Facing the wave of change: Stakeholder perspectives on climate adaptation for Australian seafood supply chains

Climate change is one of the most important issues confronting the sustainable supply of seafood, with projections suggesting major effects on wild and farmed fisheries worldwide. While climate change has been a consideration for Australian fisheries and aquaculture management, emphasis in both research and adaptation effort has been at the production end of supply chains—impacts further along the chain have been overlooked to date. A holistic biophysical and socio-economic system view of seafood industries, as represented by end-to-end supply chains, may lead to an additional set of options in the face of climate change, thus maximizing opportunities for improved fishery profitability, while also reducing the potential for maladaptation. In this paper, we explore Australian seafood industry stakeholder perspectives on potential options for adaptation along seafood supply chains based on future potential scenarios. Stakeholders, representing wild capture and aquaculture industries, provided a range of actions targeting different stages of the supply chain. Overall, proposed strategies were predominantly related to the production end of the supply chain, suggesting that greater attention in developing adaptation options is needed at post-production stages. However, there are chain-wide adaptation strategies that can present win–win scenarios, where commercial objectives beyond adaptation can also be addressed alongside direct or indirect impacts of climate. Likewise, certain adaptation strategies in place at one stage of the chain may have varying implications on other stages of the chain. These findings represent an important step in understanding the role of supply chains in effective adaptation of fisheries and aquaculture industries to climate change.

Psychiatrists' views on pathways to care for people with schizophrenia in Vietnam

Objectives: Research about the outcomes of schizophrenia and the factors that determine them in developing countries is still limited. In this study, we interviewed experienced Vietnamese psychiatrists to examine their perspectives on outcome determinants in their country. The qualitative approach aimed to complement existing epidemiological knowledge and contribute to debate around the hypothesis that recovery is better in developing countries. Methods: Fifteen Vietnamese psychiatrists working in five leading psychiatric facilities participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic content analysis of their expressed views identified three themes related to important outcome determinants in Vietnam: access to contemporary treatment, established patient-level prognostic indicators, and sociocultural variables. Results: The improving accessibility of modern treatment (including new medications, specialist staff and facilities) and increasing community adoption of a medical perspective on mental illness were seen as factors leading to improved outcomes, particularly in urban areas. However, some psychiatrists also identified the potentially beneficial nature of some aspects of Vietnamese society and culture being eroded by modernization, including traditional family structures, forms of employment and lifestyles. Conclusions: The perspectives of psychiatrists in this study suggest that socioeconomic change may be exerting conflicting influences on the outcomes of schizophrenia in Vietnam and other developing countries. Their views have implications in terms of how adequate treatment and support for people with severe mental illness can be provided in the context of limited resources, staffing and formal treatment options. Further research is needed to establish current recovery rates and prospectively explore the impact of modernization on outcomes.

Stakeholder analysis of a retirement village development in Australia : Insights from an interdisciplinary workshop

In Australia, the retirement village is regarded as a viable accommodation option for the fast-growing population of older people. Given that diverse stakeholders are involved in the village development process, a comprehensive stakeholder analysis, especially understanding stakeholders' concerns and expectations, is of critical importance to project success. This paper describes a stakeholder analysis based on a typical retirement village. The main methods utilized in this research were case study and an interdisciplinary workshop comprising intensive work sessions and cross-functional review. The participants of this 2014 Brisbane workshop included four village managers from an Australian retirement village developer and eight academics from diverse disciplines from a large university. Through this workshop, 24 village stakeholders and their specific concerns and expectations were identified. Results suggest that both concerns and expectations of these stakeholders are multidimensional and vary considerably, and the concerns and expectations of different stakeholders have complex relationships. Implications for a retirement village development are also proposed. The findings of the study serve as a valuable reference for developers' understanding of stakeholder concerns and expectations, and for taking corresponding actions in the final stages of the retirement village development.

