Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Final Report From The Key Stage 3 Phase: Influences On Students' Development From Age 11-14, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Pam Sammons, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Brenda Taggart

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Since 1997 the Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education project (EPPE/EPPSE) has investigated the attainment and development of approximately 3,000 children from pre-school to the end of Key Stage 3 (KS3). This current phase of the research explored how different phases of education, especially secondary school, are related to students' attainment, social behaviour and dispositions at age 14 (Year 9 in secondary school) and the factors that predict developmental change. However, schools are not the only influence on students' development; families and communities matter too and these 'social' influences are carefully studied in EPPSE 3-14. The net effects of neighbourhood, …

Influences On Students' Attainment And Progress In Key Stage 3: Academic Outcomes In English, Maths And Science In Year 9, Pam Sammons, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Brenda Taggart, Katalin Toth, Diana Draghici, Rebecca Smees

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education Project (EPPSE) has investigated the academic and social-behavioural development of approximately 3,000 children from the age of 3+ years since 1997. This Research Brief focuses on the relationships between a range of individual student, family, home, pre-, primary and secondary school characteristics and students' academic attainment in English, maths and science in Year 9 at secondary school (age 14). It compares the latest findings with those found for students' attainment at younger ages. It also highlights the influences of secondary school on students' attainment in the core curriculum areas and studies their academic …

Selective Imitation In 6-Month-Olds: The Role Of The Social And Physical Context, Sabine Seehagen, Jane S. Herbert

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Six-month-old infants' learning of a new action from two different models (mother/stranger) was assessed in two settings (home/laboratory). In the laboratory, a significant number of infants learned the action from a stranger but not from their mother. In the infants' homes, this pattern was reversed.

Colorectal Cancer Screening: Why Immunochemical Fecal Occult Blood Tests May Be The Best Option, Kathy Flitcroft, Les Irwig, Stacy Carter, Glenn P. Salkeld, James Gillespie

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: There are many test options available for colorectal cancer screening. The choice of test relates to the objectives of those offering or considering screening.Discussion: While all screening programs aim to detect disease early in order to improve the length and/or quality of life for the individual, some organizations and individuals prefer screening tests that offer the opportunity for cancer prevention. Others favor maximizing participation or the opportunity for shared decision-making, including discussion of information on test quality and availability. We propose three additional objectives for screening: minimizing harms, optimizing economic efficiency and maximizing equity of access to screening. …

Greener Neighbourhoods, Healthier Lives? Evidence From Britain, Thomas E. Astell-Burt

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at Be Active 2012, 31 October-3 November 2012, Sydney, Australia

Routine Outcome Monitoring And Feedback On Physical Or Mental Health Status: Evidence And Theory, Ingrid V. Carlier, Denise Meuldijk, Irene M. Van Vliet, Esther M. Van Fenema, Nic J. Van Der Wee, Frans G. Zitman

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objectives: Routine Outcome Monitoring (ROM) is an important quality tool for measuring outcome of treatment in health care. The objective of this article is to summarize the evidence base that supports the provision of feedback on ROM results to (mental) health care professionals and patients. Also, some relevant theoretical aspects are considered. Methods: Literature study (Pubmed, Medline, PsychINFO, Embase Psychiatry, 1975-2009) concerning randomized controlled trials (RTC's) of ROM and feedback on physical or mental health status of patients of all ages. Main search terms were routine outcome monitoring/measurement, feedback, health status measurement, patient reported outcome measures. Results: Included were 52 …

Geographies Of Urban Politics: Pathways, Intersections, Interventions, Pauline M. Mcguirk

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper deals with urban political geographies and, most particularly, with political economy perspectives on urban politics. It offers an account that narrates what I see as influential pathways and intersections, theoretical debates, and methodological developments that have shaped contemporary urban political geographies in this vein since the 1970s, including: the 'new urban politics', intersections with postmodernism, and postcolonialism; urban neoliberalism and the contingency of urban politics; and, most recently, poststructural political economy and the notion of assemblage. This leads me to trace the implications of the shift in understanding from urban political geography to geographies of urban politics, and …

