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Despite adolescent girls' superior school achievement and high career aspirations, fewer women than men achieve career eminence. Understanding early influences on the development of gifted girls' career-related values and aspirations may help to explain this discrepancy in career outcomes. This article reports findings from a qualitative, cross-sectional study of influences on career development for 18 girls in eighth, 10th, and 12th grades in selective entry high school programs in three Australian schools. Data from two rounds of interviews were analyzed thematically in relation to the career development theories of Gottfredson and Savickas. Findings highlighted the interrelated influence on career values, goals, and choices of (a) perceived personal traits, strengths, and interests, and (b) relationships and experiences grounded in home, school, and community contexts. Key findings are discussed for research and educational practice related to supporting career development in gifted girls.

Courageous and innovative individuals are needed urgently to work on the wicked problems and challenges of our modern world. This paper explores a critical solutions source, namely the education of transformationally gifted adolescent girls who "seek positively to change the world at some level -- to make the world a better place" (Sternberg, 2020, p. 30). Altruism is the central drive of transformational giftedness. Recent research indicates that gifted adolescent girls have the dispositions, expertise, and abiding sense of hope-"fullness" needed to harness their core altruistic career-related values and high abilities to significantly impact the common good (Napier, 2020). Napier and Sternberg argue that transformational giftedness should be identified and nurtured in educational environments to benefit gifted adolescent girls' self-actualisation and society at large. Recommendations are made for educational policy and practice to identify and nurture transformationally oriented gifted adolescent girls' career trajectories.

Evidence suggests that there are significant difficulties associated with the attraction and retention of appropriately qualified, high quality teachers and educational leaders (e.g., principals) for rural, regional and remote locations in Australia. Further, educational leadership in these areas carries complex demands, and educational leaders are often under prepared for the work and demands expected of them. Why then, do educational leaders apply for R3 positions? Herein, we use qualitative reports from 426 school leaders employed in rural Australia for an average length of 10.6 years (SD = 7.3 years) and frequency data to identify the most common reasons and motivations for applying to work as an educational leader in a R3 context. Given the leaders' length of R3 employment, we argue that examining their reasons and motivations for applying can assist in understanding how to enhance the recruitment of educational leaders for rural, regional and remote areas. Further, by examining reasons and motivations, policy makers and administrators may benefit from the findings of this research about why educational leaders choose to work in country areas.

The demands placed upon employees in their roles have long been thought to be important in predicting employee well-being and in reducing the risk of anxiety and depression, increasing cardiovascular functioning and reducing employee burnout. The present study sought to examine the job demands of rural, regional and remote educational leaders. Demand ratings were generally lower for regional areas than rural areas and lower for rural areas than remote areas. Higher qualifications and experience were associated with lower demand ratings. Participants in desired areas rated themselves under lower demand than participants in undesired areas and participants who were undecided about the desirability of their locations. These findings have important implications for the selection, preparation and support of leaders in non-metropolitan contexts.

We examined whether the presence of higher education facilities made regional towns more attractive as potential residences. Metropolitan undergraduate students reported that they were more willing to live in a regional town with (vs. without) a university. Importantly, this applied regardless of whether they intended to work or study at the university. Perceived quality of life--defined as a combination of resident sociability and happiness, and the estimated amount of activities within the town--mediated the effect of university presence on residency likelihood ratings, suggesting that the presence of a university prompted participants to infer a higher quality of life for town residents. These results have implications for policy to counteract out-migration from regional areas, which threatens food security.

The journal "Education in Rural Australia" (now the "Australian and International Journal of Rural Education") has been in existence since 1991. During the Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) period, the journal maintained a B ranking, indicating that it was a quality journal within a specialised field. With the abolishment of the ERA journal rankings, it is important to find other methods to measure the journal's quality. We used Google Scholar to determine the number of citations each paper in the journal received. Using these citations, we calculated an average citation index across four two-year periods to determine an index of journal use, which can be compared to conventional measures, such as Thomson-Reuters' Impact Factor™. Specifically, the number of citations the journal received in indexed peer-reviewed journals in a given year to articles it published in the two years prior was divided by the total number of articles published in the two years prior the year for the index calculation. Using this formula, we determined the average citation index of "Education in Rural Australia" to be 0.65 in 2011. This result indicates that "Education in Rural Australia's" mean citations have increased considerably in the last years, up from average citation indices of 0.09 in 2010 and 0.4 in 2009. The journal's growing average citation index is a reflection of the journal's improving quality, and the average citation index may be used to improve the journal's marketing and (with continued calculation) track the success of editorial policy changes and attempted market expansions (e.g., the growing international focus of the journal). The journal's current citation practices are examined, and methods for increasing the average citation indices are discussed. It is suggested that an online-first publication option be adopted by the journal in order to increase the speed of dissemination (and hence citation), and the breadth of the journal's readership.

