to performance and student characteristics (gender, socio‐economic status, print reading skills). Results and Conclusions: The results indicate a small number of transnational clusters, with unit‐specific differences. Cluster interpretation is supported by associations with student characteristics—for example, students with low print reading skills were more likely to show a disengaged pattern than proficient readers. Exploring behaviour tended to be exhibited only once across the three units: It occurred in the first unit for proficient readers and in later units for less skilled readers. Major Takeaways: Behavioural patterns can be identified in digital reading tasks that may prove useful for educational monitoring and intervention. Although task situations are designed to evoke certain behaviours, the interpretation of observed behavioural patterns requires validation based on task requirements, assessment context and relationships to other available information. Lay Description: What is already known about the subject matter?: Students differ in how they read, comprehend and use digital information.Indicators from process data provide insight about how students engage with digital reading tasks. What does this paper add to the subject matter?: Based on multiple process indicators, a small number of clusters indicating different behavioural activity can be distinguished.These clusters can be described as on‐task, passive, hasty, exploring, disengaged, persistent and lost interest.A meaningful interpretation of the clusters must consider the requirements of the underlying tasks. Implications for practice and/or policy: Knowledge of how students engage with digital resources may provide useful feedback for teachers to guide students' learning or intervene when they struggle.Educational monitoring: The high comparability of country‐specific results suggests an invariant set of solution strategies in the digital reading assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mathematics education is seen as a right for all children, and important to ensure a prosperous future. However, in Australia and other nations, rural students and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds both perform less well in mathematics and are less likely to pursue advanced mathematics. This paper presents a case study of a low socioeconomic status, rural government school that has high engagement and achievement in senior mathematics, despite its setting. The study uses a conceptual framework informed by Appreciative Inquiry and the theory of Practice Architectures to explore the activities and facilitatory elements that have likely contributed to the school's mathematics success. Rather than being attributed to one or two key programmes, the school's mathematics success seemed associated with a collection of whole-school factors. Setting high expectations while providing proactive learning support, differentiating instruction, emphasising the value of mathematics, linking mathematics to careers, and building mathematics teacher capacity were all associated with the school's higher than expected mathematics performance. Rather than hindering the school's mathematics programme, its small size and rural context were used to enable practices that contributed to mathematics success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While international research has demonstrated that ability grouping is inequitable, Australian research has often overlooked equity concerns, predominantly focusing on studying the benefits of grouping for students perceived to have high ability, especially in mathematics. This paper investigates the effect that mathematics ability grouping has on senior secondary mathematics participation for low and middle grouped students in New South Wales, Australia. We drew on interviews about mathematics participation with 85 students and 22 mathematics teachers from 11 government high schools. Our thematic analysis of these data identified that secondary school grouping practices often serve to entrench student interest and/or performance from primary school. This has consequences for many students, with a differentiated curriculum in Years 9 and 10 precluding low and middle grouped students from participating in high-level mathematics when they reach senior secondary school. These findings raise serious equity questions about the current push in Australia for universities to re-introduce high-level mathematics as a prerequisite to entering certain degrees. We argue that stakeholders need greater awareness of the consequences of ability grouping and that those seeking to lift post-compulsory mathematics participation should be targeting primary and early secondary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is intended to provide a source of critical and theoretical reflection on the current mathematics educational objectives for Indigenous students in Australia, which are premised on acceptance of underlying concepts of 'equity'. It is not the intention of this paper to identify 'how' Indigenous knowledge can be positioned within mathematics curricula, as this would entail a philosophical inquiry much deeper than has been afforded thus far. The intent here is a consideration, facilitated through the lens of key concepts of Foucault, of some of the boundaries currently shaping the ways in which this positioning is being influenced in the mathematics, albeit neoliberal education context. Acknowledging the interplay between the social, and unconsciously shaped adoptions of what can be considered truth; knowledge; and therefore power, is a first step toward developing the openness of heart and mind needed to make real and transformative changes to education for future societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: Evidence for longitudinal associations between childhood weight status and academic achievement remains unclear due to considerable heterogeneity in study design, measures of academic achievement and appropriate categorization of weight status. Objective: To examine longitudinal associations between childhood weight status (underweight, healthy weight, overweight/obese) and academic achievement in the transition from preschool to primary (elementary) school among Australian school children. Methods: Data were from the Healthy Active Preschool and Primary Years study. Height and weight, for calculating BMI were measured at baseline (preschool age 3–5 years; 2008/9) and follow‐up (primary school age 6–8 years; 2011/12). Academic achievement was measured at age 9 years. Results: No associations between BMI z‐score or weight category in the preschool years and later NAPLAN scores were found for boys. For girls, having a higher BMI z‐score (B = −13.68, 95%CI: −26.61, −0.76) and being affected by overweight (B = −33.57, 95%CI: −61.50, −5.24) in preschool was associated with lower language scores. Remaining affected by overweight from preschool to primary school was associated with lower numeracy (B = −25.03, 95%CI: −49.74, −0.33), spelling (B = −33.5, 95%CI: −63.43, −3.58), language (B = −37.89, 95%CI: −72.75, −3.03) and total achievement scores (B = −24.24, 95%CI: −44.85, −3.63) among girls. For boys, becoming affected by overweight was associated with lower spelling (B = −38.76, 95%CI: −73.59, −3.93) and total achievement scores (B = −27.70, 95%CI: −54.81, −0.58). Conclusions: Associations between being affected by overweight/obesity and poorer academic achievement were more pronounced in girls than boys, indicating potentially inequitable impacts of excess weight and highlighting the greater need for intervention among girls. However, stronger study designs are needed to confirm our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for Teaching for Mathematising as a pedagogy that supports teaching mathematics for understanding in primary school. Mathematics