Description:
This paper develops an analysis of innovation based on Allen Oakley's (2002) primary themes of ontological priority, agency-structure and critical realism. I develop a history of thought and contemporaneous endogenous view of innovation in an environment of uncertainty, potential novelty and policy priority. Drawing on the literature of Austrian, institutional, Schumpeterian, Penrosean and other schools, I explore a continuum of agency-structure relationships that enhance innovation. These relationships cover environments that are based on agency and contingency, through to those that balance contingency with containment (structure), and situations that are heavily contained. The literature on innovation is investigated vis-à-vis the degree to which different environments encourage creative, original marketable opportunities for the common good. Innovation policy-making is then investigated through the traverse process of irreversibility, and within a retroductionist planning process. Overall, I seek to advance the cause of realism through innovations generated in different environments.
Description:
This paper develops an analysis of innovation based on Allen Oakley's (2002) primary themes of ontological priority, agency-structure and critical realism. I develop a history of thought and contemporaneous endogenous view of innovation in an environment of uncertainty, potential novelty and policy priority. Drawing on the literature of Austrian, institutional, Schumpeterian, Penrosean and other schools, I explore a continuum of agency-structure relationships that enhance innovation. These relationships cover environments that are based on agency and contingency, through to those that balance contingency with containment (structure), and situations that are heavily contained. The literature on innovation is investigated vis-à-vis the degree to which different environments encourage creative, original marketable opportunities for the common good. Innovation policy-making is then investigated through the traverse process of irreversibility, and within a retroductionist planning process. Overall, I seek to advance the cause of realism through innovations generated in different environments.
Description:
The key issue of concern behind this study was that there have been recent concerns about the gender-based discrepancies in morbidity and mortality rates amongst men and the scant attention generally held by Australian men towards their own health and well-being ... the models of education that have emerged from this research as being appropriate for health delivery advice to urban, rural and disenfranchised men, suggest effective ways to reach out to Australian males.
Description:
The key issue of concern behind this study was that there have been recent concerns about the gender-based discrepancies in morbidity and mortality rates amongst men and the scant attention generally held by Australian men towards their own health and well-being ... the models of education that have emerged from this research as being appropriate for health delivery advice to urban, rural and disenfranchised men, suggest effective ways to reach out to Australian males.
Description:
"The first report describes a case of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in a pregnant women living in regional Australia. It begins with a discussion of issues of relevance to the treatment of a pregnant woman with MDD. It also describes the evidence based treatment provided and the results achieved for this client. The second report follows the same format to describe a case of PTSD in a married mother living in regional Australia following a suicide attempt. The third report describes a case of Bipolar I disorder in a separated mother living in regional Australia. Finally, fourth report explores the professional and ethical issues associated with the practice of clinical psychology [...]. This report explores professional issues which include self-care requirements and strategies, initial client contact, communication with colleagues and professional development and client records. Ethical issues covered include professional competency, termination of relationships and confidentiality."
Description:
"The first report describes a case of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in a pregnant women living in regional Australia. It begins with a discussion of issues of relevance to the treatment of a pregnant woman with MDD. It also describes the evidence based treatment provided and the results achieved for this client. The second report follows the same format to describe a case of PTSD in a married mother living in regional Australia following a suicide attempt. The third report describes a case of Bipolar I disorder in a separated mother living in regional Australia. Finally, fourth report explores the professional and ethical issues associated with the practice of clinical psychology [...]. This report explores professional issues which include self-care requirements and strategies, initial client contact, communication with colleagues and professional development and client records. Ethical issues covered include professional competency, termination of relationships and confidentiality."
Description:
"This dissertation illustrates an interdisciplinary sport science approach to further understand the interaction between physiology and performance in tennis. An integral theme throughout the experimental phases was the emphasis on obtaining information from actual competitive scenarios or settings that simulated a match environment. [...] This study extended the work of similar investigations through the multifaceted methods in which performance was quantified. Overall the thesis provides unique insight into the physiological demands of professional tournament tennis and the constraints these impose on performance. Furthermore, evidence was accrued to support some of the common preparatory and in-match behaviours used by players to enhance performance."
Description:
"This dissertation illustrates an interdisciplinary sport science approach to further understand the interaction between physiology and performance in tennis. An integral theme throughout the experimental phases was the emphasis on obtaining information from actual competitive scenarios or settings that simulated a match environment. [...] This study extended the work of similar investigations through the multifaceted methods in which performance was quantified. Overall the thesis provides unique insight into the physiological demands of professional tournament tennis and the constraints these impose on performance. Furthermore, evidence was accrued to support some of the common preparatory and in-match behaviours used by players to enhance performance."
Description:
This brief review of learning by men not in work in Australia and the UK is undertaken in the context of recent increases in the population share of such men. It explores difficulties they experience equitably accessing lifelong learning as well as the wellbeing benefits accrued from learning informally.
