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Students commence university with many hopes and dreams for their future and for most, these are realised. Health professional students must succeed in both their academic and clinical experiences. Excellent communication with their patients and colleagues on placement is necessary and particularly so for speech pathology students. This qualitative, descriptive study investigates how first- and final- year students view the screening of their communication skills in which they participate. The focus groups took place within the speech pathology department of a major Australian metropolitan university. Data were transcribed and analysed thematically. Three main themes arose: professional development, students' cognitive and emotional responses, and the organisation of the screener. Both groups of students felt the screener was both an important part of their professional development and a way of identifying and supporting speech pathology students with communication difficulties. They valued the student-led nature of the process. Implications for the value of using a student-led communication screener to identify students with weaker communication skills early in their program and for the support of such students are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated whether training in how to encode the causal stnicture of problems would improve individual's use of analogies to previously encountered cases. Subjects were trained either in how to encode the causal structure of business cases or given a lecture of equal length on a variety of decision making procedures. They were then asked to study several business cases and their successful solution. One week later, when asked to solve new problems, subjects who were trained in causal analysis, compared to the control group, were more likely to use an appropriate analogy from the previously studied cases (positive transfer) and were less likely to use an inappropriate analogy (negative transfer). Further anaJyses showed that training in causal analysis increased subjects' ability to encode the causal structure of the problem and increased the likelihood of being reminded of the analogy. Thus, the ability to encode causal structure and use analogies appropriately is not responsive only to increasing domain knowledge, but can also be improved by general training in the identification and encoding of the central components of the causal structure of problems.

A literary criticism for the book "Soldiers Unknown" by Chag Lowry and Rahsan Ekedal, is presented. Topics include unfortunate fact that comics have often relied upon and perpetuated stereotypes of Native Americans, popularizing dehumanizing images as well as anti-Indian racism; and Native authors resist the stereotypes that the genre has previously perpetrated; and explains the power of comics for Native people.

A study examined the interrelationship of 322 fifth- through eighth-grade students' television viewing patterns, school achievement, and intelligence quotient, using television show content preference as a possible correlational factor. Results confirm other research findings showing small negative relations among television viewing, achievement, and intelligence quotient. (Authors/CJ)

A study explores the roles, responsibilities and effectiveness of disability specialist staff in improving employment service delivery to jobseekers with disabilities through the U.S. One-Stop Career Centers and British Jobcentre Plus offices. The study discusses the similarities and differences between the roles of the disability specialist staff in the two countries.

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills are necessary for allied health professionals to provide effective care/treatment and underpin the practice-based competencies allied health students must develop. Communication skills of first year speech pathology (SP) students are screened at the major Australian metropolitan university where this study took place. Final year students screen their first year peers as part of their practice-based education experience. Although this identifies first year students with communication difficulties, the perceived value to university teachers (academics and practice educators) has not been investigated. This study described university staff perceptions of screening the communication skills of first year SP students. The qualitative, descriptive design included two focus groups. The dataset was analysed thematically. The analysis revealed the staff perception of value in screening communication skills to inform student support. Two sub-themes contributing to this perception were ‘purpose of the screener’ and ‘content and administration of the screener’. Both staff groups strongly valued the screening process, stating that it is positive and useful. A similar screening process could identify first year students from a range of health fields with less skilled communication, who may require additional support to achieve competency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses author-illustrator Seishi Kishimoto's apocalyptic examination of evil, Satan and savior to better understand human nature in his graphic narrative "O-Parts Hunter." Topics covered include his own backstory of Satan, his creation of the novelty female savior Ruby Crescent and of the heroes Jio Freed and Cross Biancina, and Satan's manipulation of the heroes to sow hatred and obsession. Also noted is Kishimoto's proposal of trust and unity to address human faults.

This paper describes the capacity development facilitation (CDF) framework, implemented through partnerships between universities and workplaces to enhance speech-language pathology student placements. We explain how educational theories guided the development of our approach to better equip clinical educators (CEs) and workplaces to provide high-quality student learning experiences in higher numbers than previously. This is necessary due to increasing student numbers and university requirements for continuous quality improvement of placements. We describe critical elements within the five phases of the CDF process - establish, encourage, evaluate, echo, embed - and share our experiences and key learning points from implementing the framework in a variety of speech-language pathology workplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A literary analysis of the manga series "Inuyasha" by Rumiko Takashi is presented. It looks at the role of the Master-Slave dialectic concept developed by philosopher Georg Hegel in terms of the manga's portrayal of battles, killings, and conflict. Particular attention is given to how women characters refuse to engage in the Master-Slave dialectic as the author suggests the feminine refusal allows the protagonists to succeed in saving Feudal and modern Japan.