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Australia's natural environment poses challenges for human inhabitants and will continue to pose novel challenges in an era of climate change. However, the resources that people can access to respond to climate change are diverse and unequally distributed. While this suggests a role for education, especially for those who are most socially and economically vulnerable, integrating climate change literacy into educational programs is not straightforward in all sectors. Studies have shown that increased standardization of curricula constrain teacher autonomy and pose dilemmas for teachers faced with tensions between curricular requirements and their professional judgment about appropriate pedagogy and curricula. This article considers the possibility of educational intervention for socially and economically disadvantaged adults with limited English language and literacy skills by investigating how a group of teachers in accredited literacy courses viewed their role in addressing climate change and environmental literacy in their literacy classes.

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...

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.

Oxidative stress is a risk for and cause of various disease, however, measurements of oxidative stress are either time-consuming or non-specific. Here, we established a rapid method of using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to measure serum oxidized albumin in a rat model. We optimized HPLC conditions for rat oxidized albumin. To validate our method, three-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were uninephrectomized and treated normal diet, high salt diet or high salt diet with Tempol, a superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimetic. After 4 weeks of treatment, we analyzed serum oxidized albumin. The main findings are listed as below. (i) Our method of oxidized albumin measurement only takes 16 minutes, with an intra-day and inter-day deviation within 1% and a detection limit concentration of 6.4 mg/ml. (ii) Oxidized albumin levels were significantly higher in the high salt diet group than in the normal salt diet group, and this effect was reversed by Tempol. (iii) Oxidized albumin levels also correlated with urinary protein and 8-isoprostane levels. In conclusion, we have established a simple method for evaluating rat serum oxidized albumin using HPLC. Our method is rapid and has an advantage over conventional methods and may be useful for animal models of oxidative stress.

This paper investigates a horticultural community's approaches to developing new farming practices to mitigate climate change induced food insecurity. Drawing on the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) from cultural-historical activity theory, the paper illustrates how the strong cultural and historical attachment to existing practices plays as significant a role as the intractitability and unpredictability of the changing rainfalls in mediating community members' investment in new practices. The study suggests what is perceived as 'safe', materially and socially, is playing a central role in setting the boundary of their ZPD.

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

Albumin has an oxidized form, known as non-mercaptalbumin (HNA), which reflects systemic oxidative stress. The association between serum HNA levels and diabetic complications are yet to be reported. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated 164 diabetic subjects to assess the correlation between HNA% (the proportion in the total albumin) and various clinical parameters. HNA% was significantly associated with the severity of multiple complications including neuropathy (23.3 ± 4.1% vs 26.2 ± 5.1%) and nephropathy (24.1 ± 3.9%, 24.6 ± 4.2%, 28.5 ± 6.1%, 31.3 ± 5.7%, 37.8 ± 2.9%, stage 1/2/3/4/5, respectively). These findings highlight the universal importance of oxidative stress, indicating HNA% potential as a versatile marker of the severity of diabetic complications., Highlights • Albumin has an oxidized form, known as non-mercaptalbumin (HNA), which reflects systemic oxidative stress. • This is the first report indicating that HNA% is significantly associated with severity of multiple diabetes complications. • HNA% may serve as a universal marker representing status of systemic complications in patients with diabetes.

Edited by Keiko Yasukawa, Alan Rogers, Kara Jackson and Brian Street Routledge, London and New York, 2018, 260 pages. ISBN 9781138284449

The purpose of this chapter is to develop an inclusive and coherent discussion about research developments within numeracy while, at the same time, highlighting the contributions of its different facets. These facets include two broad contexts in which numeracy development and practices take place, schooling/initial teacher education and the workplace, and two centred on specific areas of mathematical content, statistical and financial literacy. Research in this review is analysed through the dimensions of the Model of Numeracy for the 21st Century—contexts, mathematical knowledge, tools, dispositions and critical orientation. The chapter concludes with a discussion of potential new directions for numeracy research.

Oxidative stress is reportedly associated with many diseases such as cancer, arteriosclerosis, diabetes and aging, but no practical biomarkers are currently available in actual clinical practice. Human mercaptoalbumin (HMA) and human non-mercaptoalbumin (HNA) are expected to become markers of oxidative stress, but the stability of HMA/HNA has been problematic. We investigated the conditions for stabilizing HMA/HNA and found that HMA/HNA was stable at room temperature for 25 h if whole blood samples were mixed with a citrate buffer so that the citric acid concentration after mixing was 70 mM or higher and the pH of the added buffer was less than pH 6.0. Whole blood samples were then collected under the above conditions, and the reference range for HNA was set at 21.8% ± 7.4% (HMA, 78.2% ± 7.4%) based on samples from 65 volunteers (28 males and 37 females; average age, 55.0 ± 13.8 years). The clinical usefulness of HMA/HNA as an oxidative stress marker should be clarified for specific pathological conditions using the previously reported, highly accurate measurement method under the conditions required for HMA/HNA stability., Highlights • We identified the conditions under which human mercaptoalbumin and non-mercaptoalbumin were stable. • The reference range for non-mercaptoalbumin was defined under the above conditions. • An accurate measurement method and specimen stabilization are important for evaluating the clinical usefulness of measuring oxidized albumin levels. • The clinical usefulness of HMA/HNA will be clarified using highly accurate measurement method under stable conditions.

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.

Editorial by Keiko Yasukawa

Oxidative stress plays a major role in development of cardiovascular disease in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Human mercaptalbumin (HMA), a reduced form of serum albumin, and non-mercaptalbumin (HNA), an oxidized form of serum albumin, are known as indicators for evaluating oxidative stress in systemic circulation, including end-stage renal disease cases. We investigated factors associated with fraction of HNA [f(HNA)] in 112 pre-dialysis CKD patients (63.6 ± 14.0 years old; 59 males, 53 females) using a newly established anion-exchange column packed with hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol gel as well as high performance liquid chromatography. Mean f(HNA) in our CKD patients was 30.0 ± 6.1%, higher than that previously reported for healthy subjects. In multiple regression analysis, age (β = 0.200, p = 0.014), eGFR (β = −0.238, p = 0.009), hemoglobin (β = −0.346, p 2 = 0.356, p 2D) (β = −0.178, p = 0.040), were significantly and independently associated with serum f(HNA) (R2 = 0.339, p

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.

In this issue of Literacy and Numeracy Studies, Theres Bellander and Zoe Nikolaidou examine the online health literacy practices of parents whose child or unborn foetus has been diagnosed with a heart defect, and Julie Choi and Ulrike Najar report on their study of the authors’ English language teaching of immigrant and refugee women in Australia.

This document contains notes about the authors within this issue.

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.

Notes on Contributors