Description:
This brief review of learning by men not in work in Australia and the UK is undertaken in the context of recent increases in the population share of such men. It explores difficulties they experience equitably accessing lifelong learning as well as the wellbeing benefits accrued from learning informally.
Description:
Victorians aged 65 years and over are classified as ‘old’, yet many are able to remain living at home in a rural area, maintain health, retain a sense of wellbeing, and lead productive lives without requiring extraordinary assistance to do so. As such, these older people are exemplars of healthy ageing. This qualitative study examined the stories of older people who were living in that moment to answer questions about the meaning of ageing and living at home in a rural community for older people and the measures used to sustain that lifestyle. Rich descriptions were gathered through face-to-face interviews with ten older people living at home in various rural areas of Victoria. Their stories describe personal perceptions and philosophies of ageing and ‘being old’, life as a rural living older person and individual means of meeting declining physical dexterity. This study describes the acumen of a small group of rural living older people from whom much can be learnt. However, further research with larger populations of older people would enhance learning opportunities for other Australians who similarly wish to achieve positive healthy ageing whilst living at home in a rural community.
Description:
Victorians aged 65 years and over are classified as ‘old’, yet many are able to remain living at home in a rural area, maintain health, retain a sense of wellbeing, and lead productive lives without requiring extraordinary assistance to do so. As such, these older people are exemplars of healthy ageing. This qualitative study examined the stories of older people who were living in that moment to answer questions about the meaning of ageing and living at home in a rural community for older people and the measures used to sustain that lifestyle. Rich descriptions were gathered through face-to-face interviews with ten older people living at home in various rural areas of Victoria. Their stories describe personal perceptions and philosophies of ageing and ‘being old’, life as a rural living older person and individual means of meeting declining physical dexterity. This study describes the acumen of a small group of rural living older people from whom much can be learnt. However, further research with larger populations of older people would enhance learning opportunities for other Australians who similarly wish to achieve positive healthy ageing whilst living at home in a rural community.
Description:
This paper explores the value electronic governance initiatives which take the form of an online community. Theory relevant to community informatics and online communities is reviewed. The case study for the Young Australian Rural Network (YARN) is then presented to draw out some of the benefits, challenges and learning that can be experienced in operationalising online initiatives. YARN (www.yarn.gov.au) is an initiative of the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). It is an interactive online community for young people working in rural industries. It provides a ‘vehicle’ for young people to communicate directly with DAFF and to keep in touch with each other, collaborate, share ideas and strengthen networks. The establishment of YARN was supported by research undertaken during 2001 which confirmed that the Internet represented a powerful communication channel for reaching young people. In June 2002 DAFF recruited a person with the primary responsibility of overseeing the establishment and ongoing development of an online community where ‘ownership’ would be shared between DAFF and young people in rural industries. DAFF clearly understood that functionality could be created but that an online community would not exist unless its members were actively involved and interacting with each other. Through YARN the Federal Government has established a practical mechanism for achieving many of the promises of electronic governance.
Description:
This paper explores the value electronic governance initiatives which take the form of an online community. Theory relevant to community informatics and online communities is reviewed. The case study for the Young Australian Rural Network (YARN) is then presented to draw out some of the benefits, challenges and learning that can be experienced in operationalising online initiatives. YARN (www.yarn.gov.au) is an initiative of the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). It is an interactive online community for young people working in rural industries. It provides a ‘vehicle’ for young people to communicate directly with DAFF and to keep in touch with each other, collaborate, share ideas and strengthen networks. The establishment of YARN was supported by research undertaken during 2001 which confirmed that the Internet represented a powerful communication channel for reaching young people. In June 2002 DAFF recruited a person with the primary responsibility of overseeing the establishment and ongoing development of an online community where ‘ownership’ would be shared between DAFF and young people in rural industries. DAFF clearly understood that functionality could be created but that an online community would not exist unless its members were actively involved and interacting with each other. Through YARN the Federal Government has established a practical mechanism for achieving many of the promises of electronic governance.
Description:
The consequences of introducing riparian shade on in-stream community structure has not been well explored in south-eastern Australia. With catchment managers focusing on revegetation of riparian zones, there is a need to understand, monitor, and predict changes in ecological patters and processes that may take place as a system shifts from an open to a shaded stream community. Presented in this thesis is a conceptual model portraying possible responses of a macrophyte community to light reduction as a result of the introduction of riparian vegetation. This model was tested in the field by artificially shading sites (three shade treatments) to observe the direct effects of light reduction on Phragmites australis growth and structure and flow-on effects to associated in-stream biota."
