Search

Aims: To highlight the need for the development of effective and realistic workforce strategies for critical care nurses, in both a steady state and pandemic. Background: In acute care settings, there is an inverse relationship between nurse staffing and iatrogenesis, including mortality. Despite this, there remains a lack of consensus on how to determine safe staffing levels. Intensive care units (ICU) provide highly specialised complex healthcare treatments. In developed countries, mortality rates in the ICU setting are high and significantly varied after adjustment for diagnosis. The variability has been attributed to systems, patient and provider issues including the workload of critical care nurses. Design: Discursive paper. Findings: Nursing workforce is the single most influential mediating variable on ICU patient outcomes. Numerous systematic reviews have been undertaken in an effort to quantify the effect of critical care nurses on mortality and morbidity, invariably leading to the conclusion that the association is similar to that reported in acute care studies. This is a consequence of methodological limitations, inconsistent operational definitions and variability in endpoint measures. We evaluated the impact inadequate measurement has had on capturing relevant critical care data, and we argue for the need to develop effective and realistic ICU workforce measures. Conclusion: COVID-19 has placed an unprecedented demand on providing health care in the ICU. Mortality associated with ICU admission has been startling during the pandemic. While ICU systems have largely remained static, the context in which care is provided is profoundly dynamic and the role and impact of the critical care nurse needs to be measured accordingly. Often, nurses are passive recipients of unplanned and under-resourced changes to workload, and this has been brought into stark visibility with the current COVID-19 situation. Unless critical care nurses are engaged in systems manageme

Aims: To highlight the need for the development of effective and realistic workforce strategies for critical care nurses, in both a steady state and pandemic. Background: In acute care settings, there is an inverse relationship between nurse staffing and iatrogenesis, including mortality. Despite this, there remains a lack of consensus on how to determine safe staffing levels. Intensive care units (ICU) provide highly specialised complex healthcare treatments. In developed countries, mortality rates in the ICU setting are high and significantly varied after adjustment for diagnosis. The variability has been attributed to systems, patient and provider issues including the workload of critical care nurses. Design: Discursive paper. Findings: Nursing workforce is the single most influential mediating variable on ICU patient outcomes. Numerous systematic reviews have been undertaken in an effort to quantify the effect of critical care nurses on mortality and morbidity, invariably leading to the conclusion that the association is similar to that reported in acute care studies. This is a consequence of methodological limitations, inconsistent operational definitions and variability in endpoint measures. We evaluated the impact inadequate measurement has had on capturing relevant critical care data, and we argue for the need to develop effective and realistic ICU workforce measures. Conclusion: COVID-19 has placed an unprecedented demand on providing health care in the ICU. Mortality associated with ICU admission has been startling during the pandemic. While ICU systems have largely remained static, the context in which care is provided is profoundly dynamic and the role and impact of the critical care nurse needs to be measured accordingly. Often, nurses are passive recipients of unplanned and under-resourced changes to workload, and this has been brought into stark visibility with the current COVID-19 situation. Unless critical care nurses are engaged in systems manageme

In people with hemiparesis after stroke, intensive upper limb motor practice, such as robot-assisted training, can lead to clinically meaningful improvement, yet the benefit typically falls far short of full functional recovery. Supplemental therapies have the potential to enhance training effects, and non-invasive brain stimulation as a candidate add-on therapy has previously been reported; this literature was systematically reviewed by Reis and colleagues. The review found that there is no beneficial effect of non-invasive brain stimulation as a supplement to robot-assisted training. The eight reviewed trials used a variety of existing best non-invasive brain stimulation practices and available robotic technology.

First two decades of the twenty-first century are characterised by epidemics of non-communicable diseases such as many hundreds of millions of patients diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases and the type 2 diabetes mellitus, breast, lung, liver and prostate malignancies, neurological, sleep, mood and eye disorders, amongst others. Consequent socio-economic burden is tremendous. Unprecedented decrease in age of maladaptive individuals has been reported. The absolute majority of expanding non-communicable disorders carry a chronic character, over a couple of years progressing from reversible suboptimal health conditions to irreversible severe pathologies and cascading collateral complications. The time-frame between onset of SHS and clinical manifestation of associated disorders is the operational area for an application of reliable risk assessment tools and predictive diagnostics followed by the cost-effective targeted prevention and treatments tailored to the person. This article demonstrates advanced strategies in bio/medical sciences and healthcare focused on suboptimal health conditions in the frame-work of Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine (3PM/PPPM). Potential benefits in healthcare systems and for society at large include but are not restricted to an improved life-quality of major populations and socio-economical groups, advanced professionalism of healthcare-givers and sustainable healthcare economy. Amongst others, following medical areas are proposed to strongly benefit from PPPM strategies applied to the identification and treatment of suboptimal health conditions:Stress overload associated pathologiesMale and female healthPlanned pregnanciesPeriodontal healthEye disordersInflammatory disorders, wound healing and pain management with associated complicationsMetabolic disorders and suboptimal body weightCardiovascular pathologiesCancersStroke, particularly of unknown aetiology and in young individualsSleep medicineSports medicineImproved indi

