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Human non-mercaptalbumin (HNA), oxidized form of serum albumin, has been reported as a useful marker in oxidative stress-related diseases; however, few reports have examined the association between HNA and the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD). The present study evaluated whether the HNA fraction is correlated with coronary artery stenosis in 140 patients considered to have a high risk of CAD or who were suspected of having acute coronary syndrome. The severity of CAD was defined by the number of stenotic coronary vessels and a severity score system (the Gensini score). HNA measurements were performed using our newly established high-performance liquid chromatography methodology. The results had shown that HNA was significantly increased in patients with three-vessel disease, compared with those without CAD or with single-vessel disease (p = 0.025), and was positively correlated with the Gensini score (ρ = 0.421, p p = 0.012). A logistic regression analysis showed that HNA was a strong predictor of multivessel CAD (odds ratio, 1.12; 95% confidence interval, 1.020–1.229; p = 0.017). These findings indicate that the measurement of HNA could be clinically practical for predicting the severity of coronary artery stenosis.

Objective To investigate the oxidized albumin ratio, which is the redox ratio of human nonmercaptalbumin (HNA) to serum albumin (%HNA), as a biomarker in idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (iPD) and related neurodegenerative disorders. Methods This prospective study enrolled 216 iPD patients, 15 patients with autosomal recessive familial PD due to parkin mutations (PARK2), 30 multiple system atrophy (MSA) patients, 32 progressive nuclear palsy (PSP) patients, and 143 healthy controls. HNA was analyzed using modified high‐performance liquid chromatography and was evaluated alongside other parameters. Results iPD and PARK2 patients had a higher %HNA than controls (iPD vs. controls: odds ratio (OR) 1.325, P

Adaptation to climate change has become an imperative intricately linked to human existence and the planet’s wellbeing: if learning is not part of the adaptation process, it is doubtful the adaptat...

Numeracy practices are always dependent on the social context in which they emerge. These contexts, however, are unstable because of a range of technological and socio-political changes. How does this instability affect people’s agency in the world? After reviewing key approaches to numeracy practices research, we distil key findings from recent numeracy studies. We introduce the concept of the numerate environment to examine the context in which opportunities, supports and demands present themselves for people’s numeracy development, explaining how cultural-historical activity theory can be used to analyse the effects of changes in numerate environments. We consider examples of social trends likely to effect such changes and conclude with implications of shifts in people’s numerate environment for future educational provision, policy and research.

Depending on its redox status, albumin is known to exist as two forms: reduced albumin or human mercaptalbumin (HMA); and oxidised albumin or human nonmercaptalbumin (HNA). The ratio of HNA to HMA is reportedly elevated in several diseases. Since lipid mediators, such as eicosanoids and lysophospholipids, are typically bound to albumin, we examined the possible preferences of lipid mediators for HNA or HMA. We observed that DHA-derived and EPA-derived eicosanoids preferred to be bound to HMA, while the levels of lysophospholipid mediators, such as lysophosphatidic acids and sphingosine 1-phosphate, were higher in the HNA fraction. Considering the bioactivities reported in previous basic studies, these results suggest that proatherosclerotic lipid mediators might generally prefer HNA, while antiatherosclerotic ones might prefer HMA. Oxidative stress affects the redox status of albumin, which might modulate the dynamism of lipid mediators. This pathway might be partly involved in the association between oxidation and atherosclerosis.

The role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of various diseases has been attracting attention. We speculated as to whether the redox state of treatment solutions used for various diseases may play a role in treatment success. In the current study, we focused on the human embryo culture medium used for