Description:
The consequences of introducing riparian shade on in-stream community structure has not been well explored in south-eastern Australia. With catchment managers focusing on revegetation of riparian zones, there is a need to understand, monitor, and predict changes in ecological patters and processes that may take place as a system shifts from an open to a shaded stream community. Presented in this thesis is a conceptual model portraying possible responses of a macrophyte community to light reduction as a result of the introduction of riparian vegetation. This model was tested in the field by artificially shading sites (three shade treatments) to observe the direct effects of light reduction on Phragmites australis growth and structure and flow-on effects to associated in-stream biota."
Description:
What can the examination of silence and the unsaid in teacher education classrooms contribute to our understandings as learners and to our ways of knowing as teacher educators? This paper explores the ways in which the silences were identified, constructed and enacted within the Teaching and Learning Mathematics units of the Bachelorof Education course. This self-study research was conducted as a means of systematically monitoring a reconcepualised and reorganised approach to teaching and learning mathematics in the Bachelor of Education Course at the University of Ballarat, Australia.
Description:
What can the examination of silence and the unsaid in teacher education classrooms contribute to our understandings as learners and to our ways of knowing as teacher educators? This paper explores the ways in which the silences were identified, constructed and enacted within the Teaching and Learning Mathematics units of the Bachelorof Education course. This self-study research was conducted as a means of systematically monitoring a reconcepualised and reorganised approach to teaching and learning mathematics in the Bachelor of Education Course at the University of Ballarat, Australia.
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:
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:
This article reports the outcomes of a study on the nature of the change process when a regional tourism network seeks to adopt e-commerce. The study builds on Rogers' seminal work on the diffusion of innovations and makes a unique contribution to existing ICT diffusion studies by its focus on the nature of the network links and by its application of an action-oriented methodology to untangle the effects of the embedded network structure. The study suggests a strong relationship between diffusion and network positioning, both in terms of place (status and position in the network) and space (the geographic make-up of the network). Diffusion additionally hinged on network cohesion and actors' trust in and engagement with the network.
Description:
This article reports the outcomes of a study on the nature of the change process when a regional tourism network seeks to adopt e-commerce. The study builds on Rogers' seminal work on the diffusion of innovations and makes a unique contribution to existing ICT diffusion studies by its focus on the nature of the network links and by its application of an action-oriented methodology to untangle the effects of the embedded network structure. The study suggests a strong relationship between diffusion and network positioning, both in terms of place (status and position in the network) and space (the geographic make-up of the network). Diffusion additionally hinged on network cohesion and actors' trust in and engagement with the network.
Description:
Objective: To describe and rate the quality of methodological approaches used to measure parental supervision in relation to injury risk in children aged 0-14 years. Design: A systematic review of the literature related to supervision and injury risk. Methods: A comprehensive search of electronic databases from the earliest records available to the end of 2007, and supplemental hand-searching of relevant journals, reference lists of studies identified through database searches, and bibliographies of systematic and non-systematic reviews. A classification scale was used to rate the methodological quality of studies. Results: 30 papers met the inclusion criteria. They varied substantially in quality, and no meta-analyses or randomised controlled trials were identified. Fifteen studies used self-report approaches, asking parents or care givers to report through recording diaries, interviews and questionnaires and were considered of low quality; 11 studies reconstructed injury outcomes retrospectively. Observational studies were conducted in both laboratory and natural settings (n=6), and these studies were generally of higher quality than self-report methods. Conclusions: The quality of many supervision and child injury risk studies is low to moderate. Further development of methodological approaches is needed to improve studies of the relationship between supervision and child injury risk.
Description:
Objective: To describe and rate the quality of methodological approaches used to measure parental supervision in relation to injury risk in children aged 0-14 years. Design: A systematic review of the literature related to supervision and injury risk. Methods: A comprehensive search of electronic databases from the earliest records available to the end of 2007, and supplemental hand-searching of relevant journals, reference lists of studies identified through database searches, and bibliographies of systematic and non-systematic reviews. A classification scale was used to rate the methodological quality of studies. Results: 30 papers met the inclusion criteria. They varied substantially in quality, and no meta-analyses or randomised controlled trials were identified. Fifteen studies used self-report approaches, asking parents or care givers to report through recording diaries, interviews and questionnaires and were considered of low quality; 11 studies reconstructed injury outcomes retrospectively. Observational studies were conducted in both laboratory and natural settings (n=6), and these studies were generally of higher quality than self-report methods. Conclusions: The quality of many supervision and child injury risk studies is low to moderate. Further development of methodological approaches is needed to improve studies of the relationship between supervision and child injury risk.