education in Australia currently emphasises teaching for mathematical understanding, a shift that redirects children's learning from merely memorising computation procedures to helping children construct knowledge of the mathematics that informs mathematical concept and processes. The shift to teaching for understanding however is not reflected in students' item responses in international and national achievement studies. This paper provides one example that illustrates a learning trajectory for supporting mathematical understanding of both conceptual and procedural knowledge through teaching that builds on the framework of Teaching for Mathematising. A corresponding field-test will then be used to illustrated how students learn pragmatically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores analysis of feedback data collected from student consultations at two mathematics support centres at universities in Australia and Ireland. Unstructured text data was collected over six years and includes qualitative data on student queries collected during the consultations from mathematics and statistics related subjects. Topic modelling and clustering algorithms are used to uncover key themes in the data across stages. Common areas of difficulty experienced by undergraduate students at both universities are investigated and a comparison between them is shown. The results suggest that, despite institutional differences, there is considerable overlap in the types of mathematical and statistical difficulties experienced by students in their first and second year of university at these institutions. We discuss how the ability to uncover such common mathematical and statistical themes with the aid of text mining techniques can be used to improve the support provided by mathematics support centres in terms of providing an efficient and effective service. The code for analyses at both institutions is provided in a GitHub repository so other academic support centres may use it. Outcomes of this analysis have implications for mainstream mathematics and statistics instructors who wish to gain further insights into their students' learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the approach used to assess the performance of a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and principal component regression (PCR) chemometric method when measuring respirable quartz, kaolinite, and coal in samples from a variety of mines from different countries; relative to target assigned values determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD). For comparison, FTIR results using the partial least squares regression (PLSR) method are also available. Bulk dusts from 10 Australian mines were scanned using XRD and grouped into three sets based on the levels of quartz, kaolinite, and feldspar within their crystalline mineral composition. Prediction samples were generated from 5 of these Australian mine dusts, Durrans coal dust, 2 mine dusts from the UK, and a single South African mine dust (71 samples in total) by collecting the aerosolized respirable dust onto 25-mm diameter polyvinylchloride filters using the Safety in Mines Personal Dust Sampler (SIMPEDS) operating at 2.2 l min−1. The predicted values from the FTIR chemometric methods were compared with assigned target values determined using a direct on-aerosol filter XRD analysis method described in Method for the Determination of Hazardous Substances (MDHS) 101. Limits of detection (LOD) and uncertainty values for each analyte were calculated from a linear regression between target and predicted values. The uncertainty was determined using the calibration uncertainty equation for an unweighted regression. FTIR results from PCR and PLSR are very similar. For the PCR method, the LOD for quartz, kaolinite, and coal were 5, 25, and 71 µg, respectively. For quartz, an LOD of 5 µg corresponds to an airborne quartz concentration of 10 µg m−3, assuming a 4-h sampling time and collection flow rate of 2.2 l min−1. The FTIR measurement met the expected performance criteria outlined in ISO 20581 when sampling quartz for more than 4 h using a flow rate of 2.2 l min−1 at a concentration of 0.1 mg m−3 (100 µg m−3), the current workplace exposure limit in Great Britain. This method met the same performance criteria when measuring exposures at the Australian Workplace Exposure Standard (WES) concentration of 0.05 mg m−3, although in this case a sampling period greater than 8 h was needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While mathematics education research has become increasingly concerned with issues of equity, including girls' participation in the subject, the field remains troubled with conceptualising and operationalising gender. To date, few studies of gender and school mathematics participation have moved beyond conflating gender with sex or categorising masculinities and femininities through the body. This failure to engage with gender conceptualisation has persisted despite the apparent intractability of girls' underrepresentation in senior secondary mathematics in many contexts, including Australia. In this article, I provide fresh insights into girls' mathematics participation by employing a conceptualisation of gender as heteroglossic to explore the post-compulsory mathematics participation choices of two school students, one girl and one boy. Using these theoretical tools to decentre the students' bodies, I demonstrate that the reasons why these students chose to participate in Mathematics Advanced do not distinguish them by their sex/gender, as would be expected in the monoglossic gender system. While femininity was performed, both students' subject choices were primarily characterised as masculine performances, including establishing themselves as having mathematics brains and seeking to use their mathematics participation to attain prestige. I argue that recognising and normalising girls' masculinity and boys' femininity, rather than simply categorising gender differences, will be essential to increasing girls' belonging and participation in mathematics. This will require greater attention to the differences within, and similarities between, the categories of boy and girl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With more and more political candidates using social media for campaigning, researchers are looking at measuring the effectiveness of this medium. Most research, however, concentrates on the bare count of likes (or twitter mentions) in an attempt to correlate social media presence and winning. In this paper, we propose a novel method, Interaction Strength Plot (IntS) to measure the passive interactions between a candidate’s posts on Facebook and the users (liking the posts). Using this method on original Malaysian General Election (MGE13) and Australian Federal Elections (AFE13) Facebook Pages (FP) campaign data, we label an FP as performing well if both the posting frequency and the likes gathered are above average. Our method shows that over 60% of the MGE13 candidates and 85% of the AFE13 candidates studied in this paper had under-performing FP. Some of these FP owners would have been identified as popular based on bare count. Thus our performance chart is a vital step forward in measuring the effectiveness of online campaigning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the invasion and occupation of their land by Europeans, Indigenous Australians were expected to benefit from a Western education system based on that of the dominant Europeans. Gradually educators realized that Aboriginal children learn differently and that Indigenous culture and pedagogy has validity and strength. Of course, educators also need to be acutely aware of the diversity of Indigenous cultures in Australia and that there is not a monolithic sense of Aboriginal identity or Aboriginal pedagogy. Dispossession and alienation, poor