The Bradley report (2008) recommended that there be an increase in the percentage of young Australian's completing a university degree, with a subsequent target set by the Australian Federal Government to 40% of 25-34 years olds holding a first degree by 2025. As students who transition to university following completion of high school in medium-high social economic status urban areas is already often high (greater than 90% in some cases), one obvious target for any increase is in peri-rural (distance from metropolitan areas approaching 80 km) and rural areas (distance from metropolitan areas greater than 80 km in accordance with Jones, 2000). In 2010, a youth mentoring project was initiated targeting year nine students in a peri-rural area school. The project sought to increase the interest of these students in attending university post high school graduation. The present paper presents the preliminary data for 18 students in the first round of the mentoring project. Participants were asked to rate their estimated percentage chance they would attend university following school completion, as well as to estimate how much contact they had with university mentors across several questionnaire items. Mentor contact items were averaged to give an overall measure of mentor contact. Measures of mentor contact were significantly correlated with participants estimates of the percentage chance they would attend university, r = 0.59, p less than 0.01, r[squared] = 0.35 as well as their self identification with university students as an "in-group", r = 0.75, p less than 0.01, r[squared] = 0.56. Further, percentage chance participants would attend university was significantly correlated with students' self identification with university students as an "in-group", r = 0.60, p less than 0.01, r[squared] = 0.36. One potential pathway for this effect was that contact with mentors increased students "in-group" identification with university students, which in turn increased their estimated chance of going to university. Concordant with this prediction, regression analysis indicated that the unique effect of mentor contact was reduced to non-significance when the effect of in-group identification was controlled for, R[squared] change = 0.05. Similar findings were observed for participants' ratings of how much they liked university. The present results imply that if rural students can make meaningful contact among university students through pilot programs such as the present one, then they are more likely to consider university as a viable option for themselves at high school completion. Follow up data will be able to confirm whether these student perceptions link with post graduation behaviour. Results are discussed with regard to their implications about higher education pathways in the university and vocational education sectors in rural Australia. (Contains 4 figures.)

Historically, small schools have played a very important role in the provision of schooling in Australia. Numerically, using an enrollment of 200 or less, small schools represent approximately 45% of the schools in Australia. Population growth and the consequences of this, in particular for food production, water and energy, mean that the significance of small schools is likely to increase into the future, because many small schools are in rural areas where the "basics for life" are produced, managed or extracted. This in turn has implications for how small schools are valued and resourced by governments and policy-makers. Research undertaken in 2010 is used to identify potential major improvement in the preparation and support of leaders for small schools, given the importance of leadership to the effectiveness and impact of schooling.

The present study investigated rural residents' perceived importance of university presence in rural, regional and remote Australia. The present data indicate that the presence of university in rural areas is perceived as highly important by both rural and urban citizens. Results indicate that rural residents perceive that there is a need for universities in rural areas, particularly so that rural youth can further their education while remaining in country Australia. The benefits for greater university presence in rural areas extend to increased community capital, greater retention of youth in rural areas, and greater equity between rural and urban spaces. (Contains 1 table.)

One of the common characteristics of rural communities globally, and especially those in the developed countries of the world, is the exodus of youth in search of "greener pastures." While this exodus of youth has been happening for centuries and has often been spurred along by fundamental changes in the way societies organise themselves, such as occurred during the Industrial Revolution, it is now one of the most challenging issues confronting rural communities. This is because "youth are fundamentally future-oriented and, as such, are a critical human resource for rebuilding and re-energising rural contexts." This article explores "learning for choice" as a contribution towards addressing the decline of youth in rural areas and in doing so commences with a section on rurality to illustrate some of the diversity of understandings about the concept and to provide locational and contextual dimensions for the article. The author then introduces the concepts of "strong choice" and "weak choice" and amplifies Bernstein's (1971) message system theory about how schools realise their purposes. This is followed by some theoretical framing based on Corbett's (2007a) research in a fishing community in Nova Scotia. The final section of the article attempts to bring together the problem and the theorising using a modified case study to show how learning for choice constitutes a way of helping retain youth in rural areas. (Contains 1 figure.)

Rural education and its policy agenda has for many decades primarily focussed upon responding to decline to "keep things going; keep things open". While this has been understandable and much has been achieved, it is now opportune--essential?--that rural education and its leaders embrace a new challenge, sustainability, and use it to pursue new policy fronts. The 25th anniversary of the Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia is a timely occasion to consider this. Five issues critical to national sustainability, and a program to engage city and urban youth in living and learning in rural communities, are presented to stimulate new policy and operational possibilities for rural education under the umbrella of sustainability.