First two decades of the twenty-first century are characterised by epidemics of non-communicable diseases such as many hundreds of millions of patients diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases and the type 2 diabetes mellitus, breast, lung, liver and prostate malignancies, neurological, sleep, mood and eye disorders, amongst others. Consequent socio-economic burden is tremendous. Unprecedented decrease in age of maladaptive individuals has been reported. The absolute majority of expanding non-communicable disorders carry a chronic character, over a couple of years progressing from reversible suboptimal health conditions to irreversible severe pathologies and cascading collateral complications. The time-frame between onset of SHS and clinical manifestation of associated disorders is the operational area for an application of reliable risk assessment tools and predictive diagnostics followed by the cost-effective targeted prevention and treatments tailored to the person. This article demonstrates advanced strategies in bio/medical sciences and healthcare focused on suboptimal health conditions in the frame-work of Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine (3PM/PPPM). Potential benefits in healthcare systems and for society at large include but are not restricted to an improved life-quality of major populations and socio-economical groups, advanced professionalism of healthcare-givers and sustainable healthcare economy. Amongst others, following medical areas are proposed to strongly benefit from PPPM strategies applied to the identification and treatment of suboptimal health conditions:Stress overload associated pathologiesMale and female healthPlanned pregnanciesPeriodontal healthEye disordersInflammatory disorders, wound healing and pain management with associated complicationsMetabolic disorders and suboptimal body weightCardiovascular pathologiesCancersStroke, particularly of unknown aetiology and in young individualsSleep medicineSports medicineImproved indi

In people with hemiparesis after stroke, intensive upper limb motor practice, such as robot-assisted training, can lead to clinically meaningful improvement, yet the benefit typically falls far short of full functional recovery. Supplemental therapies have the potential to enhance training effects, and non-invasive brain stimulation as a candidate add-on therapy has previously been reported; this literature was systematically reviewed by Reis and colleagues. The review found that there is no beneficial effect of non-invasive brain stimulation as a supplement to robot-assisted training. The eight reviewed trials used a variety of existing best non-invasive brain stimulation practices and available robotic technology.

Research in information systems includes a wide range of approaches that make a contribution in terms of knowledge, understanding, or practical developments. In these days of “fake news” and vast amounts of spurious internet content, scholarly research needs above all to be able to demonstrate its validity - are its finding true, or its recommendations correct? However, empirical studies show that discussion of validity in research is often weak. In this paper we examine the nature of truth and relatedly correctness in order to construct a validation framework that can potentially encompass all the varied forms of research. Within philosophy, there has been much debate about the nature of truth - is it correspondence, coherence, consensual or pragmatic? In fact, current debates revolve around the idea of a pluralist view of truth - that there may be different forms of truth depending on context or domain. Related to truth is the wider concept of correctness - propositions may be true (and therefore correct) but correctness can also be applied to actions, performances or behavior. Based on these two concepts, we develop a framework for research validity and apply it to a range of research forms including positivist, mathematical, interpretive, design science, critical and action-oriented. The benefits are: i) that a greater and more explicit focus on validity criteria will produce better research; ii) having a single framework can provide some commonality between what at times seem conflicting approaches to research; iii) having criteria made explicit should encourage debate and further development.

Research in information systems includes a wide range of approaches that make a contribution in terms of knowledge, understanding, or practical developments. In these days of “fake news” and vast amounts of spurious internet content, scholarly research needs above all to be able to demonstrate its validity - are its finding true, or its recommendations correct? However, empirical studies show that discussion of validity in research is often weak. In this paper we examine the nature of truth and relatedly correctness in order to construct a validation framework that can potentially encompass all the varied forms of research. Within philosophy, there has been much debate about the nature of truth - is it correspondence, coherence, consensual or pragmatic? In fact, current debates revolve around the idea of a pluralist view of truth - that there may be different forms of truth depending on context or domain. Related to truth is the wider concept of correctness - propositions may be true (and therefore correct) but correctness can also be applied to actions, performances or behavior. Based on these two concepts, we develop a framework for research validity and apply it to a range of research forms including positivist, mathematical, interpretive, design science, critical and action-oriented. The benefits are: i) that a greater and more explicit focus on validity criteria will produce better research; ii) having a single framework can provide some commonality between what at times seem conflicting approaches to research; iii) having criteria made explicit should encourage debate and further development.

This paper will lay out the structure of a Gramscian-Marxist framework for the analysis of modern African history. This framework is built around core Marxist understandings of capitalist processes and class relations, with emphasis on the specifically Gramscian developments around the nature of the state, and ideas of hegemony, common sense, and the role of organic intellectuals. This also incorporates developing ideas in the area of Uneven and Combined Development, and insights from World Systems Theory, on how relations between core and peripheral states also impact the underlying class dynamics. This framework creates a narrative of shifting power relations and ideological paradigms over the last century, which gives the necessary context for understanding recent events in African politics. Thus a broad narrative of global history over this period will be presented, with specific reference to the African situation. This paper is intended as a broad background paper to Benjamin Hale’s paper, ‘ANC and Capital: Aspirations to Hegemony’. The paper is published as part of the 39th Annual African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP) Conference Proceedings 2017.