health and few employment opportunities must also affect educational interest, attendance, application and performance. In this paper the characteristics of Indigenous learners are examined and pedagogical strategies to assist in both students' learning and teachers' delivery are explored. The message conveyed in this paper has particular relevance for teaching mathematics to Aboriginal learners. It is also of considerable value in teaching mathematics to nonAboriginal students, in Australia and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the role of language and some issues associated with identifying appropriate language of instruction for three foundational Maths ideas in the Early Years of schooling. These are considered in relation to the project: Strong Literacy and Numeracy in Communities -- Numeracy Component. This had two broad goals, firstly to work with paraprofessional Indigenous teachers to determine an effective language of instruction for specific foundational numeracy concepts and secondly, to create a resource to enable this to be shared. Only two of the project sites are considered here. Both are in Yolŋui communities in northeast Arnhem Land, where English is not widely used for interaction. We focus on the use of first language, Djambarrpuyŋu, for the children's concept development. The English language that can be used is determined by what is possible for early second language learners. We will share some samples of the Djambarrpuyŋu identified for teaching early number ideas. We will describe the process by which suitable expressions for the key ideas in Djambarrpuyŋu were identified and some issues that arose regarding the use of language for comparing numbers. The project showed how 'Maths' lessons are a time both for concept development and for language development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning and teaching in higher education is framed by curriculum models. Over the past decade constructive alignment (Biggs & Tang, 2009, 2011) has become widely accepted as the curriculum planning model for Australian higher education. Constructive alignment privileges learning outcomes in curriculum design, learning and teaching and assessment. In this paper we reflect on the selection and adoption of particular curriculum frameworks in higher education in relation to the purposes and aims of the intended learning experience and the intended future professional. Our reflection is contextualised within the discipline area of mathematics. We argue that the journey towards becoming a member of a professional community is complex and that alternative curriculum models that facilitate a focus on that journey may be more appropriate under certain circumstances. We suggest that when designing a learning experience, it is necessary firstly to consider the type of learner or future professional you are trying to enable and secondly, to choose a curriculum design framework that best supports that goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials and Methods: In this paper, we propose a theoretical model based upon previous studies about personal and social network dynamics of job performance. We provide empirical support for this model using real-world data within the context of the Australian radiology profession. An examination of radiologists’ professional network topology through structural-positional and relational dimensions and radiologists’ personal characteristics in terms of knowledge, experience and self-esteem is provided. Thirty one breast imaging radiologists completed a purpose designed questionnaire regarding their network characteristics and personal attributes. These radiologists also independently read a test set of 60 mammographic cases: 20 cases with cancer and 40 normal cases. A Jackknife free response operating characteristic (JAFROC) method was used to measure the performance of the radiologists’ in detecting breast cancers. Results: Correlational analyses showed that reader performance was positively correlated with the social network variables of degree centrality and effective size, but negatively correlated with constraint and hierarchy. For personal characteristics, the number of mammograms read per year and self-esteem (self-evaluation) positively correlated with reader performance. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that the combination of number of mammograms read per year and network’s effective size, hierarchy and tie strength was the best fitting model, explaining 63.4% of the variance in reader performance. The results from this study indicate the positive relationship between reading high volumes of cases by radiologists and expertise development, but also strongly emphasise the association between effective social/professional interactions and informal knowledge sharing with high performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, innovation represents the lifeblood of modern economies. In particular, there is growing recognition of the vital role of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) educators in developing students' innovation skills for the jobs of the future. Work-integrated learning (WIL) has emerged as an important pedagogical approach for developing innovation capabilities. This paper is based on a quantitative study that examines the key factors driving innovation in STEM WIL students. The study undertakes a comparative analysis of students by age, gender, degree type, and placement duration. It found that students participating in longer durations of 20 weeks compared to 12 weeks had higher perceived levels of innovation skills. The study shows how feedback on skills can be provided to students and employers, with output from the tool used in this study. Therefore, it has implications for student career literacy, industry outreach and WIL program development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research has been conducted on children's self-talk and its use to regulate thinking and behaviour, but research has typically been conducted on audible self-talk when undertaking specific tasks designed by researchers and in laboratory situations. Addressing the need to study self-talk in the classroom and by students of an age when self-talk is largely internalised, this study investigated the association of self-talk with children's self-regulatory behaviour and academic performance. The findings reported in this paper are based on the data from self-report questionnaires on self-talk completed by eight-to-nine-year-olds, national mathematics achievement test results, and a teacher-completed behaviour rating scale. Based on the previous research, results were somewhat unexpected, including that self-talk may not have a very strong role in children's behavioural self-regulation and calling into question an effect of self-talk on children's learning in the classroom. Possible reasons are provided and the need for future research is acknowledged. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Australia, student under-participation and disengagement in secondary mathematics classes are persistent problems. Academic help seeking is a unique self-regulated behaviour that is important for engagement in mathematics classes and yet many students avoid seeking help from teachers and peers as they progress through secondary school. