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Aboriginal children are overrepresented in Australia's child protection system, and limited tools are available to assist with connecting these children to their culture. The Stitching Our Future Together (SOFT) Program, developed in consultation with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples, services, and other specialists, is used within the Department of Communities' Child Protection and Family Support (CPFS) Division in Western Australia to address big emotions and safe behaviours with Aboriginal children in care. This study used phenomenology and social constructivism to explore CPFS staff's perspectives and experiences of the SOFT Program. Seven semistructured in-depth interviews took place with CPFS staff. Five themes were identified: the SOFT Program and its use, culturally responsive practice, facilitating relationships, communication, and recommendations and implementation challenges. Participants expressed that the SOFT Program fostered an understanding of, and communication about, pertinent issues such as family and domestic violence, drug and alcohol addiction, mental health, and child neglect and abuse. The findings show how staff described the program's capacity to help them navigate complex situations, highlighting the need to incorporate more culturally centred and creative-based work into child protection practice. IMPLICATIONS The SOFT Program positively supports culturally responsive practice and facilitates relationships and communication for child protection workers and children in care. The integration of creative and legislated practices assists with personalising and enhancing the effectiveness of child protection work with children in care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of how Aboriginal Elders influence the leadership of non-Aboriginal led service organisations when working biddiya to biddiya (boss to boss) emerged while conducting a qualitative analysis as part of the evaluation of the Looking Forward Moving Forward project. This project brought together non-Aboriginal service leaders, Aboriginal Elders and Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal researchers to implement and evaluate a framework for engagement to promote organisational change and transform the way in which services respond to Aboriginal people in need of mental health and drug and alcohol support in Perth, Western Australia. This paper uses a case study to demonstrate how Elders on Nyoongar Country have influenced one non-Aboriginal service leader. At the heart of this case study is a close examination of a recorded, semi-structured, in-depth focus group exchange between a non-Aboriginal leader, Elders and co-researchers. This exchange foregrounds the Elders' and co-researchers' voices, capturing the dialogic nuances and interplay of the interaction to provide a more detailed picture of how building long-term relationships with Elders influences leaders. A key theme to emerge from the data was the developmental change in leadership approaches resulting from the biddiya to biddiya working relationship between Elders and this non-Aboriginal leader. The data show that, along with their deepening relationship, the leader demonstrated an openness and humility to be teachable. This leader demonstrated how he applied his new learning, integrating new ways of working into his leadership practice to change the way his organisation responded to Aboriginal people seeking support and to enhance the organisation's cultural safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the participatory approach used by a group of academic support staff in evaluating an academic professional development resource designed to support e-learning and teaching. The resource, titled Designing Electronic Learning and Teaching Approaches (DELTA), showcases examples of electronic learning and teaching approaches developed at Monash University, Australia. The evaluation included individual and collective reflection, dialogue and action, drawing on the features of participatory action research. This paper explores the value of this critically reflective, participatory approach for evaluation to improve the use of new learning technologies, demonstrating how it provided a clear decision-making framework for iterative improvement of the DELTA site by identifying consensus items for action and recording other items for later consideration, while also contributing to team members' own professional development. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

Aboriginal participatory action research (APAR) has an ethical focus that corrects the imbalances of colonisation through participation and shared decision-making to position people, place, and intention at the centre of research. APAR supports researchers to respond to the community's local rhythms and culture. APAR supports researchers to respond to the community's local rhythms and culture. First Nations scholars and their allies do this in a way that decolonises mainstream approaches in research to disrupt its cherished ideals and endeavours. How these knowledges are co-created and translated is also critically scrutinised. We are a team of intercultural researchers working with community and mainstream health service providers to improve service access, responsiveness, and Aboriginal client outcomes. Our article begins with an overview of the APAR literature and pays homage to the decolonising scholarship that champions Aboriginal ways of knowing, being, and doing. We present a research program where Aboriginal Elders, as cultural guides, hold the research through storying and cultural experiences that have deepened relationships between services and the local Aboriginal community. We conclude with implications of a community-led engagement framework underpinned by a relational methodology that reflects the nuances of knowledge translation