Empirische Evidence Voor De Effectiviteit Van Routine Outcome Monitoring; Een Literatuuronderzoek, Ingrid V. Carlier, Denise Meuldijk, Irene M. Van Vliet, Esther M. Van Fenema, Nic J. Van Der Wee, Frans G. Zitman

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

achtergrond Routine outcome monitoring (ROM) is een belangrijk kwaliteitsinstrument om effecten van behandeling zichtbaar te maken en wordt landelijk geïmplementeerd in de Nederlandse ggz. doel Evalueren van de wetenschappelijke stand van zaken betreffende de effectiviteit van ROM voor diagnostiek, behandeling en andere uitkomsten. methode Literatuuronderzoek in PubMed, Medline, Psycinfo en Embase Psychiatry (1975-2009) naar gerandomiseerde gecontroleerde trials (rct's) van ROM bij alle leeftijdsgroepen patiënten (algemeen en ggz). De voornaamste zoektermen waren 'routine outcome monitoring' c.q. 'routine outcome measurement'. resultaten Er werden 52 rct's geïncludeerd betreffende ROM bij volwassen patiënten. Hiervan waren 45 rct's gericht op psychische klachten, zij het niet …

Cities Of Australia And The Pacific Islands, Robyn Dowling, Pauline M. Mcguirk

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

1. Cities in this region may be understood as forming two groups - those of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand and those of the Pacific Islands - each with distinct characteristics. 2. All countries in this region are dominated by primate cities, but in the case of Australia primate cities are the capitals of states in the federal union. 3. Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand exhibit many of the urban characteristics of other developed countries, such as the United States. 4. The urban character of Pacific Island cities is similar to that of less developed countries though they are smaller and have …

Agricultural Change, Increasing Salinisation And Migration In The Mekong Delta: Insights For Potential Future Climate Change Impacts?, Olivia V. Dun

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This chapter focuses on the situation of some households from Nha Phan hamlet in Cai Nuoc District that have become more financially vulnerable as a result of the agricultural and environmental shift and thus have turned to migration as a means of coping. It reveals the complex pathways that link migration choices with changing environmental conditions. It explores how those impacts and choices are linked to human security and how the lessons learned from this study can shed light on climate change-induced migration. The chapter begins with a brief overview of sea-level rise projection for the Vietnamese portion of the …

Resident Third Party Objections And Appeals Against Planning Applications: Implications For Higher Density And Social Housing, Nicole T. Cook, Elizabeth J. Taylor, Joe Hurley, Val Colic-Peisker

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This report is the first output of a research project that aims to examine two models of public engagement in planning approval processes - Third Party Objection and Appeal Rights (TPOAR) and Fast tracked planning - to see how they impact on housing supply, resident perceptions, and realisation of planning goals.

Change In Maternity Provision In Ireland: "Elephants On The Move", Patricia Kennedy

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In an attempt to understand how change can occur in health services this article focuses on two recent developments in Ireland which came about as a result of an unexpected event and a consequent shift in policy which as Hinrichs (2001) and Castles (2010) suggest can be slow to move. Drawing on path dependency theory this article argues that maternity policies in Ireland were "locked in" between 1951 and 2001 in the wake of the Mother and Child controversy, an infamous milestone which led policy to develop along a very specific path and institutionalised the medical model of childbirth which …

Can Money Prevent The Spread Of Hiv? A Review Of Cash Payments For Hiv Prevention, Audrey Pettifor, Catherine L. Mac Phail, Nadia Nguyen, Molly Rosenberg

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Cash payments to improve health outcomes have been used for many years; however, their use for HIV prevention is new and the impact not yet well understood. We provide a brief background on the rationale behind using cash to improve health outcomes, review current studies completed or underway using cash for prevention of sexual transmission of HIV, and outline some key considerations on the use of cash payments to prevent HIV infections. We searched the literature for studies that implemented cash transfer programs and measured HIV or HIV-related outcomes. We identified 16 studies meeting our criteria; 10 are completed. The …

What Checkers Actually Check: An Eye Tracking Study Of Inhibitory Control And Working Memory, Ben Harkin, Sebastien R. Miellet, Klaus Kessler