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between students' perceptions of the social climate of their classrooms and their avoidance of help seeking in secondary mathematics classes. Students' perceptions of classroom social climate, along with perceptions of their own academic and social self-efficacy, self-theories of intelligence, and help-seeking goals and intentions, were assessed for a sample of 551 Australian students in 47 classes from eight secondary schools and two vocational institutes. The measurement model for social climate was reduced to four factors (Task Orientation, Teacher Support, Cooperation and Investigation) and a mediated structural equation model, informed by theory and previous empirical studies, was assessed using Mplus. Bootstrap confidence intervals were used to assess the direct and indirect effects of social climate on help-seeking avoidance. Findings indicated that Task Orientation and Cooperation had a negative effect on help-seeking avoidance, while Investigation had a positive effect. Teacher Support was not associated with help-seeking avoidance. Implications for practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia has seen declining numbers of students choosing mathematics and science subjects in the senior secondary years, running counter to economic projections of an accelerating need for science and mathematics skills. Many students become less engaged with these subjects in the junior secondary years but attitudes such as self-concept, utility value, and intrinsic value are important for subject selection decisions. We used latent profile analysis to examine the relationship between attitudes towards both subjects using data from 10,051 Australian Grade 8 students sampled by TIMSS 2015 and revealed six discrete groupings. While most students were at least attitudinally receptive to both subjects, there were many students who either resisted both or expressed a strong preference for one over another. Positive attitudes towards both subjects were mutually beneficial—better attitudes towards both were associated with higher achievement in each—but boys tended to be more positive towards both subjects and so benefitted from this relationship more than girls. Implications for educational research and teachers' practices are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aligned with recent changes to syllabuses in Australia is an assessment regime requiring teachers to identify what their students `know' and `can do' in terms of the quality of understanding demonstrated. This paper describes the experiences of 25 secondary science and mathematics teachers in rural schools in New South Wales as they explore the changing nature of assessment and its implications on their classroom practice. To help reconceptualise these changes, teachers were introduced to a cognitive structural model as a theoretical framework. Throughout the 2-year study, teachers attended a series of professional development sessions and received ongoing consultative support. Each session was taped and transcribed while interviews were conducted with each teacher at the end of both years. Analysis of these data using a grounded theory approach identified seven major components of teacher practice impacted by the study. The core component was questioning while the six contributing components were teachers' pedagogical practices, attention to cognition, teaching strategies, assessment linked to pedagogy, classroom advantages for students, and classroom advantages for teachers. These findings represent a major shift in teachers' perceptions of assessment from a focus on the accumulation of students' marks to one of diagnosis as a means of directing teaching to enhance students' scientific and mathematical understandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many students are unsuccessful in the study of school mathematics, not because of some innate ability, but because of pedagogical practices. Bernstein (1996) has argued that pedagogy serves as a mechanism for cultural reproduction, so that for those students whose cultures are different from that represented in and through pedagogy, the task of constructing school mathematics is made more difficult. The paper explores the ways in which a teacher changes the pedagogic relay in order to be more inclusive of her students. Her practice is informed by understanding the ways in which pedagogy is a subtle tool for marginalization in mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service industries are becoming an increasingly important part of our economies. Not surprisingly there is a corresponding interest in statistics about service industries. The challenges in compiling statistics are often very different to other industries. This paper describes the programme for service industry statistics in the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It also describes some of the more interesting developments in Australia – new presentations in statistics such as satellite accounts; globalisation statistics including the activities of foreign affiliates; knowledge based economy and society statistics; direct volume measurement particularly for largely non-market industries such as health and education services; and price statistics for service industries such as finance, telecommunications and computer software services. These statistics are very important for measuring productivity for example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, there is increasing scrutiny of teacher education processes in learning to teach primary mathematics. In this study, mixed methods, including linear regression, are used to examine the entry mathematical content knowledge of third-year Bachelor of Education Pre-service Students and to relate this to their graduating level of content and a measure of pedagogical content knowledge based upon capacity to describe student errors and provide learning support. The data indicate low levels of mathematical content knowledge at the beginning of the course, prompting questioning of the focus of earlier mathematics curriculum courses. Over the life of the study, there was improvement in some domains, which is to be expected where knowledge of mathematics was an intended outcome. Mathematical content knowledge at the start, but particularly at the end of the study, was highly predictive of expressions of mathematical pedagogical content knowledge. The stronger predictive value of mathematical content knowledge at the end of the study for mathematical pedagogical content knowledge suggests merit in developing the two aspects of teacher knowledge in tandem, rather than in different courses. The relevance of the data to teacher preparation in the institution and more broadly is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim and objectives: To examine the factors that influence nursing students' mathematics self‐efficacy, the effect of numeracy instruction on self‐efficacy, and the association between self‐efficacy and numeracy test performance. Background: Medication administration errors, including administering incorrect dosages or infusion rates, can result in serious harm to patients. Hence, it is essential that nursing students are adequately prepared with the necessary numeracy skills during their nursing program. Design: This quasi‐experimental cohort study used a pre‐ and post‐test survey design. The study complied with the STROBE checklist for cohort research. Methods: In total, n = 715 undergraduate first year nursing students participated in the study from June to October 2017 at a single multi‐campus university in the Western Sydney region of Australia. Data were collected at three time‐points: (a) baseline, including assessing pre‐instruction mathematics self‐efficacy (NSE‐Math scale); (b) 6‐week follow‐up; including assessing post‐instruction mathematics self‐efficacy; and (c) numeracy test performance was collected at 7‐week follow‐up. Findings: At baseline, those with high NSE‐Math scale scores were more likely to be male and have at least high school advanced mathematics level education. Following structured numeracy instruction, NSE‐Math scale scores increased significantly, and those who obtained a satisfactory grade in their numeracy assessment were more likely to have high NSE‐Math scale scores and high academic performance in the previous semester. Conclusion: