A profile of men's sheds in Australia: Patterns, purposes, profiles and experiences of participants: Some implications for ACE and VET about engaging older men
- Authors: Golding, Barry
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at Global VET: Challenges at the global, national and local levels Conference 2006, Wollongong, New South Wales : 19th April, 2006
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- Description: This paper uses literature and survey results to explore several issues associated with the emergence and development of community-based men’s sheds in Australia and their relationship to both community and further education and the training system. It develops a series of questions about these developments and their relationship to the development of men as learners as well as the nature of education and voluntary organisations. The confirms for the first time, using compelling and rigorously collected survey data from participants, the critical value of men’s sheds in community settings in Australia to older men’s well being: particularly to their health, social enjoyment, ongoing learning capacity and ability to contribute to the community. The sheds, relatively recently created, now provide a valuable and critically important place for a wide range of mainly older men within safe, supervised settings in where approximately 150 such sheds are now found in southern Australia. They allow men to regularly meet and happily socialise, mainly with other men with tools, in a safe, familiar, shared workspace in a wide range of communities, situations and organisational types. The men who use men’s sheds respond positively to environments that allow them to feel at home and learn by doing, in practical, group situations with other men. This paper confirms the high potential of men’s sheds, if carefully configured and managed, to include and support men experiencing issues associated with retirement, health, social isolation, aging and significant change.
- Description: E1
- Description: 2003002043
Barriers to higher education for Australian rural students
- Authors: Sewell, Jessica
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural Social Work and Community Practice Vol. 10, no. 2 (2006), p. 23-27
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- Description: This article considers the barriers to higher education currently faced by rural students in Australia. Three barriers to participation in higher education for rural students that appear consistently in the literature are financial pressures, family and community attributes, and physical location. Results of recent studies in this area suggest that these factors often coexist to create one, complex and intertwined barrier which needs to be approach by all involved in a collaborative and cooperative way in order to provide rural people with equitable access to higher education.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001979
Changing fluxes of sediments and salts as recorded in lower River Murray wetlands, Australia
- Authors: Gell, Peter , Fluin, Jennie , Tibby, John , Haynes, Deborah , Khanum, Syeda , Walsh, Brendan , Hancock, Gary , Harrison, Jennifer , Zawadzki, Atun , Little, Fiona
- Date: 2006
- Type: Conference proceedings
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- Description: The River Murray basin, Australia's largest, has been significantly impacted by changed flow regimes and increased fluxes of salts and sediments since settlement in the 1840s. The river's flood plain hosts an array of cut-off meanders, levee lakes and basin depression lakes that archive historical changes. Pre-European sedimentation rates are typically approx. 0.1-1 mm year-1, while those in the period after European arrival are typically 10 to 30 fold greater. This increased sedimentation corresponds to a shift in wetland trophic state from submerged macrophytes in clear waters to phytoplankton-dominated, turbid systems. There is evidence for a decline in sedimentation in some natural wetlands after river regulation from the 1920s, but with the maintenance of the phytoplankton state. Fossil diatom assemblages reveal that, while some wetlands had saline episodes before settlement, others became saline after, and as early as the 1880s. The oxidation of sulphurous salts deposited after regulation has induced hyperacidity in a number of wetlands in recent years. While these wetlands are rightly perceived as being heavily impacted, other, once open water systems, that have infilled and now support rich macrophyte beds, are used as interpretive sites. The rate of filling, however, suggests that the lifespan of these wetlands is short. The rate of wetland loss through such increased infilling is unlikely to be matched by future scouring as regulation has eliminated middle order floods from the lower catchment.
