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Young children read wordless books as an important early literacy learning activity. This study explores oral narrative construction and image reading of a wordless book by six K-2 children. Through a cross-case analysis, the results indicate growth of coherence and cohesion building in the verbal narratives across grade levels, as well as a complexity of image reading as children make connections to their lifeworlds and actively use their social imaginations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a brief overview of ethical issues in an Australian context catalyzed by the current pandemic, this article focuses on data protection in the light of recent debates about COVID-19 data tracking in Australia and globally. This article looks at the issue of trust as a fundamental principle of effective and ethical COVID-safe measures undertaken by the government. Key to ensuring such trust are Habermasian participatory dialogs, which assume trust as a condition of authentic illocution, and an emphasis on short-term data capture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores modern versions of the campus or academic novel genre. Topics discussed are tendency of the genre toward a mocking pseudo-intellectualism, fascination of the genre with power in contemporary society, attempt of the campus novel to promote a belief in the value of culture and liberal ideas, and violence and danger depicted in campus novels for intellectual stimulation such as harassment and assault, rape fraternity and lack of campus egalitarianism.

Small island developing States, such as those in the Pacific, are often prone to multiple hazards that have potential to result in disaster and / or restrict development. Hazard data can be limited in resolution or omitted in or near SIDS' coasts, but a growing and improved range of datasets are becoming available. Through an analysis of approximately 100 policy documents on hazards and disaster risk management in Pacific island nations, we found: limited information on hazards and how they manifest to disasters at local levels, thus not fully connecting drivers and subsequent risk; at times a non-specific multi-hazard approach prompting the need to address more specific hazards; and restricted temporal and spatial scales of analysis that potentially limit continuity of actions where mitigation methods evolve. These limitations suggest that appropriate and timely high resolution hazard data is needed from the top-down to underpin the design and development of local disaster risk management plans, simultaneous to local, bottom-up knowledge and interpretation to bring the realities of such hazard data to life. Developing and ensuring openly available hazard data will enable island States to develop more robust, inclusive disaster risk management plans and mitigation policies, plus aid inter-island comparison for communal learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how a teacher-researcher team created a virtual learning space that embraced culturally relevant/responsive literacy practices and supported multimodal authoring practices for bilingual children during COVID-19. Topics include factors caused us to rethink the best ways to maintain culturally responsive and relevant literacy instruction with young learners in a distance-learning format given the power of this approach to move children toward academic success.

Learning about research ethics and research integrity is greatly facilitated by case studies, which illuminate, ground and personalise abstract questions. This paper argues that fiction can provide similar learning experiences, incarnating ethical dilemmas through a medium that is highly accessible yet sophisticated in its depictions of how researchers behave. Examples of fictional illustrations are given to illustrate various themes such as animal experimentation, exploitation of the vulnerable, researcher bias and research fraud. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading comprehension expectations in content areas have increased for students during the past decade. Many secondary students, including students with learning disabilities, improve their reading proficiency of grade-level text when they receive explicit instruction. The authors propose a self-questioning strategy routine designed to enhance secondary students' comprehension of expository text and to increase student engagement in content classes. The routine includes explicit, teacher-directed instruction and incorporates before-, during-, and after-reading activities using modeling and guided practice. A scenario of a secondary teacher implementing the proposed self-questioning strategy routine in a social studies course is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Composing is an essential part of literacy development in early childhood classrooms, and writing experiences are continually changing through advances in technology. Writing in a new language can be particularly challenging for emergent bilinguals as they navigate learning how to spell in English as part of the writing process. New pedagogical tools must be used to support these students as meaning makers and composers. In this study, we investigated how a group of first‐grade emergent bilinguals used word prediction software as they created digital compositions over the course of a year. The results suggest several positive ways, such as basic spelling support, extended written responses, and additional opportunities to practice reading, that this digital tool enhanced the meaning‐making process of emergent bilingual writers. Recommendations for educators to implement word prediction software in classrooms are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive focus on written language in early literacy instruction and assessment for emergent bilinguals places students at a disadvantage since they are learning English as a new language. Typically, classroom instruction has a narrow view of literacy and is dominated by a focus on tested skills, with little emphasis on the diverse backgrounds and experiences of today's students. In order to value the rich meaning-making process that emergent bilinguals bring with them to the classroom, this article explores the ways in which technology affords multimodal composing opportunities. A case of one emergent bilingual, Alon, whose home language is Tagalog, is presented to showcase his text productions as responses to children's literature. The findings help extend an understanding of articulating meaning through talk, contributions of written language, and the importance of the visual mode. This case helps educators see the need to take into account a cohesive portrait of composing processes as a way to make sense of the strengths of emergent bilingual students in English-only classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 15, Verses 16 to 32. It considers two potential missteps that preachers will want to rule out at the outset of engaging the text. First, the temptation to conflate Mark's version of the passion of Jesus Christ with accounts in other Gospels. The second misstep would be to filter the scene's reading through a pre-determined atonement theology. Mark's strategy of strategically incorporating messianic titles is mentioned.