This paper will lay out the structure of a Gramscian-Marxist framework for the analysis of modern African history. This framework is built around core Marxist understandings of capitalist processes and class relations, with emphasis on the specifically Gramscian developments around the nature of the state, and ideas of hegemony, common sense, and the role of organic intellectuals. This also incorporates developing ideas in the area of Uneven and Combined Development, and insights from World Systems Theory, on how relations between core and peripheral states also impact the underlying class dynamics. This framework creates a narrative of shifting power relations and ideological paradigms over the last century, which gives the necessary context for understanding recent events in African politics. Thus a broad narrative of global history over this period will be presented, with specific reference to the African situation. This paper is intended as a broad background paper to Benjamin Hale’s paper, ‘ANC and Capital: Aspirations to Hegemony’. The paper is published as part of the 39th Annual African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP) Conference Proceedings 2017.

Introduction:Background to metabolomics: Metabolomics is the comprehensive study of the metabolome, the repertoire of biochemicals (or small molecules) present in cells, tissues, and body fluids. The study of metabolism at the global or “-omics” level is a rapidly growing field that has the potential to have a profound impact upon medical practice. At the center of metabolomics, is the concept that a person’s metabolic state provides a close representation of that individual’s overall health status. This metabolic state reflects what has been encoded by the genome, and modified by diet, environmental factors, and the gut microbiome. The metabolic profile provides a quantifiable readout of biochemical state from normal physiology to diverse pathophysiologies in a manner that is often not obvious from gene expression analyses. Today, clinicians capture only a very small part of the information contained in the metabolome, as they routinely measure only a narrow set of blood chemistry analytes to assess health and disease states. Examples include measuring glucose to monitor diabetes, measuring cholesterol and high density lipoprotein/low density lipoprotein ratio to assess cardiovascular health, BUN and creatinine for renal disorders, and measuring a panel of metabolites to diagnose potential inborn errors of metabolism in neonates. Objectives of White Paper—expected treatment outcomes and metabolomics enabling tool for precision medicine: We anticipate that the narrow range of chemical analyses in current use by the medical community today will be replaced in the future by analyses that reveal a far more comprehensive metabolic signature. This signature is expected to describe global biochemical aberrations that reflect patterns of variance in states of wellness, more accurately describe specific diseases and their progression, and greatly aid in differential diagnosis. Such future metabolic signatures will: (1) provide predictive, prognostic, diagnostic, and surroga

Introduction:Background to metabolomics: Metabolomics is the comprehensive study of the metabolome, the repertoire of biochemicals (or small molecules) present in cells, tissues, and body fluids. The study of metabolism at the global or “-omics” level is a rapidly growing field that has the potential to have a profound impact upon medical practice. At the center of metabolomics, is the concept that a person’s metabolic state provides a close representation of that individual’s overall health status. This metabolic state reflects what has been encoded by the genome, and modified by diet, environmental factors, and the gut microbiome. The metabolic profile provides a quantifiable readout of biochemical state from normal physiology to diverse pathophysiologies in a manner that is often not obvious from gene expression analyses. Today, clinicians capture only a very small part of the information contained in the metabolome, as they routinely measure only a narrow set of blood chemistry analytes to assess health and disease states. Examples include measuring glucose to monitor diabetes, measuring cholesterol and high density lipoprotein/low density lipoprotein ratio to assess cardiovascular health, BUN and creatinine for renal disorders, and measuring a panel of metabolites to diagnose potential inborn errors of metabolism in neonates. Objectives of White Paper—expected treatment outcomes and metabolomics enabling tool for precision medicine: We anticipate that the narrow range of chemical analyses in current use by the medical community today will be replaced in the future by analyses that reveal a far more comprehensive metabolic signature. This signature is expected to describe global biochemical aberrations that reflect patterns of variance in states of wellness, more accurately describe specific diseases and their progression, and greatly aid in differential diagnosis. Such future metabolic signatures will: (1) provide predictive, prognostic, diagnostic, and surroga

Globalisation requires that nursing education focuses on culturally competent care. International students studying in Australia present a valuable resource for cultural learning, yet internationalisation presents opportunities and challenges for both lecturers and students. This paper explores Chinese nursing students, the single largest group of international students in Australia, their communication behaviour, patterns and learning styles at Australian universities from cultural and psychosocial perspectives. Our aim is to provide insight for educators in Western countries to better understand this particular ethnic group and help Chinese nursing students overcome learning difficulties and develop their potential learning capabilities. We further recommend coping strategies to help international Chinese nursing students' learning

Globalisation requires that nursing education focuses on culturally competent care. International students studying in Australia present a valuable resource for cultural learning, yet internationalisation presents opportunities and challenges for both lecturers and students. This paper explores Chinese nursing students, the single largest group of international students in Australia, their communication behaviour, patterns and learning styles at Australian universities from cultural and psychosocial perspectives. Our aim is to provide insight for educators in Western countries to better understand this particular ethnic group and help Chinese nursing students overcome learning difficulties and develop their potential learning capabilities. We further recommend coping strategies to help international Chinese nursing students' learning

Challenges of “standardisation” and “individualisation” have always been characteristic for medical services. In terms of individualisation, the best possible individual care is the ethical imperative of medicine, and it is a good right of any patient to receive it. However, in terms of standardisation, all the available treatments are based on guideline recommendations derived from large multi-centre trials with many thousands of patients involved. In the most optimal way, the standardisation and individualisation should go hand-in-hand, in order to identify the right patient treating him/her with the right medication and the right dose at the right time point! Further, in paradigm and anticipation, there is a big discrepancy between “disease care” and “health care” which dramatically impacts ethical and economical aspects of medical services. Several approaches have been suggested in ancient and modern medicine to conduct medical services in a possibly optimal way. What is the difference amongst all of them and how big is the potential beyond corresponding approach to satisfy the needs of the individual, the patient, professional groups involved and society at large? On behalf of the “European Association for Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine,” the dedicated EPMA working group provides a deep analysis in the issue followed by the expert recommendations considering the multifaceted aspects of both “disease care” and “health care” practices including ethics and economy, life quality of individuals and patients, interests of professional groups involved, benefits of subpopulations, health care system(s) and society as a whole.