Development and validation of the human activity profile into Chinese language : Lessons in determining equivalence
- Authors: Bonner, Ann , Wellard, Sally , Kenrick, Marita
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Nursing and Health Sciences Vol. 8, no. 1 (2006), p. 36-43
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- Description: The Human Activity Profile (HAP), and associated Dyspnea Scale, is a self-report instrument for assessing levels of human activity. Although it has been used in studies examining the levels of activity in people, it is limited to people who are only able to understand English. However, many countries are multicultural with significant numbers of people whose native language is not English. This study sought to demonstrate the equivalence between the Chinese and English versions of the HAP and Dyspnea scales.Thirty-five bilingual university students completed both the Chinese and English versions of each questionnaire. There was 89% and 85% agreement between items across the HAP and Dyspnea Scale questionnaires, respectively. Although the psychometric evaluations suggested there was equivalence between the Chinese and English versions of both the HAP and Dyspnea Scale, lessons have been learnt regarding the different written forms of Chinese. © 2006 The Authors Journal Compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001972
Effects of commuting status upon community involvement of professionals in rural North West Victoria
- Authors: Devers, Deanna
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- Description: Because mobility is associated with rural social decline, this two-phase cross sectional study investigates whether social patterns in small, rural Australian towns are affected by commuting. Quantitative data, which was gathered via a mail-out questionnaire (response = 54 per cent) that was issued to 1,040 occupationally diverse professionals who worked in fourteen towns throughout north-western Victoria, was analysed to determine whether commuting and non-commuting professionals differed significantly in their community involvement. To explain why certain relationships emerged from survey analysis, face-toface interviews were subsequently undertaken with 24 questionnaire respondents. The key finding of this study is that there is a significant relationship between commuting status and the retention of rural professionals. A significantly greater proportion of noncommuters than commuters remain working in the one location for longer than five years. This finding has important implications for the sustainability of rural areas.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Ergonomics interventions as investments in occupational health and safety : A selected series of case studies within the Australian postal corporation
- Authors: Nelson, David
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- Description: This thesis examines and reports upon the application of ergonomics interventions to OHS-based industrial problems. The study focuses on the values of these interventions as investment opportunieties for management. A wide review of the scientific and commercial literature, personal information, observation techniques, and a selected series of seven case studies and eleven separate data-sets within the Australian Postal Corporation have been undertaken.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Sleeping with strangers : Hospitality in colonial Victoria
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of hospitality and tourism management Vol. 13, no. 1 (2006), p. 1-9
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- Description: The purpose of this article is to describe and document the nascent state of hospitality in colonial Victoria from the 1830s until the gold rushes of 1850s. The primary source of such an account is the personal journal of a public servant, George Augustus Robinson, the Chief Protector of the Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate Department, perhaps the European with the most experience of travelling throughout the Port Phillip District. Accounts from other contemporary sources are used to complement Robinson's observations.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001793
The book that never was : The biography of Sir Robert Gibson
- Authors: Millmow, Alex
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society Vol. 92, no. 2 (2006), p. 183-201
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- Description: This paper celebrates the life of a businessman and central banker who, in the depression years, outshone and prevailed over both Theodore and Jack Lang. One member of the Scullin Cabinet, the fiery radical Frank Anstey recalled that 'with his seven year tenure in his pocket he was more than ever Prime Minister and the elected government was only the tube through which he issued orders'. The puzzle then is why Gibson has not received the coverage and attention that he deserves. While there has been a brief memoir of Gibson by Schedvin, no biography of him exists. Just after Gibson dies in 1934 the Commonwealth Bank, with the support of Gibson's Melbourne-based business and banking associates, was intent upon commissioning a short biography with University of Melbourne historian Sir Ernest Scott (1867-1939) assigned to undertake the task. At the same time on one of Gibson's daughters, Phyllis, wrote a doting, but incomplete, memoir of her father. The draft was never completed nor circulated but it led to an interesting sequel.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001784
The E-factor : Advancing women entrepreneurs in the digital economy
- Authors: Braun, Patrice
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Asian Pacific Women's Information Network Center Vol. 8, no. (2006), p. 99-109
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- Description: With the rise of globalisation, technological innovation, diffusion of information via the Internet, and related changes in business values and beliefs, countries, regions, governments and institutions everywhere are facing changing conditions for competitive advantage (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000). Globalisation allows companies of all sizes, even micro and small and medium size enterprises (SME) which were once unable to compete with larger firms, to participate in new markets and reduce costs. Deregulated markets allow for more competition as well as better product offering and prices for small businesses.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003002171
Tourism skills delivery : Sharing tourism knowledge online
- Authors: Braun, Patrice , Hollick, Mary
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Education and Training Vol. 48, no. 8-9 (2006), p. 693-703