The study shows that structured numeracy instruction improved mathematics self‐efficacy, which in turn influenced numeracy test performance. Relevance to clinical practice: Using a structured medication numeracy pedagogical approach, to teach skills in nursing undergraduate programs, provides students with the foundations to improve mathematics self‐efficacy and to be successful and safe with medication numeracy calculations and administration in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bowel and bladder problems affect more than 50% of people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). These problems have a large impact on quality of life and place a significant burden on health systems. Objectives: This study aimed to ascertain the frequency of bladder and bowel problems in a select Australian MS cohort and to investigate the relationships between level of disability, bladder and bowel problems, and fatigue. Methods: Questionnaires on the nature and severity of MS symptoms were distributed to clients attending an Australian MS centre. Log-binomial regression and multiple linear regression models were used to investigate relationships between disability, fatigue, and bladder and bowel problems. Results and conclusions: Of 167 questionnaires distributed, 136 were completed. Bladder problems were reported by 87 (74.4%) respondents, whilst 66 (48.9%) experienced functional constipation and 43 (31.9%) faecal incontinence. This frequency in our select Australian MS population is similar to that reported globally. There was a significant correlation between level of disability and: bladder problems (p = 0.015), faecal incontinence (p = 0.001), fatigue (p<0.001) and constipation (p = 0.016, relative risk: 1.16). Further investigation into the causal relationships between various MS symptoms may be beneficial in the development of novel therapeutic strategies for people with MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While drink driving continues to be significantly more common among male drivers, there is evidence from many countries that shows a growing trend of women engaging in this risky behaviour. The aims of the current study were threefold: (i) determine to what extent a sample of women drivers reported engaging in drink driving behaviour by expanding the construct into a range of definitions, (ii) determine if there were significant differences in self-reported engagement in drink driving behaviours in accordance with hazardous drinking behaviour, and (iii) identify which situational or personal factors would increase women drivers’ likelihood to engage in drink driving through presenting a range of scenarios. Method: Data were collected using an on-line, purpose-designed survey and promoted to reach women aged 17 years and older, living in Queensland, Australia. In addition to questions relating to demographic characteristics, participants completed items relating to engagement in seven drink driving related behaviours in the previous 12-month period, hazardous drinking as measured by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, and likelihood of driving when unsure if over the legal limit for licence type across a range of scenarios manipulating different situational factors. A total of 644 valid responses were received in the two-week period the study was advertised. Results: The results demonstrate women’s self-reported engagement in drink driving behaviour ranged from 12.6% (driving when they believed they were over the legal limit) to over 50.0% (driving when unsure if over the legal limit the morning after drinking alcohol) and was significantly more likely among those who reported hazardous levels of alcohol use. Circumstances in which women reported they would drive when unsure if over the legal BAC limit were when they were a few blocks from home, if they subjectively felt they were not too intoxicated, or if they needed their car to get somewhere the next morning. Conclusion: Examining drink driving behaviour by way of responses to nuanced definitions provided valuable insight into self-reported engagement in the behaviour and highlights the usefulness of multi-measure dependent variables in order to illuminate a more accurate acknowledgement into both the type (and extent) of drink driving behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Why are neurotypicals so pig-ignorant about autism?” an autistic person wrote on the Curtin Autism Research Group’s on-line portal as a response to a call for research questions. Co-produced with an autistic researcher, knowledge about and attitudes towards autism were analysed from 1,054 completed surveys, representing the Australian neurotypical adult population. The majority, 81.5% of participants had a high level of knowledge and 81.3% of participants had a strong positive attitude towards autism. Neither age, nor education level had an impact on attitudes. However, attitudes were influenced by knowledge about ‘Societal Views and Ideas’; ‘What it Could be Like to Have Autism’; and the demographic variables ‘Knowing and having spent time around someone with autism’; and gender (women having more positive attitudes than men). Thus, targeted interventions, geared more towards men than women, to increase knowledge about autism could further improve attitudes and increase acceptance of the autistic community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social disruption caused by natural disasters often interrupts educational opportunities for children. However, little is known about children's learning in the following years. This study examined change in academic scores for children variably exposed to a major bushfire in Australia. Comparisons were made between children attending high, medium, and low disaster-affected primary schools 2-4 years after the disaster (n = 24,642; 9-12 years). The results showed that in reading and numeracy expected gains from Year 3 to Year 5 scores were reduced in schools with higher levels of bushfire impact. The findings highlight the extended period of academic impact and identify important opportunities for intervention in the education system to enable children to achieve their academic potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Ageing in place is one of the greatest desires of elderly people. Assistive digital technologies could potentially delay the institutionalization of the elderly people and allow them ageing in place. This study develops a population-wide cost estimating framework for adopting digital technologies that can improve the quality of life of elderly people through examining an Australian region. Methods: We developed a five-stage cost estimation framework, which involved progressive forecasting of elderly population and direct cost estimation methods. The forecasting and cost estimation models have been set for a 10-year period because the prediction accuracy from cross-sectional data is better in the short to medium term compared to the long-term. For cost estimation, we categorised the ageing population on the basis of the number of chronic diseases that they have contracted. Costs of assistive technologies were collected from open sources. The model has been tested in the Fitzroy and Central West, a regional area of Queensland in Australia. A stakeholder panel discussion in a workshop format was used to validate the appropriateness of the proposed framework and the study findings. Results: This study identified eight common chronic diseases with different comorbidity patterns in Australia. We also identified the required assistive technologies to assist patients with chronic diseases. This study estimated that annual per capita cost for technological intervention could range from AUD 4,169 to AUD 7,551 on the basis of different price margins of the technologies. Conclusion: The approach of categorising the aged cohorts