Human serum albumin can take on two forms, mercaptalbumin (HMA) or non-mercaptalbumin (HNA), depending on the redox status of its Cys34. The ratio of HMA and HNA is considered to be a novel biomarker of oxidative stress. While HPLC and mass spectrometry are established methods to measure HMA and HNA, a simple colorimetric assay was applied to measure this biomarker.Michler's Hydrol (4,4'-Bis(dimethylamino)benzhydrol) is a blue dye with a maximum absorption at 612 nm, and its absorption decreases when it reacts with a thiol group. Concentrations of HMA in serum samples from 36 healthy subjects were measured based on absorption changes of Michler's Hydrol. The proportion of HMA (HMA%) in total albumin was also obtained by dividing the HMA concentration by total albumin concentration, which was obtained by a bromocresol purple (BCP) assay. The proportion of HNA (HNA%) was obtained by subtracting HMA% from 100%.HMA concentrations obtained by Michler's Hydrol assay were highly correlated (rA colorimetric assay using Michler's Hydrol was optimized for a 96-well plate format so that it can be easily performed in a standard laboratory setting. This assay gives HMA concentrations and HNA proportions comparable to HPLC.

In 2007, the Australian Labor Party came into government espousing the mantra ‘The Australian economy needs an education revolution’. It is arguable whether this and what subsequent governments initiated could be characterised as a revolution; what is clear is that they succeeded in cementing a neoliberal governance system of adult education, including adult basic education (ABE). The changes in ABE from a practitioner led provision guided by a social justice ethos to what remains now is a story covering over four decades. Ironically, however, what has been most impactful in recent years is the absence of an identifiable policy. Tracing the ABE’s trajectory into a policy vacuum, and analysing the difficulty this vacuum presents for activists within the field, the chapter points to possibilities of resistance that may strengthen and restore an ethos of social justice in the field.

Recently, insecure work in universities in many countries has grown exponentially, alongside the rapid marketization of higher education. Reflecting the neoliberal ideal of a flexible workforce, research and teaching at universities is routinely carried out by precariously-employed academics. In Australia, for instance, the bulk of university teaching is now carried out by hourly-paid employees. This structural dependence on precarious academics poses a reputational problem for universities, and universities respond by obfuscating the statistical evidence. We present a case study of tracking down the level of this phenomenon in Australian higher education. The academics’ trade union and allies have used the university-level figures to challenge the advance of academic job insecurity, and are now highlighting the incidence of precarious academic employment nationally. Our own work has highlighted the multiple and conflicting figures being reported by universities, and the systematic underestimation of the actual rate of insecure jobs reported by government departments. We question these unreliable estimates, examples of neoliberalism’s ‘funny numbers’, and develop alternative data and arguments Thereby, we aim to reveal the impact of casualisation and enable critical evaluation of trends in the higher education sector, so as to restore industrial justice.

BackgroundHuman mercaptalbumin and human non-mercaptalbumin have been reported as markers for various pathological conditions, such as kidney and liver diseases. These markers play important roles in redox regulations throughout the body. Despite the recognition of these markers in various pathophysiologic conditions, the measurements of human mercaptalbumin and non-mercaptalbumin have not been popular because of the technical complexity and long measurement time of conventional methods.MethodsBased on previous reports, we explored the optimal analytical conditions for a high-performance liquid chromatography method using an anion-exchange column packed with a hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol gel. The method was then validated using performance tests as well as measurements of various patients’ serum samples.ResultsWe successfully established a reliable high-performance liquid chromatography method with an analytical time of only 12 min per test. The repeatability (within-day variability) and reproducibility (day-to-day variability) were 0.30% and 0.27% (CV), respectively. A very good correlation was obtained with the results of the conventional method.ConclusionsA practical method for the clinical measurement of human mercaptalbumin and non-mercaptalbumin was established. This high-performance liquid chromatography method is expected to be a powerful tool enabling the expansion of clinical usefulness and ensuring the elucidation of the roles of albumin in redox reactions throughout the human body.

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The quality of teaching in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia has been an area of concern for much of the twenty-first century (e.g. Department of Education and Training, 2016). While much debate has taken place about ways forward, there has been little substantive progress in reforming the education and professional development of VET teachers to address quality concerns. However, in the absence of a clear consensus and articulation of what constitutes ‘good VET teaching’ and what is required to produce it, it is doubtful that any endeavour to improve the quality of VET teaching would be successful. This paper contributes to the evidence base that could inform improvements in VET teaching by examining the views of two key interest groups–VET teachers and learners, on ‘what makes a good VET teacher’, and analyses the common themes as well as particularities in their views and their possible explanations. The findings are then examined as dimensions of interconnected practices that constitute VET teaching.