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- Description: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to share the authors' initial insights into tourism industry capacity building via flexibly delivered online skilling and knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach - An online research survey approach was employed, involving a sample of 64 micro tourism operators. Findings - The paper finds that the major benefits perceived by operators across the pilot region, were the time saving aspects demonstrated in the smart form concept. Operators were also drawn in by the best practise examples and direct links to the online resources to bring and keep them up to date with industry information and developments. Research limitations/implications - The data presented in this paper represent initial findings of the pilot project. The project has since been completed. Practical implications - The model used for the pilot in this paper has been adopted by the Tourism Accreditation Board of Victoria and is now being considered for national rollout across Australia. The model is a practical and replicable capacity building model for micro tourism operators anywhere. Originality/value - The paper adopts a collaborative learning network approach to micro business capacity building and training.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001777
Arid land vegetation dynamics after a rare flooding event : influence of fire and grazing
- Authors: Westbrooke, Martin , Florentine, Singarayer , Milberg, Per
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Arid Environments Vol. 61, no. 2 (Apr 2005), p. 249-260
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- Description: Arid vegetation is subjected to more or less frequent fire, drought, and sporadic flooding events and grazing. Whilst fire, drought and grazing have been the subject of considerable research, little is known of the impact of flooding in arid environments. In this study we examined opportunistically the effects of a flooding event, and its interaction with fire and grazing on moulding arid vegetation in New South Wales, Australia. We assessed vegetation approximately 2 and 5 years after recession of the water in fenced and unfenced plots subjected to different combinations of flooding and fire. Number of species per area dropped from 11.8 to 5.7 per 625 m(2). Vegetation in plots left open to grazing by vertebrates differed from fenced plots, but the amount of variation explained was small compared with flooding and the change over time. The taxa mostly associated with flooding were Eragrostis spp., Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum and the exotic Nicotiana glauca. Major flooding events not only trigger native species' germination and recruitment but may also create an avenue for exotic species to invade. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001050
Developing policy for Australia's small towns : From anthropology to sustainability
- Authors: Courvisanos, Jerry , Martin, John
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at the Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities (CSRC) 2nd National Conference on the future of Australia's Country Towns, Latrobe, Bendigo : 11th February, 2005
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- Description: Over the last three decades the way in which public policy analysts learn about the structure and function of Australia’s small towns has shifted from the intensive, in-depth analysis provided by the anthropologist living in the community (called “community studies”) to a more empirically oriented, demographic-based research carried out at a distance from these places (called “sustainability studies”). Rather than just understanding the functioning of small towns through case studies, recent research emphasis has centred on the more “aggregative” question of small town sustainability in all it forms. This alters the way in which small towns are viewed and complicates the current policy approaches to small town development and change. This paper identifies the two different methodologies implied by these divergent approaches and examines what this means to understanding of small towns and the policy implications that emerge. By reviewing the community studies approach to learning about small towns popular in the 1960s and 1970s, and contrasting this approach with recent, more aggregative approaches to learning about the sustainability of towns; this paper aims to find points of alignment and suggest a broader research framework that incorporates both approaches. This provides a comprehensive understanding of small towns, leading to a more effective development of public policies for these communities.
- Description: E1
- Description: 2003001308
Discursive Australia : Public discussion of refugees in the early twenty-first century
- Authors: Rodan, Debbie , Mummery, Jane
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at the 2nd Annual Conference of the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion, Sydney : 27th - 28th September, 2004
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- Description: This paper interrogates recurring discourses in Australia’s public domain with regards to the issue of refugees and Australianness, and how they have been used to ratify notions of inclusion and exclusion with regards to what being Australian - or indeed being un-Australian - does and should mean. The unpacking of these primary discursive positions will be based on an analysis of the letters to the editor published in both The Australian (Australia’s national newspaper) and The West Australian, covering one key period from 22 January to 28 February 2002 (a period encompassing the Woomera hunger strike).
- Description: E1
- Description: 2003001231
Elevated levels of herbivory in urban landscapes: Are declines in tree health more than an edge effect?
- Authors: Christie, Fiona , Hochuli, Dieter
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Ecology and Society Vol. 10, no. 1 (2005), p.
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- Description: Urbanization is one of the most extreme and rapidly growing anthropogenic pressures on the natural world. Urban development has led to substantial fragmentation of areas of natural habitat, resulting in significant impacts on biodiversity and disruptions to ecological processes. We investigated the levels of leaf damage caused by invertebrates in a dominant canopy species in urban remnants in a highly fragmented urban landscape in Sydney, Australia, by assessing the frequency and extent of chewing and surface damage of leaves in urban remnants compared to the edges and interiors of continuous areas of vegetation. Although no difference was detected in the frequency of leaves showing signs of damage at small, edge, and interior sites, small sites suffered significantly greater levels of leaf damage than did interior sites. Trees at edge sites showed intermediate levels of damage, suggesting that edge effects alone are not the cause of higher levels of herbivory. These findings are the first to demonstrate the effects of urbanization on invertebrate damage in dominant trees at coarse scales. This is consistent with hypotheses predicting that changes in species composition through urban fragmentation affect ecological interactions. Copyright © 2005 by the author(s).