on the basis of the number of chronic diseases helps estimate population-wide costs compared to using single technology intervention costs for a particular chronic disease cohort. The cost estimation framework and the method developed in this study can assist the government to estimate costs for ageing-in-place programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose was to develop a foot image capture and measurement system with web cameras (the 3-FIS) to provide reliable and valid foot anthropometric measures with efficiency comparable to that of the conventional method of using a handheld anthropometer. Eleven foot measures were obtained from 10 subjects using both methods. Reliability of each method was determined over 3 consecutive days using the intraclass correlation coefficient and root mean square error (RMSE). Reliability was excellent for both the 3-FIS and the handheld anthropometer for the same 10 variables, and good for the fifth metatarsophalangeal joint height. The RMSE values over 3 days ranged from 0.9 to 2.2 mm for the handheld anthropometer, and from 0.8 to 3.6 mm for the 3-FIS. The RMSE values between the 3-FIS and the handheld anthropometer were between 2.3 and 7.4 mm. The 3-FIS required less time to collect and obtain the final variables than the handheld anthropometer. The 3-FIS provided accurate and reproducible results for each of the foot variables and in less time than the conventional approach of a handheld anthropometer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is general agreement in Australia and beyond that quantitative skills (QS) in science, the ability to use mathematics and statistics in context, are important for science. QS in the life sciences are becoming ever more important as these sciences become more quantitative. Consequently, undergraduates studying the life sciences require better QS than at any time in the past. Ways in which mathematics and science academics are working together to build the QS of their undergraduate science students, together with the mathematics and statistics needed or desired in a science degree, are reported on in this paper. The emphasis is on the life sciences. Forty-eight academics from eleven Australian and two USA universities were interviewed about QS in science. Information is presented on: what QS academics want in their undergraduate science students; who is teaching QS; how mathematics and science departments work together to build QS in science and implications for building the QS of science students. This information leads to suggestions for improvement in QS within a science curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For over a decade, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has been measuring the progress of our nation against a set of seventeen headline social, economic and environmental dimensions. Developed in the early 2000's by the ABS, important aspects of life were chosen after extensive consultation and debate about what should be the key headline dimensions of progress for Australia. Ten years on, and in recognition of the wide spread national and international interest in measuring the wellbeing and progress of societies, the ABS embarked on a journey to have a new conversation with Australians about what matters. The Measures of Australia's Progress consultation, or MAP 2.0, was a national conversation on Australia's progress. A major part of the project was the use of an online blog to collect comments from the general public about what aspects of life matter most to them, and what aspirations they hold for Australia's progress. Video and written contributions from prominent Australians were used to raise the profile of the blog and encourage input from people who might not otherwise have engaged. The use of social media as an engagement and consultation mechanism by a national statistical organisation was a new and challenging undertaking, but was a huge success - over 140 quality comments were received and discussions on several other websites were generated. This paper focuses on the rationale for using social media, the experience of the ABS in hosting a blog, lessons learnt, and future plans for measuring progress in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extended the analyses of Ng (2005) and explored the differences between students with polarized schematic views in learning mathematics. Two groups of high school students from Hong Kong and Australia completed a questionnaire tapping their views on their cognitions of the self or academic self-schemas, achievement goals, learning approaches and anticipated performance. Ng (2005) located two groups of schematic students across both cultures demonstrating consistent characteristics in motivational and learning processes. The current investigation explored the differences between corresponding schematic groups found in this previous study. It was found that positive schematic students in Hong Kong are less schematicised than Australian students. In contrast, negative schematic students in Hong Kong were more schematicized than their Australian counterparts. These differences in the development of schematicised selves among students in two different cultures could be attributed to the difference in evaluation practice in two different educational systems. The results draw our attention to teaching and learning processes in schools and call for more reformative effort in Mathematics learning in order to prevent premature dropping of the subject due to the development of a negative self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific societies provide an important forum for scientists to meet and exchange ideas. In the early days of European settlement in Australia the few people interested in the sciences joined together to form societies that embraced all their individual disciplines. From 1888 the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science with its different sections allowed a growing number of astronomers to share meetings only with researchers in the closely allied fields of mathematics and physics. Eventually, all three of these groups formed their own societies with the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) being the last in 1966. Archival records are used to illustrate how the formation of these came about and to identify the people involved. The makeup of Australian astronomy at that period and some of its research fields are looked at, as well as the debates and discussions in the Society's first year while its future structure and role were established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the science and mathematics achievements of 16 Year 9 students with hearing loss in an inclusive high-school setting in Western Australia. Results from the Monitoring Standards in Education (MSE) compulsory state tests were compared with state and class averages for students with normal hearing. Data were collected from three cohorts of Year 9 students across a 3-year period (2005-2007). Results from mathematics MSE9 and the MSE9 science assessments showed that the majority of students with hearing loss performed below the state average (88%). Findings in this study suggest that students with hearing loss demonstrated more mathematical strength in the areas of space and measurement, which use visuo-spatial skills. Results for students with hearing loss in the five sections of the science assessment suggest more consistency across the different areas tested in the MSE. Comparisons with the MSE9 English paper for the 2005 cohort of students with hearing loss suggest a strong relationship between reading and writing skills and performance on mathematics and science assessment. In particular, questions with high language content created difficulty. On the science assessment, questions requiring a written explanation appeared to be particularly