BPMN process views construction

Process view technology is catching more attentions in modern business process management, as it enables the customisation of business process representation. This capability helps improve the privacy protection, authority control, flexible display, etc., in business process modelling. One of approaches to generate process views is to allow users to construct an aggregate on their underlying processes. However, most aggregation approaches stick to a strong assumption that business processes are always well-structured, which is over strict to BPMN. Aiming to build process views for non-well-structured BPMN processes, this paper investigates the characteristics of BPMN structures, tasks, events, gateways, etc., and proposes a formal process view aggregation approach to facilitate BPMN process view creation. A set of consistency rules and construction rules are defined to regulate the aggregation and guarantee the order preservation, structural and behaviour correctness and a novel aggregation technique, called EP-Fragment, is developed to tackle non-well-structured BPMN processes.

Learner driver mentor programs: Stakeholder perspectives on an ideal program

This study investigated the development and operation of Learner Driver Mentor Programs (LDMPs). LDMPs are used throughout Australia to assist young learner drivers to gain supervised on-road driving experience through coordinated access to vehicles and supervisors. There is a significant lack of research regarding these programs. In this study, 41 stakeholders including representatives from existing or ceased LDMPs as well as representatives of other groups completed a questionnaire in either survey or interview format. The questionnaire sought information about the objectives of LDMPs, any social problems that were targeted as well as the characteristics of an ideal program and what could be done to improve them. Stakeholders indicated that LDMPs were targeted at local communities and, therefore, there should be a clear local need for the program as well as community ownership and involvement in the program. Additionally, the program needed to be accessible and provide clear positive outcomes for mentees. The most common suggestion to improve LDMPs related to the provision of greater funding and sponsorship, particularly in relation to the vehicles used within the programs. LDMPs appear to have an important role in facilitating young learner drivers to acquire the appropriate number of supervised hours of driving practice. However, while a number of factors appear related to a successful program, the program must remain flexible and suitable for its local community. There is a clear need to complete evaluations of existing programs to ensure that future LDMPs and modifications to existing programs are evidence-based.

Driver views on safety at roadworks

Poor compliance with temporary speed limits is a common contributing factor in roadway work zone crashes. Despite the wide range of measures used to encourage compliance, speeding remains a major challenge in work zone traffic control. As part of the major study into safety at Queensland roadworks conducted by CARRS-Q and industry partners, an online survey was conducted to study the perceptions and experiences of drivers regarding roadworks, speed choice and related safety concerns. Survey participants (N=410) were asked to view photographs of 12 roadwork sites (shot from a drivers’ perspective without revealing the speed limits), to nominate the speed they thought they would drive at through work zones, and to rate from 1 to 5 separate levels of perceived risk to workers and to their own vehicles. The survey sought further information on topics including recall and effectiveness of public safety messages, perceived effectiveness of common roadwork safety measures, and demographic characteristics. Participants were also invited to express their concerns regarding any general or specific issue related to driving through roadworks. The current paper provides a descriptive summary of key findings from the survey, drawn from preliminary analyses of both quantitative and qualitative data, demonstrating the depth of data and its value for improving knowledge on driver perceptions and speed choice at roadworks. The survey is the first study of driver perceptions of roadwork risks and hazards to include an assessment of self-nominated speeds which can be compared with actual observed speeds at the same roadwork sites.