Oxidative status of albumin was not a useful biomarker for oxidative stress in practical use due to time-consuming measuring method. We evaluated oxidized, human nonmercaptalbumin measured more quickly than ever by a novel method using anion-exchange HPLC. In 60 subjects taking a general health examination, mean serum human nonmercaptalbumin level was 25.1 ± 3.0% with no gender difference but positive correlation with age. There were no links between human nonmercaptalbumin and C-reactive protein, γ-glutamyltransferase or iron, reportedly associated with oxidative stress. Human nonmercaptalbumin correlated with systolic blood pressure, pulse pressure and body mass index among physical findings. Positive correlations were observed between human nonmercaptalbumin and AST, LDH, BUN, or creatinine, suggesting that oxidative stress may link with liver injury and renal function. Human nonmercaptalbumin correlated with uric acid in female but not in male, suggesting that higher uric acid levels may be associated with increased oxidative stress only in female. As another gender difference, white blood cell counts correlated with human nonmercaptalbumin in female, while the parameters for red blood cells correlated with human nonmercaptalbumin in male. In conclusion, serum human nonmercaptalbumin level in healthy subjects was approximately 25% as previously reported. Oxidative stress may be closely associated with hypertension, obesity, liver injury, renal function, and anemia.

© 2019, Ontario Institute for Educat. Studies. In 2013, the OECD released its findings from the Survey of Adult Skills (SAS) which assessed adults’ skills in literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving in technology-rich environments in 22 countries. OECD initiatives like SAS and PISA have been the subject of critical policy studies, particularly in relation to their influence on national policymaking. National media as actors in these policy contexts have been the focus of some of these policy studies. Using a methodology informed by actor network theory (ANT), this study examines the Australian media’s responses to the release of the country’s SAS results, whilst making historical and international comparisons to uncover factors that mobilise the media to become a policy actor.

This chapter focuses on numeracy learning among groups of workers, examines the possibilities and limitations of workplaces as sites of learning critical numeracy practices and considers their implications for education for work. The human capital-based discourse dominating many policy discussions about lifelong learning places significant emphasis on literacy and numeracy as key skills for economic growth and productivity, and for individuals’ successes in the globalised labour market (see for example OECD 2013). While formulations of numeracy in many influential policy discussions, such as the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) initiative, acknowledge numeracy as necessarily contingent on the context in which it is used, the discussions do not generally engage with issues of power that impact on the adults as employees and what they are able to negotiate about their place in the workplace. The chapter explores the possibility of workers developing critical numeracy practices: understanding, questioning and perhaps even mounting a challenge to the assumed positioning of workers in their workplace. It does so with the aid of the theoretical resources of Engeström’s (2001) third generation cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT).

In this chapter, we elaborate on what is meant by a perspective of numeracy as social practice (NSP). This perspective is influenced by several theoretical traditions which provide different analytical resources for raising and answering different kinds of research questions, rendering the terrain of NSP research sometimes difficult to navigate. While a diversity of perspectives enriches the broad numeracy research project, the sum of their contributions can only be viable as a resource for informing pedagogies and policy if the research terrain is mapped and signposted to indicate what could be gained from viewing numeracy through each of these different theoretical lenses. It is, therefore, imperative upon researchers of numeracy as social practice to clearly articulate the distinctive contributions their research perspectives can make to broaden debates about improving the numeracy of children and adults, and how this can be achieved. In what follows, we introduce a selection of theoretical lenses that have been used to study numeracy as social practice, and in doing so, we identify the kinds of questions that these theoretical lenses have helped to address in research studies. In addition, we discuss some of their common and distinctive orientations, and consider how their contributions to NSP studies can be represented in relationship to each other.