challenging. These findings have implications for teaching and learning in these crucial areas for students with hearing loss in inclusive secondary school settings. Greater attention to the interpretation of the language of mathematics and to writing about science concepts may help to improve outcomes for students with hearing loss on statewide assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews Fisher's research program, showing how it constituted a theoretical basis for Darwin's evolutionary, genetical and experimental work, and identifies those fields where Fisher, through his influence on colleagues and students, caused some of his aims to be carried through in Australia, particularly in experimental design and evolutionary genetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low working memory (WM) capacity has been linked to poor academic performance and problem behavior. Availability of easy-to-administer screening tests would facilitate early detection of WM deficits. This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Working Memory Power Test for Children (WMPT) in 170 Australian schoolchildren (8½-11 years). Reliability (internal consistency) and validity of WMPT accuracy scores were examined. WMPT accuracy predicted achievement in reading, numeracy, and spelling. The results provide preliminary evidence of reliability and validity that supports interpretation of the WMPT accuracy score. With additional research, the WMPT could be valuable as an easy-to-administer screener for WM deficits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefit of homework (HW) has been the subject of ongoing debate among various stakeholders. Within this debate, and in relation to teacher development, prospective teachers' views of HW have received limited attention. In this study, we survey primary pre-service teachers' ('PSTs') views of HW use (n = 45 teaching grades 2-5; n = 39 teaching grades 6 and 7) in a single discipline (mathematics) at one large Australian university. The literature suggests students in upper primary and secondary grades will benefit from the use of mathematics HW. Results of the study, in contrast, suggest our PSTs teaching early primary grades planned to give proportionally (but not significantly) more mathematics HW than those teaching later grades. Reasons for this disparity are discussed. We argue there is a need in teacher development to equip PSTs with a better understanding of how classroom and home-based learning work together in the development of mathematical understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional availability (EA) is a focal indicator of parent–infant relationship quality and plays a key role in determining healthy child development, yet factors thought to influence EA have not been examined comprehensively in the postnatal period in both mothers and partners. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of mother–infant and partner–infant bonding, mental ill‐health and substance use at 8 weeks postbirth on mother–infant and partner–infant EA at 12 months postbirth, accounting for a range of demographic and postnatal variables. Participants were 191 matched mother–partner–infant triads from a nested sample of an Australian longitudinal pregnancy cohort (The Triple B Pregnancy Cohort). Assessments were conducted at 8 weeks postbirth and at infant age 12 months. Parental EA was coded from dyadic interactions during a 20‐min free play observational video recorded at 12 months. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) analysis, accounting for within‐dyad clustering, showed older parent age was associated with higher parent–child EA scores (χ2 = 6.28, p < .01), while parental tobacco use (χ2 = 7.35, p < .01) and depression (χ2 = 4.51, p < .05) at 8 weeks postnatal predicted poorer parent–child EA scores at 12 months. These novel findings suggest that it may be particularly important to support young couples and those struggling with symptoms of depression or tobacco use during the postnatal period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, many students, especially girls, choose not to study advanced mathematics in Year 12 even though their schools offer relevant subjects. Previous studies have rarely examined, using nationally representative samples of Australian students, the extent to which teenage educational experiences and occupational expectations influence gender differences in later pursuits of advanced mathematics subjects. To fill this gap, I use multilevel logistic regression models to analyse the data from the 2003 cohort of the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth. My results show that students’ mathematics achievement, occupational expectations and self-assessed mathematical competence are crucial in explaining why boys are considerably more likely than girls to enrol in advanced mathematics subjects. The gender gap would decrease greatly if girls were as likely as boys to perform well in mathematics, to aspire to mathematically intensive careers and to have more confidence in their mathematical abilities when they were 15 years old. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aims to examine the costs associated with a Hospital in the Nursing Home (HiNH) program in Queensland Australia directed at patients from residential aged care facilities (RACFs) with emergency care needs. Methods: A cost analysis was undertaken comparing the costs under the HiNH program and the current practice, in parallel with a pre-post controlled study design. The study was conducted in two Queensland public hospitals: the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (intervention hospital) and the Logan Hospital (control hospital). Main outcome measures were the associated incremental costs or savings concerning the HiNH program provision and the acute hospital care utilisation over one year after intervention. Results: The initial deterministic analysis calculated the total induced mean costs associated with providing the HiNH program over one year as AU$488,116, and the total induced savings relating to acute hospital care service utilisation of AU$8,659,788. The total net costs to the health service providers were thus calculated at -AU$8,171,671 per annum. Results from the probabilistic sensitivity analysis (based on 10,000 simulations) showed the mean and median annual net costs associated with the HiNH program implementation were -AU$8,444,512 and–AU$8,202,676, and a standard deviation of 2,955,346. There was 95% certainty that the values of net costs would fall within the range from -AU$15,018,055 to -AU$3,358,820. Conclusions: The costs relating to implementing the HiNH program appear to be much less than the savings in terms of associated decreases in acute hospital service utilisation. The HiNH service model is likely to have the cost-saving potential while improving the emergency care provision for RACF residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Risk adjusted mortality for intensive care units (ICU) is usually estimated via logistic regression. Random effects (RE) or hierarchical models have been advocated to estimate provider risk-adjusted mortality on the basis that standard estimators increase false outlier classification. The utility of fixed effects (FE) estimators (separate ICU-specific intercepts) has not been fully explored. Methods: Using a cohort from the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Adult Patient Database, 2009–2010, the model fit of different logistic estimators (FE, random-intercept and random-coefficient) was characterised: Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC; lower values better), receiver-operator characteristic curve area (AUC) and Hosmer-Lemeshow (H-L) statistic. ICU standardised hospital mortality ratios (SMR) and 95%CI were compared between models. ICU site performance (FE), relative