The dynamic economic environment we encounter today is more financially driven rather than trade driven and due to this transformation there are greater concerns on higher education degree programs in accounting and finance. This study compares accounting and finance bachelor’s degree programs offered by Sri Lankan and Australian universities. 18 universities are selected from the two countries as the sample of this study. Comparison is first made at national policy level and then at programs level by analysing related national frameworks, curriculums of related special/major bachelor’s degree programs. Consequently, similarities, differences, strengths and weaknesses of programs offered by two countries are identified as a mean of lessons to be learned from each other.

The dynamic economic environment we encounter today is more financially driven rather than trade driven and due to this transformation there are greater concerns on higher education degree programs in accounting and finance. This study compares accounting and finance bachelor’s degree programs offered by Sri Lankan and Australian universities. 18 universities are selected from the two countries as the sample of this study. Comparison is first made at national policy level and then at programs level by analysing related national frameworks, curriculums of related special/major bachelor’s degree programs. Consequently, similarities, differences, strengths and weaknesses of programs offered by two countries are identified as a mean of lessons to be learned from each other.

Challenges of “standardisation” and “individualisation” have always been characteristic for medical services. In terms of individualisation, the best possible individual care is the ethical imperative of medicine, and it is a good right of any patient to receive it. However, in terms of standardisation, all the available treatments are based on guideline recommendations derived from large multi-centre trials with many thousands of patients involved. In the most optimal way, the standardisation and individualisation should go hand-in-hand, in order to identify the right patient treating him/her with the right medication and the right dose at the right time point! Further, in paradigm and anticipation, there is a big discrepancy between “disease care” and “health care” which dramatically impacts ethical and economical aspects of medical services. Several approaches have been suggested in ancient and modern medicine to conduct medical services in a possibly optimal way. What is the difference amongst all of them and how big is the potential beyond corresponding approach to satisfy the needs of the individual, the patient, professional groups involved and society at large? On behalf of the “European Association for Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine,” the dedicated EPMA working group provides a deep analysis in the issue followed by the expert recommendations considering the multifaceted aspects of both “disease care” and “health care” practices including ethics and economy, life quality of individuals and patients, interests of professional groups involved, benefits of subpopulations, health care system(s) and society as a whole.

© 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Sustainable tourism indicators (STIs) are an integral element of tourism planning and management. This study systematically reviews the research contributions on the development of STIs based on four criteria including: i) the relevance of the STIs to the sustainable development goals (SDGs); ii) governance; iii) stakeholders involved; and iv) the distinction between subjective and objective indicators. A search of Scopus indexed journals published up to April 2018, yielded 97 papers for examination. The findings demonstrate the lack of direct attention to the SDGs in those papers published after their launch in 2016. However, the majority of the SDGs and their targets have indirectly been covered in the reviewed papers. The results revealed that, among the sustainability themes of economic growth, social inclusion, environmental protection, and governance, the STIs studies tended to overlook the dimension of governance. The findings showed that residents are the most engaged stakeholder group, and tourists the least engaged as compared with government and businesses. The results also indicated that more attention is afforded to objective compared to subjective indicators. The findings also demonstrated that much of the focus is on European countries rather than the Global South which is the major focus of the SDGs.

Initial Teacher Education (ITE) is a critical arena for advancing inclusion in Health and Physical Education (HPE). This paper reports research that is engaging with the diversity of the HPE profession and practitioners. It centres on a unique case study that critically explored the school-based professional experience of an Australian secondary HPE Pre-service Teacher (PsT) who has a hearing impairment. Specifically, to enable PST success in HPE professional experiences as defined by the professional standards for teachers in Australia and to which, PSTs’ must evidence to graduate and attain teacher registration. Drawing on documentary and interview data the paper focuses on tensions identified between the bureaucratic environment of ITE and the legislation of ‘reasonable adjustments’ for students with additional needs. Discussion highlights the expertise that PsTs with additional needs can bring to inform institutional and sector-wide work to advance equity and inclusion in ITE. Our research shows that graduate employability of peoples with additional needs in HPE teacher education relies on the inclusive interpretation and application of the professional standards for teachers. We advocate further research to increase knowledge(s) supporting (i) the representation of people with additional needs in HPE teaching and (ii) inclusive practice in HPE ITE courses.

The paper voices Derbarl Yerrigan, a significant river in Western Australia, through three imperfect, non-innocent, and necessary river-child stories. These stories highlight the emergence of a feminist anti-colonial methodology that is attentive to settler response-abilities to Derbarl Yerrigan through situated, relational, active, and generative research methods. Voicing Derbarl Yerrigan influences the methodological practices used as part of an ongoing river-child walking inquiry that is concerned with generating climate change pedagogies in response to the global climate crises and calls for new ways of thinking and producing knowledge. In particular, the authors found that voicing as a methodology includes listening and being responsive to Derbarl Yerrigan's invitations, paying attention to pastspresentsfutures, and forming attachments through naming. By telling lively settler river-child stories, this paper shows how voicing Derbarl Yerrigan is vital to open new possibilities for education and has implications for settler-colonial contexts, where the focus on learning shifts from learning about the world to learning to become with multispecies river worlds.