Background Glycated albumin is an intermediate glycaemic control marker for which there are several measurement procedures with entirely different reference intervals. We have developed a reference measurement procedure for the purpose of standardizing glycated albumin measurements. Methods The isotope dilution liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry method was developed as a reference measurement procedure for glycated albumin. The stable isotopes of lysine and fructosyl-lysine, which serve as an internal standard, were added to albumin isolated from serum, followed by hydrogenation. After hydrolysis of albumin with hot hydrochloric acid, the liberated lysine and fructosyl-lysine were measured by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry, and their concentrations were determined from each isotope ratio. The reference materials (JCCRM611) for determining of glycated albumin were prepared from pooled patient blood samples. Results The isotope dilution–tandem mass spectrometry calibration curve of fructosyl-lysine and lysine showed good linearity (r = 0.999). The inter-assay and intra-assay coefficient of variation values of glycated albumin measurement were 1.2 and 1.4%, respectively. The glycated albumin values of serum in patients with diabetes assessed through the use of this method showed a good relationship with routine measurement procedures (r = 0.997). The relationship of glycated albumin values of the reference material (JCCRM611) between these two methods was the same as the relationship with the patient serum samples. Conclusion The Committee on Diabetes Mellitus Indices of the Japan Society of Clinical Chemistry recommends the isotope dilution liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry method as a reference measurement procedure, and JCCRM611 as a certified reference material for glycated albumin measurement. In addition, we recommend the traceability system for glycated albumin measurement.

Casualisation of the academic workforce in Australia has increasingly become a pointed issue of contestation between university managements and the union, the National Tertiary Education Union, during enterprise bargaining negotiations over the last decade. The Union has been concerned with the industrial injustice for long term insecurely employed academics, and its implications for the future academic workforce. Universities, on the other hand, had for a long time maintained that casualisation levels were not at a level detrimental to the sector and that casual employment brought benefits to both the incumbents and the university. However, by 2012, the rapid expansion of the sector, particularly in undergraduate enrolments, had meant the universities could no longer rely on expanding its casual academic workforce to meet its teaching needs. In the most recently completed rounds of enterprise bargaining around Australia, most university managements came to accept that something had to change in the composition of the teaching workforce of the university. The Union capitalised on this to negotiate a new entry level teaching focussed category of continuing academic positions in many of its branches. Ironically, throughout all these negotiations, a reliable estimate of the rate of casualisation of academic work was not available. This paper presents the authors’ detective work in the pursuit of a reliable estimate of academic casualisation in the Australian university sector, and discusses the implications for policy.

Oxidative stress may play an important role in the development of diabetic complications. The ratio of human nonmercaptalbumin (HNA; oxidized form) to human mercaptalbumin (HMA; reduced form) has attracted attention as an indicator for systemic redox states. In this study, we measured the ratio in elderly patients with diabetes and evaluated its association with diabetic complications and disability in activities of daily living (ADL disability).One hundred twenty-six elderly patients with diabetes, aged 70 years and older, under medical care at Yukuhashi Central Hospital from April 2018 to June 2018, were continuously recruited. HNA%, defined as HNA / (HNA + HMA) × 100, was measured by a high-performance liquid chromatography method. First, multivariate regression analysis was performed to evaluate which variables were significant determinants for HNA%. Next, to evaluate the association of HNA% with ADL disability, logistic regression analysis in various models was performed. Then we plotted the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and calculated the under area the curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity in each model.In elderly patients with diabetes, multiple regression analysis showed that serum bilirubin levels and albumin levels, both of which are major endogenous anti-oxidants, and chronic renal failure (or proliferative nephropathy) were significantly associated with HNA%, suggesting that HNA% may be a good biomarker for oxidative stress in those patients. We then evaluated the association of HNA% with ADL disability in various logistic regression models. Model using only HNA% showed that it was a significant determinant for ADL disability (OR 1.158, 95% CI 1.077-1.244, P 0.001). Model using HNA% and age showed that both variables were significant determinants for ADL disability (OR 1.160, 95% CI 1.069-1.258, P 0.001; OR 1.258, 95% CI 1.110-1.427, P 0.001, respectively). ROC analysis showed that the AUC of HNA% alone was 0.765. The AUC of model using HNA% and age was further increased to 0.866.HNA% was significantly associated with diabetic complications and ADL disability, thereby may be clinically useful as an oxidative stress marker in elderly patients with diabetes.

