Edith Cowan University

About: Edith Cowan University is a education organization based out in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 4040 authors who have published 13529 publications receiving 339582 citations. The organization is also known as: Edith Cowan & ECU.

Longer Follow-Up Confirms Recurrence-Free Survival Benefit of Adjuvant Pembrolizumab in High-Risk Stage III Melanoma: Updated Results From the EORTC 1325-MG/KEYNOTE-054 Trial.

Abstract: PURPOSEWe conducted the phase III double-blind European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 1325/KEYNOTE-054 trial to evaluate pembrolizumab versus placebo in patients with re...

Structured elicitation of expert judgments for threatened species assessment: a case study on a continental scale using email

Abstract: Summary 1. Expert knowledge is used routinely to inform listing decisions under the IUCN Red List criteria. Differences in opinion arise between experts in the presence of epistemic uncertainty, as a result of different interpretations of incomplete information and differences in individual beliefs, values and experiences. Structured expert elicitation aims to anticipate and account for such differences to increase the accuracy of final estimates. 2. A diverse panel of 16 experts independently evaluated up to 125 parameters per taxon to assess the IUCN Red List category of extinction risk for nine Australian bird taxa. Each panellist was provided with the same baseline data. Additional judgments and advice were sought from taxon specialists outside the panel. One question set elicited lowest and highest plausible estimates, best estimates and probabilities that the true values were contained within the upper and lower bounds. A second question set elicited yes ⁄ no answers and a degree of credibility in the answer provided. 3. Once initial estimates were obtained, all panellists were shown each others’ values. They discussed differences and reassessed their original values. Most communication was carried out by email. 4. The process took nearly 6 months overall to complete, and required an average of 1 h and up to 13 h per taxon for a panellist to complete the initial assessment. 5. Panellists were mostly in agreement with one another about IUCN categorisations for each taxon. Where they differed, there was some evidence of convergence in the second round of assessments, although there was persistent non-overlap for about 2% of estimates. The method exposed evidence of common subjective biases including overconfidence, anchoring to available data, definitional ambiguity and the conceptual difficulty of estimating percentages rather than natural numbers. 6. This study demonstrates the value of structured elicitation techniques to identify and to reduce potential sources of bias and error among experts. The formal nature of the process meant that the consensus position reached carried greater weight in subsequent deliberations on status. The structured process is worthwhile for high profile or contentious taxa, but may be too time intensive for less divisive cases.

Struggling to mother: a consequence of inhibitive nursing interactions in the neonatal nursery.

Abstract: This paper reports on one aspect of a grounded theory study of women's experiences of mothering in the nursery. Over 60 hours of interview data with 28 Australian women were analyzed. The analysis revealed that mothering in the nursery was a three-way interaction. "Struggling to mother" was the label given to the major category that represented how women responded to unsatisfactory nursing encounters. The findings illuminate how inhibitive nursing interactions relegate women to the periphery of care and engender an array of negative emotional responses that leave women feeling inconsequential to the welfare of their infant. Ultimately this has implications for how women take up their role as mothers in the nursery and for their sense of confidence, competence, and connection with their infant.

Marine macrophytes directly enhance abundances of sandy beach fauna through provision of food and habitat

Abstract: Beach-cast wrack is a prominent feature of beaches of south-western Australia. We examined the fauna of these beaches to explore the generalisation [Polis, G.A., Hurd, S.D., 1995. Extraordinarily high spider densities on islands: flow of energy from the marine to terrestrial food webs and the absence of predation. Ecology 92, 4382–4386] that beach-cast wrack from highly productive marine ecosystems subsidises low productivity of terrestrial ecosystems, to establish whether this generalisation is relevant to oligotrophic marine systems. We sampled three beaches with high and three beaches with low volumes of beach-cast wrack to determine if: (1) the presence of wrack influences the abundance of macroinvertebrates; (2) wrack acts as a food source for beach macroinvertebrates; and (3) the influence of wrack varies between zones above the high water mark. We measured wrack volume and composition, sediment characteristics, the abundance of different epibenthic and infaunal macroinvertebrates taxa, and δ 13 C and δ 15 N of macrophytes and macroinvertebrates. The mean volume of wrack on high-wrack beaches was 0.27–1.07 m 3 wrack m −2 compared to 0.00–0.09 m 3 wrack m −2 on low-wrack beaches. There were no significant differences in sediment grain size, moisture content or loss on ignition between the two types of beaches or zones. Epibenthic fauna and infauna were consistently abundant on high-wrack beaches (20–291 and 0.5–3.5 individuals 0.64 m −2 , respectively), but either absent or extremely rare in low-wrack beaches (0–3 and 0–0.1 individuals 0.64 m −2 , respectively). Within high-wrack beaches, there were no significant differences in the abundance of epifauna or infauna among beaches or between zones. The δ 13 C values of macroinvertebrates at all sites were most similar to red and brown algae, with the exception of beetles from two beaches, which were closest to seagrasses. Mixing model (Isosource) results for mesograzing amphipods and dipteran flies suggested carbon was assimilated mostly from the seagrass Posidonia spp., the dune grass Spinifex longifolia and red algae for amphipods and from brown algae, red algae and dune vegetation for dipteran flies. We conclude that the presence of marine-derived wrack plays a major role in subsidising production of macroinvertebrates on beaches of south-western Australia. We suggest that marine subsidies can play a role in supporting terrestrial production, even in oligotrophic marine environments.

A Learner-Centred Approach to Developing Team Skills through Web-Based Learning and Assessment.

Abstract: In traditional face-to-face classrooms, collaborative learning has been endorsed as an effective pedagogy that fosters skills of analysis, communication and higher order thinking. Increasingly, as online learning environments for tertiary learners make use of course support systems, there is greater recognition of the potential of communications technologies to foster dialogue, networking and team skills among learners. Such skills are now among the recognised core attributes that graduates are expected to develop. In face-toface classroom students learn the skills of collaboration and teamwork by engaging in tasks defined and supervised by a teacher. In online environments teacher presence is often limited to task definition, management and feedback functions. Team skills and collaboration therefore need to be supported though different pedagogies and processes such as establishing a climate of trust and openness, communication protocols, resolution of conflict and group processes that provide sanctions and support. In this paper we describe an innovative approach to building the skills of decision-making and conflict resolution, leadership and clarity in goal setting and communication. A case study of tertiary learners illustrates how the essential aspects of task definition, resources to support group learning and integrated online assessment foster team skills.