The paper voices Derbarl Yerrigan, a significant river in Western Australia, through three imperfect, non-innocent, and necessary river-child stories. These stories highlight the emergence of a feminist anti-colonial methodology that is attentive to settler response-abilities to Derbarl Yerrigan through situated, relational, active, and generative research methods. Voicing Derbarl Yerrigan influences the methodological practices used as part of an ongoing river-child walking inquiry that is concerned with generating climate change pedagogies in response to the global climate crises and calls for new ways of thinking and producing knowledge. In particular, the authors found that voicing as a methodology includes listening and being responsive to Derbarl Yerrigan's invitations, paying attention to pastspresentsfutures, and forming attachments through naming. By telling lively settler river-child stories, this paper shows how voicing Derbarl Yerrigan is vital to open new possibilities for education and has implications for settler-colonial contexts, where the focus on learning shifts from learning about the world to learning to become with multispecies river worlds.

The paper voices Derbarl Yerrigan, a significant river in Western Australia, through three imperfect, non-innocent, and necessary river-child stories. These stories highlight the emergence of a feminist anti-colonial methodology that is attentive to settler response-abilities to Derbarl Yerrigan through situated, relational, active, and generative research methods. Voicing Derbarl Yerrigan influences the methodological practices used as part of an ongoing river-child walking inquiry that is concerned with generating climate change pedagogies in response to the global climate crises and calls for new ways of thinking and producing knowledge. In particular, the authors found that voicing as a methodology includes listening and being responsive to Derbarl Yerrigan's invitations, paying attention to pastspresentsfutures, and forming attachments through naming. By telling lively settler river-child stories, this paper shows how voicing Derbarl Yerrigan is vital to open new possibilities for education and has implications for settler-colonial contexts, where the focus on learning shifts from learning about the world to learning to become with multispecies river worlds.

Purpose: This cutting-edge short commentary is intended to raise awareness of sex trafficking in the tourism and hospitality industry. The purpose of this paper is to also advocate for further research to identify and hopefully prevent sex trafficking in related settings. Design/methodology/approach: This paper provides a descriptive overview of the current knowledge base on sex trafficking in tourism and hospitality. Based on gaps in the literature, future research agendas and directions are suggested. Findings: Academic research on sex trafficking in tourism and hospitality remains limited. More scholarly attention is needed to this matter. The tourism industry is directly and indirectly associated with sex trafficking (e.g. hotel accommodations and direct consumption of sexual services, such as through sex tourism). Despite legislative efforts by international government agencies to eradicate sex trafficking, the problem remains pervasive. Broader practice- and research-based intervention efforts are needed. Originality/value: This short commentary advocates for tourism and hospitality researchers to make practical and theoretical industry contributions that may help prevent sex trafficking.

Purpose The halal food market is a large and fast-growing market. To maintain and boost the growth of the halal food industry, scholars have attempted to understand the behaviour of Muslims and non-Muslims towards halal food. To advance understating of previous studies on behaviour towards halal food and shedding light on future studies, this study aims to systematically review the literature. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 985 peer-reviewed papers was extracted from Scopus and Web of Science databases. A total of 96 articles related to customers' behaviour towards halal food by reviewing the titles, abstracts and contents of the extracted articles were identified and reviewed. Findings This study illustrates: (i) various research designs and methodology used in halal food context, (ii) theories that researchers used to explain customer behaviour towards halal food, (iii) most tested behaviours and (iv) determinants of customer behaviour towards halal food. Originality/value The findings provide deep insights into the current state of halal food literature. This paper highlights many gaps in the literature and suggests directions for future studies to advance the understanding of customer behaviour towards halal food. This study will help researchers to identify the new dimensions of research and contribute to the literature.

This paper explores the hyper-performative expectations of early career teachers (ECTs) in the context of neoliberal education assemblages. The need to support and retain beginning teachers is a salient issue in the context of troubling rates of teacher attrition. The study explores how ECTs perceive teacher identities in response to national standards. Our research revealed that ECTs held concerning conceptions of ‘quality teaching’ that are largely constructed through discourses of competition and job insecurity. ECT subjectivities were heavily influenced excessive extra-curricular hours, high-stress environments, and performative school cultures. This paper concludes that hyper-performative expectations of ECTs and insecure patterns of employment contribute to teacher attrition.

The paper voices Derbarl Yerrigan, a significant river in Western Australia, through three imperfect, non-innocent, and necessary river-child stories. These stories highlight the emergence of a feminist anti-colonial methodology that is attentive to settler response-abilities to Derbarl Yerrigan through situated, relational, active, and generative research methods. Voicing Derbarl Yerrigan influences the methodological practices used as part of an ongoing river-child walking inquiry that is concerned with generating climate change pedagogies in response to the global climate crises and calls for new ways of thinking and producing knowledge. In particular, the authors found that voicing as a methodology includes listening and being responsive to Derbarl Yerrigan's invitations, paying attention to pastspresentsfutures, and forming attachments through naming. By telling lively settler river-child stories, this paper shows how voicing Derbarl Yerrigan is vital to open new possibilities for education and has implications for settler-colonial contexts, where the focus on learning shifts from learning about the world to learning to become with multispecies river worlds.