© 2014, © 2014 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. Within the context of Australian workplace literacy and numeracy programmes, and based on a larger study from an ethnographic perspective, we outline two case studies of manufacturing companies implementing training programmes in ‘lean’ production processes. The role of literacy and numeracy in the training programmes was approached quite differently in the two companies. In one company, a trainer delivered the lean training to a group of workers selected on the basis of their formally assessed literacy and numeracy needs and the training was preceded by some ‘upskilling’ in literacy and numeracy skills. We refer to this training as an orthodox ‘deficit’ model in which literacy and numeracy are seen as pre-requisite skills and potentially ‘problems’ for workers undertaking training programmes. In the other company, literacy and numeracy were not addressed specifically and, in effect, were completely embedded in the lean training and indistinguishable as elements of the training program. We discuss this embedded nature of literacy and numeracy within a conceptualisation of literacy and numeracy as social practices. We use these two case studies to indicate some implications for workplace training programmes of different understandings of the role of literacy and numeracy in workplaces.

Literacy and the Politics of Representation is a timely publication. This year many of the 24 countries that participated in the first round of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Develop...

Public policy discourses claim that there is a 'crisis' in the literacy and numeracy levels of the Australian workforce. In this paper, we propose a methodology for examining this 'crisis' from a critical perspective. We draw on findings from an ongoing research project by the authors which investigates production workers' literacy and numeracy in lean manufacturing firms. We focus on how language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) practices are embedded in production work and investigate various perspectives, including those of management, trainers and workers, on LLN problems and issues in the workplace. We adopt a critical perspective that analyses the way work, learning in work, and literacy and numeracy in the workplace are shaped and reshaped by social relations and culture, values and the histories of the industry and the local workplaces. This perspective examines the literacy and numeracy as social practices and using the theoretical analysis of cultural-historical activity theory, we indicate some of the complexities surrounding literacy and numeracy issues in workplaces, which have implications for the dominant 'crisis' discourse. © 2013 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

© 2016 British Association for International and Comparative Education. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Programme of International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is put forward as a landmark development in the lifelong monitoring and international comparison of education. The first round of PIAAC’s Survey of Adult Skills compared performance in literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments across 24 countries. However, the translation of any OECD agenda into national policies is mediated by many actors, including the media. This paper examines and compares how the national media of Japan, England and France reported on the PIAAC results of their countries and the extent to which these reports mirror key messages from the OECD’s Country Notes. It begins to trace how the OECD PIAAC agendas materialise into national policies. Although their role in this initial period was limited, we argue the roles of the media together with other policy actors must be monitored as they interact to shape possibilities for sustainable adult education policies.

© 2016 Association for Research in Post-Compulsory Education (ARPCE). This paper analyses research that has impacted on Australia’s most recent national policy document on adult literacy and numeracy, the National Foundation Skills Strategy (NFSS). The paper draws in part on Lingard’s 2013 paper, ‘The impact of research on education policy in an era of evidence-based policy’, in which he outlines the distinction between research for and of policy. The former is privileged in education policy formation and comprises largely statistical evidence (i.e., ‘policy as numbers’), often drawing on the globalised authority of organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), along with research commissioned by policy makers and undertaken by ‘policy entrepreneurs’. Research of policy represents academically oriented research, which is often qualitative, seeks new knowledge and may challenge the status quo. Through an analysis of studies cited in and thus impacting on the NFSS, we detail the main authors of research for policy and indicate their ideological commitment to the neoliberal agenda that now dominates the adult literacy and numeracy field in Australia and other OECD countries. Research of policy in this context has had little policy impact, but is nevertheless promoted by the authors as a means of countering the current reductionist discourses of adult literacy and numeracy reflected in national policy.