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: Not only is compulsive checking the most common symptom in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) with an estimated prevalence of 50-80% in patients, but approximately ~15% of the general population reveal subclinical checking tendencies that impact negatively on their performance in daily activities. Therefore, it is critical to understand how checking affects attention and memory in clinical as well as subclinical checkers. Eye fixations are commonly used as indicators for the distribution of attention but research in OCD has revealed mixed results at best. Methodology/Principal Finding: Here we report atypical eye movement patterns in subclinical checkers during an ecologically valid …

When East Meets West: Gaze-Contingent Blindspots Abolish Cultural Diversity In Eye Movements For Faces, Sebastien R. Miellet, Lingnan He, Xinyue Zhou, Junpeng Lao, Roberto Caldara

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Culture impacts on how people sample visual information for face processing. Westerners deploy fixations towards the eyes and the mouth to achieve face recognition. In contrast, Easterners reach equal performance by deploying more central fixations, suggesting an effective extrafoveal information use. However, this hypothesis has not been yet directly investigated, i.e. by providing only extrafoveal information to both groups of observers. We used a parametric gaze-contingent technique dynamically masking central vision - the Blindspot - with Western and Eastern observers during face recognition. Westerners shifted progressively towards the typical Eastern central fixation pattern with larger Blindspots, whereas Easterners were insensitive …

Participant Experiences From Chronic Administration Of A Multivitamin Versus Placebo On Subjective Health And Wellbeing: A Double-Blind Qualitative Analysis Of A Randomised Controlled Trial, Jerome Sarris, Katherine H M Cox, David A. Camfield, Andrew Scholey, Con Stough, Erin Fogg, Marni Kras, David J. White, Avni Sali, Andrew Pipingas

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background While many randomised controlled trials have been conducted on multivitamins, to our knowledge no qualitative research exploring the subjective experience of taking a multivitamin during a clinical trial has been reported. Methods Semi-structured and open-ended written questions were incorporated into a 16-week double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, parallel groups trial of once-daily multivitamin administration. At the final study visit (week 16), three open-ended questions were posed to elucidate any positive, negative or unusual experiences from taking either the multivitamin or matched placebo. Qualitative thematic analysis was undertaken by researchers who were blind as to treatment condition of participants, and triangulation (independent …

The Acute Impact Of High Anthocyanin Cherry Juice On Cognition And Blood Pressure In Young People, Older People And Dementia Patients, K Caldwell, K E. Charlton, S Roodenrys

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Nutrition Society of Australia, 27-30 November 2012, Wollongong, Australia

What's On The Menu For The 75+ Health Assessment?: An Opportunity For Nutrition Screening Of Older Patients In General Practice, A H. Hamirudin, K E. Charlton, K L. Walton, A Bonney, J. Potter, Marianna Milosavljevic, G Albert, A Hodgkins, A Dalley

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Nutrition Society of Australia, 27-30 November 2012, Wollongong, Australia

Assessing Depression In Older Adults In The Emergency Department: Reliability Of The 5-Item Geriatric Depression Scale, M Bissett, A Cusick

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the IFA 11th Global Conference on Ageing, 28 May-1 June 2012, Prague, Czech Republic

Does Targetted Assessment Of Function Influence Emergency Department Re-Poresentation In Older Adults: An Australian Insight, M Bissett, A Cusick

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the IFA 11th Global Conference on Ageing, 28 May-1 June 2012, Prague, Czech Republic

Advertising, Branding, And Pediatric Nutrition, Bridget Kelly

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The factors contributing to overweight and obesity are multifaceted and include a combination of genetic, sociological, and environmental influences. Children's exposure to food marketing is recognized as one such factor contributing to the obesity-promoting environment.