through a co-creation of new knowledge and knowledge exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bat conservation is hindered by a lack of geographic-specific knowledge of characteristics of roost sites used by reproductive females. We examined roost selection by reproductive female Myotis evotis (long-eared myotis) in the Channeled Scablands of northeastern Washington. We used radiotelemetry to locate 35 roosts of reproductive female Myotis evotis. Habitat variables were measured for each roost itself and at a 0.1-ha microplot and 78-ha macroplot surrounding each roost. We measured habitat variables at random 0.1-ha microplots in the vicinity of each roost and at general random 0.1-ha microplots and 78-ha macroplots. Thirty-four roosts were found in crevices in small basalt rock formations. All radiomarked bats switched roosts at least once and roost switching apparently involved the entire colony. The average number of switches was 3.3 with an average of 2 days between roost switches. The distance traveled between day roosts averaged 148.9 m. Compared to random plots, roosts were in more open, rocky habitats, closer to edge of forest stands, and relatively distant from sources of permanent water. Key words: Channeled Scablands, habitat selection, long-eared myotis, maternity roosts, rock crevices, roost switching

Despite decades of climate science research, existing climate actions have had limited impacts on mitigating climate change. Efforts to reduce emissions, for example, have yet to spur sufficient action to reduce the most severe effects of climate change. We draw from our experiences as Ojibwe knowledge holders and community members, scientists, and scholars to demonstrate how the lack of recognition of traditional knowledges (TK) within climate science constrains effective climate action and exacerbates climate injustice. Often unrecognized in science and policy arenas, TK generates insights into how justice-driven climate action, rooted in relational interdependencies between humans and older-than-human relatives, can provide new avenues for effectively addressing climate change. We conclude by arguing for a shift toward meaningful and respectful inclusion of plural knowledge systems in climate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mammalian community ecology asks how interacting biotic and abiotic processes at local and regional scales shape community assembly. Throughout the 100-year history of the American Society of Mammalogists (ASM), mammalogists laid the foundation for studying community assembly by documenting presence and abundance of mammals across different sites through time. During the past 50 years, mammalian community ecology has matured due to long-term studies, new perspectives, and advanced analytical approaches. From an initial focus on local communities and ecological time frames, community ecologists now integrate regional processes and evolutionary time frames. Examination of patterns of assembly expanded from taxonomic diversity derived from species identity and abundance to incorporate phylogenetic and functional diversity. Arid-land small mammal and island systems provide natural laboratories to examine community assembly. Worldwide, small-mammal communities in arid lands exhibit several general trends including low α-diversity, greater β-diversity, and structures comprising core and transient species. Despite broad similarities in ecological conditions, the relative dominance of proximate processes structuring communities varies between regions due to differences in factors such as small-mammal lineages and predictability of resource pulses. Island studies reveal how island size and isolation affect species composition, and how processes of community assembly and disassembly are often simplified, compared to the situation in mainland communities. Recent approaches document the contributions of speciation on, and dispersal to and between islands, to patterns of community assembly. Islands also serve as models of how humans affect mammal communities. Land use practices were altering ecosystems before the founding of ASM, and these changes have accelerated over the last 100 years. Habitat conversion and degradation combined with climate change are redefining mammal communities globally. We discuss the need to apply our understanding of community ecology in efforts to restore ecological function, structure, and composition to stem potentially large losses in mammalian diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many studies are currently researching the effects of video games, particularly in the domain of cognitive training. Great variability exists among video games however, and few studies have attempted to compare different types of video games. Little is known, for instance, about the cognitive processes or brain structures that underlie learning of different genres of video games. Objective: To examine the cognitive and neural underpinnings of two different types of game learning in order to evaluate their common and separate correlates, with the hopes of informing future intervention research. Methods: Participants (31 younger adults and 31 older adults) completed an extensive cognitive battery and played two different genres of video games, one action game and one strategy game, for 1.5 hours each. DTI scans were acquired for each participant, and regional fractional anisotropy (FA) values were extracted using the JHU atlas. Results: Behavioral results indicated that better performance on tasks of working memory and perceptual discrimination was related to enhanced learning in both games, even after controlling for age, whereas better performance on a perceptual speed task was uniquely related with enhanced learning of the strategy game. DTI results indicated that white matter FA in the right fornix/stria terminalis was correlated with action game learning, whereas white matter FA in