When language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) teachers work together with vocational teachers as a team, not only do students improve their course outcomes in terms of completions and employment, but the pedagogical practices of both teachers can change and improve. In this article, we begin to explore some of the issues and provide examples of pedagogical changes, linking them with research on interdisciplinary teacher teams in other education sectors that draw on activity theory, and higher education studies of "academic literacies". This article draws on a recent national study of the integration of LLN in the delivery of vocational education and training (VET) courses in Australia in which interviews with over 50 VET teachers and managers provided insights into the pedagogies that emerge when LLN teachers and vocational teachers work as a team. Particularly significant is the relative status of the teachers working together and the cultural and historical practices that enforce or challenge this. Pedagogical changes are encouraged in situations where teachers have equal status and their respective specialist disciplinary expertise is in a relationship of horizontal diversity to each other. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Australia appears to be in the grip of a ‘literacy crisis’ in workplaces. Media reports and industry/skills organisations are decrying the low literacy and numeracy levels of workers and the negative effects these have on productivity. As a consequence, the Australian government has increased funding for workplace literacy and numeracy programs and is poised to do more with a National Foundation Skills Strategy. This paper challenges the crisis discourse. It indicates that similar arguments about low literacy and numeracy in workplaces abounded 20 years ago, and there is unlikely to be a change in this dominant discourse position in the future unless the discourse itself changes. By drawing on data from two accounts of literacy and numeracy in different local government councils, the paper shows how markedly different perspectives on workplace literacy and numeracy can result from researchers adopting an alternative ‘social practice’ approach, which draws heavily on the perspectives of workers.

© 2010, © 2010 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. Can the current education programme of the Australian trade union movement contribute to reviving union growth and union culture, develop new activists and leaders, and encourage and facilitate the organisational change needed to re-orient unions to develop broader alliances? Twenty-five Australian trade union leaders were asked to describe the educational activities of their unions and to assess the education provided by the Australian Council of Trade Unions' (ACTU) national Education and Campaign Centre (ECC). Analysis of their responses reveals a number of structural, organisational and pedagogical challenges for delivering a national union education programme. It also raises questions of how education can support a union movement trying to convince new layers of workers that unionism can be a dynamic, forward-looking, social movement. The article outlines the existing course framework as a means of understanding the scope of current educational provision. Drawing on interviewee observations and Newman's concept of three contracts in union education, it considers the roles of educator and of organiser, and how an understanding of these roles is currently expressed by union leaders. We conclude with some questions about ways that the union movement might consider the relationship between education and union renewal.

2012 marked a milestone in adult literacy and numeracy policy making in Australia. In September of that year, at an electronics factory outside Adelaide, South Australia, the Parliamentary Secretary for Higher Education and Skills unveiled a National Foundation Skills Strategy (NFSS) for Adults (Standing Council on Tertiary Education, Skills & Employment [SCOTESE], 2012), the first major national policy initiative in adult literacy and numeracy in over 20 years.

© 2015 Association for Research in Post-Compulsory Education (ARPCE). In Australia, the question of the level and nature of qualifications for vocational education and training (VET) teachers is a highly contested and political topic. VET teachers are only required to have a pre-university, certificate level pedagogical qualification, the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. They possess substantially lower-level qualifications than teachers in other education sectors, although this was not always the case. The paper reports on research which investigated the experiences of VET teacher-education students studying for university qualifications. The research was undertaken in response to requests from policy stakeholders for evidence about the efficacy of higher-level qualifications. The research indicated student satisfaction with their courses and an alignment between what they saw as the benefits with the identified challenges of VET teaching. They also suggested areas for improvement. The findings are analysed with relation to the findings of a Productivity Commission inquiry into the VET workforce, which identified a number of capability gaps.

Co-chairs: Geoff Wake (UK), Keiko Yasukawa (Australia); Team Members: Corinnes Hahn (France), Ok-Kyeoung Kim (Korea), Tine Wedege (Sweden), Rudolf Straesser (Germany); Liaison IPC Member: Morten Blomhoj (Denmark).