Description:
In this paper, we propose and describe sProxy - smart proxy, a software tool in Web Services transaction. sProxy acts as a gateway between transaction management systems and Web services which implements a key abstraction of proxy management systems. This enables to perform transactions in the loosely coupled environment i.e. loose coupling among services. Proxies are useful to invoke Web services to allow an easy programming model that facilitates the serialization and transmission of service invocations. Our proposed model supports relaxation of traditional ACID properties with existing commit and recovery protocols. The model works on non-ACID type of transactions which encapsulates Web services. It also uses multithreading proxies to check and update transaction simultaneously. The proposed model solves the current problems with distributed computational activities which involves both transactions and Web Services. The proposed model is more abstract and generic as demonstrated in the paper.
Description:
In this paper, we propose and describe sProxy - smart proxy, a software tool in Web Services transaction. sProxy acts as a gateway between transaction management systems and Web services which implements a key abstraction of proxy management systems. This enables to perform transactions in the loosely coupled environment i.e. loose coupling among services. Proxies are useful to invoke Web services to allow an easy programming model that facilitates the serialization and transmission of service invocations. Our proposed model supports relaxation of traditional ACID properties with existing commit and recovery protocols. The model works on non-ACID type of transactions which encapsulates Web services. It also uses multithreading proxies to check and update transaction simultaneously. The proposed model solves the current problems with distributed computational activities which involves both transactions and Web Services. The proposed model is more abstract and generic as demonstrated in the paper.
Description:
"Tradition and how far writers fit into or diverge from the demands of tradition is one of the most debated issues in literary discussion. Gender, however, is not often part of discussions which depend on such questions at the decisiveness of the Modernist break with the Victorian period or whether Postmodernism makes tradition meaningless. By contrast the very existence of a specifically female tradition is still an urgent subject of debate, and it is clear that many nineteenth-century women writers were troubled in their search for literary foremothers. This autobiographical impetus can be located in the work of each of the poets discussed in Tradition and the Poetics of Self Nineteenth-Century Womens Poetry: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Caroline Bowles Southey, Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti. An exploration of the self, either in the abstract or in a more closely personal sense, appears in a concern with the craft of poetry and the role of the poet, in a teasing out of language as a marker of a personal encounter with the world, in an adventurous play with genre and a rewriting of myth, and in a bold confrontation with received notions of a womans place. Adventurousness marks the work of each of these poets and is a central focus of these essays."
Description:
This study examines the drivers of reputation formation for mining companies and the mining industry’s perception of the drivers of reputation formation for its stakeholders’. Building on past research in stakeholder theory, corporate reputation and corporate citizenship, I argue that companies need to manage the reputations of each of their stakeholder groups. I further argue that for companies to successfully manage their reputations an understanding of the interrelationships between the various reputations held by stakeholders is required. Moreover, I argue that industry reputations, especially in the case of the mining industry, are important in the formation of corporate reputations. This paper reports on an ongoing exploratory research program which aims to develop an understanding of the relationships between mining companies and their stakeholders, and the importance of corporate citizenship polices to reputation and hence to corporate sustainability. The findings of the first stage of this research, the results of a Delphi study into the drivers of reputation for mining companies are reported. This study was undertaken to provide an understanding of the drivers of reputation for a number of stakeholder groups and the perceptions held by mining companies of these drivers for their stakeholder groups. Results indicate that drivers vary between stakeholder groups, that in the case of drivers common to a number of stakeholder groups they may vary in their importance across groups, and that there may exist a divergence between industry’s perception and stakeholder priorities. These results further the understanding of the relationship between corporate citizenship and reputation in the mining industry, thus assisting companies to strategically manage their corporate citizenship investments and to understand the process of innovation to meet the changing expectations of stakeholders.
Description:
This study examines the drivers of reputation formation for mining companies and the mining industry’s perception of the drivers of reputation formation for its stakeholders’. Building on past research in stakeholder theory, corporate reputation and corporate citizenship, I argue that companies need to manage the reputations of each of their stakeholder groups. I further argue that for companies to successfully manage their reputations an understanding of the interrelationships between the various reputations held by stakeholders is required. Moreover, I argue that industry reputations, especially in the case of the mining industry, are important in the formation of corporate reputations. This paper reports on an ongoing exploratory research program which aims to develop an understanding of the relationships between mining companies and their stakeholders, and the importance of corporate citizenship polices to reputation and hence to corporate sustainability. The findings of the first stage of this research, the results of a Delphi study into the drivers of reputation for mining companies are reported. This study was undertaken to provide an understanding of the drivers of reputation for a number of stakeholder groups and the perceptions held by mining companies of these drivers for their stakeholder groups. Results indicate that drivers vary between stakeholder groups, that in the case of drivers common to a number of stakeholder groups they may vary in their importance across groups, and that there may exist a divergence between industry’s perception and stakeholder priorities. These results further the understanding of the relationship between corporate citizenship and reputation in the mining industry, thus assisting companies to strategically manage their corporate citizenship investments and to understand the process of innovation to meet the changing expectations of stakeholders.