the left cingulum/hippocampus was correlated with strategy game learning, even after controlling for age. Conclusion: Although cognition, to a large extent, was a common predictor of both types of game learning, regional white matter FA could separately predict action and strategy game learning. Given the neural and cognitive correlates of strategy game learning, strategy games may provide a more beneficial training tool for adults suffering from memory-related disorders or declines in processing speed, particularly older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overloading the capacity of visual attention can result in mistakenly combining the various features of an object, that is, illusory conjunctions. We hypothesize that if the two hemispheres separately process visual information by splitting attention, connectivity of corpus callosum-a brain structure integrating the two hemispheres-would predict the degree of illusory conjunctions. In the current study, we assessed two types of illusory conjunctions using a memory-scanning paradigm; the features were either presented across the two opposite hemifields or within the same hemifield. Four objects, each with two visual features, were briefly presented together followed by a probe-recognition and a confidence rating for the recognition accuracy. MRI scans were also obtained. Results indicated that successful recollection during probe recognition was better for across hemifields conjunctions compared to within hemifield conjunctions, lending support to the bilateral advantage of the two hemispheres in visual short-term memory. Age-related differences regarding the underlying mechanisms of the bilateral advantage indicated greater reliance on recollection-based processing in young and on familiarity-based processing in old. Moreover, the integrity of the posterior corpus callosum was more predictive of opposite hemifield illusory conjunctions compared to within hemifield illusory conjunctions, even after controlling for age. That is, individuals with lesser posterior corpus callosum connectivity had better recognition for objects when their features were recombined from the opposite hemifields than from the same hemifield. This study is the first to investigate the role of the corpus callosum in splitting attention between versus within hemifields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:Mental health clinicians have struggled to recognise the need to understand an Aboriginal worldview and how human interactions are shaped bysocial relationshipsin kin-based societies. This paper considers the findings of Looking Forward Project, a participatory action research study aimed at investigating the serious disconnection between mental health and drug and alcohol service providers and Aboriginal families living in Perth, Western Australia. Method:Our research methods and knowledge exchange were premised on theshared storytellingbetween Aboriginal Elders, researchers, senior management and clinicians. Study participants included eighteen local Elders and approximately seventy staff across eleven mental health and drug and alcohol organisations, over four years. Elders have been the primary drivers of the research design. This paper is shaped by the storying process. Results:The study revealed the lack of trust between service providers and Aboriginal families is predominantly due to the lack of understanding by service providers of the criticaldifference in social relationships.The lack of trust creates a barrier to accessing services and compromises the quality of response by services. Humility, inquisitiveness and openness are essential qualities for meaningful engagement and sustainable relationships. Discussion:The rebuilding of trust requires the development of meaningful relationships in order to break down the barriers so as to increase access and develop culturally secure responses by services. When clinicians adopt these essential qualities they will develop a reflective practice that enables them to be more adaptable in their work with Aboriginal clients and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is currently not known what are the best working memory training strategies to offset the age-related declines in fluid cognitive abilities. In this randomized clinical double-blind trial, older adults were randomly assigned to one of two types of working memory training - one group was trained on a predictable memory updating task (PT) and another group was trained on a novel, unpredictable memory updating task (UT). Unpredictable memory updating, compared to predictable, requires greater demands on cognitive control (Basak and Verhaeghen, 2011a). Therefore, the current study allowed us to evaluate the role of cognitive control in working memory training. All participants were assessed on a set of near and far transfer tasks at three different testing sessions - before training, immediately after the training, and 1.5 months after completing the training. Additionally, individual learning rates for a comparison working memory task (performed by both groups) and the trained task were computed. Training on unpredictable memory updating, compared to predictable, significantly enhanced performance on a measure of episodic memory, immediately after the training. Moreover, individuals with faster learning rates showed greater gains in this episodic memory task and another new working memory task; this effect was specific to UT. We propose that the unpredictable memory updating training, compared to predictable memory updating training, may a better strategy to improve selective cognitive abilities in older adults, and future studies could further investigate the role of cognitive control in working memory training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Bats play a variety of ecological roles in forest ecosystems and forest management can impact habitat conditions for forest-dwelling