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibilities for expansive learning during organisational change. It considers the introduction of “lean production” as a disturbance to the existing work practices. Design/methodology/approach – The paper considers two case studies of “lean production” training with production workers in manufacturing firms. Data for the study consisted of semi-structured interviews, observations of workers during work and training. Engeström’s third-generation cultural historical activity theory was used as the key theoretical tool for analysis. Findings – The study found that the introduction of and training for “lean production” did not lead to expansive learning. The training did not afford spaces to address the fundamental contradictions between the “earning a living” and ”productivity” motives of work. Research limitations/implications – Further research on the different kinds of “spaces” for learning could lead to greater insights into the affordances of expansive learning in workplaces. In particular, the concept of “third space” is useful in such an endeavour. Practical implications – Training designed to increase productivity could integrate more discussions about what workers themselves should expect to gain from increased productivity. Originality/value – The paper presents a critical perspective on recent case studies of workplace training at a time when workforce development and “lean production” are uncritically promulgated as beneficial. It highlights the opportunities that exist for critical educators to make interventions in the interests of the workers.

In reporting the Australian results of the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS), the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, Adult literacy and life skills survey, summary results, Australia, 2008a, p. 5) stated that of the five internationally identified levels of literacy and numeracy in the survey, Level 3 is regarded by the survey developers as the 'minimum required for individuals to meet the complex demands of everyday life in the emerging knowledge-based economy'. In effect, this Level 3 criterion, in the wake of traditional functional literacy/illiteracy dichotomies, creates yet another 'single measure' through which to distinguish those who can from those who cannot function in society. The Level 3 criterion and the accompanying verbatim quote have since been cited extensively by powerful institutions, including government, industry and skills in their promotion of a crisis discourse in adult literacy and numeracy. This has led in turn to national policy responses on 'foundation skills' and nationally agreed performance targets (by the Council of Australian Governments) for skills and workforce development based on the ALLS Level 3. In this paper we question the validity, origin and significance of the Level 3 criterion and contend that highlighting this aspect in the reporting of the ALLS has resulted in a narrow and unbalanced perspective on the role of literacy and numeracy in society. © 2013 The Australian Association for Research in Education, Inc.

Notes on the contributors to Literacy and Numeracy Studies, Vol. 24, No. 1 (2016).

The influence of glycosylation on the drug binding of human serum albumin (HSA) was studied using HSA containing different amounts and degrees of glycosylated HSA. The drugs used were furosemide, naproxen, procaine, phenylbutazone, salicylic acid, sulphamethoxazole, tolbutamide and warfarin. The drug-HSA parameters (lognK) were measured by the ultrafiltration method, frontal analysis and a modified Hummel–Dreyer method. The modified Hummel–Dreyer method was the simplest method with high precision and required the smallest amounts of proteins. The lognK values were well correlated with the octanol-water partition coefficients; the correlation coefficients were over 0.95. The results suggested that hydrophobic interaction is the predominant force for the drug binding. The early stage of glycosylation of HSA did not significantly affect the drug-binding capacity. Generally, the binding affinity of HSA decreased, perhaps due to a conformational change or steric hindrance (except naproxen) when further glycosylation occurred. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A policy consensus has emerged in Australia that there is a workforce literacy and numeracy crisis, similar to many other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. The study informing this paper examined this framing of crisis by interviewing and observing production workers in three manufacturing companies. Each company was implementing new lean production methods, known as 'competitive systems and practices', based on a visual workplace management system. In this paper, we look at what is visible and invisible in production workers' literacy and numeracy practices at Hearing Solutions, one of the companies in the study. We begin by considering the overarching policy discourse around workers' literacy and numeracy before exploring the underpinning rationale of the new expression of lean manufacturing, in particular, its implementation through the Visual Workplace Management System. Detailing an example of the literacies used in producing hearing aid shells, we discuss the under-valuing by workers and managers of the skills being used; and the hidden process of industrial relations, reward and remuneration. Using an ethnographic and social practices approach, what emerges is a better understanding of the complex range of vocational knowledge and social skills being used that go unrecognised by policy makers, lobbyists and managers, and even by the workers themselves. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