Despite a substantial body of research on young people's wishes about the content and delivery of sex and relationships education (SRE), studies still indicate dissatisfaction with the way lessons are provided. This discussion takes place in a public health context where young people's sexual activity is viewed negatively as a risk to health, and advice focusses on the need to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. This focus on risk clashes with cultural representations of sexuality, and particularly male sexuality, which focus on pleasure and risk taking. In this paper, we present insights from workshops provided by a local charity to boys aged 14–15 in a school in one of the most deprived areas in Edinburgh, Scotland. We held four focus groups with a total of 20 boys and interviewed the workshop providers and the school guidance teacher. The boys valued having men from outside school talking to them about sex and relationships in ways that made them feel respected. They were keen to learn more about relationships, highlighting the need to focus on how SRE is delivered to young working class men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers recent ethical topics relating to medical AI. After a general discussion of recent medical AI innovations, and a more analytic look at related ethical issues such as data privacy, physician dependency on poorly understood AI helpware, bias in data used to create algorithms post-GDPR, and changes to the patient–physician relationship, the article examines the issue of so-called robot doctors. Whereas the so-called democratization of healthcare due to health wearables and increased access to medical information might suggest a positive shift in the patient-physician relationship, the physician's 'need to care' might be irreplaceable, and robot healthcare workers ('robot carers') might be seen as contributing to dehumanized healthcare practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a response by Dr. Sally A. Brown to Luke Powery's lecture on the PTS and Slavery Report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capturing the value in urban residuals (food scraps and wastewater) is a critical component of urban sustainability and a circular nutrient economy. Food production in urban areas has also been recognized as an important component of urban health. Data from two cities (Seattle and Tacoma, WA) with active resource recovery and community garden programs were used to quantify nutrient recovery and food production potential. Yield data from growth trials conducted using soil amendments produced from locally generated organic residuals were used to model yields in existing urban agriculture programs. Our survey showed much lower than expected volume of food scraps from both residential and multifamily housing for both cities. Nutrient generation rates from food scraps were estimated as 0.55–0.67 kg N and 0.09–0.11 kg P capita−1 yr−1. Recovery rates for Seattle with an established food scrap collection program were 0.21 kg N and 0.006 kg P capita−1 yr−1. Nutrient recovery from wastewater biosolids was higher; 1–1.67 kg N and 0.23–0.76 kg P capita−1 yr−1. Data on effluent quantity and nutrient concentrations from these programs suggests that effluent has a high potential for nutrient recovery (4.03–5 kg N and 0.3–0.5 kg P capita yr−1). Yield was modeled for kale (brassica oleracea) considering the number of people that could be fed per hectare for one year using a 67 g portion by comparing yields from synthetic fertilizer and residuals-based amendments in both high and low quality urban soils. The Tacoma biosolids potting soil yielded enough for 310 and 736 people ha−1 yr−1 for the high and low quality soils, respectively. The modeled food/yard compost produced from the food scraps yielded sufficient kale for 148 to 353 people ha−1 yr−1. Relative yield from fertilizer for the low and high quality soils was 15 and 263 people ha−1yr−1, respectively. Considering yield, enough biosolids are produced to meet 6.7–29.2% of the vegetable needs of each city. These results suggest that significant nutrients can be recovered using existing infrastructure. With enhanced nutrient capture from wastewater effluent, sufficient nutrients could be recovered to meet the N and P needs for food crops for the residents of each city. [Display omitted] • Successful circular economies and urban food systems are synergistic and require the capture of nutrients from urban waste. • Nutrient capture and food production are evaluated for 2 cities with active organics recycling and community garden programs. • Wastewater effluent nutrient capture and biosolids use can provide sufficient N and P for crops for urban residents. • Significant steps towards circular systems are possible with minor modifications to existing urban infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing biosolids-based composts or soil blends suitable for use in urban areas