Worker views on safety at roadworks

Roadworks in live traffic environments are hazardous to workers and road users alike. In an increasing body of international research literature, roadwork risks and hazards have been comprehensively examined. As in the broader field of road safety research, much of the work rightly takes a quantitative approach to assessing risk and related issues and to addressing the identified risks appropriately. In Australia, however, limited official data constrains the ability of researchers to achieve an in-depth understanding of the situation at state/territory and national levels based on traditional quantitative analyses. One way to enhance and supplement the limited available data is to consult those who are directly involved in roadworks for qualitative information, although such an approach is rarely reported in the roadwork safety arena. As part of the major study focusing on safety at roadworks in Queensland, 66 workers were interviewed about their perceptions and experiences regarding roadwork safety. This paper thus outlines a qualitative examination of workers' perceptions of the causes of roadwork incidents and the effectiveness of hazard mitigation measures. Consistent with findings reported in the literature is the view among workers that speeding is a major hazard and that police enforcement is the most effective countermeasure. Other hazards commonly observed by workers but less frequently reported elsewhere include driver distraction and aggression toward workers, working in poor weather and working at night. Workers mostly suggested educational measures to address distraction and aggression issues, though such measures are only tentatively supported in the literature.

Australian journalism students’ professional views and news consumption: Results from a representative study

Journalism education’s role in shaping students’ professional views has been a topic of interest among scholars for the past decade in particular. Increasing numbers of studies are concerned with examining students’ backgrounds and views in order to identify what role exposure to the tertiary environment may play in socializing them into the industry. This study reports on the results of the largest survey of Australian journalism students undertaken to date, with a sample size of 1884 students. The study finds that time spent studying journalism appears to be related to changes in role perceptions and news consumption. Final-year students are significantly more likely to support journalism’s watchdog role and to reject consumer-oriented and ‘loyal’ roles. They also consume more news than first-year students. On the other hand, journalism education appears to have little impact on views of controversial practices, with only marginal differences between final- and first-year students.

Caught between a rock and a hard place: Disruptive boys’ views on mainstream and special schools in New South Wales, Australia

Students with disruptive behaviour in the Australian state of New South Wales are increasingly being educated in separate “behaviour” schools. There is however surprisingly little research on how students view these settings, or indeed the mainstream schools from which they were excluded. To better understand excluded students’ current and past educational experiences, we interviewed 33 boys, aged between 9 and 16 years of age, who were enrolled in separate special schools for students with disruptive behaviour. Analyses reveal that the majority of participants began disliking school in the early years due to difficulties with school work and teacher conflict. Interestingly, while most indicated that they preferred the behaviour school, more than half still wanted to return to their old school. It is therefore clear that separate special educational settings are not a solution to disruptive behaviour in mainstream schools. Whilst these settings do fulfil a function for some students, the preferences of the majority of boys suggest that “mainstream” school reform is of first order importance.

The role of engagement on stakeholder's satisfaction with the destination marketing organisation's performance

In the tourism literature there has been a lack of research related to stakeholders' satisfaction with destination marketing organisations (DMO). This study addresses this research gap, in the context of the national tourism office of Oman, by investigating the relationship between stakeholder's perceptions of DMO performance and their overall satisfaction with the DMO. Conceptually the study found DMO engagement with stakeholders to partially mediate satisfaction, a finding of relevance to destination marketers in other parts of the world. From a practical perspective the research was supported by the Oman national tourism office, which has only been in operation for 10 years.

Book Review: "Tony Kanellos (editor), Out of the Past: views of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens - a Series of Edwardian Era Postcards"

The extended title for this splendid visual feast is a catalogue to accompany the exhibition Postcards from the Edge of the City at the Santos Museum ofE conomic Botany, 9 December 2014 to 26 April 2015. As a catalogue this book contains the from and back sides of 300 postcards published between 1900 and 1917...

Women's views of ultrasonography: A comparison of women's experiences of antenatal ultrasound screening with cerebral ultrasound of their newborn infant

Ultrasound screening is now a routine procedure which forms part of antenatal care provision. Within this routine context ultrasound technology has been found to be generally acceptable and indeed is positively demanded by many women. This paper raises the question whether the routine presentation of ultrasound implicitly conveys the message that is use in antenatal care is both valuable and safe. It examines women's views of ultrasound technology beyond a routine context. In a study designed to examine women's reactions to cerebral ultrasound on their normal term infants mothers were asked their views and knowledge of ultrasound and a comparison with their antenatal experience of ultrasound was elicited. A generalized concern about ultrasound techniques was found to underlie many of the women's comments. This raised questions concerning the current practice in the presentation of ultrasound to women attending for antenatal care.