In light of the perceived new significance to the Australian economy of adult language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) skills, this paper presents a broad picture of how LLN is being integrated in Australian vocational education and training (VET) and, through reference to selected programmes, indicates some future directions. Based on a national environmental scan of LLN providers and in-depth interviews with over 50 VET teachers and managers, we conclude that integrated LLN in Australian VET largely fits a deficit paradigm. In the main, students are assessed at the beginning of their course to identify the LLN skills they lack and then provided with assistance from a specialist LLN teacher, which may be in the form of individual support in a study centre, tuition in a separate LLN programme, or assistance within a team teaching structure in the vocational classroom. We focus mainly on the latter in this paper, explaining that often the LLN teacher assumes a secondary, 'hovering' role in the vocational classroom, helping primarily those students identified to be 'in need' of LLN support, while the vocational teacher delivers the vocational content. We provide examples of alternative models of integrated LLN which feature a shared or equal role for the LLN teacher, and we examine these using a theoretical framework developed from the work of Lea and Street (1998, 2006) on academic writing. Based on Lea and Street's work, we refer to these models as: 'study skills', 'vocational socialisation' and 'vocational literacies and numeracies'. © 2013 Copyright UCU.

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013. All rights are reserved. Adults' mathematics education (AME) as a field of study and practice displays a broad range of settings for teaching and learning and for research. At the same time, its activities develop in a dynamic context of globalization, competition, and social insecurity. AME is faced with the same struggle for its justification, between humanistic and human capital goals of education, that adult education and lifelong education have been facing over the last half-century. This struggle is reflected in AME practice, research and policy. In this chapter, we formulate critical perspectives for examining AME in these three dimensions with a view to helping ourselves and others to clarify and act in crucial areas. Thus, we examine multiple and contested meanings of key terms like numeracy, and how definitions vary depending on whether they seek to foreground the individual learners' needs or particular economic imperatives (for example, labour market needs). We illuminate how such variable definitions are experienced by AME learners and practitioners, and how they lead us to problematize ideas such as "the transfer of learning" of mathematics, for example, from school to work, and from formal to non-formal or informal learning situations. It is timely now, when a new international survey of adults' skills, the OECD-sponsored Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is being conducted, to question what these surveys can tell us for the development of AME as a field, and what alternative questions we need to be pursuing independently.

This paper first examines the current literacy and numeracy 'crisis' in Australian workplaces where loss of productivity, lack of take-up in training, and skills shortages are being blamed on workers' lack of literacy and numeracy skills. Literacy and numeracy in workplaces are more complex and require alternative understandings of literacy and numeracy as well as the perspectives of workers themselves. Secondly, this paper discusses the opportunity for unions to demonstrate their stake in the education and training of workers. We ask what possibilities are there for this to happen; and what models exist from which Australian trade unions can draw? In the UK the Trade Union Congress (TUC) successfully negotiated with the Labour Government, to establish a Union Learning Fund (ULF) and give recognition to union learning representatives (ULRs), to facilitate learning for workers. The paper considers what new directions Australian unions might explore in the emerging VET policy environment. © eContent Management Pty Ltd.

This paper describes how ESOL and vocational teachers in an Australian technical and further education (TAFE) institute work together to prepare students to complete their vocational courses and obtain employment. Students are concurrently enrolled in an ESOL and a vocational course, and the teachers of these courses work closely together, jointly planning their respective courses and taking equal responsibility for the student groups. Drawing on theoretical concepts from 'academic literacies' studies in higher education, we explain how shared delivery can shift the pedagogy from deficit models, which maintain the disciplinary status quo, to social practice models that open the way to challenge established disciplinary pedagogies and practices. This is accomplished largely due to the equal sharing of the 'ownership' of the programme by the two teachers. We propose that such a model better prepares students for a changing world of work. © The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.