to the grand observation-weighted mean (GO-WM) on odds ratio (OR), risk ratio (RR) and probability scales were assessed using model-based average marginal effects (AME). Results: The data set consisted of 145355 patients in 128 ICUs, years 2009 (47.5%) & 2010 (52.5%), with mean(SD) age 60.9(18.8) years, 56% male and ICU and hospital mortalities of 7.0% and 10.9% respectively. The FE model had a BIC = 64058, AUC = 0.90 and an H-L statistic P-value = 0.22. The best-fitting random-intercept model had a BIC = 64457, AUC = 0.90 and H-L statistic P-value = 0.32 and random-coefficient model, BIC = 64556, AUC = 0.90 and H-L statistic P-value = 0.28. Across ICUs and over years no outliers (SMR 95% CI excluding null-value = 1) were identified and no model difference in SMR spread or 95%CI span was demonstrated. Using AME (OR and RR scale), ICU site-specific estimates diverged from the GO-WM, and the effect spread decreased over calendar years. On the probability scale, a majority of ICUs demonstrated calendar year decrease, but in the for-profit sector, this trend was reversed. Conclusions: The FE estimator had model advantage compared with conventional RE models. Using AME, between and over-year ICU site-effects were easily characterised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports selected findings from a study of number sense proficiency of students aged 8 to 14 years in Australia, Sweden, United States, and Taiwan. It comments on the meaning and importance of number sense, the development of the assessment instruments, and student responses to the items. Some implications for classrooms of the findings are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographic Information Systems have become an invaluable tool in many industries as it can help to conceptualise available data and answer questions visually. The software allows for integration of key statistics and geographic data for a more detailed analysis. The objective of this study was to show how mathematically weighted, publicly available, relevant demographics data can be integrated with Geographic Information Systems to identify and rank potential locations for new primary healthcare facilities. Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage was mathematically weighted with respect to the usual resident population and the number of people not in the labour force data, at Statistical Area level 1 (SA1). Smoothing was applied by repeating the process at Statistical Area level 2,3 and 4 to produce a quasi-index of priority. A total of 229 SA1 areas were identified and preselected as potential primary healthcare facility infrastructure sites across Australia. The quasi-index was incorporated into a Geographic Information System to produce a map identifying and ranking areas of relative need. Combining a mathematical approach with Geographic Information Systems can yield significant qualitative and quantitative advantages over conventional methods of site selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to elicit experts’ opinions and gather estimates on the perceived probability of introduction and spread of avian influenza (AI) virus in the Australian broiler and layer industry. Using a modified Delphi method and a 4-step elicitation process, 11 experts were asked to give initial individual estimates for the various pathways and practices in the presented scenarios using a questionnaire. Following this, a workshop was conducted to present group averages of estimates and discussion was facilitated to obtain final individual estimates. For each question, estimates for all experts were combined using a discrete distribution, with weights allocated representing the level of expertise. Indirect contact with wild birds either via a contaminated water source or fomites was considered the most likely pathway of introduction of low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) on poultry farms. Presence of a water body near the poultry farm was considered a potential pathway for introduction only when the operation type was free range and the water body was within 500m distance from the shed. The probability that LPAI will mutate to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was considered to be higher in layer farms. Shared personnel, equipment and aerosol dispersion were the most likely pathways of shed to shed spread of the virus. For LPAI and HPAI spread from farm to farm, shared pick-up trucks for broiler and shared egg trays and egg pallets for layer farms were considered the most likely pathways. Findings from this study provide an insight on most influential practices on the introduction and spread of AI virus among commercial poultry farms in Australia, as elicited from opinions of experts. These findings will be used to support parameterization of a modelling study assessing the risk of AI introduction and spread among commercial poultry farms in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Many emotional and behavioral problems first emerge in primary school and are the forerunners of mental health problems occurring in adolescence. However, the extent that these problems may be associated with academic failure has been explored less. We aimed to quantify the association between emotional and behavioral problems with academic performance. METHODS A stratified random sample of 8- to 9-year-olds (N = 1239) were recruited from schools in Australia. Data linkage was performed with a national assessment of academic performance to assess reading and numeracy. Parent report assessed emotional and behavioral problems with students dichotomized into 'borderline/abnormal' and 'normal' categories. RESULTS One in 5 grade 3 students fell in the 'borderline/abnormal' category. Boys with total difficulties (β = -47.8, 95% CI: -62.8 to -32.8), conduct problems, and peer problems scored lower on reading. Numeracy scores were lower in boys with total difficulties (β = -37.7, 95% CI: -53.9 to -21.5) and emotional symptoms. Children with hyperactivity/inattention scored lower in numeracy. Girls with peer problems scored lower in numeracy. CONCLUSIONS Boys with emotional and behavioral problems in mid-primary school were 12 months behind their peers. Children with emotional and behavioral problems are at high risk for academic failure, and this risk is evident in mid-primary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although women have made progress in entering scientific careers in biology, they remain underrepresented in mathematically intensive fields such as physics. We investigated whether gender differences in mathematics motivation and socialisers' perceptions impacted choices for diverse STEM careers of varying mathematical intensity. Drawing on expectancy-value theory, we tested structural equation models in which adolescents' preferred careers related to each of physics, biology, chemistry, and mathematics were predicted by prior mathematical performance, motivations, and mothers' perceptions. We explored potential differences in gendered processes of influence using multigroup models. Samples were 331 Australian adolescents followed from 9th to 11th grade in 1998 and 277 U.S. adolescents from 9th to 12th grade in 2009-10. In both samples female adolescents preferred biological careers more than males did; male adolescents preferred physics-related careers and also mathematical careers in the Australian sample. Mothers' perceptions were important to female and male adolescents' mathematics motivations; gendered motivations were more evident in the Australian sample. Mathematics interest played the strongest role in male adolescents' preferred careers, whereas actual or perceived mathematical achievements were most important for females, demonstrating the impacts of mathematical motivations on preferences for diverse STEM careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]