Progressing Physical Geography, Noel Castree

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Now and then certain commentators - usually established ones - venture opinion on the current health and prospects for physical geography (either in its own right, in relation to human geography, or relative to some other field of research). In this editorial I want to consider the way that normative arguments about the future of the field are phrased, seen within wider discussions about geography as a whole (its present challenges and future goals). The education of students, I suggest, has been marginalized in published debate despite providing perhaps the most viable of several possible means by which physical geography …

The Return Of Nature?, Noel Castree

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Published under the auspices of the journal Theory, Culture & Society, Inhuman Nature is one of the most interesting monographs I have encountered in many years. The questions it raises and the answers it provides are not only relevant to all of human geography's sub-fields (including cultural geography) but to physical geography's component branches as well. This said, Nigel Clark's academic training lies outside geography, and his book's back-cover endorsements come from two sociologists (Myra Hird and Adrian Franklin). But it's not too hard to make direct connections between his plenary analysis of Anglophone social science, the humanities and the …

Editors' Introduction: Human Geography, Derek Gregory, Noel Castree

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

When we were invited by Sage to identify published work in human geography that represents what is best and most distinctive about the field it seemed an impossible task (it still does) because there is such a rich volume of material to draw from. We decided to focus on Englishlanguage and to a lesser extent other European contributions, although we are acutely aware of the irony, even the imperialism, of limiting a field like human geography to knowledges rooted in only a fraction of the world. We discuss below the dangers of delimiting Geography as a European or Euro-American science, …

Early Start: Grand Designs For Learning, Ian Brown, Pauline Lysaght

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Paper presented at the London International Conference on Education, 19-22 November 2012, London, UK

Well-designed environments that stimulate intellectual curiosity, encourage social interaction and promote a sense of community, support effective learning across the education spectrum. This paper presents a case study of a multi-functional facility situated at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia that meets this design brief. 'Early Start' will transform teaching, research and community engagement in the higher education sector whilst offering unique learning opportunities to children, young people and their families. Importantly, it also has the potential for addressing social, educational and economic …

Strange Ecology, Noel Castree

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Book review: STRANGE ECOLOGY Timothy Morton, The Ecological Thought, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 2010; 160pp, £29.95 hardcover.

Now and again a book is written that messes with your head. Timothy Morton, Professor of Literature and Environment at the University of California (Davis), has fast made a name for himself as an out-of-the-box thinker.1 His Ecology without nature (2007) challenged readers to forget 'nature' - not, you understand, in the name of a brave new biotechnologised world in which capital entirely swallows-up the natural, but for another cause. The book attracted attention well beyond Morton's disciplinary home-base. In this 'prequel', …

A Framework For Policy Advocacy, Sheldon Gen, Amy Conley Wright

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The practice of policy advocacy has outpaced its theoretical development. Yet the importance of a theoretical grounding for advocacy has increased as advocacy organizations demand measures of efficacy, and theories of policy development need to account for advocates' contributions to the process. This article begins to address these issues by developing a conceptual framework of policy advocacy inputs, activities, and outcomes. Logic models of practitioners' advocacy programs were first synthesized into a general model. Then academic theories from social sciences and especially policy studies were reviewed and applied to hypothesize links between advocacy inputs and activities, and between activities and …

We Can’T Compete On Cheap And Nasty; Let’S Be A Country That Makes High-Quality, Lasting Things, Christopher Gibson

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

WHAT IS AUSTRALIA FOR? Australia is no longer small, remote or isolated. It’s time to ask What Is Australia For?, and to acknowledge the wealth of resources we have beyond mining. Over the next two weeks The Conversation, in conjunction with Griffith REVIEW, is publishing a series of provocations. Our authors are asking the big questions to encourage a robust national discussion about a new Australian identity that reflects our national, regional and global roles.

Does The Shape Of Countries Shape Their Destiny?, Christopher Gibson, Natascha Klocker

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Might the destiny of nations be controlled by the underlying shape of their geography? This is the subject of a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors – political scientists David Laitin, Joachim Moortgat and Amanda Robinson – calculated the area, size and longitude-to-latitude ratio of every country on Earth.

The Elephant In The Chat Room: Will International Students Stay At Home?, Thomas Birtchnell

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: We continue our series on the rise of online and blended learning and how free online courses are set to transform the higher education sector. Today, Wollongong University’s Thomas Birtchnell looks at what online education will mean for the international student market.