bats. We examined the use and characteristics of roosts selected by reproductive female big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) in the Channeled Scablands of northeastern Washington. We radio-tracked 14 bats to locate 36 roosts. Bats were found in colonies averaging 27 and these colonies switched roosts about every 3.7 days. Habitat variables were measured for the roost itself and at a 0.1-ha microplot and 78-ha macroplot surrounding each roost. We measured habitat variables at random 0.1-ha microplots in the vicinity of each roost and at general random 0.1-ha microplots and 78-ha macroplots. Of the 36 roosts located, 34 were in natural tree cavities; 28 were in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and eight in quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides). Dead tops of live pine trees were used significantly more as roosts than pine snags. Although there were significantly more roosts in trees >30cm in diameter and >12m high than what was available, roosts were not always the tallest tree in the stand. A significantly greater proportion of big brown bat roosts were found in open pine, aspen and mixed-aspen pine forests and less in grasslands and closed pine than expected. Forest management strategies should protect both large diameter snags and existing dead top live trees and maintain natural population levels of biological agents that create dead tops. Restoration of historic open conditions in ponderosa pine and aspen stands will provide improved habitat for big brown bats. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper discusses the authors' reflections on the development of a masters unit in a faculty of education. This development, driven by a reflective action framework based on Kemmis and McTaggart's action research spiral, is measured by a qualitative evaluation using three distinct viewpoints: lecturer, educational designer and student. The unit evaluation highlights our 'thematic concerns' of student centredness, reflective practice and designing for active learning as being a cyclical 'action reflection' process. This paper explores the journey taken by the lecturer and educational designer from concept to delivery and the lessons learned through the evaluation of the collaborative and reflective development process. The paper is a follow up to a previous paper that described the development of the unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prospective PRIME trial applied real-time, objective imaging biomarkers to determine individualized retreatment needs with intravitreal aflibercept injections (IAI) among eyes with diabetic retinopathy (DR). 40 eyes with nonproliferative or proliferative DR without diabetic macular edema received monthly IAI until a DR severity scale (DRSS) level improvement of ≥2 steps was achieved. Eyes were randomized 1:1 to DRSS- or PLI- guided management. At the final 2-year visit, DRSS level was stable or improved compared to baseline in all eyes, and mean PLI decreased by 11% (p = 0.73) and 23.6% (p = 0.25) in the DRSS- and PLI-guided arms. In both arms, the percent of pro re nata (PRN) visits requiring IAI was significantly higher in year 2 versus 1 (p < 0.0001). The percent of PRN visits receiving IAI during year 1 was significantly correlated with the percent of PRN visits with IAI during year 2 (p < 0.0001). Through week 104, 77.4% of instances of DRSS level worsening in the DRSS-guided arm were preceded by or occurred alongside an increase of PLI. Overall, consistent IAI re-treatment interval requirements were observed longitudinally among individual patients. Additionally, PLI increases appeared to precede DRSS level worsening, highlighting PLI as a valuable biomarker in the management of DR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues the identification of psychiatric disorder prevalence rates in Australia's Indigenous populations. Topics discussed include research on mental illness in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians; engaging with Aboriginal communities as a way that fundamentally reframes methodologies and challenges classificatory processes; and the Looking Forward Aboriginal Mental Health Project aimed at Aboriginal communities.

This meta-analysis was designed to compare the effectiveness of 2 cognitive training modules, single-component training, which targets 1 specific cognitive ability, versus multicomponent training, which trains multiple cognitive abilities, on both trained abilities (near transfer) and untrained abilities (far transfer) in older adults. The meta-analysis also assessed whether individual differences in mental status interacted with the extent of transfer. Eligible randomized controlled trials (215 training studies) examined the immediate effects of cognitive training in either healthy aging (HA) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Results yielded an overall net-gain effect size (g) for the cognitive training of 0.28 (p < .001). These effects were similar across mental status and training modules, and were significant for both near (g = 0.37) and far (g = 0.22) transfer. Although all training modules yielded significant near transfer, only a few yielded significant far transfer. Single-component training of executive functions was most effective on near and far transfer, with processing speed training improving everyday functioning. All modules of multicomponent training (specific and nonspecific) yielded significant near and far transfer, including everyday functioning. Training effects on cognition were moderated by educational attainment and number of cognitive outcomes, but only in HA. These findings suggest that, in older adults, all modules of multicomponent training are more effective in engendering near and far transfer, including everyday functioning, when compared with single-component training modules. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]