Habitat use and distribution of the Beautiful Firetail (Stagonopleura bella) in foothill forests of the Victorian Highlands, Australia
- Authors: Palmer, Grant
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: EMU Vol. 105, no. 3 (2005), p. 233-239
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- Description: The Beautiful Firetail (Stagonopleura bella) is an uncommon, granivorous finch from coastal south-eastern Australia, with a distribution extending from mid-coastal New South Wales to south-eastern South Australia, including Tasmania. This paper presents a quantitative assessment of habitat use by the Beautiful Firetail based on data collected from 30 paired riparian and non-riparian sites in the foothill forests of the Victorian Highlands, Australia. The Beautiful Firetail occurred in two of the three forest blocks surveyed and was found almost exclusively at riparian sites. The Beautiful Firetail was most likely to occur at riparian sites on the coastal fall of the ranges at sites with high sedge cover and low cover of shrubs and bare ground. The species occurred at low densities (0.10-0.19 individuals ha-1) throughout the year. Records from the Atlas of Victorian Wildlife were used to describe the distribution of Beautiful Firetails in Victoria. Notable observations inland of the Great Dividing Range were recorded during the present study. Further study is required to understand the ecological requirements of the Beautiful Firetail throughout its range. © Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union 2005.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001091
Progress in Australia over the 20th century : the ups, downs and reversals that occurred in Australian human wellbeing over the 20th century
- Authors: Gathercole, Michael
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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- Description: "This study is an investigation of progress in Australia over the 20th century. Progress is defined here as the enhancement of human wellbeing. For the purposes of this study, human wellbeing will be characterised by five main components: knowledge, environment, economy, individual and social. Enhancement refers to positive directional change in terms of these components. The study firstly develops a framework to conceptualise progress. It then collects and uses statistical data in a descriptive study of what happened in Australia, over those 100 years, in terms of progress in general and in terms of its components. The study also develops a typology of relationships for models of progress, which best explain the Australian data. This study finally explores some of the relationships between the elements that make up the components of progress and looks at ways to best explain what has happened..." --p.1.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
The accessibility/remoteness index of Australia (ARIA) and lifeline Australia's calls
- Authors: Watson, Robert , McDonald, John , Pearce, Dora
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at the 8th National Rural Health Conference, Alice Springs : 10th - 13th March, 2005
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- Description: Nationally there are more than 50 member centres and sub-centres of Lifeline Australia’s telephone counselling and referral service, providing an equitable, free, anonymous, and highly accessible primary health resource. The accessibility of this service may mean that it has a particularly important role to play in contributing to the health and well-being of rural and remote Australians. The trained volunteer counsellors of the service receive more than 400 000 calls annually. Information on many of these calls is recorded by telephone counsellors in Lifeline’s Client Service Management Information System (CSMIS). The purpose of this study was to establish if a relationship between the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) and calls to Lifeline Australia could be found. Population standardised areal call rates to Lifeline Ballarat were compiled using Telstra exchange service area to test the hypothesis that a positive relationship between the call rates to the service and the ARIA would be found. 90 128 CSMIS cases from 2003 were examined to explore if any linear relationship between caller characteristics and a centre’s ARIA score were apparent. A number of significant associations with the ARIA scores and CSMIS call variables were observed. However, the hypothesis that a positive relationship between call rates to the service and the ARIA would be found was not supported. An important implication of this exploratory study is that Lifeline’s telephone counselling and referral service may need to be promoted more widely to rural clients and health care providers.
- Description: E1
- Description: 2003001236
The impact of complex social processes, observation and reflective thinking on teacher learning and practice
- Authors: McGraw, Amanda
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at NIE International Conference 2005: Redesigning Pedagogy: Research, Policy, Practice, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore : 30th May - 1st June 2005
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- Description: In an educational climate sharply focused on school improvement, a large Australian multi-campus secondary college has developed a formal and ongoing partnership with the School of Education at their regional university. This paper examines one of the initiatives they developed together; an approach aptly called Collaborative Learning Partnerships that aims to enable teachers to learn more deeply in the context of their work through critical reflection, self-analysis, collaborative planning processes, substantive conversation and the testing of new ideas and approaches. The initial concept was inspired by the growing body of research that indicates that teachers make the fundamental difference to students' learning. If teacher learning became a real priority in the college it was felt that students'; learning would subsequently be enhanced. How then could the classroom, the space where teachers spend most of their working time, be used as a context in which teachers too could learn deeply about their role and the complexity of their work? This paper points to the influence of complex social processes that are at play when teachers work together in this way and to the understandings about learning itself that are surfaced through such processes.
Value of Victorian Aboriginal clan names for toponymic research
- Authors: Clark, Ian
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: The Globe Vol. 57, no. (2005), p. 13-16
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- Description: This paper discusses the value of clan name research as a means of uncovering Aboriginal place names. It argues that clan names are able to provide a layer of place names that in some instances is the only source of information available to researchers of indigenous toponymy. They are an important data set that is useful in the mapping of Aboriginal spatial organization.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001174
Vice-chancellors for the 21st Century? A study of contemporary recruitment and selection practices in Australian universities
- Authors: O'Meara, Bernard , Petzall, Stanley
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Management Research News Vol. 28, no. 9 (2005), p. 18-35
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- Description: This article is based on recent Ph.D research. The practices for appointing Vice Chancellors (VC’s) in Australian Universities were examined, together with the changing role of the VC and new demographic patterns in VC backgrounds. A number of other issues were also examined, including the training and preparation of VC’s, mentoring and the changing skill base required to be effective in the role. In addition, the paradox was investigated of appointing academics from the ranks of individuals with non-business backgrounds, to run large enterprises which are being compelled to adopt an increasingly business-oriented focus.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001175