This paper draws from a series of Place-thought walks that the authors took at an open-range zoo. It practices a feminist common worlds multispecies ethics to challenge the systems that maintain nature-culture divisions in early childhood education. Postdevelopmental perspectives (i.e., feminist environmental humanities, multispecies studies, Indigenous studies) are brought into conversation with early childhood education to consider how zoo-logics maintain binaries and hierarchical thinking. Zoo-logics are related to developmental, colonial, and Western ways of reasoning and being in the world. Two feminist approaches to ethics, (re)situating and dialoguing, are discussed and show how they are necessary for undermining binaries and hierarchies that enable human exceptionalism, white privilege, and phallogocentrism. (Re)situating practices are presented through a lively dialogue based on Emu-human encounters at an open-range zoo. This paper argues that (re)situating and dialoguing pedagogies activate feminist common worldings. Worlding well requires a collective and relational multispecies ethics which are needed in these troubling times.

The paper voices Derbarl Yerrigan, a significant river in Western Australia, through three imperfect, non-innocent, and necessary river-child stories. These stories highlight the emergence of a feminist anti-colonial methodology that is attentive to settler response-abilities to Derbarl Yerrigan through situated, relational, active, and generative research methods. Voicing Derbarl Yerrigan influences the methodological practices used as part of an ongoing river-child walking inquiry that is concerned with generating climate change pedagogies in response to the global climate crises and calls for new ways of thinking and producing knowledge. In particular, the authors found that voicing as a methodology includes listening and being responsive to Derbarl Yerrigan's invitations, paying attention to pastspresentsfutures, and forming attachments through naming. By telling lively settler river-child stories, this paper shows how voicing Derbarl Yerrigan is vital to open new possibilities for education and has implications for settler-colonial contexts, where the focus on learning shifts from learning about the world to learning to become with multispecies river worlds.

This paper draws from a series of Place-thought walks that the authors took at an open-range zoo. It practices a feminist common worlds multispecies ethics to challenge the systems that maintain nature-culture divisions in early childhood education. Postdevelopmental perspectives (i.e., feminist environmental humanities, multispecies studies, Indigenous studies) are brought into conversation with early childhood education to consider how zoo-logics maintain binaries and hierarchical thinking. Zoo-logics are related to developmental, colonial, and Western ways of reasoning and being in the world. Two feminist approaches to ethics, (re)situating and dialoguing, are discussed and show how they are necessary for undermining binaries and hierarchies that enable human exceptionalism, white privilege, and phallogocentrism. (Re)situating practices are presented through a lively dialogue based on Emu-human encounters at an open-range zoo. This paper argues that (re)situating and dialoguing pedagogies activate feminist common worldings. Worlding well requires a collective and relational multispecies ethics which are needed in these troubling times.

The paper voices Derbarl Yerrigan, a significant river in Western Australia, through three imperfect, non-innocent, and necessary river-child stories. These stories highlight the emergence of a feminist anti-colonial methodology that is attentive to settler response-abilities to Derbarl Yerrigan through situated, relational, active, and generative research methods. Voicing Derbarl Yerrigan influences the methodological practices used as part of an ongoing river-child walking inquiry that is concerned with generating climate change pedagogies in response to the global climate crises and calls for new ways of thinking and producing knowledge. In particular, the authors found that voicing as a methodology includes listening and being responsive to Derbarl Yerrigan's invitations, paying attention to pastspresentsfutures, and forming attachments through naming. By telling lively settler river-child stories, this paper shows how voicing Derbarl Yerrigan is vital to open new possibilities for education and has implications for settler-colonial contexts, where the focus on learning shifts from learning about the world to learning to become with multispecies river worlds.

Affective organizational commitment is theorized and empirically tested as a key mediator between authentic leadership and desirable employee outcomes. The results of a two-wave survey of 830 business people in Australia support a serial mediation model of authentic leadership efficacy. Followers' perceptions of authentic leadership behavior influence their personal identification and affect-based trust in the leader, which in turn are mediated by affective organizational commitment to positively influence their work engagement and job satisfaction. These findings reinforce previous work that positions personal identification and affect-based trust as the two primary mediating mechanisms of authentic leadership. This paper extends prior research by demonstrating the important role of followers' affective bonds with their organization in the operation of authentic leadership, moving beyond the dyad in our understanding of follower outcomes.

Children’s picture books contribute to children’s development of gender identity and can impact aspirations and expectations of roles in families and society. However, the world represented in children’s books reflects predominantly middle class, heterosexual, male heroes and characters. This paper reports on a cross-cultural study investigating gender representation in frequently read picture books across eight early learning centres in the United States and Australia. Forty-four educators working with 271 children participated. Data were collected from book audits and observations. Unique to this study is the presentation of a new data analysis instrument, Harper’s Framework of Gender Stereotypes Contained in Children’s Literature. The majority of the books shared by educators in this study promoted traditional, binary and stereotypical viewpoints of gender and gender roles. These findings are concerning as the evidence shows that gender development is a critical part of the earliest and most important learning experience of young children and a requirement of educational policies rooted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In this paper we address the problem of automatically discovering optimal tactics in a combat scenario in which two opposing sides control a number of fighting units. Our approach is based on the evolution of behaviour trees, combined with simulation-based evaluation of solutions to drive the evolution. Our behaviour trees use a small set of possible actions that can be assigned to a combat unit, along with standard behaviour tree constructs and a novel approach for selecting which action from the tree is performed. A set of test scenarios was designed for which an optimal strategy is known from the literature. These scenarios were used to explore and evaluate our approach. The results indicate that it is possible, from the small set of possible unit actions, for a complex strategy to emerge through evolution. Combat units with different capabilities were observed exhibiting coordinated team work and exploiting aspects of the environment.