Abstract: Y-chromosome specific STR profiling is increasingly used in forensic casework. However, the strong geographic clustering of Y haplogroups can lead to large differences in Y-STR haplotype frequencies between different ethnicities, which may have an impact on database composition in admixed populations. Aboriginal people have inhabited Australia for over 40,000 years and until ∼300 years ago they lived in almost complete isolation. Since the late 18th century Australia has experienced massive immigration, mainly from Europe, although in recent times from more widespread origins. This colonisation resulted in highly asymmetrical admixture between the immigrants and the indigenes. A State jurisdiction within Australia has created an Aboriginal Y-STR database in which assignment of ethnicity was by self-declaration. This criterion means that some males who identify culturally as members of a particular ethnic group may have a Y haplogroup characteristic of another ethnic group, as a result of admixture in their paternal line. As this may be frequent in Australia, an examination of the extent of genetic admixture within the database was performed. A Y haplogroup predictor program was first used to identify Y haplotypes that could be assigned to a European haplogroup. Of the 757 males (589 unique haplotypes), 445 (58.8%) were identified as European (354 haplotypes). The 312 non-assigned males (235 haplotypes) were then typed, in a hierarchical fashion, with a Y-SNP panel that detected the major Y haplogroups, C–S, as well as the Aboriginal subgroup of C, C4. Among these 96 males were found to have non-Aboriginal haplogroups. In total, ∼70% of Y chromosomes in the Aboriginal database could be classed as non-indigenous, with only 169 (129 unique haplotypes) or 22% of the total being associated with haplogroups denoting Aboriginal ancestry, C4 and K* or more correctly K(xL,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S). The relative frequencies of these indigenous haplogroups in South Australia (S.A.) were significantly different to those seen in samples from the Northern Territory and Western Australia. In S.A., K* (∼60%) has a much higher frequency than C4 (∼40%), and the subgroup of C4, C4(DYS390.1del), comprised only 17%. Clearly admixture in the paternal line is at high levels among males who identify themselves as Australian Aboriginals and this knowledge may have implications for the compilation and use of Y-STR databases in frequency estimates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: With increasing focus on the environmental impacts of alternative land uses and materials, there is a growing need to produce accurate and verifiable life cycle inventories for forestry. A cradle-to-gate inventory was produced for wood from softwood plantations and hardwood native forests across Australia, covering all operations involved in forest establishment, management and harvesting and including transportation of logs and chips to processing facilities. The inventory was primarily based on data provided by forest growers, managers and contractors across seven case study regions. The SimaPro model was used to combine the different operations, and to account for upstream processes associated with the production of fuel and materials used. Forest products included high- and low-grade sawlogs, pulplogs, woodchips and other logs. Inputs were expressed in terms of m3 product and were allocated to products on an economic basis. Key inputs for wood from softwood plantations included land (0.06ham−3), water (0.12MLm−3), diesel (172MJm−3) and fertiliser (0.3kgNm−3, 0.2kgPm−3, 0.06kgKm−3). Key inputs for wood from native forests included land (0.28ham−3), water (0.38MLm−3) and diesel (355MJm−3). The largest contributors to total energy use were log haulage (46% for softwood and 45% for hardwood) and harvesting and chipping (29% for softwood and 44% for hardwood). However, the total amount of energy used in the forestry production process (293MJm−3 for plantation softwood and 527MJm−3 for native hardwood) was very small relative to the net energy content of the logs harvested, representing just 4% of that in an average plantation softwood log and 6% of that in an average native hardwood log. Thus, forest products have low embodied energy and have strong potential for greenhouse gas mitigation when used for bioenergy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a position statement from the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand on the use of home oxygen therapy in infants with chronic neonatal lung disease (CNLD). The features of CNLD are described, as well as its pathophysiology. Home oxygen therapy is intended to prevent the effects of chronic hypoxaemia and improved oxygenation may lead in improved lung growth and repair. The duration of supplemental oxygen therapy and delivery of supplemental oxygen are also discussed.

Abstract: Temporal change in stem volume, basal area, diameter, and height are reported for stands of Pinus radiata growing near Canberra, ACT, Australia between the ages of 10 and 29 years. The stands were subjected to either a single fertilization (F) at age 10 years, irrigation (I), irrigation after a single fertilization at age 10 years (IF), irrigation with continuous liquid fertilization (IL), or no treatment (Control (C)). At age 15 years all the stands were thinned. At the same time, irrigation ceased in a duplicate IF stand, and irrigation and liquid fertilization ceased in a duplicate IL stand. Stem growth responded markedly to irrigation, with a strong interactive effect when combined with N fertilization. Over a 19 year treatment period (ages 10–29 years) the percentage gross underbark volume responses, relative to the control which had an annual growth rate of 19.3m3 ha−1 year−1, were F (98%), I (132%), IF (184%), and IL (229%). Standing stem volumes (m3 ha−1) at the end of the study were C (340), F (328), I (438), IF (624), and IL (776). The IF stand continued to grow at rates considerably greater than the I or F for the entire experiment, indicating efficient N cycling with increased water supply over a period of nearly 20 years. In non-irrigated stands, added N only increased growth during wet periods, and the response declined to be similar to the control within 5–8 years. Irrigation increased growth in the larger trees proportionally more than the smaller trees, resulting in an increased diameter distribution compared with the non-irrigated stands. Cessation of irrigation in combination with thinning after 5 years of treatment immediately reduced annual basal area growth to levels similar to the control for at least 2 years, but did not lead to tree mortality. Thinning reduced stand basal area increment for 2–3 years in treatments without adequate N supply, even if they were irrigated. The study demonstrates the importance of monitoring long-term growth to understand the changing interactions between water and N availability. For example, initial responses to irrigation only were markedly attenuated over time because of increasing N limitations, while irrigated and fertilized stands showed little or no change in the response pattern. Understanding the temporal change in water–N interactions has implications for modelling long-term forest growth, and forest management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]