is increasingly common. End uses for compost vary and can include use as a soil conditioner for existing turf, to establish new turf, for tree planting, in urban agriculture, and for use along highway right-of-ways. The carbon benefits/costs of biosolids compost were modeled for King County, Washington. Soil carbon sequestration was highest for use on disturbed soils such as new housing developments, neglected urban soils, or highway right-of-ways (–1.1 Mg CO2eq per Mg compost) and lowest for use in well-tended yards or other highly maintained landscapes (–0.036 Mg CO2eq per Mg compost). Compost use for tree growth, calculated over a 30-year period, added above-ground sequestration benefits ranging from –1.53 Mg CO2eq per Mg compost for a mature tree grown on a healthy soil to –4.58 Mg CO2eq per Mg compost for a newly planted tree grown on a disturbed site. Assuming a 20 km haul distance, transport costs ranged from 0.005 Mg CO2eq per Mg compost for delivery in a 5 Mg truck to 0.09 Mg CO2eq per Mg compost for pick up in a personal vehicle. Ecosystem services associated with different end uses for compost in urban areas also vary. This model suggests that while uses for biosolids compost will likely be varied, for a program as a whole, significant carbon benefits can be expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brown, S.; Nicholls, R.J.; Pardaens, A.K.; Lowe, J.A.; Tol, R.S.J.; Vafeidis, A.T., and Hinkel, J., 2019. Benefits of climatechange mitigation for reducing the impacts of sea-level rise in G-20 countries. Journal of Coastal Research, 35(4), 884–895. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. This paper assesses the potential benefits of climate-change mitigation in reducing the impacts of sea-level rise over the 21st century in G-20 countries (excluding the European Union as a whole), using the Dynamic Interactive Vulnerability Assessment model. Impacts of the expected number of people flooded annually and wetland losses were assessed. To assess the benefits of mitigation, it was assumed that defences were not upgraded during the study. Globally, with a sea-level rise of 0.68 m by the 2080s (with respect to 1980–99), representing a potential future with limited climate-change mitigation, and with the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios A1 socio-economic scenario, 123 million additional people could be flooded annually and 39% of present global wetland stock could be lost. For a 0.19-m rise in sea level, associated with a substantial reduction in emissions, the number of people flooded could be reduced to 13 million/y, with 21% of global wetland stock loss, unless new wetlands emerge. Collectively, non-Annex 1 G-20 countries experience a disproportionately higher number of people flooded in their nations compared with the proportion of population flooded globally. The greatest wetland losses for G-20 countries are projected for Australia, Indonesia, and the United States. Thus, G-20 nations with the highest emissions or gross domestic product frequently do not experience the greatest impacts, despite some of these nations being potentially more able to pay for adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers recent ethical topics in Australia relating to the health rights of children in the contexts of (1) detention centers, (2) vaccination, and (3) procreative liberty, within a wider framework of discussion of the competing rights of society, parents, the child, and future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of stringent climate stabilization scenarios for coastal areas in terms of reduction of impacts/adaptation needs and wider policy implications has received little attention. Here we use the Warming Acidification and Sea Level Projector Earth systems model to calculate large ensembles of global sea-level rise (SLR) and ocean pH projections to 2300 for 1.5°C and 2.0°C stabilization scenarios, and a reference unmitigated RCP8.5 scenario. The potential consequences of these projections are then considered for global coastal flooding, small islands, deltas, coastal cities and coastal ecology. Under both stabilization scenarios, global mean ocean pH (and temperature) stabilize within a century. This implies significant ecosystem impacts are avoided, but detailed quantification is lacking, reflecting scientific uncertainty. By contrast, SLR is only slowed and continues to 2300 (and beyond). Hence, while coastal impacts due to SLR are reduced significantly by climate stabilization, especially after 2100, potential impacts continue to grow for centuries. SLR in 2300 under both stabilization scenarios exceeds unmitigated SLR in 2100. Therefore, adaptation remains essential in densely populated and economically important coastal areas under climate stabilization. Given the multiple adaptation steps that this will require, an adaptation pathways approach has merits for coastal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]