Words and stories have the power to resonate with people. Composite narratives can be constructed using multiple participant accounts, representing their experiences while also capturing the properties and categories of qualitative research findings. The ability of composite narratives to represent the multiple facets of theory construction through a singular narrative point-of-view is unique and provides a concise and credible method to present research findings. This paper explains how composite narratives can be constructed to present the research data that findings are built upon through an illustrative example of the process. The example of a composite narrative presented in this article is one of a larger set from a grounded theory study about a substantive group of Australian students’ experiences of their interactions in the classroom that communicate their teachers’ expectations of them. Narratives have the power to affect change in society by enhancing the transferability of research findings, presenting research findings with impact because they are engaging and memorable for readers. Qualitative researchers who are interested in composing composite narratives to reflect multiple participants’ different experiences, through interview data, will benefit from the justification and example of the technique, which provides a model for future research.

Children’s picture books contribute to children’s development of gender identity and can impact aspirations and expectations of roles in families and society. However, the world represented in children’s books reflects predominantly middle class, heterosexual, male heroes and characters. This paper reports on a cross-cultural study investigating gender representation in frequently read picture books across eight early learning centres in the United States and Australia. Forty-four educators working with 271 children participated. Data were collected from book audits and observations. Unique to this study is the presentation of a new data analysis instrument, Harper’s Framework of Gender Stereotypes Contained in Children’s Literature. The majority of the books shared by educators in this study promoted traditional, binary and stereotypical viewpoints of gender and gender roles. These findings are concerning as the evidence shows that gender development is a critical part of the earliest and most important learning experience of young children and a requirement of educational policies rooted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In this paper we address the problem of automatically discovering optimal tactics in a combat scenario in which two opposing sides control a number of fighting units. Our approach is based on the evolution of behaviour trees, combined with simulation-based evaluation of solutions to drive the evolution. Our behaviour trees use a small set of possible actions that can be assigned to a combat unit, along with standard behaviour tree constructs and a novel approach for selecting which action from the tree is performed. A set of test scenarios was designed for which an optimal strategy is known from the literature. These scenarios were used to explore and evaluate our approach. The results indicate that it is possible, from the small set of possible unit actions, for a complex strategy to emerge through evolution. Combat units with different capabilities were observed exhibiting coordinated team work and exploiting aspects of the environment.

Words and stories have the power to resonate with people. Composite narratives can be constructed using multiple participant accounts, representing their experiences while also capturing the properties and categories of qualitative research findings. The ability of composite narratives to represent the multiple facets of theory construction through a singular narrative point-of-view is unique and provides a concise and credible method to present research findings. This paper explains how composite narratives can be constructed to present the research data that findings are built upon through an illustrative example of the process. The example of a composite narrative presented in this article is one of a larger set from a grounded theory study about a substantive group of Australian students’ experiences of their interactions in the classroom that communicate their teachers’ expectations of them. Narratives have the power to affect change in society by enhancing the transferability of research findings, presenting research findings with impact because they are engaging and memorable for readers. Qualitative researchers who are interested in composing composite narratives to reflect multiple participants’ different experiences, through interview data, will benefit from the justification and example of the technique, which provides a model for future research.

Children’s picture books contribute to children’s development of gender identity and can impact aspirations and expectations of roles in families and society. However, the world represented in children’s books reflects predominantly middle class, heterosexual, male heroes and characters. This paper reports on a cross-cultural study investigating gender representation in frequently read picture books across eight early learning centres in the United States and Australia. Forty-four educators working with 271 children participated. Data were collected from book audits and observations. Unique to this study is the presentation of a new data analysis instrument, Harper’s Framework of Gender Stereotypes Contained in Children’s Literature. The majority of the books shared by educators in this study promoted traditional, binary and stereotypical viewpoints of gender and gender roles. These findings are concerning as the evidence shows that gender development is a critical part of the earliest and most important learning experience of young children and a requirement of educational policies rooted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Words and stories have the power to resonate with people. Composite narratives can be constructed using multiple participant accounts, representing their experiences while also capturing the properties and categories of qualitative research findings. The ability of composite narratives to represent the multiple facets of theory construction through a singular narrative point-of-view is unique and provides a concise and credible method to present research findings. This paper explains how composite narratives can be constructed to present the research data that findings are built upon through an illustrative example of the process. The example of a composite narrative presented in this article is one of a larger set from a grounded theory study about a substantive group of Australian students’ experiences of their interactions in the classroom that communicate their teachers’ expectations of them. Narratives have the power to affect change in society by enhancing the transferability of research findings, presenting research findings with impact because they are engaging and memorable for readers. Qualitative researchers who are interested in composing composite narratives to reflect multiple participants’ different experiences, through interview data, will benefit from the justification and example of the technique, which provides a model for future research.