Perceptions on the causes of individual and fraudulent co-offending: Views of forensic accountants

Individual and/or co-offenders fraudulent activities can have a devastating effect on a company’s reputation and credibility. Enron, Xerox, WorldCom, HIH Insurance and One.Tel are examples where stakeholders incurred substantial financial losses as a result of fraud and led to a loss of confidence in corporate dealings by the public in general. There are numerous theoretical approaches that attempt to explain how and why fraudulent acts occur, drawing on the fields of sociology, organisational, management and economic literature, but there is limited empirical evidence published in accounting literature. This qualitative inductive study analyses perceptions and experiences of forensic accountants to gain insights into individual fraud and co-offending in order to determine whether the conceptual framework developed from literature accurately depicts the causes of fraud committed by individuals and groups in the twenty-first century. Findings from the study both support and extend the conceptual framework, demonstrating that strain and anomie can result in fraud, that deviant sub-groups recruit and coerce members by providing relief from strain, and that inadequate corporate governance mechanisms both contribute to fraud occurring, and provide the opportunity for fraudulent activities to be executed and often remain undetected. Additional factors emerging from this study (the ‘technoconomy’, addiction and IT measures) were also identified as contributors to fraud, particularly relevant to the twenty-first century, and consequently, a refined conceptual framework is presented in the discussion and conclusion to the paper.

Indigenous as ’not-Indigenous' as ’Us'?: A dissident insider's views on pushing the bounds for what constitutes 'our mob'

In australia, 'Aboriginality' is often defined by people in constrictive ways that are heavily influenced by the coloniser's epistemological frameworks. An essential component of this is a 'racial' categorisation of peoples that marks sameness and difference, thereby influencing insider and outsider status. In one sense, this categorisation of people acts to exclude non-aboriginal 'others' from participation in preinvasion indigenous ontologies, ways of living that may not have contained such restrictive identity categories and were thereby highly inclusive of outsiders. One of the effects of this is that aboriginal peoples' efforts for 'advancement' - either out of 'disadvantage' and/or towards political independence (ie, sovereignty) - become confined and restricted by what is deemed possible within the coloniser's epistemological frameworks. This is so much so that aboriginal people are at risk of only reinforcing and upholding the very systems that resulted in their original and continuing dispossession.

Principles to guide sustainable implementation of extended-scope-of-practice physiotherapy workforce redesign initiatives in Australia: Stakeholder perspectives, barriers, supports, and incentives

Sustainable implementation of new workforce redesign initiatives requires strategies that minimize barriers and optimize supports. Such strategies could be provided by a set of guiding principles. A broad understanding of the concerns of all the key stakeholder groups is required before effective strategies and initiatives are developed. Many new workforce redesign initiatives are not underpinned by prior planning, and this threatens their uptake and sustainability. This study reports on a cross-sectional qualitative study that sought the perspectives of representatives of key stakeholders in a new workforce redesign initiative (extended-scope-of-practice physiotherapy) in one Australian tertiary hospital. The key stakeholder groups were those that had been involved in some way in the development, management, training, funding, and/or delivery of the initiative. Data were collected using semistructured questions, answered individually by interview or in writing. Responses were themed collaboratively, using descriptive analysis. Key identified themes comprised: the importance of service marketing; proactively addressing barriers; using readily understood nomenclature; demonstrating service quality and safety, monitoring adverse events, measuring health and cost outcomes; legislative issues; registration; promoting viable career pathways; developing, accrediting, and delivering a curriculum supporting physiotherapists to work outside of the usual scope; and progression from "a good idea" to established service. Health care facilities planning to implement new workforce initiatives that extend scope of usual practice should consider these issues before instigating workforce/model of care changes. © 2014 Morris et al.