In this paper we address the problem of automatically discovering optimal tactics in a combat scenario in which two opposing sides control a number of fighting units. Our approach is based on the evolution of behaviour trees, combined with simulation-based evaluation of solutions to drive the evolution. Our behaviour trees use a small set of possible actions that can be assigned to a combat unit, along with standard behaviour tree constructs and a novel approach for selecting which action from the tree is performed. A set of test scenarios was designed for which an optimal strategy is known from the literature. These scenarios were used to explore and evaluate our approach. The results indicate that it is possible, from the small set of possible unit actions, for a complex strategy to emerge through evolution. Combat units with different capabilities were observed exhibiting coordinated team work and exploiting aspects of the environment.

This paper reports on insights gained from incorporating dance improvisation into a broader early years environmental education ethnographic research project. Findings are reported from a two-day workshop where a dancer was invited to work with young children to attune to the weather through their bodies. In these workshops, the practice of dance improvisation was used as a deliberate interference to disrupt the disconnected and disembodied ways in which weather is often taught to young children. The paper argues that when children attune with weather through the embodied and relational practice of dance improvisation, this challenges the common practice of learning about weather as a separate phenomenon happening outside the classroom. Dance, as an intervention, helps to de-stabilise binary human-nature relations and reveals how children might come to understand their (human) selves as also weather bodies. New ways to understand humans’ entanglements with current weather events are also articulated, offering educators and researchers strategies for considering how the practice of dance improvisation might be integrated into early years education as an innovative approach to environmental learning.

Transportation systems are one of the leading sectors that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions that lead to enhance global warming. The electrification of vehicles is a promising solution to this widespread problem; however, integrating electric vehicles (EVs) into existing grid systems on a large scale creates several problems, both for consumers and for utilities. Accelerated aging of expensive grid assets, such as power transformers, is one of the primary issues that these utilities are facing. This problem can be addressed with battery energy storage systems (BESS), which acts as buffer between demand and supply. Accordingly, this paper proposes a novel strategy for optimal sizing of BESS based on thermal loading of transformers. This paper also investigates issues associated with high penetration levels of rooftop photovoltaics (PVs), determining the synergy between EV charging load and BESS. The proposed solution is treated as an optimization problem, in which a new time of use (ToU) tariff is utilized as a demand response signal to reduce the accelerated aging of transformers. Extensive simulation results show that the size of BESS can be considerably reduced based on the proposed methodology, thereby avoiding accelerated aging of transformers without the need to augment existing grids.

The journey towards transportation electrification started with small electric vehicles (i.e., electric cars), which have enjoyed an increasing level of global interest in recent years. Electrification of commercial vehicles (e.g., trucks) seems to be a natural progression of this journey, and many commercial vehicle manufacturers have shifted their focus on medium- and heavy-duty vehicle electrification over the last few years. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review and analysis of the existing works presented in the literature on commercial vehicle charging. The paper starts with a brief discussion on the significance of commercial vehicle electrification, especially heavy- and medium-duty vehicles. The paper then reviews two major charging strategies for commercial vehicles, namely the return-to-base model and the on route charging model. Research challenges related to the return-to-base model are then analysed in detail. Next, different methods to charge commercial vehicles on route during their driving cycles are summarized. The paper then analyzes the challenging issues related to charging commercial vehicles at public charging stations. Future works relevant to these challenges are highlighted. Finally, the possibility of accommodating vehicle to grid technology for commercial vehicles is discussed.

The paper voices Derbarl Yerrigan, a significant river in Western Australia, through three imperfect, non-innocent, and necessary river-child stories. These stories highlight the emergence of a feminist anti-colonial methodology that is attentive to settler response-abilities to Derbarl Yerrigan through situated, relational, active, and generative research methods. Voicing Derbarl Yerrigan influences the methodological practices used as part of an ongoing river-child walking inquiry that is concerned with generating climate change pedagogies in response to the global climate crises and calls for new ways of thinking and producing knowledge. In particular, the authors found that voicing as a methodology includes listening and being responsive to Derbarl Yerrigan's invitations, paying attention to pastspresentsfutures, and forming attachments through naming. By telling lively settler river-child stories, this paper shows how voicing Derbarl Yerrigan is vital to open new possibilities for education and has implications for settler-colonial contexts, where the focus on learning shifts from learning about the world to learning to become with multispecies river worlds.

Machine Learning is a relatively new and emergent field in video game development domain. Despite considerable relevance to the video game industry, there has yet to be a significant commercial product utilising machine learning in its design or function. Although previous research has shown significant potential in the use of video games in developing and testing Artificial Intelligence, the reverse i.e., using Artificial Intelligence to develop and test video games is far less common. This paper provides a survey of existing techniques and reviews current and future applications of machine learning in the field of video game development, both as a tool to streamline development and management processes and as an integrated part of video game end products themselves. This paper also explores a number of machine learning technologies not yet applied to use in the video game field and discusses their potential in future research and product development. Despite the relative newness and lack of development in this field, this paper finds that there is potential for machine learning to significantly improve and expedite production in the video game industry. Machine Learning can potentially be harnessed to develop new or improved products or automate development processes in conventional video game products.